Video: The Latest Pokémon Sword And Shield Video Shows A Railway Town Up Close & Personal

"We're putting everything into developing these games"
Well, I can think of one thing that isn't being put in...

Looks good to me. I am looking forward to this games. I also get the backlash and wished for more. I just hope gamefreak will expand so that they can make even greater pokemon games.

Those graphics looking subpar. I’m sure you’re “putting your all” into this game, though.

Putting their all in this game and this is what we get.

I don't get all this hate for the graphics. I think this is a really great looking game, and definitely the best looking 3D Pokémon game by a long shot.

A lot of people are complaining about the phrase "Putting their all" into this game, when they don't even consider the fact that the game has been in development for just 2 years, and even less than that since half of the development time was spent working on Pokemon Lets Go. So if this is the result of almost 2 years of development, then they really are putting their all into this game. As a frame of reference, Smash Ultimate took 4 years to develop, Breath of the Wild had took around 5 years to develop (Keep in mind it was delayed) And Metroid Prime 4 has been in development for 2 years, before getting scraped and is now restarting development. So yea, a game of this quality in just 2 years (Keeping in mind Pokemon Lets Go Development alongside it) does show that they have put a TON of effort into this game.

I can't wait! It is the first time I preordered both games in the series(Sword and Shield). This is all the first time version differences are so different. I normally start with the fire type, Sword fire, and Shield will probably be the grass type. Scorbunny and Grooky, I wonder which will be better. Shield I will replay to see how Sobble will be. Are you guys getting Sword or Shield, do you know who you are getting starterwise yet?

The new games continue to look very nice. I really dig the proper sense of scale now; feels much more like you're an actual person running around this world.

From what i watched, looked like the camera angle was much like FF X at some specific places (Fixed camera angle) but it will be full 360 degree at Wild Area.

Never been to the UK, but trains here in Japan are freaking amazing. I haven't missed owning a car at all. (sold my car before moving here) Anywhere I want to go, I can just walk to a train station and take a train. Japanese trains only really have issues up north in winter, or during typhoon season.

As a kid I was weirdly entertained by the train in Pokemon Gold and Silver. I hope they actually use the train in Sword and Shield and it's more than just decoration.

Kinda hoping we get some sort of Battle Tram thingie or something else fun with the trains - not using them for SOMETHING would be a missed opportunity, but strictly for travel... Yeah no, flying is king.

Would still have preferred a delay to 2020 and all Pokémon making it in, but eh, I'm itching for some Pokémon so bring it Game Freak!

@sevex It really is a great looking game.

I'm guessing people were expecting some sort of hyper realistic 5D 4k UHD experience with graphics similar to Death Stranding...

Aka something that's so incredibly not Pokémon that it would be another franchise entirely.

I think the Galar region appears to share likenesses to The UK.

Where is Griffindor?

One of my favorite things about the more recent Pokemon games is the smooth geometry of the world and how the jump from being grid-based has really allowed the terrain to shine through. I doubt they'd go as far as to reimagine regions in that manner for the remakes, but either way - it's looking solid. Definitely better than X & Y and on par with Sun & Moon, though in hindsight, I don't think I'd rate them as highly as I would've before.

I've only ever beat a Pokemon game once, but I'm going to buy Shield to support Game Freak as they've been through a lot of s**t lately... even through I didn't like it I don't regret my purchase of Giga Wrecker as it's supporting Game Freak.

Spoilers!

The train is actually the Hogwarts Express. And it’s going to take you to Hogwarts. And you’re going to be a wizard instead of a Pokémon Trainer.

I hope they bump up the texture resolution at least, there's some serious PS2/GameCube era texturing going on here...

@sevex Mainly the issue I have with the graphics isn't because of the graphics themselves. I mean, I still play the GBC games. It's that they were apparently the reason they can't fit in all the pokemon, and it doesn't show. Yes, they look better than Sun and Moon, but compared to other console pokemon spinoffs, and DEFINITELY compared to other switch games, I feel that they don't stand out enough to justify them being the apparent focus.
Sun and moon had animations and models for 807 pokemon, with walking animations that went unused for ALL of them. A jump to a stronger system without those extra animations should not result in having fewer pokemon, updating them in later should be possible if it's a time issue, they should have been future proofed already, and future entries should not encounter this issue. However, Game Freak has all but confirmed USUM were the last games to have all pokemon.

If you don't have any niche favorites or don't catch all of them, or feel it's unbalanced, that's fine, nothing against you, but it should be an option. And don't say it's a balancing issue, most of the games restricted when you could transfer pokemon, nobody was starting Diamond and Pearl with a level 100 Rayquaza like everyone argues.

Looks good! Nice to see that Gamefreak has finally scaled the world properly

Looks better than the other clips we have seen, but im still hopeful for more detailed texture renderings on the finished game.

Also no idea why people are boasting about preordering both copies. all you do is jump into Pokemons lazy/complacent hands. Pokemon should be doing more to comply with loyal fans expectations. They aint going to that if half of the buyers end up buying two copies regardless.

@patbacknitro18 Exactly! This is the thing that I think a lot of people don't seem to fully understand. I've seen people say they wouldn't mind waiting longer for the game, and I agree, but as much as we older fans don't like to admit, these games are primarily for kids and young teens and they are still going to sell like crazy because of that demographic. So if Gamefreak spent 2 or 3 more years on development (not to mention significantly more money) it probably wouldn't be worth it for them because the game wouldn't sell that much better anyway.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how much this "boycott" affects these games but I have a feeling these will sell just as well as previous Pokemon titles.

@Fandabidozi nooooooo really? I thought it was inspired by Nigeria.

@business-scrub Pokemon hasn't been marketed for kids in a long time. The huge chunk of the demography are people with 18-32 yo. Just because this game don't have current gen graphics, doesn't mean it was made for kids, it's the worst argument ever.

@Noid they sure are going thru a lot of s*** because we decided to stand up and demand better products... also sitting on millions of dollars lmfao. GF obviously need your help, sure!

Art direction looks slightly more "together" than in the reveal footage. That makes me hopeful.

@sevex To be blunt: Thank you for concisely typing what I want to say each time I drop into a Sword/Shield article these days. Some of the complaints are valid, but that doesn't mean the game is automatically dead on arrival.

@Heavyarms55 I loved using the train in GSC. It was weirdly relaxing for me. It might've had something to do with the travel music.

I've also had a strange fondness for trains since I was a kid, though that doesn't extend to when I have to wait on a very slow one.

@stuartc because some people are happy with what we’re getting and want both games? Is it really your business if someone buys something that they want? That’s how capitalism works and it’s never about what one group of people wants, it’s about whether enough people want a product to justify selling it. Many fans ALWAYS bought both copies, this isn’t something new, we’ll see if the boycott makes enough of a difference to change their minds, but you can’t force people to dislike something just because you don’t like it.

@Browny Maybe they just aren't capable of anything outside of rehashed outdated models?

Everything but the 🌲 look good

I'm more excited for town at this point. Would like more information on that project please.

@Blizzia I get the feeling that people mabey wanted the pokemon to look as detailed as they did in Pokken Tournament. Though considering the total of playable pokemon that's a bit unrealistic but it would have been awesome

@Brianst0rm yes, a huge chunk of the players are adults, but I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that they haven’t marketed to children in a long time. I’d say the opposite is true. The games are easier and more handhold-y than ever and there is even little challenging postgame content compared to gens 2-5. All their advertising is on children’s networks where they seem to have a Pokémon commercial every other break, while I’ve never seen a Pokémon advertisement on channels intended for the 18+ demographic. Toys and memorabilia for the franchise are more prevalent than ever. Like... explain to me how this series is not marketed towards children? They’re definitely the target audience and the older fans are just an afterthought.

The game seems to be shaping up nicely. I'll be playing this loads over Christmas

I thought it looked pretty charming if still a little confined.

Kids these days aren't interested in Pokemon, this is a fact.

@Brianst0rm Uh, that’s a goddamned lie. Was just at the world championship last weekend and there were a lot of kids. AND all four of my children and all of their friends are Pokemon crazy. Don’t spew utter bs just because you want to be a salty fanboy that’s not getting his way...

@ShikabaneHime13 ignore them, it’s clearly a troll at this point, nobody is that unaware of what is currently one of the top selling children franchises internationally. They’re going to argue regardless of what we say.

Just this footage alone shows how immersive this game is in comparison to the other installments. I've been playing these games since the original Red and Blue versions were first released in the US. It is awesome to see how far along the Pokemon series has come.

Meanwhile, Dragon Quest XI S:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veuP3icch5w

It's nice this town shows no relics of 2.5D design. S/M had already improved a lot, but this is another level. It's especially nice to not have a top-down camera view forced on us (at least not here).

Very excited for this and it's getting better and better. Loving the scale of the world, excited for the wild areas.

@Browny As long as the gameplay is there, I’m cool with this not being as pretty as a PS4 Pro game.

for me a master mode or the like would be good, a real challenge for those of us who have played Pokemon for a long time and also are pretty willing to be tested. so many games have different difficulties for people to chose now so there is no excuse really for not having a hard mode to pick.

For such a massive and successful franchise you would think they would spend more money to make the games. It just looks like the other games at the higher resolution and a different camera angle

@Brianst0rm
That's not a fact, and you know it.