Proposal: Is The Pokemon Franchise Going Downhill? Archy's Opinion!

[Xannytoes]

I like it! I think many of us will be expecting some good arguments with a bit of evidence, but I'm all up for hearing what you've got to say.

 

[gimmepie]

This is purely an opinion piece, that's interesting because I don't think we've really had anything like that yet. Although you will definitely need to be clear about why you think certain things. I think it sounds like it could be an interesting read.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Sadly, I can't find the information that I need for this... So, I think I'll leave it here. If anyone else wants to do it, feel free to say.

What exactly were you looking for in terms of information?

Honestly? I think this is still a pretty good idea. If you're looking for some kind of inspiration, maybe you should look towards comparing where Pokemon started to where Pokemon is now. For arguments sake, maybe you should focus on one aspect of the Pokemon universe. For instance, focus solely on the video games of solely on the anime, thus helping you pinpoint specifics instead of a broad generalization.

Start with a list of pros and cons. Starting with pros might be a good starting point as you might find that some pros people have might actually be a con for the series. Furthermore, it will help shape your argument with specifics.

Let me know if you need more help with this, either here or via PM. I think this is a really good idea, just need to narrows down your argument is all (:

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Well, the kind of information that I was looking for. I really needed something to back up my points, low sales, threads of people criticizing any aspect of the franchise (mostly last games/anime) and those things.

I didn't thought on the pros and cons, that's a good suggestion. And it could make things easier overall. Thanks for your support! I think it's a great idea as well, I just need to find the right way to do it.

Exactly! And hey, who knows: if you can't exactly get it to work, than maybe you can rethink your thesis and create an article along the lines of "Even X Generations, Pokemon Is Just As Prominent As Ever" or something if your sales figures contradicts what you first sought out for.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Hm, I wanted to focus around the last generation, actually. Since, that's the main reason of the article, haha. For me, this last generation was a huge downstep compared to the 5th gen, so there's that.

So why do you think this last generation was a downgrade? Was it cause of the gameplay? Please enlighten me (:

 

[bobandbill]

Oh, yeah. I feel like the only good thing from the last generation are the graphics, and the region of Kalos, it's a waste sadly. The region was just beautiful, but GF didn't took any effort on making a game outside the graphical aspect.

The story isn't even close to B/W and B/W2 storyline. The postgame content is just borderline, it's almost nothing and it looked a bit forced, they didn't took effort on it. The games are awfully easy as well, they represent no challenge at all, every single Pokemon game before them had a bit of a challenge somewhere. Not anymore, X/Y went totally kids friendly there, which is something that... doesn't help with Pokemon's reputation, if you ask me.

OR/AS felt like a money grab, again. The region looks beautiful, they added some stuff that's cool as well. But that's about it, there's nothing big, no risks at all. They don't try to attract a bigger market making serious changes, outside mega-evolutions, but that has more relevance on a competitive aspect.

For me... GF isn't making enough money or taking as much profit as they could make out of Pokemon, they just miss a lot of stuff, haha.

Focusing on the story of the games may be the key then, because XY really did suffer imo. And you can show that they have the ability to improve on that (the Abandoned Ship was a great sidestory imo). Personally XY suffered from pacing issues (e.g. battling Lysandre three times in the game - all in quick succession, between gyms 7 and 8!), and a much reduced focus on side characters (unlike BW/B2W2, a lot of the gym leaders went back to solely living in their gyms, and the champion here probably did the least out of any other towards trying to stop the bad guys. Lance: ine GSC, did a hideout raid. Steven Stone is all over the place. Cynthia helps in Platinum. Alder was very prominent. Meanwhile, the rivals were more one-dimensional and didn't really develop while spouting friendship stuff too often.

There is some balance - matter of opinion, but I felt that ORAS' plot was handled better than RSE's plot (things made more sense now! No more making a volcano erupt via a 'meteorite's energy' to help the environment!)'. But XY's plot was a mess imo, especially compared to BW. And I suppose you could say that they stuck to the same basic formula that works but doesn't offer anything ground breaking, which may be for you a boring aspect.

That said, I wouldn't bring the point about 'not making enough money' deal. Some months ago XY was at 14+ million sales, and ORAS 11+ million. While that's less than a couple others (e.g. DP at 17+ million), it's comparable to say 5th gen sales - which had more time - and also XY/ORAS are for the 3DS only, a console with a smaller install base than the plain DS line. In terms of sales Game Freak are doing more than fine.