Legends: Arceus - General Speculation/Discussion Thread

[Bolt the Cat]

No, if Gen 9 is coming in 2023( since I doubt it's 2022) then DLCs are definitely coming next year. As of LG Johto( made by ILCA) they would come out in 2025 which means 2026 is Gen 10 because it's 30th anniversary.

I don't think we're getting DLC the same year as LA, that's probably all we get for 2022.

And my point is I don't think Gen 9 is even coming in 2023. Can you see them releasing large scale Pokemon adventures in back to back years? I can't. LA and Gen 9 almost have to be at least 2-3 years apart, Game Freak wouldn't be able to handle releasing games that frequently (and there are few devs that can).

Also, I'm starting to wonder if this game was meant for this year and got delayed because of COVID. It is strange that they're releasing it in Early 2022 when what, the last 6 games in a row have been in October/November? This game seems like it was meant to be the big 25th anniversary game with BDSP being an appetizer, so maybe they originally intended for BDSP to be released early this year and LA in October/November?

 

[CMButch]

I don't think we're getting DLC the same year as LA, that's probably all we get for 2022.

And my point is I don't think Gen 9 is even coming in 2023. Can you see them releasing large scale Pokemon adventures in back to back years? I can't. LA and Gen 9 almost have to be at least 2-3 years apart, Game Freak wouldn't be able to handle releasing games that frequently (and there are few devs that can).

I never said it's coming same year. I was saying DLC is 2024 if Gen 9 is 2023.
Gen 9 is definitely coming in 2023, why wouldn't it? Masuda literally stated some years back that it takes them 3-4 years to make new game.
2019+ 4= 2023. SH/SW has sold over 20 million copies, it would be pretty wrong to say that Gen 9 is not coming in 2023 since 2022 is Arceus game.
Legends is also sort of remake and not new gen, we will get Gen 9 definitely in 2023( new Pokemon and new everything, new gimmick: especially since we likely won't see any old gimmick in those remakes) and 2026 Gen 10 since it's 30th anniversary and we got DP and SM which are Gen 4 and Gen 7 respectively on those dates( 10-20).
Don't also forget that one DP remakes which are 1:1 as people say are made by another team which Masuda is obviously looking over and giving them directions.

Can you see them releasing large scale Pokemon adventures in back to back years? I can't. LA and Gen

Yes, because they have done that? 2016-2017-2018-2019- 4 years consecutively, SM is big, LGPE is also big, SH/SW is big, US/UM is also kinda big. Don't forget at that time GF has been working on Town which was released in 2019 IIRC which is also big. So yes, I do see that.
DP remakes are done by another company. Team that worked on SH/SW probably is working now on Gen 9 while other team has worked on Legends( GF has some teams IIRC).

 

[Smeargle-Sketch]

I don't think we're getting DLC the same year as LA, that's probably all we get for 2022.

And my point is I don't think Gen 9 is even coming in 2023. Can you see them releasing large scale Pokemon adventures in back to back years? I can't. LA and Gen 9 almost have to be at least 2-3 years apart, Game Freak wouldn't be able to handle releasing games that frequently (and there are few devs that can).

Also, I'm starting to wonder if this game was meant for this year and got delayed because of COVID. It is strange that they're releasing it in Early 2022 when what, the last 6 games in a row have been in October/November? This game seems like it was meant to be the big 25th anniversary game with BDSP being an appetizer, so maybe they originally intended for BDSP to be released early this year and LA in October/November?

Could be the case, I'm with you on the timeline of gen 9. But I could potentially see them releasing this game early 2022 so they can announce the first info on gen 9 around Pokemon Day 2022 and be able to promote it solely throughout the year to meet a November release.

But then that makes me worry for what gen 9 would look like, because then it would be 2 large games fighting over resources.

However, the case could just be they hope LA keeps fans busy for 2022 cause it'll be an extra year of development for gen 9.

 

[keithpetrosky]

Glad they are bringing back the Pokémon Unown! After them taking hidden power away in Sword/Shield I thought what about those poor Unown it’s the only move they know!

 

[Bolt the Cat]

I never said it's coming same year. I was saying DLC is 2024 if Gen 9 is 2023.
Gen 9 is definitely coming in 2023, why wouldn't it? Masuda literally stated some years back that it takes them 3-4 years to make new game.
2019+ 4= 2023. SH/SW has sold over 20 million copies, it would be pretty wrong to say that Gen 9 is not coming in 2023 since 2022 is Arceus game.
Legends is also sort of remake and not new gen, we will get Gen 9 definitely in 2023( new Pokemon and new everything, new gimmick: especially since we likely won't see any old gimmick in those remakes) and 2026 Gen 10 since it's 30th anniversary and we got DP and SM which are Gen 4 and Gen 7 respectively on those dates( 10-20).


Yes, because they have done that? 2016-2017-2018-2019- 4 years consecutively, SM is big, LGPE is also big, SH/SW is big, US/UM is also kinda big. Don't forget at that time GF has been working on Town which was released in 2018 IIRC which is also big. So yes, I do see that.
DP remakes are done by another company. Team that worked on SH/SW probably is working now on Gen 9 while other team has worked on Legends( GF has some teams IIRC).

The games we have now are a different animal from what we've had before. 3D open worlds are notoriously long to develop. For example, Nintendo had to delay BotW a full 2 years with it having a 5 year development cycle. This is a large part of the reason that many believe the quality of the series has dropped lately, so if we're getting Gen 9 immediately after, the issues that have plagued XY-SwSh will get worse. That's why it seems like Gen 9 might be releasing later than expected.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

I’m hoping there’s more to the plot besides creating the region’s first Pokédex. It doesn’t have to be a league (especially since that & the concept of trainers don’t exist in this game), but a final boss or an end goal would be nice

 

[CMButch]

The games we have now are a different animal from what we've had before. 3D open worlds are notoriously long to develop. For example, Nintendo had to delay BotW a full 2 years with it having a 5 year development cycle. This is a large part of the reason that many believe the quality of the series has dropped lately, so if we're getting Gen 9 immediately after, the issues that have plagued XY-SwSh will get worse. That's why it seems like Gen 9 might be releasing later than expected.

So? That doesn't mean that other team is NOT working on Gen 9 in 2023. Maybe this Legend game is developed since 2017 who knows.
My point is GF released 5 games in 3-4 years;
2016: SM
2017:USUM
2018: LGPE
2019: Town and SH/SW.
All is GF alone without any help IIRC. All those 5 games are big and hard to develop.
Let's see 3-4 years from 2020:
2020: DLCs( which honestly are nowhere as big even as USUM which IMO is smallest of those 5 above.
2021: DP remakes( developed by another company)
2022: Legends: GF.
2023: Gen 9(?)
So GF has only 2 BIG project in 3 years and 5 big projects in 3 years back then and yet they can't release Gen 9 in 2023( heck even 2022 but let's say 2023).
They can easily. If they can do 5 in 3 years they can do 2 in 3 years and on the account that Gen 9 would be better than SH/SW( maybe not as Legends), since they have only 2 projects in those 3 years while they had 5 in in 3 years( no wonder SH/SW suffered). I hope then Gen 10 in 2026 is as good as Legends or even better. So basically 2021 is "break" year for GF and so is 2020 basically because I would say DLCs are not that hard to develop at all.
EDIT: don't forget albeit small GF also developed in that cycle: Quest and Giga Wreckers games all in that 2016-2019 cycle.

 

[Teravolt]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1365349656666861569

This game ostensibly takes place before the establishment of the Sinnoh League and the the rise in prominence of Pokémon Trainers.

OMG THAT’S SO FREAKING COOL
SO YOU ACTUALLY GET TO CREATE THE POKEDEX
HOLY
HOLY CRAP MY HYPE LEVEL SHOT UP TO 100

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

So if this a single player RPG, will this most likely mean they won't be compatible with Home or is there still a possibility?

 

[shoz999]

On another note that I don't know if anyone has talked about. There is one big downside that could ruin the game for everyone. The framerate. It doesn't matter how much content, how beautiful or how fun the game is if it isn't playable due to glitches, bugs, or in this case the FPS.

I get that GameFreak is still new to consoles, but I do get the impression that they do need help from the Xenoblade or Breath of the Wild team to help make a smoother open world experience. Thing is, the game's world is nowhere as complex-looking as Breath of the Wild or Xenoblade Chronicles X/2. It's actually simplistic looking if you put them side by side and by that simple logic, Legends: Arceus should run much smoother than BotW and Xenoblade but it doesn't. The frame rate looks playable to a large extent but those frame rate dips are not a good sign of the game's playable state. I hope GameFreak takes the framerate dips seriously. That can seriously affect a game's popularity, just look at EA and Ubisoft.

 

[Manbis]

i think the game will have barely any cities and npcs. Mainly a dead open world with a few pokemon. Otherwise they would have shown a few City Areas. The one we saw was the homebase i imagine. Weird. I hope there is more to the game but for now its not really anything to be happy about? I would rather have them focus on Gen9 and 10.

But with so many new pokemon games i cant accept some cowardly excuse for not having every single pokemon in Gen9 from the start.

 

[Bolt the Cat]

So? That doesn't mean that other team is NOT working on Gen 9 in 2023. Maybe this Legend game is developed since 2017 who knows.

Unlikely. Game Freak generally only makes 1 main generation at a time, the other team usually makes smaller entries. This game looks to be on the larger scale along with new generations, so I doubt they started this in 2017. Most likely Game Freak was busy with SwSh back then and didn't start on this until SwSh was over in 2019.

My point is GF released 5 games in 3-4 years;
2016: SM
2017:USUM
2018: LGPE
2019: Town and SH/SW.
All is GF alone without any help IIRC. All those 5 games are big and hard to develop.

SwSh is much larger than the others though, and all 4 of those games were considered disappointments. SM was a lot smaller and more linear than people wanted. USUM was a marginal improvement over SM and offered less than past updated games like Emerald, Platinum, and BW2. LGPE was a glorified mobile game and simplified everything but the kitchen sink. SwSh is the only "big one" in the sense that I mean (in terms of being a full scale AAA open world console game, or at least something close to it) and it was still lacking a lot, it cut Pokemon from the game entirely, and looked unpolished. Many of the fans expected more out of these games and attribute their issues to the development cycle, as they transitioned to stronger hardware with improvements such as 3D graphics and open worlds, they needed to spend more and more time getting the graphics right to the point where everything else suffered.

 

[CMButch]

Unlikely. Game Freak generally only makes 1 main generation at a time, the other team usually makes smaller entries. This game looks to be on the larger scale along with new generations, so I doubt they started this in 2017. Most likely Game Freak was busy with SwSh back then and didn't start on this until SwSh was over in 2019.

I was giving some random example when it started but my main point was that Gen 9 will be at least in 2023( I doubt 2022) since you didn't convince me that it will be in 2025/2026. I already gave you good explanation why it will be 2023( other projects, SH/SW making selling more than 20 mil copies). About smaller entries, obviously main team can make 3 large scale games in short time( SM, LGPE and Town) while other team USUM and SH/SW. Now this is rumor that other team did SH/SW but let's stick with that. Other team could easily still make Gen 9 like they did with SH/SW and main team: Legends or as above: Main team could work on Legends and help other team on Gen 9 in meantime, in 2023. Like I said if they can release 5 big entries( and like 3 small) in those 3-4 years so they can do it with 2 big entires. So whatever it spins: I see 1 team on Gen 9 and other team on Legends since I think hint is in DP remakes, why would they give it to other devs? Other team could do DP remakes while main : Legends. Obviously because of Gen 9 in 2023. If GF was doing DP remakes instead of that other company, I could say: yeah Gen 9 is coming in 2025 or something.

SwSh is much larger than the others though, and all 4 of those games were considered disappointments. SM was a lot smaller and more linear than people wanted. USUM was a marginal improvement over SM and offered less than past updated games like Emerald, Platinum, and BW2. LGPE was a glorified mobile game and simplified everything but the kitchen sink. SwSh is the only "big one" in the sense that I mean (in terms of being a full scale AAA open world console game, or at least something close to it) and it was still lacking a lot, it cut Pokemon from the game entirely, and looked unpolished. Many of the fans expected more out of these games and attribute their issues to the development cycle, as they transitioned to stronger hardware with improvements such as 3D graphics and open worlds, they needed to spend more and more time getting the graphics right to the point where everything else suffered.

IDK about that to make a comment. If you're talking about disappointments as critically and financially I can say: none of these are financial failures except maybe US/UM but that's sequels which they usually sell less than 10 million copies. As of critical: SH/SW is the only one critically failed but still many people loved it since it sold over 20 million copies. LGPE for what I have seen many people loved it, some say that it's bad because Go.

 

[Shneak]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1365349660378812416

Okay, insane speculation time. This interior doesn't look like it matches the feudal time period. What if the modern day Dawn/Lucas go back in time in a similar way like Assassin's Creed?

 

[Sponge]

Most likely, all the missing starters will appear. It wouldn’t make sense to have one starter from each gen but not the others.

Maybe the other starters from gens 2, 5 and 7 will be available in this game.

and then maybe the gen 6 starters will be a post game bonus in the Sinnoh remakes? (or maybe they'll also be in Legends)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1365349660378812416

Okay, insane speculation time. This interior doesn't look like it matches the feudal time period. What if the modern day Dawn/Lucas go back in time in a similar way like Assassin's Creed?

I saw someone saying that this game isn't actually set in the feudal period and that the architecture suggests it's actually set in the Edo period. (so between 1603 and 1868)

Feudal Japan is the time period from around 1185 to 1603.

 

[Pokemon Power]

Looks like they're trying to combine the Pokemon formula with elements of JRPGs like Xenoblade. I'm willing to give it a try when the time comes.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

There's one thing I don't get. We see some ruins in front of a tree yet we are supposed to be the first settlers of Sinnoh. Unless of course this is an area around the Sinnjo ruins.

 

[BCVM22]

So if this a single player RPG, will this most likely mean they won't be compatible with Home or is there still a possibility?

Nothing about how many players the game does or doesn't support would have any affect on HOME compatibility. HOME was designed as an independent app for the very purpose of constantly being updated to interface with new games. The caveat to this is what we're unlikely to get confirmation one way or the other until much closer to release, so it's best to hold off asking until then.

 

[1rkhachatryan]

Honestly so hyped for this, I love the idea of us being about to capture pokemon from the world screen and even sending our pokemon out to battle from the world screen.

Plus my boy Cyndaquil is one of the starters!!! Like that is so freaking cool, I've missed my body .

I am just completely taken aback by this news since I missed the leaks completely and was totally suprised lol.

 

[Jibanyan]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1365349660378812416

Okay, insane speculation time. This interior doesn't look like it matches the feudal time period. What if the modern day Dawn/Lucas go back in time in a similar way like Assassin's Creed?

Looks more Meiji-Taisho era based