I'm worried that people see the cut Pokémon as the only issue
I've been a pretty outspoken critic of the series since Gen 6 took a turn for the worse, but now that Pokémon are being cut, I'm worried that people will see that as the only issue. Of course, that's not to say it isn't an issue, but to me, it was the next logical step in the franchise. They've been shrinking and messing with the games so much and, in my opinion, prioritising the wrong parts of the games.
Exploration is a big part of the series to me. Taking paths to places you never need to explore, looking deeper into dungeons and discovering secrets... I feel like the series has abandoned exploration for exposition. Long winded stories while your player character stands there with a smile on their face, not saying a word. Where we used to go off the beaten path to discover a legendary Pokémon, you now receive them from the mailman. Nobody told us to climb Tin Tower to catch Ho-Oh, or find the Power Plant to catch Zapdos. These days, finding a legendary is part of the story and mandatory, or as easy as walking to a store for a code.
Another thing is how, even to this day, version exclusives plague the series. Except now, they've been doing more to exclude features depending on version. Not only is Galarian Farfetch'd and a bunch of other Pokémon exclusive to the $60 variation of the same game, but multiple Gym Leaders are now exclusive to games. Why? You don't trade Gym Leaders, so that's a piece of reasoning that can't be brought up. Then again, now we're getting to Generation Exclusives. That's a phrase that can be said. Meanwhile, I can play HeartGold (the one with Ho-Oh) and catch Lugia (the one from SoulSilver). Please make a single game.
It wouldn't be one of these threads without discussing the lack of postgame. Sidequests, maybe 2 routes at most, and the Battle Tower with a new skin? What, the Battle Frontier wasn't good enough? It had so many options for expanding the gameplay, from mastering rental Pokémon in the Battle Factory, to putting a twist on the formula with arcade! And hey, they love Kanto so much. Wait until they hear about this great postgame place called the Pokémon World Tournament. Every Gym Leader, every Champion, and so much opportunity to expand on it! They've made all those models for Pokémon Masters, after all... unless they decide that they can only port some Pokémon. And it goes without saying, returning to a previous region is an experience and a half. I'm no Kalos fan, but if I could return to Kalos, I know I'd have so much more appreciation for it.
These next few are more personal and minor so I grouped them to a single paragraph and with shorter explanations. The music feels more distant and less impactful due to the instrumentation. They make me miss Gen 3 Brass, which says a lot. Quality of Life doesn't mean much when it results in removing options. I never use experience share because I enjoy grinding and difficulty. Charizard is one of my favourites but Kanto Pandering is a serious issue. Especially when it's Kanto Pandering to the Pokémon they want to use. They abandon new features fast because, I paraphrase, "they want to bring them back with a twist". To be fair, this was when they were asked about bringing back the Battle Frontier, and they spoke about how a Bike can go on water now. That's relevant... Models vs. Sprites, this is a fun one, the static idle poses do little to represent the Pokémon (Intelleon) while the dynamic single frame sprites represent the Pokémon in a single image, with personality. Gen 5's dynamic sprites also do well in this regard. Abandoning features after one Gen, I loved Title Defense and I fully expect it to be gone, just like PWT and Megas.
If we do get all of the Pokémon back, great. But I skipped Ultra Sun and Let's Go, because it was clear they didn't want to change for the better. With Sword & Shield, I'm just hoping they hear more than just "The Pokémon are missing". After all, it's feedback they want, and they want their players to enjoy the games.
Posted Nov 7, 2019, 8:58 AM UTC
I actually think version exclusive gym leaders is fine. It actually makes a different version more worthwhile, where having two versions just because I always thought was silly. Now they do it just for the theme and marketing.
Version exclusive Pokémon, while unfortunate, is probably a necessity. It encourages trading, which has always been a big feature. Though now the cut Pokemon will harm that.
I’d like games to at least have actual story differences a la FE: Fates if they want to justify multiple versions. I couldn’t imagine spending $60 just to say, “Now I get to spam a dark move instead of a psychic move for this gym!” or “Now I can catch this Pokémon that I could get off the GTS in five min.”
Some people buy both versions to have multiple playthroughs, which is absurd. We should have multiple save slots (which yes the switch can do but doesn’t share online outside of family plans).
But I still think that's not enough to make a difference. Gen 5 did it and it still felt like a waste of time to me.