Topic: Concerned about Pokemon Switch and Pokemon's Development

So there's been a lot of rumors flying around about the upcoming Pokemon Switch game that really have me worried about the future of this series. If what's being said about this game is true, then Game Freak is trying to make a BotW/Odyssey type of Pokemon game and are targeting a 2018 release.

http://pokejungle.net/2017/11/13/rumor-gen-viii-games-coming-...
https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumor-gamefreak-might-be-doi...

The idea that they could pull this off is utterly laughable. The game seems to have started development in 2016, which would mean that it's only been in development for 2 years. On the other hand, BotW and Odyssey both had a 5 and 4 year development period respectively. Add to that that Game Freak is working with both console development and HD for the first time and it's pretty clear they won't come anywhere near that level in 2 years.

Now you could write this off as being just rumors and one or more of those statements is probably fake. But this goes deeper than just rumors about the next game. It's also about Game Freak's current development habits. Game Freak likes sticking to a 1-3 year development cycle with yearly releases, and that is absolutely not going to fly on consoles. 3 year cycles got us the likes of XY and SM, which were regarded as largely underwhelming games, so what's it going to get us on much stronger hardware that demands much more of them? Nowhere near the lofty expectations of a BotW/Odyssey type of experience that's for sure, and rumor or not that's where the fanbase is placing their expectations for this game. Can you honestly see them putting out BotW-esque games every year under that type of development cycle? Because I sure can't.

It's becoming blatantly obvious that Game Freak has no idea the kind of time and effort that's required to make the kind of game people expect of them. They are expanding their development teams, as of April they've expanded to 118 people, but even that isn't going to be nearly enough to create the kind of output they want. To put things in perspective let's look at another popular IP with yearly entries, CoD. CoD is developed by 3 teams that alternate entries, Infinity Ward which has 125 people, Treyarch which has 250 people, and Sledgehammer Games which has over 300 people. That's 700 people needed to make CoD a yearly series. Now some of that is because of graphics, but even still, you have to figure that 118 people is nowhere near enough even taking that into account. Especially when all of Game Freak is currently working on that game. Game Freak is going to need MASSIVE expansion to be able to go back to producing yearly sequels, probably at least double or triple where they are now.

So yeah, I strongly suspect this game is going to underwhelm and I am very afraid for the future of this series. Game Freak seems extremely ill-prepared for the transition to HD console development and I fear this is going to be a very rocky transition for them. Thoughts?

@Bolt_Strike
I want to see Pokemon games on Switch developed from Turn Based -> Action RPG like Pokepark 2 Wii, from Fixed Camera Angle -> Dynamic Camera Angle, Random Battle -> Direct Battle (You can see the enemies), Traditional explorations -> Open World style, All abilities for Pokemons, Customable Trainer and Pokemon itself. More Mini games so the game is not just about Hunt and Beat the Pokemons.

I'll just wait and see what they have to offer before making any judgments. Nintendo thought Breath of the Wild would be ready way earlier than it was so they could always delay this game too if it looks like it won't be ready in time. I think Game Freak, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo all have quality standards. I don't see them releasing a game that's clearly not ready to be shipped.

I'm can't see it being anything close to Zelda Breath of the Wild. GameFreak have always been one to play it safe and only make minor changes to the formula. The games sell really well, so they don't have to take any big risks with the games.

I'm not expecting any big changes from Sun and Moon, other than Pokemon Switch looking a bit better.

This isnt their first HD Game nor their first console game, so chill on that front.

Secondly, where was it stated Odyssey took 4 years?

Third: Itll be done when its done. Chill.

@YummyHappyPills 3D World (2013) -> Odyssey (2017) = 4 years.

And the GameCube games were developed by Genius Sonority.

@Octane First off I doubt they leapt right ibto Odyssey given EAD had other things to work on.

Secondly: Tembo The Badass Elephant. By GameFreak on PS4. Youre welcome. A HD console game.

Lack of content is the reason why they're underwhelming though. While it's true that doesn't guarantee success that is the only way to really address the issue.

I guess, but that's going to be a major blow to the Switch's lineup if it goes without a main series Pokemon game until 2020.

Tembo the Badass Elephant is a 2D platformer. Those games typically don't take a lot of resources to create, that's why we see so many of them from indies. A 3D RPG on an HD console is a whole different ball game, pretty much anything that deals with large 3D spaces is going to take a ton of development time.

Not to mention that Game Freak collaborated with SEGA on that game.

@Bolt_Strike GameFreak has still made a HD game, and a home console game. Your point stated as such.

Now if you said a full 3D HD RPG on a home console, sure thing.

I know nothing about Game Freak, but it's not like they'll be attempting it in isolation - they'll work with Nintendo to significantly improve the development time that BotW had. That engine is there now, proven and ripe for exploitation.

And how big a leap could they realistically be expected to have made between each 3DS game? It's the 3DS ffs.

XY/SM where underwhelming according to who???? The sales sure don't reflect that.

It was implied, the discussion is in reference to what they're doing with Pokemon. Pokemon is far more ambitious than any of their other games.

IDK what agreement you're seeing, but there's been a ton of controversy in the 3DS era over the lack of content, removal of features, decreasing difficulty, and increasing handholding. And those are things that will most certainly hurt sales on the Switch if they continue, they're going to have a hard time selling a Switch to Pokemon fans without creating a console scale Pokemon experience on the Switch. Which pretty much requires them to do the opposite of almost everything they've done with the 3DS games.

Having BotW's engine probably isn't going to help them much, the issue is how much time it's going to take them to create a console sized overworld in HD. That's not something they're going to be able to crap out in 2 years.

It's not about how much of a leap each 3DS game makes over the last. It's about the scale and content of the games they've made in that timeframe. Game Freak clearly isn't capable of releasing an acceptable amount of content on the 3DS in 3 years, so what can they possibly do on the Switch in 2 years?

As soon as we see a teaser we will be able to predict its direction, until then I wouldn’t worry about anything.

I'm still waiting for Pokemon Stars on the Switch...oh wait

As these are just rumors and not straight from the horse's mouth, I'm not worried. I'll pass judgement when there's solid evidence.

While I agree that X/Y were underwhelming, I thought that Sun/Moon were a nice breath of fresh air after Gen VI. They were by no means flawless games (I still say we need difficulty modes or less hand-holding, and the SOS system needed work), but I think they rank about in the middle for me when compared to other generations. I quite enjoyed my time with Sun and hope to pick up Ultra Sun in the semi-near future.

I feel like it would be Nintendo's ideal plan to have a Pokémon game on Switch for sometime near November next year, but realistically 2019 seems more likely. However they could probably manage a game next year if they have a big enough team to create all of the new assets in time, because that's going to take up a lot of development time.

The models for the Pokémon themselves could probably be reused, they look good already and they might already have higher resolution versions available. I feel like Gamefreak will be going for a similar art direction to Sun and Moon, so I won't be expecting super realistic shaders, fur, particles systems or anything like that. I think that it will look really good though, Sun and Moon already look great running at 1080p, the main thing holding it back is the pixelated textures and some low poly models.

The high up guys at Gamefreak are already known to be working on the game as the younger devs worked on Ultra Sun and Moon. This is just speculation but I'm guessing that during USUM's development they worked out most of the story, the region and some new Pokémon and let the programmers work on an adapted engine for Switch. They probably used Pokémon Sun and Moon as a base for their tests which makes me think that it was "pokemon stars", but was only a tech demo and not a full game.
Now that USUM has released the team's will have been combined into one unit, so they're probably going all out to make the plans from last year become a reality, next year is possible but it depends on how much they planned out last year.

2018 doesn't have the big sellers lined up like this year had, Metroid will not have as big of an effect that a Mario or Zelda will. Animal Crossing and Pokémon seem like they're next in line and combined with a new Fire Emblem game they'll convince most 3DS owners to buy into the Switch if they haven't already. The first Pokémon game for Switch may not be exactly what everyone wants if it's pressured to release next, but I'm expecting it to have a similar growth to 3DS. XY were a good start, ORAS refined these and the SM built upon it. I'm guessing a similar thing with Gen 8 > Gen 4 remakes > Gen 9.

That was a lot of speculation, but hopefully my walls of text make sense to others as they do to me

Too much speculation and rumors to start worrying IMO. Would Pokemon Switch need to be as big and detailed as BotW? As much as I love big open worlds, not every RPG needs to be like Xenoblade, Skyrim or Witcher. Will the world be bigger than the previous games? Probably, but I think they can get away with a smaller world than some of the big open world games nowadays.

@Bolt_Strike The removal of HM's in Sun/Moon was enough for me to have the most fun with a Pokémon game ever. Also, the Alola region was really beautiful I thought. All the new Pokémon were in theme with the region and everything made sense when it came to world building. Can't say that about every Pokémon game now, can we? The main reason why I like US/UM less than S/M is because they somewhat destroyed that world building by including all the other Pokémon.
But hey, that's just my opinion of course.

Personally, I couldn't really care less about the models, resolution, or anything related to graphics. SM looks fine to me. I'm more concerned about the size and openness of the region and the amount of content, which are things that the entirety of the 3DS era failed at.

Not every RPG needs to be but for Pokemon it makes sense. Pokemon is a game about going on an adventure, searching for Pokemon to catch and traveling around the region to become the best trainer. It's a very self driven experience so having the direction you travel in be up to player choice fits the series like a glove.

And no, they won't be able get away with being inferior to the competition. Pokemon's playing with the big boys now, and so everyone expects them to get on their level. If they don't, gamers are going to start to flock to other games to get their fix. Like it or not, open world is becoming a standard for anything exploration based. If Game Freak can't keep up with that then the industry is going to leave them behind.

...hold up...

Evidently you ARE caring about it, because you list the jump to HD as a reason you are concerned due to their "Inexperience with it". Worried about how long it will take or the resultant quality since you specifically mentioned High Definition Development.