New trailer is out!

[Midnight Umbreon]

I hope quaxly's pampadour stays around. Also Lechonk is definitely mvp of this region XD I think I like the characters more in this version than the ones in sword and shield, their proportions are just better overall. Also, nice to see the gyms are sticking around, S/M did pokemon dirty doing away with them! I think the legendaries are kinda lame... Because they are so similar! They've usually been fairly different, but these two are the same shape basically. I do like the ones rocket boosters though that's funny.

 

[EmTheGhost]

*Not many people are talking about this but I am IN LOVE with the new Pokemon Center design!! *_* So modern and perfect!
*...Professor Turo is sure gonna be popular - for completely wholesome reasons, of course >_> He looks like Ryan Reynolds. (Detective Pikachu multiverse?)
*Like professor Sada as well - I love the idea of a character who's wild but no less intelligent.
*Nemona is, like, the stereotypical cool older girl in every anime, and I'm not complaining 😅
*The legendaries don't look like Pokemon to me, but I think that'll pass after I've had more time to get used to them - my first thought was Skylanders?
*I definitely like Miraigon (the future dragon) best. I'm curious though, is it actually a cyborg Pokemon or are the machine-looking parts natural?
*That's a really cool-looking canyon in the legendary Pokemon segment. I know that's not actual game footage, but could there still be a canyon like that somewhere in the game?
*Interesting fact on the official website about Lechonk (I am really excited to get to say sentences like that):
"It may appear fat at first glance, but in reality, the Pokemon's body is mostly muscle"
That's interesting to me because, I know it's a hog, but I recently learned that fact about hippos in real life. 🤔 Could it become a sorta combination Pokemon, like how the Slakoth/Slaking line is both sloths and apes?
*Also from the website: Sprigatito's signature move is making biscuits (kneading). First of all, 🥺, second, this seems like a good sign for the don't-stand-up-Sprigatito movement!

 

[pkmin3033]

Some bullet point thoughts on the trailer from me, now that I've watched it three times and had some time to think about it:

- Visually this looks AWFUL. I'm sorry, but...it really does. The saturation is just one short step away from being blinding; it's not a visual style/aesthetic, it just seems designed to mask how terrible the assets are, much like it was in Legends Arceus. I'm glad that the models look a little more polished and they've moved away from the artificial plastic for Pokemon/generic budget look of the human characters and it looks a little more like the Let's Go titles - which are easily the best-looking Switch Pokemon games outside of Rescue Team DX and Snap, which are a completely different type of game and thus not really comparable - but the backgrounds look like something the Gamecube would come out with if it was running an N64 remaster. It's awful. I know it's turned into something of a meme/invalid complaint to complain about "N64 trees" but...come the fuck on, people. You have to draw a line somewhere. Try and defend how awful the environments in this game look, I dare you. This is a AAA franchise--hell, this is a main instalment in the largest media franchise in the world. There is no way in any reality they don't have the budget and couldn't afford to take the time to create something far more impressive than this, and there is no way this is due to hardware limitations. This has "rushed product" written all over it and it's completely unnecessary.
- The new Pokemon revealed are fine. I suppose I'm more or less fine with "chonk" and "smol" but if I see something as brainless and moronic as "bruh" in a Pokemon's name I'm going to flip a table. How far are they going to take this? This feels like a miserable attempt to placate older fans who are always complaining (incorrectly) that the games are "too easy" etc. by pandering to current internet culture...which is itself a cesspit of stupidity.
- Quaxley's description on the official site makes me sad. Likes to kick? I sense Water/Fighting in its future...I'd predict Grass/Fairy and Fire/Steel for the other two. Which is a suitable triangle I suppose, but there has never been a good fighting type, and this is the first time since the first generation that I've actually really liked all three starters. Sigh.
- Koraidon and Miraidon look fucking ridiculous, but I am totally fine with this after Zacian and Zamazenta were both hot garbage.
- The new NPCs do nothing for me, although I find it interesting that we have game-exclusive Professors this time around of all things. But the rival looks very generic.
- The multiplayer aspect is interesting, and I really hope that it's implemented better than it was in SnS. I think we've moved beyond the awful password system now, surely? If this is going to be one of the game's selling points, it definitely needs to be better.
- Player customisation looks a little better this time around in terms of character appearance! I expect male clothing options will still be lacking, because they always are, but at least avatars don't look like copypastes with the tiniest of aesthetic changes this time around.
- Nice to see they've improved on move animations like Tackle. Hahahahahaha. Ha.
- I'm very concerned with the marketing they're pushing for this game. Open world this, open world that. Freedom to explore, freedom to choose, blah blah blah. It's clear that they're trying to capitalise on the success of Legends Arceus, but that game wasn't open world and it really struggled to be engaging. So much empty space and pointless travel time. I am of the very firm opinion - as I am sure anyone who has read my posts or spoken to me for longer than five minutes on the subject is aware - that open worlds need to have a point; they can't justify themselves just by existing. A game is not automatically good, or better than it could be, just because it's open world. Legends Arceus was split up into large areas and it had issues with wasted space and a lack of content. Sword and Shield's Wild Area was exactly like Breath of the Wild's map: pointless travel time with points of interest (raid dens) clearly marked on the map. How are they going to make SV's open world any better? Is it going to be like the aforementioned examples, or are we going to have meaningful side content this time around? This is my biggest concern with the game - that going open world is going to completely waste and direspect players' time and not be a positive, meaningful change. Because there's no reason Pokemon needs to go open world. Any and all of the benefits it could bring to the table could just as easily be done with the standard route-based exploration, because there was nothing wrong with that. Scope is only impressive if it has the content to back it up.
- A random thought: what was that crystal background about at the end? Perhaps a hint of what the third Pokemon to complement Koraidon/Miraidon might be? Or...a Let's Go Johto hint in the style of Pokemon Crystal? Or just a random crystal background? It seems to me a black background with a spinning Pokeball would have been good enough to close out the trailer. So maybe it means something. Or maybe not. That's my crazy theory of the day.

It was an OK trailer I suppose, although it didn't reveal as much as I would have liked.

 

[jibbajabbawocky]

New Pokémon looks nice. I especially like Smoliv.

I think the theme of past and future might be interesting, especially if it means there will be bigger difference between both versions.

I have a bad feeling that Nemora will become as flat as Hau, Hop, Leon and most of the new characters and each encounter with her will be all about her being proud of how strong you are and how bad she is at throwing Poké Balls.

TBF, the Rival characters have been a hyper-supportive frenemy since G3. As much as I like the Gary type of Rival. Having someone who's heelishly confident after repeated butt kickings gets really old... especially when they manage to beat you to the Championship somehow... :/

I've headcanon'd it as "friendly rivals" being a big cultural thing in the Pokemon World, especially since there doesn't seem to be a lot of truly "bad" people around. You'll have Evil teams like Rocket and Plasma, but Teams like Yell and Skull are just kind of hoodlums. Even most of the Grunts of Evil teams are just kind of misguided or not fully informed. I like that, once in a while. A setting where people are just... nice. It helps explain why 10 year olds go off unsupervised. There's no need to worry when you know strangers are all very kind and generous.

Agree here. It's kind of hilarious, but objectively terrible. It does show that the translators are in touch with current meme culture, but the names will also look heavily dated within a few years. Oops?

There's a few Pokemon that still have pop cultural names. (Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, being two) It's just kind of part of the charm. I also get to explain to my grandkids someday what "Lechonk" means after that Pokemon has existed for them their entire lives.

Some bullet point thoughts on the trailer from me, now that I've watched it three times and had some time to think about it:

- Visually this looks AWFUL. I'm sorry, but...it really does. The saturation is just one short step away from being blinding; it's not a visual style/aesthetic, it just seems designed to mask how terrible the assets are, much like it was in Legends Arceus. I'm glad that the models look a little more polished and they've moved away from the artificial plastic for Pokemon/generic budget look of the human characters and it looks a little more like the Let's Go titles - which are easily the best-looking Switch Pokemon games outside of Rescue Team DX and Snap, which are a completely different type of game and thus not really comparable - but the backgrounds look like something the Gamecube would come out with if it was running an N64 remaster. It's awful. I know it's turned into something of a meme/invalid complaint to complain about "N64 trees" but...come the fuck on, people. You have to draw a line somewhere. Try and defend how awful the environments in this game look, I dare you. This is a AAA franchise--hell, this is a main instalment in the largest media franchise in the world. There is no way in any reality they don't have the budget and couldn't afford to take the time to create something far more impressive than this, and there is no way this is due to hardware limitations. This has "rushed product" written all over it and it's completely unnecessary.

I will take up the challenge!

I like the environmental design. A good blend of "realistic" and cartoony. I like the bright color pallete for Pokemon since it's meant to be a vibrant and happy world. We, as gamers are absolutely spoiled by graphics, these days. (in a good way! I'm still hoping for a current gen remake of Eternal Darkness)

I do get the burnout, though. I got overwhelmed and burned out after Genwun, but got back into the franchise officially with X/Y. The real power of Pokemon is that you can leave it for years or even decades, and when you come back it's so familiar that you can pick it right up.

There's no shame in skipping a generation or two. I spent 10 years just playing Pokemon Stadium and Snap on my N64... :)

 

[pkmin3033]

I will take up the challenge!

I like the environmental design. A good blend of "realistic" and cartoony. I like the bright color pallete for Pokemon since it's meant to be a vibrant and happy world. We, as gamers are absolutely spoiled by graphics, these days. (in a good way! I'm still hoping for a current gen remake of Eternal Darkness)

I do get the burnout, though. I got overwhelmed and burned out after Genwun, but got back into the franchise officially with X/Y. The real power of Pokemon is that you can leave it for years or even decades, and when you come back it's so familiar that you can pick it right up.

There's no shame in skipping a generation or two. I spent 10 years just playing Pokemon Stadium and Snap on my N64... :)

It's not the design I take umbrage with, but the quality of it. There are plenty of games out there that share the same sort of cartoonish visual design, but are of a substantially higher quality and level of detail. Given the character models are of a higher quality I don't think it can be labelled as a deliberate design choice because it's painfully inconsistent with everything else.

I suspect the poorer quality visuals are a necessary sacrifice for better performance, and I do expect to see a touch-up between now and the final product - Legends Arceus at least got a minor one - but as it stands...god, that foilage is horrendous. It's jarring, at least for me. I'm not huge on graphics or anything, but it's so bad here that even I notice it, haha.

 

[jibbajabbawocky]

It's not the design I take umbrage with, but the quality of it. There are plenty of games out there that share the same sort of cartoonish visual design, but are of a substantially higher quality and level of detail. Given the character models are of a higher quality I don't think it can be labelled as a deliberate design choice because it's painfully inconsistent with everything else.

I suspect the poorer quality visuals are a necessary sacrifice for better performance, and I do expect to see a touch-up between now and the final product - Legends Arceus at least got a minor one - but as it stands...god, that foilage is horrendous. It's jarring, at least for me. I'm not huge on graphics or anything, but it's so bad here that even I notice it, haha.

No worries. I grew up with the Atari 2600, so any foliage looks good to me. :) I feel a lot of it comes from it being a GB/DS title up until Sw/Sh. Pokemon was always graphically behind other major titles. I think it's just part of the aesthetic, now. I'm sure once you start playing, you'll stop noticing the details since you'll be more focused on playing, rather than observing. (The same happened for me with Sw/Sh)

 

[PageEmp]

I thought I might save this for a separate thread, but what do you all speculate the three newly revealed mons are going to evolve into?

 

[Ettenmoor]

No problem explaining it! For one, the art style and direction for the humans (derived from Sugimori's) was very distinctive among monster-catching franchises; even as the series moved to 3D, it still managed to keep the unique cartoony look. Why they changed it to this... generic hyperrealistic, spin-off-like style is beyond me. Second, the monster designs up until Gen 8 had some coherence with one another. I usually have trouble playing fan games with Fakemon because most of the new designs look... off when put side by side with canon Pokémon, and the new Pokémon give me that same vibe. Koraidon and Miraidon would be right at home in Digimon or YGO, but in Pokémon? Not really. It is like they are trying to imitate other franchises instead of refining the look that makes Pokémon unique. And if this is the direction they're going to take with the art style alone, I do fear for the rest.

tbh I find Koraidon and Miraidon to work quite well as Pokemon
it's Pawmi and Smoliv that seem out of place to me... 😅 (Pawmi in particular feels right out of a Kirby game)

 

[Ivysaur]

I'm just going to come here and say that lechonk is, well, a Lechón (literally 'milky', as it's still feeding primarily from its mother's milk), so the name is literally "real life species' name + a letter", putting it in the same league as Krabby or Ponyta.

But that extra k happens to turn the species' name into internet slang so yeah, that's fair. But it's hard to find a better name if you're going to add just a letter or two to the base IRL name, as they did.

 

[Hermione Granger]

This trailer did determine which version I'm getting first. I'm not a fan of Smoliv like some are, but am a fan of Lechonk. Lechonk might be an early game team member for me and maybe it's evolution will be awesome and might persuade me to keep Lechonk as a permanent team member.