People talking about unreleased games in unrelated threads for people trying to avoid spoilers
Now while I apologize for talking about the new game without a spoiler tag, out of curiosity, what constitutes as a spoiler? Like, I can understand being upset you read about the new mechanic before seeing the trailer of it for yourself, but unfortunately, unless you completely unplug yourself from every single thing that reports anything about Pokemon for the next few months, anything they release in the trailer is also going to be heavily marketed. There was no way you were not going to find out about the new super mechanic as long as you read any Pokemon news. This isn't like the Metroid: Dread situation with them revealing of a certain boss that Nintendo could have kept as a surprise but showed them for marketing purposes, this is going to be at least pushed as a major mechanic in the game. Like the surprise with it will be all the details of the super mechanic, not the existence of the super mechanic itself.
So I posted the other day about how much I appreciate dex orders that aren't straightforward, but I'd like to make one addendum.
Perhaps this is giving it too much undue importance, but I do often think that being the final "regular" species in a listing before the legendary section begins is a position of privilege. (...)
Giving the final spot to the pseudo emphasises that it's on par with the legendaries; it illustrates that it's rare and powerful and important. (...)
So it irks me when a new generation doesn't put its own pseudo-legendary in that position of prominence.
So yeah, does anyone agree or am I just utterly nuts for putting this much thought into it?
Never really though about it, but at the same time I do agree. Yeah, most dexes now go by encounter order which makes sense, but for certain Pokemon I feel they could set up some nice mystery and/or excitement if they do something a bit unique with its ordering. Best example is with the Pseudo, placing it where you encounter it may mean the middle of the game which makes it feel like any other 'mon. Now, for those who don't really bother checking their dex much or look at the dex number, this will still remain true. However, for those who do, and don't already know that what they just cause was the pseudo, them seeing that it's been placed ALL THE WAY BACK in the Pokedex would be an indicator they caught something special.
"Huh? All the other Pokemon I caught in this place is in the middle, why is this little guy/gal at the end?".
Even if they don't know Legendaries are placed in the back of the Dex, it would still hint to them some things about it if they being to train it. Because Pseudos evolve late, a player who didn't know may give up on them after this weak basic Pokemon hasn't evolved for 20/30+ levels. Then, if they do decide to keep training it until it finally evolves, it's only a middle stage and by then all your other Pokemon are fully evolved and stronger than it. "I trained it for so long for this? How long is the next stage gonna take? Forget it, I'm throwing it in a box for the next mon I'm interested in". HOWEVER, if they see it's in the back of the dex, it could be enough to have them keep training it. "Well, its mid evo isn't that strong, and who knows what level it'll evolve next, but if its placed where the endgame Pokemon are maybe it's final stage is that good". And, lo and behold, with that little hint they keep training it until it finally evolves (like 20 levels later) and, even if they aren't impressed by its appearance, its stats would sure make up for it. "Oh, wow, this look pretty cool! I wonder how strong it is... IT'S STATS ARE THAT HIGH! This Pokemon is a beast! Gonna sweep the Pokemon League with it! *Cue it being taken out by a Fairy/Ice-type move*".
The only reason I would place it in the middle of the dex is if the idea is the player is making the dex. Not sure where I wrote the idea, but I think in one game it would be neat if the in-game Pokedex didn't have a number system already placed for each Pokemon and instead the player adds the Pokemon as they go along (and when a Pokemon evolves go back and correct the numbering so evos are with one another). Something like that I could see placing the Pseudo in the middle because that would be literally when you caught it.
But, for games where the number system is already set? Not only would I like to see the Pseudo in the back with the Legends, I also wouldn't mind if mid game mons were placed around more graciously. Like, still try to give an idea of "I'm in the early/middle/final third/last part of the game so now I'm filling in the early/middle/final third/last part of the dex", but also have those Pokemon which are placed maybe a bit later on where you can also catch them later, to show the Pokemon world isn't so segmented but rather is supposed to be like a real ecosystem and you can catch certain Pokemon at other points later on. May also show the Pokemon, like Pseudo, is a bit more complex than its most early catching point leads on and thus, in-world, took more research by the Professors to figure out than the other Pokemon you're also catching at the time. World build a bit.
They didn't do it for BW1 since they really wanted to hammer home the Unova pokemon so that logic trumped the new one.
Also, there is one instance where the ordering of the Pokemon in the Dex is purposely done out of normal order: Victini being #000 in the Unova Dex (and being the first Unova Pokemon in the National Dex). Granted, unlike the above idea you don't know there's a number zero Pokemon until you get it, but I still like the story reason behind it and makes Victini feel that more special.
I'm thinking that ever since that the game has like a dozen of language option, TPC don't want any language to left behind from having a dubbing.
They don't want to have English and Japanese dub only. It's either all of those language to have voice-acting (very much work) or none at all. They decided for the latter.
The thing is, we're not asking them voice the ENTIRE game, just the cutscenes. Heck, not even every cutscene, just the cutscenes with special camera angles and animations. Also, if there's a moment in a non-voice cutscene or a non-cutscene where you should be hearing a character talking or singing or some notable voice, just add in the voice. Pokemon has had spoken lines, remember Roxie singing in B2W2? Or how about the male Skull Grunts yelling "dokuro" when they spot you (which is Japanese for "Skull"; yeah they didn't even feel the need to translate that).
And... personally, voice acting is not something important. It can improve things, but it's not a must-have.
Voice acting is one of those things where if devs give fans an inch the fans will demand a mile. If Piers' thing was voice acted, fans would be saying "well why not this cutscene" "why isn't the professor talking to you at the start of the game voice acted" "Pokémon should all use their anime voices". Leaving Pokémon as a game series with essentially no voice acting is honestly the better option.
I can't argue personal preference, though I do feel the Pokemon games are at the point where, while maybe not a "must-have", would certainly help a lot as it's one of the few things they have left to go which can be reasonably expected. Like they seem pretty satisfied with how they do graphics and animations, would like them to do better but that seems like a hard sell, so doing some voice acting feels like another angle they could try.
Then there's the other side of the spectrum. Who wants to remember Metroid: Other M?
Well, how do you feel about the voice acting in the recent trailer? Or in Masters? Or in the animated specials? I feel Pokemon has gotten a pretty good handle on voice acting front, it's just putting it into the games.
Considering Gen 8 from the start basically completely changed Toxic's distribution to make it more limited instead of a universally learnable move, I think they decided to repurpose Hidden Power from day 1 during Gen 8's conception to basically change it from a move any Pokemon can learn to being Unown's signature move.
- Director: It's decided, Hidden Power is too troublesome in the competitive scene. We're making it Unown's Signature Move.
- Developer: Agreed. And this will give us a chance to finally update Hidden Power now that we don't got to worry about other Pok...
- Director: Actually we're just gonna leave it as is.
- Developer: What? But it seriously needs to be updated, like the formula doesn't allow it to be Fairy-type! And if it's going to be Unown's Signature Move maybe we can make it so Unown has actual use for it.
- Director: Who uses Unown?
- Developer: No one, but that's because its stats are low, only learns Hidden Power, and Ability is plain ol' Levitate. Even if it doesn't make Unown competitive it'll at least make it fun in-gam...
- Director: We're ONLY focusing on the competitive. If they're not bringing it to competitions, it's not touched.
- Developer: ... All we'd need to do is change the sum multiplier from 15 to 16 and add Fair...
- Dirctor: Actually all we need to replace is you, how does that sound? Silent, good. Now next agenda is nixing Signal Beam, like what Pokemon uses that?
(TBC)