Fixing Pokémon with Cinematography

[@DarylTalksGames]

Grab up to 40% savings from the The Ridge Wallet here: ridge.com/daryl through December 22nd! What turn based battle system do you think Pokémon could learn the most from?

[@frds_skce]

Pokémon S/V is probably the best turn-based battle we could get from Pokémon, but I wish that they done the battle mechanics, graphic and pacing a little better. I like my Pokémon battles to be faster and more expressive, like Pokken but that would be too impossible to do on massive scale (there's possibly 220+ Pokémon in modern games) So yeah, just fix your Pokémon animation, Game Freak, and I would be happier to buy the game

[@KING_PHILLIP]

Didn't know they had a keychain.. I oughtta grab one for my wife🙄 Her keys are a *purse* carry. They DONT fit in pockets. 😂 makes it pretty awful when i wanna drive. This could fix that🤔

[@cbpzombie5462]

This is kinda unrelated, but I think some fantastic camera work is done in monty oums work on the KZbin series Red versus Blue. I highly suggest you check it out, you will not be disappointed.

[@joemamr710]

I remember when I first realized the importance of camera work in a turn based battle system. It was playing the 3D remake of FF4 on the DS. The battles just seemed so unlively compared to the PS1 era battles, and I realized it’s because in those FF games the camera would pan and move a lot, different angles, the attacks would go off and the camera would show the attack from several angles, whereas with the 4 remake it just say their static the vast majority of the time, it was like the older 2D styles done with polygons. I also remember being so excited for X and Y for the 3D battles, and noticed the exact same thing. The battles were more fun in Stadium simply because of the camera work. Battles where everything is still and the only thing that happens is occasionally a fireball materializes on each side is inherently more boring. I even notice this in sports too.

[@jessegartung294]

It's worse in temtem since the battle animation is like FFVII supernova almost every single move is like that. Yea the main reason why they did that. Is to lure pokefans to it.

[@IngoLingoAnimations]

As a game programmer myself. I noticed that the Colosseum games' camera tracks the head movement of the Pokemon it's focused on, with some drag. It's pretty simple to implement. Here's the kicker. You need interesting and personalized animations for each pokemon for the camera to follow. Why the camera mimics Golem's animalistic nature, is because the animation is that.

[@speedslider3913]

Wow, I never thought it could be this (relatively) simple! Even if we kept the same animations as we have now, I feel a head-tracking camera would still be a massive step-up from what we have now, and would help battles feel more dynamic.

[@renookami4651]

Yeah, if the character isn't moving much to begin with, the camera will not move either... xD

[@nekoimouto4639]

pretty sure it does this with some amplification. newer games would probably need a lot more exaggeration but it could work i guess

[@ProphitDesigns]

Came to the comments to say this myself. This speaks volumes moreso of Gamefreaks issue in general than just the lack of camera work. The reason Colosseum works so well is that the system itself is well animated. Everything has soul. The trainer animations, the Pokeball animations, idle animations, attack animations, and subsequently the camera work, all go together to make the battle system feel intense. Gamefreak lacks all of that tbh

[@MaxwellTornado]

I wish it would be possible to make TRUE battle animations for pokémon. But that would require a number of animations that is a factorial of the number of pokémon in the game, so that's a tall order.

[@FeltonDood]

I love the Final Fantasy 10 camera change when you're killing an enemy for specifically Auron because his run cycle has heavier steps than say Tidus. He also says "Farewell" as the attack is launching, the camera swings and the "Chonk" of Auron's large sword falling on his victim always brings me joy.

[@Dominik-K]

I love that one too! It's super amazing 🤩

[@jamesbanana007]

Auron is the best character in that game. Easy.

[@M.A.R.S.]

That is a tremendously specific example, I dont think you can get more refined than that

[@FeltonDood]

I also love the swiftness of Tidus' he says "See Ya!" With his childlike wonder and leaps into his swing.

[@tracaine]

Pray! Now!

[@xXChaos420Xx]

12:18 i fucking love Metangs animation here. The backflip recovery leading into that little dash forward is just so good looking and does a really great job of portraying how that species would/should ambulate in battle and just in general.

[@sonicwave779]

It also starts glitching out - mimicking getting an error since it's supposed to be a computer.

[@fletch-a-sketch9250]

Also when he recovers from the hit and jets forward to return to his spot, the camera lags behind a bit, as if he’s moving too fast for the cameraman to track.

[@ianb.2575]

Beldum's damage animation is so over the top, I love it

[@_n8thagr8_63]

Mewtwo, in pokemon stadium, had the coldest animations on attack and defense. It looked like he was firing off Kamehamehas and stuff.

[@LethalLuggage]

Mewtwo in smash knocks himself backwards when he fires... So this isn't far off.

[@enriqueescobedo28]

I remember using a Metronome Mewtwo in Stadium 2 just because almost all of its animations looked so cool.

[@the_well-known_stranger2275]

I can’t believe how much Pokémon battles downgraded from Arceus to Scarlet/Violet. In Arceus the Pokémon actually moved up to each other to attack, they didn’t just stay still the whole time. It added a LOT to the battles and prevented hits from just being a visual effect overlayed on the screen while the Pokémon remained rooted to the spot.

[@BlueSparxLPs]

I would expect that the disparity from the two games is related to them being worked on at the same time with different teams (with some overlap based on the credits). I would be surprised if gen 9 doesn't include at least some of the good changes from Legends Arceus.

[@AlastairGames]

I wonder if Arceus and Scarlet/Violet had different teams working on them.

[@jacobwansleeben3364]

I can believe it.

[@twarnold14]

One thing I missed from the stadium days is the attack animation even if it missed. I already felt like I wasted my turn with the sleep powder miss; you don’t need to have jumpluff literally do nothing too. Go beyond stadium and give each Pokémon a little dodge animation. It can reuse some of those movement animations to save on the workload.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Yeah, a dodge would be perfect for those dumb little hop animations they're using now. Just have the mon hop back and then hop back into place (or give them some custom animations that make use of the ROM space on the switch)

[@whiteeeveeangel]

That dodge animation could even have filters added with them to display whether the dodge was natural accuracy, from an ability or item, or from an accuracy-changing move. A blur/dither effect for double team, or a dust cloud effect for mud-slap. A hex-mirrored effect for compound eyes or a gleam for bright powder. A scan reticle for lock-on, even!

[@skitterly]

Yeah I never understood that. Like, I still attacked. It just didn’t hit

[@des4929]

Yea a dodge animation is better than the infinite uncaring void of no movement from anything other than the exact same idle animation you've seen for over a minute while text on screen says what happens

[@limitedlistener6460]

27:17 I can't finish the video, I'm completely fixated on how perfect this cut is.

[@DarylTalksGames]

Funny story, it happened on accident haha. I added the transition and it just happened to line up that perfectly. As a wise man once said, “we take those.”

[@SingTingz31]

What's wild is that Gamefreak can show they can do great animation and camera work by some signature moves and the cutscenes.

[@ivanjarmoluk6484]

What's wild is that this is literally the most profitable franchise ever and they somehow get away with anything less than great animation.

[@mtk1808]

​@@ivanjarmoluk6484 I'm convinced they are the most profitable because they spend 5$ on their products and earn millions back. If you look at other huge franchises they spent millions of dollars taking risks and sometimes losing huge amounts of money. But pretty sure the pokemon company's ideology is "you can't lose money if you don't spend money"

[@faisfaizal5194]

Gamefreak would cut whatever corners possible to maximize their profits. Not surprised at all.

[@Sircoochie]

@@mtk1808 i guess but most of pokemon’s value comes from merch etc. Not the actual games

[@Silancet]

A prime example of this is Ultra necrozma’s z move being the greatest move animation in pokemon history

[@kanakanaka]

cinematography is really the most underrated factor in the common viewers eye. glad you talked about this!

[@frds_skce]

I'm more of a retro 2D Pokémon fan in general but I agree, old 3D Pokémon games are definitely banging

[@JadeJuno]

... I'm sorry to tell you this, but Old 3D pokémon games are retro now. The Wii is already considered retro at this point...

[@frds_skce]

@@JadeJuno... So you just proved my points cuz I do love Black & White and ORAS as well

[@scoutbane1651]

@@frds_skce You said *but* I do agree, like the two are at odds. So no, they don't agree with you.

[@kawashinimon]

@@scoutbane1651 He didn't say "you agree with me", he said "you proved my point" which he did. Can people on the internet just chill for five seconds?

[@scoutbane1651]

@@kawashinimon I missed the part where they said mentioned liking *2D* games. If they implied they liked retro games and that the older 3D games *weren't* retro (with the but), they'd be in the wrong, which is what I tried pointing out. But they mentioned specifically liking 2D, so I'm the one who fucked up. My bad. EDIT: Hold up they edited their comment just saw seconds after posting lol. Was the 2D part there before? Well regardless, one of us fucked up, still probably me. Idc anymore.

[@FlyToTheRain]

you just dug up a very specific memory of watching my brother play colosseum and all of us acting out jumpluff's side to side animation while it preps a powder move.

[@luvkirby4ever]

Hahaha my sister and I absolutely loved Jumpluff's animation.

[@shlebben0]

"maybe the solution is to give us more double battles" ABSOLUTELY YES, especially for the fights that are supposed to be more cinematic ie gyms and elite four for real I've wanted all gyms to be doubles for so damn long

[@LocalHobo631]

Just another reason xd and colloseum are so great

[@ShallBePurified]

The ghost gym was the best part of the entire game because it was a double battle. Double battles are so much more fun than singles because you have more interactions and strategies. Moves that would be useless in singles can be useful in doubles.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I want to see freeform battles where you deploy all your Pokemon at once, but your team composition is restricted by each Pokemon's size class. So you could have 6 tiny Pokemon on your team, or 3 medium Pokemon, or 1 gargantuan Pokemon, or mix-and-match Pokemon of different sizes. It would be awesome to have 6 of your flyweights work together to take down a colossal Pokemon.

[@SAI-Max_D]

Imagine if Legends: Arceus allowed players to bring out a second Pokémon at the cost of one turn... Seriously though, LA had 2 different menu options of switching out your active 'mon during battle, faint swaps notwithstanding, whilst Pokéballs were kept seperate from the Items submenu; and I seriously doubt that I was the only person who the looked the at turn order and thought: "Boy, would this combat flow look more interesting if having multiple allies and enemies for most battles was the norm, like Octopath Traveler and pretty much every other RPG on the market" (also everything regarding battle cinematography that was mentioned in this video)

[@pastapastel910]

Tate & Liza in Emerald hits hard

[@Parrexion]

I've never reflected on how much work the camera does in turn-based games but those old games with good camera movements looked amazing even to this day. Who knew that all Game Freak needed was a good cinematographer ^^

[@comyuse9103]

no way is that enough to save these crappy games. i appreciate the work a good camera can do, but there is just so much more lacking in pokemon.

[@Fabiocean2000]

@@comyuse9103 What they need isn't talent. but time. Okay maybe a bit of both, but there's just no way you can put out a full fledged game every single year with such a small team and expect anything but a rushed product, no matter how individually talented that team is.

[@DaggersandDiplomacy]

I really love that we are talking about it in this way. The interesting thing about Scarlet and Violet as opposed to Legends is how the in battle camera works. The in battle camera has 2 settings, controlled and dynamic. The dynamic camera doesn't work under every circumstance which give us that weird "live" view of the battle. When the dynamic camera works it is great. I'm not to the end of the video and you might cover this. Sorry if that's the case. I am personally really enjoying the games. Have a good day all. Edit: Thank you for a great year! We will see you in January. Surprised that you didn't talk more about wrestling. Have happy holidays!

[@SpiritOnAdventure]

Darn, I've never seen anyone mention Library of Ruina in any videogame essays! Even if it was brief, it was pleasantly surprising as a fan of it. I just really appreciate it.

[@Spiderrtank]

The music change whenever the Emotion Level rises or an E.G.O. page is used really hits the spot!

[@LuckyMrAsHat]

The minimal animations the game has in receptions (the battles), using camera movement to sell the impact of an attack is a clever decision. Ontop of using editing techniques like distortions and redness on the camera edges to imply blood splattering on the camera, both in receptions and the visual novel aspects, each hit feels bloody.

[@kemmikemmimin]

i literally jumped when he mentioned the game, the camerawork in actions are so dynamic even it's a simple looking turn based game and how satisfying attacks look in a fast pace when in action and shakes with different kinds of unique attacks.. project moon is really impressive and i can't wait for limbus!!

[@sparkcircuit7029]

Late-game spoilers for Ruina: Roland's Furioso card always struck me as the most visually impressive, though tbh the entire battle system is so fun to watch!

[@johnwillbonagua845]

Trueeee

[@ElMedkit]

I just want to say that I love your content and I really appreciate you. Since the first day that I came across your channel I always think about when are you going to upload the next and the last time that I genuinely get excited about a certain creator and not just browse the home has been years. I love how happy your videos make me feel and I just wanted you to know that Much love

[@DarylTalksGames]

Much love to you as well Medkit, thank you so much for watching!

[@yayorneigh]

20:13 Legends Arceus actually incorporates this shift of attention in horde battles. If you hold ZL instead of click to switch targets, the overshoulder shot will focus on that Pokémon, placing them center frame, even while you’re moving.

[@Ignitehawk]

I really hope some developers see this video and take it to heart, because this is brilliant. I never even thought about camera-work in turn-based titles before, but now I think I'll be hard-pressed *not* to notice it. Thank you for the insight.

[@ThePurpleCheeseMan]

THIS!!! I just want another 3d pokemon game where battles have the energy and excitement they used to. There's so much more to bring to the conversation than just animation, and from that very first comparison of camera work with Bite, I instantly got what you were saying.

[@belot217]

Watching other recent Pokémon games makes me appreciate PLA. The Strong/Agile Style slow-downs and the particle effects work make battles so much more visually satisfying than anything in the past two generations. Giving the player the camera gives more freedom to get a great shot.

[@comyuse9103]

not to praise it too much, i think it is still a mid indie that belongs on gamejolt instead of coming from one of the highest selling video game studios ever, but they at least seemed to try on PLA in a way i don't think they have since the special/physical split.

[@crystallion1269]

Something else I noticed playing PLA that, from the very first SV trailer made me upset... it’s the bare minimum, but for the first time since XY, when a Pokémon does a physical attack to another, THEY ACTUALLY MOVE UP TO THE OPPONENT*. If fate aligns, the animation will even make sense (Gyarados using Aqua Tail, for example, will go up to the enemy and smack it with its tail and some water. I think I’ve seen it go and use its tail for a “bite” move tho too... although it has a bite animation, I think? Not sure). I think this can attributed to the unique, actually open battlefield of PLA where both you and both mons can shift as needed. I also appreciated how the player, in being able to sidle up to your mon, will stagger if there’s enough movement, and how when your friendship is high, you and your mon angle your heads to trustingly look at one another for a little while, then turn back to battle refocused. It really immersed me in battles, from the simplest wild encounter to the game’s hardest challenges. The very first SV trailer, where a starter/Lechonk attacks, I realised we’d gone back to the dismal fixed, same old battlefield as literally every other mainline Pokémon game. Really annoyed me. It’s such a tiny step forward and THEY MANAGED TO PULL BACK FROM EVEN THAT. *At least I think it’s 99% of it, there may be a few odd specific mons/moves combos that don’t do this.

[@cyankoopa8111]

@@comyuse9103 Are you saying they didn't try with gen 5?

[@comyuse9103]

@@cyankoopa8111 yes. there was nothing mechanically interesting in gen 5 and the story that everyone praises it for is mediocre if we use any standard that isn't pokemon. gen 5 had better sprites, yeah? that is literally all i can think of that made it stand out.

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

@@comyuse9103 I think you miss the point that it's praised because it's the best story in pokemon, not the best story in gaming. Also, you must've skipped gen 5 because it's literally the only 2D gen where the sprites are fully animated and actually look good. Gen 4 is completely static and boring in comparison (also has a very boring story, only interesting thing being the physical special split as you said before) ALSO every trainer had animations, and Triple and rotation battles were introduced along with the Hidden Abilities that everybody loved and is somewhat relevant today. Also allowing the fusion of the legendary pokemon which was an interesting concept they never really tried again. Also the fact that it's the only generation that really tried something different with the flow of game other than the later Alola (which was terrible because the entire game holds your hand and is cutscenes) as the pokemon league is completely interrupted by a giant castle crashing through. There's just too much that gen 5 introduced and did exceptionally well compared to every other 2D pokemon game that it would be disingenuous to say there was nothing mechanically interesting in gen 5 when the previous generations pretty much only introduced 1 thing each. Although gen 3 was good, especially with the introduction of double battles, the best thing about gen 4 was HGSS, which aren't even gen 4 as they are remakes of gen 2.

[@DistantKingdom]

4:55 hey that's me! this perfectly explained something I noticed recently about XY feeling far more intense than more recent pokemon titles, but couldn't put into words. the camera movements are subtle but they add so much it's kind of insane it's also what complements the animations of the older genius sonority games that deliver that crunchy, hard hitting, satisfying feeling of battles in those titles. Awesome video!

[@peteman9032]

Amazing video, I’ve been a Pokémon fan practically my whole life and have sort of thought the “animations” issue will never get fixed, but this makes me hopeful for the future. I love the B-roll panorama shots and never even thought how simply moving the camera a tad during the action. Keep making awesome content!!!

[@jasonreed7522]

The animations issue is especially painful for those of us who played XD and Coloseum amd never realized they were officially spin-offs, and the even older stadium games which are in the same category. These "spin-offs" have very high quality animations and camera work that make them hold up very well even if their poly counts and resolution don't meet modern standards because they are 15+ years old at this point. (They also gave pokemon moves that they otherwise wouldn't learn or wouldn't learn easily, like spinarak gets signal beam so i thought it was an actually good mon, years later i learn its only like that on XD and he's actually trash without it.)

[@claytune]

I ironically have never considered how important the camera is for battles in Pokémon games which I say is ironic because with the Pokémon anime I've often praised XY's camera work and said many times my biggest issue with Pokémon Journeys battles was the lack of dynamic camera work with the animation but I never even considered the camera work in the games and I never paid much attention to the camera shake in ORAS or the way it would show the trainer throwing out a Pokémon in XY so this video was really eye-opening into how important camera work is in general. Also, it was super satisfying hearing your breakdown of Persona 5's camera in battle because as the video went on with different examples I was already beginning to think about how the camera work added to everything and then you broke it down and gave me something else to love about that game.

[@foggyforest2625]

Who would've thought Daryl will talk about cinematography one day...

[@Roeclean]

Never

[@JeffVan604]

Psych of Cam

[@stevewalker1790]

I actually think a lot of action movies use waaay too many cuts nowadays (even John Wick). It's difficult to follow what's meant to be happening. The worst I've seen is Quantum of Solace, which literally made me dizzy. But I do agree that Pokémon is firmly on the "too little movement" end of the spectrum and they're at no risk of overshooting the mark anytime soon.

[@ceruleanrock2265]

Yeah it’s basically a balancing act.

[@justjackorwhatever]

This is why the battles in the XY anime so powerful, the camera is constantly moving and you feel the impact

[@kylespevak6781]

6:02 It should be noted that what makes a good action scene is exactly this. I hate when I'm watching an action scene and there's so many cuts that you can't exactly tell what's going on. It seems like they filmed the plethora of punches and stuff and then just figured to throw them all in without any context

[@Aviplotbunny]

I'm a relatively newer fan, but wanted to drop by and let you know I super love watching your videos. They're always thoughtful and they make me feel like I'm chilling with a friend. My P5 fan self might've teared up when you brought it up as an example haha. Hope you rest well for the end of the year, and looking forward to what you bring our way in 2023!

[@Dominik-K]

This topic is soooooo dear to my heart! Camera work is highly underrated in games, and VR experiences especially! Better camera work for streaming in VR or virtual events, is what I'm currently interested in and this video really highlights important camera principles very rarely talked about. Thanks a bunch Daryl

[@erickzamora921]

Dude you single handedly made me appreciate so many different styles of expressing and interpreting art Thank you for being such a seamless and easy to follow while also being INSANELY encapsulating teacher. Loved your video

[@yakumorisuke9403]

This was amazing. I've been saying for ages that it's not really the animations that's the issue, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. When you said 'camera' it was like a lightbulb went off. And yeah, P5 and SMT5 absolutely nail making turn-based encounters tense.

[@miyamotomasashi5838]

That “forget to save before shiny encounter and the shiny decided to self exploded!”, the pain is real. RIP Shiny wild Forretress 😭😭

[@charziard35]

Love the mention of the raid! That series has an excellent understand of motion and camera movement within action that changes it from just a normal fight, to an unbelievably intense bout. It’s what hong kong directors have been doing for decades too

[@dominik94rausch]

Thank you for 5 years of being awesome! And for the content, but mostly just for your way of delivering the content. I like this new format.

[@kylespevak6781]

23:17 I think the best action scenes are largely wide shot and only use cuts to emphasize the action. There's a lot of fights in cinema that don't have great choreographing so they have tons of cuts instead because they want you to know that hits are happening without being able to make it seamless

[@meatbleed]

the pokemon tipping its hat for being defeated is so baller. wish they put that effort into it now

[@orangepotato2112]

Absolute banger vid Daryl, this year you delivered and exceeded all expectations and am glad to hear you felt you grew significantly this year. Thank you very much and here's to another good damn good one!

[@JD-hb2wf]

nice pfp

[@orangepotato2112]

@@JD-hb2wf thanks man made it myself

[@ceruleanrock2265]

@@orangepotato2112 is it Shulk from Xenoblade?

[@orangepotato2112]

@@ceruleanrock2265 yeah, with the new future connected outfit, glad you could recognise (since this is the only art I've ever made lol)

[@ellytrabread]

20:50 When you started talking about tracking which enemy you choose in a double battle I knew it was joever for pokemon. How did it never occur to me we dont even have that 💀

[@simongotborg3866]

Amazing video. Over my years in the games industry, I've gained more and more respect for people who pay attention to details. It's easy to notice the big stuff, but the big stuff is expensive. Often times the most cost-efficient changes are about the details, which get forgotten over time and need to be rediscovered by every new generation of developers. Resources like this video make it so much easier.

[@Roxnit]

Listening to all the camera tricks that help sell the action of a fight and make them feel more dynamic got me thinking about how P5 actually does all of those, and is a big part of why the battles in that game feel so energetic despite being turn based. Seeing it being dropped as THE example of all of these being done right in a turn based battle system at the end put a big smile on my face. 😁

[@Kisher02]

Man, crazy to think it's 2023 soon (and we still didn't get a release date for Silksong) I can't believe you once again found a way to compare wrestling and video games and make it coherent and understandable. Love your stuff and here's to an even better 2023!

[@Bloodhoven]

you can pretty much compare ANY things to each other as long as there is a common denominator, in this case camera work/cinematography, which basically gives you the freedom of comparing "ice trucker documentaries" with "healing animations in RPGs"

[@Alchemyst326]

No Daryl, thank YOU for 5 years. Seriously, your videos make me wish that I had the skills, drive, and ideas to make games just so I could implement the stuff you talk about. They make me look back at games I loved and go, "Oh THAT'S why that game worked so well!" and remember games that lost me halfway through and see how they could have done better. Even when I haven't played and don't care about any of the games you use in a video, your insights, clever writing, soothing voice, and incredible editing choices keep me hooked. Don't think I didn't catch how you said "add to that pool of tears" as the video showed the pokemon trainer walking up to an actual pool at 4:58. You do that shit all the time and I love catching it. You make incredible videos I get excited to watch every. Single. Time. And you deserve every subscriber you've got and more. If you're tired, go and rest. I'd rather have a one good video every few months than one rushed one every week, and I don't want you getting burned out. It worked for TeamFourStar, and I wholeheartedly support them not forcing themselves. So take your time, take a breath, and take a break. You deserve it. Happy holidays, and I'll see you next year.

[@DarylTalksGames]

Thank you so much! Thanks for noticing the little things, happy holidays!

[@Mysterygii69]

Hell even active real time combat can benefit from stuff like this. Monster hunter pulls the camera back when big scary monsters are enraged sometimes or when risen Teostra is about to pull an electrode, all while you still have full camera control

[@MrEnvisioner]

As a hobbyist gamedev, this was SUCH a good video. You injected such extreme breadth and depth into this topic! You clarify frustrations that have hidden at the back of my mind for along time about the 3D Pokemon games; however, far more than that, you helped draw my attention to a totally different part of game design that I'd long forgotten about. When I was in college, I took an introductory Film & Digital Media course called "Light, Sound & Motion" that was ALL about how lighting, audio, camera work, framing, editing, & numerous other film techniques went into delivering the storytelling experience of visual media. This video really makes me wanna dive back into to studying all the fields I learned there in more depth because just reviewing the plethora of varying examples you gave makes it clear as day that they launch a product's quality to a whole new level. Especially that Persona 5 segment @ 24:52. It just makes it SO CLEAR. 😆 Kudos. I really can't thank you enough. It's self-evident that you put a stupid amount of effort into crafting this homage, and I seriously appreciate it. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays / New Year to you.

[@shinysnake]

I have never enjoyed sports but listening to how much and why you love them brings a smile to my face :)

[@ImPyroChad]

I love how you brought up Megami Tensei and I want to entertain that train of thought for a second- It's no secret that Pokémon's combat hasn't changed much since its inception but what HAS changed is presentation and that's what I feel the combat comes down to with Pokémon games. BW despite not having reactive sprites had stellar presentation compared to the 3D games, the combat, Attack animations, camera movement was all so fast paced and really went a long way in masking how lackluster the combat of Pokémon truly is when you boil it down which is something that you can't claim about the modern games; Despite the fact when you really look at it the attack animations aren't all to different from your standard Atlus Megami Tensei game. A game like Nocturne can get away with its similar approach to idle animations because of how they're presented with the camera movement, sound design and just the fact the combat in the game is really engaging, something most of the modern Pokémon games can't really claim. Imo presentation is the reason why the combat in a game like BW or SMT IV is massively more engaging than something like SwSh >_>

[@rivp]

I haven’t played a Pokémon game, but this video really just highlights to me what that makes certain turn based games just feel so much better than others, even with similar artstyles and animations. Great video, and I can’t wait for the next one!

[@mosiahmendoza6846]

24:40 dude that editing was insane

[@TheHeartoftheKing]

Sakurai recently put out a video on his youtube channel about how he sold hits in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It's really interesting to see how it was approached from a design and camera movement direction.

[@kylespevak6781]

7:28 interestingly I learned this intuitively by filming me and my friends doing parkour. I'm actually surprised to find that it's not common knowledge which would explain why my friends never got that grade of clips 😂

[@skoobzkb]

You know I never realized how important camera work is for battle systems in games until I watched this video. Hell I love battles in Persona 5 but I never took account of the camera in that game. And now I can appreciate it even more. This is such a good video. I even hope that maybe in the future Pokémon Battles could have better camera work.

[@DouglasBurton]

Great video, literally excited to try some of these ideas. A side project was missing 'something' and I now think t's some of these camera movement tricks.

[@wiiuandmii7619]

Okay, I have not finished the video yet, but I think one other thing you could talk about in regards to Poke sports is VGC, the literal sport of Pokémon battling. Gen 8 VGC uses a lot of really cool camera shots IN BETWEEN battle animations, just to fill time as the players input their moves, and it actually does a lot to spice up the experience. (Also how are you liking S/V?)

[@AbeyantHero]

very strong points about using past examples of games/media & tools to convey player experience moving foward. 1 missed opportunity to insert Hitmonchan w/ Jackie Chan for fight sequence comparison, haha

[@rafaeltoyama7910]

Love you Daryl, thank YOU for these five years

[@BunsGlazing768]

Bro there was a fake leak that Brute Bonnet would be named 'Ungaboongus' and I've never wanted to live in an alternate reality so badly

[@RoninXDarknight]

Persona 5 has such an amazing style...so many little things done very well all adding up into something truly special. Totally agree that more games need to take a heavy dose of inspiration from P5 for their own turn based battles. Thanks for the awesome videos. Happy holidays!

[@ChaseTrent]

Thankfully I have joycon drift, so the battles were never stationary, the camera was always moving around the field

[@RocketPropelledMexican]

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned WHY the colosseum series cinematography differs so much from the other pokemon games. It's simply because those two games (colosseum and XD) *weren't made by Gamefreak in the first place.* They were made by Genius Sonority as a spin off title.

[@kylespevak6781]

9:15 My guy did a gainer full to body slam. I highly approve of that

[@xjaireyes]

monster hunter stories 2 combat, despite averaging longer per fight than pokemon, never felt too dragging because they implemented camera movement just at the right actions

[@Andlekin]

Not to mention the monster animations were gorgeous. They typically are in monster hunter games. And not just the attacks. Walking, idle, and other animations are all "chef's kiss". Also, I think the battle system is waaaay more interesting.

[@Nendonintendo]

I just noticed you uploaded multiple videos I havent watched yet, I just turned 27, it's 1AM and I consider these videos as great presents :) Thanks Daryl!

[@DesignFrameCaseStudies]

Great video buddy! I love how well you demonstrated the camera use. I totally remember how amazing Pokémon Colosseum was. The visuals and graphics are much better as well. I swear whenever I see a modern Pokémon game, the combat looks so boring. I don't trust nor support Game Freak at this point, but at the same time I can't blame Game Freak when people buy the games anyway. What else can they do when they release a game every year and people don't actually care about the low quality? P.S. Creator friend to creator. The first few moments of your videos are the most important. Starting with an ad isn't a good way to grab people's attention, so they're more likely to click off the video. You can mention the video is sponsored in the beginning but it has to be quick, a couple seconds. And then place your ad in the middle of the video. It's amazing to have seen your journey throughout the past five years. I got off to a rough start until only recently but you, dear sir, always had that fascinating psychology hook. Big love and support from me buddy. Merry Christmas!

[@kylespevak6781]

When people complain about pokémon animations and compare it to pokémon Colosseum I wonder if they realize that they're comparing a time when there was less than 400 pokémon to the now over 1,000. It would take so much effort to give every pokémon numerous unique animations when instead they can do a shortcut where they have two animations (one for physical attacks and one for special attacks) and use them for all the moves that exist. I don't know how many unique moves there are but multiply that by the number of existing pokémon and that's how many animations people want Game freaks to program just for battling, let alone idle animations and follow pokemon

[@biggrayalien4791]

I think a big counterargument to the counterargument of, "Well if all attacks look powerful, none of them do," is the question, where is the cutoff, then? Like clearly tiny baby attacks don't need the craziest animations. But those are _already_ the basic attack animations anyways. Splash, tackle, scratch, leer, tail whip, etc; almost every attack a stage or two above those use the _exact same animations_ . So again, where is the cutoff? What gets special treatment? Are 2-stage stat changes enough? 3? 4? Only 6? What about power? 50? 60? 80? only 120? And finally we need to realize that Pokemon is a multi-billion dollar franchise so they have the budget to make it all happen. There is no excuse.

[@TheAlison1456]

17:16 "this has nothing to do with cameras, it just makes me smile" HAHAHA. Nice. I love this unapologetic implementation of short tangents. I also liked the scale bit from before.

[@thescholarsjourney661]

Him: "When you bring all these ingredients together, you get...." Me: "Persona 5?" Him: "Persona 5." *Take Over starts playing* Me: "HEEEEEEEEEEEEELLL YEEEEEAAAAAAH"

[@justsomejojo]

As someone whose favorite pokemon (Medicham) was reduced from a bunch of kicks, flips and stylish idle acrobatics (in PBR) to a measly slap (in SV) I'm inclined to say that the animations do a LOT to sell the battles. I'd say camera work and animations need to work as a team for any kind of impact. The camera in Colosseum feels tethered to the pokemon and that works *because* of the animations. Umbreons Bite has so much impact because right before the cut, Umbreon is leaping towards the opponent (and also kind of at the camera). Medicham's punch and kick moves actually use the same awesome acrobatics, but the point at which the camera cuts away is determined by the move used (punches cut at the punch, kicks let the camera stay until Medicham's closing kick for the animation) That said, yeah, the camera does deserve a focus, even in the frustrating state of Pokemon animation. I recently replayed Pokemon Black & White and those games actually do a lot of the camera work described here for Persona, despite still ascribing to the ever over the shoulder perspective - and the BW battle system feels like the most dynamic of the handheld games as a result.

[@WanOlDan]

And here's the problem: GameFreak after watching this video: You know, he's right. We should probably take some time next generation and... The Pokemon Company: No!!! Merchandising schedule!!! 3 years between games OR ELSE!!!

[@CoffeeEmblem]

What hits even more harder is that thumbnail holy fuck IT'S SO COOL

[@AndreaGiuseppeCastriotta]

Looking at the footage I noticed that in COlosseum the camera is locked to the Pokémon it is framing, more specifically to its Head animation Bone This way any slight movement the animation has is translated to the camera itself. This is very subtle but gives a LOT of dynamicity and life to the action, as it simulates eye movement when focusing on something Kinda neat, not gonna lie

[@XDarkEcho]

Thinking about it, it really does make sense that one of the biggest issues with Turn Based RPGs is how lack luster combat can feel. I never knew the camera had a lot to do with how impactful the battles could feel, I always pointed out to how engaging or interactive the battle system had to be, or maybe the music and design of those battles were the key, but God, how did I never notice that the camera did a lot of the work as well?! I always considered cinematography only important for these more Hollywood like triple A games; the Last of Us, or God of Wars, or Metal Gear Solids, etc., never considered it's importance in gameplay; well, outside of adjusting the camera while actively moving around locations. Also, can I just say how awesome that transition on 27:17 to 27:18 was? That was freaking cool!

[@TimsGamesDoneHard]

As much as I love the idea of more dynamic camera work in Pokemon, it's clear why the camera, animations, and sound design have gotten more simple over the years. Programming for videogames keeps becoming more time-consuming (not sure if this due to graphics, programming for current gen hardware, or the scope of the games), while Game Freak has been adamant about keeping a small programming team. In an age of AAA games that fail due to teams being too large and being unable to coordinate properly, I definitely respect the sentiment to stay small. But a small team can't keep up with the current release schedule of these games anymore while getting the quality they want. Programming unique movement for the camera for every move is a lot of work with less payoff than, say, making sure your game isn't broken. Scarlet and Violet was notoriously broken, it's hard to expect visual flair to be a priority on the list of things Game Freak has to work on. Game Freak should really choose between hiring more people for their team (and not contract people out of house, which from what I heard is why the game was extra buggy), or slowing their release schedule to spend more time making the game they want to make. I prefer the latter personally, but both are an improvement over the current state of Pokemon. Once one of those things happen, then we can start asking for more exciting moment to moment action.

[@IsohelXII]

As someone who has been interested in how to make a Turn Based game that could also be an esport THANK YOU SO MUCH! I never realized how important camera movement is for the action in regular sports and this definitely made me realize a lot of things that can be done in order to make turn based games feel more impactful without them changing their systems drastically. One of my best watchs this year for sure

[@frosif7751]

I genuinely think they just need more time to polish up the parts that aren't as good, but can't because of a schedule bound by merchandise

[@hammerstix5791]

I love when the camera snaps to a character when you open a menu on their turn

[@Rixitic]

Never underestimate the power of good cinematography! Major thanks for this video, and a shout-out to the tools game engines have nowadays to help with implementing nuanced camera behavior, like Unity's Cinemachine. It's nice that you mentioned "overcooking" camera behavior because I suspect an increased focus on accessibility was a big factor in the watered-down camera -- making sharper movements, heavy screenshake, cuts and wobble cam occur less frequently _does_ help reduce the risk of motion sickness, seizures, and just general disorientation for players. Most devs would allow you to configure the camera intensity in the game's settings, but to save development time GameFreak may be foregoing that bit of quality-of-life polish in favor of just taking the route that's blander but safer and simpler to implement. It's also likely that the pokemon themselves don't have as much that the camera system can hook into these days. In the Colosseum footage it seems like the camera tends to not just follow the overall movement of the pokemon but that a specific body part, often the head; for Stadium through Battle Revolution the devs had the benefit of fewer generations of pokemon and lower-poly models to animate, so they likely were able to kit out the rigs with control nodes or bones for focal points like head, mouth, hand and foot positions, places to charge attacks and fire projectiles from, etc. across the board and the camera could track those accordingly. As the scope of the series ballooned with more mons and more complex and unusual designs, they likely had to streamline the rigging process to compensate and save those details for starters, legendaries, and other major new pokemon and their respective signature moves.

[@anotherrio9375]

I always like how darkest dungeon make fight scene soo dynamic with just zoom, different sprite, effect, and sound effect without any grand animation With that combine really hard gameplay make the game soo impactful n tense

[@coffeefish4743]

I think Gamefreak and the developers know these tricks and probably want to include them and make the game look better. I feel like the blame should be placed on the pressure on devs to release a game once a year. I feel at least the slightest bit more time to fix some bugs that otherwise would be fixed a week after release or work some more on the camera in battle ; the list goes on. I just want to emphasise that the release schedule and higher-ups are the problem and not the devs. (edit) I also understand this video knows this.

[@stuckboy]

If there was a single thing I wish pokemon games could do more of, it's double battles. The team building they allow for is far more enjoyable than just covering types with STAB and then calling it a day.

[@KnightRush]

There's a dynamic camera option in DQ11 that you purposefully didn't turn on? Nice one

[@ChiefOsutin]

Yeah that part was kinda disingenuous...

[@thepositiver9977]

Yeah that was unfair to the game

[@kotaamitsukami]

Game companies can learn a ton from wrestling. Thank god you didnt name this video something about camera work and yet this is the hidden gem of what makes this video so appealing

[@INFERN0FIRE]

I don't agree that the disconnected animations of old, are necessarily much better. The seperarion of the attack and the hit animation also severely slows down combat. I do agree that the camera needs to move a lot more.

[@incendium2239]

Persona 5 is a great example of using the camera to convey momentum and emotions during battle. Whenever you ambush an enemy, the camera shows the arena at a slant to signify that you have the advantage, steadily floating to convey a sense of confidence. Similarly, when your party is ambushed, the camera takes a shaky top-down angle and the edges of your vision pulse with red to signify danger. Even the layout of enemies changes; in most fights, your teams are facing each other head-on. But when your party is caught off guard, the enemy completely encircles your team which immediately puts you on the defensive.

[@amesstarline5482]

I've always loved how the G5 sprites had a slight dance to them. Idle animations keep them mobile.

[@lidge1994]

So I'm curious, is the reason jumpcuts in movie fight scenes suck the fact that your eyes can't follow any action but are in fact just centered, trying to get ANY information from the scene?

[@xBlackSunset]

Hi! As always this was an amazing video and you really hit the nail on its head! (not sure if that's a proper saying lol). Just wanted to say that for these past years I have loved your videos, from using them for school and eventually even graduating with having your videos in my sources to getting comfy on the couch with snacks and a drink to watch your videos. It has always been such a pleasure. The same goes for your livestreams, I am in a different timezone but if I have the opportunity and I get to the stream it's always a safe and such a fun place to be and for that I really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope you have a great Christmas (if you celebrate it) and otherwise happy holidays. Take your well deserved rest and have a damn good new year. Much love!

[@DarylTalksGames]

Last I checked that *is* in fact a proper saying haha, so you’re good 😂 Thanks a ton and it’s a pleasure to have you here! Im so glad you tune in especially considering the time difference probably makes a lot of the streams really odd times haha. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

[@nategwright]

Another thing that really gets under my skin with Pokémon battles are just the stop-and-start-ness of them. You click a move, there’s a pause. Animations play, another pause. If you clicked a multistrike move, there’s a pause between every hit. If you missed, you have to wait two seconds before the game tells you. If it’s supereffective/not very effective/a crit, there’s another pause before the text displays, and another pause before it goes away. Nothing ever happens fluidly, and there’s never any sort of transition in between. You just…wait. And you may only wait for a second at a time, but when it happens after every single beat in the battle, it gets so tiring and sluggish. If we look at P5, there’s no hesitations. You click a skill, it immediately plays the animation. Weaknesses/Resistances are cleanly shown with the damage number the second the enemy takes the hit, and there’s a snappy page-turn transition into the next turn. There’s no awkward pauses.

Pokemon has a very unique issue which is how incredibly many Pokemon there are and how many different attacks they can perform. The old Stadium/Colosseum series really did it very well but I don't know if it is realistic to expect the current scale of Pokemon to be that involved. Especially with how Pokemon don't only have battle animations anymore, but roaming animations, behaviour animations, play animations, eating animations etc etc. Theres a lot on that plate nowadays. And before someone replies to this and says "but they have the money, just hire more people" just know that it doesn't really work like that. However, Japanese studios are often particularly against outsourcing so it would probably work to a certain extent if they would just get some help. I may be wrong, may be right but regardless I think its a point worth keeping in mind when criticizing Pokemon.

[@speedslider3913]

Pokémon outsources much of its devs, and has been since X and Y to my knowledge. You don't release a AAA JRPG yearly without outsourcing! The reason they haven't implemented better cinematography in their games is because the game engine's outdated and not fully-understood since it wa made by a lot of contract workers who worked on their own small parts (and Game Freak'd core team already has had issues with poor programming since Red/Blue), simply none of the devs considered it that important, or there wasn't enough time.

[@Chroniclerope]

I wish they’d outsource the Pokémon animations. Now that they’re going fully 3D, having a separate company create and update old Pokémon animations while the main studio creates the new animations for the new Pokémon and characters. Though I’m afraid the outsourced animations might have more character than the in house ones.

[@Gnidel]

Also, the attacks will be animated anyway... for anime! Why not reuse animations made for anime for games? The franchise has unique challenges AND advantages.

@@Gnidel The anime is 2D animated and storyboarded to happen a certain way while the games use 3D models and could have infinite permutations. It wouldn't work at all. There is no way to transfer that work.

[@dynomite9524]

@@Gnidel Those are two entirely different mediums.

[@NovaBlue242]

ALAKAZAM WALKING HIMSELF BACK WITH HIS FINGERS OH MY GOD WHAT HOW HAVE I NOT NOTICED THAT IN 20 YEARS WHAT THE FUCK

[@JustiMeGames]

Curious if any of the issues with the stagnant camera have to do with needing to have battles take place in the actual world? The camera already clips and glitches like crazy with the one default shot, it might be even worse if it was cutting, panning and zooming all over the place.

[@furiouscorgi6614]

Maybe, but they could at least have it for full Battle Arenas like that for major story battles, the area designed for a fight there

[@segasRdead]

I dont know how no one has mentioned this. But if you click the right stick during battle the camera goes from static to dynamic and will follow the attacks and zoom in and out automattically

[@aepoyi]

been waiting for someone to make a video about this, colosseum holds a special place in my heart and I always felt like gamefreak hasn't been able to capture the magic of those battles. the lack of dynamic camera (or it becoming less), no creative solutions to hide the lifeless battle animations, just no innovation, I find myself going back to those early 3D games and be amazed at how bursting with life those battles were. battles should be fun to look at, not a slog to get through. sad they don't work with genius sorority on 3d games anymore, they obviously knew what they were doing

[@smgtercero]

no way, another human being who acknowledges the existence of Grandia III

[@hanoli7933]

Nowadays games think its all about graphics, and while it adds to the game if ultrakill has taught me anything its that some genres can get away with "lower quality" graphics. I also just am a fan of pixel art, and it can add plentyfull to a game, i think the new games feel off rn because were not used to the smoothness instead of pixel art

[@KnightOfTheKey]

I've been following your content for a while now, and I just want to say that it has been a blast watching every video you make each month. Can't wait to see what next year has in store for us.

[@Asocial-Canine]

Agree with most of the points here, especially regarding the more dynamic menu camera shots as they'd be much more prevelant and relatively low-effort to implement. But regarding the moves themselves, it's worth remembering that not only were Colusseum to Battle Revolution developed outside of GameFreak by Genius Sonority, but Stadium was made when there were 151 Pokémon, and even Battle Revolution, which had all Pokémon up to Gen 4, actually reused some animations and even models from Stadium (Look up Khangaskhan's model. It's Glorious). Making bespoke animations for each Pokémon, along with camera movement to follow them, would be a hurculean task for Game Freak, who *really don't need more work on their plate* if the recent game's any indication. Of course, limiting the scope of the game could be a good way of giving more focus to the animations. Colosseum and XD only had about 131 in total *between them*, which could explain how they had the ability to do such little details as having the camera bob with Golem's breathing. I'd love to see GameFreak do more smaller spin-off games like that, not only because the spin-offs were just better (fight me), but also so they can work on prettying up the cast piecemeal and have that work done for future releases. ...of course allegedly they already future-proofed the models for the 3DS games, and still cut the roster down for SwSh / SV, so I've no idea.

[@speedslider3913]

This video wasn't about animations, dog (pun intended). It's about the camera, and how it functions in-battle. It should be noted that Game Freak has gradually added new animations to older Pokémon since Legends: Arceus, so it's not impossible for them to make better animations.

[@Asocial-Canine]

​@@speedslider3913 True, and thinking back on it some effects like following the Pokémon as it moves or a certain part of the model as it bobs around could be made procedurally, but there's still some level of tweaking that comes from that; telling the system what to track for each Pokémon, and verifying that the system works for every Pokémon. Or, if you do a camera shake as the Pokémon lands, you better make sure it doesn't happen for Pokémon that are flying/hovering in their animation. Also, he specifically suggests creating different camera motions for individual Pokémon. It mightn't be actually animating the Pokémon, but it's still creating something for each Pokémon, which is going to scale with the number of Pokémon there are. And that's the point I was trying to get to. Saying "GameFreak should do this" and ignoring how much workload that would require is just being unrealistic. Implementing some basic systems that can apply equally to every Pokémon and every similar action is a good thing, but saying things like "give all of the attacks the same treatment they give the big attacks" is ignoring the fact that only giving the big attacks special treatment no doubt saved time that could've been spent elsewhere.

[@Cherryblossoms110]

I think the largest issue is that even GameFreak wanted to make something as spectacular as this, they'd have to do it for every individual Pokemon. Considering how badly constrained their time and budget was for Scarlet and Violet that it came out with an insane amount of bugs and poorly optimized frame rate, it honestly seems like a pipe dream. It's also definitely easier for the colosseum games to implement it because they do not have to create new Pokemon designs, they do not have to balance gameplay, they do not have to design new characters, they do not have to spend as much time to design and build the game environment, etc.

[@unkarsthug4429]

My biggest issue if they did this is that it would inflate battle times, especially giving shots to stat changes and status. If they did something like this, they need to ensure a middle option in the battle menu, where you still have some animations to distinguish moves, but you also don't have to bother with the long ones. An option like that could actually get pretty tricky, so I'd probably rather they leave cameras alone. I already feel like a lot of moves take too long, but it's helpful to have a visual representation of what happens, so it's annoying to turn battle animations off, although I do when I get irritated enough.