Glen-i

Profits that are split at least four ways (And almost certainly not equally). But sure, Game Freak are totes rolling in it. They just hire less then 200 people because they're greedy. The Last of Us is 2 gens behind the PS5, right? Or are you suggesting that Switch is as graphically powerful as that? That's kinda disingenuous, isn't it? Also, it's a heavily story driven game with a humongous amount of cash behind it. It's not really comparable. You keep trotting out the "They don't need to try hard, it'll sell anyway" line. And I keep reiterating that maybe it sells because it's a game people like to play? If it wasn't a quality product, people wouldn't buy the damn thing so much! So sure, the environments don't hold up to high-end PS3 games? Well, what that shows is that to the majority of Nintendo console owners, graphics don't matter. If Legends: Arceus suddenly looked like a PS4 game by Sony Studios, I guarantee the sales wouldn't go up that much, certainly not enough to warrant the massive costs that would incur. Graphics don't matter when the gameplay is so appealing.

The last generation to use 2D sprites, Black/White, while being one of the more impressive Pokémon games visually, also happen to be the worst selling games in the mainline series (Not counting remakes). That game actually took quite a few risks, a region that had no old Pokémon available until you saw the credits, a story that was a bit more involved then become the Champion (Becoming the Champion is completely optional, actually) and so on. But it's low sales (as far as Pokémon goes) marked a shift in Game Freak's approach to shifting to 3D and giving the spotlight to the first generation. It sucked. Now, in reality, Game Freak were probably making plans to jump to 3D already, Black/White's tepid sales just sped up the process. But if Game Freak were to swap back to 2D sprites with 3D models used to make an overworld, they'd have to draw 1,300-ish sprites that look good in HD that also animate at least as good as the fifth generation games. Is that really worth it when 2D games still have a bit of a stigma to them (Some people still feel 2D games are inherently inferior)? The biggest benefit of 3D models is that it's far easier to transplant them for use in multiple different games then sprites could ever be. That was the original idea behind creating HD ready models, despite giving the 3DS severe troubles. Those models are used in Pokken, New Snap, Mystery Dungeon, GO, Unite, Smash Bros (Maybe not the actual playable characters, but all the other Pokémon use the Creatures models) I do have to wonder how different Sword/Shield would have turned out if Game Freak were able to transfer those models as smoothly as they hoped for. Once again, I have to point out that 2+ generations behind imply 3D visuals on par with the Wii/DS, which is just not the case. Stop with the hyperbole. And speaking of that, the turn-based battles make up around half of your average Pokémon game, so don't imply that the model work doesn't make up a lot of this game. But the main point I want to make here, is that Nintendo have more manpower, more money, and more time to freely work on their games. So of course their games will be more technically impressive! Have you ever considered that maybe the visuals outside of the Pokémon are not the main priority for Game Freak when working on a Pokémon game? Because quite frankly, I wish more developers would do the same. Graphics are the least important aspect of a game. If compromises have to be made, then I'll take some low quality trees over actual gameplay related stuff anyday.

Sorry, my bad. Looking back, could've worded that bit better. Jumping on @Dcubed's latest post, another thing to keep in mind is that some of the actual moves Pokémon use are animated separately from the Pokémon themselves. One of the obvious examples is Hydro Pump, which involves a blast of water being shot out of the Pokémon using it. The key thing is that it needs to be programmed in such a way that it comes out of a place that fits whatever Pokémon is using the move. For example, Feraligatr has Hydro Pump appear from it's mouth, and that's true of a lot of Pokémon, but now and again, you get an oddball like Inteleon, who shoots Hydro Pump from it's fingertip. (Keeping with the secret agent theming that Pokémon has) Just another aspect that needs to be taken into account to make sure these attacks look right.

Implication can be just as damning as statement. Game Freak aren't in charge of Pokémon, they're commissioned to create Pokémon games for The Pokémon Company. This means that GF don't have the luxury of being able to spend money however they like, they have to get the OK from TPC and Nintendo. Do you realise how much money they'd have to hand over to another company for them to do over 5,000 animations? I don't, but I guarantee it's a lot. Game Freak have about as much sway as the likes of Namco (New Pokémon Snap) and Spike Chunsoft (Mystery Dungeon series). The only difference is that Game Freak get to actually create and debut new Pokémon designs. As I mentioned before, they already get Creatures Inc. to create the 3D models for Pokémon. That costs money. Anyway, you imply that Game Freak can coast because Pokémon will always sell millions. You know why they sell millions? Because no-one does Monster Collecting RPG's better. Whenever another big company does their own take on Pokémon, it's always a spin-off affair that heavily reuses assets from previously made games to shore up their numbers, and even then, they never quite reach the amount that you'd see from a new generation of Pokémon. The games are super accessible to play, while also being amazingly deep. That's very difficult to do and maintain, but Pokémon keeps nailing it. Don't do that. Don't imply that just because some people don't care, the effort is misplaced. Take one of the 116 shrines in BotW that aren't on the Great Plateau. I guarantee millions of players never saw it in their time with that game. Does that mean that shrine is a waste of space and shouldn't have had time wasted on developing it? You're a Nintendo fan! You know for a fact that Nintendo are notorious for putting in tiny little details that 99% of people will never see. Why is it different when Game Freak does that? And it's kind of funny that you claim the priority of a monster collecting RPG should be on something that isn't the actual monsters themselves! They're the selling point of the game! It sounds like you want a Pokémon game that completely misses the point of a Pokémon game. Do you want a mainline Mario game that plays more like F-Zero? How about Zelda, but it plays like Dragon Quest? No, that's dumb. If you want that, play Dragon Quest. I fully realise some people will be tempted to say they want Mario F-Zero, but let's not get sidetracked. You have to be trolling at this point. Please, tell me you're having a laugh. I can't believe I have to say this in an absolutely genuine way after one of my previous posts, but you've left me no choice. Where were all these drop-dead gorgeous PS2 games I've obviously never heard of? Go on, show me some. I'd love to see them.

Really? Just... How do you not realise the point being made there? You're exactly the kind of person that goes on about how unambitious Pokémon games are, only to utterly miss the forest for the trees. What it shows is that even the biggest games in the gaming industry absolutely pale into comparison when you compare it to the amount of models that go into the average 3D Pokémon game! One of the most important aspects of game development is the characters that feature in it. Take Pikachu as a starting point. When putting Pikachu in a turn-based battle that it will find itself in, it needs a number of animations to function as expected. These are (going off the top of my head): - An animation for emerging from a Poké Ball - An idle animation - Another idle animation that plays periodically while the player selects their next move - A "Physical Attack" animation - A "Special Attack" animation - An animation that plays when Pikachu receives damage - An animation for when Pikachu faints 7 animations that Pikachu has to have to function properly in the game. Perfectly do-able for any game developer. But now Charizard has to have 7 similar animations, and Inteleon, and Lucario, and every Pokémon that is going to feature in the game. Do you know how many Pokémon were in Sword/Shield when it came out? 412. That's 2,884 animations! Mario Odyssey doesn't even come close to that. But wait! That's not even the extent of it! Some Pokémon have multiple forms with different skeletal structures, so they also need to have those 7 animations! Gigantamax Charizard is a different model to regular Charizard, after all! So that's another 50-ish models that need to be animated at least 7 times. Bumping that up to 3,234 animations! BTW, notice how I said "at least" there. Because not every Pokémon has exactly 7 animations in battle, there's a few Pokémon that have their own animations for a specific move. Not gonna count how many there are there. I'm sad, yes, but come on. But there we go, all done! Right? Oh crap! There's an option that let's the player interact with their Pokémon outside of battles! Welp, gotta get some more animations going there! Now each Pokémon needs: - A walking animation - A running animation - A happy reaction animation - An upset reaction animation - A more neutral reaction animation Silver lining with this is that some of those alternate forms I mentioned previously only appear in battle, so at least they don't need these extra animations. So, let's say 422 more Pokémon need those 5 animations now. So 2,110 + 3,234 = 5,344 animations! An absolutely eye-watering amount that becomes even more horrifying when you realise that that's not even half of the Pokémon that exist! But no, people like you harp on about how awful the game looks while posting cherry-picked screenshots to further your point. Conveniently ignoring the sheer amount of work that goes into these kind of games just to fuel your "lazy developer" rhetoric! "But the environments aren't as good looking as they could be!" I hear you cry! Yes, it'd be bloody lovely if Legends: Arceus looked as graphically impressive as the likes of Horizon: Zero Dawn. You know what else would be nice? A real-life Blastoise with every copy! But you're expecting a small studio like Game Freak (Who don't make as much money as you think they do! Nintendo, Creatures, and The Pokémon Company themselves get a cut of that profit) to be able to punch up to massive triple A developers while simultaneously maintaining thousands of times more animation work is nothing but a fantasy! For someone who likes to point out the whiny nature of ResetEra members, you sure do like to sing their tune when it comes to Pokémon.

It certainly would help, but it's worth noting that the creation of the 3D models for Pokémon are already outsourced to Creatures. Inc. I am simplifying this a tad, but generally, Game Freak's artists design a new Pokémon, Creatures then create the 3D model for it, and then Game Freak implement it into their game with whatever animations are necessary. Of course, there's probably a bit more back-and-forth in reality, as designs get tweaked all the time. There's no denying the high quality of the Pokémon models Creatures have made in the jump to 3D, which is why they get reused all the time in spin-offs. It was surprisingly forward thinking scuppered by unforseen issues. Which is a real pity.

While it's impossible to tell exactly what goes on behind the scenes. I can tell you this. Most of Pokemon's revenue comes from merchandise sales. The games don't make nearly as much money in relation to these sales. Throwing money can only get you so far and it also cuts down on profits. At what point does that become unfeasible? Now, take Game Freak's relatively small size company (Less then 200 staff members if I remember correctly), and combine that with having to make sure around 1,100 models with unique skeletons to animate work as intended. On average, Pokémon in the 3DS games had around 5 animations to their name. That's around 5,500 animations! Now in theory, a lot of this work was ready for when Sword and Shield was released, but something went horrendously wrong in the transfer, which eventually led to the infamous Pokédex cut. They had to start almost from scratch! That's a ridiculous amount of work, even with only around 450 Pokémon models to work with. Sword and Shield never quite recovered from that, which led to a game missing quite a few things that previous entries had. (Poor Mega Evolutions...) While I certainly don't like the direction Legends: Arceus is going, I do believe Game Freak are getting a real bum rap with the uninformed and exaggerated rhetoric that gets thrown around on the internet. (Conveniently ignoring the 400 new animations that Galar Pokémon have to have, because "Look! THE TREEES!") We're seeing a similar narrative here. Legends: Arceus is getting lambasted because it's visuals, "Look like a PS2 game" Ignoring the obvious response of "Where were all these drop-dead gorgeous PS2 games I've obviously never heard of?", people are once again conveniently ignoring stuff like returning Pokémon having new animations. (I noticed that immediately) Personally, I think the real problem with the mainline game development isn't money, it's time. The Pokémon Company most likely dictate when these games are to be released, because they want it to coincide with their plans for the animé and merch and so on. I doubt Game Freak get much of a say in this regard, if they need a delay, tough! They have to cut back on some stuff to make that date. EDIT: @bob's previous response is also a common sentiment I see thrown around often. But that kinda falls apart because Game Freak are literally trying something new with this game. But people still imply that they're coasting. Do some of you really believe that Game Freak's developers don't put their all into these games? I doubt that's the case for any developer!

I don't need any more proof for that.

Stamina format tonight at 8pm.

Red-eyed Pokémon that are strangely more violent then expected? Now where have I seen something like that before? Oh right! The latest game I'm playing! Monster Hunter Stories 2 is great, you should play it. Seeing as Legends: Arceus is actually cribbing quite a lot from it. Mounts, quest structure, you name it!

OK, I know that I'm flashing my Pokénerd credentials here in a very sad way, but... Why does that Oshawott have double the HP you'd expect from one of that level? That would get you immediately banned from an online fight!

See, now you've lost me. That just sounds like complexity for the sake of adding complexity. For me, the "easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master" turn-based battles are the best thing about Pokémon. Fewer and fewer games are using turn-based systems, and that saddens me. If anything, Legends: Arceus using one actually helps the game feel more distinct compared to the many similar looking open-world games out there.

I can only imagine that's just another Tuesday for him.

To be frank, it's not really realistic to expect a more action based combat system while still maintaining the amount of Pokémon you can have in the average Pokémon game. Going that route will leave you less than 20 Pokémon in the game. Just gotta look at the likes of Pokken really to see that. The turn based combat is the reason why the collecting aspect works like it does.

Only watched the first 30 seconds of the Arceus trailer (My internet connection is pathetic) and it lost me with the amount of empty fields the main character was running through. Stantler and Basculin evolutions are wasted on this. Nice to see more signs that the BDSP Pokédex has the expanded Platinum Dex at least, won't make up for the lack of Battle Frontier, but it's something.

That 99.7% will forever torment us...

Credits rolled. Yeah, most of the medals are from the other modes. This game still holds up. The controls are very intuitive and there's a high skill ceiling with keeping Kirby under control while also maintaining your limited ink reserves. It's perfectly possible to use upward momentum to keep Kirby airborne forever with enough practice. I feel like where the game slightly dips in quality is when you're playing the boss games. It makes a nice change of pace, but I'd rather just play more with the main game. The final boss works more like a traditional boss fight and it's my favourite part of the game, as you're tested on the skills you've developed. So yeah, it's great! Little tip for anyone else who's gonna play through this though. The Medal Swap Shop has 3 health boosts you should get as soon as you can, because 4 health is not a lot in this game. They're behind the 7 medal panel and the two panels at the bottom that are available at the start.

Yeah, forget the mystery of how Legends: Arceus plays! I'm still not entirely sure what this is supposed to be!

That's kinda harsh. Even if it is the bare minimum and just a straight conversion of the original games, it's still Diamond/Pearl, which I'd place as the 4th best generation. (Just above Gen 1, as far as I'm concerned) People who've never played the DS originals will definitely find value in there. They're solid Pokémon games.

Might as well follow @Julius's example. Legends: Arceus - Nope, don't care. Next! OK, fine! If it turns that this isn't actually an open-world game, I might be more interested, but otherwise, nah. Skyrim sucked, BotW sucked, Xenoblade X suffered for it. I highly doubt Pokémon is gonna be able to nail it. Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl - After OR/AS and it's kinda rubbish implementation of remake shenanigans, (Missing content from Emerald was unacceptable for me) my standards for this are quite low. Honestly, if this manages to include the Distortion World, the extra wild Pokémon Platinum had, and most importantly, the Battle Frontier, then I'll take that as a victory. Cool things that would be nice and relatively realistic to implement but won't because we can't have nice things. - Mega Evolutions. Let's Go had them, but it was mostly pointless because abilities weren't in that game. The ability change is the main reason why most Pokémon benefit from this mechanic. Gen 4 has abilities, which means Megas won't be in this, because that'd be sensible! - More than 493 Pokémon. For context's sake, that's as many Pokémon as the 4th generation had. Yes, my standards are so low, I'm not expecting any Pokémon from later games to be able to be used in this. Which means my shiny Greninja will still be stuck in Sun/Moon. And no, adding Sylveon because of obligatory Eevee is not good enough. Crazy dream land of awesome things that'll never happen despite being awesome! - Triple/Rotation Battles. I miss these formats... - Sinnoh Regional variants. Yeah, that's never happening. But just imagine. And then imagine if all the new variants were from Gen 5 onwards? That'd be a cool twist to make this game feel more fresh to those who played the original. - Emerald Battle Frontier Facilities. The reason they weren't in OR/AS is because they were playing the long game to give us the ultimate Battle Frontier! Is what I tell myself as I cry myself to sleep. But yeah, not expecting to be particularly wowed by this showing. (Good thing it's on Wednesday then, can't watch it until Thursday) EDIT: Worth noting that there's an "and more" in the description for this presentation. So there's likely to be a few other things. Whether it's a new spin-off, or update news for existing games remains to be seen.

I imagine it's just a way for the Switch to be able to change software smoothly if need be. Mario Golf boots up so fast, that it doesn't really matter anyway.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't count on a delay for Legends: Arceus. Pokémon mainline games almost never get delayed once a date has been set. The Pokémon Company are annoyingly stubborn when it comes to that.

Well, we've already seen that BDSP has updated the models for the playable trainers thanks to the Switch OLED trailer. Pokémon games tend to look better closer to release.

Mario Golf does. It's great! Wish more games used it.

If BDSP actually has mechanics from the later games, I will be pleasantly surprised! Unless it's Dynamax, that mechanic can stay in Galar.