Pokemon Sword and Shield - The good and the bad

Author Topic: Pokemon Sword and Shield - The good and the bad  (Read 5861 times)

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
« Last Edit: November 21, 2019, 08:20:02 AM by Goth77 »

they removed over 400 pokemon


I’m completely fine with them getting rid of HMs, they only ever annoyed me by taking up space in the Pokémon move sets and complicating trades. I pretty much agree with the rest though, especially how there’s no real exploring anymore. The games are so watered down but eh I still enjoy em

I’m completely fine with them getting rid of HMs, they only ever annoyed me by taking up space in the Pokémon move sets and complicating trades. I pretty much agree with the rest though, especially how there’s no real exploring anymore. The games are so watered down but eh I still enjoy em
I see what you mean with the HM's, I'm okay with the flying taxi and bike riding on water but yeah the whole exploration/puzzle aspect of the game has dwindled. Like, remember when you had to actually figure out things to proceed to the next gym? Use flash to light a cave, wake a sleeping snorlax with a flute, ect. The small little 'quests' you had to do to get to the next gym made it so much fun

Another thing I forgot to mention on the GOOD list is League Cards, it's cool that you can customize those to suit your character/team

it amazes me how people still play pokemon. every game is mechanically identical to the previous

it amazes me how people still play pokemon. every game is mechanically identical to the previous
well yeah but thats like asking why people still play final fantasy or mario or call of duty it's basically the same game concept just updated/slightly changed features

Imagine if they made a pokemon game with a real time combat system now that would be something. Jumpforce, pokemon edition style battles lol

Imagine if they made a pokemon game with a real time combat system now that would be something. Jumpforce, pokemon edition style battles lol
Pokken


it amazes me how people still play pokemon. every game is mechanically identical to the previous
says the guy who still plays rocket league pretty sure nintendos idea is “dont fix what aint broke” when it comes to the core gameplay loop

It sucks that I've never played a pokemon game
I just can't get into those type of games they feel really limiting to me
I also don't find the story cool tbh isn't it just like generic wanna be the best or whatever and beat champions?

yeah it’s pretty much play for the pokemon more than anything else. the story just gives some purpose to the progression of grinding pokemon levels and hunting for pokemon.

pokemon games have been pretty much stuck since gold and silver/ruby and sapphire cause there's not much reason to expand on the scope of the games or anything, they'll sell anyway
that and the developer's never really been exceptional at making games

idk what nintendo has to do with pokemon (the company itself is separate-ish from nintendo) but it doesn't look like they're the ones calling the shots, the few pokemon games they've actually worked on (stadium and stadium 2) feel bigger than some mainline games in certain aspects
« Last Edit: November 24, 2019, 09:32:20 PM by Superstarxalien »

i liked the pokemon dungeon explorer games, pokemon ranger games, and pokemon conquest for DS they were fun

it amazes me how people still play pokemon. every game is mechanically identical to the previous
bruh this 100%. i completed one pokemon game and now im content