Kalos deserves better. Delay Pokemon Z-A.
Kalos deserves better. Delay Pokemon Z-A.
The Issue
Fans have waited years for a Pokemon Z, a return to the Kalos region, but from what we have seen in the latest direct i can safely say Kalos deserved better.
First, the art style.
The art style is a massive downgrade, looking like cheap plastic dolls, lacking any of the style of previous Pokemon games, especially Scarlet and Violet, the game's Z-A are trying to look like and especially Legends Arceus, what Z-A is supposed to be in the same sub series of.
Second, the starter lineup.
People might not think this is a big deal but the starter lineup is the most important group of Pokemon in any game in the series. In Z-A we have Chikorita, Tepig and Totodile, and to be honestly blunt, this is honestly the worst starter lineup we have ever had. The previous Legends game, Legends Arceus, had Rowlet, Cyndaquil and Oshawott, this set the standard for what the starter line up in Legends games should be, that line up attracted people due to how unique it felt with starter Pokemon from different regions, meanwhile Z-A has two Johto Pokemon and an Unova, the imbalance here has got people to question this lineup, calling it the worst ever and they are correct, it does not feel as unique as the previous Legends starters, it feels lazy as it is just the Johto starters again but with Cyndaquil replaced with Tepig, it feel like a trio with a replaced member instead of a collection of fan favorite starters from three different regions. Now don't get me wrong, i know that each of those three has their fans, but other regions has their own big group of fans so to give 2/3 of the starter lineup to Johto feels like something is very missing. This lineup makes GmaeFreak feel tone deaf as it proves they don't not know what made the Legends Arceus starters feel so unique and special, but now that unique and special feeling is gone.
Third, the Kalos region itself.
This one is just lazy, when players wanted to return to Kalos, we wanted to return to Kalos, not just one city. The entire game will take place in Lumiose City and it just makes the world feel more claustrophobic. Kalos is a big beautiful nation with locations such as Anistar City, Laverre City, Reflection Cave, Geosenge Town, Lost Hotel, Shalour City, Parfum Palace, Vaniville Town, etc. Kalos fans wanted to return and explore to these locations, especially updated to the modern open world Pokemon style, to limit the game to only Lumiose City is a big waste of potential and pretty lazy. Pokemon games used to have a sense of exploration, to explore the world of Pokemon, yet we're only limited to just one city. Where's the big adventure that Pokemon is known for in that? Not helping is how empty the city itself is.
Fourth, the gameplay.
I am not going to beat around the bush here, the gameplay is just a poor man's version of what we got in Legends Arceus. Due to the game taking place in only one city the battle are more claustrophobic compared to the much more open battles of Legends Arceus. This would be fine if this was only for Lumiose City and every other location is more open, but the entire game is Lumiose City, so this is all we got. The parkour is cool on paper but in practice in feels like nothing more than a gimmick, one that hurt the game's potential in the long run as the focus on parkour travel has limited the game to a big city area leading to the third issue mentioned above, feels like open world exploration of the previous Legends game was tossed aside in favor for parkour, and fans wanted a big Pokemon adventure all throughout Kalos, not Pokemon Assassin's Creed. (Ironically enough i think Assassin's Creed 1's open world has more exploration and adventure than what Z-A is gonna have but i digress)
Miscellaneous.
Lets be real here, we all know GmaeFreak's track record with Switch games, they are rushed and lazy, so what can we expect from Z-A going off of their previous games? Small amount of Pokemon, no National Dex and a lot of cuts, might not have every Kalos Pokemon. Bugs and glitches, remember the mess Scarlet and Violet were? Well GameFreak didn't learn much considering they're still a small team rushing out these games, and according to the leaks, the game finished development last year so that amount of dev time combined with GameFreak's proven incompetence there will be more bugs and glitches. Also the lack of new regional forms is also something to be suspicious of, this is just a guess but what are the odds of them focusing more on Mega Evolution and there will be next to no regional forms?
Hopes, expectations and goal.
I know this could be a long shot but we hope that the game can be delayed for as long as it takes to fix the main issues, fix the art style that people have been giving complaints about, adding more to Kalos outside of just Lumiose City, imporving the gameplay to be more open like Legends Arceus outside of Lumiose City, and maybe replacing one of the Jhoto starters. For the later, i know this far into developer the three already have Mega Evolutions and no one wants them cut, so here's just an idea, the original X and Y had secondary starters so maybe move one of the Jhoto starters there, maybe replace Totodile with Popplio and have the secondary starters be Snivy, Litten and Totodile. That way the starter line up is balanced, three new Megas and all three starters from gens 2, 5 and 7 get their time to shine in the Legends games.
As for expectations, yeah, there's more of a chance the game will not get delayed, and that's a shame because Pokemon as a franchise really needs it. Wouldn't be the first time a Nintendo product got delayed to reach that Nintendo quality standard such as Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and the Upcoming Metroid Prime 4. And be honest, has Pokemon really been living up to that standard Nintendo quality over the Switch era? And admittedly GameFreak is small, but they, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have the money to expand the company, or at the very least bring on another dev team to help with development.
But then what is the goal of this? Me and many, many other Pokemon fans have been pointing out the unfortunate mediocrity of the franchise as of late only for it all to fall on deaf ears. What we want most of all is to be heard, to make Pokemon the better franchise it has the potential to be. We do not want to be overshadowed by those who wish to silence us anymore.
We want to be heard.
Thankfully there are employees at GameFreak who are aware of the complaints, but unfortunately they get shut down by higher ups. Lets get the higher ups to here us.
And please, be polite about it, please do not harm anyone in anyway over this.
Fandom and toxic positivity.
I know this movement will get pushback, i know this movement will get hate, i know people will pushback and hate without even reading any of what has been said here, but movements like this are needed to help the people leading these franchises to understand how mediocre products harm the brand in the long run. Yeah people will buy it, but the more people buy mediocrity the more people will get burned out, and then they will move on to other games in the genre that are on the rise. And don't think that's impossible, we have seen this happen to many other games, franchises and companies before both in and outside of gaming such as Overwatch, Bethesda RPGs and the MCU. Pokemon should be the gold standard for the genre, not the rushed out cashgrab it has become.
I say this to try to reason with those who will lash out against this movement because the toxic positivity within the fandom is insane, people who have legit complaints getting shamed, belittled, and other forms of bullying, all for the sake of silencing them, to shield the franchise from passionate concerns all because they are afraid of them somehow harming the franchise, but we aren't trying to harm the franchise, we're trying to help it and the fans to get better products. At the end of the day, it's the toxic positivity that will harm the brand in the long run.
Final thoughts.
After reading all of this people might think i hate Pokemon, but that's not true. Although i have honestly been disillusioned i still have a love for the franchise. I and many others are just tired of the mediocre state the franchise has been in since Sword and Shield. Legends Arceus was a wonderful sub series bringing new life into the franchise and to have the Legends sub series turn out rushed and mediocre like Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet is just disheartening. The game doesn't even feels like a Legends game, it feels like they slapped the Legends label on it because that's what the fans considered to be the best Switch era Pokemon game, and as a result it feels like the game is trying to be two things at once, a new legends game and Pokemon Z, two games people have been begging for for years, the latter more so, but due to trying to be both at once it feels like it's doing neither properly, and that's a shame.
All in all, the game is a big step down from what came before it and, as i have said before, the game feels like it can't decide if it wants to be another entry in the Legends sub series or a sequel to X and Y and it tries to do both, poorly. Feeling like they only slapped on the label of Legends because it was better received than the recent mainline entries.
According to rumors GameFreak skipped out on Pokemon Z during the 3DS era so they can rush into gen 7, and if that's true, they should have just made Pokemon Z on the 3DS instead of rushing into gen 7, maybe that way they can learn how to take their time and the franchise wouldn't be in this mediocre mess, but hey, hindsight is 20/20.
To help this movement please spread the hashtags #DelayZA, #KalosDeservesBetter and #KalosRevolution.
Update
I have just watched Penguinz0's video on the game and i could not have said better myself. I highly recommend watching the video as he addresses complaints that this petition shares and then some.
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The Issue
Fans have waited years for a Pokemon Z, a return to the Kalos region, but from what we have seen in the latest direct i can safely say Kalos deserved better.
First, the art style.
The art style is a massive downgrade, looking like cheap plastic dolls, lacking any of the style of previous Pokemon games, especially Scarlet and Violet, the game's Z-A are trying to look like and especially Legends Arceus, what Z-A is supposed to be in the same sub series of.
Second, the starter lineup.
People might not think this is a big deal but the starter lineup is the most important group of Pokemon in any game in the series. In Z-A we have Chikorita, Tepig and Totodile, and to be honestly blunt, this is honestly the worst starter lineup we have ever had. The previous Legends game, Legends Arceus, had Rowlet, Cyndaquil and Oshawott, this set the standard for what the starter line up in Legends games should be, that line up attracted people due to how unique it felt with starter Pokemon from different regions, meanwhile Z-A has two Johto Pokemon and an Unova, the imbalance here has got people to question this lineup, calling it the worst ever and they are correct, it does not feel as unique as the previous Legends starters, it feels lazy as it is just the Johto starters again but with Cyndaquil replaced with Tepig, it feel like a trio with a replaced member instead of a collection of fan favorite starters from three different regions. Now don't get me wrong, i know that each of those three has their fans, but other regions has their own big group of fans so to give 2/3 of the starter lineup to Johto feels like something is very missing. This lineup makes GmaeFreak feel tone deaf as it proves they don't not know what made the Legends Arceus starters feel so unique and special, but now that unique and special feeling is gone.
Third, the Kalos region itself.
This one is just lazy, when players wanted to return to Kalos, we wanted to return to Kalos, not just one city. The entire game will take place in Lumiose City and it just makes the world feel more claustrophobic. Kalos is a big beautiful nation with locations such as Anistar City, Laverre City, Reflection Cave, Geosenge Town, Lost Hotel, Shalour City, Parfum Palace, Vaniville Town, etc. Kalos fans wanted to return and explore to these locations, especially updated to the modern open world Pokemon style, to limit the game to only Lumiose City is a big waste of potential and pretty lazy. Pokemon games used to have a sense of exploration, to explore the world of Pokemon, yet we're only limited to just one city. Where's the big adventure that Pokemon is known for in that? Not helping is how empty the city itself is.
Fourth, the gameplay.
I am not going to beat around the bush here, the gameplay is just a poor man's version of what we got in Legends Arceus. Due to the game taking place in only one city the battle are more claustrophobic compared to the much more open battles of Legends Arceus. This would be fine if this was only for Lumiose City and every other location is more open, but the entire game is Lumiose City, so this is all we got. The parkour is cool on paper but in practice in feels like nothing more than a gimmick, one that hurt the game's potential in the long run as the focus on parkour travel has limited the game to a big city area leading to the third issue mentioned above, feels like open world exploration of the previous Legends game was tossed aside in favor for parkour, and fans wanted a big Pokemon adventure all throughout Kalos, not Pokemon Assassin's Creed. (Ironically enough i think Assassin's Creed 1's open world has more exploration and adventure than what Z-A is gonna have but i digress)
Miscellaneous.
Lets be real here, we all know GmaeFreak's track record with Switch games, they are rushed and lazy, so what can we expect from Z-A going off of their previous games? Small amount of Pokemon, no National Dex and a lot of cuts, might not have every Kalos Pokemon. Bugs and glitches, remember the mess Scarlet and Violet were? Well GameFreak didn't learn much considering they're still a small team rushing out these games, and according to the leaks, the game finished development last year so that amount of dev time combined with GameFreak's proven incompetence there will be more bugs and glitches. Also the lack of new regional forms is also something to be suspicious of, this is just a guess but what are the odds of them focusing more on Mega Evolution and there will be next to no regional forms?
Hopes, expectations and goal.
I know this could be a long shot but we hope that the game can be delayed for as long as it takes to fix the main issues, fix the art style that people have been giving complaints about, adding more to Kalos outside of just Lumiose City, imporving the gameplay to be more open like Legends Arceus outside of Lumiose City, and maybe replacing one of the Jhoto starters. For the later, i know this far into developer the three already have Mega Evolutions and no one wants them cut, so here's just an idea, the original X and Y had secondary starters so maybe move one of the Jhoto starters there, maybe replace Totodile with Popplio and have the secondary starters be Snivy, Litten and Totodile. That way the starter line up is balanced, three new Megas and all three starters from gens 2, 5 and 7 get their time to shine in the Legends games.
As for expectations, yeah, there's more of a chance the game will not get delayed, and that's a shame because Pokemon as a franchise really needs it. Wouldn't be the first time a Nintendo product got delayed to reach that Nintendo quality standard such as Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and the Upcoming Metroid Prime 4. And be honest, has Pokemon really been living up to that standard Nintendo quality over the Switch era? And admittedly GameFreak is small, but they, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have the money to expand the company, or at the very least bring on another dev team to help with development.
But then what is the goal of this? Me and many, many other Pokemon fans have been pointing out the unfortunate mediocrity of the franchise as of late only for it all to fall on deaf ears. What we want most of all is to be heard, to make Pokemon the better franchise it has the potential to be. We do not want to be overshadowed by those who wish to silence us anymore.
We want to be heard.
Thankfully there are employees at GameFreak who are aware of the complaints, but unfortunately they get shut down by higher ups. Lets get the higher ups to here us.
And please, be polite about it, please do not harm anyone in anyway over this.
Fandom and toxic positivity.
I know this movement will get pushback, i know this movement will get hate, i know people will pushback and hate without even reading any of what has been said here, but movements like this are needed to help the people leading these franchises to understand how mediocre products harm the brand in the long run. Yeah people will buy it, but the more people buy mediocrity the more people will get burned out, and then they will move on to other games in the genre that are on the rise. And don't think that's impossible, we have seen this happen to many other games, franchises and companies before both in and outside of gaming such as Overwatch, Bethesda RPGs and the MCU. Pokemon should be the gold standard for the genre, not the rushed out cashgrab it has become.
I say this to try to reason with those who will lash out against this movement because the toxic positivity within the fandom is insane, people who have legit complaints getting shamed, belittled, and other forms of bullying, all for the sake of silencing them, to shield the franchise from passionate concerns all because they are afraid of them somehow harming the franchise, but we aren't trying to harm the franchise, we're trying to help it and the fans to get better products. At the end of the day, it's the toxic positivity that will harm the brand in the long run.
Final thoughts.
After reading all of this people might think i hate Pokemon, but that's not true. Although i have honestly been disillusioned i still have a love for the franchise. I and many others are just tired of the mediocre state the franchise has been in since Sword and Shield. Legends Arceus was a wonderful sub series bringing new life into the franchise and to have the Legends sub series turn out rushed and mediocre like Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet is just disheartening. The game doesn't even feels like a Legends game, it feels like they slapped the Legends label on it because that's what the fans considered to be the best Switch era Pokemon game, and as a result it feels like the game is trying to be two things at once, a new legends game and Pokemon Z, two games people have been begging for for years, the latter more so, but due to trying to be both at once it feels like it's doing neither properly, and that's a shame.
All in all, the game is a big step down from what came before it and, as i have said before, the game feels like it can't decide if it wants to be another entry in the Legends sub series or a sequel to X and Y and it tries to do both, poorly. Feeling like they only slapped on the label of Legends because it was better received than the recent mainline entries.
According to rumors GameFreak skipped out on Pokemon Z during the 3DS era so they can rush into gen 7, and if that's true, they should have just made Pokemon Z on the 3DS instead of rushing into gen 7, maybe that way they can learn how to take their time and the franchise wouldn't be in this mediocre mess, but hey, hindsight is 20/20.
To help this movement please spread the hashtags #DelayZA, #KalosDeservesBetter and #KalosRevolution.
Update
I have just watched Penguinz0's video on the game and i could not have said better myself. I highly recommend watching the video as he addresses complaints that this petition shares and then some.
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Petition created on March 1, 2025