Non fans are ridiculing it for sure but the overall consensus I’ve heard from pokemon fans, whether on the internet or from friends, are that they are enjoying the game.
And the sales numbers speak for themselves.
I think its a matter of those that put up with it will stay, those upset enough will leave. I am not going to bother to engage with discussion of the game on the pokemon subreddit for example, but someone who still enjoys the game is more likely to. Similar to when internet personalities have a controversy, anyone turned off by it will leave and the resulting fanbase after the fact will likely put up with much more.
Just finished the game or rather the game up until the credits.
Thought it was decently fun. Not as good as SV but still above SWSH.
I find that it is easier to get caught up in the negativity when you don’t play the games but just engage with social media where the majority don’t actually play it either. I used to comment on stuff as well without playing and since my only entry point were leaked/datamined sprites or secondhand descriptions, it was always going to be negatively biased.
I’m not saying graphics should be excused, but apart from the 2d texture buildings, it looks excellent. The few buildings that can be entered look great. And on that note, I too would like more interactive buildings but at the same time, what would they be for?
There are tonnes of side missions which fulfil the same purpose except without having to go into a load screen hundreds of times. It would be Game Freak’s responsibility of course to be able to make a game/environment/world that can justify doing so besides the ornate purposes.
But perhaps I’m more of a Pokemon fan than a gamer. My comparison is that previous games had barely any houses in every town/city. They were tiny and needed it whereas here they have hundreds of people that you can interact with or that drop the same lines as they would before just out in the open.
I’m sure there are other games that take place in cities that allow you to go into every room or building or at least a lot more than PLZA does, so I’m not excusing it, but I think it’s more a question of does it serve the game to do so? What kind of game would it be? Probably an entirely different kind of game than what they were making here, for better or worse.
What graphics can never overcome is whether you have fun at the end of the day. It’s like a movie filled with CGI action. It can all look brilliant but if the story/journey is shit, no one cares. And I had fun, so to me it was good.
I had a similar thought when I first saw this criticism. Personally, as I was playing I was so focused on exploring and catching/training Pokemon that I think the entering/exiting each store would have slowed my pace to the point where I probably would have skipped on customizing my character as much as I did. I don’t think having to sit through two loading screens (one for entering and one for exiting) per store just to get to the same menu
is worth the time. I would rather make my purchases real quick and be on my way.
However, I completely understand why people wanted this. I think this feature would have made Lumiouse City feel even more alive. Especially when you compare to X&Y where you could enter the store and see all of the clothing displayed. It doesn’t really add much as far as gameplay but it does make you feel like you’re part of the world.
I am not a corporate bootlicker but I need people to remember that overall company size and growth doesn’t translate to their game development department getting a huge budget. The bulk of the Pokémon company revenues at this point come from merchandise. They also make a decent amount of money on TV rights. If you knew you could make money hand over foot as long as you kept pumping out content just good enough to not alienate your fans, why would you invest more?
People point to BotW and TotK because it’s the same platform and like yea those games are incredible - they have no choice other than to be
Of course it doesn’t. But as much as people love to say ‘well it’s a business’, this completely ignores the fact that these type of business ventures are run on artists creating things. As much as I understand the reality of how these corporate machines are run. I will never accept ‘Well, we didn’t have to spend it so we didn’t.’ as an excuse for poor work.
Which is driven by the video games and always has been. Pokemon needs to keep releasing video games in order for the merchandise to sell. It’d be like a farmer saying ‘Well I don’t need to invest in the soil, because selling the vegetables is what makes me the money’.
You are 100% correct from a corporate money perspective, which is what any large company becomes. But I find this sort of thought process to be exceedingly cynical. We are all to blame for this type of thing being normal now. A company shouldn’t be able to release product that is JUST passable enough to let people excuse the glaring issues. But, capitalism rah rah rah.
I’m enjoying it so far. The storyline is engaging, the interiors (while few) are charming and I like how they make use of the rooftops. Echoing what others have said about a lack of an underground - a Metro would have made more sense over the few taxis in the city. Just have it connect to the main station.
Finding it fun to skip the quests for a while and play tourist. Helping out with a rogue mega evolution battle? Nah I’m getting coffee with my chikorita and shopping for better pants. Battling in the Z-A Royale? Been out all day so I’m going back to the hotel to sleep.
The pokemon company dosen’t necessarily have to release games as much anymore (I know it’s stupid, but heres the reason why)
The pokemon company is making a ton of money off pokemon cards now, and with the pokemon boom, pokemon games are no longer top dog. Selling merchandise has nothing to do with JUST their games, but more as appreciation for the pokemon itself. They have created something in which everyone has a favorite character, and they appeal to a lot of people simply by makng merchandise to fit the pokemon.
The soil isn’t just pokemon games anymore, it’s the pokemon card game + the games in the soil that produce the pokemon collectors and the merchandise. Pokemon games simply aren’t the sole part of the equation anymore
I agree with the point, but disagree with the analogy. It’s a bit more like two different farmers with one having very small plot (the other nintendo titles) and the other having a huge plot (tpci). The small plot better be immaculate because they really have no other choice, but the larger plot farmer can literally afford to be more lax on investing in the soil because of their scale. To that point, I’m not saying they’re “excused” for making a mediocre game, I’m saying every game to me has been fun enough despite the flaws, and I think a lot of people who don’t like the recent games (since like USUM basically) actually just don’t like what Pokémon games are offering. Which is a perfectly fine opinion! If you want a graphically stellar game, tears of the kingdom exists. Star ocean 6 exists. Assassins creed exists.
Getting the shiny charm in this game is so unnecessarily tedious. You need to get to level 50 in Professor Mable’s research which does NOT require you to do every single research task. However, you MUST complete the level 15 battle research task in order to have enough points to get to level 50. This task requires you to participate in 1000 battles. If you do every other task except this one, you will be 100 points shy from leveling to 50.
I have been thoroughly playing the game, almost done with all post game stuff and I’m sitting at about 700 battles. This includes a lot of grinding I’ve already done at Restaurant Le Wow to rack up my battle count.
The other games just require you to finish the Pokedex in order to get the charm. The Pokedex is smaller in this game and it doesn’t require you to complete research tasks for each Pokemon like Legends Arceus but I think if you do every other task (which already includes doing 500 battles) you should get the charm.
Just want to drop a note that it’s valid to hold two seemingly conflicting thoughts at once: be critical of certain aspects, and enjoy the game. The internet often has us feeling zero sum, but it really isn’t.
I’m really enjoying it. I love the new battle system, and while it’s not perfect/clunky in some ways, I see it as a successful experiment. If they continue with future games, I’d love if they slowed it down a bit and removed or reduced player movement in favor of more control and mental bandwidth for Pokémon movement and strategy. I don’t really need to be moving around the battlefield. However, when you read the battle correctly and nail the combination of moves you need, it feels great.
My main criticisms are not around how much you can see and do – I really don’t need a bunch of filler content, empty rooms and the like. Maybe some more to explore? But my main criticism is just the level of detail in what’s there. It’s Paris, after all – European cities are so “lived in,” every corner has been adapted and rounded out to fit life. Stone walls, plants spilling over them, ornate architecture with depth – these are things I do think would add richness to the game. Maybe 10-15% more explorable areas.
Other than that, loving it. The music is awesome, I only wish there were more of it.
I am feeling this as well! My only critique here is that so many battle themes are incredible but battles are often fast paced and don’t give you time to enjoy the theme.
The Hotel Z theme is fantastic and I love all the remixes from XY. Sad we don’t get a lot of the route/city themes though. I want my Pokeball Factory/Power Plant remix!
You have ample things to do in a pokemon city for the first time in a franchise. Sure, maybe not inside the buildings themselves, but the outside world of Lumiose is so much fun to interact with. I’m incredibly excited to see how they (hopefully) combine cities that have things to do (lol) with the open world system that Scarlet/Violet did very well with imo (but their cities sucked).
The real time battle system is incredibly fun and has a lot of potential to be built on, especially given that Champions will probably be the home to the old turn-based competitive battle system
The story is solid for a pokemon game. Love the re-introduction to old characters and other call backs. I wish Pokemon did more of that.
Most of the new megas are cool imho. Love Mega Dragonite.
Runs smooth af on my switch 2
Great music, per usual.
Cons
Although there’s a lot to do in the city, it (the outer world) looks pretty ugly. Same complaint for pokemon that most have had since the game went 3D tbh.
Wild zones are pretty mid in regards to being the ONLY primary way to catch pokemon in a video game. Now, if a new Gen game brings back wild zones just for some urban/city areas, while still having the open world aspect for routes, then that’s totally fine
I really like it. I really liked Scarlet and Violet as well despite its frame rate issues and also Arceus. Sword and Shield were meh and Sun & Moon were as well. I think Game Freak has been definitely been going in the positive direction for the last few games and I’m excited how they combine aspects from A-Z and from Sc/Violet in the next main new Gen game.
