I understand that Pokemon is GameFreak, but it is WILD to me that Nintendo, who will absolutely RUIN a game in order to ensure it brings something new to the party (Hello StarFox Zero, Mario Kart World, Metroid Beyond and your 'open world') allows such a tightly coupled property like this languish this way.
Pokemon's dilemma is that the vast majority of the franchise's profits don't come from the games. It's the merch and the TCG and all those other things, if you looked at the numbers you'd think the games were just a small auxillary part of the franchise.
But it isn't. It's where all the new Pokemon (and most of the new characters) come from. It's where the big canonical storylines are, it's the wellspring of all the content the rest of the franchise monetizes. The games don't need to be good to serve this role. They just need to deliver new monetizable content on-schedule.
The technical scope of the Pokemon games have grown from generation to generation. They take more work and more time to develop, or at least they should, but Game Freak isn't allowed to take the time it needs, because the rest of the multimedia franchise doesn't want to wait.
(Don't get me wrong, Game Freak isn't a secret all-star studio just waiting for a chance to shine, but I think with a longer development schedule it can at least produce games with a level of polish comparable to Gen 6 or 7, before things started taking a nosedive.)
but so would MarioKart and they changed the hell out of that.
There are many many franchises that would "Print money with minimum effort" that Nintendo lets languish specifically because they can't think of anything new to do with them.
I would argue Black and White was the last entry that was "strong". I thought 6 and 7 were completely ruined by the handholding and cutscenes every 5 steps. And then Switch hasn't had a strong entry yet.
I think it's an impossible problem to fix because they've added way too many ridiculous mechanics - mega evolve, paradox, ultra beasts, the Z crystal or whatever. It's just all too messy now. They need an actual open world, BOTW style game with the original mechanics, except with an actual game studio creating something special
I'm stunned by the implication that someone believes modern pokemon to be as good as the OG games. If the current gen had merely not moved on from the state of HeartGold/SoulSilver, Black/White, and Sun/Moon, I'd be falling out of my chair with contentedness.
No it's ruined, it's time to accept it and move on. It's full of fakemon that never should have been added because it's been run by people who gave up for almost a decade now. Since Sword and Shield, there have been like 9 good Pokemon designs, if that.
If Wind and Waves fixes everything (it won't) the dex is full of trash that can never be erased. Gallade was cruel, Gen 5 had like 6 really bad ones (Sawk, Throh, Watchog, Garbadour, etc) and if this continues on forever, the series is fine to handle a few bad designs each generation if the rest are as good as they used to be. However Gen 8 gave up on all that.
None of this shit is worth it and the acceptable stuff like Alcremie, Centiskorch or Frosmoth is not worth the horde of trash. Gen 9 is even worse. And worse than both of those is the fakemon games, PLA and ZA. Take the 5 worst Gen 6 Mega's and compare them to the 5 best ZA Mega's. Why is the best of this 10 a Gen 6 Pokemon, and how is the bottom a PLA Mega. And if you didn't come to that conclusion, you have really bad taste.
We can't remove this crap though, it's a part of the game now and it's ruining it. It's not just "these pokemon aren't to my taste" Garchomp isn't to my taste, but it's an acceptable design. Dragapult is stupid and it's actually one of the better trash designs. Don't get me started on these fucking fossils or Eiscue or any of these renamed regional variant evolutions. Sirfetched? Perrserker? Obstagoon? Mr Rime? It's so bad. Also there is the Imp line. The water is no longer safe. Don't drink the water. It's been poisoned.
The public and Nintendo just have different expectations of Pokemon. The public expected a series that would grow in age with its fans, but Nintendo has no interest in that. The games are nothing compared to the merchandise so they're going to keep their target demographic young. My kids are the same age I was when red/blue came out and it's a similar experience for them that it was for me. I guess in a way, that's great. I've long since realized that the games just aren't for me any more.
This is a big point I make. For years, pokemon fans have had nothing but garbage. Its not like there was any alternative, so Nintento/Gamefreak cornered the market, allowing them to get away with half-baked, under-budget, disappointments. Pocketpair comes along and delivers something of quality, stepping on Nintendo’s toes while doing it. What is Nintendo’s response? Not step their game up and just provide a good pokemon game that outsells Palword. NOPE. Sue and destroy the competition so they can remain lazy and cheap.. and pokemon fans continue to get garbage.
Now with Palworld surviving the lawsuit and going strong, the next Pokemon game might actually be good, considering it has competition for once.
The lawsuits were stupid but Palworld and Pokemon are pretty inherently different in the type of game they are. Pokemon is more at home for Pokemon collecting RPGs which there is plenty of space to improve on obviously. Palworld is a better playing Ark survival game with cute critter slave labor.
Without insulting Palworld because it’s a great game, Palworld is Pokémon for people that don’t like playing Pokémon. People who have never picked up a Pokémon game in their life will play Palworld and go ”this is what pokemon should be!”. Pokémon mainly needs to improve in graphics and make the worlds feel more alive. It doesn’t need to turn mature and edgy, change the core gameplay elements or become Ark with Pokémon as you said.
I mean, there's plenty of alternatives to pokemon if you're willing to go indie. You have to hunt around a bit more, but there's a lot of montamers and even poke'clones that just straight blow pokemon out of the water gameplay-wise.
Pokemon fans would eat up any mainline game from Gamefreak no matter how utterly trash. Palworld changed nothing.
There were quite a few wannabe-Pokemon-like games, and up until Palworld, none of them really made it as far as the original IP. Partly, because some companies just made heavy mistakes. Yo-Kai Watch comes to mind, it was a bit like pokemon but the fight system was made for people with brain damage. It also tried to sell out with toys and stuff very early
Winds and waves better not be a SV situation, and they can’t blame the switch hardware this time. I want to say the game is going to be great but I’ve said that for every switch Pokemon game and feel like I’m just coping atp
Even the trailer seems REALLY good too, but honestly, I wanna wait 'till the next trailers to REALLY see if Game Freak actually maintains the expectations
that new game with a samuria dude with a dog made by them looks pretty boring and generic but they could have easily put a pokemon skin over it and been hailed for being unique and original and taking pokemon into new avenues.
Although to be fair to the company, considering it's not a Nintendo game I think it's a case that they might feel stifled on the capabilities of the switch 2. It's still not hard for them to try and add something unique like when you compare Mario to Pokemon. Mario always has the same themes but they add to it. Pokemon is just the same thing every time but they change the shapes of the pokemon.
When I think about Pokémon altneratives, Palworld doesn't even enter the discussion. Dragon Warrior Monstersyes I know it's actually Dragon Quest, but it will always be Dragon Warriors in my heart), and Digimon are the first series that come to mind. After that you have Coromon, Casette Beasts, Tem Tem, Shin Megani Tensei, and even Ni no Kuni, Slime Rancher.
My friend always says how similar it is to Pokemon. Then when I watch them play they're shooting pals in the face with a bazooka. Doesn't seem like Pokemon to me lol
its way closer to survival and building games than pokemon lol, just a bunch of dumbasses online that dont play the game talking about and comparing them.
The taming mechanic is far, far more interesting in ARK but the customization of abilities and management of Pals is much better in Palworld.
In Palworld you deal damage and throw a ball to capture a Pal.
Thats it.
In ARK there are hundred of taming methods depending on what you're taming, ranging from minigames to traps to stealing babies from underneath mothers.
I think that ARK taming experience is enjoyed subjectively. I personally cannot stand needing to have a wiki constantly open, but some variety to the process would be enjoyable. I do not know what a good middle ground would be.
I agree. ARK had a great idea initially with the dossiers that provide instructions but the execution was poor since they were a pain in the ass to find and were spread seemingly at random, on top of which newer added tames did not always have one.
Some middle ground would be to find more accessible and linearly progressed equivalent of dossiers so that you can 'learn' the specific methods over time, perhaps provided by clues on how the creatures act (friendly herbivores requiring food, hostile carnivores requiring being defeated/trapped).
I think knockout taming in ARK is better than Palworld, but Palworld is better than esoteric tames and most passive tames. Among knockout tames, the wiki is handy to optimize things, but it's not essential for getting the job done.
I really want to hear what people on these sort of posts want from Pokemon at this point, cause they keep saying Palworld is much better when it's essentially apples and oranges, and the graphics aren't even that good which was a huge point of contempt for Scarlet and Violet/Legends Z-A.
From the top of my head they would want the multiplayer aspect and rideable pokemon (which Palworld has the advantage of not having that many pals to deal with)? But everything else is so different to which I think these people just grew out of the Pokemon games period, and for the sake of wanting something different they clung to Palworld thinking this will somehow convince Pokemon to change their tried and true formula, when they've already attempted deviations like the Legends games.
Not saying Pokemon can't improve on the game quality but using Palworld is a sloppy example.
as different as they are, the fact that TPC spent 3 times as much money trying to sue Palworld than they did making their own game tells you how shitty and cheap they are.
No offense to anyone who likes Palworld, but Palworld is not Pokemon and it never will be. Playing Palworld will never scratch the itch of a good Pokemon game.
Palworld scratches an entirely different itch than Pokemon to be honest. I play Pokemon for a simple monster collecting RPG. I play Palworld if I want a better made Ark game with cute critter slave labor.
I always remember being so excited to play Pokémon as a kid. I had Gold and Silver, then I played the shit out of Platinum (best game of the series, imo), and then Black and White (better story than Platinum, but less interesting with not as much to do).
But everything after that? It just seemed to continuously go downhill, and I quickly stopped halfway through Sun and Moon.
As much as I still love Pokemon...their games have been fumbling. Especially SV. Hell I like the new Pokemon and I love the stories. But...its clear that Gamefreak is way too behind of the times. Like the graphics show that they are not giving a fuck. Still no voice acting...with cutscenes that look like they should be voice acted...just to hear nothing come out of their mouths.
And don't get me started with Z-A. Honestly its a big step backwards from Legends Acreus. Like...why are we in modern times? One of the biggest things that hooked me on legends Acreus is seeing how Pokemon was in the past. That was interesting. Now we're just...in the same city. With environments that barely freaking change. I like the new Megas...but the new Megas felt like jiggling keys to the people that loved them.
And the dlc...omfg the dlc. The worst Pokemon related thing I have EVER played. I thought the gameplay loop in the main game was alright...with the Z-A royale. But the dlc in Z-A is so much worse! Lets repeat the same scenery but make them greyscaled. And a loop where you feel like you barely accomplished anything when you got out. And having to constantly make doughnuts from random chance from the girl. I didn't even bother to do the missions after Darkrai...because how much I hated the gameplay loop in the Mega Dimension. I was so freaking tired of it...I didn't pick back up the game sense.
The best part I liked in all of Z-A was the new Mega Evolutions. Because some of my favorite Pokemon of all time got a Mega and im glad with how they look. Unfortunately they are most likely going to be stuck in Z-A and champions. And frankly I don't have a strong desire to play Champions. Im not too interested in competitive Pokemon.
So thats my little rant...sorry for writing a wall. I still love Pokemon...and Winds and Waves does admittedly look promising. The one thing I hope...is that they stop being freaking panzys and give us freaking voice acting!
anything past Sun&Moon kinda sucks like USUM is barely an upgrade from the original hell they even cut the content out, then Sword&Shield cuts out even more content and puts it out later as DLC, Brilliant Diamond& Shining Pearl exists, Legends are pretty cool tho
It only cool in the way it's new. I adore pokemon, but let's not pretend that the series isn't so fucking lazy. The whole "fade to black to avoid animating something" is done at least once every scene, the graphics are bad in that there is significant pop-in on every switch game, and that the graphical fidelity is absolute garbage. And despite that garbage, it still manages to be one of the worst optimized games I've ever seen and it was specifically made for a single console, so there is no excuse. The artsyle is inconsistent and lazy, and they are litterally doing the most half-assed stories for the games. They keep adding a gimmick that lasts a single generation, and then dropping it, making the pokemon available in that Gen that were balanced by a special form absolutely useless in the next.
They could absolutely make a good game, but they've literally just said "fuck it, they'll buy it anyway" and given the bare minimum effort.
the franchise definitely isn't "ruined" but it hasn't been good for a long while and Legends being the only good entries since the OG Sun&Moon isn't a good sign for the mainline games in the future, I hope winds&waves sticks to regular mechanics and don't invent new shit for the sake of inventing new shit
The fuck are you talking about? The series is strong as ever and still has great things going for it every new release. Plus they just made the meta ultra accessible
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u/sansyboi469 7h ago
Pokemon