Corollary take: All remake OSTs are worse than the original. To varying degrees, granted, but none of them can recapture the essence of the original soundfonts for me.>Werster still calling HGSS good
Pathetic...
All Pokemon remakes suck
It's ok to be single-typed.
As a person who prefer serching explanations to certain choices of design / type rather than being outraged at them, I value coherence over originality, and I don't mind a Pokemon which is single typed if the reason behind it is coherent.
Another example of wasted potential is Galarian Ponyta. It was a Pokemon that was teased prior to release - given that it's a regional form of an existing Pokemon I don't think it's unreasonable to expect something new from it. And it's... Psychic/Fairy. A typing that's been done before and has no connection to the original. I was expecting (or perhaps hoping for) it to be Fire/Fairy and I felt, not unreasonably I think, quite disappointed when that turned out not to be the case.
(...) I've never thought that Gyarados needed to be a Dragon-type, for instance. (...)
To give another example: Mega Glalie always struck me as wasted potential too. It's obviously stronger than base Glalie but it remaining simply pure Ice-typed feels like it's not mechanically adding anything new - and while Glalie itself doesn't have much Dark-type flavour beyond learning a few Dark moves, its Mega was a blank slate so could have been designed with that (or indeed any other type) in mind. Not every Pokemon changes type when they Mega Evolve, but I don't think Mega Glalie stands out in a particularly crowded field so I do think it could have benefited from the extra type. Again, it's moot now but at the time it wasn't an unreasonable immediate reaction to go "aw, why is this single-typed?"
This should be required viewing for every modern Pokemon fan
I mean, I'd argue that Mega Glalie stood out sufficiently... simply because there were so few Physical Ice-types at that point. Refrigerate Return/Double-Edge was about as strong or even stronger than Mamoswine/Weavile's Choice Banded Icicle Crashes without getting locked in. Despite sharing the physical Ice/Ground combo with Mamoswine, it can differentiate itself due to getting Spikes and Refrigerate Explosion. Is that enough to stand out from Weavile, Mamoswine, Alolan Sandslash, and Cloyster? (Kyurem-B and Mega Abomasnow don't really count as physical Ice competition) I'd say yes.
A secondary type wouldn't really change its game plan given that it wants to use Ice/Ground coverage anyways, so it basically only adds a little bit of defensive utility (unless that secondary type is Ground). Not unless that second type is something really off the wall and corresponding coverage moves are given, which is a bit difficult to justify thematically.
I personally don't want more Legends-type games at all. I think Legends was boring, a one and done game for me. Legends gutted so many hallmarks of the series it is practically unrecognizable (downplayed Trainer battles / no rival battles, no linear routes, little to no emphasis on making a balanced team outside the true final boss, obsessively focusing on catching em all when even from RBY on that was always a optional goal (outside of that weird Koga requirement in LGPE))
I'll take Scarlet and Violet's simple, but new storytelling over this any day of the week
Sneaking in the most unpopular opinion of all right at the end haha. I enjoyed PLA but the Noble battles were mechanically awkward and extremely boring.Pretty much the only thing I think Legends did okay to good with were the Noble battles
I've come to appreciate Blue a lot more in recent years, as he's the only rival in the first few generations who actually perseveres with trying to complete the Pokedex (as you'd expect from Professor Oak's grandchild). Not until Trevor in XY (who I'm also quite fond of) was there a rival so dedicated, all the other ones do a dreadful job.
Going back to Blue, I was always intrigued by his line "I assembled teams that could beat any type", as I used to think that meant that he'd literally trained up multiple alternative teams. That's not something the original games really support though obviously he swaps out Pidgeot and Rhydon from his team in FRLG and has a slightly different roster in HGSS, and by SM/USUM he's got multiple different Pokemon in his pool of usable species at the Tree.
- Brendan/May are stated to have already been a trainer for some time prior to meeting them in RSE, but eventually basically concede "you're better than me at both battling and collecting" and go home instead of continuing on. If you complete the Hoenn Dex in Emerald and get your Johto starter, they admit that it's your hard work that's getting them the National Dex.
- Dawn/Lucas straight-up tell you throughout DPP that they're not doing well at filling the Pokedex, and basically end up doing nothing by the end of the game except standing around (in BDSP they seem to be doing a bit better). Even their younger sister says that she wants you to do better than them!
- Neither Cheren or Bianca makes a great success of filling the Pokedex, though they do find success in other areas.
I especially like the addition FRLG made to his arc, as you meet him a couple of times in the Sevii Islands and find that he's still very much focused on completing the Pokedex, fittingly having already received an egg from the Daycare. He's found on Six Island having presumably just caught the Heracross he later uses, but we never learn what was in the egg he got. Could have been a Larvitar but equally he probably caught all manner of species, so maybe not. I guess his eventual declaration that "we can't complete the Pokedex by staying in one place [the Sevii Islands]" marks the point where he decides he'd rather focus on battling, though he does mention that he'll keep "collecting Pokemon at my own pace".
For all his arrogant bluster, he is legitimately really good at filling the Pokedex, since he mentions already having obtained 40 species on the SS Anne and later mentions that he's been looking at the listing to figure out which species evolve. Clever boy. Of all the rivals, he's overall probably the most accomplished: Champion, Gym Leader, battle facility leader, Pokedex completionist. Yeah. He's definitely pretty cool.
I can't speak much for older fans of that time, and I definitely imagine a lot of the older playerbase had that latter sentiment out of resistance to change from what they once knew. Naturally since I was a kid at the time I don't know the full extent what the online fandom was like.
But what I can say as someone who was one of those kids who grew up with Diamond and Pearl (and Gen 4 as a whole) is that DP was incredibly popular back then among us kids. Pokemon saw a new insurgence in popularity at the time with the DS and DP's debut on it, much moreso than what it was like with RS, with the DS's insane popularity at the time Diamond and Pearl were pretty revolutionary back then. Just about everyone around me was playing it, Pokemon was cool among us kids.
I do imagine the older fanbase was probably more critical of it though (DP deservingly so admittedly), and that started the everlasting infinite loop of every Pokemon game getting shit on during its time and then years later when the kids who grew up with it join the internet fandom it gets praised as the greatest time of Pokemon that continues to persist to this day.
For people my age though? DP was the shit. Everyone around my age group was into it. It certainly helped that it was on an immensely popular portable console at the time but the Sinnoh era was quite popular at the time. Much, much moreso than Hoenn previously (Gen 3 is forever that awkward transitional generation in the grand scheme of things).
Take this from my perspective specifically, the perspective of someone who was a kid who started Pokemon with Gen 4 and grew up with Gen 4. Older fans and especially those who were engaged in online fandom back then will have a different perspective ofc.
SV also ties obedience to Badges + Capture level even on your own Pokemon, presumably to avoid someone being able to Steamroll the game by being carried through a high level raid with a local friend or simply wandering out and capturing overpowered Pokemon in the Open World Structure.(I know it’s the speedrun strat, but Scarlet and Violet properly did this by locking the higher-star raids behind the postgame).
I actually think this is the closest they can ever go to have a "level cap" without forcing an actual level cap.SV also ties obedience to Badges + Capture level even on your own Pokemon
For sure.SV also ties obedience to Badges + Capture level even on your own Pokemon, presumably to avoid someone being able to Steamroll the game by being carried through a high level raid with a local friend or simply wandering out and capturing overpowered Pokemon in the Open World Structure.
This could also go in the "Small things you like" thread for me because besides being a more elegant solution than "the Pokemon's too strong to throw a Ball at while battling" or the above mentioned Dynamax Adventure Legendaries, it's also a nice story-wise solution to the disobedient Pokemon scenario. I always wondered why they didn't take that approach since even the anime handled it that way with things like Ash's Charizard or Dawn's Mamoswine.
The game that always comes to mind for me (because this is one I've actually played) is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's DLC. You can go to the new areas at just Level 10 (Dawnguard) or straight out of the gate (Dragonborn, though the quest only starts after about a third of the main story) and there are some great rare spells/shouts/items to be had this way, but if you beeline right to it at the level you unlock it you're likely to get obliterated by high-level monsters unless you use exploits requiring knowledge of the game.I actually think this is the closest they can ever go to have a "level cap" without forcing an actual level cap.
I don't think a forced level cap would ever be good for the games either ways. I think the option to purposely overlevel if you are willing to extra grind is fine in general in RPGs (assuming you don't overlevel without even trying...), but having ways that prevent "cheating the system" like this one is quite fair.
Also I'm a big fan of the speedrun of SV anyway, eventually I need to get around to do a flamigo domination run myself...
I personally don't want more Legends-type games at all. I think Legends was boring, a one and done game for me. Legends gutted so many hallmarks of the series it is practically unrecognizable (downplayed Trainer battles / no rival battles, no linear routes, little to no emphasis on making a balanced team outside the true final boss, obsessively focusing on catching em all when even from RBY on that was always a optional goal (outside of that weird Koga requirement in LGPE)
Great points! This post was a pleasure to read. The open world structure does work with the air of mystery, I'll definitely give you that.Not to invalidate your opinion - I certainly have my criticisms towards Legends, and it's not hard to see why someone may dislike it - but I don't see the problems with these things in and of themselves. Legends isn't a standard main-series game (in the same way that a game that SWSH or SV is), and I think it makes sense that it doesn't play like one. The de-emphasis on battling is supported by the setting, and I think catching taking its place makes much more sense when you consider the focus on exploration and the atmosphere of mystery that the game is aiming to establish. In particular, the mention of 'linear routes' strikes me as odd when the series is moving away from this pretty much entirely given the shift to an open-world structure.
...Not that these things don't need work, of course. I think the new battle system they implemented is really bad and weirdly unintuitive - changes to the damage formula, the Strong/Agile system, and the complete absence of spread moves just feels bad and turns Trainer battles into a series of revenge kills, which isn't very engaging, even in the context of a strictly single-player experience. I think the complete casualness with which you catch Pokemon also ends up devaluing individual catches a lot - neither PLA or SV strike a good balance here in my eyes, as the latter feels too slow for an open-world structure, too. I don't know how you'd go about fixing this. I also think the noble battles are dogshit, despite liking the idea of boss battles outside the context of standard battles. But personally, I'd rather see GF try to build on these things and improve them rather than abandon them entirely, especially after the glowing reception these games got. I think Legends makes for a very good structure to explore a region with a fresh coat of paint, and can add a lot to the original games in hindsight.
Again, my assertion here isn't "You're wrong to dislike these changes", because that's very subjective. What works for one person won't work for another, and that's totally fine. It's that changing up and experimenting with series tradition strikes me as a good thing, especially outside of the more 'standard' games in the series. With the previous flaws I mentioned ironed out, I'd be really excited to see a future Legends game for Unova or other regions.
...Actually, there is one thing I think mainline should take away from Legends - the usage of zones instead of an entire open world. I think this leads to much tighter and more involved level design overall, and keeps things from blending together too much like I find Paldea tends to do in my eyes. idk if this is unpopular or not, just felt like putting it out there while we're on the topic.
I'll agree once I can recognize that it has indeed branched instead of just taking a turn. If and when there's a recent ambitious game that focuses on the parts of the series I want to get out of a cartridge (as distinct from BDSP not changing any major aspects and thus accidentally keeping what brought me into the series), I'll cut Let's Go, Legends, and the open-world parts of SwSh and SV some slack. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to do that right now.I think there's an inherent value to the core series of Pokemon branching out and doing more than just the classic mainline formula though: by doing more kinds of games than just the classic RBY styled traditional mainline game, they can more easily take advantage of Pokemon's inherently rapidfire mainline release schedule to have a wider variety of genres of games in the future, and as such it feels like not only is there something genuinely different the Pokemon mainline series can offer each year, making it feel less super repetitive, but that there can be different types of games that each appeal more to different target audiences and as such now there truly is something for everyone to enjoy each generation if they keep this up.
The cool thing about the previous generation with PLA in the picture is that not one of the mainline games were alike to each other in any way. You had Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, a POGO-style game, then you had SwSh, a traditional classic mainline game (even if it was on the eh side overall as a game), its "enhanced edition" instead being DLC for the game itself, adding the bells and whistles you would usually get from a third version to the original game itself thus keeping SwSh relevant on the market, and then you had Legends: Arceus, a game set in ancient Sinnoh that is more Action RPG and aggressively single player and focuses more on ancient Sinnoh lore.
And all three co-existed with each other for the past year or so and each remained relevant in its own right as a unique experience that Pokemon could offer. PLA was popular amongst a lot of people because there are many people who liked the ARPG aspect of it and whatnot, but for those who didn't, SwSh was always there to exist as a mainline game, and now we have Scarlet and Violet which is more of a classic Pokemon mainline that is now the current "flagship" game of the current generation and the main competitive/PvP hub. I would like to note that over the last year despite PLA being the center of attention in marketing, SwSh continued to remain relevant because it was still the current competitive hub.
Because PLA was so different, despite SV releasing this year PLA still had a substantial number of sales this previous holiday season because it still stood out for its unique genre compared to classic mainlines like SwSh and SV, and remained relevant in the stores alongside SV despite SV being the big mainline release of this year. Classic games and Legends games in that regard don't fully invalidate the other's existence and can co-exist and appeal to different groups. People who have become tired of the classic genre can find value in Legends games, and whatnot, while Legends games can appeal to more hardcore gameplay people who want that.
So in that regard I wouldn't mind future Legends games continuing to exist, and in fact I would love for them to exist and to have them be made alongside traditional mainline titles. Don't fully get rid of the classic mainline games, they're a seller and still a tried-and-true success formula, but more deviant mainline titles that co-exist alongside them can be a great thing. I personally loved PLA, and would love to see another Legends game made this generation that can co-exist with Scarlet and Violet as a game for Gen 9. And in doing so improve upon things from Legends: Arceus.
I would even love for them to return to 2D Pokemon RPGs that go all in on being 2D Pokemon to bring back the classic 2D Pokemon charm, as an additional offshoot genre of mainline games in addition to Legends games and classic mainline games like SV. Have Scarlet and Violet serve as our flagship classic mainline Pokemon game for all of Gen 9, and then do some offshoot games. Legends games, 2D-Octopath-like games even, or Let's Go if they really want to. Pokemon can absolutely benefit from branching like this and making a variety of genres of games within a single generation. They can each appeal to a different group of people and all of them can co-exist alongside one another and stay relevant in the market for the whole generation until the next one comes.
But yeah just a bit of a rant: but I think I would actually love for more Legends games to be made so long as classic mainline ones continue to be made alongside them. Legends can exist as its own sub-series within the core series while traditional mainline games continue to exist, and I would also like to see them make even more sub-genres and experiment with genres of RPGs for mainline Pokemon than just the classic mainline.
Really I think the last generation was the beginning of Pokemon becoming a more varied series from here on out, and I think that's a nice approach to take instead of an infinite repetitive loop of the exact same thing over and over again every year.
The last non-remake "traditional" mainline games were XY, a decade ago. Sun/Moon and sequels completely changed the gym challenge, eliminated HMs, and went with a very different map style. Let's Go was a remake and also was Let's Go. Sword/Shield then even got rid of the Ride replacements to HMs and went with an open world section and pokes visible in the overworld, as well as completely changing the E4. And then SV did...all of that. I don't know what the next games will bring, but "Linear 8 gyms into the E4 with the standard battle system" doesn't seem in the cards.I'll agree once I can recognize that it has indeed branched instead of just taking a turn. If and when there's a recent ambitious game that focuses on the parts of the series I want to get out of a cartridge (as distinct from BDSP not changing any major aspects and thus accidentally keeping what brought me into the series), I'll cut Let's Go, Legends, and the open-world parts of SwSh and SV some slack. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to do that right now.
Open world, exclusively overworld-visible pokemon, 3 storylines, E4 not being the start of the postgame...I really enjoyed it, but it was definitely about as far from a mainline game as it's possible to be without major mechanic changes.You mean SV turning the Gyms into the Treasure Hunt? I liked it but I also liked how the E4 was not the end of the story.
I meant largely in the context of other Megas. I think you have to argue quite hard to justify why you'd give your Mega slot to Glalie specifically over other - better - Megas on a diverse team (in-game or competitively). On a Hail team I could see why it might be the best option.
But generally speaking, is it worth using instead of Mega Kangaskhan, or Mega Metagross, or Mega Mawile, or Mega Lopunny? I'd say probably not.
I personally don't want more Legends-type games at all. I think Legends was boring, a one and done game for me. Legends gutted so many hallmarks of the series it is practically unrecognizable (downplayed Trainer battles / no rival battles, no linear routes, little to no emphasis on making a balanced team outside the true final boss, obsessively focusing on catching em all when even from RBY on that was always a optional goal (outside of that weird Koga requirement in LGPE)), The counterparts really aren't that interesting - I'll take Scarlet and Violet's simple, but new storytelling over this any day of the week. I think Alola is like 50x better at what Legends was trying to do.
Alola has an actual narrative not shoved in at the very end
I don't think I thought Legends was an outright bad game. I just think I'm more of a Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness kind of person when it comes to spinoffs - the battle system stays the same with a linear progression. Probably just a preference thing!
2D-Octopath-like games even
Legends can exist as its own sub-series within the core series while traditional mainline games continue to exist, and I would also like to see them make even more sub-genres and experiment with genres of RPGs for mainline Pokemon than just the classic mainline.
I don't know what the next games will bring, but "Linear 8 gyms into the E4 with the standard battle system" doesn't seem in the cards.
Development wise I also feel this is GF trying to think where they can go with the Pokemon, what story would Gen X think of (keeping in mind that it's Gen X, or rather Gen 10, the main series games finally hitting two digits in the number of core series titles). I wonder if GF would try to stall until 2028 to release it. This year and next will have SV's DLC, but they'll have three years to try and fill between then. Hmm...
Why 2028 specifically?
Maybe he means 30 years since R/B release in English? Wouldn’t really make sense tbh surely they’d go with 2026 and the original Jap games, like how the 25th anniversary was 2021.