Sword And Shield's Wild Area Is About The Size Of Two Regions In Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Says Pokémon Rep

Yeah ok great, but is there anything to do out there? It's not just about having a big space to walk around in GameFreak.

Bigger doesn't mean better which this probably explains why it looks cheap and empty with pop in Pokémon from the ground

They’ve been seriously pushing this part of the game, so I hope it delivers. Ideally they use the Wild Area as a base for how to approach a more open region in Gen 9.

That means nothing, a map could be massive but haveing nothing to do in the map means that its useless. This just makes me less hyped for the game.

This puts a smile on my face. My family and I are going to have so much fun with these titles come next month

I don’t see how people are making this a negative. We know it’s big. That’s good. Now let’s wait and see if it’s compelling to explore.

@Supadav03 welcome to the internet, where people turn everything into a negative. I guess they loved how linear Sun and Moon was (I didn't). From what I've read on IGN's latest preview of the game, the Wild area is full of wandering Pokemon, Max raids to take part in, trainers, merchants and camp spots. Sounds like a dense enough area to me.

What is a "region" in Breath of the Wild? A biome?

Two regions or two WHOLE maps ?

YEEEEEAAAHH!! Jay's getting him a Pokemon game!!!!

@AlternateButtons Humans are social animals and possess a deep-seated need to belong, which is why these online hate bandwagons often get so irrational and severe once something has developed a negative 'buzz' around it.

It's probably best to avoid the comments under Pokemon articles if seeing this behavior upsets you.

Which regions of the BotW map?

If only pokemon games had storylines now...I know I'm in the minority and I can totally see and respect the pokemon appeal, but to me the formula has been dead and dormant for years. Everything about it is too similar, generic, and boring.

@Lizuka No offense, but instead of looking at it with a hot head making a deal out of him 'assuming' about your opinion, you could look at what he said with an open mind, because the guy presents a very valid point.

When a game is bashed upon (especially before release), the bias is very visible when features are announced. He is right, Breath of the Wild was praised to the heavens when they announced their world size but this game? Look at the comments yourself. You have two very distinct examples of why he's right, and yet you detract his statement by saying that he assumed about your opinion and that the marketing isn't working thanks to GameFreak's failing to make the game compelling.

I say wait and actually see until the game is out, meeting it with as much negativity on EVERY article I see on NintendoLife is honestly borderline childish. Just as childish as you bashing down this community for a completely unfounded and dumb reason. Again, no offense.

@AlternateButtons They didn't say anything of that sort. I'm with Lizuka, it's not a matter of Dexit or anything like that. As someone that was pretty vocal about it before, I can say I changed my mind. I'm actually really excited to catch everything from scratch.

As a consumer that tests the water before diving in, people just want to know if this "wild area" thing that's being touted around is up to par. Zelda's team did great despite having little to no experience in open world games - they knew to fill the world with a lot and made even the smallest bunch of trees interesting. Pokemon Co. having little experience with this is something that's easy to worry about, especially since most routes in previous games were bland as is.

I honestly think Pokemon Co. will do good. Berries, # of Pokemon and items usually littered on the ground should be good to implement in an open world format ideally.

@AlternateButtons

And BOTW's land is pretty boring for the most part. Lots of walking/riding; not so much to do.

Same for skyrim. Yay; yet another dungeon/cave/castle that's just the same tiles meshed differently. BLah.

@Varkster The guy has a valid point but not for Lizuka's comment. Buttons seemed to carry over some dislike from seeing Dexit or Pokehater conversations elsewhere and threw it on the guy though he didn't mention Dexit once. Gotta be fair to both sides of the coin.

@invictus4000 Having a Deep Story To Go Along With Both The World And Catching Pokemon Would be Nice But Most of These Games Never Stray To Far From The Formula

Wow. This comment section got really dramatic.

Pokes head in

Pardon me, I just popped in looking for some Galarian cheese. I've heard it goes quite well with some spirits.

@Hobbitgamer I'm highly tempted to resurrect a previous avatar.

I'm pretty sure by "region" they mean each area of the BotW map to get filled in when you activate a Sheikah tower. Obviously it's a very rough estimate, since those areas can vary considerably.

Also, I've been hearing people say that the Wild Area is only going to be the section with the lakes, but based on trailers I've seen, it seems like it stretches north, under the multiple train bridges, and to include that small desert area. It may even go as far north as the icy bay, but I could be wrong about that. Anyway, the more the better - I would have loved it to completely surround the cities and other self-contained zones, but this is a very good start. In all honesty, this free-roaming exploration is the main reason I'm considering my first Pokemon since Red/Blue.

Wow, that's huge ! 😮
Can't wait to explore a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view.... 😁

Pokemon going open world....another reason for me to not care about this series anymore.

@Tyranexx Do eeeet

@AlternateButtons
The thing is look at the times when things released.
BotW - showed off gameplay (cooking, materials, fighting), then casually explained the map size and open world. (Open worlds were kinda getting bad press, huge worlds, nothing to do). First game to sell on switch.

Pokemon - has an open area, showed off battling, curry, and raids, "look at us. Wild Area is as big as 2 areas of BotW". (Open worlds are mostly hated now, because of being big and nothing to do in them. Aside from a few exceptions). One game out of hundreds being released in the holiday season.

I mean, I'm not sold on pokemon anymore (I understand cutting pokemon and don't mind it anyways, I have other grips with it... So maybe I'm bias) but big map doesn't always mean better game.

I cant wait. Not joining the hatewagon on this one

@Supadav03,

A lot of the internet forum posting minorities will hate this game because their mind is already made up, no matter what details are released they will still complain, which is of course their right to do so, but I just feel it would be better to judge the game when it is released.

@Elithal His argument (which I agree with) doesn't have anything to do with Breath of the Wild post-release. While it's true that the Zelda team did succeed in making the world interesting and a living, breathing atmosphere, the key point is that before the game came out there should have been a genuinely massive amount of worrying on the fans part.

As you said, the Zelda team had little to no prior knowledge on how to make an open world appealing, to which I ask you why was Zelda receiving this godsent treatment when the developers bolstered about its size prior to release, but this game is getting the polar opposite..? If you say it has nothing to do with predetermined bias then I cannot agree with you.

I'd argue that, unlike Zelda, Pokemon doesn't need sophisticated open spaces to explore simply due to the much different nature of the game. The appeal of Pokemon are the Pokemon themselves - it is NOT a sandbox game. Yes there can be secrets hidden around in areas as well as side-activities in mini games but there is a much more limited freedom on things you can do and systems you could play with. Putting an over-abundance of elements on the screen at once in an open world space would only make the regions feel cluttered with filler content. This is why the worlds seem like they lack complexity in Pokemon games, it simply has never been the focus.

Oh Breath of the Wild you mean the game where the devs listened to what fans wanted and didn’t hold itself to the OOT formula? When you think about it having all the Pokémon have their voices instead of strange cries is a scarier prospect to Gamefreak than 3D Zelda having a jump button was for its team, the Zelda team actually relished trying new ideas that ended up melding well with the original exploration/adventure concept of Zelda.

Personally I'm looking forward to the game, knowing the wild area is pretty big just adds to my excitement.

I remember people hating on the Switch & predicting its death well into it's first year and it's doing amazingly. I also remember Let's Go haters predicting the end of the franchise.. but the games did great.

Let the haters hate, the more noise they make the sillier they look if they're wrong.

@Varkster Well-placed my friend. I cannot speak for the masses however in my experience the Zelda games were closing in on open world development with the size of the areas in Twilight Princess and Skyward. It makes sense they at least prepared for their open world variant.

I would argue since some people agree with your third paragraph - that Pokemon doesn't require the space or requirements found in open world games - and that causes the worry...and unfortunately people express their worry or doubt with negativity. I think some people see that negativity for what it is, which is fear of the unknown and no good alternatives. Others need to see that, and I don't think screaming that everyone with a neutral or lower viewpoint is a "DEXIT TOXIC GENWUNNER" helps that at all. Hence me pointing out Alternate's unfounded finger-pointing.

@Lizuka lmao you need therapy

@princezorldo As I stated a little earlier, I think the fear and anger people feel is shown as toxic negativity online. There isn't much of a barrier between brain and internet so the very first irrational, emotional thought pops up in forums and comments quickly...which is too bad. Makes for bad discussion and discourse.

this game is only getting BETTER and BETTER with time and i think GF knows it and they're milking it slowly

I’m just here to see people complain about this.

Thats great and all but I really hope they put stuff in there for you to do and discover you can have a world as big as Breath of the Wild but if you put nothing in it and it gets very boring very fast.

@Lizuka Your first sentence made me laugh out loud. I imagined you wearing a pink skirt and stomping and pouting. I wanted the golden goose Daddy! Lol

@Elithal To expand on what I was saying about open worlds a little, there are three kinds of open world in my eyes.

There is the 'Ubisoft' kind where the open area is trashed with unnecessary markers with the sole purpose of padding out the game to have a longer playtime than it needs, with no markers feeling rewarding or anyhow memorable.. Unfortunately even a game like Witcher 3 borrows from this open world design formula which makes the game suffer if you choose to explore it's world. A real shame for Witcher 3, because despite its combat system, leveling and open world design it's a pretty great game.

Then there is the JRPG type - pretty self explanatory, with random encounters, limited quests scattered around and Pokemon has always fit in this category. Needless to say these large open spaces filled with a bunch of mobs can seem artificial and perhaps to some - boring, but that isn't what people play the games for in the first place. Scattering these same Ubisoft objective markers around the map would detract from the experience of the written story and running into random Pokemon. As a reference back to the Witcher 3, that game would have benefited from this approach, as the game wouldn't seem as unnecessarily busy just for the sake of padding.

The third type is of course Sandbox, these games can vary from Terraria, Breath of the Wild, GTA and give you much more freedom and tools to play with. The games can focus much less on story because they have many features making the open world a more interesting "playground" to explore - hence the name sandbox. Sandbox is arguably the better approach to open world as its focus primarily consists of making a great space with players in mind and attention to detail.

It would be unfair expecting this type of sandbox environment in a game with such a different focus like Pokemon, there is very little conceivable ways as of now as to how it could even be possible without messing with the games' core concept and design.

With that I'd like to add that it doesn't mean that the Pokemon world has to lack in detail. I'm curious to see just how much detail GameFreak is willing to add with the additional power of the Switch to the environments to make them interesting. Running on a screen for 30 seconds with just green grass surrounding you would indeed be quite boring, and it would be nice if GameFreak acknowledged that and added extra flair to the environment for those who are willing to look and find it - time can only tell.

@Varkster Agreed 100%. I'm skeptical but hopeful. Honestly I like that empty travel time sometimes as some of the vistas are beautiful. I remember running through Witcher 3's DLC area and taking in the view even though a monster was trying to eat my leg.

Can't wait till the 15th to see how this all shakes out.

@princezorldo You're right I guess we'll all find out next month looking really forward to it.

@Elithal The strong art direction really helped Witcher 3's world, in my personal preference with the time and effort they put into making the world so good looking it makes me wonder what kind of sights they could make with much more limited open spaces like The Witcher 2.

Also if you were referring to Blood & Wine - I wholeheartedly agree. That area looks legit stunning.

I remember my first beer...

Game freak sucks, Pokemon bad.
(Ok its done, where do i receive my cool guy Identification?)

I wasnt a big fan of pokemon games, but seriously this one def. Has my attention!
Looks beautifull.

The more information I get about this game, the more hyped I'm getting.

Yeah, too bad the map in Botw is full of detail, enemies and characters.
Try again, gamefreak.

I’m usually the negative person in these comments, but I’m excited for this game

This begs the question... which two regions in BOTW?

that sounds like it's about the size an area like that should be. The one in Breath of the Wild was too big. It was.... it was so big. This seems much more manageable.

There better be mountain wall scaling and swimming mechanics just like in BotW, and a new added underwater diving mechanic unlockable with the portable tiny tube snorkels (as seen in the anime) and underwater battles, and also a gliding suit to unlock gliding across the fields and air battles, or else all that huge massive space will just be nothing but a huge massive annoying boring chore to travel around...

people really think the graphics in this game look bad ummm wear???? this game will be phenomenal and i will spend hours in the wild area i cant wait less then a month i can taste it nxt November give me diamond and pearl remakes then i could die happy.

I have nothing more to add on the whole open world debate. The comments were entertaining to read though.

Alongside the comments saying size isn't content, I'm still skeptical about this statement.

The image on the header of this article, for example, is the trainer standing near the most southern part of the map looking at the closest city... that's easily over a 3rd of the Wild Area's longest dimension.

My God there is no pleasing you people! I am so sick of this negativity. Stop it. You don't like the game, we all understand, no one is forcing you to buy it.

Frankly I don't buy the "I'm upset because I'm a fan" argument coming from people condemning a games as a boring, bland unfinished trainwreck without so much as playing the game once!

Pokemon has never been about the graphics and fans have enjoyed the series for 20 years despite every other entry having subpar graphics for the system it was on. If you're tired of that, if you're tired of Pokemon - that's fine! but you don't need to attack the game on every single bloody article like it's some kind of holy crusade!

This isn't BotW, your character isn't Link, Hero of Time, it's a regular kid leaving home for the first time. There's not going to be rock climbing or scuba diving and not only is it okay, but it's the right choice by Game Freak. If there is anything like that it will be Pokemon or vehicles helping the kid do something they would not remotely be capable of.

@Supadav03 I think there are just a lot of negative people out there.

My general negativity towards Sword/Shield aside, this sounds like an ideal size.

@NoxAeturnus Dude, you know the wild area is just the route system from the older games right? It separates the town's and dungeons. Basically it's the same as it's always been. You catch stuff and pick fights with children

@Zeuseksy It's not. It's full of beautiful landscapes and basically nothing. A huge issue with botw was for there was to explore in that gameel, there really wasn't that much to do

The Pokémon comments sections always crack me up. Everything is black or white (sword or shield?). They’re so divisive.

And I’ve never played a Pokémon game, ever. I’m trying to find out what’s going on, and what the big deal is, but it’s like a foreign language to me. I don’t even know if Sword and Shield is one game or two? solo or multiplayer? It’s hilariously confusing. But I feel the series is so loved, that I’m missing out on something, so I’m keen to jump in and give it a go ... and then maybe I can get vocal about the dex, map size, and watery something or other...

so is that two great plateaus or two hebras lol

All I hear is, "My fake digital animals aren't the way I want them too be. Wahhhhh!" Sad really. It's just a game people, not your livelihood.

@Deku-Scrub
This makes sense with how Pokemon games have worked in the past. They experimented with Pokemon following you in a small area in Platinum before implementing it fully in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

My takeaway from all of this... the gaming community is freaking nuts.

This games looking great. I'm looking forward to his a lot more then I was with Sun and Moon.

@princezorldo from what I've seen there's just pokemon ( i know that sounds odd but just capturing pokemon is just a bit boring) like Zelda botw was massive open-world game and it was filled with stuff and it looked great! But then you look at pokemon and it just doesn't look as good at filled with stuff, and again there are shrines in botw so why don't they do something like that. I just think that's there's lost potential.

This is not true. I spoke to the Pokémon rep in question last night, and he said his words had been taken out of context. Apparently the Wild Area is about 1.5 times the size of the Great Plateau. They've focused on making sure there's plenty to do in it, rather than size apparently.

i call bs Pokemon always hype up their games and they ultimately fall flat

so this is why they introduced camping. large wild areas means no pokemon centers nearby to heal or resupply. camping is the next best thing.

@princezorldo I just want more from Pokemon since capturing Pokemon is just a bit boring like add something else but I get what you saying

@sword_9mm Wow, what a sour puss. You must hate anything procedurally generated

@isellpixels I read this just as That Boy Needs Therapy came on my playlist

@Jive_Talking

Most of it is pretty bad.. It CAN work but I don't think it works better than hand built worlds.

@princezorldo unless Pokemon is the first game you ever played, one of the first games you ever play and you don't have nostalgia for Pokemon like I never played Pokemon when i was a kid I played it in my teens and every game left me disappointing at how boring, unimpressive and over hyped the games are