Topic: Pokemon Sword & Shield

Used the online Eshop for automatic download. When I come home tonight I am finally able to see things for myself! Can't wait to see if all the criticism is valid.

Since launch trailer I was on team Sobble, but after I allowed myself to get leaked I changed my colours to team Scorbunny. Loving the final evo!

Apparently the game may have a bug that is causing sd cards to become corrupted.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/11/eek_pokemon_sword_a...

My copy arrived early, so I've had time to put in a good 5-6 hours into it.

And I must say, I'm loving it - definitely moreso than SuMo. As previously mentioned there are some clear flaws - but I think without playing the game it's very easy to focus on the negatives. Things like stiff animations, a bland wild area, some odd design choices, etc., become insignificant when you're sucked into the core world and gameplay. The game has a lovely aesthetic despite some technical problems and I'm really loving the use of UK culture (even the little things like use of "mate"!). And they continue to come up with interesting Pokemon designs. Definitely optimistic about the rest of this game.

@Galenmereth Well, a "bland wild area" sounds like it would be a negative when it comes to gameplay. After all, it's a big part of this set of games.

People criticizing BOTW for the weapon durability system is definitely a very real thing. The draw distance of grass, though? I wouldn't be surprised if people complained about that, but I do find that rather petty. I never even noticed.

Speaking of graphics - the thing with Sword/Shield (aside from the Wild Area, which suffers more) is that the environmental graphics line more up with a GCN era game than a Switch game. Or that is my impression. It is, of course, a step up for Pokemon. I mean just two generations ago, the games were still 2.5D. S/M were an improvement, but Sword/Shield are a lot better. Just... Not quite up to par with the current generation still.

Anyone else read this? I preordered the eshop bundle and was wondering if maybe I should wait to start playing.

@Harmonie I mean, my issue with SS's graphics is that it sometimes looks worse than Colleseum / XD, games that came out on the actual GameCube. I miss having my Pokemon actually to scale in battle, and having set pieces that wow me.

Anyways, glad to hear people are actually enjoying it. Guess I'll wait to see when they patch the save data corruption or provide a workaround before getting it though.

@scubydo the first comment there says it was related to hackers, not the game itself

However I wouldn't say the gameplay in the wild area is bland at all. It's just graphically bland.

Which fits into my point. You don't really notice the graphical shortcomings when you're immersed in the gameplay.

I'm really glad the special Meowth can't evolve. I'd hate to waste his pickup ability by giving him an everstone or something.

And well, it'd be sad to lose the gigantamax form to an accidental evolution.

I hadn't read the article on here, I read it elsewhere, thanks for directing me to the other article that shows that the whole thing is really not being reported properly.

@scubydo FYI, there's since been further accounts of it happening on non-hacked switches that are formatted ExFAT as well (assuming they aren't lying). But Switch's ExFAT implementation has been known to be bugged for years, so it might just be triggering that. While we know the first person it happened to was indeed a hacker, not all reports are supposedly.

Again, take that all with a grain of salt, cause people lie.

EDIT: The Reddit thread debunking this has now been edited to clarify that it is confirmed to happen on non-hacked hardware.

Well, 5 hours into the game and I feel positively surprised. Haters will really pass out on a great revitalising Pokemon experience. It stays close to the core, but it does bring in plenty of features to give it a whole new feel.

Dynamax definitely not as bad as I thought. Wild Area so far great point to really collect and manage a team to your liking early on in the game. I usually have to push through the start of each pokemon-game, but here it feels like the options are already endless!

Think the online feature also deserves more credit than given so far. I mean, we walk around in the Wild Area in a small MMO style, you can see the other people doing their things and join raid battles together.

Looking forward to the next 100+ hours!

@Galenmereth I share your opinions on the game so far. I've previously stated that I believe this will be a solid 8 for me and if the game continues in the same way, I think that's where it will land.

I like that some of the pokémons you encounter in the wild area are at a higher level than you, which makes you want to go back there many times during the game.

So is it doom and gloom personified? Ugh...can't make up my mind. I have like 60 bucks credit at GameStop, but I'm hesitating.

I think a lot of the issues people claimed to have were debunked. Dexiters are gonna be mad regardless. The claims of the game crashing were completely untrue.

Considering you talked about how you're not really a Pokémon fan and you didn't finish the last one you played then you're not gonna miss out on anything. This is just another entry in the series which isn't hugely different to past ones, as opposed to say Breath Of The Wild which took Zelda to another level or Smash Bros which threw everything at you to make the fans happy.

@jump
Sounds good to me - I'm flattered you remember my preferences lol

I'll go for Super Lucky's Tale, I think. Maybe look back to this in a few weeks nearer Christmas.

Pokemon really needs to take some time off. I don't want to see another Game Freak developed game for at least a year, hopefully 2.

A lot of those criticisms seem subjective, and the ones that aren’t are debatable how much they impact the experience. Such broad, vague criticisms can be leveled at pretty much any game.

I think the wild area is excellent and a great addition to spice up the game, and is an improvement as it is optional and was not even present in previous games. The game is just as easy as any other game in the series in recent memory, questionable game decisions is about as vague as you can get, I haven’t had any performance issues and the animations, while not great, are par for the course. I’m referring to the Pokémon obviously because all the other animations like running around are incredibly smooth and controls feel fantastic. I hated how I could only move in 8 directions in the past. Just having full, smooth movement is a very pleasant upgrade.

Shadows are pretty lame. I’ll concede that much. But that’s getting kinda nit picky. This game is a huge step up from what I played in Pokemom X and Sun. And even Lets Go (and I really liked Let’s Go, from what I played anyways).

I also love the QoL improvements. The menus are so fast and slick. Saving your game anywhere is instantaneous. Holding A to speed up text. Obviously the fact you can skip tutorials.

I’m really enjoying this game. Being on Switch is a huge help. The 3DS entries just didn’t do it for me. Playing in HD on the Lite looks so good compared to my previous experience on handheld. I did enjoy Let’s Go, and the catching mechanic. In fact I think that’s one of the most underrated games on the system. But it’s nice to have a full mainline entry with hundreds of Pokémon, normal button controls (though I wish they somehow incorporated the throwing to catch Pokémon as well).

I think it’s obviously not as impressive as a Zelda or Luigi’s Mansion 3, but I wasn’t expecting that given it’s a Pokémon game. They didn’t push boundaries on 3DS and I wasn’t expecting it to on Switch. I’m just impressed it looks as good as it does.