Before you read this I want to leave the following disclaimer: I love pokemon. It was with me when it first came out in the UK when I was in primary school, and I still play on it now when I'm in my twenties. I think it's a fantastic and brilliant game both in it's simplicity and it's replay value. I do have to say that during the fifth generation of the pokemon games I have some reservations about the future of the franchise, especially with the announcement of Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2.
I played Pokemon White when it first came out, and for that matter I also bought Black when it first came out, and I enjoyed the Unova region. I liked the little tweaks that were made to the game that made buildings feel like they were 3d and the cinematic sequences with the bridges and when you encounter Zekrom. I also enjoyed other core game play changes such as the permanent TM's, and the poke-mart being in the poke-center, however I can't call this blog a 'Game Rant' if I'm going to say how much I loved it.
My main gripe about the current generation of pokemon is that until you complete the main story line for the first time you are forced into using new and mysterious pokemon. I suppose this was an attempt to recreate the magic of when Red and Blue came out and the player saw a pokemon for the first time and had no real idea what it could do until you caught it and trained it. That, in principle, is fine - but when you have a loyal fan base as big as the pokemon community does you cannot take away the favorites and familiars that people have grown up with until post game and expect them to take a liking to the new monsters as well as they did to Charmander or Pikachu.
The main reason why I feel you cannot allow an entire new generation of pokemon and not allow some of the previous species into the game is because all you end up with is yet more carbon copies of the useless ones. How many people are fed up of a new Rattata, Geodude, Caterpie and Zubat? I know people get tired of playing a new game and catching the same thing in the generic beginner cave and the same thing in generic beginner bug forest, but will adding a new lick of paint to the same tired generic pokemon really make people embrace the new monsters?
I also think that by introducing an entire new set of monsters that include generic leveling pokemon each generation you end up taking something away from the cooler pokemon of that generation. In White I ended up leveling a Hydreigon (a three headed evil dragon), Volcarona (a giant fire moth) and Golurk (a ghostly golem that can fly) to level 100 because I thought they were pretty damned impressive, but I will think a lot of people might not appreciate them as much because of pokemon like Trubbish (a living pile of rubbish), Vanillish (an ice cream cone) and Watchog (a cross between Ratatta and Furret with funny eyes).
The idea of a direct Pokemon sequel bothers me. It will be the first in the main series of games to have a direct sequel, and I can't imagine how it will go. If it takes place in Unova, will it have the same pokemon and starters, or will it be a new area with a new protagonist and new pokemon? If it's the former then why don't they bring out the Gray version everyone suspected they would, and if it's the latter why not make it a new generation? I know that Gamefreak have plans for Kyurem (a legendary ice dragon) and they left the story on a cliff hanger with N, but it's not unusual for pokemon games to refer to previous generations. Black/White had Cynthia in them, Gold/Silver had Kanto in it complete with 8 Gym leaders and Red! The concept of a direct sequel seems unique but I'm not entirely sold on it, but knowing me I will still probably pay my hard earned wages for it!
Ultimately I'm still an avid fan and lover of Pokemon - I feel my childhood was better off because of it, and I do think that the gameplay is simplistic, fun and terribly addictive (World of Warcraft wouldn't be ripping it off in Mists of Pandaria if it wasn't!) but I do still take an issue with the whole force feeding of a new bunch of mundane monsters you're going to give to Bill as soon as you get past the first gym.
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