Locormus
Can we please get the older, old forum back?
Hi.
Honestly, I like the Galar Region. It has landmarks and plots of land that gives it an unique feel. However, in it's main form (not counting the DLC), it's not as expansive and doesn't lend to hours of exploring as much as Hoenn, Sinnoh or Unova have to offer. I'm not really talking about the linearity of these games per sé, since the Gen5 games are incredibly linear, but have plenty of ways to explore the region. It's about the region feeling empty.
Best example: The Galar Mines. I honestly don't understand how GameFreak expects us to feel satisfied when those are the only caves in this region. There's nothing to them outside of following the same path. There's no feeling that you might 'get lost' or that it may be a challenge to go through. Compare that to entering Mt.Moon or Rock Tunnel for the first time and genuinely not knowing where exactly to go and which path leads to where. Heck, look at the Oreburgh Gate, it's one way in and then you exit on the other side, but there's a vast cave underneath waiting to be explored on the revisit, with different layers that invite you to visit the location several times as you get more HM moves on your Bibarel. And it's not just the Galar Mines that have this problem, it's basically every location that doesn't have a creek or lake next to it. I love the Glimwood Tangle, but outside of being a unique location, there's nothing left to do after you have gone through it once. Compare that to Pinwheel Forest and you'll know what I mean.
And that's about it for the region for me.
In terms of the characters, there's only one major thing that I really dislike about it - and this only counts for Sword. It's Gordie. It's the fact that he's a pompous Rock-type Gym Leader when he's the sixth gym leader you face. Rock-type should never have been considered for a gym in Galar after the first initial three - and especially if Kabu was made to look impressive and a hurdle. Especially compared to Melony, who has a tough combination of pokémon, including Zen Mode, Galar Darmanitan and Gmax Lapras. But come on. This guy has a Pokémon that's 4x weak to Grass and one that's 4x weak to Water and the other two don't offer any particular challenge: Stonjourner and.. Shuckle. Another missed opportunity about Gordie is that there's no theme to his team whatsoever and it's just a bunch of Rock-types thrown together, there's literally no cohesion and I don't see a reason why Coalossal is his main pokémon.
I get that they want to have separate gym leaders for the games, but there were plenty of types left to draw from over the Rock-type. There are more challenging types to use.. The Steel-type doesn't get used at all. Historically, the Steel-type is a good type to offer as the sixth challenge: Both Jasmine and Byron can be challenged as the sixth gym leader (Johto is a bit fluid, but she's generally considered the sixth) and you have a gym leader-styled battle with Molayne around the same point in Sun and Moon.
You could ask: What would you do with the Steel-type in Galar? Well, it's actually fairly obvious. You turn Gordie into a historian that researches Galar's general history and theme his team around that and it's actually incredibly easy, but hard to understand why they actually didn't do it in the first place:
- Gmax Corviknight: a knight.
- Aegislash/Doublade: a sword (and shield).
- Perrserker: a viking (which raided England).
- Mawile: a Morgan le Fay stand-in from the Arthurian tradition.
And that's how you have a themed, balanced and challenging opponent for the right point in the game - but somehow they opted for a cakewalk team with no balance or cohesion centered around a type that in previous generations you slaughtered either as the first or second gym. Olivia in S/M was worse, but Gordie just takes the cake.
And those are the two biggest missed opportunities in Galar in my eyes. What are yours?
Honestly, I like the Galar Region. It has landmarks and plots of land that gives it an unique feel. However, in it's main form (not counting the DLC), it's not as expansive and doesn't lend to hours of exploring as much as Hoenn, Sinnoh or Unova have to offer. I'm not really talking about the linearity of these games per sé, since the Gen5 games are incredibly linear, but have plenty of ways to explore the region. It's about the region feeling empty.
Best example: The Galar Mines. I honestly don't understand how GameFreak expects us to feel satisfied when those are the only caves in this region. There's nothing to them outside of following the same path. There's no feeling that you might 'get lost' or that it may be a challenge to go through. Compare that to entering Mt.Moon or Rock Tunnel for the first time and genuinely not knowing where exactly to go and which path leads to where. Heck, look at the Oreburgh Gate, it's one way in and then you exit on the other side, but there's a vast cave underneath waiting to be explored on the revisit, with different layers that invite you to visit the location several times as you get more HM moves on your Bibarel. And it's not just the Galar Mines that have this problem, it's basically every location that doesn't have a creek or lake next to it. I love the Glimwood Tangle, but outside of being a unique location, there's nothing left to do after you have gone through it once. Compare that to Pinwheel Forest and you'll know what I mean.
And that's about it for the region for me.
In terms of the characters, there's only one major thing that I really dislike about it - and this only counts for Sword. It's Gordie. It's the fact that he's a pompous Rock-type Gym Leader when he's the sixth gym leader you face. Rock-type should never have been considered for a gym in Galar after the first initial three - and especially if Kabu was made to look impressive and a hurdle. Especially compared to Melony, who has a tough combination of pokémon, including Zen Mode, Galar Darmanitan and Gmax Lapras. But come on. This guy has a Pokémon that's 4x weak to Grass and one that's 4x weak to Water and the other two don't offer any particular challenge: Stonjourner and.. Shuckle. Another missed opportunity about Gordie is that there's no theme to his team whatsoever and it's just a bunch of Rock-types thrown together, there's literally no cohesion and I don't see a reason why Coalossal is his main pokémon.
I get that they want to have separate gym leaders for the games, but there were plenty of types left to draw from over the Rock-type. There are more challenging types to use.. The Steel-type doesn't get used at all. Historically, the Steel-type is a good type to offer as the sixth challenge: Both Jasmine and Byron can be challenged as the sixth gym leader (Johto is a bit fluid, but she's generally considered the sixth) and you have a gym leader-styled battle with Molayne around the same point in Sun and Moon.
You could ask: What would you do with the Steel-type in Galar? Well, it's actually fairly obvious. You turn Gordie into a historian that researches Galar's general history and theme his team around that and it's actually incredibly easy, but hard to understand why they actually didn't do it in the first place:
- Gmax Corviknight: a knight.
- Aegislash/Doublade: a sword (and shield).
- Perrserker: a viking (which raided England).
- Mawile: a Morgan le Fay stand-in from the Arthurian tradition.
And that's how you have a themed, balanced and challenging opponent for the right point in the game - but somehow they opted for a cakewalk team with no balance or cohesion centered around a type that in previous generations you slaughtered either as the first or second gym. Olivia in S/M was worse, but Gordie just takes the cake.
And those are the two biggest missed opportunities in Galar in my eyes. What are yours?