"Some thoughts on the design of gen 7 (Why cutscenes themselves aren't the problem)"

There is a lot of discussion going on about gen 7's slow pace, emphasis on story, and the future direction of the series. I wanted to share my view on the subject, and maybe get the discussion going a little deeper.So, if we look at the history of Pokemon games, we see a pretty clear path from gen 1 to the present. Game Freak has been very conservative in changing anything about the gameplay formula, choosing to add and remove things in equal measure through the years, but always keeping the core gameplay almost completely untouched: a blank slate protagonist must explore the world of pokemon, catch as many as possible, and become the very best. In gen 1, these were the only things required of the player- but there was another, less emphasized goal in the game as well: rid the world of evil.In gen 1, the evil Team Rocket had taken over various locations in the game world, and it was up to the player to stop them. At the same time, it was also an option to walk around as many of them as possible, use a poke-doll to get past that pesky ghost (Leaving the game corner still under their control forever), and generally not really care about their evil deeds because they didn't affect the player personally. In fact, it was technically the player who drew first blood against the rockets- they never bothered you any more than a regular trainer would have. There was a near-complete lack of narrative tension because the game wasn't designed with a gripping narrative in mind- it was designed to keep the main character as blank as possible so that the player could have their own pokemon journey. In fact, every game in the main series has kept this tradition- the main character's name, pokemon team, and as of gen 6 their appearance, are decided by the player because it's the player's journey, not the character's, that is emphasized. For this reason, I consider it to be a core tenant of the design philosophy of the series.Now, of course, gen 1 was a long time ago. In fact, the design of the series has changed quite a lot since then, as each generation has bumped up the scale and importance of the narrative one tiny notch each time. In gen 2 the evil team plot became completely mandatory, in gen 3 the stakes were raised to the fate of the world itself, and in gen 4 the fate of the entire universe was at stake. These three generations codified one of the other central tenants of the series: the evil team. Sure the rockets existed in gen 1, but as we discussed, the focus wasn't really on them- it was on the player's journey. In the three subsequent generations, the evil team became one of the most central elements of the games' narratives, and a fan favorite aspect of the franchise.Starting in gen 5, we saw the focus of the narrative shift slightly, as well as the overall design. After 2, 3, and 4 had raised the stakes as far as they could go, 5 brought everything back down to earth. The narrative focused on the characters more than on what was at stake, giving us a very memorable evil team and for the first time, a moral at the end. The story content of the game was greatly expanded compared to the previous games, and the design of the world was changed to deliver a tighter plot structure. However, the first core tenant of the series was still fully enforced: the protagonist is a complete blank slate to facilitate a pokemon journey full of choices to be made. This lead to something of a clash between design ideas. The protagonist was a central character in a well-defined, linear, character-driven narrative; yet was unable to speak or contribute in any meaningful way to the story. To compensate, NPCs were created to be the main character's voice. They started the journey with the player, showed them the ropes, and played a central role in the story; yet they were unable to contribute in any meaningful way to the gameplay due to Game Freak's adherence to the first core tenant of the player-centric experience. This change in design had a few important effects on the gameplay, chief among them the choice to create a more linear, A-to-B world for the narrative to take place in.This leads us to gens 6 and 7, which follow gen 5's example of incorporating the core tenants: the blank protagonist, the evil team, and now the linear narrative. This is where I think a lot of the frustration with gen 7 comes from- the almost total incompatibility of tenants one and three.In gen 7, the player has more freedom than ever when designing the protagonist. Their appearance is almost completely flexible, and there is more variety of wild pokemon than ever before. Conversely, the narrative is more linear than before as well, with the world again being designed to facilitate the story. Since each area of the game has a plot beat to accompany it, the player is tightly roped in, with any potential alternate paths literally roadblocked. In gens 5 and 6, the main character had NPC friends to serve as their voice; in gen 7, the main character is the friend of the protagonist, Lillie, who goes through a well-defined and emotional character arc. It's similar to the story of Final Fantasy X, where the player is Tidus, a bodyguard of Yuna, an important figure in the world the game takes place in. However, the difference between the main character of Sun and Moon and Tidus is that Tidus is a defined character with a voice, and the main character of Sun and Moon is merely a silent witness to Lillie's story.This dissonance between the design of the gameplay, which emphasizes individual exploration and freedom, and the narrative, which is extremely measured and slow, creates frustration in players. The cry of "too many cutscenes," despite the game having less story content than many of its JRPG brethren, is a result of this dissonance, as well as clumsy design choices stemming from the slow evolution of the series from player-focused world building to narrative-focused world building. Here is a brief summary of the problems with gen 7's pace:The main NPCs are central to the narrative, yet are unable to interact with the player or the world except through scripted sequences that are slow to unfold. This leads to a sense that the player is unable to do much of anything between scenes, since the main characters naturally have a lot to say, making these canned scenes feel endless at times.The goal of catching as many pokemon as possible is still central to the game, prompting the player to want to explore, yet the design of the world no longer facilitates this as it did in previous generations.The player has no agency at all in the story, isn't the central figure in that story, and essentially acts as Lillie's bodyguard. For players who didn't happen to like Lillie's character, this makes the majority of time spent in the game near-pointless.These are problems that are only going to get worse if the core design of the series doesn't receive some kind of update. Here are some example solutions to the corresponding numbered problems:NPCs should walk around, have schedules, and freely make comments (Either voiced or via speech bubbles) without stopping the game. Have a dialog system instead of mandatory text dumps.Allow the player to move around larger areas, or even the whole map, with difficulty or natural roadblocks keeping them in check.A quest system where progression through the "gyms" is considered the main quest, but substantial character quests are also available, would alleviate the need for the entire story to play out in one sequence. Break it up a little and let the player accomplish some personal goals without having to complete the entire game first.There has been a lot of talk of Pokemon "going open world." I don't think that would be a bad direction, but I don't think it's necessary, either. The existing core tenants of the series are great the way they are; they just need to be combined more harmoniously in the future. The player's journey is equally as important as the narrative, and one shouldn't be prioritized over the other. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2sHnvpa