Topic: Is Pokemon Sword/Shield worth buying nowadays?

Personally, I'm not interested in get all Pokemon or shiny hunting. I also neither care if certain Pokemon is in the game or not nor care if all Pokemon are in the game. I just go through the story, build a consistent Pokemon team, complete the main game and reach the credits. I only play the post game if it interest me and I think both Sword/Shield DLC are kind of interesting for me. I know all the troubled development cycle Game Freak has which cause the game to feel unpolished and this causes me to think twice before thinking about wanting to get the game. Based on my preferences, is Pokemon Sword/Shield worth buying 60$? What about the DLC? Are the DLC prices worth it?

@NoName404
Well, why not?
I played vanilla Pokemon Sword without DLC.
Only getting certain Pokemon I have interest about since I still prefer Yokai Watch games on 3DS than Pokemon games.

As Pokémon fanatic I play all Main Line/Core games, so for me it is worth it, but everything depends on you. If you extremely interested to play it then go for it.

If you have enjoyed every Pokémon game you have played, you will probably also enjoy Sword/Shield.
It's fun to play through, even if it isn't particularly interesting.

@Rambler aooeal? 🤔

@Rambler hit themself in confusion!

But anyways, to answer your question @NoName404, I would highly recommend SwSh.... but only if you can get the DLC with it. Without it, it's fine but nothing special. With it though, it becomes one of the best Pokemon games ever made. I have over 500 hours in my copy of Shield and have no plans on stopping anytime soon (I'm currently going for a shiny Wooloo as we speak). As for the prices, that'll just have to depend on what you see as good value for money. If you do want to save even the tiniest of money though, I'd recommend going physical for the base game at least since, due to the fact it's nearly 3 years old, it's usually discounted to about €50 at least here in Ireland so I'd assume it would be similar wherever you live as well. The DLC will probably never go down in price so you might as well bite the bullet on that whenever you feel like you really want it.

Oh and if you ever need version exclusives, I've got you covered

I dunno if it was because my expectations were set so low by the internet, but playing through Shield is one of the best experiences I have had on my Switch. People make it seem like it is the DLC make these games, but for me they were just the topping on an already delicious cake. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why this may not appear to some, but to oldies like me, classic, linear, turn based JRPGs (that aren't just SNES remakes) feel few and far between these days, so I gobble up all the ones I can find.

Yes and No? I feel like it was one of those things you're supposed to buy when it comes out. I personally enjoyed it, though it's story can fall flat sometimes. It's also a lot easier than some earlier titles. I thought the music was pretty solid. But I also thought that Bede's character arc was interesting yet they didn't even really expand on it. They just tossed it aside. Though I will say, the ending is rather climactic and that's what brings me back every time. Plus, I love Swordbert and Shieldbert- so yes, if you wanna spend the money, then I think you should give it ago. Though I recommend watching a video or two about the game to see if you actually want to follow through with buying it. I'm sorry that this comment was so long xD

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate it. I have experienced the high and low of the mainline Pokemon games that I played. Pokemon B/W and Pokemon B2/W2 are my favorite and Pokemon X/Y are my least favorite (with its broken EXP balancing). I have a question. Is Pokemon Sword/Shield balanced enough so the levels of your opponents are balanced in mind with the universal EXP share or the game is broken to the point where your team become overpowered compared to your opponents? If the game is as painfully easy as Pokemon X, I want the price to be lower when I buy Pokemon Sword/Shield.

Sword and Shield are great if you're heavily invested in the PvP scene. The singleplayer campaign has quite a few problems, such as redundant key items, underwhelming presentation, excessive handholding for the player, little to no difficulty curve, and a half-baked story.

@SnackPop Remember when they made literal volume adjustment an easily missable item? That was fffffffffffffffffffffffffffun.

I very much agree with all your points there though I will say as well: I've had a great time shiny hunting in SwSh. Ko-ing Pokemon is very relaxing with the ever exciting idea of a Mark (even if the method itself isn't the greatest for quick shinies), Masuda egg hunting is better than it's ever been with the PC being accessible from anywhere and eggs themselves taking less time to hatch than ever (at least from what I've experienced) and Dynamax Adventures are the go-to option for incredibly high odds with a wide variety of Pokemon.

But yeah, to loop back around, SwSh PvP is absolutely fantastic. I like making teams revolving around an underutilised Pokemon with a few very cool niches in the current metagame, like Salac Berry Swift Swim Poliwrath and Trick Room/Shell Smash Turtonator and the tools available in SwSh made it easier than ever to do exactly that.