Pokemon Sword & Shield
 

I actually did a rare pre-order for the latest "controversial" entry in the Pokémon series because IT'S POKEMON ON A HOME CONSOLE. Let's Go doesn't count, that's not a real game.

I am really enjoying it actually, IT'S POKEMON ON A HOME CONSOLE, so I thought I'd make a thread so I can talk to myself about it. I expect nobody else is playing it but absolutely leave your Poké memories, your Poké thoughts and feelings or anything else you probably don't want to put Poké in front of.

Graphics - They're not that bad actually. Lotad's model looks fucking terrible though which is kind of unforgivable.
Soundtrack - It's actually pretty great so far. Never really been into any of the previous OSTs in the series but this one stands up.

The best thing about a new Pokémon game is going in blind and just witnessing these new monstrosities appear before you for the first time and wondering what they hell they evolve into. I popped when Galarian Meowth showed up, wasn't expecting it at all.



What.

I picked Sobble as my starter because sad lizards are the best, and the second stage evolution is



which I kind of hated at first because it's not Sobble, but now I think it's pretty amusing. He's growing up.

With the whole Dexit it's also pretty fun seeing who made the cut, and some of the choices are real WTF moments. Some absolute trash Pokémon have shown up already and I'm only past the first gym. I looked up if my favourites were in and I know they're not, which kind of sucks, but everything else is a pleasant surprise. Gym leader battles themselves seem pretty cool, it's like a sporting event with a cheering crowd, who presumably just sit there all day waiting for a trainer to show up. I mean people in this universe just stand around in fields waiting for other trainers to enter their line of sight so I guess that's not too weird of a thing to do...

Hows the combat? Is it easy?

Oh yeah theres no challenge at all so far, once you have a Pokemon registered (dont even need to catch it) the battle menu even tells you if your move is super effective or not, you dont need to remember types. EXP share is permanently on and you can even get EXP from cooking and "jobs" (basically mini daycare). I dont think it's going to get much harder unless I use weak pokemon on purpose.

Your rival is also a dumbass and chooses the starter weak to your own. Idiot.

lol wut

They frame it so he can "teach" you about type advantages, which actually makes him seem even dumber.

Least rivalry rival ever

I plan on getting this after I beat Jedi Fallen Order. Have avoided everything about the game besides the starters. Was kind of hit blind sided about them one day but whatever.

My Sobble reached its 3rd stage and, yeah I hate it. Very disappointing final form. I fought some trainer in the wild area who had all the starter 2nd forms as her team and they all seemed very similar actually.



I dont hold out much hope for Grookey and Scorbunny's final eves but I'm hoping at least the monkey is cool. One of them has to land at least.

Theres a few other new pokemon where I love one stage and then hate (maybe a strong word) the next, seems very inconsistent in design. Really have an urge to stock up on Everstones.

Yeah I dont think I'd enjoy it anywhere near as much if I knew what to expect, and what not to expect.

I'd like to talk for a moment about a heavily criticised Pokemon that I've seen cited as "lazy"...

Pics or riot

Alright!

Flapple is adorable

His animation is great too, he's really struggling.

Gotta be honest most of the animations in the game are pretty lazy


Biggest offender is the faint animations. They sharply go from their standing animation into their faint instead of transitioning into a critical hp stance or what have you. And a huge ammount of what ive seen is on par with that where its like...this is the most profitable franchise on earth with thwir 1st console offering ever and...this is what theyve got.


I dunno. Maybe im being unfair.

No definitely a valid criticism, coming off Dragon Quest I immediately noticed most of the fainting animations don't even go though an entire loop before they disappear and there's no real personality in them. Some of the idle animations and exclusive moves look great, but a lot of them lack personality. There's a real disparity in quality and it really shows that they didn't have a big enough team working on the game, and they didn't have enough time to develop it. There's a pop up issue with your trainer in battle too, from one angle you are visible then suddenly not there anymore. It doesn't ruin the game for me but yeah it's not really up to par with other major franchises visually.

In many ways it feels like a 3ds game thats been ported over. Which would be fine if they didnt have such deep pockets

Yeah I think they are definitely too greedy with their yearly release schedule, if they took more time developing this to really give it the polish it deserves it's not like everyone in the world would suddenly forget they like Pokemon and not buy it.

The issue is the tv show dictates the games release schedule

This was in Sun and Moon. I liked it because the game I'd played before that gen was Emerald. Had no idea what most of the monsters were.

Hoping to get myself a Switch soon so I can jump in on this.

Ah yeah it was, forgot about that. I still get tripped up on the Fairy type even with the help, X/Y and Black/White were the two gens I skipped. I figured out it's weakness but other than Dragon I have no idea what it's strong against. The Fairy gym actually gave me a bit of trouble :lol:

Switch is definitely worth a purchase at this stage in it's life, even without Pokémon in the equation, but I'm enjoying this one a lot more than I did Sun and Moon.

Switch has octopath. Thats worth it on its own

Yeah octopath is the only reason needed to own a switch. It would be worth if it even if the switch was just a dedicated console that could play only Octopath.

Also I've been thinking of getting this for my kids to expose them to Pokémon and see if they'll be interested in it. You think it would be a good entry point for them Mantis?

How old are they and why not Lets Go?

9, 4 and 3.

Nothing against Let's Go, if they like this one I'd get that for them too. Just figured starting them with one from their generation may be easier for them to pick up, especially with the younger ones as it will match up more with any toys/collectibles etc. Also think that if I started them with Let's Go they might be upset when a lot of the pokemon they like from that are removed as of S&S.

Yeah I'd say it's absolutely fine as an entry point, has the exact same Pokemon formula you would expect.

My niece (10) is playing Shield and while she loves Pokemon she never really gave a shit about playing Sun and Moon, quit at the first town and only really cared about changing her characters hair and clothes. She's been really into this one though, Eevee and Pikachu are still there and she likes seeing ones that are new to her as well as the returning mons.

My Nephew (6) has been using my copy of Sword on a seperate profile to play along with her and he just skips all the story parts but loves catching. It's all he wants to do whenever they come over. I find I can just let him run with it when hes catching, its easy enough for him to figure out what to do and what moves to use.

My niece used to collect Pokemon cards so she knows a lot of the old Pokemon, doesnt seem too bothered by the cut. I mean theres still over 400 and I doubt she will be interested long enough to even catch anywhere near that many. She knows Jigglypuff is gone but she was marking out over a fucking Magikarp being in so its give and take :lol:

They also LOVE the camping feature, they spend way too much time in it petting their mons. Way too much.

If there's one area of Sword & Shield they really made leaps and bounds on it's the soundtrack

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I have discovered a new favourite :D

His giga is SO FRIGGIN CUTE

He deserves so much more of a run than what they gave him. I dont know why they insist on filling the early game routes with shitty rodents, pests, bats and birds then not even giving first stage mons like this a chance of being used.

I got up to the final city days ago but haven't had much time to play all week, though I will say this:

The lack of puzzle dungeons and optional areas makes the game incredibly short. I mean, sure random encounters with Zubats every 5 steps sucked and I don't want that to come back, but all the caves are just a few screens in a straight line. Real room for improvement there.

Oof. That is really diminishing any chance for me picking it up

Yeah, I mean I've really enjoyed it, especially going in blind to a whole new generation and it being on a home console is great, but it's just like, where's the content? It's not just half the Pokémon that are gone, it's half of the game. If you like Pokémon I would recommend picking it up cheap (I guess used) if possible, or maybe there will be an enhanced version next year where there's more meat on the bones. Feel like they have a lot of improvements to make for the next one.

Surprisingly, pacing really picks up at the end and follow into a short post game quest, if they'd kept it this level through the actual game the story could have been really good.