Exclusive Game Freak Interview On Player Freedom Vs. Story In Pokémon 

lol, They said "visual expression." There was nothing funnier than looking at your character's blank, apathetic face as everyone around him tried to treat him like he cared.

Love how this interview hints at legends arceus

I think this video is very interesting because it shows how, above everything, making games is a creative and artistic endeavor. The reason GF doesn't always keep certain mechanics is because they always want to try new things. They didn't needed to put so much focus on SM's story, but they did because it was something they wanted to do, and it seems it was something they enjoyed doing. I feel like people often forget that content creators aren't there to please us, rather, they present us with their work and we choose to support it with our money So basically, if they don't want to make a open-world game please respect their option. They can make an amazing game regardless

My favorite games in the Pokémon series are the ones with more story focus like BW/SM. However the ones I replay the most are RBY/SGC (mostly their remakes) in those versions every play through feels new compared to the more story based entries that feel like if you beat them once there is no reason to replay them.

I love that mix between English questions and them answering with English subtitles *without* a voice over! It's much more "personal" if you know what I mean.

You know, its nice to hear from GameFreak themselves on why things can or couldn't happen. It's better than hearing the fans say "it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to implement any new ideas with Pokemon." They are more open to new ideas than people give them credit for.

Who doesn't want story in Pokemon games we actually need good story in Pokemon games but also we want to explore Pokemon world not in real world, in fantasy world where bad organisation attack region and we have cocky rival that push us where we could capture Pokemon in wild you see it just like in Pokemon anime though S&M focused a lot on open world

Well they are right about the greater emphasis on story, because Sun and Moon's ending was the first Pokémon game, no...the first game in general that broke me down to tears... Call me a crybaby if you will, but we have all had these moments, have we not?

Can we *not* force open-world on everything? Let the devs create a game they have confidence in.

0:45 "More rich animations for the characters." Just not the main character. XD

The stories in Pokemon, especially lately, have never been enough for me. Really, I'm not that loving of Zelda either, but that's just because those games focus way more on the game. I don't know what BoTW is like because I don't have a bazillion dollars to buy a switch and the game, and I also didn't have the time to sit through someone's stream, plus what I've seen of it is slower than a classic doctor Who episode (references), but I don't it's anything amazing. A lot of things just don't satisfy me.

Pokémon should take notes from Xenoblade on how to handle the world. Big chunks or Zones that can contain routes, towns, or even caves. Tho I hope they can remove a lot of loading wait times.

GI asked all the right questions here, great job, but one was missing: Would you mind if another team like MonolithSoft made a Pokemon spin-off with the budget and development time of a game like Breath of the Wild?

Despite having lots of flaws and missed opportunities, hey should take notes from the storylines of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games

I know that expectations for an hd pokemon game are high as hell, but I don't see this guys doing something nearly as fresh for the series as BotW did for Zelda. They seem to be quite confortable doing "smaller" portable games , so jumping to a HD console could be really rough. I mean , the process of creating BotW was not "we are out of ideas , so we are just doing an open world" , it was taking what made the series fun and unique in the first place , getting rid of stuff that was making the series fall in stagnation , and building new stuff to make the franchise evolve. Since exploration and discovery is the key element of Zelda , making it an open world was a reasonable decision. On the other hand, as they say in the interview , Pokemon is about the bonds you form with them. Surely there are a lot of people that feel like the "gotta catch 'em all" suits better with the brand , but I think that it makes the pokemon look like collectables rather than creatures, they are supposed to be special after all. This is me trying not to get too hyped for the game , let's see how much it lasts.

Sounds like Gen 8 is gonna be a bit more story-focused. I'm not really expecting a BotW-tier game, just a decent step-up from Gen 7. I'd imagine that the future-proofing of the Pokémon models will help cut down on the growing pains for HD development, even though I'm not expecting Gen 8 to come out for the Switch until 2019.

if they actually made pokemon title with BOTW graphics I'm buying it !

i am interested to see how they'll make open world collectathon dressed up as an rpg game . :) call me wrong but pokemon is collectathon dressed up as an rpg.

Do you think it'd be fitting for players to express themselves through choice of exploring a vast open world and catch the pokemon inhabiting it? "No, we don't know what players would do in the open world with pokemon inhabiting it." WHAT. THE. HELL.

You know, listening to this now with PLA just around the corner, it kind of makes it more appreciable.

Could two player joycon battles work on switch

5 years later we finally have a fully open world Pokémon game!

RELEASE THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

Nice Video!

Anyway, story in Gen 8 should be deep, emotional, unpredictable and with pathos. And with atmosphere in style of Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness.

Well, it's an RPG, it's supposed to be story driven

coming back later for comments.

it would be a funny scenario if they did make an open world pokemon game at the cost of changing the current gameplay into more action based instead of turn base and see the rampaging veteran player attacking them on how they just give a middle finger to the veteran player whom pour their heart and soul into the turn base gameplay.

i free form zelda styled pokémon open world type game is EVERYTHING i ever wanted. I would buy a switch SO fast if that was real

I gave up on Pokemon game campaigns after ORAS. Just give me a 3ds version of Pokemon Showdown and I'll be happy

Hey Game Freak, Pokémon can THRIVE in a world like Breath of the Wild! You can make a game that would give players the Ash Ketchum experience, allowing them to go wherever they want, do whatever they want, and freely interact with the world and the Pokémon and characters in it. Here’s how you implement it: Imagine instead of monsters and animals, the world is populated with wild Pokémon that roam freely. Some charge you when they see you, some ignore you, and some run away, so you must chase them down. When you touch a wild Pokémon, your lead Pokémon, (who has been walking beside you) rushes in to battle the other Pokémon. A battle starts without changing to a battle scene, the two Pokémon just fight where they’re at. During a battle, you select an attack, and then both Pokémon attack without pausing, so you can watch a real-time battle until the turn ends. Only then do the Pokémon pause to wait for you to choose your next move. Instead of Breath of the Wild’s runes, you interact with the environment using your Pokémon’s HM moves. For example, you can use Strength/Headbutt to knock over a dead tree, and aim it to fall across a river or chasm to make a bridge; you can use Surf to have your Pokémon tow you through rivers or the ocean; and you can use Fly to ride your Pokémon through the air, but you can only land in certain spots. (Think Eon Flute from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire) You can even use Vine Whip to lower yourself down tall cliffs. Every time you obtain an HM, you unlock a ride Pokémon (like in Sun and Moon) that has the same ability. This way, the player always has the HM available, but is free to use their own Pokémon instead of the ride Pokémon. (For example, Charizard is always available to Fly on, but it would be much more fun to ride your well-trained Flygon or hang from your freshly caught Drifloon!) You can make the plot more open world by putting the starting town in the center of the region. Players are free to explore any part of the world whenever they feel like it. The farther out from the center you go, the higher the level of Pokémon you will encounter, so the only thing really keeping players from advancing is the strength of their own Pokémon. Hm’s make it easier to explore, but are only required to access secret areas, like the lairs of legendary Pokémon. Instead of one linear story, you have multiple “main” quests that you can choose to follow at any time. E.G. you can choose to take on gyms and become the champion, OR you can chase down Team Rocket, etc. and stop their evil plot, or you can ignore both and hunt down all the legendries and the game’s hidden secrets. There would be somewhere between 12 and 20 Gyms scattered throughout the region. You only have to beat 8 to gain access to the Pokémon League, but you get an extra special reward for beating them all. I hope this gives you guys inspiration on the potential the Pokémon series has to be one of the greatest Open-World adventures there is! You guys make some incredible games, keep up the great work!

Should've asked them if they were intending the players to feel any romance between Lillie, and if so, if that is a step they might consider in the future. Imagine a mix between Persona and Pokemon gameplay- now that would be a godly game.

What if max and molly from Pokémon had a sinoff look it up on RU-vid

Can someone please ask Game Freak in an interview to confirm or debunk whether the Rockruff in the recent trailer is indeed the return of a major(?) feature, or just people overreacting. Number 1 thing I need clarified in all of gaming right now.

I think right now they don't have the budget to make the game open world AND as good as breath of the wild. It would just end up being unfinished in many areas. However if it was possible I would be okay with it. No idea why people are hating those who want open world pokemon, because that sounds awesome if done right. I think people are scared of the open world being just like any other open world game which may ruin the game, which is an okay assumption, but you have to admit if an open world pokemon is done right it'll be much better than linear games from before. If that's not possible I'll be okay with a linear game, but linear games can also be bad. So you guys should keep that in mind too.

Nice video

Well all I hope for the next story of Pokémon is that I hope that it's waayyy better then X and Y( because X and Y's story was just crap and that it could've been more better if it wasn't rushed and there was more buildup.) and just as good as Sun and Moon(since Sun/Moon's story was not rushed and and it felt like I was taking an adventure instead of being given a tour( like in X and Y).

"omg i dont see why GameFreak doesnt abandon the formula thats making them tons of money and is pleasing the fans"

we need a pc VR pokemon game you would'nt need no other game xD

The only openworld game I can think of is a kid starting in the "newest" current region then sailing(or flying) to each region one by one to get all badges and defeat all E4. That is probably the biggest game style I can think of. unless they make the forest and caves bigger inbetween areas so it actually feels like a forest and cave. Then it'll feel a little bit bigger. Otherwise they'd probably just stick with the original gamestyle. I mean Sun and Moon had a great story felt like I was playing a character that was a part of a pokemon anime. So if they enrich the game with more story but obviously not too much text because some people dont even read, then the game can only get better from there. Plus it would be nice to play the same person over and over again so we can feel an attachment to that person and meet people who already knew us from previous regions. Like if we play some new gen 8 game Lillie wont know who the hell we are if we bump into her. If we played the same kid from Pallet Town we may or may not have bumped into someone we knew. Idk.

3:25 They bring up if Pokemon can be like Breath of the Wild.

Just use the subtitles in this. Its hilarious.

It would be great if gamefreak create mmorpg pokemon

There will always be people that don't like the direction a game goes. BOTW has so many people that didn't like it. It'd be hard to be a game developer for a game that has expectations as high as Pokemon, Zelda, Mario, etc... Nothing will ever be good enough for all fans. That being said. I'm the type of fan that just wants anything Pokemon. If they remade Blue or Red but open world, to me that would be adequate. Don't make me go fight Brock first. Don't make me get HMs to get places, make me get Pokemon to get places. Flying, surfing, etc. In the TV show Ash didn't need HMs, I shouldn't. Ash didn't need to go to Brock first, he just did. The bosses on BOTW get easier the further you get in the game. Not because your level goes up, but because you get better at the game. All of the bosses are basically the same "level." I wouldn't make an open world Pokemon game that is leveling up (which is one thing I love about Pokemon games in general), but make it about the exploration, catching pokemon, and beating gyms. Then head to the Indigo Plateau and fight in a tournament, not against the Elite Four. If they had come out with this type of game instead of Zelda, it would have been a hit too, but they did Zelda and it was amazing. Nintendo fans just want more of their favorite characters doing new things. Of course this is all my opinion, and I understand it doesn't make a difference in the overall scheme or direction Pokemon is going. I just wish it, but I won't be disappointed if it never happens, I am just grateful they keep coming out with new stuff. This being said, I also wish they would do an open world Avatar: Last Airbender type game...

Proceeds to make legends of Arceus, which has fun catching mechanics.

So is pokemon for the 3ds dead after pokemon ultra sun and ultra moon?

An open world is a terrible idea, because a lot of young gamers will get board and stop playing an open world like title with out any objectives or goals in order to be playable.

I have huge respect for Game Freak for not turning pokemon into a mmo or ppen world. People think it will work, but it won't and game freak knows it. Sure, we can have more player freedom but add too much and you take away from the pokemon experience. Not to mention the super effective gameplay stuff only works for a turn-based rpg. There is also a big issue with an open world pokemon game is the fact that Gf doesnt have the time or budget. It would end up being a rushed, low budget game. For game freak to not cater to those people who want that just for money is respectable. Good luck gamefreak.

I like the main storiy in Pokémon games... for the first time I play these games, at least. Please add a way to skip parts of the story!

Imagine if they gave us 5 moves and poke 2 equipment slots lolol

I'm trusting gamefreak, as I always have.

Hardware evolves... first thought that pops in their mind is expressing the story? Not making the world bigger and with more exploration depth? The damn regions are still small with 5 second tube-like routes, in fact exploration got WORSE in SM with barred off places and nothing to go out of the way for, it's the FFXIII of Pokemon. Reminds me of why I stopped caring about Pokemon after gen 4. They're focusing on the entirely wrong things. Better hardware means better worlds and gameplay, not "we can now make the story centerpiece and have the game itself take the backstage".

they were so right. open world really isnt the best fit for pokemon!

"Previously you couldn't even do facial expressions" no, you WOULDN'T do facial expressions. Final Fantasy VI had fully expressive characters way back on the SNES, which is about on par with the GBA, and yet we still don't have anything but blank stares from our gen 7 characters.

Normally i wouldn't complain about a game that hasn't even come out yet, but GameFreak, you really need to make a Pokemon game BOTW style, i mean this could help you in getting alot of your fan base to stay or even to come back, everyone would start believing in you again and if you really did do it then everybody wouldn't be on your neck all the time because you would have done that thing alot of older fans really want in a pokemon game, imo it's your best chance to do this kind of game because of the hardware being a hybrid system.. Oh and PS. open-worlds is not only for swords and shields or guns, it would be perfect for catching Pokemon and developing bonds with them 😄👍

The story is what killed replay value of Sun and Moon

4:32 -ish now we have Pokemon Sw/Sh, and they actually incoeporated some huge open areas (wild area) like BOTW in the game!

Personaly I don't care about human characters in pokemon as much as I am for Pokemon and Trainer-pokemon interaction. That's why I was bothered in S/M where they went fullretard on : LOOK AT THESE UNIQUE CHARACTERS

NO NO NO. THAT'S WRONG. They took the story and focused only on the MAIN story. Then the rest of the game is go get those legendaries. THEN NOTHING. The games before the 3ds versions had many sub-plots after the main story. A lot of them were really creepy, but also really awesome. The 3ds games left nothing to explore, unlike the other games. The main storyline of the games were about 25% of the entire game. Gamefreak is going the wrong direction.

"Why DONT make OPEN WORLD Pokemon!1!11!! Is HOLE WORLD to explore botw sized! POKEMON is need to be OPEN WORLD!!1!11!"

What mic did you use? Try recording with an iPhone next time, the sound quality will be better.

More capable of visual expression? MORE CAPABLE OF VISUAL EXPRESSION?!?! Looks like somebody from the graphics team didnt get the memo when he animated the player's avatar expression --> :)

guys guys guys it's simple make it like Pokemon Red and then add extra.

Just giving us the BOTW open world with tons of pokemon in it would definitely work, I'm certain. I mean, look at how happily people have explored Hyrule for little to no ingame reward, and I'm not excluding myself here. Just hand us a campaign of sorts that has an increasing level for the opponents and we'd go out there and train. ;) There would be a normal exploring mode and a battle mode, as usual. Where the battle mode could be triggered by aggressive pokemon or by the player approaching and engaging in fight on purpose, let's say by sending in a pokemon. But actually, what I'd like even more than that would be a BOTW like version of Pokemon Snap. Including riding on Pokemon. Ground, water - air?

be honest, it's not the problem with game making, it's the problem with the game company, if they are uninspired like GF, then we will not have good games on switch, open world is not bad idea, because it will show the beauty and size of the pokemon world and will give them bigger potential to make the player adventure even better

YOU GIVE ME POKEMON ON THE SCALE OF BREATHE OF THE WILD! NINTENDO! Throw all of your monies at it and we will throw you all our monies!

WHY DIDN'T THE INTERVIEWER ASK THE REAL, HARD QUESTIONS. yOU KNOW... LIKE: "WHY YOU RUSHED THIS GAME"?

ازوج ماصلحه

Third

kids are guilty too

It's all about the first two generations of Pokemon and forgetting about the rest of them.

omg... they literally said; "players having journey with the pokemon and growing stronger" so this is why the game is unbalanced mess [competitive] and we don't have better integration with our pokemon in game... EHE

I don't see the series making strides once the two are directors honestly. Masuda is sturborn as hell and makes backwards decisons with his dumb idealist nonsense. Shigeru is basically a younger version of him.

Seeing Gens 1&2 in the case reminds me of pre-Gen 3 Pokémon... The real Pokémon.