Pokémon's Open World has UNLIMITED Potential - Dissecting Pokemon Game Mechanics - Tama Hero 

If this Byte left you hungry for more, please, enjoy the entrée and feast yourself on this playlist of all my in-depth Pokemon reviews! ru-vid.com/group/PLz5XeL444xPATlw8IQd082Xy2ow7bzGiD Btw special thanks to TheLostArts for recording all this New Vegas footage for me last minute! You should go watch her on her Twitch :)

I completely missed some of the smaller Pokemon interactions too until about 120 hours in, like a group of Tadbulb gathered under a tree appearing to shake and flash when it was raining (never noticed this during any other weather) although I was a little disappointed when I found a Seviper and Zangoose in South Province - Area One and they didn't immediately try to kill each other haha

I really missed caves this generation. The caves in this generation were mostly a means of traversal. They had little corners and paths with items and tms, but i wanted mt. Mortar and chragestone cave.

It almost feels like taking one of those 90's and 00's rugs with cities and roads, dumping a bunch of minifigures over them, and making the fun yourself. 😅

The problem with all the open world games is the empty space. They concentrate too much on being realistic and not enough on filling out the world. It's the difference between Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie. Kazooie was more densly packed, you were always running into new things and there was almost no filler. BT had everything so spread out it was a chore to even see anything. Shrink the worlds by 50%. Sure you won't get to run around dull open fields, but the areas you do run around in will be much more robust.

It's probably not on-brand but I'd die for a Tama New Vegas, Skyrim, or Morrowind review

my pipe dream for an open-world Pokémon game is one that emphasizes surviving the journey between towns; actually having to camp out because it's more dangerous to travel at night and not just as a mini-game. and along the way you can get flagged down for optional sidequests like in RDR2. might be a bit lofty for the main game, but maybe as a follow-up to Arceus. Thanks for holding down the fort, Snorlax 💪

There certainly is potential left on the table for the future of what they can do with the open world concept, or how overt they can make some of the environmental interactions for pokes, to be sure. I feel like a lot of what they've been focusing on with SwSh/LA/SV has been getting the baseline expectations of such a world set so they can expand on it later, rather than trying to nail the whole thing in one go. Pokemon as a series is about iterative improvement on a core design if it's about anything (mechanically at least,) so I fully expect us to see the world more lively with each release. I do think they wanted more environmental storytelling in SV as is too, though. All the ruins about, the towers themselves, the four temple-locked legendaries and even the crater itself... there's a LOT of mystery in all that. There are hints at a violent past in some of what you learn in the school, but even those are divorced from the supposed modern reality of the Paldea region, and could be explored a lot more, perhaps in the DLC. I like your comparison to stuff like New Vegas, but I think there's another important aspect to consider with SV that ties into a lot of your points you made in your video about the Gen 1 games and their ecological messaging: a game like New Vegas is all about what happens when humans overreach, and the chaos that can enforce on the world around them. I feel like a lot of the design Pokemon is going for is intended to feel more harmonious, showcasing something closer to (though certainly not analogous to) functioning ecosystems free of interference from people as much as possible. Whatever they do in the future, I'm interested to see where these new elements of world design take the series. EDIT: Also, thank you for pointing out that these games are designed for kids. I think a lot of us older players tend to forget that when judging the Pokemon games and the features they choose to emphasize.

One idea I’ve always wanted implemented is a scaling level system. The keys from BW2 were as close as we ever got and the games since then all feel as though the developers forget to give us anything but the Easy Key. I feel like most battles should be able to check how many badges you have or some other metric that will then scale the levels, quantity, and sets that trainers and gym leaders that you battle use. Felt so awkward to go to Levincia fifth and be 20 levels ahead of Iono

In addition to what you've described, I think there could be fewer Pokemon in the overworld. Right now encounters are as common as they were when they happened in tall grass, but in the old games you had a level of abstraction and randomness that made encounters exciting. Now I walk around wondering why are there 40 Jigglypuff standing around in an empty field. It kind of kills the magic for me.

Unlimited doesn’t even begin to describe the potential. From the anime to the older games, there is so much to pull from. Thinking about the open world games you named, pokemon NCP’s and points of interest across the map could be so great for obtaining items or learning about the mysteries of the world. Ugh I wish we could explore Johto through an open 3D world lol

The problem with open world games is when they’re too open which leaves lots of empty space and it feels there a lack of progression. I prefer the Legends Arceus style where is semi open world where the world are divided into areas that are pretty open to explore, but as you get a new area it feels you are progressing. The Xenoblade series is another good example of this

You REALLY got me with that New Vegas, my favorite game of all time, in the thumbnail there. Your titles and thumbnails are getting really good at manipulating me, something most channels fail at horribly. Great video by the way.

It's like each Pokémon game GameFreak makes gets a little bit closer to a perfect formula, but there's always a few things that hold it back. If it weren't for the fan made Pixelmon mod for Minecraft, I wouldn't have believed that an open world Pokémon game could work. C'mon Game Freak! You're almost there, keep trying! 🙂

Legends Arceus has a couple of interesting ways in which the Pokémon are integrated into the level design. Some small and cute ones like how Nosepass will always point towards the north, but what came to mind to me first was the Alpha Snorlax in the first area. It's placed in a way that blocks the way to part of the map, so you either have to come back later to avoid it with Basculegion, or you need to put yourself at risk by getting its attention for it to move out of the way

Loooooove the direction this channel has been taking, thank you for making these kind of videos ❤❤❤

I'm personally thrilled at the idea of Pokemon being open world. I did enjoy the exploring the wilds of Paldea because it felt like exploring the multifaceted wilds of Skyrim or the unpredictable Mojave. Every sight is beautiful in it's own way. I really hope we get more story moments in the wilds with future games like we did in Legends (because OMG the wilds of Hisui was amazing and absolutely lovely).

Pokémon feeling alive is something the Snap series has excelled at. Legends Arceus has some "use these berries to attract X", and even Gen 3 had the infamous Pokéblocks, but I feel there's still potential to make it feel truly immersive and not a drag. I mean, there's a reason why it's fun to use apples and carrots to lure horses in BotW, or meat and bombs to lure Bokoblins.

I like your suggestion about the teachers/NPCs being out in the world instead of stuck in the academy. Finding the stakes and shrines would be more engaging/intuitive if Ms. Raifort was out exploring them and told you about them when you encountered her. And speaking of Pokémon environmental reactions, I once saw a murkrow pecking at one of the item spawns on the map. Crows like shiny objects! It was surprisingly cute.

Legends Arceus should be what pokemon should strive more towards when it comes to gameplay. Being able to seamlessly capture and interact with wild pokemon really makes the world feel alive. Combat also felt so much more active and unique with strong and agile style giving a lot more importance to speed and pulling off combos

I have watched you consistently for like a decade now. I still love them all so much!!

I do confess that Pokemon Scarlet felt more about the destination than the journey, and it felt more like "you've done that, now go to the next checkpoint" on many occasions. I would've at the very least made the locations of the Titans and Team Star bases a bit of a secret; for example let's say that Cassiopeia is only aware of the rough locations of each Team Star base and that the Scarlet Book says jack all about the actual locations of the Herba Mystica (and thus the Titans), so you'll have to talk to NPCs to get a clue as to where they all are. Of course, the gyms can stay easily visible from the map because their locations should be common knowledge. And before anyone says that kids are too dumb to figure it all out, we should be trying to make them all less dumb dammit. At the very least it would teach them how to use a search engine.

I agree. There wasn't any side quests besides maybe the stakes and classes. Side quests can be a huge addition to GF new direction of open world.

One thing I enjoyed about the show was that an entire episode could be devoted to solving the problems a Pokemon faced in its own natural environment. Many of the interactions between the main characters and the Pokemon brought out the personalities of both in an enjoyable and engaging manner. It would be great to see more of this in a Pokemon game in a way that didn't just focus on legendary or perceived popular Pokemon. Similar to how you can help villagers and legends arceus, a future Pokemon game could incorporate some side plots involving the assistance of a Pokemon that is completely optional. Really enjoyed the video.

god the last time i watched you was when you had pink hair, its been years and im glad to see you on my recommended again :)

Hey! I remember that it was one of the first channels I began to watch often in YT. Really nice you're back!!

I had no idea how much I wanted a Tama New Vegas video until now... full retrospective of New Vegas in the future??

One of my favourite features of Gold and Silver were the unique events Finding an overworld Lapras on Tuesdays in union cave, or the Clefairy dance in Mt Moon on Mondays They were naturally occuring, once a week, still required exploration to locate, and it was a way to work with rare Pokemon/items without just using low percentage chance encounter

Oh Tama, BotW is so good you must give it a go. Btw I'm a long time viewer, and it's been amazing seeing your video style evolve and develop over the years, and really value your insight on Pokemon. I hope you're keeping well and life is good :)

I really enjoyed this video! I think you hit the nail on the head perfectly, I'm really excited to see the future of where this series will go. Despite its many problems, this was definitely the most fun I've had with the progression of a Pokemon game, and with completing the dex.

Loving you recent videos Tama, always love your perspective on game design! What are your thoughts on Legends Arceus?

bro i have freaking always loved your channel. i’m 20 now. probably been watching since i was 13.

I love your content this is a proper take, ty for the upload sweetie, always a treat to see your vid pop up in the notifications, makes my day.

I think they should combine pla’s open zones and classic Pokémon routes, so it’s not one huge open world but the routes that connect each towns are treated that way individually

I’m so happy you’re still making Pokémon videos ❤

The idea about Charmander and Spearow plays into something I was thinking about whilst playing violet for the first time - the way some wild pokémon in these games run up to you and interact is so sweet, I wish there was a way to pet them and catch them through befriending them like Ash does in the anime. I know that’s kinda undercutting the point of battling wild pokémon but maybe it could be rare or low odds to work and if it fails you have to enter into a battle like normal, and maybe it could tick up over time like critical captures. I just find a skidoo bouncing up to me and jumping up and down to be so endearing, I know I can just battle it and fill the blanks in in my brain but it would be sooo fun to be able to bring that into the mechanics. Although, maybe they shouldn’t do that, cause I’d just end up with a party full of skido, swablu and numel that way…

02:20 "You can try to outrun *both* of these things..." The other thirty hiding around the Quarry: Are we jokes to you?!

Love the video and keep up the great work tama

Petition to have Tama talk about other games besides Pokémon. That Fallout segment was amazing. Are you looking forward to Starfield, Tama?

I had no idea you were into some of my favorite games! That’s so cool! 😁

When you mentioned saving the Pokémon from bullies, it reminded me how much I would love a more fleshed out Safari zone style of Pokémon catching as an option, especially for weaker or early stage Pokémon, more about befriending than battling (not that I don’t love battles).

I feel like having the ride feature is great for traveling quicker in the game, but it also makes some of these details less noticeable with the camera zooming out further than normal. I also think it prevents me from getting immersed in the Paldea region because all I'm doing is sprinting or gliding to the next checkpoint once I had my lizard bike all tricked out with all the abilities. It makes the region seem a little more smaller and personally prevented me from wandering more than I could have

Tama! I absolutely love that you cover ‘girl games’ and have very similar tastes to me. I was happy to learn that you also love FNV! I am not the biggest pokemon fan (the last game i truly enjoyed was alpha sapphire - sun/moon left me super disappointed and i gave up after that) but I follow your channel because your roleplay-heavy style of play and interest in 00’s girl game-adjacent topics makes me really relate to your videos and opinions. I’m totally shocked you haven’t played BoTW! I wish BoTW had more avoidable combat and more customization and roleplay options, and that there were more ‘girl games’ being made today generally - games that focus on social and expressive elements, but the exploration and collection was super satisfying until the combat became too constant and difficult. I noticed after my partner downloaded a Touch Detective spin-off idle game that I think the market for girl games has really turned to mobile devices, which IMO severely limits the kind of and quality of games we can get. I would love to hear more about your opinions on non-pokemon and the state of girl gaming again in a future video! Thanks for making great content! Sorry for rambling here ~

This is great keep up the good work 👍

There's actually a surprising amount of storytelling that comes from the random trainers you encounter throughout the paldea region. For example, there's a student that reveals that all the staff at the academy were hired within the last few months long before you learn about that in the team star storyline, and there are also some trainers that talk about the relationship between the ghost type gym leader and her sister, your math teacher, who was the former gym leader. There are also trainers that talk about other trainers in the area and give you a glimpse of what they're experiencing on their journeys such as the 2 trainers on the north beach that are about to go on their first date together, and the 3 dragon sisters on the lake where all the dratini spawn

I really hope a lot of the wild Pokémon mechanics from Arceus make their way to the main games because I like how they added tension and made the game feel more real. Right now, you can just walk through hordes of wild Pokémon and the biggest inconvenience is entering a battle. Walking near a herd of tauros should be scary! Sure, you can choose not to battle them, but that doesn’t make them go away. They’ll just come after you instead. Catching a strong Pokémon, especially from a group should be a challenge. I liked how wild mons would get star boosts sometimes if you fail to catch them because they get pissed off. Also, you should be able to try and catch things without battling. A lot of the time you’re just entering battle and immediately throwing a ball anyway. It probably shouldn’t work as well as it does in Arceus because you usually don’t have to catch that many Pokémon and you should still have to focus on catching one Pokémon at a time

The one thing I wish was different with SV is that I wish the map had some sort of greyed out visual to show where you have and haven’t been. I love combing over every inch of the place to find pick ups, and it gets super confusing to know where you’ve missed. Man, imagine if we got an open world game that was like new pokemon snap. That’d be genuinely amazing

Fyi, Xenoblade isn’t open world (besides from Xenoblade X). They are just open area so you get access to giant explorable areas but you have to experience the story in a set order.

I keep seeing mini snorlax's everywhere but no munchlax so gonna say this has been an eye opening report to hear a lot of great stories coming from afar.

Ah it was so nice hearing your thoughts on Scarlet and Violet! It makes me want to revisit it again and maybe even check out the DLC at some point.

Have you played PokeWilds on PC? Really cool open world Pokemon fan game. Been addicted to it the last two weeks building my own island with different biomes and setting up "towns". Still early in development with multiplayer in the future.

I’ve noticed some of the interactions the Pokémon have with the environment, but I guess I should keep a closer eye out lol. It definitely is hard to notice. But man that Snorlax plush is so cool!!🤩🤩

What if there were an old-school, tile-based Pokemon game with no boundaries? Like the main flyable towns and connecting routes were pre-assembled, but once you went past the trees/bollards/reefs the wilds became procedurally generated? Almost like hidden grottos from gen v but mystery dungeon?

i do think that the thought was there with the pokémon interactions in the environment, they just didn’t implement it very well. something i found that i really liked, and made me appreciate a pokémon i used to despise, was that you can sometimes find a solitary wild crabominable at the highest point in the game. you also occasionally find the odd crabrawler on the route up the mountain. which i thought was a really cute reference to their pokedex entries from sun and moon. this little random bit of environmental lore made me save crabominable until the last pokémon i needed to complete the dex, meaning i finished the dex with the champion crab that made it all the way to the very top.

A problem I have with having pokemon as the only reason for exploration, is that after you complete the pokedex you dont have much reason to extensively explore every nook and cranny of the region

as a person who doesn't play open world games because I don't appreciate them this video helped me to understand much so thank you

Well hello Tama! I love your discussion videos.

After this video, honestly, I'd love to see you do some short videos on what you think for Breath of the Wild's open world. A lot of the things you mentioned are in BotW

I couldn't help but compare Pokemon to the Xenoblade games as the video was running, because I distinctly remember actually watching the monsters in these games do their unique things. There's herds that interact with each other, the giant "long neck" dinosaurs in XCX that tend to drink all the time, the patrolling wolf-esque creatures... there's even flocks of birds that have a strong one on patrol always, making attacking them a risky game of timing the approach with the patrol pattern. And yeah, the pokemon *do* have unique interactions like that, but the tempo of XC is just so much slower and the creatures so much bigger, so there's just way more opportunity to see these things. I really appreciate pokemon being actually scaled properly this time, but it *does* limit the visibility of stuff.

It’s crazy to me that Pokémon is over 25 years and we haven’t even had an attempt at an open world/sandbox style game. Should have got one from the GameCube days. My dream idea is more of an action rpg rather than the turn based. Pretty much the same principal as Pokémon but just an action rpg

Suggestion for a future Tama Byte: Who is your favourite pokemon and why?

While not exactly an open world (it's a more restricted version of Legends), the 3D remake of Dragon Quest Monsters 2 does that pretty well (not sure about Treasures,). So many little scenes that plays out. Like, in the 2nd World, there's a landshark that attack a nearby octopi (it let's an item behind if it gets beaten). You see flying cats taking Healslime aways. At some point you have to go through a Giant Monster's body, and monsters gets horribly disfigured by the stomach acid, transforming into different monsters (Crested Vipers become Bona Constrictors, for example). So, it definitely is possible to do something good with the concept.

For a suggestion, since you talked about other game's approaches to game design, I wonder if you have any takes or experience with other monster taming games? Like Digimon, or TemTem, or Monster Crown. Or if there are any upcoming monster taming games that have piqued your interest like PalWorld or Kindred Fates or Cassette Beasts or anything.

Love your content.

It really pissed me how SV are advertised as "battle any gym in any order", but then in-game there actually is an implicit order, and one that, by the way, is really confusing and forces you all around the map in a wild manner.

What was that thing in the bottom left corner at 9:30? The thing running across the carpet?

There is also fast travel hidden poke centers. Like the nurse joy by the steel titan

Tama talking about New Vegas, neat, trippy

Fallout New Vegas being your favorite is such a good opinion. Also the Snorlax plush is fantastic. What a gentleman.

Please do a video on Pokken Tournament DX, I'm also curious what u think of fighting games in general

I have no space in my house for a giant Snorlax plush but knowing now that I CAN'T have one because they're sold out, makes me suddenly need to have it.

oooo... i was waiting for you opinion on this... since i grew up on blue and red i think this is the dream... give this game to my past pokemon red playing self and hed go insane with awe.. but yeah, it can be better 😊. just let's not forget how amazing it is to have reached this point.

I am very excited to see how future Pokemon games make Pokemon more endearing outside of battle, such as how they behave in the overworld. I quite like the interactive features like the picnics and campsites, but I think they could be more engaging for bonding experiences (Washing Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet is very basic for interactivity) and less buggy (like kicking a ball in Scarlet and Violet).

I feel like pokemon in Legends Arceus felt more lively partially because they stood out a lot more so you noticed when they did these mini set piece things

I have been eyeing that Snorlax for ages. Snorlax is my favourite Pokemon and I have always wanted a giant plush like that but even if it was available, dunno how much I would be willing to spend for something I don't have room for.

This thumbnail deserves an immediate view.

The kind of creature interaction you mention is really present in Monster Hunter, especially World. The difference is that there are like 30 monsters in that game. I think a lot of Pokémon's problems come down to it being torn between wanting to give individual monsters more personality and spotlight, and having to keep adding more until we're over 1000. Id definitely take more games like Lets Go or Arceus with a smaller scope if it meant I could be more immersed.

the only thing i TRULY wish was in Scarlet & Violet is Cyclizar races, why was that not a side thing?

For me its weird how this was better in Legends in my opinion. On of the best aspects of PLA was finding those little spots on the map that would tell a story, the little hot spring in the snowy region comes to mind. In some cases you could even study the map to figure out where a pokemon might be located. But somehow these ideas weren’t re-used for SV. Maybe they‘ll add DLC that could add life to the map

That giant Snorlax plush is the CHONKIEST BOI EVER!!!!!

They should definitely have added some small things to interact with in the world. The Charmander idea would have been really cool. SV have like no side quests.

I hope you do get the chance to play Breathe of the Wild it's a very fun game, especially with it's sequel coming out this year.

New Vegas is my favorite game so I 100% agree pokemon should take notes for its open world

Bit late to this video but I thought I'd share my opinion on this, I really hope that the next generation of Pokemon merges the open world of Scarlet and Violet with the more linear and town focused older games. While I get that they purposefully made most of Scarlet and Violet field lands to encourage the open world aspect it still kind of felt weird so I hope they sort of bring back traditional routes and towns/cities but make them more open and traversable so that they fit in an open world

With gen 5 remakes in the future (probably) how would you make them

I remember you with a Pikachu hoodie!

SV is really missing two vital things that all great open-world games (BotW, the Fallout series, etc) have: a notable side-quest system (the teacher quests are technically that, but they're all item fetch quests besides Raifort's, which you can do without her), and interesting landmarks/places. Paldea is just not an interesting place imo; the biomes are cool, but they're not all that diverse in actual traversing beyond the caves, and there's not much to do or see in them besides battle/catch Pokémon; not even the Ten Sights of Paldea aren't all that interesting! The towns lack personality/lore without being able to go inside buildings and talk to more people; just samey menu-only shops, the Gym (if they have one), that one auction spot in the port town, and that's it! Imagine if you entered a random building in Levincia and it was a secret Team Flare lab, or a Ranger asked you to help them get into a Pokéball factory/metallic facility and stop the Tinkaton/Tinkatuff breaking it down to add to their hammers! I'm willing to bet that, if given an extra year of development, this kind of stuff would've been added, but alas.

Someday we will get the 4K open world Pocket Card Jockey game we've all been waiting for.

Yeah, I feel like the main point I think you are making, unintentionally or not, is true and that is part of Pokemon's problem is their desire to do new things, but never actually live up to the potential of the thing they are trying. (Usually because of their strict release schedule they currently have) I mean, unless an update proves otherwise, I think this time they were held back by the power of the system. (And I don't mean "Switch is weak") People do like to compare this game to Zelda and Xenoblade (and you should try those games, they are really fun... I don't know if I can say the same type of fun as fallout... but they both do have storytelling through the environments. That said, I would argue Xenoblade games are like the evolution of the retro 2D Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest RPG, but modernized to feel the same grand scope it felt playing those games back then... while this newer Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an open world game that encourages creativity to progress. Both pretty different, but great experiences)... but I think unlike those games, Scarlet and Violet were designed not taking the same graphical shortcuts in mind. Like for whatever reason, Pokemon SV uses real-time shadows for the environment, which isn't something that Zelda or Xenoblade do because that tends to be murder on the system specs. It makes you wonder why they did that, because it's not like that was in Sword and Shield, nor was it in Legends Arceus. It seems almost like they were targeting a different hardware, (of which people say the game-experience for these improve drastically running through emulation on a powerful computer). It plays like it was made to be compatible with the Switch, but the target hardware was something different. Still, you know, they say they like to try new things, but a lot of the ideas they brought here are great, but could use improvements, they could use more influence from Legends if you ask me. Legends is not an open world, but game design mechanically it has a lot in common with open world design. There is exploration for one, (but you already explained why a Pokemon game might not function in that way)... I think there are ways around the conflicts of that kind of exploration in Pokemon games, but even if we look at the story, these are urban, modern civilized worlds, not unknown horizons, it makes sense we'd have something of an access to a map easily since our characters have smartphones... but I d think SV tries to still have elements as the Map we get isn't always a good representation of what the views and scenery are like for the area. For example, the china-like bamboo forest were a surprise. Other aspects are the freedom of choice in action and catching, we didn't always need to engage in battle to catch a pokemon, we could sneak around it, we could try it like Pokemon Go, we could leave bait and lure it out, or stun it with a trap. They also gave us terrifying bosses throughout the map to engage us in a more fierce way, I think the titan quest does this, but it's just not as intimidating as a strong Alpha pokemon, having to sneak by one, gather up courage to try to catch it. Gyms were good, but why they can't have dynamic teams that change based on the number of badges that you have just seems silly (There is no hardware reason for that, maybe it takes a few extra work days of game design and a couple extra days of coding at most, this shouldn't be a major task, we are basically talking about giving a Switch statement before loading the gym leader's team at minimum, some re-leveling algorithm at its most difficult style of implementation). Other examples of the ideas you gave would work perfectly as an extension to what they already have, having more staged or set events could actually extend to the system that extends their use of titles even more. I hope they take these new ideas they've had in SV and actual evolve them, not just drop them to change into something else entirely.

"I love open world games" "I haven't played many of them" Yep. That's why. So many games sell off of that potential without actually having any reasons for the open world design and simply settle for an oversized, dead map filled with nothing. It's actually kind of refreshing to have someone be so optimistic.

Hi Tama! I haven't watched through the whole video yet, but I'd like to think that Pokemon Legends Arceus fits what you like about F:NV better than Scarlet and Violet did. Sure, it's an open area game instead of open world, but it does seem to have a better layout in terms of making Pokemon appear in specific areas like the Riolu/Lucario training with Machoke under the frozen waterfall, or the Stantler up on the mountain where we see Wyrdeer for the first time. I think moving forward Game Freak should team up with Monolith more to get a better idea of how to design worlds to better integrate non-story world building elements with open world settings. So far, the only remote example I have seen in S/V is the way Charcadet has that one cavern where it has a guaranteed spawn.

There's a lot done right in Gen 9's open world, even with the tech issues. The Pokemon Company still have plenty to work out but I do feel this (and PLA) show that Pokemon works with open-world.

I'm now super curious about your sweater/cardigan/hoodie(??)/jacket. Does that have a fuzzy inside?? I want a fuzzy inside!

I can finally say that Pokémon and DOOM: Eternal have something in common - a nearly full-realised world that you won't ever truly appreciate because zooming through it is key to not getting bored!

Always love to hear your thoughts on the potential of Pokemon. Creating a world that feels alive… It’s a huge undertaking and I do not envy Gamefreak in trying to accomplish it. Even taking the fact that there are over 1000 Pokémon out of the equation, the ideal goal is still to create a believable world. This means making a world in which pokemon have *believable* interactions with one another AND with humans. This already sounds like a lot of work, as you can’t just drop a few mankeys in an open field and just have them walk about. Now, there are certainly a few more interactions than that in SV but in my opinion, not enough to make the world itself feel like an actual environment wherein its living creatures interact with one another in an organic fashion. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always liked the Snap games. They take you on a tour of a small slice of what Pokemon interactions could be….. but the reason this works is PRECISELY because it’s a tightly guided affair. You are very much on-rails in that first Snap game and the developers can thus curate the experience and things you see along the way. I can only imagine that this is much, much harder to accomplish in an open world setting. I mean, that introduces people into the mix, complicating things further. Humans are as much part of the world as pokemon are, and their interactions ought to be a core part of the experience. I do not envy the team of people that has to program *that* though… lol Apologies for the long rant.

Once more light is cast upon how utterly squandered Pokemon's potential is. GF clearly is starting to make some sort of effort to do better with the experimentation of Arceus and SV but until they, the Pokemon company, whatever realize that they need to plan out generations better so the games don't get shafted on Dev time just to meet with the deadlines of all the other merch. The games are the origin, the flagship product of the franchise even if it isn't exactly the biggest money maker. Good video Tama, I really love when you talk about these aspects of the franchise, I always finish them with a new appreciation for this franchise or its potential.

I think I would now love to see a video where you talk about Skyrim or fallout content. Love your work

if i found a charmander being bullied I would cry

Lol the thumbnail instantly reminded me of the "obsessed girlfriend" meme 😂😂

This was a cool watch for me because I've never played an open world game before S/V and Legends Arceus. At least I don't think I have.