Friday, January 10, 2020

Renewed Oaths: Pokémon Direct, 1/9/2020

A big Pokémon thing that happened yesterday was a local EX Raid, the first in a long time for me. Yet there was also another big Pokémon thing that happened yesterday that I couldn't cover in yesterday's post. That would be a Pokémon Direct that happened that night, after the events of the daytime had occurred; it certainly added a different Pokémon flavor to the entire day. And that flavor would be a "renewal" in a way, specifically a "renewal of oaths" of sorts. This became rather evident in the things involved in the Direct.

The first announcement in the Direct is a new Pokémon game for the Switch... or rather, it's two old games repackaged into one and remastered; it's also in a series of Pokémon games that hadn't been heard from for some time until yesterday. The new game is titled Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, which makes it clear that this is an updated, reworked amalgam of Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team. Story-wise, it doesn't appear to be very different, but appearance-wise, it appears to be very vivid and renewed. The game can already be played with its demo version, while the full game will be available in two months. With this, Mystery Dungeon has definitely gained a sort of a new life, almost as if it's an oath to stay.

The second announcement is something that is completely new to Pokémon. The two new main series games of Sword and Shield will receive a major new content addition in the form of what is called an Expansion Pass. The pass is available for purchase now, but the first major content update will come in June this year, and the second will come before the end of this year. The content will feature new areas and a few new Pokémon, but it will also bring back a host of older Pokémon not currently available in the games. Even with this Expansion Pass available, the "vanilla" games will still be freely updated to be aware of the new content. However, it becomes obvious that for the best experience possible, one should purchase the Pass.

This Expansion Pass, which is like an expansion pack, is indeed a new thing for the Pokémon main series games. The content that is available in the Pass resembles and would be the content present in a "third game", "remaster", or "sequel" - as indicated in the Direct, even - and the Pass becomes a new method of providing additional content... for the games at least, since this is a common approach for some other games people play. But with the "vanilla" games being "expansion-aware" as they are and the return of more older Pokémon after the National Dex brouhaha, at the least accessibility is assured. It's like there is a commitment for that no matter what happens and how that happens - surely, a "renewed oath".

There were a lot of new things announced in yesterday's Pokémon Direct. But within all those new things, there was a lot of renewal of old things, or at least an indication of such. Some people wouldn't go as far to say that there could be an "oath" behind that, but it remains fantastical to think there might be one. After all the things that happened yesterday, including my other Pokémon adventures, I think I'm ready myself to renew some of my own oaths to Pokémon, just like these new things.

One year ago: Custom Pokémon Merchandise
Two years ago: A Pokémon-Pikachu Balloon
Three years ago: Where It All Started

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