Pokémon Let's Go! - Pikachu and Eevee

[Worldie]

Yeah the wild encounters being on the OW is a legit good change that I hope (but absolutely wont because gamefreak) carries forward

I have hopes (I am trying to stop using the word "expectations" cause that's something GF always fails to meet when I say it) that they intentionally release PLG essentially 10 months sooner than gen 8 specifically as a testing ground for features like this one and to see if they are well received or not.

....hopefully.

 

[Tapu Koko Loko]

I have hopes (I am trying to stop using the word "expectations" cause that's something GF always fails to meet when I say it) that they intentionally release PLG essentially 10 months sooner than gen 8 specifically as a testing ground for features like this one and to see if they are well received or not.

....hopefully.

I'm surprisingly okay with others paying 55€ to beta-test the demo for the G8 games

 

[R_N]

I have hopes (I am trying to stop using the word "expectations" cause that's something GF always fails to meet when I say it) that they intentionally release PLG essentially 10 months sooner than gen 8 specifically as a testing ground for features like this one and to see if they are well received or not.

....hopefully.

consider the fact that ORAS did not have trainer customization because it was considered more of a kalos thing

now also consider how they're presenting Lets Go as a simple, casual affair. It is very easy to see them considering the wild pokemon thing as a concession for making it more casual, like the lack of battles, and to link back to the Go concept (walkign around, finding Pokemon just sitting out there). I can also see the following pokemon being the exact same thing.

if it comes back at all it will be gen nine

 

[Codraroll]

I have hopes (I am trying to stop using the word "expectations" cause that's something GF always fails to meet when I say it) that they intentionally release PLG essentially 10 months sooner than gen 8 specifically as a testing ground for features like this one and to see if they are well received or not.

....hopefully.

10 months isn't really that much in the game development world, though. Consider that the Gen 8 games have to be translated, bugtested, manufactured, and distributed in time for the release, which would eat up a lot of those 10 months, and you'd have things like "feature freeze" and "code freeze" long before then as well. They would really only have time to take into account feedback from initial reviews from LGPE, and change non-consequential things in Gen 8, before those games would leave their hands and enter production.

That being said, I find it plausible that these games serve as a testing ground for a lot of features that will be in Gen 8. Possibly the graphics engine (a moment of silence for the hope of a Switchmons game with BotW-level graphics), animations, in-engine design tools (such as the ones used for area design or character designs), and a lot of under-the-hood features. It would be silly to code two games of the same series for the same console at the same time and not re-use whatever code they can for both games.

They would have had time to take SM/USUM feedback into account when creating the Gen 8 games, though. Defenestrating the guy who came up with the Rotom dex, for instance. But since they only ever listen to the Japanese market, and Japanese Pokémon fandom interacts very little with the anglophone one (do we even have a single Japanese regular poster on OI, or even on Smogon?), I don't think the concerns voiced in here will ever be taken into account. As long as Gen 8 isn't as awfully by-the-numbers as Gen VII was, I'll be happy.

 

[Karxrida]

I read that GF won't be using any features from Let's Go in Gen VIII at all, so don't get your hopes up.

 

[Siggu]

Which is why a "inbetween" solution is likely best: in my opinion for example, if they keep the "wild pokemon actually show on overworld and you have to run into them to trigger the fight" similarly to how it works in Persona games or other JRPGs, now that'd be pretty neat.

Even then it needs a tweak or two - it can't be that, with enough preparations, facing a wild legendary Pokemon is reduced to 30 o 40 turns of throwing Ultra Balls or Dusk Balls because there is neither a threat nor a RNG that rewards those preparations.

I read that GF won't be using any features from Let's Go in Gen VIII at all, so don't get your hopes up.

If this is true, then I hope it's just that they want to see if they are met with good reception before adding them.

 

[Pikachu315111]

-harder difficulty
-extra regions
-hundreds of new pokemon
-leader rematches
-rematches, in general
-more fleshed out story
-less story (some people want like none)
-open world nature
-skippable cutscenes
-anything more than a battle tower in the post game as battle facilities

- If they do implement difficulty it'll probably be on the level of B2W2 where they slightly increase levels, add an extra Pokemon to important NPC's party, and give their ace Pokemon an item which most of the time would be a berry. If you're expecting anything more than that from an increased difficulty level you're dreaming.
- Not unless its a Kanto/Johto game are there going to be more than one region. However I wouldn't mind if they had more than one place that was reserved for post game like what they did in Gen V (maybe not to the same extent, though maybe having these blocked off locations to give the player a reason to explore the entire region in the post game to see what has changed/they can now access).
- At this point I'd rather the new Pokemon focus on quality than quantity. Don't need over a hundred new Pokemon, just a nice handful that are tightly designed which seems to be what they've been trying to go for.
- Never forget, ORAS map showing you the Hoenn Gym Leaders as rematchable when infact they aren't...
- Eh, while it would be nice to be able to rechallenge trainers we've challenged would just like a place you could grind, trainer battles are just the easiest thing to go to due to the increased experience you get. Otherwise you'd probably be spending most of your post game time at the Battle Tower expy. That all said, wouldn't also mind a location like the Black Tower/White Treehollow.
- For story, I'm not asking for something on Final Fantasy level. I'm just asking for a narrative where I feel like my actions have importance other than forcing the story along, my character actually matters other than just being a strong arm. That's why I feel BW's story is much stronger than B2W2 or Gen VII's story, cause BW your character was presented as the opposite of N's thus heavily involving you in the story while B2W2 and Gen VII's story was more moved along by another character you were close too and you just being their strong arm.
- I think those who are asking for "less story" are more asking for a streamlined story. As in they don't want to sit down and watch minutes long cutscenes, they want to get to the point where they rush in and battle to victory. There's a way to have both a complex and streamlined story, where how much of the story you get depends whether you look for it. Of course, if GF is going to put a story into a game thy damn well want you to see it so that's not an option to them.
- The reason we'll probably never have an open world like we'd want is because, aside being a lot of work, they're afraid if its too open ended kids wouldn't know where to start/go next without something specifically guiding them to their next destination. Now there's a way to have a guided course in an open world game, but once again that'll take work and if they're going to plan out a guided path they'd want you to use it.
- No skipping cutscenes, what if a kid skips them and not know what's going on in the story? Perish the thought.
- Honestly they can stick with the Battle Tower expy, just expand upon what the Battle Tower expy offers.

Now I know what the point of this post was and I agree, you probably shouldn't raise your hopes that high that everything you ever wanted would be in Gen VIII . That said, it's also not bad to keep in mind that there is ways all this can be done in a way it'll please a majority of players, a way that honestly GF should be perfectly capable of being the company that makes one of the most popular game series...

• Have Dojo dude give you tyrogue as reward
• Have other Dojo dude offer to teach your mons Mega Kick, Mega Punch and Rapid Spin
• Remember to allow tyrogue to learn these moves in case he's a stupid barren movepool no TMs allowed critter
• Tyrogue evolves starting lv 20 depending on which of these three moves is leading

This would entail having a new NPC tutor each game. But who's counting. Besides, rapid spin tutor would be a nice apology for having us fuck around EVs for nearly two decades

Actually, yeah, having Tyrogue evolve based on moves known makes a ton more sense then balancing the Attack and Defense stat.

Which is why a "inbetween" solution is likely best: in my opinion for example, if they keep the "wild pokemon actually show on overworld and you have to run into them to trigger the fight" similarly to how it works in Persona games or other JRPGs, now that'd be pretty neat.

That's what I was thinking. Keep the wild encounter locations but have the previous phenomenons (shaking grass, dust clouds, splashing water) be how wild encounters are engaged. Have ways to increase phenomenon appearances so it's not a grind to find wild Pokemon.

Btw, doesn't the new male MC look a whole lot like Ash from the Everyone's Story movie? Maybe the new exclusive pokemon will be shown in the movie?

That's because Ash is based on Red.

 

[Karxrida]

- No skipping cutscenes, what if a kid skips them and not know what's going on in the story? Perish the thought.

Then do what Kingdom Hearts does and add a pause menu asking if you want to skip the cutscene you're watching. They can even put in a recap journal. It's not that hard of a problem to fix.

Also, the fucking internet exists.

 

[R_N]

Then do what Kingdom Hearts does and add a pause menu asking if you want to skip the cutscene you're watching. They can even put in a recap journal. It's not that hard of a problem to fix.

Also, the fucking internet exists.

I don't think gamefreak has ever acknowledged the unskippable cutscene issue. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if this was their nonsensical answer, but in fairness we don't know why. Maybe it's technical incompetence?!

 

[Worldie]

I don't think gamefreak has ever acknowledged the unskippable cutscene issue. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if this was their nonsensical answer, but in fairness we don't know why. Maybe it's technical incompetence?!

Honestly it took even Final Fantasy series all the way to FF13 to get Skippable cutscenes in a game that had *way more* story events and that people have actually been "speed"running even at charity events for years...

Maybe in a few more gens... :P

That's what I was thinking. Keep the wild encounter locations but have the previous phenomenons (shaking grass, dust clouds, splashing water) be how wild encounters are engaged. Have ways to increase phenomenon appearances so it's not a grind to find wild Pokemon.

Interestingly enough, some parts of SM/USUM have this. Who knows...

 

[Its_A_Random]

RE Skippable Cutscenes: Honestly if Game Freak are too worried about people missing out on plot-critical info from cutscenes or character placements and such as to their "excuse" for not having cutscenes skipped, it would honestly be not a bad idea to introduce a "Fast-Forward" button which has shown up in some other games. Press a button when dialogue starts, and the game does all the mashing for you and goes at an increased speed. Really simple enough QoL change to implement and allows them to keep doing what they have been doing while giving the player a chance to just put down the controller and not have to mash through dialogue. Not to mention a player can just press the button again if they want to stop fast forwarding through dialogue for whatever reason.

Pokémon would benefit so much from something like a "Fast-Forward" from a replayability standpoint (a strength of most Pokémon games) and should be really easy to implement. Which is exactly why it will never happen because... yeah, you know.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Then do what Kingdom Hearts does and add a pause menu asking if you want to skip the cutscene you're watching. They can even put in a recap journal. It's not that hard of a problem to fix.

Also, the fucking internet exists.

Note, I do want skippable cutscenes too.

As for ways to implement them, that doesn't matter sadly. GF doesn't want you to skip cutscenes. They made them, you're going to watch them, even if the cutscene is completely superfluous. They want to make sure you know what's going on (if you're paying attention), they don't want to "risk" the chance of a first time player accidentally skipping the cutscene. A cutscene they went out of their way to include so GF wonders why you'd want to skip it in the first place. Just like the catching a Pokemon tutorial, don't matter if this is going to be the 8th game in the series and the basic mechanic doesn't change, this could be someone's first Pokemon game and they want to make sure those people understand so EVERYONE must go through it. GF seems to be very "all or nothing" on somethings, rarely are you given an option to do something or not (like wanting to participate in a Battle Royal exhibition match).

And hahaha! The internet. A foreign concept as far as GF is concerned, at least in the ways players use it. To GF the internet exists for their convenience. What better way to demonstrate this idea than the topic of this very thread! Instead of streaming the announcement of Quest, Let's Go, and Gen VIII coming in 2018, they held a private press conference (where they showed a video they made) while the rest of the world had to be updated VIA TWITTER. Yes, their official twitters did release trailers and they did release the whole conference on Youtube, but for at least a day players around the world were scrambling to gather information spewed out across twitter about what happened in the conference as well as the info they were posting on Twitter. It was an absolute mess. Compare that to how Bethesda recently had a stream to announce Fallout '78. Yes, the stream was a bit of a troll as you spent most of it watching a Vault Boy bobblehead and a "stay tuned" screen, but at the very least when they finally did the announcement it was streamed to everyone with an internet connection. Meanwhile GF still makes information exclusivity deals with Japanese magazines when a new game is coming out instead of just posting these new announcements on their website that everyone can see.

But it doesn't stop there, GF doesn't seem to want to believe players use the internet to help play their games. That doesn't stop them from putting cryptic stuff into their game, it just means they honestly think players will discover it on their own (and probably then pass it word to mouth). But when it comes to players dumping the roms and discovering things like Event Pokemon and unused mechanics they pretend that, no, those don't exist, only what you are presented by GF exist. It makes me really curious what GF thinks about the recent discovery of the Spaceworld's Gold & Silver demo and discovery of all the beta Pokemon in it. Like, if I was GF, I'd would immediately be capitalizing on it. I'd plan a stream where you have several of the veteran staff who worked on Gold & Silver actually go through the beta Pokemon (both the ones that didn't make it or tossed out designs) and just talk about them and why they weren't included/changed (maybe even start early hype for Gen VIII by suggesting that newfound interest in these Pokemon might have GF give them a second look). But, no, I can actually see GF thinking this being some kind of PR disaster and going to pretend it didn't happen by never mentioning it.

Suspicious Derivative:
Eevee Cap: I can understand them having Eevee on your head instead of shoulder like Pikachu. Pikachu is mainly bipedal so it's more holding onto your shoulder. However is a quadruped and would probably look awkward for it to be hanging over your shoulder so instead it's on your head. Would be neat if they gave you the option whether it rode on your head or shoulder (and you can choose which shoulder), but I don't think we're suppose to be thinking beyond "OMG That's so cute!".
Model Trainer: Since these are "spin offs", I think the overworld model of the full grown chibi is going to be the constant model so no Gen VI's chibi overworld/full model in battle thing.
Scale Back: That's a good question, how much has been scaled back? With this game connecting to Pokemon GO, I'm heavily leaning on many of the mechanics having been adjusted to match GO's. Movepools will be limited (and you may only get two to choose from), though you might be able to change them which would be a major thing. I don't think you gotta worry about only Gen I moves, that's probably for trailer sake and too many useful moves have been release in later gens to exclude them. That said, there will be no physical/special split since GO only has four stats: HP, Attack, Defense, and CP (thus the simplifying of IVs & EVs, also probably no Natures). Same deal with typings, so Magnemite family would be still part Steel and Clefairy family, Jigglypuff family, & Mr. Mime being part Fairy-type. With that in mind, could be the reason they're allowing some Alolan Pokemon is just so they can have some Dark-types (Alolan Rattata, Meowth, & Grimer family). But if they're not going to have the evos introduced in Gen II and beyond no way they're going to have Mega Evos or Z-Moves. Because I have a feeling there's not really going to be a competitive element to this game. If you want traditional Pokemon competitive play USUM now and wait for the new games in 2019, if you want competitive with these mechanics get Pokemon GO which this game can connect to.
New Pokemon: It was announced as an all new Pokemon, though that could just as very well also mean a new forme. Still, probably some hype building for Gen VIII.
More Content: Here's the thing, if they're charging a full 60 bucks for this, they kind of have to add more content (especially with them simplifying things so much). Okay, they don't HAVE TO, but they should. It's a coin flip at this point. Though I think adding a Battle Tower-like location is at this point required. Because this is their chance to really rebuild Kanto from scratch, plenty of opportunity to add in more things. And being this is going to be Pokemon's debut on the Switch, they should come out swinging and going "and if you think this is a lot, wait till you see what we have planned for Gen VIII"!

I'm going to say this: If you're done with Gen I pandering and/or have no interest in Pokemon GO, these games aren't for you. But that's alright, the Gen VIII games are coming. It's for those who don't mind the pandering (or haven't ever been exposed to Gen I stuff) and/or likes Pokemon GO; these games aren't going to hurt the franchise, just expand/branch it. Or bridge it, not only getting main series players a chance to experience and maybe decide to try out GO but also draw in the GO players to the main series games just in time for Gen VIII.

I read that GF won't be using any features from Let's Go in Gen VIII at all, so don't get your hopes up.

Wouldn't be surprised, they don't even keep popular mechanics from past generations in the main series. *sigh*

Interestingly enough, some parts of SM/USUM have this. Who knows...

I know, them and Gen V's use of them is what I was exactly thinking of.

 

[R_N]

Honestly it took even Final Fantasy series all the way to FF13 to get Skippable cutscenes in a game that had *way more* story events and that people have actually been "speed"running even at charity events for years...

Maybe in a few more gens... :P

Square falls entirely in the "technical incompetence" category
they can make very pretty games but oh wow, geeze, your game crashes if an audio file doesnt match the lip synch in your cutscenes, huh?

 

[Pikachu315111]

Okay, I read up on some information regarding Let's Go!:

1. Pokemon sent to Let's Go! from GO is one way. Like with Gen V's Entralink, Pokemon from GO are sent to a location in the game called the "GO Park" where you capture them. Once sent to the GO Park they cannot be sent back to GO.

My Thoughts

Well, it puts my foot in my mouth. I suspected everything would be simplified to match GO's mechanics, but with it being a one way transfer they can have the normal Pokemon mechanics. Now, due to them putting a heavy emphasis on simplifying things and you can transfer Pokemon from GO, I still question if they'll have EVs, IVs, Natures, or Abilities:

EVs: Easy enough, they can just be set to 0. Because of that they would be the easiest to include, as well as allow trainer Pokemon to be stronger than wild Pokemon which is their main purpose.
IVs: Now Pokemon GO sort of has IVs, but they're only for HP, Attack, and Defense and go from 0 to 15. I can suggest all sorts of ways they could make it work (though how'd they do Speed I'm not quite sure), honestly if they want to simplify things than I'd suggest dropping IVs. Since you can't send the Pokemon back to go it doesn't matter if it loses its IVs. If they don't want to have those IVs go to waste turn them into EVs.
Natures: Now they could pull a Poke Transporter and use a GO Pokemon's CP to determine what Nature it'll have so you'd have some control on what it gets. Of course, that could risk the GO Pokemon you want to send not having the right Nature with no easy way to adjust it. Because of that, they may as well drop Natures.
Abilities: Once again, they could pull a Poke Transporter and have GO Pokemon have their Hidden Abilities while ingame Pokemon only access to their normal Abilities. But, once again, if the GO Pokemon is a species with a Hidden Ability that's "worse" than their normal Ability you may not want that species coming from GO. Also, if it doesn't have a Hidden Ability and two normal Abilities, it'll be random choice like normal which risk it getting the unwanted Ability (unless they let you use CP to alter the odds). So, either they completely drop Nature or maybe just have all Pokemon only have one "ideal" Ability so it's not a problem.
Level: GO sort of has a level system with the Power Up mechanic which level goes up to 80. But, Power Up levels have nothing to do with the Pokemon evolving. So what to do? Do you base the Pokemon's Level on its evolution stage? On its Power Up level? What if the Power Up level is lower than the Level that Pokemon normally evolves at? Do you just let it be a low Level oddity or, if the Power Up level is below the evolution Level, you bump up the Level so it make sense. And they can't get rid of Levels, this is an issue that has to be addressed.

Overall, if they want Let's Go to have any of the normal mechanics from the main series games, it's going to be a mess which may result you not wanting to send a Pokemon over from GO (which makes me wonder if it maybe won't be easier to just go with the GO mechanics; you can see wild Pokemon still have a CP). And, since its a one way trip, would you even want to send your best Pokemon over? What Pokemon are they expecting you to send over to Let's Go knowing it's a one way trip. Aside from maybe getting some Pokemon easier, though unless you put in some effort that just means any Pokemon you sent fro GO would be Dex fodder.

But this does have bigger implication. They now can have the six traditional stats (though they would have to redo how CP is calculated) and give a Pokemon its normal movepool, both level-up and TMs/HMs. Doing this would make the game feel closer to the core series, and if the idea is to bridge the gap between maybe they would want to do a sort of hybrid.

2. In addition to the PC, you can also use your Bag to check on and switch Pokemon anywhere.

My Thoughts

Well, that very much sounds like Pokemon GO. But, what's the point of the PC then? Heck, what's the point of the Pokemon Center unless a Pokemon isn't healed when sent to the PC (and does that mean to heal the injured Pokemon in the PC you gotta rotate the entire team until everyone is healed or would their be an option to heal all your Pokemon). Also that certainly makes battles easier when on a route or exploring a forest/cave/building, if a Pokemon gets too tired just switch them out on the spot. It's not likely you'll ever wipe thus removing all difficulty.

Then again, we're never told exactly how the party works. We've only seen two Pokemon ever with the player: your starter Pikachu or Eevee, and then a following/riding Pokemon. So, maybe in exchange for having any Pokemon at your fingertip when a battle starts you only have two Pokemon on you: your Starter and an extra Pokemon. That would be a good reason for having that 2-player mode, especially if they allow opposing trainers to have more than two Pokemon putting you at a disadvantage (especially with one of your Pokemon being a basic stage).

3. Let's Go will have online battles and trade which requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. However it'll lack a GTS, Battle Spot, and Wonder Trade.

My Thoughts

Okay, Wonder Trade isn't a big deal but no GTS or Battle Spot? Yet they're going to have online battles and trades? So, are we going to need Friend Codes or are they going to have a completely different system. And if they are, why not just have a GTS and Battle Spot (even if it doesn't have all the features you can still reuse the name). To me this does really hint they're not planning on having a competitive community for this game, it's more meant to be an experience. But if that's so, and unless they tell us some new features that gets me interested, I'm not really feeling these games if its just going to be Gen I with GO mechanics with none of the core series features which would make this idea interesting.

 

[R_N]

Okay, I read up on some information regarding Let's Go!:
3. Let's Go will have online battles and trade which requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. However it'll lack a GTS, Battle Spot, and Wonder Trade.

My Thoughts

Okay, Wonder Trade isn't a big deal but no GTS or Battle Spot? Yet they're going to have online battles and trades? So, are we going to need Friend Codes or are they going to have a completely different system. And if they are, why not just have a GTS and Battle Spot (even if it doesn't have all the features you can still reuse the name). To me this does really hint they're not planning on having a competitive community for this game, it's more meant to be an experience. But if that's so, and unless they tell us some new features that gets me interested, I'm not really feeling these games if its just going to be Gen I with GO mechanics with none of the core series features which would make this idea interesting.

There will probably be an online hub where you can talk with, at minimum, your switchs friends list. And then from there, go into a trade or battle.
Which is...what happens in the mainline games anyway. You don't need GTS & Battle Spot to trade & battle, after all.


That said it is preeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttyyyyyy dumb to get rid of wonder trade, of all things. Like GTS sure whatever, no big loss. And if we're going for a casual experience, then removing the ranked mode makes sense.
But wonder trade being gone is like???? Everyone loved that mode and it is extraordinarily simple.
Like even if this game litearlly only had the 151 + alolan forms + the "special pokemon" in its code, they could have just set up a separate server for it.

 

[Zowayix]

Sure hope LGP/E's news cycle won't be as dry as USUM's was. Who am I kidding, though.

Memory refresher:

- June 6, 2017: Existence of game, screenshots of Dusk Mane Necrozma and Dawn Wings Necrozma
- E3 2017: nothing
- June 2017 CoroCoro: Partner Cap Pikachu (that's it)
- July 2017 CoroCoro: nothing
- August 2017 CoroCoro: Lycanroc Dusk Forme
- September 2017: Finally some substantial news (Splintered Stormshards, Blacephalon, Stakataka)

Since we have no new forms to expect this time, I'm expecting little to no new info until three months from now. It's gonna be a wait.

 

[R_N]

Sure hope LGP/E's news cycle won't be as dry as USUM's was. Who am I kidding, though.

Memory refresher:

- June 6, 2017: Existence of game, screenshots of Dusk Mane Necrozma and Dawn Wings Necrozma
- E3 2017: nothing
- June 2017 CoroCoro: Partner Cap Pikachu (that's it)
- July 2017 CoroCoro: nothing
- August 2017 CoroCoro: Lycanroc Dusk Forme
- September 2017: Finally some substantial news (Splintered Stormshards, Blacephalon, Stakataka)

Since we have no new forms to expect this time, I'm expecting little to no new info until three months from now. It's gonna be a wait.

in fairness, we know signicantly more about LG now than we did USUM for MONTHS
we have:
-more footage
-more features
-more details on most of those features
-even a tease for a new pokemon

I actually wonder if it might be at e3 this year, this seems like an easy game to show off during the treehouse.

 

[DreamPrince]

in fairness, we know signicantly more about LG now than we did USUM for MONTHS
we have:
-more footage
-more features
-more details on most of those features
-even a tease for a new pokemon

I actually wonder if it might be at e3 this year, this seems like an easy game to show off during the treehouse.

Doesn’t the leaks for E3 say it does?

 

[Sulfurian]

in fairness, we know signicantly more about LG now than we did USUM for MONTHS
we have:
-more footage
-more features
-more details on most of those features
-even a tease for a new pokemon

I actually wonder if it might be at e3 this year, this seems like an easy game to show off during the treehouse.

Not like USUM had much to show. Dusk Lycanroc captures perfectly what those games really were. I'm still expecting something like the smash 5 teaser, but for the 2019 titles.

We do the whole nostalgic trip of going through all years and all games with the nostalgic theme song and boom, shadows in the backround, and maybe a mega stone pops up.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I also decided to take a close examination of the trailer. Most of my comments are trying to figure which location is being shown, though I will make some observations which I'll color red for convenience:

0:26-0:28: Professor Oak's Lab?
0:28: Pallet Town, there's even the "Technology is Amazing!" guy.
0:28-0:29: Route 1 most likely. It has set pieces from it, but it's not exact.
0:29-0:30: I don't recognize the town/city, though if the trainer went through Pallet Town and Route 1 the most logical thought would be Viridian City. Eitherway, I think it's clear that some redesigning of the routes and towns/cities have been done. It's Fuchsia City.
0:32-0:33: Once again, in Oak's Lab meeting the Starter. Combining it with the previous one this "bonding moment" happens first and then it jumps on your shoulder/head as you get ready to head out into the world.
0:34: Pewter City.
0:35: Viridian Forest? If this is the very beginning of it, the bottom right corner, they removed a patch of grass.
0:35-36: Vermillion City.
0:43-0:44: End of Route 1? It's missing the left end where there's a ledge you can jump down to easily get back to Pallet Town without having to go through the grass. Though, now that Wild Battles are visible, I guess there's no need for such a shortcut so they can actually shrink down Route 1. Though I can see some long time fans considering that a bit sacrilegious. False alarm, it's Route 2.
0:47: I wonder what the "Help" option does. Is that how you can get a friend to enter the battle and help with a double Poke Ball throw?
0:51-54: DRAMATIC CAMERA PULL-IN!
1:04-1:09: End of Route 3 and entrance into Mt. Moon.
1:10: Obviously inside Mt. Moon. However something more important happens at this moment: a Pokemon spawns in! Near the ladder you see a Zubat suddenly appear in a puff of smoke. So you don't need to be off screen for spawns to appear, they'll just happen periodically.
1:11: Player 2 doesn't have the "Help" or "Run Away" option. Player 1 still has the "Help" option available even though there's someone playing wih them. Maybe "Help" will let you use the Pokedex to examine the Pokemon your catching?
1:19: Do you really need me to tell you that's Route 24's Nugget Bridge?
1:20: Well they kept the names of the trainers consistent between this and FRLG, first trainer on Nugget Bridge is Bug Catcher Cale.
1:21:

• Hey, wait a minute, Cale never had a sole Venonat! In RBY he had a Caterpie and Weedle, FRLG also giving him a Metapod and Kakuna. NOT MY GEN I!
• Okay, joking aside, hey, past Pikachu315111, before you began spouting out about Pokemon only have two moves or how they may have changed the number of Pokemon in the party you probably should HAVE CHECKED THE TRAILER! Because it clearly shows here that the number of Pokemon in your party didn't change from six and you can have up to four moves. Genius research. But, yeah, so since you can access the PC from your bag and switch out anywhere, as well have a friend co-op in a battle using one of your Pokemon, what's the difficulty of the game?

1:35: Route 17? Aka the Cycling Road? But you can't access this place without a bike and can't get off your bike once on here. Unless, since you can ride Pokemon, did they remove the bike?
1:42-1:43: So, the Pokedex looks to now also count how many of a certain species of Pokemon you caught. Also, it looks like different members can have slightly difference in height and weight, the Pokedex showing you the lowest and highest which you caught.
2:16: Catching a Magmar in the Pokemon Mansion... something which can only be done in Blue version. Hmm, that's something to think about, how will they do version exclusives in these games? Will Pikachu have the Red exclusives and Eevee the Blue (or vice versa)? Will they have a unique list of exclusives? Would be interesting if Pikachu kept the Yellow exclusives while Eevee then got the Pokemon which were left out of Yellow.
2:19: So, exactly what is the requirement for riding a Pokemon? Okay, one is it has to be big enough to carry you, but is there a limited list of such Pokemon, like it has to be on the Pokemon's back? Also, when it comes to flying Pokemon what's the rules? Do you still need to stay on the route but are allowed to fly anywhere? What about landing? Cause in RBY, you get Fly before Surf, so unless they change that this kind of makes Surf pointless aside for Pokemon encounters.
2:20: End of Route 17. How do I know? Outside the Pokemon Mansion, the only place to catch a Ponyta is in Yellow on Route 17. And yeah, looks like they completely changed Cycling Road as there's now a Picnicker standing by the end.
2:21: Underground Path from Route 5-6. Cute idea having the parallel red and blue stripes so players can have races against each other.
2:22: More of the new Route 17? Route 14. Well, something else caught my eye here: two trainers standing next to each other. Double/Tag Battles?
2:27: Catching a Haunter in Pokemon Tower.
2:28: Look like there will be some kind of Pokemon Refresh feature, though will it only be for your Starter or can you do it with all the other Pokemon?
2:29: Pokemon customization, definitely only for your Starter. Cute idea and something I wouldn't mind in the main games. But can you customize your trainer too? Seems rather silly to only customize Pikachu and not give the option to the player, at least giving the same set of clothing so you can match each other.
2:31-2:32: Team Rocket of course and looks like it's in Silph Co..
2:33-2:34: Battling a Fisherman aboard the St. Anne?
2:36: Cloyster using Shell Smash? If so that confirms more than Gen I moves.
2:37: I think that was Seismic Toss being used on a Magikarp.
2:48: More of new Route 17? Though more importantly, blink and you'll miss it but item balls on ground still around.

EDIT: Maybe I should have first looked for a video for also someone pedantic enough to match all the in-game locations:

 

[Hyper Cutter]

Honestly it took even Final Fantasy series all the way to FF13 to get Skippable cutscenes in a game that had *way more* story events and that people have actually been "speed"running even at charity events for years...

FFX-2 was the first one to have skippable cutscenes, iirc.

I mean, the game penalized you slightly for skipping them, but it let you.

 

[Mova]

I hope (but not expect) visible wild encounters will remain in the proper Gen 8, since that's the one thing I like from Let's Go right now.

Despite going back to the hit-or-miss Gen 1 region, I wonder why Mewtwo never got to be a mascot of the box despite being the only major Legend in Kanto.

 

[Siggu]

Despite going back to the hit-or-miss Gen 1 region, I wonder why Mewtwo never got to be a mascot of the box despite being the only major Legend in Kanto.

But then who do you put in the other cover? Mew?

By the way, there's an interview with Masuda explaining a few things about what we know of these games: https://www.eurogamer.net/amp/2018-...-borrowing-from-pokemon-go-and-lets-gos-story

Among other things, he says part of the reason these games are based on Yellow is that they were thinking of those children whose parents played Yellow. Makes me think that's the reason behind co-op.

 

[Pikachu315111]

But then who do you put in the other cover? Mew?

By the way, there's an interview with Masuda explaining a few things about what we know of these games: https://www.eurogamer.net/amp/2018-...-borrowing-from-pokemon-go-and-lets-gos-story

Among other things, he says part of the reason these games are based on Yellow is that they were thinking of those children whose parents played Yellow. Makes me think that's the reason behind co-op.

From my take on the interview there's two reasons for the co-op:

A. So that parents could help their kids. main reason they decided to go with Yellow is because many veteran fans now have kids of their own. By doing Gen I, a game the parents know very well, they can give tips to their kids and join in to help. In addition they think that parents will be catching Pokemon in GO as they're out and about and when they come home they can then transfer those Pokemon to Let's Go for their kids to use.
B. As I've theorized, they want this to be a bridge game. Masuda said one thing that'll make him happy is if Pokemon GO players and the core RPG players can sit down and do co-op together.

Some other things I found notable from the article:

1. This quote:

"But there are also some incentives to move a lot of the same Pokémon from Go - the same species - and there are some sort of mini games you can play if you do that."

Now in Pokemon GO the reason you catch the same species of Pokemon is so you can grind them into exchange them for Candy of their species. The Candy is used to both evolve them and increase their Power Up level. But if these games are following a more traditional route that's not needed so what would all those extra Pokemon be used for? Maybe they'll have a Poke Pelago type place? As for mini-games involving having a lot of Pokemon, there's plenty of ideas with that. Each Pokemon of a certain species you have gives you an extra try at the mini-game for the day, it increases a stat in the mini-game that helps you get further into the mini-game, each one gives you an additional resource or unit to do more tasks, etc..

2. There are version exclusives. Calling it now, Pikachu will have the original Yellow exclusives while Eevee will have the ones Yellow didn't have:
Pikachu: Sandshrew family, Vulpix family, Oddish family, Mankey family, Growlithe family, Bellsprout family, Scyther, Pinsir
Eevee: Weedle family, Ekans family, Meowth family, Koffing family, Jynx, Electabuzz, Magmar

3. If Let's Go sells well it may very well become a continuing side series. Curious how that'll work out for other gens and which Pokemon they'll use.

4. Another reason to do Yellow: to pretty much tell kids who watched the animated series that Brock and Misty were originally Gym Leaders.

5. The Poke Ball Plus has extra things if the Starter Pikachu or Eevee is put in it. Guessing additional sound effects, flashing patterns, maybe an affect when sent back into Let's GO.

6. It's going to have the same story beats as Gen I, so don't expect any major twists. That said, I wonder if they'll have Jessie and James...

 

[Zowayix]

in fairness, we know significantly more about LG now than we did USUM for MONTHS
we have:
-more footage
-more features
-more details on most of those features
-even a tease for a new pokemon

I actually wonder if it might be at e3 this year, this seems like an easy game to show off during the treehouse.

To be on the cynical side, the "only reason" we have more footage is because of the new graphics they want to show off. Going from SM to USUM there's almost no reason to show off graphics for the sake of graphics. To be even more cynical, if they show off more now then they'll have less to show off later (that's a no-win scenario, but I probably wouldn't be so jaded if the first three months of USUM's pre-release cycle hadn't been so bone-dry).

...Actually, this brings a thought to mind. The beginnings of the pre-release cycles for Platinum, B2W2, ORAS, and USUM were all dominated by new forms/new Megas/etc.. The last time we had a remake on the horizon with no new forms to advertise in sight was HGSS. How did that pre-release cycle look?

- 4 months before: Game names, new Sugimori artwork of starters. Footage of player in New Bark Town with Chikorita following (unintentional implication that only starters can follow you). Artwork of new female player character (no name given). Screenshot of new touch screen Start menu. Screenshot of Sprout Tower's eyecatch. Info that the opposite player character supports you. Event screenshot of Shiny Pichu and Spiky-Eared Pichu in Ilex Forest.
- 3 months before: Reveal of Pokewalker. Reveal that Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza are catchable. Event screenshot of Arceus on the Mystri Stage; reveal that the event unlocks a level 1 Dialga/Palkia/Giratina. Reveal of event Draco Meteor Jirachi who unlocks a special Pokewalker area. Reveal that all 493 Pokemon can follow you and not just starters. Reveal of new area west of Cianwood (no details) and that the Global Terminal is in Goldenrod.
- 2 months before: Reveal of Eusine in plot. Screenshots of Pokeathlon.
- 1 month before: Reveal of Yellow Forest and artwork hint at Flying Pikachu. Confirmation of Apricorn Balls. Reveal that Apricorns can be used in the Pokeathlon. Reveal of Berry Pots, identical Battle Frontier, and customizable Safari Zone.
- 0 months before: Reveal that legendary birds are catchable. Reveal of Lyra's name (finally!). Games are leaked three days ahead of street date shortly afterward.