[Sword & Shield] For those who have played - what do you think?

[Sheep]

Still kind of disappointed that the majority of my most-cherished 'mons didn't make it into the game, but I see this as an opportunity to bond with some of my follow-up favorites

Yeah, I've been looking at it this way too. Some of my favorites didn't make it but I've already used them so many times that I'm happy to give it a break, especially with the diverse selection of new mons we have this time around. Went through the story only considering new Pokémon and there are so many good options.

 

[Pokemon Whisperer Natural Gropius]

Just started so it's way too early to have a solid opinion yet, but I don't like that EXP share can't be turned off. I feel like my party's gonna be way overleveled.

You're going to have to avoid catching too many Pokemon if you don't want to be overleveled either.

I just got to the town on the other side of Wild Area. All I can say is it has been super annoying with how much talking. I feel like Hop popped up way more than Lillie or Hau. Hopefully he will stop talking as much.

Even though I said I wasn't new to pokemon, I still had to go through stuff I didn't care about seeing again. I can't say much more right now.


I am also not liking what I saw in the WIld Area.

What in the Wild Area did you see?

 

[Raticate128]

Overall, really very much enjoying SwSh!

Currently 3 badges in. Here's what I think so far.

First, I'll get this out of the way. I do have a couple of slightly negative observations:

- So far the storyline is a bit typical/bland
- The Wild Area is very laggy when you're connected to the internet
- The dex thing probably deserves a mention in the negative list, as I wish all Pokemon were in it, but I actually found I forgot about it
- The mints are an excellent idea, but should be obtainable very near the start of the game. I still had to spend an age soft resetting for starters so I could have the right nature during my adventure. I was hoping when I heard about the mints this would be a thing of the past

But, on the positive side

- Generally speaking, the game is simply excellent fun, as Pokemon mainline games always are
- I AM enjoying the adventure/story, even if it's not amazing
- The graphics, while not Breath of the Wild level, still are great, and the Galar region is truly is alive with people and Pokemon
- The music is top-notch and the best in the series so far
- Battles are always fun, and while there are some poor attack animations, there are also some excellent ones
- The Wild Area is brilliant. It's fun to collect Pokemon and items through exploring and Raid Battles
- The British slang such as people saying "mate" and "cream crackered" is very funny xD

 

[NeverThere]

I've been having a lot of fun, honestly! The cutscenes are a bit.. long, and it's a bit easy.. but it's REALLY fun. And I've gained a few new fave pokemon now..

 

[Sandslash Fan]

I have played up to the fourth gym so far, and the only things I find underwhelming are the starting Pokemon and there isn't a really strong storyline, for all of the cut-scenes we have to go through. The "evil" team, Team Yell is a decent departure from having a powerful and villainous team to fight against- and they have some decent Pokemon to fight against.

I absolutely love the Wild Areas, I spend all of my time there (probably to avoid all of the cut-scenes). Not sure when I will get to finish the game LOL

0/10 - Since no Sandslash (j/k, 8/10 I'd say)

If we get a 2.0 version of the game (like Ultra Sun/Moon, Emerald, etc) then I would like to see the sprites modified for the starters.

 

[Drednaw]

I'm right before I officially fight Leon, and I have to say that of all the pokémon games I've ever played, SwSh are my favourites by far.

For once, the cutscenes don't feel horrendously boring, like they were in SuMo and USUM. Sure, there are flaws- but the pokémon are great, the areas are great, the Wild Area is fun, camping is brilliant (I'm so glad our pokémon can finally interact like a real team) and the characters are so varied and entertaining. Even down to the first 3 gym leaders teaming up to see you off from Motostoke, and the league cards- they feel like people with relationships and lives outside of being progression tools for the protag.

Team Yell is a lighthearted, logical enemy for most of the game, and Macro Cosmos is, while short-lived (so far), an interesting group with an interesting motive, especially since Rose's motives don't seem entirely sinister. My favourite aspect of the games by far, though, is the fact battling feels like genuine sport: beforehand, everything just felt... underwhelming. Here, it's like there's a reason that so many people want to be trainers- the fame, the money, the popularity. After so many years of wanting something like that, I'm glad we've finally got it.

Can't say I forgive the legendary dog turning animation in the postgame, but tbh, such things are minimal critiques. And honestly, I've gotta say, as someone whose pre-SwSh favourite pokémon was eliminated by "Dexit," the decision to cut the national dex hasn't impacted my enjoyment at all. As someone who's played through every generation, no game has made me feel as excited as SwSh.

 

[Nah]

So I'm finally like 99% of the way through the main story (all I have to do now is beat Leon) so thought dump

The short version is that the games are more or less on par with any other Pokemon game in the main series, not far and away better than any of the other games, but not the worst thing ever like some people thought they'd be pre-release.

Long version:
The games bring a number of improvements over previous entries. It's visually the nicest-looking Pokemon game to date. It's not perfect obviously, but Pokemon was never a leader in cutting-edge graphics and that's fine really since SwSh is a step up from the 3DS games. Textures are mostly better than Gen 7, framerate drops occur less frequently (at least in my experience), and non-battle animations are better (we have facial expressions now!). Trainer customization is probably its best yet (although having more stuff wouldn't hurt Game Freak ;] ). This is what one would expect though, since we've moved off of the 3DS and onto the newer Switch.

There's some new features that are pretty good, like the Wild Area, Max Raid battles, PokeJobs, League Cards are a nice way to give a new coat of paint to ye olde trainer cards etc. There's also some good QoL improvements too--the move reminder being in literally every Pokemon Center and his service being for free, getting the equivalent of Fly very early, mints, Box Link, etc.

We get, despite Dexit, a pretty decent selection of Pokemon early on.

Something of particular note to me is the Gym Challenge as a whole. It's kind of cool how it's more than just you and your rival that participate in the challenge....it was always a little weird how Pokemon battles was always supposed to be a major part of all the region's cultures, but nobody else ever bothers with it? More than that though is how they did away with the old Elite 4+Champion system and instead have you fight the other participants who made it that far, as well as going through some of the Gym Leaders again, and then on top of that, you don't do it all in one shot either, as shit keeps happening that you have to deal with too. It makes for a really nice final segment really. A few of the gym puzzles/missions make for some of the most unique or fun yet in the series, although it also has some low points too (the last two gyms).

Team Yell is a refreshing change of pace, as we finally have a "villain" team that's not all about taking over the world or reshaping it and are just a bunch of nutty fans who happen to get in the way, and not real bad guys (Team Skull did this first actually, but they also ended up being the lackeys of one of Pokemon's most nonsensical plot threads).

But the games also make some small decisions that are backwards or make you go "why?" or "what was the point?", like requiring an item to have something as basic and common as volume sliders available in the options menu, forcing us to wear gym uniforms and then offer other ones but not allow you to actually wear them for Gym challenges, or....I know there's something else but I can't remember what it is right now (edit: now I remember, it's TRs).

The main thing however is that Sword & Shield do not fix what has long been two significant problems with the series. The story is still the rehash we've been getting since Gen 3 of "child prodigy saves the world and effortlessly becomes Champion" with terribly underdeveloped characters. The other is the how the games could use some more content, both during the main story and after it (I'm not at the post-game yet but chances are this will hold true), or at least that what's there could use some more polish (some aforementioned good things are affected by this). Both would likely not be problems if Game Freak would stop releasing a game every year, giving them time and resources to deal with these issues.

Part of me really likes something about Galar and SwSh and think that maybe it has some potential, but I really can't ignore its faults either. The ideal thing would be to not see a Pokemon release next year because Game Freak is finally putting more time into a game, but I don't really expect that to happen, so I at least hope that they don't pull a Gen 6 and just drop them after release--a 3rd version or versions for Sword & Shield would still almost certainly be better than nothing, since 3rd versions have always been the better ones for any given region.

/ramble

 

[PokemonMasterRy]

I've gone through each game fully twice so far and there are some goods and some bads certainly. I've turned off the BG music completely and turned off the battle animations because watching the same 10 second battle animation for a move over a thousand times gets kind of tedious after a while. The Dynamax Pokemon dens are definitely a point of irritation since playing single player, I'm stuck with 3 other NPCs. Well, the NPCs' Pokemon die against 5 star Pokemon in a way that seems like it needs to be corrected. Even if you do a huge amount of damage, that Pokemon has forced shield points making there are least two battle checkpoints, so, you have to do enough damage to compensate for the ineptitude of 3 other computer players and that is pretty infuriating so far. The story-line seems pretty solid. I really like the wild area and how open it is.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

I am only at the 6th gym, but know what happens..... so.... what do I think about it.... well let's say this.... if it takes me longer than a week to finish a Pokemon Game's main story, that already should say something. Much like Let's Go, I not enjoying the games very much. Heck I enjoyed Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon more. So why is that... Well.....

Raid battles are useless when not training. They are a more annoying version of a wild encounter that takes far more time to do. You get 1 chance to catch a pokemon and if you fail, it runs. If the idiotic computer players faint, it runs.

The game is plagued with old pokemon early on to the point where I am forced to use older pokemon, which I don't like in a new generation. Hardly any Pokemon can learn TMs early in the game it seems like to me. I am just glad some older pokemon I love, I was able to catch in replace of newer pokemon. Newer pokemon are just spread out too much.

A number of new pokemon were useless until they evolve. Like with both Applin and Toxel are useless until they evolve. One in which you can't evolve until you don't need it. The fossil pokemon are the most terrible pokemon I have ever seen. Concept great, but stupid. Even the Dex entries says how dumb they are.

There is WAY too much talking. The only person I enjoyed talking to was Sonia. We fight Bede way too much, hardly having any encounters with Marne, but perhaps that changes when you get to her brother's gym.

The designs for most things are terrible. And some things you do are useless. It doesn't feel rewarding to explore every house like it has in past games. Like at one point, you get a letter to take to some one in another town. Like 'Ooo I wonder what you will get" and when you actually turn it is, you figure out the letter was from a ghost that died years ago, but that is all. A useless bit a lore that has no connection, unless of course, a legendary event pokemon connects it at a later time.

Some environments were awesome, others not so great. There is no post game, as expected, except for a small quest to catch the legendary pokemon.... that.... had no connection to the main story.

Now for Wild Area, which concept is awesome, but empty. Yes when you connect, you get food by talking to people you see, but that is all. It is so laggy that half the time you don't know who is around you. You can't connect to raids with people, because the ques are so slow. There is no reason to go back unless you are training, which becomes useless at times because the candy you get isn't the greatest. And camping just seems like a useless feature. From what I have seen so far, there are no games to play with them like other types we have had.

The TMs.... why.... most pokemon you can sue, or ones I tried to use couldn't learn a single TM even though they should have been able to. It is just so annoying... TMs just feel useless to have. TRs are ok, but again, why.... why make them a one time use? To give us reason to go to raids because they knew if they didn't there wouldn't be a reason to go back.


Now for the somewhat positives. I love a lot of the new pokemon. I love that there are a lot of Ice types. Some are terrible, others are great like always. However, some of the evolution methods and pokemon are just eh.

The best thing in this game is customization. But why in the world do we get new jerseys that we can buy, but can't use them in the gym battles....

To me, this game is maybe a 5/10, Better than Let's Go, but very very far from the best. Because of laziness.

 

[PokemonMasterRy]

There are a number of things about your post I agree with. In comparison to for example Pokemon Gold and Silver ore ever Black and White, these new games are lacking in some oomph which is why I hope they maybe are planning to add something more to them later on? If not, these are far from the best titles in the series.

 

[Nah]

maybe are planning to add something more to them later on?

Chances are that Game Freak/tPC/Nintendo are not likely to directly add anything to Sword and Shield. In the time that they've been giving patches to the games (so since XY), pretty much all they've ever done for updates is bug fixes, and there's little reason to believe that they're suddenly going to break from that mold. So any additional content or balance changes or such will come with a (probably likely) 3rd version(s) for SwSh, rather than through providing an update to the already existing games.

 

[Évie1]

I have 120 hours in the game so far. I started the game really depressed, most of my favorites didn't make the cut. I was still salty about ultramoon and ultrasun, which were lazy copies without a lot of new plot, just a few new wild pokemon to catch for apricon purposes. But I am absolutely amazed by sword and shield.
The story itself was great for a pokemon game, not as good as colosseum or gale of darkness were back in the gamecube era, but still. You feel awesome fighting in those gyms. The soundtrack is great.
And it's the complete opposite of sun and moon. After the first gym badge I already had 50 pokémon in my dex. Because you can explore so so many routes. There's no rotom blocking your path. There's a few roadblocks ofc, but they feel more natural and subtle.
So... if you can somehow arrange yourself to play without the full dex, you will absolutely love it.
There's also been a lot of gameplay changes for comfort. The eggmove thing, changing nature, in battle and in traveling it's a lot smoother.

 

[Golisogod]

I wasn't too upset about there not being a national dex, the lack of better graphics compared to 3ds, etc. But so far I'm mostly disappointed in the new pokemon they just don't give me the same vibe as the rest of the pokemon world.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

After finally beating the game, which I actually enjoyed at the end, I want to add some additional stuff. I may echo what I said.

I loved how the League was set up. I have always wanted to be up against trainers in a tournament style thing. However, I wish they had added more friends or rivals so that we battled people aside from Gym Leaders who knew who actually finished the gym challenge. A lot of the character in the Opening Ceremony had unique models, but never showed up. I figured they would play a bigger part, not even during routes or anything, which I think would have been nice.

Marne didn't have enough screen time compared to Bede, which was really annoying. Her brother had more screen time than she did it felt like. I would have also liked to have battled Sonia at least once. I did like how Hop changed his team, even though he was never a problem.

I loved how we battled along side the Legendaries against Eternatus. However, I would have liked to have learned more about Galar's past. I haven't done Post Game Story, so maybe we will get more enough, but the history of the Galar region just took a back seat which was really annoying for me. I wanted to learn more about the heroes... at this point I am wondering if Az, Truth and Ideal Heroes, and the two heroes in Galar are the same people. It seems odd that 3 regions had brothers that have fought one another around the same time period. Which brings me to this, why do the heroes of the story have to be brothers? Why can it not be a brother and sister. Both sisters. Or friends? We have had no ancient females have any spotlight, but again, maybe it is because all the brothers are the same pair?

Eternatus..... why did it have to be from a meteor? Deoxys and Mega Evolution all came from the meteor... can they not think of something else...

TMs, I couldn't find many TMs that are normally sold like Thunderbolt. Perhaps I missed a store, but I haven't seen Thunderbolt or any other TMs like it sold. I do like how we got Fangs and Punches on the store though.

Lastly, no connection to other regions at all. How was Kalos and Unova not mentioned? I think maybe I seen Kanto and maybe Unova mentioned once and I am pretty dang sure I spoke to every NPC in the entire game.

 

[PokemonMasterRy]

The game is arguably based on explainable fact the least best entry into the Pokemon series so far. It has pretty new and solid graphics but I've already 99%'d both games twice and gotten rid of them since waiting in line at Gamestop that fateful night when I got the games in the first place. I honestly am not a fan. It irritates me that they just kinda vomited out these two games because like many other disappointing titles these days, I was really excited about them initially. But the Pokemon creators seem to have, with this game, taken 20 years of game-making magic, and forgotten all about every detail. I've already fully beaten and re-sold both of these games back to Gamestop. Just go ahead and stop and think about what you're doing the next time you're playing one of these games. Let the memories of the games like Gold and Silver mull over in your mind for a minute and you'll understand the way I feel about Sword and Shield. Thanks Pokemon, really happy about the fact that to actually play MP with any other real life player it takes the strength of a WiFi connection (since the Switch dock doesn't have an Ethernet port) that most people don't have in their household to be able to connect with others. I really like how you also decided not to put a single cave or building worth exploring in the game at all, or any location for that matter. It's pretty much a straight line through the game from gym to gym with the exception of the Wild area which takes about 20 minutes to get through if you just ride everywhere from the start on your bike...

 

[Bellsprout]

I beat the game. While playing I compiled a list of things I liked and disliked. Also I did not play Let's Go, so if I give something credit here that originated in Let's Go my bad.

Pros:
- I enjoyed the soundtrack a lot.
- I love how berries are handled now.
- Breeding is much faster/not as tedious now.
- People actually recognize you as you continue to do well in the gym challenges.
- I like the atmosphere of the region.

Cons:
- It irked me to no end that you can't move the camera outside the wild area. The way this game looks makes me think the camera is movable so I was constantly moving the joy stick to look at things from another angle just to remember oh wait I can't.
- There is quite literally nothing to explore. Even the wild area is just open area with no hidden secrets or reasons to continue once you've seen it all. I actually laughed when I finished the game and I opened the menu for it to say something along the lines of "The Galar region is open to explore!" Explore what exactly? It's disappointing when you end up in a really cool area or city and there's nothing to actually do or see there. Glimwood Tangle and Ballonlea come to mind. Spikemuth was by far the most disappointing place in the game.
- Routes are very short/nothing inbetween gym challenges. I'm not someone who catches a ton of Pokemon so all my exp. comes from battles. I had to start grinding after Stow-on-Side to keep up because there weren't enough trainers to battle. There are barely any inbetween towns/cities to visit which made the whole thing feel rushed at a certain point.
- Internet in the wild area is horrendous. Practically unplayable at times.
- Removal of the GTS.
- Some battles take place clearly within a city but the battle background is like you're out on a route... come on man.

Not a full pro or con just thoughts:
- I actually kind of like Hop? I don't want to punch him in the face every time I see him like I did with Hau.
- I felt like my Pokemon could barely learn any of the tms or trs I had.
- Gigantamax being so rare made it feel more special, but at the same time actually getting a gigantamax Pokemon I wanted proved to be so time consuming I gave up, making the feature pointless for myself. I WAS EVEN CHEATING TO GET ONE and just gave up.
- Confused why team yell was even labeled a team. Just have them be Marnie's supporters and drop the whole team thing for a region.... or forever would also be fine by me.
- Pokemon Camp is an addition I can do without.

 

[bobandbill]

- Confused why team yell was even labeled a team. Just have them be Marnie's supporters and drop the whole team thing for a region.... or forever would also be fine by me.

While I largely agree with your post, this one I especially agree with. There was no need to call them Team Yell; they could have just been the Marnie Fan Club or somesuch. Marnie Maniacs, maybe.

 

[Nanusmightyena]

So, I was really hyped for these games. But ultimately, I was very disappointed. The story was trash, the characters were cardboard cutouts as far as personality wise, the landscape of the Galar region is depressing to me, the story is way too short, there's virtually no post game story, and the graphics are quite bad. Still, it's not a bad game, not really a good one either. It's kinda just meh. Despite me not being a particular fan of the game I still get a kick out of people sperging out about how bad it is and them basically protesting Gamefreak.

 

[faf]

Since I've beat the game, I can probably give my two cents.

The story was definitely lackluster; Hop annoys you even 2 seconds, Leon is constantly on your throat how undefeated he is and how Charizard is the best, Team Yell is a huge step down from what made Team Skull charming, and the overall plot just felt it was scrambled with no thought at all. Not to mention any of the characters got barely any development. I was basically mashing A throughout the entire story (I am a fast reader so I got a lot of the information despite skimming).

The presentation is alright. While some of the towns look stunning, many other parts of the game looks unpolished; bad textures (besides the N64 trees, the rocks and grass to name a few), empty battle backgrounds, background changes in battle when you are in a different area (i.e. battle on a big bridge but the background shifts to plains), pop-ins are constant and a nuisance, scaling of models (Wailord and Eternatus), the crammed spaces in battle, and the exploration feels limited and empty (cities, routes, and dungeons are all linear). Besides some of the new move animations from the new Pokemon, the Pokemon animations are laughable because they are all copy and pasted from games on the 3DS, a huge slap on the face since someone's favourite Pokemon most likely got cut for the "better animations" excuse. Pokemon in the overworld is a welcome change but they all feel lifeless except when they interact with your trainer. The cutscenes feel like a step down from the Gen 7 games and it's 2019 why is there no skip cutscene option yet? Luckily, the music is solid and fits the atmosphere well; it definitely gives me Gen 5 vibes.

As for gameplay, I still had some fun with it since it is a Pokemon game at the end of the day and I do not feel the whole Pokemon formula needs to change because that what makes these games basic, timeless, and charming; there's nothing wrong with them always being turn based RPGs, I love turn based RPGs. However, I did not like Dynamax one bit, it's far too busted and it doesn't add to anything. If anything, Mega Evolutions should have returned, while it did make some Pokemon broken, it helped make some more Pokemon viable. I haven't touched the game in a month (except for a trade and mystery gift) but apparently the post game is kept to a minimum. QoL changes are definitely a welcome change.

Overall, I felt the game was average at best. I didn't think it was as bad as I anticipated but I do not think these games are praiseworthy either. I feel the franchise deserves a better Pokemon game to match with the quality of other games for the Switch.

 

[Nanusmightyena]

Since I've beat the game, I can probably give my two cents.

The story was definitely lackluster; Hop annoys you even 2 seconds, Leon is constantly on your throat how undefeated he is and how Charizard is the best, Team Yell is a huge step down from what made Team Skull charming, and the overall plot just felt it was scrambled with no thought at all. Not to mention any of the characters got barely any development. I was basically mashing A throughout the entire story (I am a fast reader so I got a lot of the information despite skimming).

The presentation is alright. While some of the towns look stunning, many other parts of the game looks unpolished; bad textures (besides the N64 trees, the rocks and grass to name a few), empty battle backgrounds, background changes in battle when you are in a different area (i.e. battle on a big bridge but the background shifts to plains), pop-ins are constant and a nuisance, scaling of models (Wailord and Eternatus), the crammed spaces in battle, and the exploration feels limited and empty (cities, routes, and dungeons are all linear). Besides some of the new move animations from the new Pokemon, the Pokemon animations are laughable because they are all copy and pasted from games on the 3DS, a huge slap on the face since someone's favourite Pokemon most likely got cut for the "better animations" excuse. Pokemon in the overworld is a welcome change but they all feel lifeless except when they interact with your trainer. The cutscenes feel like a step down from the Gen 7 games and it's 2019 why is there no skip cutscene option yet? Luckily, the music is solid and fits the atmosphere well; it definitely gives me Gen 5 vibes.

As for gameplay, I still had some fun with it since it is a Pokemon game at the end of the day and I do not feel the whole Pokemon formula needs to change because that what makes these games basic, timeless, and charming; there's nothing wrong with them always being turn based RPGs, I love turn based RPGs. However, I did not like Dynamax one bit, it's far too busted and it doesn't add to anything. If anything, Mega Evolutions should have returned, while it did make some Pokemon broken, it helped make some more Pokemon viable. I haven't touched the game in a month (except for a trade and mystery gift) but apparently the post game is kept to a minimum. QoL changes are definitely a welcome change.

Overall, I felt the game was average at best. I didn't think it was as bad as I anticipated but I do not think these games are praiseworthy either. I feel the franchise deserves a better Pokemon game to match with the quality of other games for the Switch.

This is all pretty much how I feel about the games too. If they would do quality over quantity they'd be fine. For some reason they have always felt the need to release a new game every year.