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Is this the end of third versions?

Necrozma

Necrozma

Formerly known as Tsu
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Black/White were followed-up by sequels and contrary to the popular speculation, X/Y were not followed-up by any shape or form of Z but rather we moved onto a new generation.

Do you guys think this marks the end of third versions of initial gen pairs? And would you personally like/dislike it if they never did third versions again?
 
Talking generally, I think maybe yes - at least, third versions in the straight sense of what we came to know them as.

By the way, people, don't use this thread to resurrect the arguments that happened in "No Pokémon Z" - I fear already just from the title of this topic alone that we'll be repeating history.
 
I think so. I'm not sure if they'd want to bring back traditional third version games anyway. I could see something like a single game acting as a sequel to both version or a brand new story set in the same region without necessarily being a sequel in one game happening, but releasing two games, either as sequels or a brand new generation, would probably make them more money than traditional third version games would. It could also be more helpful to the series since they don't have the excuse of saving features and added details for third version games anymore. They can add in helpful features from the start and do what they can with the storyline instead of just saving stuff for another year or two. It also prevents people from complaining about basically buying the same game for a second or third time with a few added content.

While I have enjoyed the traditional third version games like Crystal and Platinum, I think it's for the best that they don't make them and try for different ideas like sequels, a new unrelated story in the same region and jumping into a new generation instead. It provides more creative freedom for the storylines and it would be more unexpected than everyone claiming that they know what next games are coming as a fact just due to patterns rather than any actual facts.
 
I don't think there was a Pokemon Z because X and Y refer to the X and Y axis.
Pretty sure there's no Z axis, at lease not in what I learned in high school math.

But if the opportunity arises for another logical third version follow up, I'm sure they'll take it.
 
ShadOBabe said:
Maybe they just didn't have a story to tell for the third game and decided to get straight to work on the next gen.
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Masuda already confirmed that XY's story will be tied up in a unique way, so there's definitely more story left to tell.
 
Tsutarja said:
Masuda already confirmed that XY's story will be tied up in a unique way, so there's definitely more story left to tell.
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But just perhaps in a future generation of games rather than a third installment.
 
If it is the end of third versions, I'm not certain they're a concept I'll miss. If the extra content that was usually packed into third versions instead ends up on the initial two games, well, so much the better.
 
I feel like enhanced versions was a trap Game Freak fell into after Blue, and then Yellow. Of course Crystal brought the greatest addition in choosing a female gender, but with sequels to Black & White, and now the complete abandonment of a third version or true sequels that most were expecting, would suggest Game Freak wanted to, and finally have, broken away from a tradition that, perhaps, the development team was not keen on. Especially with the fruitful Remake avenue.
 
Looks like it and Zygarde's forms may be anime only which is disappointing. Third versions are better than the primary pair in my opinion. Emerald was the best and Platinum was incredible.
 
If this is the end of third versions I sure hope they add more postgame to the first versions, at least more like in Sinnoh/Unova where there is some postgame locations to visit and an elite four rematch. I realize it may be the end of the everything stuffed into one game like HGSS and B2W2 were, but at least some decent postgame would be nice. I have always preferred the third version games, or the remakes because they have more stuffed into them and are made just a little nicer than the originals, plus it is nice to have a different twist on a similar story.
 
Alexander said:
Looks like it and Zygarde's forms may be anime only which is disappointing. Third versions are better than the primary pair in my opinion. Emerald was the best and Platinum was incredible.
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There hasn't been any confirmation that Zygarde forms are anime exclusives. It's not impossible, but it seems fairly unlikely at least. Although, I don't think I'd be crushed if Zygarde forms didn't appear in a game. I can't help but feel like fans keep putting it on a pedestal, especially when so many people automatically assumed we'd get a Z, more than anything else.

I don't have too many fond memories of Emerald, or at least it doesn't stick out to me as much as the other third version games do. Platinum was quite good though. Even so, I still think it's better to put those kind of features and upgrades from the third versions into the primary pairs in the future. It would help to make the games feel more fleshed out and less like they're holding back for a third version. If they're going to hold back stuff for another game, at least make it brand new instead of basically the same game with some good updated features and context as the primary pair. At least that way, people wouldn't brush off the first games of a generation to just wait another year or two for the improved version. I doubt that the third versions significantly hurt sales of the primary pairs, but I have heard that mindset pretty often throughout the years. Eliminating that potential problem, as well as offering more content through sequels or a new generation than we could get from a traditional third version game, honestly sounds like a much better idea than sticking with the pattern at this point.
 
I think so yes. Despite Platinum being a game, the 3rd version have been generation closers before it, and in a sense, even gen 4 broke away from making them a huge deal. Not saying that platinum didn't do what is was supposed to do, more so then emerald but that was because there was a lot more to fix, but it wasn't the generation defining game that HGSS arguably was, and even there we saw an extension of Sinnoh's lore, albeit through a wifi event, but its still there. So yeah, 3rd versions going the way of the dodo is fine, I never saw the justification of a 40 euro game in this age of DLX offering what they offered a few years agi with some fresh paint anyway. The
 
Seeing how they created B2W2 instead of a third version, I think they had been planning to change their ways ever since Gen 5
 
Is this the end of third versions? Probably.

But is this the end of sequels? I sure hope not.
Hidden Mew said:
It could also be more helpful to the series since they don't have the excuse of saving features and added details forthird version games anymore.
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No they don't.

When game freak wants to start making a new pair of a generation, they have to proritize on things like the new pokemon, new region ect.... meaning that they don't have the time to implement things that would typically require a lot of time to make like a battle frontier or pwt.
That's why third versions/sequels/whatever always have more features than the original pairs because they require less time to make since they use the same engine.

In short, game freak never "intentionaly" saves features for the later games. They simply don't have the time to implement things like a battle frontier or pwt in the orinal pairs because of lack of time.
 
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Most likely.

I think that post-launch updates in their place would be great, though I'm not opposed sequel games at the same time. BW2 was cool. The absence of either as an alternative to expansion makes Generation 6 feel kinda unfinished, and that is a somewhat disappointing.
 
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