New Pokémon Legends: Arceus Footage Introduces The Hisui Region

I cannot overstate how marvelous it is to see an actual new direction for Pokemon.
If the next Pokemon game(s) expand on this Legends formula, this could be a refreshing paradigm shift for the series.

While by no means a fantastic looking game visually, the performance seems to have improved a lot which was my main problem with the initial trailer. Looking forward to something new in the Pokemon series.

I'm still not completely sure what to think about this game. It looks promising but it seems like it just came out of nowhere and it's releasing too soon.

You love to see it

I'm shocked. I was 10 when Red and Blue were released. After so many years of very little iteration it's crazy to see them going in such a different direction. Looks a little rough around the edges but I'm optimistic after that showing.

All around excellent news, but looking a bit forward, I imagine some people may be upset if the very next game after this one has the same general gameplay as Sword/Shield. Only after that should the new mechanics from Legends Arceus really start to seep in (assuming it's successful, which hopefully it will be).

My prediction that it would look double fine to me turned out to be accurate. This game looks incredible.

Only issue is this releases in the same week as Elden Ring xD Screw my wallet

This really looks to be a monster hunter pokemon. People compared it initially to BotW, but with the world being segmented like it is, and the base being the main town, it’s moreso monster hunter.

The prehistoric pokemon are nice additions, and really add a lot to the game’s main goal of completing the pokedex, making it more interesting as a result.

@IronMan30,

So true, and the games performance has improved too, loved the art style on the reveal trailer, and am looking forward to this even more now.

@WillQuan the graphics have actually improved in the recent Presents and yeah framerate seems to be more stable

Graphics are still kinda rough in places, but overworld Pokemon no longer animate at 10 FPS, which was by far the biggest issue with the February reveal trailer.

The core gameplay looks more like Pokemonster Hunter than Pokemon of the Wild, with a base camp/town and expeditions in differently-themed regions.

Link for the Pokemon is broken.

This highlights the need for Nintendo to actually push the hardware forwardinstead of resting on such old tech.

I was really looking forward to this but the world just looks so empty and bland - there's literally no textures on the Pokemon

I loved wandering aimlessly in BOTW.. give me more of that, and I'll be happy.
I'm slightly worried there'll be 3 hours of tutorial gubbins, most of which will be the exact same tutorial we've all played to death..

Cautiously optimistic about this one. But even if it disappoints Monster Hunter Stories (while yes a very different game) has completely filled the gap left behind by Sword & Shield.

I really appreciate a new direction, but idk. It just looks kinda…fine? I was actually more hyped about the first trailer. I bet it will be good but it definitely looks like a full version of the wild area with a more cohesive artistic vision

Can't say I'm impressed. Visually it's a step above S&S, but so much of the core mechanics, which continue to age, haven't been tweaked enough to breathe new life into the series for me.

I never expected to buy this anyway, so in a way I guess I'm glad it's more of a half-step forward than anything else.

It honestly doesn't look very good. But I'm still glad that Game Freak is trying to do something new with Pokémon. I really hope it's a good game.

Oke i am def not a pokemon fan. But this is a game that i want!

The largest franchise in the world should be able to get a texture right, never mind polygon counts to the same degree as Breath of the Wild (which wasn't the most NPC populated game either but managed it). It looks like a Wii port at the moment sadly when you look at the grass and cliff sides. Which is frustrating when the concept behind the game looks so so good.

@Mr-Fuggles777
I am almost sure that the textures on the Pokemon are a design choice they would never really change, as that is simply how they always looked.
Also not that strange for an anime style imo.

Not really happy with the world design either though. A good design would be able to look more pleasing even with the Switch tech.
Games like BotW or Xenoblade proof that point.

Gameplay looks intriguing though.

Odd that this will support Pokémon Home because it's in the past they wouldn't have that kinda tech in the era, but I guess we did have the time capsule in Gold, Silver, and Crystal for trading to Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow

@Kirgo I think after playing Animal Crossing it feels a step back to have that sort of character design without any texture in a new game.

Even Viva Pinata did a better job back on the 360. Pokemon isn't a handheld title anymore, it's a full console release

I was secretly hoping for a CTB batle system, and they delivered.

This is looking much better! Definitely more interested after watching this.

The release date is intriguing... January "pay day week" is literally the release window furthest away from Holiday 2022...

Is this our biggest clue yet that another big open world game is arriving Holiday 2022... Botw2?

2022 could be very strong for Switch.

Finally! A Pokemon game designed for someone like me. I will be getting this because I loved everything about that trailer, plus the music in the trailer too. Nice.

It looks like it will be a very interesting game, a fresh change that could lead to something huge. However, being released so soon won't do any good to the game. It clearly needs 10 months or more of development.
Come on, Nintendo, Pokemon Company! Give them some more time to polish it!

@Mr-Fuggles777 Except, Pokemon being textured like this in intentional. It’s like this because the designs are supposed to be simplistic with little detail as possible. It’s fine if you don’t like the art style the series adopted, but it’s by all means an intentional decision.

The Legend of Monster Hunter Stories: Wings of the Wild

@VoidofLight then why did they add texture into the Pokemon for Detective Pikachu if they are supposes to be flat?

Look at Pokken as well, the character models in that game are miles above this.

I still don't understand how battles work. Are they turn based? Or can I directly control the Pokemon like in an Action-RPG?

@Mr-Fuggles777 The main series and detective pikachu have different art leads. Same with Pokken. The main series games are supposed to have this sort of look towards their pokemon.

@chipia It's still turn based, but there's more strategy involved, due to an ATB system.

Looks great! Looking a lot like "Pokemon of the Wild" and I'm digging it. What a way to kick off next year.

i think it looks great.
the hype doesn't feel like BOTW2 though

which is odd how Pokemon is the king of all video games

@VoidofLight theain series has just had this look because of hardware limitations on the handheld.

Even though the switch is ridiculously underpowered this is just lazy development after seeing what can be achieved. It just shows how accepting people are with mediocrity when a well k own licence is attached.

@Mr-Fuggles777 I'm actually pretty sure it's an artistic decision to make the pokemon line up more with their official artwork.

The games not even out yet and it's already putting Sword and Shield to shame. Too bad they didn't look as nice as this does

@Bentendo1609,

Not sure this looks like a Wii game, gameboy advance at best.

This looks so much better than the original trailer. I'm excited.

Genuinely shocked by the negativity in this thread. Admittedly, gamefreak has done a lot to lose respect with its customers but this does look promising. Also, To all the people claiming this looks like an n64 game, show me footage of one... literally one open-world n64 game, or hell, even an open-world ps2 game that looks better than this running on native hardware.

As for pokemon textures, why are some people comparing this to the movie and pokken? While pikachu looked great most pokemon looked awful in the movie with more texturing. And expecting a game to have the same graphical fidelity as models in a fighting game is absurd. Even on cutting edge tech character models in fighting games will always be better than models in literally all other genres.

A proper Pokemon RPG? Color me interested. Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong (like fast travel being locked behind an amiibo or something), this will be my first Pokemon purchase in nearly a decade.

@Kevember You don't know if this was rushed. You have no idea how long this game was in development before it was revealed. Just because it's releasing a relatively short time after the reveal doesn't mean it's undercooked. Remember when Paper Mario Origami King was announced only two months before it came out?

@Chowdaire I'm not comparing to movies or Pokken at all. Just like I wouldn't compare to Snap and its on-rails small worlds. I will however compare it to other open-world titles on the same console. And its greatest sin is shocking textures. This doesn't involve a new engine or a more powerful system... it just needs better artwork and effort. The textures look Wii at best, when games like Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles, etc are all 720p 30fps... so they're not exactly groundbreaking. But their artstyles and use of the system compensate for that. Arceus so far, isn't showing that.

@Mr-Fuggles777 And here lies my biggest issue... people have called Zelda and Mario games lazy, and not worth £50/$60, and so on... but Pokemon gets a free pass all the time. And people who will sit there and be cynical about Nintendo not caring, and happy to sit there taking the cash for supposed sub-par work... need to start thinking the same for The Pokemon Company.

@VoidofLight textures that look like ultra compressed mud from the Wii aren't an art style decision. You can make a game that is very stylised and crisp, and still be simplistic. Many indie devs manage it all the time. Pokemon is the biggest cash cow franchise in the entire world, bar none... they can do better.

To be blunt: this looks awesome. Still keeping my optimism in check, but man has this improved from the initial reveal trailer!

@Chowdaire,

To be honest the constant negativity on these comment sections rarely surprises me anymore, would be more shocked if it was all positive.

Game is looking really good! Excited for the new battle system, it has a similar vibe to some of Square Enix's games imo

@Bentendo1609,

Yes I know, there is only you and the real Pokemon fans, that dare to tell people how it actually is, all the rest will just buy the game and enjoy it, without even realizing there are any issues, or they are being discussed in the first place.

@johnvboy you can still be a fan of something, and feel critical about something related to it. Does the concept of this game look amazing? 100%. Could the visuals (specifically the textures) do with a complete overhaul, also 100%.

@johnvboy Any positivity on the internet would be a welcome change.

To the nay-sayers credit, gamefreak has been slipping lately so I get the frustration but I do think this looks like a big step in the right direction.

@Yorumi,

Which trees on the N64 looked like these?, can't remember any in particular.

@Chowdaire,

I think at this point certain people are determined not to like anything GameFreak does.

@Bentendo1609 Yeah, the ground textures aren't great, but the thing is that's not what this discussion's about. This discussion is about the pokemon models themselves.

@Bentendo1609,

Totally agree, I mean people must be fans to care, but I still do not get all the negativity towards the graphics in this game, but I guess that's because I quit like them.

Lots of people in the comments should just sell their switches and get a console that intends for its games to look as good as possible.

As for the game it just smacked of monster Hunter to me but it’s Pokemon so maybe a simplified game style to accommodate a younger audience.

@VoidofLight The models are fine, the Pokemon themselves look very good... and thankfully have a decent frame rate now too. But they'll always look poor sadly because of the backdrop they're on. Not to mention clips in the new trailer where the Pokemon look like they're floating over their own shadows for example. That's where you have to stop and look at your product and go "do we really think that's the best clip to use right now?". Because it isn't.

@johnvboy I just can't understand the logic of a game where grass, cliff edges, sand etc don't look sharp. That's just an image on a flat object. You can make that look as sharp as you want to. But their compression levels are making it look fuzzy as hell. Go and look at the shot of Wyrdeer on the cliff edge, and tell me the cliff doesn't look like it's from an older console. Because it does, it looks like the Wii, not the Switch.

EDIT: Actually, go and look at Elements, the game just revealed on this website tonight... made by Apogee Entertainment... whose biggest Nintendo game to date is porting Duke Nukem to DS... that game looks far far crisper than Game Freak have managed. And they're nowhere near the size of Game Freak as a company.

@Bentendo1609
"textures that look like ultra compressed mud from the Wii aren't an art style decision. You can make a game that is very stylised and crisp, and still be simplistic. Many indie devs manage it all the time. Pokemon is the biggest cash cow franchise in the entire world, bar none... they can do better."

You are jumping into a discussion about the textures on the Pokemon themselves. If you mean stuff like the ground texture, then I agree, but that wasn't what we were talking about.

"And here lies my biggest issue... people have called Zelda and Mario games lazy, and not worth £50/$60, and so on... but Pokemon gets a free pass all the time. And people who will sit there and be cynical about Nintendo not caring, and happy to sit there taking the cash for supposed sub-par work... need to start thinking the same for The Pokemon Company."

This point I cannot believe I am reading right now.
I don't know to what sites you have been over the years, but I do remember some people saying that Mario and Zelda need to innovate. A very small minority of people, that is.
For Pokemon I hear that argument all the time, to the point were I am honestly getting tired of it. Almost every single discussion about Pokemon is flooded with people complaining about the games, especially here.
"Pokemon gets a free pass", are you joking?

@Kirgo The biggest complaints I've seen about Pokemon in recent years are mainly not Game Freak related... Pokemon Go as of late for example, not made by them. Diamond and Pearl's remakes not looking good enough, not made by them...

The last time Game Freak were criticised was Sword and Shield, for two reasons. One, visuals again. Two, making a game where the concept "Gotta Catch Em All" is no longer a valid tag line.

@Bentendo1609
Especially Sword and Shield have been getting massive criticism for all kinds of stuff.
I myself have discussed with the haters here about this what feels like a million times, because I find some of the criticism to go way too far, not that the problems aren't there at the core.
And I have been called "part of the problem" a million times as well, since, as everyone knows, if you do not 100% agree with the mob, then you are automatically a blind fanboy.
Been there again and again.
In my experience, especially in recent years, people have complained and complained and complained and complained...
Doesn't change the fact that it sold like hot cakes though, make of that what you will.

@Kirgo oh and it will sell like hot cakes... like Mario 3D All Stars and Skyward Sword HD did despite people's opinions. But here lies the issue... should issues be ignored just because people fly out in droves and spend money on it blindly because all most people see is a TV trailer and box on a shelf? Or should fans hold their favourite franchises accountable and know they can do much much better.

Games like Elements that has just been announced for Switch and Steam, looks far far crisper than Arceus. And it most certainly won't have the budget and team that Game Freak have at their disposal. There is no excuse. And it's not a case of complaining for the sake of it, it's complaining because the franchise, and the open world game people have wanted for many years now, deserves better.

@Mr-Fuggles777 Actually, if you look closely in the trailer, you can see the pokemon do have textures to them. They're just really faint. Fish pokemon have scales on their heads which reflect in the light, and Wyrdeer has a somewhat fur looking pattern.

Sword and Sheild for sure was a testing ground for GameFreak to play around with large wild areas and how to design them. This game look EXCELLENT!!! And I cannot wait and I hope we get a Legends Kyurem when GF gets to remaking Black and White in 3-5 years! Though I'm sure detractors will still call GF lazy somehow for this game...

Like-to-dislike ratio on the official trailer is currently 97+%.

The trailer has only been out for a few hours so the stats may change, but it seems like feedback is overwhelmingly positive as of right now.

@westman98 Right now... I'm sure the trolls are waiting in the woodwork. They will probably be like "Geez GameFreak might as well have made this game Gen 9 instead of region we've been to before" Or the classic BringBackNationalDex crowd.

@Bentendo1609
Maybe, but it makes the comparison with Mario and Zelda still unnessecary. Pokemon did not get a free pass compared to those two.

I personally find it meaningless to complain about fans who just buy everything, as complaining about those people will never change anything.
We can't even tell how many of these buyers even consider themselves fans. There could be many children who wouldn't think too much about it in there, people who just casually play the games without thinking much about it, previous fans of earlier gens who wanted to jump in again, people who played the game and hated it are still buyers as well and there are also people who are just happy with the games as they are.
At the end of day, they all wanted to nuy the game, no matter which one, and we can want the game to be better as much as we like, but they can buy whatever they want.

Because there seems to be a collective confusion regarding "better looking Switch games" like Breath of the Wild, here's a direct comparison between the two:

https://imgur.com/a/EDQ3EdJ

People seem to remember Breath of the Wild through a rose-tinted lens. Excluding minor differences in character model polish and (maybe) foliage density, anyone that argues there's a graphical difference so significant it relegates this Pokemon game to even 1 generation behind is lying, and this is coming from someone who regularly games on a $5k rig.

I don't really care for Game Freak, and Nintendo's been frustrating me lately with the lack of legacy content (among other things), but the criticism here is largely unjustified. Nintendoids acting like Game Freak pissed in their cereal or something.

@VoidofLight what about the rest of the textures? They look like something straight out of the Wii era.

Game Freak just haven't moved on from handheld gaming - imagine looking at that on a 55" OLED screen, It's grim.

@jtmnm Breath of the Wild was a launch title, Pokemon Legends has had 4 years for the Devs to get to grips with the hardware and still release a game that looks like it was from a much older console.

Historically, games have always looked better as a console ages (compare gears 1 to gears 3) not get progressively worse.

@Mr-Fuggles777 Breath of the Wild is regularly wheeled out as the bar in terms of Switch graphical capability. The other one is Xenoblade 2. Also, sounds like your tacitly acknowledging the game is somewhat comparable to Breath of the Wild, so thank you for making my point for me.

@Yorumi
There is never a one way street on the internet.
There are always people on both ends of the extremes, no matter what topic we are talking about.

In this Pokemon discussions however, there seems to be a clear winner of the "who brings the most bad arguments" price.
You will probably disagree with me on which side that is, I suppose.

@Mr-Fuggles777 Well, the rock textures are heavily shaded to fit the look of the game. Grass textures aren't important, since it's not even something you'll notice while playing the game itself. Most of the tree textures look fine, and the textures for buildings/people also look fine.

@jtmnm
I would argue there is a huge graphical difference between BotW and Arceus, but that is less about technical problems.

Good design makes you look past the issues and that is what BotW does very very well, since some things in that game just look horrible if you look at them isolated.
The ground textures are not better then the ones of Arceus, trees in the distance become 2D sprites and much more...
If you have a good overall design, people will not notice this as much. It differs a bit from person to person though, if you tend do look more closely at details, this won't work as well.

Arceus imo fails at this badly though. I would argue, that the game overall just doesn't look pleasing to the eye for most people, which is I think the real issue here. Graphical issues are extremely noticable here.

@Yorumi,

People constantly complaining on every comment section can get pretty tiresome too, my comment was not aimed at you in particular, and was pretty much a comment on how people suggest a game looks worse than an ancient systems graphics, when they do not like the look of something.

Don't take my initial comment too seriously as it was not intended that way.

@Yorumi This is different from something like that. Games like BotW, which people hold up on a platter has the same issues when it comes to rock and ground textures. They look really muddy, but you don't see people making a massive deal out of that.. as if it doesn't matter, and the gameplay is the main thing that does matter.

Also, Arceus isn't even out yet. The game can still have graphical improvements made to it, like it did from the first trailer that was shown off. It's amazing how people ignore "Gameplay not final" at the bottom of trailers.

Was fully expecting a delay announcement...

The game looks good but without trainer battles I wonder how long this game will keep me invested in it.

@Kirgo Well, you'd be wrong. The gallery I uploaded makes that objectively clear.

The issue comes down to optimization. Breath of the Wild, while not as bad as it was at launch, is still plagued by performance issues. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has the same problem although to a greater extent. The resolution fluctuates so wildly the screen sometimes looks underwater. Mario Odyssey had NPCs running at 15fps in New Donk City. I don't ever see anyone bring up that jarring cope, despite Odyssey being often mentioned as one of the Switch's standards for graphics. If PL manages to hold a steady resolution and decent framerate at the cost of reducing distant scenic objects like trees to stills, it's a good trade.

Also, Breath of the Wild's world design has been under fire for years; scrutinized for being "empty" and shameless use of copy-and-pasted assets. Legends looks to have this problem too, but it's hardly a unique one.

I'm not saying Pokemon Legends looks amazing. What I'm saying is it looks fine for a new Switch release, and the fact people are having to draw specific contrasts with some of the Switch's best games is not only a testament to the improvement over S&S (which I never bought) but its quality as a whole.

@VoidofLight Games like BotW, which people hold up on a platter has the same issues when it comes to rock and ground textures

BotW was a launch title, its crazy that it is still held as a benchmark and shows how little the switchbas a console has developed.

Look at current gen launch titles - Demons Souls (PS5) and The Medium (XsX). What's the chances that people will be comparing games with these once the systems have been on the Market for 4 years?

Ryse was an absolutely stunning game on release of the Xb1 but how many people used it as a comparison benchmark towards the end of the consoles lifespan? No one, because it had been surpassed as Devs get to grips with the hardware and managed to get more from it.

On Switch, the quality of games are actually dropping year on year. Ask anyone what there top 5 games are and I can pretty much guarantee that 2 or 3 of them would be launch titles or ports.

Pokemon Legends is just another example of games that doesn't hold up to modern console graphical standards.

It's just a shame as the game has promise. I'm stopping replying now as I'm bored of going around in circles, you are obviously blinded by the licence.

Game looks great, but I hope we get to see at least a few other towns. I don't like it when a game only has like one civilization.

At the very least, it would be nice to found and build one of the classic towns that we are familiar with.

It honestly looks quite promising. I hope that they are focusing on the single player and maybe cooperative experience. These games could focus on exploration and discovery as well as trying new gameplay mechanics, making a challenge to actually get some Pokemon, specially Legendaries. The main series on the other hand, could keep doing what they do, focusing on PVP and keeping the classic formula intactnas it works really well for that. I think that way most people would be satisfied.

@Yorumi
1.)
Holy cow are you reading much into what I wrote.
I was only comparing the two extreme sides of this discussion from my personal experience. To be able to do that, I have to look at how much of what I read and literally can't just look at individuals. I did read much more big negativity about those games than positivity and the positivity largely comes down to arguing against the negativity. This, almost by default, means that I have seen many more extreme views from one side than from the other.
I am not saying "one side has worse arguments", I just hear more extreme opinions from one side then the other.
I would also argue that I am not really on either side, so I don't know where my confirmation bias is supposed to come form.
I neither love gen 8, nor do I hate gen 8. (I did hate gen 7 however.).

2)
I don't see where exactly the quality of mainline Pokemon games has dropped, unless you mean relative to the time the games were released in.
I can completely understand all the rest though. I also agree with a lot of the criticism about gen 8, I just do not agree with how harsh the criticism is.
If someone rubs into your face that "the game sold a lot", than I can understand that you get annoyed, the problem is simply, that I have seen people saying stuff in the realms of "anyone who continues to support this is part of the problem", far more often. And that annoys me just as much. Why? Because I am of the very simple opinion, that anyone can do with their money whatever they want (unless illegal, of course). In your eyes, there might be a decline in quality but in the eyes of another, this is not the case. You can't tell others whether they are supposed to like something or not, even if there are objective problems (yes, objective problems exist, some people try to argue against that, I am definitly not one of them).
Arguments that do not seem to make any logical sense against the games are also something I see a lot, but that is another thing entirely.
And for the protocol again, that does not mean that I think everyone arguing against the games holds the same position or anything in that regard.

This comment section was... fun to read through. Nothing can describe how hyped I was the moment they started showing off gameplay. This is the Pokémon game I’ve dreamed of since I was little.

@jtmnm
I just looked at the screenshots and it is pretty much as I remembered.
Again I do agree that Arceus is on a similar technical level as the other games. That is my point (though I would kind of argue that Xenoblade 2 is a bit above that, regardless of the performace.).

The BotW screenshots still look much more pleasing to me overall.
It is complicated to argue this objectively, as it really depends on who is looking at it.
Since it is true for me and the graphics of Arceus cause such a discussion, compared to other big Switch titles, I think it is a relatively safe assumption, that the games aesthetics just do not work very well for many people.

When it comes to a technical comparison I am on your side.

"Also, Breath of the Wild's world design has been under fire for years; scrutinized for being "empty" and shameless use of copy-and-pasted assets. Legends looks to have this problem too, but it's hardly a unique one."
Here you are mixing two different things. When I say "design" I really just mean design as in art. Not design as in game design, which is the context I always understood the "empty world"- argument to be in (more a "nothing to do" than a "looks empty").

Also, pretty sure these voices against BotW for the "empty" world have always existed, they just weren't very noticable because of the massive majority of people that vocally loved the game.
Considering how much fun I had exploring the game, compared to pretty much any other open world game, I have a hard time understanding what is supposed to be empty about it, but I guess that also depends on what you are looking for in a game.

@Mr-Fuggles777
You complained too much about graphic details.
The footage was not the final image.
The graphic from Legend of Arceus was pretty good so far in my opinion.
Kids will not complaining too much with simplistic graphics from Legend of Arceus.
They don't care with AAA ultra realistic graphics.

@Yorumi I think we aren't very far apart on our opinions on these general matters, actually.
Something that amazes me specifically is always the fact that so many people seem to deny that there is objectivity at all and I think a lot of confusion on the internet comes from it.
"This is good" is being used as if it is the same as "I like this".

A few things though.

About the Pokemon games:
I guess the amount of content declined with gen 6, but I did not get the impression that the amount of content really declined further in gen 8 or was already in decline before that, if it did, I definitly forgot something from gen 6 (I am not really counting gen 7 for anything since those games were different enough, that this would be its own discussion, I would say). Pokemon always had some kind of big bonus endgame thing which recent titles didn't have. On the other side, the move from 2D to 3D is an objective improvement.
At this point it gets a bit more complicated, as it now depends on what you value more, which would be more on the subjective side of things.
For reasons like this, I don't think it is so easily possible to say that this game is objectively worse.
The price going up is an argument you can make, I personally do not value that very high in this discussion in particular, simply because games in general got more expensive and not necessarily better. This is more of an argument against the whole industry.
My biggest problem with the Pokemon franchise isn't that it got worse, it is simply that it didn't get better enough, so to say. There is way more possible at this point but Game Freak kind of refused to upgrade the mainline games accordingly.

I agree that a lot of people buys products based on brands, however, if you lose a part of the customer base, that would still be a loss in revenue. And to be honest, maybe I am also just a litle bit used to franchises going under for me to care that much if it happens anymore.
Still no matter how many people you have who buy your products anyway, producing a good product will still sell more, since it captures the ones that look at quality additionally.
Still, I can get where you are comming from, there are these people who clearly do not care and just buy so they can talk about it with everyone else, not that we could do anything about that though.
The Star Wars franchise can be a counter argument to the power of these "buy everything anyway"-fans. Episode 8 got a ton of criticism and lost a lot of the loyal fanbase.
This were so many people, that Solo actually lost money after that. The people who would be happy with everything just because the title contains "Star Wars" were not enough for the franchise.

Also, to defend some people who don't know why they like something a little bit:
It really comes down to the difference between "good" and "I like".
You can "like" pretty much anything and it is sometimes hard to pinpoint why that is, especially if you don't tend to analyze media. You can also like things that are objectively bad, or even horrible. Something being bad basically just lowers the chance of someone liking it which makes it less liked on average (not counting the "I like no matter what"-crowd).
However, if someone doesn't say "like" but "it is good", then he must be able to reason why that is, as he must have come to that conclusion somehow and "because I like it" is not valid, as that does not necessarily mean that it must be good.

@Kirgo Why are you even engaging with me if your whole shtick is “Zelda, a heralded franchise that consistently delivers generation-defining quality in terms of art and design, looks better than Pokemon”? I don't think anyone would knock you for saying Zelda, arguably one of, if not, the most praised gaming franchise of all time, boasts an overall superior art direction than ***** Pokemon. Why would you expect a Pokemon game to look better than Zelda in this context?

Furthermore, this is a non-response to what I was initially saying. I was responding to the smooth-brained crybabies here saying PL is in any way comparable to an N64/PS2/Wii/whatever game. I clarified this by saying PL, and I quote, "looks fine for a new Switch release", again, because people don't want to get off the Game Freak hate train. I even went as far as to compile a gallery of images for comparison that clearly demonstrates how similar PL looks to BotW. One could retool the player avatar in PL ever so slightly and drop it into BotW as an NPC without issue.

Also, making an assumption about "people having a problem with PL's aesthetics" is completely unfounded. The Youtube comment section universally praises PL. There's also even the occasional "Pokemon of the Wild" meme. I'm struggling to find even one person who says it looks bad/underwhelming. It's just here where people seemingly have a problem with how the game looks, which is usually the opposite of what happens. Maybe I've been off NL for too long.

@jtmnm
I have no idea how you got any of this from my comment.

I only wanted to explain to you, that the difference in opinion might very well come from the difference in design and not just people bashing Game Freak. I barely argue against you at all, I just wanted to state my theory on why this discussion exists in the first place.
Based on my personally opinion, in which BotW looks better, for no technical reason.

@Kirgo Oh my God.

"When it comes to a technical comparison I am on your side."

"Here you are mixing two different things. When I say "design" I really just mean design as in art."

"Since it is true for me and the graphics of Arceus cause such a discussion, compared to other big Switch titles, I think it is a relatively safe assumption, that the games aesthetics just do not work very well for many people."

@jtmnm
What is your problem with any of that?

@Kirgo

ight imma head out

@Anti-Matter it's not just about the graphics it's lack of detail in the Pokemon and environments as well as lack of draw distance.

https://ibb.co/MnVz7K1

https://ibb.co/7zwm9nq

The world is barren and if that's ok for you then good, but after playing last gen games like Ghost of Tushima and FarCry 5 (I'm not even going to use current gen examples as that's not fair on the Switch) this just looks bland and boring. If they wanted a more cell shaded look then why not go for something like what Borderlands does - not that I expect you have played or even looked at any of those games because you can't play them with a dance mat and they have adult themes.

@Bret Did I say it was rushed? Did I claim to know how long it's been in development? No and no.

@Mr-Fuggles777
I don't even care or even like with AAA ultra realistic graphics by your definition. Who the heck cares ?
I played Go Vacation on Wii and Switch with similar environments situation which there were some areas looked empty and that was natural for me.

@jtmnm
Ok then.
First you go on a massive assumption and use that to borderline insult me, then you cite me without context.
On the other side you neither agreed nor countered anything I actually wrote.

We agree on not wanting to continue the discussion with each other I guess.

Water/Ghost Basculegion and Normal/Psychic Wyrdeer, for new evo of Basculin and Stantler.

Then we got new regional variant with Hisuian Braviary and Growlithe.

This trailer did nothing to change my opinion on this game. It did slightly improve. I have come to accept that game freak will never be cutting edge with graphics.

I looked more at the gameplay, environment, and the interaction of the Pokemon. That would be the area I recommend Game freak work on. To me, the Pokemon just wonder by aimlessly. When I see Pokemon I see animals that are scavenging for food and defending territory from other creatures or alpha male Pokemon. Basically the Pokemon don't seem to have a purpose other than to be interacted with by the player

I would die for that growlithe form

Super hyped for this game... I just hope they fix some of the visuals, because at times, the character models just look terrible... particularly at the joints... I don't understand how it is newer than Sword and Shield but takes a step back visually.... Fingers crossed though! 😋

@johnvboy must be hard to have your favourite games examined under a harsher light.

Always love reading the passionate arguments here in the comment section for Pokémon games😂

Had no interest in getting the game until this trailer. The biggest reason being the battle system changes. It’s not a complete revamp, but a nice build on to the current system, which sorely needs some changes. I love building custom parties in RPGs (SMT3 is so good) with a fun combat system and so far this game looks promising.

Not big on graphics or performance at all (more inclined towards certain art styles, decent performances, and of course the fun factor), but the game definitely looks better then the last trailer.

@Wexter
The YouTube trailer's like-to-dislike ratio still remains at a 97+%.

Seems like aside from visual fidelity, the general response to the game has been extremely strong.

@NintendoArchive,

To be honest not all that bothered anymore, the core minorities will always find issues, while the majority of fans will just enjoy the games, and usually the core fans are people that have multiple consoles and a gsming P.C, and spend a lot of their spare time playing video games, and have always been notoriously hard to please.

The latest game like others is aimed at a younger Pokemon audience, and has a cartoon cel shaded type look to it that I personally like.

Wow. The only thing I'm worried is the lenght and content of the game. Not delayed confirmed.

If it's releasing too soon, then Game Freak could give out free updates and DLC in the style of Genshin Impact (there's even a hub!) while they plan their next main entry. But there definitely needs to be enough content for the main game to be truly compelling. I REALLY hope for a big Hisui, which will definiely be the core of the gameplay when it launches.

Also, the graphics are... not as impressive as before. The first trailer looked vastly improved compared to past entries, but the new onelooks kinda off now... At this point I'm expecting games that push the console to its limits, and that means rendering effects to the max.

That aside, I'm so excited

@Bentendo1609,

Which people say they Mario/Zelda games are not worth $50-$60, you, a few people on the internet perhaps?, as the sales would suggest otherwise, and seeing as these sup par expensive games can't be bought on E-bay for much less than retail, and sometimes even more, I would say it's fair to assume that most are more than happy.

Unless of course you are suggesting, people hate these games, and feel they are too expensive, but are keeping them depite being able to get their money back.

@Yorumi,

I think we also need to get out of the attack defend mode here, you and others will take issues because you expect/demand more, which I get.

Myself and others who do not share your and others issues with the game, will not understand this and offer their own opinions as to why they do not agree, nothing to defend as I said I like the look of this game, I guess both sides need to realize their is no definitive right or wrong in any of this, as it's down to personal opinions at the end of the day.

@VoidofLight,

"Well, the rock textures are heavily shaded to fit the look of the game. Grass textures aren't important, since it's not even something you'll notice while playing the game itself. Most of the tree textures look fine, and the textures for buildings/people also look fine."

I know we have not always seen eye to eye on previous comment sections, and seem to be be not replying to each other at the moment, which does sadden me a little as we are both very passionate about our hobby, but Animal Crossing New Horizons is perhaps the most divisive of titles.

But on this subject we are in total agreement, and the game looked fine to me on reveal, but did have frame rate issues, they seem to have been fixed now and I am looking forward to this very much.

@Kevember You and many others keep saying "this is being released too soon". How do you define "too soon"?

@jtmnm THANK you. This is why I lose my mind every time someone says "this looks like a PS2 game". I challenge anyone saying that to go, well, play a PS2 game.

@Yorumi,

Never said there was anything wrong with people not liking the game, or they have no right to dislike it on a personal level, I just do not agree with them, like you do not agree with me.

And again not looking down on anybody, just stating the fact it's only a very vocal minority that is having these issues, this again is not a suggestion they are wrong in anyway.

But no it does not bother me all that much, but I like the back and fourth on here, and let's be honest here, the people with issues do tend to state their opinions as objective facts.

@Yorumi
I will get Legend Arceus and enjoy the game.
Don't even care with all of your complaints.
The game looks good enough for me.

@Yorumi
You just keep complaining for every little single things from current Pokemon games.
It was like expecting Pokemon games MUST have AAA 3rd party games graphic level on PC.
The majority here don't even care with your trivial complaints.
They keep buying and playing new Pokemon games while you keep being salty, blaming everything for not having the things that pleased you.