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Thoughts on the Upcoming Pokemon Switch Game?

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
On the whole I would not want Pokemon to become like the early Digimon or Monster Rancher games in this regard where you have to invest a lot of time an energy in training and rearing your monster to the point where it is the main part of the game, but I like Pokemonamie/Refresh.

I'd say the opposite all around, myself. I have little to no interest in Amie/Refresh/Partner Play as an optional side mode. I just see it as a waste of my time that I could be spending doing actually valuable things in the game. But, if the games where to integrate these features in a meaningful way, and make raising your Pokémon just as important as training it, I would enjoy it as a mechanic. (Disclaimer, I have no idea how Digimon and Monster Rancher works, so maybe I'm wrong.)
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
(Disclaimer, I have no idea how Digimon and Monster Rancher works, so maybe I'm wrong.)

basically grinding endless mini-games and scavenging for the right kind of food in order to balance various stats (including happiness, obedience and stress meters) and depending on the game either your Digimon evolves into a talking poop because you didn't hit the right balance your your monster dies of stress.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
basically grinding endless mini-games and scavenging for the right kind of food in order to balance various stats (including happiness, obedience and stress meters) and depending on the game either your Digimon evolves into a talking poop because you didn't hit the right balance your your monster dies of stress.

Well, then let's just say I would want to see something in the same vein, but implemented in a better way.
 

captainfez3

The Chill Trainer
And well, my statement refers to a specific statement by Masuda; when people critiqued that there was little/no post-game to LGPE, he responded by saying that he hoped they'd spend a lot of time playing with and grooming their Pikachu/Eevee. Which, sorry is pretty ridiculous, because at least to me, petting a virtual pretend animal is severely lacking in enjoyment when compared to caring for a real-life pet and cannot at all be a substitute for a post-game storyline (then again, I think GF should work on making proper, long and satisfying main quests before they worry about the post game...)

Wow that is ballsy, especially considering the interaction is fairly limited... right? I mean I spent probably a total of 30 min interacting with Eevee, but I thought it was basically an Aimie port; you exhaust the novel animations pretty quickly. Couldn't agree more on the response. If I wanted to show affection to a pet, I'd go give it to my living, breathing one.

For my part, I always found the storylines in Pokemon to be good, in the sense that they gave you motivation and direction, then got out of the way for you to build your team and go to town. Unless they radically re-invent the difficulty curve of these games, I do not really see a reason to invest in the main story beyond giving a new, unique narrative, because I have always felt the story was just a distraction for your constant internal battles between using different Pokemon or moves. Pokemon is about creation, not experience, would be one way of looking at it.

Not to say I do not want a good story or more of it! What I do not understand is why they have not made a bigger push prior to this to make the games more feature dense (which I think would translate into a better main story and post-game). I have always had this sense that GF is very conscious of wearing off the charm of this series, but since they've branched out into almost every medium under the sun... why? Why not swing for the fences? Your player base is so rabid for that, I can't even count the number of knock-off, free to play, MMO versions of Pokemon that have sprung up over time. And that's not even counting the straight-up homages.



But, if the games where to integrate these features in a meaningful way, and make raising your Pokémon just as important as training it, I would enjoy it as a mechanic.

I think I would too, especially since Pokemon breeding has been a profession in the game world for so long, but they are functionally identical to other trainers, except they exclusively use baby Pokemon... is that sadistic? It seems like it should be commented on at least lol.

I would just prefer it be done when someone has a dynamite idea for how to do it, and not just stitch it onto the game after everything else is in place. Integration. Problem is, that means major change, and I just do not see GF being capable of that. They basically have a cash cow, and when you are making money hand over fist, you do not mess with the magic unduly, but someone does need to remind them that stagnation is tantamount to death. Movimiento es vida.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
They basically have a cash cow, and when you are making money hand over fist, you do not mess with the magic unduly, but someone does need to remind them that stagnation is tantamount to death. Movimiento es vida.

To be fair, that's what they did with Let's Go. It may not be changes in the direction we wanted to see, but it was Game Freak taking a risk and changing the established formula in an attempt to gain a new audience.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
So Nintendo reports that as of December 31, 2018, Pokémon Let's GO has sold over 10 million copies.

It's just 2 million shy of the average 12 million copies for a Pokémon remake, which it may accrue over the rest of 2019. All in all, this is just awesome. Against all naysayers, it managed to pull in strong sales. Now, due to its success, it will become its own series, as Masuda stated and hoped. I'm honestly excited to see what the next installment will look like.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
Now, due to its success, it will become its own series, as Masuda stated and hoped. I'm honestly excited to see what the next installment will look like.

I would say it's far from certain. I'm not against the idea or anything, but we just have no way of knowing how serious Masuda was when he stated that. It's certainly fully possible, we just don't know how likely. Basically, I'm just suggesting that you don't get your hopes up just yet.
 

Ducolamia

SAYYYY WHAT???
And well, my statement refers to a specific statement by Masuda; when people critiqued that there was little/no post-game to LGPE, he responded by saying that he hoped they'd spend a lot of time playing with and grooming their Pikachu/Eevee. Which, sorry is pretty ridiculous, because at least to me, petting a virtual pretend animal is severely lacking in enjoyment when compared to caring for a real-life pet and cannot at all be a substitute for a post-game storyline (then again, I think GF should work on making proper, long and satisfying main quests before they worry about the post game...)

I agree with this. If I can have a source for the interview (if possible) I would like to see it. Honestly one of the failures of LGPE is that it's a pretty simple journey, but it's not built around the interaction of the starter I would argue. You still have the basic elements of a Pokemon game which is what most people look for when playing Pokemon, but then the game has to compete with keeping older elements in it. Yeah, you spend time petting the starter and forming a bond with it, but if the goal was to just be that then I don't think it works that well. If they wanted a game to just relax in, just make a Pokemon Amie-Ranch spin-off. You don't need to make another series of games if that's the case(not that I'm against that) just make a game with no battles and such. Just messing with your Pokemon. No person is reasonably going to spend more than a couple of minutes petting the starters unless they really like it (which is not the majority). And I'm sorry but the animations for the starters are limited and only offer so much. It's fun but if they wanted a more relaxing experience they should've just made one.

I would say it's far from certain. I'm not against the idea or anything, but we just have no way of knowing how serious Masuda was when he stated that. It's certainly fully possible, we just don't know how likely. Basically, I'm just suggesting that you don't get your hopes up just yet.

That is true. If these continue on to be side games instead of one-offs I'll be fine with that. However, we really don't know how long they'll continue with it either really.
 

Ducolamia

SAYYYY WHAT???

Thank you!

That being said, looking at the comments I guess I can see some sides of where people are coming from here. On one hand I understand we are growing up in a generation in which it's a bit harder to invest in things that are time-consuming. A lot of people nowadays do prefer things easily portable and accessible and I can appreciate the thought of wanting to keep that convenience.

At the same time though...that doesn't mean they have to hurt the quality of the game. Adding more post to the game makes your job easier because it's gives people more to do and to hold them off until the next one. I must've spent hours hunting for shinies in wormholes and challenging the battle tree. There's a reason why people remember the wormhole jumping/battle frontier/PWT compared to gen 6 in which you get didly-squat. Because even after everything is over you have stuff you can choose to do. Having the option is good for what I'm saying.

That being said, I knew going in LGPE were not going to be the typical experience. I expected something simpler and that's what I got, but I don't think they should rely on that as an excuse. (Don't even get me started on the who phone thing with Masuda I'll be here for months).
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
Thank you!

That being said, looking at the comments I guess I can see some sides of where people are coming from here. On one hand I understand we are growing up in a generation in which it's a bit harder to invest in things that are time-consuming. A lot of people nowadays do prefer things easily portable and accessible and I can appreciate the thought of wanting to keep that convenience.

At the same time though...that doesn't mean they have to hurt the quality of the game. Adding more post to the game makes your job easier because it's gives people more to do and to hold them off until the next one.

I agree that convinience is an important factor, but at the same time are the rising prices in games and gaming systems for the price of a Switch game, I expect a decently long main storylineand side content. Imho the thigns that should (and as far as I can tell have been) cut are things like the endless sea routes in the older games where you get attacked by the same. fracking. tentacool. every. two. steps. Or the tunnels with their zubat swarms. Eleminitating things like that, which I don't think anybody ever enjoyed. And also making things like EV training more accessible are the things that should be done, rather than just slashing down the content.
As you say, as long as you give people something to do that is fun, then they will be invested in it, because even as Masuda is claiming this, games like the Elder Scrolls series and Minecraft, where you can literally sink hundreds of hours into, are beyond popular.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
I would say it's far from certain. I'm not against the idea or anything, but we just have no way of knowing how serious Masuda was when he stated that. It's certainly fully possible, we just don't know how likely. Basically, I'm just suggesting that you don't get your hopes up just yet.

He had an entire interview about it, actually. I put it somewhere in this thread a while back. lol

He spoke of how he wanted to do things differently for the future of the series, which was have multiple series for the installments, so all fans could have something to enjoy. He stated Let's GO would be the start of that. However, he also said whether or not it would continue would depend on Let's GO's success.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
He had an entire interview about it, actually. I put it somewhere in this thread a while back. lol

He spoke of how he wanted to do things differently for the future of the series, which was have multiple series for the installments, so all fans could have something to enjoy. He stated Let's GO would be the start of that. However, he also said whether or not it would continue would depend on Let's GO's success.

I know that. But we don't fully know what he meant by Let's Go success, or how other important people in Game Freak feel about it. It also depends on more than just Let's Go selling well. Maybe he wanted Let's Go to sell double what it did. Maybe others in Game Freak are worried that a game like Let's Go could only work once. Maybe Go will become obscure by the time they're ready to do another Let's Go, thus eating into the potential sales. Point is, the future isn't certain, and we shouldn't assume. Hope for, if you want, but I would say that until Let's Go cements itself as its own series with a second entry, I wouldn't assume other games are a given.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
I know that. But we don't fully know what he meant by Let's Go success, or how other important people in Game Freak feel about it. It also depends on more than just Let's Go selling well. Maybe he wanted Let's Go to sell double what it did. Maybe others in Game Freak are worried that a game like Let's Go could only work once. Maybe Go will become obscure by the time they're ready to do another Let's Go, thus eating into the potential sales. Point is, the future isn't certain, and we shouldn't assume. Hope for, if you want, but I would say that until Let's Go cements itself as its own series with a second entry, I wouldn't assume other games are a given.

True, but given that Pokémon games are often made simultaneously, I'd like to think the foundation for the next game has already been set.

I think the main question for Masuda was whether that foundation would be built upon or trashed. Yes, we obviously don't know for certain whether a sequel will be made, and we don't know whether Pokémon GO will still have millions of active users in the next four years (though reports say activity has increased over the last 8 months), one thing we do know is that Game Freak (and Nintendo) is always looking to expand their greatest franchise. While don't actually know whether or not the 10 million copies in sales was what Masuda was shooting for, we do know that the average lifetime sales for a remake is 12 million, and Let's GO has already sold over 83% of that, while only having been out for 3 months. Furthermore, I found that the main series titles tend to sell an average of 10 million copies in its first quarter, and Let's GO sold exactly that much. In theory, this means Let's GO sold as well as a main series title.

With these numbers, I think it's safe to say Let's GO sold exceptionally well. I have good faith that we'll be seeing a sequel in the distant future.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
True, but given that Pokémon games are often made simultaneously, I'd like to think the foundation for the next game has already been set.

I think the main question for Masuda was whether that foundation would be built upon or trashed. Yes, we obviously don't know for certain whether a sequel will be made, and we don't know whether Pokémon GO will still have millions of active users in the next four years (though reports say activity has increased over the last 8 months), one thing we do know is that Game Freak (and Nintendo) is always looking to expand their greatest franchise. While don't actually know whether or not the 10 million copies in sales was what Masuda was shooting for, we do know that the average lifetime sales for a remake is 12 million, and Let's GO has already sold over 83% of that, while only having been out for 3 months. Furthermore, I found that the main series titles tend to sell an average of 10 million copies in its first quarter, and Let's GO sold exactly that much. In theory, this means Let's GO sold as well as a main series title.

With these numbers, I think it's safe to say Let's GO sold exceptionally well. I have good faith that we'll be seeing a sequel in the distant future.

What I didn't really say before was that Let's Go is an entirely new concept for Pokémon, and there's just no way to know how Game Freak moves forward with it. That's the important thing to keep in mind when speculating its future.
 

ShadowForce720

Well-Known Member
What I didn't really say before was that Let's Go is an entirely new concept for Pokémon, and there's just no way to know how Game Freak moves forward with it. That's the important thing to keep in mind when speculating its future.

Yes, but that doesn't really mean that suddenly it's a 50/50 chance of it getting a sequel or not, is it possible that it doesn't get a sequel and Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee wind up being the only Let's Go games? yes, however Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee are actually selling good and making a good amount of sells chances are it's likely that they will get a sequel.

Again it's not guaranteed that we will get more Let's Go games but at this point given how well the current Let's Go Games are selling chances are we are going to get at least one more set of Let's Go Games.

So while Let's Go may be a new concept for Pokemon the thing is if it's selling and actually making money then why wouldn't Gamefreak make a sequel?

Generally when a games does well in the sales it usually gets a sequel unless something happens that prevents a sequel from being made which winds up ranging from a variety of different reasons.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
Generally when a games does well in the sales it usually gets a sequel unless something happens that prevents a sequel from being made which winds up ranging from a variety of different reasons.

Pokémon doesn't really tend to do sequels in the traditional sense, that's where the difference is. Given, they do latch on to concepts. So perhaps, just as they latched on to the concepts of third versions and remakes, they'll latch on to the concept of Let's Go. Perhaps they won't. They don't always latch on to their more experimental concepts. Ironically, an example of a concept they didn't latch on to is actual sequels. You'd think after Black and White 2 that sequels would replace third versions, but now Ultra Sun and Moon seems to suggest differently. By your own logic, Black and White 2 sold as well (or better, if I remember correctly) than third versions, so why not continue the concept?

I agree that new Let's Go games seem (keyword: seem) imminent, it's just that they're far from a given.
 

ShadowForce720

Well-Known Member
Pokémon doesn't really tend to do sequels in the traditional sense, that's where the difference is. Given, they do latch on to concepts. So perhaps, just as they latched on to the concepts of third versions and remakes, they'll latch on to the concept of Let's Go. Perhaps they won't. They don't always latch on to their more experimental concepts. Ironically, an example of a concept they didn't latch on to is actual sequels. You'd think after Black and White 2 that sequels would replace third versions, but now Ultra Sun and Moon seems to suggest differently. By your own logic, Black and White 2 sold as well (or better, if I remember correctly) than third versions, so why not continue the concept?

I agree that new Let's Go games seem (keyword: seem) imminent, it's just that they're far from a given.

Look I'm not saying that new Let's Go games are guaranteed to happen, however if you look at it given how well it's doing it's more then likely that we will get new Let's Go games. Also in regards to comparing it to Black and White 2 that doesn't really work because you have to keep in mind that sequels are interchangeable with 3rd versions, if you look at BW 2 while there are certain things like characters ageing that happened because it's a sequel, it's also true that a lot of the other stuff like the Kyurem forms and the pokemon world tournament could have been incorporated into a 3rd version instead.

The thing with the Let's Go games is that they are different enough from the standard remakes that can allow them to be a separate thing, where as BW 2 despite what people might try to argue and despite being a sequel is not different enough from the 3rd versions that would allow us to have a generation where we get both a 3rd version and a sequel for instance. Could we have a generation where we get a sequel like BW 2? yes, however since unlike Let's Go games a sequel game like BW2 is interchangeable with the 3rd version games that means that were not going to be getting a generation where we get both a 3rd version and a sequel while we can have a generation where we get both a standard remake and a let's go game.

So you can't really compare BW 2 and say "that oh well because they haven't done more sequels that means that you can't say that it's likely that will get more Let's Go games" because those are 2 different things in 2 different situations that don't affect each other.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
What I didn't really say before was that Let's Go is an entirely new concept for Pokémon, and there's just no way to know how Game Freak moves forward with it. That's the important thing to keep in mind when speculating its future.

Game Freak always plans ahead; it's how they're able to release a new game every year, despite the games each taking three to four years to make.

I just trust Game Freak more than most game development companies. It's the reason I stayed with them through Gens 6 and 7.
 
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Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
So you can't really compare BW 2 and say "that oh well because they haven't done more sequels that means that you can't say that it's likely that will get more Let's Go games" because those are 2 different things in 2 different situations that don't affect each other.

Yeah, that's not even close to what I said.

I never said new Let's Go games weren't likely, and I never said that Black and White 2 had any direct bearing on Let's Go. The point was that sometimes Game Freak experiments, is successful with the experiment, and doesn't follow up on the experiment. Yes, they are two scenarios with different circumstances, but the fundamental point is still the same. Not all experiments, successful or not, become fully realized.
 
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