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General Discussion & Speculation Thread

Captain America X

Well-Known Member
Well there's been a lot of disappointment in the recent games, and lack of content has been one of the complaints, pretty much every game since BW2 have been disappointing in that regard. So it's not hard to see why people are pessimistic about how much of an upgrade this game will be.

Probably because we haven't gotten an upgraded game since BW2.I mean the last 3 games have been either the first-entry to a new gen(which have always been light on content) or a remake of an older game(which had more end game content than the original although not as much as the upgraded version of the original).
 

knightwolf09

Well-Known Member
1. What qualifies as a big upgrade?
2. How do we know that GF didn't make big upgrades?
3. So not having Z is bad, but having USUM is bad?

1. New characters, updated map with new areas, different story, and possibly new Alola forms

2. That's the thing, we don't know, that's why we shouldn't drop it as another Platinum or cash grab before we actually know anything. Especially since BW2 is a symbol that they know how to make the same region feel fresh

3. Your question confuses me. To me not having Z was kind of bad cause Gen 6 ended on a sour note, but US&UM are supposed to be on those grounds too and folks are being cynical about it.
 

Hoennking

Well-Known Member
to me the difference between Z and ultra sun and moon. People wanted a pokemon game for 2015 badly thats all. Thats stars rumors didnt help usm thats awful pokemon direct with pokken taking up majority of the time didnt help its cause. Idk why alot of ¨casual fans' were expecting d/p remakes. To me i just want to move on from the 3ds and go to the switch. The 240p screen should be done with
 

Wulava

danger chili pepper
Staff member
Moderator
I understand that some people are having negative impressions but we barely know anything about the game aside from the new characters, small preview of the updated environment, and 3 Pokemon forms. Aren't we too quick to judge?
 

knightwolf09

Well-Known Member
I understand that some people are having negative impressions but we barely know anything about the game aside from the new characters, small preview of the updated environment, and 3 Pokemon forms. Aren't we too quick to judge?

That's what's bothering me too. I don't know why people are jumping to the worse. Maybe the result of hype dying due to lack of info?
 

Sulfurian

Well-Known Member
I think it's because we've waited quite awhile with news, and these main series games being advertised on (in my opinion) less important side games such as Pokken and Pokémon Go this year. And the only thing so far that they have to show for it is a similar looking Lycanroc form. Now the form has grown on me, doesn't take long for pokemon to do that for me. But the fact stands that these games are nothing but a whisper, and it's been months of no information. That's the negative for me.

Now if these games surprise us with something amazing like an accuracy/evasion overhaul that would be fantastic. But, I'm not expecting it.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
Probably because we haven't gotten an upgraded game since BW2.I mean the last 3 games have been either the first-entry to a new gen(which have always been light on content) or a remake of an older game(which had more end game content than the original although not as much as the upgraded version of the original).

Generation debuts are always light on content, but XY and SM have been light on content even by those standards (especially XY). And there was no real excuse for ORAS to have less content than Emerald. So that's not all there is to it. The issue is Game Freak's focus on making the games accessible, they've constantly based their decisions on making the game for a wider, less dedicated audience (or in other words, they want to cash in on the mobile market), and that philosophy has affected multiple aspects of the game including difficulty, replay value, gameplay depth, and region design. And fans are just getting sick of it.

1. What qualifies as a big upgrade?

1. Major changes to the region and story, more specifically, a large amount of new areas and content (about the same as BW2), multiple changes to old areas, and more differences in the story than just a slightly different ending.
2. A large expansion to the regional dex (at least 100 new Pokemon in the dex)
3. Multiple new features that add at least 5-10 hours of extra content to the game.

2. How do we know that GF didn't make big upgrades?

We don't know for sure, but there's multiple red flags that indicate that it's probably not going to be that substantial:

1. The short development time. This game has only been in development for a year more than SM. It's difficult to see them making major changes that quickly.
2. Game Freak's philosophy towards making the game mobile-esque. They probably have no interest in making the kind of large scale changes people expect them to, and they're probably not going to have a lot of depth in the extra content.
3. Adding a BW2 size expansion would require new islands, which are unlikely to happen because the four island system is important to the game's lore and would require a new Oricario form and a new Tapu, the latter of which is especially unlikely.
4. This game is being described as an "alternate universe", which could easily describe a third version.

3. So not having Z is bad, but having USUM is bad?

Well I don't think people actually want third versions, it's really hard to justify paying for the same game twice. The likely reason people want third versions is because they see them as mulligans, an opportunity for Game Freak to correct the mistakes they made in the original game. So you really have to look at this on a case by case basis. XY had a lot of problems with lack of content and a storyline with more loose ends than a coil of sisal rope, and a lot of people wanted to see an update to XY that addresses those issues. Now SM has some of the former, but not quite as much. Additionally, USUM is in a transition period with people expecting a Switch game soon and with the Stars rumor going around people were all too happy to buy into it and ended up let down when it was proven false.
 

Sulfurian

Well-Known Member
I feel like these issues would be fixed if this series finally moved away from having two versions of a region. But it makes them money....so they have no reason of straying away from that. More development time and money focused on one version only.

The other theory is that GF have added a lot more developers since BW2 so that's why they can dish out another version so fast.
 

knightwolf09

Well-Known Member
I feel like these issues would be fixed if this series finally moved away from having two versions of a region. But it makes them money....so they have no reason of straying away from that. More development time and money focused on one version only.

The other theory is that GF have added a lot more developers since BW2 so that's why they can dish out another version so fast.

That could be the case. Even Platinum only came out 2 years after DP, so this would be too fast. Also with that one datamine of that blank space after the Lycanrocs, that might've been planning on having Dusk in the original. So maybe they've been working on Ultra alongside the originals.
 

Hero of Truth

Lillie Fan
I actually like the new form, just disappointed it's not red as in the cover of CoroCoro in-game and in the anime. But what scares me is how the official site mentions we can't get it through normal means, like as a wild Pokémon encounter. Please don't tell me it's an event form, that would suck.
 

Captain America X

Well-Known Member
Generation debuts are always light on content, but XY and SM have been light on content even by those standards (especially XY). And there was no real excuse for ORAS to have less content than Emerald. So that's not all there is to it. The issue is Game Freak's focus on making the games accessible, they've constantly based their decisions on making the game for a wider, less dedicated audience (or in other words, they want to cash in on the mobile market), and that philosophy has affected multiple aspects of the game including difficulty, replay value, gameplay depth, and region design. And fans are just getting sick of it.
I don't see how XY and SM have been light on content compared to previous standards.The only debut games with more stuff in it would be GS(in which the 3rd version had the least amount of changes) and BW( and DP when compared to XY).They at worst have as much content as RB/RS.
 
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knightwolf09

Well-Known Member
I actually like the new form, just disappointed it's not red as in the cover of CoroCoro in-game and in the anime. But what scares me is how the official site mentions we can't get it through normal means, like as a wild Pokémon encounter. Please don't tell me it's an event form, that would suck.

I think it just mean when can only get him at sunset. This would be the first pokemon to do that. Also this opens up options of which Lycanroc yo want in your game.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
I want to chime in on this topic, but wouldn't really have an unbiased opinion, as I would buy pretty much any Pokémon game sight unseen. I would just suggest we all wait until our expectations/fears are confirmed or denied, instead of using the extremely limited knowledge we have now to make assumptions.

https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=uMkBWg8XKh0 starts at 7 secs. there is gutiar now in the theme

The link only brought me to the front page of Youtube. I'll do some looking and see if I can find it myself.

BW came out in 2010 in japan and
BW2 came out in 2012 thats 2 years sun and moon to ultra sun and moon is only 1 year. less development time.

The thing is, Game Freak works on more than one game at a time. You can be certain that they've been working on Ultra Sun and Moon since well before Sun and Moon came out. They aren't amateurs, they're going to leave themselves the time they need to finish any game they work on.

3. So not having Z is bad, but having USUM is bad?

That's a good one.

2. A large expansion to the regional dex (at least 100 new Pokemon in the dex)

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that one myself. The Alola Dex already has 300 Pokémon in it. Another 100 would have it approaching the massive Kalos Dex, which I think was much too big and caused Pokémon to get lost. What they really need to do instead is add back National Dex and put in a significant amount of non-Alolan Dex Pokémon to catch post-game.

2. Game Freak's philosophy towards making the game mobile-esque. They probably have no interest in making the kind of large scale changes people expect them to, and they're probably not going to have a lot of depth in the extra content.

I don't know if that's really fair. While it is true that the last two or three generations have been getting pretty simple, they're still far from the simplicity level of a mobile game.

4. This game is being described as an "alternate universe", which could easily describe a third version.

Well, that is what these games are. What's wrong with that?

Well I don't think people actually want third versions, it's really hard to justify paying for the same game twice. The likely reason people want third versions is because they see them as mulligans, an opportunity for Game Freak to correct the mistakes they made in the original game. So you really have to look at this on a case by case basis. XY had a lot of problems with lack of content and a storyline with more loose ends than a coil of sisal rope, and a lot of people wanted to see an update to XY that addresses those issues. Now SM has some of the former, but not quite as much. Additionally, USUM is in a transition period with people expecting a Switch game soon and with the Stars rumor going around people were all too happy to buy into it and ended up let down when it was proven false.

Personally, I'm really looking forward to a third version for Sun and Moon because the third version always improves the story, and Sun and Moon already had a pretty good story to begin with. I'm very excited to see what comes out of it. And, for the record, I do truly enjoy the third game strategy for reasons than simply fixing the mistakes of the previous games.

I actually like the new form, just disappointed it's not red as in the cover of CoroCoro in-game and in the anime. But what scares me is how the official site mentions we can't get it through normal means, like as a wild Pokémon encounter. Please don't tell me it's an event form, that would suck.

It probably just means you have to evolve it under certain circumstances yourself. It's just like how you can't find Pokémon like Steelix or Electivire in wild, as they evolve through special means.
 

Hero of Truth

Lillie Fan
I wouldn't necessarily agree with that one myself. The Alola Dex already has 300 Pokémon in it. Another 100 would have it approaching the massive Kalos Dex, which I think was much too big and caused Pokémon to get lost. What they really need to do instead is add back National Dex and put in a significant amount of non-Alolan Dex Pokémon to catch post-game.

Or the vast majority of USUM's Pokedex can be Pokémon not found in Sun and Moon (since they said USUM will contain Pokémon not found in Sun and Moon) and will have you get the remaining missing Pokémon in Gen 7 via Pokémon Bank, so that app gets some use (and make money in the progress)
 

20LigerZero16

"..........................."
Well there's been a lot of disappointment in the recent games, and lack of content has been one of the complaints, pretty much every game since BW2 have been disappointing in that regard. So it's not hard to see why people are pessimistic about how much of an upgrade this game will be.

Maybe gamefreak shouldn't have dropped their entire load into b2w2, to the point that every game since then has either felt incomplete or not good enough because they couldn't hold off stuff for future generation games. For example, hidden grottos and pokemon world tournament.

You can thank b2w2 for every game since then looking unfinished by the way.
 
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knightwolf09

Well-Known Member
Maybe gamefreak shouldn't have dropped their entire load into b2w2, to the point that every game since then has either felt incomplete or not good enough because they couldn't hold off stuff for future generation games. For example, hidden grottos and pokemon world tournament.

You can thank b2w2 for every game since then looking unfinished by the way.

I don't think Gamefreak should hold anything back for any of their games. But we have to remember Gen 6 is their first time adapting to the 3D world, and I think their still trying to adjust, so you really can't expect super wild changes that quick, but you do see improvement.
 

Akkipeddi

All set to be a nice guy
I don't think Gamefreak should hold anything back for any of their games. But we have to remember Gen 6 is their first time adapting to the 3D world, and I think their still trying to adjust, so you really can't expect super wild changes that quick, but you do see improvement.

I understand that for XY, since it was the first time adapting to the 3D world so they couldn't include massive post game. However, it was inexcusable how barebones even SM was for the post game. I'm seriously hoping that the reason USUM even exists is for improvements and additions to the main game, but mostly for brand new features and proper postgame.

As it is at the moment, USUM are probably the first ever Pokémon games that I'm losing interest in, so I really hope Gamfreak proves me wrong and actually makes these games worth getting. If they're hardly different from SM, then these might be the first ever main series Pokémon games I'm going to skip.
 

knightwolf09

Well-Known Member
I understand that for XY, since it was the first time adapting to the 3D world so they couldn't include massive post game. However, it was inexcusable how barebones even SM was for the post game. I'm seriously hoping that the reason USUM even exists is for improvements and additions to the main game, but mostly for brand new features and proper postgame.

As it is at the moment, USUM are probably the first ever Pokémon games that I'm losing interest in, so I really hope Gamfreak proves me wrong and actually makes these games worth getting. If they're hardly different from SM, then these might be the first ever main series Pokémon games I'm going to skip.

Well here's another question, when it comes to games like Platinum, what made you buy that game?
 

Akkipeddi

All set to be a nice guy
Well here's another question, when it comes to games like Platinum, what made you buy that game?

Platinum did have many things going for it that were an improvement from DP. First, it fixed the speed issues of surfing and game play in general, followed by a much better revamped story with Giratina and the Distortion World, and of course, the addition of a Battle Frontier.

As for USUM, remember, while my hype might be low for now, I'm not saying it's definitely going to suck. It's possible that if more news comes out, and reveal more interesting things such as new features and changes to the plot, I will be excited again. But as of now, I'm just not feeling it for these games. I've found their approach to this game very weird. USUM were randomly inserted in a Pokémon direct that was dominated by Pokken, which is a side series. Then the lack of news for 2 months, followed by the less than spectacular reveal of Dusk Lycanroc (its not bad, but just feels uninspired) makes me feel that even Gamfreak is subtly trying to tell us not to expect much from these games.
 

Sulfurian

Well-Known Member
Well here's another question, when it comes to games like Platinum, what made you buy that game?

From my perspective, Gen 4 wasn't well received and I believe platinum was somewhat responsible for that. All it did was introduce new useful tutors like heat wave on most birds, the distortion world and new forms of what, two legends? Then of course you had almost all legends and bluh bluh.

Another thing is, when we were younger we would have our parents buy any single Pokémon game that was on the shelves. Now that their audience have gotten older, we will become more hesitant to buying them, or letting them get away with only minor changes. But the thing is, new generations of kids who don't know any better exist now, so why would they care? Just slightly less than before from older fans.
 
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