I am worried about the future of Pokemon games..

[MhicKy]

Sword and Shield came out in 2019, the DLCs for gen8 came out in mid 2020, by that time we were already teased of Legends of Arceus, right now we are at the beginning of 2022 and Legends of Arceus is released already, it's not even a month (it will be by tomorrow, February 28) since that game came out and there's already a teaser for gen9, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, to be released at late 2022, probably around Xmas and I am worried about it's future.. Is Pokemon gonna becoming like Fifa or Maden with yearly releases? I feel like GameFreak is rushing all of this..

There were already plenty of concerns when gen8 came out, mostly the controversia over the pokedex being massively incomplete and Gygantamax being a random mechanic just for the sake of novelty that I am sure won't exist in any other game since the story of Sword/Shield itself says these are only possible in Galar (unless they backstep on that), I myself thought of the mechanic being pointless since we already had MegaEvolutions and Z-Moves anyway (they felt like a fusion between the two tbh) and then these 2 mechanics were totally dropped outta nowhere, gen8 doesn't even mention them, so I was already concerned if Pokemon was going to be creating new gimmicks for each game and abandon them the next, heck, I think Hisuan forms are exclusive only for Legends of Arceus since, canonically, the Hisui region no longer exists.. 

I am very worried of Pokemon's future.. So far I haven't felt any excitement over the main series and the only releases I look forward to are fan games like Reborn and Rejuvenation.. I am sure a lot of people will disagree with me, and that's fine, maybe I am just getting too old..

Also, up to this point I never cared about graphics but, damn, how does Pokemon still looks like a WiiU game?! There are so many gorgeous looking games on the Switch, why is pokemon the only one who looks weirdly outdated??? There are indie games that look better for Christ sake..

[earthprisonpanopticon]

i totally agree with you. i feel bad for the gamefreak employees who have to keep pushing out work this quickly. they barely gave legends any time to breathe before announcing gen 9

honestly i'd be fine waiting and extra year and a half for scarlet and violet if it meant the devs got enough time to work without rushing and suffering because of it. gamefreak execs really have to slow down. plus, more time would mean we get an overall better game. lets hope scvi doesnt end up being swsh 2.0

[Cobra]

I couldn't agree more with everything you mentioned. At this point, I've lowered my expectations when it comes to new pokemon games by gamefreak by a large margin. Admittedly, that might have something to do with the fact that Reborn and Rejuvenation are just way too good compared to gamefreak's, but the newer mainstream pokemon games still are quite rushed, in my opinion.

[DemICE]

the only use main series releases have for me is to provide new pokemon to be used by the much better fangames.  but now even the pokemon look awful.  so thats a new low.

[Dark Legend]

I actually agree and disagree. With Sun and Moon I feel like Game Freak messed up, but Sword and Shield was a step in the right direction. And now, with Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet, I believe we are on track for better games.

[bruhtonium]

With the coming of sword and shield DLC, i think we can expect new mainline content every year. Coming with new Forms and gimmicks. Also you don't have to worry about pokémons future. It is literally the most succesfull frachise and pokémon legends arceus was very good

[Dark Legend]

1 hour ago, bruhtonium said:

With the coming of sword and shield DLC, i think we can expect new mainline content every year. Coming with new Forms and gimmicks. Also you don't have to worry about pokémons future. It is literally the most succesfull frachise and pokémon legends arceus was very good

This person just proved my point.

[MhicKy]

@Dark Champion and @bruhtonium

Sorry, I should had been more clearer in my explanation, when I say I am worried I mean as myself, I know the series is doing well, it always does, but, for me, it isn't, that's why in the end I said that maybe I am just getting old.. It really deviated from me being so excited I would camp near a game store that was in a mall in the next city just to get the game in release day to me not giving a damn anymore and not even caring.. It went from "Wooo! A new pokemon game, YEAH!!" to "Oh.. Another one.."

The first Pokemon game I played was Gold, then I went for Yellow, in these days I was a young child living with my poor family so I used emulators to play it, my favorite was, and still is, Ruby and Sapphire, by the time gen4 and 5 came out I alraedy had a job and could buy the games myself, gen6 was when this decline started, it was mixed for me, I really like the megaevolutions but the story and difficulty had a decline, I mean, do anyone even remember the motives of Team Flare? It was so stupid and vague anyway no one cares.. But tho' I liked the megaevolutions that's when Pokemon started to add these gimmicks, gen7 had Z-Moves which I thought it was kinda random, like, OK a super powerful and flashy move looks cool but do I really have to put an item on my Pokemon to use it only ONCE per battle? And the whole "no gyms" thing was weird as hell.. It was here that I kinda stopped giving a damn.. When gen8 released the only reason I played is because my brother-in-law let me borrow the copy, I knew it would be too easy so I put a bunch of handicaps on me, to make it exciting, no grinding, no gygantamax, full Normal-Type team, nuzlock and I still felt, nothing.. Just.. Nothing.. I beat the champion and couldn't care less for the post-game, that's when I gave the game back to my brother-in-law.. And now I am seeing these gimmicks on Arceus, the Hisuan forms, the Agile/Power Style and I am sure none of these will ever come back anyway so why bother?.. And gen9 is already looming at the end of the year and I am sure I have zero expectations for it myself, I am sure it will sell like hotcakes but not for me.. In conclusion, guess I am really getting old.. It's that same feeling when you play an MMO and really love it but over the years it gets so many updates it's totally different from what you fell in love with in the first place, get where I am standing? Damn.. Am I at the point of starting a middle age crisis over POKEMON of all things?? But it makes me feel conscious of my situation.. I really dislike the direction the game is going but everyone else loves it and it's always a best-seller..

Now new gens for me are, like @DemICE said, just to add new pokemons, moves and items to reborn and rejuvenation..

[Dark Legend]

51 minutes ago, MhicKy said:

@Dark Champion and @bruhtonium

Sorry, I should had been more clearer in my explanation, when I say I am worried I mean as myself, I know the series is doing well, it always does, but, for me, it isn't, that's why in the end I said that maybe I am just getting old.. It really deviated from me being so excited I would camp near a game store that was in a mall in the next city just to get the game in release day to me not giving a damn anymore and not even caring.. It went from "Wooo! A new pokemon game, YEAH!!" to "Oh.. Another one.."

The first Pokemon game I played was Gold, then I went for Yellow, in these days I was a young child living with my poor family so I used emulators to play it, my favorite was, and still is, Ruby and Sapphire, by the time gen4 and 5 came out I alraedy had a job and could buy the games myself, gen6 was when this decline started, it was mixed for me, I really like the megaevolutions but the story and difficulty had a decline, I mean, do anyone even remember the motives of Team Flare? It was so stupid and vague anyway no one cares.. But tho' I liked the megaevolutions that's when Pokemon started to add these gimmicks, gen7 had Z-Moves which I thought it was kinda random, like, OK a super powerful and flashy move looks cool but do I really have to put an item on my Pokemon to use it only ONCE per battle? And the whole "no gyms" thing was weird as hell.. It was here that I kinda stopped giving a damn.. When gen8 released the only reason I played is because my brother-in-law let me borrow the copy, I knew it would be too easy so I put a bunch of handicaps on me, to make it exciting, no grinding, no gygantamax, full Normal-Type team, nuzlock and I still felt, nothing.. Just.. Nothing.. I beat the champion and couldn't care less for the post-game, that's when I gave the game back to my brother-in-law.. And now I am seeing these gimmicks on Arceus, the Hisuan forms, the Agile/Power Style and I am sure none of these will ever come back anyway so why bother?.. And gen9 is already looming at the end of the year and I am sure I have zero expectations for it myself, I am sure it will sell like hotcakes but not for me.. In conclusion, guess I am really getting old.. It's that same feeling when you play an MMO and really love it but over the years it gets so many updates it's totally different from what you fell in love with in the first place, get where I am standing? Damn.. Am I at the point of starting a middle age crisis over POKEMON of all things?? But it makes me feel conscious of my situation.. I really dislike the direction the game is going but everyone else loves it and it's always a best-seller..

Now new gens for me are, like @DemICE said, just to add new pokemons, moves and items to reborn and rejuvenation..

I get it. But to your point about the no gyms in Alola, they were trying something new. Also, Mega evolution has been rumored to return with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It makes sense, because the only regions without remakes as of right now would be Kalos and Galar. Its too soon to remake Sword and Shield, but they can remake X and Y. Sorry, I got off topic. But yeah. Pokemon is totally different than what it used to be. 

[bruhtonium]

Both people and the pokén franchise change and change is normal. It makes sure it doesn't get boring. That's why I enjoy these fangames so much. They have a gen 3/4 feeling with more beautifull maps and way harder battles while still being pokémon. Those types of games can only be made by the fans.

[MhicKy]

@Dark Champion, I sure hope they come back.. It gave chance for pokemons that would NEVER be viable, like Mawile or Kangaskhan, the mechanic was fairly balanced too since it was pretty easy to predict which Pokemon was the mega and that it couldn't hold any items that could take you by surprise like a Focus Sash or a Choice Scarf which made it predictable and easy to counter.

@bruhtonium, Yeah, I always wish they implemented the difficulty slider everyone is always asking about, a lot of people grew up with this franchise and keeping it in "gaming journalist" mode forever for the new players (and children) is kind of a bummer.. GameFreak should realize by now that a lot of it's costumers aren't just children but grown adults, specially considering the competitive scene.. So having the choice to pick and choose a difficulty for the story would be nice, I mean, X/Y was a joke.. Gym Leaders had 3 pokemons (The grass type even had a Weepinbell) and the elite 4 only had four pokemons each.. It could go something like this:
> Easy - How Pokemon currently is right now.
> Normal - Gym Leaders have between 4~5 pokemons (depending of how far in the story) and the Elite Four and Champion always have a full team.
> Hard - Gym Leaders have 6 pokemons, their level gets raised to the same as their strongest pokemon and battle mode is locked on "Set".

I would LOVE to play a Pokemon game like this, if this get implemented on Violet/Scarlet you can bet your sweet bottom that it would get me excited to it for once!