Pokémon Generation VIII

[Bongo]

The rather shaky "Pokemon Adventures: Arceus" footage gives me (and I know I'm not alone in this) a feeling like some devs were commanded to put together a trailer long before they had anything they were ready to show. Some marketing robot made this decision, and now we're all going to have to suffer through people griping about frame rates for the next year.

 

[Phantoon]

It's possible that the frame rate will never be spectacular. It's not an action game though, so I don't really care.

 

[muteKi]

I can't say the pace of the game suits my fancy but it's also so preliminary in its development that it may as well be a proof-of-concept and nothing else. They're saying 2022, which means, assuming no delays, probably late 2022 (Oct. or Nov. judging by typical Pokemon release dates), so nearly 1.5-2 years worth of development time for this.

In that sense I am not underwhelmed by what was shown; I am whelmed an extremely appropriate amount.

 

[Kirin]

As someone who got sucked into Pokemon GO hard, but still doesn't really have the patience for the main series games (I stalled out like 7/8 of the way through Let's Go, and that's already waaay streamlined) I'm... intrigued to see exactly what sort of thing Legends ends up being.

If they pushed the current theming a little harder and went full-on Okami rendering style I'd be even more excited.

 

[Patrick]

That looks like it takes place in Hyrule. I'd play it.

 

[Phantoon]

I'm really pleased they've gone the direction they have. Modern day Sinnoh is the most clockwork puzzle style overworld Pokémon has ever done. Changing it more than they have would probably break it.
Meanwhile, the idea of hiking up Mount Coronet in feudal Sinnoh sounds fantastic.

I get to have my cake and eat it this way.

 

[Sprite]

I am extremely into the chibi aesthetic, though I don’t know if I’ll end up getting this one. I always stall out on the remakes.

Legends looks like a natural growth of the Let’s Go concept. I’m into it.

 

[Rascally Badger]

Watched the video; all three games look good to me. I like that they are keeping the dimensions and perspective of Diamond and Pearl. I don't know that I look back on those games as favorites, but save the various versions red/blue/green I think I put the most time into my copy of Pearl. I could do with playing it again.

 

[fanboymaster]

I can't say the pace of the game suits my fancy but it's also so preliminary in its development that it may as well be a proof-of-concept and nothing else. They're saying 2022, which means, assuming no delays, probably late 2022 (Oct. or Nov. judging by typical Pokemon release dates), so nearly 1.5-2 years worth of development time for this.

In that sense I am not underwhelmed by what was shown; I am whelmed an extremely appropriate amount.

That trailer says Early 2022 so as far as they're saying publicly they think this game is out in a year and change at most, polish is a late step to apply but honestly we know essentially nothing about the gameplay loop so it seems early to make a judgment call about the pace.

 

[Sprite]

Game Freak Pokemon games usually feel a bit ramshackle, so I won't be surprised if this game has issues.

I think the choppiness might be intentional? Some parts have a kind of stop motion jerkiness to them.

 

[Zef]

Did they develop Sword & Shield? I didn't have any technical issues at all with that one, and the framerate was smooth all the way through.

 

[Ludendorkk]

Did they develop Sword & Shield? I didn't have any technical issues at all with that one, and the framerate was smooth all the way through.

The Sinnoh remakes are notable as the first mainline games not primarily developed by Game Freak

 

[Bongo]

I think the choppiness might be intentional? Some parts have a kind of stop motion jerkiness to them.

The choppiness you're seeing is a technique used in games, where fewer frames of animation are rendered for objects in the distance when something more important needs the processing power. The reason you're seeing it is because it's extremely early in development and no performance optimization of any kind has been applied, so the compensation technique is kicking in all the time even on close-up objects, and because they didn't decide to fake it by capturing footage from a super-powerful developer workstation.

I just had a premonition of how many times I'm going to feel compelled to explain the various reasons why most games look awful until they're nearly complete.

 

[Phantoon]

Yeah, isn't it like the last few weeks, even, when things get properly optimised?

 

[Phantoon]

People actually want Coliseum and XD though so the joke's on Channel

 

[Peklo]

I'm pretty much on the outside of being a regular part of the Pokémon audience but that trailer for Legends got me like nothing else, probably because it appears to be just that in the context of the series. I've rarely seen any of the games attempt to sell themselves with the kind of austere solitude that was presented there, and if the final game reflects an atmosphere like that to any extent, I'm probably interested.

 

[Fyonn]

Legends looks incredible. It extremely feels like they were like "hey how do we make Pokemon but Breath of the Wild?" And I think it absolutely nails it. They could release that game tomorrow without any polishing and I'd still be like "hey this is dope as heck."
I feel kind of bad for Kindred Fates, whose whole appeal is just right here in a Pokemon game now.

 

[Bongo]

This morning's stream had no news for Pokémon Sword & Shield, except to mention that Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl will not support ranked multiplayer and you should play Sword & Shield instead for that. Keeping things unified like that does suggest interesting possibilities for their general strategy going forward. What little we saw of BDSP's multiplayer looked like it only supported other BDSP players, and Home support will be added for it and for Pokémon Legends sometime later in 2022.

Probably gonna want separate threads for all these games?

 

[MetManMas]

I'm not counting on everything (or anything) making its way to Galar, but given that ranked battles are still going to be Sword+Shield exclusive I would be surprised if we don't see some of the MIA Pokémon and the new Hisui regionals receive support eventually.

People are gonna want to use Shermie Growlithe's evolution (whether it's Shermie Arcanine or something new) in Ranked.

 

[Kirin]

So over in Home I've managed to accumulate by trade a complete 'dex of everything but Mythicals (which you can't GTS). I'd like to get that bonus Magerna for 100% dex, so I guess maybe I should find someone to friend-swap me those mythicals before the dex expands again with more new things I don't have...

 

[Kirin]

Also it looks like Legends has an FFX battle system for pokemon battles and that's kind of rad?

 

[conchobhar]

Stoked that they're selling Legends: Arceus on the premise that bears can, and will, kill you.

 

[MetManMas]

Stoked that they're selling Legends: Arceus on the premise that bears can, and will, kill you.

Yes! Even if your trainer can't really die it's always nice to see Pokémon be threatening to something other than whatever monsters you have fight it.

A real Sharpedo's not just gonna float around waiting while you take the time to find a convenient portion of shallow water to stand on to unleash your electric dog or kung fu bear. If it's rushing at you like a torpedo, it's gonna take you down.

Calling it now: that new Growlithe is gonna become a Shisa.

No doubt about it. Even with Shermie hair this is the closest Growlithe has gotten yet to the stone lion-dogs it's inspired by.

 

[MetManMas]

Anyway, we know these most likely won't be the only variations or new evolutions, so let's speculate on possible evolutions/variations!

Here's some things I think might be possible.

A Glameow evolution that's not Purugly. I'm not gonna say the rake-thin cat's gonna evolve into a more different rake-thin cat, but options for Pokémon food in the past are likely to be more scarce and less fattening. I could see Glameow becoming a more ferocious and agile hunter than the pampered felines of the Poké aughts stuffing their faces with poffins.

More shiny Bronzor. To quote the Platinum Pokédex:

There are researchers who believe this Pokémon reflected like a mirror in the distant past.

I could see this happening.

A separate new evolution for blue Basculin, maybe? The new trailer prominently showed off a Basculin evolution being used to traverse water, but only showed a red Basculin evolution. It could just be another Shellos -> Gastrodon case, but it'd be cool if the blue Basculins had something to differentiate them further from the red.

Tall Girafarig. This is mostly 'cuz I just want Pokémon's one and only giraffe to get some love at all, but it was in the Sinnoh dex proper! The original one, even! It'd be cool if it joined Stantler in the new evo crowd.

Regional Mandibuzz? I know clashing exclusives aren't guaranteed to get regional forms (Meowth has had two new regional families while Mankey has gotten nothing) but it'd be nice if the vulture girl got a regional counterpart like Braviary. Her general design's already a pretty good fit for the region.

 

[Sprite]

It’s cool to see that Legends will have Home support. I wonder if they’re doing it as a trial run for the main series going forward.

Also I only just realized I wasn’t paying attention when Zarude was distributed and am probably out of luck I could probably find someone to trade for one of my duplicate mythicals.

 

[Phantoon]

I'm unreasonably excited about old pokémon like Stantler getting evolutions this time. Generation 2 and 4 are my favourites for this very reason. I'm going to have to breed a shiny Stantler in Pokémon Silver to get ready to trade across!

 

[Exposition Owl]

Aaaaand I just found out that Rowlet is one of the starters, so I may have to play this.

 

[MetManMas]

I'm not ruling out the possibility that the Stantler and Basculin evolutions are going to be exclusive to new regionals (See Galar's Obstagoon, Sirfetch'd, and Cursola)* but it would certainly be nice if those new evos are for the original line. It's been a while since we've had new (non-temporary/non-"Old monster with new look/type(s)/moves") evolutions for older Pokémon; Sylveon was back in Gen 6 and the last generation to really get serious about that kinda thing was Gen 4.

Exeggcute may grow up to be tall and trade out the Psychic side for Dragon in Alola, and Koffing may become a fae capitalist caricature in Galar, but it's not quite the same as Tangela and Magmar being allowed to grow bigger and the Kirlia boys and Snorunt girls receiving a second option for evolution.

There's a lot of old Pokémon that could use a boost and it'd be nice if said boost wasn't wholly exclusive to a more different version of them or a temporary transformation.

* Also Perrserker and Runerigus, but Meowth and Yamask already evolved in previous games so...

 

[Phantoon]

Nah, it mentioned specifically Stantler and Basculin as being able to evolve before going on to mention regional forms.

Having new evolutions and regional forms is heaven on earth for me, but it also means I now have to go dark on it. I don't want another Sun / Moon situation. Playing Sword and Shield and regularly going "what the hell is that?" reminded me of the earliest generations in the best way.

 

[MetManMas]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1428381497686384649

Just heard about this and I'm curious what it'll mean.

A way to tell what Wurmple will evolve into? New variations? A third evolutionary line? A mere cosmetic change? Or a gender difference retcon like how the heart-tail Eevee from Let's GO became the standard female Eevees starting with Galar?

My bet's on the latter. Gen 4 was the generation that added gender differences to many Pokémon lines, and both Beautifly and Dustox had gender differences but their preevolutions didn't.