Gen VII: Pokémon Sun and Moon (New info Post #5834)

[D_what]

I get my hopes up easily so every time there's a new possibility of Z being announced I almost throw a party in advance, only to learn that it was just a tease.

At this point we haven't even got teases, short of Larry leaks from the anime and that one spread on the Zygarde formes. I mean, that's all we've got to go on. Just Zygarde stuff. The game itself is completely up in the air!
I was sure I'd be fine with a longer wait since it's what I'd been campaigning for... but I guess I really do enjoy new releases more than I give credit for, since I'm genuinely antsy. Wouldn't have guessed it before ORAS or XY. Can't even enjoy ORAS properly now because I'm so distracted :<

 

[Zowayix]

(Hey, they got two complete generations on the original DS.)

Only because the console was unexpectedly popular, to a very large degree. The 3DS so far has barely had 1/3 of the DS's sales.

 

[Every1XplodeNOW]

I just want to point out that the timeframe between annoucing and releasing the games has been shrinking; I think for XY it was like 9 months and ORAS it was 6 months. This isn't just a Pokemon thing either, that timeframe has been decreasing for games in general. So, there might be a shorter wait between annoucing the game and it coming out, but of course, it still could be longer wait.

I do think it's funny that people wanted them to take a longer time to work on them and now those same people are freaking out because they haven't announced anything yet.(I'm not talking about people here, just the internet in general)

 

[Pikachu315111]

I have to think the recent shorter time frames is that it just so happened what they wanted to do happened within a short amount of time:

Gen V was meant to be the "last hurrah!" of the sprite style of Pokemon (as well as the non-Mega universe though I don't think that was intended until maybe near the end of XY/beginning of ORAS).

XY was probably pushed by Nintendo because the 3DS needed games and they know Pokemon would sell not only games but 3DSs.

ORAS was probably given higher priority since people been wanting a Gen III remake and they skipped over doing one last gen so it was overdo.

But now that all the "we need to release these fast" games are out of the way, I think Z is the first game they can finally take their time with again. In addition with the 3DS reaching a possible end with the NX being rumored to be both a console and handheld the probably think they have plenty of time and intend Z to be the last main game for the 3DS. Doing so also allows them to work on complaints like XY's lacking storyline and post game areas.

So if fans are saying a longer production time is a good thing, why do we want to see info about it before its ready? Because people are fickle. Also not only do we know they're working on Z we were pretty shown one of the major elements of Z, Zygarde's forms. It could be due to that our "Z info is coming out" alarms went off when in actuality they're not ready to give out Z info but they probably don't want to hold the anime back from starting to advertise it. They probably thought "if they start seeing what Zygarde's forms can do then when we start announcing Pokemon Z they'll be more hyped and tentative". So it could just be mixed signals between what fans have come to expect and what GameFreak thought was going to happen.

 

[Codraroll]

^The problem with that view is that there's no way making Z would take such a long time, given the existence of XY and the fact that ORAS - a game requiring much more content to be made - was ready in a year. Third versions are copy-paste-jobs with a relatively small amount of new content added from the games they build on. What takes time with games like these is engine work and animation/modelling, which was already done for XY. Making new content for an already-existing game engine is relatively quick, easy work (again, see ORAS). Within the same generation there's a limit to how much new content they can make as well. Anything that would take a whole year or more to pull off would be way too substantial for a mid-generation game. Z is probably finished, or set aside, it has nothing to do with "taking their time", at least since there's a limit to how much time a game studio could take at all. Spending unnecessarily much time on a single game isn't economically sound.

 

[Karxrida]

Showing off games that are not finished is pretty common practice, and it's not like they haven't done it before. Besides, the game is probably already at a point where every new character design has been finalized (assuming the game is still in progress), so they can totally trickle out information about the main things people care about (new Megas) to keep the hype going. Showing off a new Zygarde Forme to get the hype started but proceeding to not have an official game announcement and being silent about any other new info for the next two months is honestly kind of a dick move, especially with the RBY rerelease bait-and-switch (let's be honest, it's cool and all but the timing of the announcement was stupid) and Masuda showing up in that TV show for basically nothing.

 

[Elite_Battle_Master]

After I played through ORAS, and saw the massive depth in the story (including the Delta Episode) as well as the amount of Legendaries that you were able to capture, it was my thought that this might have been the last game this generation.

Maybe the powers that be are working on a different game entirely?

I just find it odd that you were able to do so much in ORAS and catch the amount of Legendaries that you could, compared to all previous releases before it.

 

[Pikachu315111]

They could be expanding on things. Making models for all the trainers, thought of a ton of new locations and areas the player can do to, adding in all sorts of post game area, etc.. XY had a LOT of place it could improved on. And who knows, maybe the idea their going for involves a massive remodeling job for the region.

I do agree though that they at least have most of the game ready and I think them trinkle bits of information would keep everyone hooked. They're going to have to reveal info about the game at some point so they can't keep everything secret (heck, E3 this year had game studios trying to sell people on games just based off concept art. I think whatever Pokemon can show off will be a tad bit better than that).

I'm just trying to keep rational here. Because why would they be keeping the game so secretive otherwise? Why show us Zygarde Formes and not follow it up with anything else? GF isn't shy about telling us info from games that weren't ready before, why is Z taking so long? There has to be a reason (though now thinking about it maybe they want to push the other Pokemon games they're releasing saving Z for its own announcement and so it doesn't overshadow everything else).

Also of course they're not working on Z. With the main games alone they're probably working on Gen VII, Gen IV remakes, and the very beginnings of Gen VIII. And that's not mentioning the side games or original games (GF does make other games beside Pokemon) they're making.

 

[Codraroll]

They could be expanding on things. Making models for all the trainers, thought of a ton of new locations and areas the player can do to, adding in all sorts of post game area, etc.. XY had a LOT of place it could improved on. And who knows, maybe the idea their going for involves a massive remodeling job for the region.

ORAS required that much and more, and was still done in a year. Besides, I bet the time schedule for Z's development period was done well ahead of the game actually being made (it was probably planned somewhere in the middle of Gen V's development), so the developers wouldn't set their ambition level so high that it'd break the planned schedule. If you don't have time to include all the (non-crucial) features, but have to adhere to a schedule, you drop some features rather than delaying the product. They'd know well ahead of time how much time they had to code, and would have to make the game accordingly. And it would not take more than a year to implement new features for Z after XY was made, unless the game defies the boundaries of its generation in a way unprecedented by earlier third versions.

I'm just trying to keep rational here. Because why would they be keeping the game so secretive otherwise? Why show us Zygarde Formes and not follow it up with anything else? GF isn't shy about telling us info from games that weren't ready before, why is Z taking so long? There has to be a reason (though now thinking about it maybe they want to push the other Pokemon games they're releasing saving Z for its own announcement and so it doesn't overshadow everything else).

My best guess is that they hit an unexpected delay and had to postpone the release of either Z or the game following it (pushing Z back too, as not to leave a too long waiting period between games). The reveal of new Zygarde formes was quite clumsy, came out of nowhere and went nowhere. It seems like they had planned to tie it in to Z's announcement, but with Z postponed, and the Anime episodes/movie promos already made and scheduled for airing, they had no choice but to explain what we were seeing in those episodes, but not do anything with it.

 

[Kurona]

I'm sorry if this is minimodding or going against discussion, but... we're not really discussing Z at this point, are we? The last couple of pages or so have really just been "they might announce Z at this", irritation they didn't announce it, and then theorizing about why. It's not so much a game discussion as much as a what-is-this-company's-schedule discussion.

 

[JES]

The games are pretty worthless without the glitches that don't break them in half, because otherwise just play the remakes. If I'm going to play RBY, I better have glitches to abuse to justify playing an unbalanced game.

Yeah, other than the game-breaking glitches. If Missingno isn't there to multiply my Master Balls, then I'm not biting. If they are going to change the game, they might as well add in some bonuses, such as Mew and a few Gen II Pokémon (catching Houndour or Murkrow before the Saffron Gym anyone?). Oh, and is trading even possible in these releases? Hopefully, they'll also fix the Ghost type and Focus Energy. Hyper Beam should stay as it is though.

Edit: I just thought of something: what if they were close to completing the planning and concept art for Z at the time they released ORAS, only to see the criticism for the lack of the Battle Frontier? And so they are now scrambling to try and do something new with the Battle Frontier, or trying to update the characters and designs. There's also remaking the music themes. They might've made things even worse by deciding to implement the Battle Frontier in the middle of the coding of the game, so they have to smoothly integrate that as well.

It seems from my experience that Game Freak is always constantly planning the next games, so it wouldn't surprise me if they had the development teams working hard on the next game by the time ORAS was released.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

Yeah, other than the game-breaking glitches. If Missingno isn't there to multiply my Master Balls, then I'm not biting. If they are going to change the game, they might as well add in some bonuses, such as Mew and a few Gen II Pokémon (catching Houndour or Murkrow before the Saffron Gym anyone?). Oh, and is trading even possible in these releases? Hopefully, they'll also fix the Ghost type and Focus Energy. Hyper Beam should stay as it is though.

They explicitly said that trading and battling is one of the things they added using 3DS wireless.

 

[JES]

To be fair, I know many of us were thinking "That's a bit quick" for the turnaround between XY and ORAS. Gamefreak might just be biding their time trying to get things right because they know that we were complaining about the rushed job with ORAS (admit it, you ALL were disappointed by the Battle Resort). I rather them wait and get it right than shove it down our throats one after another. I'm sure the Zelda fans among us know by now to accept a game where the developers took their time rather than rushing it (several dungeons cut, my ass, Wind Waker).

Absolutely! Though I would appreciate it if they told us they were working on it now, and to expect it in a year or two (that oughta give the development team a lot of space to breathe in)!!! My worse fears are that there is no Z or variant thereof, and they are going to skip straight to Gen 7. I would rather travel through Kalos one last time, before moving on, and they clearly need to make a story with at least ghost girl and the train station (new region? New battle facility?).

 

[Karxrida]

I don't understand why people are fearing a skip straight to Gen VII or think GF would even consider it. We still have 2 unreleased event Mons and they wouldn't reveal new Formes for Zygarde if they were just going to say "fuck it".

 

[JES]

I don't understand why people are fearing a skip straight to Gen VII or think GF would even consider it. We still have 2 unreleased event Mons and they wouldn't reveal new Formes for Zygarde if they were just going to say "fuck it".

Yeah, I keep thinking about that. I still think they could just say "fuck it, the new Zygarde formes and Volcanion get to premier in Gen VII". I know it's unprecedented, but after B2W2, nothing is going to surprise me.

 

[Raravian]

What gnaws at me regarding the lack of Z confirmation is that the anime has already started. We learned about the Zygarde formes on 14th September, that was 2 months ago. We saw the first hints of Z with the Core after the movie, and that was 19th July. That's 4 months, with only anime to back up the Z side of the story.

I don't know what is going on, but this just makes me so uncomfortable. Nintendo used be quite predictable, and even in the lead up to a new game, I did not follow the news this closely. The past releases have been announced at the same time as the first revealing silhouettes or a trailer or whatever they saw fit to 'tease' us with. But this is different. I follow the news, and keep checking, only to see them acting like nothing much is going on (Psyduck hair? What?). The only updates we get is through the anime. Why haven't we heard anything about a new game yet? The anime has already started their second season in October (the 29th), and now we're midway November and still... nothing?

It's such a mystery that I can't help but keep checking, keep anticipating and hoping. I don't care if it takes another year until we can actually play Z. I just want to hear it being acknowledged. They can fine-tune it all they want, I'd even prefer they take the time they need to deliver the game as a complete piece. But what's up with this complete silence regarding Z (the game)? It has me itching and gnawing at my top hat in frustration...

 

[Pikachu315111]

We still have 2 unreleased event Mons

2? Volcanion and who? If you're counting Zygarde Perfect I don't think it'll be an Event Pokemon. Or are you talking about AZ's Floette?

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Yeah I'm pretty sure he's talking about AZ's Floette. It's in the game data somehow as a unique kind of Floette that's almost a different Pokemon from Floette itself and it has a signature move, and it was revealed back in February 2014, and there was a lot of talk about it back then since it has unique base stats and a signature move (Light of Ruin). However, it's unobtainable as of now and it's highly likely considering the circumstances surrounding it that it would be a theoretical event Pokemon, perhaps when the awaited Pokemon Z finally becomes a reality. The circumstances surrounding AZ's Floette are highly similar to those of most event Pokemon (Mythical Pokemon), and as of now it's currently unreleased, so...

 

[DHR-107]

Locking this up as there was 0 info from Corocoro, the Direct AND Pokemon Sunday.

Check back around the 9th/10th of December to see if there is more news!

 

[Codraroll]

This thread is now open again, awaiting the leak of this month's CoroCoro magazine.

The last issue mentioned "big news" regarding Pokémon in this issue, but don't get your hopes too high: The December issue is usually where the Pokémon movies are announced, apparently to great fanfare every year. The "big news" in this issue might very well be the announcement of the next movie, and not related to Z at all. Also keep in mind: the last main series Pokémon game to have been announced in CoroCoro was Platinum, back in 2008. All in all, it doesn't seem like Z will be revealed this time either, but there might be some interesting tidbits coming either way.

 

[Karxrida]

*gets huge bucket of salt in preparation*

I think we might get something tomorrow, as that's when I believe the new Greninja form is being shown off in the anime.

 

[HelenTheHero]

Grab your popcorn and salt... it's coming.

I really don't expect anything major from this sadly, possibly some RBY news. Maybe some Super Mystery Dungeon, but most likely more anime stuff.

 

[Kurona]

Grab your popcorn and salt... it's coming.

I really don't expect anything major from this sadly, possibly some RBY news. Maybe some Super Mystery Dungeon, but most likely more anime stuff.

What... news would there be to tell about a virtual console release other than "it's coming out"?

 

[HelenTheHero]

What... news would there be to tell about a virtual console release other than "it's coming out"?

¯\_(ツ)_/
No idea. :D

 

[The_Emperor]

I have no idea why Zyguarde looks like a robot in these new forms.

I hope they add new megas and dont add in anything else!