Making the Case for Open-World

With the edition of Pokémon Presents from a couple of weeks ago, the hot topic for Pokémon today would be the "other Sinnoh game", which would be Pokémon Legends: Arceus. As noted, it's an open-world game that is unlike many Pokémon games and much like many popular games today. I call it the "open-world proposal" because of its novelty to Pokémon as a whole, and in fact, the case could be made for it. Based on discussions that I've had and observations that I've made, the case seems legitimate, though there may be a few footnotes.

The Legends game is to be released on the Nintendo Switch, the current and most advanced platform of Nintendo. It's no stranger to a certain open-world game of one other franchise belonging to Nintendo, and that game is phenomenal in its own regard - though I've not played it and am not moved to do so. Yet because of this fact, there's a sense that the Pokémon open-world game has to stand up to the phenomenon of this other open-world game, in a way combining the sensibilities and/or quality of that game with elements of Pokémon that fans like me appreciate; the results have to be utterly just as phenomenal.

At the same time, Nintendo might have to "up the ante" for this game, because although the Switch is a good console, it can and does suffer from performance issues, one of which may have caused one belonging to a Pokémon fellow of mine to burn out its main board and therefore to render it and the saved games on it dead (my fellow doesn't seem to have an online subscription). A better-running Switch might allow existing games as well as this newfangled game to run better as well, and that should make the game as successful as it should be, in addition to its new way of doing things.

Because of that new way of doing things and the potential for this game to dazzle like that other game, some have called for Game Freak to "take their time" in developing this game, even delaying it if at all possible to make sure it is developed well. This comes back to the discussion from what it essentially took for this "proposal" to be put forward, the outsourcing of the actual fourth-generation remakes to another company. By doing so, a lot of pressure has been taken off the table, but at the same time there is still the pressure to make and execute this game as well as it can possibly be.

Evidently, the legitimacy is there. This kind of game is popular nowadays, and even one of them has graced the very console on which many Pokémon games appear. The attempt to make a Pokémon version is laudable, but it also has to avoid the pitfalls of being poorly developed in order for the game to come out strong whether on current editions of the targeted console or perhaps a later edition. The case has been made, the "proposal" has been put forward, and the results will be told by time.

One year ago: Possibility of a "Basic League"?

Two years ago: Beta Testing

Three years ago: Taking the Go Train

Four years ago: Worldly Inspirations for a Small World