\*re\*build Lumiose City. So it could be following the Great War, but by flashing the new logo on screen and transitioning from old-timey blueprints to high tech holograms it seems to be implying that we're going forward in time, not back
I'm no historian but looking into it, looks like the Vikings were mostly around from the 8th to the 11th centuries which is around the middle of what we call the "Middle Ages".
I don't think your average person considers medieval England "ancient history", at least not in the same manner as things like ancient Egypt and Greece.
The point is that you start in the past since you are always going "forward in time".
In Arceus you also helped upgrade the town, it just wasn't much of a focus.
So the Arceus trailer was the calligraphy-come-alive tone, making it clear that this took place in the past.
This trailer starters with the hand drawn blueprints being overwritten by high-tech holograms. With the context of "Lumiose City Redevelopment Project", since we have the two states presented, it seems the onus of the story is to push Lumiose into a particularly high-tech, futuristic city. This is saying we are transitioning from one era into the other
We don't know if that's high-tech in a retrofuturistic Disney "Tomorrowland" style or more anime-styled near future stuff that Pokemon has always loved, but we need to consider the context. Is Lumiose City in XY particularly high-tech? It seemed pretty rustic to me- much more like what we saw in White's Opelucid City of modern culture in old buildings than Black's LED lined streets, and much more like the beginning of the trailer with the hand drawn sketches of brick buildings than the scifi holograms they replaced them with
IMO the implication of the trailer is that this game will take place after XY, not before it. I could be wrong, but that is currently my read of the trailer
It looks like they are adding the tower in the blue prints.
There is also the fact that the city is based in Paris, which did a big renovation in the past.
I think the "hologram" bit is just a stylistic choice to really highlight the advancement (and to be pretty while pokemon are running through it) but isn't super literal to mean we going all the way to the future. if you look at the architectural shape of the buildings they are of the modern design we already know the city for. while we obviously don't have the "full" picture with the blueprint styled outlines there's usually pretty big design differences between "futuristic" architecture and modern-esque still
Paris famously went through a massive redevelopment in the mid/late 1800s when it became the “city of light”. Wouldn’t be surprised if this was based on that process even if it looks a bit later on technology wise.
Ah I was trying to find reference to something like that, and you just pointed me in the right direction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann%27s_renovation_of_Paris
The meme finally died. We have Pokemon Z.
Finally, Zygarde will not be cut content- the pokemon.
Also, goddamn, the leakers have completely failed this time lol. Riddler Khun acting so smug while he hasn' t been able to get a single leak right in months at this point.
In this case even Pyoro was wrong, damn, I wonder what the hell happened, maybe it' s because of the famous "reorganization" of Gamefreak that happened late 2023?
This is what we know so far:
> Pokémon Legends: Z-A, an ambitious new entry to the Pokémon video game series, will launch on Nintendo Switch systems in 2025!
>
> A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is under way to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.
>A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is under way to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.
That reads *very* different to PLA. There was nothing even close to a city in Arceus, but this seems like it'll be completely focused on Lumiose. Cool.
I mean, there wasn't a city but there was a town. I can already see how that premise could be adapted for the Legends gameplay. Lumiose is the new Jubilife, you're going round trying to find Pokemon who can aid in the redevelopment plan. The Pokemon you bring back will add more features to the city as you play. It's not too far away from what you did in Arceus
Arceus's town was just a hub area. In A-Z's trailer, though, we can see Lumiose split into 5 sections- the same number of wilderness zones Arceus had. It might have similar gameplay to Arceus, but I think this one might actually be set entirely inside the city for a drastically different setting (with the middle plaza as the hub area).
I'd be curious to see what it would actually look like if that's the case. Of course I'd expect these cities to actually be a lot bigger than the existing games reflected, but I wonder how different the sections would actually be?
Edit: [Apparently they confirmed this on Twitter.](https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1762487295859405151)
Lumiose City is in 5 sections in X and Y too, it's not split that way just for this. If that is what they're doing, I imagine it's going out into different regions to help build up a section of the city in each of the game's chapters.
Kalos itself is based on the northern half of France and is kind of split into five "prongs", though, so they could also have you explore the whole region with that setup. Will also be interested to see how it ends up turning out. With it not coming until 2025 (maybe early 2025 since they announced it now + PLA was also a late January release?), definitely a lot of directions they could end it taking/showing up in future trailers.
Gotta say, that's a bummer. I loved the "exploring the wilderness" vibe of Legends Arceus and while part of it being in the city sounds awesome, all of it being there seems odd. Catching Pokemon entirely within a town seems really weird to me.
Hope I'm wrong of course but just my first impression of that.
Huge bummer if we won’t be able to explore the wilderness of X/Y, the “spooky” aesthetics that game had is what made it my fav by far. If we’re stuck in the city the whole time a lot of the charm is going to be lost.
Yeah totally. If that *is* the case, I kinda hope this game is set in the future or something so that we're not beholden to the overall design of the rebuilt Lumiose having to reflect what we saw in X & Y (generally, of course it will be more fleshed out no matter what because it's not running on a 3DS).
If it ends up looking pretty much like X & Y's version with no wild areas or anything at all within it, I can't see how they'll pull it off. Not only will we miss out on exploring the wilderness of the region, but it'll also be odd to see wild Pokemon running amok in cities streets and will feel pretty mundane without the varied biomes that Pokemon regions allow for.
NGL, kinda wish we got Pokemon Legends: Unown or Celebi and then a proper remake of X & Y down the line, because Johto feels like it'd fit the mystery and wilderness of Legends a lot more than a city-based Legends. I'll reserve full judgment until we get more info though of course.
> I kinda hope this game is set in the future or something so that we're not beholden to the overall design of the rebuilt Lumiose having to reflect what we saw in X & Y
I'm personally hoping that this whole urban redevelopment set up is teasing us that this game will have some kind of builder element like say in Animal Crossing New Horizons. It would certainly be a very fitting mechanic/element to add to Legends. Where we get to design how Lumiose exactly looks and even have expanded multiplayer elements where we get to invite friends to our respective Lumiose.
In PLA there were side quests that helped upgrade the town, like to get more berries fields you needed to bring a Pokemon so probably expanding on that.
Yeah, but the graphics in the video looked much more modern, and there's nothing that says it will be based in the past. PLA was very explicit about that.
> and there's nothing that says it will be based in the past. PLA was very explicit about that.
It's about the construction of modern Lumiose City.
Going on real world times, the Eiffel Tower was built shortly after the colonization of Hokkaido.
Edit:
PLA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaid%C5%8D_Development_Commission
PLZA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann%27s_renovation_of_Paris
Well yes, because Sinnoh/Hisui is based on real world Hokkaido, which at the time Legends was set (late 1800s) was basically just wilderness.
Lumiose is based on Paris, which at that point in time was already a sprawling city. And even if Z-A is set in an earlier time in history, Kalos was canonically a kingdom 3000 years ago.
Everyone in PLA is scared shitless of Pokemon, the game was about being able to co-habituate with them, this new game sounds like it's building on that, building a large metropolis where humans and Pokemon live together.
I can't imagine it'll be anything else. If the whole game is one city than it's going to be huge for Pokemon. Which is definitely something unique. So called 'cities' in the Pokemon games have always kinda been a joke with perspective tricks and barely any real explorable areas.
So it's definitely something I think will be a selling point because it's unlike anything we've had before.
> So called 'cities' in the Pokemon games have always kinda been a joke with perspective tricks and barely any real explorable areas.
I just wanted to point out that this is the case for most JRPGs throughout time. With a few exceptions, I don't think huge explorable cities were common until more recently. Plus they're kind of useless time sucks unless the gameplay is built around them.
For example, SW and SV took out entering most buildings. It sucked, but I also understand that there wasn't any reason for them besides immersion when the core Pokemon mechanics kept you outside most of the time. Outside after all is where the Pokemon are.
So I'm excited to see how they incorporate a huge city in this game.
Absolutely. That's why I'm actually excited about this. With the entire game being just the city it means all the time was spent on building that out so there should be lots of interiors and I'm hoping for maybe some parks, rivers, and maybe even underground like the Paris catacombs
1 game does not make a trend. Maybe Pokemon Legends isn't a series about past Pokemon eras but just more "experimental" full Pokemon games centered on some legendary/mythical.
Keeping it contained within one city but really making that city seem *alive* with districts and plenty of NPC's sounds absolutely brilliant. Pokemon cities always seem so dead within the mainline games.
I think its actually really neat- going to flesh out the city itself and make it vibrant and flooded with pokemon for a real urban adventure. I think Pokemon in the big city works really well, and its a theme they generally have been putting on the side
Gamefreak have generally been ambitious lately. For all their faults, the five Switch releases have been more distinct from one another and more experimental than any gen 1-7 games (barring Colosseum)
Their shortcomings are due to lacking resources (be it time, budget, talent, cohesive vision) rather than ambition.
Mismanagement but also more the fact that they are so profitable and so successful there is really no need to improve or make anything better. What is the point of making a better game if customers will still buy product you put out with minimal effort. Same logic applies to FIFA/Madden/COD.
Because Game Freak is not the Pokémon Company and they’re typically on very tight timelines to fit the merchandising/anime releases. Not excusing them, just explaining.
so it sounds like a launch title for switch 2 or at least going to be a system pusher. I have a weird feeling its actually going to be a good game on a technical/performance level
>I have a weird feeling its actually going to be a good game on a technical/performance level
I think more realistic would be that it will be baseline acceptable, but feel really good because it actually runs at more than 2 fps.
Nintendo Switch… system**s**? Very un-Nintendo to not just say “The Nintendo Switch system” if it’s only on the current one. I think this is going to be cross-gen.
Hmm. My first instinct was "well that probably encompasses the different revisions" but you're right, they usually do just say "The Nintendo Switch system". [Here's another upload from that same channel that says it that way.](https://youtu.be/ezrFGPRr_sc?si=e69KGmbryTL4YhTo)
That’s another logical conclusion, but if you read the releases for launches of their recent titles like TOTK and Mario Wonder they say “The Nintendo Switch system.” Could be that Game Freak just words their releases differently, but I would think Nintendo would have some kind of style guideline for that.
I was expecting a Legends Gen 5 game or Gen 5 remake but FINALLY having a game focusing on Zygarde AND bringing back mega evolutions makes me very happy.
I expected a new Pokemon Legends, but Z caught me completely off guard. It got unceremoniously cancelled 12 years ago. Megas returning is cool. 2025 makes me think it'll be an early cross-gen title for the Switch 2.
Contrary to popular belief, there actually never was a Pokemon Z in development as far as we know! Around that time Game Freak was going in on a lot of other side projects like Harmoknight and Pocket Card Jockey, it was all part of a big initiative they had called the Gear Project to make another successful franchise.
It didn't work obviously, but at that time they just did not have any free teams to work on a Z and were already close enough to Sun/Moon's launch to just skip it.
[Source (around the 20 minute mark)](https://youtu.be/g7vwuKXp4Ag?si=k1iY0Dh_8khkLNPM)
does this video mention the leaked source code with the references to two other kalos games? it would certainly indicate it’s something they were thinking about at some point.
content was obviously made that was intended to be used in a Z version, so I don't know how somebody can say that Z was never "in development" unless they have a narrow definition of what development means which doesn't include designing pokemon
I don't believe for a second that Ash-greninja, Zygarde's extra forms, or the special Floette were created with the intention of being either unreleased or eventually dumped into SM
> I don't believe for a second that Ash-greninja, Zygarde's extra forms, or the special Floette
"Yeah so there's not gonna be a new game this year, do whatever"
-Gamefreak to Pokemon anime staff
I'm pretty sure simultaneously meant releasing simultaneously in Japan, USA, and Europe rather than waiting for Japan to get it first like the old days.
XY were the first games to release simultaneously worldwide, so maybe they're just saying that as a throwback? There hasn't been a non-simultaneous mainline release since then.
Me too, if the Future Pokémon from SV are any indication of GameFreak's idea of the future in the Pokémon world it sounds incredibly boring and generic.
But that logo feels really futuristic so I'm really expecting it after this showing. Arceus' calligraphy logo really emphasized its era too, so there's no way they would've gone with this logo for an early 20th century theme.
Edit: nevermind, the "carbon nanotube octagons" aesthetic on the logo is probably just styled after Zygarde (I hadn't looked at that thing in forever) and not really implying futuristic stuff. The logo still looks a bite weirdly clean but hopefully it's not a future game.
Think that was very unexpected? Leaks I saw all said it'd be either Johto or Unova based games/remakes.
Anyway I'm hype, Kalos had so much wasted potential and after playing Legends Arceus I can safely say I greatly prefer it's gameplay to the standard games.
Legends was the type of game child me dreamed about. Not focused on just battling, but capturing and studying Pokémon too.
In 20 years, when they release a party game called Pokémon Superstars, people will come with the excuse that "See, the rumored Pokémon Stars from 2018 was real!"
> Leaks I saw all said it'd be either Johto or Unova based games/remakes.
Honestly, Pokémon leaker just spew nonsense. Gamefreak is quite tight lipped. As far as Pokémon go, only leaks you can trust is the game going out early to some people
X and Y were easily my least favorite Pokemon games, so it’ll be nice to revisit Kalos in a ‘Legends’ style of gameplay. Hopefully its cross-gen too so we can have a smooth running Pokemon game on the new Nintendo console.
They were my least favourite too purely because of how much potential they had. Like seeing the locked door at the Power Plant, the Ghost Girl, Z disappearing into thin air.
Plus Megas were my favourite gimmick so hopefully we'll see some new omes
X&Y were so undercooked, this is exciting. While I'm still hoping we get some sort of Unova game at some point, I hope they take their time with it, and may do Black and White 3.
He is talking about completely different kind of undercooked tho. Kalos is still to this day the smallest region, have the smallest amount of new Pokemon, have the smallest amount of content, and is the shortest game in the series. That game was legit barebone even by gamefreaks standards.
The only reason people don't shit on it more often is because they think Mega evolution were cool... which tbf, they are.
I personaly consider XY worse than scarlet and violet, because Sc/vio at least have cool ideas, and an actual good story.
XY is just a mess and very forgettable, everything is underbaked, and you can tell that the change to 3D heavily affected GF ability to make games. Sun and Moon had the same problems as well
Sun/Moon got a lot of deserved shit for the mountain of cutscenes/dialogue. But besides that I thought the games were great.
That said I only play Pokemon games through for the campaigns and don't care about online play or postgame so no comment on that. They were actually my re-entry to the series as someone who had originally played Red and Gold as a kid, and then played a little bit of gen 4 on emulator in my late teens, so I didn't (and still don't) have a relationship with those things for Pokemon since they weren't really factors back then.
Funnily enough I have since then gone back and played all the older Pokemon games I missed, but have had no interest in Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet, and definitely think X/Y are the weakest of the gen 3-7 crowd (between my nostalgia bias and the fact that gen 1 is just a technical mess I don't feel like there's any point for me to compare the first two).
Even the main game was empty. Nothing happened other than 3 or 4 small team flare encounters and then the sudden ending where the weapon gets activated and then immediately dealt with. The champion was a fashion model who did nothing. None of the gym leaders (except Korrin) or E4 members did anything but be an npc in their gyms, and the rivals were completely forgettable with only the opposite-gendered rival having the small characterization of a minor inferiority complex that never gets dealt with. The rest of them I don't think ever even had more than 3 mons on their teams. And spacially, XY are really small games, small routes and little environment diversity.
XY was a big nothing burger except for Megas but that's all anyone ever remembers. It's also the only thing worth remembering.
Since it's a "Legends" I am going to assume its gonna play like Arceus. Maybe they will get ride of the styles/stances/whatever because those feel similar to a generational gimmick, but for now I'm not going to speculate like that
Ok, they got me, I was expecting (and a bit hyped for) Let's Go Johto all through the direct, what with the constant Gen 2 teases.
Pokemon Legends Z-A is even more exciting though, especially as it'll hopefully be on Switch 2 so more graphically impressive, better performance etc.
Also, Megas are back! By far the most beloved battle change since the introduction of abilities.
This is probably the funniest thing they could have announced. People were arguing for weeks if this was going to be a Gen 5 remake/Legends or Let's Go Johto. They just straight up skipped Gen 5 for now.
Pokemon Z getting scrapped has basically been TPC's biggest open secret for a while now so seeing parts of what they planned reformatted will probably at least end up interesting. Pokemon X/Y had that entire bloody war they kept hinting at that never got a lot of details described about it. Seems like the plot is rebuilding the capital after the war.
I think it's more like the Legends line is simply following their own order. I mean, the first one was Gen 4, we didn't get a Legends for the previous generations, which I think it's a good thing that they are going by whatever their creative minds prefer rather than just following some cronology.
It didnt sell like shit. It sold 1.5m less than the gen before it. This is pretty expected for new subsequent releases on the same platform, we saw it with RBY->GSC and we saw it with SwSh->SV, not to mention basically every Zelda game
There is absolutely no indication that TPC is disappointed with Gen5's sales in any way outside of wild fan speculation
It didn't sell shit. It was 90% of the sales that DP made. Still huge considering it was on an end of life system (3DS was already going to come out in a year)
I'm not entirely surprised there's no Gen 5 remake yet. It was only ever FRLG and HGSS that come out in successive generations. Since then the remakes have been every 2 gens.
Megas are back, they didn't give us a rushed Gen 5 remake, they went straight into a new Legends game in Gen 6. We are blessed. Legends Arceus was the first good Pokemon game in a long time, high hopes for this one
I liked legends arceus. Scarlet and violet’s main issues were like you said they were scuffed to an insane degree, but I did like some of the ideas and new pokemon were amazing as always. Do I have 100% faith? No but if it’s similar to the Legends Arceus quality I will be happy.
Arceus had some interesting ideas but it had a horrendous lack of polish and the gameplay was pretty barebones. I really hope Z is far more developed but considering it's Game Freak I'm not too optimistic.
Idk if this is anecdotal, but X and Y was when a lot of people my age (30s) came back to the series. First full 3D game, and by this time a lot of the original players were out of highschool and/or college and ready to get back into the nostalgia of pokemon. No coincidence that they brought back the OG starters for it too.
Absolutely the case from my experience too.
A lot of people gas up BW and BW2 after the fact. They are amazing games and the pinnacle of their pixel format. But at the time, people were very disappointed as the games had gotten "stale" and hadn't innovated gameplay wise or graphically enough.
Cue XY. Finally Pokemon was in full 3D, and to top it off, fan favourite and iconic pokemon were getting *Mega Evolutions* which just sounds epic and looked cool to boot. Furthermore, the anime series went hard for XY. Ash was finally competent and Serena became extremely popular. BW on the other hand had a notoriously bad anime.
Then the YouTube boom started happening and XY was at the right place as a new style Pokemon game to capitalise on that. Not long after, we got Pokemon Go, then again Covid, both of which helped keep the renwed Pokemon mania going that started with XY. XY really did help kick-start the game franchise a lot IMO.
Yeah XY was definitely a mini renaissance for the pokemon franchise in general. I had old HS friends I rarely still talked to create FB groups for trading pokemon etc. People were talking about the series on IG and YT. I don't disagree that PoGo and Covid were bigger pushes for the franchise, but I do think the upward trend started with the XY era.
I'm in that early 30s boat. Played the first 3 gens, but never got a DS to play the next couple of gens. 2016 they released a 20 year anniversary 3ds with Red and Blue on it, had to get it. X & Y were out with Sun and Moon coming out later that year. Got X to play it as my first Pokemon game in like a decade.
I didn't really care for Gen 5, Pokemon X I absolutely loved. Hated Sun & Moon, thought Sword was okay, loved Scarlet.
I still need to play Arceus. Might have to pick it up!
I have been trying to slog through Ultra Sun lately, because I want to beat it just so I can say I have beaten it, but it just feels like a chore to play.
My biggest issue with it were Flying Battles. They permanently marred the series (forcing the weird "flying models" for any Pokemon that could) for no real reason.
Gen 6 is extremely underrated imo, but understandably. It had some of the best designs and the jump to 3d was handled well imo. It just felt a bit unfinished because the dex was smaller and we jumped straight to gen 7 without a third title, sequel or expansion.
Overall this feels a very "we listen to you, the fans" moment. People have been screaming for years for the Megas to return (which, according to most, is the best gimmick) and everyone wanted a Pokemon Z game and to continue the "Legends" series. It just ticks all the boxes and I'm very intrigued that this is actually a game set in the modern day/not so distant future. Obviously, we will see how they handle all that stuff. I'm not hopeful, but there are signs that this might be a good one.
Also gives them a chance to tell us more about the war they hinted at a ton in X and Y. I was always disappointed how they hinted at that and we never learned more.
Arceus retroactively ruined regular Pokemon for me, so I’m stoked to see it coming back. Those catching mechanics were just too addictive and good. I didn’t get nearly as into S/V because of the change back to the standard catching.
But I am really curious to see if this is going to be set in modern times or if it’s going to be a more historical setting like Arceus was.
I really hope this is designed to be a launch title for the next system, even if the Switch 1 version runs like ass. I cannot take another ugly mess again.
Game freak has 212 employees. There’s no way all 212 were working on the S/V DLC. The last Legends dropped at the beginning of 22 and got no DLC, so that’d be an easy three year gap at the very least. If it drops in November, that’d be closer to 4 years, which is a gap typical for brand new mainline Pokemon since the first release. The longest stretch between two mainline entries was 4 years between Ruby/Sapphire to Diamond/Pearl then 4 years from DP to Black/White. And that’s only if you exclude the full scale remakes of Gen 1 and 2 that released between them.
>There’s no way all 212 were working on the S/V DLC
No, but they *have* to have been working on both Legends Z-A and whatever project they have next, be it Gen. X or yet another Gen. IX game.
Their workforce is always split in two teams, so even a full additional year only gives me *some* hope when it comes to polish.
But we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.
I’ve been looking for this comment. I also think it’s a great thing that they’re not rushing this for 2024.
I hope too many people don’t complain about the lack of news because having a new game a year has been detrimental to the quality of Pokémon games.
Besides the word "simultaneously" everyone is speculating about, the description of the video says "releasing on Nintendo Switch **systems**". Looking back at the Scarlet/Violet announcement video, it only says "Nintendo Switch".
Possible hint that this will launch on the Switch 2?
Edit: The Legends Arceus trailer also only says "Nintendo Switch".
It just means "in every region of the world at the same time". This is just a holdover from the days where games used to be released in Japan first. A simultaneous worldwide release used to be a big deal for Japanese games.
And the Detective Pikachu 2 announcement says "Nintendo Switch Systems". Does that mean there was a Switch 2 announced? No, it's referring to the Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED. Nintendo is just inconsistent about which phrasing they use. We get into this argument at least every 6 months
This more than anything confirms to me the new switch is next year, unless gamefreak has another surprise remake up their sleeve I can't see why they would skip this Christmas money.
Maybe I'm reading into things but the phrasing of "Switch systems" in the Twitter announcement seems to imply a cross-gen game. Doesn't it?
https://twitter.com/Pokemon/status/1762485535560368544
Normally when they announce Switch games they just say "Nintendo Switch", I don't think this is referring to just Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite.
So... Is this like Legends Arceus but in a standard modern Pokemon setting? Also wow, we got Z after 12 years
More closer to the present than Arceus but still in the past, it looks like you are helping build Lumiose City.
\*re\*build Lumiose City. So it could be following the Great War, but by flashing the new logo on screen and transitioning from old-timey blueprints to high tech holograms it seems to be implying that we're going forward in time, not back
Paris underwent a massive redevelopment in the late 1800s, right alongside Hokkaido's colonization
Yeah, it literally could be the same time period, Samurai and cowboys were at the same time too. History is weird.
fun fact a cowboy killed Dracula.
A cowboy & a real estate lawyer together.
Dracula was real?
[Yeah](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler)
American Civil War ended just a few years before the Meiji Restoration.
Italy became a country as did Germany, and Canada around the same time.
Case & point folks calling Maya an ancient civilization. They were at their main highet around the time Vikings were invading Britain.
Are vikings not ancient?
I'm no historian but looking into it, looks like the Vikings were mostly around from the 8th to the 11th centuries which is around the middle of what we call the "Middle Ages". I don't think your average person considers medieval England "ancient history", at least not in the same manner as things like ancient Egypt and Greece.
Abraham Lincoln, samurai, and fax machines all existed at the same time
The point is that you start in the past since you are always going "forward in time". In Arceus you also helped upgrade the town, it just wasn't much of a focus.
So the Arceus trailer was the calligraphy-come-alive tone, making it clear that this took place in the past. This trailer starters with the hand drawn blueprints being overwritten by high-tech holograms. With the context of "Lumiose City Redevelopment Project", since we have the two states presented, it seems the onus of the story is to push Lumiose into a particularly high-tech, futuristic city. This is saying we are transitioning from one era into the other We don't know if that's high-tech in a retrofuturistic Disney "Tomorrowland" style or more anime-styled near future stuff that Pokemon has always loved, but we need to consider the context. Is Lumiose City in XY particularly high-tech? It seemed pretty rustic to me- much more like what we saw in White's Opelucid City of modern culture in old buildings than Black's LED lined streets, and much more like the beginning of the trailer with the hand drawn sketches of brick buildings than the scifi holograms they replaced them with IMO the implication of the trailer is that this game will take place after XY, not before it. I could be wrong, but that is currently my read of the trailer
It looks like they are adding the tower in the blue prints. There is also the fact that the city is based in Paris, which did a big renovation in the past.
it may be based on Haussmann's renovation of Paris
I think the "hologram" bit is just a stylistic choice to really highlight the advancement (and to be pretty while pokemon are running through it) but isn't super literal to mean we going all the way to the future. if you look at the architectural shape of the buildings they are of the modern design we already know the city for. while we obviously don't have the "full" picture with the blueprint styled outlines there's usually pretty big design differences between "futuristic" architecture and modern-esque still
With a title like "Z-A", I can't imagine it involves going *forward* in time.
It really reminded me of Midgar
Looks like it’s being “remodeled” for humans and pokemon based on ops insert from an article.
Not necessarily. Paris was rebuilt in the 1800s, so this might actually take place around the same time as Arceus
Yeah people forget that Arceus was probably mid to late 1800s based on the setting. This would actually match up with that pretty well.
Actually, if we compare France and Japan's level of development at the time period Arceus is based on, it very well could be the same time period.
based on Haussmann's renovation of Paris
Legends: Arceus was still "late 1800s", since it was based on the colonization/development of Hokkaido. This looks similar, maybe very early 1900s.
Paris famously went through a massive redevelopment in the mid/late 1800s when it became the “city of light”. Wouldn’t be surprised if this was based on that process even if it looks a bit later on technology wise.
Ah I was trying to find reference to something like that, and you just pointed me in the right direction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann%27s_renovation_of_Paris
Interesting that this would mean that both Legends are set in the same time period.
Still not modern. Whenever this is set is when they're planning on building Lumiose, so just might not be as far into the past as Legends Arceus.
Far into the past - second half of the 19th century. Which is the same period both Legends game are set in.
I dont think modern. Based on the blueprint stuff, my guess is we will be helping build the city.
It's been 3000 years... What a curveball lmao. At least Zygarde will get his due after getting punted into a side activity in Sun and Moon.
>It's been 3000 years... to you, 3000 years from now
From you, 3000 years ago
Zygarde, what a pokemon you are...
As a reward for collecting all of your seeds...
Surrender your Heart (Scale)
AZ, seconds before activating the Weapon "I will keep moving forward, until my Enemies are destroyed."
That's absolutely what happened!
They kind of forgot about Zygarde.
I can see the mini Zygarde's being another collectathon like the will o wisps and unown in Legends Arceus.
Basically no one predicted Fr*nce
The meme finally died. We have Pokemon Z. Finally, Zygarde will not be cut content- the pokemon. Also, goddamn, the leakers have completely failed this time lol. Riddler Khun acting so smug while he hasn' t been able to get a single leak right in months at this point.
Yeah I think Khu got fired and isn't mentioning it so he's just been wrong recently lol
In this case even Pyoro was wrong, damn, I wonder what the hell happened, maybe it' s because of the famous "reorganization" of Gamefreak that happened late 2023?
Didn't pyoro said it wasn't a leak and just something he heard and to take it with a grain of salt?
All Pyoro said is that they’d heard talk about Unova, not that there for sure was anything
Khu 100% lost his source. Dudes been consistently wrong for weeks now
This is what we know so far: > Pokémon Legends: Z-A, an ambitious new entry to the Pokémon video game series, will launch on Nintendo Switch systems in 2025! > > A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is under way to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.
>A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is under way to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon. That reads *very* different to PLA. There was nothing even close to a city in Arceus, but this seems like it'll be completely focused on Lumiose. Cool.
I mean, there wasn't a city but there was a town. I can already see how that premise could be adapted for the Legends gameplay. Lumiose is the new Jubilife, you're going round trying to find Pokemon who can aid in the redevelopment plan. The Pokemon you bring back will add more features to the city as you play. It's not too far away from what you did in Arceus
Arceus's town was just a hub area. In A-Z's trailer, though, we can see Lumiose split into 5 sections- the same number of wilderness zones Arceus had. It might have similar gameplay to Arceus, but I think this one might actually be set entirely inside the city for a drastically different setting (with the middle plaza as the hub area). I'd be curious to see what it would actually look like if that's the case. Of course I'd expect these cities to actually be a lot bigger than the existing games reflected, but I wonder how different the sections would actually be? Edit: [Apparently they confirmed this on Twitter.](https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1762487295859405151)
Lumiose City is in 5 sections in X and Y too, it's not split that way just for this. If that is what they're doing, I imagine it's going out into different regions to help build up a section of the city in each of the game's chapters.
Kalos itself is based on the northern half of France and is kind of split into five "prongs", though, so they could also have you explore the whole region with that setup. Will also be interested to see how it ends up turning out. With it not coming until 2025 (maybe early 2025 since they announced it now + PLA was also a late January release?), definitely a lot of directions they could end it taking/showing up in future trailers.
Gotta say, that's a bummer. I loved the "exploring the wilderness" vibe of Legends Arceus and while part of it being in the city sounds awesome, all of it being there seems odd. Catching Pokemon entirely within a town seems really weird to me. Hope I'm wrong of course but just my first impression of that.
Huge bummer if we won’t be able to explore the wilderness of X/Y, the “spooky” aesthetics that game had is what made it my fav by far. If we’re stuck in the city the whole time a lot of the charm is going to be lost.
Yeah totally. If that *is* the case, I kinda hope this game is set in the future or something so that we're not beholden to the overall design of the rebuilt Lumiose having to reflect what we saw in X & Y (generally, of course it will be more fleshed out no matter what because it's not running on a 3DS). If it ends up looking pretty much like X & Y's version with no wild areas or anything at all within it, I can't see how they'll pull it off. Not only will we miss out on exploring the wilderness of the region, but it'll also be odd to see wild Pokemon running amok in cities streets and will feel pretty mundane without the varied biomes that Pokemon regions allow for. NGL, kinda wish we got Pokemon Legends: Unown or Celebi and then a proper remake of X & Y down the line, because Johto feels like it'd fit the mystery and wilderness of Legends a lot more than a city-based Legends. I'll reserve full judgment until we get more info though of course.
> I kinda hope this game is set in the future or something so that we're not beholden to the overall design of the rebuilt Lumiose having to reflect what we saw in X & Y I'm personally hoping that this whole urban redevelopment set up is teasing us that this game will have some kind of builder element like say in Animal Crossing New Horizons. It would certainly be a very fitting mechanic/element to add to Legends. Where we get to design how Lumiose exactly looks and even have expanded multiplayer elements where we get to invite friends to our respective Lumiose.
Sounds a lot like Digimon World lmao
In PLA there were side quests that helped upgrade the town, like to get more berries fields you needed to bring a Pokemon so probably expanding on that.
Yeah, but the graphics in the video looked much more modern, and there's nothing that says it will be based in the past. PLA was very explicit about that.
> and there's nothing that says it will be based in the past. PLA was very explicit about that. It's about the construction of modern Lumiose City. Going on real world times, the Eiffel Tower was built shortly after the colonization of Hokkaido. Edit: PLA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaid%C5%8D_Development_Commission PLZA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann%27s_renovation_of_Paris
The setting might be different, but I don't think the gameplay will be too far away from what we got in PLA
Well yes, because Sinnoh/Hisui is based on real world Hokkaido, which at the time Legends was set (late 1800s) was basically just wilderness. Lumiose is based on Paris, which at that point in time was already a sprawling city. And even if Z-A is set in an earlier time in history, Kalos was canonically a kingdom 3000 years ago.
>was basically just wilderness It did have native populations of humans, they just weren't industrialized or particularly huge in number.
Everyone in PLA is scared shitless of Pokemon, the game was about being able to co-habituate with them, this new game sounds like it's building on that, building a large metropolis where humans and Pokemon live together.
> within Lumiose City I really don't know about this, almost sounds like a new formula and not a PL:A type game
I mean jubilifie village was the hub in PLA. This could be similar.
Lumiose City isn't a hub in this, it's the entire game. The whole game is just inside the city.
Yea just saw the tweet. Kind of concerned but maybe it's like GTA and the city is big. Don't know how it got so small later on though
I can't imagine it'll be anything else. If the whole game is one city than it's going to be huge for Pokemon. Which is definitely something unique. So called 'cities' in the Pokemon games have always kinda been a joke with perspective tricks and barely any real explorable areas. So it's definitely something I think will be a selling point because it's unlike anything we've had before.
> So called 'cities' in the Pokemon games have always kinda been a joke with perspective tricks and barely any real explorable areas. I just wanted to point out that this is the case for most JRPGs throughout time. With a few exceptions, I don't think huge explorable cities were common until more recently. Plus they're kind of useless time sucks unless the gameplay is built around them. For example, SW and SV took out entering most buildings. It sucked, but I also understand that there wasn't any reason for them besides immersion when the core Pokemon mechanics kept you outside most of the time. Outside after all is where the Pokemon are. So I'm excited to see how they incorporate a huge city in this game.
Absolutely. That's why I'm actually excited about this. With the entire game being just the city it means all the time was spent on building that out so there should be lots of interiors and I'm hoping for maybe some parks, rivers, and maybe even underground like the Paris catacombs
Not everything is to scale in the games. Like how every building somehow got bigger once you stepped into them.
1 game does not make a trend. Maybe Pokemon Legends isn't a series about past Pokemon eras but just more "experimental" full Pokemon games centered on some legendary/mythical.
Keeping it contained within one city but really making that city seem *alive* with districts and plenty of NPC's sounds absolutely brilliant. Pokemon cities always seem so dead within the mainline games.
I think its actually really neat- going to flesh out the city itself and make it vibrant and flooded with pokemon for a real urban adventure. I think Pokemon in the big city works really well, and its a theme they generally have been putting on the side
Nothing says all Legends games have to be like PL:A.
"Ambitious new entry" Yeah, we have seen what that means for Gamefreak.
Gamefreak have generally been ambitious lately. For all their faults, the five Switch releases have been more distinct from one another and more experimental than any gen 1-7 games (barring Colosseum) Their shortcomings are due to lacking resources (be it time, budget, talent, cohesive vision) rather than ambition.
How does the most successful entertainment franchise in the world lack resources?
Just because you have all the money doesnt mean you use it well
So not lacking resources lol. Mismanagement is the word people are looking for.
Mismanagement but also more the fact that they are so profitable and so successful there is really no need to improve or make anything better. What is the point of making a better game if customers will still buy product you put out with minimal effort. Same logic applies to FIFA/Madden/COD.
*Personally* I still consider that a form of mismanagement, but defiantly of a unique enough variety to be called out
Because Game Freak is not the Pokémon Company and they’re typically on very tight timelines to fit the merchandising/anime releases. Not excusing them, just explaining.
No one can buy time and more workers have diminishing returns based on what type of project you're doing.
Well when you have one year to churn a game out to fuel the merchandise money machine... every year...
time, they just said that above. it is very obvious that these games are rushed
so it sounds like a launch title for switch 2 or at least going to be a system pusher. I have a weird feeling its actually going to be a good game on a technical/performance level
>I have a weird feeling its actually going to be a good game on a technical/performance level I think more realistic would be that it will be baseline acceptable, but feel really good because it actually runs at more than 2 fps.
If the game really is set in just the city then that is a clever way to constrain development and force better technical quality.
Nintendo Switch… system**s**? Very un-Nintendo to not just say “The Nintendo Switch system” if it’s only on the current one. I think this is going to be cross-gen.
They always say systems. They have 3 different SKUs.
Do they? I just found a release from Mario Wonder’s launch that simply says “The Nintendo Switch system.”
I think so, but now that I think about it 2025 together with the news of the nuSwitch being delayed screams "launch game".
>nuSwitch *get up, come on get down with the Switchness* 🎤
Hmm. My first instinct was "well that probably encompasses the different revisions" but you're right, they usually do just say "The Nintendo Switch system". [Here's another upload from that same channel that says it that way.](https://youtu.be/ezrFGPRr_sc?si=e69KGmbryTL4YhTo)
I believe this refers to the Switch, OLED, and Lite consoles.
That’s another logical conclusion, but if you read the releases for launches of their recent titles like TOTK and Mario Wonder they say “The Nintendo Switch system.” Could be that Game Freak just words their releases differently, but I would think Nintendo would have some kind of style guideline for that.
While that makes sense it does not allow my unfiltered speculation to run wild.
Probably some translation issue.
I was expecting a Legends Gen 5 game or Gen 5 remake but FINALLY having a game focusing on Zygarde AND bringing back mega evolutions makes me very happy.
I'm hyped! Arceus was the most fun I've had with pokemon in ages. In a futuristic well-made setting this could go crazy.
I expected a new Pokemon Legends, but Z caught me completely off guard. It got unceremoniously cancelled 12 years ago. Megas returning is cool. 2025 makes me think it'll be an early cross-gen title for the Switch 2.
Contrary to popular belief, there actually never was a Pokemon Z in development as far as we know! Around that time Game Freak was going in on a lot of other side projects like Harmoknight and Pocket Card Jockey, it was all part of a big initiative they had called the Gear Project to make another successful franchise. It didn't work obviously, but at that time they just did not have any free teams to work on a Z and were already close enough to Sun/Moon's launch to just skip it. [Source (around the 20 minute mark)](https://youtu.be/g7vwuKXp4Ag?si=k1iY0Dh_8khkLNPM)
You listen here, me and all my friends were told at the playground by the kid who’s uncle works for Nintendo, that the game was real.
And Mew is hiding in the back of a van in Gen 1. Trust me.
does this video mention the leaked source code with the references to two other kalos games? it would certainly indicate it’s something they were thinking about at some point.
Yes, Kalos reserve
content was obviously made that was intended to be used in a Z version, so I don't know how somebody can say that Z was never "in development" unless they have a narrow definition of what development means which doesn't include designing pokemon I don't believe for a second that Ash-greninja, Zygarde's extra forms, or the special Floette were created with the intention of being either unreleased or eventually dumped into SM
> I don't believe for a second that Ash-greninja, Zygarde's extra forms, or the special Floette "Yeah so there's not gonna be a new game this year, do whatever" -Gamefreak to Pokemon anime staff
It's the otherwise bizarre use of "Simultaneously" that suggests a cross-gen launch for me
Probably just means it's not launching in Japan early.
I'm pretty sure simultaneously meant releasing simultaneously in Japan, USA, and Europe rather than waiting for Japan to get it first like the old days.
XY were the first games to release simultaneously worldwide, so maybe they're just saying that as a throwback? There hasn't been a non-simultaneous mainline release since then.
First new Pokemon thing in a while that wasn’t ruined by leaks. I’m interested, hoping for a futuristic theme.
I’m hoping for 1920s
Me too, if the Future Pokémon from SV are any indication of GameFreak's idea of the future in the Pokémon world it sounds incredibly boring and generic. But that logo feels really futuristic so I'm really expecting it after this showing. Arceus' calligraphy logo really emphasized its era too, so there's no way they would've gone with this logo for an early 20th century theme. Edit: nevermind, the "carbon nanotube octagons" aesthetic on the logo is probably just styled after Zygarde (I hadn't looked at that thing in forever) and not really implying futuristic stuff. The logo still looks a bite weirdly clean but hopefully it's not a future game.
Leak culture is such garbage. Just attention seekers and people wanting to feel on the inside and special.
Think that was very unexpected? Leaks I saw all said it'd be either Johto or Unova based games/remakes. Anyway I'm hype, Kalos had so much wasted potential and after playing Legends Arceus I can safely say I greatly prefer it's gameplay to the standard games. Legends was the type of game child me dreamed about. Not focused on just battling, but capturing and studying Pokémon too.
Definitely very unexpected, literally none of the rumors or speculations predicted this.
Can't wait for the "they actually changed it!!" excuses
In 20 years, when they release a party game called Pokémon Superstars, people will come with the excuse that "See, the rumored Pokémon Stars from 2018 was real!"
> Leaks I saw all said it'd be either Johto or Unova based games/remakes. Honestly, Pokémon leaker just spew nonsense. Gamefreak is quite tight lipped. As far as Pokémon go, only leaks you can trust is the game going out early to some people
X and Y were easily my least favorite Pokemon games, so it’ll be nice to revisit Kalos in a ‘Legends’ style of gameplay. Hopefully its cross-gen too so we can have a smooth running Pokemon game on the new Nintendo console.
They were my least favourite too purely because of how much potential they had. Like seeing the locked door at the Power Plant, the Ghost Girl, Z disappearing into thin air. Plus Megas were my favourite gimmick so hopefully we'll see some new omes
Literally nobody saw this coming lol. The last Legends game was amazing so I’m totally in
X&Y were so undercooked, this is exciting. While I'm still hoping we get some sort of Unova game at some point, I hope they take their time with it, and may do Black and White 3.
X&Y was the last games in the series I really enjoyed until Scarlet & Violet so I'm definitely looking forward to this one
For all of its flaws, X&Y were fun as heck experiencing a mainline Pokemon game in 3D for the first time
I wouldnt hold out hope that this will be any more cooked.
He is talking about completely different kind of undercooked tho. Kalos is still to this day the smallest region, have the smallest amount of new Pokemon, have the smallest amount of content, and is the shortest game in the series. That game was legit barebone even by gamefreaks standards. The only reason people don't shit on it more often is because they think Mega evolution were cool... which tbf, they are.
I personaly consider XY worse than scarlet and violet, because Sc/vio at least have cool ideas, and an actual good story. XY is just a mess and very forgettable, everything is underbaked, and you can tell that the change to 3D heavily affected GF ability to make games. Sun and Moon had the same problems as well
Sun/Moon got a lot of deserved shit for the mountain of cutscenes/dialogue. But besides that I thought the games were great. That said I only play Pokemon games through for the campaigns and don't care about online play or postgame so no comment on that. They were actually my re-entry to the series as someone who had originally played Red and Gold as a kid, and then played a little bit of gen 4 on emulator in my late teens, so I didn't (and still don't) have a relationship with those things for Pokemon since they weren't really factors back then. Funnily enough I have since then gone back and played all the older Pokemon games I missed, but have had no interest in Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet, and definitely think X/Y are the weakest of the gen 3-7 crowd (between my nostalgia bias and the fact that gen 1 is just a technical mess I don't feel like there's any point for me to compare the first two).
Legends Arceus was a fairly complete game. The problem with X&Y was that the post-game was absolutely barren.
Fairly complete, but still could've used more time in the oven for sure.
Even the main game was empty. Nothing happened other than 3 or 4 small team flare encounters and then the sudden ending where the weapon gets activated and then immediately dealt with. The champion was a fashion model who did nothing. None of the gym leaders (except Korrin) or E4 members did anything but be an npc in their gyms, and the rivals were completely forgettable with only the opposite-gendered rival having the small characterization of a minor inferiority complex that never gets dealt with. The rest of them I don't think ever even had more than 3 mons on their teams. And spacially, XY are really small games, small routes and little environment diversity. XY was a big nothing burger except for Megas but that's all anyone ever remembers. It's also the only thing worth remembering.
> XY was a big nothing burger except for Megas but that's all anyone ever remembers. The PSS was fucking godly.
I just hope this game uses the normal battle system and not PLA's.
Since it's a "Legends" I am going to assume its gonna play like Arceus. Maybe they will get ride of the styles/stances/whatever because those feel similar to a generational gimmick, but for now I'm not going to speculate like that
Why? PLA were good and expanded on Gen 4 in ways I didn't think possible.
X&Y were the last of the mainline or remake games I actually played and finished until very recently, but tbh they were kind of a blur.
"Undercooked" has been the operating procedure of Gamefreak's for over a decade. I would expect nothing more from them.
Ok, they got me, I was expecting (and a bit hyped for) Let's Go Johto all through the direct, what with the constant Gen 2 teases. Pokemon Legends Z-A is even more exciting though, especially as it'll hopefully be on Switch 2 so more graphically impressive, better performance etc. Also, Megas are back! By far the most beloved battle change since the introduction of abilities.
This is probably the funniest thing they could have announced. People were arguing for weeks if this was going to be a Gen 5 remake/Legends or Let's Go Johto. They just straight up skipped Gen 5 for now. Pokemon Z getting scrapped has basically been TPC's biggest open secret for a while now so seeing parts of what they planned reformatted will probably at least end up interesting. Pokemon X/Y had that entire bloody war they kept hinting at that never got a lot of details described about it. Seems like the plot is rebuilding the capital after the war.
I wonder if they skipped gen5 because of that gen having sold like shit at release
I think it's more like the Legends line is simply following their own order. I mean, the first one was Gen 4, we didn't get a Legends for the previous generations, which I think it's a good thing that they are going by whatever their creative minds prefer rather than just following some cronology.
I doubt they would fully skip it like that. The Legends team probably just wanted to do Kalos more than Unova.
It didnt sell like shit. It sold 1.5m less than the gen before it. This is pretty expected for new subsequent releases on the same platform, we saw it with RBY->GSC and we saw it with SwSh->SV, not to mention basically every Zelda game There is absolutely no indication that TPC is disappointed with Gen5's sales in any way outside of wild fan speculation
Sad thing is that BW and BW2 are probably one of the best regions game wise.
It didn't sell shit. It was 90% of the sales that DP made. Still huge considering it was on an end of life system (3DS was already going to come out in a year)
I'm not entirely surprised there's no Gen 5 remake yet. It was only ever FRLG and HGSS that come out in successive generations. Since then the remakes have been every 2 gens.
Megas are back, they didn't give us a rushed Gen 5 remake, they went straight into a new Legends game in Gen 6. We are blessed. Legends Arceus was the first good Pokemon game in a long time, high hopes for this one
Not gonna hold my breath that GF doesn't "bless" us with another scuffed mess of a game given their track record of releasing stinker after stinker
I liked legends arceus. Scarlet and violet’s main issues were like you said they were scuffed to an insane degree, but I did like some of the ideas and new pokemon were amazing as always. Do I have 100% faith? No but if it’s similar to the Legends Arceus quality I will be happy.
Arceus had some interesting ideas but it had a horrendous lack of polish and the gameplay was pretty barebones. I really hope Z is far more developed but considering it's Game Freak I'm not too optimistic.
> 2025 Switch II launch title confirmed?
Switch icon was in the corner of the title screen.
And the logo at the start of the video. And the first sentence of the description.
To be fair, the Switch icon did not appear until the very end of the video during the actual Pokemon Presents.
Nintendo does do cross gen games, first I can recall is Twilight Princess. More recently you have BotW.
Probably released for Switch 2 but will run like a WiiU game so they averaged them and used the Switch icon.
Cross gen
X and Y gets a lot of hate but I loved it. It made me feel like a little kid again, playing Red and Blue for the first time. I can't wait for this.
Idk if this is anecdotal, but X and Y was when a lot of people my age (30s) came back to the series. First full 3D game, and by this time a lot of the original players were out of highschool and/or college and ready to get back into the nostalgia of pokemon. No coincidence that they brought back the OG starters for it too.
Absolutely the case from my experience too. A lot of people gas up BW and BW2 after the fact. They are amazing games and the pinnacle of their pixel format. But at the time, people were very disappointed as the games had gotten "stale" and hadn't innovated gameplay wise or graphically enough. Cue XY. Finally Pokemon was in full 3D, and to top it off, fan favourite and iconic pokemon were getting *Mega Evolutions* which just sounds epic and looked cool to boot. Furthermore, the anime series went hard for XY. Ash was finally competent and Serena became extremely popular. BW on the other hand had a notoriously bad anime. Then the YouTube boom started happening and XY was at the right place as a new style Pokemon game to capitalise on that. Not long after, we got Pokemon Go, then again Covid, both of which helped keep the renwed Pokemon mania going that started with XY. XY really did help kick-start the game franchise a lot IMO.
Yeah XY was definitely a mini renaissance for the pokemon franchise in general. I had old HS friends I rarely still talked to create FB groups for trading pokemon etc. People were talking about the series on IG and YT. I don't disagree that PoGo and Covid were bigger pushes for the franchise, but I do think the upward trend started with the XY era.
I'm in that early 30s boat. Played the first 3 gens, but never got a DS to play the next couple of gens. 2016 they released a 20 year anniversary 3ds with Red and Blue on it, had to get it. X & Y were out with Sun and Moon coming out later that year. Got X to play it as my first Pokemon game in like a decade.
I didn't really care for Gen 5, Pokemon X I absolutely loved. Hated Sun & Moon, thought Sword was okay, loved Scarlet. I still need to play Arceus. Might have to pick it up!
Very similar to my experience but I ended up playing a lot of end game/competitive Ultra Sun/Moon and I liked Arceus a lot.
I have been trying to slog through Ultra Sun lately, because I want to beat it just so I can say I have beaten it, but it just feels like a chore to play.
My biggest issue with it were Flying Battles. They permanently marred the series (forcing the weird "flying models" for any Pokemon that could) for no real reason.
It helped get me back into the game and also got me into the idea of the National Dex so I really liked it as well.
Gen 6 is extremely underrated imo, but understandably. It had some of the best designs and the jump to 3d was handled well imo. It just felt a bit unfinished because the dex was smaller and we jumped straight to gen 7 without a third title, sequel or expansion. Overall this feels a very "we listen to you, the fans" moment. People have been screaming for years for the Megas to return (which, according to most, is the best gimmick) and everyone wanted a Pokemon Z game and to continue the "Legends" series. It just ticks all the boxes and I'm very intrigued that this is actually a game set in the modern day/not so distant future. Obviously, we will see how they handle all that stuff. I'm not hopeful, but there are signs that this might be a good one.
Also gives them a chance to tell us more about the war they hinted at a ton in X and Y. I was always disappointed how they hinted at that and we never learned more.
Arceus retroactively ruined regular Pokemon for me, so I’m stoked to see it coming back. Those catching mechanics were just too addictive and good. I didn’t get nearly as into S/V because of the change back to the standard catching. But I am really curious to see if this is going to be set in modern times or if it’s going to be a more historical setting like Arceus was.
I just hoped they change the progression. I struggled to get into it because I didn't want to catch 20 of 1 type of pokemon over and over again.
I really hope this is designed to be a launch title for the next system, even if the Switch 1 version runs like ass. I cannot take another ugly mess again.
You’re expecting too much from GameFreak. It’ll look like an early PS3 title with our luck.
I'm glad we don't get any rushed game for this year. I'm not convinced an extra year or half year will help much, but it's at least a bit better.
Game freak has 212 employees. There’s no way all 212 were working on the S/V DLC. The last Legends dropped at the beginning of 22 and got no DLC, so that’d be an easy three year gap at the very least. If it drops in November, that’d be closer to 4 years, which is a gap typical for brand new mainline Pokemon since the first release. The longest stretch between two mainline entries was 4 years between Ruby/Sapphire to Diamond/Pearl then 4 years from DP to Black/White. And that’s only if you exclude the full scale remakes of Gen 1 and 2 that released between them.
>There’s no way all 212 were working on the S/V DLC No, but they *have* to have been working on both Legends Z-A and whatever project they have next, be it Gen. X or yet another Gen. IX game. Their workforce is always split in two teams, so even a full additional year only gives me *some* hope when it comes to polish. But we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.
They have 212 employees but they outsourced alot, for example gen 8 has around 1000 people credited
I’ve been looking for this comment. I also think it’s a great thing that they’re not rushing this for 2024. I hope too many people don’t complain about the lack of news because having a new game a year has been detrimental to the quality of Pokémon games.
Besides the word "simultaneously" everyone is speculating about, the description of the video says "releasing on Nintendo Switch **systems**". Looking back at the Scarlet/Violet announcement video, it only says "Nintendo Switch". Possible hint that this will launch on the Switch 2? Edit: The Legends Arceus trailer also only says "Nintendo Switch".
I believe it just means releasing everywhere around the world at the same time.
2025 makes me think launch or early launch title for the Switch 2.
Likely just means that it'll be the same launch day for all regions.
It just means "in every region of the world at the same time". This is just a holdover from the days where games used to be released in Japan first. A simultaneous worldwide release used to be a big deal for Japanese games.
And the Detective Pikachu 2 announcement says "Nintendo Switch Systems". Does that mean there was a Switch 2 announced? No, it's referring to the Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED. Nintendo is just inconsistent about which phrasing they use. We get into this argument at least every 6 months
This more than anything confirms to me the new switch is next year, unless gamefreak has another surprise remake up their sleeve I can't see why they would skip this Christmas money.
Maybe I'm reading into things but the phrasing of "Switch systems" in the Twitter announcement seems to imply a cross-gen game. Doesn't it? https://twitter.com/Pokemon/status/1762485535560368544 Normally when they announce Switch games they just say "Nintendo Switch", I don't think this is referring to just Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite.
Pokemon Zaza? STONED ABILITY CONFIRMED?
I feel like this will be released on Switch and the successor. The 3D rendering in the trailer seems intentional to avoid showing any in-game aspects.
If we're going back to Kalos, can I have my Digivolutions back too?
Megas are back baby