Thoughts on the Upcoming Pokemon Switch Game?

[Arcanineblitz]

I'm completely dumbfounded at the reactions here this made me more excited literally this looks like a way better experience than USUM and really love that they streamlined EV training through CP and candy system. Since it was cumbersome to figure that out and than having to breed to get the right natures or buy expensive vitamins to effect EV. So this seems way better and overall it looks gorgeous and am very excited to play this. Honestly only disappointed by just having 151 Pokemon. That's the only thing that I can see that is bad about what we saw

Yeah I was really hoping they’d have evolutions for kanto Pokémon like crobat especially since Pokemon like crobat and scizor are in GO.

 

[Bguy7]

And what's with getting Poke-Balls from trainer Battles?

That's almost certainly due to how many Pokéballs they expect you to be using. They don't want you to have to buy a massive stock of 50-100 at a time, and they don't want you to run out in the middle of a route. In Go, you just gather Pokéballs at random points of interest, so this is kind of like the equivalent to that.

 

[PirateKing]

Thoughts from the E3 footage

-It's confirmed the player characters arent Red and Leaf with rival Blue, which saddens me (probably more than it logically should lol) Now I'm defenetly curious about how the story is going to be like if the plot is essentially the same, but Red and Blue are their own characters.
-Everything else looks AMAZING though, especially the graphics which are way more colorful and vivid then I expected.
-Tons of new encounters in Viridian Forest including Oddish and Bellsprout. Could just be for the demo, but could also be to make Brock easier (Like adding Double Kick to Pikachu)
- RIP Safari Zone, you shall be missed. However, Seems like you can make your own Go Parks, and have multiples of them? That sounds awesome if thats the case! Heck, I'll just make my own Safari Zone by sending over 30 Tauros lol
- Sidequests confirmed. There was little scene of us babysitting a Slowpoke, which seems pretty remenisent of some of the little ones from USUM.
-From what I can hear, the remastered music sounds amazing
-Turning Pikachu into the itemfinder is a cool idea.
-Turning the Candy mechanic from Go into the EV training method is interesting. I like the idea
-Its amazing just how alive the world feels with the wild Pokemon always on screen roaming around.
-Stands and audiences in the Gym is my favorite little thing they added. It feels a lot more anime like. One thing that really intreats me is that they made sure to point out that some gyms are going to be completely different.

 

[Dragalge]

Wait you have to own a Water or Grass Pokemon to take on Brock?

I get that it for newcomers but even some of them like to live dangerously. Just look at us trying to beat Brock’s Onix with a Charmander back then!

 

[Tsukuyomi56]

Wait you have to own a Water or Grass Pokemon to take on Brock?

I get that it for newcomers but even some of them like to live dangerously. Just look at us trying to beat Brock’s Onix with a Charmander back then!

Sadly, yes. Seems like Game Freak thinks the kids of today cannot figure out things by trial and error. Also Pikachu now getting Double Kick renders it been near useless against Brock moot.

 

[Sulfurian]

As long as the hand hold stuff remains in this game and not the main titles I'd be fine with it. Yeah GF seems to enjoy underestimating people's intelligence, to a mocking degree, (you can't enter the gym unless you have grass or water, screw Mankey I guess) but if it stays in this fine.

So tired of being handed free items and being healed for free when my basic instinct is to do that myself, curse them for downgrading blue/gary.

 

[erickexl]

A lot of people have brought up the fact that Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee are not for the "hardcore" fans. Frankly I don't think there's such a thing as hardcore because Pokemon isn't a series that has clear dividing lines between casuals and hardcore gamers to the extent that other games have. A casual player can find just as much enjoyment in a Pokemon story, as a hardcore player would with competitive/online elements. Pokemon as a series has always had an all-ages appeal and something that resonated with all fanbases. However, there's something to be said about the confusing nature of what Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee is actually for. To preface, this is what I've read from Junichi Masuda (through Eurogamer) that really stood out to me:



If the idea is to band these types of players into one unified audience, then is the approach in Let's Go Eevee/Pikachu really the right way to go about it? There's no difficulty select or an optional tutorial that allows newcomers to understand the basics of the game without coming off as patronizing to the existing fanbase that already knows the type chart in and out. In other words, essentially, you're forcing that approach onto fans who know while . That doesn't exactly sound like "preventing players from going in different directions" (I know this is completely anecdotal and I don't doubt the selling power of LGE/P, but I've seen my fair share of "screw this game I'm waiting for the real Gen VIII" comments). It's just strange because Pokemon isn't exactly Dark Souls in its premise: you discover types and find ways to beat that type as efficiently as possible. Furthermore, one cannot forget that this is a remake that takes inspiration from Pokemon Yellow, which means you're going to be appealing to the older fans who played through Generation I. Their gameplay tastes will have changed compared to when they first played through Kanto. Newer fans don't have the connection to a region or the 151 Dex the way that Kanto fans have. Which makes me wonder why they didn't just try to make a new region for the newcomers.

Another thing is what does this mean for the 2019 title? A lot of people pondered that LGE/P would be a subseries and would open up Gen VIII to be for the "hardcore" fans, but given what we know about Masuda, it doesn't sound like Game Freak sees it quite the same way. Not to mention, it'd be in their best interest to open up Gen VIII to as many people as possible in the same way that they're doing LGE/P, so it seems quite possible that we're going to see some divisive gameplay elements carry over from LGE/P.

Surprised not many have replied to your post.

You make some interesting points that support the fan outcry we've been getting since these games focus on a smaller and much more casual audience rather than the larger audience previous titles have been appealing too. It's very odd of Masuda to generate a game for a specific audience, leaving many other fans feel left out. The easy solution to this problem is just adding a difficulty modifier for both new players and experienced players.


Onto your other questions and concerns, I believe they're remaking Yellow mostly because Kanto is such a simple region to understand. It's easy for new fans to have be their first experience into the Pokemon World. It also appeals to the Go Players who began with GO and are more familiar with the initial 151 for the game. And finally, it's also meant to appeal to those who have fallen out of the series and hope Gen 1 can reel them back in, hoping they will continue to purchase later games. A new region with new pokemon in a new game specifically for New and GO players would cause even more of an outrage than it already is doing now.

However, it still baffles me as to why these games are incredibly over-simplified. The transition from this game to the next game is going to be vastly different since it will not retain any GO Mechanics, and will most likely bring back Items, Abilities, Megas, etc.

This is going to be overwhelming for these new players. This game would have been the perfect opportunity for them teach and demonstrate these aspects to younger individuals through (optional) tutorials, maybe through an enhanced version of the Teachy TV.

Game Freak is such a confusing and incompetent game-developing company. Sun and Moon was nearly a step in the right direction in terms of difficulty with the Totem Battles and the advanced AI. A lot of children enjoyed these games according to reviews on Common Sense Media. However, this game and USUM seem to take things in the wrong direction, making us constantly question our trust with this company.

 

[BCVM22]

Reading reviews on “Common Sense Media” may not be the single worst metric by which to try and judge reaction to a game, but boy, it’s up there.

If you are of the belief that Game Freak is “incompetent” and you are “consistently questioning your trust in this company,” again, that’s your prerogative, but please don’t pretend that’s any kind of definitive reality or even widely held gospel.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Sadly, yes. Seems like Game Freak thinks the kids of today cannot figure out things by trial and error. Also Pikachu now getting Double Kick renders it been near useless against Brock moot.

Yeah even at some point on the screen it will say the type matchup so kids can figure out there's a type mechanic in the game. It should be easy enough for them to figure that Rock is weak to both Rock and Grass but just forcing them to use them against Brock just cheeses the first Gym for them.

 

[J. D. Guy]

I very much like Pikachu getting Double Kick. It's similar to how they gave Charmander Metal Claw in FireRed/LeafGreen. It's nice that Pikachu can actually feasible do something againt Brock outside Quick Attack and Potion spam until you ran out while hoping you aren't done in by Bide or taken out by a Critical Hit.

With that said, I wonder what Eevee would get to give it some form of fighting chance against Brock? As it is, Eevee is also at a disadvantage against Brock, being a Normal Type, and I'm not sure Eevee has anything that would be reasonble to be in its move set by the time you get to Brock that would allow it to do more than Pikachu back in the day. I'm not up to speed on Eevee's contemporary Level-Up Move Set, but I don't think a Brock-leveled Eevee would be all that helpful. If Pikachu will be getting something to give it a fighting chance, will Eevee get the same? It would make sense.

 

[Sαpphire]

Of course people are still grumpy that the "this game is simpler" games are, in fact, simpler, why am I at all surprised

Anyway, a side note about the trainers in the showcase - they're probably set lower level than in the real game specifically for the showcase or as part of a demo version. They started her off with a specifically set party of all five Kanto starters - Gen 1, 3, and this one - at Lv. 5, and an obscenely high Lv. 15 Onyx. They probably had a game plan as to what they wanted to show, and set the levels accordingly. I'm not saying I'd be surprised if they're lower here, but Cale in the original trailer was at a similar level to his role in past games, just with one Pokemon instead of four.

It's still a little early to think they're going to reduce levels and party counts - could happen, wouldn't be super thrilled with that myself, but it's not time to worry yet.

And honestly, that wouldn't be a game-breaker for me. There are plenty of ways to make it more difficult for yourself if that's what you're looking for. Pay with a full team of species that need stones to evolve and are cute, and don't evolve them - hell, I literally might make my team for the whole game Clefairy, Vulpix, Eevee, Jigglypuff, etc. now that I think about it.

Wait - if I could get an Alolan and a normal Vulpix and throw in a Pikachu too... lit

 

[Mega Altaria]

I very much like Pikachu getting Double Kick. It's similar to how they gave Charmander Metal Claw in FireRed/LeafGreen. It's nice that Pikachu can actually feasible do something againt Brock outside Quick Attack and Potion spam until you ran out while hoping you aren't done in by Bide or taken out by a Critical Hit.

With that said, I wonder what Eevee would get to give it some form of fighting chance against Brock? As it is, Eevee is also at a disadvantage against Brock, being a Normal Type, and I'm not sure Eevee has anything that would be reasonble to be in its move set by the time you get to Brock that would allow it to do more than Pikachu back in the day. I'm not up to speed on Eevee's contemporary Level-Up Move Set, but I don't think a Brock-leveled Eevee would be all that helpful. If Pikachu will be getting something to give it a fighting chance, will Eevee get the same? It would make sense.

Although it does feel great that Pikachu can learn Double Kick, it is still overshadowed by the fact you will have a Water or a Grass-type against Brock, which will give you a big type advantage against him. We still don't really know what's the case with Eevee, but I guess something similar will be done to it.

 

[ArtFenix]

Watched the E3 footage. Disappointed. The game looks like slightly upresed ORAS. It actually looks worse than SM/USUM. The lighting and shading is better but that's it. It doesn't feel like an HD Switch game, more like something you'd see on iOS/Android. And they somehow managed to simplify the difficulty even more. Seriously, who on Earth had any problem with a Pokemon game? Kids would find XY/ORAS/SM/USUM difficult? Weren't we all kids? I don't remember having much difficulty playing Gens 1-4. You could always just grind a little bit and that was all that was needed for progression if you were struggling with a GYM leader or something else.

The gameplay looks slow and boring. And after reading the impressions on Pokebeach, just like I thought before, the catching mechanic seems not very intuitive and not very precise. Typical forced gimmick for the sake of a gimmick (and some more $$$ for selling the Pokeball+, of course).

I just hope Gen 8 game next year borrows nothing from this. These titles are nothing but lazy cash grabs. They don't build up on what the last few Gens achieved, they get back to the very beginning and make it more simple and more boring, restricting the player's choice and removing quite a few great features that literally nobody had problems with.

 

[BCVM22]

These titles are nothing but lazy cash grabs.

Again, there's no part of this franchise that isn't a cash grab, because the phrase would imply that there's something with the Pokémon name whose goal is not to make money.

They don't build up on what the last few Gens achieved.

But they aren't meant to.

How do this many people miss the point this spectacularly? I don't get it. If you have at any point said anything like "this isn't anything like the last few games," then the game isn't meant for you.

 

[ArtFenix]

They should have just said the games are spin-off titles, that wouldn't have any influence on THE core series and everybody, myself included, would be fine. But no, they had to state these games are core titles. So, I think it makes sense that I compare them to the previous Gens.

 

[oshawott7]

Personally I don't really mind the fact that wild battles are gone because I always use Quick Balls to catch Pokemon anyway.
I also love that there are so many Pokemon in the overworld and you have to dodge them and they run after you, it adds a lot of realism and personality. Co-op is disappointing but that was to be expected. They should've made the opponents stronger since you're using two Pokemon against them, but whatever.
I think the requirements of having a Water or Grass type for Brock will only be for Brock so I'm not too worried about that.

The best thing about these games being as easy as they seem to be is that I can finally have a team of unevolved Pokemon and not feel weak lol

 

[BCVM22]

They should have just said the games are spin-off titles

They aren't, strictly, though.

that wouldn't have any influence on THE core series

They have to tell you this, verbatim, even after telling you that next year's titles are A. coming and B. will be more traditional core titles? You can't infer that on your own?

and everybody, myself included, would be fine.

Blaming Game Freak for "everybody's" overreactions remains a puzzling tactic.

But no, they had to state these games are core titles.

They told us, accurately, that these games are not simply side titles. Which they aren't. Our continuing to call them "core titles" as if they don't completely and visibly invent a new classification by their very nature borders on willfull ignorance.

So, I think it makes sense that I compare them to the previous Gens.

It really doesn't, though, given that they could not more obviously be adjacent to the core titles but not remotely identical to them.

 

[Syther]

The more I learn about this, the more I hope it winds up being the worst selling "core" pokemon game in the franchise! Fire Red and Leaf Green are better remakes than this game, and I was in high school when those games came out.
Heck, Coliseum and XD are even better "spinoffs" than this game is turning out to be. I don't even want to buy it new. If I get it at all, it would be a doesn't count used sale.

 

[BCVM22]

The more I learn about this, the more I hope it winds up being the worst selling "core" pokemon game in the franchise!

"This isn't for me and I hate it so I hope it fails" is an intensely silly and senseless way to regard this game.

I would argue this continued notion borders on selfishness, because the message it projects is that the only Pokémon games Game Freak should be making are those that appeal to the HARDCORE (thunder, lightning, echo) fans and everyone else is meaningless and can go fork themselves. And I don't think that's a great viewpoint to hold, when spelled out like that.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Co-op playing wasn't as rewarding as I expected. I was expecting improved capture rates for Poké Balls thrown in co-op mode and the increased encounter rate of rare Pokémon.