Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield (2019, Switch)

[bob]

Those starters look whack.

[MindFreak]

Was definitely pleasantly surprised, it looks good, and rewatching the trailer only made it better. Those final shots, walking onto the field, looks awesome. 

I like the starters, good designs.

[Ronnie]

It's nice to see a proper 3D game with full camera control (you would hope) but at the same it still looks so dated. I know a lot of Japanese dev studios have really lagged behind the West in that aspect but I was hoping for a bit more. I wish Game Freak would hire new staff or get with the times from a technical pov. Gameplay looks to be the same thing as it always is too. Walk past a stranger, have them ! and then engage in a battle. Meh. Will we also have "All your Pokemon got experience thanks to XP Share" pop up after every. single. battle. too?

5 hours ago, Shorty said:

Surely nobody was expecting Let's Go to be anything that derailed the direction of the core games?

Not sure if sarcasm? That's all we heard for a good year or so, over and over.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Ronnie

[Goron_3]

Agreed @Ronnie. I've just finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and going from that to this....just wow.

My main problem with Sun and Moon is that they never felt like adventures. The world felt incredibly tiny and the entire game design felt about a decade old. This feels similar. A Xenoblade 2 model for world design and encounters would have worked wonders for this game.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Goron_3

[Ronnie]

2 minutes ago, Goron_3 said:

the entire game design felt about a decade old.

You've basically described the whole Pokemon franchise, imo. The same decades-old design being rehashed in a new area over and over, every couple of years.

The IP is so huge it sells like crazy so they don't need to do anything different, but man it feels like such a waste of a franchise.

[Shorty]

21 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Not sure if sarcasm? That's all we heard for a good year or so, over and over.

I don't really subscribe to Pokemon discussion, but that seems crazily short-sighted not to see that Lets Go was little more than a tie in to Pokemon Go, least of all because it was set in the first region with only one generation of pokemon, and was announced after they had said they were already working on a new mainline title. Well, that's not really a can of worms that needs opening but I'm glad a year or so of poor assumptions have been proved wrong.

[Julius]

Watched the Direct a few more times, and have had a good look at the map; here are some things I spotted/thought were worth mentioning:

• Galar certainly seems to be based on Great Britain, but very rearranged (unless Galar is kind of a flipped  Great Britain?). 
• Looks like our adventure starts at the very bottom of the map, in the house slightly to the west, judging from the colour variety of the fields found in the opening shots of the trailer. 
• What I assume is the Grass-type gym (the stadium with a leaf symbol and a green background for it -- though it could also be a feather for a Flying-type gym?) is located around the middle of Galar, slightly to the west, judging from the golden fields located just south of it.
• The main character doesn't appear to have a Switch dock?!
• Those foggy woods look awesome!
• There seem to be railways connecting many of the settlements, and there are trains running. I spot one in particular connected to the settlement just past your house (the one seen beyond the Route 1 sign in the trailer), leading into a tunnel located in the hills/mountains, emerging west of the lakes, seemingly connecting to the major industrial city we saw in the trailer, as well as in other areas of the map. Would be great if we got to use them!
• Benches make their triumphant return!
• Creeping up on wild Pokémon seems to be back in some form, as we see the female main character doing this.
• Backgrounds for battles are very detailed, with route signs seen in the background when the male MC throws a Poké Ball. Great to see them push that a bit further.
• Seeing some ladders in the backgrounds of some of these battles...wonder if we can climb up them?
• Pretty cool ripple effect on the screen when transitioning to battle.
• The focused line of sight when nearing the line of sight of a trainer from Sun and Moon seem to be gone, as there isn't one seen when the female main character locks eyes with a trainer. This battle seems to take place just before the northeasternmost building situated prior to the hilly/mountain range which stretches from west to east, as made evident by the purple roof.
• Game Freak logo hidden in the background of the stadium when Lucario is on-screen, just below the floodlights? Neat Easter egg!
• Speaking of which, the stadium in which Lucario is battling Tyranitar looks like it could be situated in the northernmost settlement, judging from the size of the crowd and the stadium's colour palette, beyond the snowy area.
• The multi-coloured emblem above the screen when Tyranitar is shown made me think it could be the home to the Pokémon League, or the eighth gym, but looking at it again...it kind of reminds me quite a bit of the Battle Frontier emblem? Probably a reach, but thought I'd mention it, because taking another look, it looks to me like the Pokémon League might be actually situated in the area with a large tower located just south of the large crater/wall, just above the middle of the region.

• It looks like the settlement beyond the wall and snowy area to the north is actually connected by train to what I thought looked like the Pokémon League.
• This area actually has a tower (based on The Shard?), stadium (Wembley?), what looks like the House of Parliament and Big Ben, a wheel based on the London Eye... @Glen-i, I'm really starting to think that that's a Battle Frontier!
• Assuming that the stadiums are gyms, I think I see six on the map? I imagine the other two are located in the larger cities, and its quite hard to distinguish 
• Move animations unsurprisingly look much better across the board.
• Partner Pokémon following you does not seem to be making a return.
• We've got mines! They're reminding me a lot of Sinnoh's Underground and Glittering Cave in Kalos...there are mine carts too.
• Just to the west of the settlement where the Grass-type gym seems to be located, we see white grass depicting what looks like a legendary Pokémon? The small white Pokémon around the larger Pokémon really remind me of the kodama from Princess Mononoke and their relation to the Forest Spirit. The larger Pokémon looks like it is blowing a cloud which is giving off electricity.
• We see the main character in some type of sports uniform? Given the focus on stadiums being a nod towards Britain's history with football, maybe we join a team of sorts?
• Doesn't seem like there is a controllable camera -- if there is, I don't think we saw it used, outside of what looked like cutscenes/in-engine promo shots?
• Seeing as we see the starter Pokémon in CG in the main industrial city, maybe this is where the professor is located? Could just be for some good-looking shots, though.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Julius

[LazyBoy]

Disappointed, but not surprised. I can forgive a lot, and I'll almost certainly pick it up (my first Pokémon since sapphire). But amongst all the outdated aspects of this game, the biggest missed opportunity is the scope of the levels. This is a game where a core gameplay element is searching for these monsters, and yet again all that actually entails will be walking back and forward over the same patch of grass over and over again. Why can't we actually hunt for these creatures, stalking through woodland or wading through marsh land. BoTW made hunting animals fun, and that was just one minor facet of gameplay. 

As said above it's just laziness and lack of ambition. Open worlds are expensive, so let just cram the players into the same corridors they've always been crammed down. 

Is there any franchise as continually frustrating as Pokémon when it comes to the possibilities? Where's my Pokémon MMO?

[Shorty]

Well articulated, @LazyBoy

Similar to you, I'll pick it up because I haven't actually oversaturated my interest in the series by buying every single title, but it's impossible to ignore the untapped potential when you look at worlds and mechanics from Xenoblade, Zelda etc.

[Mr-Paul]

Will wait and see if there's any more ambition shown in terms of gameplay and features... but on first impression it just looks like it's going to be like Sun/Moon, but in a higher resolution. Was looking forward to it being at least a bit more free-roaming, and having the Pokémon actually out in the wild like in Let's Go.

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Ike said:

You'd be surprised at how many people seemed to think that.

I've always maintained that any massive changes will emerge in Generation 9.

Haven't seen any footage yet, but most people here are disappointed, so that's a good sign! Looks nice so far. Like the blatantly British region.

And the water type being a reptile of sorts means I'll probably choose that one, and then use @Ugh first aid to get all three anyway.

2 hours ago, Julius said:

• This area actually has a tower (based on The Shard?), stadium (Wembley?), what looks like the House of Parliament and Big Ben, a wheel based on the London Eye... @Glen-i, I'm really starting to think that that's a Battle Frontier!

Don't you do this to me, man! OR/AS's blatant middle finger was too heartbreaking! Can't go through that again!

[Glen-i]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

You've basically described the whole Pokemon franchise, imo. The same decades-old design being rehashed in a new area over and over, every couple of years.

Ahhh... Spoken like someone who doesn't know jack about how Pokémon games have changed over.

I mean, I made a whole massive thread dedicated to showing why this view isn't accurate.

At this point, I think anything short of making it not a Turn-Based RPG won't satisfy some people.

Anyway, I've watched the footage now, looks solid so far. Just the stuff I like to see. Plus, only having Pikachu show up as far as Gen 1 Pokémon go is a good sign.

Cautiously optimistic so far.

[Tim B]

It looks f*cking amazing^ ! Hopefully we will get to see more at the Treehouse Lives this evening onwards from the Nintendo NY store.

^ from the very little we have seen

Edited February 27, 2019 by Tim B
Clarification

[Aperson]

I'm not too sold on the starters though I am leaning towards the Grass starter. However I picked Grass for White 2, Y AND Moon so I don't want to go with the Grass starter again for Sword (I think I'm getting Sword) so the Water starter is overdue for being picked, HeartGold and SoulSilver aside as I got both games well after they were considered "new".

 

Quite a bit more was revealed than expected, and the region is based on the UK so I can finally explore the UK and catch Pokemon in a format that's probably going to keep my attention more (aka, not Go!)

 

I'm going to try and not get too into following the games this time because new trailers influenced my team composition for the last two Gens and I missed out on some really good picks for my main team on both occasions as a result. For instance, on my Moon team only Araquanid was something I decided on while playing the game, Decidueye, Raichu, Lycanroc, Salazzle and Bewear were Pokemon I really wanted to find.

 

I kind of want to be able to go off what I find a bit more while keeping the more unique and interesting team compositions I've had over the past two Gens, but I'm so glad I skipped out on Let's Go for this.

[Ronnie]

14 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Ahhh... Spoken like someone who doesn't know jack about how Pokémon games have changed over.

I mean, I made a whole massive thread dedicated to showing why this view isn't accurate.

At this point, I think anything short of making it not a Turn-Based RPG won't satisfy some people.

Anyway, I've watched the footage now, looks solid so far. Just the stuff I like to see. Plus, only having Pikachu show up as far as Gen 1 Pokémon go is a good sign.

Cautiously optimistic so far.

The fixed camera angles, the corridor based world design, the walking past a random person and a ! appearing, the same vacant looking character trainers, picking a starter Pokemon from the same three types, the walking through the same tall grass to be ambushed by wild Pokemon etc, starting off in your house, probably with your mum downstairs to see you off before you meet a professor and your rival etc etc... It's just the same game over and over. And yes I'm sure there's differences once you dig into it, but the overall design of the games have stayed the same all this time. Maybe Sun and Moon changed things a bit by not having gyms but overall it all just seems so formulaic. I think a lot of people wanted a BOTW style shake up to the formula, something completely different but it looks to just be more of the same, with HD graphics.

And technically speaking I'm watching the trailer again and it looks an absolute mess. Shadows flickering like mad, muddy textures, and the whole thing looks like it runs at 20 fps (at most).

It just seems like such a waste of one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Ronnie

[Julius]

1 minute ago, Ronnie said:

The fixed camera angles, the corridor based world design, the walking past a random person and a ! appearing, the same vacant looking character trainers, picking a starter Pokemon from the same three types, the walking through the same tall grass to be ambushed by wild Pokemon etc, starting off in your house, probably with your mum downstairs to see you off before you meet a professor and your rival etc etc... It's just the same game over and over. And yes I'm sure there's differences once you dig into it, but the overall design of the games have stayed the same all this time. Maybe Sun and Moon changed things a bit by not having gyms but overall it all just seems so formulaic. I think a lot of people wanted a BOTW style shake up to the formula, something completely different but it looks to just be more of the same, with HD graphics.

And technically speaking I'm watching the trailer again and it looks an absolute mess. Shadows flickering like mad, muddy textures, and the whole thing looks like it runs at 20 fps (at most).

...so I take it you won't be picking it up, then? 

Edited February 27, 2019 by Julius

[Ronnie]

1 minute ago, Julius said:

...so I take it you won't be picking it up, then? 

I was hoping to want to, but nah, I doubt I will.

I played X, and I feel like I've had 90% of the Pokemon experience with that.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Ronnie

[Glen-i]

9 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

The fixed camera angles, the corridor based world design, the walking past a random person and a ! appearing, the same vacant looking character trainers, picking a starter Pokemon from the same three types, the walking through the same tall grass to be ambushed by wild Pokemon etc, starting off in your house, probably with your mum downstairs to see you off before you meet a professor and your rival etc etc... It's just the same game over and over. And yes I'm sure there's differences once you dig into it, but the overall design of the games have stayed the same all this time. Maybe Sun and Moon changed things a bit by not having gyms but overall it all just seems so formulaic. I think a lot of people wanted a BOTW style shake up to the formula, something completely different but it looks to just be more of the same, with HD graphics.

And technically speaking I'm watching the trailer again and it looks an absolute mess. Shadows flickering like mad, muddy textures, and the whole thing looks like it runs at 20 fps (at most).

Most of that is just superfluous. Visual spectacle that doesn't actually amount to anything meaningful. That's not what I look for in a Pokémon game. The battling and the collecting is what changes over time and that's the most important aspect to me.

I'm sorry you didn't get your BOTW moment with Pokèmon, but Game Freak is still a small company. It's just unrealistic to expect that kind of scale for a game as ridiculously complex as this.

Also, X/Y is definitely the worst mainline core series. Like, you couldn't have started any worse.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Glen-i

[Mokong]

go fire for my starter and Scorbunny looks cool, look forward to seeing what his evolutions look like.

Only thing that disappointed me from trailer is wild Pokemon are not roaming the map like they were in the recent Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee games.

 

[Tim B]

Gosh, I don't get how everyone is picking their starter Pokémon already. Don't you want to see their evolutions etc. first? I certainly haven't rushed to make such a vitally  important decision so soon.

[Glen-i]

1 minute ago, Tim B said:

Gosh, I don't get how everyone is picking their starter Pokémon already. Don't you want to see their evolutions etc. first? I certainly haven't rushed to make such a vitally  important decision so soon.

Reptile supercedes everything in my book. And I'd prefer to keep some Pokémon a surprise if possible.

Also I'm getting all three anyway.

[bob]

I'm sorry you didn't get your BOTW moment with Pokèmon, but Game Freak is still a small company.

Couldn't they hire a few more people? Their bank balance could probably stretch to it.


The rest of the game looks ok. Having not played a mainline game since the Gameboy Colour, I am interested in trying this. Still think the starter Pokémon look like amorphous blobs though.

I wonder how many catchable Pokémon there will be in it? How does it usually work, do they have just the new ones, or a smattering from all the old games?

[Dcubed]

Finally got to watch the trailer...

 

HOLY SHIT!! IT LOOKS TO BE AN ACTUAL, PROPER POKEMON GAME!!!!!

 

It’s not Let’s Go!? It’s not Pokemon of the Wild!?!!?!?

 

 

HALLEFUCKINGLULIAH!!!!!

 

OMG!! It’s a proper sequel to Sun/Moon!! NO BULLSHIT!!!

 

 

I’m so relieved!!! I’m so happy!! Pokemon isn’t dead after all!! 

 

And holy shit!! The visuals look AMAZING!! It looks to be exactly what I was hoping for!! How did Game Freak pull it off!?

 

And it looks like real Pokemon gameplay is intact!! (From what little we can glean from the trailer).  Pinch me! I must be dreaming!! Against all odds!!!

 

Her wish came true!

 

While it’s far too early to make a call on the really important stuff (level/game design, battle system, puzzle design, sidequests AKA, the actual gameplay stuff that matters); I am ENOURMOUSLY impressed by this trailer!!

 

Game Freak have hit a home run with this trailer!! The game is officially on my radar!! There is hope for Pokemon again!!  

 

Now we’ve just gotta hope and pray that they’ve listened to the complaints about Gen 6 & 7... No more cutscenes every 5 seconds, fix the battle system game balance, bring back Rotation and Triple battles! Get rid of the incessant handholding and horribly stringent linearity! Give us level design that is interesting again! With interesting puzzles, world building, sidequests that actually matter!!

 

From what little we’ve already seen, it looks enourmously promising! And no Genwunner pandering in sight!!! Let’s hope and pray that it brings back the glory days of Gen 4 & 5!!

 

The fact that I can at least hope for that is a tremendous step forward!! I can actually get excited for a Pokemon game again! 

[LazyBoy]

53 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Most of that is just superfluous. Visual spectacle that doesn't actually amount to anything meaningful. That's not what I look for in a Pokémon game. The battling and the collecting is what changes over time and that's the most important aspect to me.

As someone who has skipped a couple generations, how has the collecting improved? 

Also where would I be able to find your thread you mentioned where you discuss how the series has evolved? I wouldn't mind a read. 

[Ike]

You could tell it's based in Britain by the caot the female character was wearing.  Can't wait for the constant rain. If there's no Pokemon based on tea/a kettle or something then I'll flip a table.