Topic: Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee!

Open world MMO. Online ranked PvP to become the best trainer. Ker-ching

Well they're wrong. They've already been alienating people with the current casual friendly direction, and now they have a new audience of console gamers on the Switch to appeal to. So staying the course on this is not going to benefit them, they're not going to have the BotW-esque impact they're looking for if they're not willing to take risks on the world design.

No, that's exactly what you said. You're the one making you look dumb.

If they're that young and undeveloped they're probably not too interested in console to begin with. Leave this demographic to mobile.

You said that here:

You're directly saying that the world has to be a linear, forward/backwards design right here. And not being able to operate a camera or have spatial awareness directly implies that as well.

This camera debate is too hot for my blood. That said I don't think Pokemon would ever go full open-world for a main series entry. There would just be too many things to overhaul and change from a formula that has worked for them for over two decades.

Admittedly though, I chuckle at the thought of having pokemon rendered in the world outside of battle in realistic sizes. Aside from the ones that are rediculously big/small, there's ones that are supposed to be 'rare' but are fairly large (like say a Kangaskhan) and you could just glance around to find.

Full open-world is ideal, but also really, really drastic. Instead, something like XC1 or XC2 where it's still linear, but has open enough worlds with a lot of exploration and sense of adventure.

You don't need to go complete full open-world (though I'd love to see the potential of one), but a nice middle-ground between linear and open-world, embracing aspects of both sides is probably best for a transition between 3DS to Switch.

@Octane @MarcelRguez @Bolt_Strike So I get what Bolt_Strike is saying about the controllable camera. And yes, it would add to the experience ... IF the world is designed to incorporate that. What I mean is, with a camera comes MUCH more effort in graphics and fine-tuning the environment. With a fixed camera, Game Freak might not have to worry about designing a patch behind a sign the player can't reach to look nice, cause the player can't inspect it carefully anyway. With a controllable camera though? Now the player can inspect it, which will reveal its sloppiness and force GameFreak to pay attention to each spot in the environment and make sure it is properly developed. For example, you can't go to a small corner in BotW or Odyssey and expect to see it poorly designed and glitchy, because the game developers knew players would be able to inspect everything and thus designed the environment to incorporate that.

Unfortunately, the development of an environment to incorporate a controllable camera would take a lot of effort - effort I don't think Game Freak will view as worth it. And as Octane mentioned previously I think, what exactly would we do with the controllable camera once we get it? In Odyssey we could see the enemies and allies and other things in the environment. Likewise with BotW. With Pokemon? Not so much, since you cannot see the Pokemon themselves running around in the grass. It wouldn't add much if all they did was add an controllable camera, even if they redid the environment; they'd have to make Pokemon in the grass visible and in general make the world more alive to justify having the camera.

TLDR; a controllable camera could improve Pokemon tremendously, but only if they environment is meticulously developed to incorporate it and you can see more Pokemon interacting in the grass and the environment. I doubt Game Freak would do all of this for the next Pokemon game unless it comes out Holiday 2020. This may come eventually in another generation or two, but right now I doubt Game Freak will put in the effort to do this revamp.

That's the point, they need to put more effort into their games instead of just crapping them out in 2 or 3 years. Console games demand large scale, detailed, graphically impressive environments so they should modernize their development practices to follow suit.

You don't need to see wild Pokemon to make use of the camera, you can still use it to see trainers, items, and landmarks. But if USUM is any indication, they seem to be adding more NPC Pokemon to the overworld, so there's that.

@MarcelRguez As I said, the models for Pokemon are already HD. It upscales with a simple mod.

@MarcelRguez Holy shoot those really are nice. Just throw in some modern lighting and make a few design adjustments (That other trainer looks off notably) and it'd look like a proper Switch game.

Eh... No. Upscaled Sun/Moon looks like an HD Indie game, or a remastered port (like The Wind Waker HD). The textures, models, etc. are all that of a 3DS-level game. I do have to say that GameFreak did a pretty good job with the models of the Pokemon themselves. However, everywhere else the graphics need to be completely redone for the Switch or... as I said, it will look like an Indie game. lol No thanks.

@Harmonie The models of the Pokemon in terms of geometry (polygons, edges and vertices) are actually what youd expect from a HD game. Sure the textures will need redoing but the actual bulk of the work, the models themselves are done, for 807+ forms of the existing Pokemon.

Oh, and GameFreak arent the ones who do the Pokemon models, thats Creatures Inc.

@YummyHappyPills Notice how I said in my post that the Pokemon themselves look great, but that it's everywhere else where the graphics are lacking.

That actually would look nice on the Switch, just get some better shaders so everything doesn't look so plasticy and sterile and I could live with a graphics engine like that for another 2 or 3 gens. So maybe, you know, they should spend more time on map design and graphics. Game Freak is FAR behind the curve when it come to map design, even Mario 64 and OoT feel bigger and more open than SM.

I think the models for the Pokémon themselves look great but really need HD textures, but it's likely that they will have those already. The character models for cutscenes also look good but almost everything else won't hold up in HD.

I think it's going to take GameFreak a lot longer to make this new game unless they increase the size of their team by a significant amount. They will need to make more models and they'll also need to be a lot more detailed, flat textures can pass on a 3DS screen but it would look bad at 1080/720p.

With that said I think the addition of a higher resolution, HD textures, normal maps and improved lighting will do a lot for them in the graphics department. But we'll probably need to wait a couple of games for them to fully adjust. The difference between the first and last generations of pokémon games on the DS and 3DS saw huge improvements so we'll probably see something similar.

So take this with a big grain of salt...

The Project Eevee Twitter (the mystery Twitter TPC opened for no reason apart to promote Eevee) tweets about Eevee in an airplane.

The upcoming film features Eevee and takes place in a ''city where people live together with the wind''

And then there's the new merchandise that appeared today, and it features a mystery plushy. They did the same thing with Sylveon iirc.

...or it's the stupid electric cat. Either way, we may get some info soon.

Probably Zeraora. Its around the time they reveal it

I have a hard time believing a flying type Eevee could be as ugly as Sylveon. I'm all for new evolutions of old gen Pokemon, if that's what this is.

Boy does that cat look like the least interesting Lucario-alike though.

CoroCoro confirms the distribution of a Lugia called the ''Wind Lugia'', since it only knows flying type moves; Aeroblast, Defog, Tailwind, and Hurricane.

https://serebii.net/corocoro4181.jpg

Inb4 Windeon gets revealed next month.

I would have said a Flying Eevee would be called Sylpheon bvut....yaknow.

If I had a choice, I'd name a flying Eevee Aereon I'd think... That said, I still think we'll get a Dragon type Eevee next.

Anyways, I'm officially out of the 'definitely coming this year' camp, now that I know about Smash as a holiday game. If they do manage it this year, I think Switch could really dominate the market, but it's no longer seeming like a requirement for them to push it for this year. Especially since Nintendo still probably has at least one game to reveal for the rest of the year.