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This will be the official thread going forwards for Pokemon Masters which will be released soon!
Lots to discuss from the trailer, lets have at it!
The region is called Pasio.
Notable Trainers so far:
Gen 1:
Professor Oak
Red - Charizard - Mega Charizard X
Blue - Pidgeot/Blastoise
Brock - Onix - Upgrade: Tyranitar
Misty - Starmie
Erika - Vileplume
Sabrina
Giovanni
Lorelei
Lance - Dragonite
Gen 2:
Silver
Kris
Lyra
Bugsy
Whitney - Miltank
Pryce
Will
Arianna
Archer
Gen 3:
Brandon - Treecko
Wally
Flannery - Torkoal
Norman - Slaking
Winona
Tate & Liza
Steven - Metagross
Gen 4:
Barry - Piplup
Dawn - Piplup
Cheryl
Crasher Wake - Floatzel
Fantina
Candice
Flint - Infernape
Cynthia - Garchomp
Palmer
Thorton - Bronzong
Gen 5:
Hilbert
Hilda
Rosa - Snivy - Serperior
Hugh
Cheren - Stoutland
N - Reshiram
Cress
Cilan
Chili
Elesa - Zebstrika
Skyla - Swanna
Iris - Haxorus
Caitlin - Reuniclus
Grimsley - Liepard
Gen 6:
Calem
Professor Sycamore
Viola
Korrina - Lucario
Wulfic - Avalugg
Siebold
Wikstrom
Diantha - Gardevoir
Gen 7:
Professor Kukui - Lycanroc - Day
Hau
Lillie
Gladion
Lusamine
Sophocles
Mina
Nanu - Alolan Persian
Acerola - Pallosand
Kahili
But Gladion and Lillie and Lusamine all teaming up? Looks like I know what to spend my time on now.
Ahem, anyway, from the brief looks, we seem to befriend the NPC trainers we fought, while we teamed up with some of them too.
There seems to be NPC trainers from various classes, and even exploration to various places and trainer ambushes like in main games.
The battles are in Multi-Triples format (!!). And not only Pokemon, trainers apparently can do their own "special moves" too, whatever that means.
And looks like they retool Z-move too; aside of Kanburi's mentioned Brock "Rock-Solid Rock Slide" (lol), Acerola uses literally almost the same Ghost-Z in-game, Neverending Royal Nightmare. We can probably expect every Alolan type trainers be using variation of their type Z-move, although I wonder how they'll do "masterless Z-Crystall" like Dragon-Z, Ice-Z, Psychic-Z, etc..
It seems like there'll be 4 moves for each character-mon pair, 2 for the mon and 2 for the trainer. I'm still watching about the "move gauge" thing.
On 6:41 of first trailer, Brendan's Treecko has: Bullet Seed,Leaf Storm,Dire Hit (in-game status item), and "No Turning Back" 1/1 (no doubt his special trainer move, and only one use).
Looks like this is like Pokemon GO (but a little wider), you attack with "quick move" while charging your move gauge to unleash your "charged move".
What I do get from this is, this looks like Pokemon version of the many mobage. The combats are similar to a lot of mobage I saw on my little bro's phone when he plays it. I'll just pray what Worldie jynxed below is at least not ending up as bad as those, as many mobages are pretty much living off from Gachas, and we know how evil those things are.
One thing is that cmiiw, LGPE representation characters (aside of the overlapping NPC; LGPE ori-chara being the PC and rival Trace) is missing or I missed them. This is while yes, even Aether family is there, and even Rocket admins are there too (I saw Apollo/Archer?).
I'll echo on "this is what Pokemon Go's PvP should have been".
Though, I am pretty scared that they will end up pulling another Pokemon Quest, and have the game turn into an atrocious pay/grindwall after a while, which is the curse of all mobile games :(
I'll echo on "this is what Pokemon Go's PvP should have been".
Though, I am pretty scared that they will end up pulling another Pokemon Quest, and have the game turn into an atrocious pay/grindwall after a while, which is the curse of all mobile games :(
what kind of nerds use an onix snivy and pikachu vs a vileplume do you even typechart
On a more serious note, I'm curious whether or not the Pokemon can evolve - Rosa having a Serperior in the art but a Snivy in the game makes me think it's possible. If not I'll be interested to see if unevolved mons have worse stats and so Rosa is just unviable.
Hoping for Orre characters but unlikely they'll show up. Would be a nice surprise if they did.
Kind of worried about how much space this game might end up taking though.
Masters is a lot closer to what I hoped PoGo would eventually be with regards to battling with a fun twist of being able to collect iconic figures from the series. Not a huge fan of the TCG type chart, as Worldie pointed out, but I'm hoping that developers and co. find a way to make it balanced + enjoyable for the triples battle system the game seems to be adopting.
I'm curious, what does the text on the wall say at
? I can't see it too well but it seems to be Japanese?
I'm really hyped. The animated trailer was so good!
I personally play other Gacha games anyway, and I don't mind spending money on it.
Strong emphasis on trainers-- the idea of owning a set of trainers with their Pokemon is kind of cool.
I think they have learnt from other Gacha games, that humanoid characters attract the most money.
Also, the scrapped real time battle for Swsh was reincarnated into Pokemon Masters!
(Masuda said in an interview that they tried many times to implement real time battling for Swsh, but ended up scrapping it. However, they would do something about it in spin offs.)
I think this is a good way to test out whether people like real time battles or not, rather than putting it into a main game.
(The community had been very divisive about real time battles when it was rumored that Swsh might have real time battles, so it was not easy to determine the exact percentage of who likes what)
Masters is a lot closer to what I hoped PoGo would eventually be with regards to battling with a fun twist of being able to collect iconic figures from the series. Not a huge fan of the TCG type chart, as Worldie pointed out, but I'm hoping that developers and co. find a way to make it balanced + enjoyable for the triples battle system the game seems to be adopting.
I'm curious, what does the text on the wall say at
? I can't see it too well but it seems to be Japanese?
With all those models and animations, I'd be surprised if it was under 2gb. It'll be tough figuring out which apps to delete :/
What we've seen looks cool and I enjoy the graphics, but my interest in the game will entirely depend on how you recruit new trainers and whether or not that method is super pay-to-win. It sorta sucks they didn't show much actual gameplay in the reveal, as cool as the anime-style trailer was.
It looks really promising for now, but so did Go and the hype died down pretty quickly for that. Is anyone familiar with other DeNA's products to give me hope?
So I'll start by just commenting on the newest Trailer. Comments in Blue are just general comments that for most I'll put in spoiler boxes, while comments in Red is a notable analysis or something I want to point out:
0:18:"Each Trainer wears clothing that matches their region's climate." Climate? Like, sure, I guess that factors into clothing, but the thing is regions have multiple climates from warm locations to cold locations. What more decides the clothing a trainer wears is the culture (or rather the culture of the real world location that region is based upon). And even then sometimes that's not even noticeable. Only reason I can think of them adding in this line is to explain why they have multiple versions of certain Trainer Classes, they're designs from different regions. 0:22: Choosing Erika as the example trainer, wonder if this has to do with her winning the Japanese poll of favorite Kanto Gym Leaders. :P Though this sentence is kind of written oddly: "Looks like she could teach flower arrangement". Looks like, you don't know? Unless flower arranging is a mechanic in the game, it should be a more definite statement like "Erika teaches flower arrangement to the young woman in her".
0:48:Did you guys really need to animate a kid's work desk next to an open window? Seems like a superfluous detail, or something you could have shot in real life since you're just going to zoom into the mobile phone anyway. But animated trailer time! 1:08:Cheren, Misty, & Korrina vs Steven, Cynthia, & Lance. This is going to be a slaughter. 1:12: You're not popular enough to talk, Steven and Lance! Cynthia is top waifu here. 1:54: Okay, so I would like to know how these trios formed? Specifically why Brock would team up with two rookie trainers (I'm assuming Rosa is a rookie here as she has a Snivy). I can sort of see how Barry and Iris would team-up and then join the player, both are hyper active kids (and this looks Iris before she became Champion so sorta still a rookie, albeit one with a fully evolve Haxorus). 1:58:Brock would you return Onix before it accidentally breaks something.
2:16: Ooh, a Porygon phone! Does it work just like the Rotom Phone? Does it have a Porygon inside it that can talk to you?
2:26:And the forest was destroyed! 2:29:Seems like only the female trainers are allowed to be voiced. "What about Cheren?". As I said, female trainers. "Cheren is a guy". SHE IS?! 2:35: Onix, Pikachu & Snivy vs Vileplume, Lotad & Whimsicott. Talk about a difficulty spike. 2:40:Oh wait, Brock just spoke. They must be paying the voice actors by the word with how limited the script is. 2:47: Unless in this game or Sword & Shield you can use a Grass-type move on an ally to remove Leech Seed I'm calling Tauros mulch on that! 2:54:Cheating! 3:00: Of course Pikachu is OP and ignores the Type Chart. 3:03:That's not the Rainbow Badge, RUINED!
3:03:Okay, serious comment, I'm guessing this is how you recruit new trainers: beat them and you're awarded a badge from them. Question is does getting these badges need a special requirement to even get a chance.
3:12:Player Character: And now that I won you belong to me! Toss out those other two useful trainers and join my party. 3:41: Professor Oak you don't battle, that was dummied out. 2:43: Team Stoic Waifu. 3:44: Who allowed Team Rocket to participate?!
3:55:I'm guessing this is the Rival of the game. Interesting he starts with a Rockruff has his partner, that's sort of Kukui's (and Olivia's) Signature Pokemon or at least their evolved forms are. Going to guess Rival gets a Dusk Lycanroc with the other two getting Midday and Midnight, respectively. 3:56: Hello villain team! 3:57:And I guess these three are the Admins? Or the first two are Admins and the last guy is the boss since they focus on him the longest. 4:20: Hint of a super team attack? 4:25:But either way, awesome looking anime! When are episodes going to start airing? 5:19: I like to imagine the pitch from Ken Sugimori went like this: "Would you do something with the human characters? I put in a lot of work drawing them and am getting sick of my work getting tossed aside each generation!" 5:55: Is there a reason Pasio has to be an artificial island? Also Pasio doesn't look like an island. 6:09:Oh yeah, that doesn't scream "trap". I'm sure this tournament is just as legit as Shang Tsung's Mortal Kombat's tournament. It looks like it's even being run by the new villain team... 6:10: I'm liking Red's new look, always felt the Gen VII design was a bit too casual. This one keeps a red jacket while also giving him a nice blue flame pair of pants and hat badge. 6:21: So Sync Pairs is where I can see where a gache element can come in. Sure, in the game you get a Misty with Starmie, but then they have a capsule machine that you can spend coins on to get that Misty who has a Seaking which knows Horn Drill! How do you get coins? Well just put in your credit card information... I can also see this being done with alternate costumes. They looked to have chosen their most popular/recent designs like (Misty is in her Let's Go clothes but Brock is in his HGSS clothes) but if you want Iris's Champion outfit, well, do you have any coins... 6:36: So they have routes you can walk down and route trainers to battle, interesting. Considering the visual style you're probably not walking but you choose the route you want to go down, there's a gauntlet of trainers you battle through, and you get to the location you want to go to. Battles will probably gain you experience to Level Up (and evolve the Pokemon for the trainers who have basic Pokemon like the player characters and Rivals). Since the game wants to focus on you teaming up with notable past characters also going to guess you can't recruit any of the Trainer Classes. 8:23:KRIS! You weren't forgotten to the void! 7:27: Was that Cheryl? So looks like they're also going to include the really additional trainers. Neat! 7:32: Which one of these is not like the other...
Running short on time. Tomorrow I'll respond to other comments, look through the list of trainers shown so far, and maybe provide a list of my own. ;)
Kind of disappointed that the animated trailer took most of the time. We got barley any news; don't even know that its a gacha game. BTW, Serebii mentioned that 65 trainers will be able to be recruited at launch. I'm guessing evolution is in the game, since Rosa starts with a Snivy but art logo features her with a Serperior. I'm really glad the Frontier Brains will be featured- they haven't been forgotten!
Another question is how they are going to plan form changes and distribute Legendary/Mythic Pokemon. One thing Fire Emblem Heroes ( This is game is Pokemon Fire Emblem Heroes ) does for their " Legendary/Mythic " heroes is to release a special banner once a month featuring a legendary character. You'd even have a higher chance of summoning them. Legendary Pokemon could be distributed in a similar fashion.
I'll echo on "this is what Pokemon Go's PvP should have been".
Though, I am pretty scared that they will end up pulling another Pokemon Quest, and have the game turn into an atrocious pay/grindwall after a while, which is the curse of all mobile games :(
I wouldn't worry about that. Nintendo knows when people are taking advantage of money making, and they've made it very clear. Also, GF is very clear that they don't like microtransactions in general. I play FE Heroes and that game is very generous: I've gotten 100+ Orbs without spending a penny.
On an unrelated note, does anyone here think we are getting so many mobile games for Pokemon is because of GF's concern of mobile games taking over children?
Ahem, anyway, from the brief looks, we seem to befriend the NPC trainers we fought, while we teamed up with some of them too.
There seems to be NPC trainers from various classes, and even exploration to various places and trainer ambushes like in main games.
Looks like we only befriend the notable trainers from past games, any of the generic Trainer Classes look to be there to gain experience from and provide back-up for the notable trainers until you can recruit them.
And looks like they retool Z-move too; aside of Kanburi's mentioned Brock "Rock-Solid Rock Slide" (lol), Acerola uses literally almost the same Ghost-Z in-game, Neverending Royal Nightmare. We can probably expect every Alolan type trainers be using variation of their type Z-move, although I wonder how they'll do "masterless Z-Crystall" like Dragon-Z, Ice-Z, Psychic-Z, etc..
Not only that, but some Pokemon go into their Mega forms when they use the Sync Moves such as Korrina's Lucario. Really no different from how Pokken had some Pokemon Mega Evolve when using their super attack, but unlike then at least we see the Mega Evolution and Z-Move mechanic somewhat still exist in these games.
As for the Z-Moves without a "master", well honestly any of the other region trainers which specialize in that Type can use it. Heck, Alola does have a Dragon- and Psychic-type expert, Ryuki and Faba, so it's only the Ice-type missing a trainer to represent it but there's plenty others who can (Loreli, Pryce, Glacia, Candice, Brycen, Wulfric, and Sina (who was in Sun & Moon)). Though, while they could have the Types covered, what about the Pokemon specific Z-Moves:
Pikachu: From what we see the Player Character has a different Sync Move for Pikachu that's not the Z-Moves (Red is using Charizard/MCX and I would be very surprised if they had Ash in the game). Alolan Raichu: Hau is in the game and Alolan Raichu was sort of his second signature Pokemon, first being the Starter. But with the other Rivals having the Starters looks like that might be the case for Hau so no one may have an Alolan Raichu. Eevee: Can't really think of a dedicated normal Eevee trainer unless they add in the Let's Go player characters (which would also give them a chance to use one of the Pikachu Z-Moves). Girl gets Eevee, boy gets Pikachu. Snorlax: Oddly enough, Anabel's Signatue Pokemon seems to be Snorlax. Legendaries/Mythicals: I think we may be able to safely assume Legendaries and Mythicals probably aren't going to play that much of a role in this game, which would make Pyramid King Brandon interesting to see as he only used Legendaries. Alolan Starters: The two player characters and most likely Hau will cover these. Lycanroc: Kukui, Olivia will use the Rock Z-Move. There's also the new Rival, though if the new player character is using a special Sync Move with Pikachu the Rival will have a special Sync Move with their Rockruff too. Mimikyu: So the only trainer who I would think would use Mimikyu would be Acerola but she's using Pallosand so I have no clue for this one. Kommo-o: A snag with my thought Ryuki can use the generic Dragon Z-Move as he would most likely use this one with Kommo-o as his partner. But we have PLENTY of other Dragon-type users so no problem finding someone else.
Though, I am pretty scared that they will end up pulling another Pokemon Quest, and have the game turn into an atrocious pay/grindwall after a while, which is the curse of all mobile games :(
Well in terms of slowing down progression, they could so the Pokemon Shuffle thing where each day you'll only be allowed to go down a certain amount of routes (battle trainers and gain experience), visit certain amount of locations (use a service there and/or have special battles), & recruit a certain amount of trainers each day for free but you can buy additional progress points. If that's the case this game would have a more casual playing feel, play an hour or two each day but if there's something you REALLY want to do you can fork over a few dollars to get right to it.
On a more serious note, I'm curious whether or not the Pokemon can evolve - Rosa having a Serperior in the art but a Snivy in the game makes me think it's possible. If not I'll be interested to see if unevolved mons have worse stats and so Rosa is just unviable.
There needs to be a purpose battling the generic Trainer Classes and the most obvious would be gaining experience. So the player characters and Rivals who have Starters there ya go, they'll evolve as you level-up. Course we do have the problem with Pikachu, it needs to evolve with a Thunder Stone so is it stuck as a Pikachu, will they just make it evolve from level-up, or would they have locations where you can buy needed evolution items.
Speaking of which, that's another big mystery: Is the player character stuck with Pikachu? Would the player character be able to catch other Pokemon and swap them out for ones that match their preference which was a noted theme of the game? And if so that could also open up the recruitable trainers being able to do that with a select few Pokemon, like going back to my Misty example of having her Starmie by default but she could also use a Seaking, Golduck or Gyarados. Or, maybe a Goldeen, Psyduck, and Magikarp and you have to evolve them bringing it back to the evolution topic. Non-player & rival notable NPCs get you one good Signature Pokemon but if you want them to have others gotta catch 'em and evolve 'em.
I guess with you being limited to what Pokemon your partners can have they decided to simplify the Type Chart (though I'd argue Conquest was even more limited yet they included the full Type Chart)? That said, this is a single screenshot so I wouldn't put that much thought into it yet, especially with that "game footage isn't final" stamp on the bottom.
BUT that screenshot could reveal another possibility: you can switch out the original player character out completely. Now for overworld purposes the player character will be present and, if not battling, could be treated as managing the ones who are battling. Though this does make me wonder how they're going to start you out, as in how are they going to give you your first two partners. Are Brock, Rosa, Iris, and Barry "Starter" recruits along with a few others? Would it possibly be randomly generated which two we get (a Gym Leader and a past player character/rival seem to be what you get, Gym Leader to provide instant muscle with the player character/rival to build up along with the original player character).
So now for some things I thought about on my own:
Battle Themes: Another exciting factor about this, could we be getting a LOT of remixes of battle themes for Rivals, Gym Leaders, Elite Four, Champion, Frontier Brains, and Villain Teams (maybe also the generic Trainer battle themes for the special NPCs who don't have their own theme?)? I'm hoping so, though also wouldn't be surprised if they just use an already existing arrangement (or a bit more disappointing thought, all Gym Leaders, Elite Four, Champions, and Frontier Brains have a theme they share within their group and everyone else uses a normal battle theme).
Ages:*Hears waves of massive groans* Yeah, many of you know what I'm about to nitpick about: that despite some trainers like Bugsy, Tate, & Liza being from games in the beginning of the timeline they're still kids standing alongside the Unova, Kalos and especially Alolan trainers who games take place years later down the timeline. Unless this region takes place in a timespace anomaly/alternate dimension like in Dragon Ball Fusions it feels off. Though that's probably only me, wasn't a point in the Pokemon World Tournament.
Ace Pokemon: Now, one of the gimmicks of the game is that each trainer gets one Pokemon. Obviously it'll be their "ace" Pokemon, however for some trainers what Pokemon is considered their "ace" hasn't always been the same Pokemon. For example, Giovanni. He has had Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Rhydon as his "ace" Pokemon. But now for those trainers they're really going to need to decide "this is this trainer's "ace" Pokemon". While nothing big (though for some they may need to change their normal "ace" Pokemon as they would end up having the same Pokemon as another trainer. For example, Juan's ace is Kingdra which is more known for being the ace of Clair), would be interesting to see what certain choices they make.
Trainers I'd Like To See: BEFORE WE BEGIN, I'd like to say I'm not going to list any of the following: Playable Characters, Rivals, Gym Leaders (& Trial Captains), Elite Four (& Kahunas), Champions, & Frontier Brains. It's been made obvious that most if not all of these characters are going to be in the game. I'm going to list those notable trainers that we may not immediately think about but surely many would like to see:
Kanto/Johto: Kiyo (long shot, but he was a prior Gym Leader who had a small but significant story in Gen I and II games), Joey (who better for the Rattata/Raticate trainer? Just give him a more unique design like you did with Red), Eusine Hoenn: Winstrates (at maybe at least Vito, they would need unique designs), Scott (if Professor Oak is getting to battle don't see why Scott can't, he had to test the Frontier Brains out somehow), Aarune, Lisia, Zinnia Sinnoh: Riley, Mira, Buck, Marley (though these might go without saying since Cheryl is in) Unova: Charles (long shot, but that's only natural, he's a heartbreaker), Benga, Christoph, Nancy (two other long shots, but hey they have unique designs so they're already one up above a few others I mentioned), Riches (REALLY long shot, like even if the Winstrates get in it would still be a long shot for the Riches). Kalos: Sina, Dexio, Alexa, Bonnie, Emma, AZ, Inver Alola: Tristan (on a similar level as Joey), Ryuki
BUT these are the obvious choices from the main regions. But how about some non-standard suggestions?
... WHICH I'll go more into tomorrow. Next time I take a look at the possibility for villain teams and characters from all the other side games.
Id like to see Interviewers Gabby and Ty make it in. I thought i was the only ome who remembered them but theyve shown up in cards and even a special in Pokemon Generations. And they ARE thr only class of their kind in Hoenn iirc...
The Shadow Triad and their league of Bisharps could be a nice addition, maybe one of their more signature mons as well like Accelgor or Banette.
Since professors are comming in play, why not Professor Fennel and her Murshana? Put some of that Dream World knowledge on the battlefield!on that note, lets throw in Juniper's dad for kicks as well!
The total number of Gym Leaders alone nearly reach that number so we should be getting an interesting spread of trainers from all sorts of positions from the start.
This could also be where the gacha elements comes in. Those 65 Trainers in the initial games are all yours, you don't really need to spend any money to get them which is pretty generous as it includes a lot of the popular characters. But what's the motto of the Pokemon franchise (or at least used to be for the English side of things)? Gotta catch em' all! And so those later additions will probably be added into the game via gacha methods, released in large groups so they could add rarity levels.
Not only that, they could also throw in alternate "forms" of characters who use a different Pokemon; you get Gym Leader Iris in the initial game but later they add Champion Iris who has a Hydreigon, HGSS Brock is there but coming soon is Let's Go Brock and he has Golem, get B2W2 Elesa with Zebstrike now and get BW Elesa with Emolga later, etc.. And that's not counting if they decide to do any special costumes which aren't in the games (though I swear if they have swimsuit or wedding dress costumes...).
On an unrelated note, does anyone here think we are getting so many mobile games for Pokemon is because of GF's concern of mobile games taking over children?
Possibly, as much as the Switch is advertised for its mobility you still can't just put it in your pocket and mobile phones, especially Japanese ones, are practically now a computer with more power in them then many of the older consoles. GF concerns about mobile gaming isn't unfounded and infact is very much a factor they should consider and a market they should & have expanded into (not only to make make money but also get awareness for the Pokemon franchise out there; in addition they can show Pokemon is much more then just what the core series presents).
Now we did criticize GF on their thought that kids would just drop the Pokemon games because they're long RPGs due to mobile games being games you play for a few minutes (no more how portable they make a Switch, I think even kids would understand that console gaming and mobile gaming has a different experience; if they turn on the Switch they're looking for a more engaging experience then the quick boredom killer they would play a mobile phone game for).
Pokemon Masters is looking like a potential "bridge" game where it has simplified aspects of the core series in a fun way but looks like it'll have as much of a story as the core games (yes, I know that's not that big of a statement). And in doing so they'll show off not only the Pokemon but that the human characters are also colorful and full of personality and if you want more of that, why look, the Switch is releasing the next generation of Pokemon!
BTW I have a feeling that they'll probably not add in any Gen VIII characters into Pokemon Masters for a year or two, maybe not even until they're ready to release the advanced version(s). They have plenty of older characters to work with, keeping the newer characters separate would give Sword & Shield something to offer in addition to newer Pokemon. Play Masters for Brock, Rosa, Iris & Barry then come play Sword & Shield for Hop, Sonia, Leon, Milo and Nessa!
So, what about them villain teams? In addition to Giovanni, who is a Gym Leader so has other justifications for being there, we also see Archer and Ariana are in the game! With the trailer showing the game is going to have its own unique villain team, the inclusion of others is interesting. It would be easier to go through the teams one by one to explain my thoughts:
Rocket: So canonically Team Rocket has disbanded with its executives and all other members having back to their normal lives while trying to hide their past connections. So assuming there's some nod to continuity, why are they back? Well, it does look like certain groups of notable trainers do team up with each other you have to face. And with the reason everyone being there is for a tournament to prove you're the best trainer, a title that Giovanni craves for, I don't think it would be out of the question that Giovanni contacts at least the old executives (Archer, Ariana, Petrel, & Proton) to reform a small Rocket group to help Giovanni win the tournament (and maybe even act as the resurrecting flag for Team Rocket). As a bonus they could even have Jessie & James running around since they're canonical to the games. Though if they do that I hope they maybe add a reason why every Gym Leader, Elite Four, Champion, Frontier Brain, Rival, and Player Character would allow a villain team rise back to power.
Aqua & Magma: Both teams have turned over a new leaf so I see no reason why Archie, Maxie, Shelly, Tabitha, Matt, and Courtney can't participate. They could even use the games as a chance to expand upon what characters have been doing since the last we saw them, like in this case have both teams say they're now working on environmental protection and legally run projects. Both teams would still have their rivalry... BUT it would be more toward how money & resources should be allocated to their environmental protecting interests rather then trying to kill each other & causing the end of the world. They could even use Pasio itself as a topic both teams have an interest in as it's an artificial island (certainly something Maxie would like the idea of, though not sure what Archie would think).
Galactic: Well certainly Cyrus shouldn't be a part of this, he would have no interest in the contest and rather just explore the Distortion World for all eternity. But I can still see Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter maybe joining as a part of Saturn's efforts to turn the image of Galactic around; Mars and Jupiter joining for the fun of it. Not sure if Charon would be a part of it, if he's on Pasio it would probably be for his own reasons and not part of Saturn's group.
Plasma: Now, followers of N I can see participating, but not so sure about Neo Plasma as they're very much criminals. N, Anthea, Concordia, and Rood would have no problem participating if they wanted. However Ghetsis, Zinzolin, and the Shadow Triad I'd imagine there being some issues with. At this point Colress is a free agent so, much like Charon, if he is on Pasio it would be for reasons not connected to Team Plasma.
Flare: This is tricky. First off, Lysandre is buried under the Ultimate Weapon either dead or in a undying state of neverending pain. And aside from Xerosic none of the other Flare scientists really became good, they're still criminals who tried committing global genocide for selfish reasons. Xerosic at least turned himself in to the International Police so he could have a chance of participating under the surveillance of the International Police. Would actually be neat if him, Colress, and Charon formed their own Team Science, I'd think they would get along. And if they do the International Police angle they would also give a reason for Looker to be on Pasio (heck, since it looks like the villain team is running the tournament he should be their regardless, teaming up with Anabel and maybe even bring in Emma/Essentia).
Skull, Aether & Ultra Recon Squad: Well, we already know Lusamine, Lillie, and Gladion are a team so I guess that covers Aether (granted there's also Faba and Wicke, maybe they could team-up with Colress who's in a sort of working relationship with the Aether Foundation). But what about our favorite former Skull bosses, Guzma and Plumeria, surely they wouldn't pass up a tournament like this (though they would need a third member and not sure who that would be since Gladion is with his family; sure they could just have a Skull grunt but they work better in pairs, maybe have Guzma and Plumeria separate but they have pairs of Skull grunts with them). Also we got the Ultra Recon Squad to consider, four members make things a bit messy but they could have it be Dulse, Soliera, and Zossie battling while Phyco is initially acting as a commander (would also give them a chance to actually expand on these characters a bit more).
OR, if there is timespace shenanigans going on, we could also go with the idea they pulled the villain teams from their timeline during their prime so their goals and personalities are as we remember them (and thus can also have Cyrus, Ghetsis, and Lysandre be there).
And next we still got all the side games to go through, though I don't think any of them would be part of the initial 65 trainers so no rush there. Infact, maybe I'm overthinking the villain team thing as they could just introduce problematic villain team members as later additions and just have them not be canon to the story but existing for players to recruit as part of their team.
This could also be where the gacha elements comes in. Those 65 Trainers in the initial games are all yours, you don't really need to spend any money to get them which is pretty generous as it includes a lot of the popular characters
Unless I'm reading this wrong, I wouldn't have that much faith in having that many 'free' characters. Fire Emblem Heroes had ~80 characters at launch but only five were given were given to you outside of the gacha mechanic (and at the time they were the worst characters in the game). I'm sure you'll be given a few characters as you play to fill out your three team slots but most of those characters will be locked behind whatever gacha mechanic there is. Hopefully they'll be generous with currency, especially if it is aimed at a younger audience.
Now, from what we've seen and heard so far, only characters from the core series (and Let's Go) are in the game. However Pokemon has had plenty of side games with equally memorable character so just thought I'd list them off since they could surprise everyone with future updates having some of these side characters:
Probably the first to immediately come to mind, both Colosseum games are full of notable characters. Wes, Rui, Michael, Justy, & Duking would be safe inclusions, but then we come to the villain teams. Now Team Snagem sort of make a heel face turn at the end of XD, or at the very least are keeping to themselves trying to re-build. A lot of the Cipher admins are actually no longer part of Team Cipher and doing their own things. The biggest question is with Nascour, Evice, Ardos, and Greevil. Nascour and Evice were arrested so who knows what happened to them. Greevil sort of does a heel face turn, deciding to disband Snagem with insistence from his son Eldes... but his other son Ardos is still a criminal planning on reviving Team Cipher.
Pokemon Ranger:
Rangers:
* Fiore: Lunick, Solana, Spenser, Joel, Cameron, Elita, Aria *Almia: Kellyn, Kate, Keith, Barlow, Crawford, Luana, Ollie, Elaine, Wendy, Sven *Oblivia: Ben, Summer, Rand Villain Teams:
* Go-Rock Squad: Tiffany, Clyde, Garret, Billy, Gordor *Team Dim Sun: Ice, Lavana, Heath, (Kincaid), Blake/Wyatt Hall * Pokemon Pinchers: Red Eyes, Blue Eyes, (Purple Eyes), Arley, Kasa, Hocus, Edward
The concept of Sync Pairs is actually similar to how each Pokemon Ranger has a partner Pokemon, so they could have Rangers throughout the series make an appearance. There's also villain teams here too, many who have disbanded and their top members now doing their own thing. For members who are still criminals I put their name in parenthesis (Purple Eyes in particular since, due to his blatant evil, Arceus dragged him to a different dimension to deliver its own punishment).
While Battle Revolution wasn't the sequel to the Colosseum games everyone wanted, rather more of a sequel to the Stadium games, it still had a handful of unique characters. Would be a nice surprise to see them in and maybe shed some light on an underrated game.
GO: Candela, Blanche, Spark
I mean, why not? GO is (or was) super popular with people very loyal to their team, why not give everyone a chance to have their team leader part of their Master's team. Would also be cool to see them all battling with each other.
Game Freak/Pokemon Company/Nintendo Staff: Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda, Shigeki Morimoto, Kazumasa Iwao, Shigeru Ohmori, Koji Nishino, Atsuko Nishida, James Turner, Tsunekazu Ishihara, Tomoaki Imakuni, Satoru Iwata, Tatsumi Kimishima, Shigeru Miyamoto, Bill Trinen
Game Freak just loves adding Staff from GF, PC, and Nintendo to their games, why have this one be any different? DeNA could also have some of their staff in the game too if they want.
Kind of disappointed that the animated trailer took most of the time. We got barley any news; don't even know that its a gacha game. BTW, Serebii mentioned that 65 trainers will be able to be recruited at launch. I'm guessing evolution is in the game, since Rosa starts with a Snivy but art logo features her with a Serperior. I'm really glad the Frontier Brains will be featured- they haven't been forgotten!
The total number of Gym Leaders alone nearly reach that number so we should be getting an interesting spread of trainers from all sorts of positions from the start.
This could also be where the gacha elements comes in. Those 65 Trainers in the initial games are all yours, you don't really need to spend any money to get them which is pretty generous as it includes a lot of the popular characters. But what's the motto of the Pokemon franchise (or at least used to be for the English side of things)? Gotta catch em' all! And so those later additions will probably be added into the game via gacha methods, released in large groups so they could add rarity levels.
Unless I'm reading this wrong, I wouldn't have that much faith in having that many 'free' characters. Fire Emblem Heroes had ~80 characters at launch but only five were given were given to you outside of the gacha mechanic (and at the time they were the worst characters in the game). I'm sure you'll be given a few characters as you play to fill out your three team slots but most of those characters will be locked behind whatever gacha mechanic there is. Hopefully they'll be generous with currency, especially if it is aimed at a younger audience.
I play a Star Wars game which will likely have similar mechanics (Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes). You probably get 3 common and 2 "rare" trainers at the start of the game and have to work from there (from your pool of 60+ characters). In GoH, you have to earn Shards for characters to upgrade them. Presumably there will be something similar here (more than likely our ubiquitous XP stamp) which allows your trainers to get more powerful to a point. I hope they don't go down the route of "Bronze Cynthia/Silver Cynthia/Gold Cynthia", where the latter is the most powerful but incredibly rare, as that would be predatory imo. But if you could level up your Bronze Cynthia into the gold one (through probably a large amount of play) I don't really see the issue.
A lot of these games have similar "real world" mechanics, so don't be surprised if its a slightly less cashgrabby version of other stuff we've seen before.
Sorry, but I figured if I said it all now then no one would have to say it later. The additional characters have been mentioned, including those from the side games, so we can now focus on what the game has to offer rather what trainers we'd like to see.
Maybe, even if a notable NPC is in the game, they aren't recruitable yet. Like it would seem a bit overpowered to be able to recruit the Champions at the very start. With each expansion they'll not only include more trainers but also expand the list of trainers that can be recruited. Like using the Champions as an example, maybe at the start we can recruit Lance, but it won't be until the second expansion we can get Steven, the third Cynthia, and so on as by that point the other Champions would have been added.
To be truthful, I never really played any gacha games so I have no idea how they work. And while I am excited for this game, I probably won't actually play it.
This game looks fun, and FINALLY TRIPLE BATTLES ARE BACK IN POKEMON- ahem, where was I? Oh yes. I probably won't play it. I haven't supported anything in 2019 from Pokémon aside from the epic Detective Pikachu movie (Pokémon Cinematic Universe HYPE) and I'm hoping this doesn't get screwed over like Rumble Rush, Pokémon Home, and that's to say nothing of Sword and Shield backlash. Maybe this game will help me look at newer Pokémon content bright again, because if there's two things I like it's Pokémon nostalgia and spinoffs that hopefully aren't pay to play.
To be truthful, I never really played any gacha games so I have no idea how they work. And while I am excited for this game, I probably won't actually play it.
Disclaimer: I've really only played Japanese gacha games, so I can only speak about my experience of them. It could be the same with other games, but I wouldn't know. Masters is developed by a Japanese company but will be available worldwide, so the following may not apply at all.
From the ones I've played since launch, they like to do some kind of campaign beforehand. For example, they may start an official Twitter account, and at various numbers of followers that account has, they'd give out certain rewards upon launch. These rewards can be in-game currency (there are usually two types), rare cards/characters (though usually not the highest rarity ones), in-game items etc. Now, these games I play very likely have less of a following than something like Pokemon, which could have multiple Twitter accounts (maybe one for each region), so this may not apply at all. It would really suck (but not really) if Japan gets these campaigns and other countries don't, though .
As for the gacha itself, there's usually a single roll or a 10+1 roll. What that means is, you can roll once for the price of one roll (let's say 5 stones) or roll 10 times plus one bonus roll for the price of 10 (50 stones). The reward for the highest tier will usually give you enough in-game currency to do the 10+1 roll, so you start off with 11 characters in addition to your beginner ("reward for completing the tutorial") rolls. Whether you use the reward right away for the 10+1 roll is entirely up to you, obviously.
Re-rolling (or リセマラ, short for "reset marathon") is something players like to do, as tedious as it is, until they are satisfied with the results of their first roll. Essentially, if you use the 10+1 roll and only get the mid-tier stuff, or none of the highest rarity stuff, you'll probably want to delete the app, re-download, go through the tutorial again, and roll again. Everyone has different luck and different levels of patience, so when you're satisfied is up to you. Some people might want two starters and don't care about the rest, but might settle for one starter and a bunch of mid-tier stuff.
That's kind of the gist of it at the beginning. You'll probably be able to earn some in-game currency for gacha roll (or expanding Pokemon slots as in Go) by logging in daily, completing daily quests (if they're a thing), and other stuff.
Down the road, maybe once every few weeks, there might be a new series of characters available for gacha. For the purposes of Pokemon, let's just say they are separated into regions. So maybe the first series will be Kanto, then Johto, then Hoenn etc. Or they could do gym leaders, rivals, Elite Four etc. I'm not sure what's going to be available via gacha at the moment. From what it sounds like we're already assuming that characters will be available via gacha rather than gameplay. But maybe some Pokemon themselves will also be obtained via gacha? Perhaps a lot of Pokemon will be obtainable via gameplay, and then some stronger ones via gacha?
(Also, a while ago, developers were forced to list the percentages of each available roll in the app, so players know what they're rolling for. I'm not sure there's a way to enforce the rule or ensure that the listed percentages are indeed the true percentages, but let's just say they are.)
The total number of Gym Leaders alone nearly reach that number so we should be getting an interesting spread of trainers from all sorts of positions from the start.
This could also be where the gacha elements comes in. Those 65 Trainers in the initial games are all yours, you don't really need to spend any money to get them which is pretty generous as it includes a lot of the popular characters. But what's the motto of the Pokemon franchise (or at least used to be for the English side of things)? Gotta catch em' all! And so those later additions will probably be added into the game via gacha methods, released in large groups so they could add rarity levels.
Not only that, they could also throw in alternate "forms" of characters who use a different Pokemon; you get Gym Leader Iris in the initial game but later they add Champion Iris who has a Hydreigon, HGSS Brock is there but coming soon is Let's Go Brock and he has Golem, get B2W2 Elesa with Zebstrike now and get BW Elesa with Emolga later, etc.. And that's not counting if they decide to do any special costumes which aren't in the games (though I swear if they have swimsuit or wedding dress costumes...).
Possibly, as much as the Switch is advertised for its mobility you still can't just put it in your pocket and mobile phones, especially Japanese ones, are practically now a computer with more power in them then many of the older consoles. GF concerns about mobile gaming isn't unfounded and infact is very much a factor they should consider and a market they should & have expanded into (not only to make make money but also get awareness for the Pokemon franchise out there; in addition they can show Pokemon is much more then just what the core series presents).
Now we did criticize GF on their thought that kids would just drop the Pokemon games because they're long RPGs due to mobile games being games you play for a few minutes (no more how portable they make a Switch, I think even kids would understand that console gaming and mobile gaming has a different experience; if they turn on the Switch they're looking for a more engaging experience then the quick boredom killer they would play a mobile phone game for).
Pokemon Masters is looking like a potential "bridge" game where it has simplified aspects of the core series in a fun way but looks like it'll have as much of a story as the core games (yes, I know that's not that big of a statement). And in doing so they'll show off not only the Pokemon but that the human characters are also colorful and full of personality and if you want more of that, why look, the Switch is releasing the next generation of Pokemon!
BTW I have a feeling that they'll probably not add in any Gen VIII characters into Pokemon Masters for a year or two, maybe not even until they're ready to release the advanced version(s). They have plenty of older characters to work with, keeping the newer characters separate would give Sword & Shield something to offer in addition to newer Pokemon. Play Masters for Brock, Rosa, Iris & Barry then come play Sword & Shield for Hop, Sonia, Leon, Milo and Nessa!
So, what about them villain teams? In addition to Giovanni, who is a Gym Leader so has other justifications for being there, we also see Archer and Ariana are in the game! With the trailer showing the game is going to have its own unique villain team, the inclusion of others is interesting. It would be easier to go through the teams one by one to explain my thoughts:
Rocket: So canonically Team Rocket has disbanded with its executives and all other members having back to their normal lives while trying to hide their past connections. So assuming there's some nod to continuity, why are they back? Well, it does look like certain groups of notable trainers do team up with each other you have to face. And with the reason everyone being there is for a tournament to prove you're the best trainer, a title that Giovanni craves for, I don't think it would be out of the question that Giovanni contacts at least the old executives (Archer, Ariana, Petrel, & Proton) to reform a small Rocket group to help Giovanni win the tournament (and maybe even act as the resurrecting flag for Team Rocket). As a bonus they could even have Jessie & James running around since they're canonical to the games. Though if they do that I hope they maybe add a reason why every Gym Leader, Elite Four, Champion, Frontier Brain, Rival, and Player Character would allow a villain team rise back to power.
Aqua & Magma: Both teams have turned over a new leaf so I see no reason why Archie, Maxie, Shelly, Tabitha, Matt, and Courtney can't participate. They could even use the games as a chance to expand upon what characters have been doing since the last we saw them, like in this case have both teams say they're now working on environmental protection and legally run projects. Both teams would still have their rivalry... BUT it would be more toward how money & resources should be allocated to their environmental protecting interests rather then trying to kill each other & causing the end of the world. They could even use Pasio itself as a topic both teams have an interest in as it's an artificial island (certainly something Maxie would like the idea of, though not sure what Archie would think).
Galactic: Well certainly Cyrus shouldn't be a part of this, he would have no interest in the contest and rather just explore the Distortion World for all eternity. But I can still see Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter maybe joining as a part of Saturn's efforts to turn the image of Galactic around; Mars and Jupiter joining for the fun of it. Not sure if Charon would be a part of it, if he's on Pasio it would probably be for his own reasons and not part of Saturn's group.
Plasma: Now, followers of N I can see participating, but not so sure about Neo Plasma as they're very much criminals. N, Anthea, Concordia, and Rood would have no problem participating if they wanted. However Ghetsis, Zinzolin, and the Shadow Triad I'd imagine there being some issues with. At this point Colress is a free agent so, much like Charon, if he is on Pasio it would be for reasons not connected to Team Plasma.
Flare: This is tricky. First off, Lysandre is buried under the Ultimate Weapon either dead or in a undying state of neverending pain. And aside from Xerosic none of the other Flare scientists really became good, they're still criminals who tried committing global genocide for selfish reasons. Xerosic at least turned himself in to the International Police so he could have a chance of participating under the surveillance of the International Police. Would actually be neat if him, Colress, and Charon formed their own Team Science, I'd think they would get along. And if they do the International Police angle they would also give a reason for Looker to be on Pasio (heck, since it looks like the villain team is running the tournament he should be their regardless, teaming up with Anabel and maybe even bring in Emma/Essentia).
Skull, Aether & Ultra Recon Squad: Well, we already know Lusamine, Lillie, and Gladion are a team so I guess that covers Aether (granted there's also Faba and Wicke, maybe they could team-up with Colress who's in a sort of working relationship with the Aether Foundation). But what about our favorite former Skull bosses, Guzma and Plumeria, surely they wouldn't pass up a tournament like this (though they would need a third member and not sure who that would be since Gladion is with his family; sure they could just have a Skull grunt but they work better in pairs, maybe have Guzma and Plumeria separate but they have pairs of Skull grunts with them). Also we got the Ultra Recon Squad to consider, four members make things a bit messy but they could have it be Dulse, Soliera, and Zossie battling while Phyco is initially acting as a commander (would also give them a chance to actually expand on these characters a bit more).
OR, if there is timespace shenanigans going on, we could also go with the idea they pulled the villain teams from their timeline during their prime so their goals and personalities are as we remember them (and thus can also have Cyrus, Ghetsis, and Lysandre be there).
And next we still got all the side games to go through, though I don't think any of them would be part of the initial 65 trainers so no rush there. Infact, maybe I'm overthinking the villain team thing as they could just introduce problematic villain team members as later additions and just have them not be canon to the story but existing for players to recruit as part of their team.
They might use Masters to promote SwSh, or vice versa. Fire Emblem Heroes is currently doing a promotion in which you can link a copy of the upcoming Fire Emblem Three Houses to your Nintendo Account and should you have a Fire Emblem Heroes account linked as well, you can get a free copy of the Male Byleth ( the avatar character/protagonist ) for free. Pokemon could easily do this as well.
As for time lines, in Fire Emblem Heroes, the characters are pulled from their storylines very loosely. For example, Fallen Corrin states she just harmed Azura, which happens in the main storyline of Fates. Since Pokemon already has multiple timelines, they could easily do that as well.
As for time lines, in Fire Emblem Heroes, the characters are pulled from their storylines very loosely. For example, Fallen Corrin states she just harmed Azura, which happens in the main storyline of Fates. Since Pokemon already has multiple timelines, they could easily do that as well.
They've already sorta-done that with USUM's TRR episode where the various leaders are pulled at various moments of their "evil plot" so wouldn't even be a first :P
