Pokemon Sword & Shield GENERAL DISCUSSION Thread [Spoilers]

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

It's how it's been with literally every main series Pokémon game that kicks off a generation, as well as every main series Pokémon game that's new to a system. It's also pretty much how a killer app works. Even Pokémon Black and White, the most divisive generation-starting Pokémon game, helped sell Nintendo DS systems. Every successful game system has one, whether it be Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Final Fantasy VII, or Knack. People get hyped or hear from other people and buy the game because they've heard of it and are familiar enough with it to know what to expect.

True. Although I'd argue that at least for Sun and Moon we knew a lot more about what we were getting. We knew how bank worked, we knew how much it cost, we knew we could transfer our pokémon, and we had a rough idea on how many new pokémon there were. For Sword and Shield they've shown I think 20 new pokémon excluding Galarian forms, and following official sources (so discounting leaks) we still have no true indication of how many pokémon can be transferred in. We still have no idea how Home is going to function despite it being of some importance as they're locking online battling rankings behind the app, we still don't have a clear idea how much Home is going to cost or when it'll be released. Optimists may say Home will be released early December 2019 to support the Online Competition in December (so launch date was moved up but they just forgot to mention that to the players), while pessimists will say they will just put the rankings on Home in December, but players won't be able to actually see them until Home comes out in 2020. We still don't know either how Home will function on Switches with multiple accounts, and whether or not it will be possible to transfer or trade between different accounts on the same Switch and same game copy. And truth be told, the Dexit and Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee abandoning a lot of features previously thought to be "guaranteed to be in" have cast doubt on a lot of other features and whether they will even be in. Like, why are they advertising Surprise Trade (which is just Wonder Trade) but not a GTS, if both are in the game? What they actually choose to advertise seems completely random, and at times inconsistent.

 

[Zachmac]

I just wonder when transferring pokemon became the main appeal for new pokemon games for so many people.

Well I guess for a lot of players the series is mostly about collecting, and I'm a little sad that I wont be able to carry some of my shinies or old favorites over...but I'm personally far more concerned with how good the main campaign and online battling is going to be. Most of my collection just sits in the box 90% of the time anyway - there's too many for me to consistently use all of them.

Then again I guess the dex cut kind of limits your team options in online battles to.

 

[yefluke]

I just wonder when transferring pokemon became the main appeal for new pokemon games for so many people.

Well I guess for a lot of players the series is mostly about collecting, and I'm a little sad that I wont be able to carry some of my shinies or old favorites over...but I'm personally far more concerned with how good the main campaign and online battling is going to be. Most of my collection just sits in the box 90% of the time anyway - there's too many for me to consistently use all of them.

Then again I guess the dex cut kind of limits your team options in online battles to.

it is appealing because some favorite pokemon can not be catch in the wild.

i am the one that have 90% of my favorite mons got cut. (Only goodra made it to galar) .

Also, i play a game several times for each version, which mean i can try a lot of different pokemons. It’s fun to explore to play unpopular pokemon like Patrat though out the game.

To play pokemon that not native to the region also appealing , e.g. using Piplup in alola instead of native starter.

400 pokemons might be a little lackluster but well what to do...

 

[Zachmac]

I mean, I get why it's appealing. I'm just confused as to why so many people see it as the main (or sometimes even sole) determining factor of a Pokemon game's quality. That's why I said the "main" appeal.

Maybe I've got the wrong idea here but it gives me the impression that a lot of people were just buying games so they could move their collections forward, and not because they were particularly enjoying them anymore.

 

[B. Thunder Tiger]

From this point foward, Im just going to treat every release of a Pokémon game as a new thing with its own unique dex mixed with new and old mons, new features, etc. Hopefully Pokémon Home will be something reasonable.

The only thing I'm really hoping that will happen, but is very unlikely, is that Sword and Shield represent a new era within the Pokémon game series, and they are more like Red & Blue of today, a "reboot" of sorts. After all, when Red and Blue got released way back in the past, there was no such thing as the National Dex. This means that transferring mons from those games to newer ones down the line will be made possible, thus restoring the National Dex going foward, made anew. Maybe with Sword and Shield, they just wanted to start with a smaller batch now. Red & Blue only started with 151, but then again, that were the known Pokémon at the time, before Gen 2 came around.

I know its a long haul and likely not happening, but its thoughts like these that keep me positive. Just going to focus on the positive sides of the games, rather than the negative sides.

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

So. Here's a question. Can you see yourself playing Sword & Shield for the entirety of the month and only this game or do you guys have other plans for other games? Cause I can't see myself playing any other games until mid-December when I get my hands on a copy.

I'm sure I'll still be playing Smash Bros., but Sword & Shield will definitely be taking up most of my free time.

 

[Orphalesion]

So. Here's a question. Can you see yourself playing Sword & Shield for the entirety of the month and only this game or do you guys have other plans for other games? Cause I can't see myself playing any other games until mid-December when I get my hands on a copy.

Well a lot of the PC games that interest me right now are stuck in Early Access Purgatory and only scheduled to enter full releases in late 2020. And I'm getting Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Christmas. So yeah I agree that Pokemon Shield will most likely be my main game until then.

 

[AgentKallus]

We now only need 11 more pokemon to reach 900 'mons total. I can see them adding 11 pokemon to the third version.

Well it's likely that we'll get 3 mythicals (a trend that could be broken, but still) and it's possible (but unlikely) that sinnoh remakes could get some sinnohian form evolutions, since sinnoh is the place for cross-gen evos is it not.

 

[yefluke]

I mean, I get why it's appealing. I'm just confused as to why so many people see it as the main (or sometimes even sole) determining factor of a Pokemon game's quality. That's why I said the "main" appeal.

Maybe I've got the wrong idea here but it gives me the impression that a lot of people were just buying games so they could move their collections forward, and not because they were particularly enjoying them anymore.

I actually dont move the collections forward but only those unobtainable mons. Also, may be they want to see the how the animation works after improved graphic in later generations?

people will relate to some pokemon due to their background tho.

 

[Ignition]

So. Here's a question. Can you see yourself playing Sword & Shield for the entirety of the month and only this game or do you guys have other plans for other games? Cause I can't see myself playing any other games until mid-December when I get my hands on a copy.

As @PrinceOfFacade said, probably going to play Smash since we got a DLC character a couple of days ago but SwSh will definitely take up most of my free time since it was the game I bought a Switch for in the first play aside from Smash & Mario Kart

 

[RoughCoronet0]

So. Here's a question. Can you see yourself playing Sword & Shield for the entirety of the month and only this game or do you guys have other plans for other games? Cause I can't see myself playing any other games until mid-December when I get my hands on a copy.

I can play Pokemon for a month or more straight if I wish, even longer. Still I might play some games in between like Darksiders 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, and Modded Skyrim (the last two for like the umpteenth time.)

Heck, I might replay one of my older Pokemon games as well.

 

[clbgolden12]

So. Here's a question. Can you see yourself playing Sword & Shield for the entirety of the month and only this game or do you guys have other plans for other games? Cause I can't see myself playing any other games until mid-December when I get my hands on a copy.

I’ll play Smash from time to time due to a tournament happening at my school, but other than that, it’s probably gonna be Pokémon all day every day for me. Gotta complete the regional dex, get my story team stacked, (maybe) raise some other Pokémon, get all the Gigantamaxes, destroy opponents in the battle facility/link battles, etc.

 

[WhiteBlair]

So. Here's a question. Can you see yourself playing Sword & Shield for the entirety of the month and only this game or do you guys have other plans for other games? Cause I can't see myself playing any other games until mid-December when I get my hands on a copy.

Pokémon until end of the year. I'm not much of a gamer myself, but I'm considering to buy Need for Speed: Heat and The Sims 4: Discover University which might be on sale during Christmas.

 

[DannyDark]

It's quite nice that #ThankYouGameFreak is trending on Twitter right now, after they cancelled the Tokyo Sword and Shield launch event due to "operational reasons" but which many are thinking is more-so for the safety of their staff after the recent backlash and negativity.

 

[Satoshi & Touko]

This event was to take place in Tokyo. If they really cancelled the event out of safety after the backlash, does that mean Japanese fans are completely uproarious right now too?!

 

[shoz999]

This event was to take place in Tokyo. If they really cancelled the event out of safety after the backlash, does that mean Japanese fans are completely uproarious right now too?!

Probably not. Probably just annoyed for the most part but not in an uproar because from my experience, much of what people consider outrageous in the west whenever GameFreak removes some feature is considered as just nitpicking in Japan. That's why it was such a big deal that Japanese fans actually stepped in to complain about the Dex controversy.

 

[Orphalesion]

This event was to take place in Tokyo. If they really cancelled the event out of safety after the backlash, does that mean Japanese fans are completely uproarious right now too?!

From what I've seen online, the Japanese Fanbase as a whole (at least the part that posts online) is also pretty angry about this.

However, we don't know for sure that it the event was cancelled out of any safety concerns or whether they really just had organization problems.

Probably not. Annoyed but not in an uproar because from my experience, much of what people consider outrageous in the west whenever GameFreak removes some feature is considered as just nitpicking in Japan. That's why it was such a big deal that Japanese fans actually stepped in to complain about hte Dex controversy.

IDK, not saying that it would be the majority, rather some scattered individuals who would get aggressive over this. I mean there are people in Japan (some scattered individuals) who send threatening letters to Idol Singers because said singers were seen with a boyfriend or don't completely conform to the ideal their fans have. There's people like that in every country.

 

[shoz999]

From what I've seen online, the Japanese Fanbase as a whole (at least the part that posts online) is also pretty angry about this.

However, we don't know for sure that it the event was cancelled out of any safety concerns or whether they really just had organization problems.




IDK, not saying that it would be the majority, rather some scattered individuals who would get aggressive over this. I mean there are people in Japan (some scattered individuals) who send threatening letters to Idol Singers because said singers were seen with a boyfriend or don't completely conform to the ideal their fans have. There's people like that in every country.

True, there's always a few vocal people who are furious but nothing I would say that is an uproar which I believe best describes many people furious together.

 

[WeepingHallows]

So. Here's a question. Can you see yourself playing Sword & Shield for the entirety of the month and only this game or do you guys have other plans for other games? Cause I can't see myself playing any other games until mid-December when I get my hands on a copy.

I mostly will play Sword and Shield, but Smash, The Sims 4, and Fortnite(if my nephews want to play) will definitely be played some. There is also the possibility I might pick up something new on sale this holiday season. It'll just depend on what ends up going on sale.

Yep, if you don't have anything else but you've started up Nintendo Switch Online, Tetris 99 will be available immediately. The Maximus Cup for Special Theme 06 (themed on Pokémon Sword and Shield) is going on right now and will continue until approximately 70 hours from when this post goes up. If you want to see how it looks, I've put up three online matches with this theme.

That is you playing right? If so, I'm slightly mad at your skill. The best I've ever done is get 5th, but you actually won. I need to play more so I get better at it, but it's one of those games that I really enjoy, it just doesn't hold my attention for very long. I did play a couple rounds last night and loved the pokemon theme.

 

[Orphalesion]

True, there's always a few vocal people who are furious but nothing I would say that is an uproar which I believe best describes many people furious together.

True. Though I mean, I kinda doubt that what's currently getting posted on r/Pokemon describes the emotional state of the Non-Japanese/Western fanbase either... I know many of my friends who are, as you wrote annoyed (me included), but I only know of one friend who's really angry and boycotting over it.