Current Events > Game Freak is holding Pokemon back

(+) Yeah! (+)

Pokemon is really one of the video games IPs with the most untapped potential out there

I don't think Game Freak has the capabilities to make what the concept of Pokemon could offer as visual and gameplay experiences

They own part of the IP though so I guess we're stuck with them

---

As long as people keep throwing money at them, they'll keep churning out uncreative mediocrity.

---

Naughty Dog is holding The Last of Us back

The Last of Us is really one of the video games IPs with the most untapped potential out there

I don't think Naughty Dog has the capabilities to make what the concept of The Last of Us could offer as a gameplay experience

They own part of the IP though so I guess we're stuck with them

---

Nintendo as a whole is holding Nintendo back.

Like their last Mario Party game. It is absolutely mindblowing that in the Year of Our Lord 2018, they released a game like that without full online multiplayer. And they could have made bank with it. People would have ate up map packs where you get like four new boards for twenty bucks.

They've not leveraged the free advertising SSB gave by creating new F-Zero, Starfox, or Mother games.

---

I agree with this whole topic

---

Pokemon is a victim of its own success at this point. Rocking the boat is a risk that there's not really any incentive to do. I'm sure The Pokemon Company wanting more stuff to licence every couple of years is a factor too. There's just too much riding on it.

---

Give Pokemon to any competent dev who actually cares about the quality of their games and we would easily get a 10/10 Pokemon game.

It's such a hard series to mess up, yet gamefreak manages to keep doing just that

---

Wedge Antilles posted...

As long as people keep throwing money at them, they'll keep churning out uncreative mediocrity.

This. I've heard Pokmon fans saying that Game Freak "learned their lesson" from Sword and Shield, but I'm pretty sure the lesson they learned is that no matter how badly they fuck up, people will still lap up their games in record numbers.

---

Did they ever add all the Pokmon back to sword shield

did they fix that bug where sometimes it crashes and erases your save?

did they fix any bugs?

---

Byakuren posted...

Give Pokemon to any competent dev who actually cares about the quality of their games and we would easily get a 10/10 Pokemon game.

It's such a hard series to mess up, yet gamefreak manages to keep doing just that

Ehhh I dunno. Maybe if they focused on the original 150. Even then would they still stick with turn based fighting or try to go action based?

I dunno I think it's remarkably easy to fuck up. There's clearly an audience of at least 8 million people who just want more of the same for the most part.

---

imagine a pokemon game developed by intelligent systems

---

Darmik posted...

Ehhh I dunno. Maybe if they focused on the original 150. Even then would they still stick with turn based fighting or try to go action based?

I dunno I think it's remarkably easy to fuck up. There's clearly an audience of at least 8 million people who just want more of the same for the most part.

Even without dramatically changing the battle system or the general story layout (Beat eight gyms and a major tournament with some sort of region-specific plotline along the way), I feel like they could have done a lot better than they did with Sword/Shield.

While I enjoyed the gym challenge as a whole, and the wild areas, and both DLC, Gen 8 felt a lot more lackluster than Gen 7, but at least they were better in a few ways than LG E/P. A lot of that for me had to do with the fact that Leon and Sonia were so insisting on cucking you out of the "regional lore and badguy squashing" portion of the game. Yes, Sonia tells you a lot about the Darkest Days and you do eventually beat Eternatus/calm down the version Legendary....but it feels less like you're actively participating.

And even then, since I did another playthrough recently, I still feel like I know more about the league challenge itself - which is what the game itself wanted you to know about - than any of the regional lore or even why Rose did what he did.

---

I agree, but if you say that to Pokemon fans, they'll be out for your blood lol.

It's just more of the same every. single. time. And it's always split between 2 full priced versions. So much wasted potential, especially now that they're finally forced to make the jump to console.

---

Aysander posted...

Even without dramatically changing the battle system or the general story layout (Beat eight gyms and a major tournament with some sort of region-specific plotline along the way), I feel like they could have done a lot better than they did with Sword/Shield.

Yeah, people weren't asking for much. The whole Dexit thing would have been far better received if each Pokemon had individual animations, the world was better designed, and the graphics looked better than a 2015 3DS game.

---

Aysander posted...

Even without dramatically changing the battle system or the general story layout (Beat eight gyms and a major tournament with some sort of region-specific plotline along the way), I feel like they could have done a lot better than they did with Sword/Shield.

While I enjoyed the gym challenge as a whole, and the wild areas, and both DLC, Gen 8 felt a lot more lackluster than Gen 7, but at least they were better in a few ways than LG E/P. A lot of that for me had to do with the fact that Leon and Sonia were so insisting on cucking you out of the "regional lore and badguy squashing" portion of the game. Yes, Sonia tells you a lot about the Darkest Days and you do eventually beat Eternatus/calm down the version Legendary....but it feels less like you're actively participating.

And even then, since I did another playthrough recently, I still feel like I know more about the league challenge itself - which is what the game itself wanted you to know about - than any of the regional lore or even why Rose did what he did.

I mean more if a new developer took over. They'd need to start from scratch. Game Freak at least have that foundation they keep building on.

Honestly I think the franchise would benefit significantly if each game got an extra year in development. But that would be a loss of millions of games sales so I guess that's not gonna happen unless it's absolutely necessary. But it's just gonna get harder and harder to get these games out quick. Sword/Shield looked like it was held together with string at times.

---

IronChef_Kirby posted...

This. I've heard Pokmon fans saying that Game Freak "learned their lesson" from Sword and Shield, but I'm pretty sure the lesson they learned is that no matter how badly they fuck up, people will still lap up their games in record numbers.

Yeah seeing customer apathy to clear mediocrity by the developers was almost heart breaking. It made me realise that pokemon may finally be a dead franchise to me after I held out hope

---

To casual fans and kids, Sword and Shield is just as good as all the Pokemon games before it. Ultimately, the part of the fanbase that's hungering for something more is a minority. And I imagine a decent portion of that group ended up getting the game anyway.

Hopefully the Pokemon franchise churns out some high quality spin-off games to make up for the lackluster main series. Pokemon Snap looks promising for example, even though I'm skeptical of how much content it will actually have.

---

bump

---

Pokemon fans are holding pokemon back just as much. They make it a top seller each time, so the devs have no incentive to change it up and actively want to just keep what makes them so much.

---

Delirious_Beard posted...

imagine a pokemon game developed by intelligent systems

Pokemon game by Atlus or Falcom
---

Like someone else said, they have little incentive to take risks. Pokemon is literally the most successful fictional brand OF ALL TIME, brings in more money than Dragon Ball, Star Wars and Harry Potter. They have no motivation to rock the boat.

---

Until a "better pokemon clone" is actually better, Gamefreak's general incompetence is irrelevant.

The spin off games are better than the modern mainline games.
---

well the formula has been milked to exhaustion. capture Pokmon, battle them, trade them...

i dont see how they could innovate at this point.

Mainline Pokemon game from Rockstar pls

---

GiftedACIII posted...

Pokemon game by Atlus or Falcom

I want a Bethesda pokemon game in all its buggy glory

Even another Genius Sonority RPG would be good but they've been relegated to making puzzle games for mobile

---

Buu_88 posted...

Mainline Pokemon game from Rockstar pls

This is a dream of mine actually. To have Gamefreak get development support from Rockstar or some other big name studio. This is embarrassing that they pump out Pokemon games that are poor in quality and without any genuine care for the craft when the series can afford to be so much more.

---

pegusus123456 posted...

Nintendo as a whole is holding Nintendo back.

Like their last Mario Party game. It is absolutely mindblowing that in the Year of Our Lord 2018, they released a game like that without full online multiplayer. And they could have made bank with it. People would have ate up map packs where you get like four new boards for twenty bucks.

They've not leveraged the free advertising SSB gave by creating new F-Zero, Starfox, or Mother games.

The truth hurts... for every fun, interesting, or marketable idea Nintendo has, theres always a few questionable decisions made that keep said idea from being truly great.

---

While, I agree that a mainline-style Pokemon game by someone besides Game Freak would be a really interesting experience, I think a lot of the current Pokemon issues would be solved by Game Freak actually sizing up to be a studio appropriately large enough for the flagship game of the largest media property in the history of human civilization.

They continually fall back on to the "Oh we are just a small indie-developer" excuse for any number of reasons why the games don't develop. Like if you don't have a big enough team to add all the Pokemon, animate Pokemon, made the game not look like a glorified 3DS game, properly code things, etc...Hire more people who can.

---