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(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon
- Thread starter BriarRose
- Start date
I wouldn’t say this annoys more so that it’s just really boring, but Gamefreak’s necessity to retread the same ground with each game’s story and characters. How many times do we have to see a rival go through the same realization that they’re not as good as us and see them go through the same process. They barely try to make them different beyond superficially and just ends up feeling like we’re going through the motions again.
I feel they differentiate them enough.
Hau would like to beat us, sure, but that's not really his arc, which is accepting to take things (like loss) seriously and not worry about living in the kahuna's shadow.
Hop's existential crisis is more linked to his issues with not wanting to let Leon down and at least ends in him finding what he really wants to do. Sloppily done and you fight him one million times, but...there!
Bede never stops being an asshole even after his character development (which is great, i love it, Bede is the best) and his big impetus to change is getting disowned by Rose letting him find a new path rather than getting owned by you.
going back in time Bianca's goal is purely finding what she wants to do in life at all, she's constantly trying new things and just accepts not being as good but is having a good time. Hugh cares solely about revenge, he's just generally supportive otherwise.
Barry...wait does Barry have an arc at all? He just seems generally jovial and always seeking to improve but the closest to this is when he loses to Mars/Jupiter I think and he just bounces right back?
Wally's arc is just finding his strength...kind of. He's barely a rival.
Brendan/May are just kind of farting around.
marnie exists i guess
Not to say that there's not obvious similarities in some of these arcs (laying it out like this, Hau seems like a more thorough take of Barry) but I'd say the most similar overall rivals are Blue, Silver, Cheren (albeit hedged in a general obsession with power) & Calem/Serena. Otherwise I think there's enough differences between rivals that they stand on their own.
Actually having written all this out I'm more annoyed when they have characters and dont like...really have an arc at all. Gen 3's the poster child of this but hello XY, too. I like Shauna but can't tell you what she really does, just that its more than Trevor & Tierno who do n o t h i n g. The way that bridge scene is set up they should have one but they're too underdeveloped, just like the Gen 3 rivals.
And Marnie theoretically has an arc she's just barely in the game at all to actually develop it.
I think they’re too similar on a general level and how they’re presented. The way they go from point A to B, how they realize their goals is largely the same. Their realizations on paper sound somewhat unique but in terms of impact or how it’s shown is just kind of lame, if you get what I mean.
It’s almost always just them coming in, fighting you, losing, questioning why they lost and then realizing how they’re not as capable and settling. It’s a summary sure, but it’s just too basic and not enough is done to differentiate them from one another.
Take for example Hop. His arc is very by the numbers, with him continuously fighting and losing to you. Realizing he’s not as capable, depression, decides to become a Pokémon professor in the future, cool. It loses its charm when Bianca went through the same basic arc in her game.
It could’ve been made more interesting by focusing on the aspects that make Hop unique like delving more into his dynamic with Leon, for example. Something that mainline Pokemon hasn’t actually done, but instead the two barely meaningfully interact.
In the end I feel they mostly feel like they’re going through the motions.
The thing is, you have to look it on the opposite way.
GameFreaks loves consistency in their formulas.
Every game since its inception has been about a 10ish year old protagonist starting a journey with his starter, usually with the objective of becoming the champion, going through the gym challenge, featuring some puzzles and "boss battles" (with the only deviation being Z-trials, which still were basically gyms with challenges and a boss with a different name anyway), accidentally running into some evil guys wanting to destroy the world or comparable tropes, catching the story legendary, saving the world with it and then becoming the champion.
The Rival (occasionally more than one), the "evil team", and lately the "actually we were the evil guys all along" have been constant in the games and always functioned in similar ways. With different arcs/motives/personalities, surely, but the narrative arcs were always following the same order more or less: start > meet rival > tackle gyms > run into evil guys > catch legendary > beat evil guys > finish gyms and become champion.
And (unfortunately), GameFreaks is famed for their "if it aint broken don't fix it" approach to the series.
You are basically wishing that the game wasn't developed by GameFreaks, because as long as it is, those elements are staying.
I'd like add saying that Pokemon is a merchandise driven franchise, so things like TCG and plushies are being made in accordance to promote the games. So that's why there's can't be a deadline delay, that would mean a merchandise and TCG delay, resulting huge money loss. Once again the merchandise is where Pokemon's money comes from, being 65 Billion dollars not counting Manga and Home Entertainment, while the games are 20 Billion dollars which 3 times less than licensed merchandise alone.
So yeah, there's really no reason to experiment when they don't literally have to. That's also why Sword and Shield are rushed, because of the merchandise deadline set by TPC presumably. And the fact that those 3 years, have the majority of their time dedicated to planning concepts, as well as scrapping and refining concepts, with significantly less time for 3D Modeling.
Anyway that aside, something bothers me about the designs of Rillaboom and the Urshifu. I just had finished a character design class, a couple weeks ago, so I have much better understanding on how to critique and draw character design much better.
I already mentioned that Gen 8 are least favorite batch of starters because they look way too human, and initially I thought Rillaboom was fine though. Yeah, its Humanoid but its Gorilla , which share 95 % of our DNA, so I'm fine with it looking like a human. But then it brings out Drums in game. This was where I was really disappointed. Nothing on the official artwork for Rillaboom suggests that its a drummer. In contrast, if you look at Cinderace you can clearly tell its a soccer player by its kicking pose. Inteleon is also doesn't scream Sniper, but there's emphasis on fingers in its official artwork, and that's where its Signature Move Snipe Shot comes from, so its a pass, though only slightly. Nothing on Rillaboom's official design suggests that it is a drummer, let alone actually physically carry drums. I don't even know how it just "pulls" out the drums in-game, there are no pockets to the visible eye.
Here's the official art for the Urshifu forms:
For starters, they look far too similar. Sure, the poses are different, but does not mean much when the clothing and fur is almost identical to each other. In the class I took, we had a huge emphasis on silhouettes, and how good they are in telling a character's personality. If you had done silhouettes of Urshifu's forms, the majority would say that are the same character. That being said, the poses are a good indicator to show off a calm style for Rapid strike, and a aggressive style for Single Strike. That unfortunately falls apart in game however. In game, both forms use the same pose, so I really can't tell which form I'm fighting unless I go into the menu and check. That's how similar they look. Its the only Pokemon that I actively look into the menu to see what type it is. It also doesn't help their Menu sprites are the same as well, so you can''t even look on team preview and tell what form is. Even Gigantamax forms are that different, only blue for Rapid Strike and Red for Single Strike.
I agree they're probably ab it too similar (if nothing else they probably should have their white fur dyed red & blue) but in terms of in-game pose they are different
Dark has a firm boxer's stance
Water has a kind of...mantis? stance and sways back and forth.
e: Actually while complaining about Urshifu for a moment have you ever seen his dynamax water form? In his standard small psing, he drifts back and forth in place. Makes sense, that's how that style works
In DYnamax the model is moving all over the place. They didn't anchor it properly. Its very dumb.
Dark has a firm boxer's stance
Water has a kind of...mantis? stance and sways back and forth.
e: Actually while complaining about Urshifu for a moment have you ever seen his dynamax water form? In his standard small psing, he drifts back and forth in place. Makes sense, that's how that style works
In DYnamax the model is moving all over the place. They didn't anchor it properly. Its very dumb.
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Still pretty similar. The body posture is the same, but the hands are different.I agree they're probably ab it too similar (if nothing else they probably should have their white fur dyed red & blue) but in terms of in-game pose they are different
Dark has a firm boxer's stance
Water has a kind of...mantis? stance and sways back and forth.
e: Actually while complaining about Urshifu for a moment have you ever seen his dynamax water form? In his standard small psing, he drifts back and forth in place. Makes sense, that's how that style works
In DYnamax the model is moving all over the place. They didn't anchor it properly. Its very dumb.
Do I really have to explain you why they didn't bother with the male countepart, or it is sufficent to remind you that sexual innuendo only really sells in one direction due to how degenerate your average male playerbase is?
TvTropes calls it Ugly Guy, Hot Wife (there's also Messy Male, Fancy Female for an animal version). Also note "ugly" doesn't have to strictly mean it'll look disgusting, it just means it'll not look attractive. So with Tsareena being a tall, attractive, dominating woman a Durian king would maybe be stout, chubby, and be goofy/child-like in personality.
- Brendan/May were just focused on helping their dad, Professor Birch, fill the Pokedex. They pretty much shared Rival duty with Wally with them being the Rival for the first half and Wally taking up the mantle in the latter half. Sadly the way they did it more ended up with Brendan/May vanishing halfway through the game and Wally not getting as much early development making his promotion to Rival feel sudden.
- Marnie's goal is very much background and she sadly seems to exist only so Team Yell would be an "obstacle" to deal with once in awhile. Marnie's goal is to become Champion so that she could get Spikemuth more support and attention. However, while in one battle she says she can't afford to lose, she doesn't really act with any urgency toward that goal and infacts helps the player get into Spikemuth (I get she doesn't want to cheat her way to victory but with all her attempts to subvert Team Yell's behavior they forgot to put in ways she's pushing he goals forwards aside just being a participant). It gives off the feeling she's doing all of this half-heartedly when I don't think that's the case.
- Blue is pretty much the "base" Rival: a competitive opponent with a high ego about himself. His goal is not only being the best but being better than YOU, possibly even his main goal as he doesn't see the other trainers as a challenge. Even after being defeated as Champion does Blue retain his bullying rivalry toward the player. It's not till later games like Gen II and VII does it show Blue has chilled out and he was just taking his rivalry with Red a bit too seriously.
- Silver is a mysterious trainer who is first thought as a thief obsessed with being strong. However his adversary with Team Rocket and encounter with Lance reveals additional layers that he's not just a Rival for the heck of it. And, after much rumor of his parentage (especially with the manga saying he's Giovanni's son), it's confirmed in HGSS he is Giovanni's son and angry at his father for abandoning him after being defeated by Red and running away only saying he'll return to make a stronger Team Rocket (hence his hatred toward Team Rocket, seeing anyone who requires underlings is weak and can only rely on oneself to be strong). Post game Silver has turned over a new leaf and is more kinder toward the player and his Pokemon.
- Cheren was probably meant to be a redux of Blue but with the concept more explored. Cheren was serious about becoming a trainer and wanting to be Champion. However Alder then asked him what happens after he becomes Champion and Cheren has no answer, he was just seeking to be the best because that's what trainers do. This would lead to Cheren really thinking what he wants, especially with how the player keeps defeating him and he's a bit player in the overall bigger plot with Team Plasma. While in BW he's still left seeking out what he wants to do, BW2 reveals that he has gone on to become a teacher and given title of a Gym Leader, his goal being he wants to help others improve themselves so they could do what they want to do.
- Calem/Serena... I don't know. With them shoving in four Rivals they really didn't go into what Calem/Serena wanted and why they asked you to be their Rival aside help each other get stronger. In comparison the other three Rivals had more defined goals be them simple: Tierno wanted to see all sorts of Pokemon moves to come with with dance ideas, Trevor wanted to fill the dex, and Shauna just wanted to go on a big adventure with her friends to create memories she could cherish.
The problem with the Rival is the title itself. They are your Rival, their role in the game is to provide an obstacle in a recurring trainer who progressively gets tougher and tougher each time you face them. The only major difference they can do with them is personality, motivation, and backstory (and number of Rivals) but they'll always want to have a battle with you every so often (though maybe for different reasons).
I think they've established his dynamic with Leon as much as they could. The issue with Hop is that his goals are simple: he wants to become Champion. Why? Because his brother is Champion so feels its an obligation for him to continue his "legacy" he thought up in his head. Another big issue with Hop's arc is that a lot of it happens off screen: losing to Bede, losing to Gym Leaders, struggling to find a new team of Pokemon, and him finally getting himself back together doesn't really have much to do with the player. Hop doesn't need more dynamic scenes with Leon, he needed more dynamic scenes with the player.
Also him becoming a Pokemon Professor feels like a sudden turn. You're right its just doing what they did with Bianca, however at the same time his arc is building to him not being a trainer. However GF seems to be so shortsighted on just things established in the main game they ignore the more likely occupation that Hop would become and that's being a Pokemon Ranger.
Okay, can I ask proof of this? Because I keep hearing this excuse and I have a hard time believing this. Like what if a disaster happens and GF are forced to delay the game? From what you're saying Pokemon Company would be s****ed. And that's honestly stupid, a major corporation like The Pokemon Company would need to have backup plans to fall on. On top of that, Pokemon Company makes TONS of merchandise with all sorts of themes, why can't they just move around some themes if the games need to be delayed or they just want a little more time to work on the game?
So can we stop using this as an excuse since there's no proof of this?
Here's the official art for the Urshifu forms:
For starters, they look far too similar. Sure, the poses are different, but does not mean much when the clothing and fur is almost identical to each other. In the class I took, we had a huge emphasis on silhouettes, and how good they are in telling a character's personality.
Huh, never noticed. Yeah, why didn't they use their artwork pose?
Shauna is also a little like Wally without the illness. She's presented as a weaker trainer than the player and Calem/Serena, she's amazed that the player is taking on Team Flare, and she's largely sheltered from that storyline. But in the final confrontation, she shows up and finds her own ways to be helpful.
Honestly, while the XY rivals don't really have arcs (Shauna is probably closest; see above), it's weird that people here act like they don't even have personalities. Calem/Serena is a generic "has a reputation as a good trainer, but then loses to the player and is determined to beat you" rival. They differ slightly from most "skilled" rivals in that the way the others look up to them hypes them up a bit. They're also a bit more inclined to split from the group and do serious training alone now and then, relative to Shauna/Tierno/Trevor. Tierno just wants to dance and have fun, but also make use of dancing in battle. Trevor isn't much of a battler and instead takes the Pokedex quest seriously.
Honestly, while the XY rivals don't really have arcs (Shauna is probably closest; see above), it's weird that people here act like they don't even have personalities. Calem/Serena is a generic "has a reputation as a good trainer, but then loses to the player and is determined to beat you" rival. They differ slightly from most "skilled" rivals in that the way the others look up to them hypes them up a bit. They're also a bit more inclined to split from the group and do serious training alone now and then, relative to Shauna/Tierno/Trevor. Tierno just wants to dance and have fun, but also make use of dancing in battle. Trevor isn't much of a battler and instead takes the Pokedex quest seriously.
If you mean by proof as in an official statement by TPC saying that merchandise is a top priority, then no, I can't prove it because TPC has not ever said anything like that. But there's circumstantial evidence that we can infer from how the game development and how Pokemon are handled in-game. For starters, about TPC having strict deadlines, your right-they could definitely delay the game and they could still makes tons of money while polishing the game more. But here's a thing, if you look at Gens 6-8, you'll notice that they were all released in the months of November with only XY being released in October. These months are close to the release of the Christmas season, or the season of the shopping. People who play games in the November will want to buy merchandise. Alternatively, people who have not played the game may see an ad advertising the game for the holidays, and thus be wanting to buy the game themselves. The reason than the holidays are an important is because everyone is going shopping for gifts for someone, and someone may want like a plushie or the game or Christmas. People are more willing to spend a lot more money on the Christmas season than in the middle of spring.
Anyway, its no denying that Pokemon's the majority of money comes from the merchandise. Look at this, this chart has been shown before, but here we go again:
Exact Numbers, from Wikipedia: 64.015 Billion from Merchandise, 19.533 Billion from Games, 11.491 Billion from Card Games, Box office of 1.756 Billion, Home Entertainment of 863 Million, and Manga Volumes of 72.4 Million. The merchandise sells 3 times more than the games approximately, so from a revenue standpoint, yes, merchandise does drive Pokemon from a money standpoint.
A good analogy would be the Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The film got mixed reviews and most people I talked to said that they didn't like the film's story. Yet, it still is the 9th grossing film of all the time. Star Wars is also like Pokemon in which the merchandise makes more money than the films. The merchandise makes 4 times as much as the box office does.
As for game development, you'll notice that the Mario series is also on this list, but almost all profit comes from the video games. That's why the Mario games are so revolutionary in their game development: They can't afford to make a game be a flop, or that will be a huge revenue loss. In contrast, Pokemon has the merchandise to fall back on. Didn't like Shield but like Galarian Ponyta? Why not buy a Galarian Ponyta Plushie from the Pokemon Center. Why put an effort to try to create a new forumula when the the games and merchandise sell like hot cakes? They already have a hardcore players, VGC players who will buy the games regardless of quality, or parents who will buy the games for their children based off Nostalgia ( Why so much Kanto representation and fan service ), and of course the casual Pokemon Audience who buy Pokemon its Pokemon. The brand name is so strong.
And before you go even further, people bring up the question, " If merchandise is Pokemon's priority, then why make games ?" Well, the answer is a bit cruel, but all merchandise needs something to "base" off of. As for Pokemon, they could definitely stop making games, and they would still have a huge amount. But all merchandise eventually stagnates. They would have to reuse old Pokemon, which would almost certainly eventually die down. So the games address that by introducing new Pokemon and new forms of old Pokemon, the former makes money off the hype of the new game, while the latter makes money off nostalgia for fans people who played previous games and recently picked the new titles due to new forms. I mean why else give Charizard two Megas and a Gigantamax? People will be so excited that there will be a new form of a favorite Pokemon, and they will almost certainly by Charizard plushies or Mega Charizard Steel container. We even had a discussion explaining how mythical Pokemon are used to sell the movies.
Speaking of VGC, these make huge profits, especially since TPC has made an effort to stream matches and allow audiences watch. Its Pokemon's transformation to an Esport. The entries are fees are huge, my last regional was 50$ for admission. There, huge amounts of Pokemon merchandise can be bought, ranging from Plushies, to cards, and even jewelry. The cash prizes are also a big draw factor, with like a 100s of players competing for top prizes, with only like 4 gaining the money. As a result, TPC profits off players competing for money as well as taking advantage of people who love the Pokemon brand and are attending the event by selling merchandise.
Well I can't officially prove that merchandise takes priority over the games, we can deduce based off game development, marketing, and revenue, that merchandise is just as important, if not more important than the core RPGs themselves.
On top of the excellent explanation by DreamPrince , let me iterate a moment more on this:
However, that would still incurr in relatively significant monetary losses.
Say that for some cataclysm GameFreaks needs a extra 2 months to release the new game.
TPCI can respond realistically in 2 ways:
Option 1: Delay - They can delay the release / announcements of pretty much everything planned, in order to match the new release date. This however can easily incurr in missing important release windows like the summer / winter holidays, which does incurr in a significant lack of revenue due to the fact most people (including me and I'm confident most of us) are more inclined to buy videogames or generally "useless" merchandise during those big sales or holidays, both for self and for sons / generic relatives. They could delay it *more* in order to hit the next big holiday window obviously, but this creates a chain effect of delays that no company would want to face outside of really desperate situations.
Option 2: Go with it anyway - The other option is obviously to just accept the games will launch later, and still move forward with merchandise and whatever anime / movie is planned. This however also incurrs in troubles, because if there's one thing they've been good at is interconnecting their options: a new adorable Pokemon is shown in a trailer, just in time for a plushie to launch; the new games launch with new mascots, and create hype to buy the plushies after the kids (or adults, often enough) fell in love playing with them. Would Sobble have been so popular if we didn't get to see it in action in trailers and then in game first? Would Eevee have succeeded this well in its "2nd mascot" launch without the boost in popularity via Let's Go? Would the Zeraora movie's tickets sell as well if the DLCs containing the Pokemon would have not been available for another 6 months?
Both options aren't the end of the world, but both incurr in potentially significant monetary losses AND potential scheduling issues for the company. It's safe to assume that TPCI schedules their products months if not years before, both videogames, media and merchandise (like honestly most giant companies, other colossi like Blizzard or Nintendo themselves have made mentions of development of products starting several years before, and GF themselves mentioned how for example gen 9 is already in development).
TPCI (and Nintendo since they're interconnected) definitely have "backup plans" in case a catastrophe happens, it would be ridicolous to not have some. That doesn't mean they are willing to commit to them and eat the monetary losses unless extremely necessary.
...and unfortunately, since this comes around regarding how most Pokemon games lately have rushed elements... the thing is, you know very well that Pokemon games are carried by their brand, and at same time act as "launching pool" for merchandise: the regular playerbase of pokemon games tends to not care of a moderate amount of imperfect elements as long as they have fun, and let's be frank, even lot of the most critical buyers/players are willing to overlook the issues in the game and still go along with the anime or merchandise.
Thus, TPCI knows that having to release a new Pokemon title with some harmless rushed elements isn't worth committing to a monetary loss for a delay in everything else. The games will sell either ways, and even if they end up losing a small % of buyers due to the rushed elements, it's still nowhere close to the issues they'd face if they had to resort to plan B or C.
It's very unlikely that TPCI doesn't have a "contingency plan" in case for some cataclysm the games have to be delayed.
However, that would still incurr in relatively significant monetary losses.
Say that for some cataclysm GameFreaks needs a extra 2 months to release the new game.
TPCI can respond realistically in 2 ways:
Option 1: Delay - They can delay the release / announcements of pretty much everything planned, in order to match the new release date. This however can easily incurr in missing important release windows like the summer / winter holidays, which does incurr in a significant lack of revenue due to the fact most people (including me and I'm confident most of us) are more inclined to buy videogames or generally "useless" merchandise during those big sales or holidays, both for self and for sons / generic relatives. They could delay it *more* in order to hit the next big holiday window obviously, but this creates a chain effect of delays that no company would want to face outside of really desperate situations.
Option 2: Go with it anyway - The other option is obviously to just accept the games will launch later, and still move forward with merchandise and whatever anime / movie is planned. This however also incurrs in troubles, because if there's one thing they've been good at is interconnecting their options: a new adorable Pokemon is shown in a trailer, just in time for a plushie to launch; the new games launch with new mascots, and create hype to buy the plushies after the kids (or adults, often enough) fell in love playing with them. Would Sobble have been so popular if we didn't get to see it in action in trailers and then in game first? Would Eevee have succeeded this well in its "2nd mascot" launch without the boost in popularity via Let's Go? Would the Zeraora movie's tickets sell as well if the DLCs containing the Pokemon would have not been available for another 6 months?
Both options aren't the end of the world, but both incurr in potentially significant monetary losses AND potential scheduling issues for the company. It's safe to assume that TPCI schedules their products months if not years before, both videogames, media and merchandise (like honestly most giant companies, other colossi like Blizzard or Nintendo themselves have made mentions of development of products starting several years before, and GF themselves mentioned how for example gen 9 is already in development).
TPCI (and Nintendo since they're interconnected) definitely have "backup plans" in case a catastrophe happens, it would be ridicolous to not have some. That doesn't mean they are willing to commit to them and eat the monetary losses unless extremely necessary.
...and unfortunately, since this comes around regarding how most Pokemon games lately have rushed elements... the thing is, you know very well that Pokemon games are carried by their brand, and at same time act as "launching pool" for merchandise: the regular playerbase of pokemon games tends to not care of a moderate amount of imperfect elements as long as they have fun, and let's be frank, even lot of the most critical buyers/players are willing to overlook the issues in the game and still go along with the anime or merchandise.
Thus, TPCI knows that having to release a new Pokemon title with some harmless rushed elements isn't worth committing to a monetary loss for a delay in everything else. The games will sell either ways, and even if they end up losing a small % of buyers due to the rushed elements, it's still nowhere close to the issues they'd face if they had to resort to plan B or C.
Well first off saying "your right-they could definitely delay the game and they could still makes tons of money while polishing the game more" completely nullifies your side of the argument. The argument was whether GF could delay the game and it having no effect on Pokemon Company's profits. People keep saying GF can't do that because otherwise Pokemon Company would lose major profits. But now you're saying that Pokemon Company would not only be fine and still make a lot of money if they don't release a new Pokemon game a year after the last one? Well that means you agree with me that GameFreak should stop doing yearly game releases (which they most likely have but we'll get to that) so they have time to develop and polish the game meanwhile Pokemon Company can just focus on other themes & ideas which they've always done.
Also all you explained was why they release the games around the Holiday season. That I get, of course you'd want to release the game during the holiday season so people would want to not only buy them but also merch for them. However, that doesn't explain why they can't delay until next holiday season or the one after that.
Actually I'm not so sure if its a good analogy as the new Star Wars trilogy each had two years between each movie: "The Force Awakens" was 2015, "The Last Jedi" was 2017, and "The Rise of Skywalker" was 2019. My complaint was that Pokemon games were being released yearly, if they were released at least two years apart I wouldn't be complaining as much. By pointing out that if Star Wars could afford to take 2 years to produce what is used to drive merchandise sales and make massive profits than why can't Pokemon take two or even three years with their's?
The brand name is strong. For now.
But how many games can GF rest on their laurels before the casual players decide "eh, Pokemon ran its course, maybe it's time to move on". And, BTW, it's those casual players who are buying the merch. You think the hardcore VGC players make up even a 1% margin of the sales? Nah man, wouldn't be surprised if majority of them even spend 100$ or even 50$ on Pokemon merch. The ones who are buying merch and make most of the profits are likely parents getting their kid the plush of their favorite Pokemon they likely say in the game. And guess who likely bought their kid the game? Their parents. But, if Pokemon keeps on releasing games that rarely change anything and puts little effort into their presentation (and giving nothing to come back to), kids may become bored and decide to move onto one of the many dozens of other things that are trying to grab their attention. Heck, why should I play Pokemon Sword & Shield when I can instead play Mario Odyssey which offers much more exciting visuals and lots of things to do? Oh, hey look, there's a Nintendo Store that sells Cappy plush! Forget that boring Charizard plush, I want the plush of something I can pretend to do stuff with (instead of the dragon which in the games does nothing but stand around and look & move menacingly toward the opponent which somehow damages it)!
Never said the merch wasn't as important, I know the franchise makes most of its profits from merch. But everyone who uses this defense acts like Pokemon Company is a the mafia (or Yakuza if you want to stay culturally accurate) who comes in GF's offices with a nailed bat over their shoulder and says "yous guys better make the next Pokemon games within the year or else we'll have a Pokemon battle with my spiked bat against yer knee caps" and GF have to scramble together a game. Now I'm not saying Pokemon Company doesn't put pressure on GF to release the games, but I find it hard to believe GF isn't also responsible by assuring TPC that they can get the games out within a year. If during their next major meeting to decide how the next years plans will go GF says "we'll like to take a few years between main series games to add in more content & polish" then TPC and Nintendo would plan accordingly. But no, I think GF tries acting big by telling them "yeah, we've got this, Pokemon games once a year" only to not be able to do that but are now forced onto this schedule which forces them to rush out a product that needed more time in the oven. And I can see GF having too big of an ego to admitting their fault and instead goes "um, yeah, we meant for the games to be like that!".
And that's why I'm asking for GF to say Pokemon Company forces them. Because otherwise I'm not going to give GF a break or change what I think or say if there's nothing proving I should. As of right now, GF makes the games seemingly without TPC or Nintendo twisting their thumbs thus any faults I see with the games, such as them feeling rushed, lies at their feet.
Also, another thought: GF is apparently so afraid that Mobile Gaming is going to make kids not want to play Pokemon. So in response GF makes.... subpar games? Not evolve the formula they're afraid is becoming stale?
And if they have so much money thus meaning they don't have to worry about failure, then why not take a few years to develop the next game and make it match the vision they probably have for it? They don't need to rush out the games to sale them or else their studio will close/have to lay off employees. Other developers often take multiple delays in order to get their games just right, and many of them are either as "big" as GF or notably smaller (thus would be in a rush to get their new game out asap) and along with their game will have merch to sale that probably would further help make up for any loss profits the game doesn't make back. Yet, Pokemon is the exception to this because...? We've just agreed the Pokemon Company will be fine in merch sales if a new game isn't released within the next year, infact that's not happening as GF has moved onto DLC expansions which introduces new Pokemon among other things. That's right, if Pokemon Company wants new Pokemon to sale merch on now GF can just patch them in!
So, I'm hoping this now means the next gen they're actually going to take the time to develop and polish as now the DLC expansions will be giving both the playerbase and GF's bosses what they want until the next game's release.
To your first point, I think you've just completely misread Prince's statement here -- Pokémon would still make a lot of money, because it's Pokémon. But they wouldn't make as much money if they hadn't delayed it. That's the point - they're not out to make a lot of money, they're out to make the most money they're able to.
Now, ideally, should one sacrifice that extra money to create a better product? Of course! But... woo boy. We sure do live in 2020 and any illusion of larger game studios doing that is completely dispelled by now.
And to your second point... 'fraid that's wrong. Star Wars did have a movie annually until that turned out to not be financially sound -- between TFA and TLJ you had 2016's Rogue One, while between TLJ and TRoS you had 2018's Solo. Neither of these are as big as the actual trilogy movies of course, but in the same way neither is stuff like USUM. So it's surprisingly an even more accurate comparison than I thought!
Incidentally, Star Wars also produced controversy for wiping a large amount of previous material, and are later introducing new versions of it at their own pace. The fanbase continues to favour the older content, which means that there's a grudge Disney has to get over to get veiwership that would otherwise be guaranteed. Star Wars is a series where rumors about the leadership stepping down are currently gaining quite a lot of ground both from the big problems in the wake of TRoS and because people are that desperate to have something to hope for with respect to the series getting better later.
I'm not confident Pokemon won't become the next Star Wars, but I sincerely wish it doesn't.
I'm not confident Pokemon won't become the next Star Wars, but I sincerely wish it doesn't.
Honestly though, a bit like dexit those 'controversies' turned out to be a bunch of vocal minorities that paled in comparison to, as stated above; TLJ being one of the highest-grossing movies of all time while SwSh continues to climb Pokémon's charts. Turns out that a few internet nerds upset about the continuities of some obscure novels means nothing in the face of the general public wanting a star war.
... god, this is DEPRESSINGLY similar. You chose a really good one here, Prince.
And that's my point.
Point of the argument: I asked if we could stop using "TPC is/was forcing GF to make games annually", asking from proof if GF ever said that.
Was There Proof: No.
Additional Conclusion Made: TPC makes plenty of money that they don't need GF making a game every year to provide them more things to make merch of (heck, I'm surprised they don't have too much stuff).
My issue with that excuse is that it if makes GF as if its a victim being bullied by a bigger company to rush out the games.
But the point I'm trying to make, pointing out that TPC makes plenty of money that GF doesn't need to make a new game every year, is that GF are not blameless. They're not victims which that statement makes them out to be. TPC isn't holding a gun to their head because they don't need to, GF is holding the gun to their head for them. Infact TPC might be a little freaked out by that.
TPC: Um, you don't need to do that. All I asked is if you could release the games more frequently.
GF *releases safety and digs gun deeper into head*: No, no, it's alright, this motivates us! This is a challenge to us!
TPC: Um, okay, I won't argue with your methods, we'll keep in touch... *backs away slowly*
Now, yes, TPC is also still responsible. GF told them they can make the games annually so they'll probably keep them to that schedule. But GF had to be the ones to agree to it. I have a hard time seeing GF saying they need at least two years to make a game and TPC then slamming their hands down on the deck saying "NO! You're making a game annually from now on!".
Star Wars:
Oof, forgot about the Star Wars Stories. Well then I guess it is an apt analogy of what happens to franchises that needs some time to make their main source of media is put on an annual schedule.
Well that's Disney both wanting to keep the Star Wars mythos simple (purging of Expanded Universe stuff, which to be fair was probably a good call as there was a "too many cooks" issue there) and wanting people to like the stuff for Star Wars that was produced with them at the reigns (them killing off Han, Luke, and Leia and making it so Rey was the only Jedi and destroying the Sith once and for all... that wasn't a good call).
I think this would only be a concern with Pokemon if GF decides they no longer want to do Pokemon stuff so sell Nintendo all their shares and now Nintendo wants to make the next Pokemon games and hires a staff who never worked on a Pokemon game before but are big fans and boy do they have ideas for the franchise (though if GF ever does do that hopefully Nintendo would also be able to nick some of their staff in the process so this doesn't happen).
Honestly I was okay with The Last Jedi. I think Holdo wasn't the best written and made some rather questionable decisions (though I think the point of that movie was that The Resistance was in such a bad place that, while no one technically was making a bad decision, there was really no correct decision which lead to inner conflicts), but the overall themes weren't bad and could have actually led to interesting places had they followed up on them (but that would require them to have actually written out the entire trilogy story map so they knew where everything was going).
Also SwSh had help with being on a main console cause Nintendo fused their handheld & main consoles together thus combining both those fanbases. The ex-handheld crowd still bought the games but so did the main console crowd cause now they could. Also SwSh is mediocre at worst but has it good parts, and the DLC expansions are helping there too.
I laugh because otherwise I'd cry.
This isn't really the unpopular opinions thread but screw it I'm just gonna say it here: I'm so over trying to work out which one of TPCi or GF or Nintendo to blame. No matter how much we know or how little we know it's clear they all play a part in some level and all of them are goddamn companies out to make as much money as possible, so it really really doesn't matter which one's name you want to use as emblematic of the whole situation we're talking about. Which one's most to blame is a pointless and recursive conversation when we could be talking about the things going on that we actually care about.
Well I could bring over some of my Isle of Armor complaints (think enough time has passed these are no longer spoilers):
New Move Tutor Moves:
Awesome, they're adding new moves to the game meaning they can finally fill in those much needed gaps certain Types have!... right? Well, there are some moves that do that like the new Ghost-type move. But there are other Moves where I think they could have used the additional move a bit better. NOTE: I think most of these moves are okay, just because I complain about them doesn't mean I don't like them. I just think there was a better move they could have made.
More Currency, Too Many:
So Isle of Armor does a neat thing with all those Watts you've been building up by having you donate them to upgrade the Dojo! Very nice, but you need over 3 million to get all the upgrades! But not worry as there's an easy way to get Watts: Digging Pa will dig them up by the thousands. All he asks are for seven Armorite Ores. Alright, that explains all the Armorite Ore I've been getting, though is that it's main purpose? Oh, the New Move Tutor asks for five and the IV Resetter asks for ten. Bit pricey on the latter but still nice there's more to use it on... though, I still don't think I'd be getting a new move that often or resetting my IVs at all. So I'm still going to get a lot of Ore. I guess I can sell it, though I don't need any more money either as I bought all the new clothes (and it's not hard to find money fodder). And in addition to Armorite Ore they also introduced Galarica Twigs which you need eight of to make the Galarica Cuff all to evolve Slowbro, Max Mushrooms to make Max Soup, and Max Honey which is only needed to get Urshifu to Gigantamax and otherwise is just a rare Max Revive...
Could we have cut down on the sudden number of items introduced? Like, I think we could have chucked the Armore Ore and instead used the Galarica Twigs in its place. I also say the IV Resetter should have been one of the upgrades for the Dojo instead of just standing out in the middle of the ocean for no reason (guess the same can be said of the girl who weaves the Galaric Twigs together). And requiring us finding the Max Honey to get Gigantamax Urshifu just feels like unneeded padding. Finally, cut the cuff and just have it so when we give the girl the Galarica Twigs it's implied she weaves it into a wristband that Slowpoke suddenly feels like fishing with and evolves right then and there.
Walking Pokemon Only Zone:
Awesome they brought back walking Pokemon! But why can we only walk them on the Isle of Armor? At the very least let us do it in the mainland Wild Area if you're not going to let us do it on Routes and in Towns/Cities (even though NPC trainers are allowed to have their Pokemon out).
Four Apricorns For One Poke Ball:
While I like Apricorns are back, I feel the way they used them robbed them what made them unique. I at the very least liked the idea we give this Poke Ball maker this strange fruit which they then make into a certain kind of Poke Ball, it's a neat concept and if they wanted a way to expand on the idea they could maybe have you fuse two Apricorns together to make a new kind of Poke Ball. But no, instead you now get a whole batch for the purpose of giving the Cram-O-Matic four at a time and it'll give you a Poke Ball. And it's not guaranteed to be the associated Apricorn Poke Ball, there's only a chance of it though you may instead get a Poke Ball you can buy from a shop. Now you also have a chance of getting a Safari and Dream Ball which is neat, but don't like we have to lose what made the Apricorns unique to do it.
All Bike Ensemble:
Finally, I'm disappointed the new bikes are all one ensemble instead of letting you mix and match what helmet, shirt, bike, and trail (& sound) effect you use. You let us customize our normal clothes, why not our biking clothes now that there's options to pick from?
New Move Tutor Moves:
Awesome, they're adding new moves to the game meaning they can finally fill in those much needed gaps certain Types have!... right? Well, there are some moves that do that like the new Ghost-type move. But there are other Moves where I think they could have used the additional move a bit better. NOTE: I think most of these moves are okay, just because I complain about them doesn't mean I don't like them. I just think there was a better move they could have made.
- Expanding Force (Psychic): Would have liked it to be a Physical Psychic move. Physical Psychic mainly have Zen Headbutt, Psycho Cut, and Psychic Fangs, very specific moves with how a Pokemon uses them and think a generic sounding move would (or at least one that sounds like a punch or tackle) would shape out the options for Physical Psychic moves.
- Scale Shot (Dragon): I'm still surprised Dragon-types don't have a biting move, seems like an obvious choice.
- Meteor Beam (Rock): Right in making it a Special move, not so right in how they did it. It's a Rock-type Solar Beam expy which wouldn't be bad if Rock-types had a weaker option. I think a Rock-type Energy Ball would have been a better option to introduce first, I even have the perfect name for it: Litho Sphere.
- Misty Explosion (Fairy): *Sigh* GF if you're not going to make another Physical Fairy-type move at the very least give the new one you did make a wider distribution instead of a Signature Move.
- Terrain Pulse (Normal): Way to short change the Normal-type.
- Dual Wingbeat (Flying): Maybe next time, Gyarados, though the Flying-types with wings are really liking this.
More Currency, Too Many:
So Isle of Armor does a neat thing with all those Watts you've been building up by having you donate them to upgrade the Dojo! Very nice, but you need over 3 million to get all the upgrades! But not worry as there's an easy way to get Watts: Digging Pa will dig them up by the thousands. All he asks are for seven Armorite Ores. Alright, that explains all the Armorite Ore I've been getting, though is that it's main purpose? Oh, the New Move Tutor asks for five and the IV Resetter asks for ten. Bit pricey on the latter but still nice there's more to use it on... though, I still don't think I'd be getting a new move that often or resetting my IVs at all. So I'm still going to get a lot of Ore. I guess I can sell it, though I don't need any more money either as I bought all the new clothes (and it's not hard to find money fodder). And in addition to Armorite Ore they also introduced Galarica Twigs which you need eight of to make the Galarica Cuff all to evolve Slowbro, Max Mushrooms to make Max Soup, and Max Honey which is only needed to get Urshifu to Gigantamax and otherwise is just a rare Max Revive...
Could we have cut down on the sudden number of items introduced? Like, I think we could have chucked the Armore Ore and instead used the Galarica Twigs in its place. I also say the IV Resetter should have been one of the upgrades for the Dojo instead of just standing out in the middle of the ocean for no reason (guess the same can be said of the girl who weaves the Galaric Twigs together). And requiring us finding the Max Honey to get Gigantamax Urshifu just feels like unneeded padding. Finally, cut the cuff and just have it so when we give the girl the Galarica Twigs it's implied she weaves it into a wristband that Slowpoke suddenly feels like fishing with and evolves right then and there.
Walking Pokemon Only Zone:
Awesome they brought back walking Pokemon! But why can we only walk them on the Isle of Armor? At the very least let us do it in the mainland Wild Area if you're not going to let us do it on Routes and in Towns/Cities (even though NPC trainers are allowed to have their Pokemon out).
Four Apricorns For One Poke Ball:
While I like Apricorns are back, I feel the way they used them robbed them what made them unique. I at the very least liked the idea we give this Poke Ball maker this strange fruit which they then make into a certain kind of Poke Ball, it's a neat concept and if they wanted a way to expand on the idea they could maybe have you fuse two Apricorns together to make a new kind of Poke Ball. But no, instead you now get a whole batch for the purpose of giving the Cram-O-Matic four at a time and it'll give you a Poke Ball. And it's not guaranteed to be the associated Apricorn Poke Ball, there's only a chance of it though you may instead get a Poke Ball you can buy from a shop. Now you also have a chance of getting a Safari and Dream Ball which is neat, but don't like we have to lose what made the Apricorns unique to do it.
All Bike Ensemble:
Finally, I'm disappointed the new bikes are all one ensemble instead of letting you mix and match what helmet, shirt, bike, and trail (& sound) effect you use. You let us customize our normal clothes, why not our biking clothes now that there's options to pick from?
Genuinely I think that walking pokemon just is not optimized for anywhere in the main game. Least of all the main wild area. Like it probably wouldn't break anything, its all the same engine and the Wild Area is far more.....mmmmm....simple, we'll be kind and say.
But it very likely was never built with another model constantly following you in mind, plus they probably need to work out pathing kinks. Depending on how their development is set up it also might require larger-than-you-would-think-or-like overhauling to "open up" again and redvelop it. Likely not seen as worth the effort in finetuning and allowing with the time/budget the DLC allows.
& definitely dont think it'd be allowed in the cities which have their own set of design issues.
But it very likely was never built with another model constantly following you in mind, plus they probably need to work out pathing kinks. Depending on how their development is set up it also might require larger-than-you-would-think-or-like overhauling to "open up" again and redvelop it. Likely not seen as worth the effort in finetuning and allowing with the time/budget the DLC allows.
& definitely dont think it'd be allowed in the cities which have their own set of design issues.
The problem with Misty Explosion isn't its distribution. It's not near-universal like the other three terrain moves, but it's still decent, especially considering Fairy is a somewhat rare type. The problem with Misty Explosion is that the move is awful. 100 base power with the possibility of 150 given a niche condition is not worth getting instantly KOed. For comparison, Explosion and Self-Destruct are 250 and 200 for the same cost, while Mind Blown and Steel Beam are 150 and 140 for half the cost.
To be fair, I have seen some Hatterene run it in Battle Stadium Singles as use on a suicide Trick Room team. After setting up Trick Room, Hat can use Misty Explosion should it want to get a teammate in to take advantage of Trick Room.
I imagine those same Hats used to run Healing Wish in its place. When dying is the desired outcome and not a costly drawback, it doesn't really matter what else the move does.
Sorry if my words was confusing, when I said "at the very least give the new one you did make a wider distribution instead of a Signature Move" I wasn't talking about Misty Explosion I was talking about Spirit Break. It's the only new Physical Fairy-type move and it looks like a nice standard move any Physical Fairy wouldn't mind using... BUT only the Impidimp family learns it!
It's only Grimsnarl. The two prior stages don't learn it.