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

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I kind of wish they had made it a Sandhill Crane in that case. That's what the "debunkers" say Mothman really was. Sandhill cranes are awesome animals in their own right too. They sound like the Velociraptors from Jurassic Park.
 
It's more the concept than the appearance. Mothman was the thing that people said that both caused disasters or tried to warn people about them depending on the myth, right? In Absol's case, it is really trying to warn people, but they think it is there to cause misfortune, so it's a mix of both myths.
Wouldn't be a big deal repeating the concept, though- plenty of concepts have been repeated in the franchise, so why not that.
 
Wouldn't be a big deal repeating the concept, though- plenty of concepts have been repeated in the franchise, so why not that.
True. We got two kitsune and two kappa already, and both pairs also share types. Maybe a mothman that actually looks like one wouldn't be out of the question.
 
Biggest concern is how will this gen connect to past generations. If they decide to use pokebank that would mean that wifi connectivity is very much needed and if the rumors are true that 3ds will have its last year this year that means that they would stop the wifi support for 3ds just like what they did tp nds meaning it will hinder the pokebank app. So what now?
 
Biggest concern is how will this gen connect to past generations. If they decide to use pokebank that would mean that wifi connectivity is very much needed and if the rumors are true that 3ds will have its last year this year that means that they would stop the wifi support for 3ds just like what they did tp nds meaning it will hinder the pokebank app. So what now?
I feel that it will last a little while longer. I mean, the Wii shop lasts until the 31st, so I don't think we have to worry about it for now.
 
He claimed the Pokemon game releasing in 2018 was going to be gen 8 in a Sri Lanka region.

Needless to say, he was proven fake when Let’s Go was announced.

But another source said that it was aimed for 2018 release before it was given more time right?
So it wasn't fully debunked, but rather is just very unlikely due to the map calendar hint in LGPE.

I actually do believe that map in LGPE is UK though, as the region was hinted in XY.
But was just wondering whether is it really coming out in gen 8? it was hinted at gen 6 and didn't get release at gen 7.
It could be to the fact that it took a long time to finish gen 8 but it could also be aimed for later gen.

The UK hints is very vivid lately, but I also got info about TPC's unnaturally more aggressive marketing schedule toward many SEA countries all at once for 2019.
This is utterly confusing lol.
 
Maybe a mothman that actually looks like one wouldn't be out of the question.

Actually; it might be interesting if it played out sort of like this:

You arrive in a new town and the towns people there talk about a terrifying, large Pokemon. They tell you that disasters happen whenever some one sees one. So you investigate the forest and at the depths you find a Totem Absol and have to fight it. It gets registered in your dex and then you show it to the towns people. And they're like, "oh, it was just an Absol? That pokemon doesn't normally live around here". It could be an interesting way to re-include the totem fights again if they ever want too. Although, I would want gyms in the region as well.
 
Yeah thats the issue, a large chunk of the overall arc was the Chinese / Asian stories and lore, it to the point overshadowed the american side of it. I honestly had no idea that Unova was even based off the US until Generation 6 lol

Snivy/Tepig/Oshawott were meant to represent French/Chinese/Japanese Cultures, and hence a "melting pot" in regards to New York City. The legendary Pokemon were also based around this, as you had the Musketeers, Tao Dragons, and Kami Gods. Problem is that these cultures don't exactly represent "all" of America, or aren't exactly the best representation. Things are also "subtle" as other posters have said, and not "in your face" as one would expect from our country:

2965051856_ea2cb47cf9_z.jpg


There is also a pub in NYC called the 3 Wise Monkeys based around the same motif, and they have what appears to be "Munna" (really a pink elephant but its very close) in style advertised alongside the monkeys.

France was the first U.S. ally and gifter of the Statue of Liberty, then there's Chinatown, and finally Japanese culture has had an obvious strong influence on American culture and vice-versa. So its all relative I suppose. As someone who actually does live in NY (upstate) and has been to NYC, Unova feels simultaneously accurate in some places and barren in others. Personally, I'd swap out some things in the dex (I'd swap out the fossils for the Kalos ones for starters) to make things seem more accurate. Also would have added Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist for Halloween. The biggest problem above all was the lack of in game advertising... like really, there should have been posters, billboards, ads, and what-have-you of Unova mons everywhere. Some wanted posters of Scraggy/Krokorok, some cartoonish ads for Gothita/Betty Boop, etc.

Also agree with whoever said Unova probably most resembled 70s-80s styled America, when more Eastern influences started becoming a thing. It wasn't badly handled, but it may have been better to not have been so subtle since it was America. I think the UK (or wherever) will probably be in the trend of "obviously British" like how the last two gen's culture's were obviously French/Hawaiian.
 
Oh really ? I assumed they would use the countries history and lore like the other games before and after it. The philosophical approach of union is interesting. Ill accept that. I just found it odd the most of the game was asian inspired.

Yeah, here one of the interviews that Masuda talks about:

" Q: How do you choose what region a Pokemon game takes place in? Do your journeys influence that decision? What about Italy, is there a chance a future Pokemon game could take place in our peninsula and feature some typical cities and cultural elements?

A (Masuda): First we choose the theme of the game and then we decide where it will take place. For example, in X and Y we picked France because of the "beauty" theme (Kalos means beauty in Ancient Greek). We wanted to highlight this aspect seeing as this was our first game on 3DS. In Black and White the theme was "union" so there were a lot of different people and cities, all united together. Perhaps in the future we'll find a theme which could be represented by Italy, who knows... laughter " - Source: Pokémon Millennium Interview

"
Iwata: - Why Isshu?

Masuda: - Pokémon and people of all kinds gather in this region, resulting in tashu (Japanese for “various kinds”).

Iwata: - Oh, so Isshu comes from isshurui (one kind).

Masuda: - Right. There may be many kinds (tashu) of people gathered there, but if you look from afar, the region looks like it only has one kind (isshu), so we gave it the name Isshu. In that way, it’s a lot like New York.

Iwata: - New York is indeed an interesting place where a wide variety of people and cultures mingle.

Masuda: - Yes. Doesn’t it sort of feel like the kind of place where people from another country might throw a rowdy party next-door but their neighbours wouldn’t mind? I thought it was incredible how so many different types of people had gathered together into one city. It also has a big bridge, and it’s not only because I wanted to have a concert there, but for all these reasons, I thought New York was the perfect place. " - Source: Iwata Asks - Pokémon Black and White

The main lore really had asian influences (yin yang, the dialogues of the sages, etc.), although some fans still interpret the whole dichotomy between the unova dragons and brothers as a reference to the ideological political past of the United States, but of course , that is just an interpretation of the fans. But still, the lore also approached the concept of conflicts between ideas and "realities", and harmony and consensus among different peoples. Also was the first Pokemon game to really feature racial diversity at all.

But other than that, the game was filled with a lot of others references. Many of them stereotyped. But still. The most obvious references I can think of now: about the places, the Skyarrow Bridge (inspired also by the Rainbow Bridge), Nimbasa City and its amusement park, Liberty Garden, Virbank City, Castelia City...Regarding the dex, Beheeyem and Elgyem (UFO's "pop culture"), Timburr, Gurdurr and Conkeldurr (construction workers), Watchog (MTA workers), Scraggy and Scrafty, Rufflet and Braviary, Bouffalant etc...Regarding characters, Elesa, Clay, Drayden, Roxie, Alder, Marshal, Skyla, and many common NPCs, like the Basketball and Football's players etc...Regarding features, the PokéStar Studios, Pokémon Musical, Battle Subway, PWT...There are much more, but those are the most obvious one I can remeber now off the top of my head.

To a lesser extent, something that is totally my interpretation, is Relic Castle's origins. I always thought that despite being in a sand desert, by the visual of the place and by the pictures of Volcarona on the wall, it could represent cultural traits of America indigenou's culture (probably referencing South America's indigenous, given the Volcarona). But I'm not sure, this one is just my interpretation. But we also had Sigilyph (Nazca Lines, Peru) this generation.

30-mazeend.png

Unova probably cames from United States of America. (the sound of "u~n~of a"). And the others names around the world come from "union", "unity", and some of them from "one".

fuaxsYb.png

But another source said that it was aimed for 2018 release before it was given more time right?
So it wasn't fully debunked, but rather is just very unlikely due to the map calendar hint in LGPE.

I'm sorry, but at this point, Piuk was already totally debunked. Piuk said he got his leaks through Italian localization work. But Pixelpar and others reliable leakers have already confirmed that the localization work of the games began recently (it's obvious though, that they would not start a localization work so early).
 
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Biggest concern is how will this gen connect to past generations. If they decide to use pokebank that would mean that wifi connectivity is very much needed and if the rumors are true that 3ds will have its last year this year that means that they would stop the wifi support for 3ds just like what they did tp nds meaning it will hinder the pokebank app. So what now?
They will stop producing 3DS games, but online service should continue for awhile still- and as long as Pokebank remains programmed to respond to the 3DS, I'm sure it will be fine.
 
I really feel second-hand embarrassment when I'm reading posts of people trying to show off as if they know stuff about the UK but actually don't.

UK and Sinnoh (remakes) could form a very nice pair. Also, if that's the case, I can't wait to feed my character lots of Magikarp and Patoto berries.
 
Snivy/Tepig/Oshawott were meant to represent French/Chinese/Japanese Cultures, and hence a "melting pot" in regards to New York City. The legendary Pokemon were also based around this, as you had the Musketeers, Tao Dragons, and Kami Gods. Problem is that these cultures don't exactly represent "all" of America, or aren't exactly the best representation. Things are also "subtle" as other posters have said, and not "in your face" as one would expect from our country:

2965051856_ea2cb47cf9_z.jpg


There is also a pub in NYC called the 3 Wise Monkeys based around the same motif, and they have what appears to be "Munna" (really a pink elephant but its very close) in style advertised alongside the monkeys.

France was the first U.S. ally and gifter of the Statue of Liberty, then there's Chinatown, and finally Japanese culture has had an obvious strong influence on American culture and vice-versa. So its all relative I suppose. As someone who actually does live in NY (upstate) and has been to NYC, Unova feels simultaneously accurate in some places and barren in others. Personally, I'd swap out some things in the dex (I'd swap out the fossils for the Kalos ones for starters) to make things seem more accurate. Also would have added Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist for Halloween. The biggest problem above all was the lack of in game advertising... like really, there should have been posters, billboards, ads, and what-have-you of Unova mons everywhere. Some wanted posters of Scraggy/Krokorok, some cartoonish ads for Gothita/Betty Boop, etc.

Also agree with whoever said Unova probably most resembled 70s-80s styled America, when more Eastern influences started becoming a thing. It wasn't badly handled, but it may have been better to not have been so subtle since it was America. I think the UK (or wherever) will probably be in the trend of "obviously British" like how the last two gen's culture's were obviously French/Hawaiian.
If they wanted to portray Unova as a " melting pot " I feel like California, specifically the San Francisco Bay Area would have been much better choice. I live in the Bay Area, and there are tons of diversity everywhere, primarily Asians/Whites/Black. Not to mention that California is Global Leader in technology as well as fast food, hippie culture, film industry in America, as well as computers and Internet, all things Unova features.
Yeah, here one of the interviews that Masuda talks about:

" Q: How do you choose what region a Pokemon game takes place in? Do your journeys influence that decision? What about Italy, is there a chance a future Pokemon game could take place in our peninsula and feature some typical cities and cultural elements?

A (Masuda): First we choose the theme of the game and then we decide where it will take place. For example, in X and Y we picked France because of the "beauty" theme (Kalos means beauty in Ancient Greek). We wanted to highlight this aspect seeing as this was our first game on 3DS. In Black and White the theme was "union" so there were a lot of different people and cities, all united together. Perhaps in the future we'll find a theme which could be represented by Italy, who knows... laughter " - Source: Pokémon Millennium Interview

"
Iwata: - Why Isshu?

Masuda: - Pokémon and people of all kinds gather in this region, resulting in tashu (Japanese for “various kinds”).

Iwata: - Oh, so Isshu comes from isshurui (one kind).

Masuda: - Right. There may be many kinds (tashu) of people gathered there, but if you look from afar, the region looks like it only has one kind (isshu), so we gave it the name Isshu. In that way, it’s a lot like New York.

Iwata: - New York is indeed an interesting place where a wide variety of people and cultures mingle.

Masuda: - Yes. Doesn’t it sort of feel like the kind of place where people from another country might throw a rowdy party next-door but their neighbours wouldn’t mind? I thought it was incredible how so many different types of people had gathered together into one city. It also has a big bridge, and it’s not only because I wanted to have a concert there, but for all these reasons, I thought New York was the perfect place. " - Source: Iwatas Asks - Pokémon Black and White

The main lore really had asiatics influences (yin yang, the dialogues of the sages, etc.), although some fans still interpret the whole dichotomy between the unova dragons and brothers as a reference to the ideological political past of the United States, but of course , that is just an interpretation of the fans. But still, the lore also approached the concept of conflicts between ideas and "realities", and harmony and consensus among different peoples. Also was the first Pokemon game to really feature racial diversity at all.

But other than that, the game was filled with a lot of others references. Many of them stereotyped. But still. The most obvious references I can think of now: about the places, the Skyarrow Bridge (inspired also by the Rainbow Bridge), Nimbasa City and its amusement park, Liberty Garden, Virbank City, Castelia City...Regarding the dex, Beheeyem and Elgyem (UFO's "pop culture"), Timburr, Gurdurr and Conkeldurr (construction workers), Watchog (MTA workers), Scraggy and Scrafty, Rufflet and Braviary, Bouffalant etc...Regarding characters, Elesa, Clay, Drayden, Roxie, Alder, Marshal, Skyla, and many common NPCs, like the Basketball and Football's players etc...Regarding features, the PokéStar Studios, Pokémon Musical, Battle Subway, PWT...There are much more, but those are the most obvious one I can remeber now off the top of my head.

To a lesser extent, something that is totally my interpretation, is Relic Castle's origins. I always thought that despite being in a sand desert, by the visual of the place and by the pictures of Volcarona on the wall, it could represent cultural traits of America's indigenous culture (probably from South America). But I'm not sure, this one is just my interpretation. But we also had Sigilyph (Nazca Lines, Peru).

30-mazeend.png

Unova probably cames from United States of America. (the sound of "u~n~of a"). And the others names around the world come from "union", "unity", and some of them from "one".

fuaxsYb.png



I'm sorry, but at this point, Piuk was already totally debunked. Piuk said he got his leaks through Italian localization work. But Pixelpar and others reliable leakers have already confirmed that the localization work of the games began recently (it's obvious though, that they would not start a localization work so early).
I found an article of someone who lived in Hawaii comparing Alola to the actual Hawaii and how it feels like a Japanese tourist trip: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/ypqany/pokemon-sun-and-moon-is-a-tourists-version-of-hawaii

I actually published a post on Smogon on why I think Pokemon's Quality is going down on and lack of Advancement on huge Gameplay changes from Artist's point of view on their unpopular opinions. It also have some opinions and feelings of culture interpretation of GF:

As an aspiring Concept Artist for video games and movies, I want to really go through the games and see who made the work I love so I can have mangers understand my art from inspirational context. While Pokemon is not a major inspiration, it still probably has played a role in influencing me. So I've been going through GameFreak's staff for video games, specifically the art department, and.... I've been disappointed. From XY and ORAS, Ken Sugimori was the Art Director. He was also the character art director for DPPT, Gold and Silver, Red and Blue, as well as for Ruby and Sapphire. Basically all the generations except Gen 7, he was in charge of the Art Direction. And in BW he co-starred in as the Director alongside Takao Unno, who did most of the games Ken Sugimori didn't direct. ( Before I go any further, this post will primarily focus on the Art direction, but I'm sure you can apply what I done here to other areas of Game Design. ) Only in Gen 7 the two people weren't the directors, but they still played a pivotal role.

So why is this a problem? The quality of Pokemon Designs and overall art is starting to show. Remember how in Black and White several of the Pokemon were clearly designed as parallels? Like Roggenrola=Geodude, Klink=Magnemite, Tauros=Boufallant? Well on Bulbapedia, I checked people like Reiko Tanoue, Keiko Mortigsu, and Saya Tsuruta, people who didn't work on Pokemon Games in Diamond and Pearl, all I saw was illustrated cards. My guess is that there handed a finished Pokemon Design and are just told to draw the official art or some minor Illustration showing off the features like Pokemon Amie. The primary designers were Ken Sugimori, Yuskuke Omura, Atsuko Nishida, most of which were designing since Red and Blue. But the most jarring example of proof " running out of ideas. "would be Xerneas and Yveltal. Sugimori has always been the one to design the cover legendaries, so when he encountered Artist's Block, he had to give the designs to Yusuke Ohmura to finish up the design before resuming them. And that artist's block is also why Mega Flygon never became a thing. As a result, Pokemon's character design quality is also starting to reduce: There are much less Pokemon, partially because of the sheer amount, but also because the developers are probably suffering from a form of Artist's block, but who could blame them? They've been doing it for 20 years. It may also explain why Mega Evolutions and Alola Forms became a thing: They save a lot of time designing since they are already have a base design. Remember how I said people were upset at Necrozma for ripping off Kyurem? I think another fear people have is that fusion is going to become a new “ gimmick “ that’s now cool at first, and it’s slowly becoming a reality since Necrozma does it. What if the Gen 8 legendaries can fuse with one another? And then Gen 9? And the Generations 10? Fusion was cool at first, but now its very clearly a cliche now.

As for the regions, I'm content for the most part, since GF does their research when they do regions. My major complaint though it seems to be from the tourist's point of view- specifically Japanese. Masuda said here that France was chosen because it has strong connection to Japan, primarily for Anime and the Japan Expo. So in cities like Lumiose it’s full of Cafes and Shops, but when you contrast that with Saffron City, another Meteropolis, and you’ll see the differences; There are buildings where people live, and much less tourism attractions. It’s based off Tokyo another Meteropolis in similar vain of Paris, but there should be just as many tourist attractions right? But no. Alola’s worse, since there are tons of hotels, travel bureaus, and tourists everywhere: Aside from Z-Move lore, there’s not much history. But who could blame them? GF is primarily Japanese, so what they do seems ok in the eyes of Japan Audience. At least they haven’t made offensive portrayal yet, unlike Disney.

Now we all just criticized Disney for taking Solo for granted as well as cultural appropriation, but they do also do a lot more differently than GameFreak when it comes to making their Animated movies ( Before I'm going any further, yes I gonna be comparing to video games. Why? Because a lot of components of video games, like Computer Animation, Storyboarding, Visual Effects, Scriptwriting, Concept Art etc. can be applied to movies in the same fashion as video games. ) For starters, Disney allows internships which allows students to work with professionals when there making their movies which means working with workers on the actual movie product. One of the schools I've applied to has representatives from Disney come to the campus to recruit Majors from their Illustration program for interns at Disney. GF doesn't do that. I googled internships at GF, and this is what I found. No internships offered.

As for their Job descriptions ( I used Google Translate. ):

1. HR recruitment
2. Information Management
3. Game Programmer
4. CI programmer
5. Planner
6. Modeler/Animator/Rigger
7. Draft Planning
8. Graphic Designer: Map
9. Motion Production Management.

There are a couple more, but I think its kind of a clear what the idea of the new staff role is supposed to be. Its primarily just programming and Animation, which is more like giving parts of a car and being told to assemble the car from the already created pieces. ( I'm not saying that these are unimportant, it just shows how afraid GF is of letting the younger staff take in charge of creation. ) The Staff of Let's Go games show a lot of non-Japanese people work on the animation section, which I guess is from these ads.

As for Disney, its a bit harder to navigate because Disney is so huge, and while there were more human officers, engineers, and production managers more than art jobs, there were some notable examples ( I'm sure there are more opportunities, haven't gone through all of Disney's branches. ):
Interns:

1. Intern CG Artist Summer of 2019
2. Intern, Story Artist Summer 2019

Jobs:
3. Character TD
4. Story Artist
These Summer of 2019 are courses designed to prepare students for their jobs at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and in addition new recruits for the jobs sections go through Apprentice Program from a mentor to ensure they know the culture and expectations of the studios. Not to mention, Disney does not require the applicants to be fluent in English, in contrast to GF, which requires Japanese to be considered for the job. As a result, the diversity in Japan is not heterogenous. And it does influence on presentation, but before I go into that, I want to show off how open Disney is for their positions. Look at these crews for these films.

1. Tangled ( 2010 )
2. Wreck-It-Ralph ( 2012 )
3. Frozen ( 2013 )
4. Big Hero 6 ( 2014 )
5. Zootopia ( 2016 )
6. Moana ( 2016 )
7. Ralph Breaks the Internet ( 2018 )

See how different they are per film?

Not to mention the art directors have been ( mostly ) different.

1. David Goetz, Dan Cooper
2. Ian Gooding, Mike Gabriel
3. Michael Giamo
4. Scott Wanatabe
5. Matthias Lechner
6. Andrew Edward Harkness
7. Ami Thompson, Matthias Lechner

See how all the Art Directors have been primarily different? Out of all these, only one pair shared directors. It makes a huge difference since every art director is different, each invites a different crew that is not only very different and each from different cultural backgrounds, so Disney has high expectations to create a film that is appropriate to everyone, and also has a meaningful message for each film that is global: What it means to be a hero, The power of sister bonds, the harm of prejudice, etc. In Pokémon, the only message that seems to get out to the audience is to got to catch em all and be the very best. I mean there sure motifs like Beauty in XY or tradition in GS, but those are subtle and have nothing much to do with the players primary goal.

As for culture mimicking, Pixar did it perfectly in their Coco film. The developers went to live with a family in Mexico before the Day Of the Dead to ensure their film wouldn’t be opposed of cultural appropriation. When they went to live with locals, they learned that family is highly valued, and the Day of the Dead is about remembering your family through fiestas and offering. ( Contrary to popular belief, it’s not anything like Halloween. ) They even went out of their way to hire a Mexican Cast for the entire film, and it does make a difference because the people really know what it’s like to live there and can properly relate to the roles.

The GameFreak analogy would be that instead of just having Japanese people go to France to ‘understand the region.’, they should also have people who lived in France help design it, since they would understand the culture there much better. Of course Kalos is not an exact replica of France, but you can tell that GF wanted to show you the culture of France, but the way they executed it makes it a Japanese tourist’s Point of view, with lots of cafes, resturants, and boutiques, all things that tourists do in France. Do French people give discounts for being fashonible? Or kick you out for not being fashionable enough? The way GF presents makes me feel like fashion is everything there. But there’s more France than just fashion. Like how France has one of the highest tolerances for religion and thus a popular have for minorities, but no mention of it in XY.

So what I’m trying to say is this: I believe the quality of the games and failure of any dedicated advancement in gameplay because the same people have been directing and designing the for the last 20 years, and their reluctance to let new people direct games and design Pokémon is starting to take a toll. But the most infuriating fact is that GF can make their projects more accessible. The reason I bring Disney and Pixar into this is because they make high quality films and constantly offer jobs and internships to work on major projects. And it’s not like GF can’t afford to do anything that Disney does. Pokémon is the world’s biggest media franchise, so in fact, they arguably have more influence on the world than Disney, especially considering Pokémon Go brought people of all ages, whether they knew Pokémon before to the franchise. Yet, the franchise remains homogeneous, secretive, and traditional as ever. And the effects are starting just show in the rating and sales. USM had the same rating as SM, despite having more content. Pokémon Let’s Go sale had only hit 4 million in UK isn’t good either. Focusing primarily on Japan and making the rest of the world feel like extras is going to hurt the franchise in the long run because Pokémon is now a global phenomenon, not just a Japanese one.

EDIT: I have hopes that younger staff will make a breakthrough for the 2019 games, but as long as these traditional roles and values stay, I doubt we'll get Pokemon version of Breath of the Wild.
 
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If they wanted to portray Unova as a " melting pot " I feel like California, specifically the San Francisco would have been much better. I live in the Bay Area, and there are tons of diversity everywhere, primarily Asians/Whites/Black. Not to mention that California is Global Leader in technology as well as fast food, hippie culture, film industry in America, as well as computers and Internet, all things Unova features.

I found an article of someone who lived in Hawaii comparing Alola to the actual Hawaii and how it feels like a Japanese tourist trip: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/ypqany/pokemon-sun-and-moon-is-a-tourists-version-of-hawaii

I actually published a post on Smogon on why I think Pokemon's Quality is going down on and lack of Advancement on huge Gameplay changes from Artist's point of view on their unpopular opinions. It also have some opinions and feelings of culture interpretation of GF:

As an aspiring Concept Artist for video games and movies, I want to really go through the games and see who made the work I love so I can have mangers understand my art from inspirational context. While Pokemon is not a major inspiration, it still probably has played a role in influencing me. So I've been going through GameFreak's staff for video games, specifically the art department, and.... I've been disappointed. From XY and ORAS, Ken Sugimori was the Art Director. He was also the character art director for DPPT, Gold and Silver, Red and Blue, as well as for Ruby and Sapphire. Basically all the generations except Gen 7, he was in charge of the Art Direction. And in BW he co-starred in as the Director alongside Takao Unno, who did most of the games Ken Sugimori didn't direct. ( Before I go any further, this post will primarily focus on the Art direction, but I'm sure you can apply what I done here to other areas of Game Design. ) Only in Gen 7 the two people weren't the directors, but they still played a pivotal role.

So why is this a problem? The quality of Pokemon Designs and overall art is starting to show. Remember how in Black and White several of the Pokemon were clearly designed as parallels? Like Roggenrola=Geodude, Klink=Magnemite, Tauros=Boufallant? Well on Bulbapedia, I checked people like Reiko Tanoue, Keiko Mortigsu, and Saya Tsuruta, people who didn't work on Pokemon Games in Diamond and Pearl, all I saw was illustrated cards. My guess is that there handed a finished Pokemon Design and are just told to draw the official art or some minor Illustration showing off the features like Pokemon Amie. The primary designers were Ken Sugimori, Yuskuke Omura, Atsuko Nishida, most of which were designing since Red and Blue. But the most jarring example of proof " running out of ideas. "would be Xerneas and Yveltal. Sugimori has always been the one to design the cover legendaries, so when he encountered Artist's Block, he had to give the designs to Yusuke Ohmura to finish up the design before resuming them. And that artist's block is also why Mega Flygon never became a thing. As a result, Pokemon's character design quality is also starting to reduce: There are much less Pokemon, partially because of the sheer amount, but also because the developers are probably suffering from a form of Artist's block, but who could blame them? They've been doing it for 20 years. It may also explain why Mega Evolutions and Alola Forms became a thing: They save a lot of time designing since they are already have a base design. Remember how I said people were upset at Necrozma for ripping off Kyurem? I think another fear people have is that fusion is going to become a new “ gimmick “ that’s now cool at first, and it’s slowly becoming a reality since Necrozma does it. What if the Gen 8 legendaries can fuse with one another? And then Gen 9? And the Generations 10? Fusion was cool at first, but now its very clearly a cliche now.

As for the regions, I'm content for the most part, since GF does their research when they do regions. My major complaint though it seems to be from the tourist's point of view- specifically Japanese. Masuda said here that France was chosen because it has strong connection to Japan, primarily for Anime and the Japan Expo. So in cities like Lumiose it’s full of Cafes and Shops, but when you contrast that with Saffron City, another Meteropolis, and you’ll see the differences; There are buildings where people live, and much less tourism attractions. It’s based off Tokyo another Meteropolis in similar vain of Paris, but there should be just as many tourist attractions right? But no. Alola’s worse, since there are tons of hotels, travel bureaus, and tourists everywhere: Aside from Z-Move lore, there’s not much history. But who could blame them? GF is primarily Japanese, so what they do seems ok in the eyes of Japan Audience. At least they haven’t made offensive portrayal yet, unlike Disney.

Now we all just criticized Disney for taking Solo for granted as well as cultural appropriation, but they do also do a lot more differently than GameFreak when it comes to making their Animated movies ( Before I'm going any further, yes I gonna be comparing to video games. Why? Because a lot of components of video games, like Computer Animation, Storyboarding, Visual Effects, Scriptwriting, Concept Art etc. can be applied to movies in the same fashion as video games. ) For starters, Disney allows internships which allows students to work with professionals when there making their movies which means working with workers on the actual movie product. One of the schools I've applied to has representatives from Disney come to the campus to recruit Majors from their Illustration program for interns at Disney. GF doesn't do that. I googled internships at GF, and this is what I found. No internships offered.

As for their Job descriptions ( I used Google Translate. ):

1. HR recruitment
2. Information Management
3. Game Programmer
4. CI programmer
5. Planner
6. Modeler/Animator/Rigger
7. Draft Planning
8. Graphic Designer: Map
9. Motion Production Management.

There are a couple more, but I think its kind of a clear what the idea of the new staff role is supposed to be. Its primarily just programming and Animation, which is more like giving parts of a car and being told to assemble the car from the already created pieces. ( I'm not saying that these are unimportant, it just shows how afraid GF is of letting the younger staff take in charge of creation. ) The Staff of Let's Go games show a lot of non-Japanese people work on the animation section, which I guess is from these ads.

As for Disney, its a bit harder to navigate because Disney is so huge, and while there were more human officers, engineers, and production managers more than art jobs, there were some notable examples ( I'm sure there are more opportunities, haven't gone through all of Disney's branches. ):
Interns:

1. Intern CG Artist Summer of 2019
2. Intern, Story Artist Summer 2019

Jobs:
3. Character TD
4. Story Artist
These Summer of 2019 are courses designed to prepare students for their jobs at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and in addition new recruits for the jobs sections go through Apprentice Program from a mentor to ensure they know the culture and expectations of the studios. Not to mention, Disney does not require the applicants to be fluent in English, in contrast to GF, which requires Japanese to be considered for the job. As a result, the diversity in Japan is not heterogenous. And it does influence on presentation, but before I go into that, I want to show off how open Disney is for their positions. Look at these crews for these films.

1. Tangled ( 2010 )
2. Wreck-It-Ralph ( 2012 )
3. Frozen ( 2013 )
4. Big Hero 6 ( 2014 )
5. Zootopia ( 2016 )
6. Moana ( 2016 )
7. Ralph Breaks the Internet ( 2018 )

See how different they are per film?

Not to mention the art directors have been ( mostly ) different.

1. David Goetz, Dan Cooper
2. Ian Gooding, Mike Gabriel
3. Michael Giamo
4. Scott Wanatabe
5. Matthias Lechner
6. Andrew Edward Harkness
7. Ami Thompson, Matthias Lechner

See how all the Art Directors have been primarily different? Out of all these, only one pair shared directors. It makes a huge difference since every art director is different, each invites a different crew that is not only very different and each from different cultural backgrounds, so Disney has high expectations to create a film that is appropriate to everyone, and also has a meaningful message for each film that is global: What it means to be a hero, The power of sister bonds, the harm of prejudice, etc. In Pokémon, the only message that seems to get out to the audience is to got to catch em all and be the very best. I mean there sure motifs like Beauty in XY or tradition in GS, but those are subtle and have nothing much to do with the players primary goal.

As for culture mimicking, Pixar did it perfectly in their Coco film. The developers went to live with a family in Mexico before the Day Of the Dead to ensure their film wouldn’t be opposed of cultural appropriation. When they went to live with locals, they learned that family is highly valued, and the Day of the Dead is about remembering your family through fiestas and offering. ( Contrary to popular belief, it’s not anything like Halloween. ) They even went out of their way to hire a Mexican Cast for the entire film, and it does make a difference because the people really know what it’s like to live there and can properly relate to the roles.

The GameFreak analogy would be that instead of just having Japanese people go to France to ‘understand the region.’, they should also have people who lived in France help design it, since they would understand the culture there much better. Of course Kalos is not an exact replica of France, but you can tell that GF wanted to show you the culture of France, but the way they executed it makes it a Japanese tourist’s Point of view, with lots of cafes, resturants, and boutiques, all things that tourists do in France. Do French people give discounts for being fashonible? Or kick you out for not being fashionable enough? The way GF presents makes me feel like fashion is everything there. But there’s more France than just fashion. Like how France has one of the highest tolerances for religion and thus a popular have for minorities, but no mention of it in XY.

So what I’m trying to say is this: I believe the quality of the games and failure of any dedicated advancement in gameplay because the same people have been directing and designing the for the last 20 years, and their reluctance to let new people direct games and design Pokémon is starting to take a toll. But the most infuriating fact is that GF can make their projects more accessible. The reason I bring Disney and Pixar into this is because they make high quality films and constantly offer jobs and internships to work on major projects. And it’s not like GF can’t afford to do anything that Disney does. Pokémon is the world’s biggest media franchise, so in fact, they arguably have more influence on the world than Disney, especially considering Pokémon Go brought people of all ages, whether they knew Pokémon before to the franchise. Yet, the franchise remains homogeneous, secretive, and traditional as ever. And the effects are starting just show in the rating and sales. USM had the same rating as SM, despite having more content. Pokémon Let’s Go sale had only hit 4 million in UK isn’t good either. Focusing primarily on Japan and making the rest of the world feel like extras is going to hurt the franchise in the long run because Pokémon is now a global phenomenon, not just a Japanese one.

EDIT: I have hopes that younger staff will make a breakthrough for the 2019 games, but as long as these traditional roles and values stay, I doubt we'll get Pokemon version of Breath of the Wild.

I'm personally don't agree with everything you have said. But I agree with you regarding many points. I had already pointed out many of that points (here).

I think the biggest problem is that Game Freak doesn't invest in their games as much as Disney invests in their movies. And the other problem is that, unlike the Disney movies, where each one is separated from the other, Pokémon games works on a "single" universe, so it will always be necessary for experienced people to be aware of all the care that must be taken in doing things, and I think that limits the younger employees in the company.
 
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I'm personally don't agree with everything you have said. But I agree with you regarding many points. I had already pointed out that (here).

I think the biggest problem is that Game Freak doesn't invest in their games the same money that Disney invests in their movies. And the other problem is that, unlike the Disney movies, where each one is separated from the other, Pokémon games works on a "single" universe, so it will always be necessary for experienced people to be aware of all the care that must be taken in doing things, and I I think that limits the younger employees in the company.
I suppose that could be a legit concern considering that all Pokémon games to take place in universe, though just because someone doesn’t know much about Pokémon doesn’t mean they can’t be trusted to not make a game good simply because they haven’t had much experience . Take Yusuke Kozaki for example, the Illustrator for Pokémon GO, Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates. He knew little information on Fire Emblem but was still hired to design characters for Awakening.

Anyway, I think the best way to look at the region’s basis is to choose based on its relationship to Japan- New York- Japanese Immigrants, France- Manga\Anime, Hawaii-Japanese Tourism. Even if GF says the region was chosen for it fitting the ‘ theme ‘ the relationship to Japan is probably more important. So when we speculate countries, speculate based on its relationship to Japan, not whether it’s interesting.
So the 3ds won't be able to connect to wifi at ALL one nintendo shuts it down?
I meant that I don’t think it’ll shut down because Switch and 3DS use the same network, so shutting it down for 3DS would’nt make sense if it operates for Switch.

But yes, should Nintendo shut down Nintendo Newtwork service, the 3DS games will not be able to use WiFi.
 
If they wanted to portray Unova as a " melting pot " I feel like California, specifically the San Francisco Bay Area would have been much better choice. I live in the Bay Area, and there are tons of diversity everywhere, primarily Asians/Whites/Black. Not to mention that California is Global Leader in technology as well as fast food, hippie culture, film industry in America, as well as computers and Internet, all things Unova features.

I found an article of someone who lived in Hawaii comparing Alola to the actual Hawaii and how it feels like a Japanese tourist trip: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/ypqany/pokemon-sun-and-moon-is-a-tourists-version-of-hawaii

I actually published a post on Smogon on why I think Pokemon's Quality is going down on and lack of Advancement on huge Gameplay changes from Artist's point of view on their unpopular opinions. It also have some opinions and feelings of culture interpretation of GF:

As an aspiring Concept Artist for video games and movies, I want to really go through the games and see who made the work I love so I can have mangers understand my art from inspirational context. While Pokemon is not a major inspiration, it still probably has played a role in influencing me. So I've been going through GameFreak's staff for video games, specifically the art department, and.... I've been disappointed. From XY and ORAS, Ken Sugimori was the Art Director. He was also the character art director for DPPT, Gold and Silver, Red and Blue, as well as for Ruby and Sapphire. Basically all the generations except Gen 7, he was in charge of the Art Direction. And in BW he co-starred in as the Director alongside Takao Unno, who did most of the games Ken Sugimori didn't direct. ( Before I go any further, this post will primarily focus on the Art direction, but I'm sure you can apply what I done here to other areas of Game Design. ) Only in Gen 7 the two people weren't the directors, but they still played a pivotal role.

So why is this a problem? The quality of Pokemon Designs and overall art is starting to show. Remember how in Black and White several of the Pokemon were clearly designed as parallels? Like Roggenrola=Geodude, Klink=Magnemite, Tauros=Boufallant? Well on Bulbapedia, I checked people like Reiko Tanoue, Keiko Mortigsu, and Saya Tsuruta, people who didn't work on Pokemon Games in Diamond and Pearl, all I saw was illustrated cards. My guess is that there handed a finished Pokemon Design and are just told to draw the official art or some minor Illustration showing off the features like Pokemon Amie. The primary designers were Ken Sugimori, Yuskuke Omura, Atsuko Nishida, most of which were designing since Red and Blue. But the most jarring example of proof " running out of ideas. "would be Xerneas and Yveltal. Sugimori has always been the one to design the cover legendaries, so when he encountered Artist's Block, he had to give the designs to Yusuke Ohmura to finish up the design before resuming them. And that artist's block is also why Mega Flygon never became a thing. As a result, Pokemon's character design quality is also starting to reduce: There are much less Pokemon, partially because of the sheer amount, but also because the developers are probably suffering from a form of Artist's block, but who could blame them? They've been doing it for 20 years. It may also explain why Mega Evolutions and Alola Forms became a thing: They save a lot of time designing since they are already have a base design. Remember how I said people were upset at Necrozma for ripping off Kyurem? I think another fear people have is that fusion is going to become a new “ gimmick “ that’s now cool at first, and it’s slowly becoming a reality since Necrozma does it. What if the Gen 8 legendaries can fuse with one another? And then Gen 9? And the Generations 10? Fusion was cool at first, but now its very clearly a cliche now.

As for the regions, I'm content for the most part, since GF does their research when they do regions. My major complaint though it seems to be from the tourist's point of view- specifically Japanese. Masuda said here that France was chosen because it has strong connection to Japan, primarily for Anime and the Japan Expo. So in cities like Lumiose it’s full of Cafes and Shops, but when you contrast that with Saffron City, another Meteropolis, and you’ll see the differences; There are buildings where people live, and much less tourism attractions. It’s based off Tokyo another Meteropolis in similar vain of Paris, but there should be just as many tourist attractions right? But no. Alola’s worse, since there are tons of hotels, travel bureaus, and tourists everywhere: Aside from Z-Move lore, there’s not much history. But who could blame them? GF is primarily Japanese, so what they do seems ok in the eyes of Japan Audience. At least they haven’t made offensive portrayal yet, unlike Disney.

Now we all just criticized Disney for taking Solo for granted as well as cultural appropriation, but they do also do a lot more differently than GameFreak when it comes to making their Animated movies ( Before I'm going any further, yes I gonna be comparing to video games. Why? Because a lot of components of video games, like Computer Animation, Storyboarding, Visual Effects, Scriptwriting, Concept Art etc. can be applied to movies in the same fashion as video games. ) For starters, Disney allows internships which allows students to work with professionals when there making their movies which means working with workers on the actual movie product. One of the schools I've applied to has representatives from Disney come to the campus to recruit Majors from their Illustration program for interns at Disney. GF doesn't do that. I googled internships at GF, and this is what I found. No internships offered.

As for their Job descriptions ( I used Google Translate. ):

1. HR recruitment
2. Information Management
3. Game Programmer
4. CI programmer
5. Planner
6. Modeler/Animator/Rigger
7. Draft Planning
8. Graphic Designer: Map
9. Motion Production Management.

There are a couple more, but I think its kind of a clear what the idea of the new staff role is supposed to be. Its primarily just programming and Animation, which is more like giving parts of a car and being told to assemble the car from the already created pieces. ( I'm not saying that these are unimportant, it just shows how afraid GF is of letting the younger staff take in charge of creation. ) The Staff of Let's Go games show a lot of non-Japanese people work on the animation section, which I guess is from these ads.

As for Disney, its a bit harder to navigate because Disney is so huge, and while there were more human officers, engineers, and production managers more than art jobs, there were some notable examples ( I'm sure there are more opportunities, haven't gone through all of Disney's branches. ):
Interns:

1. Intern CG Artist Summer of 2019
2. Intern, Story Artist Summer 2019

Jobs:
3. Character TD
4. Story Artist
These Summer of 2019 are courses designed to prepare students for their jobs at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and in addition new recruits for the jobs sections go through Apprentice Program from a mentor to ensure they know the culture and expectations of the studios. Not to mention, Disney does not require the applicants to be fluent in English, in contrast to GF, which requires Japanese to be considered for the job. As a result, the diversity in Japan is not heterogenous. And it does influence on presentation, but before I go into that, I want to show off how open Disney is for their positions. Look at these crews for these films.

1. Tangled ( 2010 )
2. Wreck-It-Ralph ( 2012 )
3. Frozen ( 2013 )
4. Big Hero 6 ( 2014 )
5. Zootopia ( 2016 )
6. Moana ( 2016 )
7. Ralph Breaks the Internet ( 2018 )

See how different they are per film?

Not to mention the art directors have been ( mostly ) different.

1. David Goetz, Dan Cooper
2. Ian Gooding, Mike Gabriel
3. Michael Giamo
4. Scott Wanatabe
5. Matthias Lechner
6. Andrew Edward Harkness
7. Ami Thompson, Matthias Lechner

See how all the Art Directors have been primarily different? Out of all these, only one pair shared directors. It makes a huge difference since every art director is different, each invites a different crew that is not only very different and each from different cultural backgrounds, so Disney has high expectations to create a film that is appropriate to everyone, and also has a meaningful message for each film that is global: What it means to be a hero, The power of sister bonds, the harm of prejudice, etc. In Pokémon, the only message that seems to get out to the audience is to got to catch em all and be the very best. I mean there sure motifs like Beauty in XY or tradition in GS, but those are subtle and have nothing much to do with the players primary goal.

As for culture mimicking, Pixar did it perfectly in their Coco film. The developers went to live with a family in Mexico before the Day Of the Dead to ensure their film wouldn’t be opposed of cultural appropriation. When they went to live with locals, they learned that family is highly valued, and the Day of the Dead is about remembering your family through fiestas and offering. ( Contrary to popular belief, it’s not anything like Halloween. ) They even went out of their way to hire a Mexican Cast for the entire film, and it does make a difference because the people really know what it’s like to live there and can properly relate to the roles.

The GameFreak analogy would be that instead of just having Japanese people go to France to ‘understand the region.’, they should also have people who lived in France help design it, since they would understand the culture there much better. Of course Kalos is not an exact replica of France, but you can tell that GF wanted to show you the culture of France, but the way they executed it makes it a Japanese tourist’s Point of view, with lots of cafes, resturants, and boutiques, all things that tourists do in France. Do French people give discounts for being fashonible? Or kick you out for not being fashionable enough? The way GF presents makes me feel like fashion is everything there. But there’s more France than just fashion. Like how France has one of the highest tolerances for religion and thus a popular have for minorities, but no mention of it in XY.

So what I’m trying to say is this: I believe the quality of the games and failure of any dedicated advancement in gameplay because the same people have been directing and designing the for the last 20 years, and their reluctance to let new people direct games and design Pokémon is starting to take a toll. But the most infuriating fact is that GF can make their projects more accessible. The reason I bring Disney and Pixar into this is because they make high quality films and constantly offer jobs and internships to work on major projects. And it’s not like GF can’t afford to do anything that Disney does. Pokémon is the world’s biggest media franchise, so in fact, they arguably have more influence on the world than Disney, especially considering Pokémon Go brought people of all ages, whether they knew Pokémon before to the franchise. Yet, the franchise remains homogeneous, secretive, and traditional as ever. And the effects are starting just show in the rating and sales. USM had the same rating as SM, despite having more content. Pokémon Let’s Go sale had only hit 4 million in UK isn’t good either. Focusing primarily on Japan and making the rest of the world feel like extras is going to hurt the franchise in the long run because Pokémon is now a global phenomenon, not just a Japanese one.

EDIT: I have hopes that younger staff will make a breakthrough for the 2019 games, but as long as these traditional roles and values stay, I doubt we'll get Pokemon version of Breath of the Wild.

I mean James Turner did get promoted to Art Director. If generation 8 does take place in England then perhaps James Turner will oversee most of the Pokemon designs and make sure they fit the England lore and British culture?
 
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