[Sword & Shield] Thoughts on Pokemon Sword and Shield?

I just baught the game today, and I actually really enjoy it. Honestly some of the only criticisms I have for is the textures, and to be completely honest, those aren't even as bad as people make it out to be. I don't mind that the National Pokedex isn't in it. Like, yea, it sucks, but it's certainly not the worst.

My favorite part so far is being able to see how active and spontaneous many pokemon act in the wild. Sure, in Lets Go Eevee and Lets Go Pikachu had the overworld style, but the pokemon in Sword and Shield just feel so much more alive. Anyway, that s just my take on it, how do you feel about it?

I liked Sw/Sh because I like the style of Pokémon gameplay however this one seems to be much more burdened with flaws that I wished I was playing an older game or even something else. Firstly is the cut Pokémon to "make room for improvements" and while my favourite made the cut, many others' favourites are unobtainable. The improvements turned out to be a lie as the graphics/textures look worse than a PS2 game (I've played Dragon Quest 8 recently and that game looks a lot better than SwSh) and therefore will age poorly and the models have been ported from 3DS therefore have the same stance as well as the poor animations. Not to mention, this game is flooded with flaws like there's no incentive to explore the cities and routes because they are so linear and barebones, no moveable camera outside of the Wild Area, the Wild Area feels barebones and lifeless thanks to constant pop-ins and it feels like a golf course, no voice acting during cinematic cutscenes nor can you skip most of them, the story is poor, the gameplay while feeling like Pokémon can definitely be a lot more optimized, the online is horrible and battles have been stripped down to 20 minutes (including animations), and lots more. DLC is a good start but I generally feel they are adding it to "complete" an unfinished game whereas DLC should be there as a bonus to a completed game.

The only reason I occasionally play this game is to host shiny raids.

I had a lot of fun with it! It's easy to get lost in the whimsy if you're not too preoccupied with getting perfect IVs and shinies and all that stuff. I don't think I would spend the money to buy the game again if I lost it or something but I don't regret the time I put into it.

It has a good bit of QoL improvements and there's something likeable about the Galar region, but it also greatly suffers from the series's age old problems in that the world is small and barren, the plot is terribly executed, and it gives you little reason to keep playing after a certain point.

I liked it! fun game. my favorite aspect is definitely the music (especially the battle themes), but I like a lot of the characters too! bede reminds me of silver from johto haha, we haven't seen many rivals with that type of personality for quite a while.

downsides are the wild area (non-isle of armor) since it's so bare and lifeless... the follow pokemon are also quite poorly done/rushed. :( probably my biggest issue lately, they run at such odd speeds and while I guess some of them make sense from a lore standpoint, it's really odd to see them trail so far behind and teleport, or move so fast, catch up to you, stop, and then start moving again. very unnatural. i'm also bummed how a lot of moves were removed for some reason, even though their info actually seems to be in the game.

If we put aside the disastrous marketing campaign surrounding these games, the lies, and the misdirected anger from certain parts of the fandom (excuse me whilst I move a mountain here) I would say that SnS are a below-average blueprint for future generations released in a woefully incomplete state (whether by design so they could sell us back cut content as DLC or because of rushed development is impossible to say really) that offers a lot more hope than it actually delivers as a product.

See, I hated Shield, but I see the potential it has. The Wild Area was utter garbage in its presentation and its execution, but it was a great idea. Raid battles were fantastic and the candies were easily my favourite QoL improvement, but they were held back by the WORST online interface the Pokemon series has ever had...and considering how bad the Festival Plaza was, that is saying something. They didn't include every Pokemon, but as they are patching a lot of them in, this is work they will not have to do for the next games. It had Gen III's narrative again - stripped right down this time - but that's been the case since Gen III, and that probably won't change even when we're on Gen X or whatever.

It all comes down to the next games, really. There is a lot to SnS that Game Freak could build on to make a proper Pokemon title. They cut so many corners with these games it was painful, but they're the first Switch titles, so there is going to be a learning curve. Much as I love the fourth generation, I will admit that the fifth generation (which I loathe) is more technically impressive. Say what you will about the seventh generation, but it is more technically impressive than the sixth in character models alone, never mind everything else. I don't think Game Freak learn from their mistakes, but they DO learn how to work with the hardware...to some extent. Their programming skills are painfully bad, but improvements are improvements. If they take what they had with SnS and build upon it and actually work to improve it, I think they could make a new game that, whilst it probably won't be the best they've ever made, will be a lot better than the trash they've been feeding us for the last however many years its been.

So yes. Bad games that offer a hopeful window into the future...if you're optimistic about Game Freak's capabilities, or TPC's willingness to give them time to actually finish what they're working on. I'm not especially optimistic about either of those things, but there we are.

I thought the games were pretty fun. The controversy didn't stir me in any way. While I did notice that some of the graphics in the wild area weren't up to par (the berry trees, for example), I wasn't bothered by it. With DLC, I do feel the games can be easily improved with time. I do acknowledge the criticism, however.

Pokemon being cut doesn't bother me, either since they're gonna just patch in most of them eventually, anyway, with subsequent updates, so, I have nothing left to say abt that. I do hope though, that the major backlash these games got make Game Freak reconsider it, despite how uncaring I was abt the whole "dexit" stuff.

I thought they were pretty good 3DS games.

Dexit controversy aside, I thought the main campaign was...all right?
I mean, it's the Pokemon formula we've all come to know and love, but that's about all the game has going for it.

I'm not a stickler for graphics or anything, but the visual polish in this game is below what we've come to expect from indie studios these days, let alone from the largest media franchise in history.

Really, I just wish they had taken more time to put out a complete product; if the game had launched with Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra content at base, then I'd imagine it would have had a much warmer reception.

story line. It would have have been better if the dlc content were the base game, like Imported Cheese said. Heck, they could have not bothered with trying to rehash another "save the world" narrative, and just focus on the gym battles like a few other folks suggested. Cause, those were more fun than being dragged throughout the boring plot.

Though, honestly? They could have easily have a slightly better story if they had centered on the fossil pokemon. Those horrible things would have been given less criticism if they were test subjects to see which fossil recreation center could create a powerful pokemon out of different fossil pieces (or eco friendly pokemon that can "clean up the environment" if GameFreak want to stick with the whole climate change narrative that they tried(and failed) to do). It would have also give Eternatus an extra something by having the fossil competition linked to it (cause both centers are only doing this to see if it's possible to put Eternatus together with other fossil pieces). It would have been fascinating, but knowing GameFreak's writing, it wouldn't have been pulled off as well...

Wasn't a huge fan of it, too easy to level up and complete the game and dlc wasn't worth the money the wild area was the best part, it makes ultra sun and moon look better tho and maybe gen 9 will be even worst and make sword and shield look better or hopefully they learn from the mistakes made and listen to the fans and improve the next gen. Hopefully we get a gen 4 remake to the standard of Hg/Ss and all will be forgiven lol