5th Gen Do you think they're running out of ideas?

[Waffle-San]

The entire point of the following post rests fully on Pokemon designs and no other aspect of the Pokemon game.

Or maybe we just don't like surfing half the game (I haven't played Gen. 4 yet, although most of the Pokemon designs there put me off). Although some people are swayed by nostalgia, you don't have to be "clouded" to like earlier generations more. I've always said that gameplay has gotten better over time, but Pokemon design has (typically) gotten worse.

And I'm not too sure about the Fakemon idea. Might be useful, but at the same time I don't feel good about it.

You don't have to be "clouded" to like earlier generations more for sure but I think there's some sense of "cloudedness" when people start hating on future generations, not only in comparison to older games but also when pure nostalgia is (also) evident as it is in the following posts.

To me, they almost certainly started running out of ideas with the generations III and IV. Just look at I and II and see the startling differences between the Pokemon... their designs are so much more alive and feel so much more genuine to what their successors felt like.

In fairness she/he (sorry didn't look) went on to state she's impressed with the current gens pokemon.

ever since bidoof, ive belived they are out of ideas. bidoof are useless!

a bit zoura looks like a emo evee.Tsutaaja as you said looks sorta like treeko.

Not so much this one but I included it anyways.

Maye not running out of idea per say, but the pokemon don't really...look like...pokemon anymore. I mean, I don't really see the aspect of pokemon anymore. THey kind of remind me of Digimon and pokemon combined. xD

A pig. An otter. And a lizard bird. For starters in B/W.

Uh. I seriously think the otter is 1/2 Piplup, 1/2 Seal. Really. They look terrible.

They are running out of ideas. The starters are supposed to be some of the best Pokemon o0 These ones look like runty trash.

Grass starter can't be a snake; it has LEGS. WTF?

In all honesty?

Yes. Well, not completely yes, but yes. I mean, no, but yes. I mean... what?

You can look back at any generation and see its high points and low points. IN EVERY generation. It just seems that as the generations progress, the high points are less and the low points are more.

On the subject of the new starters - All I see is a Treecko variant, a medley of Tutwig and Spoink, and an ugly panda thing that vaguely resembles an otter.

I like otters.

That thing makes me weep for the sake of otters. TT^TT

I really, really didn't want to judge the entire generation on the starters. I though, let's wait, let's see what they offer us, and wait, because they might have epic evolutions. The early, common Pokémon might be good. They'll be a hell of a lot better than Bidoof. Maybe the legendaries will have an epic backstory? Maybe. Let's wait!

But seriously, GF. If you don't want me to make a snap decision, please, please, give me something that will convince me otherwise. ~♪

Yes, cause alot of pokemon are just copies

Well, in case you didn't notice, Pokemon designs have been mostly horrible since Gen III. Heck, there were a handful of stinkers in Gen II.

But Gen V, from what I've seen, seems to be the worst. At least the starter Pokemon were cool in Gen III and IV.

But really can you blame 'em? There's only so much creativity to be had creating cutesy Pokemon... after a few hundred monsters, the designs are bound to start getting ridiculous just to stay "fresh".

I personally think they should stop making new Pokemon for a while and just make more pronounced gender differences for the already existing Pokemon... perhaps even have different genders have different movesets.

i really hate how they always make terrible pokemon at the beginnig i.e. sentret, furret, zigzagoon, linoone, poochyena, and ****ing bidoof, they're all useless. thats why Gen1 was the best and ever since then pokemon has gotten worse, except for Gen3, i loved gen 3.

Everything else I think I summed up with:

Person 1:"Wow Bibarel is such a terrible design, generation 4 Pokemon suck"
Person 2:"But what about awesome designs like Drapion, Frosslass, Lucario, Mismagius and Garchomp?"
Person 1:"Yeah but Bidoof and Bibarel suck, Generation 4 sucks"

Person 1:"I love second generation Pokemon so much, I mean look at Skarmory's design among others!!"
Person 2:"Yeah but Dunsparce has a stupid, stupid design, so really 2nd generation sucks."
Person 1:"Are you kidding me? Based off on one Pokemon? How can you say that?"

Exactly the way generations are judged and I really hope Generation V isn't judged that way cause so far it's awesome.

And as far as posts like Daisuke's here

If so many on DevArt and such sites, that create Fakemon have better ideas then them, then yes they ARE losing creativity.
The creators on DevArt that i know of have such great ideas that I wish were in the game or the creators to think up something to that level.

I think, though as awesome as fakemon can be has to be looked at from both sides...which I summed up here:

Also it's easy to pick out fan art and say how much better it is, but there's a reason for that. A reason beyond that of becoming more judgemental of regions with a smaller basis and a reason beyond pure nostalgia. I can easily go to Deviant Art and find a couple designs that I deem as amazing and show everyone else who cares to look how awesome they are. But in doing that I'd be looking over tonnes that I find uninteresting or poorly designed, the difference is, I'll never have to look at those again and I can forget them immediatly. GF does a pretty good job of making 100+ good Pokemon each generation. If you're going to use fanart as example you should also recognise all the stinkers. The fact of the matter is though, when it's unofficial, you never have to think about those stinkers again, which sometimes makes fanart seem better than it really is. =/

Wasn't hating on fan art by the way, I love fanart but it's important to be realistic.

But really I think Illustration said it best:

I actually think that the Pokemon are getting more creative as the generations pass by.
Just because a Pokemon has some similarities with another Pokemon doesn't mean it's a knock-off; just because people think a Pokemon is ugly doesn't mean its design is uncreative (Probopass, Dunsparce, etc.)

Either way, I understand that people have their opinions and I certainly won't change them just as no one will make me believe that Gen III and Gen IV were terribly designed Pokemon wise.
But I get bothered when people state how much they hate latter Pokemon because of their unimaginative design. I mean dislike them because they don't appeal to you personally but not because of a purely nostalgia stated opinion. Or if anything say that GF is getting lazy in their pokemon designs instead of, "they've run out of ideas." I think realistically and Pokemon wise that's pretty much impossible to do at this point. There ends my plee to the Pokemon community. :P

 

[thewinna]

i think they r running out of ideas. they put 2 much into gen 4. a god! but isshu is very far away. they might give mewtwo a story! its to early 2 pick.

 

[Sweet Smoochum]

Everybody that is trashing on the starters is so stupid. I personally think Charmander is dumb. OH WAIT IT EVOLVES INTO A GIANT EARTH DESTROYING DRAGON THING.

You can't say the starters suck and are unimaginative. For all you know, the grass starter's final evolution is a giant Grass/Dragon sea serpent that learns Draco Meteor at level 50. And the water starter turns into a pwnage Water/Fighting Otter with battle armor and a laser cannon. Shut up.

Game Freak isn't running out of ideas. Go google "fakemon" and you'll find AT LEAST thirty full fakedexes that are all awesome and original. If you're saying those people are smarter than Game Freak, you're an idiot, because Game Freak is the one who's making the millions of dollars, not them.

[/topic]

I love this post. <333

All pokemon have a specific look to them that makes them Pokemon. Some of the "fakemon" I've seen would never be able to fit into the species of Pokemon. It just doesn't have that feel to it.

Look at Hoenn, the designs were completely different compared to Kanto and Johto, yet some resembled the old ones so it would still feel like Pokemon. Do you honestly expect there to be only one kind of butterfly or turtle in the world? There's many different species of animals. Many pokemon are based on animals.

What if you like crabs and wanted a crab Pokemon? Do you really want to use a Krabby in every single Pokemon game? No, b/c you'll eventually get bored of it. So, now you have a Corphish that you like a lot better that has a better movepool and in your opinion a more awesome evolution.

I mean, some of us get sick of using/seeing the same Pokemon over and over. (For example, Tentacool.) Doesn't anyone want a new jellyfish Pokemon to replace it that could have a much better movepool? Like maybe a Water/Psychic or a Water/Dark jellyfish? Or maybe a new bat to replace Zubat? I think bats are cool, but to be honest, I'm tired of Zubat and I already have an awesome Crobat. What if I wanted a team of bat Pokemon?

Some people like Pidgey while others hate it so they use Swellow or Honchrow instead.

The reason why some of the 4th gen designs were simple (ex. Bidoof) was because in first gen, many of the designs were simple. Hoenn drifted far away from Kanto/Johto in designs, so Sinnoh brought us back. However, Sinnoh also had some Pokemon that were drastically designed to fit in with Hoenn. Sinnoh gave us an excuse to go back and catch the original Pokemon to evolve them. Personally, I never fully played Red or Blue (hated Red's graphics), so I didn't get the opportunity to use the old Pokemon. My first game was Gold. When I got HGSS, I used the Pokemon that I haven't normally used when I first played Gold and Crystal versions.

I think I remember reading that they only have a specific amount of time to come up with ideas (probably for the plot), and then whatever they don't get to use, they save it for the next game.

 

[Logiedan]

I wouldn't say they're running out of ideas. I'm positive when taking a normal concept,they'll evolve it and make the concept more complex. I just hope their plot will change or at least add an extra storyline to make the game more thrilling than the original plot.

 

[Ryden]

Running out of ideas? Maybe, but I hope not. I do recall hearing a rumor that this could be the last generation though...so who knows. Though if this is just referring to the designs of the new pokemon, well everyone gen has had there share of pokemon..to put it nicely, aren't appealing to the average player. Though alot of those bias people that simply slander the new pokemon because they're new seem do do it because they dislike how bright and cheery they have become. back in first gen, with Red and Blue (and Green) Lots of the Pokemon sprites looked meaner and more dangerous then there modern counter part sprites. This personally doesn't bother me though.
As for lacking originality...well yes, I can kinda agree there. it does seem some newer Pokemon over the ears were release for the sake of releasing more pokemon. All for profit and marketing.

As the generations have gone on, I have noticed my liking of the pokemon from each has been a decreasing number, but at the very least I do find some gems within each gen I end up really liking. and the fact I don't care for most the others the newer gens offer it doesn't stop me from playing or enjoying them. The same will probably go for Black and White as well.

To be more direct about this thread, out of the five 5th gens that have been revealed... Zorua and Zoroark look like they'll be pretty cool, and as for the starters, the grass one looks alright, the fire has some amusing nicknames that comes to mind..and the water...well lets just say I don't expect it to be too popular

Anyways thats my two cent son the matter, aside from I think the idea of fully animated battles to be pretty awesome.

 

[Meegz0]

Some new pokemon in the newer games are very well invented...but


Alot more of the new pokemon arn't that great D: Now I've only seen a few of the new ones for black and white aswell, but it dosen't mean they're running out of ideas. I'm just hoping that this time around they're taking their time with the designs to make us some amazing pokemon. :> But that's what I beleive.

 

[ThePinkDragon]

No, I don't think they are losing Ideas at all. I mean, people say the only Pokemon is Red and Blue, but I think all of them are great. I think the designs for the Pokemon we have seen so far for Generation 5 are awesome! So I think they aren't losing ideas at all.

I agree with this. "Original Fans" seem to be the ones most likely to complain about the new generations. I just read some article comments where people are calling the new starters ugly. Maybe I'm biased because I totally have a thing for pigs and otters, but I think they're adorable.

I think that there is some fantastic fan art and ideas out there including whats underneath the spoiler of this post. I think that they should take advantage of this and hold competitions for pokemon designs and as an award you get your name in the credits of the game. For much less the fans will do much more, and I think it would really spice up the pokemon selection.

I think this is a great idea. Pull ideas from fans. There are tons of fans out there who'd kill a man to see their name in the credits of a Pokèmon game!

 

[Infernaped!]

I think its not so much 'running out of ideas', as the game design is entering a new generation things are looking far different as would be expected, as does the new scenarios and characters, nothing to diss until we've actually played the games..

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

Many of the points here are simply opinions, and opinions that have nothing to do with the question at hand. It's not "is gamefreak getting bad at designing Pokemon", it's "is gamefreak running out of ideas". Ideas, ideas, ideas. There are hundreds of thousands of species of animals or plants on the Earth, many with incredible diversity. There some hundreds of thousands of different species of animals alone. Of course, many might be similar, but you'd find some incredibly special ones in there. There are also thousands of genuses, and 1113 (according to Wiki) families as well. Families are quite different and individual families could well be diverse enough for individual Pokemon evolution lines. Even if many are similar (eg. Seagulls and ducks might be), there is still much room for animal-based Pokemon.

Of course, there must be dragons and mythological creatures; those can count for some 5-10 Pokemon outside of the Legendaries.

 

[Droidz]

I remember when Sinnoh came around i was like, those starters look weird.
But then when i got to playing the game i liked a lot of the new pokemon.
I think people sometimes don't give the new pokes a chance.

 

[ThePinkDragon]

People are going to hate, but the diversity does not come only in their looks. It also comes in their type and their moves.

For instance, I could babble on all day about how weird Togepi looks and he's just a Normal Pokèmon and whatever, but then, surprise! Extrasensory.

Just because they don't look that much different doesn't mean they aren't that much different.

I think people will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[fenyx4]

I've worried about whether ideas were running out, but I don't think it'll be a concern... Game Freak can always reuse past animals, implement unused ones, and create original concepts. So it'll probably be a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery (times infinity :)) long time before ideas are depleted. And if they ever do run out of ideas, there's always Fakemon.
Seriously, have you seen the awesome Fakemon for Pokemon Garnet Version?

https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=197142

 

[Sora's Nobody]

How can anything resemble a digimon, a pokemons design is whatever you make it out to be. If i worked for gamefreak on the design crew and i drew a circle with "stickman" legs and it got approved, it would be a pokemon no matter how much it looks like a blob with lines sticking out of it!

 

[ichuesther]

I don't think they're running out of ideas. o.o
I have to say, I don't really like the starter Pokemon for Black and White, but hey, I don't like how a bunch of other Pokemon look like.
I think the only thing that they're "running out" of, is the names for the games.

 

[PiPVoda]

I don't think they're running out of ideas. o.o
I have to say, I don't really like the starter Pokemon for Black and White, but hey, I don't like how a bunch of other Pokemon look like.
I think the only thing that they're "running out" of, is the names for the games.

Well yeah they're running out of good gem names since they've practically taken all the good ones. I like the names black and white though. They sound relatively simple and have something mysterious behind them. They have other gemstones they could use as well. Ones that I really like are Jade, Amber, Aquarmarine (shorten it to Aqua if they want), Garnet, Cornelian, Onyx, Pyrite, Quartz, Topaz, Tanzite, and Turquoise. There are colors left to be used and soo many shades of a color that could be used too. Other than that they could use chemical elements.

 

[Lanturnista]

Um, no. I don't think they're running out of ideas. At all.

What we've seen of gen V so far looks, to me, very unique. Pokémon constantly moving, yet still sprites? That epic 3D city? Older characters, one of them looking like a punk girl? Seriously awesome. Also, the Pokémon designs look great so far.

 

[Pikachukid]

Those who say that GameFreak is running out of ideas with Pokémon really leave me confused. If Pokémon was actually running out of ideas, then the franchise itself would not have gotten so far, so quickly. If anything, they're actually putting in more time and thought with their Pokémon now, than they did before. Looking at designs from the 1st and 2nd Generations alone compared to the 3rd and 4th, Pokémon has evolved. They've become more complex in that they're not simply a cat with just a gold coin on it's forehead for example. They've taken other ideas and other forms to change that, which I think has only made each generation grow.

With only five Pokémon actually "revealed" I think it's a little too soon to jump the gun and say that this Generation will be absolute fail. More so, it's probably going to be the most different, yes, but in a creative way. I mean looking at Tsutaaja, it's based as a Grass Snake Pokémon. With legs and arms, we question how it is based on a snake? Well, that's just the creative part of it all and to see what it evolves into is always questionable. So no, I don't think Pokémon is running out of ideas with Black and White. To me, they're just taking another step up and keeping the generation unique to the others.

Exactly. I was just thinking in my head how pokemon really have evolved from first generation. I mean seriously if you say they ran out of ideas look at pidgey. Its a bird. Looks like any other bird you'd see outside. Raticate? Go take a closer look at a hamster. Ekans for crying out loud is a purple snake! and it's name? snake spelled backwards! These new pokemon are creative so far. (The sea otter looks so cute and it even has a shell in its belly! OH! Creative!) snake with legs, a fire breathing pig! forget the swine flu theres a fire breathing pig! oh and IMO it looks nothing like Spoink.


Sorry guys I think I got a little too worked up. :nervous:

 

[Azzurra]

I'm sure they've still got some more ideas stored away somewhere. I mean, they're adding new elements to the game we've never even imagined, and I'm sure they're getting letters from special players adding ideas to the game that they considerate. Anything is possible.

 

[midij19]

it's kinda obvious that the whole pokemon franchise has already ran out of ideas in general. IMHO the best game so far was emerald:quite fun, decently challenging, but most importantly it was fast paced. pokemon that show up only one a week wtf? the farther the games go the more they become like grinding sessions instead actual of games.
where it comes to pokemon they definitely stopped even trying: who cares? fanboys will eat up just about anything the second you put a pokemon stcker on it

 

[Azzurra]

it's kinda obvious that the whole pokemon franchise has already ran out of ideas in general. IMHO the best game so far was emerald:quite fun, decently challenging, but most importantly it was fast paced. pokemon that show up only one a week wtf? the farther the games go the more they become like grinding sessions instead actual of games.
where it comes to pokemon they definitely stopped even trying: who cares? fanboys will eat up just about anything the second you put a pokemon stcker on it

But features and new types/breeds of Pokemon are added regularly. They're trying to be original when they make the "one Pokemon a week" thing to try and keep it fresh. I say they're doing quite well for doing so this far, and that's commendable.