SPOILERS: Rumours/Fakes/Leaks Discussion Thread (V2)

[RJB1987]

Exactly. That's the problem.



Fair; I'm inclined to agree.



GameFreak is a business selling a product that we pay for. This isn't a gift. The entire concept of entitlement is completely irrelevant to this topic. The fanbase has every right to be highly disappointed in the continuance of a practice which is highly outdated and kinda sleazy, especially in the time of free updates and paid DLC. Add this to another two facts:

1) GameFreak already set a bar higher than this: Black 2 and White 2. They've already shown they are capable of developing a proper sequel with plenty of fresh content - a "third version" worth buying. Not to mention the 3rd version staple of having a high-quality, high replay-value, varied battle facility (Battle Frontier/PWT).

2) Not only is the amount of new content in USUM no beefier than a typical $10 DLC ($30 cheaper than a full game release), but USUM is being released only 1 year after its predecessors, whereas Emerald and Platinum at least had the excuse of waiting a solid 2 years.

I hope you enjoy USUM, just as I hope I will do the same - but to ignore the fact that GameFreak has been pushing out games with relatively minimal effort is staggeringly disappointing. This is not just evident in the games and how little they have evolved (must I bring up the fact that they are the only developer incompetent enough to introduce good new features only to take them away in the next entry?), but even in interviews they admit this. Masuda has stated multiple times that they have opted to include less content in their games based on the ridiculous reason that smartphones and their content are popular and they don't think people care about content anymore. Another Pokemon executive stated that they are aware that a third version release like USUM is an outdated practice, but that they thought it would still be successful. Being the developers of Pokemon, they are one of the wealthiest game developers in the world, and they have every capability needed to improve Pokemon games. They didn't even fix the basic QOL issues that many people complained about in SM.



Please. This kind of argument is nothing but fallacy. The people you're telling to make their own games (us, and such people in the fanbase) are not one of the wealthiest and most influential groups of videogame developers with 20+ years of experience, like GameFreak is.

I assure you, I'm not hating. I love Pokemon, I'm looking forward to USUM just as you are (though maybe not as much as I'd like to be able to). But accepting products of such lazy quality when their potential is so much greater will just encourage GameFreak to do nothing to critically improve.

See, I guess I’m coming from a different place - I started with Gen 1 back when they first came to the US, Gen 3 being the last games I purchased for years - almost a decade. I bought a 3DS and ORAS/XY only a few months before SM came out. I found ORAS great but XY lackluster. And that’s okay. SM has me excited again for the series and I had a blast playing them.

I haven’t been with the series with every iteration of the games over the years, so I don’t have nostalgia goggles or anything for two gens I didn’t play and one that I did but wasn’t around for the hype. So to me, compared to Gens 1-3, SM were a huge improvement and I enjoyed the story...

There’s also a few things we need to keep in mind. 1) at the end of the day, these games are geared towards children. Young children. Us older players are not and will not be their target demographic for features/content. And 2) while the games have been highly successful here in the West, we are not the home market for these games nor are our wants going to be the first GameFreak hears. Also, there is a precedent in the gaming community-at-large where fans complain, publishers change something, and it isn’t good. There are many changes or decisions I’d make if I were making Pokémon games, but I’m not.

And I’m sorry, the fan base does come off as entitled and pathetic when they complain about a game and say they’re not going to buy it when they haven’t played it. Yes, GameFreak is a company and in the interest of turning a profit, however, that doesn’t mean some fans don’t take ownership of the franchise and think their opinion is the only one that matters. That’s obnoxious.

 

[Esserise]

I feel much the same. This is why I would prefer if they just made the initial generation pairs much more fleshed out and complete and full of content; as if the "third version" were the original instead. Then, instead of a third version like C/E/Pt/USUM, they could either release a full-fledged sequel or remakes to fill the generation. This way, DLC and updates wouldn't even be necessary (outside of making new forms and such introduced in the sequels/remakes usable in the originals).

I do think that would be the ideal, although it would require them to first slow down their rate of release. Which I don’t think would be a bad idea at all - I don’t even think that Gen 6 needed to end as soon as it did, but I understand how the combination of the anniversary and the Switch might have made things awkward. At least, I’m hoping that was the main culprit for the breakneck pace of the 3DS era. I’d like to see a four-year-at-minimum generation on the Switch, but I’m not holding my breath for anything yet.

 

[RJB1987]

I do think that would be the ideal, although it would require them to first slow down their rate of release. Which I don’t think would be a bad idea at all - I don’t even think that Gen 6 needed to end as soon as it did, but I understand how the combination of the anniversary and the Switch might have made things awkward. At least, I’m hoping that was the main culprit for the breakneck pace of the 3DS era. I’d like to see a four-year-at-minimum generation on the Switch, but I’m not holding my breath for anything yet.

That I can agree too - the games need a slightly longer generation cycle. Granted, it’s probably faster and cheaper to produce games now than it was 20 years ago... but yes. The anniversary and the Switch launch forced Gamefreaks’ hand

 

[Zweilous]

And I’m sorry, the fan base does come off as entitled and pathetic when they complain about a game and say they’re not going to buy it when they haven’t played it. Yes, GameFreak is a company and in the interest of turning a profit, however, that doesn’t mean some fans don’t take ownership of the franchise and think their opinion is the only one that matters. That’s obnoxious.

I'm not going to argue over whether fans are being obnoxious over their complaints, but I will ask this in regards to your point: Why would you buy a game that doesn't seem to appeal to you? You wouldn't buy a new vacuum cleaner if you think it's going to break in the middle of cleaning the rug, so why would you buy a game that you think may not be enjoyable for you? The thing is, we do have a datamine that has laid the game pretty much bare for all to see, we have the dialogue and story script, we have the gameplay videos and streams, and what new features it has to offer, and from what those fans are getting it's not appealing to them. The product that GF is trying to sell is not doing a good job of selling itself, and because of that they don't feel the product is worth picking up. You may not agree with them on that notion and think the product is at least worth the look, but at the same time it's their right as costumers to not pay for it if they don't see it as worth putting $40 down for.

 

[Sulfurian]

My response to GF's recent games: Developers want to appeal to the audience of mobile games for a more casual experience.The issue with doing that, which they've obviously done for gen 6-7. "No post game content, stream rolling through the story, characters that talk to you for maybe 10 minutes, or the whole game and still be extremely underdeveloped or forced" all these things lead to strong negatives. But because the majority of buyers are indifferent to these things the devs don't get the valuable critical reviews that they need.

It's not just "Hey I dislike these things" it's more of if they continue it's really going to effect the franchise as a whole, especially on the switch. Sure, it's too early to tell what's going to happen. But it is just as ridiculous to say "Well they've made some questionable mistakes but the switch is going to change all that". Like scrapping kalos, the "remake" of oras was really just another take on the hoenn region. It wasn't anything like FrLg, or HG and SS. Yet they called them remakes. Or because of Pokemon Go and the 20th anniversary there was so many empty holes in the story of alola

To break it down:

XY and Sun and Moon felt unfinished. More so than any other game except maybe Diamond and Pearl.
-parts of the fanbase are indifferent to the dev decisions that ultimately can effect the game quality. Kalos, and the rushed alola region.
-these mistakes are never even addressed in game reviews. Because all they do is play through the story, and then put the game down and review it from the experience. Never going deep enough for valid critism besides "too much water"
-pokemon has much more potential than sitting in the corner of the room collecting dust after you complete the story. Sure there's more things to do but really there isn't enough anymore, especially with switch coming down the line.

 

[Soki]

So um guys, this isn't really about leaks anymore, is it?

What are your feelings on Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon?

^ I think this is the thread you're all looking for. Do make sure to keep Pokémon and story spoilers in spoiler tags though

 

[Necrohunt]

Well, we have at last one rumor ponting to the Switch version of Pokémon coming in 2018 alongside with the new VIII generation.
This thread must continue...

 

[Soki]

Well, we have at last one rumor ponting to the Switch version of Pokémon coming in 2018 alongside with the new VIII generation.
This thread must continue...

Actually no, you're looking for this thread: Generation 8 Rumours/Fakes/Leaks

Keeping this one open in case someone still wants to discuss the leaks we got or for the small chance there's still some USUM leaks coming up. But y'all do keep in mind to please only use this thread for that, we have plenty of other threads for every other kind of discussion. If this thread dies due to no more rumors happening, then just let it die.

 

[PurplePegasus]

It was an interesting leak season for USUM. Some really wild predictions that came true and some others that were too wild.

 

[dCraw]

It was an interesting leak season for USUM. Some really wild predictions that came true and some others that were too wild.

And apparently new Alolan Forms were too wild to be true.

 

[A Wild Luxray]

That's it for this leak season. See you all next year when we likely get close to the beginning of the 8th generation of Pokemon.