34
« on: November 21, 2019, 08:28:19 AM »
Pokemon Sword and Shield are Game Freak's 8th Generation of Pokemon games released for Nintendo Switch
I bought Shield, played and beat the game - now I want to talk about it.
THE GOOD:
Character Customization - being able to change the appearance of your trainer has been long overdue, it's epic that we can finally customize our trainers to a degree.
New Pokemon - This is really what generation 8 is all about, introducing new pokemon and moves. You may recall there was a bit of criticism from some people about the starter pokemon, but personally I feel that Gen 8's pokemon and moves are pretty good
DynaMax and Gigantamax - A cool new feature that allows you to supersize your pokemon. Of course it can only be used at select "power spots" or certain battles, but it's pretty neat. Certain pokemon can 'Gigantamax' which is a special more powerful variation of Dynamax that looks different
3D Open World - Explore the region in a 3D Open world! Well....not exactly....but it's still a big step up from previous pokemon games. If your playing online in the wild area you can see other players or visit their camps, or take part in max raid battles together
Pokemon Camp - I think the pokemon camp is neat, and cooking for yourself and your pokemon is quite fun. It was epic the first time one of my pokemon evolved after a delicious hot curry in the cold mountains. I felt like a better cook than Brock - now I know how he evolved Geodude into Graveler!
The game was generally fun. I had a great time exploring the Galar region. Now onto the flip side of things....
THE BAD:
Not enough character options - The clothes shops sell different clothes, but all the barber shops offer the same haircuts and hair colors which is very disappointing. You can't change your battle uniform or number either. Another thing is bike helmets - I noticed females have black helmets and males have white helmets....why? We should be able to change the bike helmet color or it should at least change with the bike uniform selected
Starter Pokemon Shiny Locked - STOP SHINY LOCKING POKEMON GAME FREAK it's really dumb
Animations - Some of the animations are really good, but some of them are exceptionally poor. For instance, when my Cinderace uses double kick he literally just does a quick short hop in the air.
"Open World" - The game is not 'open world' like you might think. The only part of the game that is true open world is the wild area. If the whole map, towns and all was like the wild area it would be AMAZING. Unfortunately, this isn't the case which makes exploring limited and somewhat disappointing.
Pokemon Camp is lacking - While I like the concept of the pokemon camp, I can't help but feel like it is missing some key things. It would be cool if the pokemon camp was more like a portable 'secret base' (remember those from ruby and sapphire?) Secret bases were cool because you could decorate them and in a sense 'customize' your area. While you can change the color of your tent this just isn't good enough. It would be great if we could decorate and customize our pokemon camp more
The game is too short - The storyline is not near long enough and the map is way smaller than expected. Sure, there are a few post game things to accomplish but after that, nothing. I guess you could ride around in the wild area and finish out your pokedex and currydex but really the main game was disappointingly short and easy.
No need for HM's - Remember cut, fly, surf? Those moves you needed to progress through certain parts of the game or discover hidden areas later after you go back and revisit them after obtaining said HM? Well we might as well flush those forgeters down the toilet because these games don't use them. Oh sure you can still use these moves in battle, but they cannot be used outside of battle for any purpose. This removes a key feature of previous generations and makes the game too easy. Now we have flying taxis and bikes that ride on water...just...wow..
No online communication - There is no way to communicate with other trainers online. We need some sort of quick chat system or something. How the hell am I supposed to tell someone what ingredients to use for cooking or tell them what pokemon to trade me, etc. Also, there should be an easier way to trade items other than having a pokemon hold onto it and then trading said pokemon
MINOR ANNOYANCES:
Online rank battles - you can't use 'special pokemon' ex: legendaries
No poke'mall - What the heck? Seriously I expected at least one of the towns to have a poke'mall of the sorts. Whatever, no big deal I guess.
TO SUM IT UP:
The game is fun, but it's lacking in several areas that are preventing it from being a true gem