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Legends: Arceus - General Speculation/Discussion Thread

Ignition

We are so back Zygardebros
I hope this is like the Pokémon Conquest sequel that I’ve always wanted. I’ve never been big on open world games but I like the setting and idea of going to Sinnoh’s past since, iirc, that’s where the Pokémon world started. I wonder if these games will show how people choose the starters. I also wonder how they’re going to do the PC since the technology doesn’t exist yet. Can’t wait to see more
 

TyranatarGojira

Well-Known Member
Just a nitpick: battle animation seems very simple to me.
Downside of having so many Pokemon, it's gonna take a long time to get battle animations for everything. Even if they only do 150 Pokemon, that's 150 sets of battle animations.

Well first off, I guess this time I can't complain that there is no Mega Evolution, since it might not have even been invented yet, other than Rayquaza's natural ability to do so. With that out of the way...

Yeah I'm liking this so far. Graphics might need a little more polish, but this game is like a year away. Looks like a lot of focus on exploration with the Player Character. So far they look like Dawn and Lucas. Could be ancestors, but I also wonder if they might do character customization and make this the default look? I can see different pieces of clothing being possible.

I also wonder how some aspects of the battle system are going to work out. Catching looks different, or at least to have an alternative form, and I wonder if the earlier days of this will affect things, like maybe only being able to take one Pokemon with you at a time?
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
Oshawott will be my starter. I'm going to try to incorporate Sinnoh's starters because it'd feel wrong not including them seeing as how this is the origin story of Sinnoh, maybe even the origin of trainers. It's hard to tell but the player seems young, this could be why trainers are allowed to leave home when they turn eleven as the first trainer was eleven.
 

Teravolt

cilan lives forever in my heart
I’m going with Oshawott because
1. UNOVA FOREVER
2. I had Rowlet in gen 7, and got one in gen 8.
3. Chikorita>Cyndaquil
 

Spider-Phoenix

#ChespinGang
Between Oshawott and Rowlett. I like Decidueye more as a final form but Oshawott is so cute. Might go with the otter in the end.

Really wish it was Litten and Chespin instead of Cyndaquil and Rowlett. It would make more sense the starters being from regions that aren't PokéJapan
 

Sarefan

Hylden General.
The only thing that might hold me back with picking Cyndaquil might be an un-updated sprite of Typhlosion. I want that fire-collar back.
 

PsychoLogical

Black and White, Yin and Yang, Light and Dark.
Between Oshawott and Rowlett. I like Decidueye more as a final form but Oshawott is so cute. Might go with the otter in the end.

Really wish it was Litten and Chespin instead of Cyndaquil and Rowlett. It would make more sense the starters being from regions that aren't PokéJapan
The starter choice was likely due to these three final evo forms having some sort of connection or reference to Feudal Japan. Decidueye being the archer which Feudal Japan had plenty of, Samurott is the samurai since it is based on a samurai, and Typhlosion is kinda of the oddball but I'm guessing it represents the physical geography of Japan and how weasels are seen in Japan. Japan is a very mountainous and volcanic country and Typhlosion is based on a weasel with relations to volcanoes which the volcano part is due to ofc the former that I mentioned and the weasel is due to myths and depictions relating to yokai.
 

LordSerperior

Well-Known Member
It's so random. You chose 3 different generations to do it from with no real reason as to why those are your options.
I think the explanation that the professor bought them with him from his journeys is good enough for me. I don't know if a more specific reason is needed.

And yes I agree with the need for updated animations for he Cyndaquil line. The switch to 3D has not been kind to them.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
I wonder if it's going to be like the anime and we drop Pokemon off at the lab and can visit them in a park. All the Pokemon appear to have overworld sprites so it shouldn't be too hard... oh but how will they handle trade evolutions? Do we learn how it happens in the wild or just catch them in the wild? And how do we earn money? I wonder if we earn money by putting our Pokemon to work, the more Pokemon you have the more money you can get.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
So a few assorted thoughts on what this means for the future of the series:

1. They intend for Legends to be a running sub-series of the main games. The fact that they titled it Legends: Arceus implies that they intend to make more games under the Legends brand. Anyone up for Legends: Mew, Legends: Celebi, Legends: Jirachi, or Legends: Keldeo? Legends seems to be intended to be what I like to call a "branch" of the main games, a series of games that are main games in the same genre and with the same core gameplay, but in a different style. For example, the sandbox Mario games for Mario (Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Odyssey, I also count Super Mario Galaxy but that's somewhat of a hybrid and many people seem to consider it a linear Mario game), they're considered main series Mario games because you run and jump like other Mario games, but instead of running through a linear level to get to the goal, you're wandering around a 3D space to get collectibles. Or the Metroid Prime series for Metroid, which is a Metroidvania like all main series Metroid games, but is a first person 3D game instead of a 2D sidescroller. Now for Pokemon we seem to be getting Legends, which is an open world adventure set in the past instead of a present day linear adventure (Let's Go might also serve the same purpose in being a running series appealing to more casual players if it gets future entries, but more on that in my next point). This is a great way to appeal to differing tastes simultaneously.

2. They're spacing out generations and Gen 9 may be a lot further off than we thought. No one ever thought they would make something this ambitious this soon because Game Freak can only do so much at a time. And it does seem unlikely that after finishing Legends: Arceus they would be able to dive right into another full scale 3D adventure and release Gen 9 in 2023. This tells me that Legends: Arceus could be a "Gen 8.5" of sorts and Gen 9 won't be happening anytime soon. They have a lot more in their toolkit now for spreading out generations so they can spend more time on the big new generations, they have traditional remakes as always, but now they have DLC, they have Let's Go, and they have Legends. I think we'll start to see 5-6 year generations with those kinds of games filling in the gaps. Maybe in 2023/2024 ILCA could give us a Let's Go Johto using BDSP's engine and then Gen 9 happens in 2024/2025. After SwSh turned out to be rushed and garnered complaints, they seem to be slowing things down and finding new ways to get more mileage out of each generation.

3. Game Freak seems to be solving the understaffing problem by recruiting other developers to work on the main games. Another potential issue people have pointed to is that Game Freak is a smaller studio than other developers and they refuse to expand much, and they seem to have been stretched thin lately. So they seem to be solving this by licensing out the remakes to ILCA to alleviate themselves to work on other projects. This is a nice way to get around having to bloat their studio to be too large, and CoD does the same thing to remain yearly while still putting out high end console games (it's developed by three different studios, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games).

All in all, very encouraging signs for the future of Pokemon, they definitely seem to be listening to the complaints about the games being too rushed.
 

UltimateNinja

Praying for the holy relics
I am the only guy who immidiately thought about Pixelmon when they showed how the battles will look like?
 

Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of Jigglypuff Army
So is this going to be a hybrid of Let’s Go and the main series games in terms of catching wild Pokémon? I have also decided to pick Rowlet as my own starter as it is one of my favorite Starters ever and I really enjoy using Decidueye’s Spirit Shackle in battle.
 

1rkhachatryan

Call me Robert guys
Omg this look amazing!!! And Cyndaquil :eek: yassss <3!!!!
 

Teravolt

cilan lives forever in my heart
I wonder how the open world catching mechanic would work for shiny hunting. Would it be like Dynamax Adventures where you don’t know if something’s shiny until after it’s caught? Or would you have to run around for ages until you see a shiny and creep up to it as slowly as possible? Or are there no shinies?
 

LordSerperior

Well-Known Member
So a few assorted thoughts on what this means for the future of the series:

1. They intend for Legends to be a running sub-series of the main games. The fact that they titled it Legends: Arceus implies that they intend to make more games under the Legends brand. Anyone up for Legends: Mew, Legends: Celebi, Legends: Jirachi, or Legends: Keldeo? Legends seems to be intended to be what I like to call a "branch" of the main games, a series of games that are main games in the same genre and with the same core gameplay, but in a different style. For example, the sandbox Mario games for Mario (Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Odyssey, I also count Super Mario Galaxy but that's somewhat of a hybrid and many people seem to consider it a linear Mario game), they're considered main series Mario games because you run and jump like other Mario games, but instead of running through a linear level to get to the goal, you're wandering around a 3D space to get collectibles. Or the Metroid Prime series for Metroid, which is a Metroidvania like all main series Metroid games, but is a first person 3D game instead of a 2D sidescroller. Now for Pokemon we seem to be getting Legends, which is an open world adventure set in the past instead of a present day linear adventure (Let's Go might also serve the same purpose in being a running series appealing to more casual players if it gets future entries, but more on that in my next point). This is a great way to appeal to differing tastes simultaneously.
That's exactly how I'm seeing it. The one I'd be most hyped for would be Legends: Ho-oh set around the time the Tin Brass Tower burned. As cool as this series is, I also want them to revisit older regions as sequels (or more recent prequels). There's just so much potential that traditional remakes were missing out on.

2. They're spacing out generations and Gen 9 may be a lot further off than we thought. No one ever thought they would make something this ambitious this soon because Game Freak can only do so much at a time. And it does seem unlikely that after finishing Legends: Arceus they would be able to dive right into another full scale 3D adventure and release Gen 9 in 2023. This tells me that Legends: Arceus could be a "Gen 8.5" of sorts and Gen 9 won't be happening anytime soon. They have a lot more in their toolkit now for spreading out generations so they can spend more time on the big new generations, they have traditional remakes as always, but now they have DLC, they have Let's Go, and they have Legends. I think we'll start to see 5-6 year generations with those kinds of games filling in the gaps. Maybe in 2023/2024 ILCA could give us a Let's Go Johto using BDSP's engine and then Gen 9 happens in 2024/2025. After SwSh turned out to be rushed and garnered complaints, they seem to be slowing things down and finding new ways to get more mileage out of each generation.
Honestly I know I'm probably in the minority but I would be completely down for even more spaced out generations. I hope they bring Johto and Unova to the Switch before giving us a gen 9, they can add in a couple of new Pokémon to make it feel more fresh. And I'd prefer if each is a different take on the region. A Johto prequel game set at the same time as the original RB. A Unova game set in the far future instead of the past. GF has seriously underused the world, lore and characters they've created by playing it too safe.

This announcement has finally opened us up to new possibilities and I haven't been this excited for the franchise since B2W2 came out.
 
Last edited:

CyberBlaziken

A Greater Evil
So a few assorted thoughts on what this means for the future of the series:

1. They intend for Legends to be a running sub-series of the main games. The fact that they titled it Legends: Arceus implies that they intend to make more games under the Legends brand. Anyone up for Legends: Mew, Legends: Celebi, Legends: Jirachi, or Legends: Keldeo? Legends seems to be intended to be what I like to call a "branch" of the main games, a series of games that are main games in the same genre and with the same core gameplay, but in a different style. For example, the sandbox Mario games for Mario (Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Odyssey, I also count Super Mario Galaxy but that's somewhat of a hybrid and many people seem to consider it a linear Mario game), they're considered main series Mario games because you run and jump like other Mario games, but instead of running through a linear level to get to the goal, you're wandering around a 3D space to get collectibles. Or the Metroid Prime series for Metroid, which is a Metroidvania like all main series Metroid games, but is a first person 3D game instead of a 2D sidescroller. Now for Pokemon we seem to be getting Legends, which is an open world adventure set in the past instead of a present day linear adventure (Let's Go might also serve the same purpose in being a running series appealing to more casual players if it gets future entries, but more on that in my next point). This is a great way to appeal to differing tastes simultaneously.

2. They're spacing out generations and Gen 9 may be a lot further off than we thought. No one ever thought they would make something this ambitious this soon because Game Freak can only do so much at a time. And it does seem unlikely that after finishing Legends: Arceus they would be able to dive right into another full scale 3D adventure and release Gen 9 in 2023. This tells me that Legends: Arceus could be a "Gen 8.5" of sorts and Gen 9 won't be happening anytime soon. They have a lot more in their toolkit now for spreading out generations so they can spend more time on the big new generations, they have traditional remakes as always, but now they have DLC, they have Let's Go, and they have Legends. I think we'll start to see 5-6 year generations with those kinds of games filling in the gaps. Maybe in 2023/2024 ILCA could give us a Let's Go Johto using BDSP's engine and then Gen 9 happens in 2024/2025. After SwSh turned out to be rushed and garnered complaints, they seem to be slowing things down and finding new ways to get more mileage out of each generation.

3. Game Freak seems to be solving the understaffing problem by recruiting other developers to work on the main games. Another potential issue people have pointed to is that Game Freak is a smaller studio than other developers and they refuse to expand much, and they seem to have been stretched thin lately. So they seem to be solving this by licensing out the remakes to ILCA to alleviate themselves to work on other projects. This is a nice way to get around having to bloat their studio to be too large, and CoD does the same thing to remain yearly while still putting out high end console games (it's developed by three different studios, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games).

All in all, very encouraging signs for the future of Pokemon, they definitely seem to be listening to the complaints about the games being too rushed.
The idea of Legends being a series on itself and allowing a more unique return to old regions is better than just the nostalgia modern remake we've been getting with the latest gimmick.

On top of that. It's clear GF is stretched having to create new ideas on what to bring on to the series with a new gen and also simultaneously fixing and adding more quality updates to the current gen. They need that buffer they had years ago, albeit it was because of development inexperience and manpower, to gap releases enough to let them stretch their legs and take their time with it. The minute releases turned into yearly outputs, the quality dropped.

And outsourcing some projects, as in the case of potentially doing remakes in a new creative way, and/or continuing a remake series (whether your traditional remake where the game gets remade with the current gen base and gimmick or your Let's Go variant) should be a more common thing. Sticking to the status quo all the time is just boring now. Plus if the "main" team/studio already has your base ready to tinker with, it's relatively easier for someone else to pick it up.
 

SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
This game is everything I ever wanted from Pokémon. A series set hundreds of years in the past? Yes. Open world? YES. Ancient Sinnoh and finally expanding Arceus the god of the universe mythology? YES
I guess I would have been more hyped if my heart didn't break upon seeing the chibi style of DP remakes.....
Wish this was shown first
Anyway I am so glad this is the future of Pokémon going forward.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
Have we ever seen anything like the arch in the Piplup place? Trying to get a feel for where everything is. Since it's been several hundred years things were bound to have changed so there might not be an arch.
 
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