Round Up: The Pokémon Sword And Shield Reviews Are In, And It's Not As Bad As You Feared

At least this is more positive than the Mario/Sonic reviews

https://wccftech.com/review/mario-sonic-at-the-olympic-games-tokyo-2020-bad-sportmanship/

Pokemon Sun Metacritic: 87
Pokemon Sword Metacritic: 81
Doesn't mean anything crazy, but still interesting.

I’m very excited by these games despite all this controversy and arguments going on about it... however I will not dismiss all the major problems with this game. It doesn’t seem NEARLY as bad as everyone is making it out to be. But my main issue is it’s not as ‘amazing’ as a first mainline Pokémon console should be. Imo this should be way bigger than BOTW and odyssey yet it doesn’t even seem comparable? My hype is about the same for any Pokémon game, maybe a slight decrease but it’s on no level of how I was for BOTW. My main issue is I hope this doesn’t happen for Sinnoh remakes being diamond pearl and platinum are my favorite Pokémon games. I’m letting my own experiences determine how these games are and I hope they just learn from them

I was never afraid it would do bad, I was afraid it would do good. Now they have justification for being lazy and lying to us.

Well the decisively mediocre Pokemon X/Y also have an 87 metacritic average, so I'd say that really doesn't mean much.

Kotaku loved it, too: https://kotaku.com/pokemon-sword-and-shield-the-kotaku-review-1839812633

The magic of Pokémon is that it lets you tap into a sense of wonder that becomes more and more difficult to access as an adult. Sword and Shield do that more successfully than any Pokémon release has in years. It won’t be everything to everyone, and it will not make everyone happy. I’m not sure it needs to. It’s a portal to a new world. And it definitely has something for Pokémon’s core audience: everyone in the entire world.

I predict many players, dumping like 100hrs+ in this game i reviewing it negatively in Metacritic User Score, even if they liked the game. Its already happening with DIslike bomb, all the video reviews getting massive dislikes from people that didnt even played the game.

Breaking news: the Eurogamer reviewer is no where to be seen after angry Pokémon fans showed up at his door because he did not give the game at least a "Recommended" badge. A bloodied Pokeball containing a severed finger was found at the scene.

NOTE: Joke

Why do they think its always bad new stuff always bad for them its werid well not really but to lazy to explain it.

Nintendo Life going hard with those affiliate links lol

Which is why what is SAID in reviews is more importabt than the number. You guys weren't exactly glowing with verbiage yourselves.

"Please note that some links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information."

If you make more money the more people buy a product, I'm not going to believe anything good you say about the product

I get you need to make money, and I am not against this practice, but I'm just saying that even if a game gets a good review, the critic might be influenced by more than the content of the game.

@Rika_Yoshitake Typical immature child, ignoring legitimate complaints and bullying people who don't agree. Your parents must be proud.

Numbers are one thing. The strengths and weaknesses highlighted in any review are where the real meat is at. This is true for pretty much any game.

IMO if someone is truly interested in a game, they should do their homework and rely on more than a number. But that's just me.

All that said, I'll still be getting one of the two at some point.

I'm taking note of Eurogamer and VG247. Now I know sites to seek out for reviews that are more honest.

@Zoda_Fett I'm not the biggest pokemon fan, but it seems underwhelming with the issue of cutting attacks, pokemon, and the 3ds like graphics but adding all these stupid little things like character customization and curry....

People have made up their minds already despite what the reviews say.

Most of the haters will likely buy it regardless.

The fact that a lot of these are saying that the game has cut down on bloat has me really excited. I really enjoyed the more streamlined aspects of let's go so I think I'll pick up a copy of sword on Friday.

Hahaha. Anyone here really worried this game isn't going to be massive and sales of Switch Lite are going to go through the roof? Come on. Pokemon appeals to any generation of kid.

@Zoda_Fett I get the sense that, despite Switch being able to function as a home console, GF isn't terribly interested in creating "home console scale" experiences that are dramatically better and more ambitious than previous iterations.

Rather, Switch is the only portable console this gen, so GF moved development of their games to the system.

To be honest, I'm personally OK with that. I didn't think that Nintendo's merge of home console and handheld development teams and capabilities meant that everyone who previously worked on handheld games would be making home console-style games instead. But if you approach it with the "first mainline Pokemon game on a home console" mindset, I'm not surprised you might come away disappointed.

Pokemon SwSh are still handheld games at heart, so I'll be playing them on the Switch Lite.

Damage. Control.

I haven't played a Pokemon game since SoulSilver, which is my favorite in the series, and I'm tempted to buy Sword since I have no experience with anything after the DS era.

that's a lot of shopping links

@Aquamine-Amarine

You are one to talk, considering a certain comment from yours in the Sonic redesign comments.

Well, now I see where all the budget went.

Seriously though, the reasoning behind the lack of a full Pokédex was supposedly about "high quality animations". I've seen just the first minute of a ProsafiaGaming video on the games - Double Kick goes for the same "sticker" approach we've always seen. You'd expect Scorbunny to go and kick his opponent, right? Well, think again.

Also, this.

I'm sorry, but if I went and bought the games, it wouldn't be "oh well, at least I only wasted 40" anymore. 60 for a game that has less Pokémon than Diamond and Pearl is too much of an investment.

Unless there's a crazy deal by black friday - which, given Nintendo's "evergreen strategy, I doubt to be the case - I'm going to give these game a hard pass unless there's a stupidly cheap user copy lying around.

More than a review that might come from money, I need to get my hands on a demo. The moment I say "screw it, I wanna play more of this" will be the time I buy the games, new or otherwise. But, again, my guess is the demo coming out for such a game will mark the time Nintendo realizes that fecal matter has seriously hit the rotating ventilating device.

@Kalmaro
Indeed its a vicious circle. If it sells well, which it definitely will GameFreak will learn they have made the right decisions

Reviewing these games must be difficult. I would want the reviewer to be familiar with past games and yet still objective enough to point out major flaws (if any).

@YourGoodFriendly,

Then I guess the game would have got a 9 or 10.

@Aquamine-Amarine

In all fairness the complainers do not like it too much when others seem not to share the same issues.

@AlexSora89,

Shame, you will miss out on a fun game imho, it's not perfect but it still looks like a solid building ground for Pokemon games on the Switch, it's easy to overlook how much effort will have gone into this new game.

Yeah these games could be 6 hours long, have lootboxes/microtransactions, & $500 in DLC and people would still call them amazing, for the sole reason that it's a main series Pokemon game. But the Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity devs cut a ton of Pokemon too and suddenly they're idiots and half the fanbase refuses to try the next game and just assume it sucks. But GameFreak does it so it's okay and you're an idiot for not paying more for less and not excepting ever lowering standards.

@AlexSora89 ""oh well, at least I only wasted 40" anymore. 60 for a game that has less Pokémon than Diamond and Pearl is too much of an investment."

but i preordered it on amazon for 40€, so what?

@frogopus Yep I was thinking that the other day. I’d love to hear a kids review in comparison to someone who’s been playing a game aimed at children for 20 years.

@WiltonRoots,

Ah but those pesky kids do not understand the complexities of modern video game design, as much as the older internet posting gamers.

Awesome. Maybe this will destroy some of the overwhelming (and mostly unnecessary) negativity surrounding this game.

@shoeses,

Not buying these games does not make you an idiot, but by the same token if people chose to enjoy these games they should be free to do so, without the complainers suggesting they are somehow stupid.

@Dpullam,

No chance, the hate is strong with the complainers of these Pokemon games, but seriously these guys make the Death stranding internet supporters look like amateurs.

@shoeses This. This right here.
However, for as guilty as the devs are of doing these kinds of things, they are at least making decisions when they have little incentive to do otherwise. At least they have feedback to let them know that their customers, who should be the focus, strongly prefer otherwise.

Feedback being shamed by blind Corporate Defenders like @Rika_Yoshitake and @johnvboy that need to be called out for defending the Status Quo harder than an American politician.

@johnvboy That was genuinely hilarious. Thank you!

Despite being miffed at Game Freak for lying about the models, feeling slightly disappointed about the lack of ambition shown by them in several areas and being annoyed with how rough some graphics and animations are, I'll probably pick this up anyway. I think Game Freak definitely have something to learn from their PR disaster but I'm sure they'll be fine games. The new pokemon designs look great and I think the locales look interesting too. Dexit doesn't bother me that much anyway, I love all pokemon and I'm fine with using ones that I'm unfamiliar with, although it still is a bit of a shame I cant have my whole team back. Either way though, the games still look fun as hell imo. I'm absolutely fine if you disagree and I can understand why you might.

@KingBowser86,

Go on call me out fella, and when the mass buying Pokemon fans are buying this game and enjoying it, while at the same time being blissfully unaware of the ten thousand or so moaners complaints, you will still be typing into your keyboard how you do not like these games, while only the small internet minority will be reading.

Was never defending anything, as I have said many times these games are not perfect, but they are nowhere near as bad as some are making out.

@johnvboy
A fun game? Most certainly, yes.
A good Pokémon game? Heh.

Now, each game has taken baby steps forward for the sake of keeping intact each one of the older games' identity. The problem isn't inherently the lack of past Pokémon per se; rather, is the utter lack of anything worth the cuts that puts every minor setback in a much more negative light.

Basically, the mere concept of context is what royally screws the game, over and over. Nothing's worth the game's shortcomings, not even the Wild Area. Heck, my heritage - despite being Italian - is in minimal part Scottish and yet I can't bring myself to like the most wonderfully, unapologetically British Pokémon game to have ever graced a Nintendo system.

@AlexSora89,

The reviews do not agree with you though, you have to be careful that your own personal feelings towards this title might not be shared by the mass buying Pokemon fans, not that this should bother you as your personal views are hard to shake.

I bet if you bought the game and just started playing it you would probably have fun despite your issues.

@Lord,

They will give the game 10/10 because that will not want to upset GameFreak.

@johnvboy Glad to know that you're accepting that you're shaming people for taking issue with cut corners. Though, you don't seem to understand that doing so is defending these same decisions implicitly.

I'm okay with disagreeing that the decisions are of little importance. And, if I were buying this game just for the main campaign and then to trade it in eventually, yeah, it's perfectly fine for that. But it doesn't cut it for multiplayer and such. That's not just me saying that because, frankly, I haven't cared since Gen 3 and Pokémon GO did me wrong. But there are a lot of voices, and I'm telling you now, your shaming is going to be drowned out independent of our conversation here.

This was just a very loud group of fans angry that not every Pokemon is coming back. Then there are those upset that certain areas of the graphics arent mind blowing and some animations are reused....does this suck? Yes. Dies it make it a "bad" game? No.

@KingBowser86,

I do not know how many times I will have to type this but here goes, I am not shaming the complainers or even suggesting their claims have no weight, far from it, I am simply stating that the wider mass market Pokemon fans do not care, so how can this be shaming as you put it?.

@Bizzyb,

Totally agree with this fella.

@johnvboy Reread the tone of your posts.

@KingBowser86,

I do not need to reread them, as I have never once stated that the complainers are wrong, or have no right to feel the way they do, I have only ever had an issue that they feel everybody should feel the same way they do, as far as I am concerned they can keep on complaining, as this will not stop people from enjoying the game or it's sales.

@Kalmaro This, so much of this.

@johnvboy
I might have fun. The problem is "might".
Would you fork over 60 euros (or pounds, or dollars, whatever) over the word "might"? The exact same verb used to describe the possibility of Pokémon Home being actually worth anything?
Not helping matters is also the fact that I'm broke and unemployed, and to even make an investment I would need either money or a job to earn some. My application as a freelance Italian native speaker for Italki just got turned down today. I've... seen better days, money-wise.
I'm enough of a Pokémon fan that I had imported the US copy of Pokémon Crystal back in the day, and then I could barely understand the English language. I have played a bit of the Japanese ROM of Pokémon Sapphire before playing it in my own language. I've ventured every single region so far.
And despite all of this, I wish - from the bottom of my heart - that my opinion could be that easy to shake. Truly, I really do. I want to want to play Sword and Shield, I want my pre-E3 hype (which, mind you, was insanely high) back. But... I really can't. Something broke inside of me at E3. And kept getting blows with each and every new piece of informations. The reused models. The lazy animations. The lack of meaning behind the cut Pokédex.
I'm sincerely happy for those who will enjoy the game, though. Ignorance - in the most positive meaning of the word - is truly bliss.

@johnvboy Posts #39 and #42.

@Kalmaro

My thoughts exactly.

@Snaplocket,

Never ever entered the death threat debate, as I feel it will only be a very small group of people.

@KingBowser86,

Still not seeing it fella, but if you think I am it's up to you, and those numbers you quoted were neither my replies or comments.

@johnvboy I've got WAY better things to do than care about people and companies that won't listen on an internet that galvanizes them further.

@Snaplocket,

Yes of course the defenders are bound to be immature, where the complainers are so open to those who do not share their views.

@KingBowser86,

Well considering you are posting on the internet in an article comments section would imply you had the very opposite of other things to do.

@johnvboy When you say stuff like complainer, that already sounds dismissive. Unless anyone who complains about anything is a complainer.

@Kalmaro,

How else would you like me to describe them then, moaners?, also it's not dismissive to state the wider Pokemon fans do not care, it's just a fact.

@Kalmaro ,

No different than how people who do not share their views are called, although to be honest I have not really noticed.

Sonic the Hedgehog literally has everything; platforming--some of it amid situations you simply will not believe--high-speed chases, close quarters combat, multiple vehicles, flying, speed zones, character customization, real time cinemas (skillfully acted--this is Sega's best localization to date), beautiful CG, telekinesis, RPG elements, open-world exploration, rail-grinding, rampant diversity, epic bosses, a fantastic soundtrack, a beautiful princess to save--you actually spend a level carrying her--and next-gen visuals that make you happy to be alive. You simply can't ask for more out of an action game. Mission accomplished. Sonic is born anew.

Score 9.5

• The best Sonic ever, hands down, 2D or otherwise.
• Still just a few little bugs...but ant sized.

@johnvboy That's was the point @KingBowser86 was making. Your comments basically shamed people who complain and was very dismissive.

@johnvboy Lunch break.
Also, see, that's what I, or anyone, gets for caring when people like you exist. That's why you need to be disregarded.

@SuperEndriu If this game sells good, Game Freak HAS done everything right.

It's like e.g. CoD - one can complain about many things with some series, but the fact that they still sell very good means that the developers have understood what most customers wanted.

Yeah let's kill the complainers ever though they have valid criticism such as. No post game content, copy paste animations, can't turn exp share off, the story being 6 hours max, not having to fight to earn XP, it's so easy a monkey could beat it without a challenge, sound options are an item that you can potentially skip over. And many more.

@Entwickler

People will buy this game out of pokemon craze and love for the franchise. It doesn't mean they wouldn't have wanted a better product. Thats how strong this franchise is.
But you are right, it will send a message to the developer.

I wished for the reviews to be bad, so I’m a little upset. Everyone wants to see something successful fail every once in a while, right? Also they would have deserved it this time too...

@Kalmaro,

No they don't, anymore than your comments and other complainers come off as very condescending to anyone who does not share your own points of view, also your and others total lack of understanding that the wider market does not simply care, now how the hell this makes your issues any less valid or being dismissed in some way escapes me.

What about Alex’s review 😂😂😂

@KingBowser86,

This is always the issue when people on comment sections start to take thing too personally, nothing I have ever said has been aimed at an individual, I was only ever pointing out there are opinions that may differ from the complainers, which as I have said in many posts does not detract or state their opinions in the end of the day, by the way what's for lunch?, in the U.K it's more like supper time.

@Entwickler,

Just try to explain that to the complainers, the idea that GameFreak will be making these games for the mass market Pokemon fans and not a small minority who want "Pokemon zero dawn" will be a tough idea to sell them on.

@johnvboy I didn't go out of my way to call people names in a way to show a lack of interest, that's the difference. You may not have meant to insult anyome but your tone gives off that impression.

For instance, I've never once said anything negative about people who want to enjoy the game, I've even made a point of telling people that I hope they enjoy their purchase.

You just call people who have criticisms 'complainers' and add silly emotes in a snarky way that makes it look like you don't care. You also used phrases like "pesky kids" and attributed that to people who have criticisms, as if we are just some older folks that are out of touch.

Then you wonder why people tell you that your tone is bad. If you want to be taken seriously, just eat h your tone, that's all we're suggesting.

The reason the "small minority" are upset is because Gamefreak lied to us, and then we get put down by people defending Gamefreak.

@607jf,

I think killing the complainers is a little over the top, and yes I do realize you were being sarcastic, I think we should just carry on debating the issue until we are all sick to death of it, the complainers will still feel the way they do and the games will sell well and the masses will love them, oblivious to the fact these debates are taking place in the first place.

I have my copy of Shield arriving tomorrow & these reviews have simply confirmed what I thought.. Sword & Shield will be fun, competently made games. Flaws and all.

Having played since RBY, I can confirm that Sword & Shield are getting no where near the amount of hate that RSE (Gen 3) received leading up to their release, yet those games are (rightly) considered one of the best generations.

Could Gamefreak have taken their time and made the games better? Yes.

Should Gamefreak have taken more time and made the games better? Yes!

Will I have fun playing Sword and Shielf with my friends anyway? Heck yes!!!

@Kalmaro,

Well tone is a subjective thing, i tend to use to denote I am joking or making light of a discussion, and I do not think I have ever stated that you personally have ever said anything negative about anybody who likes these games.

I have very rarely had any serious issues with anybody on here, I just sometimes feel we get far to carried away with our views on here, and what would be wrong with the people who do not like these games not trying to force their opinions down the throats of people who don't?, not suggesting you personally do that in anyway.

I also fail to see why a little humor injected into these proceedings hurts either, as the posters I tend to aim this at are making comments designed to provoke a response, to which I will always respond to in a sarcastic or humorous manner.

Now one more point, I really do not care if anybody takes me seriously or likes my tone on here, I am not that bothered, the other fella who suggested I should be ignored clearly is incorrect, as I have never stated he should be ignored with all his negative views, and the fact he does not agree with me, hell if we all agreed with each other on here all the time it would be a pretty boring place.

see you reduced the affiliate links from 15 to 2, should've taken a screenshot.

@johnvboy I'm not in support of just silencing people just for having opposing opinions, then you just end up with an echo chamber.

If you really weren't trying to be snarky that I guess I just misinterpreted what you were trying to say, thanks for tanking the time to clarify. If you are getting the game I do hope you enjoy it. I'm going to sit this one out for now and possibly pick it up later if I get the chance.

@Kalmaro

I have never had an issue with you one here, in fact I have always looked at you as one of the more level headed posters on these Pokemon comment sections, who as in my eyes has always said to the people who are looking forward to this game to enjoy it, and I too hope at some point you pick the game up despite it's issues, as I can see you are a fan.

@DanteSolablood,

Same here, Friday can't come soon enough hoping that Amazon send me the game tomorrow though.

@Kalmaro,

Sorry I did not respond to this point because I do feel this is important in the wider context of these comment section discussions, I use the term complainer as the terms hater and moaners seem inappropriate, now I will admit to using these terms from time in my more humorous posts.

But when engaged in the more normal back and fourth comments I will use complainer as these are genuine issues for the specific poster, whereas hater tends to sound like they are just positing issues out of spite, and moaner sounds like they are just stating issues that are not all that serious.

@johnvboy You've been chill man, I'm just kinda disappointed in what's been going on. That and people being so dismissive when there are criticisms that are legitimate.

It's odd because I don't want people not to have fun, but if they do then Gamefreak won't change anything... So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Maybe these games just aren't for me anymore.

So... no 7.8 from IGN, huh?

@Kalmaro,

This is what upsets me, we are all Pokemon fans at the end of the day, we all want a perfect game and of course are bound to get excited with the franchise moving to the Switch, even more so when the first outing on the console were the let's go games.

However what represents perfection for one set of the fan base may not be the same for the other, now this in no way is saying any side is right or wrong as it's their own viewpoint at the end of the day, now I will guarantee you that even some of the core fans who want a perfect Pokemon game for the Switch will still be a little confused to how that would exactly look or feel, but they sure know when it's not right, and will of course inevitably get upset when the more casual fans are excited for a game they themselves do not like.

And like you said maybe these games are not for you or the core market anymore, see the casuals tend to grow out of the games and move on at some point, whereas the more core hobby gamers like us, now at this point I am not trying to guess your age, will like you say be stuck as the games are still being made for younger fans in mind, as GameFreak will feel that the mass market players would have left the franchise, so we as core hobby gamers are left with a dilema, do we move on or stick with it, I for one see both sides of the argument but feel the positives of sticking with these games far outweigh the negatives.

This seems to have blown up today. Is it just a case of a couple of people on Social Media said a few bad things and everyone else has lost it?

@N1ntendodo,

IGN seem to love the game.

@eltomo,

With the reviews coming in it was always going to be a bit of a rough ride, I think it's a bit of both inho, yes there are issues but the games are reviewing pretty well.

And Hillary was ahead in the polls... Reviews don't mean anything when the industry is beyond corrupt.

@johnvboy Oh well, I'm still going to be a fan. Just bought Digimon cyber sleuth to get my fix and I'll see how that goes.

@Bizzyb Nicely put

@Kalmaro,

That Digimon game does look pretty cool to be honest.

@backlogrob,

True but we do need some sort of indication of a games quality, but at the end of the day only one persons opinion of a game should matter, your own.

@johnvboy Rav reviews and has collection of critters plus a decent story, and there's two games with save data that transfers, I think.

Not a bad deal for under $45!

@johnvboy True, but we are completely capable to determine SOME aspects of its quality based on information we have like leaks and officially released info, and we can say that this game is certainly doing less than its predecessors for no legitimate reason.

I'm a stupid consumer who's still going to play through it anyway because I love Pokemon, but I know I'm contributing to a vicious cycle of giving my money to a corporation who wants to do as little as possible to acquire that $60, and SwSh is definitely an example of them doing less.

@Kalmaro,

Looks like a good game and the PS4 version was well received, it's going on my list for sure.

@backlogrob,

The mass consumers are not worried about it, but I do feel they have done things differently this time, o.k it might not be everybody's cup of tea, but to say there are no new features of merit is wrong too.

But you can't catch all 1000 Pokémon ever! -8/10! I don't care if the games are fun or anything! #boycottpokemon #sarcasm

@johnvboy I didn't say it didn't have anything of merit, I said it is certainly doing less than past new generations.

Basically it comes down to expectations and meeting the hype. For seasoned players, it's always a struggle for new iterations to offer something new, while the hype some games generate are impossible to meet. If you stray too far from a formula, then you get panned as well. Often you can't win. Anyway, I expect to see a Pokemon Sword/Shield Ultra (or a Pokemon Ultimate) that is the complete and ultimate version as likely the next installment, probably in a year's time.

So NintendoLife removed my post calling for normalcy and the stop of harassment but left the posts attacking me & others personally...

GOT IT, great job as per always.

@shoeses Speaking of which, Explorers of Time/Darkness,Sky, a game pretty well-loved, had some really critical reviews.

IGN gave that one a 4.9/10.

But I can't say I'm surprised, that game had a larger focus on long-term dungeon crawling, which leads to resource management with the game asks you to keep a healthy stock of food and healing items, and because of the dungeon crawling, simply using moves are at a premium. The game encourages you to use moves at the most opportune moments rather than for the sake of damage.

And since the game relies on RNG any lack of skill a reviewer has that causes them to fail at any of the above elements of the game design allows them to simply blame it on the game itself.

Meanwhile, SwSH is a less than 20-hour game that requires no real thought for competition, turn-based combat that has no sense of stress with long-term dungeon crawling or resource management, and plenty of instant gratification.

This is as review-friendly as it gets, with or without the bugs.

I've never believed in the 'Nintendo pays reviewers for their reviews' thing before, but after looking at some video reviews (looking at you IGN and GameSpot), it's hard to see why people have been claiming so. There was zero mention about the cut National Dex in either of them, which has been the biggest elephant in the room leading to the launch of this game. Thus I can see why, and even feel why it is justifiable for so many to dislike their video reviews even without having played the game yet.

Another gripe is that many of the reviewers have praise for this game when compared to the previous handheld titles. It's quite stupid as these improvements should either a) be expected from a game jumping from handheld to home console, and b) were easy fixes that should have been done in the first place on the handhelds.

And things like IGN declaring 'Gameplay over Graphics' as one of the key review areas totally throws invalidates their entire review, as simply there was no real improvement on gameplay compared with previous entries.

Many reviewers also did not mention how the wild area existed just to exist and did not tie into the story in any meaningful sense. It's more of a 'people want an open world game but we don't know how to do it so let's try to cover it up by including a semblance of it'. And also how lifeless and boring the different towns are.

My main gripe though is how dragon quest xi can be so vast, open, have lively and truly inhabited cities, the same weather/day-night cycle, a real story, and 600+ (read: twice of Sword and Shield) fully animated monsters, while Game Freak simply says 'nah sorry this is the best we can give you'.

For all the haters wait till the sale numbers come in..this game will sell well very well

@GrailUK honestly I think that's what a lot of the Dexit grognard forget about.

Like i'm sad I won't be going to import my mons going all the way to the copy of Platinum which I recently got after beating Pokemon X last year when I finally decided to dive back into the franchise and given my barely ever played copy from even further ago a try finally.

But honestly. There's a major factor all these decades long fans forget about when talking about GF's treatment of the fans.
And as it turns out, it's one mentioned in this very article offhandedly:

"There’s a formula to Pokémon games: a preteen Pokémon trainer collecting pocket monsters to create a team strong enough to win a battle. "

"Preteen pokemon trainer"

Preteen.
Not adult.
Not young adult.
Not even teenager.

Pre-teenager.

12-13 years old.

That's the intended "core" market of pokemons. Not 30-40 years old players who own pokemons in bank that go all the way back to Ruby or Leafgreen on the GBA.

Kids that -right now- are 12-13... and often even younger kids still watching the latest(not the original first) seasons of the anime on TV.

Kids that were, at the most, maybe 9-11 years old when Pokemon Sun/Moon released on 3DS in 2016.

At this age, it's not a lot of years to have built the attachment let alone collection of veterans for older titles that long ceased being produced before some of these kids were even born.

That the franchise had continued to appeal to older gamers was more an unintended perk of it's formula than anything else.

And that's why it'll still sell.

The -intended- audience of these games just care about "playing latest pokemon game" more than they do when looking into what the whole national dex even contain at all.

Like Dexit folks can be mad(I mean, - i'm- disappointed I can't port over some of my own mons) but ultimately if they are maybe it's time to realize it's time to move on to another franchise.

Kids are still watching the anime and still will buy the latest games featuring the latest region of the anime.

@johnvboy I see this same "complainers are an Internet minority" argument a lot.

And normally, one of two things happen. Either the issue never gets addressed, and more and more people complain, until everyone acts like this issue was an issue everybody hated from the start. Or the issue gets fixed, everybody celebrates it, and again, acts like it was something everybody agreed was an issue from the start.

@ProfessorNess a reminder, as a DQ fan who is currently playing through Act 3 if DQXI S and going all out to finish the Tickington quests to make sure i can unlock the two secret super bosses....

DQXI S is a game whose core fans are, at the youngest, maybe older teens and generally young adults. Where your party members is made out of maybe 16 years old at the youngest and often older characters such as an elderly grandfather who unceremoniously the subject of a lot of pervert old man jokes.

Pokemon is a game where the lead character isn't even a teenager but specifically a *pre*teen .
And whose fans include notably a heck ton of even youngers kids watching the commercial for-kids anime... and very much the kind of kids young enough I think the parents of would be mad if they realize a character on the screen has just offered their kids' characters a "puff-puff".

Like... I love Dragon Quest. But i'm not going to blind myself as to why it's never going to have the mass appeal of pokemon because it's own designs and story traditions very much make it unable to ever reach one of the core population group the pokemon franchise MUST cater to(the batch of 6-12 years old kids that are watching the current seasons of the anime).

This is not to disparage but think about it. If you're unhappy about easy difficulty in a game that's meant to be a sometime-not-even-10-years-old kid's first RPG... can it be because you're looking into the wrong franchise for the stuff you desire?

And ultimately it's why people saying Dexit will cause these games to crash and burn are short sighted.

Because the core intended audience is(and in a way, always) too young to have yet formed an attachment to a "National Dex" through enough games to do so yet.

Sounds like a run of the mill release. Still want to play it.

Ill rent it on GameFly once done with Luigi Mansion 3 and Death Standing.

i've seen the leaked first 10 miniutes of play, and i love it. it is a beautiful game. I already pre ordered anyway two weeks ago and paid the preorder fee, so i am getting Sword this week.

I believe we call this one "opening to mixed reviews." The sheer amount of people who buy this will negate any real effect the cons will have on the future. Gamefreak gonna do what Gamefreak gonna do, in other words. I just wish it was a game that would help me fall in love with Pokemon all over again. I had that magic with Black & White 2. I enjoyed X & Y. And then Sun and Moon was like "._." Although I do give props to the Ultras for being probably THE best way any of us will have to catch em all for a very long time. Also I can't help but look at the list of glowing reviews and going "You got paid, and you got paid, and YOU got paid.." XD

@Ludovsky you totally missed my point about dragon quest, I never talked about the target audience of each game but instead focused on the scope of the game.

@Richnj

It's not an argument it's a fact, I know its not a comfortable one because we are all in the same minority posting on the internet, but as you say there is no way to tell either way if things will change because of the complainers issues, although it looks like the dex cut is here to stay, my guess is the next game will evolve re the visuals and animations as they get used to the new hardware.

@backlogrob,

Like it or not this game is designed for the younger DS/3DS Pokemon fans, and in that respect would have been designed around them, our problem is we have just grown up with the titles and have become more demanding, not that we do not have a right too be so, but we still have to realize that these games were not made entirely for us.

Look at the timing of these releases so close to the Switch lite, GameFreak would have be aware of the new console ages before it's announcement, the younger 3DS owners would have been their main target audience all along.

@Ludovsky Your post #112 is spot on.

Gamespot and IGN are null, it still clearly needs fixing, why won't we admit a patch is needed?

@mariomaster96
You =/= thousands of people

@Ludovsky
Moving on seems a pretty good thing to do right now. World Of Final Fantasy Maxima has been said to be "Pokémon meets Final Fantasy", and its graphics look worthy of being on Switch. It's been in my backlog for far too long.

@johnvboy complaining got the Sonic design changed. It got the Halo art style changed. And no one outside of the Halo forums was complaining about the artstyle. And yet, it has changed back. Resident Evil 6 sold more copies than any other RE game, and RE7 couldn't be more different.

My only sticking point here is that, if not all the time, then at least sometimes, complainers, regardless of how small or large it appears, have very legitimate criticisms, and we can sometimes get better products as a result.

Complaining's not always nice to see, but when it works, we all benefit. So I try not to mock or dismiss people that do it.

No, it is about as bad as I feared. I never for one second thought the game would be bad, or even close, but I just didn't get that sense/feeling that it was going to be one of the better/best [main] Pokemon games in the series, which is clearly what everyone would ideally want, and it seems it's not. I haven't played so I can't say if it's for me or not, but I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to try it out to be honest, and the reviews overall seem to sit right about where I expected it to land--which is a sad thing for me personally.

@Richnj

A little different though, a Sonic movie will live or die by pretty much one set of fans, as will a core game like Halo or Resident evil, Pokemon is a little more complicated as it's core buying demographic will be younger casual gamers, we have all grown up with the franchise and stuck with it, as a result and being core hobby gamers we are far more difficult to please, whereas the mass buying Pokemon gamers have probably moved on as they have got older and new younger gamers have taken their place, pretty much guaranteeing a casual audience of easy sales for GameFreak, now who is to say that if the developer did cater for the smaller core audience that it would not in some way alienate the mass Pokemon customers, not a risk GameFreak are will ing to take I would guess, hence they have catered for the more bankable audience, and to be honest no wonder.

Doesn't surprise me. Its Pokemon and its expected to score reasonably well, despite all the controversial decisions made.

@johnvboy Kids aren't dumb though. Game Freak actively removes features and makes games easier and streamlined when the original games (which were still pretty easy but not as easy as Gens 6-8) were plenty fine for children to consume.

We can admit a game is meant for kids without using it as an excuse for lazy game development. There is no excuse for 3DS graphics on Switch nor the guided tour and forced exp share aspects of these new games.

@backlogrob,

Never said kids are dumb, but their expectations and standards will fall short of the core Pokemon fans lofty ambitions for this game.

@johnvboy There is nothing being discussed that can in any universe be considered a "lofty ambition".

@backlogrob,

On this we will just has to disagree, the new games are not perfect but have refined the experience to cater for it's main audience, in doing this the developer has had to trim certain things, sure on a technical level things could be better, but I still stand by the art direction of this game a s perfect for it's main demographic, the main issues stem from the core fans who have grown up with the franchise want and expect more, and they are just not the target audience anymore.

@johnvboy Again, features being cut that were perfectly fine for younger fans 10-20 years ago are not lofty ambitions. You keep saying expecting more, but it's mostly expecting that same QOL features that have been in past titles already.

And separate note, it is not a lofty ambition to expect a game to fully take advantage of the hardware it's being developed for. I enjoyed my time with Sword, but I see the glaring shortcomings. It's 3DS quality in nature.

@backlogrob,

3DS in style maybe, but the visuals are far better, as you said not pushing the Switch like Zelda, but still a generational leap compared to the 3DS games imho.

@johnvboy It's non-pixelated 3DS graphics. Same cruddy models, environments, and stiff af animations. It's by no means a generational leap. That's a disingenuous statement if you understand the gaming industry in the slightest.

@backlogrob,

Sorry fella I was going by the Digital foundry breakdown, they did say it was a missed opportunity but it did represent a generational leap in terms of graphics, now as they said it could be a lot better but still a big leap over the 3DS games, perhaps they do not understand the gaming industry as much as you do.

@johnvboy Sorry fella, I don't rely on others to form my own thoughts and opinions. Digital Foundry can say whatever they have the green light to say, but I'm gonna trust my gut. They may perform better than the 3DS, but the graphics and animations themselves are beyond disappointing.

@backlogrob,

So it's your own thoughts and opinions to why this looks like a 3DS game, which as you say is a personal opinion at the end of the day and therefore can't be taken as fact.

@johnvboy Yup, and the same can be said about Digital Foundry as well as all of your blind shilling.

@backlogrob,

Without a doubt, so if you and others do not like it fair enough, If other people choose to like and enjoy the game what's the harm?, why try to convince them they are somehow wrong.

@johnvboy The same reason you try to convince the disappointed audience that your staunch blind defense is somehow right: to control the narrative.

Right now people who are disappointed are only being set up to be further disappointed by future installments based on how the Pokémon logo ensures great sales regardless of its quality. People hope that the trending and overwhelming levels of complaints will lead to some sort of change, as was the case with the Sonic movie for example. Meanwhile doing nothing or actively defending mediocrity such as you do will only lead to more disappointment in future titles and gens.

@backlogrob,

Never tried to convince anyone who hates these games are wrong, it's their opinion at the end of the day, I have always stated that not everybody feels the same way they do, if anything you are trying to make out people that have no issues with these games are wrong, and you and others keep on stating there are overwhelming levels of complaints when there are not,you and others are deluding yourselves if you think this will change how Game Freak go forward with the franchise.