The Overworld

[Spinosaurus]

The 3D thread talks about more the graphic. I think the overworld itself should get its own thread.

So I don't see much talk about what is actually the biggest change we've seen yet. The overworld got a complete design change, it's no longer grid based and the environment actually finally look organic and fully realized.

I know the 3D excitement has come and gone because of XY having 3D graphics, but it was still fully a 2D game, 2.5D to be exact. It played like one. On the other hand Sun/Moon takes it a step forward and it looks like it'll actually play like a modern 3D RPG.

I'm really excited for it. Everything I'm seeing about the overworld is getting me pretty hyped to play the game, since I've been waiting for the series to finally move on from THE GRID.

 

[blue]

The overworld from the trailer makes the games look so promising! The different environments showcased look vibrant with colours and the buildings looking much more polished. I love how fluent the movement seems as you see the player running along, even the NPCs can be seen reacting to the way the player moves which is another awesome feature that adds depth to the games.

 

[Hikamaru]

Agreed, fake 3D is fairly boring so it's nice to see stuff flow more nicely as they work on the games. I'm kinda looking at X/Y and OR/AS as test runs for the 3DS system, especially X/Y. There was a lot of lost potential there but it was still their first attempt at a main series game on the 3DS. Seems like they're growing and improving which is fantastic!

I can agree with this. I felt X/Y's lack of development in characters and features was due to the heavy focus on the overworld, since it was the first main Pokemon game on 3DS and they kinda wanted to test full-3D and see what they could improve from there. Sun & Moon seem to prove that they have finally nailed a not-so-blocky overworld and that's something that I definitely feel as an accomplishment.

 

[Imperator161]

I'm excited about the fully 3D overworld, though I still wonder if it will be fully 3D, or if they're just showing us the best parts. The freedom of movement looks nice, and it looks more like Colosseum/XD in that regard, which I see as a positive. I rarely play games with the 3D switch, but I wonder if it will work in the overworld this time (and not lag so much in battle)?

 

[Rhynn]

I'm remaining somewhat skeptical. This is just a first trailer; as Imperator161 says, they could be just showing us the best parts. In the XY trailers gogoat riding seemed to be a big thing and it was shown pretty much as if you'd be able to ride them anywhere, but that turned out to be more of a gimmick than a proper new mode of transport. This could very well be similar, with only a few parts showing the world like this, and the rest being more like XYORAS.

 

[Spinosaurus]

I'm remaining somewhat skeptical. This is just a first trailer; as Imperator161 says, they could be just showing us the best parts. In the XY trailers gogoat riding seemed to be a big thing and it was shown pretty much as if you'd be able to ride them anywhere, but that turned out to be more of a gimmick than a proper new mode of transport. This could very well be similar, with only a few parts showing the world like this, and the rest being more like XYORAS.

The game unmistakably got rid of tiles and grid-based movements. It'd be absurd if this was only the case for a few parts of the game, because this is way too big of a design change to be switching between top down grid movement and properly scaled 3D. There's absolutely no reason to program both.

Make no mistake, this change is here to stay. The game is completely 3D.

 

[Hikamaru]

The OW is freaking beautiful and it's extremely pleasing to see that the games have taken a step forward into becoming actual 3D this time around. It'll definitely feel a bit awkward at first considering the grid system that's been in place for all of these years, but I don't mind the change at all.

At first I never believed that Game Freak could go full-3D for a main series Pokemon game, but then X/Y came and they proved it can be done. Now Sun & Moon takes the X/Y engine but advances it further with no grid and full-sized bodies in the overworld. It's literally the biggest advancement in Pokemon, and 6th Gen was just the testing ground for what the graphics could eventually become.