Lets see gen 6 from a technical side....

[Mitchman]

So we're speculating on gen 6 from a strictly gameplay side, but there has been very little talk on gen 6 as a game. What I mean is of course, the advent of the 3DS. What I want to discuss with this thread is how things will change and what the far more advanced 3DS has to offer. What I mean is:
-The top screen is 3D, so what would that have to bring to the table.
-Now that the screens are different size, how would that affect the games numerous menus, and more importantly stuff like the Pokedex.
-DLC. God knows this ones gonna play a major part for GF, and it could be one of many sell points to give Pokemon a fresh look.
-Stuff like spotpass and streetpass could give us a broader sense of trading, and how to interact with others.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Don't forget about the graphics. I can imagine the only the characters and Pokemon in sprites while the environment is entirely CG-animated on par with that from the GCN games or PBR.

 

[Xenidal]

- I agree, it'll use 2D sprites for the characters / Pokémon / items and 3D for the buildings / towns and stuff. I believe that they will keep the player bound to a grid (like it is in all the other games) and they will keep the fixed-camera view (maybe have it rotate a little at times like in Black / White, but the player won't have any control over it).
- The 3D screen will be used to make the cities / towns have more depth, and in battle the enemy sprite will appear further away than the back sprite of the player's Pokémon
- Screen size will not affect anything. Things will be rearranged on the screen, but that happens every time the screen change size.
- Downloadable stuff... I don't think it's going to happen. Except for event Pokémon.
- I'm not sure how the Streetpass will affect anything but it does seem likely that it will be incorporated into the game some how

 

[UnovaCastaway]

The games will probably take advantage of the built-in pedometer as well as Street Pass and Spot Pass, sort of like a built in Pokewalker.

 

[rubinek]

Hopefully the online infrastructure will be perfected once Pokemon hits 3DS. By this I mean WPA support and battles held on a dedicated server, and not some outdated P2P mechanism that sucks complete ass. I'd love if they also got rid of that stupid Friend Code system, but seeing as 3DS still uses them it won't be possible any time soon :/

 

[El_]

DLC and the possible major graphic change would be a few the biggest changes imo. The ability to download secret Pokemon would greatly help their reveal/surprise factors, and prevent us from already knowing about them. It gives back that sense of mystery and not knowing what will come next, that was present in the first gen. No more hacking the game to bits to find out it's secrets.

Its possible that they can not only hold back secret Pokemon, but also events as well, and have them all be only available via DLC. Hopefully, they will fully utilize this and make the most of it, as it has a lot of potential for this series. They don't even have to only use it for legendary Pokemon either, it can be used to distribute a number of "surprise" Pokemon or in game events. Hopefully, they will use DLC for very rare items like Masterballs too.

Overall, I can see the feature giving more of a reason to play the paired versions for years into the generation. As for graphics, the entire games may well be in full 3D. I can't wait to see the inevitable new revamped battle system.

 

[Mitchman]

Hopefully the online infrastructure will be perfected once Pokemon hits 3DS. By this I mean WPA support and battles held on a dedicated server, and not some outdated P2P mechanism that sucks complete ass. I'd love if they also got rid of that stupid Friend Code system, but seeing as 3DS still uses them it won't be possible any time soon :/

Pokemon as an online battler should be majorly helped by the fact that the NiN would be utilized for gen 6. Communities would help to create a general sense of unity for these kinda things actually. Put it together with the tournaments in BW, and nothing else needs to be done.

DLC and the possible major graphic change would be a few the biggest changes imo. The ability to download secret Pokemon would greatly help their reveal/surprise factors, and prevent us from already knowing about them. It gives back that sense of mystery and not knowing what will come next, that was present in the first gen. No more hacking the game to bits to find out it's secrets.

Its possible that they can not only hold back secret Pokemon, but also events as well, and have them all be only available via DLC. Hopefully, they will fully utilize this and make the most of it, as it has a lot of potential for this series. They don't even have to only use it for legendary Pokemon either, it can be used to distribute a number of "surprise" Pokemon or in game events. Hopefully, they will use DLC for very rare items like Masterballs too.

Overall, I can see the feature giving more of a reason to play the paired versions for years into the generation. As for graphics, the entire games may well be in full 3D. I can't wait to see the inevitable new revamped battle system.

DLC would be great in that it would demolish the necessity of 3rd versions. The reworked story can be an expansion on what happened or perhaps give us incentive to re explore the region.

 

[Blue Dragon]

They might merge Pokedex 3D perhaps and they might make a full 3D game, which to be honest I wouldn't mind at all. The only thing I worry about is the amount of data they can put into it and will this effect the length and features of the games.

 

[Xenidal]

WPA support and battles held on a dedicated server, and not some outdated P2P mechanism that sucks complete ass. I'd love if they also got rid of that stupid Friend Code system

What's wrong with the way online battles are done now? They work fine. There's no need to get a server involved... what would a server accomplish anyway?
Also I find nothing wrong with the Friend Code system and I really see no way that it would be possible to do without it unless every time you connect then everyone shows up. Which would be completely unnecessary. And if everyone did show up, there'd still need to be some sort of system to tell the people apart so if your friend John wanted to trade with you you'd know that you're connecting with him and not some other John. ID Numbers and secret IDs may work here, but it's essentially a "friend code" (just done in a different way). The one thing that I think should be fixed is that the Pal Pad shouldn't be reset every time you play the game on a different DS.

Here's one thing I would like to see though: 3-player multiplayer battles. They have them in-game, where 2 people team up against 1 person in a double battle. I don't see why they shouldn't let you do that in mulitplayer battles either.

And here's something I'd like to see introduced to the game -- 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 battles. And 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 vs. 1 battles. Where there's 3 or 4 people batling, but instead of it being like a double battle where 2 people team up then it's a free-for-all.

 

[Purellian]

I would kinda like to see some AR mini games that you can play with your Pokemon. You'd actually get to see your Pokemon play around outside the DS! This would be extra cool for things like a shiny Pokemon, I think. Maybe it could be something like the Pokeathlon or the Musical, or just other random mini games.

All in all, I would want it to still feel like it belongs to the same family of games as the rest of the main series games, but still makes use of the innovations of the new platform. I think they should keep the basic grid movements and fixed camera, but I also feel like they have proven that the 3DS is capable of producing better graphics than the N64 with all their remakes for it, so I almost feel like it should look like one of the Stadium games or something. I think all the characters and Pokemon should be 3D models and not just 2D sprites.

 

[rubinek]

WPA support and battles held on a dedicated server, and not some outdated P2P mechanism that sucks complete ass. I'd love if they also got rid of that stupid Friend Code system

What's wrong with the way online battles are done now? They work fine. There's no need to get a server involved... what would a server accomplish anyway?
Also I find nothing wrong with the Friend Code system and I really see no way that it would be possible to do without it unless every time you connect then everyone shows up. Which would be completely unnecessary. And if everyone did show up, there'd still need to be some sort of system to tell the people apart so if your friend John wanted to trade with you you'd know that you're connecting with him and not some other John. ID Numbers and secret IDs may work here, but it's essentially a "friend code" (just done in a different way). The one thing that I think should be fixed is that the Pal Pad shouldn't be reset every time you play the game on a different DS.

It would allow to track who DCed during the battle for instance. With the way the battles are conducted now, it is impossible to tell who interrupted the battle, and thus we have our current random match-up ladder. :x

As for Friend Codes, I'd personally introduce some sort of Gamer ID similar to the ones we have in Sony and MS consoles. I'm quite tired of typing long, hard-to-memorise numbers, so this would be a huge improvement. And yes, I'd like if you could actually play with randoms via servers. Something like GTS negotiations, but where you can choose who do you want to play with. Some in-game keyboard would be nice too, because otherwise communicating will be a pain.

 

[El_]

DLC would be great in that it would demolish the necessity of 3rd versions. The reworked story can be an expansion on what happened or perhaps give us incentive to re explore the region.

Well, hopefully the 3rd versions can possibly be retired with the advent of sequels or possibly even prequels (going back into the past). Third versions for the most part are just retools of the paired versions but with more content, something that DLC can easily do on its own with future paired versions.

Doing a simple 3rd version in Gen 6 despite the advantages of DLC to add on to the paired versions would be especially lazy on their parts.

 

[Joshawott]

I imagine that the "Mystery Gift" feature will be removed altogether. Real life distributions could be given out over StreetPass, whereas Wi-Fi events will be given out over SpotPass. In terms of Nintendo Network, Pokémon needs the communities that Mario Kart 7 has.

In regards to graphics, as the recent Medusa's Revenge anime short has shown, 2D characters on a 3D background makes everything look like cardboard cut outs, so as much as Junichi Masuda likes sprites, the 3DS will be Pokémon's time to say goodbye to them. As powerful as the 3DS is (take a look at Resident Evil Revelations, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Dead or Alive Dimensions), I'm not sure that there would be enough space for models of 750+ Pokémon (plus their shiny forms). Pokédex 3D ended up using loads of extra data just to have the Unova Pokémon. That's one I'll have to wait and see for. In regards to 3D, I feel GameFreak could get the most of it if they changed the viewing angle to how it was in places like the front of Castelia City and the entrance of Skyarrow Bridge (side-on instead of top-down).
@rubinek The Nintendo 3DS still uses Friendcodes; however, it's one code per console as opposed to one per game.

 

[Spindae2]

i want a more Human perspective. so we see what the character sees. and give us different variants on how to move jump, touch or do something! But don't forget the ordinary town overview.

 

[Xenidal]

In regards to graphics, as the recent Medusa's Revenge anime short has shown, 2D characters on a 3D background makes everything look like cardboard cut outs, so as much as Junichi Masuda likes sprites, the 3DS will be Pokémon's time to say goodbye to them.

I've never seen that game, but I think sprites on a 3D background can look good if done right. Paper Mario used sprites (well, I think it used flat 3D models, but it was pretty much the same) on a 3D background and that looked fine. To an extent the backgrounds in Black and White are 3D (seeing the edges of buildings at different angles would be impossible to do with sprites / tilesets). And that doesn't look bad at all. I think Zelda: Fourswords Adventures had 3D backgrounds (if not, it definitely had some 3D elements).
In regards to all the 3D models not fitting on the game card... I'm not sure, but I think they could figure out a way to have the game itself on the card and the models downloaded to the 3DS. And then read them off the DS when they are needed (and at the beginning of the game check to see if the player has them downloaded and if they aren't there then it makes the player download them). The only problem with that (if it's even possible) would be that there could be players who are unable to connect to the internet at all and wouldn't be able to download the models ever, so the game would be useless.

 

[Peachy]

In regards to graphics, as the recent Medusa's Revenge anime short has shown, 2D characters on a 3D background makes everything look like cardboard cut outs, so as much as Junichi Masuda likes sprites, the 3DS will be Pokémon's time to say goodbye to them.

I've never seen that game, but I think sprites on a 3D background can look good if done right. Paper Mario used sprites (well, I think it used flat 3D models, but it was pretty much the same) on a 3D background and that looked fine. To an extent the backgrounds in Black and White are 3D (seeing the edges of buildings at different angles would be impossible to do with sprites / tilesets). And that doesn't look bad at all. I think Zelda: Fourswords Adventures had 3D backgrounds (if not, it definitely had some 3D elements).
In regards to all the 3D models not fitting on the game card... I'm not sure, but I think they could figure out a way to have the game itself on the card and the models downloaded to the 3DS. And then read them off the DS when they are needed (and at the beginning of the game check to see if the player has them downloaded and if they aren't there then it makes the player download them). The only problem with that (if it's even possible) would be that there could be players who are unable to connect to the internet at all and wouldn't be able to download the models ever, so the game would be useless.

Paper Mario was supposed to look like paper cut-outs on a 3D background. I think that unless GF comes up with a really good idea on how to keep sprites, this gen is the last one with sprites.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Regarding DLC, there will still be a third version for Gen VI regardless if it can be done via DLC. Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 got an updated re-release despite the fact that this could've been done by DLC, so I expect the same for Pokemon.

 

[Xenidal]

Regarding DLC, there will still be a third version for Gen VI regardless if it can be done via DLC. Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 got an updated re-release despite the fact that this could've been done by DLC, so I expect the same for Pokemon.

I'd expect so too. It's not always about technological advancements / whether or not it's possible... it's about making money. A third version would add to their profits since people will buy it (and yes, people will buy it. Trends of sales of past "third versions" have proven this).

 

[El_]

Its not like they can't make money from a DLC service. I'd also imagine that they would want the paired versions to be playable for a lot longer and they could accomplish this via DLC updates. This could also have the benefit of increasing sales of the paired versions by keeping them alive a bit longer.

That seems like a better/easier strategy than re-releasing the same product twice with simple updates, and its creative. "Third versions" in the future could be replaced by sequels like BW2 or prequels.

I'd rather they take a new approach and liven things up as well as utilize what they have to the fullest. Expecting things to remain the same (especially after this generation) is stale and boring.

 

[Silktree]

As powerful as the 3DS is (take a look at Resident Evil Revelations, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Dead or Alive Dimensions), I'm not sure that there would be enough space for models of 750+ Pokémon (plus their shiny forms). Pokédex 3D ended up using loads of extra data just to have the Unova Pokémon. That's one I'll have to wait and see for.

A 3DS cartridge can contain as many as 8GB of data, which is 16 times the maximum data of a DS cartridge (and Black and White only use 200MB out of the maximum 512). I've heard claims about the Pokédex 3D models taking up 500KB each. If that is really true, it probably means that Creatures didn't bother compressing the data all that well, probably because they had enough space for 153 models, anyway. But suppose that there were around 800 models (counting the Formes) and every file was 500KB in size, the total would still only be about 400MB. If you account for the shiny textures, I am fairly sure that wouldn't add more than 150MB, as the models themselves wouldn't be different and the normal and shiny textures would be compressed together.

So even if we assume that Game Freak can't find an elegant way to compress the models to something closer to 300KB (the N64 models were no more than 200KB each), it is still completely possible for the main Generation VI versions to be fit into a 2GB cartridge. Will the remaining space (around 75%) be enough for everything else? It depends on the extent of the games, but if Game Freak need more space, I'm sure they won't hesitate to use a 4GB cartridge; they will have to do so at some point in the next generation, and even by late 2013 I'm pretty sure 4GB cartridges will be the norm.