The Same Old Formula
One thing that irks me more than anything else in the Pokemon franchise, is that the starter Pokemon have barely changed at all. There is still the so-called “holy trinity” of fire, water, and grass. The old stand-by. When it started with Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander it made sense. Three basic rock-paper-scissors pokemon types that neatly coincided with the accompanying television show.
Since then? The exact same rock-paper-scissors format with the exact same red-blue-green theme haphazardly skinned over it. Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie bring nothing new and merely fill in the mad-lib gaps that the Pokemon franchise provides. You can’t refute this fact. You might like that formulaic style, but I think the Pokemon universe could be so much more with a different starter set up.
Why does it need to be fire, water, and grass?
No reason at all, as far as I’m concerned. Oh, and “because that’s how it has always been,” is not an acceptable answer. The only argument I’ve heard that makes sense is that there is no other perfect Pokemon counter ‘holy-trinity’ in the franchise.
Well, that could change. Pokemon X/Y is already introducing a new type, why not introduce more new types and/or change how the old types work? Make a new rock-paper-scissors trinity to use for starters.
Why does it have to be only 3 Pokemon options?
Again, I see no reason for this choice. Why not 4, or 5, or even 6 different starter Pokemon to choose from? That would also solve the rock-paper-scissors problem listed above. If there isn’t another perfect trinity, there could be 6 Pokemon picked out, and only one needs to directly counter one other.
I just think that Pokemon X/Y, the whole future Pokemon franchise, has such an amazing opportunity to offer a completely different game with each new title. Instead, all we get is the same iterative and repetitive formula of a game. I’ve played most of the previous Pokemon games so I feel like I’ve already played Pokemon X/Y. Why should I waste my time on the same game?
