Thoughts on the Upcoming Pokemon Switch Game?

[lemoncatpower]

Fair enough. I guess I just can't understand the mentality of not being inherently excited by just the factor of it being a new game alone. Assuming it's not a just worthless garbage(and I mean true, objective garbage), I'll get excited for any main series Pokémon game, even if it's not my first choice for what should happen.



Of course. I just want to point out that I wasn't asking to be excited, I'm just trying to say why it's not a objectively bad thing, which a lot of people (not necessarily you) are taking the stance of.



But my point is that it being unusual shouldn't really make much a difference, at least until we actually see what kind of impact it has.




Just for the sake of it, let's go down a list of possible features of Go that could be theoretically integrated into the main series to varying degrees of success, and think about what they would change and how possible of a change they are to make in the first place.

1) GPS-based Pokémon hunting. This is just flat-out impossible on the Switch, due to it not having a built-in GPS or mobile data capabilities.
2) Battle mechanics. There's just simply no way that Go's battle mechanics could ever be brought into the main series. Yes, if it happened, it would be awful, but there's no way Game Freak would even consider making a drastic change, seeing as the battle system is the core playing experience of the franchise.
3) Capture mechanics. This one could go one of two ways. Either they straight up use Go's capture mechanics, and you don't battle with wild Pokémon before you catch them anymore, or a Go-style capture "mini-game" appears when you select a Pokéball from the menu after a normal battle. The first option is obviously terrible, but just like with the battle mechanics, it's just too drastic a change to actually have a chance of occurring. The only reason catching Pokémon like that works in Go is that you're on the move and can't sit in one place to battle the Pokémon. However, I do believe that adding the Go-style catching "mini-game" as an additional layer on top usual catching mechanics would be quite interesting, and actually add depth and challenge to catching Pokémon, instead of the opposite.
4) CP. CP is Go's equivalent to levels. It's meant to be a system that measure how strong a Pokémon is on an absolute scale, unlike levels, which has a different scale for each Pokémon. I suppose this could be added to the main games, and not much would change. The real question would be why?
5) Seeing Pokémon in the over-world before you catch them. Honestly, I think this is a change for the better if it happens. Makes for better immersion.
6) Go-Style Gyms. Go's gyms is a Player vs. Player aspect, and just wouldn't translate in the slightest to a single player game. That being said, perhaps there can be some sort of "king of the hill" type online mode inspired by Go's gyms.
7) Items from PokéStops. How would that even make sense in a normal game?
8) Using candy to power up a Pokémon instead of battles. Okay, this is one that I guess could be integrated, and would be absolutely awful if they did, but once again, why would they? The candy system works in Go because it's a collecting game. The main series is about bonding with your Pokémon, not collecting them.
9) Teams. If teams were to be brought into the main series, it would either be a story-based aspect, or an online aspect for global online events. Either way, I see no problem.

That's all I can really think of at the moment, and as you can see, if the mechanics brought over aren't changes for the better, then they either make little to no changes, or just wouldn't work in the context of the main series games to begin with. While yes, they want to attract people who played Go, that doesn't mean they're doing it at the expense of everyone else. I don't think we have anything worry about. Personally, I'm excited at the prospect of Go-style catching. It will be fun to actually pretend to throw a Pokéball with the Joy-Cons.

honestly you saved me from being one of the negative nancy's here lol I had no idea what they could of meant by pokemon go compatibility or whatever so I'm super glad you broke it down like this, honestly thankyou and I think it'll save more people from being turned off from it. I mean you saved me a few posts back but still I respect that you can break it down with this analysis and what not.

From how you put it, I wouldn't mind GO integration what so ever, it seems like it'll definitely improve the experience.

 

[Orphalesion]

Fair enough. I guess I just can't understand the mentality of not being inherently excited by just the factor of it being a new game alone. Assuming it's not a just worthless garbage(and I mean true, objective garbage), I'll get excited for any main series Pokémon game, even if it's not my first choice for what should happen.

When a New Pokemon game comes out I'm excited for 5 things; New Pokemon (and I'm talking a large number, not some additional event Pokemon or Legendaries), a New Region, New Characters, a New Story and Trainer Customization. In the worst case scenario, "Let's Go Pikachu" will have none of those things, but will leads us back to my least farvourite region, populated by my least favourite batch of Pokemon, retreating an (expanded) old storyline while dressed in the horrible outfit Red wears.
If such a scenario happens the only thing slightly interesting, for me, would be that I can now slap around Lance's Dragonites/Dragonairs with Wigglytuff.

There are some unlikely ways this could become interesting for me, like there's an (unfounded) rumour floating around the web that they might bring back scrapped Beta-Pokemon concepts for this. Now I don't believe that, but if that should come true and those revived Beta-Pokemon, together with some Kantonian Forms of Gen 2-7 Pokemon make up a sizeable number, and there's enough changes to both region and story...then I'll be excited ;-)
I'd even love to see something like "Kantonian Mr.Mime" who's a pure Psychic Type like it original was and so forth.

Of course. I just want to point out that I wasn't asking to be excited, I'm just trying to say why it's not a objectively bad thing, which a lot of people (not necessarily you) are taking the stance of.

Okay I was mostly responding to the "how is this not a good thing?" part and worngly thought that you were disregarding any other subjective opinion.
Of course it's not objectively bad (unless the game turns out to be some level of bad, which is somewhat unlikely) but when I complain about something, always assume I'm writing "for me" "in my opinion" etc into the message, I just don't always write it because it would get tiring.

5) Seeing Pokémon in the over-world before you catch them. Honestly, I think this is a change for the better if it happens. Makes for better immersion.

I don't quite agree with that. Have you played Yo-Kai Watch? You can see the Yo-Kai populating alleyways in the overworld, in practice this means that if you are looking for an alleyway Yo-Kai with a low spawn rate you end up running into the alley and out of the alley and back into the alley and back out....and so forth until you get that Yo-Kai to spawn.
What I'd like to see however would be more overworld Pokemon populating the cities and towns and such

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

If these are yellow remakes then I'm hoping that the female character from FireRed/leafgreen is a playable character again. I'd rather not play as Red.

 

[William12123]

I've started doing a bit of analysis myself on pokemon release dates/development times. There hasnt been a single generation that has been released less than 3 years after the previous generation (with Gen 5 being the longest at 4 years). Typically, that would mean Gen VIII would not be released before november 2019. Considering GF has done no previous switch game devellopment, it seems likely that it would take at least as long (if not longer) to make a game for such a different medium.

In addition, while the articles I read stated that Gen VIII would be on the Switch, they never said it would be the first pokemon switch game, which leaves open the possibility that this is a remake/sequel/etc.

Taking that into account, I have calmed down a bit. I dont mind a sequel as much as a rushed, kanto-based gen 8. In any case, I might want to go for the medically induced coma route (as someone previously mentionned) to stay away from the uncertainty these rumors induce.

 

[CMButch]

I really hope this is gen 8 so I can have an all new team to play with. I love these guys but 'm ready to move on.

I think we already established this Let's Go P/E won't be Gen 8 if it's remake of Yellow and based on sound of titles, it won't feature new starters because Pikachu and Eevee are the ones(no new starters= not new gen). ORAS, FRLF and HGSS featured starters from Gen 1,2 and 4 respectively despite being remakes, they didn't introduce any new Pokemon.New starters= new gen. Meaning if these Let's Go's are remake of Yellow, they are still Gen 7. Just like how HGSS is Gen 4.

 

[Kage-Pikachu]

I've started doing a bit of analysis myself on pokemon release dates/development times. There hasnt been a single generation that has been released less than 3 years after the first generation (with Gen 5 being the longest at 4 years). Typically, that would mean Gen VIII would not be released before november 2019. Considering GF has done no previous switch game devellopment, it seems likely that it would take at least as long (if not longer) to make a game for such a different medium.

In addition, while the articles I read stated that Gen VIII would be on the Switch, they never said it would be the first pokemon switch game, which leaves open the possibility that this is a remake/sequel/etc.

Taking that into account, I have calmed down a bit. I dont mind a sequel as much as a rushed, kanto-based gen 8. In any case, I might want to go for the medically induced coma route (as someone previously mentionned) to stay away from the uncertainty these rumors induce.

I've been saying the same, gens 3 and 4 lasted 4 years (5 only lasted 3 2010-2013). I highly doubt the games will be released this year.

I really hope that these games are nothing but rumors after all.

 

[William12123]

I've been saying the same, gens 3 and 4 lasted 4 years (5 only lasted 3 2010-2013). I highly doubt the games will be released this year.

I really hope that these games are nothing but rumors after all.

It is possible, though with the non-standard title scheme, I tend to think spin-off. And the sheer quantity (and questionable reliability) of the rumors makes it hard to say what the real situation is. So for now, I'm being patient.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Let's GO is either Gen VII or a spinoff. No chance it's Gen VIII. I have no idea why anybody would even think that given that it's not in a new region.

I actually think Let's GO might be a new spinoff franchise as PMD was in the past, and if it is that will hopefully reduce people's fears that they are "targeting the wrong market."

If it's a new spinoff franchise, then all they're doing is adding a new market potentially. The next core series game to come out would be targeting the main userbase again.

And btw the reason I think it has a good chance to be a spinoff franchise rather than a Gen VII game is because of Emily Rogers's words earlier this week before the main leak happened:

"What I said: I believe a Pokemon game is releasing on Switch later this year. It will be a RPG with at least two versions.

What I didn’t say: I didn’t specify whether it was a core game, a spinoff series, a remake of an older game, or a Gen 8 game."

https://mynintendonews.com/2018/05/...ear-and-is-an-rpg-with-at-least-two-versions/

Gen 7 only lasting 2 years would be awful.

Yes especially in terms of the anime

 

[Kage-Pikachu]

Come on gamefreak, surprise us!

And true, waiting is all we can do

 

[WhiteBlair]

Why would GameFreak waste their chance with a spin-off series when they can use the new console to their advantage and work on core series — either remakes or the next generation — to see what can be achieved with the current stage of the development and how can we set our expectations in the future releases. As a customer, neither a spin-off series would interest me nor it'd spark my interest to buy a Switch for that.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

That is an irrelevant statement because GameFreak does not do spin-offs, TPCi gives the licence to third and second parties to do so.

GameFreak employees might help spin-off projects, like how Ken Suigmori helped Conquest, but these are individual exercises, not company-wide ones.

 

[Harmonie]

If these are yellow remakes then I'm hoping that the female character from FireRed/leafgreen is a playable character again. I'd rather not play as Red.

Amen! I've been really saddened and a bit disgruntled with the fact that Leaf hasn't shown up at all since FR/LG. It would have been so easy to make it optional to fight her instead of Red in HG/SS, but no... And then it has been Red this and Red that ever since. I'm sure there are a lot of Pokemon fans nowadays whose first experience with Kanto was FR/LG and they played as Leaf. Even though I have played since Pokemon Red, I'm still agitated at it always being Red everywhere.

If they're really going back to Red being playable like in FR/LG, I have high hopes that they'll bring Leaf back. I don't think they would release a game where you couldn't play as a female trainer at this point. Or least I hope not. As unhappy as I am with the idea of these games so far, that would be the straw that would break the camel's back for me. I can also see them adding some completely unrelated female trainer instead, like they did with Lyra, but hopefully not.

 

[Bus]

I suppose linking with Pokemon Go can work similarly to how the little HGSS Tamagachi thing worked. You could 'walk' with your pokemon in that thing, then later get it back in the main game and it would sometimes have items, earn Friendliness, and I believe you could encounter some pokemon not normally found in HGSS that way as well.

Pokemon GO is actually very similar. By making them compatible, it could simply be that you can have your Pikachu or Eevee (or anyone else I suppose) transfer to your GO account and walk with you there, earning friendliness and other rewards for the Let's Go game. It may allow for you to transfer anything you catch in the GO mobile game over to the Let's Go game, too. If that were the case, then I could count myself as having a Shiny Dragonite.

The possibility of it being an spinoff game, though, is fairly high. No matter how well they handle leaks, we would have heard SOMETHING by now about a whole new Generation. Gen 6 we found out nearly 11 months before its release and Gen 7 was similar. This is coming out this year, supposedly, and we're now only 7 months away from the end of the year; 5 months from their typical release window (October). It's been a little bit since we've had a side game like Conquest, Rangers, or Detective Pikachu, so I wouldn't be surprised.

One of the games...I think it was X/Y....had a Timeline poster that was released with it for those that had Pre-Ordered. I actually had it for awhile. According to that timeline, we're still another year off from a new Generation. We're at the juncture after a '3rd version' (Ultra Sun/Moon), but before the next Generation...which means a 'Remake' like FRLG, HGSS, or ORAS. It would have been nice if it were for Diamond/Pearl (Polished Pearl/Flawless Diamond?), but just the name of it...'Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu/Evee!' doesn't give off the same vibe. Sadly, the timeline never accounted for spinoffs...so I don't know their time-frame, but every time I try to rationalize this as a mainline game, I veer off.

I get the feeling that this just won't be a 'traditional' Pokemon game. Dungeon, Gale of Darkness, and Conquest are RPG's too...being called an RPG doesn't guarantee it'll be a core game. I think I've pretty much convinced myself it won't be a traditional pokemon game. Which is fine, they sell well enough and there ARE a few gems in there (like Snap); it's just not what I was hoping for. Feel free to prove me wrong, Gamefreak.

 

[pokefreakceetje]

I doubt these leaks are fake, because too much gets to point to it rather being true. It's a core game they confirmed, and I'd be surprised if it isn't. I surely think it's still gen 8, since in my opinion each generation is released when a main series game gets released for new HW (or optimized). BW and SuMo were both examples of it being optimized to either have extra features or run better on new hardware, in the case of BW this was the DSi with the camera and WPA, and in the case of SuMo this was the new Nintendo 3DS with smoother gameplay (and maybe extras I forgot about). Thus it seems to fit in the path of new HW = new generation, and the leaks are too convincing to be false. Besides this: the first NDS games didn't differ a whole lot from the last GBA games graphically, besides looking better/better colours (which supposedly will be the case here with HD).

 

[LilligantLewis]

I surely think it's still gen 8, since in my opinion each generation is released when a main series game gets released for new HW (or optimized).

It's only a new gen if there are a massive number of new Pokémon. The small numbers of new Megas in ORAS or new Pokémon in USUM don't count. If Let's GO are core series games and have similarly small numbers of new Pokémon, they are not a new gen. If they have a massive number of new Pokémon then they will be a new gen. That's all there is to it. Hardware has nothing to do with it.

Not to mention that by your definition Crystal would be a new gen since GS could be played on the regular Game Boy but Crystal only on the GBC.

 

[pokedigijedi]

"Pokemon let's go Pikachu & Pokemon let's go Eevee"

I don't care for those titles if they are real, BUT make no mistake if they're real I will give Game Freak credit for going with something different.

 

[WhiteBlair]

Let's Go! Pikachu and Eevee, also, opens a theory if the games belong to Gen VII or the next gen. What if we get new Kantonian forms and new Eeveeloutions introduced? Would it count as how Poipole/Naganadel introduced to S/M or directly to the Gen VIII? And with that, I do hope that new forms or evolutions are the case for the new games or it'd feel bland as if the current Kanto isn't.

 

[pokefreakceetje]

It's only a new gen if there are a massive number of new Pokémon. The small numbers of new Megas in ORAS or new Pokémon in USUM don't count. If Let's GO are core series games and have similarly small numbers of new Pokémon, they are not a new gen. If they have a massive number of new Pokémon then they will be a new gen. That's all there is to it. Hardware has nothing to do with it.

Not to mention that by your definition Crystal would be a new gen since GS could be played on the regular Game Boy but Crystal only on the GBC.

Not at all. I'm first of all not saying that USUM are a new gen, because SuMo was already more optimized for the new HW iteration. Besides this: a new gen has specifically to do with new HW. G & S were way more optimized for the new GBC, which means: that it has better colours than the previous games on that platform. So your last point is bull. You are way to focused on the Pokémon, but what I believe from a developers perspective it makes sense what I say. This because HW works with generations, and generation 1 was on the first Nintendo handheld generation, the GBC was generation 2, GBA generation 3, NDS generation 4, DSi generation 5, 3DS generation 6, new 3DS generation 7, and thus the next line of handheld is the switch which makes it generation 8.

As you see it in that perspective a generation is a new generation if there is a significant leap in HW, which was the matter with all these systems. Example: DSi was namely not NTR anymore, but TWL, the new 3DS had a beefier processor, and the GBC had the colour capability.

 

[.Aerodactyl.]

I actually think this might be a soft reboot, but still be gen 7, if that makes sense. I think it's going to bring some minor core changes that will carry in as "canon" from here on out in future gens, but nothing drastic. (I'm thinking mostly that they will add at least a few new Pokémon and probably re-number the Dex so all evolutions are next to eachother, like Kingdra is now after Horsea, Slowking and Politoad are with their split evos, etc. Probably remove HM's for good, par down some redundant items, that kind of thing.)

I'm mostly excited if these are real that we're likely ditching the legendary pair story. That's what I loved about Gen 1, it wasn't about catching the version exclusive legend to defeat/stop the bad guys. It would be such a refreshing change from late. That being said, we will probably still get a new mythical legend at least, and I'm certain we will get a new Pokémon or two: either some form variant, or a few new split evos for Pikachu and Eevee. They like to have something new to really market.

 

[CMButch]

Let's Go! Pikachu and Eevee, also, opens a theory if the games belong to Gen VII or the next gen. What if we get new Kantonian forms and new Eeveeloutions introduced? Would it count as how Poipole/Naganadel introduced to S/M or directly to the Gen VIII? And with that, I do hope that new forms or evolutions are the case for the new games or it'd feel bland as if the current Kanto isn't.

They don't belong to next gen. Lol.It makes 0 sense that new gen opens up with previous region and previous Pokemon. That's bad move.If those are introduced it'd count as Poipole/Naganadel. Also, I doubt we will get new ordinary Pokemon if that's case. Maybe new UBs and Legs. If we got new ordinary Pokemon, it'd likely be 4-5 at max like USUM. More than that makes no sense and it belongs to Gen 8( like 80+ Pokemon).