Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the forthcoming Pokemon Diamond and Pearl prequel, represents several firsts for Game Freak, The Pokemon Company, and Nintendo. This Breath of the Wild-esque open world adventure promises a fresh take on exploration, combat, and some truly exciting storytelling opportunities to flesh out the history of the Pokemon world. However, the game's developers should take the opportunity to correct a deficiency in the Pokemon franchise that has grown increasingly prominent with each passing entry.
The first generation of Pokemon games were groundbreaking RPGs. The unique monster-collection mechanic and rock-paper-scissors combat laid the groundwork for countless imitators, and the series has made substantial improvements throughout its long history. That being said, Pokemon has started to lag behind other high-quality, contemporary RPGs in one key area that has grown more conspicuous with each passing installment in the series. Simply put: the franchise's non-player characters do not feel like characters.
There are a few notable exceptions. The game's rivals have grown increasingly lively and nuanced with every title, the villains all have unique motivations for trying to do awful things, and other supporting characters like professors have had more of a presence in the narrative. Those kinds of improvements are expected as video game storytelling conventions and technology advance. The problem is the rest of Pokemon's world. The NPCs in towns, the trainers who spout blurbs before and after battles, shop clerks, and even gym leaders are one-dimensional. The topic of every conversation, every hope, dream, problem, and relationship is predicated entirely on Pokemon.
The Series Is Called 'Pokemon' for a Reason
Make no mistake: the adorable multitude of battle-ready creatures waiting to be tamed and trained should have a starring role. The world must revolve around Pokemon, just as fantasy and sci-fi games are enabled by their respective magic systems. But as the formula currently stands, save for a few weird outliers, the overwhelming majority of Pokemon NPCs are completely disposable. Their only value is their ability to battle, dispense items, or function as switches that will open up new paths. The small handful of supporting characters are the only ones carrying dialogue with any weight, and even this is often devoid of emotional stakes of any kind.
For Pokemon to evolve as a franchise, it must draw on themes that invest players in the fate of the characters. Again, people usually don't play Pokemon games for the story. The series is about collecting monsters and assembling them into an unassailable (or mechanically amusing) squad of warriors. But an immersion is what makes your actions in a world feel like they matter. The Pokemon Company's choice to create a prequel implies that it has mysteries to reveal and momentous events with implications that will shape the future players have already experienced.
A compelling story is the crucial ingredient that will make that specific installment feel important and memorable compared to the inevitable follow-up. A story only becomes compelling when it has stakes. And stakes require players to become invested in the people they interact with.
People-Shaped Signs
If the world was an RPG that featured a "magic system," it might be "economics," or "the internet," or more broadly "electricity." But imagine how dull it would be if every person on the planet spoke exclusively about aspects of finance, networked computers, or charge and current. That is the problem plaguing Pokemon's storytelling. And it is compounded by the fact that the game's party members, the characters players spend the majority of their time with, cannot speak. The steady stream of dialogue between party members usually carries an RPG from moment to moment. Since the party is comprised of Pokemon, NPCs must pick up the narrative slack.
And as it stands, NPCs are not characters at all. They are people-shaped signs that dispense fights or "Pokemon Facts," which is often information that is available elsewhere, assuming the player does not already know it. The game's reliance on templatizing trainer types exacerbates this problem, as foes are literal clones of each other. In earlier generations, this kind of corner-cutting was a vital concession to make the games function under limited hardware constraints. Now, it speaks of lackluster narrative development excused under the guise of tradition.
Pokemon got away with this approach just fine earlier on in its lifecycle by relying on an expanded, transmedia universe. But without a support network of manga, anime, shorts, and so forth, the game lacks characterization and emotional investment. While that content ecosystem is still going strong, and boasts some colorful personalities, the original generation of trainers have grown up. Even if they have the inclination to consume Pokemon media in addition to the game, time is a scarcer commodity. It is more important for the games to stand on their own merits.
Building Better Characters
Fortunately, Pokemon Legends: Arceus is in a brilliant position to correct this flaw. An exploration-forward title where Pokemons' abilities can affect the environment is a game that is ripe for immersion, and recurring intriguing characters.
One simple trick that would add breadth, depth, and context to the world would be to give NPCs detailed schedules. Give adult trainers day jobs. Give children hobbies. If the trainer could do battle with a crew of construction workers at night, and watch them build with their Pokemon companions during the day, that would make the world feel more realistic. And if Nintendo needs inspiration, showing off a world where people and Pokemon need to coexist and help each other is something that Detective Pikachu did very well.
But there is a simpler, more vital change that can be made to the writing itself: give NPCs problems and relationships. This not only provides the trainer with opportunities to be a hero; it makes the characters relatable, showing that there are people with hopes, dreams, and frustrations in the world. Pokemon can, and should, factor into these problems frequently, as either their sources or solutions. But there should also be room for other things. Where do Pokemon fall short? What else exists outside this magic system? Characters must care about each other for us to care about their world.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is currently in-development with a projected release of 2022.