[Sword & Shield] contrary to popular beliefs, i liked this game

[katsellscards]

idk why it got so much hate its a nice game

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Honestly, I kinda agree. It's not the best pokemon game, but imo it was better than gen 6, excluding ORAS, or gen 7. Unfortunately some things were screwed up, but I actually enjoyed the game. One of things I liked less was that this game is too fast and too easy. Like, I have completing the game without ever loosing all of my 6 pokemon. And it was fast because gyms and story weren't too long and, again, they were easy. Other thing I didn't like is the fact that national pokedex wasn't there. Pokemon is also about collecting pokemon. You can't let a player not have all of their pokemon imo.

On the other hand, there are many things I appreciated about this game. First of all, Dynamax. Totally useless out of gym battles, but the most balanced gimmick imo. I am not talking competitively, but just about the concept and how it was then developed. It just works: mega was only for few pokemon, while dynamax includes everyone; Z moves were for everyone but there wasn't a big diversification among the pokemon. We have Gigantamax for that. Dynamax is the fusion of mega and z moves and i loved it. Competitively, I know some people are not happy about Dynamax, but i don't play at all, so i don't know what to say.

I also liked the interpretation given to gym battles and League. This game is about competitiveness and that's clear from the beginning. I like that in the end the League is just a tournament, it makes sense to me. I like that there are rivals that participate to the rush to become champions and I like that gyms were renewed. They could have done better, but the idea was good. We have never seen gyms where you have to catch pokemon or gyms where u need to do mini games to go ahead. They have always been puzzles. And Swo/Shi has those too. I really liked the idea, but they should have made them harder. However, some of the most enjoyable gyms for me. Especially, most of them felt diverse from others, making them quite unique.

Characters and story. Well, we are still far away from the good story and characters from gen 4 or gen 5, but they were better than the ones in gen 6 and gen 7. The story was simple and maybe short and banal, but that's the thing: at least it doesn't have too many unexplained things. Reading Eternatus pokedex entry also helps in understanding the story. I prefer this rather than gen 7 that ideally had the possibilities to show one of the coolest stories of the entire series, but then most things were unexplained or incomplete. I don't like gen 7 for that too. So, yes, I prefer a simple story quite well done to a "big story" that has missing points. Gen 6 barely has a story, except for AZ's part. Characters were normal, nothing so much. I liked their designs tho and Hop wasn't annoying like Hau.

Raids. They were nice and I actually enjoyed them A LOT. Like, I couldn't stop. I spent so much time on Swo/Shi and honestly it was since gen 4 that I felt like that: wanting to play more and more.

Lastly, DLC. I think those were another amazing part of these games. I think the first DLC is very underrated. I agree on the fact that Armor Island is small and that most quests and the story was quite banal, but I actually enjoyed it. To be frank, something important was added in this first DLC: exploration. I think nobody every says this and probably it's just me, but I have spent some time in that island and it's amazingly divided into small areas that are all well connected. There are only two spots where you can fly and to get to some areas, you have to explore others first. That's something really GOOD. Some areas look quite similar and the quests often push you to explore. I won't lie, I got lost different times. Sometimes you had to follow the raid lights to get to a certain place and that was also fun imo.That was something positive for me because it was definitely needed in a game where you just have to follow a simple road. You can't get lost during the main game.
About Crown Tundra, I liked that as well. Calirex's story was quite good and Dynamax adventures are amazing and fun. In this case, the DLC map was bigger and exploration was ok, but imo easier that Armor Island. I enjoyed how you had to catch Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno, that also have some of the best regional forms I have ever seen, according to my personal taste, obviously. It was some sort of preview of PLA: they had their own way to be caught and it was fun.

 

[ReKoil]

They were good. The sheer diversity of mons you can catch alone was just amazing. The gimmick is kinda meh, but all the gimmicks so far have been.
I'm not that big a fan of Max Raids, as I mainly did them while hunting HA Pokemon and otherwise didn't bother. I do love Dynamax Adventures though, I've wasted way too much time in there xD

The IoA DLC felt a bit lackluster, but Crown Tundra more than makes up for it imo.
The tournament thing instead of an E4 was kinda nice to see. Also liked the idea of version exclusive gyms.
Also Pokemon Camp, I freaking love camping with my mons =3

I don't mind the missing Pokemon as long as they keep rotating it between games, I.e. the currently missing Pokemon can be gotten in the next main game and others will be missing instead. Due to the sheer amount of Pokemon there are nowadays this sort of thing was gonna happen sooner or later. Would I prefer to see them all in one game? sure. But overhauling the current amount of existing mons for each new gen is one heck of task and I don't blame them for the decision at all.

 

[Orion☆]

Having replayed this game recently, I can understand where all the frustration with this game comes from, but at the same time, I don't think the grievances are serious enough to warrant all the hate. Yes, the story and world-building are lacking and most of the main characters are obnoxious, but I have never felt more at ease exploring a region than I did in this game (barring possibly LGPE). I love spending time in the Wild Area collecting resources, camping out with my little (and perhaps not so little) baby boys, doing the Rotom Dakar Rally, and getting unnecessary wardrobe changes.

The art direction for this game is also brilliant - it does eerily resemble the real-life English landscapes! Pity Scarlet and Violet are changing the art style so drastically, because I would have liked to see something similar for those games.

 

[Zeostar]

I wasn't too fond of Sword/Shield, but I understand the sentiment.

Gen 7 is one of my favorite generations despite the constant hatred.

 

[Corveone]

It's easy to understand if you read comments from players explaining what they didn't like and why. Boring map design? Joke difficulty? Dynamax mechanic? Lack of national dex? Underwhelming visual quality? Awful plot that doesn't even start until you're almost at the end of the game? You name it.

There's plenty of things that could be criticized in these and any other Pokémon game, because they all fail at some things that other games in the franchise arguably do better. That's not necessarily hate. The only true way of hating a game is by not buying it, and as far as I know Sw/Sh sales numbers show anything but hate.

 

[Sheep]

I was actually just listening to the OST yesterday and thinking about these games. :') Honestly I look at Galar pretty fondly too despite the flaws; it had some great things even if it wasn't perfect. Raids are fun with friends (just....not NPCs), characters had amazing designs and fun personalities, the music was very very good, I personally loved all the rivals (even Hop lol), and the region itself had some really pretty locations. It's not flawless but really not that bad to me.

 

[Lipstick Vogue]

Main game was one of the worst Pokemon Games I've played but the DLC was great.

Rival, champion and villain all some of the worst of their type. Not being able to move 5 steps without Hop pointing at where to go next was frustrating, just let me play the game.

Side characters, visuals and music saved it from being dropped but damn it was a frustrating game at times.

 

[Megan]

I think they're alright games. Being someone who only knows the base game the only things that really bug me are the sheer amount of cutscenes and the lack of exploration/puzzle solving tools. But those are problems pretty much all the newer games have. ^^"

 

[Midnight Umbreon]

The reason so many people hate on this game is because the target audience was 8-12 year olds, which means that they put less effort into the things that a person in their adult-hood would appreciate. Things like Hop, and the crazy amount of hand-holding.
Music was great though (Toby Fox making a track was insane BTW). I'm more into the competitive side anyway, so personally I really appreciate the work put into making that side more accessible.

Also it had a cold area, so no complaints here!

 

[Sweet Serenity]

The claim that many people disliked Pokémon Sword and Shield is a popular belief is dubious, mainly because many people did enjoy the games. I believe that many Pokémon fans focus too much on other fans criticizing the games rather than considering the large amount of fans that enjoy the games within each generation. Personally, I believe that, compared to every other Pokémon game created, Pokémon Sword and Shield are the third best games, trailing only behind Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, and Pokémon Black and White. My favorite aspects of Pokémon Sword and Shield were the improved graphics because of the power of the Nintendo Switch, the ability to notice and catch Pokémon in the overworld, the gym challenge, the Dynamax feature, and the existence of the wild areas in general. However, my primary complaints about Pokémon Sword and Shield involve the terrible, weakly written storyline, Team Yell as a "villainess" team, the lack of a national PokéDex, and the lack of a day-to-night cycle during the main story.

Beginning with the graphics, the presentation is better than every other Pokémon game I've ever seen and the buildings, routes, and cities and towns, and the overall environments look amazing. Next, regarding the ability to catch Pokémon in the overworld, I enjoy being able to move around in tall grass without having to spray Repel because I can simply choose to approach a Pokémon if I want to catch or battle it. I can also move around freely in caves and on water without random Pokémon attacking me. I also enjoy how fully evolved Pokémon, including those that evolve in trades, could also appear in the overworld, making the PokéDex easier to complete. As a player that loves catching Pokémon, I enjoyed spending several hours catching everything I could find in the wild areas. Regarding the gym challenge, I believe battling Pokémon gyms in these games were the most exciting yet. I strongly enjoy the concept of Pokémon battling as a professional sport and enjoyed how gym challenges take places in a stadium with thousands of spectators as opposed to battling in a normal gym that only a handful of people, if that, could witness. The music made the battles even more lively, along with the Dynamaxing feature. I also loved the Dynamax feature because it is very useful when playing competitively and could help you out of tight situations.

As for the things I didn't like about the game, I hated how weak the storyline was. The game had too many cutscenes in my opinion for a story without many major events. Simply put, the story is mostly you and your rival trying to finish the gym challenge and, out of nowhere, for some reason, the main villain creates a global catastrophe for a very stupid reason. Thankfully, the DLC helped redeem the weak story with more features. Team Yell was extremely lame in my opinion, mainly because they were socially awkward fans of a trainer than a true villain team. I also hated how the national PokéDex didn't exist, resulting in me not being able to battle with many of my favorites. I still enjoyed the game nonetheless and the Pokémon that were available. Lastly, I hated how the day-to-night cycle didn't exist in the main story. It just made no sense to see night-time while in the wild areas, but it suddenly turns day when you leave, or vice-versa, simply for story purposes. That really irked me. Hopefully, generation 9 keeps the traditional day-to-night cycle. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon had many cutscenes as well, but I feel the story justified it, as it had many major events that occurred in the game. Pokémon Black and White, in my opinion, told a much better story overall. Lastly, each of those games contained every possible Pokémon during their times and a regular day-to-night, which is why I rank those games above Pokémon Sword and Shield.

 

[Fairy]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I had loads of fun once I got past the main story.

 

[KalloFox34]

The game's hatedom is a vocal minority for the most part.

The story is indeed pretty weak, but then again X & Y's story wasn't really any better. I don't think they're as good as DPPt or B2W2, but I will take them over RS or SM any day of the week.