Pokémon Games important to the discussion (lol I just need this for the tags):
Pokémon Red
Pokémon Blue
Pokémon Yellow
Pokémon Fire Red
Pokémon Leaf Green
Pokémon Gold
Pokémon Silver
Pokémon Heart Gold
Pokémon Soul Silver
Pokémon Ruby
Pokémon Sapphire
Pokémon Emerald
Pokémon Diamond
Pokémon Pearl
Pokémon Platinum
Pokémon Black
Pokémon White
Pokémon Black 2
Pokémon White 2
Pokémon X
Pokémon Y
Pokémon Sun
Pokémon Moon
Pokémon Ultra Sun
Pokémon Ultra Moon
Pokémon Lets Go Pikachu
Pokémon Lets Go Eevee
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond
Pokémon Shining Pearl
Pokémon Sword
Pokémon Shield
Pokémon Legends Arceus
The Pokémon series and brand has continued to grow in popularity to absurd heights with of course more and more critique on the Pokémon games specifically this hit a whole new high after the release of Pokémon Sword and Shield hashtags flew everywhere gamefreaklied, bringbacknationaldex, thankyougamefreak it was quite the year to say the least but overall I think it was very helpful to bring these problems that have been boiling in Pokémon for the last few years the biggest problem being the downfall of Pokémon from gen 1 - 5 (kanto, Johto, hoenn, sinnoh, unova) to 6-8 (kalos,alola,galar) this has been disected in so many ways but one aspect I feel hasn't been talked about is how the region design of these games which too many is one of the most important parts of what makes the series so great has especially fallen off in the move to the 3D era so today I spend way too long talking about that problem hope you enjoy love you smooches
~ IP
Sorry about the minor audio troubles and camera death at points this video was a learning process lol
also no shade to gameboyluke love that guy but his reaction was just too good of an example lol
Songs Used
There's a lot man lol just give me a time stamp and ask ill let ya know lol
Timestamps
0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:37 - Pokémon's impact
0:02:51 - Pixel era vs 3D era
0:04:28 - What makes a great region?
0:05:34 - Gen 1 Kanto
0:09:19 - Gen 2 Johto
0:14:32 - Gen 3 Hoenn
0:20:01 - Gen 4 Sinnoh
0:25:27 - Gen 5 Unova
0:34:12 - Gen 6 Kalos
0:40:35 - Gen 7 Alola
0:40:50 - Momma’s Interlude
0:41:02 - Back to video
0:52:02 - Galar
1:05:47 - Hopeful future
1:07:11 - You still here?
1:07:50 - Thank you
1:08:07 - IP bump
Painting of Johto at night was done by Zaebucca from Twitter
channels that helped with this video either through footage or inspiration
/ distantkingdom
/ aleczandxr
/ chuggaaconroy
/ fcplaythroughs
/ munchingorange
let me know if I used your footage ill add you to this
#pokemon #pokemonscarletandviolet #gamefreak
Check out part 2 for my thoughts on scarlet and violet! kzhead.info/sun/p9iFep19qHNuh6s/bejne.html
no way i clicked on this video after watching it a year ago to rewatch it and see that part two was made 3 hours ago lol
500 subs a year ago? Now your at 100k plus! Bro your phenomenal!
I was finna watch that after anyway but uh. I saw Togepi in this vid. Now I shall sub. Togepi the best ;D
I just found your videos, and they are so very good. I've never felt so seen (THE ALOLA LIGHTHOUSE! I THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY!). I'm gonna watch the new video right after this one.
thankyou for that, I was just about to comment "wait till he finds out about S&V"
Jesse Pinkman telling me how much he hates Galar’s region design was something I never knew I needed.
Mista White, Gamefreak was lazy making soard and shield, betch
Agreed
Jesse, we gotta get Gamefreak worker's rights!
That was pretty funny tbh
Wow I had no idea he had a youtube channel. Breaking bad is really good show! I love you Mr. Pink man!
One of the most frustrating aspects of Pokemon is their absolute REFUSAL to bring back features. Apricorns? Hidden Bases? Decorating Pokeballs? Beauty contests? Daycares? Puffin making with berries? Battle Frontier? Extra region? Customized clothing? Cell phone to call characters? A rival that's actually challenging? Game corner mini games? Underwater diving? Pokedex completely replaced with Rotom? A bad guy team thats actually interesting or intimidating? There's tons more im missing
The sports arena from hgss, I spent hours playing the mini games
"Teams that are more intresting" ahh yes team rocket and magma/aqua were do much more engaging then the Aether foundation and Skull
@@vocaloidpartier did I say they were better than skull? Don't tell me you actually think Team Star is a good team
The only way I can see a second region in Pokemon games to not be bland is in one version you start off in region A.) And have access to that region's starters. Go through the story and beat region A's Villain team and Pokemon league, then go to region B.) Get the option to choose one of its starters and find a new story in front of you with the new villain team lowest being lv 65 and the strongest being in the 90's if not lv 100. Same with the gyms and that league. The other version reverse it, region B.) Is where we would start.
And an actually difficult story! Hinting at USUM here, I love those games and I'm sad the newer games don't have that type of difficulty.
I specifically remember being amazed as a kid when I swam north from Cinnabar island and suddenly found myself back in Pallet town. I don't know if this was intended or not, but returning back to the starting town through a previously inaccessible, entirely unknown route really made me think about how far I had come since I left. It was such a satisfying way to tie the whole journey together.
Right? It makes it feel less like a bunch of individual maps/loading zones and more like an actual region
Interconnectivity is incredibly important.
Agree. Oddly, Kanto has really distinct routee/towns to me anyway, even if they are more "plain". Reminds me of being a kid and walking around my neighborhood in the spring time.
33:10 The woman is actually a Zoroak disguised as a human. A special event allowed the woman to reveal she was a Zoroak and battle you. Really good breakdown of all the regions!
You forgot to say that in Black and White 2, the LAST town that your character visits is the town where you START in Black and White, and that you are basically going backwards compared to Black and White. That blew my fucking mind
it’s crazy that the newest gen has a town with a gym a poke center and that’s everything. litterally the whole town
Yeah I love to think about what the people who live there do: fuckin nothing
sounds like dewford lol
@@CJMcGdewford had people though
Does it have a name at least?
@@charlesvattimo4674Glaseado
"I feel like we hit rock bottom with Galar" Paldea: GRAB A SHOVEL B*TCH
‘Everyone remembers their first shiny’ Victory Road Gravellers in Gold know self destruct. I’m still upset all these years later.
Soul Silver Safari Zone pink Quagsire is a coward son of a bitch
I met a shiny paras in the safari zone and it fled, I feel you
Oofta. My first shiny was an unknown doing a grind for all of the 24. Funny part was - i caught it only because it was a letter I was missing. I didn't even realize it was shiny since it looked the same; my buddy saw it in my pc when we were doing trades lol
That and wild double battles where your npc partner KOs it
I feel like Alola is handled way better in the anime than it is in the games. If there’s one thing that the SM anime did flawlessly, is that it made Ash experience and become a part of the culture of Alola. The world building of the region in the anime was great. It really stood out from the past seasons where they would spend an unhealthy amount of episodes wandering a forest that looks exactly the same as the one they were just in 2 episodes ago.
Taking like 9 episodes to get through a single route while ash maybe catches one Pokémon that he let's go is television's worst display of filler.
Agreed!!
The game did do that, you are someone that just moved to Alola from Kanto and learn all about the culture and spoiler alert, assimilate to the Alolan culture. And Alola even on the 3DS looks better and is more diverse than Galar.
@@dgchvz you are someone who just moved to Alola from Kanto but the only things you really learn about the culture are their greeting, a single food dish, their reverence to the Tapus and the fact that instead of gyms they have totem challenges which are effectively the exact same thing but with a little bit of a "harmony with nature" nature sprinkled on top. There is no real culture to assimilate to since most of the towns look similar to your character's home region or are even an exact copy of the traditional architecture of your home country and life is pretty much the same since nobody is really telling you otherwise.
aww man that's really disappointing, I watched the entire Sun/Moon show and it made me fall in love with the Alola region, and was looking forward to playing their games thinking that they were gonna have that same level of aesthetic and feel of hawaii, but after watching this vid and reading this comment that doesn't seem like that's the case, and that makes me sad 😥
Something i always liked about Kalos's routes is that while your playing through the story it gives off the implication that this game is happening over the course of a year, with the beginning of the game being these spring time looking routes, then you go to the coast which of course is summer then by the time the fifth and sixth gyms happen it's an autum looking route and by the seventh and eighth gyms its snowing.
Oh wow, I never noticed that! That's a really cool detail.
I also found that Kalos’ map is incredibly similar to France geographically, now ofc the region is designed after France but it’s still hard for me to un see
@@britishmoment7438 That's one of the reasons XY is very special to me, the time they launched the weapon and absolutely shat on the French will forever be engraved in my heart.
@@masterofroblox687 merica bird.
Youngins don't realize how crazy was to discover that water right there in front of your house led to kanto.
I am developing a fan-game based on Costa Rica and this video was very useful for me to understand what makes the regions so memorable. Great video!
24:25 I just HAVE to mention this: the "clouds" are actually supposed to be the shadows of the tree canopy and the light spots being pockets of the canopy that light filters down through. Even though we don't see the trunks of these supposedly MASSIVE trees, it's an amazing aesthetic that I think is unmatched in the series. It looks so cool. Gen 3 and 4 are my golden era.
oh wow! , i had no idea , i love that
I had the exact same thought, "weren't the shadows in Eterna forest the limited light filtering through the thick canopy?" Definitely a great aesthetic. The double battle partners were also an interesting and flavorful addition. Good for XP grinding.
It’s much more prominent in the remake. Both in the original and BDSP, there’s just this tangible sense of wonder in there
Man, Unova really radiated passion. The indepth look at the cities and routes really made me miss old Gamefreak.
Unova is so lineal
@@jorgedalessandro7917as a child playing u don’t realise at all it’s lineal
The game didn't sell well and the community hated it for the designs, so gamefreak thought that was a fail, now we'll never have a game like it
@@jorgedalessandro7917 Black and White 2 exists.
@@joob9as a child playing I hated how linear it was so that’s a flat out lie. Diamond and pearl were so much more complex and was the last Pokémon game that gave me a sense of exploration.
Hurts so much that you're so right about Alola. I had so much fun playing Pokemon Moon on my first playthrough, but it's because I loved the characters and the story. The region was a set piece for the primary plot, not really anything more. Man 🐴
Tbh it felt like a slice of life away from the constant formula you went through before. I feel bad gen 7 gets shit on when I really loved that game lol
Yeah in retrospect I really enjoyed sun/moon and love the new concept of the islands and having to beat the island kings (tho I couldn't care less about ultra beasts). Though I do have to admit I didn't even realize how unmemorable the actual content of the region was. When Internet Pitstop asked, I couldn't really remember any specific town and barely any route
It at least HAS the best plot of any of the Pokemon games. Can't say the same for places like Galar where the main antagonist feels like he's only the antagonist because they felt they needed one and slotted him in at the last minute.
Massive same
Village Bridge is super GOAT tier. Didn't like a lot of the "KZheadrisms" that slow down the pace of the video for me, but the actual commentary you offer in combination with simple visuals and everything was great. Made me wanna re-visit some of these, and really makes me realize how hard it is to leave those lasting impressions. Fortree City is instantly memorable. I have remembered it with no effort since I first stepped foot there. But I completely forgot about the lore of the warehouses becoming studios in Nacrene City. It's so interesting, so how did I forget about it? Not sure. Lots to think about from this. Thanks for sharing, your thoughts were pleasant to listen to.
Unova’s seasons mechanic is the peak of region design. It’s absolutely amazing and special to see how the seasons not only affect the visuals but also can make different areas have more to explore like Twist Mountain.
Too bad the Unova map in term of path is the lasiest of them all. Which region in the world just naturally form a perfect circle that just happen to bring you to all the places you need to go to in perfect order ? For me that's when regions started to get lazy design wise, sure seasons are a cool addition but not that cool.
Unova was undoubtedly the best generation. I never really liked gen 4, but gen 5 was a masterpiece. Gotta say Gen 5 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 4
@@thelegacyofgaming2928 For me it has the worst design for new pokemons overall, even gen 6-7-8 had better rosters. Sure it made tons of efforts on other areas like story and had decent challenging content. But the fact that they FORCE you to use the new ones, making me for the first time actually unable to have a full team I like since I could only find 2-3 likeable design during my adventure. Not to mention the great diea of an hard mode being locked in post game AND requiring the right version, stupidly frustrating. And I have no idea why combat start by showing you a perfectly good looking sprite then zoom it out into ugly pixelated mess that really don't serve the new complicated designs at all. For me it's the first pokemong game that left me kinda dissapointed. From my point of view, the best pokemon games are gen2 remakes, they were at the peak of design, had the most content out of any game, great region that beneficed immensely from the remake. Pokemon peaked here.
@@naproupi Okay so then why cry about using the new Pokemon? When we played Red and Blue you had gone in completely blind with 151 creatures you had no clue about. They tried to recreate the same lightning in a bottle with Gen 5 part 1. Which I think is commendable as they have never attempted it again in the series. Also I love how Unova progresses over time as you go from BW to B2W2, and the PWT in B2W2 is fantastic the way you can battle every past Gym Leader from Kanto, to even the older Unova Gym leaders who had retired by then, and all of the Champions, and you could do it in Single, Double, Rotation, or Triple Battles, definitely up there with the likes of the Battle Frontier. Gen 5 was the peak honestly with the deep storytelling, the world building and the way the world grew, and everybody in it changed and found a greater meaning or purpose like Bianca, Cheren, and Iris, or Alder, and the Striaton City Triplets when they were shown why they never showed up at the end of B1W1, because the Shadow Triad showed them they were too weak and needed to be stronger, even Colress sees your resolve, and then assumedly goes off to Alola.
@@MEGAGAMERX1000 I complain because as I said Gen 5 has for me the ugliest and least charming roster out of any gen that came before or after, so it was a serious bummer to be forced to have to pick out of those. I seriously wouldn't have minded being forced to use new pokemon in any other gen, even 7 or 8, but this one ? Sorry but no, there was 3 evolutions lines I genuinely liked and that's it, the 3 others were picked reluctanctly to fill my team. Not to mention how they tried more detailed designs which went terribly with their weirdly pixelated sprites, making the more detailed pokemon ugly as hell to look at. There was a reason why early pokemon had simple designs : to be pleasant to the eye when drawn in low resolution. The story was nice but overated. It's sure better than probably any other pokemon game in the main serie, but it's not even as good as mystery dungeon storylines, let alone any more ambitious rpg like fire emblem or persona. I wouldn't call that "deep" storytelling. More like it's the only generation who tried to have decent storytelling, but it never was the selling point of any pokemon game. If they actually wanted to have good storytelling they could just have copied the stories of the pokemon manga which are actually good, but they didn't bother.
Speaking of the "Mature Breakup" in Unova, I'm pretty sure that has something even deeper. The two people who broke up actually aren't people. They are Zoroarks. If you bring the shiny legendary beast from the Zoroark movie here, the female Zoroark will battle you and you can catch it. The male Zoroark (the backpacker) however will show up in BW2, you can find him in this very forest, and he will give you a TM. After that, he will show itself and run away That's the "Lostlorn Forest". It's a forest made up of Zoroark's illusion, therefore called Lostlorn Forest. A location full of lore and hidden content.
I completely forgot it was the same backpacker holy crap. And I love s that event, but MAN I wish events weren’t tied to limited-time pokemon since any new play through I have are likely to miss out on them
Huh? it's pretty small though and doesn't have that much content. It was just there for a event basically, not so different from Pikachu valley.
hoooly shit I knew the woman was a Zoroark, but not the guy. does he talk in BW2? I just find it neat since I rewatched that movie recently, and Zorua can talk but Zoroark isn't shown doing it once.
Thats actually scray wow
@@rinomander yeah, he talks. He warns you not to be tricked by a Zoroark, talks about what happened in the forest in BW (without necessary implying whether the player character of BW had any part in it or not), gives you the TM, then slips and runs away.
i think you actually put into perspective how much firered and leafgreen mess up the aesthetics of the towns, lavender town especially, instead of being full of dread and sorrow, it's just as vibrant and alive as your starting town
Hoenn is a masterpiece. Added some of the coolest Pokemon to date and it's gorgeous.
I haven't even played Gen 3, and yet it's Pokémon make up a big chunk of my favourites
I genuinely think ORAS was the peak of Pokémon and it’s been downhill since. If they’d not been stupid and added the Emerald upgrades, it would have been the perfect Pokémon game.
@razrv3lc I honestly hope gen 10 is an amalgamation of all mechanics. Open the floodgates. They've continued to power creep, so might as well let us go nuts
@@Alderothit would be extremely baller it would also take a small army of people 19 years to make it happen, which is producing the biggest sad
If Heartgold and Soulsilver in 2010 can add the Crystal exclusive Suicune storyline and upgrade the battle tower near Olivine City into a full battle arenas area, the 6th Gen remakes of Gen 3 should not have an excuse to not have a battle frontier in some fashion.@@razrv3lc
The secrets buried in the Hoen region are quite under appreciated, I remember losing my little head when I figured out how to ride the ocean currents and stumbled upon a secret cave with braille on the wall
I personally loved how much you could actually do on the ocean in Hoenn. It felt like real exploration because there were no clear paths, just randomly stumble upon cool things like evolution stones, shoal cave, sky pillar, the brail cave to unlock the regi ruins. When they first anounced the sinnoh remakes i was so excited and hopeful for all the secrets they could add to them. Instead we got a buggy copy paste.
@@jasonreed7522 couldn’t have said any better, the region felt small to those that didn’t truly explore it. I like how there was no hand holding involved, you had to discover the secrets yourself through sheer curiosity. The braille cave is still my favorite, it made me feel like a pirate at the time, especially cause I didn’t search for the answers online. I remember going through one of my old school books to translate the meaning
The Regi quest fookin made me look up Braille. And I probably wouldn't have figured out I needed a Relicanth and Wailord by myself.
Who else discovered Mirage Island on route 130, I completely forgot about it 😂another reason to explore Hoenn’s ocean routes
I like Hoen, I really do, but I can't ever like anything with tall grass after the 6th gym. I don't need 3 routes, which are a drag to get through. And I'm saying 3 routes, because they ruin the route right before the 6th gym for me.
For Kalos in particular I think it's very clear it was hurt very badly by fairly late rewriting, and splitting content up to save it for Sun/Moon, as data content leaks a year or so ago ended up revealing; stuff like the Power Plants being the alien spaceships Team Flare, who were sun-based aliens that caused the sundial in Anistar to crash down and causing a reverence for the sun in the city, tying into the weird space theming Mega Evolutions have like Mega Rayquaza and Mega Stones being meteorites that doesn't otherwise tie in very well, or Zygarde being pushed back to Sun/Moon alongside a lot of the space/alternate reality themed mons; in a lot of prerelease and documentation Kalos' main region theme was even supposed to be the meeting of different cultures and ideas, the meeting of the X and Y axis, which the whole aliens coming down to earth and coexisting was supposed to represent. It's a massive shame but it definitely helps to explain why a lot of Kalos *does* have landmarks that feel like they should be relevant and *are* relevant according to in-dev leaks, but ultimately just had any relevance stripped away after the assets were finalised. also ily
Love u, and great write up
Oh. *oh.* Man that’s REALLY frustrating. Despite everything, X and Y have been my favourite Pokémon games since they’re the first games I ever really played, and now knowing that they could have been better is just. God this is really frustrating.
Bro I need to play _this_ game
I just searched that up. Holy shit, that’s awesome. Reminds me of Yo-Kai Watch 3
Excuse moi, *_WHAT?!_* o_o ALIENS?! EDIT: I read it. Holy shit. If the inevitable Kalos remakes won't have a plot restructuring akin to ORAS (but even bigger) that uses the scrapped ideas for XY, I'm gonna be disappointed... but forgiving, honestly. I mean, that would be a *gigantic* departure from the original, which would without a doubt upset many fans (just as it would excite many others). Not to mention how it would "retcon" so much stuff (though that could be justified by the multiverse theory that ORAS brought to the table). Still, imagine if we got the scrapped ideas back. That would be _so amazing._ :D
The biggest disappointment of sun and moon in my opinion was that that town in Ultra Space was fucking empty. It had so much potential
Small nitpick. On the point of gen one not having a clear color palet for each town: edition yellow introduced just that, a uniquie color for each town that often was thematically appropriate (e.g. blue for town with the water gym, red for the island with the fire gym etc.). A bit disapointing they didn't keep that for fire red / leaf green, though i can see why they did it
Not only was it thematically appropriate in terms of the gyms, but with the names of the towns themselves. Cinnabar = red, cerulean = blue, fuchsia = pink, etc.
FR/LG did actually, as did G/S/C and HG/SS. The colour of the rooves in each town matches the town's colour name. Cerulean City rooves are all blue (minus the Pokemon Centers and Marts of course, since they got unique designs in Gen 3 onwards). Vermillion City's rooves are all that orangish colour vermillion is, and so on. You can compare the in-game maps on Bulbapedia to see as well.
Regions used to be tangentially related to real world locations. They just served as a backdrop to deliver us the monster designs and the characters. But that's changed. Now regions are firmly based on specific regions, almost serving as a parody of their real world counterparts.
Another thing that's often overlooked, because we as Americans aren't familiar with Japan's geography, is that "regions" were not originally the size of countries. I feel like the average interpretation of the Kanto region, for example, is that each of the towns is hundreds of miles from each other and that they're each individual cities, located almost in different states... But they're actually based on different neighborhoods in the real world Kanto region around Tokyo. Some of them are only streets away from each other, just as they are presented in the games.
@@Aaron-mj9ie That certainly compliments the sense of abstraction that comes with the 2d games too.
@@Aaron-mj9ie Kanto is most definitely not simply a nieghtborhood, it’s a county or region. It’s huge. It’s not simply a nieghtborhood spanning a few miles
Yes and that includes the inspiration of a lot of Pokémon. In the first 4 regions you didn't have the "sushi Pokémon" for example. but in Sword and Shield you have the apple cake Pokémon, and I personally find this way of designing Pokémon based on popular things of the original country quite terrible.
i like pokemon drawing more inspiration from real life, i think it gives pokemon a more specific feeling like in Galar every pokemon is british
Ok ok the vid was sick but you forgot something absolutely LARGE. In heartgold and soulsilver your walkin’ pokemon reacts to the environment, experiencing the locations just like you and giving you insight into what it would actually FEEL like being there. (Sights, sounds, scents… etc.) That absolutely sold me on Johto. Edit: That running from Cynthia bit had me dying.
Johto was the first peak, and fans reacted favorably, so they continued evolving on the concept. Unova was and probably always will be my favorite region. Not just the region peaked, but I absolutely think the character designs did too. Pokémon characters tend to look a mix of simple and silly, and with Unova they found what was for me the perfect balance for everyone - player characters (Touya/Black to this day is my favorite PC, only closely followed by Red; and Touko/White is my second fave female PC only beaten by Dawn), antagonists (I am an N stan and always will be, while Ghetsis looked just the right amount of effed up and sus that it was cool to my growing brain), and most importantly, all the random NPCs. I loved their sprites, big or small. I think that Kalos was still really good design wise, it's a beautiful game, just... everything after started falling off completely. They got away with it, and they keep getting away with it... it's sad. I still like XY with no shame. But it's true that it was the start, probably. Starting with SM I haven't even finished a single game's main story. Until Arceus nothing even seemed interesting enough to try and get invested.
44:54 One correction: Konikoni City is actually based on Chinatown of Hawaii in Honolulu, not a Japanese town, hence the paifang-archway at the entrance. The game unfortunately didn't explained that idea super well.
Back when Sword/Shield came out, the feedback was so dominated by Dexit that I felt like I was the only one who cared more about the decline in region design and lore (as well as story, which some people say doesn't matter, but it always did to me). So it's nice to see people actually do care about this stuff too, as time goes on
Same here bro like they’re were much more glaring problems
nah dexit was big before the games out, after they came out people properly complained about underwhelming region design and bad graphics
@mjm3091 you aren't wrong, it was kind of a breaking point for enough to say something is wrong. And well everything except legends arceus proves it... what a mess man I just want a fun adventure game that has interesting things to find and do while not being made for babies
As soon as I touched it, I could tell it wasn’t the game we once knew and loved.
usually story doesn't really matter, but when half your game is spent listening to some dumb fuck talk about the story it better fucking be good try to think about pokemon like you do the last of us, imagine each cutscene as an actual cutscene instead of a bunch of lifeless models standing around with dialogue boxes if it wasn't for pokemon's presentation being ass it really wouldn't be any different and lemme tell you, if the last of us had a bad story..OH if it had a bad story.. it's almost funny how people don't care when it comes to pokemon, but when it comes to other games it's a dealbreaker
While unova is very linear in terms of routes it's by far the most interconnected in terms of characters. Burgh visits nacrene city when he's lacking in inspiration, elesa uses her influence as a gym leader to force clay to open the bridge so you can reach driftveil, skyla visits Cynthia's summer house in the post game, when you beat the league and team plasma invades the gym leaders all rush to help you. In bw2 we find characters like cheren are gym leaders, chili, cress and cilan step down because they feel guilty over not being fast enough to be of use in the cllimax of bw, elesa has expanded her fashion side into the gym itself, clays gym which used to be a descent into the start of a mine has now become an expansive cavern you have to traverse via conveyors. The region is bustling and truly feels alive like no other region does because the characters in it have actual lives. The gym leaders don't just stay in their gyms all day. Lenora has a museum she runs, burgh is an artist, elesa is a model, clay runs a mining empire, cheren is a principal teaching his students to battle in his gym, roxy is the lead singer in a punk rock band, brycen quits the gym business to pursue his passion for acting. It's so detailed no other region comes close to emulating it
Gen 5 was peak pokemon and no amount of whining about a pokemon made of garbage can convince me otherwise. Those games were great, and one of the rare times I bought both versions of a pokemon game and played them both.
@@reachlol1 kinda true but HGSS was amazing as well. HGSS and BW 1 and 2 are the best games imo
Then theres marlon He swims. In all honesty yeah Unova is so lively and cohesive
@@reachlol1 BW2 are undoubtedly the best. While I like HGSS, the games were remakes, so I can't exactly grade them as high
@@thelegacyofgaming2928 While true, I would still rate them highly as the added so much new content to HGSS and had so much post game to do outside of things like battle towers or tournaments. But I do still agree that BW2 is still tops.
I’d like to see an update with Scarlet and Violet. The problems you’ve pointed out have only gotten worse. They’ve replaced going inside buildings with just a static menu screen. Region names are hilariously generic and the routes still feel like hallways. The NPC dialogue function like terrible AI.
bros really criticising the region names, none of which are particularly different btw, and the npc dialogue which HAS NOT CHANGED since gen 1 lol
@@VisceralSupreme Found the S&V defender
@@smergthedargon8974no
As much as I like S&V now, the fact that you couldn't go inside the buildings made me drop the game as soon as I got it. It was one of my favourite things in the series. What's the point of so many pretty buildings if you can't go inside ?
@@azusako6996 yea that’s honestly crazy to me that they removed the whole concept of going inside buildings, even poke marts are just a menu screen. I have no interest in playing new Pokémon games if they continue to do that.
It's crazy to get to the end of the video and he talks about getting ready to do the 1k subs video still. With him having now 100k after just one year, I can say: rightfully deserved. Great video and great editing
I screamed "YES" outloud when he mentioned how amazing Village Bridge is. I've been obsessing over this bridge for damn near 7 years, I used to fly there and just leave my ds running to listen to the music
I’m a pretty big Sword and Shield apologist, but this video has made me realize how lacking the entire Galar region is. When you mentioned the air ducts in Oreburgh, that unlocked memories deep in my mind of me running around thinking they led to a chest or are hiding some items in them. But then I asked a local and they explained their purpose. The first gym town in Sword & Shield is a giant circle surrounding the gym. Why was it built this way? Why is half the town blocked off?
To add on top of that, Galar Mines #1 and #2 being single level, almost straight lines was such a disappointment. Galar just has no dungeons basically, certainly nothing comparable to what we saw in past games. And them taking the time to set up a cool punk rock town owned by an evil team where dynamaxing can't happen... just to make it so not a single building is accessible? Tragic.
Because people supposedly only care about the gym.
Idk what made you a sword and shield apologist when these are by far the worst games in the entire series and easily the most flawed games with tons of horrible level design and game design decisions sprinkled all throughout the entire game, the forced exp share didn’t do the game any justice. I stopped buying the games since gen 7. Gen 7 was the last game I ever bought and haven’t returned ever since. The only game i currently purchased was Legends Arceus but I’ll be skipping out on Scarlet and Violet and waiting for whatever the next remakes end up being, hopefully the next remakes gets a proper remake and not be robbed of it like sinnoh. Personally wouldn’t mind a legends Unova game aslong as there are tons of npc trainers to fight against and it isn’t all about catching Pokémon but if they make a legends unova then they risk ruining the quality of the unova remakes which I don’t want so I would much prefer if they gave unova a proper remake.
Dude really just said, "I'm a pretty big shit-eater, but this video has made me realize how bad shit tastes."
@@The_Big_Jay pretty much yeah. I ain’t afraid to admit when I was wrong about something
My first game boy was found underneath a mattress that was in our apartment that we just moved into and my mom said I could keep it. It had a copy of Pokémon red and it. Thank you to the kid who lost his game boy ❤
I really respect you for not doing what everyone who speaks about Pokémon does and says the developers don’t care about their games. While I agree they have gotten lazy we truly don’t know who these people are and it feels like it would be a slap in the face to hear people say you don’t care about a series you’ve put your entire life’s work into.
I think one of the biggest growing issues with the Pokemon regions is the gradual move away from the Metroidvania aspects that were heavily present through gen 1 through 5. All of the spiralling connectivity of Kanto and Johto matters, not just because it makes the region feel more real, but because you WANT to go back to past towns at multiple points in the adventure whenever you get a new HM. That's basically all gone as if sword and shield. Thankfully legend's Arceus has brought much of that back.
Yeah man I feel that gen 1 and 2s more Metroidvania type maps really shocked me going back as I present in the vid with the return to pallet from cinnabar as an example I hope they bring these type of worlds back
I feel like this is true across multiple things. The modern era of open world obsession has lead to the decrease in understanding the importance of classic metroidvania progression that gave video games a lot of their meat. "Oh I have to backtrack, that's dumb" is quite common. Progression and growing stronger across the whole game? Why can't I just be a god from the beginning? I've seen it happen with a lot of franchises, several Nintendo ones as well.
I don't mind them not doing the whole non linear gym challenge thing they kinda did with part of gen 1 and 2 (a la fighting say pryce before chuck and Jasmine or fighting blaine before Sabrina) since it kinda wreaked havoc on the games difficulty curve but stuff like being able to just go into a random water route off route 1 in unova was really cool and I wish there was more stuff like that.
@@amandaslough125 What several Nintendo ones? Closest I could think of is BOTW...but even then being a god still takes time and effort to achieve.
@@jaydenc367 Breath of the Wild is the biggest. [Insert obvious essay here]. But Odyssey also kept that "everything is fairly easy and there isn't much of an overarching challenge" approach, which certainly is different from say Sunshine that has each tourist spot change dramatically while opening up, gave you extra nozzles mid game, and heavily rewarded thoroughly exploring everything multiple times. Paper Mario is an rpg series that the producer of the newer ones distinctively went "Imma take out what makes an rpg from an rpg franchise". And the biggest element he removed was the character progression concepts. I'm forgetting what non Nintendo example I was thinking of though.
Unova just got even better with black and white 2 because it took all the aspects from the previous games and added to them, like how you could explore more of Castelia sewers and find a secret project, or a path connecting to relic castle, or the fact you could take over a gang and become their leader it’s really cool
They didn't have to make BW2 an entirely new take on the region canonically set a few years after BW, but boy they sure went for it and you can tell there was so much love and effort put into making this region we already know with characters we've already met feel fresh and new again and IT WORKED Also that gang is so cool, I love that it's just this tiny little element of the world hidden away in a place you've already explored, but just couldn't quite get to the final part of yet
Yo, what? I never knew about the gang thing.
@@y2commenter246 They’re kinda a pain to find, those Sewers are a complete maze. God, I miss level design like that in Pokémon games.
I enjoyed XY. I knew it wasn't perfect, but I was too invested in building gimmick teams out of the gate to notice its problems- also it was the first jump to full 3D so I was already prepared to forgive it. I jumped back in at Ultra Sun and was infuriated at how unrelenting the handholding was.
The sun and moon games were the first I never completed. The end of an era for me.
This is actually really great advice and stuff to think about when it comes to designing your own region for a fangame. It has actually giving me some inspiration for the layout of Jakar, on top of being really entertaining as well.
I love how the first thing you mentioned during Gen 5 section is how beautiful it is, and I agree 100% with it. I still remember my childhood mind being blown seeing the season changes and how detailed the pixels art are, Gen 5 is really peak Pokemon
Gen 5 was legendary. Gamefreak had finally made a perfect generation and decided to throw it away
@@thelegacyofgaming2928 Gen 5 was peak of Pokémon the amount of content it had is unrivaled.
@@thelegacyofgaming2928 The fans threw it away
The pokemon fans threw away such a good game because they couldn't use their charizards or lucarios for the 10th game in a row.
@@thelegacyofgaming2928 They didn't decide to throw anything away, gen 5 didn't sell as well as any of the previous games and people gave it a lot of crap for how different it was. They just decided to appeal to a more general/casual audience so that it doesn't happen again. And as far as I know, it's been working wonders for them. Can't really fault a company for wanting to make money, but you can definitely blame the community for showing gamefreak/Nintendo that gen 5 apparently wasn't what they wanted out of a pokemon game
id love to see an update about Scarlet/Violet. the towns are empty other than sandwich stores
And even when you go inside the stores its not even a room... just a selection screen...
tbf the region design itself is pretty good, open area, has a lot of room for exploration and secrets, feels natural, and auto save does help against the crash somewhat
@@naganut9718 Great region but the most hollow cities of any game by far. I love exploring Paldea though. Best region since Kalos for me.
@@Crysta1Pisto1 true. The cities look great but they're felt empty
Lma9
My personal journey with Pokémon is, I started when my older brother let me borrow his copy of Pearl. I couldn’t keep it, since it was his, but I BEGGED my parents for my own Pokémon game for the longest time after that. I vividly remember them taking my to a game store a while later, and let me pick my own copy. I SNATCHED a copy of black 2 off the shelf, and after they bought it, I clutched that thing with all my might until I got home. I was like 11 at the time. I started my own Pokémon journey on November 9th, 2013. (I know this, because I still have my first Serperior even after restarting my game). There’s so much I could say about how much black 2 impacted me as a kid, and how much I love it, but that’s be a whole essay lol. A good example of how it effected me was, once I beat Ghetsis and team plasma at the giant chasm, I remember just sitting and listening to the music and being sad I’d beaten the game. I’ve been playing Pokémon since then, and have been getting every new game. (Except SWSH, I fell off for a bit when those games released) And on top of that, I still play black 2, and am currently working on finishing my dex with my brother who has white 2. Currently, we’re only 38 Pokémon away from officially completing it ^w^
Unova is my favorite Gen, and I really loved listening to your impassioned ranting! Especially when you touched on the dynamic music a bit. You did a fantastic job explaining the strengths and weaknesses of each region, and honestly it made me want to go back and replay some of the original games again
I'm from Unova IRL, and the region is even better when you know the history and references of their real-life counterparts. Nacrene City's counterpart is Brooklyn's Boerum Hill neighborhood, and Nacrene's museum and old train tracks both refer to the New York Transit Museum which is in the neighborhood. The New York Transit Museum was created within the once abandoned Court Street station, and it was originally meant to be a temporary exhibit for the US Bicentennial in 1976 but it was so popular that they made it permanent. It has several retired subway cars that you can enter with their ads still preserved. It's like you've gone back in time to a different era. Also, Driftveil City IRL is Union City, NJ which is a VERY Cuban area, so Driftveil City having such a bop for its theme checks out as Cubans are known for our music too. And hate to break it to you about the Village Bridge...it's counterpart is the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Nobody lives on it, and the complete opposite of tranquil. Reality is often disappointing.
Would u say undella town is more like outer banks, Myrtle beach, or ocean city (definitely not Florida)
Nvm i just figured out undella town is the hamptons
i found undella town to feel more like brighton beach, but that might be more with the fact that i'm from that area lmao. the town above undella in b&w2 with the boardwalks absolutely felt like it to me though.
Hahaha i love this. From the "I'm from Unova IRL" to people trying to figure out real world locations equal to in game locations; I genuinely love this. It's lovely. It's wonderful.
AVERY YOU ARE THE ONLY COMMENTER THAT I'LL FIND ON SOME RANDOM TNO SUPEREVENT AND ALSO A 1 HOUR POKEMON VIDEO, YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME YOU ARENT STALKING ME.
Man i just LOVE the pokemon pixel era, you can fell that they put a lot of effort to make these games memorable and unique, with each city having it's unique aesthetic, styles and stories, you can really tell that they made these games with a lot of passion
The new games have love too, but they just don't have enough time and there's so few employees for a big game, I'd imagine that there are a lot that feel sad seeing how many people hated the game they created so they try their best, talking about the developers of course (the people who worked to make the game, not people who didn't put any work into it)
@@mariotheundyingI used to think that but then mouse cursors appeared in the games, that's not being rushed or bad management that's just lazy and a lack of care.
@@Xapheion101 you can't judge 1 developer because of all developers, like for example, people who designed and modeled Galar cities weren't lazy, that's clear, of course the people who tell the story telling were lazy in that game tho, but in Scarlet and Violet I don't think anyone got lazy, you might say they have because of the bugs (programmer's being lazy you might say), but if you go to the Japanese site where people rate their jobs and talk about their experience and go to Game freak, there are programmers saying how they begged for more time for their latest game but didn't get it (this also might be why you can't enter houses, the ones that do that didn't have time), the people working on that game put love and care into it, yet the one that wanted it released sooner than it should've is at fault for all it's problems
@@Xapheion101nah it is rushed, the time between the games still remains basically the same but the games are now 3d, which requires a lot more work than a 2d game since they literally need to make every single model again and animate them (you can see a lot of animations being reused on different pokemon because of this), meanwhile when the games were 2d and pixelated, they could be done with the most important character and pokemon sprites within a month. It's just management not understanding game development and japanese culture being extremely attached to respect to seniority, both in age and in rank.
@@mariotheundying The have literally a 1000 employees working on it and in the last decade had multiple times doubled their employee count. The big issue is the switch to 3D and the giant scale issue, that was already a big issue even back in Gen 2 and only got significantly worse with 3D. A company making 1000+ monsters all with 20+ animations and a 800+ animations for attacks is already a giant logistical nightmare, then add to that they have to fit within the same artstyling. Add to that the giant media company that requires games and new Pokémon to be churned out on a regular basis to sell that merch and movies and you have modern pokemon.
Fantastic video, I hope this blows up even more. Hearing you talk about the lighthouses brought a wave of memories back. I distinctly remember being so mad that i could reach the one in Sun/Moon. Then I found the secret path and got even madder when I still couldn't go in. I also remember being mad in sword/shield since they had an npc at the top and I thought there was some sort of side quest. Game freak needs to bring back the old lighthouses.
As someone who grew up with Red, Silver, ruby and has recently finished sword. It's hard to put the disappointment in words. It was a horrible experience. Gym Puzzles are nonexistent, HM's disappeared and there is nothing I would call a dungeon.
HMs not being a thing is hardly an issue. It was a point of frustration for the vast majority of players. It was just a move you had to have totraverse through the region properly AND had to go out of your way to forget. They were just a chore. Most of the time they sucked too, being why HM slaves were a thing. You didn’t want them on any of your team.
HMs sucked glad they’re gone
I love some parts of Galar, but the best way I can describe it is that it's bunch of cool-looking concept art that you can kind of walk over.
I don't think the problem with Kalos is lack of content, but rather that the content is really unbalanced. Lumiose City has by far the most content in the entire series, but it feels like they had to sacrifice a few other cities to make it happen. Also, there seem to be a lot more smaller throwaway towns in general that could've been scrapped and the resources put into other cities.
„you picked the wrong house foo“ 😂😂
This video essay is wonderful, my boy. And congratulations for accumulating 180,000+ subscribers 👏🎉 truly a feat of success. Keep making great videos like this and we are all here to watch it. Matter of fact, I will watch the sequel to your video now where you talk about Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet!
38:35 Knowing that Kalos is inspired by France, the empty castle makes more sense. During the revolution, a lot of nobles properties were ransacked and all the furnitures taken. Todays, there are still many castle in the country with a lot of history but that are completely empty besides that. The contrast between the activities in Lumiose city and every other town in the game is also reminiscent of the macrocephaly of Paris. I think that in terms of translating its inspiration, Kalos does a good job. However it comes at the cost of game design.
Is literally the meme of "Things to do in France: LEAVE"
One of my most disappointing experiences in a pokemon game was in the The Crown Tundra when I saw a Heatmor and Durant next to each other...just standing there despite the fact that we're told that they share a predator and prey relationship. I think a major problem with gamefreak is that they (eventually) realise what people want but never why they wanted it. SOS and horde battles where we could see rival pokemon fighting each other were much better at fleshing out pokemon identities than being able to see them in the overworld. I would even argue that certain types of wild encounters in the 2d games (dust clouds in BW, using rock break or honey etc) did much more to create immersion than the wild area
Bro I felt the same way seeing fossil Pokémon in the wild
@@grandmastr2602 I remember in Alola there was a guy in a small secluded area who mentioned creating a park for fossil Pokemon (basically Jurassic Park) and there was some speculation that the Ultra games would have that idea fully realized as a new location where you could catch wild fossil mons, but nope. And now there's just, wild fossil mons in Galar with zero fanfare whatsoever...
Nice to see the Zoroark couple got back together. 😇
One of my favorite monents in my first playthrough of sun and moon was fighting a cleffa and having her call a chansey. I looked up why Cleffa could do that and learned that chanseys can be called as backup by every baby pokemon which was a really neat detail.
##
One correction: the Bridge Village song isn't actually gibberish, but a purposefully distorted Japanese lyrics. The real name of the song is Tasogare Oyaji.
In Kalos, the lore is subtle but all over the place. if i remember correct it was broken up by the direction point and corresponding legendary Pokemon and AZ's lore. Basically how they impacted that region i.e. the West was targeted by Yveltal, East by Xerneas, South by Volcanion, North AZ/the King and his lineage, while Central is mixed based on innovations and resilience. For example, Geosenge Town- is the site of the doomsday device AZ built powered Yveltal. The rock structures leading up to the town are grave sites where Pokemon that died to create the weapon. It is hinted that the rocks have powers and are connected to the mega evolution and life force of the Pokemon etc. ORAS expands on this concept with infinity energy.
The way Hoenn makes Sootopolis only accessible with the dive HM makes it pretty interesting as well. It ensured that you wouldnt skip Mossdeep so your gym battles wont go out of order AND adds more content to explore. Love it
How does anyone get in and out of the city tho? 😂
@@AS-ri1mb Scheduled pokemon rides or rented pokemon, probably.
Hearing praise for Sinnoh was so nice to hear. After bdsp, I just don't feel the same anymore about the generation that I started with. But it was really nice to be reminded that it was good
BDSP wasn’t bad tho? It was just a 3d remaster of D/P that added a couple new features like the great underground. There was nothing worse to those games than the original (other than the graphics, but that’s subjective). The only thing I wish was different was that they added some platinum features. The dex problem was fixed with the underground, but the gym puzzles and overworld encounters remain the same. BDSP wasn’t bad, it was just underrated, especially with such a long anticipated remake. PLA releasing 3 months later also didn’t help.
I don't think BDSP make the originals any worse. There's nothing stopping you from playing the old ones
@@cryguy0000 Except a retro game price tag
@@pengil3 I mean it removed the Underground secret bases which is a big thing and could've taken advantage of the improved online features (albeit now paid unlike the Nintendo Wi-Fi), missing moves (Vespiquen has no freaking Heal Order for example), and missing story beats from Platinum that could've still worked for BDSP...also it was marketed as a remake, and expectations for a Pokemon remake is usually something that somehow matches the current gen (see the other remakes except LGPE) and not just remasters.
@zjzr08 It was remade in a completely different engine. It's remade, I don't know what you fucking need more than that definition. Underground secret bases are still a thing? And using the Nintendo WFC system as a defense for literally any online Nintendo title is getting tiring. It's not a criticism, it's a service that has ended and now there is a new one. Same thing with Playstation plus (which used to be non online access related, but now very much is.)
This was very fun to watch! It's rare to find someone with in-depth perspective on all these different regions. Made me wanna pick each game up again while you were talking about it.
I completely agree with you on gen 6. When watching the video I thought back and realised that I only ever fondly remembered the routes and nothing about the towns except for some small details. The routes of gen 6 were amazing in my opinion but the towns were mostly dry which is really upsetting as I love these games since they were my first Pokemon games.
THE SUNDIAL, you unlocked a memory for me, I remember being so confused and frustrated, convinced something was supposed to happen there, mashing A all around the sundial. I think later on, that area was used to give you Diance or connected to her? But I was still upset, there should've been a event there in the main game, I felt so betrayed.
Not really an event, but at a certain time of day it ‘activates’ and you can find the mega stones all over the region.
The music in that town is _amazing_ and it has this very mysterious quality; which only makes it *even more* frustrating and confusing that there is _nothing_ there!
It may have had some more relevance if we got a return to kalos, but that didn’t happen, likely because of the gear project.
@@arthursmarthur That was dumb and tedious in my opinion.
@@UnwantedGhost1-anz25 yeahhh. Having to wait for it to be a certain time or changing the time yourself just to have an hour to find the stones was pretty annoying
Unova was peak Pokemon for me. Growing up in my teens, I went from the simplicity and clean execution of LeafGreen to playing BW with the depth and complexity of Unova. Good memories. Great video!
This is very strange, I remember people in the past complaining that Unova was bad, the new pokémon were bad, and everything else, but over the years the region gained the recognition it didn't have at the time. I remember that I liked Unova a lot, I think Black & White 2 helped a lot to increase Unova's popularity
@@Vinilboit wasn’t B/W2, people just actually gave the game a chance, over the years people have been very critical of backwards compatibility with old Pokémon, if they can’t get older gen Pokémon they rage, it happened with gen3 on release not having a way of transferring gen 1 and 2 Pokémon into future games, which FRLG and emerald fixed, so when they found out that none of the original gen 1 to 4 Pokémon were available everyone started sabotaging the game, and the easiest way was to clown on some of the weirder newer designs (vanilluxe and garbodor were literally the only complaints even tho there were 151 original Pokémon, the largest dex ever since gen 1) as time went on people actually gave the game a try, people who weren’t as biased and those who decided to actually play the game after their anger burnt off, and those who did realized that the game actually had really high quality, but at that point it was too late, the game had been off the shelves for a while and gamefreak had learned their lesson, don’t ever try to innovate, people don’t like new ideas, which directly killed the creative development of the series from that point off, the reason the games are sht is because people who were too set on gen 1 and 2 were to busy crying over old Pokémon and sabotaged the best game of the series, B/W2 had very little impact on the criticisms of the game as it was treated very much like it’s prequel
@Vinilbo it was a soft reebok of sorts so people hated it. But as the years go by people have realized the depth put into it
@@daltonwright6514 sorry but what is a reebok? im not a native speaker
@@Vinilbo reboot was a typo my bad
bro this is the first video i saw from you and i watched the whole thing! great way to spend a thursday night, and i really appreciate how much work you put into the editing! it was really enjoyable! you got a new subscriber :)
Just had this recommended to me and it was a really great watch, think you did a good job overall with the video. Also the fact that you were just under 1k subs yet now you are at about 175K, glad to see the work has paid off. Will slowly binge some more of your videos with what little free time i have, thanks and take care at your little corner of the internet!
I know that this was somewhat touched on in this video, but one thing that I would add to this discussion are the caves. Remember in the older generations where you could actually find yourself getting lost in caves? Or how you could tackle a cave without flash early but could find yourself getting lost that way also? Nowadays, in the newer games they are all linear paths that hold your hand all the way through them. Gamefreak seems to think that a pokemon game that poses even a little bit of a challenge in gameplay is a game that people don't wanna play, but that couldn't be further from the truth. That's just my opinion though.
I mean, just to put this out there because I feel the opinion written by you is far more common, I personally LOVE this change in the pokemon games. To me, the maze-like nature of every route in some of the older games not only led to the worlds feeling absolutely nothing like lived in worlds, and like stages in a game, due to the fact that NO CIVILIZATION would just deal with their primary transportations being so windy that going to your friends house a mile away is a 2.5 mile walk. Additionally, it's just seriously irritating after the fact. While the maze-like nature is fine and whatever if I'm just passing through once, any repeated visit becomes an outright annoyance since I'm likely there because I need something specific, and the only worldbuilding in having to essentially walk up a downwards escalator is giving me is making me hate the world. I truly RELISHED in X and Y when routes felt like ROUTES, like direct paths from point A to B designed for human beings to move between, and would be seriously disappointed to see the return of old routes.
@@Carinail Yeah, I loved exploring caves and suddenly finding a static encounter legendary in HG/SS BUT the story parts of these caves where just too long. I'd love it if the bits connecting towns where just straight forward but you can enter lower and higher places inside a mountain/cave to maybe find something amazing. That would honestly be the best of both worlds.
@@Carinail yeah, but they should put content in between, like some caves, lakes, something, make you go in there for a quest or just putting something in there that lights up your desire for exploration, doing the bare minimum is lame for a big ass company, GF is as cheap as Riot Games thinking they are still a little indie company
i personally feel like old caves were bad though. i think the look and environment of the caves are much more important
Ehh, personally I don't miss that design aspect. Having to pull up a map online or wander aimlessly through a cave for the better part of an hour just isn't a fun type of challenge imo. Getting lost in Wayward Cave in Platinum as a kid was easily what felt like an absolute waste of time more than anything else in that game to me. Especially with the high encounter rates of caves. Going through them feels like a chore either way, so adding in the potential to make the experience last 4x longer than it needs to or really should sounds like an absolute pain.
The design of Galar was one of my biggest problems when playing Sword. Not enough physical space and stuff to do between gyms so the game is too fast
It's both slow and fast Slow because of cutscenes
That's a really good way to put it The routes that werent the wild area were tiny and boring. The spot where you first find sizzlepede and gossefleur comes to mind
@@slinky6415 the wild area was pretty boring too
It's also way too fast because of the Exp Share, and the easy access to candies. You level pokemon up way too easy in that game.
Yes, I'm actually wondering if the exp share change was made specifically because there was so little content, like they needed a bandaid way to level your Pokemon up.
I really love Alola as a region, but I do think that they missed the chance and opportunity to really flesh out the region. There could have been so many cool routes or caves or even underwater areas that ultimately just didn't exist. Just thinking about using dive (like in oras) and being surrounded by coral reefs is just such a cool idea. I wish they took more time to flesh out the region and the environments more in terms of things to do and lore as well. Moon was my first game, but a few years later I played platinum and black and was just so surprised at all the things to do in each town and NPCs that have actually interesting dialogue. There's so much detail in those games that I think SM lacks. I think Alola has a lot of strong points in the characters, but the overall region's design was just lacking. Makes me wish that Gamefreak released a Pokemon Z and worked on SM for longer instead of rushing it out for Pokemon's 20th anniversary.
I know this video was a year ago but I wish they’d do a mix of 2D and 3D but I know that won’t happen. For me I feel like having an art style like octo path traveler would be soooooo cool.
a pokemon game in the octo path style would be amazing! Great idea bro!
This was one of the best videos I have ever seen. The way you were able to break each region down was nothing short of amazing, I wish I had saw this video sooner!
Woah! Dude you’re Jordan Fringe lol so cool to see you here I love your vids I’ve watched a lot of em! Thank you so much for enjoying mine!
@@InternetPitstop hey I appreciate that very much, thanks for watching! I’m currently binging your channel and I love it! Every video has been fantastic!
There actually was an abandoned ship in the Hoenn region in the original Ruby and Sapphire! They took it out in ORAS and replaced it with Sea Mauville.
Which is kinda cool cause ORAS aimed to show a different Hoenn than the originals
@@KoolKyurem25 Yeah being a alternate universe which speaking of disappointed didnt mention the massive upgrade Mauville City received as it's now a indoor city! And in the original games Wattson even had plans of overhauling the place but scrapped those plans. It sucks that we missed out of the Battle Frontier but it really seems like people don't give the ORAS games credit.
@@SonicLegends ORAS deserves its credit especially after what BDSP turned out to be. They are not bad games but don’t hold up to the improvements introduced in the same Gen. ORAS just like BDSP excluded the Battle Frontier but it expanded the story, improved characters, included the gens gimmick and had slightly better graphics than XY during it’s time both games gave a quality of life feel but ORAS is just the better remake and imo the most ambitious remake we’ve gotten in terms of changing how we perceived the multiverse of Pokémon to be. HGSS could still be argued to be the best in terms of quality.
He shows and mentions the abandoned ship by name at 19:27. I think he meant expanding on the lore of ships being left out at sea by having a ship graveyard or something which would have been absolutely sick and filled some of the empty space.
Alola was such a let down. The golf course, the hotel, etc. so much from the initial trailers and and gameplay footage had me so excited to explore the region, all for these places to be a front
Holy shit dude, this video made me bust out my 3ds and replay unova, and I forgot how much I loved this game. It’s just so beautiful, and it’s amazing to see what gamefreak was able to do with colorful pixels and some music. Thanks for bringing me back to my oshawott, this game as beautiful as the day I lost it ❤
Turffield broke the optimism I had for Galar's region design. I gave the early towns a pass because the first couple towns aren't always amazing. Then I get to the site of the first gym and I see these sprawling buildings in the background. I'm so excited to explore, so I run back and forth trying to figure out how to access them... only to realize that they are just a background. That crushed my spirit.
Here's some Lore: In Anistar you can give a guy a Pokemon bc he's lonely and Depressed, but sadly after you beat the Leauge and go back he's passed away, leaving the Pokemon behind for you to collect
I like how your giving Kanto towns so many aesthetic points despite the admission every town in Kanto basically just kind of looks like a pokemon town. Like that's a participation trophy just for being gen 1 if I ever saw one
52:06 Yeah, I'm listening! My favorite regions were Sinnoh and Kalos, so it caught me off guard that you criticized it like you did. But... you still made a point. I think this is really what gets to the heart of it. I can't stand how Scarlet/Violet is in terms of this problem, but maybe I should've seen it coming with it appearing distinctly as early as around Kalos~Alola... 🤔
one thing about gen 6 is that its obvious that there was supposed to be a 2nd version that was scrapped. it was their first 3d pokemon game so its like their testing grounds but nintendo's deadlines basically fucked gamefreak over. and all the teased lore wouldve been explored on in x and y's second versions ended up getting scrapped because pokemon was having it's 20th anniversary so nintendo wanted them to force out sun and moon instead for more hype. it really sucks to see how halfassed zygarde complete form was when the x and y anime shows what the secondary x and y games couldve had.
Yes there was evidence found that XY sequels were in development, they were then scrapped when BW2 only sold as much as a 3rd version would have combined. Somehow this was seen as a loss instead of status quo so the sequels got scrapped and left that plot to the anime while all of the Aether assets were quickly funneled into SM development along with Zygrade's forms and our 2nd instance Battle Bond just to have them in the games. Going off colors Floette was likely also under this affect and it was supposed to be more than an ability, possibly a direct alternative to Megas used like gimmicks have been for each starter trio since. We really need a do over of almost all of 6-8.
I would have loved a Z version... X/Y was my favorite after Gold, because I loved the aesthetic, the option between 8-direction movement and free-skating movement... and it radically improved Gardevoir. Z version could have ironed out the lacking lore and added more post-game content, but instead we got my immediate LEAST favorite versions... S/M.
I think the linear aesthetic in BW made the switch up in B2/W2 a much refreshing and welcomed change. As a native New Yorker, Gen V gave me a fresh new perspective of the city I live in rather than through the eyes of a 9-5er trying to pay his bills and survive. There is unique cultural real world aesthetic and identities to the 5 boroughs including Jersey in Gen V. Like how Narcerene and Pinwheel Forrest is inspired by the Dumbo’s hipster culture and borough parks vastness connecting leading to Brooklyn Bridge. Or how Mistralton’s aviation area is a nod to Jersey’s teeterboro airport which through a flight is connected to Lenitas town which Hispanic influence is reminiscent of the Colombian/Cuban culture of Jackson Heights in Queens, which connects also to Astoria and LaGuardia Airport. Which blows my mind that Unova as vast as it is never included a Bronx or Staten Island area that could’ve contained more traditional Gen I-IV element a like a Safari zone, Cycling Path, abandoned facility, power plant, and a post game battling area. Imagined how much more content Kalos and Alola would’ve had if it was on the DS format.
Bro this was an amazing comment to read learned a bunch of cool shit from it thank you 🌊
the bronx is supposed to be the desert route above castelia which…. makes sense
@@soleanna14 well actually no. Geographically that would be Tribeca, SoHo, NoHo, Greenwich, and Chelsea. The Bronx would be a completely separate region above Oppelucid.
Unova screaming its inspiration being the u.s. was a huge turn-off for me. I just cannot stand Unova for the life of me because I can't stand living in the u.s. for the life of me.
Gen 5 is also the only Pokemon game with some voice acting.
This topic reminds me of being at a party and having a super niche in depth conversation with a couple strangers that you’ll never meet again. Love your videos and this topic is quite unexpected to think about but totally true, super nostalgic. It makes me sad thinking how beautiful Pokémon could be now. If the magic and work that went into the new Zelda games was in Pokémon, it would be amazing!! ❤
I agree with all of this but even more importantly, I don't feel motivated to explore a town when the first two towns in a game had houses with NO ITEMS in them. No items=no motivation to explore.
The thing I always say about gen 6 is that it has incredible set pieces and memorable moments but is missing that last like 30% of the recipe that made previous regions amazing. Needed that 3rd version so bad, praying the inevitable remake fills in the cracks🙏
Kalos just absolutely reeks of them having big ideas for events/expanded story with another version, but the 20th anniversary coming up forced them to change plans drastically to have a big release that year rather than a third/expanded partner release, leading to the hasty inclusion of zygarde as collectibles in sun and moon and such, thus leaving all their breadcrumbs around it being for nothing (like, power plant, and potential relations to volcanion with its steam abilities)
Agreed, it's a game I think of fondly but also leaves me thinking "this needs just a hint of spice". RIP Pokemon Z.
Honestly I disagree with Kalos being lacking in any capacity. It felt like he was really trying to push this narrative of gen 6 being the downfall of town design to fit the "3D is bad trend" but it just doesn't work. Like when he talks about Camphrier town lacking lore and esthetic, then goes on complaining about the castle giving you "lame lore" about the town (so now there's lore?) and manage to say pastoria has an aesthetic because of one cardboard cutout ?
@@artimist0315 Nah, he’s right. There’s nothing to do in most of the Kalos Towns and cities, and most of them blend in together. Re Camphrier Town, he said there was no lore in the town itself. He hoped the castle would save it, but it was empty, bar a short explanation (“lame lore”) about why it’s empty.
@@cuck1ngfunt Kalos has some of the most distinct cities in the whole franchise, Lumiose, Shalour, Laverre and Snowbelle certainly don't blend together. Especially considering what he said about gen 4, Kalos has excellent cities. And for Camphire, while the town itself is a bit empty it's literally glued to the berry field, Pension and Battle chateau
In Unova you forgot to mention How Chargestone cave has many levels where the music becomes lower pitched and slower in the lower levels and how you generate static when passing through the chargestones, how twist mountain connects to the mine Clay owns, Castelia City's sewers and how the water level varies depending on the season or how seasons effect the routes and the items you can find, Lentimas town and its beautiful clay houses that fit the pueblo aesthetic used in areas such as Arizona and the music which is this awesome salsa type theme. You also forgot to mention the mansion where you can find the ghost if the girl who died in a nightmare i believe in the hands of Darkrai. You also forgot to mention interactivity such as being able to get wings in bridges and find Ducklett or Swanna. Also reversal mountain and how it's an active or extinct volcano depending on the version or Humilau City and the houses that are in docks like Pacifidlog town from Hoenn but better or how Victory Road in BW2 is connected to the ruins of N's Castle from the first game.
to be fair,most of what you said pertains to white2 and black2 which he unfortunely skipped. imo the only bad thing about this video,as all the problems and cons about black and white gets corrected with the sequels,region too linear? have some more towns,plus routes that change with the seasons,new cities fully remodeled,more connectivity mostly in the cave/sewer system. Only bad things in bw2 is not fully expanding the underwater part(also building off the ruined parts lore) aswell as fully closing off route 10,when they could've put smth extra there for post-game but kay.
@@lisiastar8441 yeah you're right About BW2
Just found you off your Twilight Princess video, now this one. Loving this shit, your editing and writing style are unique and well done, just giving an overall feeling of love. Thanks for the videos bro
Can’t believe he hearted my comment then my dumbass edited it. Not smart😅
this video was incredible. I appreciated all the humor put into it while still being very informative and I don't think there was a single take in this video I didn't fully agree with. 10/10 would watch again (and probably will watch again when I go to bed because this is a good sleep type beat)
I honestly wondered why I didn't like Gen 6 to 8 and I was wondering why I felt unfulfilled and this kinda puts it to words: We're in new locations, but everything feels hollow.
Id agree with gen 7 and Gen 8 before the DLC but Gen 6 was pretty filled.
@@zemellion26 Gen 6 only felt more complete because it was the 1st of the 3D era games and during a critical point of leaving the pixel era. The map was a mixture of pixel areas and the more traditional 3D eras
I honestly never felt so bored as I did when playing Dun and Moon. I truely regret buying Ultra Moon. I expected new story like BW2 but all I got was the same story I had already played plus a DLC. Sw/Sh honestly wasn't better. I only played it for the overworld Pokemon and even these felt disappointing. Especially the harbor town grew my disappointment. I walked into it and it looks SO nice. I started exploring only to see that there is literally nothing to see.
@@Nigolasy what did you think of PLA
@@zemellion26 The behavior of the wild pokemon was a little to unsurprising. Would have loved a few more nuances or special interactions with other wild pokemon. Idk if there are any, I haven't seen that. But like in the starting area, there are Starly and Wurmple next to another. I think the Pokedex even says that Wurmple are aftaid of birds, they didn't seem very startled by the Starly ie. The gameplay is amazing. I haven't talked to every NPC in every town. But the world didn't feel empty for me. You can go exploring so far. I honestly think that the mounts were only necessary for climbing and swimming. Once I got Braviary, it kind of lost its touch a little. On a sad note: the game had literally nothing unexpected. I can't remember anything that really surprised me. It's a good foundation for upcoming Paldea. I honestly hope they add lots of things to explore. The map is so big in theory. So unless they don't mess up the scale, there should be plenty of room for hidden paths and secrets.
This is truly amazing. To me the first 3 gens are GOAT material, so I never gave much attention to the other games cause I wasn't the biggest fan of those gens and respective Pokemon. HOWEVER this analysis about the games' worlds truly made me WANT to go and dive in a new adventure to become the very best and experience new Pokemons and those regions, so full of lore and life. I was completely blind to these complex worlds just because I really didn't enjoy the starters. Because of that I never bothered to pick up the games. I sat here, listening to the Unova bridge town's music with chills all over my body, that shit is amazing!!! Now I want to go play Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and Pokemon Black and White, it seems like it could be fun, Idk if I'll actually do it, but at least now I have more interest than I ever had in those games. Wat's your favorite Pokemon? Mine's Tyranitar, although I sometimes gravitate toward Calydol And yea, I do love you and work. It IS something worth doing/continuing doing. Sorry about the long ass response OH! And btw (a few videos back Idk if you remember I talked about my thesis and life struggle on the "Atmosphere In Video Games" video through the "checkpoint" mechanic) I got my life sorted out - kinda - got a new thesis subject and I'm hyped af!! Life's good :)
Hey man I always appreciate long form comments like these this is my fav rn ! Thank you for watching my video and giving back such meaningful feedback I think you should definitely play Pokémon platinum vs diamond and pearl and definitely play black and white 1 and 2 there’s so much to enjoy there and my favorite Pokémon has got to be Arcanine I love a big woofer lol and hey that’s great to hear I’m glad you’re moving forward it’s all gonna work out one way or another 🌊
Gen 4 and 5 are the best
Gen 1 and 2 are kind of mid.
Euh my mans, play platinum not diamond and pearl. No hate for the latter, but platinum is tbh just the better version of diamond and pearl
Q
The first four generations all work on the concept of a 'metroidvania'. Yknow where the main thing blocking your access to different places is just not having the things that you need to get to them. Starting with gen 5 they started making the maps a straight line so that you'd play everything in order.
The issue came that gen 5 had a big focus on story so they railroaded you a bit to hard. Little better region layout and gen 5 would easily be the best pokemon game
Hey! I really loved your video, and I think you captured moments and experiences from the “pixel era” games perfectly for me as well. I still haven’t played any of the Pokémon games after Kalos, so hearing about the changes in the later games was disheartening to say the least. Especially because one of the things I absolutely loved about Pokémon was the unique ability it had to have me completely engaged in the world of the game for the next few days. But this was not true when I played Kalos, and I too was incredibly pissed on finding absolutely nothing lore-wise about the super cool sundial town
Man, seeing someone gush about the pixel era is pure nostalgia fuel. They don't make them like they used to. Really feel blessed to have started and ended my Pokémon journey there.
Gen 7, 8 and 9 suffered from growing pains of no longer having routes built as grids and thus not having much interactivity. And since the games are rushed they dont have time to create dynamic areas to explore in these new freer, more open ended areas.
Yes! You nailed why I don't like Alola, Galar, and Paldea. They feel less like regions and more like placeholders.
@@christianmckee2116 well all games since gen 6 have been rushed. So the lack of lore and lack of creative dungeon/area design makes sense.
@@juandiegotorres9632 It does. But what I find weird is that Alola never really improved in design despite receiving USUM. Like, Galar and Paldea's DLCs took place in areas outside of them, so I can kind of get why the regions feel so rushed (even though it doesn't excuse how badly they are). But Alola received four versions overall that took place there, and Alola still feels incredibly shallow for some reason. Was SM _and_ USUM's development so rushed that they didn't bother to improve the region despite having two third versions? I just don't get it.
@@christianmckee2116 SM was not as rushed as XY, it's story at least was fully explored (the main plot anyway) but some areas like the geothermal power plant and the Golf course were not explored. USUM was a great opportunity to release a sequel with Gladion as head of the aether corporation, the ultra recon squad as the antagonists, a more fully explorable ultra dimension megalopolis, Lillie as a trainer, and a reformed Guzma and Lusamine. Maybe Hau as a Kahuna instead of Champion. I guess calling it ultra Sun and moon instead of sun and moon 2 was the first hint that it wasn't gonna be a sequel.
@@juandiegotorres9632 Which makes me wonder more WHY they didn't bother fully fleshing out and expanding Alola. USUM being two third versions wouldn't have prevented Alola from being deeper than just a bunch of hallways (most of the towns and routes) or big empty spaces (Poni Island as a whole). My guess is that development was such a mess that they didn't have the time to improve the region design.
Kanto was pure passion, Johto was a child of love that they thought would be their last, Hoen was an opportunity to expand like they never thought they could (it was no longer a pokemon world, look to the stars and see for yourself), and Sinnoh felt like an explorer making their dream journey to the north
I noticed the mystery dungeon music in the beginning and was immediately happy lol
I think you nailed the issue on the head with the Alola region 49:56 I like the Alola region (some great Pokémon designs and a story I didn’t mind even though it was hand holdy) but I think the problem partially stems from the inspiration. Hawaii is a very blended place in that you have native Hawaiian culture, a lot of Asian immigrants due to proximity (especially Japan and the Philippines), and a lot of transplants from the mainland. I think Nintendo focused too much on the blend and because of that missed out on the Hawaiian culture weaved through the story of the place. Yes the transplants are important but the native culture should be a center point that you add to
Yeah, it ends up making Alola feel like more "Hawaii-themed vacation resort" than it feels like actual Hawaii
27:14 I remember when I first saw Castellia City and couldn't believe how they were able to make such a huge metropolis in a Pokemon game. It just gave off a great vibe and there was so much to do there, as expected of a big city.
i had a a great time watching this video. i always talk to everybody, check the trash cans, interact with the bookshelves, etc lmao the alola gen was my last pokemon game. after i "beat" it, i sold my copies of pkmn moon and x lol. i had played every gen up to pkmn bw2 at that point, and alola was my line in the sand, signal to jump ship. your video essay has a lot of soul and i really connected with your disappointment in missed potential here!! great work, i'm subbing :3
The story about how you got Pokémon yellow reminded me of how I got Pokémon red. I was at my grandparents house for dinner and I already had Pokémon Blue(in fact i remember playing at the dinner table) and my uncle came home from work and he found a game boy pocket, Pokémon red and link cable on the train. He gave them to me and I was elated (felt a little sad for the kid who lost his but this was the 90s and I was 7 but I thank that kid) I was able to complete my Pokédex that night.
I will forever adore the amount of detail gamefreak put into the unova region. I could play that fame for hours, often spending time exploring the towns and cities. I am also in love with the lore behind the sinnoh region, I was always fascinated by it
1:04:07 i wanted to make a point about this as well. In legends Arceus I noticed that many smaller frailer Pokémon are found around alpha Pokémon, and I realized it was was probably because they were protecting them. Like it’s such a simple, interesting, crazy good way to make Pokémon interact and add challenge to catching weaker Pokémon. Meanwhile in Sword and Shield I’ll be lucky if two of the Pokémon in the wilds area clipped into each other.
Pokemon Emerald was my first Pokemon game I played when I was around 6 or 7. I haven't played the game in about 10 years, the breakdown of the Hoenn region gave me chills, I remembered everything.