New Pokémon games! I’ve talked multiple times on this forum about how as Pokémon has made the jump to a more “realistic” 3D style the routes and worlds have gotten smaller, and there’s less room for imagination in the adventure. This zoomed out, toy-like art style is such an exciting direction for Pokémon, and exactly what the series needs imo. I love the detailed environments in the battles (which looks better than SwSh), the cute characters, and the free movement.
I’d love to hear more about what everyone thinks, but I’m excited because this seems like the direction I’ve wanted the Pokémon series to explore for a long time.
I think this vaguely Link’s Awakening Switch style works perfectly for Pokémon. The one thing I’m a little concerned about is precisely how faithful a recreation these games will be. I don’t miss TMs that break!
This feels like the best case scenario for me tbh. Like you said, the newer Pokémon games have felt kind of small and restrictive compared to earlier games in the series, so returning to the classic top-down perspective feels like the only way they could have done Gen IV justice. On the other side, completely abandoning the structure of the previous games feels like the only way to really make an open world Pokémon game work.
Gen IV was the last time I really loved Pokémon, so seeing it get so much love is great!
I don’t want to go back to HMs, and I want TMs to last as well! I did like how SwSh had TMs that didn’t break and TRs that did, which is a good way to keep that system without being frustrating.
That being said, I love the simplicity of battling in Gen 4 (Mega Evolutions were the last addition that I enjoyed) so hopefully this will allow me to enjoy gym/online battles again!
Yeah the ideal version of this has the nice quality of life stuff like infinite use tms, at the very least, but otherwise pretty faithful.
Diamond was my first pokemon so I’m absolutely invested in this one. It looks like I remember it! I know those places! I’m excited to feel emotions about all that. The new game looks like something fresh and revitalising and this is the game I grew up with and still have some of the fondest memories of outside of X and Y.
Gen 4 is the least I’ve played. I think I’ve managed to get 2 badges whereas I’ve finished every other one bar Gen 5 where I got 6 badges in so this is an exciting development as the QoL upgrades are really what I almost can’t do without anymore.
I’m glad people like the look of this. I reallllllly do not. Something about keeping the sprite proportions without sprites. I liked how the did Omega Ruby and Sapphire, a bit disappointed by this look. Would be thrilled if there was a Dragon Quest option where I could turn on the 2007 appearance, which I think was much better.
I am also curious how faithful this will be. If it’s a straight remake then why do it at all? Why not just port it and work around the two screens? Have to imagine stuff will be modified.
I began the trailer with mild dread and ended it filled with exhilaration. This art style and perspective is just perfect, and I kinda hope having to remake these wide-open Sinnoh games, with maybe(?) the biggest region in the series pushes them back in this direction for possible future games.
I do hope these have a Delta Episode-like thing that inserts Platinum’s story beats into these in some way, the way ORAS did with Emerald. With that as a precedent I imagine they will, but you never know I suppose.
If I were to make a checklist of things I wanted Pokémon to do:
Let us explore the world in a unique way
Experiment with gameplay outside of the standard turn-based format
Return to a zoomed-out, sprite/cartoon style
Between the Arceus game, Pokémon Snap, and these remakes, it seems like everything I’ve wanted from Pokémon is finally happening.
Sorry for hyping this so much, but I’m really excited. Pokémon games were the only games I played from 2013-2017, so they’re a huge part of my life and have formed a lot of my framework for thinking about games
Oh wait I completely missed the Arceus game in my excitement. It looks real neat! The idea of a harsh open-worldish sort of environment gets me excited (and of course is making me dream of a Pokemon game in the vein of Breath of the Wild so let me stop myself before I get preemptively disappointed). Will be mildly excited until we eventually see more about it.
Pokemon spinoffs have always been surprisingly good also? PMD is an excellent series in its own right and Ranger is neat. People really seemed to like Cafe Mix, and Go still has a devoted playerbase. Snap needs no discussion. It’s such a good core template that it works in so many settings. Glad we’re getting another one.
The Diamond and Pearl games will probably play perfectly fine, but my god they look TERRIBLE. This isn’t some “bad trees” type graphic complaint but man in the announcement the crisp bright colorful sprite work of the original looks so good! The 3D looks so flat and lifeless by comparison. Hate it.
I still maintain that going 3D was the worst thing to happen to Pokémon.
The open world game… I mean I’m curious, we shall see if it can deliver at all. I feel like if you are going to do 3D Pokémon, then this is what you should be aiming for.
I really do not know if it is seeing the older games through nostalgia glasses or what but starting and ending the trailer with the original DS footage really diminished my impressions of these new editions. Something about seeing the same tree or grass or flower when the model is 3D and on a new fancy system makes it look so much worse than it did as pixel art. Having said that, Gen 4 is my absolute favorite generation and so I am absolutely thrilled about the prospect of playing those games again (if I get over the looks and whatever other things the Pokemon Company will inevitably do in this game that somehow undoes whatever progress and streamlining they have recently accomplished).
That all said, I am VERY curious and into what we have seen of Breath of the Wild Pokemon… sorry I mean Pokemon Legends Arceus.
I also have an extremely selfish take on more Pokémon: since there’s no voice acting or performance capture, any potential Covid-related delays are smaller.
I really don’t like that out of battle art style. The people look off in a really unsettling way. There’s something about it that just reminds me heavily of bad franchise tie in game? I really wish they would just rerelease these games with good high quality sprite work or find creative ways to reimagine the franchise using sprites because that’s where their art looks the best. Take the Project Triangle Strategy visuals and apply that to Pokemon.
Pokemon Legends Arceus looks promising but um for a video that is claiming it is not gameplay footage it sure had some bad framerate and anti-aliasing. Reminded me a whole lot of some of the proof of concept videos fans would put together about what an open world Pokemon game could look like.
Yeah, the “not gameplay footage” video read like something between a prototype and a pre-alpha. I just hope they don’t overdo it trying to make that “early 2022” date because that’s ludicrous.
I know that graphic preference is subjective, but I hate the way Octopath and Triangle look (sprite art is good, I hate everything else) and I think that’d be worse than the remake. That being said, I’m just happy it’s a zoomed out, top-down game. To me, I’d rather have it the way it looks now than Gen 6-8 style art. Obviously original sprite art would be best! But I’m glad it’s moving in a different direction than recent games.
It also looks a lot like the Link’s Awakening remake, which I thought looked very bad! So I could be wrong or just too excited
