Pokemon Gen 8 Discussion Thread of Hopes, Speculation, Expectations, Dreams, Rumors, and More

[Agni Kai]

It's finally begun. I love these Pokémon threads and I hope this one turns out to be as crazy as the ones we had before the Let's Go games were properly revealed.

I want a game that's not scared of keeping me in a dungeon for 1 hour. Also, I want proper level design as well.

 

[Hero of Legend]

All I want is;

• Less Gen 1 pandering,
• The return of Cross gen evolution,
• A dark type gym,
• Lighten up on the hand holding,
• A ghost/Normal type Pokémon
• To reach the same level standard that gen 4 and 5 set.

Battle Revolution was rushed to meet its deadline as the game was originally going to have story mode and mini games but it got cut.

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I remember the mini-games being cut but there was a story mode also? Man it's a crime at how rushed this game was. :'(

 

[KillstealWolf]

Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System revamped for your pokemon rival. We'll call it the Pokemon Rivals System.

A variety of strong trainers that roam the region, they team depends on what pokemon you use against them and how your matches go with them (For example, if you bring a Shinx against their Starly and knock it out, they'll bring a ground type like Hippopotas for their next match. If that Hippopotas then KO's your Shinx in the next match, it'll evolve into a Hippowdon for your future match). Have maybe 7 of them scattered across the region that show up in fixed points for the main story, then can show up anywhere in the post-game.)

It's a little silly that the only affect you can have on the rival is whatever starter you picked and that's it. There should be more differences for such key trainers.

Oh and sinnoh remakes. That or a focus on all the new pokemon.

Less Kanto please. It's had more than enough time as a focus now.

 

[Deleted member 249]

How much evidence is there to not be at least skeptical if you feel let down by everything post-BW2 though?

Have their been any recent interviews of GF responding to some of the common criticisms of the series' current direction (lack of difficulty, limited exploration, poor level design, etc)

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I'm not saying you can't be cynical, just the general hostility in all other recent Pokemon threads is something I am hoping we can avoid in this one

On one hand it's 2018 and a console game, so it certainly should have it...

...but on the other hand, TPC handles the TV anime so if we ended up with that quality it would be a monkey's paw.

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Is the dub in the anime bad? I haven't watched it in years.

 

[alexi52]

-Give us new Mega evolutions

-Pander to a gen that's not gen 1 for a change

-new evolutions like how gen 4 did it

-no bipedal fire starter final evolution

-Bring back double battles and triple battles

- rechallenging gyms and trainers

 

[WolfeTone]

Thanks for putting the OP together. It's nice to have a collection of what we know so far with references. Great job!

My hopes are similar to others for the most part : less hand holding, more challenging.

In addition, I hope for a black and white approach of all new Pokémon until post game or at least 80%+ new Pokémon with some lesser known legacy Mon thrown in preferably with new evolutions and regional variants in most cases.

Unless they radically improve cutscene direction and writing, I hope for a much reduced story. XY and SM were a disaster in that regard. Too many slow-moving cutscenes to sit through. I can tolerate and even enjoy a BW level story.

Hopes that will never come true: a return to sprites and a 2D overworld, dropping Megas and Z moves. Also a simplified breeding process that's less of a time sink and allows creation of top tier Pokémon with less effort and speculation (eg everstones, IVs, EVs and other things that are never explained in game) .

 

[octopedes]

Let's get some of those sweet sweet rumors from back before LGPE was announced. Maybe some of those 'leaks' might be real hints at P8.

 

[Denryu]

My biggest wants are a meaty postgame, a cool region with good level design lore, new megas and at least 100 new pokés.

I hope nothing major gets cut or reduced, i wish they would just expand everything each time a generation comes out. The games are already different enough because of the setting and pokédex, they don't need to remove nice features to make them stand out. :/

 

[Delio]

Also yeah I'd like a large roster of Pokemon. Something like 100 for the new gen. This is one of those times they can go nuts with Pokemon count. I know they are trying to avoid the big 1k but for a new gen i want a big dex. Also..gimmie a Fire/Fairy starter.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

I remember the mini-games being cut but there was a story mode also? Man it's a crime at how rushed this game was. :'(

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Yeah, it's a shame as I really liked the music and some of the Pokémon 3D models looked so good. But it was rushed out the door so it could be the first game to use Nintendo Wi-Fi connection in the US and Japan. It didn't even get an update to use the new form. :(

As a result Battle Revolution is in this catch 22 situation where it's useless without the gen 4 main series games but there's no point in using Battle Revolution as gen 4 was the first generation to introduce Wi-Fi battling, so all Battle Revolution had to offer was seeing Pokémon in 3D.

 

[Momo]

We'll see the birth of a new generation of Pokémon in in less than half a year or so! I hope it's like the 5th generation. Can't wait!

 

[Colocho]

I want 2 things for the new games:

1. I want the game to look good, hope they completely abandon the chibi proportions

2. I want more freedom to explore. Sun and moon felt like very narrow hallways half the time, I want more open areas at least.

 

[Xavi]

They better not remove following Pokémon, Venusaur's walking/running animation is the funniest thing I've ever seen in a Pokémon game.

 

[Deleted member 249]

I want 2 things for the new games:

1. I want the game to look good, hope they completely abandon the chibi proportions

2. I want more freedom to explore. Sun and moon felt like very narrow hallways half the time, I want more open areas at least.

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As for point 1, that's actually something that Sun and Moon already addressed in their entirety (I'm not sure why LGPE regress from that, to be honest).
For point 2, I agree

Thanks for putting the OP together. It's nice to have a collection of what we know so far with references. Great job!

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Thank you! Thankfully there isn't as much out there about these games right now, so getting it all together wasn't as horrifying as it could have been otherwise haha.

 

[Dark Cloud]

I'm ready for open world Pokémon.

 

[KillstealWolf]

They better not remove following Pokémon, Venusaur's walking/running animation is the funniest thing I've ever seen in a Pokémon game.

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I mean they modelled walking for all 800+ considering the data-mines of Sun and Moon, so I imagine they'll use the other 650 in the next title now it's on hardware that can handle it.

 

[okayfrog]

Spoiler

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que juego

 

[Iori Fuyusaka]

Pokémon Hype check thread?

 

[Xavi]

Pokémon Hype check thread?

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lmao

 

[Kyzer]

Dear Game Freak,

1. Give it to Morimoto

2. Relish in success

 

[Illusion]

What I want:

More dynamic region design and you get to choose which gyms you wish to challenge first.
A story narrative that doesn't hold back to be "kid friendly"
A rival that hates your guts
Region-based on Australia or Italy
Open world from the moment you choose your Pokemon and leave starter town
More Megas
More Regional Variants

 

[Sterok]

Start off with Everymon is here so we can wash away any bad tastes. Then whatever, as long as it's new.

 

[Atheerios]

Uh it's too early for this thread. There aren't going to be any rumors about Gen 8 until January at least.

 

[McNagah]

Less story building and more world building. I want the towns and land to be as varied and as vast as possible. Honestly just make it feel like something is living in there. I feel like Sun and Moon got close but I want to see them take it to a level like Mario Odyssey.

 

[milkyway]

Oh boy... So S/M and US/UM to me represent the first actual downgrade for the series and I hope that Gen 8 is only like them in that it is a "traditional" Pokemon game unlike LGP/LGE. Here's a few things I'd like from Gen 8.
- Less useless features. S/M has a pathetic excuse for a Pokemon Snap addition, Pokemon Pelago is an utter waste of time, the Pokemon tree house thing was an inferior alternative to the battle factory - if it introduces new features, then I hope they are considerably more thoughtful. Similar features to what was in S/M could have worked but were poorly executed.
- More overall customization. Trainer customization was a fun thing and I hope it comes back with more detail. As far as Pokemon, I think they can make things easier on the competitive side and even aesthetically, for example like picking the Pokeball for your Pokemon without necessarily using it to capture the Pokemon. I don't see why any Pokemon I capture has to be doomed by inherent traits such as a bad nature - just let the trainer be able to tailor their Pokemon to its full potential.
- Multiple challenge levels. Pokemon has a wide audience and it deserves to have varying degrees of difficulty for the main story mode. BW2 knew what was up.
- Attractive online hub. 6th gen got this right, 7th gen was a complete reversion.
- More interactivity with Pokemon. LGP/LGE bringing back following Pokemon and allowing you to ride your own Pokemon is great. Amie was somewhat fun. I'd love features like this to be introduced because it makes everything more personal.
- I'd like the game to honor all the past generations without a lot of bias while introducing the new. Perhaps in a similar way to gen 6, with less bias toward the 1st generation. Maybe this is unlikely, but I don't like a heavy lean on new things or towards gen 1 in particular.
- Be done with the second game bullshit. I don't want BW2, I don't want Platinum/Emerald/etc., it's a new age and it's time to just go with DLC content. I'd pay for it even. I don't want a secondary game which is basically the same thing but with some new features to be released. Just go with DLC so that I can continue off the save file I put so much time and effort into (and not have to pay for a new game). I am not arguing against a 2 game release such as Red/Blue, this is a series staple and it is fine.

I don't know what to expect with these games but they have been in development for a long time, and with LGP/LGE appealing to the new crowd and long time no see crowd, I think the experienced player crowd is going to receive more attention this time around. I'm cautiously optimistic that whatever comes out is going to be satisfying.

 

[Reki]

Not expecting it, but some difficulty options would be nice.

Anyways, really hyped for this! Last I played was Y, so here's hope they bring some of the well-received stuff from SM.

 

[Sovan Jedi]

All I want is some more dinosaur fossil Pokemon, a stegosaur and an ankylosaur, before they eventually move on to cenozoic animals for fossils.

If I was extra greedy I'd want a ceratopsian too. Yes I know Bastiodon exists but it is straight-up garbage, Game Freak have another go at it and try better this time.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Yeah, it's a shame as I really liked the music and some of the Pokémon 3D models looked so good. But it was rushed out the door so it could be the first game to use Nintendo Wi-Fi connection in the US and Japan. It didn't even get an update to use the new form. :(

As a result Battle Revolution is in this catch 22 situation where it's useless without the gen 4 main series games but there's no point in using Battle Revolution as gen 4 was the first generation to introduce Wi-Fi battling, so all Battle Revolution had to offer was seeing Pokémon in 3D.

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Another thing against it which would've been the case even if it had two extra years of dev time, was that they chose Rodger Parsons as the announcer. He's a narrator, not a Stadium announcer and it shows, just way too old for what should be a very energetic role. Ted Lewis was badly missed here. :( Maybe Ted Lewis would return now since he's back as Giovanni... provided we ever get anything of the sort ever again, which is extremely unlikely. :(

 

[ILikeFeet]

Have their been any recent interviews of GF responding to some of the common criticisms of the series' current direction (lack of difficulty, limited exploration, poor level design, etc)

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yea, their responses have been the source of recent jokes against them

 

[Eulala]

- No Gen I pandering.
- Buff Ice, Grass, and Bug.
- Exotic regional variants for Johto/Hoenn Pokemon.
- Ultra Beasts were a neat idea like Mega Evolutions... but do you see a lot of plushies and merchandising for them compared to their pre-evolutions or legendary counterparts? No, because most of them are butt ug------I mean, they were designed past the point of marketability.

Besides that, I personally welcomed the changes from Sun/Moon as a filthy casual and look forward to seeing the gripes of how each generation keeps getting easier and easier.

 

[Sou Da]

Have their been any recent interviews of GF responding to some of the common criticisms of the series' current direction (lack of difficulty, limited exploration, poor level design, etc)

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Ha, Ha I don't really know

 

[SolVanderlyn]

A solid central theme to the region would be nice. Like how Hoenn had a lot of islands, rain and water, Sinnoh was cold and snowy, or Alola was tropical. Love when they do that.

 

[Anth0ny]

Dreams:

- let me skip dialogue/cutscenes

 

[kirbyfan407]

The Pokemon Company promises Pokemon 8 will have "far better graphics than any other game in the series before"

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I followed the link but couldn't find the quote. Did this quote come from another article?

 

[9-Volt]

Australia pls. There are still lots of animals for new pokémon to be based on. Kangaroos, dingoes, wallabys, wombats, emus, cassowaries, cockatoos, kakapos, kiwis and of course Thylacaine. I want thylacaine to be rarest pokémon ever. It should appear in just one grass patch with 0.1% chance of encounter.

 

[Deleted member 249]

I followed the link but couldn't find the quote. Did this quote come from another article?

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Welp, sorry, that was a bad link. It's this one!

 

[Hero Prinny]

Spoiler

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What game is that

 

[Hydrus]

Spoiler

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This game is fucking beautiful. Good Lord.

 

[Kinsei]

Stuff I want

Tons of new pokemon (100+)
Tons of new evolutionary families (The amount of single stage Pokemon in Gen 7 was ridiculous)
Less legendaries (There are far too many in gen 7)
A quadrupedal fully evolved fire starter
A Bug/Dragon pseudo legendary
Difficulty options available from the start of the game
Only new Pokemon available in the main game

 

[Deleted member 249]

What game is that

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Granblue Fantasy

 

[pokéfan]

Too early for this, should have made this thread beginning of 2019, the wait is had the endure when thinking about gen 8. Really burnt out after the Let's Go games were revealed to be out this year instead of gen 8. I will bring back my hype next year when the time is near. :)

 

[MayorSquirtle]

My hopes are high but my expectations are so very low. At this point, I pretty much believe that the only way Pokemon as a series will ever evolve to the extent I'd like it to is for someone other than Game Freak to develop it.

 

[Illusion]

Spoiler

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I never played Granblue but when this game comes out God damn will I be tempted to buy it.

 

[SieteBlanco]

More Mega Evolutions.

 

[Tiamant]

-Less megas, zero ideally
-CHILL with the legendaries. It's obscene the % of them in SuMO.
-More regional variants
-Bring back cross evolution and evos of old pokémon
-I know this is impossible but please, chill with the new marketing-focused gimmick of this game

 

[Phendrana]

It's hard to feel positive about the future of the series at this point. I honestly don't believe Game Freak would be capable of righting the course even if they wanted to.

Anyway, here's my list of things I feel they need to address.

- Exploration should be at the forefront. Gen VII was a disaster in this regard.
- A large world with a more realistic sense of scale, open environments and a BTS camera. Note that I didn't say open world. There are PS2 games with these stipulations.
- Much less emphasis on story. And they really need to hire better writers for the dialogue/narrative that needs to be there.
- Player freedom and less linearity in general. NPC's accosting me every five minutes (if that) in Gen VII was painful.
- Better animations for the Pokemon, and more of them. Pokemon Stadium still has more lively battle animations ffs.
- Solid character creator, and Trainer Customisation with lots and lots of options.
- Expand PokeRide and the HM replacements. Pokemon should have innate field moves they can use.
- Retooled base stats for Pokemon. Tweak the type advantage/disadvantage table to buff/nerf certain types.
- Regional variants should be a staple. I'm happy for them to add more Mega Evolutions as well.
- Following Pokemon should also be a standard going forward.
- Asshole rival.
- Decent postgame that isn't just 'go catch all of the Legendaries'.
- Speaking of...cool it with the Legendaries and 'special' Pokemon. There should be like...seven MAX per generation.
- Fucking exploration.

None of this should be asking too much of the world's most successful media franchise, but I'd imagine most of it will be.

 

[Gulgan Shulgan]

I want a meaningful reason to keep playing once I'm done with the story, we need a good post-game again.

At the same time, the post-game has to be something more than just hunting down legendaries. As others have said there are way too many of them in most of the games. One of the best things about X and Y was its scarcity when it comes to legendaries but that ended up backfiring because it left you with nothing to do once you beat the game and caught Zygarde.

A cool story would be nice like Black and White, but really it's the sense of adventure from the first few games that I wish would come back. Less feeling like you're following a path of setpieces and NPC cutscenes and more like you're going out and discovering places for yourself. I believe in some interview there was talk of Gen 8 being to Pokemon what Breath of the Wild was for Zelda, and that kind of dramatic thinking is exactly what I'd want to see out of the next gen.

Also full camera control with the right stick. If we're not bound by the circle pad anymore then we shouldn't be bound by the same camera

 

[Vito]

Please have a way to increase or decrease the IV's of Pokemon permanently.

 

[ILikeFeet]

It'd be nice if catching legendaries had some fuckin meat. Like some story associated with them instead of "go to place, catch, done"

 

[RochHoch]

Make the games less linear. Not every "dungeon" (if you can even call them that any more) and route needs to be a straight line. I know that people complained about Mt Coronet in Gen 4 being too confusing, but there needs to be a fair balance between that and every area being a straight fucking line.

And while I know its probably NEVER going to happen, but difficulty options are LONG overdue. I'm fine with them including a piss-easy baby difficulty for the Let's Go fans, but it's pretty ridiculous that something similar to the challenge mode from BW2 hasn't become standard issue for the series. There's no reason why GF can't appeal to the hardcore fans without alienating the casuals, it's not fucking rocket science, and yet these days, they refuse to even try.