Detective Pikachu General Discussion & Discussion of Serebii's Discoveries Thread

[Serebii]

Discuss all of Serebii's discoveries here, as well as general discussion of your playthrough

Main thread: http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?648638-Serebii-s-Detective-Pikachu-Discovery-Thread

 

[Karxrida]

So the game starts with a car crash?

Did somebody die in it? Cause if so, that got dark fast.

 

[LizardonX]

So is it just me or does pokemon really hate the idea of you having a father?

 

[Mega Altaria]

Honestly, some bits seem dark to me, particularly the car crash in the beginning and Tim's father being missing for 2 months at some point. Otherwise the game seems fun.

 

[Karxrida]

Honestly, some bits seem dark to me, particularly the car crash in the beginning and Tim's father being missing for 2 months at some point. Otherwise the game seems fun.

I mean it's dark, but not super dark. Besides, Pokemon could use a good kick in its saccharine teeth.

 

[Mega Altaria]

I mean it's dark, but not super dark. Besides, Pokemon could use a good kick in its saccharine teeth.

The interactions with Pokémon can be fun though as it seems, particularly with Detective Pikachu pulling faces so yeah, at least we can have breaks from the dark side.

 

[Bguy7]

Only five hours of gameplay followed by a cliff hanger that will be unresolved until the sequel comes out in who knows how long, if ever. I'm not going to lie, that's disappointing. This may just be the shortest game I've ever heard of, it barely seems like it's worth the price. I guess they made it short to be easier with the voice acting.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Only five hours of gameplay followed by a cliff hanger that will be unresolved until the sequel comes out in who knows how long, if ever. I'm not going to lie, that's disappointing. This may just be the shortest game I've ever heard of, it barely seems like it's worth the price. I guess they made it short to be easier with the voice acting.

Yeah 5 hours sounds short for an action/adventure game for me. I'm hoping that the sequel would last longer, for at least 15 hours and for the main game, an update that could add more content.

 

[cassius335]

A question: If only Tim can understand Pikachu (and therefore Pikachu is a different situation to Meowth), why can't Pikachu use moves? Is he just untrained?

 

[diakyu]

Yeah 5 hours sounds short for an action/adventure game for me. I'm hoping that the sequel would last longer, for at least 15 hours and for the main game, an update that could add more content.

I wouldn't bet on it, it's episodic. Whatever comes out next is a continuation of this game and not a sequel. Think TellTale games.

 

[Serebii]

A question: If only Tim can understand Pikachu (and therefore Pikachu is a different situation to Meowth), why can't Pikachu use moves? Is he just untrained?

It's a mystery that we won't know until the next one, or the one after that.

 

[Kein]

I wouldn't bet on it, it's episodic. Whatever comes out next is a continuation of this game and not a sequel. Think TellTale games.

I'm guessing that if they knew about the Telltale games, they wouldn't be confused by the 5-hour length.

Episodes are not standalone games, and they're priced accordingly. You may choose to wait until all episodes are available to enjoy the game as a single package. I hope that they localize each episode individually, because I personally don't have a problem with the episodic format; I prefer it to waiting long for a single game. In Telltale's case, the gap between episodes ranges between two and four months.

If anyone finds the game lackluster based on Serebii's coverage, you should realize that story-driven games need to be experienced first-hand. Serebii either didn't want to spoil much or the language barrier limited his understanding of the plot.

 

[cassius335]

It's a mystery that we won't know until the next one, or the one after that.

Ah, so this one didn't say? Understood...

 

[Bguy7]

I'm guessing that if they knew about the Telltale games, they wouldn't be confused by the 5-hour length.

Episodes are not standalone games, and they're priced accordingly. You may choose to wait until all episodes are available to enjoy the game as a single package. I hope that they localize each episode individually, because I personally don't have a problem with the episodic format; I prefer it to waiting long for a single game. In Telltale's case, the gap between episodes ranges between two and four months.

If anyone finds the game lackluster based on Serebii's coverage, you should realize that story-driven games need to be experienced first-hand. Serebii either didn't want to spoil much or the language barrier limited his understanding of the plot.

Weird...

If we're not talking about sequels, but rather "episodes" of the same game, then why not just release them all at once as a single game?

And if that is the case, suddenly this fairly cheap and random game has the potential to get very expensive. I'll probably end up playing the entire thing, but I would definitely rather have it cheaper, that's for sure.

 

[BCVM22]

For the same reason a television show tells a story over the course of thirteen episodes in a season and not a two hour movie. It draws out interest and visibility. "Episodes" is the key word. And cost wise the full set almost always ends up right around what a full game would cost.

 

[Kein]

Weird...

If we're not talking about sequels, but rather "episodes" of the same game, then why not just release them all at once as a single game?

And if that is the case, suddenly this fairly cheap and random game has the potential to get very expensive. I'll probably end up playing the entire thing, but I would definitely rather have it cheaper, that's for sure.

The episodes combined aren't going to cost more than a retail game ($40). They'll need to release four episodes to reach that price tag, and that's about 20 hours of story-driven content. Not a bad deal relative to other 3DS games.

This model allows people to check out the first episode, whereas they might not bother with a full package. And again, some people enjoy cliffhangers rather than consuming the game all at once.

 

[Bguy7]

For the same reason a television show tells a story over the course of thirteen episodes in a season and not a two hour movie. It draws out interest and visibility. "Episodes" is the key word.

But a thirteen episode season of even a half-an-hour show has a longer run time than a standard two hour movie, so there are certain advantages to splitting it up, such as allowing people to watch it easier, as most wouldn't want to watch a six and a half hour movie. Video games don't have that problem as you play them at your leisure. It just seems an unnecessary complication.

And cost wise the full set almost always ends up right around what a full game would cost.

The episodes combined aren't going to cost more than a retail game ($40). They'll need to release four episodes to reach that price tag, and that's about 20 hours of story-driven content. Not a bad deal relative to other 3DS games.

I guess if the cost and playtime come out to be about the same then it's not that big of a deal, but I still don't see the reason. Maybe if they planned on having some ongoing epic story that spans what would normally be multiple games, similar to my reasoning for why TV episodes vs. movies work, that would be one thing, but if it really does only add up to one game it, once again, just seems like an unnecessary complication.

This model allows people to check out the first episode, whereas they might not bother with a full package. And again, some people enjoy cliffhangers rather than consuming the game all at once.

Eh, I guess that's kind of a reason, but I personally wouldn't say its good enough to have such an unorthodox method. The standard method works just fine. It's not broken, so don't fix it.

 

[BCVM22]

It's not "unorthodox" at all nor is this someone trying to "fix the [unbroken] standard method." Developers have been releasing episodic games in this fashion for years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_video_game#Single-player_episodic_gaming

This, evidently, is your first such encounter. Which is fine, but don't be all like "this is the first time anyone's done it and it's new and bad, I don't like it."

 

[Bguy7]

It's not "unorthodox" at all nor is this someone trying to "fix the [unbroken] standard method." Developers have been releasing episodic games in this fashion for years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_video_game#Single-player_episodic_gaming

This, evidently, is your first such encounter. Which is fine, but don't be all like "this is the first time anyone's done it and it's new and bad, I don't like it."

Okay, I hadn't heard of anything like this before. I didn't realize it was a thing. I won't say I don't like it because it's "new and bad" but I do definitely prefer more traditional methods, at least that's the way I feel now. I don't see this game winning me over, but I'll give it a try an who knows what it will change about my opinion.

 

[Mega Altaria]

I'm guessing that if they knew about the Telltale games, they wouldn't be confused by the 5-hour length.

Episodes are not standalone games, and they're priced accordingly. You may choose to wait until all episodes are available to enjoy the game as a single package. I hope that they localize each episode individually, because I personally don't have a problem with the episodic format; I prefer it to waiting long for a single game. In Telltale's case, the gap between episodes ranges between two and four months.

If anyone finds the game lackluster based on Serebii's coverage, you should realize that story-driven games need to be experienced first-hand. Serebii either didn't want to spoil much or the language barrier limited his understanding of the plot.

All right, I just realised that this game is one episode and several could follow, which might culminate into a full game.