You admit B2W2 were more clearly advertised as what they were. In the end, more clarity would have allowed fans to set more realistic expectations and therefore not feel as negatively towards USUM when they released, which would only be good for the games. I know you specifically love to use the logic of "don't get your hopes too high," as it's better to have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised, but that doesn't hold when a product is officially overhyped and you defend it. Will businesses want to play-up their products? Of course. Does that make the situation any better? No, because it was overhyped and not clear, the crash from what it actually was ended up greater.
The reason that I brought up B2W2 in contrast to the USUM trailer is that, yes, B2W2 was indeed very clear about what it was supposed to be. My bigger point was that if USUM was intended to be a sequel, it would've been clear as such. My other point was that it was moreso fans that wanted it to be more like B2W2 than a third game, therefore the fault is honestly partially on the expectations of the fans.
I do want to be
very clear: as I stated already, I don't 100% agree with TPCi's ambiguity here. As I brought up, that one weird vague line certainly caused a lot of confusion, but aside from that, nothing else in the trailer or any other trailer was indicative that it was going to be a sequel.
Also...
but that doesn't hold when a product is officially overhyped and you defend it. Will businesses want to play-up their products? Of course. Does that make the situation any better? No, because it was overhyped and not clear, the crash from what it actually was ended up greater.
Do not misunderstand my stance here. TPCi isn't completely blameless, but neither are the fans. I've noticed in none of your arguments so far that you absolved the fans of having too high of expectations in the first place. Again, as I mentioned:
But if you expect a product to metaphorically give you an experience that neither marketing or developers would claim that it would give you, then that ultimately is your fault.
Food for thought.
And please don't make assumptions on what I thought USUM would or wouldn't be.
Where did I make an assumption? I've taken a direct quote from what you've said and responded to it, as such here:
I don't really want to use words such as "deceitful," but there was definitely a lack of transparency that seemed very intentional.
I was responding mainly to this point. If I'm understanding correctly from this very statement, you feel that TPCi was in some levels dishonest. I've asked you to point out the dishonesty here, which you have yet to do. A company being dishonest is a pretty big deal, so I'd avoid stuff like that, personally.
I felt it was clear that they were third versions because of the lack of the word "sequel" being touted as it had been for B2W2, and I overall wasn't pleased with SM and knew I wouldn't be pleased with any Alola re-bout, be it a sequel, third version, or anything else.
I mean, you make that pretty clear when you put Gen 5 on a pedestal and slam Gen 7 in just about most posts you've made recently, despite ignoring/not acknowledging/not being aware of the fact that Gen 5 is the grandfather of a lot of the issues that occurred in Gen 7 (namely focus on too little characters/"family drama" under a guise/bland main villain syndrome), but ok. You're free to have your opinion, I suppose, that's what makes the Pokemon franchise flavourful.
But the truth of the matter is many fans were confused by what USUM was setting out to be (I remember trying to explain my logic and getting shot down each and every time by Sequel-Hopefuls), and that kind of weakness in marketing does sour game perception even once it's released, and it's something that can easily be avoided in the future. Consumers need to hold businesses and marketing more accountable than just passively thinking "fans should use this as a learning experience to just accept whatever they're given."
Many fans
got their hopes up of what they wanted USUM to be. Because it has been so many years since B2W2, a lot of people wanted something different. I suppose this wasn't helped by the fact that SM actually left on a cliffhanger of sorts (with Lillie leaving to Kanto), and so many people wanted USUM to pretty much start off right where SM left off. Unfortunately, that's not what happened, and thus I can see where the disappointment lies. The thing is though that's the fault of Game Freak for not taking advantage of the kind of potential that USUM would have as sequels. They intentionally left SM as a cliffhanger of sorts never to be resolved, to get fans' hopes up only for a weird rehash with USUM. This is mostly the fault of Game Freak's development here, rather than the marketing.
At the end of the day, everyone shares the blame here. TPCi for that ambiguous line getting people's hopes up, Game Freak for leaving SM on a cliffhanger note, and the fans themselves for wanting another B2W2 when there was little evidence aside from the cliffhanger that we were going to get anything similar.