Thread: (Mod Note: Read First Post! Updated 6/1/13) Game Freak "expanding Pokémon world"

Originally Posted by Joshawott

2012 was a rushed year for Pokémon, in terms of the games, the Mythical Pokémon and even the pacing of the anime.

There were three games releases in Japan. That's it. Are you really making a big deal about B2W2 being released three months earlier? You've argued yourself that that they probably wanted to release the games worldwide by the end of the year so that they could be done with the DS. How does that support your argument that the original plan might have been to draw out Generation V until 2014? As for the pacing of the anime, Best Wishes is generally fast-paced. That just goes to show that Generation V was always supposed to last three years.

Is this going anywhere? You're making me question if you really believed that this would be a shorter generation all along.

I know - the best incentive to buy a game is through a promotion that wasn't announced when the games were first released!

I didn't say it was the best incentive. But it was the best Wi-Fi event they could have chosen to promote the games. And are you seriously implying that the games didn't need to be promoted by August?

What are TPC going to give out for next year's movie, unless Gen VI somehow surfaces before then? (Which it won't because of the "Best Wishes" tag on the movie poster...unless that's a red herring). The special shiny red Genesect? Well...why didn't they just wait a bit longer and give out a normal Genesect?

Because it would have been very wrong to keep Genesect unreleased until the last two months of this generation. It would have been better off being reserved for the next generation in that case.

Also, the next spin-off could allow them to use a new Pokémon for the main movie promotion. I expect Red Genesect to be the ticket promotion.

Who knows why they decided to wait until BW to add Random Battles? It certainly would have been cool in Platinum and/or HGSS.

Enough said.

According to the Iwata Asks segment I linked to earlier, he said that he moved onto BW after Platinum.

Read again:

Originally Posted by Satoru Iwata (to Junichi Masuda)

So after Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version came out and everyone at Game Freak was making Pokémon Platinum Version, you were examining the games from a number of different angles and thinking about how you could make them so that players never “graduated” from them.

Originally Posted by Junichi Masuda

Yes, I thought about it for roughly two years. But when we were making Diamond and Pearl, we didn’t have to think too hard in order to establish a difference with previous games, because we had the Nintendo DS as new hardware.

This means that Masuda was working on Black and White while most of the staff were working on Platinum.

Originally Posted by Silktree

Originally Posted by Joshawott

2012 was a rushed year for Pokémon, in terms of the games, the Mythical Pokémon and even the pacing of the anime.

There were three games releases in Japan. That's it. Are you really making a big deal about B2W2 being released three months earlier? You've argued yourself that that they probably wanted to release the games worldwide by the end of the year so that they could be done with the DS. How does that support your argument that the original plan was to draw out Generation V until 2014? As for the pacing of the anime, Best Wishes is generally fast-paced. That just goes to show that Generation V was always supposed to last three years.

Because the original plans were obviously shelved before B2W2's release; possibly at the insistence of Nintendo. All I'm saying is that GameFreak aren't some omnipotent organisation where everything goes to plan.

Is this going anywhere? You're making me question if you really believed that this would be a shorter generation all along.

Oh I always did believe it was going to be a shorter generation, because I looked at the signs as they came across. All I'm saying is, GameFreak might not have originally planned it that way when they were planning Black and White.

I know - the best incentive to buy a game is through a promotion that wasn't announced when the games were first released!

I didn't say it was the best incentive. But it was the best Wi-Fi event they could have chosen to promote the games. And are you seriously implying that the games didn't need to be promoted by August?

Usually an incentive to buy a game comes y'know...before the launch.

What are TPC going to give out for next year's movie, unless Gen VI somehow surfaces before then? (Which it won't because of the "Best Wishes" tag on the movie poster...unless that's a red herring). The special shiny red Genesect? Well...why didn't they just wait a bit longer and give out a normal Genesect?

Because it would have been very wrong to keep Genesect unreleased until the last two months of this generation. It would have been better off being reserved for the next generation in that case.

How would it have been "very wrong" to keep Genesect hidden until the end of the generation? Are TPC worried that they'd hurt Genesect's feelings or something?

Also, the next spin-off could allow them to use a new Pokémon for the main movie promotion. I expect Red Genesect to be the ticket promotion.

But then...what would the main promotion be? Maybe the ticket promotion will be a Charizard or something (as that's featured a lot in advertisements at the moment and it isn't currently on a main character's team), with the Red Genesect being the main promotion?

According to the Iwata Asks segment I linked to earlier, he said that he moved onto BW after Platinum.

Read again:

Originally Posted by Satoru Iwata (to Junichi Masuda)

So after Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version came out and everyone at Game Freak was making Pokémon Platinum Version, you were examining the games from a number of different angles and thinking about how you could make them so that players never “graduated” from them.

This means that Masuda was working on Black and White while most of the staff were working on Platinum.

[/quote]
I know, I misread it earlier and I in fact corrected myself in the post above yours. However, that was only a mere technicality and doesn't disprove my original point that BW were Junichi Masuda (and the main developers - after all, this isn't a one man show) had the chance to fully take a look at the new competitive scene that had emerged.

HarmoKnight took 25 employees and 1.5 years of dev time.

I'm pretty sure 25 employees and a year-and-a-half isn't significant resources in this day and age of gaming development.

Listen, I'm just saying that I don't think that Gamefreak hasn't had enough time to develop a decent 3DS Pokemon title. Will be it be good? Perhaps not. But I have faith and hope that they can pull of something decent using a (by the time Gen V is speculated to hit) 3-year old system.

Originally Posted by Joshawott

All I'm saying is, GameFreak might not have originally planned it that way when they were planning Black and White.

Perhaps. But they almost definitely kept the four event legendaries in the data knowing how long this generation would last.

It's funny how you're arguing that the decision to end the generation in 2013 could have changed some preliminary plans and thus made 2012 look "rushed", and yet you doubt that Generation IV would have been different had it been longer.

Usually an incentive to buy a game comes y'know...before the launch.

That obviously doesn't have to be the case for downloadable content. The first Genesect event was made exclusive to B2W2 for one sole reason: promoting the games. Note that the upcoming promotion will be compatible with Black and White because by now they don't need to promote B2W2 in particular.

How would it have been "very wrong" to keep Genesect hidden until the end of the generation? Are TPC worried that they'd hurt Genesect's feelings or something?

It would have left players very little time to actually use Genesect in the Generation V games. One of the B2W2 tournaments allowed players to use the event Pokémon (including Genesect), so it is obvious that TPCi care about their usage to some degree.

But then...what would the main promotion be? Maybe the ticket promotion will be a Charizard or something (as that's featured a lot in advertisements at the moment and it isn't currently on a main character's team), with the Red Genesect being the main promotion?

What? I said that Red Genesect would be the ticket promotion, and that the main promotion might be tied to Generation VI via a spin-off game. Think of what happened with the Manaphy egg and Ranger in 2006.

I know, I misread it earlier and I in fact corrected myself in the post above yours. However, that was only a mere technicality and doesn't disprove my original point that BW were Junichi Masuda (and the main developers - after all, this isn't a one man show) had the chance to fully take a look at the new competitive scene that had emerged.

I see no reason why they would have had to analyze the competitive scene for four years for a relatively simple random battle feature.

Originally Posted by Silktree

Originally Posted by Joshawott

All I'm saying is, GameFreak might not have originally planned it that way when they were planning Black and White.

Perhaps. But they almost definitely kept the four event legendaries in the data knowing how long this generation would last.

That's assuming they knew how long it would last before they programmed them all in. I imagine it would have been around the time when they were having internal discussions with Nintendo about B2W2 that it changed.

Usually an incentive to buy a game comes y'know...before the launch.

That obviously doesn't have to be the case for downloadable content. The first Genesect event was made exclusive to B2W2 for one sole reason: promoting the games. Note that the upcoming promotion will be compatible with Black and White because by now they don't need to promote B2W2 in particular.

Still weird that they're releasing it again this month. I would have thought they would have saved the next one for the movie.

How would it have been "very wrong" to keep Genesect hidden until the end of the generation? Are TPC worried that they'd hurt Genesect's feelings or something?

It would have left players very little time to actually use Genesect in the Generation V games. One of the B2W2 tournaments allowed players to use the event Pokémon (including Genesect), so it is obvious that TPCi care about their usage to some degree.

TPC, not TPCi. There has yet to be an international tournament that has allowed it. That's pretty flimsy reasoning though considering that outside of that one Wi-Fi tournament, Mythical Pokémon are always banned from competitive play.

But then...what would the main promotion be? Maybe the ticket promotion will be a Charizard or something (as that's featured a lot in advertisements at the moment and it isn't currently on a main character's team), with the Red Genesect being the main promotion?

What? I said that Red Genesect would be the ticket promotion, and that the main promotion might be tied to Generation VI via a spin-off game. Think of what happened with the Manaphy egg and Ranger in 2006.

Possibly, but we'll have to wait and see if a spin-off game is even announced first.

I know, I misread it earlier and I in fact corrected myself in the post above yours. However, that was only a mere technicality and doesn't disprove my original point that BW were Junichi Masuda (and the main developers - after all, this isn't a one man show) had the chance to fully take a look at the new competitive scene that had emerged.

I see no reason why they would have had to analyze the competitive scene for four years for a relatively simple random battle feature.[/QUOTE][/quote]
2009 was the first year that the official competitive scene went international. That was also the year that Pokémon Platinum was released internationally, so GameFreak had obviously finished working on that one and were working on HGSS, the first games to feature Flat Battle (the format of the official tournaments). At the time, they probably thrown in Flat Battle instead of implementing a whole new online system due to time constraints or something (the qualifiers took place around April-May worldwide, with Worlds in August 2009).

Originally Posted by Joshawott

That's assuming they knew how long it would last before they programmed them all in. I imagine it would have been around the time when they were having internal discussions with Nintendo about B2W2 that it changed.

I'd like to believe that Game Freak never had any intentions of releasing DS games (remakes or otherwise) in 2013, but I suppose anything is possible considering that they thought that two third versions would be a good idea.

That's pretty flimsy reasoning though considering that outside of that one Wi-Fi tournament, Mythical Pokémon are always banned from competitive play.

They can be used in regular battles. They don't exist for posterity alone.

2009 was the first year that the official competitive scene went international. That was also the year that Pokémon Platinum was released internationally, so GameFreak had obviously finished working on that one and were working on HGSS, the first games to feature Flat Battle (the format of the official tournaments). At the time, they probably thrown in Flat Battle instead of implementing a whole new online system due to time constraints or something (the qualifiers took place around April-May worldwide, with Worlds in August 2009).

Random battles largely exist independently of the official tournaments, so I don't see why you keep bringing this up. The competitive scene has always existed in some way, and random battles can be quite casual.

Originally Posted by Silktree

Originally Posted by Joshawott

That's assuming they knew how long it would last before they programmed them all in. I imagine it would have been around the time when they were having internal discussions with Nintendo about B2W2 that it changed.

I'd like to believe that Game Freak never had any intentions of releasing DS games (remakes or otherwise) in 2013, but I suppose anything is possible considering that they thought that two third versions would be a good idea.

Bingo.

That's pretty flimsy reasoning though considering that outside of that one Wi-Fi tournament, Mythical Pokémon are always banned from competitive play.

They can be used in regular battles. They don't exist for posterity alone.

Hey, you were the one who mentioned their use in an official tournament first, not me.

2009 was the first year that the official competitive scene went international. That was also the year that Pokémon Platinum was released internationally, so GameFreak had obviously finished working on that one and were working on HGSS, the first games to feature Flat Battle (the format of the official tournaments). At the time, they probably thrown in Flat Battle instead of implementing a whole new online system due to time constraints or something (the qualifiers took place around April-May worldwide, with Worlds in August 2009).

Random battles largely exist independently of the official tournaments, so I don't see why you keep bringing this up. The competitive scene has always existed in some way, and random battles can be quite casual.

Not when there's a "Rated Mode" and the Global Battle Union ranks player's ratings from such random battles. I keep bringing it up because y'know, the new Battle Competition features and that added into Gen V...they were for the official tournaments. The random battles were most likely added to fuel the competitive fire, with the "Free Mode" for the more casuals.

Originally Posted by Joshawott

Hey, you were the one who mentioned their use in an official tournament first, not me.

Because the fact that TPC encouraged players to use them in even one tournament implies that they want people to use them in casual battles, which are the most frequent kind of battles.

Not when there's a "Rated Mode" and the Global Battle Union ranks player's ratings from such random battles. I keep bringing it up because y'know, the new Battle Competition features and that added into Gen V...they were for the official tournaments. The random battles were most likely added to fuel the competitive fire, with the "Free Mode" for the more casuals.

And what is so inferior about Free Mode? It could have definitely existed in Generation IV, and I am not convinced that Rated Mode required any amount of serious research.

Originally Posted by Silktree

Originally Posted by Joshawott

Hey, you were the one who mentioned their use in an official tournament first, not me.

Because the fact that TPC encouraged players to use them in even one tournament implies that they want people to use them in casual battles, which are the most frequent kind of battles.

Not when there's a "Rated Mode" and the Global Battle Union ranks player's ratings from such random battles. I keep bringing it up because y'know, the new Battle Competition features and that added into Gen V...they were for the official tournaments. The random battles were most likely added to fuel the competitive fire, with the "Free Mode" for the more casuals.

And what is so inferior about Free Mode? It could have definitely existed in Generation IV, and I am not convinced that Rated Mode required any amount of serious research.

No one ever mentioned any research.

Who knows why they didn't put it in Generation IV. Maybe they just didn't think about it at the time? (After all, they didn't make PBR). But we've gone way off track what we were originally talking about anyway xD

So I just got a random thought. This "big" announcement that's going down on January 8th, where exactly are they going to make the announcement? I just realized that January 8th falls on a Tuesday.

Are they going to post it on the Japanese Pokemon website? Or will it be on TV?

Originally Posted by Frugrow

So I just got a random thought. This "big" announcement that's going down on January 8th, where exactly are they going to make the announcement? I just realized that January 8th falls on a Tuesday.

Are they going to post it on the Japanese Pokemon website? Or will it be on TV?

Surprise Nintendo Direct!

Seriously, they should reveal Gen VI via Nintendo Direct. It's a great resource for Nintendo to get the word out, and I don't see why Pokemon shouldn't be spotlighted on it like the rest of Nintendo Franchises.

Originally Posted by Frugrow

So I just got a random thought. This "big" announcement that's going down on January 8th, where exactly are they going to make the announcement? I just realized that January 8th falls on a Tuesday.

Are they going to post it on the Japanese Pokemon website? Or will it be on TV?

Presumably it will happen on the official site, seeing as it's not happening with an anime episode, Smash, or CoroCoro.

So I was wondering, seeing as its just a date and nothing concrete, what are the odds that if this has to do with a new Pokemon, which could be used to go along with the big news with a reveal in corocoro, that we're gonna get some news on Thursday? That news years specials on, and as far as we know there is some movie 16 news in there somewhere, which could tie into this.

Presumably it will happen on the official site, seeing as it's not happening with an anime episode, Smash, or CoroCoro.

And the only other potential show it could air was Oha Suta and that ends about half an hour before the announcement. They still could have the announcement right before the whatever they are airing at that time, especially considering offical website generally updates on Fridays, but yeah, I agree.

We obviously still need to keep an eye on TVTokyo unless they explicitly state it airs on something else during Smash or somewhere else.

So I was wondering, seeing as its just a date and nothing concrete, what are the odds that if this has to do with a new Pokemon, which could be used to go along with the big news with a reveal in corocoro, that we're gonna get some news on Thursday? That news years specials on, and as far as we know there is some movie 16 news in there somewhere, which could tie into this.

A silhouette perphaps? Or they announce that there is going to be a new Pokémon and don't state what it is or show anything?

Originally Posted by Mitchman

So I was wondering, seeing as its just a date and nothing concrete, what are the odds that if this has to do with a new Pokemon, which could be used to go along with the big news with a reveal in corocoro, that we're gonna get some news on Thursday? That news years specials on, and as far as we know there is some movie 16 news in there somewhere, which could tie into this.

The fact that TV Tokyo teased the announcement a week and a half in advance, and following an old B2W2 commercial of all things, suggests to me that they wanted to make a point that the announcement will be strictly game-related. That's why I am not expecting to see a silhouette of the movie star just yet.