Speculation Is Generation VI really done?

[TheCapsFan]

Wasn't there something out there, some quote by a developer or something, that mentioned that Pokemon Z WAS in development, but it got stopped for some reason?

 

[Fig]

It's possible. I've never heard of it myself, but it's possible.

It could also be one of those internet rumors that have no basis in reality.

 

[TheCapsFan]

Yeah, after doing some research, it seems it might be the latter. The sites that these reports are located on don't seem to be credible Pokemon news sites.

 

[Lufenium]

I honestly feel like I've been misled and lied to now. If there was never going to be any Zygarde focus in Gen VI, why push us to think otherwise?

I can understand why you feel misled, but how could Game Freak lie to you when they never alluded to a Z game? It was always fans putting 2 and 2 together and getting 6. In fact, Masuda downright confirmed it wouldn't be happening. But people twisted it and clung to his exact wording "immediately after X/Y" and theorized it'd come after OR/AS.

As for Zygarde's gigantic push in other media?
Well...think of the alternative: Zygarde getting NOTHING. No forms, no anime feature, no movie feature, no merch, nothing.
So which is more unfair to Zygarde itself? Getting a huge anime feature and being their 2015 poster boy, or getting squat and left behind as the Gen VI leftover?

Given than Gen VII was on the way, and Volcanion and Magearna reveals were upcoming, they needed to do something with Zygarde without wasting their manpower on another Gen VI entry. Clearly their priority for the 20th Anniversary year was not Zygarde, but a brand new generation. Zygarde has got so much non-game treatment because he wasn't getting a game at all. They went all out so Zygarde would not be left out or forgotten about. Giving him so many forms was a way of keeping people talking about Zygarde, and clearly it's worked. But that's just my theory on it. *shrug*

 

[Fig]

You know who else never was more than a post-game bonus boss in the games (like Zygarde), but was a huge factor in the anime (like Zygarde), getting to be the main character of a movie, a second movie-length TV special, a short special, and several brief appearances in anime episode?

That would be Mewtwo.

 

[Esserise]

I can understand why you feel misled, but how could Game Freak lie to you when they never alluded to a Z game? It was always fans putting 2 and 2 together and getting 6. In fact, Masuda downright confirmed it wouldn't be happening. But people twisted it and clung to his exact wording "immediately after X/Y" and theorized it'd come after OR/AS.

Exactly, it would only be a lie if they had actually promised a Z game.

It's quite a clever trick they managed. I can't even really blame them - they don't want to become predictable, and we are always hacking into their games and finding out about things that we shouldn't be, so, if they want to combat that by laying in false breadcrumbs, then I am okay with it.

 

[Boss1708]

I think people who feel disappointed by Gen VI being two pairs of games long, will start looking at things differently, when they see that Gen VII is not any longer.

Gen VII will either be one entry long (SM and nothing more), or two entries long (SM, and an other game after it). Best case sceanario is two pairs of games.

So that would mean Gen V, VI and VII were two pairs of games long. If people don´t see the pattern then, they likely never will xD

And lets not forget that Gen II had two entries as well, and a total of only 3 games. So looking at it from a better perspective, it turns out that two entry generations are "more normal" than 3 entry generations.

 

[Fig]

In most of the world Gen I was two-entry too. Whether it was in Japan depend on whether you count Blue as a separate entry (which, in my opinion, is a stupid way to count it)

The only *true* three-entry generations were III and IV.

 

[Kallyle]

To be fair to those that wish there was a Z/X2Y2/XZYZ, I think the idea of Zygarde getting nothing was only one factor for believing there would be another Kalos installment. There are still some things to consider:

• AZ's Floette, though this could be left alone without much complaint
• Kalos' lack of an exclusive side activity like Contests, Pokathlon, etc.
• Lots of loose plot threads such as Mega Evolution and Malva's role in Team Flare, etc. that would normally be addressed in a follow-up installment
• Kalos' characters not being fleshed out enough, especially the rivals
• Older Pokémon completely overshadowing Kalos' 72 new ones, even to the extent of the Kalos starters getting ignored in favor of the Kanto starter Megas
• Barring Zygarde, we don't even know anything about Xerneas and Yveltal despite not only being cover legendaries, but the fact that you have to capture them in order to progress in the game. Granted, Ho-Oh and Lugia didn't get much lore and they were mascots, but again, they weren't an active part of the plot like Xerneas and Yveltal were.
• Despite the fact that Game Freak said that they'd tie things up in interesting ways, ORAS still didn't explain much about Mega Evolution and other loose plot points and only contradicted XY. These continuity errors could have been fixed in another Kalos installment.
• The fact that we didn't get a lot of post-game content in either XY or ORAS due to usually being saved for follow-up games of the generation's main region
• Keep in mind that the only reason we got ORAS was because there was such a huge demand for Hoenn remakes. So, due to the above flaws that XY had, I doubt that many people would ever demand Kalos remakes.

All of the above are solid reasons to warrant another Kalos installment. It's good that Game Freak is trying to break out of their patterns, but Kalos clearly needed to be touched upon much more compared to RS and DP. All of these things could have been addressed with a Kalos revisit, but Game Freak chose not to. Kalos has essentially been robbed of any unique identity. Clearly, Game Freak has merely tossed Kalos aside instead of fixing Kalos with any sort of follow-up installment, essentially rendering it a mere filler Generation due to Nintendo pushing Game Freak to get out a Pokémon game on the 3DS.

If this trend of minimal backstory and content to the point where the games need a follow-up game that Game Freak no longer wants to provide due to being predictable, then I worry about not only the future of this franchise, but the future of Game Freak itself. The only way this can be fixed is if SuMo are to XY what GS were to RBY. I even doubt such a thing would happen since Game Freak apparently doesn't want to do more than one region in a main game.

When you think about all of this, it makes sense why people wanted another Kalos installment, even without taking Zygarde into account.

 

[Jolty94]

I think it's definitely over and done with, but as a whole, Gen 6 brought us some amazing things in terms of features and even Megas I enjoy (to a certain extent). Gen 6 definitely isn't my top favourite, but it's one of them, simply because it brought older fans back, newer fans in, and kept us fans (the ones here from the beginning ) wanting more and more, even if that didn't end up being Z.

I believe Zygarde will have some justification in SM, and I don't think the forms are anime exclusive in the slightest tbh.

 

[godiego]

You know who else never was more than a post-game bonus boss in the games (like Zygarde), but was a huge factor in the anime (like Zygarde), getting to be the main character of a movie, a second movie-length TV special, a short special, and several brief appearances in anime episode?

That would be Mewtwo.

i don't think that's necessarily a fair comparison and that could honestly be said about Rayquaza, Giratina, and Kyurem pre-enhanced revisits anyways, that they were just intended to be post-game bonus bosses like Mewtwo. not to mention that Mewtwo actually has lore whereas Zygarde (and co) do/did not.

 

[Fig]

i don't think that's necessarily a fair comparison and that could honestly be said about Rayquaza, Giratina, and Kyurem pre-enhanced revisits anyways, that they were just intended to be post-game bonus bosses like Mewtwo. not to mention that Mewtwo actually has lore whereas Zygarde (and co) do/did not.

Of course it could be said about those three before they got revisited. But Mewtwo never got a revisit, and only got a few brief lines of text tying it to the rest of the game...same as Zygarde (who get a few lines in its Pokédex entry tying it to Xerneas and Yveltal).

 

[tyguy723]

I discussed something similar to this with another user here, and I have dubbed this phenomenon as the Generation Bubble.

Our conclusion was basically that because Nintendo may have pushed Gamefreak to push an extra generation on the longer than usual DS handheld era and its release coincided with the next gen handheld the 3DS, the generation cycle was put off balance. Generation 6 is in the same position as 4 was: started 2 years into the handheld's lifespan and was followed by another generation on the same device. The only difference is that Generation 4 had longevity, while 6 got the cold shoulder of a shorter lifespan. Now with Generation 7 on the horizon, history seems like it will repeat itself, it will most likely be a very short era due to the NX continually creeping up and 3DS's age finally showing.

The bubble will pop eventually, they need to slow down as this is getting out of control. Although never confirmed, if they don't want to rush to there being 1000 different Pokemon in existence, then doing these half-baked eras is not the way to go. Common logic would make one think to spread the generations as long as they can reasonably, even if factors like predictability of next games (third versions, sequels) makes it easier for the fans to know what to expect.

It is a combination of Nintendo's handheld lifespans getting longer & Gamefreak's new ideology of not doing predictable moves for the series. They have the power to stop it, but the question is, will they?

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Mewtwo doesn't belong in a trio though. Zygarde seems to be in a trio considering that it is the only other gen 6 legendary pokemon to be caught (Diancie, Hoopa and Volcanion being mythical). It is known as the order pokemon which might be between life and death. Zygarde's pokedex entry even states that it would reveal a secret power. Gen 6 maybe done but Zygarde is far from over in my opinion.

 

[Fig]

"Seem to be"

Doesn't mean it is. It could just have a been a throwaway line to explain why Zygarde was in the game at all (because the imbalance in the main game woke it up).

It's possible they're not done with Zygarde, but expecting more Zygarde is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[NinjutsuSen]

Gne 6 is over, but I am hoping that Kalos isn't over yet. If Sun&Moon's content is the same like most first gen pairs, then Gen 7 can kiss my a** and I am over with Pokemon. Either way the games are probably ending as games of the worse half of the franchise. And after skipping another Kalos entry and having one year off, I am expecting good, definite versions like Emerald or Platinum. If the games don't deliver, I will blame them for taking the spot of a definite good pokemon version and having the same flaws like every time. So a lot for pressure for SM from my side.

 

[Fig]

Except that it's not "taking the spot" of anything. You were never promised a Z, nor told that Z was coming, or in any other way informed that there'd be a third version. *You* decided there would be one.

It's not a crime, nor betrayal, for Gamefreaks to do something different than what you thought they would do.

 

[TouyaShiro]

I was worried that stuff like that would come up in this thread... I honestly only followed it to monitor the peoples' responses because the prospect of this thread makes me really wary.

If you want my honest opinion on the subject, I'll say it right here - I was going to go with whatever we got, and didn't mind that Gen VI was left as it was. Oras pretty much took the role that B2W2 filled last Generation for me, and if we're moving on to Gen VII, that's fine by me. At this point, I want to move forward rather than discussing the theoretical (even though I love talking about the butterfly effect) because I don't have much I can actually contribute to those sorts of discussions (as is evident from me trying to stretch out this post as long as possible by repeating myself).

Is Gen VI over? Probably. Unless we got our first instance of a full Pokémon (not just a Forme) being introduced mid-Generation, I think we've fully moved on from the Generation. I think it'd be pretty stupid for them to introduce a whole bunch of new Pokémon mid-Generation, only to move on to the next one a mere year or two after Sun & Moon's release, because that wouldn't give the old Pokémon enough time to shine in their own right before being usurped by what's sure to be an entirely new Pokédex of its own.

 

[NinjutsuSen]

Except that it's not "taking the spot" of anything. You were never promised a Z, nor told that Z was coming, or in any other way informed that there'd be a third version. *You* decided there would be one.

It's not a crime, nor betrayal, for Gamefreaks to do something different than what you thought they would do.

And did I say that it must've be Z in that statement??? We all know that how long a generation is old, the better the games are so instead of getting a definite gen 6 game, we get another new gen pair which probably end as the typical lacking generation starter. So I am awaiting some games, that are not only good for first pair standards, but also as good as late gen games to redeem theirselfe instead of a definite version first And And either way what was wrong with my opinion about this?

 

[Boss1708]

Either way the games are probably ending as games of the worse half of the franchise.

This is your personal opinion, though. I bet most fans would disagree with you.