First let me welcome you to this first iteration of Trailer Watch. In this format I'll take a look at some Nintendo Trailers and (hopefully) also provide some insight and details. And if I miss something be sure to point it all out.
For starters I wasn't
completely spot on with my prediction in February that the next
Pokemon Region could be inspired by the Caribbean, but Hawaii is
close enough. So before we start with this first iteration of
Trailer Watch, let's watch the Trailers first.
So let's dive
right in. Our first view at the protagonist shows us nothing to
exciting. You start in your room, as always, but one thing that did
catch my eye during the whole trailer is that the Chibi Form from X/Y
is seemingly gone. Just take a look at the protagonist from X/Y
exploring the land and then at the protagonist from Sun/Moon.
The new Alola
region is pretty obviously based on the pacific island of Hawaii.
Even the name Alola is derived from the term Aloha, a Hawaiian term
for hello.
Generally it seems
that the World has gotten even more threedimensional with the new
adventures. This time
your protagonist explores the world in all his polygonal glory. This
is great because I quite like this style and prefer it over the chibi form from previous games.
If we take a look
at this overview shoot we can see many of the locations shown later
(and earlier) in the trailer.
At the top we see
a small group of houses encircling a structure. Later on in the
trailer we see that this is a wooden ring and this is in fact the
place where we'll get our starter Pokemon and have our first battle
against our rival.
What is interesting about this place is the
entrance to, what seems, a forest at the backside of it. Maybe this
is a shortcut to the next city, seen on the overview picture on the
left upper corner, or an alternate path altogether.
The entrance is
marked by two strange stones, which can be seen on several places
along the island. On another shot we can see that the stones have
faces on them, which are similar to Tiki Statues. Maybe these are
indications for something or maybe they are only here for decoration.
For now let's take
our attention to another place on the overview image. The beachhouse
at the bottom right corner. I think that this may be the players
starting house. The placement would certainly make sense. The bigger
house slightly north may be the house of our Rival.
Now for some more
interesting things. Pretty much in the center of the overview we can
see what seems to be a Pokemon center. If you take a look at one of
the pictures from the Sun/Moon reveal in February it's pretty
obvious. The red roof matches perfectly.
The more interesting building is the green one to the left.
I think that this will probably be the laboratory of the new Pokemon
Professor.
To the left of our
(presumed) home we have a pretty big crater, and what is even more
interesting is the fact that you can probably enter it. If you look
closely on the side that faces our house you can spot a brown patch
that seemingly leads into a cave. Also on the Japanese announcement
trailer we see a similar crater in the real world, which contains
some houses. Maybe it's the same here. I wouldn't be the first time in the Pokemon universe that a city is build inside a crater (Sootopolis City in Ruby/Saphire/Emerald).
Next on to the big
town on the left side of the picture. There is nothing to interesting
there so far, except for the big port like building at the leftmost
side of the picture and the small building with the blue roof next to
the skyskrapper. I think this will be a Pokemon market. A nice detail
is that the people on the streets seem to react to you passing them.
Anyways it's interesting that there will be such a huge city early on in the game. Also the lack of tall grass in the shown footage got me thinking. My guess is that the overview picture we were shown is only the starting area of the game. Similar to pallet town in the original, which would make Sun/Moon the biggest Pokemon Game to date. A pretty exciting outlook.
As for the
mysterious women looking into the distance from a balcony. I think
that this will probably the protagonists aunt. I think this makes the
most sense because the Island is shown to us by our cousin Kukui. In
a shoot in the Japanese trailer she obviously greets us, while he is
standing by. This and the fact that she looks more like a native make
it plausible that she is our aunt, meaning that this time the
protagonist doesn't only have no father, but no mother as well. Also
if we take a look at the Japanese trailer it strongly conveys the
message of a new start. Make new friends and find a new home. I think
this will also be strong themes in this new Pokemon adventure.
Now next up is our
rival. He is quite obviously a native of the Alola region and I think
the meeting of the protagonist and him is mirrored in the Japanese
announcement trailer, which the two kids there. He seems to be late for the Starter Pokemon
give away and by his cheerful reaction when arriving, I think that he
has a very carefree and positive attitude.
And now for our
protagonist. As always, since Pokemon Crystal, you'll be able to
choose between a male and a female teenager. And what's even better
the customization from X/Y returns, as indicated in the Japanese
trailer.
Another interesting fact is that the Trainer now is present during the battle. While we only got to see our character throw the Pokeball in older entries, this time he is present in the background and gives direct commandos to his Pokemon. It's only a graphical change, but I think it adds to the liveliness of the battles.
And last, but
certainly not least, the new Pokemon. I'm quite pleased with the new
Starters. Even the goofy looking Popplio has at least the potential
to evolve into something better. And we finally get a new Owl
Pokemon, celebrating one of, if not the, best birds in the world.
Yeah.
As for the
legendary Pokemon they are fine. I personally am drawn more towards
the Moonbat because of it's truly outlandish design. Unsurprisingly
the Lion is encountered during the day, while the Bat attacks at
night. I'm wondering if the time has any significant effects on the
gameplay, like different Pokemon to encounter, People who are only
out a night, some events that can only be triggered during the
day/night.
Generally it was a
pretty good Trailer and a nice introduction to the newest Pokemon
adventure. What are your thoughts? Are you excited? Let down? Did you
spot something I missed?
And as always
Thanks for reading
Source of all Pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn25hijDL7c
No comments:
Post a Comment