I Wish There Were Pokemon Games Catered to an Older Demographic
Hello everyone. (There's probably going to be a lot of mixed opinions about this I feel haha)
So I know the new Pokemon trailer got announced. One of my closest friends is a massive Pokemon fan, so I heard the news immediately. I was happy for him, but I myself haven't been interested in a Pokemon game for a very, very long time. I liked the concept of Pokemon: Legends Arceus but I've never played a Pokemon game since Pokemon Emerald. The last one I played was I think Omega Ruby on the 3DS for nostalgia sake.
I'm older, and I get the target demographic for the Pokemon franchise is kids. I get that, I'm not who they're selling to. But seeing a Pokemon game get sold for the same price as other RPGs in the field is such a rough thing to see, I'm expecting the new game to sell from $60 to $70 and that in my eyes is not something I would buy.
I don't want to list my opinions on the new trailer. I want to list a few things I would want in my hypothetical hand-catered Pokemon game.
- I want a more intimate story.
- I'm looking for a small cast of characters that tells maybe a cute slice of life story, or maybe a tension growing between two rival gyms. A love interest would be nice too. Maybe it's a contest to see who becomes a member of the elite four, and in the process the protagonist uncovers a deceitful conspiracy organizing favoritism for certain candidates to fund criminal activity. I don't want another friendly rivals story, I don't care about getting gym badges anymore. I don't even want to collect them at all at this point. I want my protagonist to be settled down, to reflect on his/her past childhood with fond memories, and to grow up and see what they're capable of in the Pokemon world.
- I want a change in game mechanics.
- This will probably never happen, and I know the design of these games revolve around TMs and the limited movesets of Pokemon with 6 different options to choose from. I would love to have a more limited selection of Pokemon in the beginning and have more options of moves to teach or use between them. I want to have more attachment with my Pokemon other than what the game has to offer. The reason I want this is because I want the actual game to revolve around my Pokemon too. Not just one, but my whole team. I want my protagonist to be able check in on his/her Rapidash in their farm and have that Rapidash be part of a bigger story. I'm envisioning how things were like in the anime for example. I know you can feed sandwiches and there's beauty pageants in the current games etc, but it's not what I'm thinking of.
- I want a sprite-based Pokemon game again, with voice acting.
- So I'm specifically thinking of the HD-2D style like how octopath traveler does, ideally it would be the Star Ocean: The Second Story R style. The reason why I want this is because I really, really don't like how the modern 3D pokemon games look. It reminds of Digimon World: Next Order, but the Pokemon have this... glossy sheen to them that I don't like. I remember seeing the animated sprites in the later end of the handheld games and that looked really nice. If that were in the HD style and the terrain/landscapes looked beautiful it would be perfect. I remember as a kid Typhlosion looked so cool with fire bursting from its back at all times. Now the 3D model looks practically naked. I would hope that if a Pokemon game like this existed, then it could also have full voice acting too, since there wouldn't be development time going into a 3D world. I know that this has been a common complaint for years now and it's something that I don't see changing any time soon.
I know this will probably never happen. But a fleeting dream is a fleeting dream. To those excited for the new entry I'm happy for you, I hope you enjoy it!