Agreed in every sense, aside from the somewhat slight towards the Gen 5 games (while glossing over BW2, which solved all of the ‘issues’ you mentioned). Gen 5, I’d argue, took the series to its limit at that time with diverse and explorable routes, hidden areas, side content, postgame content, etc. - heck, BW2 has the most expansive postgame of any Pokémon game. But yeah, since going into 3D, it feels like the series has become more about adhering to the merch cycle than actually producing good games :/
I fully agree with you here, and I didn't articulate this properly in the video, but when I said Gen 5 didn't work as well, I meant in terms of sales and general reception. I definitely think BW and BW2 deserve to be in the conversation for top Pokemon games of all time in terms of quality, and managed to balance the expanded story with the kind of exploration and adventure I really like in a way none of the games since then (and before then, arguably) has been able to do.
That’s a good point at 14:20 ! Like in swsh and oras I sometimes wish that I was playing as Hop or Wally. Instead I just ruin their victory, knowing I didn’t try as hard as they did in the story lol
I played every gen as it came out except the Black & White series, and Sword/Shield. Original Ruby specifically is my favourite in the whole series, and The Trading Card Game has a stronger story than everything after that point. Newer Switch releases and emulated earlier versions can't capture the same feeling you got from curling up with your Gameboy c:
can't agree at all that the new design philosophy is about focusing on story. or, at least, i don't agree that they've SUCCEEDED in focusing on story. the story in pokemon games has always been extremely weak, but the adventure you're going on is a huge contributor to the story. in emerald, you have story beats like your fight with your dad, wally's character arc, the confronting magma and aqua leaders, etc. those all contribute massively to story even though they're adventure/progression beats. the story in swsh is just "oh something big is happening off-screen that you're not involved in! oh no! go over there and watch hop tell you about how it got resolved while doing nothing". sun and moon definitely focused more on story, and i think they did pretty well in that regard, but they were still missing your active contribution to the story. the problem is that modern pokemon doesn't do the story OR the adventure any justice.
I agree with you in general but I am tired of people overstating how good Gen 1 and earlier gens are. I think that the execution of more recent Pokemon games is weak but I cannot see that changing that much because Pokemon is so successful.
Great video man!!! It’s hard for me to play the new Pokémon games and especially with how repetitive the games can be. There is this fanmade Pokémon game “Fire Rocket” which is honestly one of my favorite Pokémon games. It’s short and sweet with a different goal than getting all 8 badges. You play as a low class team rocket grunt trying to climb up the ranks and no more spoilers, but it really made me love the Pokémon games again. Especially the old story Pokémon game (Pokémon colosseum) they made that was actually challenging and interesting.
Agreed in every sense, aside from the somewhat slight towards the Gen 5 games (while glossing over BW2, which solved all of the ‘issues’ you mentioned). Gen 5, I’d argue, took the series to its limit at that time with diverse and explorable routes, hidden areas, side content, postgame content, etc. - heck, BW2 has the most expansive postgame of any Pokémon game. But yeah, since going into 3D, it feels like the series has become more about adhering to the merch cycle than actually producing good games :/
I fully agree with you here, and I didn't articulate this properly in the video, but when I said Gen 5 didn't work as well, I meant in terms of sales and general reception. I definitely think BW and BW2 deserve to be in the conversation for top Pokemon games of all time in terms of quality, and managed to balance the expanded story with the kind of exploration and adventure I really like in a way none of the games since then (and before then, arguably) has been able to do.
That’s a good point at 14:20 !
Like in swsh and oras I sometimes wish that I was playing as Hop or Wally. Instead I just ruin their victory, knowing I didn’t try as hard as they did in the story lol
I played every gen as it came out except the Black & White series, and Sword/Shield. Original Ruby specifically is my favourite in the whole series, and The Trading Card Game has a stronger story than everything after that point. Newer Switch releases and emulated earlier versions can't capture the same feeling you got from curling up with your Gameboy c:
can't agree at all that the new design philosophy is about focusing on story. or, at least, i don't agree that they've SUCCEEDED in focusing on story. the story in pokemon games has always been extremely weak, but the adventure you're going on is a huge contributor to the story. in emerald, you have story beats like your fight with your dad, wally's character arc, the confronting magma and aqua leaders, etc. those all contribute massively to story even though they're adventure/progression beats. the story in swsh is just "oh something big is happening off-screen that you're not involved in! oh no! go over there and watch hop tell you about how it got resolved while doing nothing". sun and moon definitely focused more on story, and i think they did pretty well in that regard, but they were still missing your active contribution to the story. the problem is that modern pokemon doesn't do the story OR the adventure any justice.
I agree with you in general but I am tired of people overstating how good Gen 1 and earlier gens are. I think that the execution of more recent Pokemon games is weak but I cannot see that changing that much because Pokemon is so successful.
Great video man!!! It’s hard for me to play the new Pokémon games and especially with how repetitive the games can be. There is this fanmade Pokémon game “Fire Rocket” which is honestly one of my favorite Pokémon games. It’s short and sweet with a different goal than getting all 8 badges. You play as a low class team rocket grunt trying to climb up the ranks and no more spoilers, but it really made me love the Pokémon games again. Especially the old story Pokémon game (Pokémon colosseum) they made that was actually challenging and interesting.
Can you talk about Kaitou Joker?
Actually I enjoy reading the information at the back of the milk
Your content is very good. Definitely an underrated channel! I am proud to be Subscriber #970 :)
I’ve only played FireRed and Emerald, and I never beat either, but this was fun to watch anyway. Comment for the AI overlords
Good video