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[Victor Omega]

levyjl1988 has started a great thread on The Pokemon Company needs to get their shit together and build a world map for the Pokemon franchise. Please support it.

This is the Phanpy (elephant) in the room, one that we all know is true yet still hope and dream of the possibility: a true Open World, interconnected region, MMO like Mainline Pokemon game.

But two things (actually three things (actually let say the third thing now as it will eventually get brought up: Nintendo Hardware philosophy.) ) make this an impossible venture.

1. GameFreak is not capable of making such a game. Not yet, anyway.
   • Animation in 3D - they have moved to 3D rendered games but have not fully grasped 3D animation. The sheer level of creating over 1000+ unique animations for every pokemon in 3D would take not only years but decades. (think about all the different creatures in CAPCOM's Monster Hunter Franchise, then make all the reskin and variation have their own unique animation set. This is pokemon.
   • Connected Regions - Without massive help from other studios, Gamefreak does not have the team to develop a connected region world.
   • Stylized or Realitlistic - this is the main problem with the current Pokemon: they are trying to do both. Stylized graphic with realistic texture. Games from Level-5 like Yokai Watch and Ni no Kuni, have all captured the art style pokemon should be using. Pokemon should be taking color-grading from its own anime, yet current Pokemon games use wash-out color palettes.
2. Such a game breaks what has made the franchise what it is today.
   • Pokemon games are not a Service - Pokemon is designed to sell hardware, Nintendo Hardware. annually. Such a dream game would break that trend and revenue.
   • Rule of two / Exclusive - Pokemon is designed in such a way that to obtain every pokemon, the player must have to trade. Trade from different version of games. This Dream Pokemon break that formula if the player can move from region to region in one games.

at the end of the day, It will take Games freak years to fully develop such a games. But to do so, will require not only the capability of their devs but their own desire in risking dismantling a 25 year gaming formula that is untouched in the industry. (10 million units in the first three days)

​

 

[RoadHazard]

Yeah, they are a 2D RPG studio dragged kicking and screaming into the modern 3D age, and they have not adapted well thus far.

 

[Beer Baelly]

 

[Saber]

Honestly, the more I remember about Dragon Quest XI the more I think of how much potential Pokemon lost with the lazies from Gamefreak.

Dragon Quest is a charming looking game, with monsters freely roaming the world and still looks pretty. Meanwhile GF is still learning about open worlds in a bloody 2022. Worst of it, everyone dumbfies themselves because poor Pokemon its their "first time", please understand and have mercy. As if other devs aren't called out for worse things.

At this point I'm really hoping Pokemon main games go to the MTX, lootbox and other cancerous greedy scummy mechanics. This would suck the life of their fans, maybe they would learn a lesson from it.

 

[hyperbertha]

Honestly, the more I remember about Dragon Quest XI the more I think of how much potential Pokemon lost with the lazies from Gamefreak.

Dragon Quest is a charming looking game, with monsters freely roaming the world and still looks pretty. Meanwhile GF is still learning about open worlds in a bloody 2022. Worst of it, everyone dumbfies themselves because poor Pokemon its their "first time", please understand and have mercy. As if other devs aren't called out for worse things.

At this point I'm really hoping Pokemon main games go to the MTX, lootbox and other cancerous greedy scummy mechanics. This would suck the life of their fans, maybe they would learn a lesson from it.

Which pokemon hurt you? Its nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. Scarlet is still more fun than rdr2.

 

[March Climber]

Yeah, they are a 2D RPG studio dragged kicking and screaming into the modern 3D age, and they have not adapted well thus far.

It's going to be way more embarrassing for them whenever the next Nintendo system comes out. Right now they have the slight benefit of the general public thinking the Switch is an overall underpowered system, but if a Switch 2 appears, there will literally be no room for excuses anymore.

 

[kiphalfton]

Which pokemon hurt you? Its nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. Scarlet is still more fun than rdr2.

Yes... because they totally compared Pokemon to RDR2.

 

[Saber]

Which pokemon hurt you? Its nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. Scarlet is still more fun than rdr2.

The only thing you guys can throw is that is fun(aside from the usual snarky comments). Yeah, I know that. The game has alot of problems besides quantities of mons, performance and other stuff. In the hands of more competent devs, this game would truly shine. And I'm not talking about ultra realistics graphics here, Nintendo themselves can present gorgeous and charming looking games without going for realistic visuals.
And who the heck is talking about Rdr2? This game is boring as fuck. The only one I ever mentioned is Dragon Quest XI, which is also available on Switch.

 

[March Climber]

Which pokemon hurt you? Its nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. Scarlet is still more fun than rdr2.

This isn't about wanting the Pokemon franchise to go away. Everyone just wants it in better hands. Right now it's potential is being squandered and they're in the perfect position of having fans so dedicated to it that they'll gladly accept bullshit.

There are other franchises where people clearly understand this and act upon it by making the sales numbers drop(Battlefield, Halo, etc). Pokemon is so ironclad that even if the game sales lower just a tiny bit, they have multiple other avenues to fall back on, so the devs technically don't have to care.

 

[RoadHazard]

It's going to be way more embarrassing for them whenever the next Nintendo system comes out. Right now they have the slight benefit of the general public thinking the Switch is an overall underpowered system, but if a Switch 2 appears, there will literally be no room for excuses anymore.

Well, maybe then their unoptimized engine will at least run well through sheer brute force.

 

[Kikorin]

Problem is not just Game Freak. Sure, they are unbelievable incompetent on a tech side and is mind-blowing how they made a game that is less advanced than GTA 3 in 2022, but the problem here is that they'll never going to catch up on other studios if they have to release 2 Pokémon games per year. Also, they are heavily under staffed, the team that develop Pokémon is so small that could pass for an indie studio in moder era of gaming.

People wanted Pokémon BOTW and they somehow tried to give it to the fans, but BOTW has been developed in 6 years by thousands of people yet skilled in 3D programming, Pokémon V/S has been developed by a team of 169 people (and in meantime they did Legends Arceus too) in about 2 years. Is yet a miracle that it somehow works and is a fun game for what it is (at least I'm enjoying it).

After the embarrassment of this release, I think the only way Nintendo/The Pokémon Company can continue to release a Pokémon game every November and deliver something decent on a tech side too, is to team up with other teams like they did for Intelligent System/Koei Tecmo for Fire Emblem saga. But I think they'll continue like that forever and maybe the game op is describing will release in another 20yrs, when outside there will be flying cars.

 

[IFireflyl]

Which pokemon hurt you? Its nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. Scarlet is still more fun than rdr2.

That's not fair. Watching paint dry is more fun than Red Dead Redemption 2.

 

[MisterBrimstone]

Just my 2 cents..

The scale and amount of animations required I don't think would be an issue since you can start small with a R/G/B roster and region. Then like every other MMO expand, add regions and gens. Gamefreak can be small but all these animations can be outsourced and they are stupid rich. I think there are other issues that have nothing to do with the technical side of things and I agree with the "Pokemon games are not a service" argument.

I think it would have to be a brand new area, ever growing and evolving like any good MMO that has many pokemons BUT in order to have the legendaries you have to catch them from the stand alone games and transfer. Maybe the game could be some sort of Pokemon Multiverse so you don't break the lore that legendaries are unique and every standalone single player game is a universe or whatnot. I mean we can't al come from ash's house and meet Oak, right? I don't see it working. I still don't know how to solve the battles since it's turn based and people should be able to see other people randomly battling. There are solutions I'm sure of it but nothing I can think of convinces me.

The esport aspect would be incredible, imagine the biggest tournament being held in the game, you can get your character to the stadium and watch the match live. That would be great.

 

[Fbh]

The thing with Pokemon is that it makes so much money that if they wanted to triple the devteam size and hire key talent for areas in which they struggle with they could afford to do so and they'd still make a lot of money.

But since people will buy the games anyway regardless of quality there's no reason to.

At least Scarlet Violet seem like step in the right direction as far as core ideas go. Now they "just" need more interesting world design, better story, a difficulty setting and competent tech.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

The worst Pokémon game I can think of is too ambitious for game freak because they come up short every time.

 

[Saiyan-Rox]

They should embrace the new HD 2D thing that square do and leave the 3D shit alone

 

[Swift_Star]

Honestly, the more I remember about Dragon Quest XI the more I think of how much potential Pokemon lost with the lazies from Gamefreak.

Dragon Quest is a charming looking game, with monsters freely roaming the world and still looks pretty. Meanwhile GF is still learning about open worlds in a bloody 2022. Worst of it, everyone dumbfies themselves because poor Pokemon its their "first time", please understand and have mercy. As if other devs aren't called out for worse things.

At this point I'm really hoping Pokemon main games go to the MTX, lootbox and other cancerous greedy scummy mechanics. This would suck the life of their fans, maybe they would learn a lesson from it.

I don’t think it’s about laziness lol, it’s more about budget and lack of people.
They’re definitely not lazy as they work hard af to put out a game like they do. They need to hire more experienced people and raise the games’ budget.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

MMO like Mainline Pokemon game.

 

[hyperbertha]

This isn't about wanting the Pokemon franchise to go away. Everyone just wants it in better hands. Right now it's potential is being squandered and they're in the perfect position of having fans so dedicated to it that they'll gladly accept bullshit.

There are other franchises where people clearly understand this and act upon it by making the sales numbers drop(Battlefield, Halo, etc). Pokemon is so ironclad that even if the game sales lower just a tiny bit, they have multiple other avenues to fall back on, so the devs technically don't have to care.

The only thing you guys can throw is that is fun(aside from the usual snarky comments). Yeah, I know that. The game has alot of problems besides quantities of mons, performance and other stuff. In the hands of more competent devs, this game would truly shine. And I'm not talking about ultra realistics graphics here, Nintendo themselves can present gorgeous and charming looking games without going for realistic visuals.
And who the heck is talking about Rdr2? This game is boring as fuck. The only one I ever mentioned is Dragon Quest XI, which is also available on Switch.

The current dev is what made pokemon what it is no? This is the only mainline pokemon game they made that got middling reviews AFAIK. We have no reason to believe pokemon will be better in the hands of any other dev. Most likely a rushed game.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

hyperbertha is this from Baten Kaitos?
Is it fun? Never had a chance to play it.

 

[hyperbertha]

hyperbertha is this from Baten Kaitos?
Is it fun? Never had a chance to play it.

yes it is. Depends if you like card based combat. Its a decent story but its visually outdated. Baiten kaitos 2 holds up better.

 

[Saber]

The current dev is what made pokemon what it is no?

Totally agree, but is in the past.
The transition to 3D certainly didn't do anything good for them. Perhaps they should go back to 3D sprites, its not like people got tired of it(I mean theres alot of classic pixel rpgs nowadays).

 

[March Climber]

The current dev is what made pokemon what it is no? This is the only mainline pokemon game they made that got middling reviews AFAIK. We have no reason to believe pokemon will be better in the hands of any other dev. Most likely a rushed game.

Using this argument is like trying to say a popular band or singer from the 70s, 80s, or 90s still makes the same quality music today, when nearly everyone agrees that their best years are behind them.

I don’t know why you feel the need to defend this specific dev team instead of wanting better for a franchise you enjoy.

 

[PonyStation4]

The thing with Pokemon is that it makes so much money that if they wanted to triple the devteam size and hire key talent for areas in which they struggle with they could afford to do so and they'd still make a lot of money.

But since people will buy the games anyway regardless of quality there's no reason to.

At least Scarlet Violet seem like step in the right direction as far as core ideas go. Now they "just" need more interesting world design, better story, a difficulty setting and competent tech.

They could pay Capcom to make the maps and Square Enix to model and animate all the Pokemon. Instead people will defend the current development of the games, just so the billionaires owning them can make more money.

 

[FStubbs]

Pokémon Go would satisfy the OP. Huge open world, MMO, etc.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

If only Nintendo would outright purchase GameFreak and immediately replace most of its devs with their own excellent in-house staff... it would be beautiful.

 

[Power Pro]

15-20 years ago I would dream of an MMO like this. Back when I was big into Final Fantasy XI, and playing MMOs was like logging into another world where people actually worked with others within that world, it could have been amazing with that mindset and community. Unfortunately as time has gone on, I realize how much people on the internet suck, and people are not as open socially in an MMO anymore, that I don't think I'd want an MMO anymore. People would ruin it, and make it a miserable experience. The idea of a game like that made in the early 2000s could have been amazing, and the number of Pokemon hadn't blossomed into insane amounts that it might have been possible too.

Sad reality is that times have changed and I don't think I want that game anymore. As broken as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are, and how much Legends Arceus seemed held back by the hardware...they are slowly getting there with creating open worlds that feel like vast and filled and lived in by Pokemon. They're getting the open world gameplay part down slowly. I think what they need to work on now as far as a Pokemon game is building on the lore and story telling better. They need better writers, and more production value, that is what I feel is holding the current slew of mainline games back.



This MV they put out a while ago is like one of those rare things that captures how rich and vibrant the world of Pokemon can be, and how amazing the history of the franchise is. Yet every new video game they put out always seems like it's doing the bare minimum in portraying a lived in world, with real people and Pokemon.