Topic: Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee!

@YummyHappyPills The hard mode on BW2 was cool, but the way to get it was really dumb, they should have it available from the start, not behind a pseudo-paywall.

It's one of the worst implementations of a hard mode I've ever seen to be totally honest.

@MarcelRguez Actually that one's pretty bad too. About the same.

The amount of difficulty is also determined by your way of playing in general. I don't grind and I focus on evolving Pokémon. As soon as one evolves, it goes to the box. That way my levels are almost always lower than my opponent's.

@MarcelRguez I'd say BW2's unlock requirements are worse. Sure if you know someone with the other version you don't have to spend any money but if you don't you have to have both games and 2 consoles. At least with BotW (and possibly XC2) all you have to do is buy the expansion pass and you get a bunch of other stuff as well.

Having to pass the game first to unlock the hard mode is definitely not ideal and it should really be there from the start.

We really need seasons again too and Pokemon World Tournament. I think I spent at least 100 hours on PWT alone. All these features have been added to separate games but we need them all in one game...

@MrMeowPuss
Pokemon World Tournament is a must, and it will be even better with added Gen 6/7 trainers!

Seasons were cool but I didn't like how they limited the routes sometimes. I'd rather see GameFreak make one really good region instead of one average one with 4 versions. Most regions have areas that always snow or rain anyway so they wouldn't be completely absent.

@Kimyonaakuma

I have no idea why they don't add it for all game. I'm sure they see it as something more related to the story but it could easily be worked into post game which would really add to the content.

I think it's more of a visual thing that adds to ambience but could also affect which Pokémon appear!

@MrMeowPuss I know right? It was the best...

I guess they try to give each generation of Pokemon it's own post game battle area (Battle tower, battle frontier, battle maison, battle tree.....that weird subway in Unova ), so they don't want to repeat what they have done before. However the World Tournament was really good and I don't think anyone would complain if they could battle any gym leader/trial captain again in HD.

I liked the visual aspect of the seasons but I like to have variety. Having to play the game in one season for a month isn't very exciting to me. I remember playing through the main story of BW/BW2 in under a month, so I never saw a different season when I was first playing the game which disappointed me...

What if Gen 8 all takes place within a Pokeball?

Woah.

@Kimyonaakuma I think I enjoyed PWT more than the rest of the game haha. Dexnav is also something that really made me enjoy ORAS more than any other game so far (HGSS is still fondest in my heart) so I was so sad they removed it.

I can see why they would add it but I wouldn't complain if we had PWT for all the Gym Leaders, E4 and Champions but if we could also add the places such as battle tower for the generic trainers would the usual battle modes it would be really good.

I may remember it wrong but didn't the season change for the story then after you beat E4 it changed each month only? If it was the way you said it, then changing depending on season and post game have it change every week or something would be good!

Yeah, difficulty options should be a standard feature in every Pokemon game, and something you do from the start right along with picking your name, gender, and appearance. Not something locked behind some convoluted key system.

As for the PWT, it was much easier to do it in 5th gen because they already had most of the assets for it, because DPPt and HGSS covered 3 of the remaining 4 regions the sprite work was mostly done, they just had to redo the 3rd gen sprites. Now though? They would only have 7th and 8th gen done, they would need to redo the 1st-6th gen trainers AND they would have to give them 3D models instead of sprites. It would be a much more intensive project now and I don't think they're particularly going to want to do it.

@Bolt_Strike I'm surprised they haven't added them in some other form in any games since.

I think it all depends on how long they have been working on the game. We tend to assume it's a shorter development cycle like the 3DS titles but for all we know it could have been in development for as long as BOTW was (which I think was about 5 years). Nintendo arguably have the best first party games and don't have as many bugs and issues as 1st party titles on other consoles. They really put time and care into their titles so even if it may not seem like it, they are probably a lot further ahead than we realize. I just really hope we do get the PWT as it was one of the best features of the series!

Unlikely. Game Freak has never worked on two new generations simultaneously, for this game to have been in development for 5 years it would've needed to start at the same time as SM. Development for this game most likely started in 2016 after they finished SM.

In Game Freak's case, it's because they want every video game to be a special snowflake regardless of whether the changes make the games better or worse. Their development style is the very definition of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

@Bolt_Strike The only reason the 5 years is possible is the sheer lack of in-house Pokemon Spin-off games over the last two generations. From Creatures Inc, we've only seen one spin-offs in the last five years, compared to the normal 1-2 a year. It's quite possible they've been brought in to assist on getting things ready for the Switch release during the last two gens, especially since Creatures Inc's finally returned to spin-offs recently by turning Detective Pikachu into a full game. They have to have been up to something, and assisting with Gen VII seems most likely since they weren't credited for SuMo.

Unless of course... you think they might be working on Mother 4 in secret

That actually brings back to memory that creepy facial recognition Pikachu we saw around the beginning of the 20th anniversary, and how it just completely disappeared from discussion for years afterwards until it resurfaced as what we now know as the Detective Pikachu series.

Makes you wonder if the peeps behind that project were temporarily pulled aside to assist with something else (hint hint) during the gen VII era before they could go back and finish their original work proper.

Yes. Yes they have.

The development of Generation 2 was noted to have significant overlap with Generation 1.

And you dont need to look far to find out they were working on Gen 6 while making Gen 5.

https://nintendoeverything.com/pokemon-x-and-y-development-de...

@YummyHappyPills : It seems a lot of people erroneously assume that the Pokémon games are developed in a vacuum. There is also merchandise, the anime, strategy guides, the TCG (among other things that aren't coming to mind) that are developed alongside each new generation of games. I imagine that consolidating the franchise in this way consistently would be a big headache for those pulling the strings.

@sillygostly I just provided proof that Generation 6 began in earnest a year or so before Gen 5 was out.

So if they bring up that argument again just C/P

The real question is what happened in the year before gen 5 was out? Pre-production? Just tossing around ideas while the rest of the team was finishing up gen 5? Or were they actually programming the game, designing new characters, locations, items, etc.?

Companies like to talk in big numbers. When they say 3.5 years and 500 staff, they always make it sound as if 500 people worked on the game for 3.5 years.