Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 1 Hour Ago
Posted 1 Hour Ago
39,254 posts
16.6 Years
SwSh are far and away the most controversial main series Pokémon games we've ever gotten, and it's no secret that there are loads of things being said about them online. Those who have played some of the games already, what are your personal thoughts? Have they exceeded your expectations?

Couples-Consoling

Husband and Wife Nuzlocke Let's Players!

Male
New York
Seen June 30th, 2020
Posted June 27th, 2020
213 posts
3.8 Years
Thus far? We're kind of having a blast. There's some stuff to be cranky about, but that has been discussed before and will be discussed more later. Right now, we're enjoying the fact we have a new adventure. The thing I'm most enjoying is the world building. Without giving too much away, making the gym challenge such a big event, by upping the scale of everything involved, this really feels like something that just makes SENSE within the world of Pokemon. It makes the whole social dynamic of it make a lot more sense, imo. Like, we stay in a hotel! That's such a small detail, but it's IMPORTANT! I just wish we could've seen our room!

Rengoku

炎えん柱

Age 31
Male
Taishō-era Japan
Seen 2 Weeks Ago
Posted January 2nd, 2023
1,484 posts
13.7 Years
I would say those who hated SM/USUM for their storyline will dread the loooooonnnggggggerrrr cutscene even more here.
But the cutscenes are still good, as they contribute to the hypes building up as you move along, though it doesn't feel like Pokemon any longer to me, hah.
I can't believe I've only made it to the second gym after playing the whole day when I could complete SM/USUM in 1.5 day.
"However, if you bare your fangs at innocent people, my bright red flame blade will burn you to the bone!."
Female
Seen April 18th, 2022
Posted April 18th, 2022
532 posts
12.6 Years
I'm enjoying it so far, have been playing since yesterday and haven't even got to the 1st gym yet (oops) as I've been playing around with the Wild Area (will the Pokemon here scale to my level?).

Hop is very annoying, a worse version of Hau. His animations are so irritating, I've never wanted to hit a child before...Leon has no personality other than "gets lost" which is shoehorned into every interaction...and the protagonist still only has 1 facial expression...

So far so good though! Enjoying the new wild encounter mechanics
rip lady diana
people's princess
gone but never forgotten

Elite Overlord LeSabre™

On that 'Non stop road'

Age 97
Shimoda City
Seen 2 Weeks Ago
Posted January 25th, 2022
9,705 posts
15.5 Years
Graphics are fine, not cutting edge but a definite improvement over the 3DS games. Really don't like Hop or the constant cut-scenes, I want the freedom to explore and not be tied down by annoying NPC's. If anything ruins the game for me, it's gonna be Hop showing up every 30 seconds.

Customization options are top-notch so far - the big draw for me.

Elite Overlord LeSabre™
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Male
Tennessee
Seen 3 Weeks Ago
Posted 4 Weeks Ago
5,620 posts
13 Years
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.
Galar
Seen January 25th, 2021
Posted December 12th, 2019
163 posts
3.5 Years
After 45 hours + on the game, I think I can say it's very underwhelming compared to what I really expected, especially for a 60$ Switch game.

+ New Pokémons
+ Art direction
+ A good first step in the right direction with the Wild Area
+ Trainer customization
+ Various quality of life improvements
= OST (a few are very good though)
- Weak story with bad pacing
- Some minor voice acting would have been good
- Never challenging for the player
- No real exploration
- Game is too short
- Poor post-game content
- Technical issues
- My boy Hop

Maybe I should have buy Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order instead. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Female
Seen February 21st, 2020
Posted November 20th, 2019
6 posts
3.6 Years
Love it. Been a Pokemon Fan for nearly 20 plus years and I love this. I think it is a start for something grand. The hate comes from primarily Toxic fans who have this entitlement that they need everything they want. I am mainly talking about the extreme haters, the ones who refuse to even buy, purchase pokemon and spend hours going around anyone and everyone who plays the game. I have seen so many people go after those who love the game etc.... If you don't care for it, that is fine. I don't mind because that is an opinion, but when you go toxic, that is a problem. As for me, I love it so far and plaining spending hours collecting pokemon and creating my character's look.

Taemin

MOVE

he / they
USA
Seen January 6th, 2023
Posted December 9th, 2022
11,196 posts
17.8 Years
I haven't played yet but I am popping in to say that I love hearing that some people are pleased with it so far! It got so much hate that it made me wonder if any hype at ll would still be left when it released. If anything, I do hope this builds up to the third game being a big improvement based on the feedback from SwSh !!


I can't leave this spot that's empty without you
It's an area that no one else can fill
The night's never gonna be the same.

SHINee - Area

paired to Palamon

PageEmp

I can’t do money puns. It just doesn’t make any cents.

Male
with an axe
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted 4 Weeks Ago
12,445 posts
7.8 Years
Not bad so far. Some parts even exceeded my expectations at some points, and my hype for these games were already massive to begin with. I already didn’t really care about not every mon being transferable since I’m only playing to have fun.

So tldr, it’s alright so far and some parts even exceeded my already high expectations. So far all my complaints are more related to my Nuzlocke rather than the game.
I… might put something interesting here eventually.

Phyrrhic

It's not very effective...

Male
Colorado
Seen September 29th, 2021
Posted January 27th, 2020
115 posts
5.8 Years
Seems like the only universal positive to many people is the trainer customization... who would have thought :P

I started a temporary save on my friends spare copy of shield... Unfortunately my preconceived assumptions of what the game would be like are coming true, meaning that it is a poor game.

Regardless of subjective opinions on game-play, I can say the following issue objectively:

-Graphical fidelity/assets/performance are remarkably poor, especially when compared to equally marketed and budgeted switch games like Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey. It performed like a resolution-upscaled 3DS game, and even still framerate is sluggish, and hardly breaks 25fps in quiet areas, and pop-in is horrendous.

-Why no touch screen capability?

Subjectively:

-Wild area is a neat concept, but seems incomplete; after a few hours the excitement, seeing the same few Pokemon got old fast.

-Although I have yet to get to the point in the game where i would like to see some of the older 'mons (endgame), the absence of Pokemon whose assets are already complete, and freely available on the internet is extremely frustrating. It reminds me of recent AAA games on other platforms that have been released in the past few years who put pre-existing content behind paywalls, or included in future paid DLC, and makes me apprehensive that GF will take similar steps.

Regardless of your opinion of the cuts, the threat of Pokemon forcing this monetization policy on the consumer is extremely problematic, and on a base level, extremely scummy. ADDING content and putting it behind a secondary payment is one thing, but REMOVING content only to repachage it for sale is pathetic.

Even if my assumption is incorrect, and the removed Pokemon will remain so, i have to ask; Why?

The assets exist, and those used in game have clearly not been overhauled.

Space is certainly not an issue, and if somehow it is, the GF code-writers are extremely incompetent for not being able write a simple compression algorithm.

For those who don't care about Pokemon being missing... that's fine, but they don't need to be completely redacted from the game itself for you to not play with them. if you don't like the older Pokemon being in the game, just don't use them. Removing them adds nothing of value to the game, and only serves to limit the enjoyment and player agency.

Otherwise the story/characters seems to be about on par with expectations... meaning that it is certainly not going to be winning any writers guild awards.

The railroading is worse than ever before, somehow surpassing even gen 7.

Gyms are kinda cool, and they fit in interestingly well with the world.

The region itself is interesting to explore.

Conclusion: The game itself seems to have the same polish and thoughtful design as an internal test build. It has some neat ideas needing more work to truly shine, and others that need to be cut altogether. I get the feeling that internal development was chaotic, and the game itself is only half baked (so to speak)

Of course, to those enjoying it... Fantastic, but I think it is important as a fan-base to hold such an acclaimed series to an equally high standard.

Even my favorite games of all time have flaws, and I am more than happy to point them out along with my praise.
3DS: 2938-6132-2090
Switch: 3020-9015-7354
Age 26
Male
in my fridge probably
Seen September 16th, 2020
Posted July 2nd, 2020
175 posts
12 Years
Eh, call me shallow, but I'm enjoying the games a lot. Customization is fun, the difficulty feels right, but that's because I'm swapping Pokémon in and out to adhere to every gym. Graphics are really pretty and expected of a Pokémon game; the most frame drops I've noticed are some of the battle transitions but even then it's not like I'm expecting this game to run like Horizon Zero Dawn. A lot of the streamlining is well-appreciated, like Box Links and more strategic approaches to wild Pokémon. In all truth, the only thing I don't like is the delegation of some standard TMs like Surf, Thunderbolt, Earthquake, and Flamethrower to TR status alongside some of the higher level moves like Close Combat and Superpower, as well as the removal of Toxic and Thunder Wave as TMs entirely. I also am not a big fan of gating off online trading with the NSO, when it could have just been link battles and raid battles. No one with a Switch lives near me and no one else in the house is playing Pokémon, much less owns their own Switch, so local wireless is a bust.
Male
Bristol, England
Seen November 17th, 2021
Posted September 15th, 2021
398 posts
3.9 Years
So far not too bad , the beginning was a bit stop start with hop, still on route one training My pokemon up the exp share although I didn't mind it in previous games is gonna make the game really easy as my levels will be too high, I'm happy surprise trade is in the game which I take is the new wondertrade so catching as many pokemon as I can be bothered too to mess about with that when I get the option too, gutted I have no where to store the pokemon when I finish the game tho so I could restart and do a surprise trade run through

I got to admit I'm loving the wild area at the moment and have got some good suprise trades

Captain Fabio

Age 33
London, UK
Seen November 4th, 2021
Posted November 2nd, 2021
12,193 posts
17.1 Years
Honestly, I've been really enjoying it. The game is *fun*, which is what it's meant to be. The game is, by no means, perfect, but what game is.

I wasn't really paying attention to the complaints about the game before it was released, because I find it unfair to judge something that hasn't come out yet. The big talking point of this is the Pokedex exclusions. I understand why people are upset about it, but I just get the horrible sense of people being spoilt. I'm personally enjoying using different Pokemon that I wouldn't normally use and building a team fresh, instead of constantly looking for things like Beldum, Bagon and so on and sticking to what I know. It'll also make the competitive scene interesting.

It is an enjoyable game, if you give it the chance it deserves. There is a fair amount to do and the Dynamaxing has surprised me. There is a lot of room for exciting events and such with that. The customization is actually nice and something I didn't think I'd care for.

No Pokemon game, or any game for that matter, is going to satisfy everyone, but I think it needs to be given a chance. I am willing to bet that if people hadn't gotten so pointlessly riled up over hating on every and any aspect of the game, people would actually be enjoying it and not looking for shallow reasons to crucify it.

Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 1 Hour Ago
Posted 1 Hour Ago
39,254 posts
16.6 Years
Now that I’m further in the game and can give a proper judgment - I love it. The music has been great (big fan of Wyndon Stadium especially), I adore the characters, and environments/towns/cities look awesome, especially towards the second half of the game.

I’ve been incredibly impressed with the visuals and overall atmosphere around where you finally fight the champion (as well as the events happening at the time), as someone who has just gotten through a lot of story leading up to what I assume is our final battle.

There are definitely things to work on, such as story pacing and better developing the antagonists, but I think these will still be one of my favorite installments in the series. 👍

ShyRayq

Unprofessional Unprofessional

Male
Seen 4 Days Ago
Posted March 2nd, 2023
1,855 posts
15.7 Years
I think it's okay.

The Wild Area is pretty big in my opinion, and I enjoy the overworld pokemon, especially when they're chasing after you. I do enjoy the different pokemon spawns due to weather. I don't really like that the fog weather is locked to the post-game, meaning that about 2-3 pokemon families are completely unobtainable in the main game.

The pacing of the plot is really bad. There are hardly any extraneous towns, only towns with stadiums except the first two towns. Between each town is only 1 route, rarely 2 routes so you quickly progress through the game. Team Skull is almost entirely non consequential, only existing to block off areas you're not supposed to go to yet. Then, after you get all the badges, the game is suddenly like 'Oh wait, we need a plot' and a billion things happen right before the final stadium fights. The reason for fighting the 'actual bad guys' is also really clumsily put in in my opinion and feels really 'shoved in'.

The difficulty is also really strange, due to the pacing. Since there's hardly any content between gyms, the levels are really close together. Then, due to the billion events happening right after the 8th badge, the level curve suddenly goes up a wall from late 40s to mid 60s in the span of about 3 battles. Then the postgame comes at you with 60s as well. I'm not too sure what level a player's team usually is at this point since I spent a lot of the game catching pokemon so I was pretty overlevelled for a majority of the game.

Overall, it's okay. I think even without the dex cuts, it would still be not amazing, which says something about the philosophy of game-making at GameFreak.
3DS Friend Code: 5069-3944-3902
IGN: Peter; (X, Y, OR, AS, S, M, US, UM)
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Big thanks especially to DestinedJagold, Xerneas_X, Elements1, ~RNC~ and ThePoke Man

PM me if you want to trade, or add my FC.
Age 33
Male
KY (USA)
Seen 3 Hours Ago
Posted 2 Days Ago
3,377 posts
18.2 Years
About what I'd expect from a Pokémon game, though I do feel that we got to know the characters a bit more this time around. Not my favorite story, but certainly not "bad." Loved the extra trainer customization options, though I still long for the day we can change our character's height, age, etc.

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 that I wasn't able to squeeze into my Ultra Sun team (namely my Shiny Froslass and Shedinja). We did get Frosmoth though, and I loves me some moths and Ice-types!

I don't really think the games are worth the extra $20 as it stands, but this could be rectified (to some extent) by making Pokémon Home free. It would be ridiculous to pay more, especially when we'll already need a Pokémon Bank subscription to transfer from the 3DS titles.


Avatar by cheerymori

Sheep

She/Her
Australia
Seen 1 Hour Ago
Posted 1 Hour Ago
39,254 posts
16.6 Years
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.
Non-binary
Seen November 4th, 2021
Posted November 21st, 2019
5 posts
9.1 Years
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?
I've witnessed your will... and your spirit!
Male
England
Seen May 12th, 2022
Posted February 1st, 2022
105 posts
7.4 Years
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

Chaos, CHAOS!

Female
The Outer Limits
Seen November 29th, 2022
Posted April 24th, 2022
41 posts
3.5 Years
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..
That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die
Male
D.C.
Online now
Posted 4 Days Ago
980 posts
9.6 Years
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.