Pokemon Sword & Shield GENERAL DISCUSSION Thread [Spoilers]

[SpiritSkye]

New footage of a town. My wish has been granted

Some noteworthy things:
-This is where Professor Magnolia’s Lab is
-We can sit again! SWSH are fixed now.
-Boutiques are much bigger than in XY/SM (kind of a given but still)
-Pokèmon’s cries are depicted as speech bubbles above their models

This is most likely the second town after the starting town. Wonder why they didn’t drop a name

Actually, I believe this is the starting town. I have a collection of images of it here (updated today with some from the video): https://youmightwanttorun.tumblr.com/post/187158102332/swsh-starting-town-screenshots

Looking at the part of the map I have included there, you can see it's the same town as our house. Not to mention Hop's, where we get our starters, so the starting town.

Related but switching focus: having pointed out the boutique previously, I'm glad to have confirmation on that. I want to know as much about trainer customization as I can lol.

Also on that note, according to the website getting to the Wild Area takes "about two hours," and I believe we reach it via the Steam City, so it should also take somewhere around two hours until we can visit the first hair stylist. That's my analysis anyway.

 

[lablablabz]

Actually, I believe this is the starting town. I have a collection of images of it here (updated today with some from the video): https://youmightwanttorun.tumblr.com/post/187158102332/swsh-starting-town-screenshots

Looking at the part of the map I have included there, you can see it's the same town as our house. Not to mention Hop's, where we get our starters, so the starting town.

Related but switching focus: having pointed out the boutique previously, I'm glad to have confirmation on that. I want to know as much about trainer customization as I can lol.

Also on that note, according to the website getting to the Wild Area takes "about two hours," and I believe we reach it via the Steam City, so it should also take somewhere around two hours until we can visit the first hair stylist. That's my analysis anyway.

There's Route 1 in between though. I can't recall any city/town that has a numbered route inside. It could be a Vaniville Town situation where the starting town is really small.

 

[SpiritSkye]

From the video we got today, I would say that we don't get the y-com until after we go into whatever building that is

I believe it's Professor Magnolia's house, since we've been shown meeting her in front of the door with Leon and Hop. You can scroll down to the second to last photo in this post if you wanna see a screenshot of that scene: https://youmightwanttorun.tumblr.com/post/186945806377/speculation

There's Route 1 in between though. I can't recall any city/town that has a numbered route inside. It could be a Vaniville Town situation where the starting town is really small.

That's true. The protag's hometown has been only a few houses in the past, so it's not out of the question that in SwSh it'd literally just be our house and Hop's, I just figured that with how much focus Game Freak's putting into making Galar bigger than past gens they'd make the starting town larger too. I'm probably mistaken there though, I suppose I should change my post title lol.

 

[OshyHikari]

I think you’re overreacting a little bit...

1. Nothing has indicated GF wants to retire from Pokémon. Even though Go was a huge hit, the main series games have still been selling as well they’ve always been.

Also, how can you call Home a “travesty” when we know so little about it?

2. Practically every company head’s priority is profit, Masuda isn’t some sort of exception. As for the Dynamax thing... I fail to see how any of the things you mentioned make it uninspired. The three-turns rule is to keep them balanced, and there are also exclusive Max Moves, so it’s not like there’s just one for every type plus the barrier (and even if that wasn’t the case, a Max Move for every type is plentiful enough).

3. Why would they end the main series when it makes them so much money? They have no hand in the development of Masters or Go. They’d get some money due to being shareholders of the Pokémon Company, but that’s it.

Overreacting? It’s because GF have lost trustworthiness in the fandom. Anti-consumer policies are causing an already divided fandom to get even worse.

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

I'm gonna have to break this one down.

What’s worse is that GF even acts as if they want to retire from Pokémon, just because of how much GO blew up and Niantic stole their crown as being TPC’s biggest source of revenue.

The main series games haven't been The Pokémon Company's biggest source of revenue since 1998. The merchandise have been.

Also, Game Freak isn't acting. They're genuinely tired of making Pokémon games. After 20 years, they're burnt out.

And now by creating the travesty that is Pokémon HOME to replace both Bank and Global Link due to the most major hardware change to date is indeed a sign that going anti-consumer was a plan all along, as HOME is guaranteed to require a subscription.

HOME requires a subscription for the same reason Bank did. It's on a separate server, and servers cost money.

Masuda himself also seems to only think about profit as well, such as the offense the fanbase copped with his claims like “Battle Frontier no longer exists because it’s too hard for younger players” as the excuse behind the Battle Frontier being retired, and the claims he hated how players exploited breeding mechanics in the lead up to LGP/LGE’s release.

I fail to see how this relates to Masuda merely thinking about profit.

For one, in addition to remarking that the Battle Frontier is too hard for younger players - which I agree is kinda dumb - Masuda also mentioned that findings showed very little players had an interest in the Battle Frontier, making the effort to rebuild it would be counterproductive.

Also, of course Masuda is going to be thinking about profit. At the end of the day, their #1 job is to make money. Just because their plan of action for gaining profit doesn't lead to your constitution of a quality game, doesn't make them crooks. Having apps does not make them crooks. Nothing Game Freak nor The Pokémon Company has done can be legally considered crooked. Maybe crooked according to your personal morals, but those morals are yours alone.

Dynamax is also much more uninspired than Megas,

That is only your opinion. It's an opinion I share, but an opinion nonetheless.

If Pokémon Masters blows up as big as GO, it will give GF even more reason to end the main series altogether and just let Pokémon become an iOS/Android-only platform.

lol Dude, the main series is never going to end.

The entire franchise is centered around the main series. Without it, there is nothing for the franchise to build on.

And the success of other ventures has absolutely NO influence on Game Freak's own ventures, or whether or not they will continue developing the main series. GO has nothing to do with them. Masters has nothing to do with them. They honestly couldn't give two s**ts, especially given it is their games that will make fans want to play GO and Masters. Remember, the entire franchise is centered around the main series.


It really does seem like people are in the habit of freaking out these days. No one is actually willing to look into things, just drawing quick conclusions based on their own dissatisfaction of what they perceive.

As I've told many others, it's totally okay to be angry. Just know what you're angry at.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Furthermore, in using "people can't afford a Switch!" as the rallying cry, what, precisely, is one rallying against? What was the alternative to Pokémon transitioning to the Switch? Put a third consecutive generation on the 3DS, hardware that was already huffing, puffing, and hissing smoke with parts of Generation VII? Better still, while I'm aware that the Switch costs more than a handheld, the Switch Lite is launching in time for Sword/Shield and it's doing so at $50 less than the 3DS ($250) and the same price as the 3DS XL ($200) at the time of their respective launches.

Sure, I'd have preferred if they'd stayed on the 3DS, because from what it looks like it's taking them way more time and effort to develop games on the Switch that effectively don't really offer anything more than the 3DS games (if anything they offer less because of how many pokémon are likely to be cut). You're grossly exaggerating on the 3DS's incapability with Gen 7 anyway. Mine lasted well over 1700 hours on gen 7 pokémon games alone and is still not huffing, puffing at all, and no smoke is coming out either. It runs fine. If smoke is coming out of your 3DS maybe you should take it to the store because that's not supposed to happen and not normal, not to mention a potential fire hazard, I've never heard of anyone else who experienced that.

You're also underselling the Switch's costs. It's not just the device. The games are more expensive for no other reason than that Switch label on the box, going online costs a lot of money too, for a fair comparison you should at least include those costs too.

 

[SpiritSkye]

If smoke is coming out of your 3DS maybe you should take it to the store because that's not supposed to happen and not normal, not to mention a potential fire hazard, I've never heard of anyone else who experienced that.

I believe that was meant as hyperbole.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I believe that was meant as hyperbole.

Hyperboles are very difficult to recognise online when all you have to go on is text instead of also intonation and body language. I'd rather have people actually say what they mean for once. Besides, hyperboles that are extended too far lose all meaning and are just absurd. Having some slight frame rate drops at times or it needing a little bit of time to load certain Z-Moves is not remotely the same as devices emitting smoke.

 

[sketchersmeargle]

As previously stated, I think its time to move onto a different conversation to avoid getting this thread locked.

 

[derekrandall]

Anywhooo- back to discussions about the game and not silly monetary / technical matters that none of us are going to be able to change no matter how much we (I use that term loosely) all whine and moan (!!!) ... the video that was posted today, assuming that was the first or second village in Galar, it would be really nice if we had a daily or weekly walkthrough of all the cities like that! I can’t get over how beautiful and large the region looks strolling through the towns. And also, who would’ve thought Wooloo would go “doh, doh, doh” and not “baa, baa, baa”!! Silly silly, but so cute. C’: seeing them walk around makes me think of that slowpoke town with the apricots.

Also on a side note what I’ve really been wondering has there been any mentions at all of whether there will be the global trading system or whatever it was called back, as well as wonder trade? I hope they those back and make it easy to search for pokemon you want to trade for.

 

[WhiteBlair]

What if the minor information roll-back about already-discovered Pokémon on Twitter indicates a countdown to the next trailer?

For those unaware, Pokémon Twitter daily posts(-ed) all 151 Kanto Pokémon (LGPE) until it was just recently over. If you count today with Duraludon's info. reveal, we have 15 more days, thus Pokémon, to show until the 6th of September.

Previous two trailers also came at the first week of their respective months: 8th of July and 7th of August respectively, which both showed new Pokémon.

 

[SpiritSkye]

Hyperboles are very difficult to recognise online when all you have to go on is text instead of also intonation and body language. I'd rather have people actually say what they mean for once. Besides, hyperboles that are extended too far lose all meaning and are just absurd. Having some slight frame rate drops at times or it needing a little bit of time to load certain Z-Moves is not remotely the same as devices emitting smoke.

I meant no offense, just trying to help. I agree that understanding intended tone in written communications is difficult, which is why I only said I believe it was meant as hyperbole.

What if the minor information roll-back about already-discovered Pokémon on Twitter indicates a countdown to the next trailer?

For those unaware, Pokémon Twitter daily posts(-ed) all 151 Kanto Pokémon (LGPE) until it was just recently over. If you count today with Duraludon's info. reveal, we have 15 more days, thus Pokémon, to show until the 6th of September.

Previous two trailers also came at the first week of their respective months: 8th of July and 7th of August respectively, which both showed new Pokémon.

I hope that you're correct. If it was leading up to a new trailer then it's possible it would show something interesting, like perhaps finally revealing the much-anticipated typings for Zacian and Zamazenta. Though I wouldn't get my hopes up on that possibility personally, it's interesting to think about.


Going back to the new gameplay, I enjoyed realizing that the difference in elevations between the protagonist's home, the professor's lab, and Magnolia's house aren't shown on the map. Though I do kind of wish it was more to scale, it was a fun thing to discover.

 

[OshyHikari]

I'm gonna have to break this one down.



The main series games haven't been The Pokémon Company's biggest source of revenue since 1998. The merchandise have been.

Also, Game Freak isn't acting. They're genuinely tired of making Pokémon games. After 20 years, they're burnt out.



HOME requires a subscription for the same reason Bank did. It's on a separate server, and servers cost money.



I fail to see how this relates to Masuda merely thinking about profit.

For one, in addition to remarking that the Battle Frontier is too hard for younger players - which I agree is kinda dumb - Masuda also mentioned that findings showed very little players had an interest in the Battle Frontier, making the effort to rebuild it would be counterproductive.

Also, of course Masuda is going to be thinking about profit. At the end of the day, their #1 job is to make money. Just because their plan of action for gaining profit doesn't lead to your constitution of a quality game, doesn't make them crooks. Having apps does not make them crooks. Nothing Game Freak nor The Pokémon Company has done can be legally considered crooked. Maybe crooked according to your personal morals, but those morals are yours alone.



That is only your opinion. It's an opinion I share, but an opinion nonetheless.



lol Dude, the main series is never going to end.

The entire franchise is centered around the main series. Without it, there is nothing for the franchise to build on.

And the success of other ventures has absolutely NO influence on Game Freak's own ventures, or whether or not they will continue developing the main series. GO has nothing to do with them. Masters has nothing to do with them. They honestly couldn't give two s**ts, especially given it is their games that will make fans want to play GO and Masters. Remember, the entire franchise is centered around the main series.


It really does seem like people are in the habit of freaking out these days. No one is actually willing to look into things, just drawing quick conclusions based on their own dissatisfaction of what they perceive.

As I've told many others, it's totally okay to be angry. Just know what you're angry at.

I’m sorry you disagree with all my statements and believe that I’m just an overreacted crybaby. If GF are so burnt out, they should just quit, focus on turning Town into a franchise and hand the main Pokémon series to a new developer. Keep in mind that I do not have the money to afford the series anymore, and because I’m poor, I have a right to be against companies who only care about money because it creates a Rich vs. Poor war that is heavily one sided. Because they now only care about profit and not the customers (much like EA), my views against anti-customer policies is heavily justified. It also doesn’t help that I heavily support the #BringBackNationalDex movement.

Because of microtransactions taking over, I cannot fully enjoy gaming anymore. What I also meant by biggest revenue maker, I was discounting the merchandise. GF got scared at the fact that another company (Niantic) has dethroned them, and caused Town to be made. Sadly, Town itself could face failure due to it being brought up in the controversy with SwSh.

 

[DannyDark]

Having a boutique/market/station in the Town that also contains the Lab has me really thinking about the pacing of the game.. Containing the Lab usually means it's the first, or perhaps in this case second, Town that you come across... not something you'd imagine would also contain shops for features that are usually developed upon later.

I suppose what you can possibly read from it.. is that either..

- The pacing is more lax, while at the same time intense, so as to provide a lot of features at once with less focus on structure and gradual introduction.
- Towns this time around are altogether more complex so that even the early Town contains features you wouldn't expect.
- While the Town contains these features, they aren't yet actually available and you would have to back-track to this Town to use them once available, made possible by the inclusion of the Train Station.

The Train Station being in this town additionally has me thinking.. will we be returning to the Lab Town frequently for story purposes and so the Train is a natural remedy for the back-tracking, or will all Towns contain Train Stations? I believe the latter will be the case, myself. Especially with the railway composition of the UK.

 

[WhiteBlair]

I’m sorry you disagree with all my statements and believe that I’m just an overreacted crybaby. If GF are so burnt out, they should just quit, focus on turning Town into a franchise and hand the main Pokémon series to a new developer. Keep in mind that I do not have the money to afford the series anymore, and because I’m poor, I have a right to be against companies who only care about money because it creates a Rich vs. Poor war that is heavily one sided. Because they now only care about profit and not the customers (much like EA), my views against anti-customer policies is heavily justified. It also doesn’t help that I heavily support the #BringBackNationalDex movement.

Because of microtransactions taking over, I cannot fully enjoy gaming anymore. What I also meant by biggest revenue maker, I was discounting the merchandise. GF got scared at the fact that another company (Niantic) has dethroned them, and caused Town to be made. Sadly, Town itself could face failure due to it being brought up in the controversy with SwSh.

If you're a Nintendo Switch owner, you have to pay NSO subscription for every game to go online. Pokémon is no exception.

HOME only provides benefits to players to transfer their Pokémon and online features of Global Link (so far). No indication of a smoother, advantageous IG experience.

You can't compare GO (Mobile app.) and Town (Switch) where a GO player's daily microtransactions can cost the price of Town during events.

I understand everyone has different economic income, thus have to be more careful with their expenses, but what you only have to do is simply to pay $20 more than the current titles, and move on. You won't start behind; you'll even be offered NPCs to complete Max Raid Battles. It's getting more and more tiring to throw shade at GF with either little-to-no business knowledge or for the sake of complaining and calling it a day.

 

[LordSerperior]

Enjoying a childhood favourite activity/game well into your 80s is not a right. If you still can find that enjoyment that's cool but if you can't then you just have to find other things that do give the adult you that enjoyment or just replay the older games. GF are not obligated to hand over the Pokemon franchise to other developers just so people can continue to experience their childhood fun. We aren't owed anything.

 

[Mewizard]

Having a boutique/market/station in the Town that also contains the Lab has me really thinking about the pacing of the game.. Containing the Lab usually means it's the first, or perhaps in this case second, Town that you come across... not something you'd imagine would also contain shops for features that are usually developed upon later.

I suppose what you can possibly read from it.. is that either..

- The pacing is more lax, while at the same time intense, so as to provide a lot of features at once with less focus on structure and gradual introduction.
- Towns this time around are altogether more complex so that even the early Town contains features you wouldn't expect.
- While the Town contains these features, they aren't yet actually available and you would have to back-track to this Town to use them once available, made possible by the inclusion of the Train Station.

The Train Station being in this town additionally has me thinking.. will we be returning to the Lab Town frequently for story purposes and so the Train is a natural remedy for the back-tracking, or will all Towns contain Train Stations? I believe the latter will be the case, myself. Especially with the railway composition of the UK.

I hope you're right about backtracking, That's something I really dislike about the main series games is that the story moves with the map and just feels too linear. I know this is because of level scaling of wild pokemon but if pokemon scaled levels with your gym badges that'd fix that. I just wish they'd utilize the cities and characters they create and have us going back and fourth all over galar.

 

[Mewizard]

Enjoying a childhood favourite activity/game well into your 80s is not a right. If you still can find that enjoyment that's cool but if you can't then you just have to find other things that do give the adult you that enjoyment or just replay the older games. GF are not obligated to hand over the Pokemon franchise to other developers just so people can continue to experience their childhood fun. We aren't owed anything.

It has nothing to do with Age, The Games have always appealed to older audiences due to the strategic battle mechanics. A Paying customer has every right to feel however way they do about a product and if it's worth the price. I don't see any complaints about making the game more mature, the only complaints I see is in disappointment with the Decision to cut the Dex which is completely warranted, disinterest in the Generations new Gimmick and possibly disappointment in the Graphics/Animations All of which people have a right to voice their concerns. It is a Switch game after all with a price increase, You can't get mad at people expecting better for more money.

 

[JLK2707]

So you are obligated to buy Home if you want to get distributions and such?

Perhaps.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

What if the minor information roll-back about already-discovered Pokémon on Twitter indicates a countdown to the next trailer?

For those unaware, Pokémon Twitter daily posts(-ed) all 151 Kanto Pokémon (LGPE) until it was just recently over. If you count today with Duraludon's info. reveal, we have 15 more days, thus Pokémon, to show until the 6th of September.

Previous two trailers also came at the first week of their respective months: 8th of July and 7th of August respectively, which both showed new Pokémon.

Wait, did the tweets about the 151 Pokémon lead to something? I thought that was the point, but I don’t think the August trailer came out after they were all done.

Either way, that’s what I’m really hoping they’re doing. While kind of see this as a long shot, I’m hoping these Pokémon Facts tweets are meant to count down to a new trailer that introduce something like the starters’ mid-stage evolutions.

I don’t expect to see their final forms until November either via a trailer or the launch of the games to keep it a secret for those who don’t follow Serebii or the datamine leaks