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Pokémon Legends: Arceus (28th January 2022)

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10 minutes ago, Ashley said:

FWIW I added it in case it turns out to be true and I know some people have a different spoiler threshold than me so I tend to play it safe just in case. 

No problem. :)

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New trailer. Animations look a bit stiff and the world a bit empty. I also wonder why they don't use Pokémon for battling more. No trainer battles shown at all has me a bit worried. 

 

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55 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

New trailer. Animations look a bit stiff and the world a bit empty. I also wonder why they don't use Pokémon for battling more. No trainer battles shown at all has me a bit worried. 

 

It's pretty crazy to me that even in an overview trailer in the month of release they seem to be drawing the line of what they show off at Kleavor. 

On the one hand, it's nice after they've been known to show way too much of the new Pokémon before releasing in the past (such as with Sun & Moon), but on the other hand, this is Game Freak's first big shakeup with a Pokémon game. The fact that we've hardly seen anything of the game at this point, to me, is still very concerning. Maybe the English version of this trailer will clear things up a bit, but like I mentioned before, going into an "open world" game knowing so little about the actual gameplay loop is bizarre. 

The textures on some of the clothing makes me gag. 

On 05/01/2022 at 8:43 PM, Ike said:

Not really, they get to rid the hype of BDSP, since they are heavy related so the game will be more familiar (with locations, etc). They were lucky BDSP sold pretty well, in my opinion. Might be an issue for kids(/adults) who can't afford both so close together. But they might have Christmas money, etc.

I think the main issue was the opposite and it had a negative impact on BDSP not being ready as they obviously wanted that out before Christmas and this launching.

I mean, I think it's just poor portfolio curation. It's Pokémon, so I'm not saying that these games won't sell well being so close together, but I don't think there's any question that they would sell even better with a more substantial gap between them. There's very little benefit, and from my perspective much more to risk, to launching two titles from the same IP each with the potential for sales of 15+ million within three months of each other. There's going to be some level of sales cannibalisation there, and though not a great or 1:1 comparison, it's not the first time we've seen Pokémon do this: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon cut the legs off the sales of Sun & Moon, a pair of games which had the potential to surpass everything in sales, bar probably Gen I and Gen II. 

I think we can say with confidence that Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl still have more to come, because at the very least they have some Mythical Pokémon events to come. From Legends: Arceus releasing just two months later, I think it's heavily implied that we might not see a new game from them later this year (if we do, then I am genuinely going to be even more confused), and will most likely end up with an expansion pass to tide us over until whatever comes next. 

Maybe, for whatever reason, this is TPCi wanting to have the best-selling game in a calendar year, which is almost impossible to swing when launching in November, hence the January launch, and if they are planning an expansion pass then maybe we see a definitive edition bundled with the expansion pass up for sale in November instead.

I do agree that BDSP launching after this game was never an option, and that it would be best positioned where it was; it was simultaneously rushed out in a messy state yet also got to benefit from being the first mainline series game to launch in two years. I guess my perspective is that neither game benefits in the sense that BDSP were rushed out as something they felt they had to release, when Legends: Arceus is what they really want to do, but looks like it could do with much more time in the oven. 

I don't even think they should have waited until November 2022 to launch this necessarily, because all being well, that's clearly the window Nintendo are taking aim at for the launch of the Breath of the Wild sequel, and there's no way they want these two games launching next to each other. I just struggle to justify why this needed to launch at the end of January rather than in March, for example, or heck, the summer. It's Pokémon, so it's going to sell regardless, but there are better alternatives to the Christmas season than launching in January in my opinion. 

I don't strictly think it's a sales thing either - even if I think the perspective of a business is that this isn't needed - I also think brand burnout is also a very real thing too. We're three weeks from launch and I'm questioning if I'm in the mood for another Pokémon game so soon, even one as different to the last as this looks, and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way. 

Re: some kids/adults not having the money to buy another game so soon, it's anecdotal, but as a kid I know I would've had a tough time - even with the leftover Christmas money - convincing my parents that I should get a second Pokémon game in just a matter of months.

We'll have to wait and see. Like I said, it's still going to sell well, because it's Pokémon, so in terms of sales some of my points are going to be almost impossible to prove, but by TPCi's standards, it seems almost desperate? ::shrug:

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Another new trailer, shorter but English. Seems like new footage, and indeed. Main goal of the game is 

Spoiler

To fill the Hisui Pokedex

Hopefully there is a bit more to do but well, it'll be interesting. 

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Wow. That could easily have been a smaller Direct about the game - which would perhaps have been appropriate?

"Each area is filled with Pokémon" - and you see none at all at that moment. :D

Other than that, I think this clarified a bit of information. I mainly worry about the world simply being too big with not enough to do. I'd rather it was a bit more condensed. 

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It's good that they at least showed a bit more this time around, as to get a general feel about what to do. I still don't know if I'm going to get this. On the one hand, it's good to see the series get a fresh take. On the other hand, I'm not sure it will be for me. The missions seem a bit too fetch-quest (show me a Shinx, show me a big Buizel). Seeing your reward is 3 potions also makes me think most of them don't really add to the story (like for me most of the BOTW sidequests also had underwhelming rewards). The balming of Noble Pokémon bit feels a bit out of place too, and I also fear for empty environments. Would have loved to see some caves for example which hide legendaries.

Also curious if they really go into the lore. I mean, humans and Pokémon have not interacted until this point, and suddenly you can catch them and train them. Surely the Pokémon themselves may not be too happy about this domestication? Also having a "magical cellphone" feels a bit easy, could have gone completely old-school and just work around it with paper maps.

I don't know, I'm just not feeling it. It's like a weird blend of Pokémon Let's Go, Sword and Shield's Wild Area with some BOTW stuff going on, but not having the best bit of all those games.

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Okay I've just watched it and still uncertain but at least we know some stuff about it now. 

The walking animation is so awkward and clunky. I cringe watching it.

The strong/agile attacks is at least something different (this is where @Glen-i comes in to inform me they are from a Mystery Dungeon game or something) which is good to see. Adds a slight layer of strategy. 

The demonstration of balms just made them look like a real pain. Pelted them with over a dozen and still loads of health left. Just feels like a button masher.

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5 minutes ago, Ashley said:

The strong/agile attacks is at least something different (this is where @Glen-i comes in to inform me they are from a Mystery Dungeon game or something) which is good to see. Adds a slight layer of strategy. 

Funny you say that!

Actually, no. This is new ground for Pokémon. It's very similar to how Final Fantasy 10 works though (Stronger abilities make that character's next turn come around slower).

1 hour ago, Dufniall said:

The missions seem a bit too fetch-quest (show me a Shinx, show me a big Buizel). Seeing your reward is 3 potions also makes me think most of them don't really add to the story (like for me most of the BOTW sidequests also had underwhelming rewards).

I mean, you can blame Pokémon Go for that, because that kind of gameplay loop smacks of Go shenanigans.

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They really need an overall story to the game to keep the player engaged. Simply "Gotta catch 'em all in this giant, empty place" won't do. And yeah, that boss fight with Kleavor looks a bit too stretched out - how will the legendary battles go then? 

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Well the game appears to be in peoples' hands. That classic security from Game Freak. 

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What can I say? Game outlets can't help themselves. Gotta sell Pokémon ASAP.

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Normally I would be frustrated, why does this keep happening? But with this, I really miss previews so hopefully I can now catch a decent preview of the game. I'll be getting the game on Friday anyway as I'll be reviewing it but I would really like to know what I'm going into before then.

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It's been years so I could be misremembering and things could have changed but I swear when I was at Game we never got games in a week in advance. Consoles yes but I'm sure games came in on the Tuesday/Wednesday. 

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44 minutes ago, Ashley said:

It's been years so I could be misremembering and things could have changed but I swear when I was at Game we never got games in a week in advance. Consoles yes but I'm sure games came in on the Tuesday/Wednesday. 

I think this is because they aim at worldwide launches nowadays. In order for that to succeed, they probably send out the games earlier than before.

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3 hours ago, MindFreak said:

I'll be getting the game on Friday anyway as I'll be reviewing it but I would really like to know what I'm going into before then.

Nice. Let us know what it's like if you're able.

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2 hours ago, Ashley said:

It's been years so I could be misremembering and things could have changed but I swear when I was at Game we never got games in a week in advance. Consoles yes but I'm sure games came in on the Tuesday/Wednesday. 

 

1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

I think this is because they aim at worldwide launches nowadays. In order for that to succeed, they probably send out the games earlier than before.

@MindFreak is spot on.

Pokémon games only developed this problem once worldwide releases became the norm.

Before that, you'd see quite a few independent retailers order in American copies of the Pokémon games to get some early sales. (I got Ruby, Emerald, Platinum, and even Explorers of Sky because of that)

Like I said, retailers just cannot wait to get those Pokémon sales.

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51 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

Nice. Let us know what it's like if you're able.

Ah, not this Friday - the Friday it comes out. Nintendo doesn't distribute review copies before release to smaller vendors anymore - they are afraid of leaks. :D (Oh, the irony)

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Okay let me put it another way; why didn't games get to retailers so early when I could benefit from it?

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1 hour ago, Ashley said:

Okay let me put it another way; why didn't games get to retailers so early when I could benefit from it?

The big retailers of the time (Game, HMV, Woolworths) didn't have the need to import Pokémon games, they were profitable enough through other means. And when the games were officially released, most people would buy them through the big shops.

This is likely why smaller retailers got that idea that they needed to sell early, before the big dogs ate most of the pie.

It's just persisted since then.

Edited by Glen-i

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29 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Okay let me put it another way; why didn't games get to retailers so early when I could benefit from it?

Also, to add to what @Glen-i has said, I think big retail chains like GAME are going to be under much more scrutiny when it comes to tracking stock and the like than stores which don't specialise in video game retail or much smaller stores. There's a lot more at stake for GAME if, for example, Nintendo decides to penalise them/cut them off for breaking street date than if a smaller chain/store does it (and that's if they even pick up on the smaller chain doing it in the first place). 

I think this is (rightly) discussed every time a new Pokémon game comes out, but because it was so recent and I'm too lazy to type it all out, I'll just link to what I said about this when the same thing happened with Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl back in November

Maybe I'm wildly misremembering things, but I can't remember this happening to this extent with some of the Switch's other massive titles (Animal Crossing, Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey; but then, I honestly don't think Nintendo cares nearly as much about Pokémon leaking compared to those games), but I think that just speaks to the logistical nightmare that is dealing with a typically annual, guaranteed 10+ million units seller, being released simultaneously worldwide that is localised in multiple languages. And typically around the end of year holiday season, no less. 

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2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

The big retailers of the time (Game, HMV, Woolworths) didn't have the need to import Pokémon games, they were profitable enough through other means. And when the games were officially released, most people would buy them through the big shops.

This is likely why smaller retailers got that idea that they needed to sell early, before the big dogs ate most of the pie.

It's just persisted since then.

I wasn't just talking about Pokémon :p 

2 hours ago, Julius said:

Also, to add to what @Glen-i has said, I think big retail chains like GAME are going to be under much more scrutiny when it comes to tracking stock and the like than stores which don't specialise in video game retail or much smaller stores. There's a lot more at stake for GAME if, for example, Nintendo decides to penalise them/cut them off for breaking street date than if a smaller chain/store does it (and that's if they even pick up on the smaller chain doing it in the first place). 

I think this is (rightly) discussed every time a new Pokémon game comes out, but because it was so recent and I'm too lazy to type it all out, I'll just link to what I said about this when the same thing happened with Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl back in November

Maybe I'm wildly misremembering things, but I can't remember this happening to this extent with some of the Switch's other massive titles (Animal Crossing, Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey; but then, I honestly don't think Nintendo cares nearly as much about Pokémon leaking compared to those games), but I think that just speaks to the logistical nightmare that is dealing with a typically annual, guaranteed 10+ million units seller, being released simultaneously worldwide that is localised in multiple languages. And typically around the end of year holiday season, no less. 

Retailers do already track stock. Granted it doesn't always add up which is how you sometimes get bonus copies of games but even the systems in place a decade ago would have been able to identify when, where and by whom a copy was sold early. Obviously that is less obvious if its a staff member taking it early and paying for it on release date. 

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12 minutes ago, Ashley said:

I wasn't just talking about Pokémon :p 

Pokémon was a general victim of this because almost all of Nintendo's handheld consoles aren't region locked, while region locking was rife throughout the PS1/PS2 eras. So there wasn't much point in importing home console games for retailers.

Combine that with Pokémon being the killer app of their respective handhelds, and that explains why paying a little extra in order to sell those games early was so desirable for independent retailers while simultaneously mostly ignoring other big sellers.

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1 hour ago, Ashley said:

Retailers do already track stock. Granted it doesn't always add up which is how you sometimes get bonus copies of games but even the systems in place a decade ago would have been able to identify when, where and by whom a copy was sold early. Obviously that is less obvious if its a staff member taking it early and paying for it on release date. 

Yeah, I know they do. I meant more in the sense that, for example, GAME and other big retailers are likely going to have more accurate stock tracking systems, etc., which are going to make it much harder for them to break release date and get away with it than a much smaller store without such systems in place. A lot of the stores that have broken street release date in the past have been smaller, independent stores or chains, oftentimes in more remote locations (be it on a map or technologically, such as in a developing country). Like I mentioned, they also won't be putting anywhere near as much at risk if they break street release date than if a massive retailer like GAME consistently did so. 

Anyways, seems like the leaks have grown into full on file dumps now, meaning that new Pokémon and new forms are out in the wild that we haven't seen yet, so I'll be trying my best to steer clear. Has everyone decided on which Pokémon they want to start with? I think I'm stuck choosing between Cyndaquil and Oshawott...

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1 hour ago, Julius said:

Has everyone decided on which Pokémon they want to start with? I think I'm stuck choosing between Cyndaquil and Oshawott...

@Ugh first aid is gonna get the game, so I'll probably use her console for a "Try before you buy" kind of deal. I don't have utter confidence that I'll like this. Catching Pokémon over and over again to progress doesn't sound great to me.

That said, the choice is easy. Typhlosion is easily my fave of the three starter evolutions here. Assuming I actually commit, it'll be the first time I use it, seeing as Totodile isn't there to immediately make my decision for me.

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