My Love-Hate Relationship with Pokemon

by Brandon Sultana

December 7th, 2015

 

Pokemon is a bit of an odd series for me. Collectively, it’s one of my favorite video game franchises ever made, but as for the games individually, I constantly feel that the games fall short. Pokemon Black 2/White 2, my favorites in the series, barely make my Top 5 favorite games list (and honestly, they are going to be replaced pretty soon, look out for that review). Why is this? How can I love a collective series so much, but constantly struggle with the individual games in the series. It’s time I talked about why I simultaneously love and hate the Pokemon franchise.

 

So let’s start with the positives, why I fell in love with this franchise to begin with. This section will be short, not because I don’t have a lot of good things to say, but because stating those is pretty unnecessary, as I probably don’t need to explain why I love this series. If you are a fan, you know what makes it so great. Anyway, the concept behind the game is simply genius. I haven’t been playing since the days of Gen 1, but ever since I booted up Crystal for the first time, I knew I had something magical on my hands. And while I did go through the common “I’m too old for Pokemon” phase, skipping Platinum, HG/SS, and BW (I’ve later gone back and acquired those games though), I’m back with the series. What really is so great about this series, is just how huge it. There are so many ways to enjoy the franchise, and so many different things to talk about. It's such a deep franchise with so many aspects to it, on top of an already excellent foundation. There is a reason why Pokemon is one of a very small group of video game franchises, that can support dedicated YouTube channels surrounding it. It’s an excellent franchise that brings people together, that I can talk about endlessly.

 

I think a big part of where my “hate” comes from, is from GameFreak itself. Yes, they created this amazing concept, and I love them for it, but I often times wonder, what this franchise would be like with a different developer. There's a lot of things that companies do that get them crucified, but for one reason or another, GameFreak is immune to this criticism. The biggest culprit, is the constant removal of features. There are too many times when they implement an amazing feature, only for it to go down the drain for the next installment. Secret Bases (thankfully Hoenn Remakes revived those, but I doubt they’ll come back), Pokemon following you, difficulty settings, and trainer customization are all features which were simply amazing, and moved the series forward, but were taken out for one reason or another. I’ve always gone by the idea that sequels should build on your predecessor, but Pokemon doesn’t do that. Realistically, the core of every game is the exact same, and they just swap out cool features for each game. The only things that are added, that actually become series staples, are things related to battle (new Pokemon, moves, items, abilities, etc). It's very rare that they add a brand new mechanic that actually sticks. Additionally, some other features are only made available until subsequent games in the generation. I find it ludicrous that we need to wait to be graced with the convenience of move tutors, or the challenge of Battle Frontier (which looks to be a thing of the past because it’s “too hard for kids”). It’s all just incredibly frustrating, that rather than building upon their success, GameFreak consistently dismantles these cool ideas.

 

Another major issue that the franchise faces is release bloat, where they simply release too many games, too quickly. They’ve created a fanbase that burns itself out so quickly, because games are released so frequently. Look at the community now, just one year without a new game, and it’s incredibly stale. No game should ever do that. They keep this tight schedule where games are released annually, and that really shows sometimes, as I thought XY were some of the worst in the series (I still like them, but comparatively, I found them very weak). People say that “Oh they’ll just fix those problems in Z”, or “Oh they are holding off this idea for Z”. I don’t understand why GameFreak gets a free pass when it comes to just hold things for later, when other companies are ridiculed for “saving things for DLC”, or rereleasing updated versions of their games like Capcom does with Street Fighter. When you make a game, you make it right. Put all of your effort into it, and realize that game's potential, don't just hold off for a rerelease. Just imagine Pokemon developed by Sakurai. His ideology is the complete opposite of GameFreak, where he develops every title as if it were the last in the franchise. I know Smash isn’t Pokemon, but I do think slowing things down, and focusing on each game one at a time, rather than always having 2 or 3 games in the pipeline, along with an endless ocean of mediocre to bad spinoffs (with the occasional gem of course), could benefit the series in a major way. Unfortunately, Pokemon is a money making machine, and GameFreak will never change these ways, as they’ve worked for almost 20 years, but I feel I’d be far more content with the series if I got a title packed with content every few years, rather than something that feels rushed every year. It just feels as though they are more concerned with the future of the franchise, rather than the present.

 

So that’s my take on Pokemon. I guess the series really is greater than the sum of its parts. I could have honestly gone for longer, but at the risk of going in circles and getting too cynical, I’ll stop it there. I do still love this series, but of recent, I’ve felt so frustrated as a fan, and I feel alone in that regard. I’ve come to realize that I like the franchise more than the actual games. I feel like I spend more time talking about Pokemon, or looking stuff up about Pokemon, than actually playing it. And when I do play, I get far more enjoyment at implementing custom rulesets like Nuzlockes, than I do just playing the games as they were intended. If we got a game, that was really just a labor of love, with just everything thrown into it, I feel like it could rekindle my love for the series again. Black 2 and White 2 were, in my eyes, perfection, hopefully the added year could result in a Gen 6 game that really captivates me the way those games did