10 Lessons Pokémon Needs To Learn From Palworld

3. The Option Of Real-Time Combat

The ol' Catch-22. Does Game Freak give in to the requests for real-time Pokémon combat at the risk of alienating others? Or does it go the whole hog and consider the latter collateral damage in the name of bringing the mainline series into the 21st century? There's a reason why turn-based combat fell out of common use over a decade ago. It's an antiquated approach to combat necessitated by limited hardware. Even Octopath Traveler and Persona, which have opted to carry the torch, have found other means of spicing up the status quo.

Conversely, if the decision to retain turn-based trappings is final, there's still ample opportunity to spice up the formula. Sega's Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth showcases this better than any by giving the player multiple moving pieces to think about during battle, namely movement and positioning. Both are fantastic accompaniments proven to enhance turn-based gameplay.

The to-and-fro of taking turns to select options from a menu and watching them play out after the fact leads to a level of disconnect desperately lacking in engagement. Change takes time, though, and there's no reason why Game Freak couldn't retain its existing combat as an option while championing a brand-new way to play for existing generations as well as those to come.