>According to an interview with Junichi Masuda, the rivals have become less antagonistic due to the following reason: "I think the biggest reason that rivals were more of a jerk in the early days is that we were just limited in what we could express with the pixel graphics. There's not much that you can do with that kind of little sprite on the screen, so we worked harder to characterize them through dialogue and give them certain personalities. Also, because it's just dialogue and there's not a whole lot going on on the screen, it doesn't give as harsh of an impression even if they're jerks, I think. Now we have HD graphics and the visuals are much more impressive. If you also made him a jerk, the impression would be a lot stronger on players. Another thing, just my own personal take, is that it feels that people with those kinds of personalities these days are just not as accepted by players as they were back then."
Honestly, does Masuda actively work to casualise Pokemon or does he say shit like this as cope?
>people with those kinds of personalities these days are just not as accepted by players as they were back then
It does feel like nowadays that players of not just Pokemon absolutely hate when characters are not actively jerking off the main character. It’s almost like they take the rudeness of fictional characters personally
parasocial relationships it's called
Voice actors have even gotten hate mail for voicing "mean" characters. Zoomers are mentally moronic. Social media was a mistake.
Is that true? I wouldn’t be surprised, those people are fricked up.
there are idiots in every generation
let's not pretend that the evangelical boomers pissing and shitting themselves over every popular thing in the 90s wasn't a thing
This series has managed to spawn a large quantity of degenerate furries and troons, so maybe they were on to something after all.
i would rather have buddy rivals than some edgelord that talks shit but is actually a massive jobber
johtosisters... our response?
So much this. Do not understand why people think it feels good to beat some shitter who constantly talks shit but gets swept without any difficulty.
Was Silver actually supposed to be hard? As a kid I got my ass whooped by Blue many times, but I only played HgSs as an adult and beat Silver every time
He only gave me problems the 2nd time you fight him because he has a ghastly with curse, confuse ray and hypnosis and a type that would beat your starter. His zubat was also a b***h. I would pick Chikorita which didn't help against his Quilava, Ghastly and Zubat who were all resistant to grass.
What
said is more or less true. That 2nd fight is at just the right time to frick with you because your pokemon selection is still limited, but the rest of the battles are pretty easy
Interesting. I guess his shittalking confused me because I never lost once to him, whereas I lost to blue multiple times, but that was probably because I was a moronic kid charging forward with a half dead team and overrelying on my starter
Blue is definitely better
But also even if you're a childhood shitter, I think it's pretty clear that Silver's shittalking is him overcompensating
THATS BECAUSE YOU'RE A homosexual
Honestly he's not wrong. I personally prefer the more antagonistic rivals because it's much more satisfying when you beat them, but there are plenty of homosexuals who will reee if an npc isn't sucking them off from the get go.
So yeah, it sucks that dickish rivals aren't a thing anymore, but I get the reasoning.
What's really dumb however is that this was the reasoning behind replacing Blue with Trace in LGPE. It’s fine if they want to use this mentality for newer games but it sucks when they ruin the older ones because they’re afraid new players will get their feelings hurt. Who knows what will replace Silver when Let’s Ho Johto happens
Blue wasn't nearly as much of a jerk as people think he is. He's wienery, but he never really insults you like Silver does. There are a few unused lines where he explicitly calls you a loser, but those are unused so it's not like 99% of players would even know that exist.
Blue is antagonistic.
>"Heh, I don't need to be greedy like you! Go ahead and choose, <player>!"
He's an absolute dick. That's not a bad thing for a rival however.
That's just banter. He doesn't call you pathetic or anything like Silver does.
>standing there patiently waiting for your starter
>Blue calls you greedy out of nowhere and lets you pick first
Assuming you're American and don't understand how it works. Banter is by definition a two-way exchange, Blue used it as an insult while pumping up his ego.
There's a huge difference between light teasing and constantly calling you weak like Silver does.
Silver is more of an butthole for sure, but Blue was a genuine egomaniac. Actually, Silver has a character arc where he ends up realising what an butthole he was and works to be better. Blue just remains basically the same through the entire game.
He's a dick in the exact way young boys are dicks to one another
That's why he works so well. Kids playing gen 1 can completely relate
Sure, but Blue just acts like a bully. He's always dishing it out, pumping up his own image and never admitting he's wrong. Even when you beat him to become champ he doesn't even congratulate you. Boys who are actually friends tease each other but they do it on equal footing.
I don't think you remember what childhood is like
I'm not talking about boys who are friends
I'm talking about kids on the playground who are straight up dicks to each other
Fair enough, then.
That's the point of the rival character. Gen 1 like all Pokémon was made for kids. Blue being a school yard bully was done on purpose and not because muh pixels or w/e bullshit Masuda says. He was made to represent the school bully who privilege and the kid of a Professor. Kinda like how the son of the School Principal is a fricking dick. Like Blue acts in a childish but dickish sort of way. He always be like you got lucky im still much better than you! He says I actually caught X amount of Pokémon with that amount being larger than you can really find. His name is always on the Gym Leader list of trainers that beat them even before you arrive there. The point of him is to be that dick who seems to be one step ahead of the player but by sheer will and your love for Pokémon you are able to best him.
Blue is a fricking dick. He literary told Red gee Red why don't you choose first and then chose the starter that you were weak to. Then he also said hahaha I will tell my sis not to give you the town map. During the entire game he was a dick.
It's kind of odd that Bede/Avery/Klara existed after this interview. Sure they barely had any screentime (though that's all of SWSH's rivals besides Hop) but still surprising. Almost as if that statement is total bullshit and they are capable of doing jerk rivals
Every other thing that comes out of Masudas mouth has been nothing but bullshit
>WE *CAN'T* KEEP ALL THE POKEMON BECAUSE SOMETHING SOMETHING ANIMATIONS
>WE *CAN'T* BRING BACK BATTLE FRONTIER BECAUSE SOMETHING SOMETHING PHONE GAMES
>WE *CAN'T* MAKE JERK RIVALS BECAUSE SOMETHING SOMETHING GRAPHICS
something something is GAY!
I wish there was a team that is unironically right and the player is wrong. The closest one was Team Plasma but the higher ups were typical evil edgy fricks that used a right cause to get more grunts.
>Team Plasma
>a right cause
Nah, they're just morons. Pokemon canonically want to form bonds with trainers who are skilled enough to catch them and to be used in battle, it's been that way since the beginning of the series. They're not meant to be like our real-world wild animals. Team Plasma was just wrong on every level.
N was the only one that even remotely had a point since he rightfully address actual instances of abuse and neglect and that manifests in B2W2 with his true believers doing tangible good.
to this day we rembr the rivalbully despite his flaws. to this day there is no Silver/(you) hentai
Would you have it anyother way
>to this day there is no Silver/(you) hentai
very false
a half-truth, perchans
girls get all the good doujinshis, alas!
everyone plays as the girls in pokemon
True. As a kid I played as the boy, as an adult I play as the girls only.
I don't even know why they keep letting you choose male protagonists, nobody likes them
As a kid, I vividly remember hiding my vharacter selection on Sapphire from my family because I liked the girl better.
never have I
to each their own
the Silver/(you) energy is gud either way. a boy who is unnaturally quiet and good in his pursuit of a dream. a girl who gets bullied by the most interesting fella with a bag of chips on each shoulder. it's delicious soulfood for the growing youth
The real reason female player characters were introduced. Edgelord rivals are the best for this dynamic.
The best rivals are the ones like Barry and Hugh where they're hotheaded and eager to fight but are still friends with the player character and work with them against the evil team throughout the game
Barry was just annoying in a bad way. I didn't even care about beating him, I just didn't want to have to click through his obnoxious dialogue anymore.
Bede was a bully though. He got off on defeating Hop and called him a disgrace compared to his brother. But they didn't fully commit since he gets groomed halfway through the story and becomes a troony
I see nothing wrong with this development. He gets the ultimate comeuppance by being disowned by his surrogate daddy
GF pretending they were thinking for the fans all along eventhough Blue is the most popular rival ever
>does Masuda actively work to casualise Pokemon
Based if true.
What do Japanese fans think of Masuda bullshido?
I remember seeing a 2chan thread about them shitting on Masuda over the interview explaining why the Battle Frontier was cut from ORAS
Japanese fans aren't too different overall when it comes to how the games are viewed, most notable difference is that they have a lot more respect for Gen 1 than Western fans do. And they really, really like Sinnoh. Overall they like Masuda because he worked on what might be their favourite gen but think he's made dumb moves to appeal to gaijin zoomers.
Honestly, he's probably not wrong about jerk rivals not being as accepted by players today as they were pre-Gen 3. It's not GF's fault that many players have become total pussies who can't handle a rival that doesn't kiss the main character's ass constantly.
Bullshit. The more popular rivals are the ones that are dicks. This is just a Masudaism.
You're forgetting that while the actual fan base is aging and will almost always prefer what they grew up with, Masuda is chasing the literal toddlers because he's too stupid to realize that not only is it the older fans that have the jobs/money to buy the games/tcg/merch but most young kids into pokemon these days are so because their parents are fans and raise them on it. Parents these days don't teach their kids any life skills so they get all their social and emotional development from the internet and can't handle a character that doesn't want to be their best friend and isn't explicitly the villain.
Bro the friendly rival started in fricking Gen 3 the first Masuda game. Long before the age of Zoomers. This is a creative choice by Masuda because he probably got bullied as a kid and Blue and Silver reminded him of them. Many games and anime franchises have dicks as rivals and in fact that's the norm. Silver for example, a rival that's starts evil but becomes good is Anime as frick. IMO Rivals would be better received if they had an edge to them. Like no need to go too crazy with it but you want your rival to be someone you wanna beat. Masuda hates said idea because he is soft as frick but Satoshi Tajiri definitely made Blue as the Vegeta for Red's Goku. Silver another Tajiri game was also antagonistic as well. Had Tajiri kept making Pokémon games as opposed to moving to a more managerial role he probably would have made the Gen 3 Rival be more antagonistic. In fact the early art for Brendan had more edge to him before it was decided they were going to be not only rival but the avatar for the male MC.
The first Masuda game was Crystal. It's why Suicune was handled the way it was.
If that's the case, why are May and Wally so nice to you? Gen 3 was still sprite-based and didn't have any fancy animations or anything.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that every Masuda directed game has had primarily friendly rivals
Brendan wasn't nice to me, he fricked me with his stupid Grovyle once.
Because they were overcorrecting from the arrogant butthole that was Silver, who didn't get his full redemption until HGSS.
Devs pull justifications out of their ass all of the time to avoid giving the real reason, it's why I can't take vidya gays seriously whenever they treat their word as gospel. Anyway, rivals probably aren't jerks anymore because something something kid-friendly something something accessibility.
My favorite rival is Silver. Even at a young age, my most sincere desire is to have a bratty antagonist to correct.
>Honestly, does Masuda actively work to casualise Pokemon
of course. he's the same subhuman that directed and produced gen v
>Wally and Brendan/May being nice rivals in RSE which kept the same pixels-and-text based limits as Gen1 and Gen2
Personally I don't love jerk rivals, but the frick is Masuda on?
>now we have HD graphics and visuals are much more impressive
>There's not much that you can do with that kind of little sprite on the screen, so we worked harder to characterize them through dialogue and give them certain personalities.
Literally admitting to giving up on soul in exchange for graphics
>directly says why more and more people prefer older games these days
Graphics gays were a mistake
Anyone that thinks Blue is mean has a disability.
Masuda has a disability?
Does this look like someone with no disabilities?
Nothing in the OP says that Blue is mean.
The quote from Masuda comes from an interview about Let’s go where the interviewer asks:
>In the original games, your rival was a huge jerk, but the one in Let's Go seems much friendlier. Why the change?
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-lets-go-pikachu-eevee-update-pokemon-yellow-fo/1100-6462538/
>where the interviewer asks
And Masuda then explains why the new rival isn’t a jerk like Blue was. If he didn’t think so then he would’ve said “Blue wasn’t a jerk” or something.
moron probabaly thinks you used the wrong "were vs where"
>probabaly
>literally took the bait
So yes that was it
No, he says that old rivals, blue specifically, is more of a jerk. Not that he is a jerk.
>Also, because it's just dialogue and there's not a whole lot going on on the screen, it doesn't give as harsh of an impression even if they're jerks, I think.
If.
Not sure if you're a legit ESL or just doubling down because you're incapable of admitting that you're wrong. Either way, stop being moronic.
Post some quotes then, homosexual. Nothing in that interview supports you.
yes, unironically
They could at least make some rivals be overly confident or arrogant.
i mean there was bede in gen 8 its not like they dont do it anymore, was there a jerk rival in gens 3, 4, 5(is he really a jerk?), 6?
It's cope. We've had friendly rivals since Gen 3. Trainers didn't have expressive animations in the overworld until Gen 6.
>Now we have HD graphics and the visuals are much more impressive.
>"I think the biggest reason that rivals were more of a jerk in the early days is that we were just limited in what we could express with the pixel graphics. There's not much that you can do with that kind of little sprite on the screen, so we worked harder to characterize them through dialogue and give them certain personalities."
So let me get this straight: Masuda is saying graphics limitations encouraged them to write BETTER characters, and now they feel like they don't have to try anymore? This sounds like further proof that 3D was a mistake.
That's a literal Japanese bullshit non answer. The Japanese tend to never answer questions directly but say something completely unrelated. But Masuda is specially known for his bullshit answers to the point of being a bit of a meme. Had he said well I feel kids shouldn't have a rival that reminds them of a school bully it would have been a more honest response than the bullshit Masuda said.
Limitations often force more creativity and inspiration than one would otherwise have with every option and tool available
People love their Vegetas, the problem is writing them well
bro is rarded
The thing that makes a rival good isn't how antagonistic they are. It's them being competent enough to make the player into an underdog. Blue was always one step ahead of you. When you arrive in Cerulean City, he's already returning from Bill's. When you board the S.S.Anne, he's already gotten Cut. When you're fighting through Silph Co., he's already there. And when you beat the Elite Four, you learn that he already did it first. Every rival since then has either been playing catch-up with the player or actively gives up because losing to you shows them that they have no talent. It's ridiculous. I don't want some yes-man telling me how great I am. I want a constantly advancing goal post that drives me to get better.
That only works if you actually feel like he's one step ahead of you. If you're a moronic kid running around with one overleveled charizard and a team full of underlevelled shitmons you're gonna get btfo the moment he sends out blastoise
A good rival is someone you want to defeat. Simple as. Barry was good even though he's "friendly." Compare this to say Hop who you get tired of bullying by the third city.
I want to beat Barry's ass. Hold him down and show him who's the better trainer.
where the frick is the full image I MUST know
https://kemono.party/fanbox/user/46456982/post/3056135
Masuda is part of the boomer company cycle. Higher ups get progressively out of touch, and take bad decisions based on confirmation bias. Who can blame him though, the Games still sell extraordinarily good.
You and Blue have grown up together in Pallet Town. You've known for years that you would receive your first partner on the same day, start your adventure on the same day, a day you've both fantasized about for a long time.
Both of you have known which starters you will be picking. Blue, knowing you want the very desirable Charmander, gestures for you to pick first in the way a talkative friend might to his quiet friend.
Then before heading out, he hooks you up with your first key items, the town map.
>my sis has an extra and yooouuuuu can't have it~ ;P
Blue was a bro, a homie, he's not even mean. Gary ruined his reputation before it ever had a chance in the west.
Anyone who had friends in the 90s had a friend who acted like him or was a massive b***h.
I was that friend
You are alright anon
wtf, why is masuda making asian eyes in that image?
The Gen 1-2 rivals and the Gen 7-9 rivals are good. The ones in the middle are shit. Coincidentally the ones in the middle are also all the ones Masuda made.