Missed Opportunities in the Galar Region

[Ultra Beast Lover]

I really liked how they had the adult characters tell you to continue with your journey while they handled the serious stuff. But at the same time there wasn't a perfect balance or a near perfect balance. I think that there should've been a couple instances where you and Hop are in the Wild Area and a Pokemon Dynamaxes and attacks you leading to you, Hop, and two Gym Leaders/Leon and a Gym Leader stepping in to help.

 

[Aduro]

I think it needed more versatile and interesting battles. Gen VII added more difficulty with stuff like the boosted totem pokemon. Gen viii either needed to do the same thing, or found a new way to innovate.

Isle of Armour was also supposed to be all about elite training and battling. It should have had a decent battle frontier. Can't believe they had two battle towers and a dojo for so little content.

They could at least have introduced stronger trainers from older games into the Champion Cup rematches or the Battle Tower.

It might have helped if they finally made a main-line game a double-battles campaign. Or had more double battles during the story.

The mining could have been based on the mining minigame from the underground in Gen IV, instead of just asking some guy to dig up stuff for you. In general, the gameplay needed you to be able to do something other than battling.

 

[Ophie]

I always find myself wishing for the VS Seeker. It was a great idea that made you go back to those little paths and areas to find particular trainers again.

Anyway, this was such a straightforward game. It seemed that every time there was a chance to do something other than battle gym leaders, I was told "Eh, don't worry about it. You focus on that one goal". That was weird, like there was a party I wasn't invited to.
I don't think I've finished a Pokemon main story so quickly before.

It's like my time playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess then! The characters kept rushing me to the next story point.

It might have helped if they finally made a main-line game a double-battles campaign. Or had more double battles during the story.

While I would like that, I know a lot of people would absolutely hate it. Raihan is already a kind of culture-shock making you do double battles, and the Orre games had a lot of newcomers deem it too hard (though to be fair, Genius Sonority, when they make a game with the regular Pokémon battling system, sets the difficulty pretty high). There are also those who don't play double battling ever and find it a turn off, whereas there aren't quite so many people who focus on double battling and find single battling a turn off.

 

[Pikachu111213]

Hopefully this won’t be as controversial as I fear, but I honestly think Galar could’ve benefitted from a Battle Frontier. Post game was pretty lacking in my opinion and the Battle Tower is kinda boring (Restricted Sparring is a little better tho). With how battle-focused the region is, a frontier would’ve fit right in too.

 

[Carina]

It's like my time playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess then! The characters kept rushing me to the next story point.

Haha It was extra weird in this case because it was always like, "Cool! I'm a kid and I'm battling all these bad guys to save the world."
Now all of a sudden it's: "Leave it to the grown ups."

 

[catzeye]

It’s something different from the norm. We already had the plot line of “rich and influential celebrity uses a legendary to aid in their initially well meaning goals” before and having the Champion be a fraud would offer a unique experience. It’d be a shocker for pretty much everyone as he was the main motivation for the region to get stronger. Plus having the Pokémon League be corrupt has been a popular idea since the manga introduced the concept. Personally I’m glad they were both genuine but I can see why people would expect/want that

Agreed. It's different but honestly think the whole "champion is a fraud" plot was actually too easy of a plot for SwSh. Like yes it would've been a shocker but at the same I think it would've cheapened Hop's arc. Like it woud've basically ended up as "don't feel bad Hop, your brother's actually not that good of a trainer" Whereas having Leon's streak be legitimate means Hop's motivation to get out of his brother's shadow is more sympathetic (as there are plenty of sibling dynamics where one child is vastly more talented than the other and it's pretty relatable).

Now I do agree they could have toned down the shilling of his record to focus on other aspects (like Opal noting he isn't happy, the strained relationships between him and Sonia and him and Hop). Those were very interesting points that were briefly brought up but never expanded upon that I think would have made for a nice character arc (which is great since champions don't typically go through that unless it's offscreen like Alder's and Mustard's)

I think more could have been made of Sonia. She was said to be a former rival of Leons but we never see her battle and we never get to see much of their friendship.

Very much so. Like lowkey it's set up in Wedgehurst as a side plot and then it goes nowhere...like I think we should have gotten to hear about their story and battle Sonia and get her league cards (though we might get that in the Crown Tundra).

I really liked how they had the adult characters tell you to continue with your journey while they handled the serious stuff. But at the same time there wasn't a perfect balance or a near perfect balance. I think that there should've been a couple instances where you and Hop are in the Wild Area and a Pokemon Dynamaxes and attacks you leading to you, Hop, and two Gym Leaders/Leon and a Gym Leader stepping in to help.

This! I appreciate the adults actually being adults (unlike some who will wander into the distortion with you and then you let you take on the eldritch abomination because reasons), but I think they went overboard with it. Like you mentioned having Hop and the player get ambushed in the wild area or maybe whenever Leon or Sonia go to take care of things a second shady event happens that is left up to the player to investigate. You get the best of both worlds, adults being competent yet still have the thrill of adventure for the player.


I definitely agree with others on the lack of exploration, lack of overall difficulty (especially in a region that's so battle focused) and lack of post-game opportunities. Also the Team Yell plot needed some work (they are definitely my least favorite part of the games)

 

[Reinhardt]

Something some people are speculating (not predictions or leaks) is that there may be an Expansion Pack area planned later on that will cover the northern areas of Wyndon as something of an urban Wild Area. I'd like to see how that's done, but having all those Max Raid dens in an urban area would be out of place.

I don't think this is going to happen, but it would be a pretty fun thing to have.

That would actually be a really sweet idea, like a mix of the Wild Area and Lumiose City with lots of "districts" in place of biomes, buildings to enter and narrow streets and alley ways to explore. You could even bring back Pokemon like Trubbish popping out of bins like they did in X and Y. As for Max Raid dens, you could always have the beam of light coming up from the sewer manholes on the roads.

 

[Carkol]

2 things I don't like about the Galar region.

-No haunted houses (yet).
-No castles, palaces, or abandoned castles to explore (yet).

Kalos had Parfum Palace and Shabboneau Castle, so I was hoping Galar would at least have an abandoned castle with wild pokemon roaming (like Cinnabar Mansion). Hopefully Calyrex has its own castle, hopefully Crown Tundra has a haunted house with Ghost/Ice pokemon, like a regional Cryogonal for example.

I feel like in a D/P remake, there could be a new wild area on Mt. Coronet, like a previously unaccessible part, or a wild area in the underground, or the northeast island where the Fight Area is.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

For me, the whole Wild Area is a missed opportunity. I liked what they did with the Isle of Armor. Compared to it, Galar's Wild Area is just a vast wasted space. It could have had a tiny remote village, forests, ruins, and underground or underwater caverms. Could've had lots of trainers scattered around.

So much this. Having things limited to battling, competitive battling and raids, feels so shallow somehow.

I like the Isle of Armor too, but it still feels rather lacking. I truly miss the sense of exploration from previous Pokemon games - whether it was exploring caves, digging for treasure or solving puzzles, all of that made the game that much more fun.

 

[nel3]

it may likely end up as a missed opportunity but if they could just fix the gen8 fossils to the point where both halves actually match then that would be great. that scientist must have had some prohibited substances when they though "it would be sooo funny if we mis-match the 2 fossil sections".

make the corrected version a 2nd form if they need to but god they messed that up bad in the current form.

 

[NeedsAName]

it may likely end up as a missed opportunity but if they could just fix the gen8 fossils to the point where both halves actually match then that would be great. that scientist must have had some prohibited substances when they though "it would be sooo funny if we mis-match the 2 fossil sections".

make the corrected version a 2nd form if they need to but god they messed that up bad in the current form.

þe entire point is how mismatched þey are! To complete þese dino bois would ruin þeir gimmick, and þe "correct forms" would be treated much better by fans, causing þe fused fossils to fade into despised obscurity, like wiþ Purugly and Klinklang.

 

[Ophie]

þe entire point is how mismatched þey are! To complete þese dino bois would ruin þeir gimmick, and þe "correct forms" would be treated much better by fans, causing þe fused fossils to fade into despised obscurity, like wiþ Purugly and Klinklang.

Indeed--Galar has shown a sort of trollish sense of humor with its designs (though arguably, this type of humor has been present last generation, with various people in Alola having the hula-dancing Bellossom and being featured in in-game tourism marketing but not being available at all to catch). They're also based on the mismatched fossils from early paleontologists, who were desperate to produce a skeleton of anything even remotely resembling an animal.

The fact that the "zolt" part is based on the Velociraptor, a much-wanted basis, adds to the joke.

And the fact that the "vish" part is based on the Dunkleosteus, whose skull was the only part of its skeleton not made of cartilage, so most Dunkelosteus fossils are of just the head.

 

[nel3]

þe entire point is how mismatched þey are! To complete þese dino bois would ruin þeir gimmick, and þe "correct forms" would be treated much better by fans, causing þe fused fossils to fade into despised obscurity, like wiþ Purugly and Klinklang.

Then I don't understand troll, is there a Babel translation version for that?? Some look so stupid with tiny top or tiny bottom half. How is a tiny raptor supposed to merge with t-rex? Its like chopping the front half of a hummer and put the front half of a smart car on the hummer body. At least has the 2 fossils be of similar size to start with.

 

[Ophie]

Then I don't understand troll, is there a Babel translation version for that?? Some look so stupid with tiny top or tiny bottom half. How is a tiny raptor supposed to merge with t-rex? Its like chopping the front half of a hummer and put the front half of a smart car on the hummer body. At least has the 2 fossils be of similar size to start with.

Because 1) they look funnier that way, and 2) they've given people what they wanted, such as a Pokémon themed on a Velociraptor, but not in a way they wanted. I'm sure they knew it would be divisive, between people who take it seriously and get annoyed at them and people who take it in stride and find them amusing.

Also, now that you brought it up, I'm curious as to if anyone's ever made a car like that, and if it can be driven.

 

[nel3]

Because 1) they look funnier that way, and 2) they've given people what they wanted, such as a Pokémon themed on a Velociraptor, but not in a way they wanted. I'm sure they knew it would be divisive, between people who take it seriously and get annoyed at them and people who take it in stride and find them amusing.

Also, now that you brought it up, I'm curious as to if anyone's ever made a car like that, and if it can be driven.

oh well, the joke is lost on me. i just dont see the comedy in it. if anything is a troll move on their part but im not getting it.

 

[DANdotW]

The comedy in it is that it is based on the very true fact of British paleantologists incorrectly connecting fossils. In a region based on Britain, it's both accurate and hilarious. One day in a future region, perhaps we'll find the other halves, or complete versions of them, but for now, we have to remain content with abominations. And therein lies the humour.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Sidequest Giant Pokemon bosses for side areas that have lore related to UK mythology and history. I’m talking about an Aegislash that protects a Relic Crown treasure and looks nothing more than a sword stuck inside a giant stone and a discarded shield laying on the ground beside the stone until you reach out for the crown, a Lapras that resides on a lake similar to the Loch Ness, a Dragon type boss (preferably Salamence but Druddigon would do), and a Misdreavus inside a crumbling castle.

 

[Luthor]

The fact that Totem Pokemon are returned to their normal size of transferred to sword and shield. Its a missed opportunity as it encourages people not to bother with older games and transfer them forward as in these games those special pokemon are no longer special.

 

[NeedsAName]

Sidequest Giant Pokemon bosses for side areas that have lore related to UK mythology and history. I’m talking about an Aegislash that protects a Relic Crown treasure and looks nothing more than a sword stuck inside a giant stone and a discarded shield laying on the ground beside the stone until you reach out for the crown, a Lapras that resides on a lake similar to the Loch Ness, a Dragon type boss (preferably Salamence but Druddigon would do), and a Misdreavus inside a crumbling castle.

I really like þis idea, and I'm surprised we didn't even get one of þese.

Edit: A Bisharp boss would also be cool wiþ þis

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

In the middle of watching an interesting Pokemon video that brings up some good points about what seems to be missing from more recent Pokemon games.

Thought it was going to be the typical complaining video, but it's surprised me so far by bringing up legitimate points.

Finished it and it was well done.

Just hoping that future Pokemon games go back to the less hand holding formula it used to have and bring back puzzles, exploration and digging for treasure. Those things alone would be an improvement.

Maybe let us climb mountains, go rafting, etc..