>>43945935This is pretty true in every industry. Yes, Gamefreak should do better, but most of the time what happens is that developers (of any product, not just vidya) promise fans the moon, only to find themselves in way over their heads when it comes to reasonably living up to expectations. You can see this in the sort of half shed execution of things like the Wild Area and following Pokemon in SS. The tradition of Pomemon from 2D to 3D has really hamstrung what Gamefreak is capable of achieving in their now-shorter development cycles.
Also, I think a lot of it has to do with Western vs Japanese attitudes. Japanese fans are more likely to have the kind of fanboyish attitude of gobbling up anything, and also making excuses for the developers. It’s not that they won’t be critical, but they’re more likely to say something along the lines of, “I’m disappointed by this, but I can tell Gamefreak really tried, so I’m still happy with it.” Western fans, on the other hand, are much more critical of pretty much anything, and aren’t afraid of being seen as harsh. Combine this with the fact that, up until extremely recently, Japanese developers have only catered to their domestic market with the international market as an afterthought. Allowing Western meddling in Japanese IPs was seen as a mistake for a long time. The writers of the first Pokemon movie were disappointed by the edits made to the American cut, and, in the same year, Tristar made the first American Godzilla movie, which was seen as an unmitigated disaster for the reputation of a Japanese icon and “cultural ambassador.”
