What single question would you ask the GameFreak team?

[WyndonCalling]

Keep this one clean; remember there are real, breathing people at play here, and refer to the toxicity notice if it's helpful.

And with that out of the way, this one is as simple as it sounds! You can sit the entire team or just a single individual in front of you; what is it that you want to know?

Myself, I'd love to pick the brains of James Turner, Sword and Shield's Art Director. From prior interviews he's given we know that he wasn't a member of the project from the start, and that once he saw the game in development he immediately set about making changes to better reflect the modern UK - for example, changing the route signage from crenelated castle shapes to actual, contemporary signs. Thus, I'd ask:

- Which change or new element that you introduced - whether it be a single asset or anything up to a whole city - caught the rest of the team the most by surprise?

If I were going to cheat (and I can do that because I'm both the OP and Staff ) my second question would be:

- What exactly is base Duraludon inspired by? The Gigantamax form is obviously a composite of a handful of London buildings, but is the regular form meant to resemble a lighter, or some other equipment?

 

[Phosphene]

Why haven’t you made Turtonator the mascot yet?

 

[Emmy]

I need to ask the riddle for the ages:

What the hell is Jynx supposed to be???

 

[swiftgallade46]

I need to ask the riddle for the ages:

What the hell is Jynx supposed to be???

I believe Jynx is based on a mythical Japanese witch-like creature that lives on icy mountains.

 

[Esserise]

I need to ask the riddle for the ages:

What the hell is Jynx supposed to be???

I considered this, but then decided to use technicality to my advantage:

"Can you give me a rundown of each Pokémon's design influences?"

I believe Jynx is based on a mythical Japanese witch-like creature that lives on icy mountains.

That origin (and frankly all proposed origins) never really felt convincing to me. Particularly because in researching it, I came to feel that the emphasis on "icy" mountains seemed like an embellishment intended to sell the theory. Near as I can tell, that bit is derived from a Noh drama about the creature, which says:

> "Yamauba is the fairy of the mountains, which have been under her care since the world began. She decks them with snow in winter, with blossoms in spring ... She has grown very old. Wild white hair hangs down her shoulders; her face is very thin."

And like, yeah, sure, "snow," but then she also decorates the mountains with flowers in spring, so her thing isn't actually about the cold, it's about the change of seasons. Jynx's hair also isn't really white or wild, nor is her face thin. Nor does Jynx ever seem to live in mountains!

The description on Jynx's origin section on Bulbapedia also seems to go a bit wild with very specific details that I can't find any source for, like the "red kimono," "dark skin," and "large lips." (None of the traditional art I can find seems to feature any of those elements, either.)

All in all, yeah, throw it on the "maybe" pile. But I think we plain and simply just do not know what Jynx is really based on. We can guess and hypothesize, but there's nothing official on the matter.

 

[Alola]

I want to know why they deliberately give Gym Leader's Pokémon incomplete move-sets as of late. What is their justification for doing so?

 

[prog rocker]

Can I see Satoshi Tajiri's book with Gen I's plans?

Sure, I would get a NDA, but I would finally know what that turkey thing was supposed to be.

 

[Welkamo]

Who's idea was it to redesign Wallace for ORAS like that? Whoever it was, thank you.
How are the current designs for the Gym Leaders different from their original/concept designs? (We have things like the GSC beta trainer sprites for, say, Falkner and Bugsy, but I wanna see betas for other Gym Leaders.)

Or better yet, what is the process of designing the Gym Leaders? (Sorry, I just think character design is cool.)

 

[Kallyle]

Why did you decide to implement region-exclusive battle mechanics for the past three regions instead of expanding upon existing ones?

 

[Boss1708]

Why did you decide that kids don't enjoy challenging battle facilities like the Battle Frontier anymore?

 

[Norzan]

Why did you decide that kids don't enjoy challenging battle facilities like the Battle Frontier anymore?

Oh, Masuda gave an answer to that. He thinks kids don't have time for time-consuming activities these days and also don't have the patience for challenging content, hence why Battle Frontier was dropped from ORAS.

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Which he has literally no evidence of such, and also completely contradicts the fact why they keep using the Battle Tower (which is a time-consuming, very often frustrating because of RNG, battle facility.).

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

Why isn't Eiscue part water?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!

Literally look at him go!!!!

 

[Welkamo]

Why isn't Eiscue part water?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!

Literally look at him go!!!!

ooooh shiny!

 

[Esserise]

I want to know why they deliberately give Gym Leader's Pokémon incomplete move-sets as of late. What is their justification for doing so?

My assumption was, it’s just a technical streamlining thing. For example, in Sun & Moon, three Pokémon on Hala’s Elite Four roster only have two moves - Bewear has Hammer Arm and Brutal Swing; Poliwrath has Waterfall and Submission, and Crabominable has Ice Hammer and Close Combat. 5/6ths of these are strong STAB moves, and Bewear’s Brutal Swing is coverage. Essentially what this means is that Hala sticks to one strategy: Attack, Attack, Attack! It keeps it straightforward and simple, and they can let the AI do the work from there. Indeed, even his post-game team, which features full movesets, just adds more offensive coverage moves in order to make the battle slightly more unpredictable. So I think it’s just a way of keeping the AI on a certain track by limiting its options.

Oh, Masuda gave an answer to that. He thinks kids don't have time for time-consuming activities these days and also don't have the patience for challenging content, hence why Battle Frontier was dropped from ORAS.

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Which he has literally no evidence of such, and also completely contradicts the fact why they keep using the Battle Tower (which is a time-consuming, very often frustrating because of RNG, battle facility.).

I mean, you kinda have no evidence that they have no evidence, unless you know what kinds of research they’ve done, or their methods of collecting feedback. Do you?

At any rate, the fact that they, as you say, have continued to include those kinds of features suggests to me that they heard people complaining about the Frontier being gone from ORAS and decided, “Okay, so there is an interest for that kind of thing.” Hence the Battle Agency in USUM and Restricted Sparring in the SwSh DLC. (But of course, these things are going to be subject to the same development constraints as anything else, so I don’t think we’re really likely to see something like an all-out, full-fledged Frontier. That’s a lot of work for something that they’ve determined to be of limited interest.)

Regarding the Battle Tower itself, I don’t really see its continued inclusion as contradictory to the point - a lot of the Battle Tower’s infrastructure is recycled from earlier iterations, so it’s not as much effort to include in order to throw some scraps to the people who do care to bother with it. (And even then, SwSh took steps to make it less of a hassle.)

 

[Norzan]

I mean, you kinda have no evidence that they have no evidence

The fact they don't even show proof for any of their claims is evidence enough though? That's literally my evidence. Because otherwise they would have shown some, wouldn't they?

Regarding the Battle Tower itself, I don’t really see its continued inclusion as contradictory to the point - a lot of the Battle Tower’s infrastructure is recycled from earlier iterations, so it’s not as much effort to include in order to throw some scraps to the people who do care to bother with it. (And even then, SwSh took steps to make it less of a hassle.)

Yeah, but it's still development time to even just recycle a thing they seemingly think people have no patience for. So why even recycle it? Because they have shown no qualms on dropping that seemingly only a minority cares for it, so i doubt they care to give scraps.

 

[swiftgallade46]

The fact they don't even show proof for any of their claims is evidence enough though? That's literally my evidence. Because otherwise they would have shown some, wouldn't they?

Wasn’t it a question he was asked randomly for an interview? How would he have even known to come prepared with evidence?

 

[Welkamo]

Quick question but what is the context of asking this single question? Are we at the Game Freak office building? Are we at a coffee shop? In an elevator?

 

[KJNanika]

This might make me sound like an awful #bringbacknationaldex-er, but I'd ask why GF don't seem to be open to making it possible to transfer more Pokemon from HOME to SwSh with each update until the new Sinnoh games come out

 

[WyndonCalling]

Quick question but what is the context of asking this single question? Are we at the Game Freak office building? Are we at a coffee shop? In an elevator?

Let's say... you're an audience member watching a panel discussion at a con, and it's the post-discussion Q&A. You have the mic.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

ooooh shiny!

I mean, to say he swims is kind of untrue, and to even suggest that he's doing anything but floating is likely a farce, but gosh look how charming this buddy is: