"A fire pokemon could burn down bushes" or "A grass pokemon could grow vines to build bridges". This reminded me of how Golden Sun treated its puzzles. I would love to see a Pokemon game that had elemental puzzles like that!!
One note on the mega evolutions not involving any strategy or thought: Sometimes Pokemon changing type after mega evolving can actually lead to mind games. Once, I was playing against my brother and I sent out an Aggron while he had a fire type Pokemon out. Aggron is normally steel + rock type, but switches to pure steel type after mega evolving. My brother was expecting me to mega evolve for the stat boost, so he used a fire type move. But I skipped the mega evolution, so my type stayed steel + rock, which meant his attack did normal damage instead of being super effective. Of course, I didn't do the math, so for all I know maybe my defense would have increased enough that I actually would have taken less damage had I mega evolved. But the point is, it's entirely possible for mega evolution to involve strategy and mind games. Theoretically, at least...
I do similar things with my Blaziken against my friends, except I use the idea differently. I mega evolve my Blaziken, so it gets speed boost which will over time make me faster than my opponent. Of course my opponent doesn't want this so they want to get rid of it ASAP. But my Blaziken has protect see, so the strategy is forcing my opponent into a guessing game of whether I’m going to attack, or protect. Since if I protect they would've wasted an attack that they could've used on something else, but if I attack and they don't, then again they've wasted a turn. It's simple but it's fun messing with them
Playing GSC on Pokemon Netbattle against an online friend of mine, we had this one particular match, that ended with an epic series of switch ins. For about seven or eight turns straight, me and my buddy switched in different pokemon. The game was so close, the next person to land a proper hit would have swept the other's remaining Pokemon. It was literally the last.....fucking.....straw. Eight turns of predictive reactive and cautionary switching. What the result was, me switching in a Rhydon to their Tentacruel. Tentacruel was the only pokemon my buddy had left that could stop my Rhydon. And if I lost Rhydon Tentacruel was free to Swords Dance and sweep with Sludge Bomb. Turn 9, I throw out an Earthquake as he predicts a switch to my Zapdos. Had I switched to Zapdos, he would have been able to survive a STAB Thunder and take my injured Zap out with SB and sweep. Instead his Tentacruel dropped and I swept barely winning. It was all about mind games, and not just knowing about the game but about who you are playing against.
You have no idea how glad I am to see somebody FINALLY address this issue. Pokemon has more untapped potential than any of Nintendo's other major IPs, and yet we've been getting nothing but slightly refined versions of Red and Green for the better part of 20 years. And what's more, people not only don't seem to mind this, but they ENCOURAGE it. Even though it may not be the best game in the world, I have more respect for Colosseum than I do for X and Y because it actually did something interesting and unique with the mechanics of the main series. X and Y might TECHNICALLY be better games, but that's only because of the games that preceded them. But I guess you already touched on that. Anyway, I guess my point is that rather than adding a few superfluous new features, new Pokemon games really need to shake up the formula in some meaningful ways. What if there were 12 gyms instead of 8, and you had some degree of freedom to choose which 8 badges to collect on your way to the endgame? What if not every gym revolved around the use of a single type? What if the "evil organization subplot" was an extensive optional sidequest rather than a mandatory piece of the story? I dunno, these are just ideas I've been tossing around for awhile. I just think the game would be so much more satisfying if it didn't feel like you were being strung along through such a constrained and predictable sequence of events.
In some ways, I feel like Gen 2 was the most ambitious. It directly followed up Gen 1, with a continuation of the Team Rocket plot showing the aftermath of the prior games. Rather than making Rocket a huge threat, they are ultimately a broken down and desperate shadow of what they were previously. Returning to a prior region, that has undergone some significant changes with a second set of badges. The fact that this comes after beating the Elite Four makes it stand out despite being rather lacking in actual content. The fact that it culminates with a second finale against your own prior avatar to show that the player and the games have grown past Gen 1 was a fantastic ending. Then every other game just went back to the basic formula rather than build on what Gen 2 did.
@@zeroattentiongaming820 I think most of that was because Gold and Silver were originally going to end the Pokémon series, unbelievable as that sounds now, so they went all out.
Great video. Although, I would personally argue that gen 5's innovation lied in its story, the risk it took (introducing all new pokemon with no old ones until the post-game), and seasons creating a world that feels alive.
Eh, I'd argue against that. Sure, Gen 5 put more effort on its story but for the most part it was the same stuff we always had just done slightly better. And Seasons rarely effected the world
I am seriously enjoying (is that an oxymoron...?) this fresh take on commentary. Usually it's someone trying to maintain this entirely neutral persona without any regard for bias or someone who does in fact have a bias and lets it fuel their argument. Your videos seem to lie somewhere in the middle, where I can tell that you enjoy or dislike something but take what is presented at face value. It's very engaging, and doesn't make me feel like an idiot for enjoying something or make me subconsciously come up with justifications for such. As for this video, I think the only thing I dislike about the Pokemon series (other than the constant addition of new Pokemon, but that's a constant that will never change) is that whatever happens in the game never has any impact on future games. I think it's overwhelmingly ironic that in every game the story (outside of the Pokemon League thing) is pretty much a meta-narrative: the enemy team is trying to change something, but you, the hero, stops them and returns it to the status quo. Sure, that change is different in every game (Rocket wanted to monetize Pokemon, Magma wanted to get rid of oceans, Aqua the opposite, Galactic wanted to "return everything to a unifying spirit", Plasma wanted liberation, Flare wanted to... make everything pretty), but it centered around this base idea of change. Being the sole thing that stops this change is almost analogous to the demand wanting this formula and status quo to remain unchanged. Hell, all of the above goals can be seen as an out-of-universe metaphor for ideas that could be implemented, maybe even being specific to the games themselves (although I have no idea what Rocket's plan would do for the games). Magma and Aqua, make Hoenn less of an ocean or less of a landmass, giving more of a focus. Galaxy, returning to the basics of Red and Blue without all of the needless mechanics introduced that add nothing to the core. Plasma, actually changing up the story and concept Pokemon is rooted in. Flare... make everything less blocky, as mentioned in the video. I don't know. Wow I just talked a whole lot about nothing.
Some changes to make Pokemon more interesting. This turned out to be more than I thought... so forgive the wall of text. 1. Offer multiple routes to get to the next city or town. In fact, add some towns that are completely optional to visit. They could have unique item shops, certain Pokemon native to that town you can't get anywhere else in that version, etc. 2. Kind of a silly one, but don't make gym battles mandatory the moment you visit a town. Don't make it so you can't progress unless you battle that towns gym. If a player wants to skip a gym to move ahead and explore more or advance the main plot more, let them. When they go back to that town to battle the gym, the Gym Leader's Pokemon will be auto-leveled to the players STRONGEST Pokemon. The Gym battles should be more about coming up with a strategy to beat the Gym Leader's team rather than just crushing them with raw numbers all the time. It would also make the optional towns and routes interesting since you might bypass a gym doing this and then have to backtrack. 3. Bring back VS Seeker. When you cleared a routes trainers, they become available to re-battle with VS Seeker. Once this happens, they will level up appropriately in accordance with your team. They won't make the same jump the Gym Leader teams make, but it will still be enough to offer some challenge. This makes back-tracking routes that you missed a little more fun so you can get the items that were there, see the towns that were there, and then gain the VS Seeker option for the trainer's on that route. 4. Bring back weather effects and seasons. Make some Pokemon only available during certain weather. AND allow the player to summon some weather effects using moves like Sunny Day, Rain Dance, etc. These moves could be TMs only available in the final city's item shop at moderately high costs so they don't abuse it during the main play through. This makes the world feel like its constantly changing and evolving. Small touches like changing the NPC's clothing to Coats and Jackets during the Winter and then back to Shorts and T-Shirts during the summer could make that feel more 'believable.' Also making the Player Character appear uncomfortable in Summer clothes during the Winter could be a fun add-on as well. 5. Make the Player Characters relationship with the Rival feel more personal again. 6th generation's rival/friend relationships felt empty and plastic. My favorite rivals have always been the ones from Generation's 1, 2, 4, and 5. Your relationship with these characters felt deeper than in most other Pokemon games and it always meant something when you were able to one-up them in an encounter. They don't even have to be extremely antagonistic, just make Rival's good again. 6. Finally... give us something more to do in the post-game. Underground exploration, secret bases, a better battle facility, more battle modes, new ways to catch Pokemon, finding multiple legendary Pokemon... give us more reasons to come back to completed saves. Sun and Moon was an enjoyable experience until I beat the game. There is the battle tree, a short quest at the end... completing the Pokedex... I mean thats really it. Its severely limited.
Dear ShayMay, Thankyou so much for your videos. I usually love most game youtube channels like this, but I think this might be one of my favorites. You put some of the most thought, so its always interesting yet objective (even when you raise an opnion you quickly acknowledge it) but you add your own personal history that its still original. Ive had an awesome night watching your videos! I look forward to your sonic video as I am an avid Sonic Fan!
Any chances you'll revist this topic once Sun and Moon come out? From what we've seen so far, it looks like it's going to buck a lot of the story trends so common to the series.
As a lifelong Pokemon fan, I find this video brilliant! I completely agree that Pokemon is stuck in a rut and really like some of your ideas for making the series better. I can already feel this comment dragging on, so I will say that for me, what keeps me playing Pokemon is the increasingly complex metagame, and the fact that the little things have been tweaked to make the game smoother (TMs having unlimited use was a godsend, and Horde Battles make EV training a crapton easier!), not the actual in-game experience, which speaks volumes. I suggest reading the Pokemon Adventures manga: it completely symbolises how I think the game series should progress.
+WanderingRandomer Pokémon Adventures is great, isn't it? It's got some incredibly solid narrative arcs! I used to really love the competitive scene, but I dropped out of it a few years ago. I'm not keen on using simulators, and even with all the advancements they've made IV breeding on-cart is simply untenable - there's a huge barrier of entry between casual and competitive players. Thanks for watching mate!
I haven't played a core-series Pokémon game ever, but this video really makes me want to now!!! You are very concise and have good scriptwriting. Good job and keep up the good work!
you make allot of interesting points in your video, especially the part about the grid template in a 3D game and the implementation of Pokémon type in favour HM's. I also agree about your mega evolution points, the action of pressing the button being meaningless and it being implemented purely for hype. I would however like to add a li'l point and i'm curious what your take on the matter is. Indeed my first reaction was "o look charizard can digivolve" when i first saw the trailers, what i dislike about this is that digimon is set in a digital world and Pokémon in a biological one. (not a realistic one of course) The main issue being this: Why introduce a new form of evolving when there are a plethora of better options already in the previous games. why not let charmeleon evolve in one of the new (clearly for hype and marketing purposes implemented) charizards by using a new or old stone, trade it with a hold item or something else. And more importantly, why temporarily evolve a final evolution instead of giving a second permanent evolution to a Pokémon that is not fully evolved. (sorry if I misspelled some stuff)
I would heavily appreciate having Secret Bases from Gen III, the Underground from Gen IV, the Dream Realm from Gen V, and Character Customization from Gen VI ALL IN ONE GAME.
Syogren Asherushi the only downside to having all these features is that it increases the likelihood of Nintendo fucking it up. But Nintendo isn't Sega, so I have faith in them.
Pokemon Sun & Moon story predictions - Professor Tree is offering you a grass, fire or water type starter in return for filling in their Pokedex. After setting off you come across a Rock or Bug type gym before facing off against a criminal team with no clear goals. After cleaning the floor with them, catching the legendary and beating seven more gyms (none of which are Dark type) you must face the Pokemon League. With four strong trainers of different types to the gyms defeated, you then challenge the champion. Then you complete the Pokedex, slay the Jabberwockey and go on to save Narnia.
This is the first video I've watched of yours and I will defenetly be watching more. You gave solid reasons on why things should be changed and shared your ideas of how to change them. Great job, you just earned a new subscriber
I find that your point about the music (less memorable, more ambient) has a pretty good reasoning ascribed to it by another YT channel, Extra Credits. It basically boils down to this: in the old days of gaming, the most that could be done at any one point in time was one chord. This meant that, as a result of the hardware limitations, any music had to be so simple, and have such a strong melody aspect (as opposed to harmonic ones) that it could be hummed without sacrificing much. That strong melody helped to ingrain those tunes into our psyches, as their elements could be comprehended without an in-depth analysis. However, as those hardware limitations were removed, it became more tempting to make tunes that took advantage of this, ironically drowning out the melody line (or even worse, creating pieces that simply weren't identifiable as such without the harmonic elements), and thus making them less memorable as a result. This is not to say that strong melodies cannot be formed or maintained in this day and age, indeed many of my YT Favorites are remixes that build on these melodies, and use the harmony to increase the impact. But that's the thing: the melody has to be formed FIRST, with everything else built upon it serving primarily to highlight that melody's strengths and cover up some of its weaknesses. It sounds simple, but it's not so easy to pull off, especially if you didn't grow up with or help create music with those limitations in the first place. The former becomes almost instinctual, the latter is hard earned experience, and both can serve as a foundation that is desperately needed.
Holy shit, this video is so good. I agree with pretty much all of it, and I feel like it's even more relevant nowadays, considering the state of the series nowadays and it just as stagnant and the lack of evolution feeling even more jarring with the jump to the Nintendo Switch essentially nullifying any excuses of hardware limitations previous games had. Yet the problem still remains, and by this point it's only amplified.
Gen 3 is my favorite generation of Pokemon. The music was so catchy, the Pokemon designs were top notvh for the most part, and the region is insanely memorable. So many great setpieces, and the town names make an impression by being named after plants and flowers as opposed to simple colors.
Dude, whether I disagree with you or not I always seem to love your videos. Watched your Sonic Spitball series first and just sayin' I wouldn't mind a Pokemon video in vein of that 3rd Sonic one where you talk about what'd be your ideal Pokemon game.
The problem is, as good as all this sounds Nintendo is still on a very comfortable position with pokémon, so as a company taking risks with the series would actually be unwise of them. What they COULD do is maybe create some sort of spin-off that still keeps the basic formula while implementing new ideas, just to test the waters, but since right now there is no threat that the pokémon series would ever stop selling because of its "stale-ness" there is no very good reason to do that either.
Great analysis! Kudos for not getting downvoted to oblivion for your opinions! I wasn't that fortunate back in 2010. Keep up the good work, and keep making awesome in-depth videos, sir!
From what I remember of X/Y (I've not played in a while because, after finally succeeding in catching them all, I read up on the Looker end plot, realised my Pokémon were overleveled, and had no interest in either competitive training or trading, and so stopped playing), HMs were made a lot less required in Gen VI. There were one or two places an HM was needed (*sigh* hello, Surf, we meet again), but the places where you could use them were mostly sidetracking from the main plot. Also, I found the plot to be sufficiently different from the previous games that I had no real problem with it. The Champion turns up once or twice, as far as I can remember, and none of your rivals/friends (also, you had multiples; when one annoyance wasn't enough!) became the champion a few seconds before you. Also, the main aim was to stop this gen's Team Noun from completing their dastardly deed, which wasn't stealing Pokémon this time (though there was some of that as well, wasn't there), but [spoilers!] activating an ORBITAL DEATH LASER. Seriously, an orbital death laser! That's actually a villainous, evil thing (albeit kinda stupid that they were essentially NUKING THEMSELVES IN THE FACE)! Though it's a bit annoying that they removed any kind of moral quandry about keeping living animals (or plants or minerals or combinations thereof or whatever the hell Ditto is) in tiny balls and using them to beat on other living animals &c for pocket money or to further the practise of grabbing monsters for no real purpose other than "TO CATCH 'EM ALL!" Good video, overall, and I'll agree that the music, while good, didn't stick with me. I think it's because, as you sort of touched on, the music has become more ambient. They have so much more instrumentation to play with, so the melody gets lost in the music. Whereas, before, the music was JUST the melody. It's interesting that HeartGold had a post-game item you could get that replaced all the music with the original 8bit versions. Right now, every time I try and think of Pokémon music I think of either one track (which I can't remember the provenance of - I think it was Black), or music from other Nintendo franchises (notably, Mario). One of my major bugbears with the game was that its touted "ridable Pokémon" translated to "Gogoat in the main hub and in a field." That's not a major gameplay change, or a selling point, that's a bloody vignette! Also, ooo, you get Running Shoes! Awesome! Now, run around with them using the analogue stick or the D-Pad, until we give you roller skates, which result in the comfortable-feeling analogue stick making you move faster and slightly less predictably! Woo, innovation! Also, there's still the bike! Why? BIKE! All that said, I'm still looking forward to ORAS. Not because HOLY SHIT, MORE POKÉMON, but because it's the only gen I've never played. Seems that Gen III carts had some SERIOUS battery issues. Every copy I've been leant (of two, it's true, but still) has had an issue. One didn't turn on, while the other can't/won't save. So, I've been waiting for the Gen III remakes for a while. I played the original Red (and still have it - don't tell my next-door neighbour, it's his), then picked up Pearl for some reason, then got HeartGold, then Black, then White 2 (if I recall, this is the only Pokémon game I didn't beat the Champion in before abandoning), and now X. And now either Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire.
They should allow a more dynamic relationship with your rivals. Incorporate them into a much deeper part of the story so your character is not always the chosen one. I want Game Freak to bring back that competative feel with your rival again and not have them act as a bunch of free experience and an annoying thorn in your side that slows the pace of the game through inconcequential small talk. Great video though!
There is a card game from Wizards of the Coast that currently does that, where they have an algorithm to create wholly unique cards and every deck you buy is 100 percent different from the rest.
There is a disadvantage to using a Mega Evolution. It takes up your item slot, which can be a huge deal. Take Mega Alakazam for example. It's got a lot of power behind it, but it's just about as frail as it's base self, which is a huge disadvantage with a lack of an item slot. base Alakazam's ability, Magic Guard, prevents all damage from anything that isn't an attack, making a Focus Sash an optimal choice for an item. Simply put, base Alakazam can last much longer and can be an effective sweeper because of this. Mega Alakazam, on the other hand, is a glass canon that can often be knocked out in one hit, making it inferior to base Alakazam. Yes, there's an obvious advantage to using a Mega, but it isn't always an optimal choice. There's also the added balanced of only being able to use 1 Mega on your team. I'll agree that for the main game, they're broken, but then, you can always choose not to use one, which is what I do.
Mega Evolution was the perfect excuse Game Freak needed to bring some chronically underused Pokemon into relevance. They did this with the likes of Mega Beedrill and Mega Mawile, etc. but then go and ruin it by giving pseudo-legendaries like Garchomp, Salamence and Metagross Mega Evolutions. So nothing's changed; there's STILL no reason have Mega Beedrill when I can just go to town with a Mega Metagross. A wasted opportunity.
I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I stopped buying the games after Gen V, and even the White version I bought I kind of regret because I of how little time I put into it, comparatively. The reason I didn't bother with Gen VI is exactly as you laid out: the series is just releasing what could be considered at this point DLC as full games. Sure, they've made small tweaks every generation, but that's all it ever amounts to and it gets old. What I am most amazed by are your small ideas that would add a whole lot to the gameplay -- most notably the idea of replacing HMs with team typing considerations, and having randomized wild pokemon in each game. The latter wouldn't even be a large leap, because they already did nearly that with the original two Pokémon Stadium games, where each pokemon had a more or less randomized moveset.
I actually do remember a lot of songs from Black/White, and haven't played it since I was 15 (9 years ago). But as far as the battle themes from more recent games? Forget about it. I love your HM ideas, and it's kind of a pity that Sword/Shield introduced the HM's through the bike. I prefer when you're using your Pokémon to traverse the landscape. Best case scenario, the demands of the Pokémon would vary from game to game, but instead, there always needs to be a way to surf, cut, move rocks, etc. For this reason, I love what Sun/Moon did for the most part. New environmental hazards were introduced, but they were still quite hollow, and sort of broke emersion sometimes. Plus, once you have the Pokémon to, say, cross a rocky area, why add more rocky areas after that? They don't add much excitement or variety. They're essentially a way to block progress, but once you have the tool to make that progress, you're merely pressing a button. Same problem as HM's. Also Stoutland was a pain in the ass. I felt like I said to always be using it so I wouldn't miss out on hidden items. I don't really know what the perfect solution is.
I just finished watching all three parts for Sonic Spitball, and I've enjoyed every bit if it. It be cool if you'd do a similar analysis on the Pokemon games
>A single game that randomly generates catch-able Pokemon per game copy/save file I cannot stress how perfect of a game that sounds to me. As someone who jumped into Pokemon right when the series stagnated more than ever (Gen 6), I can barely bring myself to play the older games since they're technically more of the same predictable slog (even if the older games like Platinum, HGSS, and the whole of Gen 5 are leagues better, but you get the point). Imagine if the Switch game turns out like this, with more personalized trading like you advocated for, and perhaps a slightly less linear single-player experience. Not necessarily open-world, I don't think that'd work for Pokemon (not to mention that the demand for every single game to be "open-world" is starting to become a bit tiresome), but just a bit more freedom to give a grander sense of adventure. That would be absolutely amazing, but at the same time I'm trying not to get myself too excited, since GameFreak seems to be a bit afraid of taking risks with the series. Then again, Gen 7 DID fix a lot of the problems long-time fans had with the series, even if they're not necessarily the exact way you described, but they still suffered from what you called the series' "memory loss", with the pokeradar or whatever it was called from ORAS being removed, and even the PSS being neutered with the abysmal Festival Plaza. Hopefully this will be changing for the better to however, since they bothered to bring Pokemon-Amie back (albeit with a slight name change but whatever), though that also could've just been because they spent a significant amount of work programming it and didn't want their work going to waste upon the next game release. basically to sum up my rant, who bloody knows?
Found ya today and I must say, I also felt Pokemon's soul waning since gen 4. I dunno, I love the new Pokémon and the newer concepts and such (Breeding fanatic here so I'll ONLY jump ship if they remove that lovely feature) and honesly, while being hyped for Sun and Moon, I'm still satisfied with X a lot. Granted, I am hyped, but with some care.
The problems with Pokemon is the fact that Gamefreak has to make awkward compromises between two unique halves of the fanbase: the little kids who like playing with the cool looking monsters and the teenage/adult fans that enjoy the complex metagame. This results in a game where kids can't fully grasp the battle system outside of "spam high base power move A" and older fans have to sit through a dull, easy single player in order to access the awesome multiplayer. Perhaps this is why websites like Pokemon Showdown have grown in popularity since generation four?
Very interesting video. Have you seen any footage of Sonic Exodus by chance? It's basically a fan-made 2D Sonic game in 3D that controls like Adventure, except with the Adventure gameplays' problems fixed, such as no homing attack, no automated loops, a spin-dash more like the classic games, and slope physics that also function much like the classic games. It's not finished yet, but judging off of the few videos that have been released about it, it looks extremely promising.
FUCK HMS. Just gimme tools that are separate from my Pokemon's moveset, like a Helicopter instead of Fly or a chainsaw instead of HM Cut. Keep Surf though. That's a badass move.
A concept like Pokemon is probably more prime to stagnation than any other series especially with the basics of the game being perfected very early on. Its hard to tack things onto something that already exists, call it brand new and expect people to keep buying it. Mario and Zelda are able to change aspects around and experiment with the gameplay whereas Pokemon is mostly set on stone, with experimentation redirected to spin offs as everyone has this expected formula for Pokemon unlike Mario, Zelda or Metroid But mainly, for the love of God, the slowdown needs to be fixed because battles in the 3DS games feel like sitting through a school play when your kid only has one spoken role.
Its interesting to me that you chose gen V and VI when making the music argument. Firstly, as a fan of X and Y, it caught me off guard how non-memorable the music was. I couldn't think of a single track, admittedly. However the first few music tracks that came to mind, for me personally, were ALL from gen V: Pokémon black and white. Driftveil city, Skyarrow Bridge, the melody that plays when Bianca stands up to her dad, Accumula town... All of these are only the ones that first come to my head. There's many more I'm sure I love but have forgotten as it's been a while since I've played the game. Despite the fact I'm most nostalgic for gen IV, it's gen V that really sticks out to me in terms of city design and music. For me personally, the Pokémon design was some of the weakest in the series (but that's a matter of opinion), however it has absolutely some of the most memorable music, narrative and atmosphere. And although I still love X and Y, they tend to pale in comparison to their predecessors. Great video! I especially love your ORAS video, despite the length I always felt engaged and you make your points well
Hello again. Now I'm no huge fan of Pokemon. The only version I've ever played and beaten was leaf green. Although from what I've seen I'm not missing much. Anyway, I feel the EXP share is much better since it applies to all the pokemon in your party. Its perfect if you don't want to spend hours or months building the perfect team, but instead just want to experience the game and story. If the exp share makes it too easy then don't use it. Plus by changing the exp share it reduces grinding time which is so merciful. I mean come on, whenever I have to grind in a game it drives me insane because its not a test of your smarts, skill, or strength. Its a test of your patience!! That is the one thing nobody wants tested! Seriously, there are 700 pokemon! You want me to train them one at a time! Granted most people just train their favorites, so your training 6 instead of 700 pokemon, but who knows what their favorites are in a game they've never played. Am I wrong in assuming that every game has new pokemon?
My problem with the randomized version is that for me I try to catch every Pokemon available on a route and if it became randomized I wouldn't know what Pokemon where on that route which would make it a lot more difficult to complete the pokedex for me
The one thing I'd say against the idea for the HM system being replaced is typing. Let's say I'm playing Gen III with this new system. I'd much rather have Cut stuck on a Zigzagoon than have to wait until I catch Vulpix at Mount Pyre to get past some trees. And for many people, sticking Surf on a Normal type would be preferable to catching a Water Pokemon that they may not want. Using Gen III as an example again, the only Water types I'm particularly fond of are the Mudkip line, Milotic, Starmie and Kyogre, and most of those are really late in the game, and have some idiotic conditions on acquiring them. The self-imposed challenge community would also be a bit resistant there. If I want to do a run of a game with only Grass Pokemon, or Psychic Pokemon, or whatever, I'm not going to get very far.
I think a big reason why Pokemon doesn't evolve (ironic given what the games are about) has to do with sales. I know tons of older players who continue to buy up the games every generation, but even more so, the target audience hasn't changed. They're targeting kids. The kids that played the originals are now grown up and may have stuck with the series or not, but the new kids that are playing the games weren't even born when the original Pokemon games came out. To them, Black & White or X & Y are totally brand new games, and they're perfectly happy with it. With new audience members coming in like that, it's easy to see why the devs would follow a known formula rather than innovate.
Woah, Shay. Do you really think someone has the time to sit down and watch a 16 minute video about Pokemon? You're kind of overstaying your welcome here.
2:30 showing Tales of Symphonia as an example of full 3D camera control is a weird choice. afaik you could rotate (but not zoom in/out) on the overworld, but once you enter anything your camera is locked. 7:00 cut, surf and strength are all pretty decent attacks actually, so no other purpose? not true. 9:40 lol in reality they are making one game at the price of three.
I disagree with your thoughts on Mega Evolutions. From a competitive aspect they actually provide value an new strategy to the meta game. You can only use one per battle, you must forego a held item (which really can make or break you in the competitive environment), you must always be prepared to faced off against potential mega evolutions, and their new stats-abilities-and type combinations can really complement certain teams. However mega evolutions aren't properly balanced for the main game. The main game is easy as it is, an constantly using a Mega allows you to breeze through the game with ease. I'm not sure how they could be balanced more in this regard but perhaps have more characters utilize them? I mean only the rivals, evil team leaders and the champions utilize them. Maybe have the last four gym leaders have one and all elite four members have one from the get go. Also give one to a few random NPCs here and there to spice things up when you least expect it.
I like it fine but it's really slow oace compared to its handheld counterparts in gen 3, which are still probably the fastest paced games in the entire franchise.
Welp, Sun and Moon ditched the grid and use full analog control, the gyms were removed, and HMs were replaced by loaned pokemon And I hate all of these things so unbelievably much. I would kill for d-pad controls back, the replacements for gyms are even more boring and even more braindead to defeat, and I hate riding someone else's pokemon more than anything, either let me use my own pokemon or don't make me use pokemon at all. That said, ORAS still introduced my absolute favourite new thing in any pokemon game. The Dexnav. And then they went and removed it from SM. God I hate SM so much.
I don't really mind the series being formulaic or following traditions. In fact, I was very uncomfortable when Gen 7 broke tradition by replacing gyms with island trials. I couldn't be bothered to finish Sun/Moon because of how different it was. HMs may be inconvenient, but I think they're important. For one thing they reinforce the player's reliance on their team, even outside of battles. They also give overworld obstacles more of a purpose. One complaint I have about the Ride Pager in Sun and Moon is how it turns them into pointless busywork. Randomizing the Pokemon you can catch is a horrible idea. Let's say there are certain Pokemon I want to use, but thanks to the RNG most of them don't exist in my save file! I would feel cheated and not want to keep playing as a result. I don't have much to say about Mega Evolution, aside from being disappointed that most of my favorites never got one.
It gets worse. Professor tree. However gen 7 does a lot right here. I want pokemon to lean much more into the RPG genre... i wanna see them do away with the fgw starter system, and make a much deeper richer experience
0:29 I will to this day never understand why people use screenshots of ROM hacks for reference in their pokemon videos (that talk about the series in general and NOT about ROM hacks). Is it that hard to look up screenshots of the actual game? It's actually harder to find ROM hack images than of the actual games. It just sticks out like a sore thumb and confuses me to no end.
He has said that he deliberately slows down his speech so he's more understandable to non-scottish viewers. He also probably plays up the rolling R's thing because it's funny.
This is even more relevant post-Pokemon Sword and Shield.
"A fire pokemon could burn down bushes" or "A grass pokemon could grow vines to build bridges". This reminded me of how Golden Sun treated its puzzles. I would love to see a Pokemon game that had elemental puzzles like that!!
Pokémon Ranger ^^
I absolutely love how this evolved into a wonderful 7 hour review of omega ruby
One note on the mega evolutions not involving any strategy or thought: Sometimes Pokemon changing type after mega evolving can actually lead to mind games. Once, I was playing against my brother and I sent out an Aggron while he had a fire type Pokemon out. Aggron is normally steel + rock type, but switches to pure steel type after mega evolving. My brother was expecting me to mega evolve for the stat boost, so he used a fire type move. But I skipped the mega evolution, so my type stayed steel + rock, which meant his attack did normal damage instead of being super effective.
Of course, I didn't do the math, so for all I know maybe my defense would have increased enough that I actually would have taken less damage had I mega evolved. But the point is, it's entirely possible for mega evolution to involve strategy and mind games. Theoretically, at least...
Hey! Your comment was used in this video, at time 3:28:50:
ua-cam.com/video/kFC6mDKF-0c/v-deo.html
I do similar things with my Blaziken against my friends, except I use the idea differently. I mega evolve my Blaziken, so it gets speed boost which will over time make me faster than my opponent. Of course my opponent doesn't want this so they want to get rid of it ASAP. But my Blaziken has protect see, so the strategy is forcing my opponent into a guessing game of whether I’m going to attack, or protect. Since if I protect they would've wasted an attack that they could've used on something else, but if I attack and they don't, then again they've wasted a turn. It's simple but it's fun messing with them
Playing GSC on Pokemon Netbattle against an online friend of mine, we had this one particular match, that ended with an epic series of switch ins. For about seven or eight turns straight, me and my buddy switched in different pokemon. The game was so close, the next person to land a proper hit would have swept the other's remaining Pokemon. It was literally the last.....fucking.....straw. Eight turns of predictive reactive and cautionary switching. What the result was, me switching in a Rhydon to their Tentacruel. Tentacruel was the only pokemon my buddy had left that could stop my Rhydon.
And if I lost Rhydon Tentacruel was free to Swords Dance and sweep with Sludge Bomb. Turn 9, I throw out an Earthquake as he predicts a switch to my Zapdos. Had I switched to Zapdos, he would have been able to survive a STAB Thunder and take my injured Zap out with SB and sweep. Instead his Tentacruel dropped and I swept barely winning. It was all about mind games, and not just knowing about the game but about who you are playing against.
You have no idea how glad I am to see somebody FINALLY address this issue. Pokemon has more untapped potential than any of Nintendo's other major IPs, and yet we've been getting nothing but slightly refined versions of Red and Green for the better part of 20 years. And what's more, people not only don't seem to mind this, but they ENCOURAGE it. Even though it may not be the best game in the world, I have more respect for Colosseum than I do for X and Y because it actually did something interesting and unique with the mechanics of the main series. X and Y might TECHNICALLY be better games, but that's only because of the games that preceded them. But I guess you already touched on that.
Anyway, I guess my point is that rather than adding a few superfluous new features, new Pokemon games really need to shake up the formula in some meaningful ways. What if there were 12 gyms instead of 8, and you had some degree of freedom to choose which 8 badges to collect on your way to the endgame? What if not every gym revolved around the use of a single type? What if the "evil organization subplot" was an extensive optional sidequest rather than a mandatory piece of the story? I dunno, these are just ideas I've been tossing around for awhile. I just think the game would be so much more satisfying if it didn't feel like you were being strung along through such a constrained and predictable sequence of events.
In some ways, I feel like Gen 2 was the most ambitious. It directly followed up Gen 1, with a continuation of the Team Rocket plot showing the aftermath of the prior games. Rather than making Rocket a huge threat, they are ultimately a broken down and desperate shadow of what they were previously.
Returning to a prior region, that has undergone some significant changes with a second set of badges. The fact that this comes after beating the Elite Four makes it stand out despite being rather lacking in actual content.
The fact that it culminates with a second finale against your own prior avatar to show that the player and the games have grown past Gen 1 was a fantastic ending.
Then every other game just went back to the basic formula rather than build on what Gen 2 did.
@@zeroattentiongaming820 I think most of that was because Gold and Silver were originally going to end the Pokémon series, unbelievable as that sounds now, so they went all out.
@@nousername191 and also Iwata basically making it possible to have Kanto in the game to begin with due to his compression wizardry.
Great video. Although, I would personally argue that gen 5's innovation lied in its story, the risk it took (introducing all new pokemon with no old ones until the post-game), and seasons creating a world that feels alive.
Eh, I'd argue against that. Sure, Gen 5 put more effort on its story but for the most part it was the same stuff we always had just done slightly better. And Seasons rarely effected the world
I am seriously enjoying (is that an oxymoron...?) this fresh take on commentary. Usually it's someone trying to maintain this entirely neutral persona without any regard for bias or someone who does in fact have a bias and lets it fuel their argument. Your videos seem to lie somewhere in the middle, where I can tell that you enjoy or dislike something but take what is presented at face value. It's very engaging, and doesn't make me feel like an idiot for enjoying something or make me subconsciously come up with justifications for such.
As for this video, I think the only thing I dislike about the Pokemon series (other than the constant addition of new Pokemon, but that's a constant that will never change) is that whatever happens in the game never has any impact on future games.
I think it's overwhelmingly ironic that in every game the story (outside of the Pokemon League thing) is pretty much a meta-narrative: the enemy team is trying to change something, but you, the hero, stops them and returns it to the status quo. Sure, that change is different in every game (Rocket wanted to monetize Pokemon, Magma wanted to get rid of oceans, Aqua the opposite, Galactic wanted to "return everything to a unifying spirit", Plasma wanted liberation, Flare wanted to... make everything pretty), but it centered around this base idea of change.
Being the sole thing that stops this change is almost analogous to the demand wanting this formula and status quo to remain unchanged. Hell, all of the above goals can be seen as an out-of-universe metaphor for ideas that could be implemented, maybe even being specific to the games themselves (although I have no idea what Rocket's plan would do for the games). Magma and Aqua, make Hoenn less of an ocean or less of a landmass, giving more of a focus. Galaxy, returning to the basics of Red and Blue without all of the needless mechanics introduced that add nothing to the core. Plasma, actually changing up the story and concept Pokemon is rooted in. Flare... make everything less blocky, as mentioned in the video. I don't know.
Wow I just talked a whole lot about nothing.
Some changes to make Pokemon more interesting. This turned out to be more than I thought... so forgive the wall of text.
1. Offer multiple routes to get to the next city or town. In fact, add some towns that are completely optional to visit. They could have unique item shops, certain Pokemon native to that town you can't get anywhere else in that version, etc.
2. Kind of a silly one, but don't make gym battles mandatory the moment you visit a town. Don't make it so you can't progress unless you battle that towns gym. If a player wants to skip a gym to move ahead and explore more or advance the main plot more, let them. When they go back to that town to battle the gym, the Gym Leader's Pokemon will be auto-leveled to the players STRONGEST Pokemon. The Gym battles should be more about coming up with a strategy to beat the Gym Leader's team rather than just crushing them with raw numbers all the time. It would also make the optional towns and routes interesting since you might bypass a gym doing this and then have to backtrack.
3. Bring back VS Seeker. When you cleared a routes trainers, they become available to re-battle with VS Seeker. Once this happens, they will level up appropriately in accordance with your team. They won't make the same jump the Gym Leader teams make, but it will still be enough to offer some challenge. This makes back-tracking routes that you missed a little more fun so you can get the items that were there, see the towns that were there, and then gain the VS Seeker option for the trainer's on that route.
4. Bring back weather effects and seasons. Make some Pokemon only available during certain weather. AND allow the player to summon some weather effects using moves like Sunny Day, Rain Dance, etc. These moves could be TMs only available in the final city's item shop at moderately high costs so they don't abuse it during the main play through. This makes the world feel like its constantly changing and evolving. Small touches like changing the NPC's clothing to Coats and Jackets during the Winter and then back to Shorts and T-Shirts during the summer could make that feel more 'believable.' Also making the Player Character appear uncomfortable in Summer clothes during the Winter could be a fun add-on as well.
5. Make the Player Characters relationship with the Rival feel more personal again. 6th generation's rival/friend relationships felt empty and plastic. My favorite rivals have always been the ones from Generation's 1, 2, 4, and 5. Your relationship with these characters felt deeper than in most other Pokemon games and it always meant something when you were able to one-up them in an encounter. They don't even have to be extremely antagonistic, just make Rival's good again.
6. Finally... give us something more to do in the post-game. Underground exploration, secret bases, a better battle facility, more battle modes, new ways to catch Pokemon, finding multiple legendary Pokemon... give us more reasons to come back to completed saves. Sun and Moon was an enjoyable experience until I beat the game. There is the battle tree, a short quest at the end... completing the Pokedex... I mean thats really it. Its severely limited.
Dear ShayMay,
Thankyou so much for your videos. I usually love most game youtube channels like this, but I think this might be one of my favorites. You put some of the most thought, so its always interesting yet objective (even when you raise an opnion you quickly acknowledge it) but you add your own personal history that its still original. Ive had an awesome night watching your videos! I look forward to your sonic video as I am an avid Sonic Fan!
*Notices Tales of Symphonia as an example*
Ah, I see you're a man of culture aswell.
Any chances you'll revist this topic once Sun and Moon come out? From what we've seen so far, it looks like it's going to buck a lot of the story trends so common to the series.
The breeding ground for that amazing Omega Ruby video. Would love another long take video. Love your style (and accent)
Did you return for the 11 hour BDSP vid yet?
As a lifelong Pokemon fan, I find this video brilliant! I completely agree that Pokemon is stuck in a rut and really like some of your ideas for making the series better. I can already feel this comment dragging on, so I will say that for me, what keeps me playing Pokemon is the increasingly complex metagame, and the fact that the little things have been tweaked to make the game smoother (TMs having unlimited use was a godsend, and Horde Battles make EV training a crapton easier!), not the actual in-game experience, which speaks volumes. I suggest reading the Pokemon Adventures manga: it completely symbolises how I think the game series should progress.
+WanderingRandomer Pokémon Adventures is great, isn't it? It's got some incredibly solid narrative arcs!
I used to really love the competitive scene, but I dropped out of it a few years ago. I'm not keen on using simulators, and even with all the advancements they've made IV breeding on-cart is simply untenable - there's a huge barrier of entry between casual and competitive players.
Thanks for watching mate!
ShayMay Hey, no worries! I don't often see Pokemon getting such critical analysis, everyone just seems to gloss over it.
I haven't played a core-series Pokémon game ever, but this video really makes me want to now!!! You are very concise and have good scriptwriting. Good job and keep up the good work!
you make allot of interesting points in your video, especially the part about the grid template in a 3D game and the implementation of Pokémon type in favour HM's. I also agree about your mega evolution points, the action of pressing the button being meaningless and it being implemented purely for hype. I would however like to add a li'l point and i'm curious what your take on the matter is. Indeed my first reaction was "o look charizard can digivolve" when i first saw the trailers, what i dislike about this is that digimon is set in a digital world and Pokémon in a biological one. (not a realistic one of course) The main issue being this: Why introduce a new form of evolving when there are a plethora of better options already in the previous games. why not let charmeleon evolve in one of the new (clearly for hype and marketing purposes implemented) charizards by using a new or old stone, trade it with a hold item or something else. And more importantly, why temporarily evolve a final evolution instead of giving a second permanent evolution to a Pokémon that is not fully evolved. (sorry if I misspelled some stuff)
I would heavily appreciate having Secret Bases from Gen III, the Underground from Gen IV, the Dream Realm from Gen V, and Character Customization from Gen VI ALL IN ONE GAME.
GammaWALLE OH HECK YES, PREACH IT!
Syogren Asherushi the only downside to having all these features is that it increases the likelihood of Nintendo fucking it up.
But Nintendo isn't Sega, so I have faith in them.
Amen. *sheds single tear*
GammaWALLE Pokemon following you like in HG & SS.
Pokemon Sun & Moon story predictions - Professor Tree is offering you a grass, fire or water type starter in return for filling in their Pokedex. After setting off you come across a Rock or Bug type gym before facing off against a criminal team with no clear goals. After cleaning the floor with them, catching the legendary and beating seven more gyms (none of which are Dark type) you must face the Pokemon League. With four strong trainers of different types to the gyms defeated, you then challenge the champion. Then you complete the Pokedex, slay the Jabberwockey and go on to save Narnia.
I like your fourstar reference, I saw what you did there.
Oof, you got a lot wrong
@@techissus7449 A lot? Really the only thing he got that wrong was the gyms part... then again we're now back to gyms in gen 8.
@@alans-dumb-username did you even play sun and moon?
This is the first video I've watched of yours and I will defenetly be watching more. You gave solid reasons on why things should be changed and shared your ideas of how to change them. Great job, you just earned a new subscriber
I find that your point about the music (less memorable, more ambient) has a pretty good reasoning ascribed to it by another YT channel, Extra Credits.
It basically boils down to this: in the old days of gaming, the most that could be done at any one point in time was one chord. This meant that, as a result of the hardware limitations, any music had to be so simple, and have such a strong melody aspect (as opposed to harmonic ones) that it could be hummed without sacrificing much. That strong melody helped to ingrain those tunes into our psyches, as their elements could be comprehended without an in-depth analysis.
However, as those hardware limitations were removed, it became more tempting to make tunes that took advantage of this, ironically drowning out the melody line (or even worse, creating pieces that simply weren't identifiable as such without the harmonic elements), and thus making them less memorable as a result.
This is not to say that strong melodies cannot be formed or maintained in this day and age, indeed many of my YT Favorites are remixes that build on these melodies, and use the harmony to increase the impact. But that's the thing: the melody has to be formed FIRST, with everything else built upon it serving primarily to highlight that melody's strengths and cover up some of its weaknesses. It sounds simple, but it's not so easy to pull off, especially if you didn't grow up with or help create music with those limitations in the first place. The former becomes almost instinctual, the latter is hard earned experience, and both can serve as a foundation that is desperately needed.
Excellent video! Also you had me at the opening joke, I love it.
And things only became more exasperated
Holy shit, this video is so good. I agree with pretty much all of it, and I feel like it's even more relevant nowadays, considering the state of the series nowadays and it just as stagnant and the lack of evolution feeling even more jarring with the jump to the Nintendo Switch essentially nullifying any excuses of hardware limitations previous games had.
Yet the problem still remains, and by this point it's only amplified.
Gen 3 is my favorite generation of Pokemon. The music was so catchy, the Pokemon designs were top notvh for the most part, and the region is insanely memorable. So many great setpieces, and the town names make an impression by being named after plants and flowers as opposed to simple colors.
Dude, whether I disagree with you or not I always seem to love your videos. Watched your Sonic Spitball series first and just sayin' I wouldn't mind a Pokemon video in vein of that 3rd Sonic one where you talk about what'd be your ideal Pokemon game.
The problem is, as good as all this sounds Nintendo is still on a very comfortable position with pokémon, so as a company taking risks with the series would actually be unwise of them. What they COULD do is maybe create some sort of spin-off that still keeps the basic formula while implementing new ideas, just to test the waters, but since right now there is no threat that the pokémon series would ever stop selling because of its "stale-ness" there is no very good reason to do that either.
Great analysis! Kudos for not getting downvoted to oblivion for your opinions! I wasn't that fortunate back in 2010. Keep up the good work, and keep making awesome in-depth videos, sir!
From what I remember of X/Y (I've not played in a while because, after finally succeeding in catching them all, I read up on the Looker end plot, realised my Pokémon were overleveled, and had no interest in either competitive training or trading, and so stopped playing), HMs were made a lot less required in Gen VI. There were one or two places an HM was needed (*sigh* hello, Surf, we meet again), but the places where you could use them were mostly sidetracking from the main plot.
Also, I found the plot to be sufficiently different from the previous games that I had no real problem with it. The Champion turns up once or twice, as far as I can remember, and none of your rivals/friends (also, you had multiples; when one annoyance wasn't enough!) became the champion a few seconds before you. Also, the main aim was to stop this gen's Team Noun from completing their dastardly deed, which wasn't stealing Pokémon this time (though there was some of that as well, wasn't there), but [spoilers!] activating an ORBITAL DEATH LASER. Seriously, an orbital death laser! That's actually a villainous, evil thing (albeit kinda stupid that they were essentially NUKING THEMSELVES IN THE FACE)! Though it's a bit annoying that they removed any kind of moral quandry about keeping living animals (or plants or minerals or combinations thereof or whatever the hell Ditto is) in tiny balls and using them to beat on other living animals &c for pocket money or to further the practise of grabbing monsters for no real purpose other than "TO CATCH 'EM ALL!"
Good video, overall, and I'll agree that the music, while good, didn't stick with me. I think it's because, as you sort of touched on, the music has become more ambient. They have so much more instrumentation to play with, so the melody gets lost in the music. Whereas, before, the music was JUST the melody. It's interesting that HeartGold had a post-game item you could get that replaced all the music with the original 8bit versions. Right now, every time I try and think of Pokémon music I think of either one track (which I can't remember the provenance of - I think it was Black), or music from other Nintendo franchises (notably, Mario).
One of my major bugbears with the game was that its touted "ridable Pokémon" translated to "Gogoat in the main hub and in a field." That's not a major gameplay change, or a selling point, that's a bloody vignette! Also, ooo, you get Running Shoes! Awesome! Now, run around with them using the analogue stick or the D-Pad, until we give you roller skates, which result in the comfortable-feeling analogue stick making you move faster and slightly less predictably! Woo, innovation! Also, there's still the bike! Why? BIKE!
All that said, I'm still looking forward to ORAS. Not because HOLY SHIT, MORE POKÉMON, but because it's the only gen I've never played. Seems that Gen III carts had some SERIOUS battery issues. Every copy I've been leant (of two, it's true, but still) has had an issue. One didn't turn on, while the other can't/won't save. So, I've been waiting for the Gen III remakes for a while. I played the original Red (and still have it - don't tell my next-door neighbour, it's his), then picked up Pearl for some reason, then got HeartGold, then Black, then White 2 (if I recall, this is the only Pokémon game I didn't beat the Champion in before abandoning), and now X. And now either Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire.
They should allow a more dynamic relationship with your rivals. Incorporate them into a much deeper part of the story so your character is not always the chosen one. I want Game Freak to bring back that competative feel with your rival again and not have them act as a bunch of free experience and an annoying thorn in your side that slows the pace of the game through inconcequential small talk. Great video though!
The idea of a randomized selection of Pokemon being available to each person's game is GENIUS
There is a card game from Wizards of the Coast that currently does that, where they have an algorithm to create wholly unique cards and every deck you buy is 100 percent different from the rest.
There is a disadvantage to using a Mega Evolution. It takes up your item slot, which can be a huge deal. Take Mega Alakazam for example. It's got a lot of power behind it, but it's just about as frail as it's base self, which is a huge disadvantage with a lack of an item slot. base Alakazam's ability, Magic Guard, prevents all damage from anything that isn't an attack, making a Focus Sash an optimal choice for an item. Simply put, base Alakazam can last much longer and can be an effective sweeper because of this. Mega Alakazam, on the other hand, is a glass canon that can often be knocked out in one hit, making it inferior to base Alakazam. Yes, there's an obvious advantage to using a Mega, but it isn't always an optimal choice. There's also the added balanced of only being able to use 1 Mega on your team. I'll agree that for the main game, they're broken, but then, you can always choose not to use one, which is what I do.
Mega Evolution was the perfect excuse Game Freak needed to bring some chronically underused Pokemon into relevance. They did this with the likes of Mega Beedrill and Mega Mawile, etc. but then go and ruin it by giving pseudo-legendaries like Garchomp, Salamence and Metagross Mega Evolutions. So nothing's changed; there's STILL no reason have Mega Beedrill when I can just go to town with a Mega Metagross. A wasted opportunity.
I'm among the few who don't think IGN was crazy to say OR/AS had too much water.
I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I stopped buying the games after Gen V, and even the White version I bought I kind of regret because I of how little time I put into it, comparatively. The reason I didn't bother with Gen VI is exactly as you laid out: the series is just releasing what could be considered at this point DLC as full games. Sure, they've made small tweaks every generation, but that's all it ever amounts to and it gets old.
What I am most amazed by are your small ideas that would add a whole lot to the gameplay -- most notably the idea of replacing HMs with team typing considerations, and having randomized wild pokemon in each game. The latter wouldn't even be a large leap, because they already did nearly that with the original two Pokémon Stadium games, where each pokemon had a more or less randomized moveset.
I actually do remember a lot of songs from Black/White, and haven't played it since I was 15 (9 years ago). But as far as the battle themes from more recent games? Forget about it.
I love your HM ideas, and it's kind of a pity that Sword/Shield introduced the HM's through the bike. I prefer when you're using your Pokémon to traverse the landscape. Best case scenario, the demands of the Pokémon would vary from game to game, but instead, there always needs to be a way to surf, cut, move rocks, etc. For this reason, I love what Sun/Moon did for the most part. New environmental hazards were introduced, but they were still quite hollow, and sort of broke emersion sometimes. Plus, once you have the Pokémon to, say, cross a rocky area, why add more rocky areas after that? They don't add much excitement or variety. They're essentially a way to block progress, but once you have the tool to make that progress, you're merely pressing a button. Same problem as HM's. Also Stoutland was a pain in the ass. I felt like I said to always be using it so I wouldn't miss out on hidden items. I don't really know what the perfect solution is.
Watching this in 2022. So interesting and funny lol
I just finished watching all three parts for Sonic Spitball, and I've enjoyed every bit if it. It be cool if you'd do a similar analysis on the Pokemon games
>A single game that randomly generates catch-able Pokemon per game copy/save file
I cannot stress how perfect of a game that sounds to me. As someone who jumped into Pokemon right when the series stagnated more than ever (Gen 6), I can barely bring myself to play the older games since they're technically more of the same predictable slog (even if the older games like Platinum, HGSS, and the whole of Gen 5 are leagues better, but you get the point). Imagine if the Switch game turns out like this, with more personalized trading like you advocated for, and perhaps a slightly less linear single-player experience. Not necessarily open-world, I don't think that'd work for Pokemon (not to mention that the demand for every single game to be "open-world" is starting to become a bit tiresome), but just a bit more freedom to give a grander sense of adventure. That would be absolutely amazing, but at the same time I'm trying not to get myself too excited, since GameFreak seems to be a bit afraid of taking risks with the series. Then again, Gen 7 DID fix a lot of the problems long-time fans had with the series, even if they're not necessarily the exact way you described, but they still suffered from what you called the series' "memory loss", with the pokeradar or whatever it was called from ORAS being removed, and even the PSS being neutered with the abysmal Festival Plaza. Hopefully this will be changing for the better to however, since they bothered to bring Pokemon-Amie back (albeit with a slight name change but whatever), though that also could've just been because they spent a significant amount of work programming it and didn't want their work going to waste upon the next game release.
basically to sum up my rant, who bloody knows?
Found ya today and I must say, I also felt Pokemon's soul waning since gen 4. I dunno, I love the new Pokémon and the newer concepts and such (Breeding fanatic here so I'll ONLY jump ship if they remove that lovely feature) and honesly, while being hyped for Sun and Moon, I'm still satisfied with X a lot. Granted, I am hyped, but with some care.
The problems with Pokemon is the fact that Gamefreak has to make awkward compromises between two unique halves of the fanbase: the little kids who like playing with the cool looking monsters and the teenage/adult fans that enjoy the complex metagame. This results in a game where kids can't fully grasp the battle system outside of "spam high base power move A" and older fans have to sit through a dull, easy single player in order to access the awesome multiplayer. Perhaps this is why websites like Pokemon Showdown have grown in popularity since generation four?
It would be so simple for them in there is a remake to add a bunch of newer pokemon to diversify the pool
Very interesting video. Have you seen any footage of Sonic Exodus by chance? It's basically a fan-made 2D Sonic game in 3D that controls like Adventure, except with the Adventure gameplays' problems fixed, such as no homing attack, no automated loops, a spin-dash more like the classic games, and slope physics that also function much like the classic games. It's not finished yet, but judging off of the few videos that have been released about it, it looks extremely promising.
Oops, wrong video, sorry about that. I could have sworn this was posted on the Sonic video. My mistake.
FUCK HMS. Just gimme tools that are separate from my Pokemon's moveset, like a Helicopter instead of Fly or a chainsaw instead of HM Cut.
Keep Surf though. That's a badass move.
GammaWALLE Field abilities, like from the Ranger series.
Daniel Quinlan I've nevah played anything from the Ranger series, so I wouldn't know how any of that works.
Amazing video, it's like you read my mind
the underground was an annoying time sink that made completing the gen 4 dex a collosal pain in the arse
Someone didn't have any friends to play with, lol.
Great video shay! Keep up the good work, hope to see more from you :)
Dude, you're seriously brrrrilliant! ;D
First I watched the zelda sequelitis rebuttal, then this.
Noice.
Ya know what you are talking bout.
My eyebrows are unraised
A concept like Pokemon is probably more prime to stagnation than any other series especially with the basics of the game being perfected very early on. Its hard to tack things onto something that already exists, call it brand new and expect people to keep buying it.
Mario and Zelda are able to change aspects around and experiment with the gameplay whereas Pokemon is mostly set on stone, with experimentation redirected to spin offs as everyone has this expected formula for Pokemon unlike Mario, Zelda or Metroid
But mainly, for the love of God, the slowdown needs to be fixed because battles in the 3DS games feel like sitting through a school play when your kid only has one spoken role.
Its interesting to me that you chose gen V and VI when making the music argument.
Firstly, as a fan of X and Y, it caught me off guard how non-memorable the music was. I couldn't think of a single track, admittedly.
However the first few music tracks that came to mind, for me personally, were ALL from gen V: Pokémon black and white.
Driftveil city, Skyarrow Bridge, the melody that plays when Bianca stands up to her dad, Accumula town... All of these are only the ones that first come to my head. There's many more I'm sure I love but have forgotten as it's been a while since I've played the game.
Despite the fact I'm most nostalgic for gen IV, it's gen V that really sticks out to me in terms of city design and music. For me personally, the Pokémon design was some of the weakest in the series (but that's a matter of opinion), however it has absolutely some of the most memorable music, narrative and atmosphere. And although I still love X and Y, they tend to pale in comparison to their predecessors.
Great video! I especially love your ORAS video, despite the length I always felt engaged and you make your points well
Hello again.
Now I'm no huge fan of Pokemon. The only version I've ever played and beaten was leaf green. Although from what I've seen I'm not missing much.
Anyway, I feel the EXP share is much better since it applies to all the pokemon in your party. Its perfect if you don't want to spend hours or months building the perfect team, but instead just want to experience the game and story. If the exp share makes it too easy then don't use it.
Plus by changing the exp share it reduces grinding time which is so merciful. I mean come on, whenever I have to grind in a game it drives me insane because its not a test of your smarts, skill, or strength. Its a test of your patience!! That is the one thing nobody wants tested! Seriously, there are 700 pokemon! You want me to train them one at a time! Granted most people just train their favorites, so your training 6 instead of 700 pokemon, but who knows what their favorites are in a game they've never played. Am I wrong in assuming that every game has new pokemon?
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(virtual eyebrow raise, just in case you couldn't tell)
My problem with the randomized version is that for me I try to catch every Pokemon available on a route and if it became randomized I wouldn't know what Pokemon where on that route which would make it a lot more difficult to complete the pokedex for me
Time Diamond, and Space Pearl Confirmed!!!!!!!!
Black 2 / white 2 is the last good one
Do you draw your own avatar or does someone else do that?
He draws it.
The one thing I'd say against the idea for the HM system being replaced is typing.
Let's say I'm playing Gen III with this new system. I'd much rather have Cut stuck on a Zigzagoon than have to wait until I catch Vulpix at Mount Pyre to get past some trees. And for many people, sticking Surf on a Normal type would be preferable to catching a Water Pokemon that they may not want. Using Gen III as an example again, the only Water types I'm particularly fond of are the Mudkip line, Milotic, Starmie and Kyogre, and most of those are really late in the game, and have some idiotic conditions on acquiring them.
The self-imposed challenge community would also be a bit resistant there. If I want to do a run of a game with only Grass Pokemon, or Psychic Pokemon, or whatever, I'm not going to get very far.
I think a big reason why Pokemon doesn't evolve (ironic given what the games are about) has to do with sales. I know tons of older players who continue to buy up the games every generation, but even more so, the target audience hasn't changed. They're targeting kids. The kids that played the originals are now grown up and may have stuck with the series or not, but the new kids that are playing the games weren't even born when the original Pokemon games came out. To them, Black & White or X & Y are totally brand new games, and they're perfectly happy with it. With new audience members coming in like that, it's easy to see why the devs would follow a known formula rather than innovate.
I love your videos :D
Woah, Shay. Do you really think someone has the time to sit down and watch a 16 minute video about Pokemon? You're kind of overstaying your welcome here.
2:30 showing Tales of Symphonia as an example of full 3D camera control is a weird choice. afaik you could rotate (but not zoom in/out) on the overworld, but once you enter anything your camera is locked.
7:00 cut, surf and strength are all pretty decent attacks actually, so no other purpose? not true.
9:40 lol in reality they are making one game at the price of three.
Do you still make videos?
I disagree with your thoughts on Mega Evolutions. From a competitive aspect they actually provide value an new strategy to the meta game. You can only use one per battle, you must forego a held item (which really can make or break you in the competitive environment), you must always be prepared to faced off against potential mega evolutions, and their new stats-abilities-and type combinations can really complement certain teams.
However mega evolutions aren't properly balanced for the main game. The main game is easy as it is, an constantly using a Mega allows you to breeze through the game with ease. I'm not sure how they could be balanced more in this regard but perhaps have more characters utilize them? I mean only the rivals, evil team leaders and the champions utilize them. Maybe have the last four gym leaders have one and all elite four members have one from the get go. Also give one to a few random NPCs here and there to spice things up when you least expect it.
But...I loved Colosseum. ;'[
I like it fine but it's really slow oace compared to its handheld counterparts in gen 3, which are still probably the fastest paced games in the entire franchise.
But I like Pokemon colosseum :(
Welp, Sun and Moon ditched the grid and use full analog control, the gyms were removed, and HMs were replaced by loaned pokemon
And I hate all of these things so unbelievably much. I would kill for d-pad controls back, the replacements for gyms are even more boring and even more braindead to defeat, and I hate riding someone else's pokemon more than anything, either let me use my own pokemon or don't make me use pokemon at all.
That said, ORAS still introduced my absolute favourite new thing in any pokemon game. The Dexnav.
And then they went and removed it from SM.
God I hate SM so much.
I've got a seven hour video about how much I love the DexNav coming your way soon.
I'd probably watch the whole bloody thing
I don't really mind the series being formulaic or following traditions. In fact, I was very uncomfortable when Gen 7 broke tradition by replacing gyms with island trials. I couldn't be bothered to finish Sun/Moon because of how different it was.
HMs may be inconvenient, but I think they're important. For one thing they reinforce the player's reliance on their team, even outside of battles. They also give overworld obstacles more of a purpose. One complaint I have about the Ride Pager in Sun and Moon is how it turns them into pointless busywork.
Randomizing the Pokemon you can catch is a horrible idea. Let's say there are certain Pokemon I want to use, but thanks to the RNG most of them don't exist in my save file! I would feel cheated and not want to keep playing as a result.
I don't have much to say about Mega Evolution, aside from being disappointed that most of my favorites never got one.
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It gets worse. Professor tree. However gen 7 does a lot right here. I want pokemon to lean much more into the RPG genre... i wanna see them do away with the fgw starter system, and make a much deeper richer experience
0:29 I will to this day never understand why people use screenshots of ROM hacks for reference in their pokemon videos (that talk about the series in general and NOT about ROM hacks). Is it that hard to look up screenshots of the actual game? It's actually harder to find ROM hack images than of the actual games. It just sticks out like a sore thumb and confuses me to no end.
Is your accent real? We always learned that modern Scots don't actually roll their R's more than one tap of the tongue.
...why the hell would he fake his accent?
He has said that he deliberately slows down his speech so he's more understandable to non-scottish viewers. He also probably plays up the rolling R's thing because it's funny.
Secret bases = rip-off from Final Fantasy games.
... how? Which FF game even lets you decorate a place outside of the MMO ones which came out years after gen 3?