Pokemon: The Franchise GameFreak has Never Deserved.

[@Dirtblokje154]

terrible video you just hate pokemon

[@TheLudomancer]

Pinned. Watch all the way through and tell me that again.

[@victronlin0318]

@@TheLudomancer based

[@eldiegollador7271]

Lemme guess; you made this comment without watching the video because the title of the video triggered you that much, right?

[@TheLudomancer]

@@eldiegollador7271 Nah, give him a Little credit.

[@lj3830]

​@@TheLudomancerI guess the thumbnail and the title must have made OP think that you're talking about the franchise as a whole, but in reality you're only talking about the main series games.

[@sleepycyborg3241]

The fact that when I saw that Ingo was in PLA, one of the first things I thought was, "Man, I can't wait to finish the game to see what the fans have done with his character! Cause there ain't no way in hell gamefreak is gonna make it important." says a lot about the writing of mainline Pokemon games.

[@MortalP]

Honestly Ingo is another example of a character that should have been the protagonist, because there's way more potential in that than another random ass kid...

[@villainkaiju]

I wish sometimes main characters were the like of Looker or Ingo or anything besides the ten year old ash that we always get

[@stanzacosmi]

From what I remember, an anonymous game freak employee said that they wanted to make sword and shield a good game, but they were denied a delay to make any fixes to the systems, animations, world design, etc. they easily could, and want to, but the 3 year release cycle isn't letting them. combined with the fact that the team is likely cut in half at game freak itself, well.

[@coolyeh1017]

Pretty much what we are seeing is that the design, creative, and music sides are mostly on point but the technical team, the team who has to the important step of synthesizing it all together is inadequate for the scope of vision the other teams envision Pokemon to be. There is a Japanese review site and Gamefreak has an Average rating of 2.94 (the average rating for an average gaming company is around 3.2), and it boils down to the management, design/artists, marketing, and creatives being very happy while the technical developers are languishing and forced to pump out low-quality content. The TCG is growing and changing format every couple of months, the artists at Creatures Inc. are allowed to be more creative (look at the recent art coming out), and the side spin-off games are much more technically impressive when created by another company, not Gamefreak. Not to mention the marketing teams getting better and better with their advertisements and creativity. The problem is that everything els about Pokemon is flourishing and growing while the technical capabilities are falling further and further behind with no time to fix technical issues too.

[@comyuse9103]

[x] doubt. (the employee, not that you heard it) _much_ better games have been made in half the time with less the people, and they don't even work on pokemon animations besides.

[@abduking.]

@@comyuse9103 what the vid on exposing gamefreak apperantly they literally give the employees shit equipment that noone can make good games with in a short time

[@nomoredying3547]

​@@comyuse9103 can you give examples

[@pedronunesmoreira5279]

​@@comyuse9103Remember that they make on average 3 or 2 games per generation. So those 3 years are much heavier than if the company focused on just one game.

[@Pudding404]

Wow, I can hear your frustration in this video and that's proof right there of your love for this franchise. That bit about "others would kill to have their game be as popular as pokemon" really stuck with me. I personally quit playing pokemon after sun and moon but like countless others it has, is and will always have a special place in my heart.

[@TheLudomancer]

Glad you enjoyed! Always great to remember that this paid off.

[@manamaster6]

Same case with me, I loved Pokémon, but dropped it after Sun and Moon. I got so fed up with the formula that I cannot even play hack roms anymore. I now watch this sort of videos to know how the franchise is doing and what the games have to offer, both good and bad.

[@PS-th9jc]

I don't think the formula itself is a problem tho. There's a reason why the mainline games follow it, and they've been doing it for 25 years. At this point in time it's the bread and butter of the franchise. If Pokémon were to change, I much rather have the mainline games remain with the same structural formula but refined and improved, and leave the different projects that can come out of what we know as Pokémon for the side games.

[@YaBoiJoosh]

Honestly Pudding not gonna lie I quit when I played Shield, the last Pokemon games I properly loved were USUM, which were such a long time ago at this point. I miss the days of gen 5 and gen 6, nowadays when people make Pokemon content, it's always based on the newer games as challenge videos, which I don't really like. For example I used to love watching GameboyLuke others like him, I hated unsubbing to that guy when I did because he's done good for the community when I was a fan, but sometimes I look back at the content and I see that it's mostly based on Scarlet and Violet, a game which makes me lose faith in the franchise, showing me that GF have run out of ideas, with their execution of Toesdcool being a literal copy and paste of Tentacool, and the Paradox Pokemon being futuristic/ancient versions of mons we know and love, it just feels lazy to look at the newer designs honestly, and I'll only ever revisit the games that I loved.

[@slowcookerhomeplanet]

this is what happens when a franchise is never compared to anything outside of the same franchise

[@thepotatoportal69]

Franchcest

[@lj3830]

@slowcookerhomeplanet exactly, its also a reason why i hate the "older pokemon games are good and newer pokemon games are bad" mindset (only for the main series) when pokemon has always been just mid at best compared to other games, even the best of the best pokemon games can't compare to something like Shin Megami Tensei, Dragon Quest, Persona ect.

[@z33thr33]

This comment aged like fine wine. What do you think of Palworld?

[@slowcookerhomeplanet]

@@z33thr33 palworld seems cool (have not played it or watched much) but people who think it'll change how tpc or GF put effort into the series are just wrong imo that game is hitting a small portion of Pokemons fanbase and mostly getting a new audience i think. but it is cool to see a lot of people say similar stuff a month later lol

[@okweedcoolbroismokeyes64]

They get so much hate, even when they made Pokemon Black and White, everyone said its the worst game by far, how dare they not bring any of the old pokemon into the region and now its considered one of the best games they have made. It feels like after that they kinda gave up

[@DelArcadia]

If I told someone that there's a video game franchise that cannonically has Superhumans, fighting Godlike Dieties, Familiars that you can summon to assist you in combat, and the connection between Humans and these Familiars has lore that ties them together, and a highly advanced society cable of creating Clones and other futuristic technology, and that said world is created by an Eldritch Level God, you'd think it's anything other than Pokemon automatically. Pokemon has some of the coolest lore, concepts that are introduced and SHOULD have more detail upon them, but it doesn't. When you actually think upon anything in Pokemon, it becomes something that should have way more weight. Korrina can literally smash rocks with a single kick, Sabrina and the Psychic Trainer class all have ESP, Channelers can actually channel the dead, and so on and so forth. It's a damn shame Pokemon doesn't like exploring any of it's concepts beyond a surface level or at it's worst "Yeah, we can do that" I often find myself indulging the thoughts the series gives me and either write or imagine scenarios with the context given. This series has basically infinite potential, and they're committed to expanding on nothing. I honestly would be completely okay with Pokemon if they stopped making new Pokemon and Generations going forward used what they have to craft a story with what they have. Hell, I feel like this is why regional variants have stuck around. But god it's depressing. Pokemon is an amazing and incredible franchise, it's games however leave so much to be desired. It's honestly impressive that Pokemon hates it's fans so much when the fans have so much passion after years loving this series.

[@tigrandavidov3317]

I unfortunaly feel like the problem of untapped potential is one that makes people obsses even more about the games. Those incredibely promising concepts you listed are nothing more than a bait. Like the carrot a donkey is following infornt of a carriage. People see these unfinished ideas and wait for more or even fill the blanks out themselves, making them engage with the world. Im pretty sure though gf isnt aware of this effect and just proffits from this lucky coincedence spawning out of their broken and downright greedy policies. The thought of "what if?" is very tempting

[@DelArcadia]

@@tigrandavidov3317 I'll agree with that. Personally I just enjoy thinking on the potential because I have self restraint. The only Pokemon Game I bought since USUM was PLA, and that's just cause it actually looked different enough to me try. Like it had something to see.

[@Chadfill8348]

You're right, when you said that first paragraph, I thought about Final Fantasy, I thought about Digimon, but I didn't think about Pokemon

[@droycon]

SERIOUSLY 100%

[@Wasted_AF]

I’ve always felt that Pokémon was always like, a B- in terms of quality with every game. Like, not even the best of the best mainline Pokémon games can compare to even moderate competition from other franchises. It’s just been successful because, well, it’s Pokémon. To draw a comparison, it’s like Marvel now. No matter what they put out or what the public reaction will be, it’ll succeed on brand recognition and nostalgia alone. Such a shame because I absolutely love the franchise, but have to admit that it’s never been a “quality first” series.

[@TheLudomancer]

Agreed. That alone would be one thing, but some of these games, especially Gen 5, have the potential to be massive classics on par with PMD Sky. All the pieces are in place for a genuinely affecting story of ideological conflict. Unfortunately: Ghetsis is in bed with our collective moms.

[@gerragotheallidile]

More like F-

[@gust20xx32]

That's pretty much how I've always felt too. Plot progression, mood, presentation, competitive battle mechanics... they all resume to me as "I've seen something similar done better before somehwere else!" and "they could have developed way better this part"

[@lj3830]

@Wasted_AF Excatly, the mainline games have potential to be great but they never reach maximum potential.

[@NightOfTheRavens]

For a long time I only knew about the mainline games and the mystery dungeon series... Most of my favorite "pokemon games" now come in the form of fangames.

[@masterjoda999]

In the master ball segment, I am reminded of how, in I think one of the manga, they established there that capturing the legendaries weakens their powers somehow, and that's why Cyrus hands over the master ball, because he wants palkia/dialga at their full power to remake the universe.

[@TheLudomancer]

Interesting, but I don't think the writers talk to each other. There's a LOOOTT of stuff that's exclusive to the manga.

[@masterjoda999]

@@TheLudomancer Oh, I didn't bring that up as a refutation of anything you said; if anything, it's a lamentation that they could've done at least that much in the games to explain things like why the big bad is just handing you the ultimate pokeball as a battle prize.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@masterjoda999 don’t worry, I got it. Always good to hear people engaging with me on topics like that. It shows you’re thinking. Is it the Pokémon Adventures manga? That’s the one I’m reading rn

[@masterjoda999]

@@TheLudomancer To be honest it was so long ago that I don't remember, but it probably was Pokemon Adventures, given how thorough that one is with the worldbuilding

[@Edgee_yy]

@@TheLudomancer it is Pokémon adventures

[@HylianWindRider]

This video is even more relevant after Scarlet and Violet.

[@jonaw.2153]

I was _just_ about to suggest the Pokemon Adventures manga to you when you mentioned it. Your point about the mainline games featuring Pokemon but PMD actually having them as characters was my favourite part of the video.

[@AniGaAG]

Thanks for being someone who finally mentions the darn NPC dialog in these games. I swear, you are correct: Everyone in these worlds is a bunch of _weird_ sociopaths. This is one of the worst non-gameplay things about these games, it's crazy that so few people mention it.

[@dylus7434]

I had to get out of incognito mode to comment this. This is golden. You communicated my feelings towards these games so damn well and then some. I was on the verge of tears at the end. Pokémon nowadays just doesn’t know what it really wants to be. I don’t even know how to feel with this series. Should I fight for the boundless potential Pokémon has, knowing in the back of my mind it’s a losing battle? Or should I run away, soaking myself to other RPGs like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Shin Megami Tensei, but undoubtedly feel pity for the generations of people playing this archaic empty husk of a game series? I feel paralyzed. I don’t know what to do. Pokémon to me now is just more content for FurAffinity or something. The soul is gone… They treat players like they know literally nothing. Insulting as someone who’s played games since I was 4. I don’t know how people still care to buy new games, when it’s just the same thing over and over and over again. I also want to say, despite how hard it must have been for you, thank you for genuinely sharing your emotions through your commentary. Emotion is what makes people care the most about things, and not enough people do that, probably because they fear of getting labeled as whiny or something. When you slowly and gradually reached the tipping point at the 1-hour mark, I freaking felt it. I was shaking in amazement. This needs more views before Scarlet and Violet come out. People shouldn’t just buy these games solely based on brand identity. We want our own meaningful, challenging, customizable journey where the world is alive and not like we’re the center of the universe. For this, I say thank you. You earned a like and subscribe. I’m gonna share this with my friends now.

[@HibiTeamQueso]

Play Xenoblade. It repleaced Pokémon as my fav saga and I couldn't be more happy. No games make me feel as much as Xenoblade. It's absolutely incredible.

[@castform7]

Warning: This thing is *long.* I went way to hard on this. I don't even have a tl;dr except for "great video". Read at your own risk of time. I have been sitting here, after watching what was essentially a short film of someone ranting about one of my favourite franchises, just thinking about what I wanted to say. There's just so much to take in, I'd have to watch the video a second time while taking notes to talk about everything I want to within this video, but like Gamefreak making a game, I don't have the time nor work ethic to do so, so I'll try to get everything I want to say here on the first go. Bravo, you did amazingly detailing all of your problems with this series, with points I've never even heard from anyone else. For example, the NPCs. What I felt like would be an overblown nitpick about characters most people wouldn't care about's dialogue, turned into a genuine critique on the abnormalities of 90% of what are supposed to be regular people and the stuff Gamefreak lets dribble out of their mouths, some of which literally warping our perception on things that we wouldn't have thought about and making us ask questions they don't want to answer. We always see glimpses of what Pokemon could do, small little peaks into how varied and interesting this world could be, only for GF to burn it at the stake and go back to basics every single time. It's like I'm watching an episodic show that had someone make steps towards character growth only for them to be back to square 1 as if nothing ever happened because the writers are scared of writing outside a status quo they made. It gets so frustrating when there are kept around for no reason other than "they were there before" (unless you were cool and interesting in which they will strip you of it because, paraphrased from their own words, "we want each new gen to have unique things so there's a reason to go back to them" which is a whole nother can of worms). Why do they go out of their way sometimes to put time and effort into stuff like the stupid battle flavor text. You don't need to do this guys, I can live without you telling me I buffetted a Sanstorm. I personally love gyms but we don't need them as the final narrative hurdle everytime. And for the love of god I don't need any more evil teams, as far as I'm concerned, we peaked at Skull (SM not MD, I haven't played the games so I can't speak on anything there) and Team Yell exemplified what happens when no innovation was made to a tired trope. I *wish* there was more immersion with your Pokemon. I have to actively try to make them special by doing stuff like looking at their nature to get a template for a possible personality (something I think the games would do). Amie and it's two brothers haven't fully scratched the itch I have cause it feels like the bare minimum. You wanna know one of the reasons I love the anime (okay "love" is a strong word for Journeys specifically but for the argument let's use it), the Pokemon feel like distinct creatures. Ash's Sceptile has a twig in it's mouth and likes to play it cool. Iris' Excadrill had a storyline dedicated to it trusting her again. Dawn's Piplup is literally just a full character. This is mostly what I want. Speaking of what I want, something a tiny bit more edgy (not the bad kind). Yes Pokemon is for kids but 1. Kids can endure strong themes if done well and 2. This a universe with literal furry bait, allusions to a guy being beaten by golf clubs, Serena sympathizing with a madman who wants to an alive an entire planet and a psycotic man who ruined the end of a good Pokemon game trying to unalive *children* on two seperate occasions (good time to bring this up, I like Ghetsis' blind evil but they chose the worst game to put him in). I don't want grittyness for the sake of it, that's a problem a lot of Pokemon Rom hacks have. I just want simple but interesting narritive complexity with well written characters in a story that feels important. With all of these complaints it makes me wonder. *Why* am I a Pokemon fan. These rushed pieces of wasted potential are only getting sadder and I'm still into it. The truth is, I don't know why I continually subject myself to mediocrity. I've seen I have my limits to what I'm willing to buy with not getting BDSP but I'm still gonna enjoy Pokemon because try as I might, I'll probably always love it and always gonna be a part of my life for the forseeeable future even though it never stops going downhill. I am a Sonic fan so inconstent quality is not unfamiliar. This video hurts but it's necessary because critiquing what you love is necessary. Blind hate is bad, but blind love can be worse. Speaking of critique, I do have some small flaws with this one. First, the point about Pokemon realeasing trailers for like every single Pokemon isn't entrely true. SM did that and it was annoying but SwSh and now SV hax most of their dexes hidden only showing max 10 Pokemon so they have gotten pretty tame with that. Secondly somecof your new battle ideas are cool but I'd probably want them on a toggle for some things such as feuds during double battles. I value choice in pokemon games and while these all sound fun, I personally wouldn't be fond of some of them on repeat playthroughs and such. But that's about it.once again famtastic job dude, this was a great watch.

[@TheLudomancer]

FINALLY got around to reading this and I ain't got much to say but hot damn! Well put together thoughts about my ramblings. Thank you so much for enjoying!

[@ShenaniganBros1]

I mentioned the little background text about someone putting themselves in a Pokeball to cure their cancer to my friend and they genuinely had to stop for a second because they hadn’t even thought about that before.

[@kamiwriterleonardo6345]

At this point Pokemon is run more by the fans than by Gamefreak. We are the ones giving meaning to the poor work done by them. Our creativity fills the gaps. And that's why I think that it would only take two actions for us to have the perfect Pokemon game: Give the next mainline title to another developer to make, and give them more than a measely year to make it. Three years minimum, five recommended.

[@jacobwansleeben3364]

It's like how Nintendo temporarily gave Mario to Ubisoft and they made Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, the only good Mario RPG in about over a decade.

[@DetectiveBarricade]

At this point I'm convinced that what we're getting *is* a result of 3 - 5 years of development. Working on the next installment as soon as the current ones are about to release. I wonder if perhaps Game Freak feels pressured, internally or externally, to have *something* "exciting" to show off for Pokemon Day that will be released in the fall? It might explain the pretty much yearly release schedule, which they also can't back out of because the video games are but one part of this massive merchandise machine that has to keep turning no matter what. I believe that Game Freak still genuinely cares about Pokemon. At least more than your typical Western AAA developer/publisher does with their own franchises, given that Game Freak has been trying to address the bugs in Scarlet/Violet while your Ubisofts and Take 2s probably wouldn't lift a finger to fix anything that doesn't impact the microtransaction store. I really wish that Game Freak would take the time they need to make a polished Pokemon game at the very least. The rest... is probably well beyond wishful thinking at this point.

[@coolyeh1017]

@@DetectiveBarricade I mean it seems like their marketing, design, artists, music, and creative teams are more or less there. SV had probably the best story since BW (I know its a low bar, but at least you can see that the writing team is trying). However, because of the short development cycle and small technical team, you know the ones who have put everything together, the concepts, the story, the models, the designs, the art, the system, etc are all struggling to make a barely functional game if SV can be considered functional.

[@muf1nl0rd]

I've been a pokemon fan probably my whole life, ever since I saw the Diamond and Pearl anime playing on Cartoon Network as a kid. I still love Pokemon. And despite this I agree with *every single opinion you've made here.* This is honestly my favorite pokemon essay of all time. No other big name poketuber can come CLOSE towards this level of care and polish and raw, unfiltered PASSION you put in this video. You are BASED as FUCK. You are my fucking brother in arms with these FIRE opinions, god bless upon ye. Although I'd say that I actually liked Gates to Infinity better than Explorers of Time even though the game's easier cuz the characters are much much better imo, although EOS is also pretty damn good. The characters of Post Town and beyond just felt so alive, so full of personality, and I always rooted for them even though I got spoiled of the game. Compared to EOS GTI has the more lively set of side characters who aren't exactly random town NPCs - Emolga, Dunsparce, Virizion, Espeon and Umbreon, etc.; and I love how *actually involved* they all are in the story, *even at it's climax in the final dungeon! Like hOLY SHIT what a way to make me feel for these goobers!* One thing I'd say is that the main group of baddies is much weakly written than the antagonists of EOS (even though said evil group of baddies' leader is actually kind of a really well written and depressing character). Also I ship Emolga and Virizion so damn hard,,, just lil flying squirrel man and his nature deity goat wife who's four times his size amiright- Anyways so many people critiquing pokemon only talk about the gameplay, and not the story itself. You are the first person I've seen ever TALK ANYTHING about what's wrong with the narratives of pokemon games, and you did it so *so extensively.* I've seen Sun and Moon get a lot of hate because "tOo MuCh HaNdHoLdInG" and while that was a pretty legitimate critique to give to a game, I still enjoyed it. Gen 7's still my favorite pokemon generation of all time, because it gave us some of the sickest and most unique designs for pokemon (the Ultra Beasts are still some of my favorites I love these eldritch horror alien goobers so much), and improved on a lot of things that I did NOT like about X and Y including the game's difficulty and it's storyline. Even though the storyline had some wasted potential, it was still an *actual storyline with actually memorable characters*, and it made this game much more fonder for me. Also Team Skull (the other one, with the humans) is fucking hilarious and is my favorite out of all of the evil teams ever holy shit these guys are so fucking funny just a big found family of thugs doing wacky shit and crimes together what's not to love Honestly I love Pokemon as a *concept* more than a game. I've seen many fan comics and fanfics that have their own interpretations of the pokemon universe and I can't fucking explain them all BUT whenever I want to go back to pokemon, I just look at fanfics and fan art and fan comics and headcanons, because they tell a story far FAR greater than anything Gamefreak has done. By the moment people knew Ingo was stuck in the past in Hisui, it was almost as if the separation anxiety angst fanfics of his twin brother Emmet now being left devastated and haunted by the sudden vanishing of his brother and him not showing up for possibly *months or even years* just... WROTE THEMSELVES IN AN INSTANT. Everytime I check the pokemon tag on Tumblr, all I see are a thousand different AUs on all the different ways on how the subway boss brothers my or may not reunite or cope with the situation. And it's almost all hauntingly beautiful. Even though these two barely have any character in the game's they debuted in, they still managed to get a death grip on thousands upon thousands of fans. Because fanon is one hell of a drug. And fanon is what brings me back to pokemon. Pokemon is a franchise of infinite potential. And by that, it has unintentionally become the ultimate playground for the fanfic writer or fan artist, young or old, novice or a veteran. Anyways that's it for the ramble byeeeeee

[@TheLudomancer]

Thank you so much! That’s a goddamn inspiration. I’m gonna say I really don’t get the appeal for GTI, it just feels bloated to me. But to each their own man!

[@dim4757]

​​​​​@@TheLudomancerwas my first mystery dungeon game, so I'm likely huffing on nostalgia, but even after playing the rest of the series I adore GTI even though I do recognize that mechanically it is the most bare bone and has the least interesting post-story gameplay. The main cast is so good. One thing I love about GTI's plot is that instead of just integrating into an already established and top end rescue team like in Explorers or Super, you watch your team grow from the ground up. Sure, Rescue Team had a similar idea but aside from Magnemite and maybe Absol none of the pokemon you recruit are important to the plot. In Gates, you are introduced to your team gradually and you have no choice but to build attachment to them overtime. Emolga and Dunsparce are a very charming duo with a very well written dynamic. Virizion is pretty unlikable at first but then *she's* the one who ends up saving the day because she felt she was partly responsible for Dunsparce getting himself in trouble, and overtime you find out why she was so cynical and cold at first. It's not because she's just anal, but because she was backstabbed by her own best friend. (Though I will say I don't like the decision of making Virizion's character a legendary pokemon. Getting a legendary on your team in like the 3rd chapter kind of takes away from the reverence legendaries seem to get in the world from other games in the series. If Virizion's character was replaced with a Serperior for example, it wouldn't have made a difference at all.) Umbreon you meet because he had access to technology that made him a target to the big bad and was tragically separated from his partner while on the run. You later meet Espeon and get properly introduced to some of the big bad at the same time. You don't think much about Toxicroak and Purugly at first. You just assume they're run of the mill crooks who want to use the Magnagate technology for their own nefarious gain, but its a good enough setup to introduce you to characters that will be important later. And since Umbreon and Espeon have nowhere else to go and don't want to risk getting attacked again, they stay with you for safety. At this point your team is fairly well established, seven members strong. All with well written personalities including flaws. And they're not just there for you and your partner either. They actively communicate and create bonds among themselves (seriously the love triangle between Dunsparce Emolga and Virizion is so goofy I love it). You guys battle together. Explore dungeons together. Go on rescue missions together. Me personally, I never felt inclined to take anyone but my partner on exploration missions in the other games, both because the two of us were usually capable on our own. But also because I never really form a bond with anyone else. Even the explorers guild crew, as much as I love these characters, they don't give us much reason to form connections to them outside of the special episodes. And all the while you're watching - not just you and your partner - but the whole team grow stronger, leveling up, getting new attacks or upgrading old ones. And this is all before you meet Hydreigon and Keldeo. Keldeo admittedly isn't really fleshed out or developed. But Hydreigon, oh man. I know a lot of people weren't crazy about his twist since veteran fans just saw the exact same stunt with Grovyle in Explorers. But as someone who didn't know anything about Explorers at the time, his and Munna's twist was just... damn. The cutscene where Hydreigon zooms up over the edge of the cliff and blasts Salamence just as you were about to be blown to pieces is still easily one of my favorite cutscenes. You probably even forgot Hydreigon existed just before that because the only thing you're thinking about is how Munna led you right into her trap with practically no backup for miles, and now despite all your valiant efforts you're about to be finished by virtue of being extremely outgunned. Suddenly the character you were told to fear from the very beginning is now wrecking shop right before your eyes? I didn't even know what to think and next thing you know he's the one who saves me. And his character is so damn adorable lol and I know that he's loved by the rest of the fanbase. Gates also had one of the darkest scenes in the series when Kyurem "killed" Hydreigon in such an effortless fashion. The op character that made dungeons a breeze for you, someone that you projected was going to be an insane powerhouse to your team even leagues above Virizion at that point. Not to mention you've been growing attached to this character who just risked his own neck to back you up in saving your partner, someone that Hydreigon himself had no reason to be attached to. And then in almost the blink of an eye he's killed right in front of your eyes, and you barely begin to process what just happened before Kyurem starts crushing you like a bug. This scene was so cold (no pun intended. ... okay fine it was a little intended.) And mind you, this scene takes place in the middle of a vast desert. The last place you would ever expect to see Kyurem in. This isn't even going into all the minor side characters like the residents of post town. And it was the Frism ending scene... dude that made 8 year old me straight up cry and to this day as a full grown adult I still find myself having to hold back tears. Everyone telling you how much you meant to them. The other games in the series really emphasize your relationship with your partner. Gates though, it almost feels like *everyone*, at least the ones on your team, were your partners. And one line that still hits me is when Gurdurr says "I'll even go to the human world just to build a house for you if you needed a home." These guys weren't just townsfolk. They were your family. Ones who helped you in *your* time of need instead of you needing to rescue them everytime. Gates may be the weakest game in the series in terms of content and general plot. But even if it is the weakest in the series, it's definitely not weak. Yeah from a gameplay perspective its pretty stripped down like I mentioned at the beginning, but it's a genuine PMD game through and through with its own unique charm and dialogue. Personally, I think Gates is overhated, maybe because I'm just too nostalgic. But regardless of how much you think Gates measures up to the rest of the PMD series, it's still infinitely better than anything Gamefreak has put out with the mainline games.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@dim4757 WHOA BIG COMMENT HOLY THANKS BROTHER!! Yeah, GTI is still leagues better than GameFreak, and the cast is big and strongly written, but I honestly just find that it really creates a schism with the party structure. It doesn’t feel like you or your partner have much to do in the story. Their roles could easily be merged with Emolga and Dunsparce to streamline it. It has been awhile since I played it. Maybe Explorers just set the bar a little high.

[@maximillionpegasus5160]

This got recommended to me from pretty much nowhere (I have recently been watching Pokemon Challenge runs), so hopefully this video is reaching a lot more people than normal.

[@corundumkrabble5035]

Same here

[@WheatOatmeal]

I think after Black and White wasn't as well received by fans after trying something a little bit different, they never tried anything different and pretty much kept everything the same for a whole decade and a little bit more. I'm hoping S&V will finally be above a 7/10 unlike almost every other Pokemon game.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah, I've heard that people didn't like the additional story focus. Mostly because most of the story focus is just characters standing in a huddle talking about the same things over and over again for way too long. They didn't quite change it going forward because Gen 6 has a lot of the same issues but without an actually interesting conflict.

[@Jdudec367]

That is not true at all, gen 7 and Legends Arceus says hello. Gen 7 changed more then gen 5 did tbh. Every pokemon game? SwsSh is below 7/10 and other games are above it.

[@WheatOatmeal]

@@Jdudec367 that's what I mean by a whole decade, Gen 7 did nothing new, but Legends was.. well something

[@Jdudec367]

@@WheatOatmeal Gen 7 DID do new stuff though, a great plot, regional variants, replaced the gym leaders, got rid of HMs, etc it changed more than gen 5 did.

[@WheatOatmeal]

@@Jdudec367 I'll give you regional variants, but that's it

[@thealientree3821]

If Ghost Pokémon are said to take away life force, why does it feel like it is just restricted to the Dex Entries at times?

[@Piss_Off_Plz]

Probably because the Pokedex is 99.99% utter bullshit

[@edorasmarauder5761]

Because the game would end faster.

[@gircakes2]

We need a ghost type equivalent of draining moves like giga drain.

[@dennisthegreat1]

Plot of gen 10 is dialaga is an alcoholic and the other 3 are trying to help

[@bestberryj]

The ending gave me deep chills. It's hard to believe and accept how bad this franchise is because we as players and fans always try to see through the surface and immerse ourselves in the world. But gamefreak really has given us nothing. And it's heartbreaking I guess that's how they got the "freak" in gamefreak

[@TheLudomancer]

SO good to hear that the ending worked for people. I swore everyone would just call it cringe.

[@corundumkrabble5035]

The ending really did put a nice little bow on the entire point of this video.

[@bestberryj]

@@corundumkrabble5035 It really drove home the squandered potential in even the best-storied game in the series

[@felixma9192]

The biggest problem is that many people still buy these games despite how bad they are

[@seank.cunningham3841]

@@felixma9192 Those are thousands of clueless parents across the globe who buy the games. People think they can do a lot about that, but they really can't. Telling TPCi to give GF more time has been a thing for a reason.

[@alenor210]

The Gen 1 games are so barebones because the gameboy couldn’t handle anything else. But once Gamefreak got access to better hardware, they only used it to slap a nicer coat of paint over the same awful game design. Look at Final Fantasy. They started out with the exact same 8-bit hardware limitations, but they actually innovated their game design as they got better hardware. In 14 years, they went from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy X. Compare that to Pokemon, which took 27 years to go from Red/Blue to Scarlet/Violet. The lack of innovation over such a long timeframe is astounding.

[@TheLudomancer]

Final Fantasy took the pipeline all the way to Action RPG territory, and they STARTED with at least 20 times more decision points in every battle. Someone who Gets It.

[@NIMPAK1]

@@TheLudomancerFinal Fantasy has zero genre integrity and just blindly chases trends. Not too dissimilar to how Devil May Cry tried to reboot itself to appeal to a western audience, only they do it for almost every single entry. If you really want to compare and contrast other jrpg series, then Dragon Quest is a much better comparison. Not only sticking to it's guns to what made it appealing in the first place, but polishing it to such a refined degree. Unless you genuinely think that RPGs were only turn-based because of limitations and that mashing a button is the inherently superior way to present combat and that they should throw out everything that competitive players care about to make something that only appeals to people who don't even play the games and only like the IDEA of Pokemon.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah. I do believe RPGs were turn-based primarily because of technical constraints. Keyword Were. Devs wanted to portray more variety and depth than more real-time combat could offer at the time. And now, those limitations have created a new mechanical space with it's own merits. I'm playing Persona as we speak and having a wonderful time. Something can be born of limitation and still have a reason to exist when those limitations are removed. I can't speak much to Dragon Quest's quality, I only know it as the point that basically all turn-based RPGs derive from and that it's massive in Japan for it's cozy fantasy vibes that define 98% of both trashy and excellent isekai to this day. To say Final Fantasy "Chases Trends" when 7 was a trend Setter, 14 continues to be a powerhouse, and everything adjacent to 13 is medically: Wack As Shit, doesn't hold water to me. It's a Varied Series that experiments a lot. So... Cope? I Guess? It doesn't always hit but that's a mark of passion. If they were riding trends, wouldn't they be copying Dragon Quest as closely as possible?? Let me break down what you just said about Competitive Pokemon because that's not REMOTELY close to what I believe. Competitive Pokemon has a few things going for it. This much is true. But you seem to ignore the concept that it has faults or room for improvement in the first place. Competitive Pokemon formats, (Mostly doubles and limited tiered play regulated by Smogon, Not TPC) are a deviation from how the game is normally played. They have to Change the Base Game to make it competitively enjoyable. If what competitive players liked couldn't be changed or improved, they wouldn't move on to new games or interact with new mechanics like Gigantamax or Terastal. They DO though. they were playing singles against each other back on the original gameboy, they switched to Doubles when they became available in Gen 3. When the Physical/Special split happened in Gen 4, they stuck with it. The things that make competitive Pokemon interesting are either not relevant to solo players, or just Not Fucking There At All like Doubles or reads. Pokemon has a lot of parallels in other Turn-based games but 90% of what makes them interesting and engaging to play through is MISSING in Solo play. So A) Competitive Pokemon Play can and has been improved in the past. B) Competitive players have been on-board with improvements in the past. C) the integrity of Competitive play is not a justification for the games to be thoughtless slogs. I don't know why you're so uppity about Competitive Pokemon changing at all. It's not like taking a new angle on Pokemon combat would erase the existence of the formats we have now. Hell, they could cut all support for the current competitive scene, let it go grassroots for awhile (functionally unchanged via Pokemon Showdown where 90% of the actual thought happens anyway), use that time to make a Better combat system with more approachable depth for solo play, bring back a Competitive Pokemon Sim, call it "Pokemon League Classic" and make fucking gangbusters!!

[@AntiKipKay]

@@TheLudomancer Well a lot of things we enjoy is turn based. Playing cards. Board games. Even driving through traffic lights. For the first games we had the chance to actually enjoy an adventure with our own pokemon instead of just watching the show. I see nothing barebones about it. With the advancement with newer games they became more intricate and offered more and more features. What makes me mad is that they started to remove features and quality. We can't even pet our pokemon anymore. When you introduce something good you don't take that away which is exactly what game freak has ignored with each newer game nowadays which is really sad.

[@intentionalgamedesign1053]

your point about kids being less innocent now is spot on I heard some like 4th standard kids or something just swearing talking about really inappropriate stuff for their age

[@seank.cunningham3841]

LOL, my brother was already talking like that in the 90's. And nobody got offended. That's what happens when you go to school, unless you grow up sheltered. You hear about stuff. But if they talk like that to the parents, what they do next is THEIR responsibility.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

But that's pretty normal lol Unless you lived in a super sheltered community, and went to catholic school

[@thealientree3821]

I swear my little brother talks like he was in the hood or som.

[@robertwildschwein7207]

I think, social media iis bad for kids. Especially bullshit like Tiktok. But the normalisation of sexual sht in our society is to blame too.

[@user-li8sr9zo9l]

I remember when I first played The explorers games, as well as Bowser's inside story. Probably the first times video games showed me they could be much more than just a couple of levels. Sadly mainline Pokemon has yet to reach that feeling for me, and after branching out to other games since, I doubt I can ever go back to play those games unless major changes happen. Unfortunately, looking at how well they continue selling, I don't think it'll ever happen.

[@Airuz1]

GOD DAMN YOUR TAKE ON THE POKEMON BLACK STORY MADE ME TEAR UP IT WAS SO GOOD

[@TheLudomancer]

It’s literally two differences. Like i said. Everything’s there for it, and we never get anything.

[@infinityheart_tm9270]

@@TheLudomancerAlso decent presentation.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@infinityheart_tm9270 thank you! It really means a lot to hear that people resonated with it.

[@SatanClauze]

My biggest takeaway from this is that I need to replay the PMD series. As a teen I thought the Dusknoir character was genius, but later thought it might have been just because I was a teen with a simple brain and no better story to compare to. After this vid I'm glad to feel justified on my initial impression. That game had a plot that actually cared.

[@TheLudomancer]

I dunk on his smirk for being glaringly sinister and obvious but the game does a lot of subtle stuff that I never noticed until like, five playthroughs. That bit where your partner mentions it storming like when you showed up before moving into discussing the Time Gears and cutting to Grovyle in Treeshroud Forest? I believe I accurately voiced my affection.

[@heldon7951]

Thank you for your attention to PMD, it will always be my favorite game and will ALWAYS respect it deeply and affectionately

[@robertwildschwein7207]

Yeah, I need to replay it too. I was kinda suspicious about Dusknoir(Is this the right english name?), but still surprized when he was a villain.

[@anubisgodess2353]

YES! FINALLY it's not being held captive on your computer anymore and it's premiering tomorrow hooray!! I can't wait to see all the fun edits and clips that you've done I'll be sure to watch it live!

[@dragonfluf]

On a platform famous for creators screaming into their microphones, this is the best example of that volume being EARNED that I can think of. Feels weird to praise a KZbin Video for yelling, but you had me so engrossed I only noticed it when you cut away. Thanks for putting a voice to the years of frustration I and many others have felt with Pokemon.

[@collegestuff2511]

You going fucking nuclear at random points while making solid points always makes me come back to this video.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah, writing that script started with the attitude: "Pokemon doesn't actually have much that can stick with a person, and that's a shame!" And then I played through the games looking for the ways they fail, and then I found more, and more egregious nonsense until I had a complete mental breakdown.

[@bernardyes6792]

So glad this underrated channel has such a quality video in my Recommended, it is awful to see the direction the Pokemon games have gone in. It's been so hard for me to play through a Pokemon game the last few years because the constant hand-holding and irrelevant storyline is a slog to get through. I could only imagine how amazing a Pokemon game with mature themes, a real story and PASSION put into it would be. Unfortunately as we know, Nintendo like to strike down anyone who makes a Pokemon-inspired game. :/

[@TheLudomancer]

It ain't even about mature themes. As much as I've argued that Game Freak are being absolute cowards and overcompensating, I just want competent storytelling, buildup and payoff.

[@gerragotheallidile]

The fucking Mario games have better worldbuilding then Pokémon could ever hope to achieve.

[@akatsukigajou1639]

Gerrago the nah its because it isnt pokemon related.

[@Jdudec367]

Not really.

[@KingdomHeartsBrawler]

Yep, especially when you factor in the RPGs. The Mario RPGs do a fantastic job in the lore and world-building department.

[@amesstarline5482]

​@@KingdomHeartsBrawler Even if we don't count the RPGs, there's still Odyssey, the Galaxy games, and an attempt with New Super Mario Bros U.

[@loonloonlikemoonmoon1577]

@@KingdomHeartsBrawler This. Unironically the Mario RPGs are some of my favourites.

[@legoregice5604]

N could solo the entire franchise with just slightly better writing, god damn

[@TheLudomancer]

Literally three changes and center stage, suddenly he's cracked.

[@legoregice5604]

playing as N would just make the game so much better than being blank 10 year old with a cool hat

[@kikuokahime1025]

​@@legoregice5604 finally someone who understands

[@darknessknows1235]

@@legoregice5604 Okay, I kinda have to disagree there because the BW protags were cracked in design and more, and the idea of them changing and responding to N is more fitting to the themes than playing as N, who's better as a rival/villain than a protag.

[@islandboy9381]

@@legoregice5604 no it wouldn't the whole point of the dual theme in B/W is having him as a different perspective to you the player to Pokemon

[@jeamsis]

Pokémon’s poor world building is a huge issue. I remember how distancing it was even as a kid to be playing the game and then see characters IN WORLD holding DS’s and doing things like trading or battling Pokémon with them???? WHAT????????? Even at the age of NINE i was entirely taken out of the story and left with many many concerning questions that left me somewhat disturbed.

[@ultimatevtgb7551]

What is the issue? Real world consoles have been known to exist in Pokemon ever since Red & Blue, in fact when you spawn in as Red you stand right next to a GameBoy. How is trading such an immersion break to you? If they can digitalize Pokemon and store them in a literal computer, they can also trade them through a digital device. Just because you watched a full hour long video of Pokemon getting spitroasted doesn't mean you need to chime in and make up problems for the sake of it.

[@ultimatevtgb7551]

@@jeamsis No, real world consoles do not break immersion. You know why? Because you are still on Earth, you aren't living with aliens in Pokemon, if there are computers, water, buildings, humans in Pokemon, then it's not strange for a Gameboy or a Nintendo DS to exist. You want to know my reaction when I spot either of those things in Pokemon? It's "Haha they're here too". Pokemon is set in an alternate Earth where magical monsters roam freely and technology is more advanced, that's what you are supposed to pick up on goddamnit, are you slow? Secondly, you are delusional, because even though trades still happen through the consoles, we never got to see the NPCs actually play Pokemon, that is nothing but your own extrapolation. Why the hell would they be playing as themselves in their own world, once again making up a perceived problem and then complain about it. If little things like those break your immersion, that's your deal, I have folks who play Pokemon and they do not give a fuck about seeing a DS in Pokemon nor console trading with an NPC.

[@ultimatevtgb7551]

@@jeamsis It's funny how you claimed your comment isn't an attack, yet become more and more condescending with each word count until your argument finally devolved into a rant about the definition of an RPG and what Immersion-breaking is. Thanks for wasting your time and my time. It's like those phony "No offense! But (insert offensive statement here)" deflection. What? you think I'm not going to be offended about you talking shit about my dead dog just because you spent 2 seconds typing "No offense" beforehand while your intention is clearly to offend? Do you even think before you speak or is it just an excuse to jerk off your ego without consequences? I spoke to you in a mostly polite albeit confrontational tone, I never called you a condescending name nor insulted your intelligence by making a rant about the definitions of words, at least not until you did it to me. So, how about you take a step back and learn how to properly formulate an argument. Here's how: Don't be a condescending and egotistical little prick, and respond to people's argument with sensibility, a simple concept even for you perhaps?

[@crimsonsonic2]

I always assumed they were trading with specialized trading machines and not just ds' like in the anime, but smaller and can fit in your hand. Do they ever actually call them ds' in the game or are you jut assuming they are ds'?

[@Laezar1]

I can kinda explain that actually, back in gen 1 the communication around the game was centered around trading and how the link cable allowed you to transfer pokemons, so the idea was kinda that your pokemon was actually going through the cable (which was also how the trading was shown in game), we knew it wasn't actually true but that was the general fantasy of it, physically transferring pokemons. So in games seeing people transfer their pokemon felt more like they were doing the same thing as us rather than questionning the world building. Also the first game had a lot of 4th wall break, game freak studios being represented in the game for exemple where you could "talk to the devs". The thing is that between that and gen 4, pokemon got a more fleshed out world that stopped being open about being a videogame, and the link cable disappeared as a transfer device. So yeah seeing the same thing years later but with a DS is just them doing the same thing again but without understanding why it worked initially

[@grayzoldyck7657]

I totally agree with pretty much every point you brought up. At this point, while I play every game released, the Pokemon games just became an inspiration for independant creators for me. Rom hacks, art, even Fanfictions! You would be surprised what masterpieces there were created, just 'The Natural' or 'Borne of Caution' alone are greater than every Pokemon story created by the Pokemon franchise (except Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Sky, but I think we all agree that thats the best game Pokemon has and will likely ever released)

[@TheLudomancer]

Basically every Pokemon thing that Game Freak doesn't touch is at least competently told. Pokemon Ranger isn't half as affecting for the most part but I remember what happens in those games for reasons beyond spite because a lot of them are interesting shenanigans in their own right that logically follow from each other appropriate buildup to set pieces. I don't need everything to be PMD Sky because that requires Arata Iyoshi on every product and that man deserves an express ticket to heaven by my count.

[@dantheman9795]

@@TheLudomancer Honestly I have been playing reborn and other games (not only pokemon) that are RPGS and feel way better

[@TheLudomancer]

@@dantheman9795 Without Persona or early Final Fantasies in my life, I wouldn't have the perspective to make this video. Pokemon's greatest fault is that other Turn-Based RPGs exist.

[@dantheman9795]

@@TheLudomancer ye wanna know one of the best and most underrated RPGS of all times? The Lisa trilogy. Mid July is getting out the definitive edition so I would suggest getting the game to play both versions

[@brandonvelde5774]

Borne of Caution has such an immersive take on the world of Pokémon to the point that it almost reads like non-fiction. Also Lee is one of the few isekai protagonists that: 1. Care deeply about their homeworld, and have a good reason as to why they are unable to return. 2. Have their past life be relevant to the story beyond just their immediate skills and traits. 3. Have the way they've been transported to their new world add tension and conflict to the story beyond just their arrival, as Lee now has to guard a dangerous secret about nuclear physics.

[@nobodyimportant4778]

If lysandre's plan had just been to kill team flare, and THAT was the purpose of the entry fee (making sure everyone who joined was a garbage human being) he would have jumped from easily worst villain to easily best villain

[@fuzzydice_]

i don’t know how i discovered this channel but this is so engaging to watch

[@areosmithwagon9890]

It really shows how badly they manage the ip when almost every fan project does way better with it.

[@Sad-Lesbian]

Characters in pokemon really just stand around. Waiting for you to talk to them so they can give you a tutorial or exposition. And then go back to just standing there. Final Fantasy is far from perfect with this, but seeing the students of Balamb Garden walk around, or the people of Kilika repairing their town are things that are so small but add so much.

[@TheLudomancer]

Details are the lifeblood of fiction. Anybody can paint the broad strokes, but it takes real dedication to flesh out a world.

[@MrPSaun]

After the Spaceworld '97 ROM was leaked, and I spent considerable hours dissecting the components, it became obvious to me that the franchise has always been plagued by development issues. Now, there's a part of me that wishes Pokémon had ended with that version of Gen II, complete with whips and Pokémon being used as weapons of war by the military. Red and Blue have these cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic undertones that are just so much more interesting than the brightly colored world of family friendly dog fighting the series has become. Had the franchise continued in that direction, or just ended at Gen II as a solid send off rather than the unfinished mess we got, I think Pokémon would have the same mystique as any other obscure classic. It would have endured as a fond memory rather than languish in mediocrity it has now embraced.

[@TheLudomancer]

The whole story of Satoru Iwata saving Gen 2 has always been weird to me. Johto was pretty ambitious, but how do you fumble so hard that one person is capable of enabling the whole project with a compression algorithm?

[@johnnyknadler1157]

Well the saying does go “You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain”

[@thecanadiandane7262]

Damn, I wasn’t expecting tears to well up when you went on the “imagine this” tangent

[@TheLudomancer]

Taking yourself seriously is scary, but obviously, it pays off.

[@PeeperSnail]

The fact that there’s so many NPCs that bring up the ethics of storing Pokemon in data form is so bizarre. Not even other mon catching games are safe from this. TemTem, for example, goes out of its way to paint the in-game PeTA equivalent as unambiguously correct. In family-friendly games revolving around capturing creatures, why the hell do the edgelord implications of animal abuse get tossed at the player? Do the devs want me to catch mons or not?

[@TheLudomancer]

Yyyyyep. All they gotta do to make it sensible and pleasant is say “Simulated training resort” or “Pocket Dimension” and it’s all Gucci. But no. They Gotta be weird about it. Can’t add a potentially boring but potentially extremely interesting detail because coherence and worldbuilding constitutes an E10+ and we can’t have that. the 6 year olds would riot if we made them think.

[@jacobwansleeben3364]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the mission of the Free-Tem Society isn't to prevent abuse of Temtem, but just to help control over-catching of them, so they reward you for releasing the ones you don't need. The real-life equivalent would be how countries are trying to control carbon-emissions; it doesn't mean that we shouldn't have ANY emissions. They're necessary for society to function, we just need to control them. There's nothing 'edgy' about that.

[@Jdudec367]

​@@TheLudomancer They weren't being weird about it though. They can do that for E rated games though. Except they made the games challenging before so...not really.

[@TheLudomancer]

​@@Jdudec367 They dance around the idea and question it's morality without actually making any statements or consequences to the data-storage idea. That's what I call "Being Weird About It." ... Yes. The second paragraph was sarcastic. Do you want to come up to me and say that the level scaling of some games makes them "Difficult"? No. If the most natural approach is throwing more time into my XP bars and spamming the same moves I had before with bigger numbers behind them, that's not an interesting challenge. Play another RPG. Preferably one with turn economy.

[@Jdudec367]

@@TheLudomancer Wait you are talking about Temtem not Pokemon are you? Pokemon at least sort of addressed what it's like being in a pc really with Poke Pelago. I can tell. I mean...it depends on if you grind or not, cuz if you don't it can be more difficult. I don't know what a turn economy is but got it, I already am playing another RPG right now known as Persona 3 Portable.

[@fallwoodcentral7991]

Wow dude. Why don’t you have more subs? This is sublime. You make a lot of good points and even more great ideas Game Freak should implement. Personally, Sword and Shield was the de facto point when I felt betrayed by Game Freak, that nothing of interest is happening. And funny enough, it was Digimon: Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory that made me realize this. It was a game with 2 versions that were actually different (One side, you work with detectives, the other side, you’re a part the secret society of hackers), substantial paid DLC, dynamic side characters, actual stakes, agency from the main character, and meaningful ways that the game acknowledges your bond with your Digimon. This was a game I sunk 100 hours into without ever feeling I spent even 50 hours into it. It was just so engaging. Pokémon had so much time to just do something, anything, different and meaningful, and it didn’t, it doesn’t. Meanwhile, in Digimon Cyber Sleuth/Hacker’s Memory, I meet one of THE most terrifying things in my life within the first 20 minutes of me playing. I felt emotions in Digimon. I actually had a bond with everybody in there. Pokémon really is a cookie cutter adventure and I hate it, like you. It’s the reason I’m going to be cautious with Scarlet and Violet. I’m thinking about not even buying the game and just getting the experience from osmosis. I’m definitely thinking about buying the next Digimon game though. That stuff is fire and not afraid to experiment. Also, you Fossil Fighter Frontier review summarizes EVERYTHING I hate about Frontier. It’s great. So thank you for the great video essay and I hope to see more from you.

[@TheLudomancer]

I'm not quite as into Cyber Sleuth as you seem to be, but yeah. I left with pretty positive opinions. Digimon is nothing if not daring. If only they'd give Agumon a different voice. I'm fine with literally every other voice.

[@Auron1Roxas2]

You dumbasses are seriously pathetic.

[@corundumkrabble5035]

After this video, I'm also heavily considering not buying Scarlet and Violet, at least not from Nintendo themselves

[@Auron1Roxas2]

@@corundumkrabble5035 You idiots sound dumb as hell.

[@gerragotheallidile]

@@corundumkrabble5035 It is now morally correct to pirate Pokémon games.

[@uraynuke]

this reminds me of Pokémon Uranium [my favorite Pokémon game because it ACTUALLY TRIES], which does a lot of things that Gamefreak WISH it could do - but y'know, they took it down so... I guess we die. really, I just wish anyone but Gamefreak did Pokémon.

[@cannedpotato2]

Hell. Yeah. Uranium is amazing, and so are the other ones shown in the video, I feel like sometimes people are drawn away from the game from it being called 'the BANNED Pokemon game' but really all a C&D can do to an online fangame is end it's development if it is a work in progress. People can still download Uranium, just make sure to use an antivirus. On a similar note, did you know that Reborn did NOT get a C&D in time? It's finished. Play it.

[@uraynuke]

@@cannedpotato2 I'd love to try out games like Reborn, but every time I look at their website... I just can't tell if the game's completed! they talk about releasing something like "E19" in the website, but I can't see any indication that it's finished anywhere. I also like it better when there's Fakémon, but y'know, I'm not complainin'

[@PreciousTheShinyShuppet]

Such a sad sight that many, honestly willfully ignorant people, will choose to not even watch this amazing video based merely on the title and thumbnail. They dismiss you another Modern Pokemon "H8r", some even having the gall to call you Verlisify of all things. They can continue to enjoy their poorly written kiddie game with non-existent story, where they're mashing B to skip over dialog anyways, and be perfectly fine with forced Catching tutorials that insult their intelligence.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah. Someone's got a twitter thread popping off about it with 500k views. So that stings. I saw the Verlisify comment. Dunno who he is, not inclined to listen to him. Thanks for the validation friend.

[@PreciousTheShinyShuppet]

@@TheLudomancer Verlisify, just an A-Hole PokéTuber who goes on massive tantrum tirades about "cheaters" and "hackers" in Pokémon. You are certainly no Verlisify.

[@JuliusBriggs]

The lack of side character autonomy, the world revolving solely around the main character and everything playing out the same way no matter if you win or lose battles are all valid points I agree with. Wouldn't it be great if your potential failures had consequences to the story or if characters remembered things about you and their battles against you and pertinent world events? I do agree, that there are some wacky NPCs with wild dialogue but saying that they all contribute to a world that doesn't feel lived in is just incorrect. I'd recommend KZbinr Droomish and his recent video "The strange and beautiful NPCs of Gen 3 Pokemon". It does a great job at highlighting the dialogue of certain NPCs that definitely add to a world that feels lived in. The one thing you forget to consider regarding dialogue in these games is that these games aren't English; they're Japanese. Accurately translating these two languages is one thing and that can already be a massive failure sometimes but conveying the correct meaning of what was written is a whole nother story. So critiquing the dialogue from a standpoint as if it was originally written in English when it was in fact written in Japanese and then translated to English might account for the uncanny effect it can have. I'm not saying that it makes the actual dialogue any better but rating it's actual quality would be much more sensible by actually reading the Japanese dialogue and grading that. For all I know the Japanese dialogue could be just as crap of course. Then we should remind ourselves, that the dialogue is also in a game, that's first and foremost marketed to toddlers. Little kids aren't stupid of course but they certainly aren't able to appreciate sophisticated, poignant, meaningful and structurally well written dialogue in the same way adults can. That's not a real excuse to exclude it from the get-go; I'm just highlighting how executives and game developers think about these things. Target audience is a real factor for things like this. If I'm writing a novel aimed at 5 year old children instead of the average 35 year old it's highly likely I'm going to put less effort in and for certain I will simplify things and themes so that the children will actually be able to absorb them properly. For the point about putting in less effort: Ideally that's not how it should be but it is how human beings tend to do things. As an older fan of pokemon, I'd certainly wish for a new main line pokemon game that is more serious, explores deeper themes and has some stakes and consequences for the decisions you make. I too really enjoyed the Mystery Dungeon games. I completely agree that the main series villains are mostly tame and trash. This is often due to circumstance though and not necessarily because of the character's actual traits. It's hilarious how quickly a villain like Lysandre becomes bat shit insane and a crazy threat if he actually pulled through with his plan. One small caveat: saying that it's a bit dumb that everyone ignores the insane shit he says isn't stupid imo. He's a rich and powerful individual. We have enough of those in our reality who say a myriad of insane shit and most people flock around and admire them nonetheless for no reason. I agree his plan makes no real sense but does it have to? Can't he just be an insane lunatic with power and money? But I definitely agree, that a lot of the dialogue in gen 6 makes no sense and is pretty infuriating if you actually try to wrap your head around it like you did. A smaller point at the beginning of the video about the technology that exists in this world and whether it makes sense or not is something I find a bit tricky to be honest. This is a fictional premise and you're trying to put the relativity of our real world onto it. A lot of fiction fails under those guidelines. Almost no superhero stories make sense that way either. I do agree that yes of course, they have so much insane technology that's just taken for granted and used for completely moronic things but this is a video game and they're just used as tools and mechanics to make level design really low effort and easy. The financial economy of the pokemon world makes absolutely no sense either for instance. But these are all things I'd argue you really shouldn't think about in order to enjoy a game that is about cockfighting with fictional monsters and is mainly made for the target audience of six year old children. You use the exact opposite side of this point later in the video to not discuss Magcargo's pokedex entry. Could they nonetheless try to improve on this in the future? Yeah, of course. Will they? Idiots keep buying the garbage heaps that are the newer games so no, probably not. That's the main problem really. Ever since its inception, pokemon prints money. Nowadays the games don't even make up a fifth of the revenue anymore of what is the biggest media franchise on the planet. They clearly do not give a shit about the main series games any longer. That's pretty evident with the slop that's been released in recent years. You've got enough morons buying it anyways along with a new horde of 5 year olds who don't know any better and will probably feel nostalgia for this trash in 15 years time. I'm not opposed to Dex-it either if it meant we'd get more refined animations and gameplay but yeah we didn't, did we? And I get why some people take issue with it because pokemon's old motto once was "gotta catch em all" which is kinda hard to do if all of them aren't even in the game. They've changed it since but I don't think it's a hard concept to grasp that your consumer might have some discontent if the main slogan of your brand conveys one thing and the product conveys another. I absolutely agree about the tutorials and the handholding. There's nothing much else to say about how pointless and annoying it is and how it has ruined the modern iterations of the games for experienced players. Yeah the Master Ball really doesn't need to exist. This is again about children and instant gratification for the box art legendary though. The horribly slow and stretched battle animations could be intentional to stretch gameplay time artificially and require less optimisation but who am I telling this to if you said you study game design. I also hate it. People spamming the A button is a wide spread habit amongst pokemon players for a reason :D One thing I would say is that these games weren't ALWAYS garbage as the thumbnail says. As the video goes on, I'm understanding this was more just a thumbnail to grab views and attention. Nonetheless I will say that the original first few games were marvels of optimisation and the teams working on them were small and had little to no money. They were products of genuine vision and passion and the world wide success they attained is a testament of that. There are so many facettes to the 2D pokemon games that are absolutely fantastic: music, world lore, certain location designs, small side activities that have so much depth put into their mechanics that it's actually mind-boggling (like gen 3 pokeblocks), the pokemon designs and character designs themselves, etc. I agree however, that as the franchise progressed and got bigger it is quite obvious that Gamefreak isn't the company that should be at the helm for the further creation of these games. Gireum Red's video "I exposed what's really going on at Gamefreak" where he looks at employee reviews of the company's work culture is rather eye opening as to the state of how they take on the endeavour of making modern pokemon games. They really do not care anymore. Like I previously mentioned: these main line games aren't what's driving sales for the Pokemon IP any longer but toxic morons still eat up this slop and slam any criticism of it with vile hatred. As long as people keep buying every horrible dev crunched new game on release in the millions, nothing will change. Sorry for the long comment btw but you did make a pretty long video to comment about :) Nicely done vid. Overall, I agree.

[@electricrage272]

I had a serious nostalgia attack when you mentioned Bakugan, I loved the show and the toys. My grandma would always take me to Target so I can collect more, and we would watch the show together at her house. I remember the show being on at 6 in the morning before school, oh I miss those days. The plot of the show was actually interesting! The Bakugan themselves are living creatures getting separated from their homeworld and end up stuck on Earth. They decide to team up with humans to try to win the battle for their home. The first 2 seasons were amazing, the last 2 seasons were all weird for me... I know a lot of people hate the series because of the merch being constantly advertised to you, but I loved it. It was my childhood

[@TheLudomancer]

Real talk: I have no nostalgia for it and I only went for it because it just does some things better than Pokemon and is a well-known example of "ADVERTISE TOY". But I couldn't stand the battle scenes. I skipped literally all of them unless I saw what looked like a good joke. But hot damn if those jokes weren't some left-field BS. Preyas with the massive Geisha setup and parasol making the stupid voice killed me and I wanted desperately to find a way to work it into the video.

[@electricrage272]

@@TheLudomancer Oh, I'm sorry Preyas was my favorite and yes some of the battles are cringe, but idk why my dumb brain enjoyed it. I just be weird or something

[@unf3z4nt]

@ 39:40. Even a sun will pass away after at least 1 billion years since its formation. The only thing that is constant is the universe's unstoppable march to its ultimate degradation.

[@VJT5370]

Just a thing; but could you like hold the footnotes for like a second or two longer, you have so many of them and they pass by pretty fast.

[@TheLudomancer]

Noted. Thank you very much! Definitely needs toning down on the amount moving forward.

[@Silburific]

Watching this reminded me that the most enjoyment I ever got from playing pokemon came about by ignoring everything GF did. I did my first nuzlocke playing Pokemon Black when I was 20- I had grown out of pokemon for a time so I didn't even know they'd made a new game- and I went into it completely blind. Everything was new, I didn't know what _any_ of these pokemon were, I was losing mons constantly... and it was amazing. I barely cared about the plot (because the best pokemon narrative is still just a pokemon narrative and I've consumed media not just aimed at teenage boys) and ended up making my own plot that I proceded to extend to nuzlockes of Sapphire, HeartGold and Black2. I was invested in this story of my own making in spite of Game Freak, and I actually managed to trick myself into thinking that I enjoyed playing their games for another whole generation. Then I suffered through Moon and that illusion was shattered so completely that I haven't played a non-fan game since. The series only exists because the creator remembered the fun he had catching bugs and that _that_ was an adventure. I think the reason everyone creams themselves over gen 1 is because it's the only generation that feels like you, the player, are having an adventure. You're just some random shmuck, a dime a dozen, you just wanna win dog fights and rub that in your dumb neighbor's face. You have _some_ degree of freedom in chosing what gym you take on next. You're not fighting to save the world, you're just beating up local thugs because, let's face it- you're a sociopath who only sees other people as vending machines that spit out money and exp if you hit them hard enough. But from gen 3 onwards, you're the most important person in the world and there's no build up to it- you just _are._ You aren't just "some shmuck"- you are God's chosen one and the narrative never acknowledges that! I miss being able to _choose_ if I wanted to find the legendaries. I miss being able to kill them because that fit into _my_ adventure. I miss the games being simple enough that _I_ could actually "role play" instead of watching Generic Anime Protagonist #12 be dragged around to save the world by their Best Friends(tm) who are _totally_ relevant to the plot and whose names I _absolutely_ remember.

[@The_Prizessin_der_Verurteilung]

Great characters like Zinnia, Marnie, N could've been so much more had they been given further story time. Marnie wants to prove herself and is basically Vegeta if he was never evil. Except Vegeta gets a fleshed out story while she gets... one rematch a day in the post game? Zinnia is a hero with a grey moral compass, goal achieved (kind of) then just up and vanishes. N is great, well written, enjoyable, relatable to an extent. Then he's done and thrown to the side indefinitely. Meanwhile Red comes back again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again solely for nostalgia pandering which even that has worn incredibly thin among fans because as cool as Red is, he's a fairly boring, one-note character with no compelling story outside of "Hey! I played as this guy that one time!" As for the games, Generation 1 had flaws but was overall a fun time, Gen 2 sucked, barely any pokemon, no real value added and it's sole winning point was that you could play generation 1 post game? Gen1: 2 Gen 2: 0 Generations 3 - 5 are universally loved, except it took Emerald and Platinum to perfect Gens 3 and 4. 6 has potential, but copied inferior versions of great material which killed a lot of potential Gen 7 - 9... exist. But Pokemon Legends had a good foundation for something more. Not counting spin-offs since Pokemon Colosseum is just Dead or Alive but with cool monsters and powers instead of boobs and weird angles and Pokemon snap is Uno just with Pokemon instead of broken trust and friendships. We need fleshed out characters, good narratives like Pokemon Emerald where villains actually achieve something and aren't just a minor inconvenience. A loveable cast like Brendan and May. Maybe alternate stories, like a story mode for Pokemon contests and another for the standard champions league with both contributing towards a full pokedex instead of cheaply locking a handful of pokemon into a 2nd version of the same game just with a whale instead of a lizard. Instead of "Here's a new region with some mediocre new additions and a "champion" who's weaker than past rivals, they could further flesh out a pre-existing region, like how Hoenn adds Mega Evolution, incorporates Rayquaza into the story with more than the original "Giant lizard scary, monster behave now" plot line. and add more exploration like how gen 1.5 let you travel Kanto after you beat Kanto but slightly more saturated, or "Johto" post game. Pokemon deserves better, frankly it's criminal how they treat this franchise.

[@gozogo1233]

How about this, read Pokemon Adventures, you'll hate GF even more with how badly they write characters

[@Jdudec367]

Zinnia and N are already good though. Well Zinnia did accomplish her goal so yeah. Not really, he still helps stop Ghetsis and his Team Plasma. Well he's still a interessting mysterious character who is now grown up so he isn't all one note. Nah Gen 2 is good and doesn't suck, it had a lot of Pokemon, it had value added it had shinines hold items it added time etc, no it was that you can become the very best and catch em all...just even more now. Nah they are way higher then that. They are still all flawed too and not everyone loves them. Gen 6 is still good. Gen 7 is great really and USUM is arguably peak Pokemon. It isn't dead or alive at all. We have that though, especially in SV which people love it's story compared to gen 8. That is gen 2 not 1.5.

[@captainhamilton]

Watched your Fossil Fighters video a while back, and had some great flashbacks from the good old days. Came back after recognizing the name in my recommended, and I gotta say, for all the effort and heart you put in your videos, you deserve more attention in this website. For what it is worth, you have a new sub.

[@TheLudomancer]

Aces man! Good to have you!

[@IvoryAspen97]

This is the first video I’ve ever watched of yours, and it struck a chord with me. While I did play Pokémon Ranger growing up, I did not play Mystery Dungeon, but I might now. I have lived with and loved this franchise ever since I was little, and as apart of the theory community, I have searched for years for real meaning among its superficial world building and contradictory lore details. I resonate with what you’ve made here. I think you would really appreciate the fan regions that have found their home on YT from various creators I’ve watched: HoopsandHipHop, Bird Keeper Toby, Lockstin and Gnoggin, Truegreen7, and, most of all, I think you’d appreciate the storytelling of Mr. Buddy. I’m not sure if you wrote the section on Ultra Wormholes having already watched his take on it, or if it was just coincidence, but his passion project on Alola is magnificent. I am currently writing a years in-progress fan fiction with what I believe to be a mature story using my deep knowledge of the games’ lore. I’m re-writing the Pokémon timeline with my integrated magic system, and videos like yours help reignite my passion for mature Pokémon projects. I hope you continue the good work.

[@TheLudomancer]

I have NOT seen their take on that, so many of those seem incredibly interesting! Thanks for the tipoffs on what sound like great context! I can't say much about that fanfiction project beyond an simple interest, but the fact that you're having a full on magic system in it is pretty central. The fantastical elements are treated as so normal that it doesn't require any explanation. It is an angle to take, but it still needs something for people to latch onto to justify it and relate it to us in a world without that stuff.

[@IvoryAspen97]

@@TheLudomancer Well, in my fanfic, the magic system isn’t a central part of the plot all the time. I try to keep the plot character centric. But most of the characters I work with are original with occasional cameos of official characters throughout. But in a similar way that I enjoy writing Pokémon battles, magic battles are fun to write too. Balancing the stakes with the new magic element is a welcome challenge too.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@IvoryAspen97 Just having it at all and acknowledging with the audience that yes: This is strange, but we have RULES. They are CONSISTENT. Is respectable just to attempt.

[@IvoryAspen97]

@@TheLudomancer lol, trust me, after rewriting this magic system 3 times between the first iteration and now, I’m all about consistency. Because there’s a lot to consider with Pokémon, some things get added on or dropped altogether based around my premise: Anything a Pokémon can do, a Magician can do. I have branches of the magic system that may never get used in the story because they aren’t relevant.

[@pimpingporygon7157]

I love pokemon, but I absolutely agree, gamefreak keeps dropping the balls and I hope they fix it cause I love this series but they've bent it over there knee and spanked it to bits

[@pn2294]

Fix what? Pokémon is a “beautiful mess”. By “fixing” things, they’ve ruined the series.

[@pimpingporygon7157]

@@pn2294 the games just need like a whole new build, something need to be done but I'm not sure what

[@pn2294]

@@pimpingporygon7157 sounds like time to look for a new series

[@pimpingporygon7157]

@@pn2294 fair I love pokemon, but in recent years balancing and selling out has been too rampant, that's it time for digimon

[@TheLudomancer]

Good attitude, extremely healthy, probably for everyone's betterment. but also: People love these creatures and it's largely about the following and the existing investment that gives it it's enormous power to affect people. That's what I believe they're abusing even more than their enormous financial gains.

[@cs82271]

Completely agree that the mainline games need better stories like PMD2, but it is a little tiresome that everyone uses that PMD as the example. Like the other three don't exist. I know 2 is the one most people played and is probably the best, but 1 and 4 deserve recognition

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah. It’s just the best example. Rescue Team just feels to me like a prototype in comparison. Never heard anyone alive mention Super when it actually did the childish angle very well. Working around school, parents, etc is really hard in any story format, especially games where more freedom and place flexibility is in place. Super managing it so well is a damn charm.

[@pn2294]

Might as well cut out the Pokémon League, Rivals and Champions. More freedom that way.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah! Look at you getting the gist of it, breaking away from formulaic writing/game design!

[@corundumkrabble5035]

I like how you don't say that PMD3 (Gates to Infinity) deserves recognition lol

[@pn2294]

@@corundumkrabble5035 personally I hate that it doesn’t

[@corundumkrabble5035]

Just finished watching all the way through, and you've really helped me come to terms with certain negative thoughts I've had about the Pokemon series that I handwaved away because nobody else seemed to feel that way about certain parts of these games. This video was a great use of my time. Keep up the good work, and I hope video reaches a hell of a lot more people

[@roboticjanitor3332]

Another note about Palworld is that, imo, a good chunk of the edgyness comes from being upfront with stuff Pokémon itself implies or says off hand, like the brainwashing capture balls or the lack of "normal" animals to get food from. This, ironically, elevates Palworld above the "kids character(s), but they swear lmao" tier trashpost into a kinda interesting parody.

[@TheLudomancer]

Oh, absolutely. It’s consistent and just lets you make your own judgement about it instead of insisting that everything’s cool and normal. I love TB Skyen but he had a weird take on it, calling “uooh you use your Pokémon as slaaaves” a 90’s South Park style joke, when Gen 7 and 8 also do that.

[@QuiteSpiffing]

God, I remember a bit, I don't remember which gen, where you get asked from the start if you'd like to have something explained and you get to answer yes or no, and even when you press no the game just disregards this and explains the game mechanic. It's like Gamefreak is either too lazy to program in the other option or they're so inept they don't know how to deal with giving the player that choice, at which point I got to ask WHY EVEN PUT IT IN THE GAME?!

[@TheLudomancer]

Yep! Pestilential Goddamn Chronophages. All of ‘em. Just like the BW2 Kyurem exposition dump I highlighted.

[@QuiteSpiffing]

"I'm sure you meant to press no, but just in case you didn't, allow me to bore you with needless exposition or waste your time explaining a 30 year old game mechanic." @@TheLudomancer

[@FennekinFox326]

Surprised I never left a comment on this video when I first watched it. It was incredibly well done, dare I say radicalizing. I revolve my life around Fennekin, and this is what I get in return? Despicable. GameFreak even made the only Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game with Fennekin in it the worst one just to spite me. This is so unjust.

[@Sr_Cheto_]

I entered this video expecting a simple rant about where Pokémon is heading, but god was I pleasantly surprised. Really good video, I look forward for more of your content. However, I did notice something that held my enjoyment of it a little, which are the multiple interruptions in the video to further elaborate these points. They worked for me once or twice, but after that, it started becoming tiring, having to pause the video, getting out of the flow of it. It's just a little nitpick, though. Your points are really solid, and the use of other Pokémon entries really help to prove your point. I wish this video got to so many people, it's genuinely very good.

[@lotustree1125]

the biggest problem for me with DEXIT and why i switch to PKMN SHOWDOWN is team diversity. Now i may never be able to have a team with typhlosion, rillaboom, and greninja. Several pokemon combinations are now impossible, because they arent in the same game together. i feel like a solution for dexit is a battle simulator like showdown. they could of uses the style from black/white version for simplicity. To me if PKMN home, PKMN showdown, and PKMN GO can have all PKMN in it then why cant the main games. pokemon home has several different animation for mons in it, but they seem ok with it increasing in mons but not the main games. im fine with mons not being in the game (looking at you legendaries) or not catchable in the game, but most pokemon should be transferable.

[@lotustree1125]

im fine with a samll dex for the story of the game, but at least give the fans somewhere to battle with all pokemon instead of keeping them hostage in PKMN home. im a competitive player that battles with only my favorites and i have a bond with them all. Now i cant in the main line games cuz now my feraligatr cant be on a team with cinderace

[@TheLudomancer]

Well said man. It is a bit of a conflict between competitive and casual/story focused players. To my mind the Dexit is the worse solution between cutting costs by doing less animation and cuttings costs with a smarter workflow. Because my god their current workflow is extremely limiting.

[@ChaosRUsEnt]

Gireum Red made a vid named "I Exposed What's Really Going On At Game Freak" gave a decent insight about the decline in quality of Modern Pokemon titles. The employees that work/worked at the studio made reviews about the company detaling Game Freak's shortcomings.

[@goombah8771]

God this is such a amazing video, never viscerally agreed so hard with someone regarding Pokemon before. I thought this would be like a lot of the now common "Pokemon sucks now because gamefreak doesn't care, it was much better back in the good old days when I was a child." videos (which i mean there right but its a dead horse there beating at this point) But you've given voice to a lot of concerns and frustrations I've had for years but never had the platform to voice. For a JRPG (A genre that usually focuses heavily on story) series that's been around for almost 30 years, Pokemon's world is shockingly shallow, basic and confusing. The weird nonsensical npc dialogue, the constant forced tutorials, the same cookie cutter plot recycled in a slightly different skin. all reasons I haven't really found the focus to actually complete a game in the series for over a decade. I think at this point I just like the concept of Pokemon more than what it actually is. Its really a shame there's so much wasted potential here. Pokemon could be so so much more than what it actually is.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yep. Hence the title. "Never." Not since the 90's when it came out. "GameFreak" The main devs. Everyone else who's had the license and more budget than a Week's 7/11 stock makes something awesome.

[@ajflink]

"My face is reflected in the water. It's a shining grin full of hope... Or maybe it's a look of somber silence struggling with fear... What do you see in your face?" This quote is said by a random kid looking at his reflection in Petalburg in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire. It feels out of place for multiple reasons: 1) It sounds like the kid is depressed or thinking about some seriously dark thoughts. 2) It catches you off guard as it is the 3rd major settlement of the game and nothing bad has happened, yet. 3) His dialogue has NEVER been changed across all Hoenn releases. I love it. Instead of me getting mechanics and location-based gameplay exposited at me ridiculously to an insulting degree, you get this dialogue that breaks the mold. I strangely love it.

[@TheLudomancer]

There is an artistry to surreal dialogue that can be its own appeal. I mean, that's basically the whole point of Earthbound and I love that game to pieces. If Pokemon were to actually commit to that weird atmosphere, I'd appreciate it, but the way they currently do things, dialog like that is at odds with everything else.

[@ajflink]

@@TheLudomancer It just stuck out to me because it's so jarring.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@ajflink Yeah! You think anyone would care about the Shorts kid if there wasn't a bit of genuine appeal there?

[@retrosquadchannel2.050]

Man, you did with the retcon from 1:18:57 hfd more power than whole franchise (except for PMD series). It hits harder than a goddamn truck! I replayed Explorers of Sky month ago and it still bears so much emotional force (although I'm 28 and found out this game only 4 years ago). And music there is gorgeous! Your words ring true and for that I respect you.

[@temporalmao]

This was a masterpiece and you truly embody the storyteller that this property needs

[@TheLudomancer]

I'm flattered, honestly. I'm glad this had so much of an impact on you!

[@fluxity88]

I think a lot of this is valid - but missing why despite all these factors it’s the most valuable franchise of all time. People replay Platinum, HGSS, Fire Red several times, not thinking about plot or world building or graphics all of which Pokémon has never excelled at any point. The replay value comes from using a new team of Pokémon each time to play through the game. The Pokémon themselves is what makes Pokémon so attractive globally. The canon of the PC isn’t really a thought on 99% of the players, especially when a majority of players are under 14. I think some people - especially older fans - want a triple A game with amazing graphics and story telling, but I can tell you Ghost of Tsushima that has it all is probably played by 90% of people just once while many people continue to replay 15+ year old Pokémon games. PMD has a great story, but again you can only play it once or twice cause it will be exactly the same experience every play through, even if the two Pokémon protagonists are changed. Sure you can recruit Pokémon to your team to use, but several story based dungeons stop the player from using more party members. Also the lack of evolution and small stat changes until post game also takes away from the game, it just feels like the Pokémon are just skins and the differences are minimal. The story and world building are amazing, but I’m never itching to play through it again right after finishing, maybe after several years.

[@oyeh8908]

I just watched the ending of The Indigo Disk, and I have to say it’s really, really anticlimactic. The dream theory would have made perfect sense, but “alternate dimensions” is apparently the excuse for every single miracle Terapagos performed, which leaves a whole lot of unanswered questions. I can’t tell if I’m just acting entitled or I’m completely justified in being so disappointed. Things like this are why the TCG is my favorite depiction of the Pokemon world. Simple snapshots of daily life, not held back by the crappy writing of the games or anime.

[@darcidious99]

Nearly finished with the vid, love the overall message even if there are some things I personally dont see eye to eye on (though its smaller things, the big points I fully/mostly agree on). Only major complaint id like to point out with this vid is a structural thing: the walls of text that require pausing if you want to see the full conversation. I usually wanna watch through a video completely without having to stop bar some outside exceptions that require attention. Having to pause the videos to read a wall of text (which I say "wall of text" but really the amount of text itself isn't an issue at all) feels really pace breaking, though the ones i read did seem like the addressal of counterarguments that likely would've slowed the video's progression, so I think it mostly passes. Just a small nitpick since they sorta interrupt the flow a bit, but other than that i think this is a solid video. What's weird to me though (and mind you Ive only played through sinnoh in platinum), is that I SWEAR that the ice lake area was stuck behind a rock climb wall where Barry basically said "hey dumbass go beat the gym so you can climb up and help me". Is that something I'm mistaken on, or is that just a platinum fix that they didn't add to BDSP since "haha faithful remake" excuse? Cause I also remember getting the reaper cloth for dusclops up there I'm pretty sure.

[@TheLudomancer]

A) Thank you very much, I've seen a lot of that comment about the little corrections. I might have well gone overboard. Definitely taking it on board for later videos. B) III just googled it and yeah. Acuity Lakefront is different in Platinum. Whoops. I don't believe it changes much about the pacing with Barry still staying there and fighting Jupiter for the entirety of your Gym Experience, but it's one step better. I had the exact same thing in the first draft of the script and I thought it was just Mandela Effect.

[@darcidious99]

@@TheLudomancer honestly I got to that part in the vid and started thinking i was tripping too😂. Yeah definitely didn't fix the pacing problems entirely either, just really strange why that wasn't brought over. Then again that's kind of the whole running gag of BDSP so guess it should've been expected😂

[@TheLudomancer]

I legit thought I was having a stroke when I saw that the running shoes were back in. No Designers in the credits and it REALLY shows.

[@purgatorydreaming]

This is all Explorers of Sky propaganda and I'm all for it. But for real, I think the spin-offs tend to be so much better than the mainline series precisely because of this. They feel way more focused, the world makes much more sense, the gameplay feels refreshing in comparison to the mainline games! Hell, the stories tend to be more interesting. People say Scarlet and Violet will be better but... sure, we might get another competent game like SM, but what'll happen next? More mediocre games so they can give us another competent game a couple of generations after? Game Freak AND TPCi are just... not good at dealing with one of THE largest media franchises of all time. It doesn't make sense.

[@TheLudomancer]

Accurate and I will not stop.

[@codyshrimp2346]

I’m pretty late to the party on this one, but after finally watching it, this video was amazing, the editing and humor within the editing, it blended with great points all around. I agreed in that games like BW, they had such amazing potential for storytelling, only for ghetsis to steal the show for all the wrong reasons. BW’s climax from a narrative perspective is the epitome of tripping right at the finish line in my opinion. But my favorite part of the video were your points dissecting how the NPCs with their stupid sociopathic dialogue and their blind pokemania, alongside really weird writing, putting things like poke-ball theories or pc storage into a weird sometimes darker light is something I’ve never heard anyone mention before despite me thinking of it a lot whenever I noticed it.

[@TheLudomancer]

Still not over that one guy who heard someone behind a brick wall and chose the Bruce Lee approach to conflict resolution.

[@droycon]

I’ve tried getting into Pokémon because so many times because people hype it and I really love the Pokémon designs and enjoyed the anime as a kid, but no matter which game in the main franchise I played, new or old, I could never finish it because I got too bored, even though Im one that very often finishes games. It’s always people saying “no these are the games that are good, the other newer games are bad” (or the opposite rarely), but they all just feel the same to play with a new coat. I love RPGs but these games don’t have interesting gameplay or an interesting story/characters imo. Still love the Pokémon designs tho they kinda rock

[@droycon]

Made sure to skip the PKMD spoiler section so I might give it a shot, already have it on my 2ds so why not

[@TheLudomancer]

Holy shit I’ve convinced a person to play Pokémon Mystery Dungeon YES!

[@droycon]

@@TheLudomancerOk first of all, thank you for convincing me to play this. What a god damn amazing game. You don’t gotta read this but here’s a mini unorganized “review” of my thoughts: Gameplay: The game looked boring, like really boring when I first saw it but the dungeon system is so addicting I got so sucked into it. It’s so so fun. Taking multiple jobs at once, strategizing on how to beat a boss, like actually strategizing, I didn’t expect a Pokémon game to be hard and challenging?? It was amazing. I have never played a rouge like before so this was my introduction to the genera. I thought the dungeons would get boring and repetitive but it never felt that way like at all. I will say though about the bosses Dialga took me hours because I lost like all my items I spent like 2 hours or so and my fingers hurt from holding the 2ds for so long lol. I ended up doing a few sessions grinding for items today and finally beat it wooo *Story and characters: What a great cast of characters. I loved the guild and Pokémon in it and Grovyle and my Partner were just great all throughout. I grew very attached to them all. The side episodes were also a great addition to flesh out characters. And dusknoir is awesome and I didn’t see the twist coming lol. The story has me intrigued after Grovyle showed up and especially intrigued after we were taken to the future that I didn’t put the game down for hours because I wanted to see where it was going. Grovyle’s dialogue also just felt very real and well written honestly and the same goes for the parter But ok what is wrong with this game I thought it would be over after my character disappeared but they had to show my parter grieving for months???? WHAT????? AND THEN IT JUST CUT TO CREDITS???? I honestly teared up a bit haha. So anyways I love this game, and it’s probably one of my favorite games now, so thanks. I also should probably play more rougelikes lol. Also is it worth doing the post-game? Story-wise I mean

[@johnpaulcross424]

I agree with nearly every point you put forward in this video. I’m tired of watching Gamefreak drag the first game series I ever played and loved deeply further and further behind while blatantly financially and chronologically abusing its audience.

[@electricjoy272]

I used to be so into Pokémon, especially when I was younger. I got into the franchise in 2011, but before that I was more into Bakugan and Kirby. But as I got older, I noticed things were getting stale with Pokémon. My first Pokémon game was White and I enjoyed it a lot. But the more I played the new games, my enjoyment slowly went down. It's very repetitive and all the games feel the same. The last Pokémon games I enjoyed were Sun and Ultra Sun. I agree with your points a lot and now a days, I do still care for Pokémon, but not as much. I'm more into Kirby then anything, but I'm curious to see what Scarlet and Violet has to offer... (Sorry if my wording sucks, I suck at talking lol)

[@turtleanton6539]

Hey I think so to I started at red blue yellow😊

[@Damian-cilr2]

The basic gameplay for pokemon practically never changed,aside from new types and changes to existing types and new pokemon making it feel the same because spoiler alert: IT IS (practically) THE SAME

[@greenchilistudioz4537]

Ah yes, my chikorita and Glaceon can't be in the same game for "new" animation that is not the same rehash of Pokemon wobble with a special attack effects to make up for the lack of animation!

[@rampantfantasy1181]

i feel your frustrations on a deeply emotional level homie. Game Freak and the Pokemon Company have gotten away with being mediocre for way too long.

[@robertwildschwein7207]

The depressing thing is that we can't do anything about it. Even if we collectivly boycott their games (I personally don't buy Pokémon games anymore), it hardly matters at all. Money keeps flowing.

[@superdevton1137]

Damn, this guy’s thoughts have hands. I’m more or less in agreement with you because I love Pokémon

[@PokemonRangerFan]

Thank you so much for this video. I find it really annoying how pokemon games are only ever compared with each other (at least for the main series) which i believe is one of the things that holds them back more than anything else. Now despite what some people might say, pokemon has always been the highest selling franchise in the world even at times where its popularity was at its lowest and because of that almost no one ever takes a step back to ask themselves if the games can be done better or what can pokemon learn from other games to improve itself.

[@le563]

"I'm not too old for this series, I'm too old for the way this serise treats me" a perfect point

[@Xoinatos]

You talking simply fills me with hope and ambition xD

[@TheLudomancer]

I have no idea what could possibly cause this reaction but GOOD FOR YOU BUD! Dope-Ass Taste in Persona!

[@fredranzalot4849]

The biggest problem with dexit isn't that you can't encounter literally every mon in game. Until gen 8, starting back in gen 3, you could always transfer the pokemon that mattered to you forward. Maybe if you were lucky it was your first starter. Maybe it was a shiny raquaza. Whatever the case, you could always bring your favorite pokes into the current game. Since gen 8 the calculus has changed to "keep paying nintendo money in perpetuity and pray to whatever god you believe in they don't cancel pokemon home (something they're famous for doing) before they come out with a game you can transfer them to."

[@TheLudomancer]

Dexit has two issues total. 1: Pokemon Home. Just, In General. 2: They said it was to bolster execution but provided no evidence of this.

[@Metalflame21]

Honestly, I haven't thought critically of this, or any series till 2015. Watching this opened my eyes of both the franchise and other games as a whole. In this series, my favorites are Legends Arceus, Rangers Shadows of Almia, Explorers of time/darkness/sky, Diamond/pearl/platinum (gen 4 overall being my first intro to the games), and slowly gen 5, though can slowly understand why some may not be as fond to. I normally wondered why the games listed and even outside of the series (Night in the Woods, Sonic Frontiers, Telltale's TWD, etc.) are my favorites and this vid summarized it all up perfectly. I really enjoyed this vid! :D

[@KingNidoYT]

One doesn't just make a 90 minute video essay on a franchise they're not invested in. Well done on this. It comes across with passion and investment in a desire for something more. I can see myself coming back to this video for another watch to hear things I undoubtedly missed. Until then, onto your other content.

[@TheLudomancer]

Thank you! I’d like to think I’ve improved GREATLY since this, and I’d love to hear what you have to think about my other stuff!

[@sarawak333]

The video editing and depth of analysis here is insane! Great watch!

[@Little_Lepus]

That cowboy be bop into is just... WOWZERS. So clean, so smooth.

[@TheLudomancer]

Thanks! It took two goddamn days to render!

[@maxord11]

So either only play Pokemon spinoffs, Pokemon ripoffs, Digimon games, or SMT/Persona games. Gamefreak realizes they don't need to try to make money.

[@infinityheart_tm9270]

Or utilize the 100% off coupon that is emulation.

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

​@@infinityheart_tm9270 But the goal is to play good games. Not replay bad ones.

[@gavinnelson7283]

Great video bud, glad to finally get to see it! I am looking forward to your next video. Perfect amount of passion, insight and humor.

[@darkmetal2412]

Personally i loved triple battles and rotation battle. It was a fun mechanic

[@iara0]

Extremely common and completely expected Mystery Dungeon W

[@Endville360]

You sir, are the smallest KZbin channel I've found and subscribed to in a single video's time. Good stuff

[@pedronunesmoreira5279]

GF just understood that fans don't want new things, they want Pikachu. When they tried to do something new in Unova they ended up having the worst generation sold in the franchise. And also the possibility of catching all the Pokemon is destroying the technical quality of the franchise. The phrase "gotta catch em all" is so ingrained in the franchise that they have the obligation to put all the more than 1000 Pokemon in a single game. Games like Legends: Arceus only managed to achieve a higher quality than the rest of the franchise exactly because they made a limited dex.

[@saltlord_]

In conclusion: PMD2 fans stay winning. I gotta replay that game.

[@thewitchbasket]

As someone with no nostalgic feelings toward the Mystery Dungeon Explorers games, I am of the opinion that they’re massively overrated. A lot of people say that Explorers of Sky is the best Mystery Dungeon game, and it is, but it’s still only a C tier game, tied (in my opinion) with Super Mystery Dungeon. If even the best stories and worlds in the Pokémon franchise are that mediocre, it’s clear that there’s a systemic issue. With the Mystery Dungeon games, It took literally turning Pokémon into Digimon to make them interesting. For context Digimon Adventure season one first aired in 1999. Red and Blue rescue team came out in 2005. A list of similarities between Adventure 01’s setting and Mystery Dungeon’s setting: - The human and monster worlds are separate but connected. - The main character(s) are humans who have been sent to the monster worlds. - The monsters speak and live in societies. - The monsters have local legends and cultures. - Specific monsters are able to evolve largely because of the protagonist being a human (in most games). - The human main character(s) were brought to the monster world to solve a problem. On their own these seem innocuous, but these are the elements that make Digimon and Pokémon’s settings (specifically their settings) unique. It just feels weird that some of the best stories and characters in Pokémon are in the least Pokémon-like games. It really speaks to how suffocating Pokémon’s formula has gotten for the franchise, and Game Freak isn’t going to start innovating any time soon. Like you said, Game Freak needs to start focusing on the quality of the writing in their games in order for them to improve.

[@TheLudomancer]

I do still think that Explorers of Sky does a few things very exceptionally, namely some particular foreshadowings around Grovyle and it's patient pace. But yeah, the bulk of the argument isn't too far off from just, "Make it Digimon". When Digimon has persistent, solid fundamentals like treating serious matters with screentime, including characters that don't jerk off the protagonist, and showcasing creative set pieces, it's not a lot to demand of the mainlines.

[@coffee-tz3lm]

Genuinely thought I was the only one with how hard the worship around these games are. Tried multiple entires and none of them have ever done anything for me

[@infinityheart_tm9270]

@@coffee-tz3lmYou know what…. That’s entirely ok. Not all of us can have the same tastes. It’s entirely subjective to what appeals to us. Your views aren’t anymore right or wrong compared to my opinion.

[@lj3830]

​@@coffee-tz3lmI think people like them because they are more story driven than every other pokemon games considering that pokemon games aren't usually story driven.

[@Iwontusethis255]

If i had one critique on this essay, its be the small/blink and you miss it text blurbs, mostly bc i just wanna hear more of the opinions presented without backtracking Anyway very good points, pokemon would be so good if it was good

[@doctor_octagon2448]

I think the biggest issue is the writing personally. Even with the lackluster animations and graphics and systems, I think if they just made the writing better and more coherent, it would solve a lot of the emptiness. ItsYourPalJacob did a great video fixing Sword/Shield's writing with just some simple changes, and gives the characters so much more depth. I think it would work with almost any of the other games, too. Slight changes in the writing and storyboard, and they could all be great stories with great characters.

[@eternalenigma1628]

Dude you ok? For real though your rage is justified. All of my favorite Pokémon games are the spin-offs, like Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon Ranger, and Colosseum/XD. I could never really picture why until now! Something I thought of is Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky has a massive post game- the story just keeps going and is just as emotional/ exciting as before the credits, while the main games keep shortening their post games.

[@claudiolentini5067]

I never made it too far into the postgame, always got stuck at the first post-game dungeon

[@Cynsicle]

Can they just hire the fans for the writing team please that black and white part towards the end was genuinely fantastic and i feel even more robbed then before /gen

[@TheLudomancer]

Thank you so much, I'm still proud of that finale.

[@anonymous-rq2lh]

the section praising the anime for giving pokemon personalities and goals got me thinking: (some) fans of the games tend to dunk on the anime, but where would the franchise and fandom be if the anime and manga adaptations didn’t put the idea into our heads that pokemon are their own characters rather than weaponized flashy extensions of the human characters? people can say whatever they want about the adaptations, but i think they (and the writers/artists behind them) at least deserve more credit and respect for that

[@augustus7434]

Yeah, pretty tired of how people call Ultra Sun and Moon horrible games for its failures when Pokemon has always been this way. Gen 3 story is even more barebones and ridiculous than the Ultra games, Emerald adds barely anything to the games outside of a cutscene with Rayquaza and a better battle frontier which realistically nobody actually cares that much about. You point out a very important issue with the franchise that didn’t “start” in Gen 6, people just started getting tired of it in Gen 6. And the decrease in difficulty of the games exacerbated the issue, but the idea that old games are good and new ones are bad fundamentally isnt true. I mean I love Pokemon, I play it more for the sake of collecting that I binge with a cup of coffee and maybe a cat sitting on my lap. But Id hardly call it riveting or deep. It could be so excellent though if gamefreak really puts in the effort.

[@TheLudomancer]

Your pfp really sets this perfectly. I don't think anyone's gotten my point quite that succinctly.

[@islandboy9381]

Regarding Gen 3 story feeling ridicolous, I would recommend watching TamaHero's video review on the Gen 3 games as she goes indepth on a environmental issue within Japan at the time of those games releasing that formed the basis of the villains conflict and it makes a lot more sense knowing that context. Yes she acknowledges the dialogue and resolution of the plotline is still weak but seeing the story from that context perspective it all feel a lot more grounded and actually more thoughtful of Gamefreak about the topics of nature, Pokemon and our place in it, more than even gen 1,2 or later titles.

[@lj3830]

"but the idea that old games are good and new ones are bad fundamentally isnt true" THIS, I always view the mainline games as just mid at best, they have potential to be great but they never reach their full potential.

[@Pinnaporaptor]

Can't wait for this one! This one is certainly going up there with the compilation of reviewers saying the next game will be better for the past 5 years.

[@TheLudomancer]

Man, Balls to S&V. I have no faith in GameFreak.

[@Pinnaporaptor]

@@TheLudomancer The most I get excited for with the games are the monster designs, but even that isn't enough to convince me to buy any, and the quality of them feels like it's on a decline.

[@pn2294]

@@TheLudomancer you’re still going to buy it though

[@TheLudomancer]

​@@pn2294 We got a Fortune Teller over here! I literally said the series was dead as of 2010. It's had it's chances and I'm done.

[@pn2294]

@@TheLudomancer so why did you make a big rant over dead series?

[@brittanyno5941]

This is why I play so many fangames and read so many nuzlocke comics/stories. It gives us something different, meaningful, and adds story that the official games won't give us, and probably never will. Welp, off to play Pokemon Infinity while rereading After Armageddon (which is a great nuzlocke story I highly recommend)

[@robertwildschwein7207]

I am too scaredy for Nuzlockes. The thought of permanently losing a Pokémon you have a bond with is more sickening than fun to me. I would probably just grind for hours and try to overlevel everything.

[@brittanyno5941]

@@robertwildschwein7207 I play a lot of nuzlockes, but if it's something you can't bring yourself to do you can always watch other people play nuzlockes, or read the fanfics/nuzlocke comics. After Armageddon/ the Keyleeverse is a great nuzlcocke fanfic series (which can be found on AO3), and Myths of Unova by Ky-nim is a great comic.

[@gavinislightning]

surprised you never mentioned how food works in the pokemon world it's weird how the games never acknowledge that your miltank on the team will be grilled and seasoned to be put into a delicious burger one day or how the scrambled eggs you had for breakfast was actually a sawk egg

[@TheLudomancer]

I didn't mention the food question because it's just as deeply unpleasant to think about here as it is in real life. Also, good god, I had to stop the script somewhere.