Is The Pokemon Lore Becoming Overwhelming?

[DayU]

As silly as it may sound, I picked up Omega Ruby at the midnight release, but only now completed the Delta Episode. Having completed it, I don't feel very satisfied. In fact, it felt taxing. I wasn't really enjoying myself as much, and part of me thinks it is the lore's fault.

Prior to Gen 3, was pretty easy to not pay attention to the lore of the games, mainly because legendary Pokemon were not necessary to complete the game. Since Gen 3, it has gotten harder and harder to complete the main story without getting caught up in the lore and legendary Pokemon. While I appreciate the context, it kinda takes away from the mystery of it all, and makes finding legendary Pokemon a little less exciting.

Maybe its something different that makes something feel like it changed, but I know that by Gen 5 I was very tired of the lore. Can anyone else connect with this, or do you think I'm mistaking it for something else?

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Nope. Can't say I can relate. I think that the games actually getting a bit of a damn plot for a change aside from a mindless "Go here, go here, fite gem, get bage, punch a rocket, rinse and repeat" is a good thing, But I like a bit of story and context in my games, and I'd like to know why ancient people though it'd be a good idea to write whole legends about otherwise mundane (if somewhat rare) species. Makes them feel more legendary rather than just another obscure piece of shit to tag on a pokedex checklist.

But hey, I guess some people don't like their games to have some interest and prefer to just breeze through them without actually feeling connected to the experience. Takes all sorts, I guess.

That said, OR/AS didn't really feel as 'lore infested' to me as they felt god damn anime because how the cutscenes and re-written characterizations and the general weirdness of the Gen6 Reality Fork - but it is less the fault of the lore itself as it is of its presentation. Gen 5 had some amazing story and it was presented awesomely. Gen 6 is... well, it feels like even when they try they fall into the trap of their new company policy of making things intentionally grossly Easy Mode as Game Freak pander to whiny babbies who either A: Might not have enough of a brain or an attention span to handle an actual story and run away to mobile casual gaming, onoes! or B: metagame-tards who consider the 'game' and the 'fun' part just an obstacle in the way of their favorite Eugenics Simulator.

Ah well.

 

[NonAnalogue]

I agree with Stel in that I like the turn the series is taking towards more story. In fact, I'd argue that there's not enough lore right now. The lore so far is pretty easy to ignore if you want to - most of it is optional and postgame, and none of it is required to actually beat the game. I'm looking forward to the eventual remake of Sinnoh, because Cyrus' plan to remake the universe seems like it could dovetail nicely with the multiple universe theory put forward in ORAS.

Edit: I should clarify - I'm not in favor of not being able to ignore the lore. I think that they need to strike a balance between the people who want more story and the people who just want to raise monsters.

 

[Shiny Motley]

I personally prefer games with more of a story behind it, and it's why I thoroughly enjoyed BW/BW2. That being said, however, I do have a lot of friends who just prefer to play games for the gameplay, be it grinding or trying to outdo your friends or whatever. That's not really my style, though, and thus I actually enjoy the games more for the direction they've taken. To each their own, I guess ^^;

 

[Brendan Savem]

Pokemon has always been lore-heavy, the delivery method and the characters have just changed. In previous gens, they didn't have cutscenes, so they made do with various books and short dialogues to tell the story of the world around them. I mean, there is the whole story of Mewtwo's origins in the ruined Pokémon Lab, the story of the Marowak Mother, and Team Rockets partially successful gambling business endeavour. And back then, it was easy to click through dialogue and skip books on the floor. I'm sure if it was possible then, Red and Blue would have had you right there when Mewtwo made its great escape, and then you had to be the one to hunt it down before its anger at the the world cost lives.

In a nutshell really, it may not be that the lore is getting heavier, because there is still the same amount of lore to find in the games as there always has been, I think its more that we're getting better at perceiving it, drawing conclusions and deducing the truth faster than we did in our younger days. That in itself can take away the mystery of it and make it seem 'tired and cliche'.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

I've always liked more story based games so for me every Pokemon Gen has been getting better and better with Gen V being the pinnacle of storytelling and lore. RSE and ORAS are also very fun games for me because of the mythology behind Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza that the story throws at you and the behind the scenes bit with the Regis.

 

[DayU]

Maybe my issue is less with the details and more with the presentation? I'm trying to figure out what is causing my experience to be so particular, but I can't really nail anything down on it.

 

[Shiny Motley]

As mentioned before, the cutscenes have definitely become noticeably longer and the lore/storyline is more forced onto you as opposed to before. That might be a bit of it. :x

 

[NonAnalogue]

And I feel I have to second what Stel said - the games really are amping up the anime levels too. They're also leaving less to the imagination. I mean, we still don't know what exactly went on with the Unown back in GSC. Whereas now they tell us exactly why we need to care about each legendary of the day.

 

[Secad MS]

I was pretty fond of the extended adventure in the postgame. Usually after beating the Elite Four, it's just 'ermagerd, a new battle area!' I loved the plot points and world building of the adventure with Rayquaza. It makes the games feel more enveloping and less grindy. The gym journey has been done multiple times, but not an adventure shooting you into space to confront Deoxys, or something of the same caliber. As The Blue Avenger said, remakes could do the story of D/P/Pt justice by expanding the story with huge spacetime repercussions, something I eagerly await. Diamond was my first game, and still my favorite.

 

[teabut]

I really do enjoy learning more about the pokemon world-- flushing out the details keeps me (personally) interested and helps evolve the franchise as a whole. But I think I understand where you're coming from.. They seem to just keep adding more and more on top, and I think the way that they present it isn't always the most interesting. For example, I love being immersed in the world and learning more as I play, but the long/descriptive cutscenes that never end often have me button-mashing the 'A' button to hurry it up. It doesn't really captivate me as I feel it should.

 

[Flying Sheep]

I like games with lots of story. Personally, my biggest issue with Pokemon is that I feel estranged by the newer generations, because of so many new Pokemon, new moves, even a new type (never saw that coming), redoing the types of old Pokemon (further confusing plenty of us), etc. while still keeping the same repetitive concept of getting all the badges, becoming the champion, completing the Pokedex, etc.

Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness are my two favorite Pokemon games, and part of why I love them is that they keep the core mechanics of the games (capturing and battling) but they're story-oriented. There aren't gym leaders or an elite four, there's no Pokedex, but it's all story and is still an awesome mini-series in terms of gameplay. Personally, I'd love to see more games like XD and Colosseum. I think Pokemon has lots of great potential, that gets wasted in the constant cycle of creating new Pokemon, new moves, new regions, new types, new gym leaders/elite four, basically trying to keep using the same overall concept. Instead, I'd like to see Game Freak/Nintendo take what they have and make awesome, totally new adventures, instead of redoing the same concept over, and over, and over, and over again.