Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In today's article, staff writer Ryan explores the new approach to gameplay found in the upcoming Pokémon games and why they might just be the moment of relief the series desperately needs...
So, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! have finally been officially unveiled and the response from fans has been unsurprisingly mixed. Seemingly acting as an exact middle ground between the mainline entries to the series and Pokémon GO, these new titles look set to provide a very different experience to what the core series fans will be used to by now, and one that definitely appears to lean towards the more ‘casual’ style of gameplay.
I realise that these next few words will cause irreversible outrage among some fans, but I think that this approach is exactly the kind of breather the series desperately needs. Recent games (yes Pokémon Sun and Moon, I’m talking about you) have started to become ridiculously complex - the avalanche of Ultra Beasts, different forms, 800+ character Pokédex, IV training, and more abilities and movesets than you can shake a Sudowoodo at have become sadly off-putting over time – and I dread to think how series newcomers must feel when they realise what they’ve gotten themselves into.
As much as my younger self used to love the depth and detail of each new release (I even made sure to have a complete living Pokédex for each generation) a mixture of slowly becoming an adult with those pesky responsibilities, and a natural decrease in general gaming time, means that I no longer have the effort or desire to keep up with these time sinks. I don’t think I’m alone in this, either; the increase in popularity of quick, 15-minute bursts of portable gaming makes sense when you think about how fast-paced the world around us feels these days.
Back to the games themselves, these new Let’s Go titles are positively oozing with the idea of simplicity; anyone can pick up and play, catching Pokémon is as laid back as it is in Pokémon GO, and having the monsters roaming around on screen removes the tedious walking back and forth needed to find that wild Ponyta you’ve been after for decades. The best thing about GO, for me at least, is how it sits in your pocket, happily chilling until you feel like having a quick go, and these games appear to take that vibe and apply it to a much more gamer-focused setup.
The thing is, despite this shift to an easier way of playing, it still looks to be full of the charm and magic we’ve come to know and love. The nostalgia of that almost over-loved first generation should win over the series’ older fans (at least to some extent), and the easy-to-pick-up approach should enable newer and younger players to have fun (which is what gaming is supposed to be about, after all). The only people I can imagine being genuinely put off by this are those who play competitively, or those who invest their time into the deeper underworld of the series’ breeding and training, but there are plenty of other Pokémon games still out there that can provide all of that and more.
For me, Pokémon has always been about completing my Pokédex and beating the main story, feeling an immense amount of pride as that cute little Caterpie I once had stands strong against the Elite Four as a beautiful Butterfree. These games can give me that same sense of adventure, but on a less daunting, less demanding, and much more relaxed scale. As I’ve evolved through childhood, my teenage years, and now into the beginnings of a new chapter, I’ve started to place much more value in the simple things that can make me have fun and be happy, and these games may be able to do just that.
Of course, I’m not saying that I want Pokémon to fully transition to this style of play forever – there are plenty of benefits that come as a result of the more traditional approach to the series, and I’d want every Pokémon fan to feel like they have something they can enjoy. Luckily, the next entry looks set to return to those formalities, and I’d love to see a world where the two styles happily coexist, allowing players to pick the style most appropriate for them.
Maybe it’s just me, but seeing Pokémon wandering around an open-style world, having a Pikachu sitting on my shoulder, and pretending to throw a real-life Poké Ball at my favourite creatures on my TV, is the kind of game I would have dreamt about as a kid. It doesn’t have to become the norm for the series – and it likely won’t – but these new games could well be the perfect filler until the next one arrives in 2019. Bring on November.
So what do you think about the blend of gameplay styles found in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!? Do you think it could work nicely, or are you upset with the new direction? Make sure to share your thoughts in the comments.
Comments 94
Considering that I was annoyed with the tedium of wild battles (even as a kid back on red and blue because they are just random encounters with the added collecting bonus...and there is a reason why many modern JRPGs is doing away with random encounters and grinding...) I think they made the perfect cut. Keep the story battles, but you spend more time playing and less time fighting and hoping that this one rando encounter will be the 'mon you are looking for. I have high hopes for this series right now. I'll take the "genwunner or casual" label as I wanna play and beat games, not fight with gameplay systems. (I do have at least one pokemon game from every gen, so I'm not a lapsed gamer but I haven't enjoyed the series since gold/silver/HG/SS.)
EDIT: I think that in some ways as pokemon grew it tried to be too many things to too many people so it bloated but at the same time each gen either lost or gained complexity as they tried to figure out a system that made the kids, the EVtrainers, the lapsed player, the breeders (I didn't know that this was an actual profession till I met one...like it was the guy's JOB), the completionists and so on happy. I think after a point it lost the Miyamoto Effect, which is take a mundane thing that many can relate to (like bug catching or what ever you caught/collected as a kid), and make it fun by putting simple but addictive gameplay mechanics in an interesting and often colorful world. I remember I used to draw maps for pokemon but I can say it is the only continuing series that I got invested in and then lost interest in. Seeing them getting back to brass tacks (it's Yellow with a new coat of paint, y'all...can't get more mainline than a mainline reboot) and in a way is still an evolution of game play (love it or hate it Go mechanics work...hence the people still playing the game) and an attempt imo to create a single ecosystem (or at least a highly commingled one).
This is a good thing to increase Switch user base yet further. It ties in with Nintendo’s smart phone game strategy enticing customers to dedicated systems, and it’ll likely bring Pokémon Go back into the phone software charts as well.
I’m not a Pokemon player myself but if I was I wouldn’t be frustrated that they’ve decided to put this out as a spin off release; this is a stop gap release but it’s also a stroke of genius
I'm perfectly fine with Let's Go appealing to a more casual fanbase, and honestly, it will get enough new comers in from Go or elsewhere that should help make the series change for the better. All I want is for the Go mechanics to not carry over to Gen 8 though, I'm fine with it being optional, like how the Ultra Wormhole in USUM having motion controls was optional, but I don't want some of these new features to be invasive.
It'll be immense sales push for the system, that's all I can say. And with Pokemon Switch traditional release in the window of next holiday, we're looking at two major seasons of Pokemon driven pushes. Mix in Metroid Prime 4 for 2019 and Smash for this year, we'll be seeing sell outs everywhere.
"Open-style world" + Kanto doesn't mix. Granted it has the best progression of the series.
The thing Id like to ask though, is this game is to ease them into the main series right, without the daunting mechanics and huge number of Pokemon, but the issue is with the very next game, they will have those mechanics and huge number of Pokemon dropped on them. So the odds of casual fans going from this safe experience to that isn't very likely at all, given the sheer gulf, and the people who ARE interested in this have said they only STOPPED playing Pokemon because the number of new things got too much after Generation 3, so this is a purely temporary move it would seem.
If those fans couldn't handle the move from Gen 1-3 with only 200 new things and some changed mechanics, how do they react to going from a remake of Gen 1 with mechanics below what the series started with, to Generation 8?
I completely agree. I can't count the hours I've spent hunting through the grass for specific pokemon, just to end up critical hitting them and having to start all over again. Very glad that in this installment, you can see the character sprites before the actual encounter, and there's no need to whittle down HP.
In whole I am very excited for this game, it's the perfect thing to bridge new, casual and core fans to the switch. Gamefreak will learn a lot from each fan base plus I'm sure they already have learned a lot about what the switch can do moving forward for Gen 8. They needed to see what they were working with. Even though I'm not a fan of not fighting a pokemon before catching, I am excited to see an updated Kanto.
@NovaCam I agree with being able to see the Pokemon before the encounter, but I still think it would be good if we could fight them. We'll see.
Yeah, the Pokemon games have gotten a bit overly complex and fixated on gimmicks, so it'll be nice to play a "back to basics" sort of game set in my favorite region.
I'm still very mixed on not being able to battle wild Pokemon and seeing their models on the map, though.
Hopefully the game is still a reasonably lengthy and engaging adventure in spite of the streamlining that has clearly taken place.
I thought Sun and Moon were a lot simpler than X and Y? shrug I don't do any research into EVs or IVs, just play the main storyline and some side-quests, so maybe I'm missing something?
Yeah, so far I'm not too worried about how they've mixed in some of Go's stuff with this new Pokemon game, such as the whole capture mechanic (and the motion thing actually genuinely fits here really well--and thankfully isn't forced in other areas of the game where it really wouldn't add anything).
If they'd gotten rid of the traditional-style trainer battles too then it would have worried me, but since it's only with the wild Pokemon it should be totally cool, and maybe even a genuine improvement that cuts down the grinding a little.
I'm feeling very optimistic here!
I've never gotten into Pokemon, and never played GO.
But this game here... it got me excited in a way no Pokemon game has done before.
This is exactly the kind of game they needed to make to draw me into the series. Always thought Pokemon GO would be great if inserted into the construct of a mainline game, wasn't on mobile, wasn't F2P and didn't rely on AR.
This is basically next gen Pokemon with GO capture mechanics. Seems a very relaxing game, just chill and collect Pokemon, battle trainers and legendaries, etc.
Love the motion controls too btw.
Pokémon became too complex? It can be played with and without any of that knowledge. You can go as deep as you are interested. Some people play it just to get their favorite Pokémon and others to build the best teams and compete. Much alike Smash Bros. Melee. It is a party game on the surface, but it has a lot going around under it. You can play it with your friends casually or you can practice and learn the mechanics to go into a higher level of gameplay. Keeping it simple for the sake of people that just don't care isn't a breath of fresh air.
The good thing is that the next games aren't going to carry this mechanics over.
@Devlind I agree with Ryan on this one: I think the newer games have added too much in many areas, least of all the now absurd amount of total Pokemon. I'd never even dream of "catching 'em all" in these new games, sadly. So this slight step back to a leaner and less bloated Pokemon experience is all good in my book. It's basically the classic and beloved Gen 1 games pretty much exactly as I had always imagined them being done in 2018 on Switch, which is a nigh-on ideal scenario for me personally.
What I hope “casual” actually means is that I can actually catch them all in game. My problem with the Pokemon series is that the event pokemon were only obtainable through some timed event that I either found out about after it ended or couldn’t attend. I always resented that there was an experience in a game I owned that I would never get to see just because I wasn’t privileged enough to live in driving distance of a Toys R Us.
Love to see people scrambling to justify with Pokemon what they spent 4 months complaining about Monster Hunter World. 🙃 - And give the exact same reasons why Capcom made world.
Whatever expands the base. As long as it has some sort of story and progression and not some mindless $60 Pokemon Go. But even then - if it helps fund the 2019 version so be it.
On the Switch and Not Pixel Art, so already has a plus 😉
It felt like a gigantic slap in the face to me. I'm incredibly excited for it, as I love Pokemon, but my interests lye in breeding competitive pokemon to the max, egg moves, iv's, etc. And then shiny hunting those same eggs. The slap in the face? I'm just one of the few that despise Pokemon Go. I'll stay reserved until I see more, but I really need to know that there is a huge competitive breeding aspect with EV/IV's and all included to make me content. Also two people throwing a single Pokeball at one Pokemon really aggitates me, though I'm really looking forward to finally having my friends truly in my world. That said, that feels like it's also setting me up to be disappointed. We'll see I guess :/
Edit: I'm not really into competitive battling at all, I purely enjoy breeding and completion of those Pokemon
As someone who's been playing Pokemon for a long long LONG time and yet never cared for the competitive side of it I'm pretty excited for these "Let's Go" side games. It sounds like the focus is on the part of the game that I personally play for and it's a chance for them to try some different things with the series with the promise that we're still getting something more traditional at a later date. It's a win win for me.
@Ryu_Niiyama I agree. I only ever played trainer battles anyway. I hope this is a reboot, and we won't be getting older Pokemon back. It would be good to start over.
@impurekind The thing is you are not obligated to catch all of them. If you like one, get it, if you don't, ignore it. I know I played it like that as a kid until I decided to catch them all when I was a teen. Besides that, each new game is easier and easier, telling you where to go, what to do and such.
One thing I hate in video game is having tons of content and mechanics just for the sake of it, rather than actually improving the game experience. So I'm thrilled that they're focusing on elegance and simplicity this time around, hopefully this will be a pure joy to play. Also, throwing pokeballs with the joycon will take me back to childhood memories of Mario Galaxy, and that's wonderful.
I feel exactly the same when it comes to game complexity - Sun and Moon are almost too overwhelming for me, whereas in comparison ORAS struck a much better balance. Seeing this release is making me feel much more excited for a new game than I've done in years - I've been feeling Pokémon needs to strip out a lot of the rubbish for a while now. Bearing in mind how much I enjoy playing Pokémon Go still, and I'm very excited for these games!
I don’t mean this as a criticism of the article writer but was it not confirmed the main series RPG (Gen 8) is out at the back end of 2019? Making this a littoe redundant as I would consider “Let’s Go” a new series similar to Mystery Dungeon etc no?
Either way absolutely can’t wait for this game.
Like with what Sun & Moon did with gym battle, I welcome the change of pace. If I was a kid again (and not just in mind) I would be overly excited for the gameplay style and accessory.
I know this was on my youth wishlist along with controlling Pokemon directly in-game instead of trainers (checked) and real world Pokemon as pets. Maybe that last one will happen in my 40s hopefully.
Plus no accidental critical hit KOs when trying to catch that rare Pokemon that unexpectedly appear. The memories is returning.
I have no interest in it. Getting rid of battling wild Pokemon seems wrong.
Random encounters, sure, get rid of them.
@GrailUK Just another form of purist/elitist speak really. Which are all marketing terms. Games companies don't want gatekeeping on their games...that prohibits sales. But I suppose people have to justify the cost and time sink of gaming and many people like to brag so there we go.
Honestly imo if there has ever been an announcement where you don't need the gatekeeping/sabre rattling it is this pokemon one. Seeing as they said they have another game coming next year if this isn't your cup of tea. but what can you do.
Never been a fan.
@Ryu_Niiyama Haha. I appreciate the reply. I deleted my comment because whereas I find the labels of casual and hardcore confusing and clumsy, the sabre rattling you mentioned is embarrassing
I feel exactly the same way and am quite excited for these new games. I got into competitive for a really short while in Gen V and during X/Y but just can't bring up the time for that anymore. Let alone catch the insane amount of all the 'mon. I already skipped the Ultra games last year (first mean title in this series skipped ever) so I'm ready for a whole other pokemon game.
I also hope they take the good bits of it to the 2019 game, something the series has a bad reputation for. Since X/Y is has always felt like 1 step forward and 2 steps back in terms of new convenient features.
@Devlind Yeah, but the catch phrase is "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" for a reason.
And, while they may explain more with each new game and try to make thing simpler, they also keep adding more and more stuff on top of the core game stuff too, so they are objectively far more bloated and complex than before (such that more and more explaining is actually necessary).
This new game is a great balance imo.
My wife has only played pokemon go before and she's far more into it than I am. There is nothing casual about going out in a blizzard because there's a Seel nearby 😂. She's in love with the idea of this game so we've preordered eevee edition for her. If its fun and I need it, I'll pick up the pikachu version for myself.
@Alikan A blizzard?! Dang, I've heard some good ones but aside from a buddy that went out in a hurricane that takes the cake.
I for one am not too fussed about these games; I actually was almost sold on them prior to the reveal but now I’m a bit put off. It’s not that I think they’ll be bad games, far from it, but I want a full-fledged Pokémon experience; and that’s also why I’ve skipped the last two generations.
I strongly agree with Ryan’s sentiment that the series needed some breathing room in the form of “going back to the basics”, but I disagree that it’s the case here.
What I wanted/expected was getting rid of overcomplicated and gimmicky stuff like Megas and Z-Moves (god how I hate Z-Moves 🙄), streamlining the gameplay loop and maybe revising the core formula a bit. I wanted a shakeup to keep things interesting, not mechanics that make these games even easier and more hand-holding than the last couple of generations, yet that’s what we get.
I hope I’ll get what I want with Gen VIII, but I’m not holding my breath; Game Freak never seemed to share the core design philosophy Nintendo follows, focusing more and more on adding “Saturday-morning-cartoon-y” gimmicks and dumbing down the difficulty to appeal to children, while at the same time putting off older fans.
I get it that it’s extremely hard to please both newcomers and existing fans, but, while Nintendo usually gets it right, Game Freak simply doesn’t.
Hopefully Gen VIII and later will be what we seasoned fans want, and Let’s Go will keep existing as the more casual-friendly line of games; that’d certainly be a win-win for everyone.
Final note: this is my first personal impression, so don’t get offended if you like them. I also would like to change my mind before they release, but at the moment I’m not sure I’ll buy one of these.
I'm definitely not understanding the hatred on this game at all. It's a remake of Pokemon Yellow (basically) so it is a hardcore Pokemon game, with tiny changes to it (like multiplayer) and it has Pokemon Go attached to it for those into Pokemon Go, but you don't actually have to use it at all.
Plus, we are getting a neat Pokeball controller accessory (no body notice that the "button" was being used as a tiny joystick?) that and you can put a pokemon in it and it interacts outside the game.
Seriously, I think this is kind of neat, and is definitely a great game to bring in Pokemon Go people into the real Pokemon games, and also bring in gamers who haven't played newer Pokemon games to get them back into the series (someone like me). I'm definitely excited for this game!
Also, they said a new Pokemon game will be out next year, so what more do you want? We could get nothing at all this year at all for Pokemon fans
As someone who picked up Red and Blue on day one but who is also in their 30s now I see this as olive branch welcoming me back into the series. Somewhere just before Diamond and Pearl I had dropped out of series because adulthood happened and I no longer had the time. This game feels like it is made for me. The first 151 pulls at my old person nostalgia, the simplicity means I can play with my kids, and the connection to Pokemon Go means I can have an experience with the game while doing all the dumb old people things that keep me from playing videogames in the first place. I can’t think of any other game series that is being this accommodating to people in my situation. And Pokemon is doing it without dumbing down the core series.
I'm sorry to everyone who is upset about this game but I get to play Pokemon again.
@Ryu_Niiyama yeah, pretty dedicated to catching em all on smartphone. I've gotten the car stuck in a snowdrift and in mud before. Was able to push it out both times, but those experiences have made me really question how much we need the pokemon taunting us on nearby. And how safe it is to go after them. Live, learn, don't wander off a cliff like some people. 😅
@impurekind That's the catch phrase, yeah, but you could and should play the way you want. You can even beat the game with only one Pokémon if you are up to the challenge!
And while they add stuff, none is obligatory to enjoy the game. It is the same with my example with Melee. You can enjoy it the way you want, whether you want to play it casually or profesionally. You should never strip key features to accomodate an user base that will jump to the next trend at the first opportunity.
I posted this yesterday but it's still relevant so I'll post it again.
There are some people saying Let's Go is meant to appeal to the Pokemon GO fan base, or the "casuals", people who mainly game on smartphones, not the "normal" Pokemon fans, or gamers, " but do you think casuals who mainly play games on smartphones, are interested in getting back into console gaming? The Wii eventually died, and the Wii U failed, because the casual market that made the Wii a success moved on to smartphone games, <em>where they remain today.
Sounds like another futile attempt to recapture the lost casual market to me.
I'm not saying Let's Go won't sell, but if it sells it's Pokemon fans who buy anything Pokemon related or anything being called a main series game, not smartphone gamers who decided to give console gaming another chance.
To add to that though...
There are 100%, lots of completely unnecessary complications, intentional inconveniences, and hoop jumping in Pokemon games. I think these are stupid and should straight be removed. IVs are unnecessary. Pokemon shouldn't have 3 abilities in which once is obviously good and the other 2 are useless or actively detrimental, etc. There is no evidence Game Freak is going to fix this problem. Even Pokemon GO has this problem.
But the actual base mechanics of the game have been basically the same since Gen 1, and are actually quite simple. The only thing complex about it, is that there are now a lot of Pokemon, but even than, most Pokemon are too weak to be something you have to really think about when facing them in the game. I'm not against making the game feel fresh, I'm all for it in fact, but Let's Go isn't trying to "make the game fresh", it's trying to casualize it in the wrong areas in an attempt to leech off of the Pokemon GO market.
I've also said this before, if you're trying to give the game a fresh start, making it a Kanto remake is the worst thing you can do. It makes the whole thing feel half donkeyed.
I think every new Pokemon game should have had either just a new set of monsters (like 150-200) without the chance of getting every single one, or they just might have added like 20 new each gen. I love the first 151. I liked the next 100. In gen they got a bit meh. And after that I don't there are much to remember besides legendaries & starters. Just too many filler 'mons. And it sure is overwhelming when you wish you could get all 800 but realize that without friends, pokemon bank, multiple 3DS consoles and hundreds of hours of time it's never gonna happen.
I think it's great to get back to just having the first gen Pokemon. Those 151 I can imagine capturing/trading.
I also kinda like not having random encounters. But it feels weird not to battle wild pokemon. But I might just get used to this simpler mechanic. I might just get used to the motion controls too, wich are the biggest turn-off in the game for me at the moment.
I really don't get this idea that the series has become this overcomplicated thing for everyone when there are aspects of it you don't need to indulge in. Don't like Z-Moves? Don't use them. Don't like Mega Evolutions? Don't use them. Don't care for EV/IV training? Don't focus on it. Don't want to catch every last Pokemon? You don't need to.
I will say this. With the GST and Wonder Trade, it is much more easier than it ever has been to catch most of the Pokemon. I have not since needed to use another handheld and don't have any friends or family to play Pokemon.
So hyped for this game. Probably even more so than Smash. I’m not into Pokemon Go (it doesn’t feel like a proper Pokemon product). I loved Red/Blue as a kid (never had a game boy, so I’d play on an emulator). I just sold my 3DS and didn’t really enjoy the new Pokemon games... I loved Fire Red too. This for me is the perfect Pokemon game. Can’t wait to play in bed as the early nights draw in! The 2019 game will surprise us all no doubt, if it can be as big a world as Zelda, we are all in for a treat.
@AnxiousPotato Me too! So excited. I’m 31 now 😂
I agree with this article. I played Red long ago and enjoyed it. I didn’t play again until I bought Moon. It was overwhelming. I enjoyed it but like the simpler concept here and think my young kids will like it better than a mainline game.
I initially was on the fence but ultimately I hope they keep the simplified catching mechanics. I mean, I don’t know why a handful of people are insisting they won’t (as there’s zero evidence yet), but I could see it going either way. The fact is I don’t know many people who ever LIKED dealing with a hundred random encounters trying to get through a cave, trainers are what battling is about and sticking a ton of repels is irritating. I’ve played every mainline game and I welcome this change.
And who knows, maybe they’re testing the waters with these mechanics and, if these games sell well, they’ll carry over to gen 8. Fingers crossed!
Basically, I’m glad they’re CHANGING mechanics heavily instead of just piling more on for once. You can still collect, your battles are intact, you can build a competitive team, they’re removing tedium and making it more accessible. The series has stagnated way too much, gen VI brought a fresh coat of paint but all these recent additions, mega evolution, z moves... they’re just always adding another layer of complexity instead of improving or changing mechanics that have gotten stale. Every time I play a new Pokémon and get to a cave I sigh in frustration... there goes the fun until I reach the other side, trying to make sure I find any trainers or items with the least amount of steps so I don’t have to fight 20 rock Pokémon with sturdy that do nothing but waste my time and bloat the size of the cave. And 3D made it even harder to make sure I didn’t miss anything, to be conservative with steps. And in routes I’d be trying to find the path with the least tall grass (of course unless I’m looking to catch stuff). Basically, I can’t think of a more frustrating part of Pokémon games than random encounters, it’s one thing in your average JRPG that I’m likely gonna play through once (and even in those it’s sometimes frustrating), in Pokémon eventually every cave just turns into a frustrating maze with constant interruptions, and for grinding there’s always places to fight trainers (I assume in this there’s a way to refight trainers or places with unlimited trainers, as the one gen without that was the first gen and even its remakes fixed that). I know it’s not certain they’ll keep this change but I’m fully for it and hope these games sell great enough to encourage that.
As for competitive players, only a small minority would leave over the removal of wild encounters as long as they have other ways to build a fun competitive team - something the recent games have been easing players into with ways to raise EVs and even IVs as well as ways to check IVs.
Can someone please explain to me how you are going to be able to level up your pokemon and get them to evolve, etc, when there are only a limited amount of pokemon trainers in the game and no wild battles anymore??? Once you have beat them all and you want to complete your pokedex by training a pokemon and getting it to evolve you will find yourself with no battles left and stuck with no way to evolve them. Seems like a very short-sighted way to create a pokemon game.
As someone that’s only lightly gotten into the Pokémon games in the past, I can say I’m quite happy to see random encounters go in favour of having the Pokémon on the map. I’ll need to wait and see in relation to the other mechanics.
The ONLY thing that I didn’t like was no battles against wild pokemon. I can deal with all the other changes. I’m still going to pick up the game but that was the once change for me that made me step back and go “is this still for me?”
@Strumpan I’m with you 100% on this. No problem with the random encounters being replaced with Pokémon who are visible on the fields but I still will miss the battles.
@Devlind I completely agree. Pokemon is as simple or as complex as the player wants it to be. That's the beauty of it.
Surprise! This is a well written article, unlike recent efforts from other Nintendo Life writers. Please, more of this.
To this day, the only Pokemon game I've ever owned and beaten was Pokemon Yellow, and even then, it was a "I wanna see what all this Pokemon jazz is all about" thing. It was simple enough to understand and play, but I just never really went nuts with the whole "catch 'em all, evolve 'em all, fight 'em all" theme. I was already a teen headed to my 20s when Pokemon was really getting off the ground, so I kinda missed the boat. Then the series kept evolving which only ensured to keep me away. I really didn't see me turning an eye to this Let's Go! series, but with its back to basics, casual take (and considering my limited time these days), this might be the first Pokemon I run through since Yellow.
@ultraraichu Oh yeah I remember that.
walks in grass for an hour looking for one type of pokemon
finally finds pokemon
tries to chip away life of pokemon without it dying ...or running away
(critical hit)
pokemon faints
stares at screen
..."Ima go do something else now...."
You can't shake a soodowoodo. Too heavy,lol
I had never played Pokemon Yellow GBC, so Pokemon Let's Go will be my first experience Simple HD Pokemon game.
Hopefully Gamefreaks fix some important aspects and reveal something great that we don't know yet.
I half disagree. Yes, it's certainly a positive thing to simplify the overcomplicated mechanics like EVs and IVs and all of the form changes. But one factor that's not really being considered in all of this casualization is the amount of content, what made games like BotW and Odyssey such great games and especially, great console games was that they were large, meaty, open ended experiences with plenty of things to keep you busy for hours and hours and hours. Meanwhile, Game Freak's pretty much been waging war on content and exploration in Pokemon for the entire decade. What the series really needs is a big, open world type of game that gives you the sense you can go anywhere and do anything. And in that respect, all of these Pokemon games are too casual. And yes, that likely includes the 2019 game. It's hard to imagine the 2019 game being very satisfying when it's only been 3 years since SM and they don't have a break year unlike past gens.
@Bolt_Strike
If you expect the 2019 titles to be Breath of the Pokemon, you'll be greatly disappointed.
One thing I don’t understand is this: they said they removed battles with wild Pokémon to make things simpler (& I assume draw in more go players) but if you still have to learn moves, strengths of types vs other types, etc for trainer battles then what’s the difference if you leave battles in vs wild? And this has nothing to do with random encounters. I’m not complaining those are removed
@ShadJV About the competitive players part, it is way easier to EV train through random encounters than it is through the annoying hyper training minigames. You can have a fully EV trained Pokémon in 10 minutes if you know what you're doing. Unless they make a big change on how EV works, I don't think it is going to be very convenient.
@Supadav03 That's exactly why I'm worried. There's no point in what they're doing. It is a ridiculous attempt to get on board the Go players. Let's see how many of them are willing to pay $360 to get this.
I almost stopped reading when you claimed Sun and Moon were " ridiculously complex" because that is an outright absurd statement.
Breeding and EVs and IVs are completely irrelavent to the main story. Hell, even Pokemon Natures aren't important. Pokemon Sun and Moon's single player (and for that matter pretty much every gen since gen 4) is extremely easy. But since Gen 6 it is laughably easy. The game tells you everything you need to know in abundance. Seeing a Pokemon once allows you to know type matchups right on screen - you don't even need to remember grass is weak to fire anymore. The modern EXP share takes the difficulty down even further, allowing you to basically not even pay attention while you play. The games give you every advantage possible - except playing the game for you(Pokemon Quest, I am talking about you!). The idea that Z-moves are hard to understand... I suppose if you have never played games before, but good god man, you have to start somewhere!
I am a full time employed adult too, and trust me, I get it with the limited time. But tough luck. For me and you, the games are not let me repeat NOT difficult or complex. There is almost no benefit to having a complete living Pokedex and such a thing is nothing but a fan-created challenge.
That said, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee are not bad for the series because they are not replacing the main series. We don't need a core game every year and I think having them releasing so frequently is part of why they were blurring together. These Let's Go titles will be suitable for young players, and also cater to the "genwunner" crowd that claims to like Pokemon but hasn't played since Yellow version. Then next year Pokemon will release new core games - that have had more time to be polished and improved.
Frankly I see no reason to be upset about Let's Go unless you are just massively impatient. Which I find laughable when most people were not predicting Pokemon Switch until 2019 anyway.
@westman98 Well if they couldn't do full on open world that'd be fine, but they should definitely be more than XY/SM in HD, and that's sadly what they're looking to be with this release schedule. 3DS to Switch is a huge transition into a vastly different market, so there should be significant improvement.
I tend to agree with the general point. Sadly it's often a curse of long-running franchises that they need to always have new things to sell a sequel, so over time, what was once a simple, accessible game becomes more and more bloated with features, mechanics, characters, etc. to the point where it can become overwhelming to newcomers.
I'm hoping the very casual nature of this game means next year's game is more difficult than usual. Nuzlocke's are a ton of fun but it would be nice to have more challenge integrated in the main game, at least a hard mode option of some sort. Hopefully it's more open too. Regardless, I'm still kind of excited for these new "Let's Go" games. Seems like a lighthearted throwback.
"Recent games have started to become ridiculously complex..." The wonderful thing about pokemon is that it is only as complex as you want it to be. You can play through them the exact same way as you did as a kid in red ignoring abilities and ivs (iv were in red and blue btw). In fact the biggest complaint is that they are too easy now a days. Also in SM the Pokedex contains 302 pokemon with no national dex, so you aren't even incentivized at all to catch them all. (There is no reward or tracker for them)
"For me, Pokémon has always been about completing my Pokédex and beating the main story..." Have you played sun and moon? You can do that exact same thing while ingnoring all your complaints with little to no problems!
Why do game journalist keep advocating making games easier and more casual?
(BTW I would be completely on board with let's go if it wasn't gen 1 again)
@Zscout1288 to meant no tracker for pokemon outside the alolan dex, also iv training is super easy to do
Good soapbox piece here. Yeah, I consider myself to be a 'hardcore' Pokemon player; I like to get into competitive battling, EV training et c. However, I can totally understand how that would be a turn off for some folks and one of the reasons why I'm digging these new games is the simplicity. So yeah, I'll gladly take both approaches to the Pokemon franchise, assuming this new "Let's Go" becomes a subseries which it probably will.
Played Pokemon Red back in the 90’s and haven’t played any Pokémon since. I am curious about this game though.
I honestly think that removing the Wild Battles removes half the magic of the game. Part of the game is training your Pokemon. Now half of that has been entirely eschewed?
I sincerely hope the only thing the 2019 game really takes from these two is being able to see the Pokemon on the world maybe, or make random encounters be a matter of chasing after an unknown Pokemon in the tall grass or getting pounced by a surprise foe.
Wild Battles need to be part of the experience. I kinda find it ridiculous that it's being thrown away now.
Well said Ryan. Couldn't agree more.
I am dumbfounded that there are grown ass adults who think random Pokemon battles somehow make Pokemon needlessly complex. Like...maybe this isn't the right series for you if you are that easily overwhelmed tbh. Putting effort into capturing the monsters is one of the basic elements of a monster collecting type game...
I'm perfectly fine with these games. In fact, I think they are a wonderful idea both for newcomers and for veterans who want to try something a bit different.
The hatred here is out of place... It is becoming Federation Force all over again. Most of the hatred is just because they wanted a mainline core RPG and didn't get it yet (though we're getting it next year). But anyway, ti each their own. I'll be buying one to try it for myself.
So far I hate this casual approach. As long as next year's game comes out ok, I don't mind this. But if they carry the dumbed down mechanics forward, it's going to be pretty bad. Remember that there's a competitive scene. EVs and IVs can't go away. The Battle system can't change, otherwise competitive players will be completely alienated.
@Arcamenel I honestly thought sometimes Pokemon were harder to catch in Go than the main games. Lowering their health was never that hard, in the end you end up throwing a lot of Pokeballs anyways.
@Bolt_Strike
Well yeah, I think everyone expect Pokemon Gen 8 to be more than previous entries in HD. It's a new generation, so new region, new Pokemon, reworked game structure (ala gym => island challenge), etc
Gamefreak began working on the 2019 Pokemon entry since before the Switch released, so they have plenty of time.
@DarkKirby
Of course there is a point. Pokemon is about capturing, training, and breeding monsters, and IRL, and in Pokemon's lore, no two creatures are created equal. When you go fishing, you occasionally catch small and big fish of the same species. When you breed horses, you sometimes breed horses that are stronger and faster. Accounting for and -cultivating- variations in strength, speed, intelligence, personal characteristics, etc are an integral part of the world of animal training, be it dog shows, shepherding contests, horse races, etc. IVs and EVs simulate that in an -extremely- simplified and more easily controllable manner.
Is it complicated? Yes, it is. Does it alienate casual players? Well no, not at all, since there is absolutely zero need to gain an awareness of those particular mechanics in the course of playing the game. More, there are individuals who get into the games specifically because of that complexity (people who breed for perfect natures, IVs etc) - some have already posted in this comments section.
The state of the competitive game is IMO a bigger concern, because it's frankly a mess.
@frogopus You have no idea how angry I would be if they killed Pokemon bank, and I am not alone in that. Whine about purely optional tedium all you want, a lot of us want the series to continue. We have built up collections spanning several generations of games that we want to continue adding to. Not to mention if Pokemon Bank is abandoned after merely 2 generations then it REALLY defeats the purpose it was made for.
I may agree with your points about story and event Pokemon, but I disagree with the rest. Pokemon has had elements of grind since day 1 with Red and Green. Don't like it? There are other games out there.
@EvrgrnCmln I largely agree. The biggest reason behind the problems with the competitive game is the fact that Pokemon was never designed to be competitive. Multiplayer battles were always an after thought. Thus we have massive imbalance. An imbalance largely dealt with using tier systems like Smogon's. Though that doesn't fix the fact that it takes a huge amount of time to train and breed Pokemon to play overall. That system does need refinement. But it can be refined without scrapping it.
Well, for Pokemon to actually be a truly competitive-oriented game it would probably need a complete overhaul of the system. The fact that all competitive finalists tend to have the exact same teams with the exact same stats and moves shows that the game balance is skewed.
For me the problem of Let's Go is the price. Seems so far like something good for $40 rather than $60. Thankfully shops in my country tend to sell physical copies slightly cheaper than eShop – I got Pokken Tournament DX new from a store for $40 rather than standard $60.
I'm amazed that so many people seem to find the Pokemon games complicated!
I don't care about the competitive stuff, my concerns are about how catching/training will work
If you have to catch 50 Pikachus to get enough candies to evolve it like in Go, that will be more tedious than random battles.
To catch a rare Pokemon will you have to constantly leave and re-enter an area until it spawns on the map, hope you can get to it without touching any of the other Pokemon on the map, and hope it doesn't flee after breaking out of the first ball you throw? I deleted Pokemon Go for good after that happened to me with a Chansey
I'll make up my mind on these games when there's more information about how it will all work
Pokemon was already like a kids version of a JRPG so I don't see how making it even simpler is anything other than a regression for the series. Still, Pokemon is probably my favourite Nintendo series so I'll be keeping an open mind - or as open as it can be given how much this looks like the catastrophically boring Pokemon Go.
Hopefully you don't have to catch the Pokemon with motion controls because I don't know if I'll be able to get over that.
@Devlind We obviously think of things differently so let's agree to disagree.
@westman98 Except they spent the same amount of time on XY and SM and we see how those games turned out. And they only worked on 1 game in between, not 2. Hard to be confident in the quality of the 2019 game with this kind of development schedule.
I'm just not sure Pokemon GO mechanics are the way to...go. An issue with Pokemon is that, for a game that's all about individualizing your team with whichever mon appeals to you, I'd need to spend hours upon hours upon hours min-maxing the same 6 pokemon everyone is using just so I can go online and have a chance competitively. Not battling pokemon along the way doesn't fix that. Whiping out 80% of the roster doesn't make every Pokemon more viable. If you're gonna destroy competitive altogether, at least go all out and make in-game battles real time instead of turn-based; now THAT would be a press-worthy move.
And I see why a return to Kanto would interest some. But everyone who's played Yellow on GameBoy always dreamed of a game that looks like the anime, with freedom to explore the world as they see fit. A 3DS game in HD does not a Breath Of The Wild make. Get rid of linearity and seriously polish up the graphics, that's how you bring nostalgia/the "genwunners" back. Those are the people that should be chased after, not the crowd who downloaded a free app because of hype and dropped it after 2 weeks; they're not ever buying a Switch.
Some things GameFreak did get right though. The return to Kanto, like I said, is a good move in theory. Getting rid of random encounters is already a big improvement. Pokemon following the player has been asked for for years now. It's just...go all the way, guys, it's time.
@frogopus The fact of the matter is, the large collection exists, and they can't ditch it without alienating a lot of fans. I don't claim to have all there answers or even that there is a perfect answer, but I do think that the best choice is instituting a tier based system and dividing up Pokemon by tiers. Another possibility is for competitive play Pokemon could institute a "standard" and "legacy" format much like the card games Magic the Gather and Hearthstone and even their own Pokemon TCG have. Currently VGC vaguely has those rules but those rules need to be built into the game as something they can update for online multi-play support. Either tiers or formats.
As to sales - they will never see those numbers again. When Pokemon first began - it was the perfect storm. Everything fell into place in a way that is almost entirely unique in the world of games and even the wilder world of media. Rather than trying to capture that unprecedented and incomparable success, I actually think Game Freak is on the right track. Rather than trying to make one game that captures everyone's love, they should focus on Go for casual players, the main series for the more devoted and Let's Go for a middle ground. By dividing it up, it will let each area cater more toward that audience. The main series can give up much of its hand holding and actually satisfy players looking for an interesting and somewhat challenging single player experience with a more in-depth multi player, while Go attracts the super casual players and Let's Go providing the middle ground for people without the time of dedication for the real games but want more meat than a mobile game can offer.
@bratzdoll As a former competitive Pokemon player, I can assure you that minmaxing your team of six Pokemon simply isn't necessary unless you plan on trying to become an elite player (which the majority of the online community is not, has never been, and will never be). With a passing knowledge of EVs, which became ludicrously easy to train as of Pokemon X and Y, the difference between a perfect Pokemon and the absolute worst Pokemon possible is 31 points in every stat. Since somehow catching or breeding the absolute worst Pokemon is statistically as unlikely as getting the best one, the actual difference between a minmaxed Pokemon and one that just haphazardly weight trained for a half hour is unlikely to be more than 10-20 points. This is significant, but it is only an insurmountable difference in high level play, and it's disingenuous to state that it's necessary to stand any kind of chance in online play.
I know this because, since Ruby and Sapphire, I've practiced on online simulators against teams which were all minmaxed -by default- using suboptimal spreads based on my in-game teams (which I never had the time to optimise), and still maintained a good winning percentage in the realm of 80%. My teams have also never been conventional, since I insist on including at least two of my all-time favorite Pokemon (Hawlucha, Breloom, and Pangoro) on every team I build. I have also maintained above 50% winning percentages with teams composed entirely of fighting Pokemon (my favorite type).
Competitive Pokemon is a mess for various reasons, and really needs a major revamp (the whole battle system does, honestly), but it really does not take nearly as much preparation to be able to jump in as people imagine.
@EvrgrnCmln
The "it's more realistic" argument has always been stupid, because Pokemon is a game, not a real life simulator.
If a mechanic is not fun on purpose, it doesn't belong in a game.
Fact of the matter is IVs and other intentional inconveniences straight make the game less fun, and are not fun to get correct, which leads many, many people to straight cheat if they plan to play multiplayer.
If you're worried about variety in stats, Nature already does that, and is less asinine because they serve a purpose in customization instead of just being optimal or not optimal, but even than there should be an easy way to adjust that.
@DarkKirby 'They're not fun' is your opinion and is not shared by the fairly sizeable community of breeders, whose main interest in the games is perfecting IVs. Some of them have commented to that effect in this thread.
As I posted above, they're not necessary either if your objective is competition, and 'they lead people to cheat' is also an argument against having single copies of legendaries, rare shiny Pokémon, and version exclusives. Many, many people cheat because cheating is easy. They would no matter how much you simplify the game systems, because it'd still be easier to cheat than to spend time leveling, or hunting for Pokémon in the first place.
Reading through the comments you can see many of the aspects that make up Pokemon. I think the problem with S&M is each aspect has become a bit problematic.
1) Story. I’ve always enjoyed the story but feel S&M was way too linear moving you from point A to B with constant cut scenes. Hopefully that’s dialed waaay back for the next instalment.
2) Battling while leveling. It’s long been said that battling is too easy but I think this is due to a lot of players bringing over leveled, mythic, legendary, max IV, traded, Pokemon to battle. The battles are definitely designed for your starter plus 5 randos.
3) Catch em all. Unless you have Pokemon Bank catching every Pokemon in every new game would be exhausting (but fun).
4) Online battles and tournaments. This is where Pokemon excels but it is hardcore and passes a lot of players by. Unfortunately cheating is the only (quick) way to compete effectively in Pokemon and that requires jumping through many hoops to hack your mon.
@EvrgrnCmln
Genuine question if I have say a Kangaskhan at speed 252 and I decide for my team I want a new Kangaskhan at speed 240, how am I going to achieve that in game without cheating?
@Fandabidozi - It depends which version you're playing. In X and Y you had the reset bag, which you could get by doing Super training. In Sun and Moon that's gone, and you feed your Pokemon EV lowering berries instead. For Speed, you want Tomato berries, which grow on Route 10.
@Fandabidozi - The problem with in-game difficulty is unfortunately hardwired into Pokemon's battle system. Since Speed is an absolute vs relative advantage in Pokemon, and one to two hit KOs are the norm when type advantage is factored in, it's essentially impossible to create an in-game quest which is challenging while still allowing for the growth of the player's team. If you 'scale' the enemy to meet the player, it just invalidates 90% of the collectible roster, which is contrary to the spirit of the games, while still allowing for easily exploitable game-winning strategies that require the computer to play like a pro to overcome (which would render the game inaccessible to newcomers).
Perhaps even more essentially, on a 'competitive' level, the game is essentially built for 2 v 2. Moves, Pokemon, abilities, etc are all balanced for 2 v 2, and it's also the form of the game which provides you with the greatest outlet to come up with quirky teams with creative win conditions (e.g: making your Shedinja unkillable). The problem? The in-game quest almost entirely limits you to 1 v 1, thereby providing new players with zero experience in how to play the game against other players.
@EvrgrnCmln
Yeah I never thought of that. There needs to be a lot more doubles battles with npc’s like a 50/50 split singles and doubles. I think that’d get more people into competitive too.
@EvrgrnCmln
I see yup. I’ve not done any competitive since ORAS and it’s all gone a bit fuzzy.
Def gonna start up again with Gen 8.
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