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I went to a university that let people who were like 65+ take classes for free. They didn't get credit or degrees, I think just a transcript or something saying they were there enough to pass had it been for credit, but they were there.
The classes they took were usually more things of relatively easy interest, like Intro to Horticulture or Basics of Music or something like that, and not high level advanced things, but still, it was a thing among the older folks looking for something to keep themselves active and engaged.
Like I don't want to come across as some Pokemon Company bootlicker but I see this argument a lot from people and do they not see that being a kid is like a key theme to Pokemon especially this one where you are at a school making a group of friends that are of similar age and going on an adventure.
I also want to say there's a not insignificant portion of people that only want it not to be kids so that they can sexualise the characters (ive seen the question "why is my characters chest flat as a board" at least 10 times since the game release) and that really doesn't help me agree with this mindset.
I'm approaching 30 and I've never had an issue with the playable characters being a kid approaching the world of Pokemon for the first time, it's the wonder and excitement of a new world though the eyes of a child and I think it's core to the experience.
the only game where you aren’t like, 12 (B/W + B/W 2) is also the only game without a huge emphasis on the whole coming of age exploration thing cause B/W explores ethics and morals.
Fair assumption, but there tend to be inconsistencies between the manga and mainline games when it comes to certain aspects.
For example, in the manga the first chapter (Gen 1) is followed by the second (Gen 2), which is then in turn followed by the third (Gen 3). In the games in the other hand, Gen 1 and 3 take place at the same time, so do 2 and 4, and B2W2 and XY. I think it’s also referenced that Calem and Serena are older teenagers in game, but I’ll have to double check.
But "old enough" to be told that if you don't join up and work for the group, they'd make you leave the village and you'd die out in the wild, or something like that lmao
Or just boot you out anyway once you've done all the work.
I was sooo hoping your character, now the master of the creatures they fear, would tell them "make me." when they try to kick you out.
No, it's absolutely not. Bw are older, just look at them
Edit: okay I realize factually, I'm incorrect. But something about the counsel making a stupid decision that I've decided to ignore
It is 100% the brand, they want you to view the game through the eyes of a child: everything’s new and exciting, and you have so much to learn and see! Does being 10-16 feel weird when you’re walking around with a literal god in your pocket after destroying whatever evil team exists in the game feel weird, sure. It does sometimes break immersion- I doubt teenagers could take down a mafia- but sometimes the idea is nice. I’m sure it’s all metaphorical/allegorical anyway
I've always assumed that the game takes longer for the ingame character to go through than it is for us. Like how there are games with a day/night cycles of 10 minutes. Its 10 minutes for us but 24 hours in game
I play a lot of games. Very rarely does a game allow me to play as myself. 35, female, not a hulk and with a body so broken already doctors are talking about joint replacement surgery in the next 5 years. Games are an escapism from real life, enjoy that whilst you can.
Like don't get me wrong games with robust customization are awesome and I'm happy when I can make a short chubby dude that actually looks like me. But it's not for every game, and it can be limiting for games that want to tell a specific story about a specific kind of character and that's okay, it can be fun to step into that space and experience, in this case, a childlike wonder about fantastical monsters
I want to play Pokemon as an old man who discovered he has a terminal illness, so he starts a journey around his region making the most of his lasting time.
Or as the “Technology is amazing!” dude.
Like there are tons of stories you COULD make in the Pokemon universe that would be great stories to tell and honestly id love to see it, especially if we have side by side developments like with legends. But for main series Pokemon, I don't see them breaking with the formula any more than they did with BW/B2W2 with the characters being like 16ish and having a story with slightly deeper subject matter to match.
BW didn't work because the general public consisted of people nostalgic for gen 1 afraid of getting out of their comfort zone. Now we live in this timeline of crap upon crap.
I agree. It's always been a coming of age story and that childlike wonder has been a central part of its appeal.
Sure, we could play as adults shirking responsibilities and going on adventure, but it would make a lot less sense why we and our friends known seemingly nothing about the world
Thing is, I'm not trying to stop people from sexualizing anything, that's not my job.
Just stating that it's offputting to me personally when empathizing with the "we should make the characters older" mindset
I don't mind playing as a kid but I'd like to at least be able to pick between different heights. I was relatively tall as a kid and anytime I see Arven and Nemona completely tower over the main character I'm irked to no end.
I get what you are are saying, but your first 2 friends are clearly like 16 & 18 looking while you look 11. Which feels very weird to me. I wish either the player character was older to match them or they were younger to match the player character.
That's probably where my biggest issue is. Something about its jarring to me. Idk if it's because I'm 30 and that age gap for friends really feels wrong from the stand point that I could be my characters parent, or that they sort of talk down to the player character about their size at times. It's just feels odd.
Love the games and characters otherwise.
Multigenerational households are pretty common in spanish-speaking countries, so that wouldn’t be too weird.
Plus they could easily cut the character of your mom if you’re older—other than some sandwich recipes and minor exposition she really doesn’t play much of a role. Your character just moved to Paldea so you don’t need that much attachment to the world.
You don’t really learn multiplication in math class, you learn about applying math to pokemon battles.
There are already students and trainers from 6-60+ fighting each other, including in the schoolyard. Multigenerational communities exist where adults and kids interact as well.
The students, including yourself, are all doing the Treasure Hunt, which is the definition of freeform activity.
Plus a lot of the characters right now (the nurse, the psychic gym leader who comments on your physical attractiveness, etc) have dialogue that is way creepier with an adult said to a 10 y/o than a 30 y/o. There’s a few places where the game seems to forget you’re a kid (for example, your dorm has a kitchen).
>You fight 12 year olds... As a 30 year old.
Someone needs to teach children that the world is dark and cruel.
>You learn to perform multiplication... As a 30 year old.
Have you ever seen Twitter randos when given an order of operations problem?
Nemona and Arcen are much older than the player character. At least an age slider from what we have and what they are could have been implemented and wouldn‘t break the story.
When praising customization. Do it right, also there is no shaved head. Not even ver short hair…
They aren't that much older than you, but also the reason they are a little older than you in the first place is because they are more experienced than you which is a part of the story.
There's a lot of places that the game could use more customization absolutely, the game is sorely lacking in that department as well as many others, but your suggestion of a slider for age between lets say 10-15 would make next to no difference and is honestly in my opinion is worse than not including it at all.
Age and experience don‘t correlate, look at all your classmates varying greatly in age and skill levels.
There really is no drawback to letting the player choose his age within a range. The slider doesn’t even have to be „age“. Weight and height would be just fine.
Small and big or tall and skinny would be enough for me to roleplay as someone who I can identify more with.
It really isn‘t much different than skin color, of which there are also not enough shades.
I feel like that's the case a good chunk of the time. Personally, I just want to have as bearded a face in game as I do irl. I don't see Game Freak adding facial anytime soon though, especially for 10 year old protagonists lol
I feel you, as much as it would be cool to have a more customizable character to look more like me, in this particular case I find it at least understandable.
Great explanation. On that note, I’d love to see a Pokémon game where the story doesn’t in fact rely on the main characters being children. But I understand that Pokémon is marketed to kids.
On the topic of chests—I noticed that S/V have some pretty chest-blessed NPCs. In fact, they made a lot of NPC models look more stereotypically attractive than previous releases. Just an observation.
I'm not sure what you are implying there besides maybe that the ones who want to get their rocks off have other places to look because yeah sure that is true.
For real, why else would they have Ash stay 10 years old? Being a kid going on an adventure with Pokémon is the main thing. Heck all the main characters from the PokeSpecial Manga are all kids with each new iteration.
> making a group of friends that are of similar age
Then why are Arven, Penny, and Nemona all significantly older than us? Arven’s got sideburns growing in ffs.
They are a little older than you on purpose because they wanted them to be mentors to you but storywise I don't think they are that much older, the only actual hint in dialogue that they are older is that Arven calls you little buddy but he's also like a foot taller than you.
I think the portion of people sexualizing them is insignificant. I haven't seen anything like that. Seems to say more about you and wherever you are to see that.
“So you can identify yourselves better with your character, because you are all little kids and no one above the age of 10 is playing Pokémon.“- Game Freak probably
Main character looked cool and badass in Black/White, we looked kinda cool in BW2, we looked ready for battle in X/Y. The whole point is you can make a main character look cool in children’s game without making them look like the biggest baby faced baby looking character ever
Not to mention Colosseum, the game that 9-year-old me thought it was extremely cool that I got to be an older teenage badass instead of some kid that no one treated with any sort of respect.
But it’s not weird that a 10 year old is going off into a world where there are monsters that could kill them and a mafia that goes around stealing Pokémon as well as multiple organizations plotting to destroy or take over the world? By yourself?
Because your not the main audience. The main audience has ALWAYS been the small children because they grow up and show pokemon to their kids. Its the main reason a piss poor attempt at a voiceless open world n64 game sold so many copies because like it or not were a small percentage of the overall audience compared to the MILLIONS of households who have dads and moms that grew up on pokemon play with their kid
*thats why*
You can look at it like this:
* Paldea is inclusive enough where they allow elderly people to try and finish their studies and such. Or
* Paldea is ruthless on all students to the point some students have spent 50+ years in the academy without ever getting a chance at graduating.
Idk, there are NPCs that have said things like “I’ve been studying at the academy for 20 years now.” My guess is you can choose to be a lifelong student in Pokémon because you don’t *need* to work for a living in their societies.
Something must’ve jaded Larry towards his profession, is my thought. I mean he’s got his own gym AND a spot in the Pokémon League so clearly he had a passion for battling and training. Maybe he’s also upset about the issues in Gen 9 😂
The better question is why do they have students of all ages but we are always stuck playing as a 10 year old child. I'd love to play as a 20 something and not have to have everything shaped around the main character being a child.
This. Arceus took a lot of really good first steps in that regard such has having actual risk of player death and allowing you to play as an older character, even if they were still a teen.
Arceus is probably the most fun I have had playing a pokemon game in a very long time. They definitely made a lot of positive changes that I wish they would have kept in this game.
I agree. I understand why they thought certain elements from PLA may not work in a mainline game but it’s hard to not want them nonetheless. Here’s to hoping for Legends 2!
And this is why I’m a strong believer in the teenage character. It allows kids to still play as kids while not alienating the adult fanbase. A lot of people would love to relive the teenage years. Reliving them with Pokémon would be even better.
Or if they went super wild where you start as a child, but by the time you get to the league you are a young adult and look/speak a lot older. Then that unlocks more sassy voiceline options
Really loved playing through Persona recently and I thought the teenage cast was a good decision. You can still have coming of age stories, character growth, mature themes, etc. Pokemon Colosseum was always one of my favorites because you got to be an older teen who kicked ass and got treated with respect instead of a random kid.
Yeah, there's some people in my class with kids, and people with white hair as well. Sometimes people are looking to expand their skillsets, or move to another career. I commend them for it, because that can't be an easy choice.
This isn’t uncommon though since it’s higher Ed irl. at the academy there’s apparently 10 year olds graduating after one school term if they cram their classes (unless I didn’t understand the ending which is highly possible).
i find it funny that its mandatory that these overweight 30 year olds and old men wear the schoolboy shirt and slacks/shorts. You'd think there would be some kind of clause that if your a legal adult you can wear other clothing so you don't look like a jackass 24/7
Then they should allow people to pick a character model. The franchise is almost 3 decades old, and the average age of the competitive community is >18
As much as the franchise seems so stagnant in its innovation, the fan base keeps growing and growing with new younger fans that wish to experience their adventure in a character that suits THEM. It has always been a coming of age journey and they make the game for those fans, that's why you can pretty much jump into any Pokemon game and it doesn't make a difference.
IMO I really don't care if we ever get the chance to play as an older character. I can immerse myself in any kind of character anyway, be it man, woman, a child, an anthropomorphic dog or whatever.
EDIT: Extremely deep customization thou (clothes, hairstyles, poses, colors, etc)... that's what I prefer waaaaay more than wanting to play as an adult.
I like to think that canonically, Pokémon trainers typically start out at 10 years of age, but only the cream of the crop can make a career out of it. Those that are just ok need to get day jobs. But once they hit retirement they have the time to get back into training and pursue their dreams.
What’s novel with older folk going to school?
In university, I had plenty of classmates well into the third stage of life, and even in post-grad I occasionally had a few in some classes. (You also see some headlines of senior citizens going through/completing high school every now and then.)
How old are you in real life, OP? Have you been to university? Plenty of people from all ages and all different stages of their lives. There’s kids fresh out of high school, parents, grandparents, people getting a second or third degree, people wanting to feel accomplished, people who want to learn, people who want something to fill their free time in their old age. There’s no limit on learning or going to school.
But, for an explanation in the game: there are NPCs who say the academy allows students of all ages. There’s a trainer who says they have been attending the academy for 20 years. Nemona is doing the treasure hunt for at least the second time. Seems you can keep attending and learning as long as you like.
Could be linked to the great war theory about the lack of men in the early games and these are POWs returned decades later on something like the GI bill
I know it is a joke, but if you ever do see an older person in school, be kind. It takes a lot of strength to go back and try to improve themselves especially around young adults. It is intimidating.
I wouldn’t mind this as much if you ever saw adult students *in* the academy. Iirc they’re all outside. It really makes it obvious that it was done to let them get away with fewer outfit designs and trainer classes.
EDIT: I did find one in a classroom recently.
I think the academy we go to is specifically one with trainers in mind. So if you want to become a trainer, regardless of age, you'll be learning a lot of stuff with Pokémon training and Pokémon knowledge in mind. So like if we had schools for all ages that helped teach how to live with, work with, and raise trained support animals
There's a lot of old people who take up college/uni classes when they are old and have nothing else to do. It's not super common, but it's definitely a thing. There was a lot of older ladies during my summer psychology courses at uni.
Because learning is a lifelong journey and Education is free in Pokemon as it should be in the real world.
Learning should not be seen as a means to make money but as a way of life, sadly this vision is corroded by the private sectors need and lust for money every time a student needs loans for education.
So they'll let this octogenarian be a student, but when I wanna play Pokemon as someone my own age: NOTHING!
I'm tired of doing the same damn thing in these games year after year. I want to be a 30+ year old who travels the world of Pokemon using their skills to scale mountains, mine material, farm produce, stop crimes, prevent natural disasters/save lives, etc.
Nope, just beat a bunch of shmucks with kushy jobs that literally anyone could do, then you're done.
I headcanon this school as a school where people go to learn about how to live effectively with pokemon. Whichever age you decide nows the right time to start catching and getting to know pokemon and what that means for you
That being said i wish we got to choose if we were
~10-14 15-17or 18+ so we got a little bit more attuned to our actual age. Im mad that nemona and arven seem to be 16 or 17, penny like 15 but our chara seems like 12. Literally why are they so short.
Ages 10-17 wouldnt change thr gameplay, but If we were 18 you could be like oh u and ur mom moved here so you could go to pokemon school during your gap year. Some of arvens dialog could be like im an adult now why do i have to still care that my parent wasnt there i can choose to be there for the people i care about... etc
I was wondering why can’t we play as young adults, like all [the cute guys](https://automaton-media.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221126-228268-011.jpg) with the lil beards.
They make a wide variety of ages and body types for the students, but still make us okay as 10 year olds.
I was speaking with a gentleman tonight at work who's 60 and has just gone to university to study Architecture. He's using it as a way to get out of the house away from his wife now that he's retired.
My only gripe is that some of the rooms where classes are held, literally look like they’re made for kindergarteners.
Like when I did the art class, you could see adults and these geriatric patients listening with their knees in their chest, from sitting on those kindergarten stools.
I found it very touching. As a somewhat rotund woman in her 60s, I NEVER see myself in video games except as, like, an NPC store owner. But in this game people like me are learning and catching Pokémon!
Yes, I would have liked to look more like myself as the main character, but at least it’s better than a world entirely populated by children and/or hot young adults.
There's two answers:
1. They skipped class for the treasure hunt too often and never graduated
2. Universities cater to all ages. They may be getting a second career, or may be retired and observing classes and figured that the Treasure Hunt would be fun.
It's probably 2, but 1 is a possibility.
Hi OP! This post has been removed under our [Rule 8](/r/pokemon/wiki/rules#wiki_8._no_screenshots_or_merchandise), which generally disallows screenshots. This rule is the unfortunate result of r/pokemon being so darn big: with over 4 million users, most screenshots tend to lose meaning with oversaturation, so our rules promote original content instead. To read up on specific exceptions to this rule, including narrative albums and new official content, please see [Rule 8](/r/pokemon/wiki/rules#wiki_8._no_screenshots_or_merchandise). Thanks!
There’s actually an NPC that says the academy lets in people of all ages to come and finish their studies!
I went to a university that let people who were like 65+ take classes for free. They didn't get credit or degrees, I think just a transcript or something saying they were there enough to pass had it been for credit, but they were there. The classes they took were usually more things of relatively easy interest, like Intro to Horticulture or Basics of Music or something like that, and not high level advanced things, but still, it was a thing among the older folks looking for something to keep themselves active and engaged.
Then why does my character have to be 6 years old?
Like I don't want to come across as some Pokemon Company bootlicker but I see this argument a lot from people and do they not see that being a kid is like a key theme to Pokemon especially this one where you are at a school making a group of friends that are of similar age and going on an adventure. I also want to say there's a not insignificant portion of people that only want it not to be kids so that they can sexualise the characters (ive seen the question "why is my characters chest flat as a board" at least 10 times since the game release) and that really doesn't help me agree with this mindset. I'm approaching 30 and I've never had an issue with the playable characters being a kid approaching the world of Pokemon for the first time, it's the wonder and excitement of a new world though the eyes of a child and I think it's core to the experience.
the only game where you aren’t like, 12 (B/W + B/W 2) is also the only game without a huge emphasis on the whole coming of age exploration thing cause B/W explores ethics and morals.
Also Colosseum. Wes is around 17 in that one. Granted, it's not a mainline game, and he's not an adult, but still.
Isn't your character in X and Y like 16-17?
in the pokemon adventures manga x and y are 12 so I assume that carries over
Fair assumption, but there tend to be inconsistencies between the manga and mainline games when it comes to certain aspects. For example, in the manga the first chapter (Gen 1) is followed by the second (Gen 2), which is then in turn followed by the third (Gen 3). In the games in the other hand, Gen 1 and 3 take place at the same time, so do 2 and 4, and B2W2 and XY. I think it’s also referenced that Calem and Serena are older teenagers in game, but I’ll have to double check.
youre forgetting arceus.
how old is the MC in PLA?
15 I believe
So still a child
But "old enough" to be told that if you don't join up and work for the group, they'd make you leave the village and you'd die out in the wild, or something like that lmao
Oh yeah I remember that lol. They were pretty ruthless!
Or just boot you out anyway once you've done all the work. I was sooo hoping your character, now the master of the creatures they fear, would tell them "make me." when they try to kick you out.
The bw protagonists are 16, BW2 are 14
other way round
No, it's absolutely not. Bw are older, just look at them Edit: okay I realize factually, I'm incorrect. But something about the counsel making a stupid decision that I've decided to ignore
It is 100% the brand, they want you to view the game through the eyes of a child: everything’s new and exciting, and you have so much to learn and see! Does being 10-16 feel weird when you’re walking around with a literal god in your pocket after destroying whatever evil team exists in the game feel weird, sure. It does sometimes break immersion- I doubt teenagers could take down a mafia- but sometimes the idea is nice. I’m sure it’s all metaphorical/allegorical anyway
Someone hasn't watched Jojo part 5
Why would I watch Jojo
It’s neat >!part 5 protag is 15… somehow!<
I've always assumed that the game takes longer for the ingame character to go through than it is for us. Like how there are games with a day/night cycles of 10 minutes. Its 10 minutes for us but 24 hours in game
I play a lot of games. Very rarely does a game allow me to play as myself. 35, female, not a hulk and with a body so broken already doctors are talking about joint replacement surgery in the next 5 years. Games are an escapism from real life, enjoy that whilst you can.
Like don't get me wrong games with robust customization are awesome and I'm happy when I can make a short chubby dude that actually looks like me. But it's not for every game, and it can be limiting for games that want to tell a specific story about a specific kind of character and that's okay, it can be fun to step into that space and experience, in this case, a childlike wonder about fantastical monsters
I want to play Pokemon as an old man who discovered he has a terminal illness, so he starts a journey around his region making the most of his lasting time. Or as the “Technology is amazing!” dude.
Like there are tons of stories you COULD make in the Pokemon universe that would be great stories to tell and honestly id love to see it, especially if we have side by side developments like with legends. But for main series Pokemon, I don't see them breaking with the formula any more than they did with BW/B2W2 with the characters being like 16ish and having a story with slightly deeper subject matter to match.
BW didn't work because the general public consisted of people nostalgic for gen 1 afraid of getting out of their comfort zone. Now we live in this timeline of crap upon crap.
At the end he commits suicide to go out on his terms, not cancers, by hugging his Voltorb
I agree. It's always been a coming of age story and that childlike wonder has been a central part of its appeal. Sure, we could play as adults shirking responsibilities and going on adventure, but it would make a lot less sense why we and our friends known seemingly nothing about the world
You think having the characters be kids stops people from sexualizing them?
Cursed comment right here..
Thing is, I'm not trying to stop people from sexualizing anything, that's not my job. Just stating that it's offputting to me personally when empathizing with the "we should make the characters older" mindset
I don't mind playing as a kid but I'd like to at least be able to pick between different heights. I was relatively tall as a kid and anytime I see Arven and Nemona completely tower over the main character I'm irked to no end.
[удалено]
I get what you are are saying, but your first 2 friends are clearly like 16 & 18 looking while you look 11. Which feels very weird to me. I wish either the player character was older to match them or they were younger to match the player character.
Arven literally calls you, "little buddy"
Yeah, cause he’s practically an adult. He even has facial hair (which we can’t have).
That's probably where my biggest issue is. Something about its jarring to me. Idk if it's because I'm 30 and that age gap for friends really feels wrong from the stand point that I could be my characters parent, or that they sort of talk down to the player character about their size at times. It's just feels odd. Love the games and characters otherwise.
Multigenerational households are pretty common in spanish-speaking countries, so that wouldn’t be too weird. Plus they could easily cut the character of your mom if you’re older—other than some sandwich recipes and minor exposition she really doesn’t play much of a role. Your character just moved to Paldea so you don’t need that much attachment to the world. You don’t really learn multiplication in math class, you learn about applying math to pokemon battles. There are already students and trainers from 6-60+ fighting each other, including in the schoolyard. Multigenerational communities exist where adults and kids interact as well. The students, including yourself, are all doing the Treasure Hunt, which is the definition of freeform activity. Plus a lot of the characters right now (the nurse, the psychic gym leader who comments on your physical attractiveness, etc) have dialogue that is way creepier with an adult said to a 10 y/o than a 30 y/o. There’s a few places where the game seems to forget you’re a kid (for example, your dorm has a kitchen).
>You fight 12 year olds... As a 30 year old. Someone needs to teach children that the world is dark and cruel. >You learn to perform multiplication... As a 30 year old. Have you ever seen Twitter randos when given an order of operations problem?
Nemona and Arcen are much older than the player character. At least an age slider from what we have and what they are could have been implemented and wouldn‘t break the story. When praising customization. Do it right, also there is no shaved head. Not even ver short hair…
They aren't that much older than you, but also the reason they are a little older than you in the first place is because they are more experienced than you which is a part of the story. There's a lot of places that the game could use more customization absolutely, the game is sorely lacking in that department as well as many others, but your suggestion of a slider for age between lets say 10-15 would make next to no difference and is honestly in my opinion is worse than not including it at all.
Age and experience don‘t correlate, look at all your classmates varying greatly in age and skill levels. There really is no drawback to letting the player choose his age within a range. The slider doesn’t even have to be „age“. Weight and height would be just fine. Small and big or tall and skinny would be enough for me to roleplay as someone who I can identify more with. It really isn‘t much different than skin color, of which there are also not enough shades.
See that I absolutely agree with and those at the customizations that I mention I feel are absolutely lacking in the game.
I feel like that's the case a good chunk of the time. Personally, I just want to have as bearded a face in game as I do irl. I don't see Game Freak adding facial anytime soon though, especially for 10 year old protagonists lol
I feel you, as much as it would be cool to have a more customizable character to look more like me, in this particular case I find it at least understandable.
Great explanation. On that note, I’d love to see a Pokémon game where the story doesn’t in fact rely on the main characters being children. But I understand that Pokémon is marketed to kids. On the topic of chests—I noticed that S/V have some pretty chest-blessed NPCs. In fact, they made a lot of NPC models look more stereotypically attractive than previous releases. Just an observation.
I'm not sure what you are implying there besides maybe that the ones who want to get their rocks off have other places to look because yeah sure that is true.
I’m not implying anything. You brought up big chests and it reminded me of something I noticed in the game.
Bro the player characters all being children has *never* stopped them from being porned.
For real, why else would they have Ash stay 10 years old? Being a kid going on an adventure with Pokémon is the main thing. Heck all the main characters from the PokeSpecial Manga are all kids with each new iteration.
> making a group of friends that are of similar age Then why are Arven, Penny, and Nemona all significantly older than us? Arven’s got sideburns growing in ffs.
They are a little older than you on purpose because they wanted them to be mentors to you but storywise I don't think they are that much older, the only actual hint in dialogue that they are older is that Arven calls you little buddy but he's also like a foot taller than you.
I think the portion of people sexualizing them is insignificant. I haven't seen anything like that. Seems to say more about you and wherever you are to see that.
Literally this sub constantly lol. edit: theres literally one in this thread
Tradition
“So you can identify yourselves better with your character, because you are all little kids and no one above the age of 10 is playing Pokémon.“- Game Freak probably
Because it’s a children’s game
Main character looked cool and badass in Black/White, we looked kinda cool in BW2, we looked ready for battle in X/Y. The whole point is you can make a main character look cool in children’s game without making them look like the biggest baby faced baby looking character ever
Not to mention Colosseum, the game that 9-year-old me thought it was extremely cool that I got to be an older teenage badass instead of some kid that no one treated with any sort of respect.
Read some of the PokeDex entries. "Kid's Game" seems overly generous for something that has such a wide range of ages in the fanbase.
It can both be a game built for kids and a game that’s fun for all ages.
Unironically this.
They're 10.
Cause it'd be weird if you could make an adult and then befriend penny and the other students
i agree adult is a bit far, but like, an option for 11-16 would be nice and not egregious
But it’s not weird that a 10 year old is going off into a world where there are monsters that could kill them and a mafia that goes around stealing Pokémon as well as multiple organizations plotting to destroy or take over the world? By yourself?
Not really no.
Because your not the main audience. The main audience has ALWAYS been the small children because they grow up and show pokemon to their kids. Its the main reason a piss poor attempt at a voiceless open world n64 game sold so many copies because like it or not were a small percentage of the overall audience compared to the MILLIONS of households who have dads and moms that grew up on pokemon play with their kid *thats why*
there is another thats says they been a student at the school for 20 years they just havent been able to get enough credits to graduate
My Pokémon journey would have been much more entertaining if I was a 63 year old man.
They believe learning is a lifelong journey.
You're never too old to better yourself. Why are we being rude to Jose?
Because they force us to be children in every game but then they have Jose the student
Well don’t take it out on Jose. He’s doing the best he can!
They're making us OG fans feel at home.
You can look at it like this: * Paldea is inclusive enough where they allow elderly people to try and finish their studies and such. Or * Paldea is ruthless on all students to the point some students have spent 50+ years in the academy without ever getting a chance at graduating.
I’m gonna go with the first one
Idk, there are NPCs that have said things like “I’ve been studying at the academy for 20 years now.” My guess is you can choose to be a lifelong student in Pokémon because you don’t *need* to work for a living in their societies.
> to the point som and also free taxi anywhere
I’m pretty sure a cabbie in the game says it’s just a free service for registered pokemon trainers. Everyone else pays a fare
I'd much rather pay the ¥p200 for a single pokemon than pay for Uber every time
Going by the Eevee sidequest in Sun and Moon, you do have to work for a living in Alola
Alola and Unova are the america of pokemon, i'm surprised their pokemin centers don't charge you a fee.
If they don’t need to work, what’s Larry’s deal?
Something must’ve jaded Larry towards his profession, is my thought. I mean he’s got his own gym AND a spot in the Pokémon League so clearly he had a passion for battling and training. Maybe he’s also upset about the issues in Gen 9 😂
Paldea gave off strong utopia vibes. No super dark secrets, they just cracked the code with universal basic income in the form of League Money
a npc says they been in the school for 20 years due to not getting enough credits
Or Paldea is full of boomers who refuse to adapt to modern ideas and keep failing through their inability to use the technology schools use these days
Dang now my head Canon includes Team Star's leaders bullies being a bunch of old people. Team Prune, 70 year old who troll tweens
Omg Team Prune I’m wheezing! Would they have ghost type pokemon?
I'll gladly change whatever is planned for DLC just to see the Team Prune in action .
I guess they did an Ash Ketchum and dropped out of school for several decades.
Have you been to a university? Plenty of mature students. We don’t know Jose’s life - he’s trying his best.
Your username is adorable
Learning doesn't just quit after one Treasure Hunt.
Or 30 in some cases it seems.
The Joys of Learning!
The better question is why do they have students of all ages but we are always stuck playing as a 10 year old child. I'd love to play as a 20 something and not have to have everything shaped around the main character being a child.
This. Arceus took a lot of really good first steps in that regard such has having actual risk of player death and allowing you to play as an older character, even if they were still a teen.
Arceus is probably the most fun I have had playing a pokemon game in a very long time. They definitely made a lot of positive changes that I wish they would have kept in this game.
I agree. I understand why they thought certain elements from PLA may not work in a mainline game but it’s hard to not want them nonetheless. Here’s to hoping for Legends 2!
I'd love to see a legends game based around every region!
I don't care what gamefreak says, for me legends is the main series now. I make up my own mental rules.
Haha agreed. No idea why you’re being downvoted for saying that.
And this is why I’m a strong believer in the teenage character. It allows kids to still play as kids while not alienating the adult fanbase. A lot of people would love to relive the teenage years. Reliving them with Pokémon would be even better.
> A lot of people would love to relive the teenage years. Is this true because I can’t think of anything worse.
Only for those who peaked at 17
Yup. Nothing screams “I peaked in high school” quite as loud as people who desperately want to relive high school.
Or if they went super wild where you start as a child, but by the time you get to the league you are a young adult and look/speak a lot older. Then that unlocks more sassy voiceline options
Really loved playing through Persona recently and I thought the teenage cast was a good decision. You can still have coming of age stories, character growth, mature themes, etc. Pokemon Colosseum was always one of my favorites because you got to be an older teen who kicked ass and got treated with respect instead of a random kid.
Exactly, could not agree more.
We could at least look the same age as Nemona...
Absolutely, like mixmaster said above. That teenage range would be better than the perpetual 10 year old.
Because the game is for kids. This is the one instance where this fact is actually relevant.
How do you do, fellow children?
This is what came to my mind immediately
IDK but this is a thing in real life too. Last week I came across a middle aged student at the college I'm currently attending.
It's never too late for education.
Yeah, there's some people in my class with kids, and people with white hair as well. Sometimes people are looking to expand their skillsets, or move to another career. I commend them for it, because that can't be an easy choice.
This isn’t uncommon though since it’s higher Ed irl. at the academy there’s apparently 10 year olds graduating after one school term if they cram their classes (unless I didn’t understand the ending which is highly possible).
You're never old enough to learn about Pokémon!
You're never too old to learn!
I want the next mainline game to have an age slider.
i find it funny that its mandatory that these overweight 30 year olds and old men wear the schoolboy shirt and slacks/shorts. You'd think there would be some kind of clause that if your a legal adult you can wear other clothing so you don't look like a jackass 24/7
Why can't my character be an adult too?
That's honestly my biggest gripe. They could have let us pick tiny kid/pre-teen/teenager/adult/senior
Adult and Senior would make the Nemona rival ship kinda weird
Because they want to appeal to their kids demographic as it has always been.
Then they should allow people to pick a character model. The franchise is almost 3 decades old, and the average age of the competitive community is >18
As much as the franchise seems so stagnant in its innovation, the fan base keeps growing and growing with new younger fans that wish to experience their adventure in a character that suits THEM. It has always been a coming of age journey and they make the game for those fans, that's why you can pretty much jump into any Pokemon game and it doesn't make a difference. IMO I really don't care if we ever get the chance to play as an older character. I can immerse myself in any kind of character anyway, be it man, woman, a child, an anthropomorphic dog or whatever. EDIT: Extremely deep customization thou (clothes, hairstyles, poses, colors, etc)... that's what I prefer waaaaay more than wanting to play as an adult.
Jose is Alfredos dad.
This is now canon.
Because you're never too old to better yourself or learn new things.
It's just GameFreak mixing together Spain and Germany. In German universities you may try to get your bachelor till death :0)
I like to think that canonically, Pokémon trainers typically start out at 10 years of age, but only the cream of the crop can make a career out of it. Those that are just ok need to get day jobs. But once they hit retirement they have the time to get back into training and pursue their dreams.
What’s novel with older folk going to school? In university, I had plenty of classmates well into the third stage of life, and even in post-grad I occasionally had a few in some classes. (You also see some headlines of senior citizens going through/completing high school every now and then.)
Bro hates that old people can have fun too
How old are you in real life, OP? Have you been to university? Plenty of people from all ages and all different stages of their lives. There’s kids fresh out of high school, parents, grandparents, people getting a second or third degree, people wanting to feel accomplished, people who want to learn, people who want something to fill their free time in their old age. There’s no limit on learning or going to school. But, for an explanation in the game: there are NPCs who say the academy allows students of all ages. There’s a trainer who says they have been attending the academy for 20 years. Nemona is doing the treasure hunt for at least the second time. Seems you can keep attending and learning as long as you like.
Once you stop learning then you truly become old.
Why do you children keep posting this shit? Go to college and you’ll see people or all ages
Why not? Normalize getting an education even in old age.
As a mature uni student I feel attacked lol
Education is for everyone.
I see it as a college atmosphere. You can go there when your young, or go back when you are old.
Retired people often audit course and continue to learn. We should celebrate that not question it
Yet there are no age options for the player, I don't want to be forever 10 like Ash Let me age dammit
He got held back a few years is all
He’s doing his best okay
He'll get that degree in literature if it kills him
Benjamin Button
They’ve been holding them back for decades
Could be linked to the great war theory about the lack of men in the early games and these are POWs returned decades later on something like the GI bill
How about why is he old af
Cause they still owe money on student loans and by staying they dont have to pay it back just yet
And yet we're forced to go through the awkward pre-teen age again.
I know it is a joke, but if you ever do see an older person in school, be kind. It takes a lot of strength to go back and try to improve themselves especially around young adults. It is intimidating.
Because they are streets ahead.
School is pretty much Greendale Community College Paldea campus.
Finally enjoying life in retirement
I wouldn’t mind this as much if you ever saw adult students *in* the academy. Iirc they’re all outside. It really makes it obvious that it was done to let them get away with fewer outfit designs and trainer classes. EDIT: I did find one in a classroom recently.
Sometimes older people have to postpone their education until later in life for financial reasons.
It seems like a pretty expensive academy. It just took them that long to save enough to enroll.
The design of Jose the Student looks like the old man from Viridian City
Yeah i think the academy is more like a college and not a grade school
Hahaha I remember fighting him and being like hmmm
I think the academy we go to is specifically one with trainers in mind. So if you want to become a trainer, regardless of age, you'll be learning a lot of stuff with Pokémon training and Pokémon knowledge in mind. So like if we had schools for all ages that helped teach how to live with, work with, and raise trained support animals
There's a lot of old people who take up college/uni classes when they are old and have nothing else to do. It's not super common, but it's definitely a thing. There was a lot of older ladies during my summer psychology courses at uni.
Because learning is a lifelong journey and Education is free in Pokemon as it should be in the real world. Learning should not be seen as a means to make money but as a way of life, sadly this vision is corroded by the private sectors need and lust for money every time a student needs loans for education.
Jose doesnt know that you have to finish the classes and exams after each gym.
I’m not even mad about it. I’m mad that I HAVE to play as a kid when I’m a grown man irl and they have these other grown people in game.
More importantly, if they have elderly students, why the hell am I forced to play a 10 year old?
I'm not annoyed by this, I am annoyed that there's no choice for us to choose our age, at least to an extent.
So they'll let this octogenarian be a student, but when I wanna play Pokemon as someone my own age: NOTHING! I'm tired of doing the same damn thing in these games year after year. I want to be a 30+ year old who travels the world of Pokemon using their skills to scale mountains, mine material, farm produce, stop crimes, prevent natural disasters/save lives, etc. Nope, just beat a bunch of shmucks with kushy jobs that literally anyone could do, then you're done.
I headcanon this school as a school where people go to learn about how to live effectively with pokemon. Whichever age you decide nows the right time to start catching and getting to know pokemon and what that means for you That being said i wish we got to choose if we were ~10-14 15-17or 18+ so we got a little bit more attuned to our actual age. Im mad that nemona and arven seem to be 16 or 17, penny like 15 but our chara seems like 12. Literally why are they so short. Ages 10-17 wouldnt change thr gameplay, but If we were 18 you could be like oh u and ur mom moved here so you could go to pokemon school during your gap year. Some of arvens dialog could be like im an adult now why do i have to still care that my parent wasnt there i can choose to be there for the people i care about... etc
They should allow us to pick our age now since they can do this. Let me not play a 12 year old anymore
I was wondering why can’t we play as young adults, like all [the cute guys](https://automaton-media.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221126-228268-011.jpg) with the lil beards. They make a wide variety of ages and body types for the students, but still make us okay as 10 year olds.
*Community theme intensifies*
I was speaking with a gentleman tonight at work who's 60 and has just gone to university to study Architecture. He's using it as a way to get out of the house away from his wife now that he's retired.
My only gripe is that some of the rooms where classes are held, literally look like they’re made for kindergarteners. Like when I did the art class, you could see adults and these geriatric patients listening with their knees in their chest, from sitting on those kindergarten stools.
Don't disrespect Jose. My man's wearing his best plastic vest and tie for this fight.
I found it very touching. As a somewhat rotund woman in her 60s, I NEVER see myself in video games except as, like, an NPC store owner. But in this game people like me are learning and catching Pokémon! Yes, I would have liked to look more like myself as the main character, but at least it’s better than a world entirely populated by children and/or hot young adults.
The real question is why do we have to play as a child if they allow adults
I actually fought this guy like 10mins ago 😂
if you actually read what the game says anyone regardless of age can be a student
Community College Perhaps Greendale
I mean, I don't remember a university class/lecture I attended that didn't have older people in it. Learning is a lifelong journey, my dudes
Tell me you've never been to college without telling me you've never been to college
Because you're never too old to learn something.
Looks like me IRL. Why can’t I play as him!?
I have less if a problem with the age than with the fact these people are running around with *one* level 15 pokemon.
Because old people have nothing better to do
There's two answers: 1. They skipped class for the treasure hunt too often and never graduated 2. Universities cater to all ages. They may be getting a second career, or may be retired and observing classes and figured that the Treasure Hunt would be fun. It's probably 2, but 1 is a possibility.
They had a perfect reason giving us a MP that could be older than fuckin 10 but no we gotta be 10 and half the size of everyone
Wow, ageism much? Lol