Pokemon X and Y Director Discusses Changes in Story

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

walk faster? eff that... fly me my pretty

You and your petty birds...

Spoiler: I believe he can HM02

Speaking of awesome things that fly, Charmander and I are going to get nicely reacquainted after so many years.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I always thought it would be cool if the main organization was actually trying to prevent a larger, eviler organization/force from carrying out their plans. For instance, what if, say, Team Galactic had to imprison Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie in order to prevent a rogue agent from using their red gems to awaken Palkia and Dialga? I think it would make an interesting story if executed properly.

That kinda already happened in pokemon emerald with magma trying to keep aqua from releasing kyogre by getting to groundon first.

 

[search_rip]

I believe he can HM02

Sure he can HM02, but is he pretty? haha

Speaking of awesome things that fly, Charmander and I are going to get nicely reacquainted after so many years.

aaaah, yes, Charmander.... I'm really torned between picking him or Bulbasaur as a second starter to see the Mega Evolution... many people love him but I never really cared about Squirtle...

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

It's really sad that the biggest change Nintendo can think to do is make pokemon go Super Sayan.

Digivolve*
Going super saiyan would be same appearance + golden hair and glowy auras - sonic already nicked that one.
The new pokemon temporarily evolve, though a device the trainer keeps with them, and then change back to their rookie form afterward. That's totally digimon

------
The OP just makes me think they need to hurry up an implement mutiplayer then. If it's all about you and the group of friends, (and we already know they really won't go the mmo route) then having drop-in/drop-out mutiplayer seems like something that could work well. Go into some option, invite nearby people, begin adventuring - you and 1 or 2 others.

 

[Lunar Templar]

*GASP!* TWO starting Pokemon?! He's a madman I tell you! A MADMAN!!!

3
there's gonna be a Torchic giveaway to go along with the launch as well.

which means an all fire starter team for me.

cause some trainers, just want to watch the world burn .....

 

[EHKOS]

It's really sad that the biggest change Nintendo can think to do is make pokemon go Super Sayan.

Digivolve*
Going super saiyan would be same appearance + golden hair and glowy auras - sonic already nicked that one.
The new pokemon temporarily evolve, though a device the trainer keeps with them, and then change back to their rookie form afterward. That's totally digimon

------
The OP just makes me think they need to hurry up an implement mutiplayer then. If it's all about you and the group of friends, (and we already know they really won't go the mmo route) then having drop-in/drop-out mutiplayer seems like something that could work well. Go into some option, invite nearby people, begin adventuring - you and 1 or 2 others.

You quoted the wrong guy but I just realized you're right. And the funny thing is that it's completely justifiable since Digimon was a rip-off of Pokemon in the first place.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Two starters? Good lord, man... it won't make much sense to take both Fennekin and Charmander... but I'm gonna.

 

[soandnb]

I always thought it would be cool if the main organization was actually trying to prevent a larger, eviler organization/force from carrying out their plans. For instance, what if, say, Team Galactic had to imprison Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie in order to prevent a rogue agent from using their red gems to awaken Palkia and Dialga? I think it would make an interesting story if executed properly.

That kinda already happened in pokemon emerald with magma trying to keep aqua from releasing kyogre by getting to groundon first.

I think they were doing that just to prevent the other team from interfering with their own plans; not necessarily for the good of mankind. Both of them were evil in Emerald. I'm talking about Team Not-So-Evil over here, doing something, and either Mr. Evil or Team Evil doing evil stuff like taking over the world or wearing socks and sandals together. You spend some time trying to thwart Not-So-Evil's presumably evil ambitions, only to realize that both of you share the same enemy, and thus work together or something to stop it.

 

[Verrik]

Two starters? Good lord, man... it won't make much sense to take both Fennekin and Charmander... but I'm gonna.

Pfft. I'm gonna be taking Fennekin, Charmander, Torchic (with Speed Boost ability, hell yeah!), Litleo (Pyroar evolution looks amazing), and Tyrunt... Because its evolved form Tyrantrum looks BADASS!

The last spot I'll save for whatever Water Pokemon catches my eye. Might just trade over a Froakie if that Pokemon Bank can be accessed at the beginning.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I always thought it would be cool if the main organization was actually trying to prevent a larger, eviler organization/force from carrying out their plans. For instance, what if, say, Team Galactic had to imprison Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie in order to prevent a rogue agent from using their red gems to awaken Palkia and Dialga? I think it would make an interesting story if executed properly.

That kinda already happened in pokemon emerald with magma trying to keep aqua from releasing kyogre by getting to groundon first.

I think they were doing that just to prevent the other team from interfering with their own plans; not necessarily for the good of mankind. Both of them were evil in Emerald. I'm talking about Team Not-So-Evil over here, doing something, and either Mr. Evil or Team Evil doing evil stuff like taking over the world or wearing socks and sandals together. You spend some time trying to thwart Not-So-Evil's presumably evil ambitions, only to realize that both of you share the same enemy, and thus work together or something to stop it.

That would mostly be ruby/sapphire then wouldn't it?. In Sapphire you don't even fight Team Magma and they don't even try to awaken Kyogre with it being flipped around in Ruby version

Have you played Black And White/ B&W 2? Team Plasma/Neo Team Plasma seems to match up with what you are asking for.

 

[FPLOON]

Maybe XY will end up as that rare breed of game, one with good gameplay and story at the same time!

If that's the case...
SOMEONE CALL YAHTZEE!!
Tell him to refind his 3DS... He's got another Pokemon game to review... in October...

OT: I can't wait to name my character Travis for no particular reason and be able to showoff my two starters to those that have given up on this series (i.e. my best friend)! And then, in the next game, add in moral choices that will decide if you want to be a good trainer, a bad trainer, or a trainer who DOESN'T want to be the very best like no one ever was...

WOO!! Now, I can't wait for Pokemon Z... where my character would most definitely be name Kakarot... or Bulma... I haven't yet decided... (Maybe Mr. Satan...)

 

[Ken_J]

The show showed that people eat meat, presumably tauros and miltank meat...

NO NO NO! BLAH BLAH BLAH, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!
Do NOT break the first unspoken rule of Pokemon. ._.

"WE DO! WE DO IT FOR YOU, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!"

-Pikachu, PokeAwesome

 

[2xDouble]

Hopefully he means this, and isn't just saying this to placate people who were tired of gyms-badguys-elite 4 formula like me.

Seriously, what else is there to do? Qualifying, entering, and eventually winning a regional tournament is really the only possible final goal for a game centered around a sport, even a monster-collection-based sport.

Yes. I'm saying Pokemon is a sports game, exactly like Madden or FIFA, with some RPG elements thrown in.

There's so much that could be done.
What if there was a group that was against pokemon catching that didn't turn out to be nefarious and stupid?
What if you could join the police force, or the safari zone rangers to catch pokemon poachers?
What if you joined the firefighters with your water types?
What if there was a group that was prejudiced against dark type pokemon that went against their religious beliefs?
What if there was a group against catching pokemon because they thought relying on basically magic beings was holding back human development?
What happens to people who catch too many pokemon at once and disrupt an ecosystem?
What about endangered pokemon? The show showed that people eat meat, presumably tauros and miltank meat, so what pokemon are protected against being eaten?

There are so many possibilities for new and interesting stories. That stuff was just off the top of my head.

Okay...

#1, #4, & #5: So what if there was any of those groups? How does that affect the game play in any way? Why, in game terms, would you care? They have no direct quarrel with you, and have basically no effect on your life regardless of your activities, like Team Plasma before they start bullying people and generally being dicks. And if they do start bothering you, how exactly is that any different than any other Team? specifically Old Plasma, Magma/Aqua, and Galactic, respectively? Or are you saying you want the option of joining a Team? Is that really worth giving up the chance to be recognized as "the very best, like no-one ever was"?

#2, #3: Mini games at best. In fact, those are mini games from Pokemon Stadium 1&2... also Pokemon Ranger already exists.

#6: Nothing happens because pokemon aren't as vital to an ecosystem as some anime episodes would have you believe. Lore states that most pokemon exist inside a pocket dimension, similar to the Dark World, until they appear in tall grass or under specific circumstances. An ecology-based game in the Pokemon universe wouldn't be a terrible idea, though, but it would be awfully similar to pretty much every Firaxis game ever made... or Digimon.

#7: The same as real animals, the ones that are difficult/dangerous to catch, are toxic in some way (disease-ridden, poisonous, etc.), are more valuable as tools/pets, or simply don't taste good. Besides, Farfetch'd and Slowpoke are the only pokemon confirmed to be edible. Again, like #1, so what? What about this motivates the player to play? what exactly is the player going to do about it besides solve puzzles and complete mini-games and thus setting it apart from the likes of Pokemon Ranger or Dream Radar?

Don't get me wrong, these are good ideas and premises, but they're neither core mechanics nor central themes... yet.

 

[Raine_sage]

Hopefully he means this, and isn't just saying this to placate people who were tired of gyms-badguys-elite 4 formula like me.

Seriously, what else is there to do? Qualifying, entering, and eventually winning a regional tournament is really the only possible final goal for a game centered around a sport, even a monster-collection-based sport.

Yes. I'm saying Pokemon is a sports game, exactly like Madden or FIFA, with some RPG elements thrown in.

There's so much that could be done.
What if there was a group that was against pokemon catching that didn't turn out to be nefarious and stupid?
What if you could join the police force, or the safari zone rangers to catch pokemon poachers?
What if you joined the firefighters with your water types?
What if there was a group that was prejudiced against dark type pokemon that went against their religious beliefs?
What if there was a group against catching pokemon because they thought relying on basically magic beings was holding back human development?
What happens to people who catch too many pokemon at once and disrupt an ecosystem?
What about endangered pokemon? The show showed that people eat meat, presumably tauros and miltank meat, so what pokemon are protected against being eaten?

There are so many possibilities for new and interesting stories. That stuff was just off the top of my head.

Okay...

#1, #4, & #5: So what if there was any of those groups? How does that affect the game play in any way? Why, in game terms, would you care? They have no direct quarrel with you, and have basically no effect on your life regardless of your activities, like Team Plasma before they start bullying people and generally being dicks. And if they do start bothering you, how exactly is that any different than any other Team? specifically Old Plasma, Magma/Aqua, and Galactic, respectively? Or are you saying you want the option of joining a Team? Is that really worth giving up the chance to be recognized as "the very best, like no-one ever was"?

#2, #3: Mini games at best. In fact, those are mini games from Pokemon Stadium 1&2... also Pokemon Ranger already exists.

#6: Nothing happens because pokemon aren't as vital to an ecosystem as some anime episodes would have you believe. Lore states that most pokemon exist inside a pocket dimension, similar to the Dark World, until they appear in tall grass or under specific circumstances. An ecology-based game in the Pokemon universe wouldn't be a terrible idea, though, but it would be awfully similar to pretty much every Firaxis game ever made... or Digimon.

#7: The same as real animals, the ones that are difficult/dangerous to catch, are toxic in some way (disease-ridden, poisonous, etc.), are more valuable as tools/pets, or simply don't taste good. Besides, Farfetch'd and Slowpoke are the only pokemon confirmed to be edible. Again, like #1, so what? What about this motivates the player to play? what exactly is the player going to do about it besides solve puzzles and complete mini-games and thus setting it apart from the likes of Pokemon Ranger or Dream Radar?

Don't get me wrong, these are good ideas and premises, but they're neither core mechanics nor central themes... yet.

You're right, they're not. I was just listing off potential things that could be done that weren't the usual gyms/badguys/elite4 formula. Skyrim, and Bethesda games, in general have shown that people love big worlds that make sense and feel alive(to a reasonable degree). Having those groups exist (And have deeper motivations besides "Hahaha! Mine is an evil laugh!") to interact with and aid/hinder adds depth to the world, and makes it feel less like a box of people standing around waiting for you to talk to them.

And Pokemon Ranger wasn't very good. Having the developers who know what they're doing include some kind of job system or roles you can take on besides wandering trainer makes the world feel bigger.

Honestly if Nintendo wanted to just blatently rip off Bethesda, while retaining the turn-based combat, I would have no complaints. Their stories may suck, typically, but at least Bethesda tries to engage with the player on a level besides "be the best, just because". I'm not even talking about being open world (Nice, but not necessary), just simple world building. It's something they've never really bothered with and it makes their games feel very shallow to me. They obviously don't care about this place, so why should I? Why bother trying to be the best or catch em all, when they're just gonna toss out a hundred new ones next year?

Just because you didn't find the pokemon ranger games very good (I enjoyed them and thought they were just fine but I suppose that's the nature of a subjective experience) doesn't mean they don't count though.

And that's kind of the catch 22 Nintendo gets caught in when it comes to pokemon games. Pokemon snap was hella fun an put you in a different role (pokemon photo journalist) but it doesn't count because it's not a "real" pokemon game. Pokemon mystery dungeon has some of the best writing I've seen in a roguelike but it doesn't count because it's not a "real" pokemon game. Pokemon rangers has you doing something besides gym battles but once again not a "real" pokemon game. Gale of darkness was a perfectly serviceable 3D console rpg but, you can see where I'm going with this by now right?

The basic complaint about pokemon seems to be "Man Nintendo never tries anything new with the franchise, except when they do, but those don't count." Apparently people just want a vanilla pokemon game where you progress through a series of increasingly difficult opponents via turn based battle, but just do so as something other than a trainer? I just don't really so the point.

As to cardboard cookie cutter villains I found Plasma to be a little more Nuanced. Sure Ghestis was bugnuts but N, your primary rival figure, really believed he was doing the right thing. The whole game was about the idea that two people can do two different things and both think they're right, and might even both be right and wrong at the same time.
N's philosophy is not flawed, but his methods were. Black/White2 shows this when it introduces you to Neo Plasma, who still posit that pokemon should be given more independence but realize that ripping pokemon away from their trainers is not the best way to achieve that and in the meantime run a foster home for abandoned mons.

Either way I'm excited to play this game. I seem to be in a minority who like the shift towards friendly rivals as opposed to arrogant assholes and I like the attempt to treat pokemon themselves as more than a pile of stats, given that the games tend to emphasize forming strong bonds but have had trouble communicating that through gameplay.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

It's really sad that the biggest change Nintendo can think to do is make pokemon go Super Sayan.

Digivolve*
Going super saiyan would be same appearance + golden hair and glowy auras - sonic already nicked that one.
The new pokemon temporarily evolve, though a device the trainer keeps with them, and then change back to their rookie form afterward. That's totally digimon

------
The OP just makes me think they need to hurry up an implement mutiplayer then. If it's all about you and the group of friends, (and we already know they really won't go the mmo route) then having drop-in/drop-out mutiplayer seems like something that could work well. Go into some option, invite nearby people, begin adventuring - you and 1 or 2 others.

You quoted the wrong guy but I just realized you're right. And the funny thing is that it's completely justifiable since Digimon was a rip-off of Pokemon in the first place.

I apologise kind sir... I'm uh... not quite sure how I managed to quote you while still having the text from Mcoffey somehow :X
However, for digimon being a rip-off: Didn't digimon's evolving mechanic came from tamagotchi's? I remember something about digimon being made by the tamagotchi mob as a more male-focused 'paint job' for the virtual pet devices, which were around before pokemon, so you can't really say they ripped-off the (temporary or otherwise) evolution thing from pokemon, even if the digimon anime came out after the pokemon one XD. (?)

As it is though, pokemon were already using 'temporary evolutions' by gen 3 i think, where castform changed with the weather, deoxys changed depending on what game it was in, etc. It's a natural extension. I wonder how long though until they bring in fusions... It will happen eventually.

 

[EHKOS]

It's really sad that the biggest change Nintendo can think to do is make pokemon go Super Sayan.

Digivolve*
Going super saiyan would be same appearance + golden hair and glowy auras - sonic already nicked that one.
The new pokemon temporarily evolve, though a device the trainer keeps with them, and then change back to their rookie form afterward. That's totally digimon

------
The OP just makes me think they need to hurry up an implement mutiplayer then. If it's all about you and the group of friends, (and we already know they really won't go the mmo route) then having drop-in/drop-out mutiplayer seems like something that could work well. Go into some option, invite nearby people, begin adventuring - you and 1 or 2 others.

You quoted the wrong guy but I just realized you're right. And the funny thing is that it's completely justifiable since Digimon was a rip-off of Pokemon in the first place.

I apologise kind sir... I'm uh... not quite sure how I managed to quote you while still having the text from Mcoffey somehow :X
However, for digimon being a rip-off: Didn't digimon's evolving mechanic came from tamagotchi's? I remember something about digimon being made by the tamagotchi mob as a more male-focused 'paint job' for the virtual pet devices, which were around before pokemon, so you can't really say they ripped-off the (temporary or otherwise) evolution thing from pokemon, even if the digimon anime came out after the pokemon one XD. (?)

As it is though, pokemon were already using 'temporary evolutions' by gen 3 i think, where castform changed with the weather, deoxys changed depending on what game it was in, etc. It's a natural extension. I wonder how long though until they bring in fusions... It will happen eventually.

Ah, that's just what I've always heard, was that Digimon blatantly ripped off Pokemon. Also I now want to fuse Haunter with about one hundred different other 'mons.

 

[William Ossiss]

I figured I wouldn't get away with not hearing about Pokemon's biggest hypocrite N. Seriously, It's like everyone wants him to be their best friend, when he's just a weak trainer..

Anyway; Glad to see the series as a whole taking new literary leaps and bounds.

 

[2xDouble]

You're right, they're not. I was just listing off potential things that could be done that weren't the usual gyms/badguys/elite4 formula.

Those are opposing statements. You can't replace core mechanics and central themes with things that aren't those, otherwise there is no game. The challenge still stands.

Honestly if Nintendo wanted to just blatently rip off Bethesda, while retaining the turn-based combat, I would have no complaints. Their stories may suck, typically, but at least Bethesda tries to engage with the player on a level besides "be the best, just because".

I feel this needs to be addressed... First of all: yes, you would. Who are you kidding? You would scream "GameFreak ripped off Bethesda!" all over every forum if that happened.

Second, Skyrim has no depth; Pokemon has only depth. Both engage on the same level: becoming strong enough to complete the next challenge. That's not an opinion, that is gameplay data. By all means, try to claim that it isn't, but you know as well as I that everything in either game eventually devolves into grinding levels. Or maybe you played a different Skyrim than I did.

I'm not even talking about being open world (Nice, but not necessary), just simple world building. It's something they've never really bothered with and it makes their games feel very shallow to me. They obviously don't care about this place, so why should I?

Don't they? Did you ever notice that not a single person in the entire history of Pokemon is ambivalent towards Pokemon? Everyone either completely loves Pokemon or doesn't understand them. Did you ever notice how the "idle chatter" of the NPC's, billboards, signposts, and television/radio stations constantly teach you the game's mechanics and subtle nuances of its primary pastime? The Pokemon world is exactly that, a world of Pokemon; simple, succinct, complete. Remember, simplicity is not the same as absence.

Why bother trying to be the best or catch em all, when they're just gonna toss out a hundred new ones next year?

Why bother playing Skyrim if there's just going to be another, better Elder Scrolls game?

Indeed, why bother trying to win any game if you're just going to play another one eventually?

 

[RJ 17]

*GASP!* TWO starting Pokemon?! He's a madman I tell you! A MADMAN!!!

3
there's gonna be a Torchic giveaway to go along with the launch as well.

which means an all fire starter team for me.

cause some trainers, just want to watch the world burn .....

That and as far as I remember Fire was always the best starter no matter which game.