As mentioned on Twitter, I’m a little bit MIA right now, due to life just being a bit too much lately and as someone who enjoys getting things done, it likely frustrates me as much as it frustrates anyone else (though, you’ve all been quite sweet so thank you).
Regardless, I wanted to move onto something I’ve been thinking about a lot because it’s pretty equally split on people I know who are interested in the games and who aren’t. Similarly, with new information coming to light due to various people getting to play over in London along with what I personally played while in Nashville, I’ve been thinking about it a lot.
Because honestly, I wasn’t that excited when they were first announced. I’m tired of remakes. I have trouble with motion controls (more so the fact that I can’t aim), and as much as I love Kanto, I’m also tired of Kanto (they could just do Gen 2 and then we get two towns).
But I found the style intriguing and I loved the character designs of the trainers (I miss Gary though T__T Our new rival doesn’t even look similar). So I figured I may get it anyway.
I’ve mentioned before that Pokemon is a special game to me. I started playing it when I was about 8 and still have fond memories of playing Pokemon Blue on my Gameboy. And with newer generations, since around Gen 3, I’ve been really struggling at finding my place with Pokemon and just not feeling like it’s for me anymore.
While I wouldn’t refer to Pokemon as complicated myself, I would at least say certain things can be convoluted. And that especially is the case when it comes to battling for me. I know some people find abilities make things more interesting, but I’ve never cared for them or held items. I don’t care for EVs or IVs. Honestly, I wish it was just possible to get all Pokemon to the same stats if trained enough and then it just having to do with types and moves. If I had to deal with battling, that is what I’d want. And yes, while others may find that too simple, to me it’s fair.
As mentioned previously, Pokemon has, for me, always been this idea of making these friends and journeying through the region with them and accomplishing all these experiences together. So, having things locked to a certain stat requirement that some Pokemon can never reach sucks and really hurts my experience with the game, honestly. Especially when ribbons or other little in-game trinkets are locked behind it (and when most people going for it don’t even care for those).
It’s made me feel like I just don’t have a place in Pokemon and especially with my struggle going through Moon again with Ultra Moon, I’ve been wondering if I’d even still enjoy Pokemon anymore. And that thought kills me because I have SO MANY memories of Pokemon. I met a lot of friends due to it, it’s a game I hold so dear to my heart, and it’s not even so much that I’ve grown out of it–what I enjoy I still enjoy, but lately I’ve felt the focus is going towards an audience I’m not part of. “Gotta Catch ’em all” being more like “Gotta min-max those IVs/EVs”.
So, seeing Let’s Go which does NOT have a focus on battling is almost like a breath of fresh air. Being able to just explore and catch (which thankfully, seems more timing based now which means maybe I won’t completely suck) Pokemon and seeing the environment come to life (which was also my favorite thing about Pokken) just makes me want to see a big Pokemon game that really brings back all the regions for us to explore all the more. I want to be like Ash and explore every region with this team I bond with. I get that it’d be hard to scale and honestly, I wouldn’t care if they didn’t (People can switch their teams at the start of region if they want to or not, but I think people should be given the choice and that could let people curve the difficulty as they want), but I think it’d be such a great experience.
And being able to play this with a friend and see the environments like this and Pokemon just wandering around have highlighted how much I want something like this. Something focused on the Pokemon and seeing them and the world itself and not “what new gimmick can we add to battling this time”.
While I do wish the game featured more than just the first 151 + whatever new Pokemon they put in like Meltan, I’m still excited to play it and see all the different places in the world. And while I do think some of the restrictions are a little silly (If I want to beat Brock with a Charmander, Caterpie, and Pikachu, I should be free to, game!! Though, I mean I still could once getting admission to the gym), I still think it’s going to be a great game and there’s a lot I’m looking forward to that I hope will make it into future games.
That said… I still wouldn’t mind a non-motion controlled catch system though.