The Pokemon Switch Version

[RileyXY1]

This. There's a difference between coming up with ideas and what-if scenarios and expecting the games to include every single thing you could've ever wanted. There's a point where not getting your hopes up and just taking whatever crap the developer slings at you just doesn't work anymore when the game fails to meet even your basic expectations, and I think a lot of people have reached that point now with Pokemon. I don't see anything wrong with people discussing what could be better in the series, there's a lot of things they could (and really should) be doing better. But at the same time you need to recognize that the games aren't going to fulfill every single desire you ever had.

That's what you need to take note of. The games will most likely not be a full open world game.

 

[Bolt Strike]

That's what you need to take note of. The games will most likely not be a full open world game.

Open world isn't really "every single desire" territory. A big ask maybe, but not every single desire. Nevertheless, I can be flexible about open world, but the games' current size and scale are far from acceptable for console. It's not unreasonable to expect a large step up in that area from them.

 

[RileyXY1]

Open world isn't really "every single desire" territory. A big ask maybe, but not every single desire. Nevertheless, I can be flexible about open world, but the games' current size and scale are far from acceptable for console. It's not unreasonable to expect a large step up in that area from them.

Just because the system is more powerful does not mean that such a large step up is a necessity.

 

[TrainerJaren]

Just because the system is more powerful does not mean that such a large step up is a necessity.

It doesn't need to be a large step up but i think Gamefreaks aim here is to create is premier console experience. Every other mainline Pokemon game has been a premier handheld experience. USUM are 4GB games. The next games need to be indicative of Premier console game but this doesn't necessarily mean true open world.

My guess is Gamefreak will focus heavily on Story presentation and characters in a way they couldn't in the past. Mario and Zelda are not as character driven as pokemon is, so those games can get away with integrating an open world aspect. Hard to make the first gym leader challenging would you've got a level 50+ team through the non story quests.

Pokemon is way to much about friendship for them to toss that aspect out for true open world gameplay, when the bread of butter of the post game is competitive play anyway.

 

[Bolt Strike]

It doesn't need to be a large step up but i think Gamefreaks aim here is to create is premier console experience. Every other mainline Pokemon game has been a premier handheld experience. USUM are 4GB games. The next games need to be indicative of Premier console game but this doesn't necessarily mean true open world.

My guess is Gamefreak will focus heavily on Story presentation and characters in a way they couldn't in the past. Mario and Zelda are not as character driven as pokemon is, so those games can get away with integrating an open world aspect. Hard to make the first gym leader challenging would you've got a level 50+ team through the non story quests.

Pokemon is way to much about friendship for them to toss that aspect out for true open world gameplay, when the bread of butter of the post game is competitive play anyway.

And just what can they do with story and characters that they couldn't in the past? That's all a matter of writing, you can write a good story for any kind of game on any kind of hardware, that's not going to make the games feel like any more of a console experience. For them to make a premier console experience they need something that takes advantage of the stronger hardware and pushes past the limits of the 3DS. Larger/more open ended maps are a common suggestion because that's an improvement that takes advantage of the hardware, a game like BotW or Odyssey would be too big to run on a handheld like the 3DS for example. For Game Freak to create a console experience they're going to need to make improvements in some combination of graphics, game length, extra content, size and scale of the maps, or online. Those are the aspects of the game that are most affected by technological improvements so those are the best aspects to sell the concept of a premiere console experience. And other console games are MUCH stronger in those areas than Pokemon ever has so they've got a lot of catching up to do to accomplish that kind of experience.

 

[Champloo]

Definitely hope it's some mash up of all the regions, I'm hoping the switch being relatively new will have them more inclined to provide longer play time i.e. more content. Definitely foresee them utilizing the switch's portability in one form or another.

 

[TrainerJaren]

And just what can they do with story and characters that they couldn't in the past? That's all a matter of writing, you can write a good story for any kind of game on any kind of hardware, that's not going to make the games feel like any more of a console experience. For them to make a premier console experience they need something that takes advantage of the stronger hardware and pushes past the limits of the 3DS. Larger/more open ended maps are a common suggestion because that's an improvement that takes advantage of the hardware, a game like BotW or Odyssey would be too big to run on a handheld like the 3DS for example. For Game Freak to create a console experience they're going to need to make improvements in some combination of graphics, game length, extra content, size and scale of the maps, or online. Those are the aspects of the game that are most affected by technological improvements so those are the best aspects to sell the concept of a premiere console experience. And other console games are MUCH stronger in those areas than Pokemon ever has so they've got a lot of catching up to do to accomplish that kind of experience.

Well for one, voice acting, but that's only a piece of what i'm getting at.

Needless to say i think that console experience correlates with everything you listed, but they are going to improve all those parameters anyway, since the hardware is there to do so.

Aside from technical limitations, "that's all a matter of writing" is why Red and Blue story presentation and Sun/Moon story presentation are so different. Over the years you see gamefreak make the shift from the rather cryptic atmosphere of gen 1, to a slightly more interesting Antagonist in Giovannis's son, to the more wide and colorful cast in gen 3 and 4, to an explosion of characters in gen 5 (this includes enemies that become allies in the character of Colress and N,further indicating the sophistication is story development) to gen 7, where the easy going rival becomes the champion and everything in between (Guzma, lusamine, Lillie, all extremely dynamic characters)

Naturally, each one of these upgrades in narrative changed the way characters are expressed in the games in a big way and has been the natural progression of the series. The characters are always the ones who kick the story into the next stage in the games and they are the life blood of the anime. imagine if pokemon switch story was presented almost identically to something like FFXV. You would be playing a much different game, experience wise.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Aside from technical limitations, "that's all a matter of writing" is why Red and Blue story presentation and Sun/Moon story presentation are so different. Over the years you see gamefreak make the shift from the rather cryptic atmosphere of gen 1, to a slightly more interesting Antagonist in Giovannis's son, to the more wide and colorful cast in gen 3 and 4, to an explosion of characters in gen 5 (this includes enemies that become allies in the character of Colress and N,further indicating the sophistication is story development) to gen 7, where the easy going rival becomes the champion and everything in between (Guzma, lusamine, Lillie, all extremely dynamic characters)

You're missing the point though. There's nothing really stopping from making the kinds of storylines we saw in later games on earlier consoles, they simply decided not to. Pretty much the only thing you're going to lose is the cutscenes from 6th and 7th gen, but they haven't really added much anyway.

Naturally, each one of these upgrades in narrative changed the way characters are expressed in the games in a big way and has been the natural progression of the series. The characters are always the ones who kick the story into the next stage in the games and they are the life blood of the anime. imagine if pokemon switch story was presented almost identically to something like FFXV. You would be playing a much different game, experience wise.

Never played Final Fantasy. Explain please.

 

[Midorikawa]

Plenty of console games are not open world. Spyro, kingdom hearts, ratchet and clank. These are all games that are actually pretty linear but are great because they don’t feel it due to the story and different levels. Pokémon does need to add more exploration but they don’t need to go full blown open world. They just need to let us have more freedom and balance cutscenes better becaise you get forced into them way too much and way too often.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Plenty of console games are not open world. Spyro, kingdom hearts, ratchet and clank. These are all games that are actually pretty linear but are great because they don’t feel it due to the story and different levels. Pokémon does need to add more exploration but they don’t need to go full blown open world. They just need to let us have more freedom and balance cutscenes better becaise you get forced into them way too much and way too often.

Those are 15-20 year old games, almost as old as Pokemon itself. So what does that say when games on hardware that ancient have outdone Pokemon in exploration? This just shows how far below the standard Pokemon is.

 

[Midorikawa]

Those are 15-20 year old games, almost as old as Pokemon itself. So what does that say when games on hardware that ancient have outdone Pokemon in exploration? This just shows how far below the standard Pokemon is.

........ratchet and clanks most recent game was 2016. Kingdom hearts has Kingdom hearts 3 coming out this year. And the last Spyro game was released in. 2008 of the Spyro wold games. And he had a sky landers game in 2011.

Point is te most outdated is ten years, and at least two of the three franchises are still popping out games.

 

[Bolt Strike]

........ratchet and clanks most recent game was 2016. Kingdom hearts has Kingdom hearts 3 coming out this year. And the last Spyro game was released in. 2008 of the Spyro wold games. And he had a sky landers game in 2011.

Point is te most outdated is ten years, and at least two of the three franchises are still popping out games.

Ratchet and Clank was a remake. Spyro as we once knew it basically died after Hero's Tail. Not really familiar with Kingdom Hearts. Not exactly modern console experiences.

 

[nickdt]

........ratchet and clanks most recent game was 2016. Kingdom hearts has Kingdom hearts 3 coming out this year. And the last Spyro game was released in. 2008 of the Spyro wold games. And he had a sky landers game in 2011.

Point is te most outdated is ten years, and at least two of the three franchises are still popping out games.

True.... and too add fuel too your argument: new Direct showed Crash Bandicoot, and no way that one is going Open World all off a sudden.

Which means that it only proves a Pokemon Game doesn't have too be Open World to be succesfull

 

[Bolt Strike]

True.... and too add fuel too your argument: new Direct showed Crash Bandicoot, and no way that one is going Open World all off a sudden.

Which means that it only proves a Pokemon Game doesn't have too be Open World to be succesfull

Also a remake. It's not really reasonable to expect a remake to go open world, they'd have to overhaul the game for that to work which would defeat the purpose.

 

[godiego]

So what does that say when games on hardware that ancient have outdone Pokemon in exploration? This just shows how far below the standard Pokemon is.

i think it would state the obvious: that despite what you may think and value in the series, Pokemon isn't as much about exploration. hell, even in the release for promo it's collect, battle, and communicate that are highlighted. not even mentioning that the series' setting isn't even all that fantastic.

 

[Bolt Strike]

i think it would state the obvious: that despite what you may think and value in the series, Pokemon isn't as much about exploration. hell, even in the release for promo it's collect, battle, and communicate that are highlighted.

Which is going to be problematic when they jump to console and the console market wants to explore. If they don't consider exploration to be a key part of the gameplay they're going to need to rethink that.

not even mentioning that the series' setting isn't even all that fantastic.

It doesn't need to be. It just needs to have gameplay that involves navigating a large open/interconnected map. Which it is.

 

[RileyXY1]

Which is going to be problematic when they jump to console and the console market wants to explore. If they don't consider exploration to be a key part of the gameplay they're going to need to rethink that.



It doesn't need to be. It just needs to have gameplay that involves navigating a large open/interconnected map. Which it is.

Exploration is not one of the highlights of Pokemon. It's catching, battling, and trading with friends that are the defining aspects of the franchise. There's no need for a massive open world game, and Pokemon doesn't have to be one.

 

[Midorikawa]

Also a remake. It's not really reasonable to expect a remake to go open world, they'd have to overhaul the game for that to work which would defeat the purpose.

So what? Why bother remaking something that won’t sell?

Which is going to be problematic when they jump to console and the console market wants to explore. If they don't consider exploration to be a key part of the gameplay they're going to need to rethink that.

No they don’t. Some do but not all. So many console games ain’t open world. Most of the open world games I know are basically dungeon crawlers. And unless people like that type of game, then they won’t play it. And plenty don’t like full open world because it’s too much. Sure if a game is strictly exploration then let it be open world. But that’s not Pokémon especially with each game more.

Pokémon is battling, collecting, story, adventure. If you put too much concentration on one aspect it ruins the game. And open world full on would do just that becaise you’d probably get lost going between cities. If I want to spend hours trying to get to my next destination and getting into battle after battles and still not er any closer then I’ll play some other game that I already have the system for.

 

[Bolt Strike]

So what? Why bother remaking something that won’t sell?

So it's not applicable. Remakes and ports are basically just a cheap way of recycling an already designed game to milk extra money out of the game. They typically don't modernize the design or include a lot of modern features in a remake, Pokemon is one of the few IPs that really changes a lot in its remakes. They wouldn't use the same strategy on a new game built from the ground up on vastly more powerful hardware than they did before.

No they don’t. Some do but not all. So many console games ain’t open world. Most of the open world games I know are basically dungeon crawlers. And unless people like that type of game, then they won’t play it. And plenty don’t like full open world because it’s too much. Sure if a game is strictly exploration then let it be open world. But that’s not Pokémon especially with each game more

BotW and 3D Mario aren't strictly exploration either. There really isn't a game that's "strictly exploration", those games tend to have a mix of different elements to them. Exploration is central enough to the core gameplay (again, because the premise involves adventuring through a large region) that open world makes perfect sense for it.

Pokémon is battling, collecting, story, adventure. If you put too much concentration on one aspect it ruins the game. And open world full on would do just that becaise you’d probably get lost going between cities. If I want to spend hours trying to get to my next destination and getting into battle after battles and still not er any closer then I’ll play some other game that I already have the system for.

They can make open world without people getting lost between cities, they just need to make the cities or the paths between them clearly visible. The key to balancing exploration with the other elements is to make it obvious where the main destinations in the game are while still allowing you to veer off the beaten path.

 

[WallflowerCanyon]

I think they can make a region that's exploration-heavy without the open world concept. I thought that out of all the regions thus far, Sinnoh was pretty good for that. If they took something similar to Sinnoh in terms of routes and backtracking, and made it bigger, I'd be a happy camper.