And now, because I’m bored, a quick thought on why the future of Pokémon is brighter than it may seem (at least a little). Long post incoming!
Galar lacked in graphics, interesting region design, and entertaining or even thoughtful story. To me personally, these are it’s biggest problems.
The graphics will definitely be improved in gen 9. Sword and Shield clearly runs on the gen 7 engine, which was built for the 3DS and looks fine on that system. New generations (with a few exceptions) tend to have new engines made, and a new engine would surely be optimized for the switch. Besides, look at the graphical jump from gen 6 to 7. I’m not saying it’ll look incredible but it should look like a game meant for the switch, unlike certain parts of gen 8.
The Pokémon series is clearly gearing up for open world. Many believe the wild area was the first step, but the real first step was Poni Plains inSun/Moon. An open-ish area that was obviously meant to test what more open Pokémon route design could be. The wild area is step 2, and while exploring it is fun for a while the lack of interesting new things to do means it gets sort of old. No real story events take place within the wild area, it’s really just an open playground for you to hang out in between story beats. The isle of armor (and the upcoming crown tundra) are the third step. Applying stories to open areas. If generation 9 isn’t fully open world I’ll eat my favorite hat.
Galar has a really lame story. And while there’s no real evidence towards gen 9’s story being any better, I have noticed a bit of a pattern since generation 5. Odd numbered generations have more story focus, with deeper character interactions and development. While even numbered gen stories are more...by the numbers Pokemon fare. Think about the stories of Unova and Alola, the character arcs, the themes addressed, the questions asked. Then think about Kalos and Galar. They have interesting ideas sure, but the characters (in XY’s case specifically) feel lacking and I just don’t think they’re executed to well.
This is basically a conspiracy theory but if gen 9 keeps up with the trend the story should at least be better than gen 8’s. Not that surpassing Galar’s plot is very hard.
Now obviously I can’t see the future. Gen 9 could come out and look like an N64 game with hallway routes and a story to rival Sonic 06’s. But I think things’ll get better. The more used to a system the developers get the better the games get. From gen 4 to gen 5 on the DS, from gen 6 to gen 7 on the 3DS. You don’t have to take my word for it, and I’m not saying they’ll be these incredible mindblowing games that’ll change your life, but I think some (not all) of Sw/Sh’s problems are temporary.
If you got this far thanks for reading this boredom inspired post.