Pokémon Presents: 3rd August 2022 @ 14:00 BST

[Julius]

Well, looks like we're finally going to be getting some new Scarlet and Violet news!*

*and more, because it's Pokémon, so there's always more. Do we start hoping for a Mystery Dungeon Explorers remake now or..?

Edited August 1, 2022 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

Good stuff. Time to see if the leaks have been right in regards to some of the designs. 

[Dcubed]

Come on Mega Evolutions!

[MindFreak]

Come on, news in Pokémon Sleep, please! 

[darksnowman]

5 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Come on Mega Evolutions!

Poorly implemented. Clunky. Forgettable. 

Bring back underwater exploration with braille codes to crack and then we're talking. And yes, I'll be wanting an instruction manual to go with that.

[Aneres11]

I just want 8 gyms and an elite 4. None of this sword and shield nonsense and certainly not anything relating to Legends: Arceus which was a snooze fest. 

I just like me some good old fashioned Pokémons 😁

[Glen-i]

4 hours ago, Aneres11 said:

I just want 8 gyms and an elite 4. None of this sword and shield nonsense and certainly not anything relating to Legends: Arceus which was a snooze fest. 

I just like me some good old fashioned Pokémons 😁

I wouldn't get your hopes up there.

With this open world nonsense, the chances of having 8 gyms are not great.

[Aneres11]

11 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I wouldn't get your hopes up there.

With this open world nonsense, the chances of having 8 gyms are not great.

I'm out. 

[darksnowman]

6 hours ago, Aneres11 said:

I'm out. 

Shrines though, man. Shrines. 

[Ashley]

I dunno, there's already about 151 Pokémon games in the "classic" style. I say go for something new. 

[Aneres11]

9 minutes ago, Ashley said:

I dunno, there's already about 151 Pokémon games in the "classic" style. I say go for something new. 

They did. With Arceus Legends. Get that fired up if you want something new! And boring. 😛

[Ashley]

24 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

They did. With Arceus Legends. Get that fired up if you want something new! And boring. 😛

1 Vs 151?

I liked Arceus exactly because it was different. 

[Aneres11]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

1 Vs 151?

I liked Arceus exactly because it was different. 

I'm sure there are many more Arceus type Pokémon games to come. 

Cool you liked Arceus, and it's good they're catering to people who want something different from a Pokémon game. But for me, and I may well be in the minority, I like the structure of the traditional games mixed with new Pokémon to keep it fresh.

They nailed it with Black and White when they brought all new Pokémon in but kept the age old structure and journey the same. More of that would be my ideal for main line entries. Let them trial mega evolutions and shrines in the experimental games that aren't that fun. 😛

 

[Julius]

3 hours ago, Aneres11 said:

They did. With Arceus Legends. Get that fired up if you want something new! And boring. 😛

I mean, new ideas take time to implement and, oftentimes, several cracks to refine, so if it's ever going to get better, they'll need a few more tries  that Legends: Arceus is the first truly 3D "core series" Pokémon game in 2022, nearly a decade on from when we first jumped into 3D with X & Y, means we could be stuck where we are for a while. 

Personally, I don't think having the traditional eight Gyms with an Elite Four and a quality open world have to be mutually exclusive, and there are certainly ways that it could be done well (heck, level scaling has been talked about since I was on the playground in primary school) – but unfortunately, I just don't think Game Freak as they are will be the ones to convince open world naysayers otherwise.

For some crazy reason or another this game is releasing just 10 months after Legends: Arceus, meaning that, if we're being totally fair, at best this game will realistically have only learned lessons from that game's QA, and at worst they're just walking in the dark (which seems par for the course sometimes with Game Freak at this point!). Not that Pokémon are particularly keen to take criticism onboard and learn from it to begin with, but even as someone who enjoyed Legends: Arceus, I can definitely understand some of the issues people have with it, and I think there are lessons to be learned. It's a huge shame that if Game Freak have bothered to learn anything that it's very unlikely that we see it until whatever the next games are after Scarlet and Violet 

Also, while I get that not every open world game is great @Glen-i (I'd say on average - if I were to pick up a random open world game off a shelf in GAME - they can be pretty dull and lazily designed, but as always there are exceptions), I refuse to believe that an open world Pokémon game can't be done well. 

Could you go the Breath of the Wild route? Eh, I honestly don't see why you would at this point, core series Pokémon hasn't been about exploration for arguably over a decade at this point. But something like Xenoblade with massive zones made up of a field and a handful of routes, with the occasional village or town along the way? That seems absolutely doable, and more importantly very suitable, for Pokémon. And if you want a more linear "open world", just look at what Dragon Quest XI achieved. What these games have in common is that they took time, which Game Freak never seems to have. The blame for that likely lies at TPCi's feet as well as probably Nintendo's to an extent, but it's such a shame. I think back to Sugimori's sketches for the original Pokémon games often when we're between generations and it's funny that there's a sense of awe and excitement for exploration that I get from those simple sketches - just from the sense of scale and a sense of actual partnership with your Pokémon - that I just don't think core series Pokémon really strives for. 

Legends: Arceus was a single step in that direction in some ways...but it was, ultimately, more like Monster Hunter World than an actual open world. It's not like I have this expectation for Pokémon to knock it out of the park with an open world, because of Game Freak and TPCi scheduling, but it's been weird this last generation or two to see them flip-flopping so hard on what their vision is for a Pokémon game; if you told me when we got the incredibly linear Sun & Moon that we'd have an open world Pokémon game just six years later, I would have probably laughed with you, but now here we are waiting for Scarlet & Violet 

[darksnowman]

9 hours ago, Ashley said:

1 Vs 151?

And all the fans ever wanted was a Pokémon quiz show. 

If only Game Freak would get the message.  

[Ashley]

I'm mostly jesting. I would love for game freak to be more experimental but come to accept their experiments are more at the micro level; mega evolutions and their ilk, type mix-ups, battle types etc. 

It does feel like the story, and narrative structure that comes from that, has become stale. I don't really have an issue with the 8 games elite 4 setup in theory, just wish it was somewhat more engaging and less like a task list. Or it was presented in a different way such as you're already an established trainer but you've been challenged to start afresh; no existing Pokémon, start at level 5 and build up another team and as you travel "gym battles" are the town's most beloved trainer who wants to prove themselves by beating you; a champion. Then the elite 4 could be experienced trainers that you have a history with (in the in game narrative, obviously gameplay wise you wouldn't). Or maybe even something like you have recurring foes similar to your rival and the ones that you struggle most against become the elite 4. 

I know they want to stick to the kid route so probably wouldn't do something like that, but just a slightly different take on the "here's a Pokemon, beat these 12 people" angle. 

[MindFreak]

Yeah. Make the story far more important and use Pokémon to battle your way through to the enemy, make the story grander and be less selfish. Replace the Gyms with boss fights and for God's sake make them stronger. You shouldn't be able to challenge someone with all 6 Pokémon when they only have 3 themselves. They do this in the anime where they choose a number of Pokémon to enter the battle with, surely it would work in the games as well. Or at least make a hard mode an option. 

[Dcubed]

The 8 gyms + Elite 4 are probably the only thing that you will be getting with this game in terms of actual game structure.  It's an open world game that's clearly attempting to knock off BOTW, so I fully expect all 8 gyms to be available from the start and beatable in any order (with level scaling in place to make each gym leader's Pokemon scale accordingly with the order in which you choose to face them); then after beating them, you can go and kill Ganon, become Pokemon League champion whenever you choose.

[Ashley]

While we're talking about it; isn't it about time gym leaders had more random Pokémon. Even if they have a party of 12 of which they use half it would make things more interesting. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Having recently played Nexomon, that game done a lot of things right with the classic Pokemon formula. It had a strong narrative that pushed the game forward, trainers you battle often used Nexomon that were fully evolved or ones you hadn't seen (instead of using common fodder like Pokemon does), you could pick from 6 or so starters that had different types, the post game had a real challenge to it, random battles could be turned off and on once you find the item...the list goes on.

@Aneres11 I would say if you want a classic Pokemon type game then you should have a look at Nexomon on your Xbox.  It may even be on Game Pass. I played the PS4 version and I don't imagine the Xbox version being any different.

[Glen-i]

9 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

 

@Aneres11 I would say if you want a classic Pokemon type game then you should have a look at Nexomon on your Xbox.  It may even be on Game Pass. I played the PS4 version and I don't imagine the Xbox version being any different.

Or play the sequel, Nexomon Extinction, it's a bit more polished in comparison.

[Dufniall]

 

Not much new here. First bit is about the Championship in London. Then 3 mobile games, GO, Unite and Café update. After that a Scarlet/Violet update. Unfortunately nothing new was announced.

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Dufniall

[Dcubed]

5 hours ago, Dcubed said:

The 8 gyms + Elite 4 are probably the only thing that you will be getting with this game in terms of actual game structure.  It's an open world game that's clearly attempting to knock off BOTW, so I fully expect all 8 gyms to be available from the start and beatable in any order (with level scaling in place to make each gym leader's Pokemon scale accordingly with the order in which you choose to face them); then after beating them, you can go and kill Ganon, become Pokemon League champion whenever you choose.

Called it 

[Glen-i]

56 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Called it 

Hmmm... Level scaling in RPG's are very difficult to pull off in a satisfying way. I get it, it's the most reasonable way to handle it here, but it's more miss then hit in my experience.

Terastal is the closest we've had to Mega Evolutions without actually having Mega Evolutions. Although it does feel like a discount version of it.

It doesn't seem like a held item needs to be given to a Pokémon to be able to use it, which will still have the Dynamax problem of "Why use it on this Pokémon that needs the boost to be viable, when I'm better off using it on a Pokémon that's already great?" At least it doesn't seem to double HP and flat out block certain moves anymore.

EDIT: And thinking about it, if it just provides more powerful STAB attacks, then more defensive Pokémon are flat out of luck, huh?

Terastal changing the type of a Pokémon is where I'm reminded of Megas, but without the radical design change and the ability change, it's hard to get too interested by it. It won't help more useless Pokémon in the competitive scene, so it won't likely shake things up that much.

Mega Beedrill is awesome, Terastal Beedrill would still be utter crap.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Glen-i

[Julius]

Caught up on this after the fact as I had a meeting. 

Like @Dufniall mentions, man that first chunk of the Presents was pretty much a snooze fest in terms of news. Having a massive pop-up Pokémon Centre at World's is pretty sweet for those attending, the first GO and Unite World Championships being at the event will be great, and I'm sure that will be a great time, but it definitely felt like an odd thing to start with. Which isn't at all to say that the updates following with the updates on the mobile games were any more interesting, because while I'm sure they have their fans, it's just a weird vibe where these Presents somehow always feel a bit more smarmy than most Directs are - I know this is a TPCi joint, but if you're going to follow that model, maybe ask for some pointers. We're in this super weird place now where after New Pokémon Snap last year I thought we'd see more spin-offs coming at us at a faster clip, but instead it's radio silence. 

I did dig the trailer and deep dive for Scarlet & Violet, even if the trailer itself was pretty unexciting with how it was presented, there's some fun stuff in there, so just to reel some stuff off:

• I'm all about Paldean Wooper (the lines on its belly make it look like its trying to fake a six-pack which is hilarious ), instantly one of my favourite regional forms. Fidough - great name, pretty generic design, but curious to see what they have cooking with its evolution/s (heh, baking joke). Cetitan looks like a Forretress and Palkia lovechild with a little Trapinch somewhere in the family tree, so...yeah.
• I really couldn't care less about Tera Types, Terastal forms, and Terastallising (they use a "z" but I'm not living in a country which is two and a half centuries old, so I refuse). Since X & Y we have had gimmicks with every generation: Mega Evolutions (in lieu of actually making new evolutions and pre-evolutions, a win), Z-Moves (a massive flop which is now only brought up when speculating for new games based on character art and going "oh, is that guy wearing a Z-bracelet? Or is that a Mega Evolution stone?", and even that is happening less and less now), regional forms (questionable from a lore perspective, but otherwise a win), Dynamax and Gigantamax (look, as someone who hasn't really dived into Raids, the only good thing to really come from this for me is better massive plush designs), and now this. Honestly, I would have been happy with keeping Mega Evolutions and regional forms but doing away with the rest of it (well, maybe one of the options for Raids now that multiplayer is being consistnetly fleshed out). 
• Looks like customisation is going to be pretty limited, which is a massive shame after some fun options in Legends: Arceus. 
• Eight gyms in no set order is a win - I mean, finally, how long have we been asking for this? - and curious to see how they scale (they've got to scale, right? It'd be very funny if they didn't though) and hear what the other two stories are besides the typical path that they teased, as it's very interesting that it seems like we'll get the option to begin with whichever we like. Surely one is going to do with research and observation, probably of the Terestral stuff? But I'm not too sure on the other, probably something to do with the evil organisation we haven't seen yet, or hell, maybe a mini-game where you Terastallise your Pokémon and cut them down into a necklace. 
• Interesting that the legendary Pokémon will seemingly join you pretty early in your adventure? At least that's the feeling I got. 
• I'm actually looking forward to multiplayer seeing as you'll be able to just explore, hopefully we'll have a few groups going when this launches! 

Overall, a fine Presents, but not one which felt necessary, I really think they could have just dropped the new trailer and the deep dive rather than stretching this out to 20 minutes or however long it was. I'm looking forward Scarlet & Violet a bit more now, as while the exploration side of things seems a bit more surface level like it was in Legends: Arceus (at least from what we've seen so far), it's a step in the direction I want to see them take, and ultimately just getting in some jolly co-op roaming around on my Pokémon's wheels/wings/feet with friends seems like a good time to me.

Also, can't go without mentioning Game Freak making a smart move with the legendary Pokémon here, in that they seem to have just nailed the roaming methods to these two legendary Pokémon to reduce the animation and design work they need to do for something which I'm sure could have easily become bloated with the number of Pokémon out there, and just considering how each method required a different Pokémon in Legends: Arceus. 

My Verdict: 6.0/10 - inoffensive but kind of unnecessary as a presentation. 

Spoiler

February

State of Play: Gran Turismo 7 - 8.0/10

Nintendo Direct: February 2022 - 9.5/10

Pokémon Presents: Pokémon Day 2022 - 7.0/10

March

State of Play: March 2022 - 4.5/10

May

Indie World Showcase: May 2022 - 6.5/10

June

State of Play: June 2022 - 8.5/10

Summer Game Fest Live - 3.5/10

Day of the Devs - 8.0/10

Microsoft & Bethesda Games Showcase - 7.0/10

Capcom - 6.0/10

Final Fantasy VII 25th Anniversary Celebration - 9.0/10

Nintendo Direct Mini: Partners Showcase - 28th June - 7.5/10

August

Pokémon Presents: 3rd August 2022 - 6.0/10

Closing thoughts: it's Wooping Time. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Julius