[Sword & Shield] Too little had been revealed thus far...

[Ducolamia]

perhaps my memory isn't great, but im unsure if we've ever really had a "balance" of news leaks before. if it isn't trailers every single month spoiling a bunch of information, then it's corocoro (if you were around in like, the BW/B2W2 days) releasing new pokemon/features (?) every month or so. just judging from the SM/USUM pre-release reactions around this forum in particular, i'd say people were more satisfied than not with the pre-release cycle of SM as well as USUM because there was a lot more to talk about and speculate when you compare it to SwSh where there's not a whole lot to talk about. discussion and speculation gets people more and more excited. if there's nothing for them to talk about, that excitement fades. that's not good marketing.

quite frankly it's a lose/lose situation for TPC because too much hype is exactly why people got too sour on USUM. does anyone remember this trailer in particular? everyone got the impression that USUM was going to be like B2W2 because of that one line ("this isn't the Alola you thought you knew") and when people got their hands on the game, it created such a polarization of... you either love it and got what you expected or hated it and feel like you got duped by TPC for misleading you.

idk what a middle ground would look like, since everyone has their own idea of what information they really care about and what information they don't. for SwSh in particular, i gotta admit that while i am looking forward to getting the game, there's not so much for me to talk about with my friends which leads to a bit of disappointment for me.

^ This.

I think some people don't realize that pokemon's pre-releases have never been balanced...at all. (And having different release dates for other countries didn't help that either) And this is coming from someone who's been a fan since gen 3. Even back then, we got very little in terms of info. Most of it really just came down to commercials which showed some new mons and leaks. We've either gotten a lot or a little. It wasn't really until gen 5 that they began ramping it up and I don't see how they could win either way. Reveal the starter evos, features and the entire dex? Disappoint people wanting to go in blind. Because let's face it, it will be EVERYWHERE when it gets leaked. Every major gaming news source will talking about it, so unless you use a blocker, it'll be harder to avoid. Reveal too little? You don't have much to talk about and you potentially scare people off who think they'll be nothing to look forward to. That and it becomes harder to keep excitement, which we are seeing now. That being said, the marketing is a bit more....experimental this time around? A shirt contest, Livestream, etc? It's clear they're trying to do something different, but is it successful? We'll see when the sales come out.

I think it's harder for pokemon to find a middle ground because of that very polarization. Some people go into for Pokemon only. Some people just see the Legendaries and that's it (one of my friends literally just does this and cares about nothing else), some don't care about the story and just want to get to competitive.... I think no matter what some group of people are going to be disappointed because what YOU might find interesting to know about, may not be important to someone else.

For me, personally, I know the major characters, the legendaries, how the league works and some new mons. That's all I really need going in. I would be more inclined to believe we had nothing if we didn't even get legendaries by this point. Now THAT. That is a warning sign.

For people talking about the starters not being revealed yet being troubling, honestly, it's nothing new. Some gens released the starters beforehand and others don't. I don't consider gen 5 part of that though due to the entire Dex being leaked. It shouldn't be a major problem nowadays considering all the information is usually uploaded after the first day and unless you're speedrunning/soloing this game, no one has their final starter in a day.

 

[bobandbill]

Well, we've had a bit of info today from Coro Coro, and news in a few hours time as well (whether it's the same as CoroCoro remains to be seen). Maybe they saw this thread. ;p

 

[Ducolamia]

Well, we've had a bit of info today from Coro Coro, and news in a few hours time as well (whether it's the same as CoroCoro remains to be seen). Maybe they saw this thread. ;p

The funny thing is that due to the influx of trailers, Corocoro is kind of..eh?...nowadays. We got some stuff part of the time, but it really hasn't pulled through this gen. My guess is that the marketing team realized the shift to video trailers was more effective building hype. Even SuMo's pre-release cycle had only a few new pokemon released that way. And even major characters still had a video trailer.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

^ This.

I think some people don't realize that pokemon's pre-releases have never been balanced...at all. (And having different release dates for other countries didn't help that either) And this is coming from someone who's been a fan since gen 3. Even back then, we got very little in terms of info. Most of it really just came down to commercials which showed some new mons and leaks. We've either gotten a lot or a little. It wasn't really until gen 5 that they began ramping it up and I don't see how they could win either way. Reveal the starter evos, features and the entire dex? Disappoint people wanting to go in blind. Because let's face it, it will be EVERYWHERE when it gets leaked. Every major gaming news source will talking about it, so unless you use a blocker, it'll be harder to avoid. Reveal too little? You don't have much to talk about and you potentially scare people off who think they'll be nothing to look forward to. That and it becomes harder to keep excitement, which we are seeing now. That being said, the marketing is a bit more....experimental this time around? A shirt contest, Livestream, etc? It's clear they're trying to do something different, but is it successful? We'll see when the sales come out.

I think it's harder for pokemon to find a middle ground because of that very polarization. Some people go into for Pokemon only. Some people just see the Legendaries and that's it (one of my friends literally just does this and cares about nothing else), some don't care about the story and just want to get to competitive.... I think no matter what some group of people are going to be disappointed because what YOU might find interesting to know about, may not be important to someone else.

For me, personally, I know the major characters, the legendaries, how the league works and some new mons. That's all I really need going in. I would be more inclined to believe we had nothing if we didn't even get legendaries by this point. Now THAT. That is a warning sign.

For people talking about the starters not being revealed yet being troubling, honestly, it's nothing new. Some gens released the starters beforehand and others don't. I don't consider gen 5 part of that though due to the entire Dex being leaked. It shouldn't be a major problem nowadays considering all the information is usually uploaded after the first day and unless you're speedrunning/soloing this game, no one has their final starter in a day.

The middle stages were still revealed in September like with XY and SM. We can't really count Diamond and Pearl or before because the internet hadn't really taken off and it was still fairly rare for a TON of people. The marketing would have started in 2005 in Japan.

As for balance, Kalos did pretty well balancing everything. And BW was on the verge of being fairly balanced until the Dex Leak.


And as for Corocoro. It has been useless. Has been since SM.
Once again, that leak as turned out to be true and only 1 or 2 things it leaked hasn't been revealed yet.

 

[Ducolamia]

The middle stages were still revealed in September like with XY and SM. We can't really count Diamond and Pearl or before because the internet hadn't really taken off and it was still fairly rare for a TON of people. The marketing would have started in 2005 in Japan.

As for balance, Kalos did pretty well balancing everything. And BW was on the verge of being fairly balanced until the Dex Leak.


And as for Corocoro. It has been useless. Has been since SM.
Once again, that leak as turned out to be true and only 1 or 2 things it leaked hasn't been revealed yet.

Maybe they just aren't revealing them until the game comes out? They've clearly been more keen keeping this a secret this time around. (Hell, they had an everstone on Scorbunny in the E3 release) Whether or not that's successful we'll see. But the information for the games are usually uploaded after a day anyways. Yeah, you could make the argument why wait, but they've done this time around.

The reason I brought up Gen 4's case was specifically because they weren't released at the same time worldwide, so the information we got was kind of skewred. So you'd have some shots of gameplay, a new feature, and so little of it and others even going through the game in Japanese beforehand to try and make sense of it. And while the internet wasn't super popular yet, they still didn't reveal much to begin with UNTIL people got their hands on the games. A lot of the stuff marketed with the games more of gimmicks (Poketch, DS lite wifi receiver, etc) which isn't new compare to now. HG/SS it makes sense because it's a remake, but I remember very little new gen 4 mons being revealed (correct me if I'm wrong, my memory can be faulty) pre-evo. Before that it was still pretty sparse considering what those games had to offer.

I'd argue Kalos and B/W are mixed. Kalos had the game have the benefit of being the first 3d Pokemon mainline game,introducing Megas and Fairy Types. Other than that, we didn't get much on story details or characters minus ones such as Alexa or Sycamore. The reason it didn't feel long was BECAUSE the first 3 points were up for so much discussion. It was something we've never thought about before as many people didn't expect the shift to 3D to begin with. That and Megas was New concept people never really expected.

With Black and White while the Dex Leak was unfortunate, most of the info we got was from CoroCoro leaks which did lead to a lot of discussions as a whole. With some being fake it did throw people into the loop. But when you look at it overall before the Dex leak and what they had the offer...eh? I wouldn't say a lot especially for what we know now.

I know CoroCoro hasn't been reliable this gen or the last, but mostly because the shift to videos clearly seems to be more beneficial for marketing as a whole. However, before gen 5 when CoroCoro fakes really started to get going, you had some cool overviews in there. Also, which leak are you talking about? The main one revealing Gigiamaxing and some gym leaders? That leak has been a bit wrong about a couple of things but still fairly accurate which I agree on.

 

[bobandbill]

Turns out it was just an expansion of the CoroCoro news, with details. Less than a month to go now! Let's see how they continue.

 

[colours]

either we're going to get news by the end of this month, or the beginning of next month. im starting to feel like Game Freak is running out of chances to impress people. it's moreso surprising to me because i haven't gotten this much of a "meh" vibe in pre-release pokemon games, before. @_@

 

[Fairy]

Am I the only one who isn't bothered by the SWSH news distribution? I'm a 'less is more' kind of person so I get that maybe I'm bias here, but the information that's been revealed (although not always good news, per se) has been timely and fun.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Couples-Consoling]

It's been driving me NUTS how little news there's been, and I've been desperate for more. But for the first time today, seeing news about the first 90 minutes out and with so little time left before it comes out, I actually started to wonder how much I want to be made aware of now. I mean, we're so close, is it worth trying to hold out to be surprised by now? Or do I still need to know new stuff THAT badly?

I think I'm going to end up walking a middle ground. I think I'm gonna try skimming new stuff, be vaguely aware of what's up, but not plunge into too much detail. Let the little things surprise me as I go.

 

[Superfox]

SwSh has done a TERRIBLE job. There are somethings that need to be revealed, like starter evolutions. People want to see what they will be stuck with for the rest of the game.

Actually, I disagree. I'm old enough to remember when we weren't given the starter evolutions in advance. I remember as a kid playing Pokémon Silver, I didn't know what my Cyndaquil would evolve into and that suspense actually made it a better experience. Then, when it did finally become a Typhlosion, I immediately got on the phone with my best friend and told him all about how my little Cyndaquil evolved into this awesome-looking rat/badger-like creature.

So, I hope GF doesn't release the starter evolutions. I want to be surprised again.

 

[Cherrim]

Actually, I disagree. I'm old enough to remember when we weren't given the starter evolutions in advance. I remember as a kid playing Pokémon Silver, I didn't know what my Cyndaquil would evolve into and that suspense actually made it a better experience. Then, when it did finally become a Typhlosion, I immediately got on the phone with my best friend and told him all about how my little Cyndaquil evolved into this awesome-looking rat/badger-like creature.

So, I hope GF doesn't release the starter evolutions. I want to be surprised again.

The west has almost always had early confirmation of the Pokedex just by nature of being nearly a year behind on releases for most of the games. Contrary to your experience, I remember buying... man, I think it was Pogo's Pokemon magazines...? Which had pictures of every single Pokemon in Gold and Silver because of that gap. So I knew what my Pokemon would evolve into even if there hadn't been any official press releases on them. I vastly prefer it that way, now, too, because a lot of third evolutions are just... disappointing, to me.

Even if they do release that info, you could get the same result by just avoiding media for a while before the game, just like you probably did as a kid to not have seen leaks from the jp release. :P

 

[_pheebee]

Personally, disagree.

I feel too much has been revealed.

 

[Superfox]

The west has almost always had early confirmation of the Pokedex just by nature of being nearly a year behind on releases for most of the games. Contrary to your experience, I remember buying... man, I think it was Pogo's Pokemon magazines...? Which had pictures of every single Pokemon in Gold and Silver because of that gap. So I knew what my Pokemon would evolve into even if there hadn't been any official press releases on them. I vastly prefer it that way, now, too, because a lot of third evolutions are just... disappointing, to me.

Even if they do release that info, you could get the same result by just avoiding media for a while before the game, just like you probably did as a kid to not have seen leaks from the jp release. :P

The problem with that argument is that information is so readily dispersed nowadays that you could literally be spoiled against your will. For example, I was just on YouTube and scrolled past a video that had posted the leaks the alleged starter evolutions IN THE THUMBNAIL. To be fair, they tried to blur it out, but they did a bad job. I shouldn't have to embargo myself from all corners of the internet for fear of being spoiled when I don't seek out spoilers.

 

[Inkwriter]

Well, Nintendo is apparently barring reviews or something due to the leaks so we probably won't be getting any more substantial info until the actual release date now.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Well, Nintendo is apparently barring reviews or something due to the leaks so we probably won't be getting any more substantial info until the actual release date now.

From what we know, there isn't much more to be known other than story, post game and how the league works. Everything else we already know. Reviews aren't much to go on, as they are almost always bias.

We will get info in corocoro this month, but it will probably just be the starters or something, which we already know. Datamine will probably still happen, revealing events legends if they are in the data, unless they pull another USUM.

So everything they normally reveal, has been revealed other than pokemon.

Hopefully we get one more reveal of pokemon to confirm the massive leak or not. Even though I am pretty sure it is real at this point, even though we haven't gotten a screenshot of any pokemon in the wild which is odd, but I can't help, but hold some doubt. I would actually be disappointed if some of the pokemon were fake.

 

[PageEmp]

This has to be a joke. Honestly? I think the revealing cycle for gen8 was spot on. We get the games announced, then we get big info showing off new mons, gyms, and basic stuff we need to know, and then small info every month until the big leak. I know I have a massive unpopular opinion, but I don't care, the way the news had been handled so far was perfect.

 

[Inkwriter]

I guess I was spoiled by the sheer amount of information preceeding XY, when there was seemingly endless things to talk about. Even something as simple as diagonal motion was pretty new to the series at the time. I would have expected something more... exciting, I suppose, given that the Switch is pretty much Nintendo's hottest console now and Pokémon is such a huge franchise.