I've made an interesting observation lately.
There is currently 2 games to look forward to:
1. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
2. a Switch game
For the first one, we roughly know what to expect. We know it's another main game entry extending the 7th generation. We know it's a follow-up to Sun and Moon and that unlike the last follow-up we've seen (BW->BW2) it is not a second part of the story, but rather an alternate take, an improved and polished special version of SM.
For the second one, the announcement (which is all we got) felt like it could as well just have been a PR-move due to the general Switch hype.
We have no title, no statement about what kind of game it will actually be (start of a new generation? a radical kind of remake? both? something else? 2 games, or just one? questions over questions.). Just that it comes out for the Switch and will supposedly be a "core" game (so we can sadly rule out Pinball, hmpf), which doesn't tell us much either (while not a main game, something like Colosseum could easily be considered a core game in unspecified terms, due to having the game mechanics adopted 1:1 from the main games, being compatible with those, and revolving around an adventure as a Trainer). Even the release date that was initially thrown out as "2018" has now been changed to "2018 or later", implying it still being very early in its development.
Yet, the latter is what the fanbase is salivating over, while not spending much time speculating about USUM, which is coming out in LESS THAN 4 MONTHS.
Of course one reason for that is the fact that USUMs Marketing has been very tame so far (Oh my, a Pokémon game is coming out soon and they have not spoiled every detail already?)...which will likely change in the coming weeks though.
On one hand, it makes sense, since with no actual information, the Switch game could be anything, which is speculation gold (as evident by the paragraph I just wrote about it above).
But on the other hand, I think that there is one particular reason to be hyped about USUM that many haven't thought of:
Like I said, USUM is clearly not going to be sequels. It's going to be special versions more akin to Crystal/Emerald/Platinum, which is something we have not seen in a decade.
Now, I hear you asking "huh, why would that be a good thing?? Sequels are a superior and underused concept."
Because special versions give Gamefreak breathing space.
It allows them to release a more complete and polished game.
They've been making "new avdentures" one after another for a long time now, and the fans have been criticizing them along the way for making "rushed games", with unused potential at every corner, and with too short (a sidequest, no additional exploration), monotone (20 legendaries to catch) or simply insignificant post-game content (generic battle facility), or even "selling us beta games" if we take comments from /vp. That's just the reality of developing games in Gamefreaks structure when they keep starting new projects.
Take ORAS critiques for example. How many times do we see people erroneously talking about how Gamefreak "removed" the Battle Frontier? I'm quite sure it's the #1 complaint. (my #1 issue with ORAS btw was them so strictly re-creating RS, to the point where they didn't even attempt to re-allocate Groudon to the local volcano Mt. chimney, and instead just left it in seafloor cavern. I knew 100% a Battle Frontier was out of question and even warned people not to get their hopes up for it. They didn't even manage to bring back the Berry crushing minigame or at least an exciting replacement for it..)
The thing is, each game they make has a similar price, which naturally means it has a similar amount of invested development time that goes into making it. And when they have to create, or re-create a whole region, the characters and their battle rosters, the plot (in case of a remake also adding some new twists to keep it from being too dull), there simply isn't much left at the end for exciting post-game content on top of that.
And the consequence is that the primary focus of all such entries is the casual players, not leaving much thought left for adding things that would only appeal to the core players (who I've found out nowadays also often rush through the main story within days, to resume breeding and training their Pokémon as soon as possible).
So basically, my point is, that with USUM, it's the first time in a long time that there is actually a high chance that the development is focused on satisfying core players (and possibly really with the comeback of the Battle Frontier in this case).
Personally, I'm hyped to finally see GF improving an existing game rather than just going straight to something new again (I'm still salty about the fact XY had no follow-up).
Emerald and Platinum were one of the best games in the series exactly for those reasons.
(Also, I'm sure that despite USUM not technically being sequels, they will borrow a page or two from BW2s approach anyway)
And with Alola forms being a thing now, it means that with this "filler games" we will highly likely even be getting "new Pokémon designs" in the middle of a generation (just for the love of Arceus I hope they don't limit themselves to Gen1 AGAIN. Even if it's just Gen2 Alola forms to coincide with Gen2 VC re-releases, I'll be happy.)
Sorry about the wall of text, it got longer than intended. Just wanted to get these thoughts out before USUM marketing blows up and the hypetrain starts rolling without the need of me pointing out why it should be xD
There is currently 2 games to look forward to:
1. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
2. a Switch game
For the first one, we roughly know what to expect. We know it's another main game entry extending the 7th generation. We know it's a follow-up to Sun and Moon and that unlike the last follow-up we've seen (BW->BW2) it is not a second part of the story, but rather an alternate take, an improved and polished special version of SM.
For the second one, the announcement (which is all we got) felt like it could as well just have been a PR-move due to the general Switch hype.
We have no title, no statement about what kind of game it will actually be (start of a new generation? a radical kind of remake? both? something else? 2 games, or just one? questions over questions.). Just that it comes out for the Switch and will supposedly be a "core" game (so we can sadly rule out Pinball, hmpf), which doesn't tell us much either (while not a main game, something like Colosseum could easily be considered a core game in unspecified terms, due to having the game mechanics adopted 1:1 from the main games, being compatible with those, and revolving around an adventure as a Trainer). Even the release date that was initially thrown out as "2018" has now been changed to "2018 or later", implying it still being very early in its development.
Yet, the latter is what the fanbase is salivating over, while not spending much time speculating about USUM, which is coming out in LESS THAN 4 MONTHS.
Of course one reason for that is the fact that USUMs Marketing has been very tame so far (Oh my, a Pokémon game is coming out soon and they have not spoiled every detail already?)...which will likely change in the coming weeks though.
On one hand, it makes sense, since with no actual information, the Switch game could be anything, which is speculation gold (as evident by the paragraph I just wrote about it above).
But on the other hand, I think that there is one particular reason to be hyped about USUM that many haven't thought of:
Like I said, USUM is clearly not going to be sequels. It's going to be special versions more akin to Crystal/Emerald/Platinum, which is something we have not seen in a decade.
Now, I hear you asking "huh, why would that be a good thing?? Sequels are a superior and underused concept."
Because special versions give Gamefreak breathing space.
It allows them to release a more complete and polished game.
They've been making "new avdentures" one after another for a long time now, and the fans have been criticizing them along the way for making "rushed games", with unused potential at every corner, and with too short (a sidequest, no additional exploration), monotone (20 legendaries to catch) or simply insignificant post-game content (generic battle facility), or even "selling us beta games" if we take comments from /vp. That's just the reality of developing games in Gamefreaks structure when they keep starting new projects.
Take ORAS critiques for example. How many times do we see people erroneously talking about how Gamefreak "removed" the Battle Frontier? I'm quite sure it's the #1 complaint. (my #1 issue with ORAS btw was them so strictly re-creating RS, to the point where they didn't even attempt to re-allocate Groudon to the local volcano Mt. chimney, and instead just left it in seafloor cavern. I knew 100% a Battle Frontier was out of question and even warned people not to get their hopes up for it. They didn't even manage to bring back the Berry crushing minigame or at least an exciting replacement for it..)
The thing is, each game they make has a similar price, which naturally means it has a similar amount of invested development time that goes into making it. And when they have to create, or re-create a whole region, the characters and their battle rosters, the plot (in case of a remake also adding some new twists to keep it from being too dull), there simply isn't much left at the end for exciting post-game content on top of that.
And the consequence is that the primary focus of all such entries is the casual players, not leaving much thought left for adding things that would only appeal to the core players (who I've found out nowadays also often rush through the main story within days, to resume breeding and training their Pokémon as soon as possible).
So basically, my point is, that with USUM, it's the first time in a long time that there is actually a high chance that the development is focused on satisfying core players (and possibly really with the comeback of the Battle Frontier in this case).
Personally, I'm hyped to finally see GF improving an existing game rather than just going straight to something new again (I'm still salty about the fact XY had no follow-up).
Emerald and Platinum were one of the best games in the series exactly for those reasons.
(Also, I'm sure that despite USUM not technically being sequels, they will borrow a page or two from BW2s approach anyway)
And with Alola forms being a thing now, it means that with this "filler games" we will highly likely even be getting "new Pokémon designs" in the middle of a generation (just for the love of Arceus I hope they don't limit themselves to Gen1 AGAIN. Even if it's just Gen2 Alola forms to coincide with Gen2 VC re-releases, I'll be happy.)
Sorry about the wall of text, it got longer than intended. Just wanted to get these thoughts out before USUM marketing blows up and the hypetrain starts rolling without the need of me pointing out why it should be xD
