A Zelda-Like Open World Pokémon Game Is "Still On The Cards", Says Junichi Masuda

Count me interested. An open world Pokémon game would be amazing. Being able to use the environment would be nice too.

Pokemon 2019 in Open World style ??
Aaaaah......
Like a Dream comes True.

Yes, please!

That all sounds like a load of bull, they haven't done anything new with Pokémon for years

That would be pretty awesome. Here's hoping. I'd just hope that the settlements/cities would live up to the rest of the world design as well.

Now that, I would be intrested in

OOOOOooohhhhohoho yes please.

make it happen pokemon please!

Would not mind a game like that for the pokemon franchise

@Kai_ Really? Pokémon Let’s Go is completely new, don’t be so pretentious. Pokémon has been innovating for the last half a decade now.

@TheFanatic How is Pokémon Let's Go completely new?

Said this as soon as BOTW came out. S

Start off in your town, and wander off in any direction you want. Certain areas would still be cut off by surf, cut, strength etc but it should be up to you which HM you search for first in order to explore the map how you want. Pokemon wandering around in real time would be amazing, with certain monsters having different temperaments than others. Some could be peaceful and not wish to immediately engage in battle while others would rush in head first upon first sight. The possibilities would be endless.

Couple this with a Xenoblade style art style and it has the potential to be the best ever.

Do it. Do it now Game Freak. This is absolutely what Pokemon needs.

@Saego New catching mechanics, transfers between a mobile game, new version of the Safari Zone. Look, it may not neccessarily be the innovation we wanted, but it is still new.

@TheFanatic hardly revolutionary. If you think any of these things are 'innovative' then you real do live upto your name as 'TheFanatic'.

Pokemon has been imagination starved for a while now. I think GF has done as much as they can with the series and would be nice to see it with a fresh pair of hands.

@Mogster just because it's not the innovation you want doesn't mean that Go isn't innovative. It is a new way to play and that's all that innovation really means (a new way to do something or create something). I'm not saying you have to buy the games and you are entitled to your opinion but don't give someone attitude for stating theirs.

@Mogster Pokemon's problem isn't so much that it's not innovative. We've had things like Mega Evolutions, regional variants, and Poke Ride shake up the formula. Although I would agree that LG isn't all that innovative when it's just copy/pasting Go's catching mechanics, but that isn't to say the entire series isn't. Pokemon's problem is a matter of substance, the recent games have all been incredibly casualized to the point where they feel barren and lazy, the regions are all linear with minimal opportunities for exploration, extra content has been slowly vanishing, the games constantly hold your hand and rarely provide a challenge, they're intentionally designed for you to just blast through them and then set them down shortly after the credits roll. This is why open world would be such a breath of fresh air for the series, it's pretty much the opposite of what they've been doing so far and provides some of the elements the series has been lacking recently.

@Kai_ Wasn't Sun and Moon completely different? I definitely had a more interesting experience with them than X and Y because Gen 6 felt so stale.

As a side game maybe. As long as it doesn't replace the turn-based battles. Turning it into an action game isn't improving the formula, that's just completely changing it.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Zelda's open world, and I definitely can't imagine GameFreak doing any better than the Zelda team.

They clearly know what the fans want but they keep heading the opposite direction anyway. Is the Pokémon series just a social experiment on fan loyalty? We just don’t know.

@Pokefanmum82 @TheFanatic Pokemon Go was developed by Niantic, not Game Freak. Pokemon Let's Go is basically adding things from go into the same game they have been doing for 20 years.

The worse thing is, Mario and Zelda proved there's space for both traditional gameplay (their 2D games) and ambitious projects (their 3D games). And yet Pokemon is the one with the most potential, both financial and also for having a lot of interesting directions they could go with.

But no, a series which consistently sells over 10 millions per game can only produce low budget spin-offs, with rare mid-budget safe games.

I'll be one of the few naysayers here.

Not every game needs to be open world. In my opinion, too many games are already going open world because it's trendy, but open world fatigue is real. Pokemon is already a breath of fresh air as it is, because I can usually rely on it to be linear with limited exploration and a simple but fun gameplay loop. It's the perfect game to play between giant open world epics.

Also, if Pokemon ever loses its turn-based mechanics it is dead to me.

They know what the fans want but the reason why they haven't done it is because the opportunity hasn't presented itself until now.

This would not have been possible on any handheld console in the past and that is where the mainline games are.

I would expect the next Pokemon game to be like this...

I wish that they wouldn't default to "zelda-like" when talking about an open world. Xenoblade chronicles would make such a better base for a pokemon game

@Sanasalin Exactly! Jrpg's like Xeno(2) and DQXI set a nice example of how Pokémon Open World could be. Nothing wrong with lineair.

That would be a Pokemon game I'd actually be exited for and would go out and buy when it came out. I was happy when Ultra Sun and Moon threw out the old style and gave the world of Pokemon a fluid persistent interesting and fun story to follow and got rid of a lot of the 20 year old boring patterns of how the game worked. This seems like the next logical step into really doing it right.

I know.

I’d love to see an end to the turn-based gameplay. The whole back and forth attacks with barely a change has become way past stale. I’d like an inspiration from the anime and have real-time battles where the Pokemon move around the field and follow your commands in real time. Cool-downs for moves will be required but that could bring in a whole new strategy with the cool downs influenced by certain stats, abilities, items and support moves. They’d also need to ensure the transition to battle is quick, like moment a battle commences your first is out there within 2 seconds ready to go.

Also the thought of a Xenoblade like “Safari” with all these Pokemon roaming around would be amazing to behold.

@TheFanatic what innovation? The core gameplay hasn't changed, if anything it's regressed for let's go

I don't care as much about open world as I do Co-Op multiplayer with full battle, trade & multi-battle capabilities, but it would be nice to have both integrated. Doesn't need to be an MMO either - just four players playing together (or even eight?) would be enough.

Not in my lifetime

pokemon snap 2 'confirmed'

If this happened I would need this game!

I thought the 2019 game was going to be open world. So this is going to be just another plain Pokemon game we've seen a million times .... yay.....

@Mogster I disagree completely, but that’s okay. I will admit that making revisions to games a year old is a quick cash grab for GameFreak, but I really think there is some gold in Let’s Go.

@RennanNT They evolved in a very similar ways to the early 2010 Mario games, quality of life changes more then anything. However, I feel that Gen VII and Pokémon Let’s Go provide a lot new to the table, and Pokémon 2019 is probably (just saying probably) gonna be great.

@Kai_ You don’t have to change the core gameplay to make a good game, you just need to make it better. Personally, I feel Pokémon has done that.

They already made an open-world Pokemon that uses the entire planet as it’s game world, let’s you team up with other players on the fly to catch, fight and raid. You can make the game as difficult as you like, crossing oceans and mountains if you so choose. The whole player base is perhaps the friendliest of all game communities and the environment makes a genuine difference to how the game plays, snow properly impeding play for example.

@Kai_ If you mean they haven't done anything new with the main series, I definitely agree. There's plenty of new things done with the franchise all the time, though, the more recent examples being Pokken Tournament and Pokemon Go.

When you know, you know...

@Razer I would not expect this type of change for the 2019 release. Maybe for the following one (a game like that will need to be starting last year with at least a 4/5 years deadline)

I hope they try it at least once. My only thing is don’t make it too open world where it seems to have stuff thrown in just to justify the expansiveness of the game. Everything should have some meaning. There should be a focus.

Wouldn't trust them with something of this scale tbh

@TheFanatic QoL are imrpovements not evolution. And they have been quite slow on it. Allowing a HM being used on field without forcing a battle move on pokemons has been a complaint since gen 1, the boring grind for perfect pokemons has been there for a long time too, among other things.

Gen VII did change a lot more than the usual, but wasn't that exactly because of constant complaints about the series being stale? Let's Go could be considered a game changer, but that was made by someone else and only made into the main series because it was a huge success.

I'm not saying to throw away what they have. They should keep doing those iterations over the classic gameplay.

But they have the money, the manpower (Nintendo does), the guaranteed sales and one of the most versatile IPs. They can try different and ambitious things simultaniously with their safe games without much risk of losing money and wih a high chance to grow further their fanbase, but they have only been playing safe for 20 years.

That's bad for consumers who could get more great games and it's bad for them, whose series started selling 30+millions (45 if you include Yellow) and nowadays sells around 15 millions each entry. And yet we have people defending this...

Breath of the Wild and Skyrim showed games like this can indeed function on the Switch. Not just function, absolutely shine! I'd love to see Pokémon take this step.

Stop testing my hype, jeez. I don't even follow Pokemon like that, but if it went open world similar to BotW, I'd more than likely buy it. Now to go and un-hype myself as it likely won't happen anyway...

The Pokemon series has always been going through new changes. The mainline games, while being near the same gameplay wise, have always been changing technologically. With each new hardware, they push themselves to doing more and more with the Pokemon series. I mean look at the jump from gold and silver to Ruby and Sapphire. Or Ruby and Sapphire to diamond and pearl. Or black and white to x and y. Pokemon has always been evolving with hardware changes. And now that they are making a pokemon game with a console level system and not a handheld, they can push themselves to do so much more than they ever could have done in the past.

I don't think Pokemon 2019 will be a vast open world Pokemon game, I mean they've only been working on it for maybe a year now given the switch wasn't revealed till last year, and they've been busy with sun and Moon, let's go, and that new game freak RPG that was revealed last direct. So unless they delay the game, chances are we won't be seeing the open world Pokemon game for a while.

It doesn't really need to be pure open world, but a Pokemon adventure where you can battle the gyms in any order, with their Pokemon and teams and levels adjusting based on how many badges you already have... that's something I've dreamed of!

I don't mind the old school mechanic of going through gates between different areas. But the freedom to explore and challenge gyms however I want would be pretty cool.

If Pokemon goes the route of making your own trainer, let us just play in an pseudo open world Pokemon adventure. Go all the way and let us customize our character and chose our own adventure. Give us that freedom!

But If Pokemon goes the narrative route, give us a narrative! Don't make the mistake of gen 7 again, I liked the general idea of the story in gen 7, but it wasn't our story. It was Lily's! If they want to go the story route again, our character needs to be in a leading role and not a shoehorned in silent protagonist. Follow the route you had in gen 5, where the main character is really the main character but go further and ditch the silent protagonist! If you are gonna write a story the lead character needs to speak! Even if we're answering questions for said character.

All in all, I am okay with either an open world approach or even just a classic pseudo-open world, OR a narrative approach. But I don't want them to half-@$$ it anymore...

I think more are interested in a game that features the entire world of pokemon all the current areas in one game, with the ability finally catch them all in 1 game. I'm less interested in an open world style, but more in a complete world game.

Open-world is exactly what I want. Yes, please.

I’d also be content with a “whole world” game featuring all the regions and Pokémon.

You know?

Yes, please! But also bring back BotW's cooking system. I can't wait to add Foongus to Bouffalant and see what sort of buffs it gives me!

@FX102A I don't see how a turn-based system in an age where everything needs to be action-based can be considered stale? It's one of the best turn-based systems out there, and I don't see why it needs to go. That's what many like about the franchise, the strategic gameplay. It's like a game of chess, but a lot more complex. There's a tendency to move everything towards open-world and action these days and I'm not a big fan of it.

This would be a great idea. Honestly I am not sure the current Switch hardware could handle open world Pokemon as their are too many of them and they need to act unique. This might be the reason the game launches next year, to coincide with the Switch Pro.

Game Freak and TPC have demonstrated a firm commitment to not rocking the boat too far in any direction and trying to stay as close to what worked before as possible. Not a bad decision monetarily, but it seems a little silly to expect experimentalism from Game Freak. We got that with Go, which wasn't really GF, and they're incorporating that into LGP/LGE, and the fans are sharpening pitchforks. That's as good a reason as any to not change horses in mid-stream.

That would be amazing, but I really doubt whether Game Freak are talented enough to do it.

@dougphisig I would be up for a “whole world”-game, being able to catch all pokemon (Except for event ones) in one huge game world would be awesome!

I don’t know how “Open world” would work though, unless by that he meant “We’ll stop railroading you through the game”, because not being stuck to some invariably forgettable story would be great, if players just want to go out catching pokemon without bothering with the preset story, let them!

@RennanNT Look, I understand your point, and perhaps GameFreak should change their attitude, but for me it’s a series that does not need change.

Shut up and take my money

If Generation VIII takes this approach, then LGPE would become suddenly excusable.

Which is why this won't happen until 2021 at the absolute earliest.

This is a brilliant idea!

About dang time, is all I have to say. Pokemon is the stalest franchise Nintendo has at the moment, it seriously needs this. I can also only hope that we have Pokken Tournament type of combat and heck, let us just play as the Pokemon, boot the trainers.

@Kinoen Oh no, Pokemon should stay turn-based, a lot of things could do with improvement, but making it a completely different game would be a pretty bad idea...

Yes please. And don't be jerks and arbitrarily exclude the game from cloud save backups. EVERY game should support this.

I won't hold my breath, but yes, of course I'd be interested.

@Sanasalin

Xenoblade we NOT a better open world game than Zelda. Great RPGs with great combat, but Xenoblade constantly annoyed me with those dumb Field Skills.

I'd like a wider Pokemon world, sure. But I'm not sure of going fully open world would work as well as some think it would. Besides, this is Game Freak/TPC that we're talking about.

@Sanasalin This is exactly what I was thinking. When I think of an "open world" Pokemon game, I think of Xenoblade. You wander around and just like in real life, there are some creatures that are docile and won't even approach you until you attack while there are others that are vicious. I think that would make for a really interesting experience with Pokemon.
(Disclaimer: I've only played the first Xenoblade.)

Throw in a Ni No Kuni-style battle system and I'm thoroughly sold.

You can keep the Breath of Wild open world and give me a nice crafted experience like Dragon Quest XI.

@Mogster @Razer @RennanNT @justin233 @NEStalgia So to all the open world Pokémon supporters how exactly would turn based and open world work together?

The majority of the Pokémon fan base enjoy the deep strategy and complex game of chess played with Pokémon’s battle system. What ideas do you guys have that could incorporate that battle system with an open world?

Keep the fights turn based and you keep the 20+ million Pokémon fans happy.

Let’s throw some ideas in the mix and have an actual conversation about how open world could improve the current gameplay, because if you’re talking about making it a real time action battle system then that would be an entirely different game.

Changing the entire game is not something millions of people want. It needs to be done in a way that builds upon the excellent qualities of the series. I for one don’t see how it could work, although I’m very open to the idea.

I would HIGHLY appreciate such a game. It would really make you feel like you're in a Pokemon World having a grand adventure...no boundaries....Open-World Style. Please make it happen!!! And it would be nice if an app is added on the Eshop to be able to transfer all your Pokemon from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon from the 3DS to the new Pokemon Nintendo Switch game; like how Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate save data on 3DS could be transfered to the Nintendo Switch version. Just a thought.

@Yorumi An idea I have for Combat is that;
1. Engage Pokemon in the Wild
2. Transitions into a certain amount of space where you control the first Party Pokemon you send out
3. Use combos and skills based on move set, etc.
4. In Double Battles you send out two with one being the AI but maybe you can switch between them, maybe. Same applies for Triple Battles.

My concept is actually based off on Final Fantasy Duodecim, Pokken Tournament DX and even a bit of Monster Hunter Stories as well where you can use your 'Monsties' to use various skills in the open field as well as being land, air and water mounts. A mix of the three.

P.S To add to the twist you can also be able to choose what battle style you prefer in the Options Menu; Traditional (Standard) Style where you battle as Turn-based as most previous Pokemon games or choose Free (Open) Style where you play controlling your Pokemon's movement, attacks etc.

That way everyone can have fun using what they feel most comfortable with. These two styles can be applied to Online Room Battles as well.

Also, though I have no plans of buying the Pokemon Go games for Nintendo Switch I must commend that being able to use the Controller (s) to throw a Pokeball is a nice little feature which can be implemented in the upcoming Pokemon Switch game. Again you can have the option to play the Standard way or the Controller way.

And now I'm going to end it here because I suspect I may just continue on and on, already I'm typing this after work! XD

Psssttt And throw in some Pokemon NFC Cards too! wink wink Poof

its possible, though if they're going to be releasing games every year, that would have to either switch to 1 every 2 years or revive some popular spin off games to bind the time while working on a huge open world. I know 3rd versions and remakes don't normally require as much work as full new entries, but yeah, they'd need something to fill the Poke-avoid while creating such a huge game.

Why are people acting like open world games can’t still be turn based? I mean, have you ever played a JRPG? I feel like Pokémon is a game that can get away with having less story direction. Let me explore the world, catch Pokémon, stumble upon towns & gyms where quests/missions would be doled out. Don’t need a bunch of hand holding or some convoluted story that forces my hand (Sun/Moon).

@MysticX
To each their own. I'm personally tired of how Pokemon has been the same game for the past 22 years.
Also, look at how well Zelda BoTW and Mario Odyssey did, despite being different from their formula.

Let's see. Even long term fans frequently complain about needing HMs to navigate through the world, and in recent years have voiced disdain for obsessive hand holding and cutscenes.

I think it's pretty easy to see how Pokemon would largely benefit from the open world treatment. I'd argue that it's a much better fit than Zelda.

Can i send out my Primal Groudon to attack a low level trainer who has a metapod and destroy him while 50 people stand around in game giving me angry face emojiis?

If anything maybe we can get a Pokemon Stadium in each region where we can battle or watch others battle in quick tournaments.

They're not developers good enough for this, or at least what the community has in their minds.
And I doubt they're gonna use the excellent team at monolith.

@dougphisig Such a massive game wouldn't really be feasible. They'd never be able to balance such a thing with any version of the current system. Unless they forced you to act like the anime and leave your team behind each time you went to a new region, you'd find yourself grossly overpowered after only a single region. Even if they made it so levels rose with you, by the 3rd region everything would be level 100.

They might be able to make it work, if they totally reworked the leveling system and everything, but at this point, I still think such a game would just be too massive.

@MaSSiVeRiCaN
You know:
1. Turn Based + Open World style = Gambit System from Final Fantasy XII.
2. Action RPG + Open World style = Kingdom Hearts / Monster Hunter / Xenoblade
3. Action RPG + Open World style + Minecraft = Dragon Quest Builders / Portal Knights

@Dalarrun
Xenoblade 1 & 2 were Very Noisy during Battle.
"Take This ! " "Haiyaah...!" "Let's finish this !" etc every seconds.

@Anti-Matter

Yeah, I loved the game but for different reasons, Breath of the Wild is my favorite open world in any videogame right above The Witcher 3 and I hope more games take inspiration from BotW than they do these tired Ubisoft open worlds in the future.

Xenoblade Pokemon now that would peak my interest.

This statement however is a giant joke. Place all the Pokémon games in a row and you barely see any difference. Played blue, yellow , diamond skipped sun.

Fun games but you do exactly the same in all of them, get a starter Pokemon, have a rival , do a linear gym beat down all from a isometric view.

It's hilarious how those descriptors really mean nothing at all without context.

If that happends!
Count me in!

@Pokefanmum82 The catching mechanic is completely riped-off from Pokemon Go ... And they didn't made the game themselves, how is that innovative ?
The game had aged pretty well, they added some good mechanics and improved the game in the right way imo, but it still the same game, it's like Twilight Princess : it's just an improved Ocarina of Time in some ways but it's not completely new. It still top down, it still turn based and the list goes on ...

@Anti-Matter FFXII gambit system was not turn based.

@MaSSiVeRiCaN
Eh, sorry.
ATB + Open World = Gambit System FF XII.
I forgot if FF XII was using ATB.

@Mogster Actually, someone new did take over, sort of. Sun and Moon, as well as Pokemon 2019 are made by a new Director, while Masuda is in charge of all main series games up to X and Y, as well as the Let's Go series. It's just he's going to run Let's Go now, while the main series has a new lead. And if you don't think Sun and Moon are the most innovative (if not exactly well done) Pokemon games in years, I dunno what to tell you. Hopefully he'll learn from what worked for SuMo and what didn't for 2019.

I’m not normally an advocate of MMO’s - just not my thing - and naturally the ‘always online’ aspect doesn’t gel well with the portability of the switch at all buuuut just thinking of a game world where your story is your own, but all of the pokemon in it are global; as in each of them gets experience by battling real trainers?

The world/pokemon would grow organically, could breed organically (ageing too etc) and if you bred them yourself you could release into the wild? Maybe different species breed in different seasons so numbers rise/dwindle accordingly?

Maybe the gyms could be set up like guilds and done properly unlike the Pokemon Go raid thing? You could tackle the offline gym’s or the current online ones?

Obviously stuff would need to be done to stop a-holes (for example) hoarding all the Eevee’s or gaming the different systems but potential is enormous! The ability to do all that on a private server populated only by friends also makes me wet my knickers...

Failing that, a fully realised 3D game would certainly have my attention (and money) but I hope with everything I have they at least make it remotely challenging - Octopath has just recently reminded me as to how good tactical and challenging turn based combat can be (although ironically some of the main random battles are painfully easy/drag so the game does display both sides of that coin).

I honestly thought this WAS what the next game was supposed to be😕 So, it's not?

@JudgeMethos Yeah, this seems like their way of letting us know beforehand we are not getting what we want.

Yes. Open World!

If it's anything like Breath of the Wild, count me in 100%!

Pokemon would make a great MMORPG. So called Open Worlds confuse me cause i always get lost so i prefer games you move from part a to part b

This would be pretty cool, but I don't see it happening. I'd buy it up in a heartbeat, though.

Oh you mean the game that every single Pokemon fan has wanted since the N64 days but Nintendo keep throwing portable game reskins into the ring and odd games like Pokken tournament.
Nintendo doesn't like money it seems, thats the only reason for not having this in the market yet.

@Kai_
I would love to live on the planet you are from

I can't wait!
A properly detailed Pokeball, shining with water from being threw into a lake after a water type, would be breathtaking!

Count me in! I will buy it if they make that happen.

May the weather affect what Pokémon appear.
Cheers fellow Nintendo life friends

@kotag And a year later...you proved to be right.