Pokemon's Worrying Art Design (Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Rant)
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- While I work on other videos and get over a problem with my computer stuff, I figured we'll talk about some stuff about pokemon's and it's art design... Just some random stuff.
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#pokemon #trailer #pokemonscarletviolet
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My biggest issues with SV's MCs is that they don't look like the protagonists, they look like the standard NPC trainers you run across during your adventure and that's an issue. They look generic, not necessarily bad, but unmemorable which is something no other protagonist has a problem with. I don't want to be too harsh on the game, but if the professor/gym leaders/ other important characters are just as boring we're gonna have some problems
the protag is most likely like this so you have a base for you to build and customize the person to your own personal style... so I think the protags are fine but I agree with the other characters
@@randomkid4783 About the customisation. There's less items/ clothes to buy for them than in X and Y, Sun and Moon and Sword/ Shield. So no we can't really be creative and had fun to choose differents outfits for thoses kids :S It's like in Switch sports, you got 4 hairstyles for the girls and the boys; ame for the eyes, noses and color skin. If there's almost nothing to dress the heroes, it won't be fun!
I agree! I find it weird that the main characters looks like they are 6. Usually it's a 10 years old kid like in Silver and Gold or a teenager like in Black/ White and X/Y. Also they look like NPC's like you said which make their design even stranger :S Why not playing as a young adult who's 22 instead? Even better, playing as a member of the evil team. We never had that before, could be a fun concept :D
@@ladypool1404 fangames.
@@ladypool1404 I would agree if you didn't say it won't be fun at the end. Pokemon has never been about customization of the mc in the first place. Up until gen 6 (when it changed) you couldn't even have a darker skinned mc yet those games are considered the better games compared to some newer titles that did have this option. Pokemon games aren't made to be about character customization, it's about the Pokemon and the experiences you have with them as a player.
honestly my only issue with art direction is how lifeless the 3D models are in comparison to the older 3D models and Gen 5's 2D sprites. Of course I understand that we have 1000 pokemon now, but still, when the pokemon models have less personality than Battle Revolution and the Stadium games, I can't help but feel unimpressed.
That's more graphical than design.
@@Mangakamen they literally got rid of the outline in haunter’s hands
@@Mangakamen how is that not part of the art design, it has nothing to do with graphics since the models back in Gen 5 looked great and full of life by comparison to the graphically improved modern 3D models, so clearly this isn’t a graphical issue
tht don't answer everything because they only have about 200 pokemon in the world walking around and they do nothing but stand there.what a boring world yet u have the most coolest monsters
I’m more worried about the art style of the humans than I am about the pokémon. Not only are their realistic designs feeling too uncanny, but they clash too much with the cartoony style of the pokémon’s designs
The protags look especially cartoony, but then the two professors and the rival (?) look like Pokémon GO avatars. That's what bothers me about the human character design for this gen.
I find it funny how the professors wouldn't be out of place in a Final Fantasy game
@@Chadfill8348
They honestly look like they could be characters from any futuristic/dystopian RPG. They don't seem like Pokémon characters.
I thought the exact same thing. It's like Kingdom Hearts!
@@Bezaliel13
Well, most people really like the new Professor designs. Something about them being 'hot' or whatever.
(Personally, I think they look like generic models with fancy outfits, but to each their own.)
I'm so tired of "oh they'll just be customizable!" no bro. They will literally use these characters for other things without customization, like the Manga, official art, and maybe even the anime etc. It's not an excuse to make boring characters because they will still use the base designs for other things
Actually…I’m not worried about the artstyle and design in terms of Pokémon games that are already released. That’s one of the things I argue has always been consistently well done. The humans and Pokémon look like they fit in the world they’re apart of. Scarlet and Violet’s humans worry me though, they look like puppets and don’t match the Pokémon anymore.
The transition from 2D to 3D was rather rough. You had this point where the higher quality visuals contrasted against the formula from the pixel days. Higher resolution means more adherance to reality and thus requires more care. You walk into a house and it's just one room with 2 NPCs and it looks rather odd because you can't imagine this is how they actually live. There is a higher quality texture for water but it is still done in this square-tile system. Reminds me of the 3D Mario games, where 3D Land & 3D World look rather cookie-cutter compared to Galaxy from before & Oddessy from after.
You are right, though, in that it does all look like it takes place in the same world. It's just that the world is kind of uncanny still, in other places, than just the design of the creatures & humans.
@@pickyphysicsstudent201 I do agree the transition to 3D was rough, but it’s mostly due to scaling and the monsters’ appearance in battle. Nowadays they have that pretty nailed. In terms of art direction, even with the games I don’t like it’s still all consistently solid. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed any other kinds of uncanny aside from pop in or whatever. In terms of art and design it isn’t though.
@@riotkitty I do agree that the people in the new trailer looked kinda uncanny. They reminded me alot of those "New Miis" in that sports game people were talking about recently. Just a bit more realistically proportioned. Which ends up making them look even more off-putting.
The new Pokemon look like generic rpg xp fodder like slimes. I can't even tell wtf Pawmi was at first.
Yeah that was the first thing that caught my eye, it’s kinda growing on me but I still find it strange
As much as I love Greninja and the Alola Starters, I do think it’d be nice to have more beastial designs for once. Heck imagine three starters with varying design styles. One is styled after a Gen 1 Pokemon, another is modern styled, and the last is a mix of both like it start out looking like it was from Gen 1, the middle stage is transitional before the final stage looks as if it was the evolution of a Pokemon from Gen 1 introduced in Gen 4.
Oh! I would love to see that starters that represent the two sides of Pokémon history with one of em represents the best of both worlds
Agreed the Luxray line is the ONLY electric feline in the games, there are no "others".
I honestly think that the gen 7 starters are fine aside from incineroar because they have humanoid characteristics but it isn't so much that it's distracting, and rillaboom is a gorilla so ofc he will look more humanoid, intelleon's human hands are uncanny along with the skin looking like a suit, and I hate cinderace not because of its design but because of GF's bias towards it, why does it get two signature moves and one of them is 120 BP with 90 accuracy, and why does it get the protean hidden ability?
@@xord6286 Atleast it isn't as bad as the Charizard bias
@@aozorahaou2643 yeah true I'm surprised it didn't appear in Legends so I'm hoping that continues for gen 9, or if it makes an appearance it gets no extra royalties
I liked how at least to me in Gen 1-5 it seemed like the MCs were looking older with each generation, not by much but it looked like they were growing with me, but as they go backwards I get the feeling that it’s telling the old guard to hand the torch and leave rather than find a mix that could fit all age groups.
I think, particularly for Gen 9, the artistic lead left GF/Pokemon Company. You can see very similar designs by the same lead in another company (That I wish their best... but they are not doing good games/anime) called Tookyo Games. The company is made by ex leads from other famous games, mainly Danganronpa and Zero escape. For the only console game, they hired the character lead from Pokemon Shield and the designs really show. Sadly, their games are very poorly reviewd...
But this is just a theory... a game theory!
@@icarue993 Which game?
@ World's end club
Gen 6 also had older trainers. Making trainers younger only started with Gen 7.
@@wintersong2266 in a way but also not, they don’t exactly look older or similar aged to the unova trainers maybe a year younger, but then again the anime made Serena the same age as Ash whose 10 eternally and they didn’t change the design so they feel 10 to me.
The big problem with SV's trainers that they look really generic. They remind me a lot of the generic school children from the tutorial school of gen 7. I don't think the eyes are as big a problem as some might make it out to be, but I think the outfits are a big issue. In all the other games in the franchise (I'll even stand by sword and shield with this argument) the trainers looked the part for a protagonist. You could look at them and confidently say "yeah this looks like a main character". I find that a lot harder for this game, unless all the npcs for SV are somehow even more boring looking.
Tldr: their fits are ass
Does it matter when there’s character customization
Nice tldr
@@PunishedPrince fr
@@PunishedPrince since gen 6, even with the character customization, the base design of the protagonists were still interesting to make them more defined. Especially for art that'd be featuring these protagonists like with other games prior
I don’t mind the modern designs though some of them ending up anthropomorphic in their final evolutions like Incineroar did feel odd, some of them are better off remaining beastal instead of just switching it up at the second or last transformation.
True. The fact a lot of those designs end more humane like is the problem too for me. In Gen VI every starter ended as a humanoid. Same for Gen VII and VIII. In Sinnoh, Hoenn, etc you could choose. Heck, infernape is very humanoid and is my favourite Mon, which I usually dislike. Galar is the only gen in which I have boxed my starter.
Every single Fire starter since gen 1 has turned into a bipedal creature for their final evolution.
@@caldw615 this is because alot of people need to learn the difference between bipedal and humanoid
@@weebly_ darmanitan?
@@Alex_Munoz5 well infernape is based off of the monkey king whereas darmanitan is based off of some shrine like thing I forget the name of, the secondary inspirations of either Pokémon are why one is more humanoid than the other despite both being primates
A great art direction can really hide dated or lower quality graphics. This is why games like Half life 2 & Bioshock still look great today, even though they are each more than 10 years old.
same with tf2
Or some games from ps3 who puts the switch games to shame
And Dishonored!
Yeah, I'm a bigger fan of system shock than bioshock and I at least gotta give bioshock credit for managing to look pleasing to the modern eye still. I mean, I like system shock's (both of them) artstyle, but I'm the kinda weirdo who insists Silent Hill 1 is at least on par with 2 and 3 BECAUSE of its artstyle which helps its specific flavor of horror.
Guess there's some a' us weirdos that just have lego eyeballs.
Kind of like the SMT games.
Yeah I agree the Scarlet Violet main characters look boring. Honestly for Pokémon I love the more complex and cool designs, I really dislike simplicity in terms of design. And I really like the previous gen gym leaders designs the ones in Sun and Moon, and Sword and Shield are my favorite. I love it when they add the elements of the types they fight with in their designs. Like the grass trainers wearing earthy clothes and flowers, and the dark gym leaders wearing edgy stuff for example. I just wished the normal trainers were more stylized like that instead of just plain boring people. To me I want Pokémon to become more stylized both for the Pokémon and the human trainer designs. Sure not every show or game had to be stylized, but since Pokémon is supposed to be a fantastic world full of wonderful creatures, I think it would benefit from more crazy, colorful, and stylized designs. But that’s just me :p
I'd argue Gens 6-8 had really good to amazing NPC design. Just look at Hex Maniac. But even outside of her, there're some great ones likes the ace trainers or the gen 6 bird keeper.
@@s3studios597 yeah Hex Maniac was a good one. I also like the human designs in X and Y. Especially the trainers and the clothes you could give them. They were so much cuter than the boring sports wear stuff in the generations afterwards
its not the characters but the flat world and Pokemon doing nothing but standing around without having perosnality and living in the world.it is generic
Ballonlea really is a prime example of the type of fantastical places I want to see in the Pokémon world.
I was disappointed how small it was.
@@shatteredsentient5321 yes but it’s really fun to look at the forest (I forgot what it’s called lol) and look at the little details
Game Design: I have noticed that the routes feel a bit more...boring since Gen 6. Routes or Wild Area...IDK there is something lacking to them. It wasn't as bad to me at first as I feel like Alola cities and 'dungeons' like Poni Canyon, Verdant Jungle, and Ultra Space had more depth to them to balance it out, but I feel like Galar was a low point. It had some good stuff, but not nearly as much.
I feel like the Pokemon designs in Gen 8 were different but...honestly a lot of them grew on me. The one exception is probably the starters. For some reason they never really sat well with me, and I loved Gen 7's designs for starters. But the G8 and 9 starters....hard to say really. I feel like the changed in approach was also there in the Galar gen mons, but I don't have problems with stuff like Corviknight, Dreadnaw, Falinks, Grapploct, Duraladon, etc. Just the starters.....
Humans....okay can we agree that the male protagonists have become unsettling generic in recent years. Like I've heard it argued that the girls are meant to be more distinct and the guys are supposed to follow the 'Kirito/LN protag' philosophy of insertion ease, though G9 seems to have generified the gal too. IDK, maybe Gloria just got boosted by the Scottish Trainer Meme. I feel like the supporting cast has generally stayed pretty good and they do seem up for playing with their ideas more (with Bea and Melony being pretty different from most lady designs). IDK, when we see more of Scarlet and Violet we'll have to see.
....Though GF deciding to be a lot more slow to roll out news after SM is a bad change IMO. I swear, I liked the barrage of info we got about SM, am I the only one?
As for the protagonist designs ever since Gen 6 I was always disappointed by both Genders designs. They all felt boring and flat imo. Calem and Serena have like 3 colors in there designs black, gray, and Blue/Red, Base Sun and Moon protagonist designs are forgettable, Ultra Sun and Moon designs were better especially the male design which I think his design was leagues better than his female counterparts, Sword and Shield protags felt too safe and predictable, like I really don't like either of there designs. Now in Scarlet and Violet both genders have no type of drip at all and are continuing the trend of protagonist having boring designs.
@@saucymongoose7246 I wouldn't mind the generic blank slate designs (since every mainline game from Gen 6 onwards uses custom characters, remakes not included ofc) but the customization options are so limited it doesn't really improve on the default design imo plus the lack of dynamic expressions doesn't help either.
Monster Hunter Stories 2 and the modern Phantasy Star games have customization options that blows Pokémon outta the water while also being more accessible and detailed.
The only thing I don’t like about the slow news reel are people going crazy over it because I guess it’s evidence of laziness or rush jobs or something
LN ? is it little nightmares cuz can't think any other series with the abbreviation , but other than that I agree the new designs are boring like more going into no soul of life in cutscenes for the past few games . soulless dead eyes
@@kitsuneayano Light Novels. Basically stuff like Sword Art Online. Their male MC's have a infamous reputation of all looking as generic and self inserty as possible and tend to look samey.
I’d be more concerned for the TONE Pokémon has had with its writing rather than the artstyle, I feel the artstyle is more so a symptom of the tone the series’ chooses to take which is to be extremely naive and childish with how it chooses to present morality and responsibility
Could you explain with some examples?
well isn’t that kind of the intention? having the view be childish and naive bc u are playing as a 10 year old in a fantasy world
You... You're aware that pokemon is a game aimed at kids, right?
It's childish and naive because that's the target demographic
Pokémon is a game that's suitable for all ages, yes. But a lot of the audience is usually kids and not adults. So why not try to lean a bit towards their demographic? Of course I'm not saying that they should gut the depth and worldbuilding or something like that but the main parts should be a bit more kid friendly while the inner things like lore and such would be deeper and be more approachable for older audiences.
@@diersteinjulien6773 The Kirby franchise is aimed at kids and yet it is quite dark. Pokémon dex entries can dark as well. The aim of a Pokémon should one that can be understood and enjoyable for all ages.
Pokémon; fosters furry 34
Pokémon 6 years later; *We can make a religion out of this-*
no don’t
The world design is a bit of an odd point, -as the first two generations didn’t really have any particularly unique areas,- Gen III did, then Gen IV went back to having fairly grounded area design before Gen V onwards started to have really unique and interesting locations a lot more often. The Pokémon design has been consistently pretty good, barring a couple of weird decisions every now and then. The human design I completely agree with this video on. It’s not brought up that often due to the focus of the series being on the eponymous beings, but Pokémon has really good designs for the humans as well as the Pokémon, so when you get a basic, dull design like the ones we got for the protagonists, it stands out, and not in a good way.
Edit: I forgot about some places in the first two generations; my point about the world design becoming more interesting in Gen III still stands, but I was incorrect about the world design of the first two generations.
"The world design is a bit of an odd point, as the first two generations didn’t really have any particularly unique areas,"
The Pokemon tower with actual ghosts, the whirl islands, the dragon's cave... Yeah they did.
@@Mangakamen Yeah, good point. I haven’t played Gen II that much, so I’m not that familiar with Johto, but I should’ve thought about the Pokémon Tower immediately. Gen III is still where much more interesting locations become more common, but there were still interesting areas in the first two generations.
@@Mangakamen oh! I almost forgot about the infamous lavender town. Nice call.
No I see your point about Gen I and II. I see Lavender town and Pokemon tower brought up, but I think those are memorable because of the events that happen there and not its design. Hence why you probably didnt think of it at first.
Your right the world didnt start looking more designed until Gen III where better hardware allowed for better design. Think about how kanto and johto got redesigned in Gens III and VI.
FRLG was a more faithful 1 to 1 with updates, making it remake rather than HGSS which was more of a remaster, with larger changes to better fit the experience.
I bring that point up because Lavender Town in FRLG still looks like the rest of the towns in Kanto over all, while the towns in HGSS were redesigned to make them feel unique from each other.
Its not until Let's GO that the Pokemon tower really got designed. 8 Gen's later
I still have to say that i wish theyd stop making every starter into furrybait. It does feel like every starter now has very humanoid evolutions.
I'm more concerned with what buffoonery they're going to implement to replace Dynamax. Like, what's next? Giving Pokemon battle armor or pulling a trick from Yugioh's Union monsters?
WAIT, NO, DON'T PUT THAT IN!
A lot of people are currently theorizing that triple types could play a role somehow. For obvious reasons, this is the stupidest idea I've ever heard, even more than Dynamax.
Pokémon battles on motorcycles...?
@@metaltornado3457 That's not really a gimmick. More of a theme of this region like with Sky Battles of Kalos.
@@metaltornado3457 MY BOI CHARLES CAN RIDE AGAIN, THE HEARTBREAKER
@@metaltornado3457
That would actually be really cool, not going to lie.
The fact that you'd say you "think" you know what you're talking about, despite having a degree in art design, rather than flat out saying you "know" what you're talking about, makes you a very likeable guy if you're this modest. Deep respect man.
@RUclips Psychologist A Bachelors in Arts (i.e. a BA) tends to have pretty vague criteria for its grading, enough so anyone can at least bullshit a passing grade in them. For it to mean something? Have an actual project to show for it.
The wise man knows that he does not know all.
My shot-in-the-dark guess is that the degree could have been brought up to prevent dismissive ‘‘you got no degree, thus you are invalid’’-type comments. Just a guess.
I mean it would be foolish to pretend a degree in these things makes him all knowing considering the people who designed the things he's ragging on probably do, too.
@@wyveriusblackfire3834 For sure, and it's infuriating when you realize how common that is.
I like Cinderace's design, my only gripe is the paw prints on the feet.
Rabbits do not have paw prints like Cats and Dogs do. So many shows and games get this wrong.
Okay, but consider; toe beans are cute as hell
@@virginiafernandez6846 agreed
Aghhh I agree. So annoying how they can get such a simple tiny detail wrong. It's really minor and doesn't matter much but gOD i can't unsee it
@@felsiccanis Yeah, it's 2022 and artists STILL get this trait wrong with cartoon/video game rabbits and it BUGS me every time they do.
I blame Bugs Bunny for making it such a commonly misunderstood 'fact' about Rabbits.
@@PlanetZoidstar agh ikr. You'd think that nearly universally accessible internet would mean most people would have access to that information, or like, even just photos of literal rabbits lol
I feel like the issue for some is specifically how the starters get this character treatment. So many pokemon through the franchise have had loads of injected personality, but few people really care cause even if you don't like them you don't have to interact with them, let alone use them. Starters are essentially the only type of pokemon your pushed to take, and naturally would have the greatest potential for individuality from the player. So to have this sort of take it or leave it with them rather than a basic almost unrelated difference like type can feel very disconnecting, even if there's still room to create an individual personality. Not that I'm fully on board with this take, just want to give a different perspective.
That being said, I think the biggest issue is how many starters recently just change completely with little cohesion, it just makes the player feel cheated.
“I can’t see a goofy Incineroar”
Really?
Did people not pay attention to his Pokédex entries?
They talk about how he’s really good with children.
He’s called the heel Pokémon, that’s not because he’s evil it’s because he’s a wrestler and he likes to act tough.
So the idea of him protecting a group of Pichu not only makes sense I would actually like to see something like that.
(this is not meant as me arguing with Manga Koman just me stating my confusion is there are actually people that think that sort of thing.)
Exactly! I remember there was even a scene in the anime where Kukui's Incineroar was making silly faces to stop a baby from crying. It's not that people can't imagine them, they just don't want to.
@@shanelloyd853 Yep. They just wanna perpetuate this narrative which is severely flawed. An Inteleon can look angry, a Cinderace can look sad, an Incineroar can look goofy etc. It just depends on the person drawing him.
@@GoinGreninja it’s the same way when people complain that a character isn’t a certain sexual orientation.
I’m like:
dude, if you want this character to be gay, straight or in a relationship with a different character… write a fanfic. Or look for one that has your OTP pairing, it shouldn’t be that difficult.
I was just taken aback to hear that some people might think that. Incineroar's looks like they could be a massive goofball behind the heel persona.
Probably because they don't want to imagine their favorite heels doing goofy faces.
I understand the human design point. They have definitely gone more realistic design wise. I would love some more distinct characters. Or heck. Even some more customization so we can change the eyes and stuff.
Weed cat is definitely my gen 9 starter choice for now. I need to see the final evos before I decide.
Agreed. The world design can improve if they try and the Pokémon designs, while their philosophies are a bit different, it still looks pretty good, humanoid or bestial. The human designs look a bit weird to me but I hope only the protagonists are the ones who look like that while the adults look more like what we expect.
D U C K
It is kinda weird that the Pokemon are being made such that they're getting more unique traits just added to their designs while the human characters seem to be going in the opposite direction. But a lot of it is just that the art staff is different and even if a team is really good at emulating a specific artist's style and their job is to keep a visually consistent franchise they will naturally evolve in their own ways.
The whole idea that "I can't imagine this as a species in the wild" seems to ignore how surreal it is that every single Cubone in existence has a dead mother and chose to wear her skull.
My issue isn’t the Pokémon design, it’s the character design being to “kiddie” & the environment design being to dull & uninspired
environments look empty and forests look flat with few trees
@@wingedhussar1453 We had forests in Sword & Shield? That's news to me
@@zaneheaston8254 I'm talking about the new game. The forests are just few trees in open field
I honestly miss the pixel age of Pokémon we’re it Felt more like actual RPG and more alive.🐱
Same it has a unique feel and more magic of great storytelling and slow pace of having fun with the all the side things that makes it great . places that makes you want to relax with your pokemon friends and rivals /trainer allies to train and battle at etc. pokemon I feel like needs more quality of life it's been lacking it since SwSh that doesn't have the magic like the anime or early games even spin offs
I always hated the "it looks so unnatural, why would that exist in the wild? It's based on human ideas" to pokemon like Inteleon and Cinderace, but I think people are thinking about it backwards. We're ASSUMING that humans came up with these ideas first. It's just as, if not more likely, that in their world human ideas were inspired by pokemon first. Like, what if humans came up with martial arts by observing fighting types? Or creating soccer based off the behavior of Cinderace? Or came up with ninjas and spies because of Inteleon and Greninja? If you think about it that way it helps pokemon integrate into their world better and gives more context to their existence. That's my take on it, anyway.
Round eyes is usually a sign of Baby Face, a characteristic that already make characters and people look younger.
So obal eyes mark more a mature age, with sharp expresion denoting adulthood.
As time pases i am also drown more toward mature characters (20+) than teen, or even kids.
This also has a lot to do with theme, is a characters is a Kid there would be several theme or events that would not be adress or downright ignore.
A good example of it can be the regular anime teen visual novel when compare to a more mature protagonist like is Jill from Valhalla.
Not to mention how japanese media has a set of guidelenes for series aim to kids that havent reach pre-teen mentality in that is very simplistic and dumbed down, what people call the "Disney" design that aim to keep the "purity and innocence" of childhood.
I'm glad you're not the kind of people that confuses map design with world design. There were people that call Unova's world design bad because they see its map design as a circle.
I don’t mind furry type Pokémon a monster can really be anything plus most humanoid Pokémon are around humans a lot
I agree with you a Pokemon can be anything I personally like the Pokemon that are based on the reptiles but furry types are okay as well. I just hope that this new Pokemon game will bring back that certain Pokemon that looks like a T-Rex I forgot it's named
@@animezilla4486 Tyrantrum I think
@@topdon.goldist that's it thank you
Yeah. Furry types are cool with me... no bias
Considering Sw/Sh whole plot was reviving an ancient Pokémon because... We need.. More.. Power? I'd say the world building is absolutely flawed. Like as far as plots go your villains ultimate plan shouldn't involve a power shortage for an overgrown society we never see.
Yep. Rose was so underdeveloped, holy shit! If they actually tried to give Rose more character and reason as to why he wants to do what he wants to do, then Rose could've landed well.
@@GoinGreninja It doesn't help a lot of the intresting characterization for many Sw/Sh characters is written on the back of trainer cards instead of just showing it or at least referencing it during the story dialogue.
Poor Rose he officially has the title as the weakest and least developed Pokémon villain/antagonist in the games, even Lysandre who was going to cause a genocide had he his moments.
@@lynxfresh5214 Exactly. If only they found a way to better tell them...
Speaking of world building, the base game of Sword & Shield oddly feels empty, and that fact isn't made any better when you realize at just how straightforward the plot is. You basically go from point A to point B as the only thing that you can do in the main plot is to just fight the Gym Leaders, save the day and become the Champion, and there's barely anything to explore in the towns of the game, with the worst offender being Ballonlea
That’s not what the plot is. You are a young trainer going through the Gym Challenge with your childhood friend, fighting foes and meeting a colorful cast of characters while discovering some odd tidbits about the region. Then, the chairman of the whole Gym Challenge decides to awaken a powerful force named Eternatus in order to ensure Galar’s future as he has that much faith that Leon, the current champion, or someone else would catch it. Then you the player beat Rose, him technically already winning, but Leon has failed, so you and Hop go up to Rose Tower to fight Eternatus with strange carved out objects, that summon the legendary doggos to help fight this force.
I think one of the conflating problems with main character designs now is that they're made to be customizable, not to be recognizable. Mainline Pokemon games haven't had a true protagonist in that sense since Sun and Moon
Thank you, someone who agrees that the pokemon designs don't have to be regular animals. They are monsters if they were just a normal animal with elemental powers it wouldn't be all that interesting.
in my opinion, It'd be way less gimmicky and lame/ way more interesting and immersive.
It's weird for me with starters. In terms of the trio as a whole, my favourite has to be gen 3 followed by gen 4.....and then 7. They feel so different from one another but for some reason I consider all 9 of these choices equally valid in their respective regions even if I have my favourites (Blaziken, Infernape and Primarina for anyone wondering). Maybe it's just cause I never really interested in the "enviornment arguement" and just based it off if I thought the design was cool or if it had interesting design origins. I'm not saying wanting creature focused designs in your starters is bad, it's just not what I personally first look for.
In my opinion, Gen 7 is the second maybe third worse set of starters. Too many differences of opinions for the pokemon designs to be fixed anyway. Besides Blaziken being cool, I do wish less people liked weird humanoid designs.
I have a tough time imagining what's "cool" about Primarina
Honestly, I just want Catnip to remain quadrupedal for once. It’d be really cool if they left ‘em on all fours for once like a angry photosynthetic Iberian Lynx. Quadruped to Biped is done a little to much nowadays. Ducktales is a duck, as long as it’s at least cool I’ll be chill. I stg tho, if Amongus, despite being called a fire croc, ends up being called a gator later on I will scream. I already want to have a chat with the translator who did the Totodile line’s names. I swear I just want to talk. The humans’ in game models ping the uncanny valley just a tad too far on the “No.” side.
Catnip is a GREAT nickname 😂
6:55 uM, aCtUaLlY
Animal "Alphas" don't actually exist in the wild. In fact, the guy who coined the term hated it as he mistook a father of a pack of wolves as a "Alpha".
Not only that, people have taken to using this term in regards to humanity. 'Alpha' males. Society and people's placements within it are a bit nuanced for such simplistic categories. One's social standing can change drastically just by walking out of your front door.
My theory with the trainer's generic looking design is that they're going to be customisable from the start. As in, we'll be able to choose hair, skin and eye colour independent of each other. It's a stretch, bit it's cool to think about.
You know it’s gotten to the point where I have to decide on which starter turns out to look least human. Gens 1-5 it was genuinely much more difficult choosing between starters.
I miss the old cyber aesthetic of gens 1 and 2. We we entering a new millennia and played these tough kids who didn't grow up with smartphones or cushy quality of life devices. They were salt of the earth kids who said you smelled or beat you up outside of the professor's lab.
thank you. finally someone gets it. Really tired of people acting like animalistic designs are the only way to go and anything else is a bad design. Just because a design or Pokemon becomes Bipedal or anthro doesn't make it bad or ruined.
And that 'personality' argument is just... people do realize that the anime shows that Pokemon can have different personalities that aren't linked to what their designs are, right? I guess not
To be fair every single Fire starter and Fire starter variant (Mega/Hisuan) has been bipedal for final evolutions where as the Water and Grass types at least have a bit more variety in body shapes imo.
Tbh, I doubt too many people watch the anime now; guessing everyone sticks to miniseries like Hisuian Snow since most ppl watching JN are typing like they just learned how to write lmao
Target audience def changed
It is kind of a limitation though, to be anything besides humanoid tend to count as animalistic. But that means animalistic could have so many different design philosophies that things can stay fresh, unlike humanoid where you are handicapped with keeping a certain design principle by definition.
I was first exposed to the new protagonist designs through this video. wtf are they thinking? between boys and girls there was always a design deviation . but this... you slapped some bland clothes on the same character. barely differentiating the gender with their hair... they're so boring looking it's insane.
I honestly don't mind the modern Pokemon designs but I do wish we had an young adult protagonist , dealing with somewhat adult choices or issues in a more serious tone than the let's go on an adventure until we learn about something sinister is happening and we gotta stop it,
I wanna be able to start going on Adventure achieving one goal to stop a villain or a Pokemon god
I agree. Like an MC in their late teens to early 20s going on an pokemon adventure.
@@sissysovereign1294 as far as I'm aware, the XY protags were in their late teens/early adult years so we had that I guess
Your video helped me to realize what bothers me in later generations. It's the geometric designs. Most of the latter designs are made up of maybe 10-20 geometric shapes.
I look people strange when they say GF made Pokémon to humanoid while the Machamp line, the Hitmons, the Alakazam line and others exist.
THIS
I think people have an issue with anthropomorphic designs if it's not constant through the evolutionary line. Take for instance a pokémon like Sobble or Fennekin they both start off as quadripeds that somehow evolve to have a more anthropomorphic figure.
While that may be true, that's more a symptom of being fighting and psychic type Pokemon, which have generally been more humanoid-shaped since the beginning anyway. Not to mention that those lines were always designed with more human-shaped anatomy even in their first evolutionary forms. Whereas for the starters (such as the Kalos, Alolan and the Galarian trios), they started with much more wacky or animalistic appearances, which then immediately became humanoid without much of a transition in between the designs. For instance, Litten goes from cat to bigger cat to furrybait so quickly that it can give whiplash.
This isn't to say that these starter designs are inherently inferior to Alakazam or Machamp, but more so that it makes more sense why people were taken so aback in comparison.
I think Machamp being the lost humanoid out of the bunch, i think hitmon and alakazam have more exaggerated desighs that make them look less human
I dont know what it is for me but bipedal Pokemon designs are ok for me (as long as its balanced with non bipedal ones) but for some reason i dont know why incinaroar is uncanny vallry for me from having no neck to the abs to the fact that do to i think a translation error in the americam tect it may be saying his navel laser thing actually comes from there crotch or the jump from cats on all fours to a standing up brawler with kinda weird looking arms for me i dont know what it is that makes me disturbed when i see him on a fundamental level.
Irl i would crawl under my bed and hide if i saw one saying "incineroar isn't real it cant hurt you" thats how much this pokemon disturbs me i dont know why 😭😭😭😭
I’d like more beastial starter Pokémon like it’s fine to have some more humanoid starters but we’ve basically been getting mostly humanoid
I want more monstrous Pokémon again, things like snorlax, gyarados, rhydon, tyranitar etc. Having animal like Pokémon is fine but they are supposed to be pocket monsters not cartoon animal recolors. Though this is of course my own preference.
@@tomfoolery7797 oh I can agree with that too
After the new trailer ......Yes, I am extremely worried about the character design of the human characters.
I loved the character designs of Sword and Shield, the humans had a really good art style and some really good designs (Marnie, Bede, Sonia, Leon etc, those were great character designs that are easily recognizable) but these new games ..... OUCH
13:59 I see in their expressions and body language a sort of dichotomy between gloomy and serious for the boy and cheerful and easygoing for the girl. The boy is scowling and tightening his tie while his posture seems stiff and rigid. The girl just has this cheerful and relaxed expression and pose.
Well until the Pokémon games stop being made for kids, the dream of a older protag is a pipe dream.
You can have objectively bad designs and objectively good designs, it's all about what the design is intended to do. Rather then go the usual route and say the Mercs from TF2, I'm gonna go with the Necromorphs from Dead Space. Each one has a unique silhouette that even in low light environments (which there are a lot of) you will know instantly just what's skulking about in the darkness. Add to that great sound design and you can first HEAR then SEE what each space zombie is and never confuse the two. In contrast, the standard design for a CoD enemy is so bland and by the numbers that you'd be hard pressed to differentiate 1 type of enemy from another until they start shooting at you.
This constant garbage of subjectivity in art denies the fact that you can indeed have objective markers for skill and talent, and a bad design is something even a non-artist can spot in the same way a person can pick out a bad chair without having to be a carpenter.
What of the argument regarding pokemon and how 'natural' they would look in the environment? Or how many evolutions start out clearly beastial only to end anthropomorphic? Would you say those involve objectivity?
It feels like the character designs have become "safer" in a way, like in lets go, both the mobile game and the red/blue remakes. The protagonists have an incredibly generic look to them to grab as wide a net as possible for potential players.
The lighting... its the lighting.
They did this well in all of the previous 3D Pokemon games, where all of the models have a more cartoonish, bright, kind of cel-shaded look that fits well with the design of the models. I think they even did this well in Sword and Shield.
But in Legends: Arceus, and seemingly in Scarlet and Violet as well, they kept the more cartoonish models, but then made the lighting more moody and realistic, which just completely ruins the vibe of the games in my opinion.
See, Totally not mark? That’s how you make an actual argument about Pokémon’s designs.
In Defense of repeating animal motives, I'll wanna ask...
What if someone wants to build a Team themed after a specific animal?
There are still plenty of pokemon who are more animal-like
There's plenty of the same animal already. Well not for every animal, we only have 1 pelican for example but no-one likes pelipper and I don't even know how they would make a cool looking pelican Pokémon.
@@THGMR-ox7sd I like pelipper tho
There's plenty of room for Pokemon to share species inspirations
If anything, I feel like it helps them feel more real because it implies real-world divergent evolution
Well this is purely my opinion, but I don't like personality centrated starter designs at all. It has to do with the impression the design gives me and the fact that it is my starter.
For example if I have sobble and it will evolve into Intellion, Intellion will always have its "Sly Spy" motive. In game with its animations idles etc. It doesnt really or much feel like "my starter" if it makes sense.
In contrast if I have a Blastoise, it's design is pretty much "Turtle with Cannons". And as a starter I can imagine my jounrey with it more persoinal and my imagination can make up the blanks together. I can imagine it to be any kind of blastoise
This is why I don't mind gen 6 final evolutions too much, since they represent RPG classes, but these classes can be still representedted in a broad personality spectrum and their designs don't have an "overwhelming personality" in my opinion
Kinda like in the 2d era the stylized sprites and animations let your fantasy fill out the blanks in contrast to where in the 3d era animations sometimes are less than underwhelming
As I said this is just how I feel about pokemon Designs, and why I prefer animalistic designs
"For example if I have sobble and it will evolve into Intellion, Intellion will always have its "Sly Spy" motive. In game with its animations idles etc. It doesnt really or much feel like "my starter" if it makes sense.
In contrast if I have a Blastoise, it's design is pretty much "Turtle with Cannons". And as a starter I can imagine my jounrey with it more persoinal and my imagination can make up the blanks together. I can imagine it to be any kind of blastoise"
That... doesn't make sense. You can still incorporate a personality into Inteleon - just because a snake sneaks around in tall grass, that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's own personality. Even then, your point about the animations... Doesn't hold up. I just watched the idle animations Inteleon has - and nothing conveys that spy persona. If anything, it's animations denote more of a glider than anything else.
@@Mangakamen I apologize for my inaccuracies then. It's way too long since I touched sword and shield.
And I may have worded things wrong.
Anyhow, my point was simply for me, I prefer animalistic designs for starters more than anthropomorphic ones.
And yes I can, incorporate personality into it despite its inherent design. I was merely talking about the "first impressions" such designs give me. And why I personally don't like them.
I'm sure I'm using "anthropomorphic" and "personality centered designs" interchangeably wrong here. And I also apologize for that.
It's just hard for me to put my feelings about the designs in the right words.
And as stated it's purely a personal gribe I have with nore modern design appriaches of pokemon.
As an aspiring artist it's really embarrassing not to find the right words to critique artdesign or know the right terms.
So I'm really sorry
Edit: Just to clear something up that I think you might have gotten wrong from my statement: I din't meant to say that Inteleon CANT have another personalty. I just wanted to say moreoften then not, for me, personality centered designs are not my preferred designs for pokemon. And as I obviously failed to describe my feelings I won't try anymore.
Again sorry
You know, I'm not really mad about this - and to point something out "A problem I personally find with Kamens videos and why I recently unsubscribed from him, was that he seems to take the least cheritable interpretation of someone if anyone ever argues against him or shows a opinion different then he talks about. (Especially pokemon lol)"
Which is ironic, which is what you did to me in that comment - You literally took the least charitable interpretation of myself. You don't know any context that I might've had past interactions with people, you don't show that there have been times when people have actually attacked me for my opinions, and in the case of the video you left that comment on - They strawmanned a lot of what I said in their video and blocked me so my comment wouldn't show up on their video. And it's weird, because this comment thread here literally disproves that notion that you left. Please point to my comment responding to you where I took the least charitable interpretation, even now, I'm not thinking the worst, I'm literally going off of what you clearly said - Which is what a LOT of people seem to neglect.
Someone pointed out this comment to me in my discord as they were discussing this video it's from. And I have to say... I find this to be really odd when these comments were made in around the same time: "Like the graphics debate, while he himself talks all about how it is subjective, acts all annoyed as if they are wrong on that, coming off as pretty hostile towards people with differing opinions (Well at least how I feel it)"
This literally contradicts what I said above - No where in my response to you was I hostile - I only didn't understand what you were talking about. Also, when people leave comments that demonstrate that they outright ignore points in my videos or dismiss what I said... Why wouldn't I be annoyed? Also, you seem to have neglected the context that I've stated in a LOT of my pokemon videos where I talk about where I got harassed by the people who hold graphics up as the number one important thing. Even to the point where I was doxxed.
"He states that X is subjective and he won't stop you from liking disliking x, but will go to great lenghts to try to debunk your reason for your opinion, before saying that he doesnt care what stance you have"
Well yeah... You do know what a debate is right? When you confront other people's points, you try to debunk your reason... Especially when other people are attempting to do that as well. I'd like to see you try to debate several other people who have strawmanned your points or don't pay attention to what you said.
You can be unsubbed to me, but after reading this comment of yours, you come off as more dishonest than anything else since this comment thread disproved your notion since no where was I trying to debunk your points.
Hell, this is literally the only comment thread where you and I have ever interacted.
You're literally taking the least charitable interpretation of me, and spreading it around - I do not appreciate that.
I honestly miss the days when Pokemon were treated like animals. When Pokedex entries for Pokemon like Spearow or Pidgeotto would state that they straight up killed and ate other Pokemon like Caterpie or Magikarp. I feel like as Pokemon has started to stray father and farther away from the fact Pokemon are just that world's form of animals, it's led to the "sanitized" feel modern Pokemon has. Every now and again we get a Pokemon like Mareanie that feels like a classic style of Pokemon where it actually eats Corsolla, or we get Cursolla which references dead coral reefs. But now it feels like so many entries are just anthropomorphisizing Pokemon instead of mirroring animals and how they behave in our world. A Pokemon like Magnemite does have that artificial design people like to point out to Gen Wunners for stupid Pokemon designs, but they gave it behaviors that made it seem like an animal. The fact they gather in areas with abundant electricity and consume said electricity made it feel natural within the Pokemon world plus their large numbers causing them to link and become Magneton and having it appear in the power plant in Gen 1 helped ground it in the player's head, pun not intended. Considering what served as inspiration for Pokemon, it has felt the series has strayed from what it once was in my opinion. A game that was meant to inspire people to go out and interact to trade Pokemon and be inspired learn about wildlife and our world, much like the creator did when he went bug collecting as a child. I miss when Pokemon was more "naturalist" for lack of a better word.
if they just mirror pokemon to be the "animals" of the pokemon world, then that would just end up being boring? i understand this point of view, but what i disagree on is that pokemon was meant to encourage wildlife and such, because these are mythical creatures, they're fantasy, and some are even created to just be destructive for no reason (Hydreigon for example). it'd just be pointless and boring if a supposed fantasy world focuses too much on being "realistic", cause fantasy isn't supposed to be realistic. you're telling me a big turtle with cannons on its back is more natural than a rabbit that kicks rocks? or that a literal pokeball is more natural than a mushroom that disguises itself like a pokemon as bait? i personally feel this argument is more nostalgia based, because we still have designs like those from the past, for example, i think Drednaw is a great design and almost could fit in with old pokemon. now, don't get me wrong, you can like or dislike new designs as much as you want, that's what opinions are. but in my opinion, at the end of the day, it all still feels like pokemon to me, whether it's a haunted chandelier, a literal garbage monster, or a rabbit that kicks rocks, because they aren't things we see in the normal world and they just work, to me at least
@@climbhazzrd4313 when said turtle atleast looks like an actual turtle and said rabbit looks like an oc, then yeah kinda.
He literally mentions magnimite as an example of having animal like features despite not being an animal, this has nothing to do with what pokemon are and everything to do with how their treated.
@@lukebytes5366 well, here's the thing. every pokemon is treated like an "animal", it isn't until they are caught by trainers that their whole demeanor changes. for example, the way the video talked about how incineroar is violent, but also kind hearted to smaller pokemon, this could mean that if one would be in the wild, it would most likely just be a relentless fighter against other pokemon within its territory, unless they're small and helpless. this proves that even anthropomorphic pokemon still very much act like animals. but even then, they're monsters that can understand human language and even learn it (like how meowth did), and we're talking about fantasy creatures, imo, doesn't matter what they are or what they aren't
I think when it comes to the playable characters having little to no personality, it think it’s intentional. Pokémon has kinda been moving away from the idea of playing as other character (like how red is basically his own character) and moving towards the idea that the character is you. Which is why they designs are pretty basic or boring probably
Also why they're a silent protagonist...
... something which is slowly wearing on me, with maybe one exception thus far.
@@jmurray1110 Yeah. However, some games it's absolutely a stylistic choice (Persona 5 for certain, but also the Ys games.)
I figured the protagonists design have gotten more simplistic because of how much of a factor character customization has became. Why go over the top with a design if players are gonna change it anyway? I kept the default design in sword and shield because I didn’t find most of the customization options to be that appealing and I felt the default had some uniqueness to them. However with these new designs they just look dull and generic so maybe they’re trying to encourage character customization because they have a wider variety of options?
I really need to get this off my chest. First my credibility, i have done game design courses, character and world design courses for animation and games aswell as a animation and modeling course.
This entire video has so many problems i don't know where to start but i guess ill start with the easiest.
The reason the newer main character designs are getting simpler is because they're customizable. They no longer need to be a character but more a canvas for you to project yourself onto, it is YOUR journey. The more complex or unique the design the harder they would be to customize and project onto.
The newer character designs are trying to keep up with modern styles. Design philosophy and Character design are completely different. They're updating their art style to keep up with modernization. A very important part of modern game design and game theme. Notice the professors designs and rivals in relation to the world we know we will be in.
Next the humanlike pokemon designs. I see both sides of this argument but i ultimately sit on the anti-human design side because of a few reasons. 1) I do not like the idea of domesticating a more human like creature than a wild beast. 2) Why are they in the wild if they are more like us? 3) Theyre meant to be creatures yet we have pokemon like Gardevoir, Machamp and inceneroar that really blur that line. Where is the line then?
Finally personality design. For main characters i have covered. For pokemon its because they want YOU to think of how YOUR pokemon would behave as YOUR partners. If a pokemon was designed as a very angry one the amount of people who could like it decrease like Primeape and the likes. To summerize what you are asking for is a bland pokemon game where EVERYTHING is what someone makes it and how it impacts this random character and not how YOU embrace this world and effect it in how YOU play.
No offense but to say you have proffesionality of this area and yet miss SOO much is disappointing.
Shhhhh, soccer bunny neat
@@Lilaclightning12 Im not saying you can't like humanoid designs just putting out there why myself and many others dont like them.
I swear, the amount of times I've had to cover Incineroar and Inteleon's backs just because people never shut up about "nOt BeInG aBlE tO sEe ThEm In ThE wIlD" is GODDAMN LUDICROUS. There are more settings and environments that influence the way a pokémon looks that aren't _(Insert generic forest background)_ guys, c'mon!
Exactly. They're supposed to be monsters. They'ren't just gonna look like animals or just like objects. They're gonna look how they're supposed to and some of them feel like they belong in the wild and some don't. Good thing is that final evolutions for a Pokémon in the wild isn't too common, so it's not at all a problem, honestly. For example as Mangakamen has stated, he can easily see an Incineroar protecting a bunch of Littens.
@@GoinGreninja All it takes is a little interpretation, also known as THINKING. People can't see Inteleon in a forest? I can see it totally chilling in a city setting, leaning high up on a windowsill somewhere just because it's cool like that. :)
@@rjs4176 Yep. Even if it doesn't 'fit', you can still find a way to make it make sense. For example a Water type Pokémon is hanging around a desert because there's likely an oasis nearby. As long as the guys up top are creative, they can do anything that works within reasonable boundaries.
@@rjs4176 I can kinda see inteleon in a forest. It could even be on all fours just waiting for a target and aim.
It could still run on 2 legs.
I've been thinking of an inteleon redesign and also making it part ghost type because it can go invisible. I do like the original design but I just don't want people unfairly hating on my guy like that.
I could easily see inteleon hanging around a pond or a lake sitting in the water and practicing it's aim on either other pokemon or small objects, competing to see who has the best aim. I could also see their camafloge being very useful for hiding from other stronger pokemon or being used to compete with other pokemon
Oh thank goodness! I thought I was alone in being put off by Scarlet and Violet's human designs! They honestly look uncanny and REALLY out of place compared to the Pokemon. The 'realistic' designs also make every human character look like a generic NPC. No one really stands out. Even Leon from Sword and Shield, as goofy as he looks, is memorable at least!
I just want to be a grown ass man in Pokemon who is able to throws hands with Pokemon.
I really like croc 2, he's basically the nephew/mini version of burning Godzilla and I wish we can get more Kaiju/Tokusatsu-like Pokémon from gamefreak and Nintendo
5:59 Bard - Magical
6:00 Chef - Magical
Just because they're support roles doesn't make them magical. I mean Ignis can use magic but Chef isn't his class, it's his hobby. His class is a Red Mage-style Crownsguard (complete with the classic Red Mage dagger wielding combined with a variation on FFXI's weapon elementization spells that can only be used on Noctis' weapons for some reason).
It makes sense that the Pokémon become more human-like; they're being trained by humans, so the Pokémon evolve to be more like their masters! At least, that's how I like to think of it.
But you can find wild gardevoirs in the wild area, explain that.
Try to apply that logic to a animals we have tamed and trained in reality. They don’t become more like us, they become better at performing what they’re trained for.
My main problem with the art is... it looks ugly af. I remember being a kid, watching the show and imagining what I saw in TV being in my pokemon leaf green. Discovering places and new pokemon was a joy for me. I LOVED exploring the world.
But in these recent games that changed. I don't care about graphics being realistic or not, I care about a magical world dragging me to explore it by my own desire.
And please, please, please can we get rid of the need to have big bad guys? Pokemon has always been about the fun of the adventure. Going through sword and shield as a pokemon star, beating oversized but still cool gyms in a big tournament was an idea I really liked.
Would it be so bad to make it so the "baddie" was just someone trying to cheat people out of the competition and have them learn the fun of doing it the right way with you? Not every game needs to be about saving the world.
The only evil team to not have something to do with ending the world is just team rocket and even then they were a huge crime organization, yet somehow, they're always stopped by children...
@AT Productions I'd love to say that's my problem but it isn't. I love to see things change. I'm the type of guy who can't pick a single champion in LoL or weapon in MH to main. I loved the idea of mega evolution, the concept of pokemon as a sport in sword & shield.
And as every single fucking kid at that time I loved and dreamed about the idea of an open world pokemon like Arceus but I can't keep the fanboy goggles all the time. I hate that game and yes, the looks are VERY important.
I'm not asking for something big, I'm just saying that pokemon is the biggest game franchise in the world and if they can't even be on par with breath of the wild in the same system with more years of experience in that console then yeah, maybe it's time I give up on those dreams and move on. If they can sell millions without an ounce of effort, why would they try to make that dream real?
Personally I disagree with the take about personality vs beastly nature of Pokémon. While quantifying the line is hard. I feel that in the end Pokémon are supposed to be more like animals and they really shouldn’t have to much personification aspects to there design and features. While the “I can see them in the wild” test is flawed I think it’s a perfectly reasonable test to gather why some Pokémon feel to human for some people. Personally I understand that a Pokémon like Incineroar can be goofy but the way it’s designed in the games force too much of what game freak wants it to be like rather then building the connection from the player. Incinceroar feels more like a character rather then a pocket monster. I feel that Pokémon has lost some of that balance over the years especially with the starters.
Alpha as a concept doesn’t really exist.
But a pride like structure does, so call em prides lol.
I am also in the field of liking the more mature looks. Hosnetly I think it makes our characters look much better to be honset.
Also team weed cat
Nintendo and gamefreak don't care about any of this sadly. They design their games with 6-10 year old children in mind, they have zero reason to improve their art design. They just need cute Pokemon and easy gameplay. They prioritize making these games as cheaply as possible, they don't want to spend money on development. Why bother when people will buy this crap no matter what?
*me enjoying later designs*
Eh, 🤷♂️ I like cinderace but that's also for my love of futbol
I don't know why but I'm just so put off by the MCs of Scarlet and Violet. They just look too normal to be in the Pokemon world if that makes sense. I feel like you hit the nail on the head when it came to them looking like characters from a Pokemon spin-off. Maybe it's too early of a reaction but I'm definitely worried about the important NPC designs in the next generation. Also, Donald Duck is the best gen 9 starter.
Yeah I agree. Maybe character customization could fix this issue I hope.
I have the same problem with the Pokémon designs for a while now. I don't want normal cartoon animal with a recolor but an actual pocket monster, a mashup of multiple animals where I can sort of see the inspiration but it's not just that animal with a paint job.
I just want to say thank you so much for tearing down the criticisms that people have today about modern starter designs. The arguments against the critisisms that you brought up are some that I've been saying for a long time but they get brushed to the side just because people don't like a design, or think it doesn't feel natural. It's fine if you don't like the designs, but to say that they don't feel natural in a world of mythical creatures where anything is possible is just plain wrong.
Yeah, but in a magical world where anything is possible. Why limit pokemon starter design to a humanoid.
The unnatural point has a point to the extent it’s unnatural that a bunch of them stick to a humanoid body plan if they have the ability to be anything. It’s the reason why in something with mythical beings like a Souls game, the mythical creatures have such weird and different designs from one thing to another that aren’t always humanoid to any extent
Personally I've though pokemon has always had really good character designs for the NPCs, trainers, Gym leaders, and other human characters throughout the series, much better than most series. I think that's the reason is that if they're even slightly worse it does stand out since the pokemon games have had such good designs for each of its characters so everyone of them stands out and is easily recognizable. Unlike many other RPGs where character designs could be swapped between games, Pokemon character designs stand out and won't fit in other games
It’s crazy how colloseum
And Xd gales of darkness still washes 3d pokemon to this day, the set pieces in those games looked amazing, dynamic battle movement and interesting looking moves, different arenas and locals with crazy memorable music
My fav by far is Fuecoco, I like the idea of having a fire croc, like we had a water croc in Gen 2
I think the hisuian Pokémon were such a good step in right direction into a nice mix of newer style and the classical style, Pokémon like hisuian samurott, zoroark and kleavor look like they jump straight out of gen 1 while keeping the newer design conventions
The "I cant see it in the wild" is an argument considering pokemon were intended to be creatures you could...see..in the wild...
Humanoid creatures, creatures with large heads and small bodies, overdesigned, these are signs of first-draft drawings and not much revision
From experience, when I want to draw something cute, the first thing I do is exactly all that minus overcomplication. Overcomplication isnt intentionally done with skill. It's usually done to hide a lack of skill - hiding the lack of being able to make a statement with pess design.
ALSO, pokemon are not "characters" which might be where ur not seeing these arguments eye to eye
They are animals, species
They are not characters
They are animals with some character but not characters
That's part of why making sonas of pokemon is easy to do but not so much for other franchises (lilo and stitch for example). I can have a cinderace of and so can thousands of other fans and it's cool because cinderace is a species
I cant be experiment 234 and also thousands of other pple can too because there may already be a canon experiment with that number/ there is only one for that number.
It gets kinda awkward
"The "I cant see it in the wild" is an argument considering pokemon were intended to be creatures you could...see..in the wild...
Humanoid creatures, creatures with large heads and small bodies, overdesigned, these are signs of first-draft drawings and not much revision"
Oh, I'm sorry, did you ignore my arguments? I guess the giant rock snakes, the floating magnets, the body builders, the living rocks, the ghosts, the living piles of sludge, the rock monster shaped like a tree... Those are all you can see in the wild, but a man-shaped tiger? Nah, that's too much, ignoring that they could be the leader of a pride.
Also... citation needed - you can say that it's a sign of it, but that's not actually proof - It's you just pulling it out of your ass.
"From experience, when I want to draw something cute, the first thing I do is exactly all that minus overcomplication. Overcomplication isnt intentionally done with skill. It's usually done to hide a lack of skill - hiding the lack of being able to make a statement with pess design."
... Have you even seen the starters? They aren't over complicated, hell, I'd argue that the starter pokemon as of late are extremely simple in design.
"ALSO, pokemon are not "characters" which might be where ur not seeing these arguments eye to eye
They are animals, species
They are not characters
They are animals with some character but not characters"
They are not animals, they are monsters. They are literally called Pocket Monsters. And no duh, I said that in the video, did you not even pay attention to what I even said. And even then, this is not a point, this is you not paying attention to what I said.
"That's part of why making sonas of pokemon is easy to do but not so much for other franchises (lilo and stitch for example). I can have a cinderace of and so can thousands of other fans and it's cool because cinderace is a species"
Congratulations, you just shot your argument in the foot. That was a point I made in my video, so thanks for not paying attention.
"I cant be experiment 234 and also thousands of other pple can too because there may already be a canon experiment with that number/ there is only one for that number.
It gets kinda awkward"
... Did you not even watch my video? You're kinda proving my point.
Thank you for this! You brought up so many things about design that most Pokémon fans often ignore. Different artists over time, taking advantage of new technology/past technological restraints, How Pokemon shouldn’t just be limited to animals, etc. i personally like how gamefreak is taking advantage of newer technology for different designs. Media Taking advantage of new tech is nothing new. There’s even a case that goes back to 1939, where the movie adaptation of “The wizard of oz” changed the Silver Slippers to Ruby slippers to take advantage of technicolor tv, which was new at the time. Even though I heard that the Scar/Vi pro tags are supposed to be reminiscent of Red’s original “younger” look in Pokémon red and blue, I don’t think it works with the new art style. Also there’s just something about the characters realistic looking hair that bugs me (especially some of the gym leaders) I think maybe it’s because it makes their in-game models to detached from their character artwork.
if Sword and Shield did one single thing to impress me - it was actually having a whole cast of human characters that were wonderfully designed and memorable.
Every single one.
Even if their story or personality-writing fell flat - sheer design language pulled the brunt of what their concept is going for SUPER effectively.
What was the last Pokemon game that had such a strong cast of characters? Maybe Sun/Moon...?
I hope the next gen of games continues to have high quality human designs. I have my ups and downs with pokemon designs - I wasn't impressed by many of Galars, but I also wasn't impressed by many of Sinnohs - but overall I think Pokemon design quality has remained steady good across every game. :)
Kind of, I don't dislike modern designs, and I do agree that some of the oldest weren't perfect either, yet I'm afraid that they'll get more furry bait and basic cute mons instead of investing in the more animalistic kind.
I miss the animalistic Pokemon. I don't mind humanoid Pokemom since that's always been a thing. But I do miss the more Beast like Pokemon. I feel like they're not as common now
@@littenfire3563 Yeah, this is also pretty fair too. Most of my fav mons are bipeds, but there rlly aren't too many of the more animalistic mons that I find too cool. I can live with it ig, but it'd be nice to have more balance/variety too
Your skull clip mimicking your expressions is just *chef's kiss*. I love it and it shows so much effort and thought.
Thanks, I'm currently revamping the poses and hopefully have more fun facial expressions going on with the two :)
@@Mangakamen Oh, that's really exciting. I'm looking forward to them.
Dude I just want to be older again
Like
Hilda/Hilbert are 14-15 and it’s implied that Calem/Serena are 16
Kids are stupid
Adults are superior
"Digimon, digital pocket monsters. Digimon are the Pokemon". Now tell me I'm wrong.
i would kill to just be playing a 16 - 19+ year old trainer who seem to have experiance the world then a 10 year old who manage to capture a god with a magic ball.
Finally someone who adresses how stupid is the complain on anthropomorphic starters, they're fictional creatures, and anthro Pokémon have always existed, having humanoid bodies won't make a Pokémon design's bad
Also the complain because "furry" is even worst, people don't want anthro Pokémon so they don't get NSFW, when NSFW stuff hits everything (it's literally on the rule 34), and even worst, that's an external thing that doesn't affect the quality of a design
I personally don't care if a Starter Pokemon humanoid or beastial. As along as they look cool, and have some theme/inspiration, then I don't mind at all. I personally love Incineroar and it's my favorite Pokemon. Also Quaxly is my favorite Gen 9 Starter.
I'm going to give this to you, the human characters do have a bit of an odder feel for Scarlet and Violet, but I think that might partially be due to another team at Gamefreak working on these games while Legends were being worked on. Another factor I think could be at play is New Pokemon Snap. The designs look very reminiscent of those games in my opinion and I know a lot of people praised those games for their graphics and animations, so maybe they took that feedback and decided to experiment and see where people stood on it. Personally, after the new trailer, I'm still on the fence, but it is looking less weird to me.
The thing I'm worried about is the clothing options. I hope this isn't like Sun and Moon where I can only choose warm colors in Scarlet and cool colors in Violet. Or worse, Orange only in Scarlet and Purple only in Violet. I'm worried we won't be able to really customize our characters to be unique and distinguished.
Another worry I see after the newest trailer is how these new designs will translate over from their official art to the game. Like specifically referring to Lechonk and Fuecoco. Lechonk's ears look more folded in on its 3D model while they look bigger in its official art. Or Fuecoco has a head and body separation in its model and not in its official art. I know the 3D models are going to look different compared to the official art, but like these are kind of big noticeable differences between them and it kind of makes me wonder what the real point of the official art is if it doesn't depict the in game design accurately.
Okay I'm alright with the more furry like pokemon but I do feel like gamefreak/the game designers should step away from it since there are now so much furry bait. I genuinely hope the new gen starters arent that anthropomorphic but I wont complain if they are.
Cinderace looks too small to be a final evolution to me and I kinda feel sprigatito has too much green and looks a little too feminine when the o in spanish refers to masculine things
I honestly do hope that weed cat’s Final form isn’t a humanoid, because it would be nice if she just walked on four legs in her Final evolution.🐱
well, maybe they are making completely corporate decisions? Like it or not, Furry Gamers like us tend to be the type of demographic that spends more money than average on our hobbies. It makes sense they would try to pander more to minorities that pay, especially groups that don't make a big thing of our identity on social media and try to shame everyone else for not liking or accepting us.
But then again, it is just as well that the general gamer populace remains ignorant of what is underneath the first few layers of the Furry Iceberg. The horrors that lay beneath are the reason why we were created to soak up undesirable fandoms like a levy to protect fandoms that are good for general normal people consumption.
@@topcat59 lmao I am so sorry but when people call sprigatito her makes me internally scream cuz of the last part of my comment. Part of their name "gatito" is spanish for kitten, specifically a male kitten or gatitos for more than one kitten. Gatita is used for a female kitten. The female like design kinda contradicts the spanish aspect of it to me.
Call the cat whatever you want but this just exemplifies my point lmao
@@Shiftshapercat honestly agree with that the furry community is a very profitable and it makes a lot of sense that they’ve been trying to pander to that community with there Pokémon designs.🐱
To be honest, how does the world of pokemon work with normal "adult" citizens? Do they attend a pokemon school like in Sun and Moon? Or do they attend a regular high school and college and then get their first pokemon? It would be interesting to go under that direction where you just graduated high school or college and now are ready to go see the world.
For I mean, when you become a pokemon trainer as a ten year old you're only gonna be qualified to earn money by battling. But what happens when you reach adult hood? You stay the same with the idea that you only have the knowledge of a 5th grader when it comes to education. When pokemon training career is collapsing, how do you get a job that helps earn enough money to provide for yourself and your starving, giant, carnivorous pokemon? I don't think working as a janitor or a store staff member will help that much as well as what type of pokemon you have for helping you.
I'm love charizard, but I don't think walking into a grocery store with a giant dragon with flaming tail to welcome you will be a good idea, especially knowing that he might cause a fire on his first day on the job.😅
If you have a Charizard you could probably make it to a mid tier level just brute forcing it, strategy is very important but in the end the economy of the Pokémon world is one of those things you’re not supposed to think to hard about as it’s basically a trap hole of bad ideas.
Many stories have some conveniences for doing things otherwise you couldn’t really get away with anything different from our own reality.
You're right, best not to over think it
Oh no the game made for literal children has child protagonist. Can't wait for the pokemon game where you investigate the brutal murder of the champion while struggling with your alcoholism you developped over your divorce.
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I'm more worried about how stale and boring it looks. u have hundreds of pokemon tht have amazing backgrounds and personalities and all they do is walk around in the flat land. a Slowbro walking around in grass along with Drowzee makes no sense. they remove all character from these pokemon
I think the reason for the more generic protagonist design is character customization. They're giving you a blank slate, because you're going to personalize it so it is recognizable as you, and not the character.
But we've had character customization since Gen 6 and all of those MCs looked distinct.
There is nothing in this video that I can agree. Too opinion based. I don't see any problem with character world and Pokemon themselves.
I think something really interesting about Pokémon is that it’s going through this botwification. Where alot of rpg games are taking major inspiration from botw. Meaning you’re seeing a lot of games coming out where you’re walking through realistic open world environments and Idunno that’s kinda boring. It worked for that game because there was alot to see and do, and all Pokémon has going for it is Pokémon.
Because we all know BOTW invented open world right?
The new protagonists are missing the "cool factor" that was present in the protagonists from the first five gens or so. Those protags looked just as determined as their starters, which made for a great formula in the game's storytelling.
Now they're just blank slates for customization.
On another note, the two professors for Scarlet/Violet look really cool. I believe the game would be much better if they were the protagonists instead.
Honestly I think the gen 5 starters fit the perfect balance of job and animal while taking on classes and personalities they don’t just take a human body shape. Samurott is my favourite and people criticize it not being bipedal but I think it’s that it’s strongest quality as it preserves it inspirations while having that certain animalistic ruggedness to it.
I freaking loved swsd art design. The locations were memorable and the character designs charming. Definitely the best part of the game for me.
I lover the location design and the Pokémon/Character design, Corvinight, Cinderace, Toxtricity, Not Leon, Grappaloct. Raboot, Not Leon, Pretty much all of the G-max forms, Scorbunny (See a pattern?) Kubfu, Regileki, and definitely not Leon