SPOILER Thoughts on Pokémon Presents

fine i'll use the accented é

Hey, did anyone else see the Presents today? I only watched it for BDSP and Legends, but will comment on the other games for the sake of completeness. None of my friends care about mainline games anymore so I thought to bring the topic here, of all places. Please leave your thoughts below.

UNITE: I do not play Pokémon UNITE. But I was surprised the mobile version didn't come out yet. I could see people who don't play LoL hop on this game instead.

Café ReMix: Did the base game do that badly? I didn't play it because it looked like Pokémon Shuffle 2, and I had had enough with that 3DS game. Hopefully the revamp attracts a few more players (adding to core gameplay unlike a certain other game).

Masters EX: From what little I've played and from what I've heard, this is a good game getting a bunch of content and free summons. Happy for those who play this.

GO: All my friends have gone back to Pokémon GO because the lockdown "ended." This update is bound to keep them active for a long time. But as a shut-in I will not join them lol

BDSP: At last, we get some news. The return (retaining) of ball capsules, contests, and the Underground relieved many including me. The addition of following Pokémon, underground encounters, and outfit swaps were unexpected, and are faint signs that they tried not to make a carbon copy of DP. But personally, this is not enough for me.
The other remakes HGSS and ORAS added the latest fads of the new generation while preserving most of how gen 2 and 3 felt. For example, HGSS retained the entire Battle Frontier from Platinum, and ORAS kept the 3 touch screen apps while adding the Eon Flute, a completely new feature. Both of these remakes also took on the graphics style of their corresponding generations and added features that weren't in the original gen 2 and 3 games.
BDSP doesn't seem to do that. The graphics are controversial (luckily, the new filter makes things significantly more polished), and I don't see how using the Sword and Shield style would've been worse than this 2D imitation. They removed D/G-Max, which proves to me that was a one-off and uninspired gimmick - something they willingly cut from continuity. With the Primals and Megas in ORAS, I really thought they would give some new form to Dialga and Palkia. I eagerly, desperately waited for the two to glow and transform at the end of the trailer. I have more to say but will leave my opinion at this:
I already have these games. They just come in a single DS cartridge titled Pokémon Platinum. I don't see a reason to spend $60 on the same game when I have been enjoying that content for ~10 years after spending $35.

Legends: Arceus: The only concern I had with this game was that it would be too barren. I am glad to say after seeing the region map and one town (hopefully not the only one) that this is not the case. If I played this, I would try to explore every area, much like when I first discovered each area in Gavel. This game is a step up from Sword and Shield and I hope the storyline doesn't disappoint at all (running errands the whole time isn't quite my ideal Pokémon experience - how about you?).
Another aspect that I will like is if encountering wild Pokémon no longer locks you into a battle. I hated biking around in the Wild Area and hitting some pop-up mon, wasting ~15 seconds to run away and ruining the travel pace completely.
Unlike BDSP, I am interested to see what they can do for this game in one quarter.

I actually don't think I will buy either of the mainline games. I miss Game Freak's ambition, when they kept up with continuity and boldness.
- People did not expect there to be a sequel to gen 1, and especially not a sequel where the previous region was accessible (not to mention that final boss).
- People did not expect customizable bases, Pokémon abilities, or an additional third game in the gen where the third legendary starred.
- People did not expect a jumpscare, or more mature themes like the human spirit and the world's foundation.
- People did not expect a game where only new Pokémon were available, with cities and cutscenes pushing the DS to its absolute limit.
- People did not expect a new type, nor such a complex storyline (that was left unfulfilled).

Instead I plan to get SMT V - I am not yet a mainline fan since I only played SMT IV:A and Strange Journey Redux (they were both pretty good to me). These games do seem to have plenty of ambition and attention to detail (and continuity), and I am aware ATLUS doesn't have the largest budget in the world. Then you realize The Pokémon Company, a multibillion company, didn't make their latest entries better than the last. Don't some of their games (base S&S, original Sun and Moon, certain Mobile apps) feel "soulless?"

 

i don't like this type of game and am not personally interested but my friends seem to enjoy it

Hmm, I didn't really see it as a ''this game did poorly so we're revamping it'', i thought it was more of a content update for that game.

I thought they gave up on Masters EX so I was surprised that they actually had an update for it

How do people still play this game it has been 5 years now

I'm glad the graphics were fixed. We already knew about the better graphics because of a short and small bit of gameplay footage from the Switch OLED trailer but that doesn't change that the game looks nicer than it did at reveal.

I didn't pay much attention to the trailer they gave because I was too busy searching the footage for gen 5 and up pokemon and as far as I'm aware there isn't a single one, which has me a little worried about new content. They did show some new content but it isn't Eon flute or Delta episode level stuff, just following pokemon, custom characters etc

I'm still gonna buy this game since I never owned the originals and I want to play this version, but I'll be ready to be disappointed by it. I'm hoping they have new stuff in the game that hasn't been shown yet to generate hype closer to launch, but I'm beginning to doubt it

The trailer they gave today didn't really make me hyped for the game. I was more like ''Oh, that's cool!''. It was cool to see new forms (AND THEY FINALLY MADE STANTLER AND BASCULIN EVOLVE) though.

I'm not sure how I feel about them calling Sinnoh ''Hisui'' because I feel like it'd confuse people about the region's name, and also it isn't as satisfying to say as ''Sinnoh''. I also don't really like how Mount Coronet is just always this massive centrepiece of the region, kinda reminds me of Corona mountain from Mario Sunshine. Hell, they even have incredibly similar names.

The new Hisuian forms of the pokemon did not surprise me at all. When the game was first announced, there was a picture from a Japanese magazine depicting what appeared to be some sort of Farfetch'd evolution (IIRC). What surprised me more was that this Farfetch'd was not shown in the trailer. In this trailer, I wasn't looking desperately for any post- gen4 pokemon as a hint of new content, I was instead looking for some Hisuian forms that they may have subtly sprinkled in. As for each Hisuian pokemon, here's what I think of them:

Wyrdeer: I don't really like it. It looks almost IDENTICAL to a regular stantler with very minor differences other than its white coat, to the point where I thought it was just a Hisuian stantler (and that's what it really should've been)

Basculegion: Finally they decided to give Basculin, one of the most dull and lame pokemon ever, a sick evolution. This has honestly redeemed Basculin for me, because its evolution is badass

Hisuian Braviary: When I first saw it I thought ''That's cool, might be a favourite of mine'' but now that I look at it again it's literally just a Braviary but with less colours and instead some random glowing eyes on its forehead. Does make me question if there will be a Hisuian Mandibuzz though

Hisuian Growlithe: adorable, can't wait to see the arcanine version

I have to say though that these regional forms of pokemon are feeling less like a cool gimmick for Alola and Galar and instead more of an excuse not to make original pokemon.

The way they talk about Braviary implies that the game has a seasonal cycle, which I'm not sure how I feel about.

I really hope this game has more story to it, because the trailer really makes it feel less like ''woah god of all pokemon story!'' and more of ''catch pokemon now and once you catch this many you can progress in the story''

There are some cool implications like Cylene possibly being an ancestor of Cyrus, but that's about it.

Personally, I'm more excited for Breath of the wild 2 as an open world switch game coming next year compared to PL:A, which is impressive considering that we know less about that game than we do about PL:A. I guess the combination of it being a sequel to a GOTY-winning game with an incomplete feeling story as well as that epic E3 trailer just makes it more exciting

It also annoys me how Pokemon, THE biggest media franchise on earth, puts less effort into their games than the developers of Nintendo's smaller franchises (namely Zelda)

 

I'd say everything in the trailer regarding the other games was alright (not exactly that into pokemon spinoffs), and the stuff about Legends: Arceus got me even more hyped, but I'm beginning to worry that for BD/SP, they'll pull a Mario Tennis Ultra Smash on us. In other words, when the game gets released, it will look exactly the way it did when it got announced. The new stuff looks cool, yes, but they could have done, so much more stuff. I am secretly hoping there might be an 'Episode: Distorted Platinum' at the end of the game to go into Giratina lore, like ORAS did for Rayquaza, but I am beginning to lose hope (although if they did put it in the game, it would make sense not to talk about it). I'm also not exactly the biggest fan of the art style, and I don't like that the characters look very stubby and then there are models that make them look more realistic. I don't see how it would kill them to do that.

I'd say that Pokemon just doesn't even need to try anymore, even if the franchise only gets mediocre games at best from now on, I'd still say that people would still play Pokemon games because they have had good memories playing the older ones.

 

With BD/SP, I'm just not very impressed. The new information didn't really wow me, and the character designs just seem like a bizarre choice. Like, why add character customization when you can't get a good look at your character outside battles? I get that they are a throwback to pre gen 6 graphics, but what works in 2d graphics doesn't necessarily work in 3d graphics. Also, the graphics (aside from the character designs) could look great in one shot and look all muddy and ugly in the next which is confusing.

Although the graphics for Legends: Arceus still don't look very good, I'm really excited for it now. The game sounds like it will be a breath of fresh air for a kind of stale franchise, and the gameplay looked fun.

 

Exactly what I was thinking
IMO you should be able to choose between the chibi characters and a more ORAS style for the game or something
They tried to make gen 4 remakes be faithful because that's the most popular generation but most gen 4 fans wanted new content and not an HD remake

The new ''fast and strong'' moves selection sounds awesome, if it's balanced then it should be an option in mainline games for online battles