[Sword & Shield] Best and worst Gyms

[bobandbill]

Which Gym puzzle did you enjoy the most, and what about the least?

Feel free to share your impressions on Gym Leaders as well. Which game version got the best set?

 

[Drednaw]

Having only played Sword (I originally wanted Shield first because someone IRL was planning on getting Sword but there weren't any left), I can say that I love the leaders we got. Gordie was weirdly comforting during his gym challenge, and fighting Bea was just a lot of fun.

My favourite gym challenge was probably a tie between Gordie's, Milo's and Nessa's. Milo's was by far the easiest, so it was a fun introduction to the concept of challenges, and I love puzzle's, so Nessa's was a blast. Similarly, although avoiding the pits was really tough because the detector was unreliable, I loved navigating Gordie's challenge.

My favourite gym leader in general is Raihan, without a doubt, though I adore them all. Kabu, Opal, Piers, Bea, Nessa, Milo and- yeah, no, they all pretty much tie for second place. This region has the best gym leaders in terms of variety and personality, imo.

 

[Sheep]

Kabu's was really interesting to me, the puzzle was unique/fun and the battle against him itself had me really excited. Piers also....definitely an 'out of place' gym leader but in a good way! I loved how different the atmosphere in Spikemuth was compared to everywhere else.

Least favorite was sadly Nessa. =( The battle against her was fine but the puzzle itself was pretty boring and reminded me of your typical gym back in the early generations.

 

[Flush'd]

It legit took me awhile to get through Nessa's gym puzzle; I thought they were all going to be like that from then on...but they kinda just got progressively easier/less puzzley, which is fine, they all had their own charms, but idk, the 7th and 8th gym challenges seemed pretty low-key for late-stage gyms.

I totally forgot that there were version-exclusive gyms, so I'll have to find some vids or something to see what Bea and Gordie were like.

 

[thedestinedblade]

Kabu's was definitely the most unique. I wasn't expecting my partners to start attacking me during battle, lol. Plus, the guy's from Hoenn too. 😀

The rest of them were kinda underwhelming tbh. Doesn't help that despite having different gym leaders in Sword and Shield, the puzzles are practically the same. But the expressions/animations for each gym leader was pretty good and gave them a bit of character. Selfie dude is pretty great.

 

[Nah]

I thought that overall the first 6 Gyms (in Shield anyway) were one of the better groups of Gyms in the series (particularly Kabu's and Allister's)

But the last two are so very disappointing, you just battle some trainers and then the Gym Leader, no fun puzzle to navigate or anything. Like what happened, did they run out steam or time or something?

I have to say though I would've liked Opal's Gym a little better if they had a better selection of questions and not like...."what does this NPC like to eat" or being penalized for being honest

 

[lillipup03]

I've only played Sword, and by far my least favorite was Gordie. First of all, it's surrounded by cold areas and is in a snowy city, so why is it a rock type gym? It was Ice in Shield, so why did they have to make it version exclusive? The battle against Gordie himself was fine, but it that just bothered me.

Also, Opal annoyed me more than anything. The entire time she mentions she's quizzing for a new gym leader and I'm thinking, "woah, am I really gonna get to be a gym leader of my second favorite type? That's awesome!" And then after the battle she just denies you... come on, you got my hopes up! But I still love the character, so...

My favorite challenge was probably Kabu, having to go against wild Pokemon and getting to catch them was really fun!

 

[Fairy]

Easy though it was, Milo's really made me smile. :)

 

[Zeiro]

My favorite was probably the Rock or Fairy gym. The puzzle for the Rock gym was pretty cool, and the Fairy gym was unique with the buffs and debuffs it gave. I hate Opal though and the fact she changes her rules halfway through the battle pissed me off. I understand they did it for humor, but when she's a Gym Leader and she says she'll give you buffs when you answer her questions correctly, she asks for her age and you say 88 then she says "you're right but that was very rude" and debuffs you, I think that's bad practice for a Gym Leader but whatever.

My favorite Gym battle was probably the Dark type gym tho. It was the only one I struggled with (albeit, barely), and Piers was the only Gym Leader who managed to knock one of my Pokemon out

 

[The Best there was]

I enjoyed Milo even tho it was very straight forward.
Also until I read this topic I had no idea 2 gyms are region exclusive... I played through Shield and I did like the Allister character quite a lot.