[Let's Go] 'Let's Go' As A Separate Pokemon Series?

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Junichi Masuda was quoted to have said that "I'd say there's a possibility of that, should the games sell really well and obviously a lot of people play them" in regards to Game Freak developing more 'Let's Go' titles and having it as a separate series to the mainline Pokemon games.

Would you like to see something like this, with each game focusing on the different regions? Of course we already have remakes of Kanto, Johto and Hoenn, so these potential games could just be repetitive, but I think at the same time it would be fun exploring the regions in full 3D with Pokemon following you and in the overworld.

What are your thoughts? :)

Yeah, it'd be good to see Johto in this style eventually because of its connections to Kanto, just as long as it doesn't replace remakes or core games. I don't want Sinnoh to get the Let's Go treatment only because I'd rather them have the full blown remake since they're next and that's how I've been anticipating DP remakes for a while now.

Idk how exactly Let's Go will fit into the franchise but like you said it could become repetitive if they redid each region in this format with remakes already being a thing.

Blue said:

Idk how exactly Let's Go will fit into the franchise but like you said it could become repetitive if they redid each region in this format with remakes already being a thing.

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As someone else said, the only way they can do that is to have the Let's Go subseries completely replace the traditional remakes.

I honestly hope this pandering gimmick really doesn't take off.

Game Freak is shallow and greedy enough, the last they need is this.

I see it as Persona and SMT. Have one for the more casual fans and one for the more hardcore ones. They're both still pretty popular and make good money. I don't see why GF can't do the same. To me it means they won't have to worry about needing to add X useless gimmick because competitive fans want it, but then dissapoint fans who don't care for it and wanted something else.

50/50 win/win if you ask me.

Ducolamia said:

I see it as Persona and SMT. Have one for the more casual fans and one for the more hardcore ones. They're both still pretty popular and make good money. I don't see why GF can't do the same. To me it means they won't have to worry about needing to add X useless gimmick because competitive fans want it, but then dissapoint fans who don't care for it and wanted something else.

50/50 win/win if you ask me.

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Question, which is casual and which is hardcore? Persona or SMT?

Blue said:

I don't want Sinnoh to get the Let's Go treatment only because I'd rather them have the full blown remake since they're next and that's how I've been anticipating DP remakes for a while now.

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This was the only thing I was thinking as well. I don't mind the games that have already been remade given the Let's Go treatment, but for Sinnoh, Unova and beyond I would really like them to see them as proper remakes -especially as Sinnoh have been anticipated for a while.

My biggest reservation with this is that with GO-style remakes taking off, we may never see remakes in the style of the traditional games. I'm already bummed that our return to Kanto has to have GO elements (it's been a while since FRLG, and unlike a lot of people, I was actually hoping to see a Kanto remake with improved graphics at some point, or a Kanto sequel). I suspect I'll never see a proper Kanto game again, and I really don't want to see remakes of regions like Sinnoh fall by the wayside in favor of a lighter GO experience.

In principle, if these games don't interfere too much with the main games, I don't care too much about what they do. But I don't want them to affect the trajectory of the main games in any way, including reducing the chances of main game remakes. I also don't want to see development time spent on this potential side series detract from production of more traditional games.

I think that this may be a smart move for Game Freak, even though I would not personally enjoy it. Since the Link Cable days, staples of the Pokémon series have been traveling and friendships. The only way to battle and trade with others used to be to physically visit them. With the addition of Wi-Fi connectivity, this need for face-to-face interaction is gone. Although it is convenient for players, it surely isn't beneficial to Pokémon's brand.

All we have to do is look at the success of Pokémon GO. Even my non-Pokémon fan friends found themselves infatuated with the game. Many people (and many who were Pokémon fans in the past) don't have the time to sit down and put 20+ hours into a main series game and stay invested. However, nearly everybody has a smartphone, so Pokémon Go provided a fun, easy-to-access experience that was available no matter how fast-paced your life was. The game allowed you to meet up with friends and hunt Pokémon together, or even just catch them on your way to work. It brought Pokémon back to its roots in that it inspired traveling and physical connections with other fans. I believe that Game Freak is trying to appeal to this demographic with the new games. Overall, I think it will drive brand awareness and inspire more fans to buy a Switch or even the next new Pokémon games. I'm interested to see where they go with this.

i think it would be cool to have one where you hunt legends

While it would be cool to see Johto & Hoenn in this style (since they already had fairly recent traditional remakes), I do hope that even if this style takes off, we still get traditional remakes for games like DP. Maybe the Let's Go versions for future regions could be more closer related to that region's third version games (like Emerald and similar to how Pika/Eevee is based on Yellow) and the traditional remakes could be more based on the initial paired version.

Obviously they wouldn't be released too close to each other and the traditional ones should come first (so we'd get DP remakes before we could even think about Let's Go Sinnoh).

They could maybe go the route of DLC... new DLC = new region... and slowly but surely have all regions in one game?

A separation of "Everyone" and "Hardcore" could at the very least lead to more variation and experimentation in either series. I'd like that. A core game that's super challenging and tells a deep story and is super competitive, and a game on the side that's a lighthearted, breathtaking, easygoing stroll through an older region you can introduce to your kids/family or play alongside someone who's not as deep into smogon as you just for fun & nostalgia.

Sounds nice to me.

Enpatsu Shakugan said:

Question, which is casual and which is hardcore? Persona or SMT?

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SMT = Hardcore.
Persona = Casual.

I'm a persona fan who has only played SMT 4 so far and I definitely see where he's coming from. SMT is definitely a harsher series in terms of its difficulty which limits the fanbase to a degree while Persona, due to how it is usually comprised of relatable slice of life elements and is easier overall, can mean a potentially much bigger target audience. That's also been reflected in the sales of the games so far. Persona has sold higher than SMT games as of P3.

But I'm hoping SMTV on switch becomes the breakthrough mainstream hit the parent series deserves and enjoys more success like Persona has with Persona 5.

Imperator161 said:

My biggest reservation with this is that with GO-style remakes taking off, we may never see remakes in the style of the traditional games. I'm already bummed that our return to Kanto has to have GO elements (it's been a while since FRLG, and unlike a lot of people, I was actually hoping to see a Kanto remake with improved graphics at some point, or a Kanto sequel). I suspect I'll never see a proper Kanto game again, and I really don't want to see remakes of regions like Sinnoh fall by the wayside in favor of a lighter GO experience.

In principle, if these games don't interfere too much with the main games, I don't care too much about what they do. But I don't want them to affect the trajectory of the main games in any way, including reducing the chances of main game remakes. I also don't want to see development time spent on this potential side series detract from production of more traditional games.

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This. This is what I'm worried about too. As long as the Go games don't affect the core games and the remakes in any way, I'm cool with them. But it doesn't seem like that's very likely.

This is a move for growth in revenue and expanding in the market. With so many options of sideagames such as Pokken, Pokemon Quest, Pokemon Conquest, and Pokemon Go, they are searching for more ways to expand the targeted audience. They have big plans for Pokemon with the development of the amusement park in Universal Studios and just being a driving force for Nintendo.

They already said it was not going to derail the main series, but they need something since there are other similar games coming into play that will be competition to the pokemon series. They need to keep the fan base. I really happy that this gives chance to build popularity of yet another mascot for pokemon, Eevee.

Random note: it?s a "Pocket Monsters" title, so it isn?t a spinoff per se. Definitely a move at the expanded audience.

Just don?t be too surprised if they roll any new ideas from these games into Gen 8.

I love the split so much. They used to be forced to make one game that appealed to both audiences, casual and returning, but now with Let?s Go they can make two games that are more focused. I am really excited to see what all this means for 2019 Pokemon and to see how successful Let?s Go will be.

Personally, I've been patiently waiting for Diamond and Pearl remakes and I hope they'll come soon (if at all).

I will say, though, I do think it's smart divide the games for different audiences, I think it will be extremely beneficial for the pokemon company as a whole and it will surely allow them to expand and increase their fanbase. The Mystery Dungeon games are my favourite and I think a lot of the non-mainstream games are fun and bring something different to the table. Moreover, I will say that I think the mainstream games are becoming a bit tedious, which is why such changes were introduced in generations 6 & 7 and why pokemon as a whole seems to be experimenting with new and contrasting ideas.

I dunno; regularly catering two different games series can get pretty expensive, and Game Freak could find itself stretched thin if they constantly deliver games each year. We expect a generational flagship game (Diamond/Pearl, Sun/Moon, etc.) and an expanded-audience title and a sequel/third-game? Doesn?t quite work like that.

When they can make certain affordances, they should. In this case, if there needs to be some simplification just to make the standard Pok?mon games accessible, I think a smart move is to make the changes needed so that Gen 8 is more accessible. I fully expect that?s what they?ll do as time goes on.

I mean, if Let?s Go Pikachu and Let?s Go Eevee end up thoroughly outselling the Gen 8 flagships, all bets are off; changes will be made in the following generation.

Personally, I fail to understand why this game needs to exist, considering that the mechanics of the main series Pokemon games are rather simple to understand even for the youngest of players, and even though the meta-game can became rather complex with all the different strategies out there (along with Super Smash Bros), Pokemon is really not that complicated of a franchise when you think about it, since it's a franchise that's made to appeal to everyone, not just a specific crowds such as Genwunners and app-playing casuals (like this game is) or to people who enjoy playing the games competitively for tournaments and such like the VGCs. I mean, I've been playing the games since Gen 2, and I've never cared about competitive play or such things, I just like playing through the games for fun, especially when there are multiple different ways people can enjoy

Really, I feel like this is more of a thing to attempt to make the franchise appeal more and more (and by that, I mean seemingly strictly) to the Pokemon Go players given how TPC seems to be prioritizing the app above all else anymore, especially considering how corporations are obsessed with mobile phones anymore, especially given how cheap and simplistic they are to make. If this game is trying to bring in the Pokemon Go players into the mainline series, I don't think it's going to work very well, considering how the players of mobile apps rather not put any actual thought into how they play games and instead prefer simplistic, repetitive actions that get old very quickly, especially in a day and age when virtually everywhere you go, people seem to pay more attention to what's on their phones than to what's going on around them.

This is especially true considering how Pokemon Go has split the fandom down the middle into what is essentially two different fandoms that are seemingly incompatible with each other given how drastically different they view the franchise. I mean, I understand that they want people to enjoy the franchise in different ways, like with the Ranger and Mystery Dungeon games, but the problem is that they are putting all their eggs into one basket and expecting everyone to enjoy Pokemon the same way simply because a mobile app of it made huge money for them, all while ignoring everything else.

I mean, there are much better ways they could simplify the franchise rather than just trying to make the games more and more like Pokemon Go just to appeal to that crowd. I mean, you don't have to take out any Pokemon or any mechanics, you could just simplify the typing system to make competitive play much easier and make certain Pokemon feel less broken in competitive play. It's really easy to fix the problems the main series have, so why throw everything away just to appeal to a more mainstream mobile crowd such as the ability to battle wild Pokemon in favor of making the games more and more like the app?