Unpopular opinions

Honestly, I don't particularly mind the lack of voice acting for Pokémon, but good lord, they HAVE to stop doing full-blown cutscenes that would require voice acting.

Notable examples: SwSh's intro, PIERS SINGING, and Clavell talking about the treasure hunt, but SwSh's cutscenes were way worse.

Bakugames said:
This isn't a "here's why we shouldn't have voice acting" because it's just a personal opinion and I could easily toggle it off (hopefully. maybe? idk gamefreak is goofy sometimes lol) but I just think the pool of english VAs is pretty weak and/or repetitive. I have an insane conspiracy theory about the fact that most of american content is being made there and they don't need VAs, they just need normal actors, so the industry for VAing is much weaker than south america for example, because everything from movies to games to series needs to be dubbed, which means we need to invest in dubbing otherwise... suffer LMFAO.

Anyway I don't really like english VAs a lot. The good ones get picked up and placed everywhere so I get a bit tired of listening to their voices, and because they get placed everywhere they tend to get roles that don't fit them all that much, but they're the closest thing available that's also good quality and well known enough for a portfolio to hit the company. And then you just have VAs which aren't that good or can't pull off the tone or text. I'd probably swap to the OG japanese, and while I am learning japanese so I do gain something from it, that's more of a coincidence LOL.

Idk maybe I'm just a hater? The american VA industry is getting better than the 90s and 00s for sure, but it's just not that good yet for me to enjoy the average dubbing of a viddy game. NOW IF THEY TRANSLATED A POKEMON GAME TO PORTUGUESE AND GOT VOICE ACTING I'D BE EATING THAT SHIT UP BROTHER!!!!!!!
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That's somewhat of an easy fix. The anime already has a set of voice actors. Just do the casting for those earlier and maintain consistency between the anime and the game.
 
Volt-Ikazuchi said:
Notable examples: SwSh's intro, PIERS SINGING, and Clavell talking about the treasure hunt, but SwSh's cutscenes were way worse.
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To be honest, unpopular as is, I think the game that suffered the most from lack of voice acting was actually Legend Arceus.
That game has A LOT of text. Not as much as some of the bigger jrpgs but it definitely has parts where you're reading dialogues for a good 15-20 mins and you want to die inside cause obviously NOTHING is voiced and you just feel like mashing through it.
 
Volt-Ikazuchi said:
Honestly, I don't particularly mind the lack of voice acting for Pokémon, but good lord, they HAVE to stop doing full-blown cutscenes that would require voice acting.

Notable examples: SwSh's intro, PIERS SINGING, and Clavell talking about the treasure hunt, but SwSh's cutscenes were way worse.
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I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion but I really think we should have left the "welcome to the world of Pokémon" spiel behind a long time ago. SV's a perfect exemple of this: the first thing you do when you start the game is watch some guy do a long lecture (without voice acting) on the setting, and that's just not an exciting way to introduce your setting to new players! To make matters worse, it's followed by the cutscene of Koraidon/Miraidon's escape, which is visually exciting AND sells the appeal of Pokémon without any words at all!

Also having the "world of Pokémon" speech be in-universe is dumb. It makes zero sense and even the anime started doing that
 
Maybe it's just nostalgia but I like it. It's a tradition that makes me excited for what I'm about to see.

I don't really have like, a good defense for the speech, but it makes me excited every new gen/game that has a new one. Plus it's only like 2 minutes, and then it's done. I also think they've gotten better since XY- went from kinda just seeing a few Pokemon and the professor to actually pretty stylish in SM, seeing the environment in ORAS, seeing a Gmax Charizard in SWSH, and the in-character speech for SV. All of these really match the pesonality to me.
 
ant4456 said:
Maybe it's just nostalgia but I like it. It's a tradition that makes me excited for what I'm about to see.

I don't really have like, a good defense for the speech, but it makes me excited every new gen/game that has a new one. Plus it's only like 2 minutes, and then it's done. I also think they've gotten better since XY- went from kinda just seeing a few Pokemon and the professor to actually pretty stylish in SM, seeing the environment in ORAS, seeing a Gmax Charizard in SWSH, and the in-character speech for SV. All of these really match the pesonality to me.
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For me it depends on who’s the one giving the speech. Seeing professors do this for so long got a bit repetitive after a while, so I thought Rose being involved with Galar’s version was a nice change of pace, even though I was never the biggest fan of him as a character. Around that same time, we had the Detective Pikachu movie which I also think handled the introduction to the world of Pokémon pretty well within the context of its own universe.

On an unrelated note, did anyone else think Geeta was going to end up being Rose 2.0 because they have similar jobs or was that just me
 
I think we all made the mistake of thinking Geeta would be a lot more plot important given her obvious Glimmora connections.

I am the most avid defender of SV's story but...yeah we can only really speculate about what she actually knew before the events of the base game.

But I do agree on it being fresh when someone qho is not the professor does the speech-specially since the professors turned out to be simultaneously dead AND the main antagonist! Words apart from Rose. And Clavell is just and amusing character, I love his disguised role.
 
Volt-Ikazuchi said:
Clavell's disguise is somehow worse than those fake glasses and mustache ones, I like that everyone looks at him like :pikuh: "Who does this fed think he's fooling?"
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The reaction he has to the player not believing he is Casiopea is also great. In the manga he fools Violet, trough I do think Penny of all people was also fooled? Or am I remembering wrong?

There is also when he asks the player what "trolling" means.
 
DrrT said:
I think we all made the mistake of thinking Geeta would be a lot more plot important given her obvious Glimmora connections.

I am the most avid defender of SV's story but...yeah we can only really speculate about what she actually knew before the events of the base game.

But I do agree on it being fresh when someone qho is not the professor does the speech-specially since the professors turned out to be simultaneously dead AND the main antagonist! Words apart from Rose. And Clavell is just and amusing character, I love his disguised role.
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Incidentally, multiple sources both in and out of the game seem to imply that Scarlet & Violet may have had a darker storyline than we saw in the final release, with specific characters having more explained backstories and ulterior motives. The comparisons between Rose and Geeta as well as the underlying tone in the postgame of her being... not the best boss to work for tell me that Geeta very well could have been in an antagonistic role at some point. There's also the whole situation with Raifort, and how some sources have said she was originally going to be a more important antagonistic character, too. I don't necessarily have any problems with what we got, but the ways these things were executed bothers me a little bit. Maybe this is just a personal thing, but I like Pokémon games because they feel like an escape into another world that's noticeably more exciting than our own, and I don't want, say, someone like the overworked Larry existing to remind me of real life. At that point Pokémon starts to feel less like a game for kids and more like a propaganda piece about unethical work practices being shoved into the faces of children around the world.

The other thing about people like Rose, Geeta, and the different direction professors have been taken in lately is that we've seen this before. I don't mean that in the sense of "newer generations have ideas we've already seen in older generations" in one of my recent posts. I mean, we've really seen this before. In fact, I can think of a spin-off game off the top of my head that has both a secretly toxic/evil major company and a twist villain professor in the same storyline- Gen 4 fanatics may recall Pokémon Ranger's second installment, Shadows of Almia, playing around with the idea of a secretly evil teacher as well as a secretly evil company looking to... create a new energy... source... yeah, hang on a second, Macro Cosmos is literally just Altru Inc. but with less backstory, tf-
 
bdt2002 said:
Maybe this is just a personal thing, but I like Pokémon games because they feel like an escape into another world that's noticeably more exciting than our own, and I don't want, say, someone like the overworked Larry existing to remind me of real life. At that point Pokémon starts to feel less like a game for kids and more like a propaganda piece about unethical work practices being shoved into the faces of children around the world.
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This is a very sinister framing for a theme that's extremely common in children's media, even kids' stories with fantastical/utopian elements. I think that first sentence is more honest (you, as an adult with responsibilities, want escapism) whereas the second is a convenient justification. Kids view Larry the same way they view Squidward: grumpy and boring but funny alongside more energetic characters. I don't think they're being indoctrinated into Marxism or whatever.
 
bdt2002 said:
At that point Pokémon starts to feel less like a game for kids and more like a propaganda piece about unethical work practices being shoved into the faces of children around the world.
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I mean, it's a Japanese game, they have a specific word for "suicide due to overwork". Teaching kids early that your employer doesn't care about you and it's up to you and your coworkers to set boundaries and protect yourselves can only be a good thing.
 
Cobalt Empoleon said:
This is a very sinister framing for a theme that's extremely common in children's media, even kids' stories with fantastical/utopian elements. I think that first sentence is more honest (you, as an adult with responsibilities, want escapism) whereas the second is a convenient justification. Kids view Larry the same way they view Squidward: grumpy and boring but funny alongside more energetic characters. I don't think they're being indoctrinated into Marxism or whatever.
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That's on me for not really elaborating beyond what I said at first. I didn't mean for that to sound like the kids were being indoctrinated into anything. I meant for that to sound like the games were raising awareness for this and possibly motivating older players to want to live a more, for lack of a better word, "fulfilling" life than someone in Larry's shoes. Case in point:
Hugin said:
I mean, it's a Japanese game, they have a specific word for "suicide due to overwork". Teaching kids early that your employer doesn't care about you and it's up to you and your coworkers to set boundaries and protect yourselves can only be a good thing.
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This post pretty much hit the nail on the head. In hindsight I worded that a lot more negative than I meant for. For that, I apologize. I do still agree that I as an individual don't want to be reminded of real life when I'm playing Pokémon but I can definitely see the appeal of those kinds of characters and storylines. The more real world positivity and awareness these games can encourage, the better. It only becomes a problem if players actively being indoctrinated into bad things, which as you mentioned, is definitely not the case.
 
bdt2002 said:
At that point Pokémon starts to feel less like a game for kids and more like a propaganda piece about unethical work practices being shoved into the faces of children around the world.
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Fwiw, "showing in face of children how unfair the world of adults is" is actually more common than you'd think in JRPGs.
Many of the modern JRPGs in some form do that, and I don't think there's any propaganda or anything like that in it. It's just something developers do, maybe just as self insert, or just because why not.

In the case of Pokemon, it's simply one of the many "real life references" that a kid isn't really going to understand but an adult will and will often get a smile out of it. In same fashion of say, sexual references and other random "why is this in a kid's game" thing.
 
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Once up on the time I came to this thread to complain about the absurd amount of clauses on smogon rules and how that was a unpopular opinion...
But sometime later I discover the tier gen3custom game where we can set rules simples with a line of code as:

/challenge [user],gen3customgame@@@obtainable

And now a days I'm manage to lead tournaments without any clause using showdown as a support to emulate catridge game.
Also, Showdown is better then emulators since it's high quality and versality in cellphone and computer.
 
Two related opinions:
1) The definitive Pokemon fangame has not been made yet. Solid attempts have come around over the years, but each of them are missing something or another to truly take them to that next level occupied by projects like Sonic & The Fallen Star, AM2R and Fallout London. The closest is probably Pokemon Xenoverse, which seems very well-thought out and made overall but still has some noticeable presentational deficiencies (lol at that adult Silver design just being Giovanni with a wig).
2) When this next-level production is finally made there is very a good chance it'll be done by the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanbase. For the relative youth and small size of that series' fangame scene they've made shockingly quick progress on everything from sprite art to writing. Maybe it's confirmation bias but they just seem to have a fundamentally different, more holistic outlook where they think about how PMD can be enriched as a setting and what kinds of stories can be told in it more often than the Pokemon Essentials crowd who seem generally more interested in metagaming. It could even be the fault of some bad incentives with mainline rom hackers churning out kaizo stuff for Youtubers to play while the PMD fanbase is sufficiently niche and tight-knit to where they're not making games for anyone besides themselves.

If this is all woefully misinformed nonsense, do let me know.
 
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I partially agree with the second point. Story writing is way more important for instance

MD however brings its own challenge of sprites for post Gen 5 mons varying for quality. Mainline only has to worry of larger battle sprites just being 2 poses, or if piss tweened, BW styled. PMD deals with 8 directions per action outside sleep. It's intensive. The spriting channels in the Skytemple Discord setup a guide and repository of mon sprites, and are in the process of revamping Gen 5 mons. Some users are too pressed to finish a mon, and may donate to the "sprite orphange" for other users to finish it. You can see the results for finished mons here

https://sprites.pmdcollab.org/

Gameplay wise, Skytemple helps with editing a lot, but it's still limited currently for mon slot IDs. Custom moves at least are possible
 
Are we defining 'definitive' based on fan reception or the quality of the output? I think several creators have successfully executed their own artistic vision with flair and polish, but I don't think we'll ever have something that's considered the go-to Pokemon main series fangame among the fanbase at large, because we're divided into several big groups that tend to want completely different things. I agree that PMD has a better shot, mainly because I think the list of things a fan wants in a definitive PMD fangame would be pretty similar no matter whom you asked.
 
Cobalt Empoleon said:
Are we defining 'definitive' based on fan reception or the quality of the output? I think several creators have successfully executed their own artistic vision with flair and polish, but I don't think we'll ever have something that's considered the go-to Pokemon main series fangame among the fanbase at large, because we're divided into several big groups that tend to want completely different things. I agree that PMD has a better shot, mainly because I think the list of things a fan wants in a definitive PMD fangame would be pretty similar no matter whom you asked.
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A combination of both, really. I'm curious what game(s) you'd nominate. That said idt differing fan opinions is an issue, same goes for Sonic and they got some actual acclaimed works of art like the aforementioned Falling Star and Triple Trouble 16-bit
 
Yung Dramps said:
Two related opinions:
1) The definitive Pokemon fangame has not been made yet. Solid attempts have come around over the years, but each of them are missing something or another to truly take them to that next level occupied by projects like Sonic & The Fallen Star, AM2R and Fallout London. The closest is probably Pokemon Xenoverse, which seems very well-thought out and made overall but still has some noticeable presentational deficiencies (lol at that adult Silver design just being Giovanni with a wig).
2) When this next-level production is finally made there is very a good chance it'll be done by the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanbase. For the relative youth and small size of that series' fangame scene they've made shockingly quick progress on everything from sprite art to writing. Maybe it's confirmation bias but they just seem to have a fundamentally different, more holistic outlook where they think about how PMD can be enriched as a setting and what kinds of stories can be told in it more often than the Pokemon Essentials crowd who seem generally more interested in metagaming. It could even be the fault of some bad incentives with mainline rom hackers churning out kaizo stuff for Youtubers to play while the PMD fanbase is sufficiently niche and tight-knit to where they're not making games for anyone besides themselves.

If this is all woefully misinformed nonsense, do let me know.
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The definitive pokemon romhack will come when I do a Smogoon Stadium 2.

I think that high-quality projects will come from the games with working disassemblies.
Hacking away at raw walls of hex or with limited tools is a chore to say the least, and it really limits what you can do.

I'm curious to see what the BDSP community is cooking tbh.
 
Yung Dramps said:
A combination of both, really. I'm curious what game(s) you'd nominate. That said idt differing fan opinions is an issue, same goes for Sonic and they got some actual acclaimed works of art like the aforementioned Falling Star and Triple Trouble 16-bit
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Hmm I'm a big Reborn defender haha, and recently I've played and really enjoyed BW3: Genesis and Coral, although the latter is a long way from being finished. It's honestly pretty uncommon for me to even like a Pokemon fangame, so my list is always going to be pretty short.

I'm not really familiar with Triple Trouble, but from what I understand, Fallen Star's visuals and soundtrack are pretty universally beloved, but the level design divides people along the usual lines (those who appreciate its flow and speed vs those who find it a little too simplistic and straightforward). At the risk of oversimplifying, I think main series Pokemon fangames have the same issue, where some people want flow and others want friction.

I have a lot of thoughts about how hard it is to create broadly satisfying difficulty in a main series Pokemon game or fangame, but it started to feel like a big ranty tangent so I'll leave it for now haha.
 
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I lean more towards the position that there are different enough preferences that there won't be a single agreed-on best fangame, somewhat because I'm part of the problem. My current top contender is Emerald Rogue (what's a story?) which, while I don't agree with every design decision, still feels closer to what I want out of a mainline game than the current mainline games themselves.
 
Volt-Ikazuchi said:
Y'know, people claim the new Exp. Share is good because it "removes grinding".
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It's not so much "removes grinding" literally, but rather lets you keep your entire team leveled without having to do the weird swap arounds, as well as level up freshly caught mons without needing to drag yourself through "send in, swap pokemon, KO, repeat" (moreso for things like Magikarp or Ralts).

The issue has never been Exp share, it's always been that the games' exp curve does not accomodate for its existance.

At this point any game that features swappable partyes and does not feature some form of "backrow also gets exp" is just artificially inflating playtime, we're not in 1990 anymore.
 
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