Generation VI: The Future

[thatdude53]

@thatdude53;

I think people get confused easily. Pokemon could have had DLC. GF choose not to build the games' engine to allow DLC. It was probably too much at once. I'm not saying they're incompetent, but they specifically choose not to for many various reasons.

The reason Masuda gave was that he didn't want to release an incomplete game. Not only is that a canned PR response, but its also a very backhanded comment to franchises like Mario Kart, SSB, and Fire Emblem--all games that used DLC and released complete games. Those three I mentioned, nothing is missed if you don't have the DLC, yet buying the DLC adds to the experience.

What Masuda gave was a cop-out and an insult to his colleagues who knew how to do better. He and Game Freak either thinks so little of the possibility of DLC or was just lazy--neither one bodes well for the company.

And most of those were released after XY. I think maybe GF wanted to see how other developers and companies handled DLC in their way before they tried it out for themselves. Before it was unheard of, but now it's way more accepted and done right the best examples being Splatoon and Mario Kart 8. GF has never done new things first. They are sort of like the rest of Nintendo in their way of thinking taking something new and doing it in an improved way with a new and interesting spin on it.

One day it will happen just not this generation.

 

[The Infidel]

@thatdude53;

I think people get confused easily. Pokemon could have had DLC. GF choose not to build the games' engine to allow DLC. It was probably too much at once. I'm not saying they're incompetent, but they specifically choose not to for many various reasons.

The reason Masuda gave was that he didn't want to release an incomplete game. Not only is that a canned PR response, but its also a very backhanded comment to franchises like Mario Kart, SSB, and Fire Emblem--all games that used DLC and released complete games. Those three I mentioned, nothing is missed if you don't have the DLC, yet buying the DLC adds to the experience.

What Masuda gave was a cop-out and an insult to his colleagues who knew how to do better. He and Game Freak either thinks so little of the possibility of DLC or was just lazy--neither one bodes well for the company.

I think the answer is laziness, I dont like Masuda, as a fan of Pokemon, I get the feeling he doesn't like me.

I think Masuda is tired and wants to churn out the same thing every time.

"Shall we do DLC, nah let's just leave the games empty and incompatible"
"Shall we programme in the Hoenn Battle frontier, nah let's just copy and paste the Maison we already did, and say people don't want BF"
"ok how about key items to go to an area and catch event legends, nah we. will just distribute the legend itself, saves time"

I don't really see the problem in general. Why would GF, if they could, patch all of the new ORAS data onto XY? What's the point? I don't blame them for not trying to. If you want the new content, just get the new game. It's hardly different than saying Gen 4 should have been patched with all the new Gen 5 stuff. Is it within a generation? Yes. But who cares? If someone really cares about compatibility with the newest games, they can go get the newest game. And if there's some reason they can't, then oh well. It would be stupid and pointless of GF to take the time and effort, however large or small, to put ORAS content on XY. As soon as ORAS came out, XY were outdated. That is that. It's no different than any other step forward in gaming, whether it be software or hardware. Once they have advanced forward, players must also advance forward if they want to continue. I personally think GF not giving a shit about updating XY is a good step forward. It shows they are more focused on the future. They are opening up to more new content mid-generation. I think this is all good.

Not pointing this at anyone, but just in general, it bugs me when people are stuck in the past like this. It's like when a friend of mine asked me if XY could be played on the Nintendo DS, and he was upset and said it was dumb when I said "No, they're exclusive to the 3DS. The DS is old hardware. The move from the DS to the 3DS is no different than the GBA to the DS, or with RSE on GBA to DP on DS." If people like him were in charge, we'd rarely move forward. And if companies like GF moved forward while also making old games forwards compatible to the new stuff, less people would buy into them. Making old games forward compatible through updating would be a waste of their time and money, and would be a completely idiotic business decision and a slowing of new innovation and ideas. Updating XY with the new ORAS content would only hurt GF, if anything. And it's pointless anyway. If you want to keep playing Pokemon and be compatible with everyone else, get the new game. This is another reason I always get sick and tired of people complaining every time we enter a new Generation of Pokemon or a new console generation, and there are always people complaining about the technology moving forward without them.

Well there's a big difference between a new generation and a new game inside a generation.

Of course no one is suggesting they should have put all the Black/White characters in Diamon and Pearl for example, the games were 4 years old at that point.
But in Generation 3 and 4 itself, all games were compatible within their gens. HGSS was perfectly compatible with Diamond and Pearl, apart from Spike Ear. FRLG and Emerald, perfectly compatible with Ruby and Sapphire, did those decisions harm Game Freak, no.

Game Freak has already learnt its lesson once about making games compatible, they received a harsh backlash in Gen 3 when we couldnt bring our mons over from Gen 2, now they do make every gen since allow for migration from the previous gen, but even here they are slipping, ie charging for bank now instead of it being free like pal park.

I think its pretty reasonable to expect the game you bought in 2014, to be compatible with the game you bought late 2013.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I think the answer is laziness, I dont like Masuda, as a fan of Pokemon, I get the feeling he doesn't like me.

I think Masuda is tired and wants to churn out the same thing every time.

"Shall we do DLC, nah let's just leave the games empty and incompatible"
"Shall we programme in the Hoenn Battle frontier, nah let's just copy and paste the Maison we already did, and say people don't want BF"
"ok how about key items to go to an area and catch event legends, nah we. will just distribute the legend itself, saves time"

I'm not sure it's really laziness. He seems to be very obsessed with mobile mentality and believes casuals are the end all be all of the industry, and so he designs the games entirely around what they would want and ignores everyone else's needs beyond shallow fanservice. Either way, it comes off as very ignorant.

 

[Quetsol Melt]

I think the answer is laziness, I dont like Masuda, as a fan of Pokemon, I get the feeling he doesn't like me.

I think Masuda is tired and wants to churn out the same thing every time.

"Shall we do DLC, nah let's just leave the games empty and incompatible"
"Shall we programme in the Hoenn Battle frontier, nah let's just copy and paste the Maison we already did, and say people don't want BF"
"ok how about key items to go to an area and catch event legends, nah we. will just distribute the legend itself, saves time"

I'm not sure it's really laziness. He seems to be very obsessed with mobile mentality and believes casuals are the end all be all of the industry, and so he designs the games entirely around what they would want and ignores everyone else's needs beyond shallow fanservice. Either way, it comes off as very ignorant.

Its one of the reasons why I'd like to see him step down as head Honchkrow. It'd be nice to see what someone else could bring to the franchise.

 

[godiego]

I'm not sure it's really laziness. He seems to be very obsessed with mobile mentality and believes casuals are the end all be all of the industry, and so he designs the games entirely around what they would want and ignores everyone else's needs beyond shallow fanservice. Either way, it comes off as very ignorant.

it certainly is somewhat ignorant, but i also don't think he was incredibly off the mark. though there are games that do exist in completion and use DLC as more of a supplement, i'm fairly certain that those games are the exception rather than the rule. i think at this point in time (or at least whenever he said that), there are significantly more games that use paid DLC as a way of squeezing out more money and the excuse for releasing an incomplete game.

additionally, i don't know what it is with gamers having a stick up their ass about "casuals." like it or not, Masuda is not wrong with his attitudes towards them. depending on how you define it, casuals occupy a significant (if not the largest portion) of the video game consumerbase. and importantly, these players are the ones you have to convince to buy your game. they aren't likely to preorder it, they're likely to see it stopping in at a GameStop (or whatever) while shopping and having to decide between Mario Kart and Pokemon X. more hardcore gamers and especially the competitive ones, naturally keep up and have better brand/series loyalty.

"Shall we programme in the Hoenn Battle frontier, nah let's just copy and paste the Maison we already did, and say people don't want BF"
"ok how about key items to go to an area and catch event legends, nah we. will just distribute the legend itself, saves time"

to be fair, the only place i see people wanting the Battle Frontier is in online communities and those people aren't the most casual players. and then let's face it, the Battle Frontier isn't a place for casual playing. your playthrough team, for the most part, isn't going to cut it. though i do think it's a bit silly they decided to cut it despite Gen VI's immense improvements to breeding (now just a big waste of time instead of a huge waste of time!), it's not like Masuda is wrong when he says that people didn't want it.

i don't think the general phasing out of Event Key Items is a function of laziness so much as maximizing customer happiness. i mean, the unreleased Arceus event (Azure Flute) has it at level 80 knowing Hyper Beam, Refresh, Recover, and Future Sight on top of a catch rate of 3. trying to catch that, at least to me, does not read as fun. you have to get to a pointlessly high level, take a massive beating while fighting it, and then basically throw Pokeballs at it until the RNG gods bless you. undeniably there's a rush of adrenaline when you finally catch it, but it fades fast and then you're over it. not to mention what would happen if you accidentally had the event Pokemon faint or unexpectedly run out of balls. similar to above, disappointing, but not completely out of line.

but that's all just me.

 

[The Infidel]

@thatdude53;

I think people get confused easily. Pokemon could have had DLC. GF choose not to build the games' engine to allow DLC. It was probably too much at once. I'm not saying they're incompetent, but they specifically choose not to for many various reasons.

The reason Masuda gave was that he didn't want to release an incomplete game. Not only is that a canned PR response, but its also a very backhanded comment to franchises like Mario Kart, SSB, and Fire Emblem--all games that used DLC and released complete games. Those three I mentioned, nothing is missed if you don't have the DLC, yet buying the DLC adds to the experience.

What Masuda gave was a cop-out and an insult to his colleagues who knew how to do better. He and Game Freak either thinks so little of the possibility of DLC or was just lazy--neither one bodes well for the company.

it certainly is somewhat ignorant, but i also don't think he was incredibly off the mark. though there are games that do exist in completion and use DLC as more of a supplement, i'm fairly certain that those games are the exception rather than the rule. i think at this point in time (or at least whenever he said that), there are significantly more games that use paid DLC as a way of squeezing out more money and the excuse for releasing an incomplete game.

additionally, i don't know what it is with gamers having a stick up their ass about "casuals." like it or not, Masuda is not wrong with his attitudes towards them. depending on how you define it, casuals occupy a significant (if not the largest portion) of the video game consumerbase. and importantly, these players are the ones you have to convince to buy your game. they aren't likely to preorder it, they're likely to see it stopping in at a GameStop (or whatever) while shopping and having to decide between Mario Kart and Pokemon X. more hardcore gamers and especially the competitive ones, naturally keep up and have better brand/series loyalty.

"Shall we programme in the Hoenn Battle frontier, nah let's just copy and paste the Maison we already did, and say people don't want BF"
"ok how about key items to go to an area and catch event legends, nah we. will just distribute the legend itself, saves time"

to be fair, the only place i see people wanting the Battle Frontier is in online communities and those people aren't the most casual players. and then let's face it, the Battle Frontier isn't a place for casual playing. your playthrough team, for the most part, isn't going to cut it. though i do think it's a bit silly they decided to cut it despite Gen VI's immense improvements to breeding (now just a big waste of time instead of a huge waste of time!), it's not like Masuda is wrong when he says that people didn't want it.

i don't think the general phasing out of Event Key Items is a function of laziness so much as maximizing customer happiness. i mean, the unreleased Arceus event (Azure Flute) has it at level 80 knowing Hyper Beam, Refresh, Recover, and Future Sight on top of a catch rate of 3. trying to catch that, at least to me, does not read as fun. you have to get to a pointlessly high level, take a massive beating while fighting it, and then basically throw Pokeballs at it until the RNG gods bless you. undeniably there's a rush of adrenaline when you finally catch it, but it fades fast and then you're over it. not to mention what would happen if you accidentally had the event Pokemon faint or unexpectedly run out of balls. similar to above, disappointing, but not completely out of line.

but that's all just me.

It's not just picking between casuals and hardcores, theres actually a lot in between. I myself own every single main series game released so i guess that makes me hardcore, but i dont really bother with iv breeding.

His task is a balancing act he has to appeal to the broadest group possible. Adding things like BF and Arceus at the end of a game does appeal to the hardcore fans, and improves their happiness, but I fail to see how removing them boosts the impression from the casuals? Do casuals really say, well i enjoyed this game, but then at the end there was bonus content so I went right off it? Largely if they werent interested in BF they wouldnt play it true, but it wouldnt harm their perception either. No one counts additional content as a negative. BUT people expecting that content do see it as a negative when its not there. So Masuda upset one group of fans, but didn't gain any support from this casual mobile group he covets either.

I agree things like breeding and ev training needed to be simplified and he's done a good job there, but adding in features to help you is very different to removing content.

I don't know if your a fan of the Zelda series, but the Majoras Mask remake had some brilliant tools for making the game quicker, ie you didnt have to wait around so much, but they still kept and even added all the content, they didnt just scrap the final dungeon and say, actually this is enough.

 

[Bolt Strike]

it certainly is somewhat ignorant, but i also don't think he was incredibly off the mark. though there are games that do exist in completion and use DLC as more of a supplement, i'm fairly certain that those games are the exception rather than the rule. i think at this point in time (or at least whenever he said that), there are significantly more games that use paid DLC as a way of squeezing out more money and the excuse for releasing an incomplete game.

It feels a little hypocritical for him to worry about incomplete games when this generation has consisted of the most lacking game we've seen in over 10 years and a remake that was lacking major features of the originals and most of its new additions were shallow fanservice. If he's worried about not making an incomplete game, he should start there. There's no need to worry about incompleteness after that because then everything else is a bonus.

additionally, i don't know what it is with gamers having a stick up their ass about "casuals." like it or not, Masuda is not wrong with his attitudes towards them. depending on how you define it, casuals occupy a significant (if not the largest portion) of the video game consumerbase. and importantly, these players are the ones you have to convince to buy your game. they aren't likely to preorder it, they're likely to see it stopping in at a GameStop (or whatever) while shopping and having to decide between Mario Kart and Pokemon X. more hardcore gamers and especially the competitive ones, naturally keep up and have better brand/series loyalty.

The problem is that he's going full on towards the casuals and doing virtually nothing for the hardcore. I wouldn't have much of a problem if the games were focused on casuals but still accomodated hardcore players, but he unnecessarily turns it into an either-or scenario. There's several things that they could do to make the games more hardcore friendly without compromising their casual audience like multiple difficulty modes and more optional content that aren't being considered. It's the inflexibility of the recent games that bothers people, they force you to put up with the casual elements of the series now and that limits the appeal.

 

[The Outrage]

The problem is that he's going full on towards the casuals and doing virtually nothing for the hardcore. I wouldn't have much of a problem if the games were focused on casuals but still accomodated hardcore players, but he unnecessarily turns it into an either-or scenario. There's several things that they could do to make the games more hardcore friendly without compromising their casual audience like multiple difficulty modes and more optional content that aren't being considered. It's the inflexibility of the recent games that bothers people, they force you to put up with the casual elements of the series now and that limits the appeal.

We've been through this song-and-dance before, and like I've said, everything that people bring up that makes the game "more casual" also facilitates the "hardcore" (read: competitive battling) aspect of it. There's never been anything hardcore about the in-game campaign, by making it easier, and adding things like Lucky Egg, EXP All, and Horde EV Training/Super Training it gets competitive battlers from 0 badges to having a usable wifi team in less than a month's time of "casual" play even if you start from scratch.

I'm not really sure what you're calling hardcore, but in Pokemon, its not playing the main story (like it would be in Fire Emblem). Its competitive battling. And this generation has gone to great lengths to ensure that we can battle competitively with our cartridges rather than resorting to whatever online simulator Smogon uses now.

I guess the questions that I should have been asking are:

1) What exactly do you consider "hardcore"

2) Do you even battle competitively? Because everything people have listed regarding the game getting easier has actually made it easier to do competitive battles by cutting down on the tedium tenfold.

Repetitive tasks =/= difficult. It simply means you have more time than others. In a "hardcore" or "competitive" game, you should be tested on skill, not how much free time you had to breed 6 IV Pokemon (which in the past would take hundreds of hours, now, it could take mere minutes with the equivalent tools)

And most of those were released after XY. I think maybe GF wanted to see how other developers and companies handled DLC in their way before they tried it out for themselves. Before it was unheard of, but now it's way more accepted and done right the best examples being Splatoon and Mario Kart 8. GF has never done new things first. They are sort of like the rest of Nintendo in their way of thinking taking something new and doing it in an improved way with a new and interesting spin on it.

One day it will happen just not this generation.

It was unheard of for Nintendo because the systems couldn't handle it up to this point. And you're just echoing the point I made. Game Freak used to be a trailblazer, using things like Link Cable when very few games knew what to do with it, and when the connection wasn't available, created their own online scene with the Pokemon Mobile System GB.

Game Freak isn't the daring company it used to be, and I think its because they know they can literally rehash the same things and make equivalent money. Thank Arceus Yokai-Watch is encroaching on its territory--they might actually dare to be different.

EDIT: And Fire Emblem came out a year before XY and two years before ORAS. They already had a prime example of a franchise that literally rose from the ashes and properly utilized DLC. Its not as if Awakening was some indie game that would have flown under the radar.

ORAS itself was begging for a Battle Frontier DLC, especially with how the Chatelaines mentioned that they would soon leave Battle Resort and sell it off to make a Battle Frontier. Yeah, maybe they didn't have time to fully program the Frontier, but that's what DLC would have been good for. And the best part? If there's no DLC, then the game just defaults to the original Battle Resort!

Yet all we got was Game Freak teasing us with NPC's going "Yeah, there's going to be a Battle Frontier...BUT NOT IN THIS GAME!"

 

[Bolt Strike]

@The Outrage; I don't battle competitively at all, I'm just looking for a deep, explorable game with a lot of content and an appropriate difficulty in the main game (i.e. not as mindlessly easy as it is now, but not as rage inducingly difficult as the battle facilities tend to be). There's been a definite trend towards making shallower experiences and sterilizing everything to remove anything that could possibly be considering difficult, and that is a ridiculous extreme.

 

[The Outrage]

@The Outrage; I don't battle competitively at all, I'm just looking for a deep, explorable game with a lot of content and an appropriate difficulty in the main game (i.e. not as mindlessly easy as it is now, but not as rage inducingly difficult as the battle facilities tend to be). There's been a definite trend towards making shallower experiences and sterilizing everything to remove anything that could possibly be considering difficult, and that is a ridiculous extreme.

I don't really see how a casual gamer, especially one that pays $40 for a game, wouldn't appreciate more exploration, but the distinction you draw between "casual" and "hardcore" players are off. Many people would probably peg you as casual based on how you play as well.

I guess if anything, Game Freak is polarizing in their approach, leaving very little for those in the middle (e.g., you, and me depending on what I'm interested in)

 

[godiego]

disclaimer: this post was written two hours ago, a little dated. #sorryboutit

It feels a little hypocritical for him to worry about incomplete games when this generation has consisted of the most lacking game we've seen in over 10 years and a remake that was lacking major features of the originals and most of its new additions were shallow fanservice. If he's worried about not making an incomplete game, he should start there. There's no need to worry about incompleteness after that because then everything else is a bonus.

i don't necessarily think it's hypocritical; after all, though XYORAS perhaps can be considered "incomplete," GameFreak has neither released DLC to rectify it nor does it appear that this decision was wholly conscious (ie., they knew the game wasn't finished and willfully released it without disclosing this and then effectively ramp the game's price from $40 to $80 through DLC).

The problem is that he's going full on towards the casuals and doing virtually nothing for the hardcore. I wouldn't have much of a problem if the games were focused on casuals but still accomodated hardcore players, but he unnecessarily turns it into an either-or scenario. There's several things that they could do to make the games more hardcore friendly without compromising their casual audience like multiple difficulty modes and more optional content that aren't being considered. It's the inflexibility of the recent games that bothers people, they force you to put up with the casual elements of the series now and that limits the appeal.

The Outrage largely beat me to this, so i'll try to keep it short. Battle facilities and online battles are the true "hardcore" aspects of the series. it is irksome, at least to me, that hardcore players of Pokemon always seem to play off of a victim complex because Pokemon, frankly, is a casual game. in terms of the main campaign i don't think there's any way to salvage it for a "hardcore" player, short of actually making the trainers have competent AI and movesets as well as making boss AI actually smart and having competitive movesets, which also has the potential to backfire.

@Azuro; i'm sorry, i wrote a much more expanded version for you, however i then inadvertently copied something over it. i'll try to give you the short version.

while the Battle Frontier and Arceus do appeal to the hardcore community, there is no appeal to the casual community and it appears as something that is just off-limits to them completely. i used a hypothetical in which if you caught all 150 Pokemon in RBY and then beat the Elite 4 50 times you would trigger an encounter with Mew. cherry on top is that after you have all 151 Pokemon, you would be able to battle the elusive Professor Oak. it's not the best example, but something similar did happen in ORAS: to open up rebattles with Wally post-game, you have to successfully have a 50-battle streak in the Battle Maison. this is effectively off-limits or at least fairly far out of reach for most casual players despite the breeding changes (which, while lovely, still require a fair initial "investment" (ie., Dittos, know-how, Pokerus spreaders, etc.)).

however, i do think with the breeding changes GameFreak should've given the Battle Frontier another whirl. and i do think that there is a lot more in common between casual and hardcore Pokemon players than most people think. and i do agree that GameFreak has made some missteps in trying to strike a balance between the two. that being said, i do think they're trying their best and i think the exclusion of some more "intense" features is not egregious and pandering to casuals as some more hardcore players think, and i strongly disagree with anyone who thinks that Masuda's statement about the mobile market(/casual market) is wrong.

 

[TheMonster6893]

Maybe they will finally realize in Gen VII that there is such a thing as DLC and it is indeed the way to go. I would have loved to restart my XY with the new Megas added in.

i don't think GameFreak (& co.) are unaware of the existence of DLC; as i recall it was an active decision to not patch-in the new Megas to XY. that being said, i don't mind DLC so long as it's done tastefully.

Yeah it's been said a few times by I want to say Masuda that they would prefer to stay away from any kind of dlc. While it may b very possible hardware and software wise, it's ultimately up to them as to when or even if there will ever b dlc in the series. I kno for sure they said they never want to do paid dlc so that's one thing I guess lol

 

[Bolt Strike]

I don't really see how a casual gamer, especially one that pays $40 for a game, wouldn't appreciate more exploration, but the distinction you draw between "casual" and "hardcore" players are off. Many people would probably peg you as casual based on how you play as well.

I guess if anything, Game Freak is polarizing in their approach, leaving very little for those in the middle (e.g., you, and me depending on what I'm interested in)

That's because Game Freak is defining casuals based on mobile mentality, gamers that play games in short bursts, usually on their phones and other non-dedicated gaming devices, and don't pay a lot of money for their games if any. I am definitely not that, so to them I'm hardcore.

@godiego; Again, I don't really care too much about the AI as long as it's appropriately challenging. What I want out of the Battle Frontier is the content, it offers several battle styles that are completely different from what we're used to and they have a lot of interesting twists. It's a concern in ORAS because it's showing that they're skimping on the game's content and offering less bang for your buck.

 

[Mitchman]

@The Outrage; I don't battle competitively at all, I'm just looking for a deep, explorable game with a lot of content and an appropriate difficulty in the main game (i.e. not as mindlessly easy as it is now, but not as rage inducingly difficult as the battle facilities tend to be). There's been a definite trend towards making shallower experiences and sterilizing everything to remove anything that could possibly be considering difficult, and that is a ridiculous extreme.

I don't really see how a casual gamer, especially one that pays $40 for a game, wouldn't appreciate more exploration, but the distinction you draw between "casual" and "hardcore" players are off. Many people would probably peg you as casual based on how you play as well.

I guess if anything, Game Freak is polarizing in their approach, leaving very little for those in the middle (e.g., you, and me depending on what I'm interested in)

I am pretty sure at this point in time, 90% of people who play Pokemon treat the single player with as much focus as the COD single player. Hell, I would bet if the single player was not there, and multiplqyer worked as a separate stadium like mode, nobody would bother with it. Building a team for online is the only rwason people play through it, and its probably why MMO dreamsare so feverent these days, simply because it would snub out the "boring"single player. Id argue us who play for the single player more are the core, and a very small, but vocal, minority.

 

[BlackButterfree]

In my opinion, a hardcore gamer is not someone who only battles competitively. It's someone who's played at least one installment of every generation religiously. Blue, Silver, Crystal, Gen. 3, Gen. 4, Gen. 5, X, Y, Alpha Sapphire. Someone who's played all of those games, I'd consider hardcore. I'd consider myself hardcore because I played all of those games. I still can't battle my way out of a paper bag, however.

Also, in my opinion, a casual gamer is someone who picks up a title once every few years. Blue here, Diamond there, maybe Y now. Those are the casuals.

For myself, as a self-named hardcore player, I don't need AI that thinks like a competitive championship trainer, I'd die every single time. But I would like AI that doesn't use status moves when it can go for the kill. That lets their Pokémon die when they have healing items. I'd like an actual challenge. The Elite Four AI is what regular trainers should have, with Champion AI going to rivals and Gym Leaders, then the E4 and Champion getting monstrous AI.

I'd like a game with 15-20 towns/cities, 30 routes, a few forests, a few caves, some ocean to travel through. I'd like some versatility in where I can go. In Red/Blue, you could challenge Erika, Surge, Sabrina and Koga in any order you liked. Same with Maylene, Crasher Wake and Fantina in Diamond and Pearl. We've never had that kind of choice again, except for all 8 Gym Leaders in Kanto during Johto games.

Focus more on characters and story and FEATURES rather than aesthetics. I personally started playing this franchise back when it was 8-bit. It could go back to 8-bit right now for all I care as long as I get more focus on characters and story and features. Pretty is fine, but not if it's ONLY pretty like Kalos.

Casual players won't care about any of that stuff, they'll just play it to kill some time, that's what a casual player is. But at least us hardcore players will know it's there.

More content does not equal less customers, it's still going to be roughly the same number of customers, but at least the customers you already have will be satisfied and more inclined to keep coming back.

 

[WallflowerCanyon]

I have a strange feeling that I'm going to be very pleased with what we may have coming our way within the next 6 months or whenever it is that we'll be getting a new game.

 

[Tensho]

Dang, how did future speculation turn into such a massive debate about whether GF is doing a good job or not?

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

I have a strange feeling that I'm going to be very pleased with what we may have coming our way within the next 6 months or whenever it is that we'll be getting a new game.

Depends. I hope the next games do better than ORAS which were very disappointing to me. XY games were the best and I rated them 9/10. I scored ORAS a 6/10 due to several disappointing things.

 

[thatdude53]

I have a strange feeling that I'm going to be very pleased with what we may have coming our way within the next 6 months or whenever it is that we'll be getting a new game.

Depends. I hope the next games do better than ORAS which were very disappointing to me. XY games were the best and I rated them 9/10. I scored ORAS a 6/10 due to several disappointing things.

I actually feel the complete opposite. I felt like ORAS were great but not as great as Emerald. However I feel that XY were completely lacking in every aspect. So I'm very excited for whatever is next because Kalos can be great eventually.

 

[Zeb]

While all the tools they added to make people get through the main game and onto competitive easier is nice, I don't see why that means they can't add in something like a difficulty level. If people want to breeze through the main game and onto multiplayer then just use EXP Share and play on "normal" difficulty. If people don't care about rushing and want a bit more of a challenge play on hard. Just cos competitive became a focus doesn't mean they have to ignore a potentially good feature for the main game.

I honestly find it laughably depressing that even the Elite Four and Champion don't use held items - it was one thing I loved about B2W2 challenge mode. I''ve seen people tout this rubbish about the main game preparing you for competitive but even the supposed boss NPCs you battle don't even have one Pokemon use held items and held items are a major part of online play. (Discounting the handful with Mega Stones, of course.) Yeah, the Battle Maison can fill that purpose after beating the game, but held items like that are something that should be gradually incorporated throughout the game imo.

I rant a lot about how I'd like a harder mode available to play, so this is probably nothing new to most people.

I'd consider myself hardcore.

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Also on the subject of being excited for the upcoming game. Well, I would have preferred nothing until late next year, just cos I'd like them to spend more time on it. But Platinum and B2W2 are two of my favourite games. So I'm silently positive and hopeful that this next one will redeem Gen VI for me even if it seems to be coming earlier than I had wanted.