Official Pre-Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield Speculation & Leaks thread

[RileyXY1]

I don't think that the Giovanni cliffhanger is meaningless, but it's clear that the world he's from is irrelevant (he is looking for another one) and the other leaders have served their purpose.

RR wasn't originally supposed to be a thing. The leaders were originally just going to make cameos in the Battle Agency.

 

[Silktree]

Plans change. I am not sure what your point is.

I don't care for RR, but when a villain says "what new world shall I unleash my evil schemes upon...?", I'd think that it would lead to something.

 

[Cainhxrst]

RR cliffhanger, Lillie/Gladion travelling to Kanto, adult Red and Blue all seem like setup for a 7th generation Kanto sequel


kanto with s/m characters, and RR as the main antagonists has the potential to be really cool imo, and a lot more in-line with traditional pokemon games (gyms, evil team as main villains)

this makes more sense to me than just sticking RR in gen 8, or making them a recurring thing across future generations

 

[RileyXY1]

RR cliffhanger, Lillie/Gladion travelling to Kanto, adult Red and Blue all seem like setup for a 7th generation Kanto sequel


kanto with s/m characters, and RR as the main antagonists has the potential to be really cool imo, and a lot more in-line with traditional pokemon games (gyms, evil team as main villains)

this makes more sense to me than just sticking RR in gen 8, or making them a recurring thing across future generations

I don't think that the Switch game will have anything to do with SM and USUM.

 

[Silktree]

Here are my current ideas on the connection:

1. The sequels take place two years after SM. Lillie has spent that time with her mom in Kanto, allowing her to heal and open a new faction of the Aether Foundation. Lusamine is now entirely focused on her original goal of protecting Pokemon; she might take issue with the Safari Zone. Lillie is finally ready to go on her own journey in Kanto as she said she would.

2. SM Giovanni is no longer a villain due to having reunited with his son. He will help stop his USUM counterpart, who chose Team Rocket over dignity and family.

Simple and to the point, I think.

 

[multiingbe]

RR cliffhanger, Lillie/Gladion travelling to Kanto, adult Red and Blue all seem like setup for a 7th generation Kanto sequel


kanto with s/m characters, and RR as the main antagonists has the potential to be really cool imo, and a lot more in-line with traditional pokemon games (gyms, evil team as main villains)

this makes more sense to me than just sticking RR in gen 8, or making them a recurring thing across future generations

!! Yes, this sounds exceptionally good;

I do feel like whatever the main plot elements will be can still be arranged within the ``open-ish world``!

 

[dCraw]

Here are my current ideas on the connection:

1. The sequels take place two years after SM. Lillie has spent that time with her mom in Kanto, allowing her to heal and open a new faction of the Aether Foundation. Lusamine is now entirely focused on her original goal of protecting Pokemon; she might take issue with the Safari Zone. Lillie is finally ready to go on her own journey in Kanto as she said she would.

2. SM Giovanni is no longer a villain due to having reunited with his son. He will help stop his USUM counterpart, who chose Team Rocket over dignity and family.

Simple and to the point, I think.

That sounds nice but unfortunately GF usually just completly ignores the previous generation story line. I wonder if that'll change tho..

 

[Silktree]

It will arguably be the same generation, though. Regardless of an unofficial definition, USUM will only be a year old (maybe a bit more).

I do feel like whatever the main plot elements will be can still be arranged within the ``open-ish world``!

I don't know what "open-ish" would entail (some would say that the original games were already just that), but the story could easily work by way of checkpoints. If you don't follow the intended path, you might have to fly a lot.

 

[dCraw]

I know its arguable but i dont think the game on the switch will still be gen 7. It makes no sense to divide a generation between hardwares that are (most likely) non compatible between themselves. And that combined with a new engine (probably) are defining traits of a new generation.

 

[Silktree]

Fair enough. As I said, it's an unofficial definition and I suspect that it will need to be revised in some way.

Anyway, we've never had cliffhangers involving characters going to an old region or another world. So who knows how it will turn out.

 

[Jukain]

That would mostly make me exasperated. I think the claims of the original Kanto being "open world" are grossly exaggerated. Yes, there were options, but they weren't as varied as the proponents of it would lead you to believe. Yes, you could theoretically play a lot of gyms in any order you wished past the second gym, but you would still have to travel a specific path to do so. Could this be mitigated by Pokeride? Depends on how Pokeride would work. You still needed to reach specific points or even beat certain trials to get the ride pokemon in Alola. Most of them were just reaching a point, I'll give you that one. Do you believe pokemon can work as a go anywhere you want game, or does it need to have a more rigid structure? This alone still wouldn't justify it to me. I want to see landscapes, stuff that's interesting to discover. I want to see it look like a real, organic place. Even then, I am not sure because I don't know what can be done to make Kanto interesting again when I already know everything about it. How different can you make it when it's a region that has such a well known legacy? I'd need a mountain of convincing it can be done at all.

 

[RileyXY1]

I know its arguable but i dont think the game on the switch will still be gen 7. It makes no sense to divide a generation between hardwares that are (most likely) non compatible between themselves. And that combined with a new engine (probably) are defining traits of a new generation.

You are right. Generations are groups of games that can directly communicate with each other without any need for other applications. The Switch and the 3DS cannot directly communicate with one another. Therefore, the Switch game will be Gen 8.

 

[Silktree]

It will be Generation 2e+2.

Do you believe pokemon can work as a go anywhere you want game, or does it need to have a more rigid structure? This alone still wouldn't justify it to me. I want to see landscapes, stuff that's interesting to discover

You would need to traverse the respective route before you could fly to the next city, anyway.

 

[SGD]

defff agreed. I didn't mind Unova as it while it was super urban, it still reminded me of the first 4 regions in term of layout/design, but Kalos and Alola constantly shove their culture down your throats every chance they get. It's possible to give a region character without blatantly forcing it on the player. Johto felt really cultured while being subtle. I wish future regions would return to that, but I doubt it

The amount of Hawaiian references in Gen 7 definetly annoyed me, I understand that they wanted to follow a theme of Nature and Beauty and they thought Hawaii was perfect, but they were just so heavy handed and numerous…yet somehow they avoided Spam…?

I sincerely hope that the next game isn't so heavy in such a regard and remembers that it should be about the Pokémon the Pokémon and not meeting a quota of how many cultural aspects you can shove into a game.

 

[WallflowerCanyon]

I don't care for RR, but when a villain says "what new world shall I unleash my evil schemes upon...?", I'd think that it would lead to something.

Thank you. If that isn't blatant foreshadowing of some kind, I don't know what is. I think RR under Giovanni's leadership could return for the Switch, but I see the Admin positions being filled by either brand-new characters(preferably) or maybe even the HGSS Admins. The other leaders in USUM were basically taken against their will, and two particular ones weren't happy about it... and I laughed about it.

 

[Jimothy]

Thank you. If that isn't blatant foreshadowing of some kind, I don't know what is. I think RR under Giovanni's leadership could return for the Switch, but I see the Admin positions being filled by either brand-new characters(preferably) or maybe even the HGSS Admins. The other leaders in USUM were basically taken against their will, and two particular ones weren't happy about it... and I laughed about it.

Though with the way Ghetsis was highlighted, I do wonder if that might lead somewhere.

Instead of Unova remakes, give me a game set in that reality.

 

[Oriden]

The amount of Hawaiian references in Gen 7 definetly annoyed me, I understand that they wanted to follow a theme of Nature and Beauty and they thought Hawaii was perfect, but they were just so heavy handed and numerous…yet somehow they avoided Spam…?

I sincerely hope that the next game isn't so heavy in such a regard and remembers that it should be about the Pokémon the Pokémon and not meeting a quota of how many cultural aspects you can shove into a game.

I wouldn't mind a highly cultural region if they didn't pretty much go all Dora the Explorer and shove it at you like "This is an Alolan thing. Say it with me, kids- Aloooolaaaaan." Repeatedly. I mean I didn't get far in Sun and Moon at all, but I still got the face pow of "This is part of our culture, allow me to over-explain how important it is that you know about this thing that really isn't vital to your being here, we just really want you to know it because culture." Like.... guys, you didn't need to shove Lava Cookies in our face that hard to tell us that it's a Hoenn thing, so why are you rubbing our noses in Malasadas now? Calm down.

 

[William-Jdubz]

I personally prefer regions to have their own individuality.
Alola has been great in this aspect with the trials, and their culture.

It reflects the real world where different countries have different cultures, and I’d like to see what gamefreak can do with various cultures.
(And I’m not sure what you mean by ‘balanced’ there. No region has been ‘unbalanced’ imo...)

I agree Kalos and Alola did this well even with their inspired pokemon designs coming from those countries fairly accurately, why didnt they do this with Unova though lol

 

[Joker901]

I think both Kalos and Alola had beatiful environments and pokemon designs. The real problem was the main plot. Both had huge premises, first time they mentioned an actual war and an alien invasion but what did we get? All the AZ/war story was synthesized in a flashback and the UBs litterally played no major role and all became a family issue. Let's not talk about Necrozma. I mean, do you remember Giratina and Kyurem? The distortion world was amazing and so was Kyurem freezing Unova. Necrozma? Ultra Megalopolis was a great concept, they even created an artwork for it...and then? A short corridor. I didn't even notice that the light was stolen from Alola cause no one really pointed it out at the end so I didn't even care.

 

[William-Jdubz]

The amount of Hawaiian references in Gen 7 definetly annoyed me, I understand that they wanted to follow a theme of Nature and Beauty and they thought Hawaii was perfect, but they were just so heavy handed and numerous…yet somehow they avoided Spam…?

I sincerely hope that the next game isn't so heavy in such a regard and remembers that it should be about the Pokémon the Pokémon and not meeting a quota of how many cultural aspects you can shove into a game.

Than again at least it wasn't like Unova which was trying to be US themed and did that fine at the start but then by the end of the game we had a bunch of asian mythology and other world references chucked in and we are confused on what the game is trying to be lol. Being part Hawaiian myself, it was truly nice to see a game where they actually payed homage to the real world region the game was being inspired from, that and Kalos did a good job. I would love to see this again for future games. Even if we go back to Kanto, it would be nice to see a more Japanese inspired approach to Kanto, that would be refreshing.