Source
r/pokemon•
MaybeGreg

Saw a few of these, but I want to twist it around: Convince me why should like Sword & Shield!

Discussion / Venting

I'm very disappointed in Pokémon Sword & Shield. I feel like what I've seen in marketing, the thing designed to convince me the game is good, has failed to do so. Statements from individuals have made me lose faith in the series that I love. But I've seen a lot of people defend the games, but I haven't seen much of their reasoning.

So! I'd like to see it! I'm all hears!

Posted Jul 24, 2019, 8:30 PM UTC

1845
droptopdopeboy•

I think most people who are going to buy the game dont care about transferring a ton of old pokemon in, think the animations are good/fine, etc.

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For many it will be their first pokemon game on the switch and myself and others just dont think the game is as bad as people on here are making it out to be

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Edit: again, this is just my reasoning for being excited for the game, I'm not saying your criticisms are invalid or anything like that

17
MaybeGregOP•

You brought up the animations, which interests me. I like the current animations, but Game Freak spoke too much and that's why they're an issue. I just think that removing Pokemon, after removing tons of other beloved features, means the game will be a bland story we've played so many times with nothing left afterwards.

3
SirGamerDude•

I should preface everything by pointing out that I don't like SwSh in general and I have a huge issue with both Dexit itself, the removal of Megas and Z-moves, their excuses and the response to the backlash. I also think Dynamax is stupid and the games should look much better than they do. I'm definitely not buying this game.

That said, I do give them credit where credit is due. Namely, I like the introduction of an online co-op raid element. I like how the gym/league battles are in stadiums and feel more important. I also like the concept of the Wild Area even though it doesn't look as good as it could've.

So while I realize I'm not doing any "convincing you why you should like SwSh" (and neither is it my intention to) I do feel that people should be careful to not get carried away and neglect to recognize the good changes when/where that's warranted.

11
MaybeGregOP•

The Raids don't seem great to me. They seem like a gate to using Gigantamax which just seems silly for players who don't play to interact with others. I like the stadiums but the gym leaders feel a bit more generic because of the sport uniforms and doesn't pop out as much as, say, Skyla and Blaine for me. Wild Area looks forced, bland, and takes up a large part of the map. Plus, it uses the Let's Go overworlds which I think isn't good.

5
SirGamerDude•

I know I'm a bit biased because I like co-op elements in games a lot. But when assessing Max Raids in SwSh keep in mind that:

  1. Even though Max Raids are currently heavily tied to Dynamaxing/Gigantamaxing (which I hate) they didn't have to be. They could have easily had the bosses be naturally occurring mega totem pokemon which drop mega stones and/or Z-crystals when defeated for example.

  2. The Max Raids are done in a way that's not necessarily intrusive. If you don't like multiplayer/interacting with other players you can still partner up with A.I to complete the raids offline and by yourself. I think that's great because they provide an online Co-op mechanic for people who want that and a way to bypass it for those who do not.

As for Gym leaders, I do agree I'm not a huge fan of sports clothing myself but I get they are trying to pull off this football parallel because of the Galar/UK thing. Hopefully, the next region will feature stadium battles but without the whole sports thing.

And again, the last thing I want to do is to convince somebody to buy these games. I sure as hell ain't buying them myself and I don't think the positives even come close to making up for the negatives. All I'm saying is that when GF get their shit together and start delivering proper games I would like a Wild Area and some Co-Op elements to be in those games.

3
MaybeGregOP•

(Almost) Completely agree. I do not personally enjoy co-op because I do not have people that actively play. That doesn't mean it's not needed. I also think their method of doing it is flawed. The stadiums are great, the forced Gym leader garb isn't. Still not convinced the Wild Area is what Pokémon needs though. I've already skipped the Ultras and Let's Gos because they don't offer much over what I've already played, and it seems like I'm still on that track for now.

1
SirGamerDude•

A Wild Area done right would be amazing. Imagine if you actually saw an Entei actually roaming in an open world setting and you had to chase it into a corner to challenge it. Chasing a shiny Rapidash through a field to initiate an encounter. Having to use a fast ride pokemon like your own Rapidash or Arcanine to be able to keep up. Heading towards a Wailord you've seen from a distance. Having different pokemon you can ride/have following you that help you gain access to different areas. Encountering a new legendary pokemon you've never seen before in a cool setting.

Of course the SwSh Wild Area will be missing a lot of those things because a) it doesn't look good, b) the pokemon models only get rendered when you get close to them, c) you can't have your own pokemon following you. But I don't want to discourage them from what I feel is a good direction.

Hopefully they can actually read some of the feedback online and separate what people hate about the games and what people like about the games. If they even care that is which is a big if.

2
hatfish435•

I remember someone telling me this: "If you are going in thinking you are going to like, you will probably like it. If you are going in thinking you are going to hate it, you will probably hate it".

6
MaybeGregOP•

I wish I could like it, it's Pokémon. Sadly, they've removed a lot over the last few years, and if they're removing Pokémon now, I can tell it's not going to feel the same.

6
AForce5223•

Sometimes but not always, I got Let's Go on discount think I'd use it to get Meltan and nothing else

It was pretty fun and I'd actually love to see some of its gameplay added to the main games. My main issue was that they had the original story without the original characters but they were still there for some(nostalgia based) reason. Also the rival lives in Blues house but isn't his younger brother. Same with the player character too.

4
Nightflare111•

Too true mate.

3
GoauldofWar•

I think the game looks fun. So I'm going to play it.

4†
MaybeGregOP•

ok

2
Telknub•

The wild area is a really cool thing. You can go there catch Pokémon, walk with your friends, do raids, camping, and probably do even more things...

Also the gyms are really big and they have crowds that cheer for you or the leader.

The graphics are a big jump from what we had in Sun and Moon, and even with people complaining about the graphics thats a truth that we cannot deny.

It is the first main series game on a TV console and since its on switch you can play anywhere in the way you like.

I liked dynamax and gigantamax as the new mechanics, because since you cannot use it anywhere like megas or zmoves it will probably feel like a more important mechanic, and remove the fact that in gen 6 and gen 7 you just spammed megas and zmoves to defeat every trainer in every route ( not saying that everyone did this, but a lot of people probably did).

4
Nightflare111•

walk with your friends, do raids, camping,

Did they confirm that you could walk around with friends in the wild area i hadnt seen anything about that announced.

5
Telknub•

In the threehouse Masuda was playing on one switch while the host was in the other one... and we could see masuda walking on the background of the gameplay while they were talking. Than masuda gave potatoes (if i am not wrong ) to the host of the treehouse, explaining some features about it.

6
Nightflare111•

Oh i just saw him standing there similar to the sun and moon co-op area. Mustve missed them moving around thats pretty sweet.

3
MaybeGregOP•

Sorry, but the Wild Area doesn't seem that great to me. I don't like the "open world for the sake of open world" format, on top of the already bad Let's Go encounter systems flat out replacing random encounters. The graphics are only an issue because they brought it up. I only play Pokemon at home anyway. Max seems to be trying to recycle old gimmicks by removing them instead of reworking them.

2
Telknub•

Let's go encounters > random encounters (rand encounters are still in the game tho). It's less frustrating and the world feel a lot more alive. There's a reason why a lot of jrpgs are removing random encounters and creating overworld encounters. Random encounters will also continue, and from what they've shown there's new catching mechanics when you are looking for Pokémon.

2
MaybeGregOP•

That's an opinion. Can you show me where random encounters are? Because every area seems to have overworld encounters. And no, an exclamation mark in the grass does not count. Also, new catching mechanics? Please tell me they aren't like Let's Go.

1
Telknub•

The exclamation is a random encounter. It appeared in the front of the player in the direction you are going and you dont know what is that Pokémon, making it a random encounter thats "dodgeable". About new "catching mechanics" I was refering to the player habilities like luring Pokémon whistling to them, sneaking, etc. Each Pokémon have different reactiond to each one of these mechanics, and thats pretty cool.

3
Tobykachu•

I feel as though a lot of people defending the gane don’t spend much time with it outside the main game, meaning cutting the Pokédex is almost negligible to them. They play through the main story with the new Pokémon, complete the game, maybe battle their friends every so often and then be done with it. If this is how you play the game then I suppose it’s serviceable. Nothing special, but enough to keep you entertained.

4
MaybeGregOP•

That could be it, postgame has always been my favourite and... it's pretty much dead.

5
Nightflare111•

So despite the obvious controversy with dexit sword and shield might to be the first pokemon game with a somewhat living world and a bigger focus on exploration and adventure. Thats the reasons im buying it anyway.

3
MaybeGregOP•

I haven't seen that exploration and adventure. I've seen an open area because they don't know how to make Pokémon open world. Not that it needs to be.

2
Nightflare111•

i mean its meant to be an open area to explore thats the whole point of the wild area i dont think its meant to be a open world attempt i think its meant to make the routes feel a bit more alive and less linear than they had in previous titles

3
maiqtheprevaricator•

TBH the environments look pretty good, n64 trees aside, that one trailer with Rolycoly had a mine environment that i thought looked really cool with the glowing gemstones poking out of the walls

3
MaybeGregOP•

Yeah, that's been good so far. Some of the camera angles may be fixed to show certain areas positively but still.

1
Blubkill•

i haven't properly played a newer pokemon game than diamond and i was quite a bit too young when i did that.

as lately ive been getting alot into pokemon go aswell as speedrunning pokemon red, i wanted to really play another real pokemon title, doing shiny hunts, online battles, building teams etc. (im so friggin going to get me that water starter in shiny) I'm actually specifically buying a switch for it aswell (though, i also want to play zelda) and most likely im even going to take a week off work too... a few friends of mine will be getting it aswell, so the dynamax battle feature can be properly used.

sure i liked mega evolutions (although i havent played a pokemon game with them) have no clue about Z moves and kinda dont like dynamaxing but im sure that wont stop me from having a pokemon experience.

im not effected by the national dex cut, since i dont have any other pokemon games to transfer from, sure its gonna suck not being able to obtain a few older ones i grew to like but i can live with that.

its most likely just that the comparison for me is missing from gen 5 and onwards, though im hyped to finally access the features i couldnt back in the day (such as online battles) which alone are going to make it worth for me, simply something like being able to wondertrade is getting me hyped.

hands down, ive played way worse games over the course of my "gaming career" than an unpolished game like that.

3
CompControlled•

It seems like they are putting a lot more care and thought into the main game this time around and I'm quite excited for it. The setting is pretty cool and the characters are all looking awesome, some of the best we've ever seen.

The new pokemon are all fantastic with none really standing out as bad, at least for me so far. Not having the whole dex isn't personally an issue, I do have connections to my old pokemon but I'm fine not having them for now.

It's just looking like a good pokemon experience which is all I really want from a pokemon game.

2†
MaybeGregOP•

I don't really see the care. There's beloved features that have been absent for a long time that definitely will not return, and if they do, it won't be the same without our favourites. It's selective caring. I love the Battle Frontier and the PWT, but that's not returning. If it is, it won't feel right. So we have very different ideas of a good Pokémon experience sadly.

3
CompControlled•

Firstly I was talking about the main story. The care being put into the characters seems more on the level of gen 5 which is fantastic and the story will hopefully follow suit.

Secondly we don't know what features aren't returning, we only just recently learnt the new gimmick and the goal of the game to beat the new gym challenge. We barely know how the main game is gonna pan out, nevermind what happens afterwards.

It seems incredibly unfair to judge a game on something you have no clue on, honestly to me it seems like this might be the first region in a while to have the facilities you are after. Just look at the far north of the region, that looks pretty battle facility like to me. It could be the league but that is a lot just for the league.

I understand judging the game for lack of pokeon or graphics since that is something you can directly point to but I'd recommend not making pre-conceived ideas of what is gonna be bad cause even if they do get added you will probably just look down on them still cause you want to.

2
MaybeGregOP•

Story has been a focus for a while. Backstory about 3000 year old man, child facing family break-up... Game Freak considers Pokémon story-based games and that's not a game I want to play if it also becomes a game where things are excluded to match the circumstances.

We don't know what features are returning, fair. We do know that Pokémon themselves are being cut. That offers me no hope to things returning, at least not in a meaningful manner. Plus their track record in postgame has gone about as well as their damage control.

I don't care if the graphics don't change or the animations stay the same, because the only reason they are an issue is because of their awful attempts at damage control. These "pre-conceived ideas" come from what they say and do, so I see no point in ignoring that.

3
ElonMusklikesAnime•

It would be my first main series game(If we’re not counting LGPE)

0
OwenR27•

I have very little left to say but don’t judge a game before its even out. Even if it turns out bad don’t just assume it will be bad because of you not liking the direction GF is going with their games.

0
MaybeGregOP•

But the point of marketing is to judge if a purchase is worth it or not. We don't all have money to throw away without considering anything, and marketing has shown me very little positives in comparison with the negatives.

6
bestillmyheart123•

That's simple it's Pokemon you like Pokemon you should like this game 😂

-10
doublejay01Nitendogs, Yamper and friends•

If slapping branding on the thing is all it takes for you to like it you need to start thinking about the media you consume

12
bestillmyheart123•

I was kidding just sarcasm 😛 didn't mean it seriously 😛

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