I'm 22...
I played the original Pokemon Blue the day it came out. I didn't know anything about it, the TV series hadn't aired yet (or I had never heard of it) in fact, the only reason I bought it is because Blastoise looked cool and I read a blurb in EGM or something about how it was a nifty game or something...
After Blue I tried playing other Pokemon games. In fact I've owned every one of em except for Pikachu TV or whatever that was (yeah, I even had Pikachu Pocket or... Whatever that walking Tamagotchi thing was.)
But... Every game really is the same thing over again. Sure, they add lots of stuff to try and make the game more fun, but at it's core Pokemon Diamond and Pearl has the same goals and progression as Pokemon Blue and Red (or Green and Red if you wanna get all "anal fanboi/fangirl" on me.)
What do you do? You start off in Professor [tree]'s office, the smallest town in the world, choose one Pokemon (Fire, Grass or Water type) and then walk out of town and go from Gym to Gym, occasionally stopping for the "sidequest" of the moment. But that's it... There's nothing more.
"But Ixis," I hear you crying "what about the online battles?" Meh, not that exciting. I've played battles against other people all the time. You know why? Because whenever a new Pokemon game comes out EVERYBODY buys a copy (unless you live in podunk county, then maybe you have something to look forward too.)
What about a plotline? Why can't I play as Team Rocket or something for a change? And don't mention Pokemon Collosseum and DX or whatever, we all know that didn't count. But why can't there be a progressive and involving plotline? Why can't there be more than just Gym-Walkway-Gym-Walkway etc etc etc. Why does every NPC in the game hang out in complex land-mazes and ambush me only to challenge my Pokemon to their weak lame excuses for battling monsters? Why can't I have multiple trainers that team up with me and go on missions? Why can't I start out with a ghost type instead of Fire, Water and Grass? Why do I have to collect them all? Why can't I throw a Pokeball at Gym leader Erica for... Personal reasons?
There's more complex plotline in the TV show and comic book than the game, and this is an RPG. And that's-not-right.
So if you want to go ahead and play this new Pokemon game and do the same stuff you've been doing for the last decade, be my guest. It's your time, and maybe you still find it entertaining, good for you. But the rest of us are waiting on a Pokemon game that's really worth playing. A new Pokemon game that isn't a poorly made spinoff pinball game, drawing circles or going through lame randomly generated dungeons. A game that doesn't just add 100 new Pokemon and a new fancy backpack GPS system.
For some reason Zelda, Mario and Metroid follow the same idea. Improve on an established game design concept, but they do it more gracefully. No two games could ever be considered the same by even the lowliest non-gamers because every new game adds new rules and experiences.
Maybe it's because Satoshi Tajiri is autistic (he is, read it up sometime) and maybe it's because every new Pokemon game is for a new generation (certainly not mine.) But Pokemon is... Such a great concept and reality that it's almost depressing it hasn't changed much since I was a kid.
I played the original Pokemon Blue the day it came out. I didn't know anything about it, the TV series hadn't aired yet (or I had never heard of it) in fact, the only reason I bought it is because Blastoise looked cool and I read a blurb in EGM or something about how it was a nifty game or something...
After Blue I tried playing other Pokemon games. In fact I've owned every one of em except for Pikachu TV or whatever that was (yeah, I even had Pikachu Pocket or... Whatever that walking Tamagotchi thing was.)
But... Every game really is the same thing over again. Sure, they add lots of stuff to try and make the game more fun, but at it's core Pokemon Diamond and Pearl has the same goals and progression as Pokemon Blue and Red (or Green and Red if you wanna get all "anal fanboi/fangirl" on me.)
What do you do? You start off in Professor [tree]'s office, the smallest town in the world, choose one Pokemon (Fire, Grass or Water type) and then walk out of town and go from Gym to Gym, occasionally stopping for the "sidequest" of the moment. But that's it... There's nothing more.
"But Ixis," I hear you crying "what about the online battles?" Meh, not that exciting. I've played battles against other people all the time. You know why? Because whenever a new Pokemon game comes out EVERYBODY buys a copy (unless you live in podunk county, then maybe you have something to look forward too.)
What about a plotline? Why can't I play as Team Rocket or something for a change? And don't mention Pokemon Collosseum and DX or whatever, we all know that didn't count. But why can't there be a progressive and involving plotline? Why can't there be more than just Gym-Walkway-Gym-Walkway etc etc etc. Why does every NPC in the game hang out in complex land-mazes and ambush me only to challenge my Pokemon to their weak lame excuses for battling monsters? Why can't I have multiple trainers that team up with me and go on missions? Why can't I start out with a ghost type instead of Fire, Water and Grass? Why do I have to collect them all? Why can't I throw a Pokeball at Gym leader Erica for... Personal reasons?
There's more complex plotline in the TV show and comic book than the game, and this is an RPG. And that's-not-right.
So if you want to go ahead and play this new Pokemon game and do the same stuff you've been doing for the last decade, be my guest. It's your time, and maybe you still find it entertaining, good for you. But the rest of us are waiting on a Pokemon game that's really worth playing. A new Pokemon game that isn't a poorly made spinoff pinball game, drawing circles or going through lame randomly generated dungeons. A game that doesn't just add 100 new Pokemon and a new fancy backpack GPS system.
For some reason Zelda, Mario and Metroid follow the same idea. Improve on an established game design concept, but they do it more gracefully. No two games could ever be considered the same by even the lowliest non-gamers because every new game adds new rules and experiences.
Maybe it's because Satoshi Tajiri is autistic (he is, read it up sometime) and maybe it's because every new Pokemon game is for a new generation (certainly not mine.) But Pokemon is... Such a great concept and reality that it's almost depressing it hasn't changed much since I was a kid.
