Article: Pokémon Sword and Shield - over before it's begun?

[Arcaneum]

Following some analysis from VizionEck, it seems that the E3 Treehouse has caused quite the upset within the PokéCommunity. More information in the article, what are your views on the whole Galar Dex debacle?

 

[colours]

all I have to say is... yikes.

this perhaps is not going to bode well for their holiday sales at all assuming this carries on until then with nothing but silence from Game Freak.

edit: my opinion on the matter. of course an outrage this grand of a scale has not happened before, so maybe sales of the game won't be impacted at all. we'll see whether or not this outrage would grow to such that it would affect things.

 

[blue]

they've received such a heavy backlash on this decision to the point where every post they make on social media now is flooded with "bring back the national dex." reviews and sales will take a hard hit because of this alone for sure. it'd make sense for them to push the game back to 2020 but i have a feeling it's not as easy as that.

 

[bobandbill]

It is one way to send a message to companies! Not surprising, but we'll see what comes of it... They have some work to do to recapture goodwill from the older community (younger players won't know or care, tbh).

 

[#1TrubbishFan]

Are you serious with this? By my count there are now three threads with this same topic. I'm at a loss for words. The reaction of this community astounds me.
I don't mind this change, but that's clearly not the case for the rest of the community. I know that even if I can bear to leave my living dex where it is and don't consider "catching" them all an achievement, if those things are important to others then they are right to be upset with their removal. What I can't abide is not buying SwSh because of this.
SwSh should be able to stand on it's own merits without previous gens propping it up. SwSh is providing a grand pokemon adventure on a scale never before seen. Boycotting it because of the treehouse is illogical because it's pokemon home that's imposing the restriction, not SwSh. If you want to vote with your dollar, boycott home instead.
The reason I'm not content to buy this game and leave it at that, aside from other fans missing out, is that SwSh absolutely must sell more than LGPE. If SwSh underperforms, Gamefreak might release more games like LGPE and cut the budget of future mainline titles or even cancel them! That might not be realistic, but the possibility scares me.

Also, most disliked game of e3? How did you write that without laughing? Not that SwSh is good, but the competition reached new lows.

 

[Taemin]

I still wonder why ppl are being such babies over this?? Just enjoy the standalone game until we get a national dex in time. Yeah, it's kind of a drag, but it's not a game ruining one? Like??

 

[Sheep]

they've received such a heavy backlash on this decision to the point where every post they make on social media now is flooded with "bring back the national dex." reviews and sales will take a hard hit because of this alone for sure. it'd make sense for them to push the game back to 2020 but i have a feeling it's not as easy as that.

Definitely not as easy. It's very likely not entirely on Game Freak on when they can release these games, since schedules need to align with the anime, merchandise, TCG, and other releases, which are pre-planned together with the games. They definitely can't so easily do what Animal Crossing developers did and push the game back because of all of this.

 

[Raicheot]

I don't mind that it's not transferable straight away as it give me a chance to try out the regional pokemon but at some point hopefully not too long in the future it needs to for Replaying, breeding, competitive battling.. Etc

I don't think it's just down to the dex why people are not happy, speaking for myself I'm not happy that being on the switch they had the ability to take pokemon to the next level and I don't think they have seems not that much better than sun and moon graphics wise, and the game play doesn't seem that much more advanced, wasted opportunity for fresh start on a better console

 

[Taemin]

Didn't I read that they said in time all the mons will be available anyway?? Or was that not confirmed? If it's not then the backlash makes a bit more sense, but still, ouch. It should be a given that all gens can transfer over to newer gens somehow. x_x Palamon just told me there would be no patches for Swsh?

 

[Palamon]

I think the whole thing about not having all the Pokemon in Sword/Shield available is kinda heartbreaking, but I'm not upset about it. It won't ruin the game for me.

I've heard from various people that they're not going to patch the game later to add the rest of them, so I pray that the Pokedex is at least 500 Pokemon big. =/

I also think their reasoning of "people will be upset if there's not a new Pokemon game every year" is a stupid ass reason, too. I wouldn't mind the game being delayed to 2020 if it means you can transfer all your Pokemon from older games, not just the Galar dex, but. I digress.

 

[Sugar-Fable]

Didn't I read that they said in time all the mons will be available anyway?? Or was that not confirmed? If it's not then the backlash makes a bit more sense, but still, ouch. It should be a given that all gens can transfer over to newer gens somehow. x_x Palamon just told me there would be no patches for Swsh?

They said they have no plans to patch them in like they did with SM, that's why people are so upset.

 

[Ninetales]

I've never transferred pokemon before and I honestly don't even know how to so this doesn't bother me whatsoever.

 

[Sheep]

Are you serious with this? By my count there are now three threads with this same topic. I'm at a loss for words. The reaction of this community astounds me.

It's not just this community; it's the Pokémon community as a whole. I can understand being frustrated with the amount of discussion on the dex in the general fandom right now (you're not alone, I guarantee you), but this is the first time in two decades that a main series Pokémon game dex will outright not have some Pokémon coded into them. Our members and Daily staff are entitled to create observation and opinion articles like these during such controversial times for the fandom, since many of us have such strong thoughts on them. I'd recommend just posting elsewhere if you don't like these discussions, or voice your side like you did in the next part of your post. Here on PC we understand some people are fine with there being a limited amount of Pokémon in the games, and we respect that.

anyways I'm honestly surprised yet not to see the dislikes going up so much, but at the same time am mega happy Animal Crossing is doing so well.

 

[TailsMK4]

I also don't have a means to transfer Pokemon...nor do I have any to transfer, anyway. I've had to be content with just watching videos on the latest games (I own a Switch, but getting games is a huge investment and I figured since some of my favorites were not in Let's Go, I passed on the game). The only way this would affect me is if my favorites do not pop up in the game. So I don't understand the backlash to this, other than people are going to have to get Home to transfer to future games? I think this backlash is more directed at Home rather than Sword and Shield since right now there will be Pokemon that have no means of getting used unless they are Gen 1 or are in the Galar Pokedex.

 

[Janp]

I'm glad that people finally don't protect anything GF do as it might finally push GF to make the games better. But that will never happen, right?

 

[colours]

I'm glad that people finally don't protect anything GF do as it might finally push GF to make the games better. But that will never happen, right?

Depends on how loud the backlash is.

While no doubt Game Freak has made very questionable decisions, a lot of fans have more or less accepted things are the way they are (prior to this controversy) because at least they have control over the way they play their games. The graphics aren't the greatest, and people were growing tired of features constantly being cut, but it was tolerated because the foundation of what made Pokemon what it is remained untouched.

It does seem that along with everything else that has annoyed some fans a bit over the years, this was the straw the broke the camel's back. I think there's justification for expecting better of developers, and it remains to be see what will happen to Pokemon games moving forward after SwSh quality-wise, but for now, the most anyone can expect is a patch which is highly unlikely to happen, anyway.

I am a proponent of holding the developers to account, though. This isn't a mean-spirited thing to do as long as one does it respectfully; consumers do have a right to vote with their wallets and their voices (bad reviews and such is not good for optics) and TPC might pay quite a bit of attention to those. But who knows.

 

[bobandbill]

I'm glad that people finally don't protect anything GF do as it might finally push GF to make the games better. But that will never happen, right?

Ah, well, that would be ignoring times they had made imo truly great games. HGSS is an example, given its director said in an interview that he purposefully tried to put as much content into the game as possible, and wanted it to be more than just a remake. Ah, bless Morimoto... I'd like to see him direct a game again.

Didn't I read that they said in time all the mons will be available anyway?? Or was that not confirmed? If it's not then the backlash makes a bit more sense, but still, ouch. It should be a given that all gens can transfer over to newer gens somehow. x_x Palamon just told me there would be no patches for Swsh?

As others stated, all we know is that they planned to only allow Galar-dex Pokemon to be able to be sent to SwSh via Home. There are no plans otherwise, although the hope from the fanbase is to change that by voicing complaints - e.g. by disliking the video - so that they retroactively add in support for it via patches post-launch. As it stands, though, you can't transfer anything outside the Galar dex to SwSh.

Are you serious with this? By my count there are now three threads with this same topic. I'm at a loss for words. The reaction of this community astounds me.
*snip*
Also, most disliked game of e3? How did you write that without laughing? Not that SwSh is good, but the competition reached new lows.

Adding onto what Sheep said - we merely reported on what was a separate way to view it, which was the neat study that guy on VizionEck's forums did. (It goes well beyond SwSh alone, and also considered most liked and 'loved' videos for games at E3). The article is primarily on that study, rather than the announcement itself. The link is merely because it's largely why the video got so many dislikes.

 

[Whim]

I still wonder why ppl are being such babies over this?? Just enjoy the standalone game until we get a national dex in time. Yeah, it's kind of a drag, but it's not a game ruining one? Like??

But mate, the consumer is the one to define what can come as a game ruining issue or not. When we talk about money, it's up for the average consumer if it's good enough to buy or not. I'm not surprised that it took these proportions because of what Sheep just said. It's not only the "Dexit" - as they call it now - that hurt alone what people want from the game. We've been living in the last three generations also a serious issue with developing features that always comes and goes when many of them should have been better thought instead of simply being out in the following generation. I'm one of those people who are thinking twice before taking the decision to buy the game because, seriously, I'm worried about the direction the game direction has been taking. Go on the internet and show my opinion of why I think they should give the Pokémon back to the game or just keep/end any feature is the only way of them knowing what I, as a consumer, want for the game. I'm not even really worried about transfer, seriously. It is a much bigger problem, although you're not forced to agree. But it really is important for the pokémon community as a whole to understand that the decision to not support some actions took by the game developers don't make us less of fans or not. Neither less gratefuls for what we have. We're just doing what we should do if we're unsatisfied with what the game has to offer until now. Because we want it to be better (whatever I also don't think anyone should be too offensive about it). Is there a chance I'll change my opinion about how I want this game? Sure. But that won't keep me from telling what I think they should have done.​

 

[Taste of Tea]

This really needs to blow up in their faces. I just hate how they think that fans will swallow their mediocre games with a grin on their faces, and it makes me happy to see [most of] the fandom fight back this time.

 

[Nah]

Sword & Shield will survive.

Pokemon games have always sold very well despite whatever happens. Game Freak pulled this move before, and Ruby/Sapphire still sold as well as any Pokemon game after the first two generations has. Black/White was, around the time of its release, a very hated Pokemon game, yet still brought in the typical sales numbers for main series Pokemon games. Sun/Moon, despite legit being an unfinished beta version of US/UM, still sold well too.

For as many people who are angered by Game Freak's decision, there's as many people who are not and will still buy the game(s). I know I'll still be buying a copy of Sword or Shield. I probably shouldn't, given that SwSh is likely to be the same unpolished rehash bait-'n'-switch that Game Freak has been giving us since Gen 3 that I and others have gotten very tired of and I should just wait for the inevitable announcement of Pokemon Laser Sword and Pokemon Energy Shield, but I'm probably also mildly insane. The fact that some Pokemon are not in the game, period, does not bother me personally. I don't really breed or competitively battle anymore (and if I ever make a return to it, it will be almost certainly be exclusively on Showdown/battle sims), so outside of a few special Pokemon that I'd like to use forevermore, the decision does not particularly affect me.

Which, for those wondering why this is such a big deal for some people: a lot of people have reasons important to themselves for transferring (large numbers of) Pokemon to the next generation every generation. Some of those being for breeding/battling purposes, or they're just really attached to having a specific Pokemon/species of Pokemon always available, among other reasons.

Pokemon has long sold off of its name alone, and I don't think that even this will change that (though we'll see what happens). If Game Freak's smart (from a purely businesses standpoint though), they will patch the game. Not with all the remaining Pokemon though. Just a handful every couple of months to bait people back into playing or buying the games because their favorite(s) are now in the game, and give (potentially false) hope to people, make them think that maybe one day the Pokemon they want will make it back in (even though it might not). Then can also claim that they "listened to the players" despite not exactly really giving what people wanted.

They are also fortunate that they announced this now instead of much closer to release. Gives people time to simmer down, as well as give them time to reveal other things that might entice them into buying SwSh.