Topic: Pokemon Sword & Shield

@Octane If it is fake it's one of the best fakes ever. There is video, the character model is animated. As well as the background matching the cave with the colored rocks they already showed. If it's fake they should hire the guy who made it.

@Harmonie I would have to agree with you that they should probably not do more new forms of Kanto Pokemon. Johto needs some love, new forms of Ampharos, Dunsparce, Politoed, Snubbull, Delibird, Donphan, and Houndoom would be pretty exciting. If they really wanted to get crazy give the starters some new forms.

@Gravitron It isn't. I've seen better. This is pretty common with every generation. People spend hours, if not days, creating convincing fakes; and yes, that includes 3D models. If you're putting that much time into making fakes, a matching background is one of the first things you're looking for, so it isn't at all surprising that it matches up with one of the locations we've seen before. The model itself isn't up to the quality of the rest of the game though, and the background is too close, and the resolution/detail is too low. If you carefully it's easy to spot the mistakes.

Don't be surprised if more fake 3D models (animated and all) will show up in the coming months. If you're looking for leaks, the best you can hope for is plain old text from Tieba Baidu. Any photo or screenshot will be off-screen as well.

The most substantial leak was probably the Gen 7 final starter evolutions.

@Tsurii I think there was one ''leak'' who said the names were going to be Sword and Shield and it would be UK-based; they said something about ''armour evolution''. It could've been a lucky guess, since there were dozens, if not hundreds of leaks. So it's a given that some fake leaks get at least something right.

@Octane 4chan is the realisation of infinite monkeys sat at infinite keyboards.

@Tsurii After mega evolutions, alolan forms and z-moves, it's safe to say they'll come up with a new stupid gimmick. Z-moves are definitely the worst, because they feel like a cheat mode. Mega evolutions are a neat concept, but in practice in meant that 90% of OU Pokemon got an even more OP form. They're too strong, simply to the point where every team needed one. The there was a fair trade-off between carrying an item and mega evolution it would be better I think. Nerf them

@Harmonie I wouldn't necessarily call Alolan forms Gen 1 pandering. They were a good addition on their own but they served another purpose, they added type variation to Let's Go. Over half of them were either dark or steel types, types that were introduced after Gen 1. If it weren't for them, the only dark and steel types you could have encounter in Let's Go would've been Mega Gyarados, Magnemite and Magneton. They also added one ghost and one dragon type which there aren't many either. They knew they'd be making a Kanto remake so they prepared in advance.

My only problem is that despite their efforts to introduce new typings to Kanto Pokémon, they were still a bit underutilized in Let's Go. I used them quite frequently since I don't want to train Pokémon like Spearow for the 40th time but they should have given them to trainers too. They had people from Kanto in Alola who used regular Kanto forms so why not have Alolan sightseers in Kanto who use Alolan forms?

Guess they could have added forms for Pokémon from other regions as well? Then there would've been another problem. More Pokémon designs means more work and unless they had added the same amount of regional variants for other generations, people would've still complained. In addition, they couldn't make too many or they would've risked the chance of them overshadowing the actual new Pokémon.

@Late But LGP/E is Kanto pandering, too, so saying they were implemented just for use in more Kanto pandering doesn't really justify them individually.

More work? GF has control over one of the largest media franchises ever. Excuse me, but I really don't think they couldn't have handled this. I also don't think it's too much work to look beyond the original 151. I feel like some of the early Alolan forms revealed (Marowak, Vulpix/Ninetales) were excellent, but then they started making less inspired ones like Meowth, Muk, Rattata. It's almost like they could have done something better if they had expanded their options... But I can't really claim to know how that went down.

People will complain, just as they complain no matter what GF does. You see, we are not a collective and we all have our own individual opinions. For example, you have people who complain about the lack of new Pokemon in the new generations, but you also have people who would complain if B/W number of new Pokemon were reintroduced because they thought that B/W's Pokemon were bad (which I disagree with strongly). So, yes, you can't make everyone happy. But... I mean, if they had at least attempted to create a balance in regards to the Alolan forms, I don't think it would have bothered me as much. There was a lot of complaining about Kanto pandering in regards to Mega Evolutions in X/Y, but because there was more of a balance (not a perfect balance) I actually overlooked it. But when they turn around and make new forms exclusively Kanto Pokemon, it is too hard to overlook. Sun/Moon (and Pokemon GO just before it) was when that line was finally officially crossed for me.

If they do galar forms I think it be Johto region most likely also I think they might do kalos post game due to the regions closenes or irland as a post game area I think this is Johto of the 3d era like sun and moon was the orange islands game and kalos was red and blue of the 3d era.

I don’t think this region will have “garlarian” forms.

I mean, it’d be cool, but as a concept, it made sense to have it in Hawaii. But the UK isn’t exactly known for its uniquely adapting fauna and secluded habitats.

@Morpheel You say that, but the UK has several kinds of plant that only grow on certain mountains due to the soil and temperature. There are also exclusive animals by a long shot, and most definitely vegetation and biomes not seen elsewhere.

You could also say the same about every other region of the world.

@Morpheel Well yeah. So why would it then only make sense in Hawaii if its available to everywhere?

Then again, Unova is apparently on a different celestial body entirely as its the only region to have seasons and thus be on a body that orbits something.

Because Hawaii is an island that is very very very very far away from anything else.

It's an exotic tropical location where animals may look or behave different from those in mainland.

Great Britain is basically just an island-shaped mainland.

@Morpheel Animals have been proven to behave differently in Chernobyl than anywhere else in Ukraine, but its still slap in the middle of it. What's your point? Any area isolated from conventional humanity will seem different in the way animals behave.

The whole point of adapting Darwinian evolution into Pokemon was the idea that regions would have variation akin to what we see in the real world, where similar species, derived from the same genus, act differently with varied properties.

Now in the real world, there aren't as many extremes, at least anymore, thanks humanity, but in the Pokemon world, just because the region is based on somewhere "Basic" for the wildlife, doesn't mean it has to be that way in Pokemon. It is simply the franchise adapting and using what we know in the real world and twisting it to work in their world.

So a region being based on the UK, by all accounts, does not invalidate the idea of Galarian forms.

Plus, if we use your example of "Hawaii is really far away from other places", that then doesn't hold up, as Alola is seemingly rather close to Kanto based on the games. If any region needed this kind of "Because Hawaii is like this in the real world thus it has to be in the games", it would be Unova, which is stated to be VERY far away from other regions in Pokemon.

So if Alola got it because "Hawaii", then why doesn't Unova because it meets the same criteria of isolation?

In which universe would New York be considered isolated?

Anyway, there's your answer. If Unova and Kalos are not isolated enough to make stablished pokemon species branch into alternate forms, why would Galar? It's literally right next to Kalos.

Anyway, you seem to be under the impression that regional diversity can only be represented with alternate forms. That's what new species are usually for.

(Btw, Japan IS closer to Hawaii than it is to New York)

If that means we're getting more Alolan Muks and Dugtrio, they can keep them.

@Tsurii I'm talking about pokemon species in the context of Pokemon regions.

Sorry if that wasn't clear enough.

Easy, the Pokemon universe, where Unova is considered a faraway region from all the others as noted by both dialogue, the anime, and developer commentary.

Galar is not right next to Kalos. Nothing has been said to indicate such a thing. Just because the region is based on X place doesn't mean it mirrors reality. Heck, is Orre (Arizona) near Unova? In fact, the only basis for that is the idea that the UK and France are right next to each other. But as noted, the geography of the real world is NOT mirrored in the Pokemon World.

I'm not. I'm countering your point that Galarian forms won't happen simply because "The UK is by France".

I mean let's be real here. If your basis on that not being a thing is rooted so firmly in direct translation of reality into the Pokemon world, then we need to consider that the Galar region is in fact, NOT the UK. It simply draws inspiration from. For all we know due to it's climate it could be right next to Sinnoh, another notable cold region, albeit that one is based on a region of Japan.

I mean, if the real world inspiration is what determines the mechanics of a region in Pokemon, the culture, and indeed whether or not Pokémon's very loose translation of Darwinian Evolution into the games is accurate, then let's look at it that way: What caused the Alolan Forms?

Rattata and Raticate, became nocturnal due to Yungoos. Raichu, literally no one knows, therefore pancakes. Meowth, it was spoiled by royalty. Ninetales: It decided to live on a mountain. Now it's an ice type.

See the trend here? Some of them are due to environment, some are just because they can, and for Arceus's sake Meowth changed not because of the geographical location but because of the human impact. The fact it was Hawaii inspired as a region had nothing to do with it. Same with Raichu, and Muk. It just is, because humans.

As I said, a very loose translation of the theory into Pokemon.

And if we want to go even further than that, let's say the Pokemon World does perfectly mirror our own and thus regional variation couldn't happen because Kalos and Galar are right next to each other. Would Kalos and Galar have large overlap between Pokemon species? If so, why do so many Kalosian Pokemon appear in Alola? They are nowhere near each other by your estimation, simply because "Hawaii is far away and it has regional variance."

But going even further than that, let's take the only two known regions to be physically connected: Kanto and Johto. Why, and this is a general question really, are Pokemon that are listed as Johtonian, in the Johto dex....only found in Kanto? Surely, because they are listed as a native of that region, that country, they'd be found there, but no, its impossible. But it's just a simple landmass right? What's stopping them? Mt. Silver?

And let's be honest, if Pokemon was so tightly gripped onto reality to force the idea of regional variance out because "UK and France", then let me know if Hawaii has Koalas, and France has walking meringues.

I think we're taking this Alolan form thing being specific to Alola because it is Hawaii waayyyy too seriously. I saw Alolan forms as something fun to spice up old Pokemon for Alola, and a concept that could and should be expanded to further regions. Although each region is based off an IRL location, I don't think we have enough information to really say that in the Pokemon world those locations would even be placed where they are IRL. Correct me if I'm wrong... So that could change things up. I mean, look at Galar - it is UK upside down, and the portion corresponding with Scotland almost looks as if it could be connected to more land, meaning that Galar could be a peninsula instead of what the "England" (for simplicity's sake) island is IRL. Of course, that is speculation, too.

@Octane Yeah, sadly those later Alolan form reveals were quite disappointing. Again, I think it might come down to GF restricting themselves to only Kanto Pokemon. With more Pokemon to choose from, comes the greater potential for finding ones to make more unique forms.