Writing in Pokémon Games

[Mab]

I think it's no secret that the writing in Pokémon has had its ups and downs, but in general it's not exactly what anyone would call stellar or even particularly innovative. While some newer games have been mixing things up a bit, many games use the cookie cutter Gym Challenge, Evil Team Seeks Legendary storyline adapted to a different region.

And I can say personally, it's really starting to affect my enjoyment. I care about storyline maybe more than most players, but seeing the games return to their most basic template plot in SwSh after finally mixing it up a little with the Aether twist and the Island Trials in the Alola games. It wasn't much, but it was something. It is a kids game after all, so maybe my expectations are higher than they should be, but I think we can all name kids media with better writing than this.

So anyways this isn't a rant thread I was just wondering... how does everyone feel about the writing? Do you like it? If you're like me, what kind of things would you do to improve it? Or do you think it's fine the way it is? Does plot even matter in Pokémon games? That doesn't seem to be what's attracting most people, after all.

 

[pkmin3033]

Wait...what writing?

Seriously, this is one thing that Pokemon as a series really needs - a competent writer. Because it's certainly never had one. They've been recycling the exact same plot they used in Gen III for every single gen since Gen III, and it wasn't particularly creative or well-written at the time of its inception. I don't think anyone really plays Pokemon for its narrative...but that might be because it doesn't really HAVE any sort of recognisable narrative. I play a lot of niche JRPGs, so I know what bad writing looks like, and Pokemon? Pokemon has them all beat. It's not only poorly-written, it's boring as well, and that's a pretty damnable trait in text and cutscenes that you can't skip through. The plot is the same thing every single time, the NPCs are one-dimensional and never undergo any kind of development, and compared to other JRPGs on the market it's obscenely bad. If any other series tried to pull this kind of stunt it'd get critically flayed and ridiculed.

If narrative is not important to a video game, then it shouldn't have one, or shouldn't force you to sit through it. Honestly, I'd just remove it. The games would be so much better for it. It needs either removing completely or changing completely. Because there is absolutely nothing good about it now, and there hasn't been since Pokemon Emerald. Occasionally mixing up the order of events and renaming things that are fundamentally the exact same as they were the previous game does not constitute actual change.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Most NPC's (Gym Leaders, etc.) have become more generic and less interesting. Legendary/antagonistic organization plots have become more bizarre and nonsensical. Sw/Sh made the latter worse by literally shoehorning the entire thing in at the last minute. Teams have become less threatening and more comic relief buffoons.

But the "rivals." FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, THE "RIVALS." The characters that you're forced to interact with the most have become some of the most horribly written characters, not only in the franchise, but in video games in general. Bottom feeder trash like Shauna, Calem, and Hop don't even act like typical kids. At best, they act like kids who have been repeatedly dropped on their heads. Someone at Game Freak is writing the dialogue for these awful excuses for characters, and they need to be stopped before they unleash another atrocity upon the gaming world who's somehow even worse than Hop.

Pokemon needs to take some risks. A rival who's antagonistic (or at the very least, isn't some overly friendly and clingy buddy who needs to constantly stalk you.) An organization that's actually a credible threat to the region, and that doesn't self-destruct because of the members making stupid mistakes. Gym Leaders and League officials who are double agents. Sw/Sh tried the "leave the dangerous stuff to the adults" route, and it backfired since everything plot-related felt tacked on at the last minute. Let's not do that again - a cohesive game plot has to build up over the course of the game, not hit the player all at once coming out of left field.

I have my doubts any of these changes are going to happen with Game Freak's current scenario/character writing team, though. After all, these are the writers who thought the personality and dialogue of freaking HOP was acceptable.

 

[Nah]

I'd like to see a Pokemon game with a well-written story, but I've given up on that ever happening. So at the very least I just want them to go with a different plot structure for once, and would like to think that there's a still a chance they could do at least that. "Beat Gyms, legendary get, stop evil team/person" is obviously stale and has been for a while.

It's probably not a priority for the developers or the fanbase at large (those of us who give a shit about the story are almost certainly a minority) though since Pokemon originally never had anything remotely resembling a plot, and so story quality has not been an expectation or draw or core part of the series since its creation.

 

[Nanusmightyena]

I think it's no secret that the writing in Pokémon has had its ups and downs, but in general it's not exactly what anyone would call stellar or even particularly innovative. While some newer games have been mixing things up a bit, many games use the cookie cutter Gym Challenge, Evil Team Seeks Legendary storyline adapted to a different region.

And I can say personally, it's really starting to affect my enjoyment. I care about storyline maybe more than most players, but seeing the games return to their most basic template plot in SwSh after finally mixing it up a little with the Aether twist and the Island Trials in the Alola games. It wasn't much, but it was something. It is a kids game after all, so maybe my expectations are higher than they should be, but I think we can all name kids media with better writing than this.

So anyways this isn't a rant thread I was just wondering... how does everyone feel about the writing? Do you like it? If you're like me, what kind of things would you do to improve it? Or do you think it's fine the way it is? Does plot even matter in Pokémon games? That doesn't seem to be what's attracting most people, after all.

I agree with this, I play the game for the story as well. The only game with a decent story that wasn't super cookie cutter was Sun/Moon. I thought they were making strides with the story in that game. It kinda makes me sad to see that they went back with the same redundant formula in Sword/Shield.

 

[Zeostar]

It's lighthearted. I don't have high expectations for story, but if they want to try and make one like they did with Gen 7 then that's okay too. Otherwise I'll just have fun building and spending time with a team I make. If I want story I'll play Xenogears or Final Fantasy. It's sort of like choosing a genre of a movie for me.

NPC's are amusing to me, and again very lighthearted. I enjoy reading the comments they make. I just wish I could track which ones I've spoken with.

 

[colours]

eh.

writing in Pokemon games has always been.... odd. like, the larger plot would be the same, because it's the same ol' "beat 8 Gyms and become Champion, and by the way save the world from this evil team", but yet the writing quality as far as individual characters go would range from pretty decent to bad, which changes depending on who you talk to. in Gen 7, for example, some people may argue Lillie is very annoying, while some other people may be a fan of her character and find her "get in the bag" thing endearing. another example is Barry. some may find his jokes about fining the player a bit funny, some others may find it excessive but regardless, it became the foundation of his character. where writing individual characters goes wrong is when the player doesn't get a chance to develop any sort of opinion at all about a particular character due to lack of exposure and/or a lack of a personality. Diantha is the most prominent example i can think of, becoming champion of Kalos and nobody knows what makes her exactly noteworthy. iirc she didnt help out against Team Flare.

i think where Game Freak can improve on is overall plot because they most certainly can go for something that's less tried and true, but it can also be argued that plot was never something that was Pokemon's strength to begin with. this is not to excuse poor plot writing when it occurs, but Pokemon games has always relied on interactivity with other players (battling, trading, breeding Pokes to trade/battle etc), so plot really is kind of a small piece of the overall picture, for better or for worse.

 

[HeroLinik]

but seeing the games return to their most basic template plot in SwSh after finally mixing it up a little with the Aether twist

The Aether plot twist wasn't very well-executed, if anything. It was pretty apparent that you knew that they weren't what they seemed. The intro cutscene shows Lillie escaping from some Aether grunts, and they were sporting evil slasher smiles. When you get to Aether Paradise for the first time, everyone seems friendly, and you know something can't be right. When the Nihilego appears, Lusamine takes interest, which foreshadows the second visit, along with Lillie not wanting to go to Aether, because as soon as you visit, you'll know it's the place she escaped from in the intro.

As for plot in games, really, I don't really see a concern. This is Pokemon that we're talking about, and Pokemon games typically have awful plots. The games tend to focus more on world-building rather than telling a story, and it should stay like this. If the games tried to go story-heavy like the previous generation, there would be unanimous complaints that the story "gets in the way" and there'd also be people hating the fact that there are "too many cutscenes". If I wanted a story game, I'd just play Final Fantasy or something.

Pokemon is, at its heart, a social game. People play it to trade/battle with others, and will often see the story as a deterrent/obstacle that gets in the way of what they really want to do with the game.