Alola Region Discussion Thread

[Bguy7]

Really, if you want to escape the real world then Pokémon is a bit of a strange choice. Since the beginning it used real world areas to base the regions on. Suddenly they jump to the Western area and it becomes a problem, it has been like this since it started we just lacked the knowledge to understand it.

Once again though, the difference is that they didn't make it obvious. If they had done Unova and Kalos based just as much off of New York and France as they had made previous regions based off of their real-world counterpart then I would have no problems.

Even Kanto referenced a real world place (Guyana), and suddenly a region name is too similar to a real world counterpart? I definitely don't agree with your opinion.

I've always considered that line of text to be in the same "canon limbo" as the portrayal of real animals in the early anime. It was in the beginning of the series life and they haven't built an entire world yet, so some real-world references slipped in. Besides, it's made pretty obvious that even if the Pokemon world is based off of the real world, the places don't have the same names, so Guyana wouldn't be called Guyana anyways.

And of course, there's no problem in not agreeing with my opinion. I was just trying to make it clear why I think the way I do.

Anyways, really wondering what Hawai'i has that can be based on the side activity. Not to say that Kyushu had something notorious that inspired Pokémon Contest (I really lack the knowledge so maybe they do have something), but Unova had a rather obvious inspiration on both the Musicals and PokéStar.

Pokemon surfing?

 

[Pilpulp]

Anyways, really wondering what Hawai'i has that can be based on the side activity. Not to say that Kyushu had something notorious that inspired Pokémon Contest (I really lack the knowledge so maybe they do have something), but Unova had a rather obvious inspiration on both the Musicals and PokéStar.

Apparently there's a facility you won't believe.

 

[Littlemyuu]

I love that the Alola region is based on Hawaii, I do hope it got more Islands, the one in the trailer looked a little bit "small" to be a region, knowing Hawaii I bet there will be smaller Island's around it.

 

[Master_Tyrell]

Once again though, the difference is that they didn't make it obvious. If they had done Unova and Kalos based just as much off of New York and France as they had made previous regions based off of their real-world counterpart then I would have no problems.

I've always considered that line of text to be in the same "canon limbo" as the portrayal of real animals in the early anime. It was in the beginning of the series life and they haven't built an entire world yet, so some real-world references slipped in. Besides, it's made pretty obvious that even if the Pokemon world is based off of the real world, the places don't have the same names, so Guyana wouldn't be called Guyana anyways.

And of course, there's no problem in not agreeing with my opinion. I was just trying to make it clear why I think the way I do.

Pokemon surfing?

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but you don't know if they are blatantly obvious or not. Ask a Japanese if any of the regions from Japan are obvious or not, I think some would be able to point out the obvious references in the regions. I mean, Burnt Tower and the Bell Tower are obviously based on the silver and gold temples from the region Johto was based on.... they even used the burning of one of the towers which ended being the Burnt Tower... how is that not obvious?

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I don't think surfing is a good enough side activity.

Apparently there's a facility you won't believe.

Oh yeah, I forgot the facility. I wonder what it is then. Since they have more human like proportions I feel it'll look impressive.

 

[goodpeople25]

Once again though, the difference is that they didn't make it obvious. If they had done Unova and Kalos based just as much off of New York and France as they had made previous regions based off of their real-world counterpart then I would have no problems.

I've always considered that line of text to be in the same "canon limbo" as the portrayal of real animals in the early anime. It was in the beginning of the series life and they haven't built an entire world yet, so some real-world references slipped in. Besides, it's made pretty obvious that even if the Pokemon world is based off of the real world, the places don't have the same names, so Guyana wouldn't be called Guyana anyways.

And of course, there's no problem in not agreeing with my opinion. I was just trying to make it clear why I think the way I do.

Pokemon surfing?

Yes they are basing regions on places pretty well known to international audiences, But prior to recent games I think it's safe to say their intended audience was Japan so to say this is new is not quite true. If anything it's just a product of them expanding their intended audiences. And well do you want to lose the the upsides of that?
And some of what your saying is more advertising than game content.

 

[Erron Black]

I am hoping there are multiple islands. It would just be a waste if there wasn't, besides that, the photo makes it look a little... small...

I saw someone say they liked the idea of the region being made up of multiple islands with each island having a gym there. I think that would be super awesome. Especially if each island had it's own native Pokemon there.

 

[Nyter]

I've always considered that line of text to be in the same "canon limbo" as the portrayal of real animals in the early anime. It was in the beginning of the series life and they haven't built an entire world yet, so some real-world references slipped in. Besides, it's made pretty obvious that even if the Pokemon world is based off of the real world, the places don't have the same names, so Guyana wouldn't be called Guyana anyways.

I just use my imagination and I like to believe that at the beginning of the Pokémon franchise, our "real world" was dying off while the Pokémon world is still in tact. Maybe at the beginning of the anime, fish and cats existed but now they are extinct because Pokémon are the new evolution of natural life. Fruits are now known as berries evolving from their related fruit-base. And Guyana is one of the few countries that remained as is. New York City is now Castelia City and Paris is now Lumiose City.

And yes there are references to Pokémon from all the way back like Bronzong unearthed from 1000 years ago, but now it is apparent than before.

Therefore, Hawaii is now the Alola region. And it is it's own nation now, apart from the Unova region (formerly known as the U.S.)

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

If anyone thinks the real world references are "becoming" unsubtle, just remember Xatu and Mew are stated to be from South America.

Pokémon has never been subtle.

 

[Xavier Iser]

O'ahu = "The Gathering Place"

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but I certainly haven't seen anyone mention it since the trailer has been aired. I've seen people say the region is too small and there must be other islands...

I agree, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the region. I am here to tell you this:

Every Hawaiian island has a nickname. The island that most people think this is based on is O'ahu (People have been posting this image as proof: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiGPz7WWEAA5joG.jpg:large)

O'ahu's nickname is... The Gathering Place. And GF has stated "it all comes together" what a better place to do that than "The Gathering Place"?

All islands:

Hawaiʻi The Big Island
Maui The Valley Isle
Oʻahu The Gathering Place
Kauaʻi The Garden Isle
Molokaʻi The Friendly Isle
Lānaʻi The Pineapple Isle
Niʻihai The Forbidden Isle
Kahoʻolawe The Target Isle

These were listed by size from Wikipedia by the way.

"Oʻahu has for a long time been known as "The Gathering Place". However, the term Oʻahu has no confirmed meaning in Hawaiian, other than that of the place itself.[4] Ancient Hawaiian tradition attributes the name's origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. The story relates that he named the island after a son."

 

[Sabre_King]

So based on the small picture we have on the new region I really hope there are other islands because so far that island looks pretty small for a new region unless some cities are hiding caves or what not lol. I remember reading an earlier post that if there are other islands they could represent different terrains on other islands and found that to be a cool idea. But kinda stoked that it is a tropical region and I do hope that after beating the game that a post game scenario is we return to kalos by boat.

 

[szmty]

It's been rough times. Back in February, I committed the bad decision of lurking around 4chan just as the new game titles were revived, looking for requests at the drawthreads in the Pokémon board... nah, it wasn't bad. It was terrible. But because how relaxed the site is and because I hadn't been here in a year, I stuck there for a while instead of coming here or some other forum, and saw how the Hawaii theory was first developed, but also how it was defended with bad logic.

Seriously, I knew that the hints were strong, but to be honest, I didn't really expect it to be Hawaii. I did read some good counterarguments and I do was expecting something along the lines of South Kalos. Even those theories about China and Mexico sounded really good in comparison.

I'm not really keen on Hawaii as a region. I'm sure it's a very pretty place, but all the other regions are centred on a large landmass and have plenty of land routes. I don't think that they'll be able to fit the eight islands without imposing many limitations; also, most of the islands, including the Big one, have very low populations and not many points of interest that are widely known, unlike say Kalos that included the fricking Eiffel Tower. I'm thinking that they'll probably only include 4 large islands at most.

Also, speaking about ecosystems, I see that some of you suggest having islands with individual biomes just like Unova included a desert right north of Downtown Manhattan, but I don't think that would look very good.

And about transportation, I'm not a fan of using ferries or planes. I'd prefer to Fly or reach every location on foot. But then, if there's not too much transport then Surf will be the only means of transportation and that's also tedious because surfing in a water route is just like walking through caves (although I must say that walking through caves is more annoying).

All in all, Alola seems like an outcast to me. Not the kind of region we're accustomed to and again, I'm not that excited about it as many of you are. It's cool to break the pattern from time to time, but there are some things that may work better if we keep them as they are. I want to be convinced that it will be good, but I'm just not sure.

 

[Bguy7]

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but you don't know if they are blatantly obvious or not. Ask a Japanese if any of the regions from Japan are obvious or not, I think some would be able to point out the obvious references in the regions. I mean, Burnt Tower and the Bell Tower are obviously based on the silver and gold temples from the region Johto was based on.... they even used the burning of one of the towers which ended being the Burnt Tower... how is that not obvious?

I'm probably sounding like a broken record as well, but I'm talking from a worldwide perspective. Maybe the towers are based off of real-world locations, but most people in the grand scheme of things don't know about them (I, for one, had never heard of those towers until you made that post). You would have to ask someone who specifically lives in Japan, maybe even that specific region of Japan. It's only obvious to a specific audience, not to anyone outside that limited audience. The Eiffel Tower, on the other hand, is known worldwide. You don't need to ask someone living in France what the Prism Tower is based off of, because anyone in grade school living just about anywhere could tell you that.

Yes they are basing regions on places pretty well known to international audiences, But prior to recent games I think it's safe to say their intended audience was Japan so to say this is new is not quite true. If anything it's just a product of them expanding their intended audiences. And well do you want to lose the the upsides of that?
And some of what your saying is more advertising than game content.

I would argue that probably anything after Gen 1, certainly anything after Gen 2 was aimed at the world rather than just Japan. Besides, what are the real upsides of them marketing beyond Japan? I've seen no major improvements.

 

[shac]

Does anyone else think that the region looks really small? How are they gonna fit in 8 gyms and a league in there??

 

[Wulava]

Does anyone else think that the region looks really small? How are they gonna fit in 8 gyms and a league in there??

It's not the whole region. It's just a part of the Alolan Archipelago.
I've already asked Serebii to change the description on the main site to avoid confusion like this.

 

[Sabre_King]

It's not the whole region. It's just a part of the Alolan Archipelago.
I've already asked Serebii to change the description on the main site to avoid confusion like this.

Thank you for that correction because I have been wondering with the size of the island as well being to small, so that clarification also helps, but it makes me wonder why they only showed part of the region then?

 

[clbgolden12]

Thank you for that correction because I have been wondering with the size of the island as well being to small, so that clarification also helps, but it makes me wonder why they only showed part of the region then?

Probably to keep some surprises.

 

[Wulava]

Thank you for that correction because I have been wondering with the size of the island as well being to small, so that clarification also helps, but it makes me wonder why they only showed part of the region then?

Someone said that it could just be a part of the opening sequence, before zooming in onto the starting town then onto the player character, who seems to have recently just moved to the island.

 

[shac]

It's not the whole region. It's just a part of the Alolan Archipelago.
I've already asked Serebii to change the description on the main site to avoid confusion like this.

Oh that's good to know. thanks.

I hope its composed of a group of island. May be even have each gym its own island. A fire one, and obviously near the volcano.

 

[Wulava]

Oh that's good to know. thanks.

I hope its composed of a group of island. May be even have each gym its own island. A fire one, and obviously near the volcano.

Hawaii has 8 main islands, but only 6 are open to visitors.

Outside of that, it also has a small chain of islands, reefs and atolls called "Leeward Islands".

We don't know if GF will limit us to the 8 main islands, or include the Leeward islands.

 

[Rakurai]

As someone who's lived in Hawaii all their life, I can say that the scenery and biomes are a lot more varied then one might think. On top of the typical tropical beaches, we have rainforests, deciduous forests, deserts, and even mountains that get enough snow for sports like skiing and snowboarding. They really wouldn't need to take creative liberties to make an interesting and varied region out of it.

A place that stands out to me particular is Mount Haleakala on Maui, which is the second tallest mountain in the state, and home to a gigantic volcanic crater that houses a surreal-looking desert that's rather reminiscent of the surface of Mars. It's also worth noting that its name translates to House of the Sun. I couldn't think of a more fitting place for them to put the box legends.