I am an old lady, and I have always loved turned based combat, so I always feel bad when people lay into Pokémon for not being more action game-y as I really want there to be a place for this kind of gameplay still. I think my major point of contention regarding Sword and Shield was that it absolutely failed to tell the same kind of weighty story as Sun and Moon, and that's what I really want, and will happily waffle for hours about how these prior entries are perhaps the best the franchise has ever been.

I don't know. I'm a literal meme.

https://i.imgur.com/NnaeqX1.jpg

As a Unova fan myself, that feels like a personal attack.

For some reason, I thought you were better than this.

It is funny though how, after the Gen 3 remakes dropped, tons of people online were constantly whining about how the Gen 4 remakes needed to happen over anything else Pokemon related, and now that they're finally here, almost every reaction I've read online has been "Meh."

Yeah, some people need to chill about it.

As much as I want Unova anything, there's no point going on and on about it when there's, like, a whole generation before that's even possible.

Oh man I can relate. I never understood why there's been such a stigma against turn-based cambat over the years, not just from other gamers but from game companies themselves. There's so much creative stuff you can do with the system, and games like Final Fantasy and Wild ARMs used to be big examples of what could be done with it.

Then it's a good thing Pokemon isn't getting rid of turn-based battles any time soon.

It might look like that at first glance (or not, I'm not in your head), but looking at the trailer, it looks like battles still work the same, just in the overworld instead of a battle screen or whatever, which I think is really cool. You can also just throw Pokeballs at wild Pokemon too, which is cool.

Though, those old wooden Pokeballs got me thinking... How do Pokeballs even work? When and where were they invented? Who invented them and why?That's why we need Pokemon games like Legends Arceus. To answer these kinds of questions.

Just give me the National Dex and Megas back and I’ll re-add the Switch (and Brilliant Diamond) to my birthday/Christmas wish list ASAP

Oh, Wild ARMs!! Absolutely agree. I'm not opposed to change, and I know to a degree there will always be a line of games humouring old people like me—Octopath, Bravely Default &c.—but I do sometimes feel as if something of the wonder has been lost in the translation to more action based combat in FF games.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply Pokémon was doing away with turn based, as, agreed, from that clip of the Legends game, it looks like the combat is much the same—I just live in fear of the use of the phrase "action RPG" nowadays as it's such a blanket term that, with the use of levelling up mechanics, you could argue that Call of Duty or whatever is an RPG. I mean, I'd violently oppose you, but I can understand how someone would say that if only presented with the facts of the mechanics on paper.

I don't really have a horse in the race though, as I think both of the "new" games announced look fine, and I totally understand people being excited for them, but I'm kind of... indifferent.

It's fine! I didn't really know if you were or weren't, so I wanted to cover everything. I also think the slightly different yet still the same battles are cool, so I wanted to talk about them. I totally get what you're saying.

I get you, and thank you for making me clarify my jumbled feelings as I leap from the highly specific to the wildly generalised, lol.

I'm all about new things happening and developing outside the usual formula—*knocks on your door and asks if you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour, Pokémon Conquest*—but, at the same time, grandma over here doesn't want to have to have to become a DPS god just to master a Pokémon game. :p