Starlight Lotice
Member
That is actually ironic for me as I grew up on SEGA's Mega Drive first, then moved onto Playstation.... (we did own an SNES at one point, but Mario never really "clicked" with me as Sonic did).
BUT.....Pokémon was my first foray into a Nintendo franchise I absolutely loved, and I was obsessed in the 5 years after that (10/11 to 15) of the games being amazing experiences (Gens 1 to 3 will forever be the best trilogy for me).
For the majority of my age group in the UK, no matter what Home Console you owned, everyone practically wanted or owned a Game Boy...just for Pokemon. I played a Game Boy way back in 1996 from a School Buddy when he broke his leg (Mario again...), but I only really wanted one a little later on and before Pokémon was a thing. Right place, right time for me.
I got into Nintendo more during the Gamecube/Wii eras really, as the Playstation hype was always around the more AAA offerings of the time which didn't interest me. I came to appreciate Wind Waker (I honestly didn't know that people hated that one, but the graphics for me looked better and brighter than the PS2), Pikmin and even Warioware on the system, as well as the GBA games we got.
I think the fanbase in the US have a more stronger attachment to Nintendo Franchises than kids these days do (who grew up on Final Fantasy on Playstation, then Halo came and then stuff like GTA/Minecraft), but I think Pokémon is more the exception than the norm, as I feel that almost everyone my age and lightly younger all got hyped for Pokémon and for most, that has stuck with them.
Now...I honestly didn't like the DS/3DS era of games....Diamond/Pearl was a massive let down for me despite the Dual Screen being a great idea for the series (which will now disappear for Sword/Shield), as I felt that Game Freak tried to omit QoL features from the past 3 games and tried to shoehorn in ideas that weren't as good (Vs Seeker is an amazing Item). The GTS and stuff is a good idea of course, but for me....it loses its charm of collecting with friends and family and loses that "Social" aspect...as well as the Meta Game of Competing (although I can sympathise for those who love that stuff).
Pokémon is kind of like Sonic at the moment, where the creators don't know what to do with the series. The Gyms have always been a staple, but they have not really innovated in that aspect, save for puzzles in the Gyms to get to the leaders (These gripe me beyond belief).
Every Generation feels like something Game Freak "has" to innovate on, and in doing so, they have lost the basic skills of improving on the Coding aspect. The problem is more to do with refusing to expand your team when you have a multi million franchise where Pokémon means different things to different people
What Game Freak have done, and is totally understandable why people are hating on them now for, is that they have:
Because they have changed too much, with using the limited skills they have not improved upon, as well as likely ignored Focus Groups/Marketing Data, they have infuriated a lot of the fans who grew up with the past games that have implemented and changed systems over the past 20 years to make it too different and too alien for the fanbase.
All of these factors is why the Pokémon fanbase is likely unique in the scenario that so many have different ideas of what Pokémon is to them, because Game Freak have offered all of these options in past games, but now have changed or taken away a lot of that stuff, alienating almost the entire fanbase.
If you like the lore, then that is pretty much gone backwards.
If you liked the Competitive nature, then be prepared to grind for better Mons or use alternative moves you don't like.
If you liked the Mega Evos/Z moves, then the Dynamax isn't going to excite you.
If you liked the different Pokémon you can get but also preferred your old favourites, then you are limited in choice.
The Nintendo fanbase does skew more to adults, but many of those franchises tend to have a high audience for children as most of those Adults are parents, showing them an easy to access franchise first. Mario, DK, Kirby etc are very much a good entry point (hell, even Sonic is!!!).
Pokémon originally had this concept in mind, but sadly it has become so complex in nature, and so vast in features that I personally feel that children are alienated from the more simple aspects of the game these days (and the main reason why I moved on from Pokémon). I think Game Freak are trying to get that audience back, but the audience that makes them the majority of that money are the Adult audience who pretty much understand most of those features and taking them away leaves them in a dilemma.
Do they start from scratch, limiting Pokemon/Moves/Gyms to let kids play them as per the original vision? Or should they add everything in, and keeping the main audience happy whilst not investing in new blood to get all these features in?
BUT.....Pokémon was my first foray into a Nintendo franchise I absolutely loved, and I was obsessed in the 5 years after that (10/11 to 15) of the games being amazing experiences (Gens 1 to 3 will forever be the best trilogy for me).
For the majority of my age group in the UK, no matter what Home Console you owned, everyone practically wanted or owned a Game Boy...just for Pokemon. I played a Game Boy way back in 1996 from a School Buddy when he broke his leg (Mario again...), but I only really wanted one a little later on and before Pokémon was a thing. Right place, right time for me.
I got into Nintendo more during the Gamecube/Wii eras really, as the Playstation hype was always around the more AAA offerings of the time which didn't interest me. I came to appreciate Wind Waker (I honestly didn't know that people hated that one, but the graphics for me looked better and brighter than the PS2), Pikmin and even Warioware on the system, as well as the GBA games we got.
I think the fanbase in the US have a more stronger attachment to Nintendo Franchises than kids these days do (who grew up on Final Fantasy on Playstation, then Halo came and then stuff like GTA/Minecraft), but I think Pokémon is more the exception than the norm, as I feel that almost everyone my age and lightly younger all got hyped for Pokémon and for most, that has stuck with them.
Now...I honestly didn't like the DS/3DS era of games....Diamond/Pearl was a massive let down for me despite the Dual Screen being a great idea for the series (which will now disappear for Sword/Shield), as I felt that Game Freak tried to omit QoL features from the past 3 games and tried to shoehorn in ideas that weren't as good (Vs Seeker is an amazing Item). The GTS and stuff is a good idea of course, but for me....it loses its charm of collecting with friends and family and loses that "Social" aspect...as well as the Meta Game of Competing (although I can sympathise for those who love that stuff).
Pokémon is kind of like Sonic at the moment, where the creators don't know what to do with the series. The Gyms have always been a staple, but they have not really innovated in that aspect, save for puzzles in the Gyms to get to the leaders (These gripe me beyond belief).
Every Generation feels like something Game Freak "has" to innovate on, and in doing so, they have lost the basic skills of improving on the Coding aspect. The problem is more to do with refusing to expand your team when you have a multi million franchise where Pokémon means different things to different people
- Catching them all
- Competing on a High Level
- Personalising your Pokémon you like the look of
- Story and Lore of the games
- Characters you interact with who talk to you about the different aspects of Pokémon
What Game Freak have done, and is totally understandable why people are hating on them now for, is that they have:
- Taken out Moves that will seriously affect the Competitive Nature of the games
- Shortened the Story, making the game have less lore in them
- Changed how you Catch Pokémon so that you can never find anything stronger or your personal preferences
- Omitted Favourites Entirely, as well as reduce the Pokédex
- Likely have changed how you battle in Gyms, making them innovative but at the same time, losing some of the traditions of the original games.
- The mantra of "Catch them all" has gone, which was at the time, the main selling point of the series. How will they market their games in the future?
Because they have changed too much, with using the limited skills they have not improved upon, as well as likely ignored Focus Groups/Marketing Data, they have infuriated a lot of the fans who grew up with the past games that have implemented and changed systems over the past 20 years to make it too different and too alien for the fanbase.
All of these factors is why the Pokémon fanbase is likely unique in the scenario that so many have different ideas of what Pokémon is to them, because Game Freak have offered all of these options in past games, but now have changed or taken away a lot of that stuff, alienating almost the entire fanbase.
If you like the lore, then that is pretty much gone backwards.
If you liked the Competitive nature, then be prepared to grind for better Mons or use alternative moves you don't like.
If you liked the Mega Evos/Z moves, then the Dynamax isn't going to excite you.
If you liked the different Pokémon you can get but also preferred your old favourites, then you are limited in choice.
The Nintendo fanbase does skew more to adults, but many of those franchises tend to have a high audience for children as most of those Adults are parents, showing them an easy to access franchise first. Mario, DK, Kirby etc are very much a good entry point (hell, even Sonic is!!!).
Pokémon originally had this concept in mind, but sadly it has become so complex in nature, and so vast in features that I personally feel that children are alienated from the more simple aspects of the game these days (and the main reason why I moved on from Pokémon). I think Game Freak are trying to get that audience back, but the audience that makes them the majority of that money are the Adult audience who pretty much understand most of those features and taking them away leaves them in a dilemma.
Do they start from scratch, limiting Pokemon/Moves/Gyms to let kids play them as per the original vision? Or should they add everything in, and keeping the main audience happy whilst not investing in new blood to get all these features in?
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