Are you excited that Shigeru Ohmori seems to be taking over as Pokemon's main game director!

[shoz999]

Shigeru Ohmori, his known works so far are the ORAS remakes and the Sun & Moon games that notably emphasize more on storytelling, so it shouldn't be too surprising if it's the same for Sword & Shield.

So for those who don't know, the game director is a very important role as they handle most of the creative decisions of the Pokemon games, from storytelling to lore to Pokemon designs to gameplay. First it was Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon himself, and he was succeeded by Junichi Masuda who said that Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee will probably be his last games. It seems this holds true as the role has moved on to Shigeru Ohmori who is previously well-known for doing the Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire remakes and his first ever main series game debut, Pokemon Sun & Moon which was praised for it's more mature and tightly-focused story. Shigeru Ohmori's latest games are Pokemon Sword & Shield and it seems that he will be in charge of directing not only these Pokemon games but future installments as well. Were not just witnessing the progress of Pokemon's newest main game director. Were witnessing GameFreak's possible new change in direction for the future of Pokemon gaming!

Are you excited for not just Pokemon's new main Game Director, but a possible new change in direction for Pokemon's future?

 

[RoySceptile]

Not really.
I liked ORAS but it didn't feel absolutely amazing (I started with Ruby) and S/M are my least favorite games.

HGSS are my favorite games; I would like to see how Morimoto would handle a new region as director.

 

[shoz999]

Not really.
I liked ORAS but it didn't feel absolutely amazing (I started with Ruby) and S/M are my least favorite games.

HGSS are my favorite games; I would like to see how Morimoto would handle a new region as director.

I see. Well I hope the new games are challenging like Sun & Moon. What I like about Sun & Moon is how divisive the opinion was on which Totem Bosses were the easiest and which ones were the hardest depending on how you built your team.

 

[WhiteBlair]

Thanks for reminding it. For me, absolutely not.

We've discussed many times that the current generation of GameFreak staff are not 'that' competitive recently to fetch new ideas; especially with continuous downgrade of the games for the sake of mobile-gaming popularity. I hope they keep their word to bring their best for the first traditional series of Switch.

 

[shoz999]

Thanks for reminding it. For me, absolutely not.

We've discussed many times that the current generation of GameFreak staff are not 'that' competitive recently to fetch new ideas; especially with downgrading the games for the popularity of mobile-gaming. I hope they keep their word to bring their best for the first traditional series of Switch.

I don't know. What your saying seems to be more in-line of what the older veterans of GameFreak think, initially believing that the Nintendo Switch was going to fail. Although ORAS did take away the Battle Frontier, the Sun & Moon games were quite refreshing, fairly challenging, the story was great and even the original releases had a fairly decent post-game with the Battle Tree.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

Not really.
I liked ORAS but it didn't feel absolutely amazing (I started with Ruby) and S/M are my least favorite games.

HGSS are my favorite games; I would like to see how Morimoto would handle a new region as director.

Word. ORAS is just fun to play. S/M are ok, but just that.

Not all that impressed with the new guy just yet.

 

[shoz999]

Word. ORAS is just fun to play. S/M are ok, but just that.

Not all that impressed with the new guy just yet.

I'm already impressed. Not only do the graphics and potential side-activities look amazing, I like Ohmori's vision for the layout of the Galar map with not one, not two, but what appears to be THREE HUGE CASTELIA-LIKE CITIES!

 

[Frozocrone]

From a story perspective sure. Sun and Moon are some of my favourite games in the whole franchise.

From a gaming perspective...not really? Ohmori is part of the veteran team and oversaw ORAS and Sun and Moon post game.

A rehash of battle Maison stuff ain't gonna do it for me :/

 

[Kikas123]

I'm not sure. Sun and Moon are mixed bag for me. The more people focused stories are appreciated. They make the games memorable and I reqlly liked the characters in Sun/Moon. However, I found that came with some massive tradeoffs.

The largest, was that Sun and Moon, and to a lesser extent ORAS were massively on rails. I greatly appreciated the ability to break off the path in previous games. I understand that telling a tight story needs more barriers, but I want the freedom to wander off and do Mt. Mortar or Feugo Ironworks on my own time.

Who knows, maybe we'll get a better balance in Gen 8, but I am waiting with baited breath.

 

[shoz999]

I'm not sure. Sun and Moon are mixed bag for me. The more people focused stories are appreciated. They make the games memorable and I reqlly liked the characters in Sun/Moon. However, I found that came with some massive tradeoffs.

The largest, was that Sun and Moon, and to a lesser extent ORAS were massively on rails. I greatly appreciated the ability to break off the path in previous games. I understand that telling a tight story needs more barriers, but I want the freedom to wander off and do Mt. Mortar or Feugo Ironworks on my own time.

Who knows, maybe we'll get a better balance in Gen 8, but I am waiting with baited breath.

You mean a more linear progression right? You may be onto something. Looking at the Galar map, it looks like it will be much more linear focused like Sun & Moon.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

I'm already impressed. Not only do the graphics and potential side-activities look amazing, I like Ohmori's vision for the layout of the Galar map with not one, not two, but what appears to be THREE HUGE CASTELIA-LIKE CITIES!

And that's cool that you are. It'll take more to impress me at this stage. Given that these games will be around $20 more than what the 3ds games cost.

 

[Xuxuba]

Not really.
I liked ORAS but it didn't feel absolutely amazing (I started with Ruby) and S/M are my least favorite games.

HGSS are my favorite games; I would like to see how Morimoto would handle a new region as director.

Me neither tbh. I think he focuses too much on the design of things and not so much on their content.

I would have also liked to see Morimoto as a director.

I think we need a director that focus more on what makes the game fun and replayable. But i am willing to give Ohmori another chance.

 

[U.N. Owen]

Lore-wise, I'll be happy, but gameplay-wise, he'll need to win me over. I love a good story, but if the game is too easy, it does do more story harm than good.

 

[Zoruagible]

Remakes and main series games are completely two different things. Especially as most of the remake's story is already locked down and out of their control.
And I think ORAS were amazing games, not quite at HGSS level but they were great remakes!

He'd also be responsible for Hau, Gladion, Guzma, Lillie, and Zinnia. If we can get more characters like that and less Serena/Shauna/Tierno/Trevor/Whatever those Flare girls are called then I'm all for it!

 

[shoz999]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprise if Pokemon Sword and Shield would be fairly challenging. That's one consistent thing in Ohmori's record in ORAS and Sun & Moon, fairly challenging Pokemon battles. I remember people joking about how the Alolan Elite Four was a bit more challenging, saying along the lines of...

Fans who played X & Y: WE WANT A HARDER ELITE FOUR!
GameFreak: OKAY YOU LITTLE BRATS!

I don't know about you guys but I hope Ohmori has once again improved the AI of Pokemon Battles. Sun & Moon's AI is definitely the best but still needs work.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprise if Pokemon Sword and Shield would be fairly challenging. That's one consistent thing in Ohmori's record in ORAS and Sun & Moon, fairly challenging Pokemon battles. I remember people joking about how the Alolan Elite Four was a bit more challenging, saying along the lines of...

Fans who played X & Y: WE WANT A HARDER ELITE FOUR!
GameFreak: OKAY YOU LITTLE BRATS!

I don't know about you guys but I hope Ohmori has once again improved the AI of Pokemon Battles. Sun & Moon's AI is definitely the best but still needs work.

I hope so.

Mainly hoping for a bigger post game, something along the lines of what ORAS had or something similar.

 

[Hydrohs]

I liked the story in S/M, definitely think it was the best yet, but that's a pretty low bar. I still long for the days when the story didn't really exist and the evil team didn't have any motivation that really made sense. Simpler times.

 

[shoz999]

My only real disappointment is that their carrying over 6th Gen Pokemon animations over instead of attempting to recreate those more animalistic animations full of personality from Pokemon Stadium all the way to Battle Revolution. Then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this is the Nintendo Switch's first line of Pokemon games. Normally they really push the hardware's graphics the generation after, like Gen 5 and Gen 7.

 

[Hydrohs]

I'd rather they focus on the bigger aspects than the little things like animations.

 

[shoz999]

I'd rather they focus on the bigger aspects than the little things like animations.

Fair enough but I'm still hoping the animations get a bit more polish by Gen 9 at least. Honestly though, one thing I really REALLY hope Gen 8 nails down is online multiplayer. The 7th gen is actually my second-favorite generation and the thing is it would've been number 1 if it wasn't held back by it's rather experimental online hub, the Festival Plaza. It's a cool idea but 6th gen's the best because how easy it is to friend people and get in and out of battles and trades quickly.