>>41898548Ni no Kuni 2 dropped the familiars mechanic, so no. Sucks, because I think the original was an ok monster game, if lacking in places (needing Esther to recruit familiars didn't help).
Yokai Watch did threaten Pokemon in Japan, but it never could've appealed to a larger global market. Also, frankly, it's going to be way harder to develop a decent monster collecting game in 2019. Not only are you competing with Pokemon and its accumulated years of nostalgia, HD development and design for a good amount of monsters is going to be very difficult. The only way to do it is something like Yokai Watch, which was developed as a multimedia franchise from the beginning, and even Yokai Watch reuses a lot of monsters.
It can still happen, but it's going to be tough.
