do you ever see yourself growing out of pokemon?

be honest. do you see yourself still being into the franchise 5 or even 10 years from now?

Definitely won't last with me. I'm pretty much there already. I think almost everything in the franchise but the games is laughably lame. I grew out of the anime by 14 and everything else thereafter. My only real love for Pokemon came from the games during early college. And the games only because of battling and the complexity of essentially a modern day chess.

The stories of the games have always been just as lame, and honestly, my patience is running very thin with Game Freak already, due to their increasing laziness and greed, as plainly evident in S/M/USM.

The Switch game is getting one chance, due to it being such a step up. If it's just more of the same despite that, it doesn't hurt my feelings to be done completely. Haven't felt bad missing gen 7 so far, so yeah.

It depends on the quality of the games, really. If Gen VIII is anything like Gen VII in terms of quality, the end of my interest in the franchise will be sooner rather than later. If they want to continue with the narrative-focused approach, they're going to have to do a lot better than they have been to keep me engaged.

That said, if they make more spinoffs like the Mystery Dungeon games, I can see myself still buying those. Whilst none of the MD titles have been as good as Blue Rescue Team, they're still a lot more enjoyable than the main series, and I liked the Ranger games too. I'm still hoping for Pokemon Warriors as well, given the success of Fire Emblem and Hyrule Warriors.

I lost interest in the anime a long time ago; that hasn't been good since DPPt. The franchise in general had its high point with Gen IV I think, and it's been steadily on the decline for me ever since. Whether it'll last another 5 or 10 years remains to be seen.

I honestly don't. I guess I just love Pok?mon that much.

I really love Pokemon but if the next generation is anything like gen 7 then its the end for me

For me, the games are all that I'm interested in now, and I think that has been the case ever since around Gen 3 or so. I just really love the creatures, and as long as I get to play the games and enjoy them like how I used to when I was a kid, then that's all that really matters to me. So basically, as long as future games come out period, then it's hard to say I'll become disinterested in Pokemon as long as those games are engaging and fun and whatnot.

I'm also not going to be petty enough to quit a franchise I've loved since I was a kid just because said hypothetical game has similarties to a generation I dislike.

pastel said:

For me, the games are all that I'm interested in now, and I think that has been the case ever since around Gen 3 or so. I just really love the creatures, and as long as I get to play the games and enjoy them like how I used to when I was a kid, then that's all that really matters to me. So basically, as long as future games come out period, then it's hard to say I'll become disinterested in Pokemon as long as those games are engaging and fun and whatnot.

I'm also not going to be petty enough to quit a franchise I've loved since I was a kid just because said hypothetical game has similarties to a generation I dislike.

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It's not petty. It's because the games clearly have lost what originally made them good for us, with no chance of redemption if it keeps happening. That's why.

Liking something since childhood shouldn't grant it complete amnesty.

Enpatsu Shakugan said:

It's not petty. It's because the games clearly have lost what originally made them good for us, with no chance of redemption if it keeps happening. That's why.

Liking something since childhood shouldn't grant it complete amnesty.

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Sure, I agree with you there. Just because you've loved something since childhood doesn't mean it's immune to your opinion as an adult. I used to love candy when I was a kid. I hate it now as an adult.

My bigger point is that people tend to examine the forest too much for the trees in said forest, metaphorically speaking. The pokemon games (talking about that specifically) is one area of the franchise people apply this logic the most to which is... misplaced in my opinion.

Game Freak is going to do things their way whether we like it or whether we don't. Pokemon games have changed shape over the years, but they have fundamentally been about three things: catching, trading, and collecting. That hasn't changed since Gen I and it's unlikely that it'll ever change (not that it should). I don't know about you personally, but when I played as a kid, plot and character development is non-existent yet it seems to be the thing that people oh so loudly complain about. We expect Pokemon to grow up with us when it won't. It will retain it's childlike whimsical feel because that's what made it memorable to most of us as kids in the first place.

Besides, I'm not saying turn a blind eye to all of the games' faults. There's no doubt things that Game Freak is lacking on, but the fundamentals have always been something they've (mostly) gotten right time and time again.

I just think trying to harp on these things is a complete waste of energy and wasn't what got some of us interested in the games in the first place (unless you just started at Gen V or something), but hey, if that stuff matters to you that much that you'd quit over something not going your way, then you do you. Each to their own, right? ^_^

The reason why I've gotten into Pokemon is so I can battle and trade with all these cute little creatures that I've come to love sinced childhood and everything else is background noise to me. But that's just my way of enjoying the games. I'll never understand why people focus on the insignificant (to me) areas of Pokemon and blow them up to a point where it's the biggest deal in the world, but that's just my own perspective.

pastel said:

I'll never understand why people focus on the insignificant (to me) areas of Pokemon and blow them up to a point where it's the biggest deal in the world, but that's just my own perspective.

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I mean, that'd sort of be the thing: what's insignificant to you is not insignificant to some others, and vice-versa.

----

But as for me, how long I stay with the franchise depends on what they do in the future with it. Or the games specifically I suppose. After nearly two decades of playing this series, I've started to get tired of the formula, and the new stuff they introduce every generation isn't, to me, really stuff that extends my interest in the games or improves them so much as it is new bells and whistles to distract from the fact that it's really just what I played last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and so on, just with a graphical upgrade and different faces every time. It works for some people, but not for me.

I suppose that's the eternal dilemma of a game developer though--finding the balance between keeping what made people like it in the first place and what makes it, it, and making changes/additions that prevent it from becoming stale and/or possibly improve it?

I don't really expect the core of what Pokemon is to have some major shake-up, and perhaps it doesn't really need it (and regardless, Pokemon could likely march to the end of time doing nothing else than it's been doing for the past 20 years), but at the same time, it's not really doing it for me anymore. It's like a drug I guess. After a while, you typically need more and more of it to get the same high.

?\_(?)_/?

Nah said:

It's like a drug I guess. After a while, you typically need more and more of it to get the same high.

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yeah that's basically a more straightforward way of the whole "people expect pokemon to grow up with us" that i was getting at earlier. it totally makes sense that people would desire more and as such their expectations would be for them to get more as a result, while im here being ok with the same amount of high that i've gotten since i was a kid because i think that's about as high on games as anyone should get.

dont do drugs kids

pastel said:

Game Freak is going to do things their way whether we like it or whether we like it or don't.

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No, only so long as fans allow them. Vote with your wallet. Don't buy the games in a series you don't like. That's how franchises improve.

Enpatsu Shakugan said:

No, only so long as fans allow them. Vote with your wallet. Don't buy the games if you don't like them. That's how franchises improve.

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let me rephrase:

Game Freak will do what they want whether the minority likes it or not

clearly due to the record sales of SM it became more than clear to Game Freak that they're doing things right, despite the seemingly popular Gen 7 hate train.

if you really want to set things "right" you better spread the word yourself and i wish you luck in that.

pastel said:

let me rephrase:

Game Freak will do what they want whether the minority likes it or not

clearly due to the record sales of SM it became more than clear to Game Freak that they're doing things right, despite the seemingly popular Gen 7 hate train.

if you really want to set things "right" you better spread the word yourself and i wish you luck in that.

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I'd argue the fact the 'hate train' for SM exists at all, and to such an extent, that they clearly took a huge misstep.

Rather than notice or address that aspect however, they'll instead focus solely on sales, further proving it's profit, not quality they care about, which is exactly what's been steadily putting me off for awhile.

Enpatsu Shakugan said:

I'd argue the fact the 'hate train' for SM exists at all, and to such an extent, that they clearly took a huge misstep.

Rather than notice or address that aspect however, they'll instead focus solely on sales, further proving it's profit, not quality they care about, which is exactly what's been steadily putting me off for awhile.

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"a huge misstep" of course is subjective, but setting that aside (because let's be honest, there's hate in every generation, SM is far from the only one).

again, sales is how a company generally gauges performance of a product. you said people vote with their wallets, right? well spread the word if you want to see change or companies will keep doing more or less the same things they have been doing. Game Freak is no exception to this. They'll keep building on top of what made Gen 7 sell so well and call that Gen 8.

refusing to buy pokemon games as some sort of boycott on an individual scale doesn't really matter if millions of other people are buying them.

I say huge because while there is backlash every time, SM's backlash has been larger than most, for some sort of reason. Not coincidence.

Pokemon as a franchise can release anything now of any quality or lack thereof and some fan will defend it to the death simply because it has their favorite logo attached to it.

Game Freak knows this, hence their greed regarding the Bank (absolute BS it takes a 5 dollar annual fee to host dozens of kilobytes per user) and I've noticed a diminishing lack of care in the games since, culminating with SM.

The fact anyone can defend those games, with how blatant it is, truly baffles my brain.

That's what I'm saying, if I see that trend continue onto the Switch, I have zero qualms in quitting entirely. I want nothing to do with a franchise like that.

i mean, fair enough that you believe that. i personally don't think there has been a "lack of care" in SM because IMO it's one of the best game Game Freak made (despite its flaws, but every Pokemon game has them), but hey, each to their own! The beauty of Pokemon gaming is that there's a game out there that's suitable for each and every one of us.

Personally, I'm just saying I have no qualms keeping my interest up by buying Pokemon games to do what I've always loved doing since I was a kid. The quality for me lies within the foundation, and as long as that doesn't change, neither shall my love for the franchise.

I get that. I also want the Switch version to be good, more so than not.

A lot of what bothered me (ie, what was so blatant to me) was due to the fact SM was on the 3DS like all the others of the last 5 years. I can handle new controls, a new way of transferring, etc, on a new system.

I have taken year long breaks from pokemon before, so it's possible. I don't see myself entirely being done with it, even if the franchise ends or continues declining to crapville, I'd probably still go back every now and then and replay the classic ones.

I could see myself ceasing to buy the games at some point due to priorities, but I can't imagine giving up on it completely. At the very least, I'd probably continue making fan art.

I grew out of the anime at least 15-16 years ago. Admittedly, at the time it probably had more to do with the endless filler and tedium of the Johto seasons than any increased maturity on my part, but by the time they changed things up for the Advanced seasons, I had definitely reached the point where I just wasn't in Pokemon's target audience anymore. There's no hard feelings on my part, and I certainly don't expect the anime to adopt a more adult approach to target cynical old fans like me. The show is what it is, and given how long it's lasted, it's clearly doing something right . It's just not for me anymore.

As for the games: as far as the actual mechanics and gameplay experience of the Pokemon games go, I'd still class myself as a pretty big fan. I generally buy the new games when they come out (though I never buy more than one of any pair, no do I bother with the "third" games, ie. Emerald, Platinum, USUM), usually enjoy playing them a lot, and have accumulated a ridiculous swath of useless knowledge about the near 1000 different mons and Christ knows how many abilities and moves and items that now exist. I'm even working on my own rom hack now, putting enormous amounts of work into a project that will never earn me a single dime, simply because I've always really wanted to make my own Pokemon game.

But I can also go for months and even years at a time without playing or even thinking about Pokemon. I pretty much completely missed FRLG, DPP, and B2W2 (I played a little of Diamond, but that was after HGSS had come out, and I only properly played Fire Red for the first time about a year ago.) I really got into Y, but probably didn't buy a 3DS and get a chance to play it until a year after it was released, and went into the game knowing literally nothing about it besides the fact it featured something called Mega-Evolution. Same with Alpha Sapphire, which I then wound up liking so much that I got a Pokemon Bank account, bought a cheap 2DS for trading between games, began following the schedule for legendary/mythical pokemon hand-outs, and started transferring mons up from Soul Silver and White in my first genuine attempt at "catching them all" since the Gen I games. In contrast, I followed the pre-release news about Sun & Moon religiously, played the demo as soon as it came out, and bought Moon on the day of release - only to slowly lose interest partway through and stop playing a couple of weeks later, with intermittent attempts to keep going that rarely last too long. I still haven't finished it.

I would say I've definitely grown out of the actual stories of the games, which tend to bore me to tears, though I don't know if I was ever really into them in the first place. I suppose RBY and GSC never really had much in the way of a story, but by the time I played Sapphire at around 15 years old or so, I was already getting fed up with May and Team Aqua popping up constantly to babble about stuff I didn't care about. (Weirdly, despite being pretty disappointed with Sapphire back in the day, I loved Alpha Sapphire, and didn't find the story anywhere near as tedious or intrusive - apart from that woman who never stops talking in the post-game - but I guess I did have B&W to compare it to by then).

Overall, I can't say I've grown out of the games, and, honestly, I probably never will. I might lose interest in them for a time when there's an entry I dislike, like Sun & Moon or, to lesser extents, Ruby & Sapphire and Black & White, but that's not really the same thing as growing out of something. And despite my disappointment with Sun & Moon, I'm already psyched for the potential new Switch game. I'm certainly not anywhere near as into Pokemon as I was back when I was an eleven/twelve year old obsessively playing Pokemon Blue and horribly translated roms of Gold & Silver - I doubt I could ever be into any form of entertainment as much as I was back at that age - yet at the same time my understanding of the metagame and type effectiveness and battle strategy is far greater than it ever was then. So, who knows, really.