(Mission Impossible 3 parody) Battle Frontier, where is it? I... I gave it to you. Game Freak, where's the Battle Frontier? Wait… What are you saying? That wasn’t it? What I gave you? I’m going to count to 10. You’re going to tell me where the Battle Frontier is or she dies. One. You listen to me. I got exactly what you asked for. Did you want something else? If there was a misunderstanding, I will fix it. I can get it, whatever you want. Two. Do you think I’m playing? - Son of a bitch! - Do you think I’m playing? You don’t think I’ll do it? Where is it? Where the hell is it? - Look at me. - Where the hell is it? - Stay with me. SEVEN Seven! - I am going to kill you. I swear to God I’m going to kill you! EIGHT Please... Don't do this. Let her go. No. Ten. - No! Recently, Pokémon Sword and Shield came out with a DLC. It contained new content for the game, new areas to explore, old returning Pokémon, new Pokémon forms, and more. Game Freak marketed the DLC content as a “third game” like Pokémon Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, and Ultra Sun and Moon. And after playing it, I can definitely say the experience was so… Boring. These new games suck! The Pokémon games that came out in recent years are so mediocre compared to the older Pokémon games. While I admit these games aren’t “bad” games, and I would say there are some good elements to the new games as well, like the soundtrack... Some good story moments, and the hot character designs.... (Unfortunately, my parents watch my videos and this moment always made it awkward) I will also never call anyone dumb or have bad taste if they genuinely enjoy these games, I would still recommend buying these new games if you own their individual systems too, but they are still nothing compared to the older Pokémon games. Now, I must define what “older Pokémon games” are, since old and new is relative based on time. I call anything after gen 5 new, so gen 6-8 are “new games”. Yeah, Pokémon’s quality dropped when it became 3D. I’ll be explaining to you viewers in this video why these games don’t work, why they don’t capture the magic and wonder of the original games. Hell, gen 3 and 4 games were my childhood, and playing these games even today is a good experience. I can’t say the same for the new games. They’re so mediocre and in many parts, the games feel like the developers were either lazy or ran out of time for development, which is funny considering how well Pokémon games sell. I’m gonna have to look up the thesaurus for the words “mediocre” or “lazy” for this video, because I’m gonna use them a lot… Also, I won’t mention some topics in the video that might be surprising to some people. I am not going to talk about the national dex crisis of Sword and Shield, because one, there are more, better quality videos about that topic on YouTube, and two, I think there are more depressing matters to Pokémon. I won’t also talk about problems with plot or stories of the games, because stories don’t matter much in Pokémon. Nor the graphics or the animations… to a certain point. That being said, I’m gonna give you 4 big reasons why these games don’t work. This is “4 REASONS WHY MODERN POKEMON GAMES SUCK” Strap on, viewers. Let’s begin. What is the appeal of buying a Pokémon game? Seriously! Is it for the online battles? I mean you’re better off playing web games like Pokémon Showdown in my opinion because on console games, you have to deal with inconveniences like the laggy Nintendo Switch Online system. And have to grind furiously Is it for the story? Well the dialogue and the plot of these games… is not very good. I would say the main appeal of all Pokémon games is the adventure and exploration of a big region, and the collection of Pokémon. The new games are actually pretty good when it comes to the collection side, with Pokémon Sword and Shield featuring over 400 Pokémon to collect not including the DLCs, which is a lot considering the previous Pokémon games featured from 150 to 300 Pokémon. On the other hand, the map designs in these games ARE a big problem! Which leads to a problem with exploration, the fact that these games don't feel like semi-open worlds, but more linear, “go from point A to B” kind of games. Here’s what I mean. Let’s take a look at a map of Hoenn for example. I have labeled every city that has a gym in it with numbers. Notice how the order of the gyms seem to be almost random and is not in a linear straight line. I will now color the areas that constantly open up every time you beat a gym or and make some kind of progression in Pokémon Emerald. Get starter. Get the Pokedex. Beat Roxanne. Beat Brawly. Beat Wattson. Beat Flannery. Beat Norman and get Surf. Beat Winona and get the Devon Scope. Beat the evil team hideouts. Beat the rest of the gyms. As you can see, the world opens up gradually with big open areas to explore. Sometimes the games make you revisit old areas as well, but with new items that make it possible to unlock previously unavailable areas. Like the Acro Bike or an HM move. This kind of progression hides the fact that Pokémon is a pretty linear game, and gives you a sense of adventure and fun! Here’s a map of Sinnoh from the gen 4 games as well. This time I will only color in places that is mandatory to visit to beat the game. Notice how the game almost forces you to explore many areas, and some areas are straight up optional as well. For example, the path to Pal Park can be completely ignored and the game could still be beaten. Also important locations like gyms and the Guardian Lakes are spread out evenly across the region which gives the players many options and freedom to explore. Now let’s look at the new games. I actually have no problem with X and Y’s map design, Kalos is a perfectly fine region… ermmmm.. Let’s look at the map of Galar from Sword and Shield, because it will be easier to illustrate my point than Alola’s clusterfuck map design from Sun and Moon. This time I used arrows instead of coloring in areas because of the design of the atlas map. Anyways, as you can see, the design of the region is very straightforward. Every time you beat a gym, you just move from one city to another, and between the cities there are like 1 or 2 routes between them. Except for Motostoke and Hammerlocke the game doesn’t make the player revisit any areas, and the entire map of Galar is really just a straight line from south to north. There aren’t any optional areas that you can ignore to complete the game as well. When the game is finished, you have zero reason to re-explore the map except maybe the Wild Areas. It’s so mudane, feels way too linear, and worst of all, the game handholds you too much as well. Like every time you enter a city or a new area, you’re greeted by an awkwardly animated cutscene that just gives you information on what to do next. It’s just rinse and repeat until you get to Pokémon League at the end. LEAVE ME ALONE! LET ME PLAY THE GAME! Please, if everyone would just go away...and leave me alone... I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE! Now, there were some past entries where the overall progression of the game was very linear, such as the gen 5 games. However, the game had a lot of complex caves and dungeons to break the fixed routine, such as Chargestone Cave and Twist Mountain. These kinds of dungeons are very complex and creative, and they’re designed like big mazes so there are many places to explore. Conversely, let’s look at the dungeons of Sword and Shield. This is Galar Mine. Look at how linear this place is. It’s just a straight line, no obstacles to overcome! There is no puzzle aspect to it. It takes 30 seconds to go from one end to the other with repels. They’re so boring to get through! Even the cities too. Through the evolution of 3D graphics, the cities look bigger, but look at how many barriers and fences there are. Why can’t I go here? Or there? All these houses and hills in the background are just decoration and don’t do anything! Every time I hit an out of place wall, it takes me out of the game, and I find it highly annoying. Something is seriously wrong when immersion of a game is constantly broken every 10 minutes. What’s kind of disappointing is that the main director of the Pokémon games these days is Shigeru Ohmori, who was actually the head map designer of the old games. So the guy who designed excellent places like Route 119 of the Hoenn Region and Mt. Coronet of the Sinnoh region is the main director for the blandest and linear maps… I mean, what happened? Did your balls drop off? Hm? To summarize, the games feel way too linear and holds your hands too much, and that is one way to take the magic out of the Pokemon games. But there is another problem with the world design and that is… Before the release of Sword and Shield, there were many videos on YouTube complaining about the graphics and the poor quality of the animation. Sword and Shield had so much controversy even before it was released, and the game launched the YouTube careers of many creators like a certain movie I would like to talk about in detail in a future video so I can launch my career as well. Phase 3: Profit! Anyways in my opinion, graphics don’t matter much in a game, as long as it’s serviceable. Gameplay is what matters. But I do still have problems. This might be a hot take, but I actually think Pokémon should have never gone 3D. They should have just kept all the battles in 2D and maybe have the overworld in 3D such as games like Octopath Traveler. I think that game’s art style would be perfect for a Pokémon game. But alas, the Pokémon games chose to go full 3D, and the world started to feel so cold… So empty… Anyways, what do I mean by that? Well, do you know the term “the uncanny valley effect”? It means that when an object tries to look completely human, the nearer it gets the creepier and unnatural it becomes. Well there is a similar effect going in Pokémon, that the world starts to feel more fake as it tries to become more realistic and 3D. Let me elaborate. Here is a map of Pewter City in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. We know that in real life, a city will not have just 5 buildings, and it will have roads and cars. We also know that a house in real life is not as small as 15 Red’s. However, we ignore this because we know that what we’re looking through the screen is an abstract version of the Pokémon world, that it’s supposed to represent a world that could be real. We let our imagination fill in that gap between the screen and our brain, and through our imagination the world feels more alive. Conversely, in the newer games. Game Freak decided to make a fully 3D rendered world, and questions began to arise. Why do all the houses look the same? Why do all houses have the same exact furniture? Why are there cars on the street when there aren’t any roads cars can drive on? But in a city with no cars, why are there crosswalks and sidewalks? Why are there like only 5 people walking down a street that looks like the real life city of London? Do you see what I mean? If you’re still not understanding, hear me out. In a 2D world, it makes sense for a person to look at only 4 directions and turn around instantly when talked to, because there are only 4 directions on the D-Pad that a character can move. But in a 3D world with analog sticks, it looks jarring when characters move and turn around like they’re still stuck in 2D. (go sub to Werster) And it’s absurd to see people just standing around in the middle of nowhere not doing anything. Don’t these guys have to go take a dump every now and then? What the hell is up with that turning animation? Turning the lightsaber... Let’s talk about villain grunts too. In the old games, what we ever saw of villainous team grunts were overworld sprites and battle sprites. Every Team Rocket or Plasma grunt looked the same, but we didn’t care because we know these sprites are supposed to be a representation of these people, and we imagine in our brain these individuals look different from one another, sort of like how they do in the anime or mangas. But in a 3D game, it’s jarring when there’s only 1 male and 1 female model for Team Flare or Skull or Yell and they all exactly look the same. Are these guys Jango Fett clones? Did they all have plastic surgery to look the same? It makes zero sense in a 3D world! However, it is still possible to create a convincing 3D world from a 2D world, and I think the best example of a game that successfully does that is 2019’s The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Link’s Awakening is a remake of a 2D overhead view game, and even though the world was in glorious high definition 3D, the gameplay was still in 2D. The game is not jarring unlike Pokémon, because the remake went for a plastic miniature kind of vibe as an art style, and it’s not weird seeing a toy-looking Link getting stuck in a 2D environment. If Game Freak made a remake of Link’s Awakening, they would have made Link look like Twilight Princess Link, and it would look weird seeing realistic trees blocking realistic Link's path. To sum up my point, the main problem of these games is that the character still acts like they’re in 2D even though it’s a 3D world. And that’s why there was so much backlash and outrage over the graphics of Sword and Shield in my opinion. It requires effort and time to create a realistic 3D world, and this is what I mean when I say Pokemon should have stayed in 2D, because the Pokémon Company isn’t willing to invest that much time and effort into these games. Which leads into my next point... In my humble opinion, the biggest problem of the newer Pokémon games is LACK OF CONTENT DUE TO LAZINESS OR RUSHED DEVELOPMENT. One of the biggest content lacking in the newer games is post game content. Where are they? You see, back in my days... In your day? Pokémon games weren’t finished when you beat the Pokémon League. The true adventure was just starting after you became the champion! Now let’s just take a look at all games from from Gen 2 to 5, and see what post game content they had. (I won’t be counting Gold Silver, Ruby Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl because these games felt incomplete) Pokémon Crystal. The entire region of Kanto, 8 new gym leaders, Mt. Silver and fighting Red. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. The Sevii Islands and Trainer Tower. Pokémon Emerald. Catching crap ton of legendaries, trainer hill, and the Battle Frontier which includes 7 facilities, and battling Steven. Pokémon Platinum. New areas like the Battle Zone, catching a crap ton of legendaries again, the Battle Frontier which included 5 new facilities. Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver. The entire region of Kanto again, the battle frontier again, Red again. Pokémon Black and White. The entire east half of the Unova region, grinding to beat the Elite Four, battling Cynthia! Pokémon Black and White 2. The entire southern half of the Unova region from the previous game, new areas, catching crap ton of legendaries, Black Tower/White Treehollow, the Pokemon World Tournament which featured EVERY SINGLE GYM LEADER AND CHAMPION FROM ALL GAMES UP TO THAT POINT EVEN WITH NEW SOUNDTRACKS. This game was every Pokémon fans' wet dream come true! (Mandatory Rich Evans clip) Oh boy! I wonder what post game the next game will have! Pokémon X and Y. A city. A battle tower clone. A boring side quest that can be beaten in an hour. But hey, this was their first 3D game. Maybe they just didn’t have enough time to put in extra content because they were modelling over 700 Pokémons. What will the remakes of Ruby and Sapphire have? A city. A battle tower clone. A side quest that can be beaten in an hour. Fine fine, but the original Ruby and Sapphire didn’t have much post game content and they were just following the footsteps of the OG Ruby and Sapphire, even though they clearly could have followed the footsteps of Emerald like any sane person would have had and I still don’t know why to this day why in God’s earth they didn’t put in the battle frontier in these games and just copied the fucking battle tower clone from x and y! God! But hey, maybe Sun and Moon will have plentiful post game content, since this is their second generation on the same console! What will the glorious new gen 7 have? A new route. A battle tower clone. A side quest that can be beaten in an hour. Twice if you count the Ultra games. Fool me once... Shame on... Shame no YOU I’m about to give up. What does Pokémon Sword and Shield have? Not even a new area this time. A battle tower clone. A side quest that can be beaten in an hour. You see what I mean? It's as if Game Freak thought, hey we have online now, we could just make shitty online events and have players PVP it out online, that will make those fucking sheeps happy, right? Huh? STAHP IT You know, back in the old days, they held events at places like Toys R Uses where they gave out codes and items, and with that item you can do special events where you can go to a secret island and catch a secret Pokémon or something. Nowadays, they just give you a QR code to scan so you can download a shiny legendary or something, no effort, no imagination involved. Like I’ve said… LAZY! You know though, I really do miss the PWT. I mean, even if the graphics is shit I would love it if they featured a lot of fanservice in the upcoming games. Why don’t they just put it in the next DLC or put in the next installment? Oh right we have to make a shitty mobile gacha game out of that concept these days. Oops. But hey, maybe I’m just expecting too much. I mean, post game content and events are in the end, extra credit. If the main Pokémon story experience feels fun and complete, maybe we’ll forgive them for being half-assed on the post game… NO THE GAME FEELS INCOMPLETE EVEN IN THE MAIN STORY. Up to generation 5, I’ve never felt Game Freak was “cutting corners” in quotation marks. Maybe the only time I really felt that was in Black and White 1, because for some reason the rivals and N were the only trainers with animated sprites, even though in the previous 2 entries all gym leaders and important characters were animated. But in the sequel they fixed it by having all trainers having animated sprites. I’m gonna give X and Y some leeway because it was their first 3D game, so I’ll start talking about gen 7 on wards. I’ve noticed a pattern ever since Sun and Moon came out. The game feels full of life until halfway through the game, and in the later half it feels like the developers were running out of ideas or time and rushed the development. There are parts in the game where content feels missing as well! Here’s what I mean. In Sun and Moon, instead of gyms we got island challenges, which actually was refreshing to the Pokémon formula. The challenges usually involved puzzles and mazes, creative challenges that were unique to their respective island captains and totem Pokémon. But here's what I mean what I mean when saying the game feels rushed later in the game. Like the last island trial is literally walking down a path. That’s it. That’s not a trial, more like a dementia test! Also, look what happens when the last island captain Mina shows up. This is what she literally says She could have literally said “the game developers” gotta come up with a trial, because they clearly didn’t have enough time to come up with one. Why even have the character in the game if she’s there not doing anything? At least they fixed it in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where she gives you a proper trial… But even that challenge is half-assed, because it doesn’t involve any puzzles but is a fetch quest for all previous island captains. What is this, the hunt for the wayfinder? (Mina-PO isn't real, she can't hurt you. Mina-PO:) Also here’s a photo of Akala Island. Do you see this green strip? It’s a golf course, and you can even see it on the map screen. Also there is a member on the Alolan Elite Four that uses flying type, and she has a golf thing going for her. You know when I first saw the map and saw the Elite Four, I thought we were gonna have a golf mini game after we beat the game. Or maybe even a bonus island trial that involves putting or something! How fun would that be, Mario Golf but involving Pikachu. (Neil Druckmann says hello) But there is no such thing. A golf area does not exist in the game, and Elite four Kahili only appears in the Pokémon League. I guess Game Freak ran out of time to put that in the game. And unlike island captain Mina, they still didn’t fix it in Ultra Sun and Moon. Kahili’s just kind of there…. Here's a good idea. Have a point! Let’s look at the gyms of Sword and Shield as well. In this game, Pokémon gyms made a return, and you had to go through a maze or a puzzle before fighting the gym leader. However Just like the island challenges of Sun and Moon, the later gym challenges feel lazy as well! Let’s just do a rundown from gym 5 to 8, and see what I mean. Gym 5, Ballonlea. You take an audition and a quiz. I admit it’s a funny moment in the game, but it probably took like 10 minutes to script a quiz rather than coming up with a maze or a puzzle like the earlier gyms. Gym 6 is actually pretty good, but gym 7, Spikemuth is not. The challenge is literally to walk down a straight narrow hallway while battling Team Yell grunts. That's it! No, the Rogue One sound effects don’t make it exciting. The next gym, gym 8 in Hammerlocke, is somehow more lazy. You just go into a boring room, and fight trainers while doing nothing. I’m not even kidding, you’re just standing there and battling! This is literally lazier than Pewter City gym from Generation 1. You know, the gym where this happens has probably the coolest exterior design for a Pokémon gym in Pokémon history, but the challenge is you just sit on your ass and fight a trainer. This is probably the best single image to summarize up the entire Pokémon franchise in a nutshell these days. Might look big, but very hollow and empty, filled with laziness inside. That’s been a lot of minutes complaining… There are things I won’t mention in the video, like how Ultra Sun and Moon is somehow worse than Sun and Moon, why Sword and Shield’s wild areas suck, but those kinds of problems are for individual games. I wanted to talk about the general problems all the modern Pokémon games share with each another. Maybe I’ll talk about them in a future video with individual reviews. Anyways to conclude, I would like to emphasize I didn’t make this video just to be hate on these games. Despite everything I said in the video, I did still enjoy playing all the recent Pokémon games. However, I just wanted to express my disappointment, because in the past, Pokémon games felt like passion projects by Game Freak. Game Freak didn’t have to put in the Kanto region in Gold and Silver. Game Freak didn’t have to make third, better games that fixed up problems and perfect it. They didn’t have to put in all those post game content in Black and White 2. But they did. Nowadays, it just feels like the Pokémon company is just interested in pumping out barely completed games so that they can create more Pokémons, so they can sell more merch or rip off people with mobile games. Ideal extra content is either just ignored, or made into DLC. Even though they did add in stuff like Mega Evolution, Z moves, Dynamax to mix up the formula, I don’t feel the passion of the past anymore from it. And it’s just a big shame. Hopefully the next games in the Nintendo Switch will be good, and that’s all I can say. If they do remake Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, I will buy it because I love Sinnoh so much. But, one question remains. Will there be the Battle Frontier from Platinum in these remakes? Nah, probably not.
