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

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But that idea doesn't line up with Phillips' claim. He says that Stars was developed until two months before SuMo's release, and that at least one of the reasons for its cancellation was the Switch's financial success, meaning it couldn't have happened until after March 2017.

I'm not asking where the assets are, I'm saying that it doesn't make sense to spend time developing HD assets and then not use them. The fact that they're not used because the 3DS doesn't display HD graphics doesn't change the fact that Phillips is claiming Game Freak spent a good deal of time creating HD assets that ended up being unused.

(Disingenuous actually doesn't just mean that it doesn't make sense-it means that someone's pretending not to know something that they really do. I realize now you're not trying to imply that of me, but I just want to let you know!)

That's still only one of the four times Phillips was incorrect. One of those is a concrete example of Phillips being incorrect to a point that brings down the site's reputation: Phillips claimed that FF13VS was canned, and another Eurogamer writer reported that Square Enix publicly stated that this was a fake rumor. Phillips continued to claim Stars could be the first Pokemon Switch game even after USUM were announced. He even fell for a fake Nintendo account on Twitter. Sometimes, people make mistakes with their jobs. Doesn't mean he should lose his job or anything, just that errors are always a possibility.

Except the only development reported for Stars was HD assets, which you yourself just said couldn't be used on the 3DS. Phillips mentions new Pokemon, but the only new Pokemon whose development we know of is the Poipole line-and we also know that it was designed for USUM, not for Stars.

That's fine!! (I put my stuff under a spoiler so I can feel like I finished it, but it doesn't have to be replied to, if that's okay? And I appreciate you taking the time to source and explain stuff, too!) I hope your headache gets better soon!!

Yeah! I might respond to some stuff later when I feel better. I just know how I can laser focus on something from years of playing mafia/werewolf online that is more habit than passion, which can lead to me seeming hostile or cold to ideas and I don't mean that at all. It's especially bad when I'm in some sort of pain and cannot tell how I'm feeling vs. actual physical discomfort. (But also no one but us was reading what we wrote at this point hahaha)

okay does italicizing make the font larger, too, or is that just me?

Edit: it looks fine posted, but different in the comment box. Weird.
 
Okay, I keep going back to this comment by Masuda.

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I appreciate it because I am fascinated by design. (Some people think the game looks lackluster, but it is lackluster with intent, damnit!) Yet this seems like something you'd want to avoid telling consumers. Here is my thought:

He says he wanted to keep it fantastical, not because Pokemon should be, but because it needed to look appealing to parents buying the game for their kid. Considering GO found success by blending Pokemon and the real world, as well as Ishihara commenting on the graphics in June, I think it's possible these games are going to mostly ditch the cartoony aesthetic. (See: Environment while aging up main character and adding faces with more detail.*) I don't think Pokemon themselves will look too different, as GO showed that wasn't necessary, but the world we find them in might be very unfamiliar.

*If Game Freak Sims it up and we get different body types for customization, too, I'll be very happy.

The directive for Let's Go to look welcoming to viewers seems like it may have a singular intent: If a kid asks their parent for Pokemon game during the holidays in 2019 because everyone is talking Pk19, they may see this mature looking (not rated) title that makes them hesitant. Then they'll see Let's Go and pick that up for them. This is where his comments about Let's Go being the base come in. Pokemon works because it is constantly bringing in new kids who find new depth to the games as they get older. So unlike getting a Disney Knock-Off direct to DVD movie, you're getting a full, mainline title in case the new one is denied by a parent. So that kid may not get the newest game, but they will get Pokémon, and that's important. And when parents know the brand outside of just Pikachu and reputation, the older-skewed graphics won't seem so scary.

Releasing it now is also the only viable option. There's no distraction by Pk19 (P19? ... Pig) where old fans who had to choose would almost universally pick Pig, but now some will have both. If these games are really meant as a response to the Pig games to make sure Pokemon continues to build an audience then I think they'll be forgiven for a lot. I'll be really curious to see how sales are with the two next to each other. For now, we'll have a non-revisit Kanto with physical/special split. One without natures, etc., that isn't broken as hell. (I.e. your bag is too full, would you like to clear some coding? It's not important, honest!)

TL;DR: Compared to Pig, LGPE are probably analogous to this and that's likely a good thing for the future.

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(Pig is a really clever nickname for the next games, I love it)

I'm actually a fan of LGPE's style, but the idea that it'll let them venture into heavier graphics without being afraid of losing fans sounds great!
 
(Pig is a really clever nickname for the next games, I love it)

I'm actually a fan of LGPE's style, but the idea that it'll let them venture into heavier graphics without being afraid of losing fans sounds great!

It's a much more polished version of the Chibi Gen 6 style, which I got frustrated with more in ORAS than Kalos, as ORAS would switch between this highly detailed models and then we'd get... Chibi Brendan/May. Not to mention Kalos was designed with the style, so we'd get some cinematic vistas that reveled in the tech the way Unova did... Even if I really did not like any options for Calem. Replayed as Serena and had a much better time of it. Also no more faded colors! That alone deserves accolades from GF. I love Sugimori art...but as art. It works for some Pokemon, but almost solely the new Pokemon.

And thankssss. I keep typing 2019 and it's too much, so Pig for the lazy. And confusion. Hopefully confusion.
 
It's a much more polished version of the Chibi Gen 6 style, which I got frustrated with more in ORAS than Kalos, as ORAS would switch between this highly detailed models and then we'd get... Chibi Brendan/May. Not to mention Kalos was designed with the style, so we'd get some cinematic vistas that reveled in the tech the way Unova did... Even if I really did not like any options for Calem. Replayed as Serena and had a much better time of it. Also no more faded colors! That alone deserves accolades from GF. I love Sugimori art...but as art. It works for some Pokemon, but almost solely the new Pokemon.

And thankssss. I keep typing 2019 and it's too much, so Pig for the lazy. And confusion. Hopefully confusion.
Well, HD mode in SuMo looked kind of decent most of the time... unless the Pokémon depended on those outlines or are colored grey (seriously, the Magnemite line looks wrong). At least with LGPE and possibly Pig the Pokémon would look more colorful and animated.

EDIT: Is animated the right word?
 
I'm not too fussy about how Pig (Such an ingenious name) will look just as long as it is packed with content. This is why I love B2W2 so much. The graphics were descent and can be said to be beautiful by some. But it had a chunky post game.
 
Although, Melmetal's signature move is quite unique.
Hits twice and a chance to flinch? Quite powerful possibly!
Can't wait to put a King's Rock on him! Seriously though, Melmetal looks like it'll be very slow so it might not even get that flinch chance most of the time. Maybe with a Shift Gear set it could work.
 
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I would personally be happy if LGPE becomes some sort of side series. It's not that I want to split the fanbase, but you can't deny the fact that Pokemon has fans of all ages. It's true that something "made for kids" can be enjoyed by anyone, but sometimes it's nice to give something to older fans who may want something different like a more challenging game (though, arguably, that can be fixed with difficulty settings).

There were days when I was under the impression that the people behind Pokemon were embarrassed of the adult fans as if trying to hide their existence. I know this is probably not true at all, but it's the feeling I got when Yokai Watch was really big in Japan, parents seemingly approved of it because it wasn't violent like Pokemon and in general it was a "kid's franchise, untouched by adults". As seen in Gen VII the trainer characters look visibly younger compared to XY or even the Gen V trainer characters. The anime itself became more lighthearted and comedic, complete with a school setting and all. Again, I'm not saying that's what they were doing. It's just my personal impression of the style/tone shift between Gen VI and Gen VII. Don't take it as me trying to say "woah they are not catering to adult me anymore boo" because that's not what I'm trying to convey.

Having LGPE as a more kid-friendly series along with the more veteran-oriented series would be good in my book for the reasons @Feign stated. It can give parents a peace of mind, and likely introduce a lot of children to Pokemon who will go on to become the fans we are today. I'm not interested in LGPE myself so I'll let people who want to enjoy it do so but I can't help myself and say this one thing: LGPE so far looks to be a little too dumbed down. Kids played RBY just fine back then, some not even knowing English probably, because the games weren't translated in every language. I had to play Gold without knowing English, yet I got all the way to Kanto. If anything, I think kids are smarter these days. That's all I'll say on this topic. Just my opinion.

I just hope they won't do the same mistake with the 2019 game as they did with USUM. I don't hate USUM despite my criticism of it (I put more hours into UM than Y or Moon) but I'm still not happy with how they handled USUM's marketing. The whole "a new Alola you haven't seen before" when in fact, it really wasn't all that different. What I'm saying is that they seem rather confident in the 2019 game and I hope it's for a good reason, not just for PR.
 
It can give parents a peace of mind,

This is a worry which I don’t get- exactly what can GameFreak feasibly do with the artsyle that will remove parents' peace of mind?
It’s pretty obvious they’re not going the hyper-realistic route so I'm not sure what else can they do that day harmful to 'peace of mind'.
 
It's a much more polished version of the Chibi Gen 6 style, which I got frustrated with more in ORAS than Kalos, as ORAS would switch between this highly detailed models and then we'd get... Chibi Brendan/May. Not to mention Kalos was designed with the style, so we'd get some cinematic vistas that reveled in the tech the way Unova did... Even if I really did not like any options for Calem. Replayed as Serena and had a much better time of it. Also no more faded colors! That alone deserves accolades from GF. I love Sugimori art...but as art. It works for some Pokemon, but almost solely the new Pokemon.

And thankssss. I keep typing 2019 and it's too much, so Pig for the lazy. And confusion. Hopefully confusion.
Calum had fewer options than Serena but I actually liked his clothing options.
The Lumiose boutique options for both Calum and Serena were really stylish.


I’ve actually gone back and replayed the Kalos games solely because I like the clothes or the PC’s far more than I do the ones in Gen VII.

Kalos also had the gorgeously detailed cinematic scenes immediately followed by the return to form of the chibi sprites like Hoenn. Off the top of my head, I can think of the scene where Xerneas/Yveltal awaken, the parade, and AZ’s backstory (which was a different art style entirely.)
 
This is a worry which I don’t get- exactly what can GameFreak feasibly do with the artsyle that will remove parents' peace of mind?
It’s pretty obvious they’re not going the hyper-realistic route so I'm not sure what else can they do that day harmful to 'peace of mind'.

Frankly, I don't quite understand it either but I'm not a parent so I can only shrug. I do feel like nowadays parents tend to be overprotective of their kids when it comes to certain media. As a kid I watched things like Pokemon, The Powerpuff Girls and various other action cartoons/anime aimed at kids that had fighting, but I didn't turn into a violent kid. I remember reading the new PPG cartoon toned down its fighting scenes because the original was too violent for kids. The same applies to art styles and other content, I just wanted to use the violence example here. I know times change, and so does society, but I don't think turning everything into sunshine and rainbows is the answer.

I'm fairly sure Yokai Watch's popularity with parents made Game Freak and TPC want to make Pokemon more kid-friendly. Gen V and Gen VI had a more teenage style/tone to it. The XY trainer characters can easily pass off as 18-year-old even, and if I remember correctly the game implied they are 16. Gen VII on the other hand goes back to a more 10-year-old style and tone (Pokedex entries aside). I'm not saying one is better than the other. I like both for what they are and I can headcanon my player character as whatever I want them to be so it doesn't matter to me. However, if Game Freak can't find balance in one core game series, then I'll support them having two different ones. The kid-friendly, simplified, entry-point games and the more challenging, optionally more complex games.
 
It's interesting that kids are the current discussion. So here are my thoughts about this.

I'm a hairstylist, and while I generally don't take kids, there is the occasional kid in my chair that I have to take, so most of the kids I cut are 7 and up.

I ask them about video games. Because all of them play. I ask them what they play. And most of the time, they say Fortnite. That stupid game.

I ask them if they like Pokemon, and a lot of them have heard of it, some like it, most don't. Their parents, however, which tend to be my age, enjoy Pokemon, some more than others.

So from my observations just with people in my chair, Pokemon isn't what kids are into. So why make games with the focus being for newer children. I get that LGPE are introductory games for new players of GO, but still. I genuinely feel like the main market of Pokemon players are people between the ages of 15 and 35. These are the people GF should market to TBH.
 
I genuinely feel like the main market of Pokemon players are people between the ages of 15 and 35. These are the people GF should market to TBH.
I agree, I feel like they have to be mature to actually get more kids into playing Pokemon. So marketing Pokemon to an older demographic will actually get more kids into playing, reverse psychology is what they should use.
 
Fortnite is a free to play game that’s available on every platform under the sun. Of course there will be more kids playing it than Pokemon.

Besides, it’s not like Fortnite is strictly aiming for teens and up.
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I don’t agree with what they’re doing with LGPE, but saying Pokemon isn’t popular with kids because something else is more popular isn’t true.
 
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Fortnite can also be played over and over again with a wide variety of results.

Pokemon always results in the same endings. Sure, you can have different teams or try to make the game harder. But still the same results.

A more choice driven gameplay experience could be a way to add more ways to play and have a wide variety of endings. But it would take a while to implement so starting small such as being the Professor's assistant or learning at a school or working at a restaurant. There's a wide variety of different pathways that could be added.
 
If I were Game Freak, I think I would worry a bit more about making the games too childish, because then they stop appealing to the older kids (and adults). Child-friendly, sure, but that doesn't mean that you have to buy into the overprotective sunshine and daisies version of kid-safe. >.> Parents really need to let their kids grow up.
 
Parents really need to let their kids grow up.
I don’t know. A lot of parents allow their kids to play CoD and GTA.

I don’t understand where you guys are coming from with “mature”. The tone of most Pokemon games is fine for adults and is certainly not “sunshine and daisies”. LGPE is an exception, not the rule.
 
I don’t know. A lot of parents allow their kids to play CoD and GTA.

I don’t understand where you guys are coming from with “mature”. The tone of most Pokemon games is fine for adults and is certainly not “sunshine and daisies”. LGPE is an exception, not the rule.
XD As long as it stays the exception- but the concern stems from the media in general these days. Such as the Powerpuff Girls reboot mentioned by @KrisiChiki earlier- media has this gross concern with shielding children from anything remotely "bad" like fighting and people being mean, so naturally it's a worry that Pokemon will head down that route too because goodness forbid kids ever learn that the world isn't super nice and coated in sugar 24/7.


On a different note- saw this on Serebii:
In a new bit of network traffic data for Pokémon GO, the National Pokédex numbers for Meltan and Melmetal have been confirmed. The new text lists Meltan as being #808 and Melmetal being #809, which could show that they continue on from the National Pokédex as expected. Previously some confusion existed over the numbering system of in-game assets that doesn't necessary correspond to National Pokédex numbers.
I feel like that really settles the Gen 7 vs. Gen 8 debate. One could still argue that it could be like Victini but I think a two stage evolution line starting off a generation's pokedex feels weird and Victini's entire thing is victory, winning, and coming in first so... I feel like there's a distinct reason for its placement that Meltan and Meltitan lack.
 
I'm not asking for a hyper-realistic Pokemon game, just a Pokemon game that has the good kind of challenge, like Life Orb Hydreigon hard.
 
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