PaperSplash
Pika, Pikachu! Kachu!
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2021
- Messages
- 672
- Reaction score
- 1,428
Fair point. Game Freak has indeed been moving away from the regional gimmicks exclusive to older Pokémon in these past two generations with Z-Moves and G-Max forms. I do think that it's still very possible that we'll eventually get another gimmick exclusive to older Pokémon again though. It's hard to know for sure though and I don't want to go too off-topic talking about the games.Given how Z-Moves and Dynamax have been handled, I don't think that the next regional gimmick will exclusively focus on older Pokemon like Mega Evolution did. There are still exclusive Z-Moves and Gigatamax forms for older Pokemon of course, but they also incorporated new Pokemon. That's why we got Alola starter Z-Moves and Gigtamax forms for the Galar starters. I don't think that Game Freak will go back to handling new forms like they did with Mega Evolutions. As much as people liked the idea and have put Mega Pokemon on more of a pedestal over the years than what I recall during the sixth generation, I think putting the focus exclusively on older Pokemon was a huge limitation, which is why the other regional gimmicks have focused more on both old and new Pokemon.
I can still understand liking the idea of Ash having more freedom in what he can catch. On paper, that sounds really cool, but with the minimal screentime and development his Pokemon have gotten, that freedom doesn't really mean anything. The little Galar representation on his team doesn't help either. Although, that applies for Journeys as a whole too, so that isn't exclusive to just Ash's team.
Yes, freedom and variety is another reason I like the regional restrictions on Ash's team being removed, but you make another good point about it not mattering much if the screentime between them is balanced improperly, like it certainly is in Journeys. I guess I was just looking at this subject from an overly idealistic perspective that isn't realistically going to happen, the anime being the glorified marketing tool that it is. If the newer Pokémon aren't prioritized in terms of focus, then the most marketable ones will, which isn't exactly the freedom I was envisioning.