Masuda's influence over modern Pokemon gaming

[Norzan]

I was referring specifically to XY and not SV. Since it was the first time releasing a game worldwide at the same time, i wouldn't be surprised if it was actually true that localization caused Gamefreak to rush the game to meet the deadline.

 

[FelipePR]

I was referring specifically to XY and not SV. Since it was the first time releasing a game worldwide at the same time, i wouldn't be surprised if it was actually true that localization caused Gamefreak to rush the game to meet the deadline.

This does not seem to me to be the case, XY has, in my view, more aesthetic care and a superior route and map design than ORAS. What was missing is content, especially post game content. I believe the intention was to sell a later definitive version, the never announced Pokémon Z. However, you never know.

 

[Norzan]

XY has, in my view, more aesthetic care

Where? You mean how pale the game is? Because ORAS is far more vibrant and it was clearly done as a response to the criticism XY got.

a superior route and map design than ORAS.

How? Most routes in XY are straight lines with no exploration. One of the locations is literally a copy and paste of Viridian Forest.

What was missing is content, especially post game content

And a good story, developed characters, actual substantive side activities that don't require postgame to be accessed. XY is barebones as it gets, only really beaten by the first generation in terms of how meager the content is. But at least generation 1 had the excuse of being the first games in the series.

The lack of all these is huge and clearly explains that the games were rushed, either by localization or something else.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I was referring specifically to XY and not SV. Since it was the first time releasing a game worldwide at the same time, i wouldn't be surprised if it was actually true that localization caused Gamefreak to rush the game to meet the deadline.

Well yeah, maybe just for XY. But I still think the larger part of it was that they had to spend more time on 3D assets and they had to cut corners on content as a result.

 

[Norzan]

But I still think the larger part of it was that they had to spend more time on 3D assets and they had to cut corners on content as a result.

That is most likely true as well. And honestly, Gamefreak hasn't really come to grips with it, even if they have improved somewhat over the years.

 

[c la fet]

While it's true that storyline improvements aren't really dependent on improving technology, Game Freak has been gradually improving its storytelling from game to game just by virtue of having more experience with game development and XY is a weird slump in between several highly regarded stories such as BW, ORAS, and SM (and notice that two of those are also new generations, so XY not getting a followup game isn't really an excuse for that).

I recall the reviews of the story of bw were superior than the bw2 ones. I don't know how it is for the English speaking fandom but for the one I come from xy and oras were regarded the same way in terms of story.
You're right for sm but outside of its story, sm is a very uninteresting game, basically all the other features were better in the previous generations...

I purposely avoided giving SV examples because SV is kind of a special case. Because of the open world and the three storylines in that game, characters in different aspects of the story don't really interact much (for example, the Pokemon League quest is now totally separate from the evil team plot) with the exception of the final story, which mainly focused on the rivals and the professor. So SV's story isn't really comparable with past Pokemon games because of that structure.

I've heard that Geeta was involved with the events of area zero 10 years before the story. I don't know if it's true because I don't remember hearing that in the game, however I remember Nemona saying something similar about Glimmora. Maybe we'll know more in the dlc ?

 

[Pasio]

This will upset people but I honestly think Pokémon Black and White had more meager content than X and Y. It was just presented differently. The postgame looks big because the main adventure was the most linear and restricted ever when XY had the opposite issue and more extra features (Pokémon Amie / PR Video, PokéRadar for shiny hunting efficiency).Not a lot but still MORE. It also had virtually no side feature going for it except for the Pokémon musicals. People just praise on BW for its daring story.

 

[Bolt Strike]

This will upset people but I honestly think Pokémon Black and White had more meager content than X and Y. It was just presented differently. The postgame looks big because the main adventure was the most linear and restricted ever when XY had the opposite issue and more extra features (Pokémon Amie / PR Video, PokéRadar for shiny hunting efficiency).Not a lot but still MORE. It also had virtually no side feature going for it except for the Pokémon musicals. People just praise on BW for its daring story.

There's some truth here. XY isn't really "less linear", but it does have longer gaps between some gyms whereas BW1 literally just has every gym 1 city apart, so they seem to have just taken the post game areas and padded out the main adventure instead. And I do agree that overall BW mainly seems to be praised for its story whereas almost everything else about it is roughly on par with XY (so many people love to complain about XY doing things like making the region more linear, the trainer rosters being too easy/limited, etc. but BW did all of those things too. The only thing XY did new in terms of casualizing the experience was change the Exp. Share to give Exp. to your whole party). But one thing I can't really agree with you on is the side features, BW had slightly more, and they tended to be a little more on the substantial side too. BW had more side features than just Musicals, it also had the Battle Subway, Entralink, Black City/White Forest, which were all fairly deep side features. Whereas some of the examples you mention aren't really that deep or engaging. Amie is just a shallow pet sim to raise affection. PR Videos is just a glorified customization feature. And PokeRadar doesn't really do as much because they are no new Pokemon that unlock with it like in DPPt. The only side features XY really have are the Battle Chateau, Battle Maison, and Friend Safari. If anything it feels like you have things backwards, BW has not much but slightly more than XY.