Mom, I Can’t Pause #21: Gamefreak Doesn’t Play By Your Rules
Hello again, folks! This week, we’re talkin’ about two things: Pokemon, and how much Nintendo/Gamefreak doesn’t give a shit about playing by the rules. Also, we’re gonna talk a little bit about Elden Ring. I mean, I couldn’t not talk about Elden Ring. I haven’t seen fervor for a game like this in quite a while. Anyway, let’s get this thing going.
Who Announces Games On a Sunday?
Picture this, if you will: You’re in bed on Sunday morning. You’re thinking about all the crap you have to do that day. You’ve heard vaguely that Gamefreak is going to have a “Pokemon Presents” presentation on February 27th. Your ears perk up a little, but you think to yourself “ah, they’re not gonna announce anything huge there. That’s a Sunday. I can skip it.”
Then you wake up on Sunday and look at your phone, and see that Gamefreak has announced two brand new Pokemon games to kick off Gen 9.
In the last few years, I like to think that I’ve learned a decent bit about the games industry and games media. One thing I’ve noticed is that game news of any kind is mostly saved for weekdays. Barring a special occasion, such as an E3 level event, game news just does not trickle out on weekends. Yet here we are: Gamefreak/Nintendo has just announced the latest mainline Pokemon games. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are expected to be released in late 2022, just making 2022’s Switch lineup even crazier than expected.
What an absolute baller move by Gamefreak here. With both the release of Arceus last month and the upcoming mainline titles, Pokemon is probably going to be among the top-selling games for the entirety of 2022. Hell, they may even claim all three top-selling game spots for the year as a whole. Pokemon is just that damn big. But will the game be good?
I mean, maybe? Depends on what your definition of “good” is for a Pokemon game in 2022. Apparently, this is going to be the first “open-world” Pokemon game. What does that mean for the series? Does it look like Legends Arceus? Or something completely different? I can’t pretend to know the answer to that. Anyone who thinks one way or the other already is simply guesstimating at best.
That being said, I need to say something: You motherfuckers need to chill out when it comes to these new starters! I can concede that the starters look a little bit silly. The water starter has a weird hat/hair thing going on. It’s definitely silly. That being said, have you looked at the other starter Pokemon recently? Have you looked at any Pokemon at all in the last 20 plus years as a franchise? We aren’t that far removed from six eggs and egg tree as Pokemon, you know. Regardless, I’ll be paying attention to these Pokemon games when they come out, whether through osmosis or by playing it myself. It’s an exciting time to be a Pokemon fan, and I’ve missed this feeling!
Elden Ring Is Finally Here
Finally, Elden Ring is here.
Elden Ring has arrived and has made an immediate impact. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and for the most part, I find them to be fair. Like yeah, I kinda knew the game would be good. FromSoftware does good work over there. When you play a FromSoftware game you’re going to get an immense level of quality, regardless of whether or not the game is too difficult for you. Still to see people loving the game at such a high level is pretty surprising. Not since Breath of the Wild have I personally seen such rave reviews for a game.
Mentioning that game in the same breath as Elden Ring seems to be annoying the shit out of people. I can kind of understand why. Comparing *every* open world game to Breath of the Wild sort of cheapens whatever open world game you’re playing. Yet I can’t help but become part of the problem when I play Elden Ring. It’s not a one-to-one comparison, but the inspiration is clearly there when playing the game. After completing a tutorial section, Elden Ring opens up quite a bit allowing you to go out into its vast world and just figure shit out. Kinda like Zelda, but with a lot more difficulty and ugliness. Ugly in a good way though, because this game is beautiful in its art design.
That’s all I can really say about the game, to be honest. I’ve played a good chunk of it, but this game is goddamn massive. I’m basically still in the basic parts of the open world, much like the network test I played months ago. I’ve seen some clips of the game across social media that show just how vast the world will become, and I just can’t see myself seeing everything this game has to offer. Much like Breath of the Wild, actually. Do you guys understand why people keep comparing these two games yet? When BOTW came out, people were saying it was going to revolutionize the open world genre. Finally, the effects are being seen in another massive release that will undoubtedly change the open world yet again.
At least until Breath of the Wild 2 comes out. Then we’ll be seeing an open world revolution again.
