Temtem, a Pokemon-like MMO: enough to challenge Pokemon?

[Phosphene]

Please tell me it is not like those ROM hacks that think they are mature, but are in fact childish. I'm asking because I'm still having flashbacks about Pokémon Quartz.

I saw an early playthrough of Temtem and did not notice any sort of glaring mature=swearing tone. That doesn't mean that the tone crops up later in more serious scenes but from what I've seen it isn't noticeable early on.

 

[prog rocker]

I saw an early playthrough of Temtem and did not notice any sort of glaring mature=swearing tone. That doesn't mean that the tone crops up later in more serious scenes but from what I've seen it isn't noticeable early on.

Thank God. Let's just say that things like Pokémon Quartz and the fan translations of both unreleased-in-the-west Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force games make me nervous about that kind of things.

 

[Esserise]

Please tell me it is not like those ROM hacks that think they are mature, but are in fact childish. I'm asking because I'm still having flashbacks about Pokémon Quartz.

From what I've seen it's not anything super edgy, just mild swearing as well as references to, like, pubs and such - drinking establishments. Definitely wouldn't get a child-friendly rating, at least not in the U.S., but it doesn't strike me as egregious.

 

[Silktree]

The 2vs2 gameplay and higher difficulty seem like Temtem's main appeal to me. The exploration department has some tricks, too.

 

[hanecco]

(Sorry if none of this makes sense... I'm pretty sleepy right now.)

But things like difficulty (which is always extremely relative) and how much side-content the games should have? Those are niche concerns. Things cared about only by certain subsets of the fandom, and not really the general audience at large.

IMO, the fanbase who wants increased difficulty/innovation/mature themes, or whatever, are called a minority because of survivorship bias. The fans who got tired of Pokemon not changing have already stopped interacting with the series and left the fanbase, so people who are happy with the franchise make up a larger part of the fanbase. Something like Temtem could appeal to those former fans.

Beyond that, for as much as some fans do not like the current state of Pokémon games, sales continue to suggest that they're a minority.

High sales don't necessarily mean a product is high-quality. However, I accept that sales show that Pokemon doesn't have a serious need to change right now.

A bit off-topic here, but anyway...

And yet despite that, recent entries have still tried, nevertheless, to push the envelope a little more than older games did (such as with Sun & Moon's more story-driven narrative and disposal of all the typical Pokémon iconography, as well as radical new designs styles with the Ultra Beasts

True, but at the same time these things are little more than reskins - nice ones, sure, but they don't change the overall progression of the game much. SM's structure is still the same as previous ones: go through island trials (which are analogous to gyms), watch a few story cutscenes along the way (except Sun and Moon had more of them than previous games), and confront the Big Bad at the end. You could argue that these changes are what the franchise normally does to update the games for a new generation, as opposed to the developers genuinely wanting to create a radically new experience a la Breath of the Wild did for Zelda.

 

[Esserise]

IMO, the fanbase who wants increased difficulty/innovation/mature themes, or whatever, are called a minority because of survivorship bias. The fans who got tired of Pokemon not changing have already stopped interacting with the series and left the fanbase, so people who are happy with the franchise make up a larger part of the fanbase. Something like Temtem could appeal to those former fans.

I'm not sure that makes much of a difference in practice, unless that lapsed fanbase is some slumbering giant of an untapped market comprising many tens of millions of people who would flock to Temtem and put enough money behind it for the Pokémon producers to take notice.

High sales don't necessarily mean a product is high-quality.

I didn't say that it did - it does however show that the consumer base for the games as they are now is firmly and reliably present.

True, but at the same time these things are little more than reskins - nice ones, sure, but they don't change the overall progression of the game much. SM's structure is still the same as previous ones: go through island trials (which are analogous to gyms), watch a few story cutscenes along the way (except Sun and Moon had more of them than previous games), and confront the Big Bad at the end. You could argue that these changes are what the franchise normally does to update the games for a new generation, as opposed to the developers genuinely wanting to create a radically new experience a la Breath of the Wild did for Zelda.

Well, I did not equate SM's changes to BOTW-tier reimagination (which again is something I actually very much would like to see for the series, but it hasn't happened yet). Nevertheless, the vast aesthetic overhaul that SM brought was a pretty stark break from previous games - try going back to leak threads from 2016 when it was reported that the games would abandon Gyms in favor of boss Pokémon and read how people reacted. For a game series that had rigidly stuck to one particular set of aesthetic presentations for twenty years, SM's departure from that was still a bold move, even if the functionalities remained highly comparable. We're talking about an immersive audiovisual medium, after all - core aesthetic choices and details are a big part of any game.

 

[prog rocker]

I just realized Temtem is online-only. That pretty much killed Temtem for me since my Internet provider is crap and sadly, I have no other options. Not because of money issues, but because there are no other internet providers that are available in my zone.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

The only thing that can really challenge Pkmn are the Pkmn fans themselves. We are the ones that can make ourselves heard and vote with our wallets. The truth is that the boycott was unfortunately more of a fuss than actual stances and decision to not buy the games but the recent Warcraft 3 and Sonic incidents have proved that the fans can make a difference when united and commited.
This is why I think that Temtem won't make that much of a difference regarding Pkmn. It's somewhat of a novelty but one that'll pass.

 

[RileyXY1]

Such as...?

I agree with you, though. Temtem feels too search-and-replace, like it was originally going to be a fan-game. Pokémon Trainers Temtem Tamers capture monsters using balls cards like it's Power Rangers SPD and have to stop an evil team clan from taking over the world. Spectrobes was a cash-in, but at least it had its own identity and a unique setting.

TemTem is I believe meant to be an alternative to Pokemon. It's similarity to Pokemon actually makes it easier for Pokemon veterans to play the game, and I believe that's the game's target demographic.