The Isle of Armor & The Crown Tundra DLC - RUMOR & SPECULATION Thread [Spoilers]

[axelme]

I think he’s just making that up. I think we’re more likely to get 90 Pokémon or so to go up to 900. Every game has added a new digit in the hundreds spot, Gen 2 got us to 200, 3 to 300, 4 to 400, 5 to 600, 6 to 700, 7 to 800, then 8 to 900 would make sense.

would set up gen 9 to hit 1000 . they'd need 100 new ones in gen 9 though

For those who cant see it.

yeah, that's definitely gengar

 

[Creyk]

For those who cant see it.

Shiny gengar with levitate ability?

 

[captainfez3]

The problem is that a passion project is not necessarily one that will make a lot of money. Little Town Hero does come across as one, and possibly Giga Wrecker and Tembo too, but Pokémon aside, Game Freak is a small developer, and they make mostly indie-scale projects. That means they have to compromise on what they want to put in there, and what they want is not necessarily going to be well-liked.

What you describe is exactly what SEGA has been trying to do with Sonic for the past two decades. Each new Sonic game has a different gimmick to it, sometimes combining gimmicks from previous games that were well-received. Problem is that the Sonic fans are infamously fractured, demanding mutually opposing things. Some want more characters, and some want fewer characters. Some want more of the boost-type gameplay, while some want it done away with. Some want darker, more serious stories, but some want lighter, more comical ones. Some will not be satisfied until a game called Sonic Adventure 3 comes out, regardless of what it would be like. Some refuse to acknowledge Sonic's archnemesis as "Eggman" despite that being his name in Japan from the start.

The result is that it's impossible to make a Sonic game in which everything an "endless high note," because what some fans consider a high note, others consider a blemish.

You can see the same thing in Pokémon. Go outside of the fanbase and ask video gamers what they'd like in a Pokémon game, and you'll get a lot of people desiring for them to move away from turn-based battling. You'll get people who don't like any Pokémon past Generation I and want more of Pokémon Let's Go! Pikachu and Eevee. You'll get people who want a large minigame collection like they played in Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 (and indeed, a lot of people picked up these games, ignoring the battling aspect and played it only as a minigame collection). Try proposing any of that here and it'd be treated as heresy.

That's the situation Game Freak has been in for a long time now. Pokémon is big enough, iconic enough, and most importantly, old enough that any decision they make is going to enrage some people.

Passion does not really have any correlation to profit, so I would half agree, but think it is a non-sequitur. What you were driving at with your last line (basically) is that Pokemon is a franchise and I think GF has been approaching it like that ever since R/S, probably in no small part because Nintendo is standing behind it's star child with two hands firmly on its shoulders. What I meant by passion project was to simply stop thinking about everything in terms of franchise economics and try to make the best game you can possibly make, and swing for the fences while you are doing so. This does not mean they have to throw anything out or do a 180 from where they are at, nor does it mean they have to forget that it is a series and will continue into the future (so do not gas yourselves in the attempt basically). They demonstrated with Sun and Moon that they will at least touch (if only aesthetically) the foundational elements of Pokemon, so it does not seem like too much of a stretch for GF to get together and distill the essence out of their stable of Pokemon games and universe, and then look at how they can make a phenomenal game drawing on the inspiration of the evolution of game design across the years, their own creativity, improvements in technology, and... well, passion, ha ha.

I make my language poetic for the sake of interpretation sometimes, and I honestly have written too many epic length forum posts only to have my soul crushed by indifference, so I have become accustomed to just rolling the dice with vaguer language to save myself a thorough explanation, ha ha. "Endless high note" was just meant to capture the feeling that the game should evoke, not necessarily a description of the litany of features it should have. You make a good point about how widely the opinions of fans, let alone just game players in general, can vary regarding feature lists for video games, and Sonic is a good example, although one I am not very personally familiar with, outside of tidbits I picked up reading Game Informer and good ol' Nintendo Power (rip) back in the day.

I do not think Pokemon is precisely in the same position however, because Sonic has been trying to re-invent itself (as far as I can tell) while Pokemon has been more liberal with its offshoots. Stadium, Let's Go, Mystery Dungeon, the weird free-to-play Cubivore rip off, etc. Pokemon is like a leviathan dragging a lot of detritus in its wake, but the core games have always had a pretty crystal clear focus. The stuff that has been thrown in and taken out has mostly been related to connectivity, until they introduced Mega-Evolution. I think as far as mainline games go, GF is in the clear to make the "best" version of those games because they have not iterated on them overmuch. That will change as they keep juggling around Mega Evos, Z-Moves, Dynamax, and on and on, but even those things are all just different flavors of an overpowered mode or move, which is a common video game trope. For most people, I would think, it would be easy to simply pick one and move on, if it would be conducive to the gameplay to keep them in at all. Maybe that would be one of the more difficult/unpopular decisions they'd be forced to make, but that is one of the few that strikes me off the top of my head.

The rest of the features they have had across games they could easily bring back and integrate, and then keep building the game, game play, features, and content. I think there is a strong illusion of developers being backed into corners in game critique and discussion, because we have all been so conditioned to not expect great things, but planned obsolescence has more to do with that than anything. And as I said, I would not expect them to give me EVERYTHING, because I know they need to plan for the future, but I think as they keep making games on a platform that hosts games of the scope and depth of Dragon Quest 11, BotW, and the Witcher, and ESPECIALLY because they are branching off into simpler mobile versions of their games to appeal to different players, they need to step their game up. I fully expect Sword and Shield to be transition games, but GF should be looking toward how to evolve their flagship games now that they have so many other avenues to work in.

 

[Pikachu111213]

Is there anything in that leak that was confirmed true?

No. In fact there’s a lot that disproves it

 

[greninjamaster]

73 New Pokemon
27 Galarian Forms

100 new Pokemon total.

 

[Everlasting]

73 New Pokemon
27 Galarian Forms

100 new Pokemon total.

Make it at least 85 new and 15 forms and we have ourselves a deal.
I simply don't see SWSH having more regional forms than SM. Hawaii is extremely special for its impressive adaptative radiation and it makes way more sense for them to focus on that unique evolutive scenario on a game based off Hawaii. I don't think they'd go over 15 Galarian forms considering Alola had 18. It's like how XY had about 8 more Mega Evolutions than ORAS had.

 

[Beloberto]

Make it at least 85 new and 15 forms and we have ourselves a deal.
I simply don't see SWSH having more regional forms than SM. Hawaii is extremely special for its impressive adaptative radiation and it makes way more sense for them to focus on that unique evolutive scenario on a game based off Hawaii. I don't think they'd go over 15 Galarian forms considering Alola had 18. It's like how XY had about 8 more Mega Evolutions than ORAS had.

I doubt they think about that too deeply. Regional forms were an experimental feature in Alola, now GF knows it was well received. It makes perfect sense for there to be more regional forms this time.

Still hoping the Parasect Leak is fake, though, simply because that Grookey final form seems hideous.

 

[Golden_Latias]

What's the Parasect leak?

 

[TheWanderingMist]

What's the Parasect leak?

Based on a quick Google search, it's fake because Scorbunny's Evo is just its head on an Incineroar body

 

[EmeraldArcanine]

Based on a quick Google search, it's fake because Scorbunny's Evo is just its head on an Incineroar body

Yeah I saw that and disregarded it all immediately after.
People, at least put SOME efforts in your fake leak art good lord. It's stuff like that that will have people laughing at your attempt rather than actually going with it. :T

 

[Beloberto]

What's the Parasect leak?

This one:
http://is2.4chan.org/vp/1571102413947.png

It came out only three days ago, so there isn't much to confront it with, however:
- It was right about Drampa being in the dex
- It was right about Hop having two pokémon on his first fight
- It was wrong about Hop pokémon being Starter and Wooloo (the leaker said it was Starter and Corviknight's first stage)

I am on the fence. I think guessing the rival would have two pokémon on the first fight would be too much luck since in every game until now the rival always only had the starter. But getting the said second pokémon wrong was weird (still, it could be just a legitimate mistake).

The reason I am most doubtful about it is the leaker said they were saying all that from "memory and notes", but based on what they were saying we have to believe they were able to memorize every new pokémon name, typing, evolution lines, galar forms, which old pokémon were returning and which weren't (every single one), the TM list and at least Sobble's moveset. That seems a lot for someone to be able to call upon just by memory and a few notes. The only time they seemed to not be 100% certain on recalling every detail about the game is when asked about Gigantamax (they said there are a lot so they couldn't remember every one of them). The leaker even knew about version exclusive gyms, meaning they would have access to both versions... it all seems just a bit too much for just one person to have.

Based on a quick Google search, it's fake because Scorbunny's Evo is just its head on an Incineroar body

Yeah I saw that and disregarded it all immediately after.
People, at least put SOME efforts in your fake leak art good lord. It's stuff like that that will have people laughing at your attempt rather than actually going with it. :T

... That's just a quick summary someone else did of the leak for easy reference, not the leak itself.

 

[Everlasting]

That leak is... quite big. What credibility does it hold? Kinda wish I didn't scour through all of it. Story is the only thing I don't want spoiled and they kinda dished on it too.

 

[Beloberto]

What credibility does it hold?

None. Like I said, it got two things right on the last two days, but was off on another one. The only reason is being seen as credible so far is because it didn't contradicted any revealed or confirmed leaked information, but that could just mean it is someone who took care to check things before answering to not risk being caught (like saying a pokémon was not in the game and turning out it was already confirmed).

 

[Sceptrigon]

Ah dang, that “leak” is just trying to get my hopes up again for a Poison type legendary. And for the third legendary too! It’s basically the only thing left I’d love to have in the series in addition to the rabbit starter. It’s too good to be true.

 

[Everlasting]

None. Like I said, it got two things right on the last two days, but was off on another one. The only reason is being seen as credible so far is because it didn't contradicted any revealed or confirmed leaked information, but that could just mean it is someone who took care to check things before answering to not risk being caught (like saying a pokémon was not in the game and turning out it was already confirmed).

I will give it to the leaker, they have good ideas. And those ideas make sense, too, for the most part.
With Sun and Moon constantly giving us reveals and trailers, it was easy to discern fake leaks from real ones. Sword and Shield aren't making it easy. I cannot wait for the datamine to set everything on the table.

 

[ChavaWM]

That new leak says the Giga Charizard looks like a mix of 2 megas, we just saw Charizard and I don't think he looks like either

 

[Lord Godwin]

This one:
http://is2.4chan.org/vp/1571102413947.png

It came out only three days ago, so there isn't much to confront it with, however:
- It was right about Drampa being in the dex
- It was right about Hop having two pokémon on his first fight
- It was wrong about Hop pokémon being Starter and Wooloo (the leaker said it was Starter and Corviknight's first stage)

I am on the fence. I think guessing the rival would have two pokémon on the first fight would be too much luck since in every game until now the rival always only had the starter. But getting the said second pokémon wrong was weird (still, it could be just a legitimate mistake).

The reason I am most doubtful about it is the leaker said they were saying all that from "memory and notes", but based on what they were saying we have to believe they were able to memorize every new pokémon name, typing, evolution lines, galar forms, which old pokémon were returning and which weren't (every single one), the TM list and at least Sobble's moveset. That seems a lot for someone to be able to call upon just by memory and a few notes. The only time they seemed to not be 100% certain on recalling every detail about the game is when asked about Gigantamax (they said there are a lot so they couldn't remember every one of them). The leaker even knew about version exclusive gyms, meaning they would have access to both versions... it all seems just a bit too much for just one person to have.



... That's just a quick summary someone else did of the leak for easy reference, not the leak itself.

Regarding Hop having 2 Pokemon in first battle.

There were quite old screenshots showing 2 Pokeballs during the fight with him. So it's not really a guess...

 

[Lucky3]

I feel like anyone trying to describe G-Charizard would mention the flame wings, since they're the most distinticve feature.

I mean, this guy can apparently remember which specific Pokemon are or aren't in the game, but can't describe accurately something notable like that?

 

[Orphalesion]

"Ramabam" seriously? Two letters away from Ramadan? Yeah no...

Reminds me of that fake leak with a pokemon called "Twinkape"

 

[RileyXY1]

The Parasect Leak is dead on arrival, considering that it states that Alcremie and Drednaw are single stage even though the Dynamax Camera files imply that both have preevolutions. Also, it says that G-Max Charizard resembles a fusion of its two Megas even though it actually looks like neither.