Speculation Should Future Pokémon Games Keep the Same Gimmick/Formula?

[MrMeowPuss]

Now with the release of SV (don’t worry this thread is about all games, not just that one) and many blaming the technical on development time it poses the question, should the games change their formula if they can’t get longer development times?

What I mean by this is in XY/USUM you had Mega Evolutions then in SWSH you had Dynamax and now Tera Raid battles in SV. You’ll also notice with each game the UI changes, sometimes for the better and others for the worse. This can often result in some games feeling like a step forward (PLA) and some feeling like a step back in some ways (SV).

What I’m asking is, should Gamefreak just pick one UI (PLA’s one for example) and continue to build on it rather than changing it each time? Same for the gimmicks, rather than swapping that each game, should they just invest in something like Mega Evolutions and continue to develop it rather than swapping each game?

The obvious benefit of this would be less time needed to develop something from scratch and they could focus their time on something like the performance issues or adding more new content that could be built on rather than thrown out each game.

What do you think of this?

 

[Bolt Strike]

No, I don't think the UI and burst gimmicks have much of an effect on development time. There's really not much they can do to get around the development time issues, the biggest drags on the development time are the HD character models and the large, open areas. The only thing that could really save them development time is reverting to linear gameplay, but that would be a very unpopular decision after they let the genie out of the bottle with LA and SV. They're probably just going to have to bite the bullet and find a way to give the games more time or the glitches and technical issues are here to stay.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

I honestly though Mega Evolution was going to be a continuing mechanic. This was greatly hinted at when we got new Megas in ORAS and had Megas present in SM, USUM, and LGPE. When SwSh introduced Dynamax I thought for sure they'd at least continue to throw Megas into remakes, a something they had done twice with ORAS and LGPE, so the fact that BDSP was missing Megas was honestly shocking to me, especially since the game doesn't utilize Dynamax at all so there would've been room to include Megas. Megas ARE a Pokemon franchise staple, they're still prevalent in both the anime and in side games like Pokemon GO as well as the TCG.

 

[colours]

agreeing with Bolt here, i'd wager generational gimmicks have very little to no real effect on development time. i think the issue is less game mechanics and more scheduling/management-related than anything else, although that is merely conjecture.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

Interesting responses from everyone. I do also think it’s also just knowledge on developing open worlds, they likely didn’t hire anyone experienced in it and it’s the same teams as 2D games so takes them longer than someone more experienced.

Even if it doesn’t effect performance/development time too much, I’d still like them to find a good UI/Gimmick and focus on developing them more.

 

[Jimothy]

I loved Megas and I've more or less made peace with the idea of changing the burst mechanic every generation, but I'd still like to have some way to access the unique forms associated with each mechanic. Maybe something like how Masters has sort of consolidated them into the Synchro mechanic. Of course that does box them in if they want the next mechanic to be drastically different.

And I agree that Megas are not as dead as many people seem to believe. They're still marketed constantly in all sorts of media. Heck, the Pokemon Center recently released a hat that features Charizard, both its Megas, and its GMax.

One thing I find intriguing is Tera Types. I'm sure next gen will have its own burst mechanic, but I'd be interested in them keeping the concept of a dormant third type going forward. I know this was kind of already a thing with Hidden Power types, but I mean moreso how Tera Types are listed on the status screens right beside the main types and how they affect much more than a single move. You could even restrict them a bit in a future gen to add something specific to each monster's identity (all Celebi having Fairy teratype, Gyarados having either Dragon or Dark, all Flygon having a Bug teratype). Basically the way abilities work with all monsters having between 1 and 3. What the dormant type would actually do without Terastillization, I don't know. Would depend on what GF wants to do with the next game's mechanics.