In today’s day and age, games getting post-release patches are almost a commonplace. However, Pokemon X and Pokemon Y will not be like those games. Game director Junichi Masuda said that the game will not be receiving any online patches to help with imbalance as he believes that the team got the balance just right this time.
Masuda discusses how while they do believe they got it just right this time, they truly won’t know until the game gets in the gamers hands. He is looking forward to see what kind of combinations everyone comes up with, especially at the Pokemon World Championships next year. He thinks that will be the best place to see if the really got it right.
Masuda’s concern with patches is that they would end up weakening certain types of Pokemon, which would greatly disappoint the players that use those types. The new Fairy type is being introduced to somewhat weaken the Dragon type, which has been the most powerful competitive type in the past.
At the time, I thought we had it right, but over the years – going to competitions, seeing players play, going to the World Championships and seeing what Pokemon and moves get used – we knew the Dragon type was a bit too strong. We spent a lot of time thinking about it, and a lot of time deciding what we needed to do to get the balance right.
Pokemon X and Pokemon Y will be released worldwide on October 12 for the Nintendo 3DS.
