#oneaday Day 337: Poképete

I realise at this point I've completely gone off the rails with regard to the titles I was intending to cover at the start of the year, but I guess that's the beauty of being independent, solo and not tied to the daily churn of the mainstream games press — as interesting topics come up, I can change what my focus is and explore things as they become particularly relevant.

With that in mind, I'm actually leaning somewhat towards covering Pokémon Sword/Shield after I'm done with Bullet Girls Phantasia. I was originally considering Atelier Ryza next, but I know I'll be looking at the Atelier Dusk trilogy in January or February of next year, so I'm not sure I want to have too much Atelier in rapid succession. That said, recently I was pondering doing a "Trails -> something else -> Trails" cycle in order to plough through that series, so maybe it won't be so bad.

The reason Pokémon is on my mind is because it's obviously a big series with a lot to talk about, and Sword and Shield look like being the most significant revamp for a very long time. This, of course, has made a lot of people angry for various reasons, and that means there are almost certainly interesting things to explore and talk about. I also have the perspective of someone who hasn't played a ton of Pokémon over the years to bring to the table, so my outlook on things is a little different from a jaded old veteran who's been playing since Red and Blue.

I also think that there are a lot of potentially very cool things to write about with regard to the new games. There will be a lot of words written about them elsewhere on the Internet, but I doubt there'll be a lot in the way of in-depth analysis; it'll more than likely mostly be clickbait news stories and "guide content". I feel I can provide something interesting and unique that actually picks apart these games' various components in detail.

I also know that I do want to play Pokémon, and that it's a big game that will take a lot of time to be able to engage with fully. With the way I tend to tackle games these days, it's tough to juggle multiple large, sprawling titles at the same time, so if I know I'll be actually covering Pokémon I'll feel less… "guilty" about playing it?

Basically since you fine people are good enough to support me and the work I do, I guess I wanted to ask if you'd have any particular problem with that. MoeGamer, for the most part, typically focuses on overlooked and underappreciated games, and I doubt Pokémon will be either. Previously, I have covered Final Fantasy XIV and XV, however, and I don't think anyone would call either of those overlooked.

To clarify, I'm not ditching Ryza — I might even do it after Pokémon and hang the consequences of doing that then Dusk immediately after one another if no-one has any issue with that! — I'm just trying to prioritise. Pokémon feels like something best experienced while the community is at its most active.

If you have any particular thoughts one way or the other on this, let me know and I'll bear them in mind!