shoz999
Back when Tigers used to smoke.
So I couldn't help but notice that all over YouTube and dedicated Pokemon forums that a lot of people calling GameFreak genius, from a business perspective, and were getting a lot of support and thumbs up or likes for Pokemon Let's Go. They argued that GameFreak threw away the wild battles, simplified the combat system to CP, and added other Pokemon Go features... in order to appeal to casuals, that this casual experience will get them to transition from Pokemon Go to the 8th generation next year. Does anyone else see what the huge problem with this argument is?
The huge problem with this argument...
The problem with this argument that people think GameFreak is suddenly genius for implementing Pokemon Go features to appeal to casuals... is that the Pokemon series in general... is already appealing to casuals. Pokemon has ALWAYS been appealing to casuals. I assume that anyone who is reading this is a huge Pokemon fan and if you've ever had a friend that walked up to you, who may be interested in Pokemon, ask which Pokemon game should he or she start. You probably said, any Pokemon game will do. There all easy and fun to get into. Keywords, EASY and FUN and GameFreak has smartly planned this with each and every generation.
Each and every Generation was built for casuals
Generation 2 was supposed to be the last generation. GameFreak went all out with Gen 2, not expecting how insanely popular Pokemon is. To give you an idea how popular Pokemon is... it is a media franchise larger than Star Wars. When they realized this, they started getting to work on Gen 3. They marketed Generation 3 as a brand new generation set in an entirely new setting with diverse locales, brand new graphics, and tons of new Pokemon to appeal to casuals. When the Pokemon decline hit around Pokemon Emerald, they appealed to casuals by bringing up Generation 4 and it worked! When Generation 5 hit, they decided to try to appeal to casuals by looking to Generation 1 as an influence, have every Pokemon you encounter be a new Pokemon surprise waiting for you! It worked! When Generation 6 happened, they tried to appeal to everyone with 3D graphics around the theme of beauty and they marketed heavily by bring huge changes to the anime to make Pokemon feel awesome again! It worked! When the Pokemon Go craze hit, they took advantage of this by introducing Generation 7, hitting 16.10 million sales around the same as the first Pokemon 3DS game, X and Y, was. Pokemon was ALWAYS for casuals.
Pokemon in the hands of casuals are commonly their first RPG experience
One of the reasons why Pokemon is considered to be so revolutionary is that it was a RPG built with simple controls and mechanics that any child could understand, like the rock-paper-scissors mechanics or selecting from four attacks rather than ten options from your gaming PC, for the casual audience in a time when RPGs were dominated by either hardcore Western RPGs with complex controls on gaming PCs or JRPGs with incredibly long and hard difficulty that some people just couldn't get into. This is why Pokemon is so revolutionary and part of the reason why the Pokemon craze happened because it was an RPG built for casuals through simple controls and a fairly consistent difficulty and thus was many people's first experience of playing an RPG and it would continue to be up to the 7th generation. This is also why the argument that Pokemon Let's Go using Pokemon Go features and doing away other main features of the main series doesn't make any sense. If anything you should actually be concerned what it could possibly do to the Pokemon Brand.
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee may hurt the Pokemon brand
Pokemon Let's Go is marketed as a main series title, as the FIRST Pokemon Switch title on a HD home console that is selling like hotcakes. Do not underestimate this fact. Now remember this is only one of many possibilities, but Pokemon Let's Go might actually turn off casual audiences from the Pokemon series over time. When I first saw the first Pokemon Let's Go trailer, I was amazed how stunning it looked but when I saw the Treehouse demo... I was immediately concerned. Remember the keywords, EASY and FUN. EASY, the casual part like the rock-paper-scissors mechanic being the HOOK. And FUN, the deeper mechanics, the story, lore, the competitive aspects, the completionists aspects, the MEAT of the book, movie, or in this case, the game. When I saw the Treehouse demo, I was very disappointed and I fear that GameFreak might have a Pokemon Go problem on there hands. The Pokemon encounters looked more annoying and repetitive than the random wild encounters in previous games combined with the lack of grindy wild battles in favor of possibly even more grindy Pokemon Go-style content made Pokemon Let's Go look shallow, empty, and far more repetitive than wild battles. This does not look fun, this looks empty and repetitive and I fear that such a concept might actually hurt the Pokemon brand like Final Fantasy 13 and Final Fantasy 14, the original MMO, did to the Final Fantasy Brand. Why do I say this game might actually hurt the Pokemon brand? As I said before, this is a main series title marketed as the FIRST true Pokemon experience on the Nintendo Switch. At the creation of this thread, the Pokemon Let's Go trailer hit 10 Million views and Pokemon Let's Go games are currently sold out online. That means a lot of casuals are already hooked by the marketing but it is the meat, the core of the game that will ensure a game's longevity over time. That's why the main series titles are so appealing to casuals because it has both the casual hook and the meat of the game play to keep players reeling in for about a month. Without the "meat" the quality of that product, it will fall over time. It was what happened to the Wii brand over time, people losing interest in motion controls, and later losing interest in the Wii Brand of the Wii U. It's more complicated than that actually but this is one of the major reasons why the Wii brand fell apart. It is because of this that Pokemon Let's Go quality and content will impact the sales of the 8th generation of games next year. Through what I call the shot-gun affect, these casuals who play the main series might be interested in future Pokemon generations or other Pokemon material, discovering competitive multiplayer or Pokemon Adventures, Pokemon TCG online, they may discover a new side of the Pokemon World they never though exist! That is why Pokemon is so great and this is also why I might actually be wrong about Pokemon Let's Go hurting the brand. Maybe the casual audience will get bored of this title but might be interested in what else the Pokemon series offers or maybe they will get bored of this title and they may judge the entire series based on this one title.
Conclusion/Summary
Pokemon is already a casual-friendly series, it needs both the HOOK and the MEAT of the gameplay, the EASY understanding of the controls and FUN quality gameplay to keep the Pokemon Brand healthy and alive. This is also the same reason why it is a FACT that there is no such thing as an unpopular Pokemon Generation, that there has never been any real trend or signs of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th generation being unpopular because they are all quality made titles that keep the player hooked and unfortunately... I do believe that Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee might break this trend. This is why the argument that GameFreak are genius's to use Pokemon Go Mechanics in what looks like a boring remake of Pokemon Yellow to appeal to casuals does not make any sense. Pokemon Let's Go did not gain 10 million views or sold out on Amazon because it looked appealing to casuals. It gained this achievement because when the first trailers came out, it looked fun, it looked amazing, it look like there was a ton of stuff to do before the tree house demo came out. It's why even those who hated Pokemon Go showed some interest in this title before the demo gave a better look at the game. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm still interested in this game and what it offers, not as a a Pokemon main series game using Pokemon Go Features, but as a remake of Pokemon Yellow that could influence on spinoffs, the Adventures and Anime adaptation of Pokemon, and the TCG.
What are your thoughts?
So far this is still in general, my opinion but I wanna hear what are you thoughts? Your opinion. Do you think people's argument for Pokemon Let's Go appealing to casuals still has some weight to it or does it not make any sense since Pokemon has always been a casually-appealing series. Do you think this really will appeal to casuals or it will turn away casuals in the long run? Will it get people interested in other aspects of the Pokemon series or will it hurt the Pokemon Brand in the same way Final Fantasy 13 hurt the Final Fantasy Brand?
The huge problem with this argument...
The problem with this argument that people think GameFreak is suddenly genius for implementing Pokemon Go features to appeal to casuals... is that the Pokemon series in general... is already appealing to casuals. Pokemon has ALWAYS been appealing to casuals. I assume that anyone who is reading this is a huge Pokemon fan and if you've ever had a friend that walked up to you, who may be interested in Pokemon, ask which Pokemon game should he or she start. You probably said, any Pokemon game will do. There all easy and fun to get into. Keywords, EASY and FUN and GameFreak has smartly planned this with each and every generation.
Each and every Generation was built for casuals
Generation 2 was supposed to be the last generation. GameFreak went all out with Gen 2, not expecting how insanely popular Pokemon is. To give you an idea how popular Pokemon is... it is a media franchise larger than Star Wars. When they realized this, they started getting to work on Gen 3. They marketed Generation 3 as a brand new generation set in an entirely new setting with diverse locales, brand new graphics, and tons of new Pokemon to appeal to casuals. When the Pokemon decline hit around Pokemon Emerald, they appealed to casuals by bringing up Generation 4 and it worked! When Generation 5 hit, they decided to try to appeal to casuals by looking to Generation 1 as an influence, have every Pokemon you encounter be a new Pokemon surprise waiting for you! It worked! When Generation 6 happened, they tried to appeal to everyone with 3D graphics around the theme of beauty and they marketed heavily by bring huge changes to the anime to make Pokemon feel awesome again! It worked! When the Pokemon Go craze hit, they took advantage of this by introducing Generation 7, hitting 16.10 million sales around the same as the first Pokemon 3DS game, X and Y, was. Pokemon was ALWAYS for casuals.
Pokemon in the hands of casuals are commonly their first RPG experience
One of the reasons why Pokemon is considered to be so revolutionary is that it was a RPG built with simple controls and mechanics that any child could understand, like the rock-paper-scissors mechanics or selecting from four attacks rather than ten options from your gaming PC, for the casual audience in a time when RPGs were dominated by either hardcore Western RPGs with complex controls on gaming PCs or JRPGs with incredibly long and hard difficulty that some people just couldn't get into. This is why Pokemon is so revolutionary and part of the reason why the Pokemon craze happened because it was an RPG built for casuals through simple controls and a fairly consistent difficulty and thus was many people's first experience of playing an RPG and it would continue to be up to the 7th generation. This is also why the argument that Pokemon Let's Go using Pokemon Go features and doing away other main features of the main series doesn't make any sense. If anything you should actually be concerned what it could possibly do to the Pokemon Brand.
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee may hurt the Pokemon brand
Pokemon Let's Go is marketed as a main series title, as the FIRST Pokemon Switch title on a HD home console that is selling like hotcakes. Do not underestimate this fact. Now remember this is only one of many possibilities, but Pokemon Let's Go might actually turn off casual audiences from the Pokemon series over time. When I first saw the first Pokemon Let's Go trailer, I was amazed how stunning it looked but when I saw the Treehouse demo... I was immediately concerned. Remember the keywords, EASY and FUN. EASY, the casual part like the rock-paper-scissors mechanic being the HOOK. And FUN, the deeper mechanics, the story, lore, the competitive aspects, the completionists aspects, the MEAT of the book, movie, or in this case, the game. When I saw the Treehouse demo, I was very disappointed and I fear that GameFreak might have a Pokemon Go problem on there hands. The Pokemon encounters looked more annoying and repetitive than the random wild encounters in previous games combined with the lack of grindy wild battles in favor of possibly even more grindy Pokemon Go-style content made Pokemon Let's Go look shallow, empty, and far more repetitive than wild battles. This does not look fun, this looks empty and repetitive and I fear that such a concept might actually hurt the Pokemon brand like Final Fantasy 13 and Final Fantasy 14, the original MMO, did to the Final Fantasy Brand. Why do I say this game might actually hurt the Pokemon brand? As I said before, this is a main series title marketed as the FIRST true Pokemon experience on the Nintendo Switch. At the creation of this thread, the Pokemon Let's Go trailer hit 10 Million views and Pokemon Let's Go games are currently sold out online. That means a lot of casuals are already hooked by the marketing but it is the meat, the core of the game that will ensure a game's longevity over time. That's why the main series titles are so appealing to casuals because it has both the casual hook and the meat of the game play to keep players reeling in for about a month. Without the "meat" the quality of that product, it will fall over time. It was what happened to the Wii brand over time, people losing interest in motion controls, and later losing interest in the Wii Brand of the Wii U. It's more complicated than that actually but this is one of the major reasons why the Wii brand fell apart. It is because of this that Pokemon Let's Go quality and content will impact the sales of the 8th generation of games next year. Through what I call the shot-gun affect, these casuals who play the main series might be interested in future Pokemon generations or other Pokemon material, discovering competitive multiplayer or Pokemon Adventures, Pokemon TCG online, they may discover a new side of the Pokemon World they never though exist! That is why Pokemon is so great and this is also why I might actually be wrong about Pokemon Let's Go hurting the brand. Maybe the casual audience will get bored of this title but might be interested in what else the Pokemon series offers or maybe they will get bored of this title and they may judge the entire series based on this one title.
Conclusion/Summary
Pokemon is already a casual-friendly series, it needs both the HOOK and the MEAT of the gameplay, the EASY understanding of the controls and FUN quality gameplay to keep the Pokemon Brand healthy and alive. This is also the same reason why it is a FACT that there is no such thing as an unpopular Pokemon Generation, that there has never been any real trend or signs of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th generation being unpopular because they are all quality made titles that keep the player hooked and unfortunately... I do believe that Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee might break this trend. This is why the argument that GameFreak are genius's to use Pokemon Go Mechanics in what looks like a boring remake of Pokemon Yellow to appeal to casuals does not make any sense. Pokemon Let's Go did not gain 10 million views or sold out on Amazon because it looked appealing to casuals. It gained this achievement because when the first trailers came out, it looked fun, it looked amazing, it look like there was a ton of stuff to do before the tree house demo came out. It's why even those who hated Pokemon Go showed some interest in this title before the demo gave a better look at the game. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm still interested in this game and what it offers, not as a a Pokemon main series game using Pokemon Go Features, but as a remake of Pokemon Yellow that could influence on spinoffs, the Adventures and Anime adaptation of Pokemon, and the TCG.
What are your thoughts?
So far this is still in general, my opinion but I wanna hear what are you thoughts? Your opinion. Do you think people's argument for Pokemon Let's Go appealing to casuals still has some weight to it or does it not make any sense since Pokemon has always been a casually-appealing series. Do you think this really will appeal to casuals or it will turn away casuals in the long run? Will it get people interested in other aspects of the Pokemon series or will it hurt the Pokemon Brand in the same way Final Fantasy 13 hurt the Final Fantasy Brand?