Pokemon Sword & Shield GENERAL DISCUSSION Thread [Spoilers]

[Sceptrigon]

I'd be down for it if they did add to Eternatus' lore in the DLC, but I really don't see it happening given what we know. But who knows. Maybe we'll get lucky.

This may be incredibly minor and end up having no significance, but I just want to add that I noticed Eternatus doesn’t seem to have official artwork released for its Eternamax form. There is a model for it in Home but I can’t find the actual art anywhere. We already have the official art for all Galar Pokémon and Gigantamax forms.

Unless Game Freak for some reason didn’t make one or the Pokémon website forgot to put it up, there could be a possibility that it will be revealed for something in the game later on that is related to Eternatus.

 

[Bguy7]

This may be incredibly minor and end up having no significance, but I just want to add that I noticed Eternatus doesn’t seem to have official artwork released for its Eternamax form. There is a model for it in Home but I can’t find the actual art anywhere. We already have the official art for all Galar Pokémon and Gigantamax forms.

Unless Game Freak for some reason didn’t make one or the Pokémon website forgot to put it up, there could be a possibility that it will be revealed for something in the game later on that is related to Eternatus.

I think it's fairly safe to assume that it doesn't have art because it's not officially a Pokémon. Yes, technically it's an alternate form of Eternatus, and yes, it technically is programmed like any other Pokémon, but it was designed to be an unobtainable final boss, and as such, it wouldn't be treated in the same way as any regular form.

 

[Sceptrigon]

I think it's fairly safe to assume that it doesn't have art because it's not officially a Pokémon. Yes, technically it's an alternate form of Eternatus, and yes, it technically is programmed like any other Pokémon, but it was designed to be an unobtainable final boss, and as such, it wouldn't be treated in the same way as any regular form.

While true, with all the work that had been put into it, they might as well have official art for it.

 

[Bguy7]

While true, with all the work that had been put into it, they might as well have official art for it.

That's kind of like saying that there should be an official art for the PokéStar Studios opponents. Given, Eternamax Eternatus is closer to an actual Pokémon, but in the end, it's essentially the same thing.

Also, it's worth mentioning that there are some actually usable alternate forms that don't have official Sugimori artwork, like Castform's forms.

 

[Sceptrigon]

That's kind of like saying that there should be an official art for the PokéStar Studios opponents. Given, Eternamax Eternatus is closer to an actual Pokémon, but in the end, it's essentially the same thing.

Also, it's worth mentioning that there are some actually usable alternate forms that don't have official Sugimori artwork, like Castform's forms.

I mean, with Eternamax having a significant role in the Sword/Shield story, I would have expected it to have something. At this point, we don't even see Eternatus, let alone Eternamax, being acknowledged on the main Sword/Shield site. It's strange imo, unless it will have some future role.

 

[Bguy7]

I mean, with Eternamax having a significant role in the Sword/Shield story, I would have expected it to have something. At this point, we don't even see Eternatus, let alone Eternamax, being acknowledged on the main Sword/Shield site. It's strange imo, unless it will have some future role.

Eternatus (and therefore it's Eternamax form by extension) probably isn't shown in order to avoid spoilers. The games are still relatively new. As much as I would love Eternatus to get some more focus, I don't think this can be construed as evidence for it.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

Does anyone know about the Sword & Shield events people are currently hosting? I just saw this article in Nintendo Life about Joe Merrick's doing hourly raid events every Wednesday while someone in the comments mentioned that aDrive and Wolfey are doing battle tournaments in response to the World Championships being cancelled.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...ther_for_weekly_online_sword_and_shield_event

Does anyone know about either of these & where to get more info?

 

[Ignition]

Zarude’s signature move, Jungle Healing, has been revealed. It restores HP and status conditions of both it and its allies

I like how they note that it might lose its exclusivity in future games

 

[Mr.Fiend]

I think it would really improve gyms if they stopped forcing you to do gyms in a certain order,

Because that worked out so well in kanto and jhoto.

 

[ShadowForce720]

Because that worked out so well in kanto and jhoto.

That’s because those games didn’t design the gyms with the purpose in being able to challenge them in any order and still expected you to do the gyms in a particular order.

If they make games were they intend for you to be able to challenge them in any order then they can just scale the gym leaders levels to you.

It wouldn’t even be that complicated considering you would just have to provide different sets of teams and which one you you face is determined by the number of badges you have which is something that can be easily checked.

 

[Bguy7]

That’s because those games didn’t design the gyms with the purpose in being able to challenge them in any order and still expected you to do the gyms in a particular order.

If they make games were they intend for you to be able to challenge them in any order then they can just scale the gym leaders levels to you.

It wouldn’t even be that complicated considering you would just have to provide different sets of teams and which one you you face is determined by the number of badges you have which is something that can be easily checked.

It could work functionally, but it would be horrible for the game's story. If they can't expect you to be in certain places in a certain order, it becomes really hard to make a coherent narrative.

 

[Tsukuyomi56]

Garbador briefly bids farewell for Sword players (and Copperajah for Shield players) with the Easter holidays granting players access to various baby Pokemon and most importantly, Ditto. If you are looking for a good opportunity to get good Dittos for breeding (have got a few 6IV Pokémon from the event Raids) now is the time.

 

[Ophie]

As a heads up: Shield Version players can get the Great Ball Guy T-shirt now. I just tried it myself.

Plus he takes so long to set up his weather effects that he's very easy to beat (the AI and the types of the Pokemon he uses don't help)

I think he's supposed to be pretty easy to beat for people like you and me, since the main audience of Pokémon games are small children. They need to make it such that even they can beat the game and feel powerful and accomplished, and Game Freak has spent a lot of thought scaling the difficulty over the generations to address problems that come up when kids who don't think ahead and don't strategize (and older people who might think the same way) got stuck in past generations.

For instance, I remember a demo for Pokémon Yellow in which someone who played the game from the start got stuck at Brock, as they sold off all of the Poké Balls given to them and spent all of their money on Potions. They were able to brute-force past Brock's trainer but could not find a way to overcome his Onix. There have also been many cases of people who found Pokémon Let's Go! too hard, as they had just come out of Pokémon GO and were struggling with the concepts of turn-based battling, moving their character around, using HMs, and type immunities.

Rather, I see the single-player mode as one long tutorial on how to battle more effectively while providing a sort of wish fulfullment. Raihan is the sort of boss character designed to teach you about a mechanic--namely how Sandstorm works and how to fight with it up, as well as illustrating how double battles require a different kind of thinking than single battles. If you go into the game completely blind, Raihan will be trouble because your team was probably not designed for double battles, and your Ice-types and Fairy-types won't be effective against his Duraludon (which, if you're playing the game blind like that, you won't even know what Duraludon is until he sends it out). But he won't be so much trouble that you can't beat him even with no prior knowledge, just one that you have to pay attention while battling.

Garbador briefly bids farewell for Sword players (and Copperajah for Shield players) with the Easter holidays granting players access to various baby Pokemon and most importantly, Ditto. If you are looking for a good opportunity to get good Dittos for breeding (have got a few 6IV Pokémon from the event Raids) now is the time.

I'm still seeing Gigantamax Garbodor, Charizard, Copperajah, and Duraludon raids on my list, and I'm still finding them in my dens, so they're not gone. It would be odd to see them go away after two weeks anyway; they've all been at least three weeks long, with most being about one month.

 

[Orphalesion]

I think he's supposed to be pretty easy to beat for people like you and me, since the main audience of Pokémon games are small children. They need to make it such that even they can beat the game and feel powerful and accomplished, and Game Freak has spent a lot of thought scaling the difficulty over the generations to address problems that come up when kids who don't think ahead and don't strategize (and older people who might think the same way) got stuck in past generations.

For instance, I remember a demo for Pokémon Yellow in which someone who played the game from the start got stuck at Brock, as they sold off all of the Poké Balls given to them and spent all of their money on Potions. They were able to brute-force past Brock's trainer but could not find a way to overcome his Onix. There have also been many cases of people who found Pokémon Let's Go! too hard, as they had just come out of Pokémon GO and were struggling with the concepts of turn-based battling, moving their character around, using HMs, and type immunities.

Rather, I see the single-player mode as one long tutorial on how to battle more effectively while providing a sort of wish fulfullment. Raihan is the sort of boss character designed to teach you about a mechanic--namely how Sandstorm works and how to fight with it up, as well as illustrating how double battles require a different kind of thinking than single battles. If you go into the game completely blind, Raihan will be trouble because your team was probably not designed for double battles, and your Ice-types and Fairy-types won't be effective against his Duraludon (which, if you're playing the game blind like that, you won't even know what Duraludon is until he sends it out). But he won't be so much trouble that you can't beat him even with no prior knowledge, just one that you have to pay attention while battling.

That's why I'm one of the people who'd really, really love to see the return of Difficulty Settings. That way it could be easy for kids and people who just want to play without investing too much thought, and fun for people who'd like to see more challnge.

And I gotta be honest, while I know it's common practice and economically smart from he POV of the developer, I really, really, really, really hate it when a game (Pokemon or otherwise) just treats the Single Player Campaign as an extended tutorial for online play. Most of the time I'm in it for the story, and want to face challenge while I'm playing said story, not have a tutorial for online play.

 

[Tsukuyomi56]

I'm still seeing Gigantamax Garbodor, Charizard, Copperajah, and Duraludon raids on my list, and I'm still finding them in my dens, so they're not gone. It would be odd to see them go away after two weeks anyway; they've all been at least three weeks long, with most being about one month.

Think you may need to update to the latest Wild Area news as according to the list on Serebii G-Max Garbodor is not in Sword’s Easter event Raid pool (and G-Max Copperajah for Shield players during the Easter event). If you did update the event Raid pool you may have been seeing Raids from the “opposite” version.

 

[Rahus]

So, what's the significance of the new wild update? Just power items?

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

So, what's the significance of the new wild update? Just power items?

Easter time.

 

[Tsukuyomi56]

So, what's the significance of the new wild update? Just power items?

As another user said, Easter. This is why the event pool focuses on baby Pokémon, breeding/egg-related items and Dittos (saves the trouble of hoping that one den in the Stony Wilderness spawns a purple beam for Ditto raids).

 

[Rahus]

As another user said, Easter. This is why the event pool focuses on baby Pokémon, breeding/egg-related items and Dittos (saves the trouble of hoping that one den in the Stony Wilderness spawns a purple beam for Ditto raids).

I guess I didn't ask my question right. I knew it was about Easter.

Doesn't matter anyways. This event is pretty meh altogether. Might try to farm Ditto.

 

[Ophie]

UPDATE: I've found a Cleffa in this Easter event with Friend Guard, its Hidden Ability. This was not possible before. So if you want to use a Clefairy with Friend Guard (or Clefable with Unaware), and you don't have a means of getting Pokémon from prior generations, now is your chance.

That's why I'm one of the people who'd really, really love to see the return of Difficulty Settings. That way it could be easy for kids and people who just want to play without investing too much thought, and fun for people who'd like to see more challnge.

And I gotta be honest, while I know it's common practice and economically smart from he POV of the developer, I really, really, really, really hate it when a game (Pokemon or otherwise) just treats the Single Player Campaign as an extended tutorial for online play. Most of the time I'm in it for the story, and want to face challenge while I'm playing said story, not have a tutorial for online play.

I definitely would like different difficulty settings myself...and it was a weird misstep to have the ones in Generation V locked until you reach the end credits. The Orre games were a major step up in difficulty, which I found was pretty neat, although the region was very bare (but had a nice charm to it). I also remember people complaining about their difficulty, particularly those with a Gamecube but not a Game Boy Advance who were trying to get into Pokémon for the first time, or get back in after having fallen off early on.

One possibility is that the DLC will be a huge step up in difficulty. The postgame in Pokémon games have traditionally been much harder than the main game, and the DLC is pretty much the postgame for Galar. We've also had recent precedent in Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion, which was DLC for Splatoon 2 that turned out to be balls-to-the-walls hard.

A game can be both a tutorial and provide a tremendous challenge, especially if it's the first game or you're unfamiliar with it. Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido has a single-player mode that, despite it being rather long for a puzzle game, is still one long tutorial. The thing is that it teaches some rather advanced mechanics and strategies as well, such as combining customizable abilities in ways you might not have thought of on your own or secondary effects not immediately obvious. The main game introduces abilities one at a time and demonstrates, in the form of enemy characters, various ways you can use them, then moves on to the next. Postgame opponents, meanwhile, have uses for them that are more obscure but effective or aren't apparent until high-level play. The game never really caught on, sadly, but it was clear the designers had studied their hypothetical metagame in great detail and hoped the single-player mode would allow people to play at a more advanced level.

Think you may need to update to the latest Wild Area news as according to the list on Serebii G-Max Garbodor is not in Sword’s Easter event Raid pool (and G-Max Copperajah for Shield players during the Easter event). If you did update the event Raid pool you may have been seeing Raids from the “opposite” version.

Ah, that's what you mean. So the raid can still be accessible, but you need people from the opposite version initiating them and showing up on your Y-Comm feed.