Tag: Battle Royal
New Sun and Moon Information Double Feature
While I made a post talking about the two new Pokémon unveiled for Sun and Moon just earlier today, it was pointed out to me that a brand new Japanese trailer for the game was released. This isn't a reveal trailer like we've been getting either, it's a serious made-for-TV "go buy this game" kind of trailer. There isn't a lot of new features on display, but it does have some stuff in it that seems pretty worth looking at in my opinion.
Plus, I finally figured out how to embed videos in my actual post rather than just leaving a link, so this is a good opportunity to test that out too. Please enjoy this trailer, courtesy of Pokémon's official Japanese YouTube page.
The first thing that really strikes me about the trailer is its general focus. From what I can tell, the serious push for Sun and Moon is both its beauty, accompanying the natural aspect that generally exists in the concept of Pokémon itself, and it's continuation of Pokémon's focus on childhood wonder, and being connected with friends. Granted, neither of these things is new for Pokémon as a whole, but there's a special level of those feelings exuding from this trailer that I haven't really seen in quite some time, even for the Pokémon X and Y lead-up material which seemed to be more interested in the international connectivity of Pokémon as a series.
For those of you who decided not to watch the trailer for whatever reason, I'll sum it up in as simple an explanation as possible. A young boy, visiting a tropical location that I can only assume is Hawaii all things considered, starts Pokémon Sun and Moon as he's arriving, much like the main character in-game is first arriving at the Alola Region. After losing a four way free-for-all battle royal to his friends, he becomes determined. He trains, he gets better at the game and he explores the region much like he actually explores the area it's based on (along with the creatures that fill both worlds, of course). Eventually, through this personal growth and commitment, he becomes good enough to finally beat the friends that defeated him at the beginning.
To be frank, I think it's an absolutely brilliant trailer. It perfectly reflects exactly what Pokémon as a series is based on and it shows it off in a wonderful, relatable kind of way. You can imagine the kid in the trailer is at least a real person, if not analogous to you, and that helps to emphasize that the series (now in it's seventh generation of games) is, if anything, an even better reflection of childhood and all that accompanies it than ever before.
On top of that, it slyly shows off a bunch of the features and scenes of the game like a real tease, without providing too much explanation for certain things. The battle system, Pokédex and trading system are all shown off, providing the core that all Pokémon games have relished in from the series' inception. It shows off the in-game environments, all of which look extremely well-polished and diverse, not that anything else was expected at this point. There's a pretty heavy focus on the battle royal system to emphasize the interpersonal connectivity of Pokémon as said before, an idea that's arguably more apparent than ever with Pokémon GO taking the world by storm.
You can see the new Pokémon from earlier today, Mimikkyu and Kiteruguma during the trading segment around 1:30. You can see your player character – both male and female – activating whatever bracelet they have on, which activates some sort of extra power in the starter Pokémon through flashes of colors and icons that don't really clarify exactly what is accomplished through the act. On top of that, it seems a Pokémon-Amie styled grooming will be in the game, but it will perhaps be more complicated given the player can blow-dry their Pokémon. Whether this is involved in the game's potential contest system, as seems to be implied by the dance moves and special battle effects around 1:20.
Also, there's a pretty strong emphasis on riding Pokémon at the end of the trailer, one that shows off how you can ride Tauros, Lapras and Sharpedo in game. While Lapras and Sharpedo were technically ridable in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, they were just replacement models for the usual vague swimming Pokémon shadow with some slight changes like size and speed of travel. In the trailer above, it does seem like there's something different about riding them in this game, which leads me to believe either they're just special ridable over-world mounts in one area like Mamoswine and Rhyhorn in X and Y, or that using HMs could potentially be a very different experience depending on who we teach the HM moves in Sun and Moon.
So that's just about all on how much I really liked this new trailer, but what do you think? Did it speak to you on as much of an emotional level as it did to me? Do you think the special features that were showcased in the trailer were more clear than vague like I interpreted them? Let me know in the comments below, as these details are especially the ones I love to have discussions and debate over!
Kiteruguma
Mimikkyu
Pokemon Trailer
Ridable Pokemon
My E3 Ramblings for the Day
E3 has been going on for the past few days, and unfortunately enough not a lot of the reveals have interested me thus far. A lot of the games talked about have been sequels for games I haven't played or games on available on consoles I don't own – and probably won't own due to monetary concerns. One of my favorite games talked about so far was Halo Wars 2 actually, since I loved the first game way more than I probably should have given how generally unpopular it was. I played that to death with some of my friends, even months after the general fanbase dropped off and left the multiplayer barren. Plus, it's available for the PC as well as the Xbox One, so I'll actually potentially have the chance to play it!
But that's a different story, and one you can see more about here while you check out the beautiful trailer here. After all, today was the Nintendo Treehouse Live, and there were at least two massive things talked about during the presentation.
Continue reading "My E3 Ramblings for the Day" →
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