I'm not in the habit of writing speculatory blogs. It's something I've only done once before that I can recall, having put together some brief expectations for Grand Theft Auto V around the time of that game's announcement back in late 2011. As I outlined in that blog, these wishlist-type things invariably seem to have the quality of screaming blindly into a void, with inevitable disappointment the only likely outcome. I still hold that viewpoint, although in retrospect it is fun to look back on just how many of my hopes for GTAV came true - we got a more vibrant city, some interesting open-world distractions, fantastic complex mission structures in the form of heists, and a ton of stuff to spend our ill-gotten gains on. It's a shame my pipe dream of Chinatown Wars-style car chases never came to fruition, but on the whole, I think I did a pretty good job.

So what's got me back on the speculators' bandwagon? Simple - my baptism and rebirth as a true-blue Pokémaniac. Back when GTAV was announced in 2011, I'd convinced myself that I'd outgrown Pokémon off the back of a particularly underwhelming playthrough of Pokémon White (still my least-favourite generation to this day. I even went as far as writing a blog post proclaiming the series as 'not for you any more', by far my most inflammatory blog ever, and one I no longer completely agree with (although I think it still stands as an important argument in the face of people looking for drastic structural and mechanical changes from the franchise). Everything changed in 2013, when I embarked on an epic quest to finally catch 'em all. On that journey I became aware of the incredible mechanical depth of the franchise, and from there I never looked back. Almost three years later I've played offerings from every single generation in the franchise's history, I've trained incredible competitive teams and led them to impressive victories, I've embarked on multiple Nuzlocke runs and documented them in both blog and video form. All this and I still haven't completed my National Pokédex (although with the Mythical Pokémon distributions scheduled throughout this year, it hopefully won't be too long before I do).

I'm no longer just a fan of the Pokémon games, I'm part of a wider community. And if there's one thing I've learned about the Pokémon community during my time as part of it, it's that they sure do love to speculate. With the announcement of Pokémon Sun and Moon in yesterday's Pokémon Direct, I began musing on what the next generation of Nintendo's ongoing collect-a-thon might bring to the table. Obviously we have nothing to go on at this point except for the logos for the two versions and some brief flashes of concept art in yesterday's Pokémon Direct, so all of what I'm about to write below is pure speculation. Nonetheless, I thought it might be fun to put some of my thoughts down in words and see how on- or off-point I was when the games finally roll around this holiday season. I've tried to keep things relatively low-key and realistic, because as I touched on in my aforementioned 'Pokémon Isn't For You Any More' blog, there are certain cornerstones of the series that won't ever change due to its perennial status as 'My First JRPG'. Join me, and perhaps let me know some of your own hopes for the seventh generation of Pokémon in the comments below.

Two Distinct Stories

I want to start this point by clarifying what I mean by 'distinct' in this case. I am not expecting two completely different stories, because there's no precedent for that whatsoever. Paired Pokémon games have always followed the exact same story path, with minor differences in their specifics. I'm not expecting Sun and Moon to break that pattern - they will inevitably tell variations of the same story, because that's the way it's been since Gold and Silver. What I mean by 'distinct' here is that I would like Pokémon Sun and Moon to have a clear divergence between their stories, where one goes one way and one goes another, until some form of resolution ties their story threads back together. For a clearer picture of what I'm getting at here, take Ruby and Sapphire as examples. Those games had distinct differences in their stories catering to their specific legendary Pokémon - Kyogre's awakening caused torrential rain, while Groudon's caused a ceaseless heatwave. I'd like to see Sun and Moon take a similar approach, maybe using day and night as the dichotomy - have one legendary Pokémon bring about a never-ending day with a sun that never sets, and the other cause an endless night where the sun never rises. It makes the games feel more distinct from one another, something sorely missing from X and Y which played identically from start to finish.

Two Evil Teams

Following on from my last point, I expect to see not one but two evil teams in Sun and Moon. For simplicity's sake, let's hypothetically refer to them as Team Solar and Team Lunar (you can have those ones for nothing, Game Freak). Much like Teams Magma and Aqua in Ruby and Sapphire, I envision Teams Solar and Lunar being diametrically opposed to one another, but fulfilling similar roles to each other in their respective versions. I think it's a much better approach than that taken since Diamond and Pearl, which has seen both games in each pair feature a single evil team (Galactic, Plasma and Flare), with a single nebulous goal that can be applied to either legendary mascot. I want to see two evil teams clashing with each other, pointing out each other's ridiculous plans while remaining ironically oblivious to how similarly ridiculous their own plans are. It makes for a really neat three-way dynamic where the player takes the middle road, rather than a straight-forward, boring, good-versus-evil story.

Two Regions

This is probably my most outlandish hope for Sun and Moon, and yet the more I think about it, the more it seems to make sense to me. What I'd like to see is for Sun and Moon to take place in a region neighbouring Kalos, perhaps one based on Spain or Italy,or even the UK. Then, when the player beats the Elite Four, they're able to travel to Kalos and continue their adventure. There's certainly precedent for it, with Gold and Silver's memorable post-game return to Kanto. There's also a whole host of auxiliary evidence to support the theory, too. The next Pokémon movie will likely be a crossover featuring both sixth- and seventh-generation Pokémon (notably Volcanion and the recently-revealed Magearna). Zygarde, the third member of sixth-gen's 'XYZ' trio, has a host of form changes which have been leaked but are yet to be officially revealed in-game. There are NPCs in X and Y that claim to be from a region near to Kalos that isn't currently known to us. These little tidbits are just a few of the many compelling arguments for a return to Kalos being on the agenda for seventh-gen. It would also be the perfect response to the general perception among players that X and Y lacked post-game content.

Full Reinstatement of the Day/Night Cycle

Some of you may wonder what I'm going on about here. Along with breeding, the day/night cycle has been a mainstay of the Pokémon franchise since the second generation, with FireRed and LeafGreen being the only exceptions. But over time the impact of that day/night cycle on the game has dwindled somewhat. It used to have a bearing on the kinds of Pokémon that would appear in any given area - some Grass-types might appear in the morning with the rising sun, then become unavailable to catch at night, replaced by nocturnal Pokémon once the sun sets - but that hasn't been the case since fourth-gen at this point. It's a shame, because these shifts in the kinds of Pokémon available gave the games a more immersive quality, lending some authenticity to their ecosystems, not to mention encouraging the player to revisit the same areas at different times of day to search for new kinds of Pokémon to add to their collection. With the upcoming games actually referring to day and night in their names, I think seventh-gen would be the perfect time to reinstate the full depth of the day/night cycle to the series. Especially if, as I said in my first point, day and night are connected with the game's story in any way. While they're at it, why not reintroduce the seasons from Black and White as well?

New (Mega) Evolutions

This is without a doubt the most likely thing to happen on this list. I was initially sceptical when Mega Evolution was announced, thinking it a gimmicky addition to the franchise. In practice it's actually been an awesome inclusion, giving a much-needed competitive boost to some underwhelming Pokémon and accompanying them with usually great aesthetic overhauls as well. There will inevitably be more Mega Evolutions for existing Pokémon in Sun and Moon, but I hope that any new Mega Evolutions stick to that creed of giving a fresh lease of life to older, less viable 'mons. High on my list for Mega Evolution hopefuls in seventh-gen are Sandslash, Granbull, Luxray and Froslass. That being said, I also wouldn't mind seeing some older Pokémon getting proper evolutions, or even baby forms, provided Game Freak can be creative about it. And heck, while we're on the subject, another Eeveelution or two wouldn't go amiss either.

Also, if Solrock and Lunatone don't get version-exclusive Mega Evolutions in Sun and Moon, then Game Freak will have missed one hell of a trick.

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I think that's going to do it for this blog. As I said above, this is purely speculation and meant to be taken with several grains of salt, but I'd like to think there's some merit to at least one or two of these ideas. If you're as hyped by the announcement of Sun and Moon as I am, please feel free to join in the speculation and throw your own crazy thoughts into the fray via the comments section below, because I'm definitely up for discussion on this topic. Until next time, thanks very much for reading. Take care, and I'll see you around.

Dan

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Currently playing - The Witcher: Enhanced Edition (PC)