Pokemon Sword & Shield GENERAL DISCUSSION Thread [Spoilers]

[WishIhadaManafi5]

Apparently, the winner was revealed to have sold shirts with the same design in the past, which was against the contest's rules.

Oh I see. That's not good. Hope the runner up gets the reward instead (if they do that -- meaning Game Freak).

 

[Bguy7]

88 Pokemon is fantastic news. Looks like were getting another quality-over-quantity generation.

That isn't even close to how it works. There is no objective way to say that smaller regions like Kalos and Alola have better designs than larger ones like Unova or Hoenn. Personally, I like Unova Pokémon on average much more than Kalos, Alola, or even Johto. In fact, Kalos and Johto are two of my least favorite regions when it comes to overall Pokémon design, while Hoenn and Unova are two of my favorites.

If anything, having more Pokémon allows there to be a larger chance that there's a Pokémon you like, so I'll take a larger region any day.

SciresM, one of the prominent Pokemon dataminers, have said that there was no such thing within Pokemon Rumble Rush's data.

To those unaware of what I'm referring to, an anonymous 4chan user created a thread and claimed that there were 90 Bulbasaur placeholders found within the abovementioned game's data listed after Meltan and Melmetal. He did not post a source.

Someone asked SciresM directly and debunked it saying that it was "fake news". Nothing like that was found in the game's code. Not even Meltan and Melmetal was in the game code.

Sorry. But no.

Oh thank goodness, there's still hope. After two generations in a row giving us record low amounts of Pokémon, I really think we need a generation to give a larger amount. It doesn't need to be Unova or Kanto large, but something between Sinnoh and Hoenn in numbers would be greatly appreciated. At least break the 100 mark so it can feel larger.

 

[mysticalglacia]

Unova has an excellent array of Pokémon, and out of that huge pool only a tiny handful could be called uncreative, etc. GF has proved they can still pump out a large amount of Pokémon designs while still having them look good, contrary to the “less is better” mindset. Kalos and Alola had a lot of gems, but you wouldn’t get to know that in-game when the low amount of new Pokémon let you encounter and catch the older ones more. They really have their chance this generation to fix that, and I can’t say I’d be satisfied if the games come out and we get 80 new ones again.

 

[RileyXY1]

Having less new Pokemon doesn't mean that they will be better quality than if they introduced a bunch of them.

 

[shoz999]

Guess customization will return in Sword & Shield. Huh. What good timing too lol.

 

[Ignition]

I don’t think that lesser Dexes equals better quality Pokèmon but I personally found XY and SM’s rosters better than BW’s (not to say that I hate gen V’s Dex). Of course I’m always hoping we can go back to the days of 100+ new Pokèmon

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

I don’t think that lesser Dexes equals better quality Pokèmon but I personally found XY and SM’s rosters better than BW’s (not to say that I hate gen V’s Dex). Of course I’m always hoping we can go back to the days of 100+ new Pokèmon

I agree for the most part. Same goes with 100+ new Pokémon, especially given the higher price. I'm hoping for decent quality. Nothing half-Tauros'd.

 

[Satoshi & Touko]

Guess customization will return in Sword & Shield. Huh. What good timing too lol.

Little late to the party, but welcome aboard.

 

[Orphalesion]

To me there never really was much doubt that we'd have customization again. But it's good to have confirmation of it's return and the promise that we'll get at least some kind of info next month.

 

[shoz999]

Well it depends how many of those Pokemon are Ultra Beasts/Legendaries/Mythicals/Other Event crap.

If that number is low like in Gen 6 I'd be somewhat alright with 88 Pokemon, if that number is large like in gen 7 I'd be disappointed.

But... it would be interesting. to know if that number includes potential Mega Evos or Regional Forms because if so....yikes!



That's nonsense and you know it. I'm too tired right now to *yet again* list all the crap, useless or just boring filler Pokemon Gens 6 and 7 had, or all the quality Pokemon Gen 5 had so Let's just leave it at that.

Nope. As a player who enjoys competitive, so many of the Pokemon have very unique playstyles thanks to there unique moves, abilities and stats, especially Gen 7. Gen 6 has this but it falls a bit flat namely due to stats not living up to the abilities and moves and there's just better Pokemon that outclass but Gen 6 and Gen 7 are indeed "quality over quantity" generations.

 

[Orphalesion]

Nope. As a player who enjoys competitive, so many of the Pokemon have very unique playstyles thanks to there unique moves, abilities and stats, especially Gen 7. Gen 6 has this but it falls a bit flat namely due to stats not living up to the abilities and moves and there's just better Pokemon that outclass but Gen 6 and Gen 7 are indeed "quality over quantity" generations.

Sure keep repeating that sentence, it hasn't grown old 5 years ago or anything. Plus...so? Not only are a lot of the Gen 6/7 mons RU or lower (so yeah quality...), but what about all of us who aren't competitive players? Gen 6 and 7 still have enough Pokemon (especially non-legendary/mythical/UB mons) that don't bring anything new to the table. What's quality about Vivillion? That the crappy Bug/Flying Butterfly mon#25 has a different texture slapped on their wings depending on where you live "oooooh, haven't seen such quality since the Unown!" What's quality about Avalugg? Tsareena? Lurantis? Gumshoes? Gogoat (though to be fair I like Gogoat)? Meowstick? Barbanacle? Goodra?

I mean by that logic they could just do a small batch of Pokemon for competitive players and a bunch of "non quality" Pokemon for the rest of us. Abilities like fur coat or Comatose don't really need the same work as a whole Pokemon with lore and 3D model and all, which really are areas where there is no difference at all in "quality" between 6/7 and 5/4/3.

 

[shoz999]

Sure keep repeating that sentence, it hasn't grown old 5 years ago or anything. Plus...so? Not only are a lot of the Gen 6/7 mons RU or lower (so yeah quality...), but what about all of us who aren't competitive players? Gen 6 and 7 still have enough Pokemon (especially non-legendary/mythical/UB mons) that don't bring anything new to the table. What's quality about Vivillion? That the crappy Bug/Flying Butterfly mon#25 has a different texture slapped on their wings depending on where you live "oooooh, haven't seen such quality since the Unown!" What's quality about Avalugg? Tsareena? Lurantis? Gumshoes? Gogoat (though to be fair I like Gogoat)? Meowstick? Barbanacle? Goodra?

I mean by that logic they could just do a small batch of Pokemon for competitive players and a bunch of "non quality" Pokemon for the rest of us. Abilities like fur coat or Comatose don't really need the same work as a whole Pokemon with lore and 3D model and all, which really are areas where there is no difference at all in "quality" between 6/7 and 5/4/3.

And you continue on saying like it's a fact. I won't deny that not everyone here is a competitive player but that still does not take away the quality of the Pokemon's playstyle to both competitive and non-competitive players. So let's explore the first Pokemon you picked out, Vivillion, arguably a superior upgrade to Butterfree.

Vivillion, it's like a mini-Darkrai, outclasses that of Butterfree thanks to it's better speed but it's greatest strength lies in it's unique ability "Compound Eyes" turning Sleep Powder's accuracy to almost a 100% accuracy. It especially doesn't help the opponent that Vivillion has access to Quiver Dance which boosts it's stats to destructive levels. Do you understand what I'm saying? Vivillion's playstyle is basically sleep powder on non-grass types with almost no chance of missing and setting up with it's ridiculously good move Quiver Dance. So basically Vivillion is not as crappy as you think.

 

[Ignition]

Nope. As a player who enjoys competitive, so many of the Pokemon have very unique playstyles thanks to there unique moves, abilities and stats, especially Gen 7. Gen 6 has this but it falls a bit flat namely due to stats not living up to the abilities and moves and there's just better Pokemon that outclass but Gen 6 and Gen 7 are indeed "quality over quantity" generations.

My favorite part of Gen 7 was probably using every new Pokèmon as each had a new signature ability amd/or move that was fun to see in game. Made the usual post game battle facility streak much more fun.

 

[shoz999]

My favorite part of Gen 7 was probably using every new Pokèmon as each had a new signature ability amd/or move that was fun to see in game. Made the usual post game battle facility streak much more fun.

Honestly I don't think there was a single Pokemon from Gen 7 that was basically just part of the "Gotta Catch Em' All" theme. You know, Pokemon that are so weak, so outclassed that it's obvious that they were meant for just catching. Although personally though, I do hope for another Gen 5 roster. That was the perfect blend of both quality and quantity, I don't think we will ever see another generation like that in a long time.

 

[Bguy7]

And you continue on saying like it's a fact. I won't deny that not everyone here is a competitive player but that still does not take away the quality of the Pokemon's playstyle to both competitive and non-competitive players. So let's explore the first Pokemon you picked out, Vivillion, arguably a superior upgrade to Butterfree.

Vivillion, it's like a mini-Darkrai, outclasses that of Butterfree thanks to it's better speed but it's greatest strength lies in it's unique ability "Compound Eyes" turning Sleep Powder's accuracy to almost a 100% accuracy. It especially doesn't help the opponent that Vivillion has access to Quiver Dance which boosts it's stats to destructive levels. Do you understand what I'm saying? Vivillion's playstyle is basically sleep powder on non-grass types with almost no chance of missing and setting up with it's ridiculously good move Quiver Dance. So basically Vivillion is not as crappy as you think.

That really wasn't the point. The point is that everyone sees and assesses different Pokémon in different ways. There is no single metric by which you can say that regions with less Pokémon have higher quality Pokémon, and therefore it cannot be asserted that regions with less Pokémon produce better Pokémon. There is no such thing as "quality of quantity" in this context.

Although personally though, I do hope for another Gen 5 roster. That was the perfect blend of both quality and quantity, I don't think we will ever see another generation like that in a long time.

Sorry, but I'm a little confused by this statement. Unova is the region that introduced the most Pokémon by a sizable margin. If you like the quality of its Pokémon, then shouldn't that be proof to you that higher quantity does not mean lower quality?

 

[Zoruagible]

Honestly I don't think there was a single Pokemon from Gen 7 that was basically just part of the "Gotta Catch Em' All" theme. You know, Pokemon that are so weak, so outclassed that it's obvious that they were meant for just catching. Although personally though, I do hope for another Gen 5 roster. That was the perfect blend of both quality and quantity, I don't think we will ever see another generation like that in a long time.

I don't think we ever will. Not with Gamefreak insisting Megas/Regional forms/etc qualify as 'new Pokemon!'
I'd gladly take no regional forms in return for actual new Pokemon species, Megas are the only thing that need to stick as it helps give boosts to three stage Pokemon that need it. Some Pokemon like Farfetch'd and Dunsparce just need evolutions to fix them

 

[RileyXY1]

Whether a Pokemon's design is "good" or "bad" depends on personal interpretation. People have different tastes when it comes to Pokemon designs.

 

[shoz999]

That really wasn't the point. The point is that everyone sees and assesses different Pokémon in different ways. There is no single metric by which you can say that regions with less Pokémon have higher quality Pokémon, and therefore it cannot be asserted that regions with less Pokémon produce better Pokémon. There is no such thing as "quality of quantity" in this context.



Sorry, but I'm a little confused by this statement. Unova is the region that introduced the most Pokémon by a sizable margin. If you like the quality of its Pokémon, then shouldn't that be proof to you that higher quantity does not mean lower quality?

No. I believe you missed the point. She made it clear that she thinks my opinion is wrong as soon as she started off with "That's nonsense and you know it" and I'm telling her that assessing it by their capabilities, there's a lot more to how these Pokemon are designed than meets the eye. Yes there are different ways to assess a Pokemon, but I am focusing on specifically what they can do in battles and nothing else. That's what I mean by quality and quantity and this is generally the common idea of "quality and quantity" Pokemon at least from my experience, how they were designed for battles in-mind.

As for the second statement, when have I ever stated that higher quantity equals lower quality? Gen 5 is an great example of having numerous Pokemon, most of which have unique playstyles. No where as unique as Gen 6 and Gen 7 to be fair, but unique enough that they stand on their own, in some player's minds too unique that some people think they enhanced or destroyed the Pokemon meta.

I don't think we ever will. Not with Gamefreak insisting Megas/Regional forms/etc qualify as 'new Pokemon!'
I'd gladly take no regional forms in return for actual new Pokemon species, Megas are the only thing that need to stick as it helps give boosts to three stage Pokemon that need it. Some Pokemon like Farfetch'd and Dunsparce just need evolutions to fix them

I actually don't mind regional variants. If anything if it were up to me, I wouldn't call Alolan Sandslash Alolan Sandslash. I'd call it Snowslash in the same way Slowbro's alternative counterpart is called Slowking. These regional variants are literally like new Pokemon. Slightly different stats but paired with new abilities and unique exclusive moves that they don't actually resemble their old Kantonian counterparts that much in playstyle. You know Alolan Ninetails, it's such a defensive Pokemon compared to it's more offensive counterpart, Kantonian Ninetails. I'm all for Regional Variants over Mega Evolutions.

 

[ghostedZorua]

Looks like everyone was busy talking while I was gone. (Sound of knuckles cracking.) Time to get to work.

Spoiler

Looks like customization is back, let's hope we can deck ourselves out with dresses, make up, a mask could be fun, jewelry.

Can't think of a region inspired by UK not to have customization either way. I'm more interested to know what kind of options are available, as in Trenchcoats, boots, textured jeans, jackets and sweaters like XY offered compared to SM's shallow pool.

I'm glad we know customization is back. I would like to see the system utilized better. The system has always felt limited

Sadly customization is not likely going any time soon....not unless Game Freak is willing to risk a backlash on the scale of the aftermath of the Kalos League finals.

Having said that hopefully the main male character has decent customization options this time, they seems to get the short end of the stick compared to the female.

I agree with both of these, but I'd like to point out that in XY not all of the clothing was available at once. In fact, each clothing store (boutique) changed their inventory daily and, as you acquired more clothes, it started becoming a hassle to get every single article, which I like to do. However, SM (and by extension USUM) didn't have as big of a variety that XY had, but it had better availability. Let's hope SWSH has variety and availability, yeah?

I completely agree with Tsukuyomi56 on the male PC having decent customization, but it almost sounds as if you're making customization as a bad thing.

Having around 90 new Pokemon seems ok under the following criteria:
1. Legendary/Mythical/UBs etc not exceeding the total number of 10 (more than Kanto, Johto and Kalos but less than Unova, Alola and Sinnoh).
2. No as much One-stage Pokemon as in Alola (come on, half of them deserved an evolution).
3. This does not include any Megas/Regional Forms. Cross-evos of old Pokemon would be ok if done properly.

As we are on 809 with Melmetal, Rounding out to 900 seems not to Farfetch'd with having 91 Pokemon introduced.

Agreed, but I would like to have at least a hundred. About 100-120 would be ideal for me in terms of brand new Pokemon, but 91 (including Legendaries/Mythicals/UBs) would just make me frustrated. That isn't to say I wouldn't enjoy them, with or without Regional Variants, but... You get the picture.

YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!

#AylaWillGetHerFashions <3

Side note: the funny thing regarding Unova's Pokemon is that they are quality AND quantity. I mean, we got Lillipup and Cubchoo! <3

Edit: the female trainer is wearing a different skirt in the prerelease photo showing the new T-shirt.

Edit 2: OMFG I'm actually reading COMPLAINTS that customization is returning?! (insert jibberish here)

See, I told you not to worry. Also, yeah, can you believe it? (I mean, I think they mostly think it's alright right now and just don't want it to get too complicated, but people like me and you want something slightly more in depth, yes?)

I'm really excited about customization being back. I guess I have a bit of a generic look, so it's easy to make the playable male look pretty similar to me. Being able to put on an outfit like one that I would actually wear is really fun, though I rarely change my clothes once I find my 'look'. Especially with this being an RPG at its heart, it's great to make the playable main as close to an audience surrogate as possible. Honestly, though, I figured people already figured that customization was back. In one of my rewatches of the February Pokemon Direct, the sign to the right of Ohmori in the steampunk city looks a lot like a shirt. I guess it might have also been another kind of shop, but it's nice to now have confirmation that, whether that sign is for a clothes store or not, customization is returning.

I tend to change outfits every once in a while, but keep it to a few ones I really like, hence why I was sad when the outfit saves were taken away. Also, I just saw the trailer, I did not have a chance to see the direct at all so I probably missed the steampunk city shop sign.

They can do both. Having regional variants doesn't take away from potential new pokemon, unless you think that by spending time designing regional variants, GF is actively leaving new pokemon on the table. I don’t believe that is the case.

Agreed, completely.

That isn't even close to how it works. There is no objective way to say that smaller regions like Kalos and Alola have better designs than larger ones like Unova or Hoenn. Personally, I like Unova Pokémon on average much more than Kalos, Alola, or even Johto. In fact, Kalos and Johto are two of my least favorite regions when it comes to overall Pokémon design, while Hoenn and Unova are two of my favorites.

If anything, having more Pokémon allows there to be a larger chance that there's a Pokémon you like, so I'll take a larger region any day.



Oh thank goodness, there's still hope. After two generations in a row giving us record low amounts of Pokémon, I really think we need a generation to give a larger amount. It doesn't need to be Unova or Kanto large, but something between Sinnoh and Hoenn in numbers would be greatly appreciated. At least break the 100 mark so it can feel larger.

Again, my ideal region size is 100-120 new Pokemon, including Legendaries, Mythicals, UBs, and Regional Variants. I would like to add to that that I'd only want the total of the first three to be 10-15, and the Regional Variants to be around 5-10 (just to be clear). I would be frustrated if it was around 90 including the first three, but I wouldn't enjoy it any less.

Unova has an excellent array of Pokémon, and out of that huge pool only a tiny handful could be called uncreative, etc. GF has proved they can still pump out a large amount of Pokémon designs while still having them look good, contrary to the “less is better” mindset. Kalos and Alola had a lot of gems, but you wouldn’t get to know that in-game when the low amount of new Pokémon let you encounter and catch the older ones more. They really have their chance this generation to fix that, and I can’t say I’d be satisfied if the games come out and we get 80 new ones again.

It would have been better if the encounter rate for the new Pokemon was greater than that of the older ones, is what you're saying.

I don’t think that lesser Dexes equals better quality Pokèmon but I personally found XY and SM’s rosters better than BW’s (not to say that I hate gen V’s Dex). Of course I’m always hoping we can go back to the days of 100+ new Pokèmon

That really wasn't the point. The point is that everyone sees and assesses different Pokémon in different ways. There is no single metric by which you can say that regions with less Pokémon have higher quality Pokémon, and therefore it cannot be asserted that regions with less Pokémon produce better Pokémon. There is no such thing as "quality of quantity" in this context.



Sorry, but I'm a little confused by this statement. Unova is the region that introduced the most Pokémon by a sizable margin. If you like the quality of its Pokémon, then shouldn't that be proof to you that higher quantity does not mean lower quality?

Whether a Pokemon's design is "good" or "bad" depends on personal interpretation. People have different tastes when it comes to Pokemon designs.

These are opinions. Specifically, these are your opinions.. Not everyone will share your opinions. My opinion is that, in general, no gen has a better or worse Dex quality than any other since GF will usually make some with multiple different types of Trainers in mind. Are there some Pokemon that I don't like the designs of? Yes, yes there is. Do I consider them poorer because of this? No, no I do not. But would I have liked there to be more Pokemon? I would indeed have, but I wasn't any less happier because of it.

That was a doozy of a post to write.

 

[Golden_Latias]

I could be wrong, because I know nothing about game design, but I always assumed the smaller number of new Pokemon in Gens 6 and 7 had more to do with hardware limitations than anything. Like... 100+ new Pokemon plus Megas/regional variants plus all the other 3D models and stuff seems like something the 3DS just couldn't handle. At least, not without scrapping Megas and regional variants entirely or sticking to 2D sprites, neither of which was going to happen. Then, both games would bring nothing new to the table aside from the Fairy typing in Gen 6 and Z-Moves in Gen 7.

I don't know if I necessarily believe the whole "quality over quantity" thing (personally, I find a lot of Gen 6 Pokemon kinda forgettable), but if Sw/Sh suddenly goes back up to 100+ new Pokemon, then I'll be convinced it really was hardware limitations.