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News Pokemon Scarlet and Violet sold 10 million in the first 3 days

This particular piece of news has greatly improved my break time while visiting various online message boards.
 
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Sure. Considering how the game launched it seems QA wasn’t a thing and if it was then it’s was complete ignored. Its utterly ridiculous for a series that regular sells 10+ million to ship a game like SV with how it looks and performs.

At this point gamefreak is just technically incompetent.
Imagine Myamoto reviewing this game.....it would be like that Myiazaki clip lol
 
the bar is so low that people will literally buy hot garbage
I don't understand why people who have (valid, legitimate, well deserved) criticisms of the state Pokemon launched in are incapable of expressing those criticisms without insulting the people who are not as invested in the technical performance of these (or any other) games, and can enjoy them regardless.

Like, why can we not just criticize the game, rather than criticizing the people who bought the games and liked them? "People will buy garbage", get out of here with that shit.
 
I'm sure he adores all the money it brings in lol

Miyamoto: "What is this? How did these game release in this state?!?!?! I'm gonna have to upend some tables!"

Furukawa: "Shiggy ... this game is financing your theme park."

Miyamoto: "... Tell Gamefreak we need Gen10 in 2023 then."
 
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nah. people massively overestimate how many kids buy pokemon
Let me rephrase that then.

I'd bet good money people who rush to buy Pokemon on day 1 because they really like it, are unlikely to be deterred by a DF performance analysis.
 
nah. people massively overestimate how many kids buy pokemon
My personal experience is that people also massively underrate how many kids buy Pokemon and are deathly convinced all franchises other than Minecraft are ignored by the children. But if kids were not a majority then it would make no sense for why most of the merchandise is aimed at kids too.
 
You have a reference for this or are you just extrapolating from personal anecdotes?
nintendo's own numbers heavily skew older. I've never said kids don't buy these games, but I don't believe kids alone is responsible for the massive numbers we see. pokemon transcends age groups

My personal experience is that people also massively underrate how many kids buy Pokemon and are deathly convinced all franchises other than Minecraft are ignored by the children. But if kids were not a majority then it would make no sense for why most of the merchandise is aimed at kids too.
if merch is aimed at kids, then that merch targets kids. the games cast a wide net though to catch every possible age group
 
it would honestly be better if kids think that video games are ugly, they might spend some time outside looking at real scenery
 
nintendo's own numbers heavily skew older. I've never said kids don't buy these games, but I don't believe kids alone is responsible for the massive numbers we see. pokemon transcends age groups


if merch is aimed at kids, then that merch targets kids. the games cast a wide net though to catch every possible age group
That the net is cast wide is obvious, but I often see discourse online from people who want to believe that most Pokemon players are adults and Gamefreak is fucking up by not cattering to us, and I think that is a notion that doesn't reflect reality. If the game, and the anime, and the merchandise all obviously skew younger I think it's safe to say that kids are still the dominant chunk of the audience. They're a capitalist money-making company, they wouldn't focus so much on the them if they did not have good reason to believe they are their focus.
 
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You have a reference for this or are you just extrapolating from personal anecdotes?
Nintendo shared demographic breakdowns a few years ago, the bulk of the audience is early to mid 20s.
For context again. Here is Nintendo Switch demographic from Nov 2021:
nintendo-switch-age-demographics.PNG

Here it is again on Nov 2022

demographics-2022-656x369.jpg

As Nintendo themselves stated on Nov 2022
 
For context again. Here is Nintendo Switch demographic from Nov 2021:
nintendo-switch-age-demographics.PNG

Here it is again on Nov 2022

demographics-2022-656x369.jpg

As Nintendo themselves stated on Nov 2022

The funny thing about this data to me is it's got some blatant flaws.

You see that weird massive spike in the middle? And how it weirdly moved a bit to the right in the second graph?

That's because a bunch of people, for whatever reason, are picking the year 2000 as their birth year, probably because it's quick and easy.

I'm not sure whether it's kids more likely to do that or adults, but it does show that it relies on people entering their own data truthfully (which kids in particular may well not want to, because of automated age restrictions).
 
The funny thing about this data to me is it's got some blatant flaws.

You see that weird massive spike in the middle? And how it weirdly moved a bit to the right in the second graph?

That's because a bunch of people, for whatever reason, are picking the year 2000 as their birth year, probably because it's quick and easy.

I'm not sure whether it's kids more likely to do that or adults, but it does show that it relies on people entering their own data truthfully (which kids in particular may well not want to, because of automated age restrictions).
2000 only recently became the easy “bypass age restrictions” year. No need to scroll down to 1900 anymore.
 
This can be said for any open world game. Even the likes of GTA, The Witcher and Assassin's Creed. AC doesn't even need to be an open world, all the missions can be done in a pretty linear game. Open world environments are very repetitive and empty in each game. Why is it an open world? Collecting, exploration and freedom to run and jump around. All three also apply to SV.

Sounds like you don't enjoy open worlds and that's understandable. They really are not for everyone.
I love open world games. Elden Ring, Horizon, etc.

The Paldea region is just undeniably empty. There are no surprises or anything unique to discover out in the world like those other games. It's just catching Pokemon in bland environments.
 
I love open world games. Elden Ring, Horizon, etc.

The Paldea region is just undeniably empty. There are no surprises or anything unique to discover out in the world like those other games. It's just catching Pokemon in bland environments.
Man "just catching Pokemon" is doing an incredible amount of heavy lifting in that sentence

I've said this before and I'll say it again, nothing in Elden Ring made me nearly as excited as finding a random Shroomish in this game (if you've noticed I keep using Shroomish in my examples, it's because that was the one where my excitement shocked me the most, but I feel basically that excited for any Pokemon). But that also comes down to how much I dislike how Elden Ring rewards players, imo

Like, what could you want out of an open world reward? A new weapon? Pokemon. Enemy variety? Pokemon. Lore? Pokedex entries, which you get by catching Pokemon. Collectibles? Pokemon. They're like the Swiss army knife of rewards
 
Man "just catching Pokemon" is doing an incredible amount of heavy lifting in that sentence

I've said this before and I'll say it again, nothing in Elden Ring made me nearly as excited as finding a random Shroomish in this game (if you've noticed I keep using Shroomish in my examples, it's because that was the one where my excitement shocked me the most, but I feel basically that excited for any Pokemon). But that also comes down to how much I dislike how Elden Ring rewards players, imo

Like, what could you want out of an open world reward? A new weapon? Pokemon. Enemy variety? Pokemon. Lore? Pokedex entries, which you get by catching Pokemon. Collectibles? Pokemon. They're like the Swiss army knife of rewards

Yep, discovering new Pokémon is like, the main appeal of the game. The experience can be enriched for sure, maybe add more unique locales, puzzles and secrets. But like, I'm almost all the time only looking for new Pokémon, I put a waypoint to the next badge but keep on sidetracking :p

I think trying to fill the Pokédex might bring a different vibe to the game, not sure if I would like it as much if I was just rushing for the badges
 
Man "just catching Pokemon" is doing an incredible amount of heavy lifting in that sentence

I've said this before and I'll say it again, nothing in Elden Ring made me nearly as excited as finding a random Shroomish in this game (if you've noticed I keep using Shroomish in my examples, it's because that was the one where my excitement shocked me the most, but I feel basically that excited for any Pokemon). But that also comes down to how much I dislike how Elden Ring rewards players, imo

Like, what could you want out of an open world reward? A new weapon? Pokemon. Enemy variety? Pokemon. Lore? Pokedex entries, which you get by catching Pokemon. Collectibles? Pokemon. They're like the Swiss army knife of rewards
Yup. Pokemon gets to cheat. You don't need a meticulously designed world with the landmarks leading you to explore with the promise of new sights or rewards or lore or collectibles, because as you pointed out, Pokemon themselves are an instant cheat code that covers all those. It's actually kind of amazing (and a little unfair) just how much the worlds in these games can get away with relative to other games because of this one, unmatched, unimpeachable strong point. No one will explore the world in Zelda or Elden Ring or Assassin's Creed or GTA to find a new enemy type to beat, no one. Maybe bosses (or boss style enemies), but trying to climb a mountain to see if it has a Snover on top is the equivalent of climbing a mountain with the sole intention of taking down another bandit camp trash mob, except Pokemon can make that work, others cannot.

People might want to write this off as unearned but the Pokemon designs being compelling enough to very literally carry not just these games on their back, but an entire multibillion multimedia franchise that is the most valuable in human history, didn't happen because of luck or nostalgia or whatever other dismissive reasoning some might want to fall back on, it is earned, Game Freak and TPCi have consistently excelled at delivering on this one all-important front that keeps the franchise running no matter what else it might fail at (and there is no shortage of things it fails at, to be fair).
 
In terms of Pokemon games, would you want a linear game that runs and looks good or an open world game that runs and looks bad?
Those options are meaningless without the further context of what's offered. The linear Pokémon games have a wide variety in terms of their content and mechanics, and some are better than others.

We have two open world Pokémon games so far, with one having a world explorable in the vein of something like Monster Hunter, and the other being a numbered gen, fully explorable, proper open world. Both being the first of their kinds for Pokémon.

"Do you want linear and not jank, or open world and jank?" is a loaded question not worth answering.
 
Pokemon should be open world. There is no question about this, going back to linear games will be such an incredible regression in terms of not only design but also the implicit promise and appeal of these games.

People want open world Pokemon. They want open world Pokemon so much that even Sword/Shield, which were only sort of openish in two not too well designed areas, managed to overcome all the other negativity associated with them, and became the second bestselling games in the series. People want it so much that Legends instantly became the fastest selling game in the series at launch, two months after a traditional Pokemon game had launched, in an off-season. They want it so much that S/V generated enough hype to sell 10 million at full price in three days off the back of just that one promise - open world Pokemon.

We're not going back to linear.
 
Those options are meaningless without the further context of what's offered. The linear Pokémon games have a wide variety in terms of their content and mechanics, and some are better than others.

We have two open world Pokémon games so far, with one having a world explorable in the vein of something like Monster Hunter, and the other being a numbered gen, fully explorable, proper open world. Both being the first of their kinds for Pokémon.

"Do you want linear and not jank, or open world and jank?" is a loaded question not worth answering.
OK, so let me fix it for you, would you want a game that's very much like SwSh with all its flaws, but without the wild area, and it looks good and peforms like a dream or would you want Scarlett and Violet?
 
Pokemon should be open world. There is no question about this, going back to linear games will be such an incredible regression in terms of not only design but also the implicit promise and appeal of these games.

People want open world Pokemon. They want open world Pokemon so much that even Sword/Shield, which were only sort of openish in two not too well designed areas, managed to overcome all the other negativity associated with them, and became the second bestselling games in the series. People want it so much that Legends instantly became the fastest selling game in the series at launch, two months after a traditional Pokemon game had launched, in an off-season. They want it so much that S/V generated enough hype to sell 10 million at full price in three days off the back of just that one promise - open world Pokemon.

We're not going back to linear.
So you would sacrifice performance for it?
 
So you would sacrifice performance for it?
I mean I would rather an open world game that is also a functional, complete game which is actually coherently held together and doesn't fall apart if you so much as look at it the wrong way (which is very literally true in the case of S/V), but to answer your question, if the choice is SwSh as-is versus S/V as-is, I pick S/V every single time.
 
I mean I would rather an open world game that is also a functional, complete game which is actually coherently held together and doesn't fall apart if you so much as look at it the wrong way (which is very literally true in the case of S/V), but to answer your question, if the choice is SwSh as-is versus S/V as-is, I pick S/V every single time.
My question wouldn't be Swsh as is, it would be SwSh but it looks incredible BOTW tier good and it performs wonderfully vs SV
 
The whole discussion around whether a game "deserves" its sales (or lack thereof) has to be one of the most useless ones in video game discourse - which is saying something.

It's essentially all a euphemism for "I'm happy a game I enjoy is doing well" or vice versa.
I'm honestly a bit baffled to see so many users in this very thread make use of the "it doesn't deserve it" line of thought. Hard to take some of the reactions in here seriously, honestly.
 
I’d give my entire soul for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon to sell even 3 million again. Kinda sad spinoffs get ignored by whatever hype captures ordinary consumers for these games. Having more fun than I did at launch day but my god the world design in this game blows. Missing routes and houses already…
 
OK, so let me fix it for you, would you want a game that's very much like SwSh with all its flaws, but without the wild area, and it looks good and peforms like a dream or would you want Scarlett and Violet?
That doesn't really fix it, as you're wording with the assumption that Scarlet and Violet are still jank in this scenario, but even so, I would take Scarlet and Violet.

So you would sacrifice performance for it?
This doesn't matter. Scarlet and Violet's performance is jank, but fine. It doesn't impact gameplay to any significant degree.

My question wouldn't be Swsh as is, it would be SwSh but it looks incredible BOTW tier good and it performs wonderfully vs SV
You keep framing this question absurdly as "god-tier graphics and performance Sword/Shield versus regular Scarlet/Violet," and this is still an unrealistic comparison and an extremely loaded question where you seem to have predetermined that the smart answer is Sword/Shield.
 


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