Speculation Future Pokemon Game Speculation Thread

[RileyXY1]

Let’s Go which released in Gen 7 were remakes of Yellow or at least a reimagining of it.

I don't consider them remakes due to excessive gameplay differences, as the gameplay was entirely changed to better resemble the gameplay of Pokémon GO. I classify it as an experimental title alongside Legends Arceus, which use familiar settings as backdrops for completely new styles of gameplay for the main series.

 

[BorealRookidee]

I can't be the only one who hates the ARPG/real-time combat they included in Legends: Arceus, and kind of disliked it for that reason, can I? I really hope it was a one-time thing, but I have a feeling that another one for Johto is going to come out. I actually wouldn't mind if they'd just leave out the real-time combat, which really stresses me out. I didn't even finish Arceus because I knew that the fight against Arceus would be a combination of all the earlier real-time fights. I feel so alone. I did love the ambience and the characters, though. The story was pretty good, too.

I do think Johto is more likely before Unova, because I have a brain that likes to look for patterns and it has noticed the pattern of remakes being released every other gen (except for FRLG being in Gen III). But I know that things don't always go the way you expect them to. I certainly never would have expected something like Legends: Arceus to come out.

Another possibility is a Let's Go-style game, which I would be okay with (more than an Arceus-style game, anyway). But what I would really like--for either Johto or Unova--would be an ORAS-style remake that isn't a carbon copy of the originals, but adds some cool lore and maybe a new character or two. I really loved the redesigns of Team Aqua and Magma, as well as the Delta Episode. ORAS are my favorite remakes by far.

But I think that both another Legends game, or another Let's Go game, are more likely, sadly.

I absolutely loved PLA. It's by far my favorite Pokemon game and I hope there are many future games that include (and approve upon!) these mechanics. BUT, I also don't want that type of game's existence to stop more "typical" Pokemon games from also coming out. I love both styles!

I do also personally really not like the Let's Go games, but I do also hope that more come out, since a lot of people do really seem to like that style. Basically, I just want to see more variety in main series Pokemon games.

 

[Rachael]

Let’s Go which released in Gen 7 were remakes of Yellow or at least a reimagining of it.

I'm sorry, I might be misunderstanding, but...what in my post are you responding to? Did I say something that contradicts this?

(I'm not being sarcastic or antagonistic, so I apologize if I come across that way. I just want to know.)

 

[Thegameandwatch]

I'm sorry, I might be misunderstanding, but...what in my post are you responding to? Did I say something that contradicts this?

(I'm not being sarcastic or antagonistic, so I apologize if I come across that way. I just want to know.)

The part where you mentioned that there seems be a pattern of remakes being released every other gen.

Gen 5 is an exception since it’s the only Generation since the GBA to not have a remake or something similar released.

 

[RileyXY1]

The part where you mentioned that there seems be a pattern of remakes being released every other gen.

Gen 5 is an exception since it’s the only Generation since the GBA to not have a remake or something similar released.

I think that might be because Gen 5 was pushed as a "soft reboot" of Pokémon, as in BW only the new Pokémon can be obtained until the post-game.

 

[Rachael]

The part where you mentioned that there seems be a pattern of remakes being released every other gen.

Gen 5 is an exception since it’s the only Generation since the GBA to not have a remake or something similar released.

Oh, shit, you're right! I guess I was thinking of sequential remakes--1 being in Gen III, 2 being in Gen IV, 3 being in Gen VI, and 4 being in Gen VIII. Obviously, if we're talking about out-of-sequence remakes, it's a different story.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I can't be the only one who hates the ARPG/real-time combat they included in Legends: Arceus, and kind of disliked it for that reason, can I? I really hope it was a one-time thing, but I have a feeling that another one for Johto is going to come out. I actually wouldn't mind if they'd just leave out the real-time combat, which really stresses me out. I didn't even finish Arceus because I knew that the fight against Arceus would be a combination of all the earlier real-time fights. I feel so alone. I did love the ambience and the characters, though. The story was pretty good, too.

I do think Johto is more likely before Unova, because I have a brain that likes to look for patterns and it has noticed the pattern of remakes being released every other gen (except for FRLG being in Gen III). But I know that things don't always go the way you expect them to. I certainly never would have expected something like Legends: Arceus to come out.

Another possibility is a Let's Go-style game, which I would be okay with (more than an Arceus-style game, anyway). But what I would really like--for either Johto or Unova--would be an ORAS-style remake that isn't a carbon copy of the originals, but adds some cool lore and maybe a new character or two. I really loved the redesigns of Team Aqua and Magma, as well as the Delta Episode. ORAS are my favorite remakes by far.

But I think that both another Legends game, or another Let's Go game, are more likely, sadly.

Actually I think experimenting with different playstyles and subgenres is a good thing and we don't necessarily need a traditional turn based RPG every year. It's okay to not like every Pokemon game and to skip one. Having a variety of different playstyles can help them attract audiences to the series that might not be interested otherwise. If you have something different like an ARPG with real time battling or a tactical RPG or something adjacent to turn based RPGs, then players of those genres might become Pokemon fans. Yes, not every fan is going to buy every style, but if they can get enough to buy them, they'll be expanding the series in ways it otherwise couldn't.

Real time combat is actually something I'd like to see them do a bit more of for mid-gen side games. With technological advances making the games look and play more and more realistic, having a gameplay style where you enter in a command and wait around for both sides to complete their moves sticks out as being fairly artificial and unrealistic. There's definitely benefits to keeping the traditional turn based style but adding in a side series that experiments with more real time battling could help the game feel even more natural and realistic.

As for Let's Go, I'm going to sort of contradict myself and say that style should not and probably will not come back. The reason why is that it's mobile inspired and mobile gameplay is not a good fit for a more hardcore gaming device like the Switch. Mobile is designed for more simplistic and casual play for people that want a quick, fun distraction when they're out and about doing other things, a traditional home or handheld console like Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox consoles are designed more for hardcore hobbyists that tend to want to spend more time playing in depth games. Those two audiences have almost no overlap because their needs are completely contradictory, so trying to get mobile gamers onto the Switch was always a questionable choice at best. And while LGPE did sell well, it seemed to only sell about as well as other remakes, so most likely the people that bought LGPE were simply longtime fans that bought other remakes and the game in a sense failed its goal to grow the fanbase by drawing in mobile gamers. And Game Freak seems to have realized this, since after LGPE they've largely done a complete 180 and tried making Pokemon more open world in the wake of games like BotW, so LGPE doesn't really feel like a good fit for Game Freak's current direction. Some of the positive things LGPE did have been folded in to other more hardcore Pokemon games, and you could even make the argument that LA is sort of a spiritual successor to LGPE in that it places moreemphasis on catching tons of Pokemon and less emphasis on battling, but I suspect the Let's Go series itself will be a one off.

The part where you mentioned that there seems be a pattern of remakes being released every other gen.

Gen 5 is an exception since it’s the only Generation since the GBA to not have a remake or something similar released.

To be fair, what could they have remade in Gen 5? They just had DPPt and HGSS, and FRLG and RSE were still playable through BC on the DS. 5th gen being an awkward, late-in-the-hardware-lifespan generation and not having as many older regions at the time made it rather uniquely unsuitable for a remake. It made total sense to skip a remake in that generation, especially after choosing to give BW2 a sequel (which IMO was better than any remake we might've gotten from Game Freak at that time).

 

[Adelon]

I didnèt like the real-time combat in Legends: Arceus. It looks cool when you're watching a playthrough on YouTube but its actually really annoying when you're playing the game in-person. So many times I've blacked out and lost countless Pokeballs because of having to dodge attacks being launched from offscreen, and with the cameras being as flexible as they are my blindspots are constantly shifting.

 

[RileyXY1]

Another thing about Unova remakes is that they will mark the very first time that Pikachu physically cannot be obtained in a mainline Pokémon game, not even by transferring one from another game.

 

[BorealRookidee]

Another thing about Unova remakes is that they will mark the very first time that Pikachu physically cannot be obtained in a mainline Pokémon game, not even by transferring one from another game.

You can obtain Pikachu in Gen 5 by transferring from another game.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Although, I gotta say that one Pokemon game without Pikachu at all wouldn't be that bad.

 

[RileyXY1]

You can obtain Pikachu in Gen 5 by transferring from another game.

I'm thinking that if there is a Unova remake then the only Pokemon that you can have in the game are ones that are catchable in the original games. Which means that Pikachu will straight up not even be on the cartridge at all. You will not be able to even transfer one in from another game.

 

[guzmania]

dunno, i would assume we would have the natdex up to gen v like the original bw. though i do think mon like pikachu would require transferring from other games to be usable, yeah..
i wouldn't care if it left, personally, but you'd think a good amount of these supposedly unobtainable mon would be missed by a decent chunk of the fanbase, not much different from how it was when bw came out in the first place. the rest is easy to figure out; people don't see the pokemon they like, they're less likely to purchase the game.
though it'll likely still sell like hotcakes. pokemon stuff tends to. d:
....they'll make a lot of people angry, though. myself included, not because i really give a crap about pikachu but because you'd think it wouldn't be that hard to just include all of the mon that were usable in bw one way or another.

 

[Bolt Strike]

dunno, i would assume we would have the natdex up to gen v like the original bw. though i do think mon like pikachu would require transferring from other games to be usable, yeah..
i wouldn't care if it left, personally, but you'd think a good amount of these supposedly unobtainable mon would be missed by a decent chunk of the fanbase, not much different from how it was when bw came out in the first place. the rest is easy to figure out; people don't see the pokemon they like, they're less likely to purchase the game.
though it'll likely still sell like hotcakes. pokemon stuff tends to. d:
....they'll make a lot of people angry, though. myself included, not because i really give a crap about pikachu but because you'd think it wouldn't be that hard to just include all of the mon that were usable in bw one way or another.

I actually do not see BW remakes including the full 5th gen National Dex, I think that's going to be too much for them to handle. They've never been able to include that many Pokemon in a post-Dexit game at launch, their limit seems to be about 400 (Sw and SV were able to reach 600ish through DLC, but at launch they only had 400 plus some transfer Pokemon). I suspect the way it's actually going to work is we're only going to have the 5th gen in the main game like BW1 and then post game we'll get an expansion to BW2's 300. And yes, it's going to be highly disappointing and controversial, but they don't seem to feel like there's any way around it and they think people will just buy it anyway.

 

[Kallyle]

I actually do not see BW remakes including the full 5th gen National Dex, I think that's going to be too much for them to handle. They've never been able to include that many Pokemon in a post-Dexit game at launch, their limit seems to be about 400 (Sw and SV were able to reach 600ish through DLC, but at launch they only had 400 plus some transfer Pokemon). I suspect the way it's actually going to work is we're only going to have the 5th gen in the main game like BW1 and then post game we'll get an expansion to BW2's 300. And yes, it's going to be highly disappointing and controversial, but they don't seem to feel like there's any way around it and they think people will just buy it anyway.

What they could do in order to save face though is keep the number low at launch and then patch in the rest up to 5th gen halfway through its lifespan. Of course this only applies if the issue is a matter of time and not just a “we don’t want to” or “why bother” sort of situation. If it’s the former “we don’t want to” then they should at least have the decency to give us cross-gen evolutions as compensation. Should it be the “why bother” situation then TPC would be better off either releasing a port of the originals or not giving us a remake at all and actually bug fix/complete the Paldea games.

If BW had its roster downsized then you can’t really get away with “we wanted to be faithful” reputation-wise should they cut even more features like the Battle Subway.

 

[Bolt Strike]

What they could do in order to save face though is keep the number low at launch and then patch in the rest up to 5th gen halfway through its lifespan. Of course this only applies if the issue is a matter of time and not just a “we don’t want to” or “why bother” sort of situation. If it’s the former “we don’t want to” then they should at least have the decency to give us cross-gen evolutions as compensation. Should it be the “why bother” situation then TPC would be better off either releasing a port of the originals or not giving us a remake at all and actually bug fix/complete the Paldea games.

If BW had its roster downsized then you can’t really get away with “we wanted to be faithful” reputation-wise should they cut even more features like the Battle Subway.

Thing is if they have another game planned for 2025, they can't afford to spend another year patching more in. They have to move on to the next game. Doubly so if they do in fact move on to 10th gen, that game is going to need far more focus since it would be a new game built from the ground up. This is another situation where the tight schedule hurts the quality of the games. There's really not much they can do about this aside from lengthen generations and/or continue to outsource side games mid-gen to other devs. Now I do think in addition to this there's an element of them not wanting to do remakes anymore because they're too limiting and they'd rather do reimaginings like LA, and I do think they should just do emulated ports like VC/NSO from now on. But I think the larger issue that might cause this kind of problem is the schedule, it seems physically impossible for them to do more than 400 models in 1-3 years of development.

 

[Adelon]

Another thing about Unova remakes is that they will mark the very first time that Pikachu physically cannot be obtained in a mainline Pokémon game, not even by transferring one from another game.

Nah, they won't dexcut Pikachu of all things, not even for a remake. Most likely it'll just be turned into an event or postgame or whatever.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Nah, they won't dexcut Pikachu of all things, not even for a remake. Most likely it'll just be turned into an event or postgame or whatever.

Hmm, maybe. They could make the Pikachu line a Pokemon that's not in the dex but still available in game and you would simply only be able to get it through an event distribution or a transfer from Home, I could see that much. But again, I do not think that they'll be able to pull off having all 649 Pokemon in the 5th gen National Dex in the game, and that might be a new way they disappoint us with this remake. BW2's 300 feels closer to the total number of Pokemon that are going to be usable in the entire game.

 

[Kallyle]

Hmm, maybe. They could make the Pikachu line a Pokemon that's not in the dex but still available in game and you would simply only be able to get it through an event distribution or a transfer from Home, I could see that much. But again, I do not think that they'll be able to pull off having all 649 Pokemon in the 5th gen National Dex in the game, and that might be a new way they disappoint us with this remake. BW2's 300 feels closer to the total number of Pokemon that are going to be usable in the entire game.

Only limiting the entire roster to the Pokédex of B2W2 causes more issues than just not having the same total roster:

Not only were there Pokémon you can not only catch in the post game that don’t appear in the Pokédex in either version of the Unova Pokédex, but I’m pretty sure that there might be trainers that use Pokémon not available in either Pokédex as well. If we assume that we still have to deal with copy-paste rosters and encounter data in the BW remakes like what was done with BDSP, then quite a few rosters also have to be adjusted in order to account for the downsizing.

Wouldn’t changing the roster for half of the entire region more time consuming than downsizing the game’s whole roster to what was listed in the B2W2 Pokédex than just including the models present from BDSP and copy-pasting rosters and encounter data from the original BW? At the very least they’ll probably include the Pokémon that fit the criteria mentioned above in terms of both trainer data and encounter data.

Of course, this is assuming that they don’t just scrap even more content from the originals in order to sidestep the issue, which would probably lead to bigger outcry than a simple roster cut would.

 

[Rachael]

Actually I think experimenting with different playstyles and subgenres is a good thing and we don't necessarily need a traditional turn based RPG every year. It's okay to not like every Pokemon game and to skip one. Having a variety of different playstyles can help them attract audiences to the series that might not be interested otherwise. If you have something different like an ARPG with real time battling or a tactical RPG or something adjacent to turn based RPGs, then players of those genres might become Pokemon fans. Yes, not every fan is going to buy every style, but if they can get enough to buy them, they'll be expanding the series in ways it otherwise couldn't.

Real time combat is actually something I'd like to see them do a bit more of for mid-gen side games. With technological advances making the games look and play more and more realistic, having a gameplay style where you enter in a command and wait around for both sides to complete their moves sticks out as being fairly artificial and unrealistic. There's definitely benefits to keeping the traditional turn based style but adding in a side series that experiments with more real time battling could help the game feel even more natural and realistic.

That's fair--and I would be fine with real-time combat being explored if it wasn't billed as one of the "main series" games. I'm well aware that this is my issue and not everyone else's, but I really hate the idea of skipping a main series game. It makes me feel left out and left behind. And even though I hated the real-time combat, there was so much about Arceus that I did love.

If they insist on having real-time combat, I would at least appreciate it if they didn't make it so damn hard. I was near tears with the fights against Arcanine and Avalugg. The fight against Lilligant, at least, hit that sweet spot between being challenging enough to feel satisfying, and not so hard that it felt nearly impossible.

I would like it if super hard fights were saved for post-game, and have nothing to do with the story. I haven't even bothered with the Arceus fight yet. I seriously don't know if I'm capable of defeating it. The thought of being barred from obtaining Arceus because I'm just naturally poor with quick thinking and reflexes is extremely depressing to me.

I know I'm just one fan, and this is about what's profitable, and that there will probably be more Arceus-style games with real-time combat. But hopefully, after reading this, people will at least understand where I'm coming from, even if they don't agree.