Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet

[bob]

So what you're saying is that the Gen 4 games need to be renamed White & Pink?

No, I'm saying they need to go back and rename Sun, Moon, X, Y, Sword and Shield.

[Agent Gibbs]

Given how much I love Arceus, I’m an for the first time in a long time very excited for the new gen.

we had a tiny trailer to that showed open areas, I don’t think it will be bland open world nonsense and I suspect what we will get will be like Arceus, a hybrid of the old style games, but with large ‘wild areas’ only with cities at the edge of the zone that connects to the next. I’m pleasantly hopeful on how this will work out

 

[Glen-i]

53 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Admit it… you can hear the Bubble Bobble music right now

I've heard nothing but for the past 6 hours!

37 minutes ago, bob said:

No, I'm saying they need to go back and rename Sun, Moon, X, Y, Sword and Shield

Well, I feel that Blue/Red was a return to form after Red/Blue. But still, at least it was better then Red/Blue, which just felt like it wanted to be Red/Blue again. It was really blatant.

But Red/Blue's soundtrack? It was kinda lacking. I didn't enjoy it that much, but luckily, Blue/Red's music absolutely slaps!

[Jonnas]

So, I heard these new Pokémon games take place in the Iberian peninsula? Really!? Exciting news for sure.

Is this when we finally have a black rooster Pokémon? Like so?

5 hours ago, Ashley said:

fuoco being fire in Italian

It's probably meant to be a Spanish reference. Fuecoco's name likely comes from "Fuego" (fire) and "Cocodrilo" (crocodile).

As for its Japanese name...

5 hours ago, Ashley said:

Hogeta (fire)

... no comment

[Ashley]

Yeah I figured there was probably some Spanish linguistic link too but my Italian is better than my Spanish. 

Does seem to be Iberian so I guess we can also expect a pig Pokémon too. And maybe a sardine Pokémon. 

 

[Mokong]

When I watched the Direct earlier I was surprised by the Late 2022 release, seemed a bit early at first. Sword and Shield was little over 2 years ago (Nov 2019)...probably just over 3 years if S&V release in November also.

But on checking previous release partners 3 years between new gen releases actually seems to be the norm. With almost 4 year gaps between gens 4 & 5 and 5 & 6 as the exceptions.

Like the early look in the trailer. I the over-world has a look of Arceus about it which I look forward to  

Just hope the world is more open and connected and not just several maps that are contained within their own bubbles. 

[Glen-i]

2 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Is this when we finally have a black rooster Pokémon? Like so?

A quick reminder to never take the region inspiration for granted when it comes to Pokémon designs.

A lot of people took Alola's Hawaiian inspiration as guarantee for a Dolphin Pokémon to be happening. Nothing came of it.

[Ashley]

Yeah but on the other hand the British one had a cup of tea so they're not exactly subtle at times. 

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

Yeah but on the other hand the British one had a cup of tea so they're not exactly subtle at times. 

Oh yeah, ever since X and Y, the designs have been steadily leaning on the country of inspiration more and more. And I think it's great.

I think Galar specifically has the most consistently high quality designs since Unova. And they really lean heavily on it. Football, Corgis, tea, a fox named "Nickit", James Bond if he was a chameleon, and the crow-operated black cab, to name a few.

And that's not to mention the handful of Pokémon based around the rise of popular music that Britain is known for. We've got a drummer gorilla, Zigzagoon redesigned to be a KISS fan, and the punk rock lizard.

The only missed opportunity is the lack of a Dragon Pokémon based on the Welsh flag.

I do wonder if the references seem more obvious to us because we are from the UK? Well, I suppose that theory will be put to the test once these games are released and @Jonnas takes it upon himself to give us some explanations for Pokémon designs that will no doubt go over our heads.

[Jonnas]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

Well, I suppose that theory will be put to the test once these games are released and @Jonnas takes it upon himself to give us some explanations for Pokémon designs that will no doubt go over our heads

There are already theories that the grass starter might be an Iberian Lynx (endangered species, nearly extinct, but recent repopulation efforts have been successful). Also, Quaxly might turn into an Age of Discovery reference (Prince Henrique had a famous wide feathered hat, and that entire age is associated with white&blue in Portugal)

But so far these are wild speculation. We really need to see the full evolutions.

[Ashley]

This thread does a good job of explaining the Spanish references in the trailer

I also really want this to happen:

 

[Julius]

Right then, to give my thoughts on this, as it definitely caught me by surprise as I'm sure it did everyone else: very surprised by them getting Gen IX out this year, even if we've been getting 3 year gens for a while now, substantial DLC for Legends: Arceus or rushing out another remake through ILCA could have easily given them another year to develop this pair of games.

Not at all surprised but more relieved that we finally have a pair of games set on the Iberian peninsula, because this has been speculated about forever, since back when I was on the Serebii forums in high school. The thing that made it seem like only a matter of time and the reason it was at the centre of a lot of speculation at the time was a visit Masuda made to Spain back in 2014 or 2015 which got mentioned in the Game Freak blog, but wasn't exactly business-related - similar to previous mentions about visits he had made to New York (Unova) and France (Kalos) preceding the releases of the games those locations inspired. Really glad it opened up to be both Spain and Portugal, was a bit concerned when I spotted the map that they might make a Spanish region and just use the entire Iberian peninsula as the regional outline for it, so glad @Jonnas has pointed out a lot of the Portuguese influences here that quelled some of my reactionary fears there. 

They've nailed the visuals for me in terms of the vibrancy of a region based in Spain and Portugal, and the architecture especially. It's just a shame that the presentation of those inspirations are a pixelated mess of awkward textures and, once again, a choppy early look at the upcoming game. 

In terms of the game, I loved Legends: Arceus, as a lot of others did too, so I'm all for it. I've seen some mention that they hope it's more open rather than being zonal from a hub with a lot of loading screens, and while I think the trailer itself did an okay job at conveying this, the official site confirms it:

Quote

Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets—all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series—battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them—now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.

Now, to what degree that is remains to be seen, because I suppose you could have several towns and open areas in a zone and the same phrasing would apply. Definitely a step up from Arceus in this regards though, from the sound of it. 

The starters: I love them. Now, Fuecoco was immediately the one for me - little guy just looks a loveable lug - but I like the contrast between Quaxly and the previous Water-type starter, Sobble, as Quaxly looks much more confident and prideful. Sprigatito is probably the most generic out of the bunch, but my mind went straight to an Iberian lynx as I think was the case for many others too, so I'm excited to see it's evolutions, and love its name. 

Finally: I hate the trainer faces as they appear in game, despite loving the trainer art itself. It's their stupid noses, looks like they're from DokeV. 

Interesting decision to have a slight tweak in uniform for each version, I'm sure it won't mean much, but version differences have been getting what feels more and more granular these days anyways. Violet definitely has the better uniform design in my opinion.

Spoiler

And that's pretty much all I have to say for now, felt like we saw a lot less of the region than we did for Galar, though that might be down to having potentially fewer settlements and being more open. Really curious to see what the box art legendary Pokémon look like, as it seems like there's much less we can extrapolate from the logos this time around when compared with Gen VII and Gen VIII, and what, if anything, the gimmick for this generation might end up being. 

Edited February 28, 2022 by Julius

[Ike]

The trainer designs are kinda… bland. Their in game model gives me third party “not Mii” you see in party games kind of vibe.

[Josh64]

Apart from the obvious GameFreak staples like terrible textures and no anti-aliasing - this upcoming game looks gorgeous! I love how vibrant it is and it's nice to see lots of architecture and points of interest because as much as I loved Arceus it was 95% random hills/fields. 

I'm really surprised by the release date, it seems so soon considering Legends ARSE released just last month - before the direct I would have put money on them releasing some kind of DLC in October time and pushing ARSE again for Christmas - especially considering it came out in January so hasn't even had chance to enjoy a holiday season yet. 

I know ARSE is classed as a non-main game but it's certainly of higher popularity and production than something like Snap or Rumble so seems weird to me they would release what are basically two main Pokémon titles in one year. From a business POV I almost feel as though they might be cannibalising their own sales but I'm sure they know what they're doing so whatever. I'm looking forward to it, especially as I loved ARSE but felt like it was missing a little something with the lack of gyms and other towns/cities to discover. 

 

Edit: also I really like the design of the main protags but haven't seen anyone else here or on twitter be fond of them yet! 

 

Edited February 28, 2022 by Josh64

[Jonnas]

Right, now that I'm in front of a computer, some images for the sake of comparison:

Spoiler

Now, this image doesn't show the full beauty of the animal, but it does show its two most distinctive features: the horn-like ears (they're flexible, and for whatever reason a lot of photos catch them looking like that), and the majestic beard.

If you pay attention to Sprigatito, you can see some beard-like whiskers coming from its cheeks, which is what leads me to believe this is, indeed, an Iberian Lynx. I suspect they'll grow larger with each evolution.

To see more pics and a couple of videos of the Lynx, here's a link (in Portuguese) to a page talking about it. I just want to say, its total population was lower than 100 at one point, but joint efforts from Spanish and Portuguese groups have managed to increase its number to above 1000 in recent years. Hope it stays that way.

Spoiler

Or "Infante Dom Henrique", as he's known around here, was definitely famous for his hat (regarding the feather, that was my memory playing tricks on me. It's actually a scarf/shawl/piece of fabric). Also, he's strongly associated with the sea.

Just saying, I can see a pompous duck with a moustache and hair that looks like that.

The last time this figure inspired a character in a JRPG he...

...definitely wore a hat!

Regarding the architecture, I felt a very strong Barcelona vibe from it. The Twitter thread that Ashley posted had the right of it. I mean, Porto has colourful façades as well, but what we saw in the trailer was Barcelona for sure.

As for the cosier house, most houses in the southern half of Portugal look like that as well. Ours don't have Sevillanas, though.

9 hours ago, Julius said:

so glad @Jonnas has pointed out a lot of the Portuguese influences here that quelled some of my reactionary fears there.

It should be noted, the specifically Portuguese references I mentioned were speculation. I need to see a swanky colourful black rooster before I'm totally sure. Or at least a building that looks like this.

10 hours ago, Ashley said:

This thread does a good job of explaining the Spanish references in the trailer

"I've looked at this western coast for hours and I can't figure out what it could possibly be!"

Cheeky git, this Antonio fellow.

[Aperson]

 

[Ashley]

8 hours ago, Jonnas said:

It should be noted, the specifically Portuguese references I mentioned were speculation. I need to see a swanky colourful black rooster before I'm totally sure. Or at least a building that looks like this.

"I've looked at this western coast for hours and I can't figure out what it could possibly be!"

Cheeky git, this Antonio fellow.

Part of me hopes they include something based on 25 de Abril Bridge just to confuse a lot of Americans.

That line re: west coast did amuse me. 

[bob]

Clearly the three legendaries are going to be based on Sporting, Porto and Benfica.

[darksnowman]

15 minutes ago, bob said:

Clearly the three legendaries are going to be based on Sporting, Porto and Benfica.

The true home of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres? 

[MindFreak]

Wonder if they'll do something like the bull run in Pamplona. That would be amusing.

[Jonnas]

37 minutes ago, bob said:

Clearly the three legendaries are going to be based on Sporting, Porto and Benfica.

Their mascots and colours are, respectively, a lion (green), a dragon (blue), and an eagle (red).

Easiest reference to make

[Glen-i]

38 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

The true home of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres? 

Yeah, I have to wonder if anyone at Game Freak are kicking themselves for not waiting until this game to have regional variants of those birds.

Then again, I guess it's more likely that the English names weren't taken into account at all.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Glen-i

[darksnowman]

26 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Wonder if they'll do something like the bull run in Pamplona. That would be amusing.

If they really want to lean into the animal cruelty aspect then sure... Look out for characters wearing all white and a red bib in future trailers to see if "The Running of the Tauros" will be present. Maybe a Hemmingway NPC. Pokémon Gyms could be bull rings.

----------------------------

There's Las Fallas in Valencia, the paving stone thing in Córdoba, there are local festivals and celebrations for saints all over they can draw from. Maybe you'll be able to buy chulapa gear.

Will the evil team be the moors coming back for revenge or will that be kept for the back-in-time version? Maybe this team will be trying to bring back the glory days of the armada.

Don't forget there's a desert in the north as well as Alméria. There's skiing. The trailer hints at La Mancha, perhaps Puente de Segovia and Salamanca will feature, too? A Basque-style region along the north and a celtic area in the northwest? Never mind all the coastline areas (and potential island hopping). How much did Sword and Shield draw from England? Can that be used as a barometer? Replace curry with paella.

Will the early-game bird Pokémon be based on those green woodpeckers?

I just hope that on the Portugal-side (will it be a different timezone!  ) they don't overlook that quaint little seaside spot with the coloured houses and bakery that does killer pastéis de belem. You know where I mean, @Jonnas. They can leave out the Harry Potter bookshop in Oporto because that franchise is deader than a dead thing from deadland to me. 

There's plenty of rich and varied geography for them to draw from and siestas to incorporate... but... what about the game...?  

15 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Yeah, I have to wonder if anyone at Game Freak are kicking themselves for not waiting until this game to have regional variants of those birds.

People thought they had the uno, dos, tres thing sussed but clearly not. Doing that event at the moment was a blatant hint that no one cottoned onto!

 

[MindFreak]

48 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

If they really want to lean into the animal cruelty aspect then sure... Look out for characters wearing all white and a red bib in future trailers to see if "The Running of the Tauros" will be present. Maybe a Hemmingway NPC. Pokémon Gyms could be bull rings.

Well, I was more leaning on rescuing someone being chased by a pack of bulls. But they could go all in and add bullfighting as well. They do eat Pokémon in the universe.

[Ashley]

If we're going to talk about things from Portugal we want to see in the game I vote for Pensão Amor in Lisbon but something tells me that won't make the cut.

And in terms of regional variants on the Spanish side: