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Falling on Pokemon Sword (and Shield); this game is actually good.

Dalicussnuss

New Member
A lot of people are disappointed with this game. And I have my own frustrations. For example, no elite 4? I feel like I never actually beat it. Sun and Moon was tough for me to get into because the new formula made it so easy to play through. We're back to the Gym leaders in the game, but it was still quite easy. More than anything, I miss the gauntlet at the end. However, behind 3rd gen, SWSH are my second favorite games. I actually like some of these new critters. the starters at least have some creativity in them. Drum monkey, Soccer Rabbit, and Precise Lizard are all pretty decent concepts. Dragavault is deceivingly cool. Falinks has a cool moveset, Sir'fetch'd is a pretty neat concept, and the other type bends are cool. Eternatus is a bit Yu Gi Oh looking but has a cool type combo. Though I know people are upset not all the 'mons made the cut, the 400 that made it are pretty cool.

I also kind of like the smaller pokemon pool. This is the first time I've ever tried to complete the dex because of it. It's less daunting of a task as all pokemon can come from this generation, I only need a switch, not another console, and don't have to worry about missing promotions for Mew or Celebi. This is definitely a point I can see other people disagreeing with, and I won't argue with the diehards who did all the groundwork to complete the earlier dexs. When the playing field is leveled, it means some folks are gonna be brought down to the level to those of us who havem't put the time in over the years.

The other reason I'm attempting a dex completion this go around is because pokemon have never been more accessible. You can catch Gengar, and other pokemon you used to need to trade to evolve. You can also get these pokemon and version exclusives in raids. It's easier than ever to complete the dex without buying both versions.

Raids are probably my biggest critique to others' critiques, specifically the lack of postgame. It's probably my biggest pull to a pokemon post game, as someone not super interested in competitive battles or shinies. I can definitely see myself firing up Shield just to chill and see what comes up on y-comm for raids. I wish it was easier to get in on a raid, I'm often...late? or something and miss them. HOWEVER, the rewards for raids are decent at worst. For me, the raids are more post-game than we've had before. I don't really count catching the version legendary, that really kind of felt like more main game. There's still the battle tower and all that, they didn't take that away. I guess my "no postgame" criticism is just, what did they take away? I kind of just played through the other games, and never spent that much time in them after the elite 4, so maybe there's stuff I don't know.

I made this just cuz I know a lot of people have been pretty harsh on the game and I think not having ALL the pokemon at launch gave people a bad taste that unfairly seeped into other parts of the game.
 

franubis

Member
They will be adding 200+ older Pokémon back into Sword and Shield, not to mention that the lack of national dex was a technical issue and not a conscious decision (balancing? That's out of the window now. Graphics? Same models, different textures, etc.).

Also, you have never had to capture any mythical Pokémon like Mew in order to have your Dex count as completed, and games after Black/White haven't required you to catch all previously available Pokémon in order to receive the acknowledgment of having completed those Dexes.

But yeah, thank god there is no need for trade evolution and that they didn't add any of those.
 

Dalicussnuss

New Member
They will be adding 200+ older Pokémon back into Sword and Shield, not to mention that the lack of national dex was a technical issue and not a conscious decision (balancing? That's out of the window now. Graphics? Same models, different textures, etc.).

Also, you have never had to capture any mythical Pokémon like Mew in order to have your Dex count as completed, and games after Black/White haven't required you to catch all previously available Pokémon in order to receive the acknowledgment of having completed those Dexes.

But yeah, thank god there is no need for trade evolution and that they didn't add any of those.

I did not realize that was the case with previous dex's. That's kind of cool. Thought about trying to do the dex's starting with yellow-whatever else i may need and working my way up the gens.
 

Sicksadpanda

Discord Staff
It's worth mentioning that many of the past games of a new gen don't have a lot of postgame content either.

Red and Blue had non-existent postgame, it's really just Mewtwo cave, and that's it.

Gold and Silver postgame is a bit...debatable. I felt Johto was really lacking as they had to fit Kanto into it (which also felt rushed to me). It's hard for me to consider Kanto as postgame when I feel like it's part of the main game, and postgame starts after Red.

Ruby and Sapphire only had Rayquaza and Battle Tower (first game to have battle tower that isn't an enhanced version though). No real reason to do battle tower other than to kill time though.

Diamond and Pearl introduce an entire new island and some legendaries. It easily has one of the better postgame content...however, once you complete all the content it offers, there's not much else you can do other than PvP and shiny hunting.

Black and White had an unusual sense of postgame where you unlock the few more zones, but mostly full of non-unovan pokemon...giving you a chance to catch them as the storyline was 100% pure Unovan pokemon.

XY, despite what many people say, it's the start of a gen where breeding for perfect pokemon is actually very feasible. Many players got into breeding for competitive pokemon and shiny due to improved breeding mechanics. I think it's fair to consider PvP and breeding as a postgame activity.

SuMo put more focus into battle tower (tree), but otherwise, it's mostly the same case as XY. We also have Ultra Beast hunting as the postgame story.

And now we have SwSh, we still have the postgame story (which people seem to pretend that it doesn't exist). But outside of that, we received more QoL improvements, both for PvP and PvE. Organizing a team for PvP has been improved significantly, and more players are eager to try it out. Dex hunting is also now feasible as most pokemon can be found in the wild, and of course, Max Raids is a fun repeatable activity for many players whom can reap rewards... and it's still an ongoing event with Gmax rotations and other sorts of events.

In the long end, the biggest reality is that first entry Pokemon games each gen generally don't have big postgame, and most of the postgame activities last for a few hours. Shiny hunting and breeding are something that had always existed (except for gen 1 obviously). Max Raid is another repeatable activity (which sadly will most likely go away in gen 9) that players can use to stay entertained throughout the game.
 

Reinhardt

You! Me! Rivals! Yes?
There are certainly some great things in Sword and Shield, but I'd say the good only outweighs the bad by a small margin, and the bad is really, REALLY prominent at most points in the game. Sword and Shield are nowhere near as good as X, Y, Sun and Moon, but I still got some enjoyment out of them and I don't regret the purchase.
 
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