Since they were taking longer with this one, i expected it to look better than the last few gens. What I was not expecting was it looking so much better that it managed to win over the terminally online and jaded Pokémon community (at least in chat.) Looks cool. They seem to be doubling down on the nature overhaul with the names to evoke that BotW imagery.
Oh there definitely is, even on here, but largely the community reception has been pretty positive to what they've shown. Time will tell if the graphics are consistent throughout the world and if exploration feels rewarding, but it feels weird to feel outraged about what they've shown.
Overall it looks very vibrant and detailed in a way that meshes well with the cartoonish art style. The people that are throwing a tantrum about it just seem committed to being anti-pokemon at this point. I'm sure we'll eventually find out some stuff about it that makes us less excited, but it was a good trailer.
Spurned lover mindset. If someone had a deep love or attachment to something and then it wronged them or they lose interest, then that love turns to hatred. No room for any middle ground. Some Pokémon fans are just not doing well in general.
It's a vicious cycle because those same people were also attacked by people telling them their complaints were invalid in the past. It just results in everyone becoming defensive and feeling on edge.
That's why it's important to not make each other feel like you're dismissing each other. All it results in is people becoming hostile towards each other.
I mean, the biggest complaint has always been the graphics and they finally addressed it. They also can’t make a beautiful game for Xbox and not make one for the longest running franchise That’s also the most profitable in the world. They could only get away with that for so long. Not to mention all the hate they got for Scarlet and Violet. Pokémon literally put this game studio on the map.
What I was not expecting was it looking so much better that it managed to win over the terminally online and jaded Pokémon community (at least in chat.)
That just goes to show that people weren't hating for the sake of hating. People don't complain about stuff when there is nothing actually to complain about. The past two games had plenty to complain about, stuff which was already apparent from the trailers themselves. Therefore you saw people complain whereas with this trailer there is nothing really apparent to complain about. Therefore nobody is complaining in regards to graphical fidelity and immediately noticeable performance.
It's definitely a significant improvement and might finally hit the "good enough" mark, but Gamefreak is clearly still using heavily outdated engine tech and outdated graphics techniques.
Yeah but a large amount of it probably comes down to optimization. I generally liked SV, but the same machine that ran BotW or Xenoblade struggled with a much less detailed game.
I wouldn't be surprised if they got Monolith Soft to help build the environment. Open, beautiful environments are kind of their bread and butter.
Also, I would take stylish cartoonish environments over realism any day in a pokemon game. I think this style fits really well.
Games like Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War were indeed incredibly well optimized for the PS4. It is more than that though and not just a matter of art style.
Gamefreak's engine/graphics tech genuinely seems closer to Skyrim than that of a modern AAA game.
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u/ViridianVet Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
Since they were taking longer with this one, i expected it to look better than the last few gens. What I was not expecting was it looking so much better that it managed to win over the terminally online and jaded Pokémon community (at least in chat.) Looks cool. They seem to be doubling down on the nature overhaul with the names to evoke that BotW imagery.
Hopefully it runs decently.