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.