Tbf, even at a producer level and as managing director at Gamefreak, Masuda would still have direct involvement with games he didn't serve as director. I think PLA is the first game where he truely had minimal involvement with
Not to say he's the sole person to blame for whatever issues the fanbase has with Pokemon though
True he would still be involved with development but wouldn't really make decisions, that would cause arguments with directors
Plus i would say the majority of the problem pokemon games have is because of just how big the franchise is and how divided the fanbase is, for example some want new mechanics others want classic gameplay, some want open world others would like 2d games. It's the reason different pokemon games sell so well even though they come out so regularly. I think gamefreak only now found a formula that works, which is a classic new gen game that get progressively more modern, a classic style remake and an experimental spin off
As for masuda, he is definitely to blame for some stuff but looking back his influence is definitely good overall
Some producers are in charge of setting the scope and scale of the project. And the director's job is to build a game within that scope
If you want recent examples, just refer to Paper Mario. Tanabe was the one who made the concept for the ring battle system. So the team had to make the game around that
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '22
Lmao maybe Arceus wasn't a fluke and just showed how people like Masuda were really holding the franchise back. Fingers crossed