Problems of the Pokémon Franchise

[Pokedigifan1178]

I mean the franchise is good but we got some serious problems with it.

Heres a list of the problems with Pokémon.

1. Genwenners. These guys give the franchise a bad rep.
   
2. anime is horrible. The Pokémon anime is like having to wash dishes over and over again due to its repetitiveness.
   
3. Bad designs. Seriously a Pokémon that looks like trash.
   
   
   
   And another one that looks like Keys.
   
   
   
   What next. A Pokémon that looks like a lamp or anything that was in the Nintendo office at the time they were coming up with ideas.
   
4. Violent fanbase. Not everyone but some Pokémon fans will give you death threats if you say that Pokémon isn't the best anime.
   
5. Accusations. Some Pokémon fans will just say that anything that involves pet monsters is a ripoff of the franchise. This is the reason why most Pokémon fans tend to have a super tense relationship with digimon fans.
   
6. Racism. This has happened before. First jynx looked racist due to looking like blackface and one of the gym leader clothing designs from black and white aka Leonora were thought of as racist to black people which caused some redesign.
   
7. stubborn. If a Pokémon game is just a tiny bit different than the regular type of Pokémon game. It mostly causes backlash. Exceptions are pokken and mystery dungeon. Its why most Pokémon fans resist change.
   
8. Saltiness. Can you imagine how much saltiness most Pokémon fans generated after seeing one of their Pokémon lose to a digimon in death battle. It was so high that it didn't take long for someone to find saltiness in the comment section.
   
9. Pokemon go company won't listen to us fans if we give them complaints about the problems with the game.
   
10. Too much Rule 34 about Gardevoir and other female Pokémon.

Theres more but you get the point.

We need to fix the franchise because since bigger fanbases like Pokémon generate a lot of toxicity sometimes.

I feel like If Nintendo can just listen to the good fans. Then we might fix a lot of the problems.

Also i think a crossover between Pokémon and digimon should fix some problems between the two fanbases because it causes so much tension.

If you have any more examples of problems with the franchise.

Put them down in the comment section of the thread.

 

[CF1994]

B2/W2 have underperformed quite badly, traumatizing Game Freak to be significantly more casual-friendly. Yo-Kai Watch eclipsed it's popularity temporarily, which kind of made the casualising worse. I have nothing against Yo-Kai Watch, FYI.

I understand the need to ensure the average joe can get on board in an era of mobile gaming, but that really isn't an excuse for nonexistent difficulty or prolonged unskippable cutscenes, since the challenges did help define it's spot in pop culture in the first place.

Those are my only beef with what is otherwise a phenomenal gaming franchise.

 

[Pokedigifan1178]

B2/W2 have underperformed quite badly, traumatizing Game Freak to be significantly more casual-friendly. Yo-Kai Watch eclipsed it's popularity temporarily, which kind of made the casualising worse. I have nothing against Yo-Kai Watch, FYI.

I understand the need to ensure the average joe can get on board in an era of mobile gaming, but that really isn't an excuse for nonexistent difficulty or prolonged unskippable cutscenes, since the challenges did help define it's spot in pop culture in the first place.

Those are my only beef with what is otherwise a phenomenal gaming franchise.

What's B2/W2

 

[CF1994]

What's B2/W2

An abbreviation of Pokémon Black 2/White 2, a pair of sequels to Pokémon Black/White 2.

The games are heavily praised for progressing the story from Black/White and bringing back several older Pokémon from past regions, but as mentioned, they underperformed and didn't resonate with enough consumers.

 

[colours]

I'm not going to comment on too much of your list because I feel like it's all going to be subjective at the end of the day (some may feel the anime is fine for instance; I know a few friends that like the SM anime for example).

One thing I do want to point out is that I feel like your concerns seems to stem more from the fanbase than the actual franchise itself. I also think most popular media would have some sort of dark underbelly of a fanbase, so Pokemon really isn't alone, here.

As far as backlash on Pokemon games, that.... I can see your point on why the fanbase is partially to blame, at the very least. When fifth gen was a thing, it certainly wasn't popular initially, and I'd actually go as far as to say that it got a ton of hate at first for being as significantly different than Pokemon games before it. However, as time went on, you see more and more people looking fondly upon Gen 5 as pretty much the gold standard of Pokemon gaming. This says to me that the fanbase just takes its own time to get used to change, if anything.

 

[Percy]

always remember that every franchise has a bad side. not just pokemon. every fanbase has a toxic side. as far as i could observe, trubbish and klefki may look bad for you but there's always a person out there somewhere that thinks that they're the cutest pokemon ever. that's the beauty of pokemon, anyone could have their favorite. so saying that these are "bad" designs are very biased and subjective. i personally don't mind their design :/

and as that song by michael jackson said "if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that change" :)

 

[BH]

Hmmm:

-The eeveelutions designs: Are they cats, dogs, fennecs or rabbits? Oh my f*cking brain
-Generation 1 sprites and pokeball mechanics on legendary birds
-Rom translations freeze my brain when comparing to the official translations (*cough* Pokemon Silver *cough*)
-You have to complete the pokedex...i thought you had to catch Mewtwo, thankfully Pokemon adventures: red chapter fixes this in beta 11
-Trading on roms
-Releasing your pokemon (Why Nintendo?)
-New eeveelutions toned down to 2/1 each second gen
-Manga version of pokemon..OMG and i thought the pokemon games were scary
-Eeveelutions female gender ratio is 1/8, i want my female Eeveelutions legally :(

 

[Veil Loreraven]

1. No consequences, You can release hundreds of level 100 pokemon into the world, battle and faint endless pokemon without consequence. I think there should be a plethora of different actions you can take that should have real noticeable differences in the actual game, especially in post game.

2. No responsibility - Having pokemon should also be a responsibility. So feeding and making sure they have water to drink should also be a priority. There should be no reason why you should have 200 pokemon in a box and not have to feed and keep them alive.

3. Trainer battles are too easy. They should be level scaled so level grinding becomes irrelavant, and gym leaders should always have higher level pokemon. Not to mention that 90% of all the trainers in any given area always have the same exact pokemon.

4. Out of level trainers. Every trainer, no matter who they are that initiate a battle with you conveniently have pokemon your level or lower level for you to win against. There should be WAY more trainers in various places. Of course, most of them should warn you that you are not worth their time before fighting them, but challenging a much more powerful trainer should always be an option.

5. More teams like team flare. No more, We are going to steal pokemon for money, no more, we want this special pokemon for power or money or take over the world or WE WILL RULE YOU ALL...nope. Team flare's goal......kill....everyone. We need a team with an actual nonsensical senseless destructive psychopathic goal like them.

6. A better way to talk to online trainers. A speech chat when you are trading with other people. That way I can actually Talk to the person I am trading with to say to them. Hey buddy, can you help me out? I need to trade my graveler back and forth so I can get a golem, can you help me out really quick please? That way we are not just tossing pictures of pokemon back and forth wondering wtf it is that the other person is even trying to get or want from us.

7. more options - Either for the story, or for how you start your adventure and who you are- we need more options. Why should you be a kind hearted friendly 10 year old when you can be 2 years older and a total jerk? That would change the story quite a lot. Maybe we can have the option to already have a partner, or we meed our partner in a different way that isn't the professor giving it to us.
What happens if I want to join the team and become an executive and then maybe even eventually take over the team as a new team boss and change its goals? I want my own town, and the option to redesign its uniforms and name.

 

[Miss Wendighost]

1. No consequences, You can release hundreds of level 100 pokemon into the world, battle and faint endless pokemon without consequence. I think there should be a plethora of different actions you can take that should have real noticeable differences in the actual game, especially in post game.

2. No responsibility - Having pokemon should also be a responsibility. So feeding and making sure they have water to drink should also be a priority. There should be no reason why you should have 200 pokemon in a box and not have to feed and keep them alive.

3. Trainer battles are too easy. They should be level scaled so level grinding becomes irrelavant, and gym leaders should always have higher level pokemon. Not to mention that 90% of all the trainers in any given area always have the same exact pokemon.

4. Out of level trainers. Every trainer, no matter who they are that initiate a battle with you conveniently have pokemon your level or lower level for you to win against. There should be WAY more trainers in various places. Of course, most of them should warn you that you are not worth their time before fighting them, but challenging a much more powerful trainer should always be an option.

5. More teams like team flare. No more, We are going to steal pokemon for money, no more, we want this special pokemon for power or money or take over the world or WE WILL RULE YOU ALL...nope. Team flare's goal......kill....everyone. We need a team with an actual nonsensical senseless destructive psychopathic goal like them.

6. A better way to talk to online trainers. A speech chat when you are trading with other people. That way I can actually Talk to the person I am trading with to say to them. Hey buddy, can you help me out? I need to trade my graveler back and forth so I can get a golem, can you help me out really quick please? That way we are not just tossing pictures of pokemon back and forth wondering wtf it is that the other person is even trying to get or want from us.

7. more options - Either for the story, or for how you start your adventure and who you are- we need more options. Why should you be a kind hearted friendly 10 year old when you can be 2 years older and a total jerk? That would change the story quite a lot. Maybe we can have the option to already have a partner, or we meed our partner in a different way that isn't the professor giving it to us.
What happens if I want to join the team and become an executive and then maybe even eventually take over the team as a new team boss and change its goals? I want my own town, and the option to redesign its uniforms and name.

Hopefully we get some or all of these in Gen 8, but who really knows as of now? Other than that, I had similar complaints regarding the franchise along with lackluster rivals and reusing Kanto over and over again.

 

[LusoTrainer]

Racism. This has happened before. First jynx looked racist due to looking like blackface

The only racism there is from those who complained about it.

As for the rest, it all seems like "people have opinions I don't like, this needs to stop", which is nonsensical and also not a franchise problem.

 

[alisaie]

Angie and Percy said it best imo. A lot of this is subjective and the rest of it are things that you encounter in nearly every fandom. There's no fandom that doesn't have toxicity somewhere. You really just have to find the right people no matter the fandom. And, like what Percy said, the beauty of Pokemon is that for every Pokemon there is someone who considers it their favorite. Even Pokemon like Barbaracle or Garbordor there is someone out there that has that Pokemon as their favorite.

Pokemon has their problems, sure. But what franchise doesn't.

 

[pkmin3033]

In one word: Narrative.

Pokemon has been reusing the exact same plotline since Generation III, and with the increased focus on narrative from Gen V onwards, it's getting very stale and it shows just how poorly written it is because they're drawing attention to it with a painful clarity. The same Legendary-focused plot, the same one-dimensional, under-developed NPCs who require a lot of stretching of the imagination to create a character in your mind for, and the same utterly rubbish writing that makes a Kemco RPG look like the work of Shakespeare. This, to me, is Pokemon's biggest problem. They need to hire some writers who can actually write.

 

[colours]

In one word: Narrative.

Pokemon has been reusing the exact same plotline since Generation III, and with the increased focus on narrative from Gen V onwards, it's getting very stale and it shows just how poorly written it is because they're drawing attention to it with a painful clarity. The same Legendary-focused plot, the same one-dimensional, under-developed NPCs who require a lot of stretching of the imagination to create a character in your mind for, and the same utterly rubbish writing that makes a Kemco RPG look like the work of Shakespeare. This, to me, is Pokemon's biggest problem. They need to hire some writers who can actually write.

Game Freak tends to play it rather safe when it comes to narrative, for the most part. I'm starting to feel like their approach is more or less "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Except just because it isn't broken, doesn't mean it cannot be improved upon, which I think is the biggest frustration and may the biggest cause of the narrative constantly feeling stale over the years.

 

[pkmin3033]

Game Freak tends to play it rather safe when it comes to narrative, for the most part. I'm starting to feel like their approach is more or less "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Except just because it isn't broken, doesn't mean it cannot be improved upon, which I think is the biggest frustration and may the biggest cause of the narrative constantly feeling stale over the years.

I would argue that using it repeatedly is what tends to break it. I get very bored of playing what is essentially exactly the same story with every single game, especially when that narrative becomes the focal point of the game with things like unskippable cutscenes and long, drawn-out conversations with NPCs with bare-bones personalities and absolutely no character development whatsoever.

When you look at the narrative of the Mystery Dungeon titles, or even the Ranger games, it shows just how lacking and lagging behind the main series is when it comes to narrative. They're not the best ever, but they ARE different each time, and they make an effort. These only serve to highlight that it is perfectly possible for Pokemon games to have a proper story: Game Freak just can't be bothered. Because it's Pokemon, and it will sell regardless. It doesn't NEED to have a narrative, but they're going to recycle it anyway, because all hell would break loose if it was suddenly missing.

Everything can be improved upon, just as everything can be worse. But what makes something worse over time is when it is never improved upon.

 

[moon]

I think a crucial "problem" us older fans see is that the pokémon games and anime (all of it, really) is mainly aimed towards younger children still. 7-13 year olds, perhaps. I don't have a source on this, but it's definitely how I feel while playing the game or watching the show. It's definitely not constructed mainly for young adults. They should have remedied that long ago by having different lines of games - and with that I mean one more mature/dark/deep line rather than one even more cute and simple like PMD.

 

[Megan]

Disclaimer: this post is in no way intended to be disrespectful to the op and their opinion. I am merely pointing out things that I disagree with.

Genwenners. These guys give the franchise a bad rep.

They are not. Those so called "Genwunners" are merely a minority among the fanbase who usually stick to themselves. If you run into one of them in the past it was mostly just bad luck.

anime is horrible. The Pokémon anime is like having to wash dishes over and over again due to its repetitiveness.

Don't know about horrible. Its resets are a pretty arbitrary way to keep things going, but it's still better than an endless powercreep that is bound to become boring at some point.
If it's about Ash's travels to collect badges then yeah, it is repetitive. At least the dynamics between the characters can vary quite a bit. Also, unlike dish washing, you can actually decide to not watch the series. ;)

Bad designs. Seriously a Pokémon that looks like trash.

If you develop a lot of different creatues bad designs are bound to happen. That was the case in gen 1, it was the case in gen 5 and it will be the case in future generations as well.

Violent fanbase. Not everyone but some Pokémon fans will give you death threats if you say that Pokémon isn't the best anime.

That's not exclusive to the Pokemon fanbase. Any fanbase has these types of people. Just ask the MLP/SU/Undertale people. But again: it's only a minor portion of the fanbase that is like that and you will not get rid of them.

Accusations. Some Pokémon fans will just say that anything that involves pet monsters is a ripoff of the franchise. This is the reason why most Pokémon fans tend to have a super tense relationship with digimon fans.

That's probably because it's true. Pokemon made monster collecting mainstream and not only did it do that successfully, it did so for over 20 years. It's only understandable that other game designers would rise up to try and cash in on the monster collecting train.

Also, who says Pokemon fans dislike Digimon fans? Most people I know who like Pokemon also have fond memories for Digimon.

Racism. This has happened before. First jynx looked racist due to looking like blackface and one of the gym leader clothing designs from black and white aka Leonora were thought of as racist to black people which caused some redesign.

I don't understand your problem. GF made a decision that caused some controversy and in response they changed it so its not a problem anymore. You also have to keep in mind that the Japanese have different values than the western countries. Something you may consider racist from a western standpoint may not be perceived as such in Japan.

In that case it's commendable that they're actually willing to change things.

stubborn. If a Pokémon game is just a tiny bit different than the regular type of Pokémon game. It mostly causes backlash. Exceptions are pokken and mystery dungeon. Its why most Pokémon fans resist change.

I don't understand your problem. Are you saying that people don't want the games to be different? Thing is, I've seen so many people (especially on PC) who want some real (partially big) changes in future games.

Saltiness. Can you imagine how much saltiness most Pokémon fans generated after seeing one of their Pokémon lose to a digimon in death battle. It was so high that it didn't take long for someone to find saltiness in the comment section.

Is this a problem with Pokemon fans or with Death Battle? If it's Death Battle, then yeah, while they did a lot of research there are bound to be errors. And if there are errors then who else but the Pokemon fans is actually capable of pointing those out?
If it's the Pokemon fans you're taking about, then again: it's only a minority of people who do that.

Pokemon go company won't listen to us fans if we give them complaints about the problems with the game.

I don't know about Pokemon Go, since I don't play the game. However as someone who's creating and maintaining software I can assure you that often times fixes that are perceived by customers to be pretty easy to implement can in reality be a really hard and time consuming thing to get done.
If there are things in Pokemon Go that need to be fixed for a while now then chances are, it just takes them more time to implement the changes.

Too much Rule 34 about Gardevoir and other female Pokémon.

If you're not looking for it, then you probably won't find any. If you still do, then you should check your filter settings.
If that's not the problem, then sorry, but I don't understand what you want to say with this.

 

[colours]

I think a crucial "problem" us older fans see is that the pokémon games and anime (all of it, really) is mainly aimed towards younger children still. 7-13 year olds, perhaps. I don't have a source on this, but it's definitely how I feel while playing the game or watching the show. It's definitely not constructed mainly for young adults. They should have remedied that long ago by having different lines of games - and with that I mean one more mature/dark/deep line rather than one even more cute and simple like PMD.

This is a really interesting perspective. I suppose speaking from the view of someone who's only played the games, I don't know if they're super apparent that they're for more younger kids. I mean, part of it is, but I also have always felt they weren't geared towards any age demographic in particular. Or at least, that seems to be the intention.

I do wonder how a more mature Pokemon game would look like, though. Pokemon Colosseum is pretty much the closest we're going to get to anything dark and deep though, sadly.

 

[Zeostar]

I find myself beginning to trudge through certain points every time I play through these games. Fighting 20 grunts in a row would be okay, but there isn't much strategic thinking involved. It's during these points where I get tired and put the game down for a while.

However, I still enjoy the growth aspect of these games. Watching my team improve makes it all worth it, so I'll eventually continue.

 

[Miss Wendighost]

Disclaimer: this post is in no way intended to be disrespectful to the op and their opinion. I am merely pointing out things that I disagree with.


They are not. Those so called "Genwunners" are merely a minority among the fanbase who usually stick to themselves. If you run into one of them in the past it was mostly just bad luck.


Don't know about horrible. Its resets are a pretty arbitrary way to keep things going, but it's still better than an endless powercreep that is bound to become boring at some point.
If it's about Ash's travels to collect badges then yeah, it is repetitive. At least the dynamics between the characters can vary quite a bit. Also, unlike dish washing, you can actually decide to not watch the series. ;)


If you develop a lot of different creatues bad designs are bound to happen. That was the case in gen 1, it was the case in gen 5 and it will be the case in future generations as well.


That's not exclusive to the Pokemon fanbase. Any fanbase has these types of people. Just ask the MLP/SU/Undertale people. But again: it's only a minor portion of the fanbase that is like that and you will not get rid of them.


That's probably because it's true. Pokemon made monster collecting mainstream and not only did it do that successfully, it did so for over 20 years. It's only understandable that other game designers would rise up to try and cash in on the monster collecting train.

Also, who says Pokemon fans dislike Digimon fans? Most people I know who like Pokemon also have fond memories for Digimon.


I don't understand your problem. GF made a decision that caused some controversy and in response they changed it so its not a problem anymore. You also have to keep in mind that the Japanese have different values than the western countries. Something you may consider racist from a western standpoint may not be perceived as such in Japan.

In that case it's commendable that they're actually willing to change things.


I don't understand your problem. Are you saying that people don't want the games to be different? Thing is, I've seen so many people (especially on PC) who want some real (partially big) changes in future games.


Is this a problem with Pokemon fans or with Death Battle? If it's Death Battle, then yeah, while they did a lot of research there are bound to be errors. And if there are errors then who else but the Pokemon fans is actually capable of pointing those out?
If it's the Pokemon fans you're taking about, then again: it's only a minority of people who do that.


I don't know about Pokemon Go, since I don't play the game. However as someone who's creating and maintaining software I can assure you that often times fixes that are perceived by customers to be pretty easy to implement can in reality be a really hard and time consuming thing to get done.
If there are things in Pokemon Go that need to be fixed for a while now then chances are, it just takes them more time to implement the changes.


If you're not looking for it, then you probably won't find any. If you still do, then you should check your filter settings.
If that's not the problem, then sorry, but I don't understand what you want to say with this.

Few points to add to your argument. The XYZ series, while using the same formula was the best season in the series. Japan doesn't have the same messed up history of oppression and violence of Black people as the west does, and therefore didn't really understand what the Jynx controversy was about, but changed the appearance anyway. Finally, with any character, there is bound to be fanservice of it, such as the case with Bowsette. Not criticizing your argument, just adding on to it.

 

[pkmin3033]

I don't personally think that a franchise can be held accountable for the actions of its fans. I suppose these things ARE problems, depending on your perspective, but they weren't created by the franchise, but rather the fans of it. It's an important distinction to make. At least until Game Freak publishes some official Rule 34 fanart, or we get some reps joining forums and encouraging toxic behaviour. GF has never actively engaged with its fanbase the way, say, Sonic Team has, though, so it's not really responsible for any of this.

I get the sense that there is this expectation that the franchise will "grow up" with its original fans and strive to always be relevant to its original audience, rather than its target audience. Whilst a lot of franchises do this - Digimon definitely has, as the ever-present comparison - plenty do not. At the end of the day, it's there to make money, and tastes change with time...however, there are always kids around.

It makes more business sense to remain relevant to a younger demographic, rather than to try and remain true to the same target audience, especially considering there is no way of telling what would appeal to the older generation of fans now. Different people want different things, and the only evidence they have to go off of is that more of the same sells. Not only that, but people who were around for the first generation are old enough to have kids of their own now, and I imagine many would be inclined to introduce their children to Pokemon if it was the same as they remember...which it definitely is, because it's never changed. So I wouldn't say this is necessarily a problem with the franchise, looking at it from a more detached perspective.

...that said, there is adequate room to do both, and with LGPE being so geared towards newer players in particular I think Game Freak might actually be recognising this, FINALLY. Whether or not we get games clearly designed to cater towards older fans in the future will determine this one way or another, but I don't think it an inherent problem with the franchise if we don't.

If we do though...god, do they need to actually hire a proper writer.