developer
>atlus brought in to develop this game and all future mainline pokemon games
>game freak gets demoted to mobile trash
>only one version from now on, no more "version exclusive" bullshit
setting
>instead of a traditional "region" as we know it today, the whole game takes place in one huge metropolis
>the city has eight boroughs, each with their own gyms, trials, *and* tons of side quests and content to do; players can quick travel between them like in persona 5
>no kanto pandering
story
>open-ended with lots of options
>you can choose to be a trainer, a coordinator, or a researcher
>you can choose to join the evil team, fight against them, or stay neutral
>again, no kanto pandering
gameplay
>just like bw, the game introduces an entire dex full of 150+ new pokemon and restricts the old ones to postgame
>being set in a city means getting creative with wild encounters - picture wild pokemon leaping out of alleyways, scurrying around the subway station, teeming all over an abandoned industrial sector of the city, etc.
>battle system switches from traditional turn-based to persona's "one more" system; in order to make all-out attacks work, double and triple battles are commonplace in the main game
>the process of training stats is greatly streamlined by getting rid of ivs and selling items that allow you to change your pokemon's natures
>postgame features a bunch of challenging boss fights (think totem battles and ultra necrozma on steroids) that require careful teambuilding and strategy
>skip cutscene button
>difficulty settings
>"yes, i've played pokemon before" button at the start of the game that allows us to skip the handholding
>different types for the starters instead of fire/grass/water
>battle frontier, following pokemon, overworld encounters, join avenue, seasons, pss, underground passages, running shoes, secret bases, and the game corner all return
>maybe a couple mystery dungeon-inspired segments, similar to the busters treasure segments in ykw3?
