So, as many of you know POKEMON was and is the best thing ever! From the Original Anime, to Pokemon stadium on N64. From the original Red/Blue games on Gameboy (the big sexy 1 :3 ) to the trading card game. It is and always will be the biggest thing i ever grew up with and is still so successful right now. Due to its endless target audience, from children of all genders to those who like a fun laid back Anime now.
So every year Japan still releases it's yearly movie of Pokemon and along with that is normally the release of the new Pokemon game (for DS) Which is still so successful that they are able to every year release a new one.
So this year, after getting so fed up with all the crummy MMORPGs around i came to think....Why hasn't Nintendo sold or even made themselves an MMORPG of Pokemon? I mean when you really think about it what more does it take for them to plug such a huge growing market in MMORPGs, which is currently divided around so many games due to the big King Pin in WoW "failing" and people drawing off, into the other new games being made SW:TOR GW2 Aion LOTRonline Warhammer etcetc.
I understand that Nintendo solely hold the rights to Pokemon, thus we never see it venture onto PS3/Xbox just the odd Pokemon ranger type game on Wii? But how come they have never thought of a monthly subscription game based on the Pokemon RPGs they release every year on DS? It would be such a killer! There is loads of people who still like to see Pokemon, maybe the odd episode of Anime, maybe the odd game of Pokemon via Emulator on computer, or even get there gameboy out and play it.
The game idea in itself to make Pokemon and MMORPG takes little work. You start the basis of the game they produce every year on DS/Gameboy whatever you want to call it. You add better graphics and make things bigger for starts. Then you gi with either 8/16 gyms around the place you play, making it level 10 for first gym, level 20 Pokemon for second etc etc. You add in side quests like the series has where you deliver things for professors or you just generally help out some randoms (as they do alot in the Anime t.t). So you can catch Pokemon, you battle to level them. You get xp as a trainer yourself and unlock items to help your Pokemon ie rare candy's or TMs/HMs the normal stuff. Also you can add in options to change your appearance (people like that sort of thing xD) You catch Pokemon in the famous grass as usual and the places all lead to the main goal of, getting all the badges and challenging the best the "elite four" but they can change this to add a more PvP feel to it, and make it the actual Pokemon league, which obviously brackets or restrictions for certain level of Pokemon so no one gets 1 hit (bit like PvP on other games where you have level 85 PvP and level 80-84 PvP etc) So, that's PvP aim of the game as well as places to battle each other bit like /duel in WoW could just go somewhere to battle as well. I could go on and on with all of the endless idea's i have but i do not want to bore you with this
What i would like to know if anyone else has thought of this and... WHY U NO MAKE POKEMON MMORPG!?
Poll: Anyone Else Agree With Me?
Yes, Pokemon MMORPG <3 (228)
95%
No, I Don't Think So... (12)
5%
240 total votes
Your vote: Anyone Else Agree With Me?
(Vote): Yes, Pokemon MMORPG <3 (Vote): No, I Don't Think So...
Disclaimer: This my first blog, i was going to put this in Sports and Games but then realized its more of a Blog, please go easy on my Blog Virginity please :3
Would this game allow me to join Team Rocket? How about going on a Pikachu killing rampage?
If not, no dice.
edit; agreed with dude above me. The game must restrict to the first 150 pokemon (fuck Mew, seriously. Such a bitcH)
If you joined Team Rocket, do you start with a Meowth? I could imagine that being the only story line where you don't want to rip your ears off, since Meowth speaks english as opposed to high pitched squeaks
Nintendo do not want to be a service company, continually updating something. They want to release a product, take the money and get on with the next one.
Every long-term or online service they have is quickly discontinued or ignored (Virtual Console, WiiConnect24, DLC in Smash Bros, hacking on Mario Kart and SSB is not dealt with, features of Wii/3DS online are very simple compared to PSN/XBL).
If you just want to play competitive PvP Pokemon with little work:
It hasn't happened because Nintendo hates the internet.
Also, if Pokemon were to be a MMO, there would have to be some re-working of the combat system. Even if they kept it turn based (which i'd support) they'd have to change how IV's and EV's work to make it palatable to most players. Maybe make them assigned instead of preset (IV's) or earned (EV's). Probably would also make sense to do a very broad talent system, allowing people to specialize in specific types of Pokemon or dueling styles.
(Yes, i have put a good deal of thought into how a pokemon MMO should work. Deal with it.)
The concept of a Pokemon MMO has been brought up in various press meeting and conferences throughout the past several years. As awesome as I (and so many others) think a Pokemon MMO would be, those with the creative control and direction of the franchise do not feel that this is the direction they want Pokemon to go. (I have been curious about this topic for a long time and periodically look a little deeper into it)
In the past they have cited that Pokemon is about getting together in person with your friends to make trades, do battles and such and that their view of this identity of the game does not fit in with a massively multiplayer online game. The gameboy link cable was their piece of technology that they used for this excuse for a very long time. It is also a reason why their main titles are released for the hand-held devices rather than the current console system. Though now it is pretty clear that the social aspect of trading and battling has expanded to the internet with the current generation of systems and their crutch excuse of the game link cable and in-person gathering seems to be less of an excuse to me. It just doesn't seem to be the direction Nintendo wants to take the game.
Personally I think that's a load of crap. Tons of people have imagined a Pokemon MMO. And the game mechanics itself translate very well into an MMO style game. I think it'd be awesome for them to make it. I have been wishing this for nearly a decade, but I don't think it will happen until the creative leads and executives to the Pokemon franchise are replaced or new talent is promoted into their positions... or if Nintendo sells/leases the license to the brand.
I though about this too some time ago, and came up with tons and tons of ideas for making a MMORPG...
On January 27 2012 07:12 SeaSwift wrote: Just as long as they keep to the original 151 Pokemon.
Enough of this "Platinum Version" shit already, I want to keep my Yellow/Blue/Red!
Kind of disagree when ppl say that... I don't understand the hate towards the 2nd,3rd generationd etc... They are just as good and simple as the first was. Plus it adds more balancing/mixing overall in the pokemons teams. If we restrained to only 150, you cut mostly 3/4 of the pokemons if you want to make a challenging/good team, and we would get to see almost the same matches everytime.
I am not sure about that. I am only familiar with the original 151 and I refuse to accept the new ones in my elitism and arrogance. I'll be damned if I had to use those new Pokemon in a game. Give me a Bulbasaur, or a Charmander, or a Squirtle, damnit. There's a reason why it's Startale Squirtle and not Startale 7th-Generation-Productline-Rotation-Water-Type-Starter-Pokemon.
Last I heard Nintendo/Game Freak are not interested in making a Pokemon MMORPG because presumably the target audience would be children, which means you also have to invest a TON into making sure the adult players don't break those childrens minds.
This is also why most MMORPGs are rated Teen or Mature.
On January 27 2012 07:23 semioldguy wrote: The concept of a Pokemon MMO has been brought up in various press meeting and conferences throughout the past several years. As awesome as I (and so many others) think a Pokemon MMO would be, those with the creative control and direction of the franchise do not feel that this is the direction they want Pokemon to go. (I have been curious about this topic for a long time and periodically look a little deeper into it)
In the past they have cited that Pokemon is about getting together in person with your friends to make trades, do battles and such and that their view of this identity of the game does not fit in with a massively multiplayer online game. The gameboy link cable was their piece of technology that they used for this excuse for a very long time. It is also a reason why their main titles are released for the hand-held devices rather than the current console system. Though now it is pretty clear that the social aspect of trading and battling has expanded to the internet with the current generation of systems and their crutch excuse of the game link cable and in-person gathering seems to be less of an excuse to me. It just diesn't seem to be the direction Nintendo wants to take the game.
Personally I think that's a load of crap. Tons of people have imagined a Pokemon MMO. And the game mechanics itself translate very well into an MMO style game. I think it'd be awesome for them to make it. I have been wishing this for nearly a decade, but I don't think it will happen until the creative leads and executives to the Pokemon franchise are replaced or new talent is promoted into their positions... or if Nintendo sells/leases the license to the brand.
Awesome post, thanks for the reply :D
I too have wondered like this, BUT do you think, if some company ever took this idea on and kept Nintendo up to date with it, cut them into the profits they would hook themselves in? I mean they have the structure there, half maybe even 3/4 of the work is done. Fanbase check RPG aspect check Pokemon check battle system check. Its crazy it just needs a push to the top and made bigger
Man i would love to see this, just like you. You have been waiting 10 years, me just over 6months of brewing in my mind. Maybe one day bro <3 one day
On January 27 2012 07:31 Bagration wrote: I am not sure about that. I am only familiar with the original 151 and I refuse to accept the new ones in my elitism and arrogance. I'll be damned if I had to use those new Pokemon in a game. Give me a Bulbasaur, or a Charmander, or a Squirtle, damnit. There's a reason why it's Startale Squirtle and not Startale 7th-Generation-Productline-Rotation-Water-Type-Starter-Pokemon.
One of my brothers friends actually created something like this called Pokemon: Den of Ages. Im not sure if he still mantains the servers anymore but heres a link if anyone wants to check it out. http://pdoa.koneko-chan.net/
after looking I see its in closed beta. :/ nvm. From what I remember my brother playing they really kept it similar to the games graphics though
Not being a pokemon hipster/blinded by nostalgia and actually having played every gen of Pokémon, I'd be happy with any of them being used. Some of the new ones are shit (all of the Pidgey/Spearow clones spring to mind), some are interesting and have fun battle abilities/are cool (Arceus, Rotom being my favourites). Same as how some of the old ones were shit (Jynx and Mr. Mime immediately spring to mind). Never mind that if we just had the original 151, every team would be the same list of 4-5 pokemon with maybe 1 or 2 differences for flavour, but never anything too novel.
The thing is, in an MMORPG version of Pokémon they'd have to change shitloads about the game to make it not a case of just PvE grinding to level 100 on all your pokes after spamming eggs to get good IVs and natures. Plus ultra rare pokemon (Arceus and Darkrai being good examples) would either have to never be given out 'cause they can be so powerful...
I've often dreamed of a pokemon MMO, but whenever I've thought about how it'd actually be implemented, I've just ended up thinking it couldn't happen without changing what I love about the series.
EDIT: I should look into PWO again I guess, since last time I checked it was crap
They are introducing pet battles into world of warcraft. While it won't be a direct subsitute for pokemon, it will be a close replica that is likely to bring in a lot of pokemon fans.
Funny that you mention this... the most successful mmo (World of Warcraft) is introducing a pet combat system in a similar likeness to pokémon in the next expansion. I know it's not the same, but a licensed Pokémon game won't happen any time soon.
The main premise of Pokemon is battling. You can already do that and Nintendo has been slowly improving it, although Nintendo doesn't care about competitive battling anyway.
Given this in mind, what does an MMORPG add to the experience? Nothing much. You can still battle each other, but can you imagine people camping for Pokemon spawns to catch them? Or grinding to level? How would Gyms and the rest of the world work? There's really just too much that takes away from a lot of the gameplay (ie: the nice thing you get from the "linearity") and too much of a pain to implement it properly)
If it makes you feel any better, WoW is implementing pet battles in the next expansion. It's a direct ripoff of Pokemon so there's that at least until the real deal comes out.
On January 27 2012 07:32 Pandemona wrote: I too have wondered like this, BUT do you think, if some company ever took this idea on and kept Nintendo up to date with it, cut them into the profits they would hook themselves in? I mean they have the structure there, half maybe even 3/4 of the work is done. Fanbase check RPG aspect check Pokemon check battle system check. Its crazy it just needs a push to the top and made bigger
Man i would love to see this, just like you. You have been waiting 10 years, me just over 6months of brewing in my mind. Maybe one day bro <3 one day
While there likely are third party companies that would undertake the endeavor, Nintendo is not known for licensing original franchise characters/games/content to the development of other companies. They like to keep their own hands on their product, or at the very least, on their most prominent titles of that product. mostly this is a good thing (and why the main Mario titles have likely kept up their quality for over 20 years... Shiggy doing his wonders of course).
Without going too much off topic, i think some of this holding very closely to their own products stems from Nintendo's original success in the early 80's after the video game crash. back then third party developers destroyed the quality of gaming as there was little regulation on game releases and the quality for many games was terrible as they wanted to cash in on the video game craze. The mass production of shitty games eventually led to the market tanking. Nintendo revived faith in console gaming by requiring third parties to go through rigorous processes to release games for their system which may be some cause for them not liking other people's hands on their things.
Also as someone else mentioned I believe, the target audience for Pokemon is young kids, which also leads to problems for age-rating their game as I'm sure you can imagine.
Some day an MMO, or something else similar and large scale, will come to Pokemon fans, though I don't think it will be in the near future unfortunately. I think there needs to be a change in business philosophy itself for that to likely happen, and that sort of change can take a long time.
When that day comes... hopefully they don't screw it up!
On January 27 2012 07:48 Milkis wrote: The main premise of Pokemon is battling. You can already do that and Nintendo has been slowly improving it, although Nintendo doesn't care about competitive battling anyway.
Given this in mind, what does an MMORPG add to the experience? Nothing much. You can still battle each other, but can you imagine people camping for Pokemon spawns to catch them? Or grinding to level? How would Gyms and the rest of the world work? There's really just too much that takes away from a lot of the gameplay (ie: the nice thing you get from the "linearity") and too much of a pain to implement it properly)
Pokemon MMORPG IMO is a pretty bad idea.
Yeah i understand your point. But the game basis is PvP based. You get a Pokemon game now, i have most of them. You beat all the Gym Leaders whilst following the story through, you get all 8 badges (16 in some) complete the story, go battle the Elite Four and your done, just sat with Pokemon you have leveled through out the game and have no other option. In the DS versions you can now battle over WiFi connections vs other people. But all the people you will ever face have maxed out level 100 Pokemon, so unless you grind yourself to that level there is nothing more to Pokemon on DS/Gameboy
What can be a possibility though with an MMORPG, is people to chat too, physical battles to help level your Pokemon. Dueling people becomes a way of getting XP to help level. You get the 8Gym badges maybe 16 who knows, possibilities are endless in that category. You put the gyms basics in the excat same way as the other version. Level 20 Gym Level 30 etc etc as high as you want to go maybe every 5 levels. You can add in professions where you collect stuff in the game and give people to make Pokeballs or to sell items for lots of money. You can implement that as a farming exercise for professions. People camping for spawns of Pokemon would happen if you turned it into an online game you cant stop that people on wow for example camp for pet spawns, I don't have a problem with that personally.
When you get all the badges you will be at a certain level, you could even cap it at that level or make it 5 levels or so more, and then add in a PvP based function of Pokemon League, where every 1hour what ever you can join up and battle people and PvP your way through the league and get more rewards etc and a nice trophy.
To say its to much trouble to make this, is a bit of a lie surely? They have the basics there, everything they need to be able to work on it and within a year have a full game Beta running quite easily. But hey i was only dreaming
The fact that there isn't one yet points to GameFreak and Nintendo not being completely in it for the money. I get the feeling an MMO of Pokemon would blow everything out of the water easily.
OMG thats what i was thinking the whole time Although im not an avid pokemon fan, I was wondering why Nintendo never released any pokemon mmorpg's (or maybe it did but we just don't know?)
They're just waiting for good virtual reality technology and progress in artificial intelligence.
Then we'll all get sucked into this game forever untill humankind dies out since everybody will be playing instead of working. (my solution to the Fermi Paradox)
On January 27 2012 07:14 Durp wrote: Would this game allow me to join Team Rocket? How about going on a Pikachu killing rampage?
If not, no dice.
edit; agreed with dude above me. The game must restrict to the first 150 pokemon (fuck Mew, seriously. Such a bitcH)
If you joined Team Rocket, do you start with a Meowth? I could imagine that being the only story line where you don't want to rip your ears off, since Meowth speaks english as opposed to high pitched squeaks
team rockets meowth is a special talking meowth, they dont all talk.
I'd give it a shot. Original 151 would be my preference, but I wouldn't mind the additional 100 (or was it additional 101?) of the second generation. Anything beyond that, toooo much.
On January 27 2012 07:14 Durp wrote: Would this game allow me to join Team Rocket? How about going on a Pikachu killing rampage?
Hell yeah! Team Rocket could basically be like pirates in Eve, ambushing random people to steal their pokemon/loot.
Edit: Oh, and also instead of just having X amount of gyms, maybe each region has it's own system of gyms and leagues like in the actual pokemon (Johto, Orange Islands, etc.)
On January 27 2012 07:48 Milkis wrote: The main premise of Pokemon is battling. You can already do that and Nintendo has been slowly improving it, although Nintendo doesn't care about competitive battling anyway.
Given this in mind, what does an MMORPG add to the experience? Nothing much. You can still battle each other, but can you imagine people camping for Pokemon spawns to catch them? Or grinding to level? How would Gyms and the rest of the world work? There's really just too much that takes away from a lot of the gameplay (ie: the nice thing you get from the "linearity") and too much of a pain to implement it properly)
Pokemon MMORPG IMO is a pretty bad idea.
Yeah i understand your point. But the game basis is PvP based. You get a Pokemon game now, i have most of them. You beat all the Gym Leaders whilst following the story through, you get all 8 badges (16 in some) complete the story, go battle the Elite Four and your done, just sat with Pokemon you have leveled through out the game and have no other option. In the DS versions you can now battle over WiFi connections vs other people. But all the people you will ever face have maxed out level 100 Pokemon, so unless you grind yourself to that level there is nothing more to Pokemon on DS/Gameboy
What can be a possibility though with an MMORPG, is people to chat too, physical battles to help level your Pokemon. Dueling people becomes a way of getting XP to help level. You get the 8Gym badges maybe 16 who knows, possibilities are endless in that category. You put the gyms basics in the excat same way as the other version. Level 20 Gym Level 30 etc etc as high as you want to go maybe every 5 levels. You can add in professions where you collect stuff in the game and give people to make Pokeballs or to sell items for lots of money. You can implement that as a farming exercise for professions. People camping for spawns of Pokemon would happen if you turned it into an online game you cant stop that people on wow for example camp for pet spawns, I don't have a problem with that personally.
When you get all the badges you will be at a certain level, you could even cap it at that level or make it 5 levels or so more, and then add in a PvP based function of Pokemon League, where every 1hour what ever you can join up and battle people and PvP your way through the league and get more rewards etc and a nice trophy.
To say its to much trouble to make this, is a bit of a lie surely? They have the basics there, everything they need to be able to work on it and within a year have a full game Beta running quite easily. But hey i was only dreaming
What I meant with camping pokemon bit is that you'll eventually have Pokemon being sold and there being an economy around it. I'm pretty sure nintendo wont like that one bit.
I really don't think MMORPG pokemon would be the way to go.
The target market of pokemon is more focused on the 8-14 year old range group. MMORPGs are more inclined to focus on a more matured aged group (16+) where are is more communication involved. Although it's playable by all ages, but the population above 15 that play pokemon is very niche.
Theres alot more regulation (and age ratings) for an MMORPG due to online interactions and it's just not the thing for pokemon IMO.
On January 27 2012 07:12 SeaSwift wrote: Just as long as they keep to the original 151 Pokemon.
Enough of this "Platinum Version" shit already, I want to keep my Yellow/Blue/Red!
Exactly. Pokemon were awesome until the silver/gold thing, but the new ones just fucking suck. Honestly i would probably quit the moment they released an expansion with stuff after like gen 3.
Plus, red/blue was so much better than any other game after it. The new ones are fucking easy.
And i just realized i sound like a bw fanboy bashing sc2, or an sc2 fanboy bashing LoL...
On January 27 2012 07:48 Milkis wrote: The main premise of Pokemon is battling. You can already do that and Nintendo has been slowly improving it, although Nintendo doesn't care about competitive battling anyway.
Given this in mind, what does an MMORPG add to the experience? Nothing much. You can still battle each other, but can you imagine people camping for Pokemon spawns to catch them? Or grinding to level? How would Gyms and the rest of the world work? There's really just too much that takes away from a lot of the gameplay (ie: the nice thing you get from the "linearity") and too much of a pain to implement it properly)
Pokemon MMORPG IMO is a pretty bad idea.
Yeah i understand your point. But the game basis is PvP based. You get a Pokemon game now, i have most of them. You beat all the Gym Leaders whilst following the story through, you get all 8 badges (16 in some) complete the story, go battle the Elite Four and your done, just sat with Pokemon you have leveled through out the game and have no other option. In the DS versions you can now battle over WiFi connections vs other people. But all the people you will ever face have maxed out level 100 Pokemon, so unless you grind yourself to that level there is nothing more to Pokemon on DS/Gameboy
What can be a possibility though with an MMORPG, is people to chat too, physical battles to help level your Pokemon. Dueling people becomes a way of getting XP to help level. You get the 8Gym badges maybe 16 who knows, possibilities are endless in that category. You put the gyms basics in the excat same way as the other version. Level 20 Gym Level 30 etc etc as high as you want to go maybe every 5 levels. You can add in professions where you collect stuff in the game and give people to make Pokeballs or to sell items for lots of money. You can implement that as a farming exercise for professions. People camping for spawns of Pokemon would happen if you turned it into an online game you cant stop that people on wow for example camp for pet spawns, I don't have a problem with that personally.
When you get all the badges you will be at a certain level, you could even cap it at that level or make it 5 levels or so more, and then add in a PvP based function of Pokemon League, where every 1hour what ever you can join up and battle people and PvP your way through the league and get more rewards etc and a nice trophy.
To say its to much trouble to make this, is a bit of a lie surely? They have the basics there, everything they need to be able to work on it and within a year have a full game Beta running quite easily. But hey i was only dreaming
What I meant with camping pokemon bit is that you'll eventually have Pokemon being sold and there being an economy around it. I'm pretty sure nintendo wont like that one bit.
Oh yeah, ill have to agree with that, thinking about trading pokemon would be the norm in the game would only be natural people start charging to trade level 100s. But like in the RPG itself, you cant control a level 100 pokemone until you have all 8 badges etc or even 16 if thats how it started out. Would be a slight restraint on it.
On January 27 2012 07:12 SeaSwift wrote: Just as long as they keep to the original 151 Pokemon.
Enough of this "Platinum Version" shit already, I want to keep my Yellow/Blue/Red!
Exactly. Pokemon were awesome until the silver/gold thing, but the new ones just fucking suck. Honestly i would probably quit the moment they released an expansion with stuff after like gen 3.
Plus, red/blue was so much better than any other game after it. The new ones are fucking easy.
And i just realized i sound like a bw fanboy bashing sc2, or an sc2 fanboy bashing LoL...
R/B/Y was horribly imbalanced.
Personally I would like GSC Pokemon (Dark, Steel, split Special, Psychic no longer OP) plus abilities, natures, uncoupled physical/special attacks and double battles added from later games, if we're talking a good PVP metagame.
And a level cap such that it would take less than a 24 hours of effort to train a Pokemon to the level cap for PVP use, once you already were in the endgame.
I pick my pokemon. I become that pokemon. I go on quests, I learn spells, I wear battlearmor! I get caught by a trainer! I electroshock my trainer. I am xXsephirochuXx