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What is the best main series Pokemon game of all time?

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  • clasingla
    clasingla Member Posts: 2,028 ✭✭✭✭
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    @TheJeffers i agree scarlet and violet probably keep going down the list of pokemon games which are done wrong (the only other being the detective pikachu franchise) a good 1/5 of the new pokemon in the dex are rather paradox or divergents or as I like to call them fancy reginal variants and I loved going inside random buildings to find items battling trainers to get items doesn’t feel the same and i would rather be forced to fight a trainer than to choose to yes them walking up to you can be annoying but it’s fun to see the trainer classes which there was like none in scarlet and violet they even took away iconic ones like rising stars lasses youngsters hikers swimmers psychics bug catchers ace trainers veterans to name a few also I agree the area is lame we have generic this generic that generic town generic route and I’m really upset about the story or should I say the lack there of team stars only purpose was penny the titans only purpose was to fix a boys dog and you all just jump into a forbidden place when there’s no apparent reason to be there the only thing I think in my opinion that saved it was the dlc I don’t care if they choose 2d or 3d I just want it to be linear with a good story and honestly I felt like I had more freedom in sword and shield (even more in xy) than in scarlet and violet

  • TheJeffers
    TheJeffers Member Posts: 890 ✭✭✭✭
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    @clasingla It doesn't have to be a linear game or story to be good. Gamefreak have had more experience designing linear games, and as I said, a key problem is that they tried to map a linear design onto an open-world game.

    But with enough planning and good design, they could deliver a non-linear Pokémon story in an open-world. They just need to adopt that philosophy from the start and implement it correctly. The elements were there in SV; they just fell back on what they knew.

    I think that is another key problem with the franchise. I don't think Gamefreak entirely understand what made their small indie Game Boy game from the 90s designed by a tiny team of non-programmers into the global sensation.

    They know they have a successful formula. But they do not know what must stay, what they can change and what they can remove entirely to improve or evolve their product.

    It is nice that we get experiments like PLA's battle system and SV open world, but they seem afraid to commit to the bit and fully develop the ideas. They are half-hearted, and so fall flat.

    Although I think Gamefreak could still deliver a quality linear Pokémon game, given appropriate time and resources, another issue is that "open-world" and "3D" are viewed as objectively better than what came before by the wider audience.

    Pokémon returning to 2D sprite games or linear worlds and stories would be viewed as a step backwards. The normie logic is:

    • 3D = more dimensions and more modern = more better
    • Open-world = more freedom = more better

    It's easy to show on a trailer and easy to put as a bullet point on a game box blurb and claim that Pokémon is evolving and improving, regardless of how well these things are actually implemented.

    To the suits and the normies, a 3D open world game will always be better than a linear 2D game. It's an almost impossible sell to most of the audience, so that is why we won't see it outside of maybe some third party side games in the future.

    As an aside to you specifically, Clasingla, I understand that this is not an English class and you are not writing a formal essay or anything, but could you please try to use more punctuation and paragraphing in your writing in future. Especially for long posts. I found this one very hard to parse. I mean no offense. It would just make your posts a little easier to read.

  • clasingla
    clasingla Member Posts: 2,028 ✭✭✭✭
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    literally scarlet and violet have less sells than sword and shield

  • TheJeffers
    TheJeffers Member Posts: 890 ✭✭✭✭
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    Sales =/= quality.

  • MajorBrendan
    MajorBrendan Member Posts: 1,244 ✭✭✭
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    all of them prior to Scarlet Violet

  • puplover1118
    puplover1118 Member Posts: 373 ✭✭✭
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    @TheJeffers honestly, I want to know your opinion on Pokemon Sun and Moon (my favorite pokemon game). It seems that you might have a lot to say, as you have with Black/White and Scarlet/Violet.

  • TheJeffers
    TheJeffers Member Posts: 890 ✭✭✭✭
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    @puplover1118 Nonsense. I am incredibly succinct and taciturn.

    Honestly there is a lot I liked about Sun and Moon. It shares all of the criticisms I have for 3D Pokémon games: replacing colourful, animated sprites with (ironically) flat, static 3D models just standing around, increased demands of producing 3D environments resulting in cut features, etc.

    But I liked the story and characters, at least in the base game. It is far better than XY's non-plot. And there are plenty of new Pokémon and Alolan forms I like.

    I think SM's biggest problem is the delivery of its story. The constant interruptions for tutorials, cutscenes and general time wasting really killed the flow of the game and made getting through it a slog.

    This was exacerbated by the release of USUM so soon afterwards, essentially being the same story delivered in the same plodding manner, but with many of the key payoffs for the characters cut short or ignored entirely to make room for the Ultra Team plot (which was dull and anti-climactic) and Team Rainbow Rocket (which was fun but mainly relied on nostalgia bait and should have been an optional side story rather than eating into the main ending).

    Lusamine's ending, or the lack of it and any consequences for her actions, is the most egregious story change in USUM. Hau did quite well though, becoming champion. Made him feel less useless.

    SM also continued the trend of dumbing down gameplay and restricting or removing features from the series.

    XY introduced the new exp. share, though it was still optional in the 3DS games. After I found out how to turn it off, I found XY more challenging and engaging. Still laughably easy, but better than completely brain dread.

    I turned off the exp. share for my playthroughs of both SM and USUM the momentit becamean option, so I cannot really comment on the experience with it, but I doubt I'd find all my Pokémon being higher level throughout the game more challenging.

    Dexit had also not yet occurred, but there were omens of its arrival with the removal of Pokédex entries for non-Alolan Pokémon.

    This was disappointing, as I think that most people would be fine with copy-pasting entries from previous generations for Pokémon not actually capturable in game. We don't need new fluff about pidgey or whatever. It birb. We get it. Just let us register them in the dex.

    But at least they were still available to play, which is the most important thing. Dexit caused me to hold off buying Sword and Shield at launch for the first time since gen 3, and when I did eventually pick up the package with the DLC on the cartridge I wasn't bowled over by the supposedly upgraded animations we got to make up for them axing half the Pokédex.

    But that is Sword and Shield. We are talking about Sun and Moon, which hadn't implemented this change yet. Only sown the seeds.

    Overall, I feel SM is a case of a great concept hampered by execution. The changes occurring in the franchise at the time coupled with the awful delivery of its story bring down what I would otherwise consider a great experience.

    Maybe if I could bring myself to play through the original Sun and Moon again I would re-evaluate it. But after slogging through the original only to slog through USUM right afterwards, the very thought fills me with dread.

    Perhaps a remake could fix it, but I suspect modern Gamefreak could not resist the urge to make the exp. share and shift battle style mandatory to keep it in line with their other games. A monkey's paw. There would be no perfect version, only a choice between the flavour of hampered vision.

    It's sad, but I think SM actually fall below XY as my favourite of the 3D games.

    I do not like XY. I do not like the 3D Pokémon games.

  • WhiscashIsCool
    WhiscashIsCool Member Posts: 37
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    I just genuinely enjoyed Scarlet and Violet the most. Chien Pao is very cool and I love them.

  • TemineTrainer
    TemineTrainer Member Posts: 4
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    @TheJeffers i think black and white whould be way better if they made a remake once they do i will agree.

    But i agree with you on scarlet and violet how can that be better then the unova and johto games…

  • TemineTrainer
    TemineTrainer Member Posts: 4
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    But how could u explain so much of that…