Should Game Freak take a break from Pokémon?

[Silktree]

There is a quote from an ORAS strategy guide where Masuda addresses quality versus pacing. Here's a translation from the German version:

Luckily, we at Game Freak are blessed with great workers. Because of this I don't have to worry when I'm concentrating on new games like Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, as sequels are handled by other project managers. In case of Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 it was Takao Unno, and this time Mr. Ohmori took the wheel. When I give a game in the hands of another project manager, I need to be convinced that their vision is the right one for the game. The responsibillity will be entirely on him, but at the same time he receives full creative freedom. Naturally we hope that all team members will support this project manager and give their best, thus at the end a game of high quality can be released.

Releasing multiple games over a short time period is always a race against time. The more time you invest, the better the game will be. However, there are multiple factors that prevent us from doing this. If we were to always take three years to develop a game, we wouldn't be able to keep up with with the fast moving nature of the modern world. When we think about when to release a game, we ask ourselves when the demand for it from our audience will be the highest. But if we have one year of development time, it'll become easier to look at the current framework and to decide what needs to be improved, and what can stay in its current condition. Thus, we have to do everything to achieve the best possible result in one year.

I find it a bit ridiculous that Masuda seems to think that development has to take either one year or three years, as if nothing in between were a possibility. There have been gaps between 1.5 and 2 years before, and it has never been a problem. There has never been a 3-year gap, so why refer to it as the opposite extreme? If he's implying that handheld games should be more like smartphone games, then he's forgetting the small matter of how expensive the former are relative to the latter.

I don't think this means that there won't be a break in the upcoming year, but Generation VII may be released in early 2016 and I fear that it will not meet expectations given Masuda's attitude.

 

[The Outrage]

Thread should be retitled "Should Masuda be banished from Pokemon forever".

 

[Bolt Strike]

There is a quote from an ORAS strategy guide where Masuda addresses quality versus pacing. Here's a translation from the German version:

Luckily, we at Game Freak are blessed with great workers. Because of this I don't have to worry when I'm concentrating on new games like Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, as sequels are handled by other project managers. In case of Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 it was Takao Unno, and this time Mr. Ohmori took the wheel. When I give a game in the hands of another project manager, I need to be convinced that their vision is the right one for the game. The responsibillity will be entirely on him, but at the same time he receives full creative freedom. Naturally we hope that all team members will support this project manager and give their best, thus at the end a game of high quality can be released.

Releasing multiple games over a short time period is always a race against time. The more time you invest, the better the game will be. However, there are multiple factors that prevent us from doing this. If we were to always take three years to develop a game, we wouldn't be able to keep up with with the fast moving nature of the modern world. When we think about when to release a game, we ask ourselves when the demand for it from our audience will be the highest. But if we have one year of development time, it'll become easier to look at the current framework and to decide what needs to be improved, and what can stay in its current condition. Thus, we have to do everything to achieve the best possible result in one year.

I find it a bit ridiculous that Masuda seems to think that development has to take either one year or three years, as if nothing in between were a possibility. There have been gaps between 1.5 and 2 years before, and it has never been a problem. There has never been a 3-year gap, so why refer to it as the opposite extreme? If he's implying that handheld games should be more like smartphone games, then he's forgetting the small matter of how expensive the former are relative to the latter.

I don't think this means that there won't be a break in the upcoming year, but Generation VII may be released in early 2016 and I fear that it will not meet expectations given Masuda's attitude.

...

He's going to drive this series into the ground at this rate.

 

[MrGriszell]

There is a quote from an ORAS strategy guide where Masuda addresses quality versus pacing. Here's a translation from the German version:

Luckily, we at Game Freak are blessed with great workers. Because of this I don't have to worry when I'm concentrating on new games like Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, as sequels are handled by other project managers. In case of Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 it was Takao Unno, and this time Mr. Ohmori took the wheel. When I give a game in the hands of another project manager, I need to be convinced that their vision is the right one for the game. The responsibillity will be entirely on him, but at the same time he receives full creative freedom. Naturally we hope that all team members will support this project manager and give their best, thus at the end a game of high quality can be released.

Releasing multiple games over a short time period is always a race against time. The more time you invest, the better the game will be. However, there are multiple factors that prevent us from doing this. If we were to always take three years to develop a game, we wouldn't be able to keep up with with the fast moving nature of the modern world. When we think about when to release a game, we ask ourselves when the demand for it from our audience will be the highest. But if we have one year of development time, it'll become easier to look at the current framework and to decide what needs to be improved, and what can stay in its current condition. Thus, we have to do everything to achieve the best possible result in one year.

I find it a bit ridiculous that Masuda seems to think that development has to take either one year or three years, as if nothing in between were a possibility. There have been gaps between 1.5 and 2 years before, and it has never been a problem. There has never been a 3-year gap, so why refer to it as the opposite extreme? If he's implying that handheld games should be more like smartphone games, then he's forgetting the small matter of how expensive the former are relative to the latter.

I don't think this means that there won't be a break in the upcoming year, but Generation VII may be released in early 2016 and I fear that it will not meet expectations given Masuda's attitude.

...

He's going to drive this series into the ground at this rate.

How so? Each gen has been better than the last. The only reason I think gen 4 is the best is because I loved the sprites and the follow me feature.

 

[Bolt Strike]

There is a quote from an ORAS strategy guide where Masuda addresses quality versus pacing. Here's a translation from the German version:

Luckily, we at Game Freak are blessed with great workers. Because of this I don't have to worry when I'm concentrating on new games like Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, as sequels are handled by other project managers. In case of Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 it was Takao Unno, and this time Mr. Ohmori took the wheel. When I give a game in the hands of another project manager, I need to be convinced that their vision is the right one for the game. The responsibillity will be entirely on him, but at the same time he receives full creative freedom. Naturally we hope that all team members will support this project manager and give their best, thus at the end a game of high quality can be released.

Releasing multiple games over a short time period is always a race against time. The more time you invest, the better the game will be. However, there are multiple factors that prevent us from doing this. If we were to always take three years to develop a game, we wouldn't be able to keep up with with the fast moving nature of the modern world. When we think about when to release a game, we ask ourselves when the demand for it from our audience will be the highest. But if we have one year of development time, it'll become easier to look at the current framework and to decide what needs to be improved, and what can stay in its current condition. Thus, we have to do everything to achieve the best possible result in one year.

I find it a bit ridiculous that Masuda seems to think that development has to take either one year or three years, as if nothing in between were a possibility. There have been gaps between 1.5 and 2 years before, and it has never been a problem. There has never been a 3-year gap, so why refer to it as the opposite extreme? If he's implying that handheld games should be more like smartphone games, then he's forgetting the small matter of how expensive the former are relative to the latter.

I don't think this means that there won't be a break in the upcoming year, but Generation VII may be released in early 2016 and I fear that it will not meet expectations given Masuda's attitude.

...

He's going to drive this series into the ground at this rate.

How so? Each gen has been better than the last. The only reason I think gen 4 is the best is because I loved the sprites and the follow me feature.

Are you even reading what I was replying to? He's basically saying that he wants Pokemon to be an annual series. Which means that future games are going to be even more stripped down, probably even rushed. They're not going to maintain sales that way.

 

[MrGriszell]

Pokemon has been a yearly release since 09 , or 2012 if your counting only Japanese releases . How does taking 2 years make a better pokemon game? The mechanics in gen 6 are the best and I see no evidence that gen 7 won't be better. The only way pokemon needs to get better is the story. And I'm sorry it doesn't take 2 years to come up with a decent story. The solution may be is to expand game freak . While they work on gen 7 have a team working on gen 8 in terms of pokemon story and map and then at least when they start to develop gen 8 it would of had 2-3 years for prep

 

[Bolt Strike]

Pokemon has been a yearly release since 09 , or 2012 if your counting only Japanese releases . How does taking 2 years make a better pokemon game? The mechanics in gen 6 are the best and I see no evidence that gen 7 won't be better. The only way pokemon needs to get better is the story. And I'm sorry it doesn't take 2 years to come up with a decent story. The solution may be is to expand game freak . While they work on gen 7 have a team working on gen 8 in terms of pokemon story and map and then at least when they start to develop gen 8 it would of had 2-3 years for prep

Have you played any 4th or 5th gen game? The difference in content is night and day. But for your sake, here's what XY and ORAS lacks compared to their predecessors:

XY:
-Extra features (Contests, Secret Bases, Pokeathlon, Join Avenue, etc.)
-Full post game areas (Sevii Islands, East Unova in BW1, etc.)

ORAS:
-Gym leader rematches (preferably with full 6 on 6 teams like Emerald, Platinum, and HGSS)
-Full post game areas
-Emerald content (Battle Frontier, Trainer Hill, Mirage Tower, Desert Underpass, etc.)

The 4th and 5th gen games (especially 4th) had a wide variety of things to do in the games, whereas 6th gen is starting to cut corners. The idea is that if they have more development time, they have more time to add these things in.

 

[CrystaI]

In the Japanese version of the article referred by Silktree, it was indirectly suggesting Pokemon series is competing with the Smartphone games market where the competition is really severe as new games are introduced everyday, hence GF needs to develop a new game quick before its audience get bored and forget about the existence of the Pokemon.

...... I don't even know what to comment about Masuda's statement on this issue, as I was just dumbfounded completely by his asininity of comparing Pokemon series to Smartphone game, where the former was always being a console game on gaming console which the primary function is gaming. Please, the passive casuals that don't go buy a Smartphone for the primary purpose of gaming is not the customers of Pokemon franchise, so the competition of Pokemon series with Smartphone game market is not anything correct to begin with.

For me personally, I hate Smartphone games, because they are never designed to be something complicated, and could never ever provide the deep gameplay experience where I'll gladly devote hundred of hours into it. Hence I really dislike the idea of GF in future cutting corners of Pokemon games to the point of making game mechanics so simple like revert back to GenI (Of course not graphically, but I mean by gameplay-experience-wise and story-wise). And BTW, I really hope GF do not forget that the Pokemon main series are RPG games. The adventurous explorations of the vast land, the dramatic story and getting to know the world, also the interactions with different characters is what makes RPG games attractive. Lowering the quality in exchange for development speed IMO is the worst development strategy ever for RPG genre.

If GF is ever going to turn Pokemon series into Smartphone games, that will be my day of quitting Pokemon forever.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

There is a quote from an ORAS strategy guide where Masuda addresses quality versus pacing. Here's a translation from the German version:

Luckily, we at Game Freak are blessed with great workers. Because of this I don't have to worry when I'm concentrating on new games like Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, as sequels are handled by other project managers. In case of Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 it was Takao Unno, and this time Mr. Ohmori took the wheel. When I give a game in the hands of another project manager, I need to be convinced that their vision is the right one for the game. The responsibillity will be entirely on him, but at the same time he receives full creative freedom. Naturally we hope that all team members will support this project manager and give their best, thus at the end a game of high quality can be released.

Releasing multiple games over a short time period is always a race against time. The more time you invest, the better the game will be. However, there are multiple factors that prevent us from doing this. If we were to always take three years to develop a game, we wouldn't be able to keep up with with the fast moving nature of the modern world. When we think about when to release a game, we ask ourselves when the demand for it from our audience will be the highest. But if we have one year of development time, it'll become easier to look at the current framework and to decide what needs to be improved, and what can stay in its current condition. Thus, we have to do everything to achieve the best possible result in one year.

I find it a bit ridiculous that Masuda seems to think that development has to take either one year or three years, as if nothing in between were a possibility. There have been gaps between 1.5 and 2 years before, and it has never been a problem. There has never been a 3-year gap, so why refer to it as the opposite extreme? If he's implying that handheld games should be more like smartphone games, then he's forgetting the small matter of how expensive the former are relative to the latter.

I don't think this means that there won't be a break in the upcoming year, but Generation VII may be released in early 2016 and I fear that it will not meet expectations given Masuda's attitude.

One of the main problems is the way the Pokemon franchise operates for a lack of better terms.

They tie the Anime and Games together so we keep getting new games each year just like Ash keeps getting new travel companions. They use each format to promote the other which is obviously smart and understandable, but at the same time it limits the growth and potential of both the games and anime.

With the games being released yearly, we get some new features we love but have them taken away in the next installment. I still don't feel that Game Freak should take a break from Pokemon to develop other games, I just think they need to take their time or have more than one studio working on the games. Ubisoft usually have one studio working on AC 10 while another is working on 11 (just random numbers) so that they still have a few years to spend on development.

I know this is the video game section but I strongly feel that the anime is very relevant for this topic. If Ash was visit Kalos, then go back to Johto for a Battle Frontier or visit some Orange Islands like place, then that could add at least another year or more to the development of the games. The anime would benefit a great deal from the two being separate entities as well.

 

[CrystaI]

One of the main problems is the way the Pokemon franchise operates for a lack of better terms.

They tie the Anime and Games together so we keep getting new games each year just like Ash keeps getting new travel companions. They use each format to promote the other which is obviously smart and understandable, but at the same time it limits the growth and potential of both the games and anime.

With the games being released yearly, we get some new features we love but have them taken away in the next installment. I still don't feel that Game Freak should take a break from Pokemon to develop other games, I just think they need to take their time or have more than one studio working on the games. Ubisoft usually have one studio working on AC 10 while another is working on 11 (just random numbers) so that they still have a few years to spend on development.

I know this is the video game section but I strongly feel that the anime is very relevant for this topic. If Ash was visit Kalos, then go back to Johto for a Battle Frontier or visit some Orange Islands like place, then that could add at least another year or more to the development of the games. The anime would benefit a great deal from the two being separate entities as well.

The anime and game sector of Pokemon franchise are unfortunately not tied together when it comes to development of new game and/or new anime saga. Game Freak and Nintendo doing their own works on the game, OLM and TV Tokyo doing their own works on the anime. The only kind of so-called "connection" is merely the director board of anime sector referring to GF for materials about the new game in order to establish the future story outline of upcoming saga. It is not like GF and TV Tokyo collaborating with each other helping their respective works. The director board of GF do not go attend the weekly meetings of TV Tokyo to discuss what overall story outline should the anime have and the basic story of next coming episode, director board of TV Tokyo also do not go attend the meetings of GF to discuss what game mechanics and story should the upcoming new game have. If I'm correct, there was not a single staff name being identical in the credit roll of the end of game and opening/ending of the anime (except giving credit to the original source and the original creators).

And according to my understanding about the Japanese anime industry, basically game and anime are a completely separate sector. Although there are many cases of adapting materials from game to produce a new anime, and also the vice versa of adapting materials from anime to produce a new game, but neither side have any interference towards the other respective sector telling how the final product should be at the end. So even if the game-adapted anime is not anything like the original game story, or the vice versa of anime-adapted game had many divergance from the source anime, the adapted source side cannot interfere. (Though, I think they can complain, but basically it is merely complaining, nothing more)

And just a little irrelevant note. Basing on many adaption examples I had seen over the years, anime-adapted game are overall rather faithful to its source anime, having background settings and characters true to its source. But on the opposite, game-adapted anime are overall diverge rather severely from its source game. Although there exist a few faithful examples like Tales of Abyss and Super Robots Taisen OG, but still from the overall big scale wise, game-adapted anime are seldom faithful.
Well, even many manga-adapted anime diverges heavily from its source manga. I think this problem rather lies heavily on the anime studio than the nature of material adaption of Japanese anime industry.

 

[The Outrage]

The fact that Pokemon has a dedicated anime and a yearly movie release, which if I recall was part of the business plan to keep Pokemon relevant, makes me think Masuda needs to step aside. A yearly game release isn't required to keep our minds on Pokemon--even if we put aside the fact that collecting 700+ monsters would need more time investment, Pokemon's well supported with the anime, the various manga, and the TCG to keep it "fresh in our minds". The gap between Zelda games is much larger, yet we're not really forgetting about Link.

Is Masuda completely devoid of any awareness of the franchise as a whole, or is he just making excuses for any future sloppiness? If it takes more time investment to make a new game and they don't want to spend another year real-time, then perhaps Game Freak should increase their staff. Its not like they're running low on funds, and it might actually let them develop full retail non-Pokemon games that people might actually care about. Or you know, if their intent is to keep Pokemon fresh with new games, why not have a talk with The Pokemon Company since they haven't seemed to license the release of any spin-offs lately (or better yet, make their own and expand on interesting characters from the main series like Looker and Zinnia!)

 

[lovandra]

Well, in developing X and Y, I would say, they totally need more times, because X and Y is new game in new platform. They've never have a game in 3ds before, and I believe they need lots of time to bring best possible game. But they set their own deadline to release the game, worldwide ^^;. In result, X and Y are the shortest and most incomplete gameplay in poke industry. Store lots of mystery.

But is it really necesarry to take more time to developt new game after X and Y? Imo, ORAS is a complete game and it's out just a year after XY.

What do you think?

 

[The Outrage]

ORAS is just a remake, so most of the plot and character design would have a base to work on....yet they still didn't include the Battle Frontier. They knew fans would be disappointed without it, and it was still left out. They left out gym leader rematches, and people were also disappointed about that.

ORAS is as complete as every other Pokemon game--stripped of features that the games had in the past.

 

[MrGriszell]

Pokemon has been a yearly release since 09 , or 2012 if your counting only Japanese releases . How does taking 2 years make a better pokemon game? The mechanics in gen 6 are the best and I see no evidence that gen 7 won't be better. The only way pokemon needs to get better is the story. And I'm sorry it doesn't take 2 years to come up with a decent story. The solution may be is to expand game freak . While they work on gen 7 have a team working on gen 8 in terms of pokemon story and map and then at least when they start to develop gen 8 it would of had 2-3 years for prep

Have you played any 4th or 5th gen game? The difference in content is night and day. But for your sake, here's what XY and ORAS lacks compared to their predecessors:

XY:
-Extra features (Contests, Secret Bases, Pokeathlon, Join Avenue, etc.)
-Full post game areas (Sevii Islands, East Unova in BW1, etc.)

ORAS:
-Gym leader rematches (preferably with full 6 on 6 teams like Emerald, Platinum, and HGSS)
-Full post game areas
-Emerald content (Battle Frontier, Trainer Hill, Mirage Tower, Desert Underpass, etc.)

The 4th and 5th gen games (especially 4th) had a wide variety of things to do in the games, whereas 6th gen is starting to cut corners. The idea is that if they have more development time, they have more time to add these things in.

You really believe the only reason those things weren't included because of time constraints? I have no clue why they weren't but I'm pretty sure it wasn't because of time.

 

[kaiomann]

Pokemon has been a yearly release since 09 , or 2012 if your counting only Japanese releases . How does taking 2 years make a better pokemon game? The mechanics in gen 6 are the best and I see no evidence that gen 7 won't be better. The only way pokemon needs to get better is the story. And I'm sorry it doesn't take 2 years to come up with a decent story. The solution may be is to expand game freak . While they work on gen 7 have a team working on gen 8 in terms of pokemon story and map and then at least when they start to develop gen 8 it would of had 2-3 years for prep

Have you played any 4th or 5th gen game? The difference in content is night and day. But for your sake, here's what XY and ORAS lacks compared to their predecessors:

XY:
-Extra features (Contests, Secret Bases, Pokeathlon, Join Avenue, etc.)
-Full post game areas (Sevii Islands, East Unova in BW1, etc.)

ORAS:
-Gym leader rematches (preferably with full 6 on 6 teams like Emerald, Platinum, and HGSS)
-Full post game areas
-Emerald content (Battle Frontier, Trainer Hill, Mirage Tower, Desert Underpass, etc.)

The 4th and 5th gen games (especially 4th) had a wide variety of things to do in the games, whereas 6th gen is starting to cut corners. The idea is that if they have more development time, they have more time to add these things in.

You really believe the only reason those things weren't included because of time constraints? I have no clue why they weren't but I'm pretty sure it wasn't because of time.

If it wasn't included because of missing time, what else could be the reason other than flat-out trollyness?


Also, on the topic of smartphone gaming, does anyone really sit down and play games on their phone for a few hours, if they have other options (I understand it when you're somewhere not home waiting)? Is that a thing?

 

[Mr. Walters]

no

 

[MrGriszell]

Pokemon has been a yearly release since 09 , or 2012 if your counting only Japanese releases . How does taking 2 years make a better pokemon game? The mechanics in gen 6 are the best and I see no evidence that gen 7 won't be better. The only way pokemon needs to get better is the story. And I'm sorry it doesn't take 2 years to come up with a decent story. The solution may be is to expand game freak . While they work on gen 7 have a team working on gen 8 in terms of pokemon story and map and then at least when they start to develop gen 8 it would of had 2-3 years for prep

Have you played any 4th or 5th gen game? The difference in content is night and day. But for your sake, here's what XY and ORAS lacks compared to their predecessors:

XY:
-Extra features (Contests, Secret Bases, Pokeathlon, Join Avenue, etc.)
-Full post game areas (Sevii Islands, East Unova in BW1, etc.)

ORAS:
-Gym leader rematches (preferably with full 6 on 6 teams like Emerald, Platinum, and HGSS)
-Full post game areas
-Emerald content (Battle Frontier, Trainer Hill, Mirage Tower, Desert Underpass, etc.)

The 4th and 5th gen games (especially 4th) had a wide variety of things to do in the games, whereas 6th gen is starting to cut corners. The idea is that if they have more development time, they have more time to add these things in.

You really believe the only reason those things weren't included because of time constraints? I have no clue why they weren't but I'm pretty sure it wasn't because of time.

If it wasn't included because of missing time, what else could be the reason other than flat-out trollyness?


Also, on the topic of smartphone gaming, does anyone really sit down and play games on their phone for a few hours, if they have other options (I understand it when you're somewhere not home waiting)? Is that a thing?

Like I said I have no idea. But XY took about 3 and a half years to develop so I'm pretty sure it wasn't time.
And I'm not sure why people are saying pokemon is competing with mobile games, they're nothing alike

 

[Kallyle]

Pokemon has been a yearly release since 09 , or 2012 if your counting only Japanese releases . How does taking 2 years make a better pokemon game? The mechanics in gen 6 are the best and I see no evidence that gen 7 won't be better. The only way pokemon needs to get better is the story. And I'm sorry it doesn't take 2 years to come up with a decent story. The solution may be is to expand game freak . While they work on gen 7 have a team working on gen 8 in terms of pokemon story and map and then at least when they start to develop gen 8 it would of had 2-3 years for prep

Have you played any 4th or 5th gen game? The difference in content is night and day. But for your sake, here's what XY and ORAS lacks compared to their predecessors:

XY:
-Extra features (Contests, Secret Bases, Pokeathlon, Join Avenue, etc.)
-Full post game areas (Sevii Islands, East Unova in BW1, etc.)

ORAS:
-Gym leader rematches (preferably with full 6 on 6 teams like Emerald, Platinum, and HGSS)
-Full post game areas
-Emerald content (Battle Frontier, Trainer Hill, Mirage Tower, Desert Underpass, etc.)

The 4th and 5th gen games (especially 4th) had a wide variety of things to do in the games, whereas 6th gen is starting to cut corners. The idea is that if they have more development time, they have more time to add these things in.

You really believe the only reason those things weren't included because of time constraints? I have no clue why they weren't but I'm pretty sure it wasn't because of time.

If it wasn't included because of missing time, what else could be the reason other than flat-out trollyness?


Also, on the topic of smartphone gaming, does anyone really sit down and play games on their phone for a few hours, if they have other options (I understand it when you're somewhere not home waiting)? Is that a thing?

Like I said I have no idea. But XY took about 3 and a half years to develop so I'm pretty sure it wasn't time.
And I'm not sure why people are saying pokemon is competing with mobile games, they're nothing alike

It's due to a comment that Masuda made in regards to people getting bored if things get difficult and turning to mobile games as a result. Add the fact that Game Freak has been streamlining the games more and more lately, than it isn't that hard to imagine.

 

[MrGriszell]

Pokemon has been a yearly release since 09 , or 2012 if your counting only Japanese releases . How does taking 2 years make a better pokemon game? The mechanics in gen 6 are the best and I see no evidence that gen 7 won't be better. The only way pokemon needs to get better is the story. And I'm sorry it doesn't take 2 years to come up with a decent story. The solution may be is to expand game freak . While they work on gen 7 have a team working on gen 8 in terms of pokemon story and map and then at least when they start to develop gen 8 it would of had 2-3 years for prep

Have you played any 4th or 5th gen game? The difference in content is night and day. But for your sake, here's what XY and ORAS lacks compared to their predecessors:

XY:
-Extra features (Contests, Secret Bases, Pokeathlon, Join Avenue, etc.)
-Full post game areas (Sevii Islands, East Unova in BW1, etc.)

ORAS:
-Gym leader rematches (preferably with full 6 on 6 teams like Emerald, Platinum, and HGSS)
-Full post game areas
-Emerald content (Battle Frontier, Trainer Hill, Mirage Tower, Desert Underpass, etc.)

The 4th and 5th gen games (especially 4th) had a wide variety of things to do in the games, whereas 6th gen is starting to cut corners. The idea is that if they have more development time, they have more time to add these things in.

You really believe the only reason those things weren't included because of time constraints? I have no clue why they weren't but I'm pretty sure it wasn't because of time.

If it wasn't included because of missing time, what else could be the reason other than flat-out trollyness?


Also, on the topic of smartphone gaming, does anyone really sit down and play games on their phone for a few hours, if they have other options (I understand it when you're somewhere not home waiting)? Is that a thing?

Like I said I have no idea. But XY took about 3 and a half years to develop so I'm pretty sure it wasn't time.
And I'm not sure why people are saying pokemon is competing with mobile games, they're nothing alike

It's due to a comment that Masuda made in regards to people getting bored if things get difficult and turning to mobile ga,ex as a result. Add the fact that Game Freak has been streamlining the games more and more lately, than it isn't that hard to imagine.

That's stupid reasoning on his part

 

[CrystaI]

Game Freak was always responsible to make the main series of Pokemon (RGB/GSC/RSE/FRLG/DPPt/HGSS/BW/B2W2/XY/ORAS), but they never took major part in any of the spin-off games. (Rather, I'm not even sure did GF took any part in the development of spin-off games, because I seldom look into details of credit rolls)

During the late GenIII, GenIV and the early GenV era, it was the time where the amount of Pokemon spin-off games was the largest, thanks to many other game companies willing to produce Pokemon spin-off games. Hence during that time we could get annual release of Pokemon games made by different game companies, where we players are can then always feeling fresh with Pokemon.

Now for the current GenVI, it is true that there is no spin-off games yet. But I don't think Game Freak should then increase the development speed for the main series in order to "keep the players' mind fresh with Pokemon". Besides, why GF feel like wanting to take this promotion responsibility where in fact that should be the responsibility of The Pokemon Company to keep the player's mind fresh with Pokemon, by giving license to other game companies such that to provide a variety of different Pokemon games to the players?

Even ORAS where it was just a remake game, hence having RSE as the foundation so in fact many of the designing process can be abridged, and it was said that it uses the XY game system as foundation so system programming process can also be abridged, yet it still took GF approximately two years to developed (From start of project to the final product).
So there is one doubt from me: Where does Masuda get the guts of saying his Game Freak will able to make a new Pokemon game (not remakes, but a complete new title with no previous title as foundation) in 1 year time? It is just practically impossible for a RPG game on a major gaming console.