Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@NaviAndMii I think that Pokemon is an RPG first and foremost. It shouldn't turn into a semi-platformer. I want them to focus on what's important, the battles. And I wouldn't mind a complete overhaul if that's what it takes. Ditch the mega evolutions and the z-moves, trim their movesets down, bring back the exclusive moves. And try to balance the entire game, instead of creating a handful of OP Pokemon that rule the metagame. But they seem to care more about story, lenghty text-boxes, tutorials, useless gimmicks like the photo mode in SM, and other things that don't affect the main game. The last thing I would want is them trying to copy Breath of the Wild (which wasn't even an amazing Zelda game IMO). Even if that was their intention, I don't think they're capable enough of achieving that, so let's hope they won't!

@Octane Yeah, I'd definitely keep the turn-based battle system - and I agree, maybe strip it back a bit as well (it seems to have gone a bit over the top in recent gens!) ..I do think that there are ways that they could freshen up Pokémon, perhaps making it a bit more Breath of the Wild-y while still retaining the main Pokémon RPG elements at its core - but the major stumbling block I can see is time: the Breath of the Wild team spent years and years (and years and years!) refining their idea in order to achieve what they did...Game Freak don't usually give themselves a gap of more than 3 years between generations (if that!) and even then it tends to be little tweaks and twists rather than a grand overhaul - and, like you say, even if that wasn't an issue, it's a different set of devs and I'm not certain that they'd be able to pull it off!

Rome wasn't built in a day - and Breath of the Wild certainly wasn't! ..so the Pokémon devs would be wise not to rush a massive overhaul!

I fully support the idea of Game Freak wanting Pokémon to modernise, but they'd perhaps be better of just continuing to do what they do - introducing a few new elements in each game so that they can eventually realise their vision over the course of two or three generations...I, too, couldn't really picture them pulling off a major overhaul in the space of just one gen - certainly nothing as refined as Breath of the Wild - but, over time, perhaps they could evolve it in to something that melds the traditional 'core' elements with something fresh and new. A Breath of the Wild-type Pokémon game would take a lot of thought and planning to get right and please everyone, so if that sort of thing is what they're aiming for, I hope it's more of a longer-term vision than a rushed release to try to capitalise on a modern trend or something..

@NaviAndMii Who's to say how long ago the plans for a non-3DS mainline Pokemon game began? They've been stuck on that architecture for years, and must have been so frustrated at times by the limits of the hardware. They'll have been generating ideas, at the very least, for years.

@gcunit That's true I'd like to think that they've been preparing for this hardware generation jump for some time - it'd make sense - I always picture Game Freak and the Pokémon Company as kind of 'backwards' organisations, doing things like insisting that Pokémon be a portable game, despite this thing called 'the internet' being around that allows you to interact with friends without being physically in the room with them! ..but that's perhaps a little unfair of me - one thing they do have is experience, and I'm sure that they'd have had conversations with Nintendo behind-the-scenes (about future hardware and their plans for the 3DS etc) to allow them to establish longer-term plans well in advance - maybe I should've given them a little more credit!

@Octane "I think that Pokemon is an RPG first and foremost."
"But they seem to care more about story, lenghty text-boxes,"

But....isn't that a huge core part of an RPG?

@NaviAndMii @gcunit Actually, we do know some details of how long ago they started planning. They've mentioned that their main developers all started working on the Switch version straight after Sun and Moon went gold, while a separate development team handled Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. So, assuming it doesn't come until 2019 like most signs are pointing, Pokemon Switch will have been in active development for three years minimum, with planning having definitely started prior to that point for development to have kicked off so quickly.

@Octane But BotW doesn't care about the story and there are no lengthy text-boxes or tutorials. Wouldn't it make a perfect Pokémon game? It does have a photo mode, though.

All joking aside, I don't see them getting rid of mega evolutions. They've never gotten rid of new Pokémon and I can understand why. Pokémon is still about catching 'em all, even if it isn't always the main focus. And mega evolutions have their fans too. I'd be sad if they got rid of Cyndaquil or its evolutions. Someone else would be just as sad if they removed Mega Blastoise. I'm not sure what they'll do about Z-moves. I personally don't care either way, I don't use them much.

I'm all about catching 'em all and the journey from starting town to Pokémon League so I'll express my thoughts on that. My dream as a kid was a fully 3D Pokémon game with real time battles and Pokémon Snap kind of camera mode added on top of that as a bonus. I don't see them going for real time battles and it's not necessarily something I want anymore but I do hope the world takes inspiration from games like Xenoblade. I want immersion. I want to see Pokémon outside of battle. I'd spend time just watching them do random things. It's one thing to read the Pokédex entries but I'd like to see their behavior with my own eyes. You can leave the creepy and disgusting stuff to Pokédex, though. (Ultra Moon, Metapod: Its hard shell doesn't crack a bit even if Pikipek pecks at it, but it will tip over, spilling out its insides.)

As for battles, I kind of like how in newer games, the trainers have less Pokémon. I didn't like normal trainers who had 6 Pokémon and in some cases, those 6 were all Magikarp. However, all important characters should have a full team except the rival who should still be building his/her team throughout the game. People always say the games are too easy and I do agree on some level. I'm constantly switching my Pokémon as they evolve so I end up having Pokémon who are 10 levels lower than what E4 has and I can still become a champion on my first try. It's no wonder people who are using their max stats competitive team feel there's no challenge. My solution would be to keep levels about the same, maybe raise by a little but the thing that would make a difference is to have a better AI and teams. Gym leaders so far almost always focus on single type. They could get rid of that restriction. Alternatively, they could keep it but make the Pokémon complement each other. Let them have items and better movesets. Let the gym leader switch out their Pokémon. They have this stuff in post-game so why not have it main game as well. You can have a difficulty setting to make sure everyone's still able to finish the game regardless of skill level.

I ended up writing a long comment... and I still have thing to talk about... I'll stop here for now.

The ingame models in Sun and Moon for Pokemon upscale veey easily to 1080p. Only snag is textures.

@NEStalgia I don't think it's a written rule for RPGs. The things that make Pokemon an RPG is the level system first and foremost. The skills, team building, and even turn based combat. What I meant was that there's no reason to introduce a 'jump button' for example. The game doesn't need to become an action/adventure game like Zelda. Unless you're joking, and making a comment on the endless walls of text in a lot of JRPGs, in that case, I agree!

@Late Well, keep mega evolutions in that case, but nerf them. Instead of a 100 base stat boost, give them a 50 base stat boost. It should be seen as an alternative item choice. Instead of Leftovers, you can go with a mega stone, but mega evolutions are so OP that it doesn't make any sense not to go with a mega stone in most cases.

@link3710 Yeah, that's another thing I didn't really consider - different development teams.

Call of Duty games, for example, might come out every year - but they're actually made by three completely different studios, each on a three year cycle - so the games might come out every year, but each game actually took 3 years to make (plus planning time before hand, I imagine) making the whole 'annualised franchise' thing a bit of an illusion. Pokémon isn't strictly an annualised franchise - and they may have a number of different development teams working on different games at different stages of development, so something like this likely could've been in the works for longer than I had initially considered.

It's genuinely exciting to think about though - I remember, back in 1997 or something, playing Pokémon Blue and just assuming that I'd be playing a similar style game on my N64 before too long - all these years later and we're finally going to get a mainline Pokémon game on Nintendo's most powerful console! It's going to be a difficult balancing act, of course, to please everyone - and who knows what they might have in store for us? ..maybe it'll be more of the same? ..maybe it'll be more traditional? ..maybe Breath of the Wild-like? ..maybe a completely different direction altogether??

I'm just mainly excited that we'll have one on the Switch! I have my ideas of what my 'perfect' Pokémon game would look like - I'm sure we all do - but I'm sure that, whatever it ends up being like, it'll at least be a solid game that'll be enjoyable to play and has the most cutting-edge visuals that we've ever seen in the mainline series ..no bad thing! ..just, for me, a Pokémon/Breath of the Wild mash-up would be the absolute dream!

Whilst I don't really play the Pokemon games any more, I always hoped any 3D mainline game would try to mirror the anime by having battles ocurring in real time. As well as the moves you had certain other commands regarding position on the field or types of movement. It would be challenging at first but if done properly can be very engaging.

Like anything, if the series was to stay entrenched in its old ways its only going to make all but the most hardcore fans bored of it.

It's a tough call. I've never got into Pokemon, so if they went more adventurey, at the expense of some of the RPG turn-basedness, it would appeal more to me.

Maybe with the Switch in a promising position in the market, now could be the time to risk upsetting a few old-skoolers in the hope of more mainstream appeal.

Yeah, I wouldn't be totally against the idea - so long as the focus remained on building a well-rounded team and being strategic in battle (rather than reaction/skill based battles like Pokkén) I think that a more fluid system could work...especially if, like you say, the end result is that the presentation is something closer to the battles you'd see in the anime

I think that other JRPG's have managed to transition to a more 'real time' battle system without totally alienating their 'core' fans...so long as they could strike the right balance - and still keep it accessible to new/casual players - it might not be such a bad thing..

I'm a fan of keeping the general structure of Pokemon turn based battles but there are a few things I'd like to see streamlined/balanced. The only thing I'd like to see - that I'd see as a natural evolution of the battle system - is the role of the battlefield. Like if I'm fighting in the fire gym in a burning hot volcano crater then fire moves should be more effective for instance.

The bigger things I'd like to see in Pokemon is freedom. Give me a starting location and let me immediately wander off in any compass direction. Give me a land with 50 gyms and let me collect any 8 I want in any order before I fight the Elite 4. That's the element/inspiration I hope they take from BoTW. Honestly nothing would suit Pokemon better.

They could make it 2d again if they give me freedom to chart my own path through the game.

Turn based MMORPG mixing socialising of Pokémon GO! and the core gameplay of the main games, set the Pokémon universe as opposed to real world. Ker-ching.

Shrines ..Gyms
Yiga Clan ..Team Rocket
4 Divine Beasts ..Elite 4
Ganon ..Gary

...

_{sounds good to me!!}

@Octane Older classic RPGs, you're right, weren't text heavy. Though that's kind of weird. The RPG genre really comes from the PnP genre, all of which is built around the guide books that narrate through the progression for a given scenario. You're right the core of an RPG is the stats progression, with or without being turn based. It's the structure of leveling, upgrading, equipping, and progression. But the adventure aspect of lots of dialogue has become, in general, a standard part of RPGs with very few not doing so (Etrian Odyssey comes to mind as one of the few.) Heck even SRPGs are dialog heavy these days!

@gcunit Please no. I've got my pitchfork cane ready in that case.

@NEStalgia Yeah. I guess that if you remove most of the story from a Pokemon game, well, you get Red and Blue, and I would still consider those RPGs, whereas if you got rid of the leveling system, and the combat in general, I'm not sure if I would still classify it as an RPG. I'm not really sure what you would be left with to be honest, a narrative-driven walking simulator?

Yeah!!!

Does that mean that Gary has eaten Misty or something though? Because that would be a great twist!

Also - Pokemon set in pre-history/industrial revolution era of the Pokemon world? Yes (and the same for Pokemon set in a more typical 'future sci-fi' setting).