Longer isn't always better. The captains described thus far seem to give the player tasks such as a fetch quest and a simple "point out the differences" puzzle. So depending on how these Island Trials are handled, it could feel like a long, drawn-out slog rather than a fun, expansive adventure. I mean, people normally don't like fetch quests, right?
So I'm sure the game will feel long simply due to the size of the region. But whether it's a fun kind of long or a repetitive kind of long (think of RSE's Hoenn being half water, but with Gym challenges instead) has yet to be seen.
There's also a matter of difficulty. If all the challenges we face are easy, even the longest of games can be completed quickly. Likewise, the post-game content being more than just online battles could still prove to be an important factor of the longevity of the games regardless of the size of the region.
I wish people wouldn't perpetuate the whole "we're going back to Kalos!!" rumour. None of that is proven yet, or even so much as hinted. I feel this rumour is more or less perpetuated by disillusioned X/Y players that want some sort of an actual good ending to the series instead of what they actually got which was a hot mess.
If we won't go to Kalos, I think Kalos is going to come to us. Zygarde is very much a Kalosian Pokémon and it is very much shaped like a Z. Why wait until now to implement its forms, why bother having a very Yggdrasil-like tree in the middle of Hawaii, and why name these Jojo Stand Attacks "Z-Moves" when we haven't seen a single one that starts with the letter Z? There's a connection here somewhere, and even if it doesn't manifest as a visit back to Kalos, it's gonna manifest somehow.
What we going to do in Kalos, anyway? What's the point in going back? What does AZ or anything X/Y has have to do with the character of Alola?
We can go shopping. Don't people normally visit other countries for the sole purpose of shopping? (I meant this as a joke but the more I think about it the more serious it actually seems... I don't know if that's a good thing or not...)
And if SM take place after XY, visiting Kalos would be more like having a whole new game, with very few of the older characters actually returning. Just because XY was bad doesn't mean Kalos is completely impossible to revamp. Anything can be revamped.
And I don't know what AZ has to do with Alola but I know Zygarde has something to do with it and I want to know what.
And even if Game Freak somehow manages to squeeze in Kalos, I'll bet that they'll only be able to fit in a small part of it, making it redundant to do it anyway, because what's the point of tying up loose ends in Kalos if you can only expore a small part of it in the first place?
Not inherently. It's definitely possible, even moreso if they finally utilize the larger-sized 3DS cartridges. Pokémon games have never been very data-heavy.
I think there's enough evidence by just the culture and general feel of Sun & Moon that it's going to be its own region and not tied to any other region in particular.
As of now there seems to be a lot of Kanto pandering going on. With that, and the suspicious nomenclature of "Z-Moves," I can't help but feel Alola isn't going to just exist in a bubble, despite the unique "culture" they're trying to give it.
I admit X and Y had things that needed to be answered such as Zygarde and some parts involving AZ and Lysandre( seriously, what happened to them after all that crap?) But I agree, I would absolutely HATE it if they shoved another region's problems down our throat. I mean, leave Alola alone. Can't we just have one region with focus on only their lore? We did that with Black and White and that turned out great.
I'm gonna be honest with you. I've never met another person who genuinely felt that way about BW's handling of "cutting itself off" from other gens. I really, truly appreciate this.
But at the same time, I will say this: there's already a lot of gen 1 pandering going on here, and these Alolians or whatever they call themselves dared to use the Mighty Letter Z to name their Final Smash Attacks. They're the ones getting into other peoples' business!
