angik20: (Grandmano)
Angi K ([personal profile] angik20) wrote2019-11-13 08:32 am
Entry tags:

Getting this out of my system

I've been hearing a ton of flack this generation of Pokemon is getting, and the games aren't even out yet. Sure, some criticism is valid and worth taking into consideration, but good lord! I've never seen a fanbase whine as much as the Pokemon fanbase has whined this year! It's annoying and griding on my nerves, so here's some personal thoughts and opinions I've had on the matter.

Cut content; Cut Pokemon, cut moves, cut features: GameFreak would have had to do this inevitably as its roster of those things keep increasing and there's no way to include everything all the time in every generation and keep it all balanced. I did expect that Mega Evolutions and Z moves weren't coming back in this generation. And I expect that Dynamax and Gigantimax won't return in the next. Even features like Walking Pokemon and Pokemon Amie are only in a select handful of games. Would you be upset about this decision of Gamefreak had to take it twenty years down the line? Ten? Five?

Animations: As soon as it was announced that Gamefreak would focus on them instead of the herculean task of trying to include everything, I knew you would nitpick them. It's because of the toxic bias stemming from the well that was poisoned the moment it was announced that not all Pokemon would be returning. I know for a fact none of you would even notice the animations if Gamefreak never said anything about them. And all this isn't even bringing up that Pokemon has never had super stellar animation in the first place. Not in the games, not in the anime. Unless everything about the gameplay, including genre of game, is completely overhauled, which is unlikely, the animations will look the same, quality-wise. Why else did I say that the live action Detective Pikachu movie of all things has the best Pokemon animation I have ever seen?

Lack of difficulty: As if the main Pokemon games haven't been getting easier since Generation 6. There's a reason for this phenomenon, and it's something no one has ever considered, especiallly for players that have been here since the beginning- our muscle memory of the core mechanics. Sure, it can be argued that GameFreak have been deliberatedly toning down the difficulty of the games for their target audience. However, since the core gameplay hasn't been changed up much since the beginning, barring, again, a complete overhaul, the games are going to continue being easier for us.

Character rehashing: Why is it a complaint now? "Hop is a rehash of Hau!" Shauna is a rehash of Bianca. Lillie is a rehash of N. Bianca is a rehash of Wally. Pikaclones every generation. See, I can make stupid arguments, too.

I'm not say that these games are going to be perfect. No work of fiction will ever be perfect. I'm just sick of the hatemongering. Why can't we look for ourselves and judge the games on their objective values instead of letting our preconcieved biases cloud our opinions? And before you say "leaks," remember:
Leaks can be faked.
Screenshots can be faked.
Content can be completely made up from whole cloth.
And it's happened before. In every franchise.
Take every so-called "leak" you come across with a huge heaping of salt.
It would have been one thing if the message everyone was saying was like "Hey, maybe we shouldn't take everything we see about these games at face-value and should look into them more critcally."
No.
"Bash! Bash! Hate! Hate! Death Threats! Harrasment! Everyone who disagrees with us is a bootlicker!"
That's the kind of message I can't stand. It only serves to divide people and leads to people leaving and splintering off and make everyone who spouts messages like that seem completely unreasonable.
Let's all calm down for once.