Pokemon Sword & Shield GENERAL DISCUSSION Thread [Spoilers]

[shoz999]

I mean, if history is anything to go by, I was expecting about six whole points higher. I’ve already mentioned the averages and how these compare currently. The point isn’t that they’re bad, or to suggest that these are bad games. The point isn’t to discourage people from making up their own mind about the games if they choose to buy them. The point is that the reviews on average are just notably lower than usual. They can still be good games with lower-but-still-good reviews on average. It’s just important to state, clearly and factually, what reviews are reflecting. Reviews impact some people’s decision to buy the game, influence dialogue regarding the titles, and can generally impact the commercial performance of a franchise. They’re unimportant to some consumers but are still important to some, and getting analysis of them right, rather than generalizing to try to defend games we haven’t even played, is important.

Ah. So from what I'm understanding, your talking about the average of Metacritic scores right, six whole points higher right? That's understandable. Metacritic scores of Pokemon games are usually around the 85-87 range, so I'd imagine it'd be somewhat of a surprise for you to see Sword & Shield get a score average, although not final, that's more on par with Ruby & Sapphire.

 

[Sαpphire]

I’m relatively certain that any true bugs that are uncovered by early players and reviewers will be patched quickly. They may not do content patches, but GF is good about making sure they have a functional product.

Ah. So from what I'm understanding, your talking about the average of Metacritic scores right, six whole points higher right? That's understandable. Metacritic scores of Pokemon games are usually around the 85-87 range, so I'd imagine it'd be somewhat of a surprise for you to see Sword & Shield get a score average, although not final, that's more on par with Ruby & Sapphire.

Yep, exactly, and they’re just a tiny bit under R/S right now. It’s not to say they’re bad at all, but it certainly breaks with the trends we’ve seen for the last decade or so.

 

[Bus]

I remember they released a patch/game update to fix it in XY.... so maybe they will do the same here.
Do u think the game will be laggy?

I mean, yeah, but these companies should have some standards. You've developed games for years and there are basically two core mechanics of Pokemon: Catch Pokemon and Face other Trainers. If you encounter a game-crashing glitch when trying to initiate one of only TWO core mechanics of the game, it means proper testing was not done for this.

I love pokemon and plan on playing SwSh anyway (as do plenty of others I'm sure), but it worries me that something like that would even make to two days before launch at all.

 

[janejane6178]

I mean, yeah, but these companies should have some standards. You've developed games for years and there are basically two core mechanics of Pokemon: Catch Pokemon and Face other Trainers. If you encounter a game-crashing glitch when trying to initiate one of only TWO core mechanics of the game, it means proper testing was not done for this.

I love pokemon and plan on playing SwSh anyway (as do plenty of others I'm sure), but it worries me that something like that would even make to two days before launch at all.

I agree and I hope they fix it asap

 

[Beloberto]

I love pokemon and plan on playing SwSh anyway (as do plenty of others I'm sure), but it worries me that something like that would even make to two days before launch at all.

There is not something like "making to two days before launch". The first patch for any game comes out on the release date, so if it was there in the original build it will not be fixed before that day.


Also, I didn't saw this specific video of the game crashing before a fight, but every video I saw of actual serious glitches all came from the same player who hacked the game to hell and beyond already, so the glitches he met were probably caused by his hacking and not by bad coding.

 

[Golden_Latias]

Honestly, I was expecting the games to fall in at around the 80-84 range on Metacritic anyway. Or at worst, maybe somewhere in the 70's. I would have been shocked if they scored higher or lower than that. I'm excited for these games, but there have just been too many odd decisions that even I was kind of expecting them to score a bit lower than expected. Like, yeah, the games have flaws that maybe could have been rectified with more development time (on top of the fact that this is GameFreak's first foray into console gaming, there were probably going to be hiccups) but they're still fun, and the new Pokemon designs are great, and that's what matters.

All we can do is hope TPC learns from this experience and that we don't get a new Pokemon game at least until 2021 (and if we do get a Pokemon game in 2021, it better be either Let's Go Johto or DP remakes and not Ultra Sword and Shield 2 or w/e they're going to do after this).

 

[Sαpphire]

For full disclosure as one of the stronger voices on the skeptical side (to put it lightly!) for these games, as much as I try to be understanding and respectful:

I fully intend to play these games myself (Shield, specifically!) before making any definitive judgments about the quality of the product. I don’t like how this has all gone, I see things that I don’t support, and I’m worried I’ll miss my opportunity to vote with my wallet about critical issues with the franchise by purchasing these games. However, I haven’t missed a launch day release since I started playing the games eighteen years ago and I don’t think that this is necessarily the one that I miss. My friends are playing, my boyfriend is playing, I like the new species and designs - for those reasons and more I’m going to try it out.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

I wonder if the higher-ups are forcing the developers to rush through the games. XY had been only like 85-90 percent complete, SuMo was unfinished as well while one year later we had USUM, I dunno if it's hard to transfer assets to another game but I imagine it's easier than making new ones especially with how they're the same models. Maybe the real reason for USUM and possible remakes of these games are because they were told they had to push the games out in a year. No boycotts yet but keep an eye out on anything shady.

 

[janejane6178]

tomorow it will be in E- shop

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

There is not something like "making to two days before launch". The first patch for any game comes out on the release date, so if it was there in the original build it will not be fixed before that day.


Also, I didn't saw this specific video of the game crashing before a fight, but every video I saw of actual serious glitches all came from the same player who hacked the game to hell and beyond already, so the glitches he met were probably caused by his hacking and not by bad coding.

I really hope that it's the case. Still planning on saving the game before hand, battle wise. So could the freezing of the overworld on the ladder be caused by said hacking?

 

[Sαpphire]

I really hope that it's the case. Still planning on saving the game before hand, battle wise. So could the freezing of the overworld on the ladder be caused by said hacking?

From what I read, at least one streamer altered values in the internal code of the game to essentially enable cheats. It’s possible, depending on what variables and values were touched and how they are used, for these changes to have significant unintentional impacts, including some of these bugs. Additionally - and take this one with a grain of salt, because I’m not a game developer and we don’t know for sure - some people have suggested that these bugs are intentional on the part of Game Freak as a response to hacking. That is, when the game detects certain code has been manipulated in a certain way, it throws a wrench into things as a kind of punishment.

 

[DannyDark]

Just read an article on Nintendo Enthusiast that a number of review codes have been withheld, theirs included, until release day on Friday.
Wonder if they hand-picked which reviewers would get the codes before release to try and ensure a largely positive score?

Sounds quite conspiracy-y though.

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

We could go back and forth over statistics and how significant it is, but the Metacritic average for the main series is about 84, and the average for first games in a generation is about 86. These are at 81. That’s all there is to it.

Are you surprised? Fans don't let up on their anger easily.

I've personally never took Pokémon reviews too seriously. Hell, I'm still laughing over IGN's "Too much water" for ORAS. For Pokémon, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Super Smash Bros., I exclusively form my own conclusions. Anything else, I might take a review into consideration.

 

[Sαpphire]

Just read an article on Nintendo Enthusiast that a number of review codes have been withheld, theirs included, until release day on Friday.
Wonder if they hand-picked which reviewers would get the codes before release to try and ensure a largely positive score?

Sounds quite conspiracy-y though.

EDIT: Having read that Nintendo Enthusiast hasn’t even actually reviewed the game yet because they need codes to do so... that’s weird. I have no idea why that could be but for the leak issue making them nervous about further info leaks.

 

[TsengHyena]

Where? It's been a while

Spoiler

Its Chairman Rose wanting to wake Eternatus up, because the energy is going to run out in 1000 years, acting as if its super-urgent right now, and threatening lives.

Just read an article on Nintendo Enthusiast that a number of review codes have been withheld, theirs included, until release day on Friday.
Wonder if they hand-picked which reviewers would get the codes before release to try and ensure a largely positive score?

Sounds quite conspiracy-y though.

Gamefreak only gives reviews to those who they think will give high scores, they've done this before with X and Y.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

Spoiler

Its Chairman Rose wanting to wake Eternatus up, because the energy is going to run out in 1000 years, acting as if its super-urgent right now, and threatening lives.

Spoiler

Ah, I thought you were talking about BW/B2W2

 

[janejane6178]

Spoiler

Ah, I thought you were talking about BW/B2W2

Is this spoiler related to the plot/characters?

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

From what I read, at least one streamer altered values in the internal code of the game to essentially enable cheats. It’s possible, depending on what variables and values were touched and how they are used, for these changes to have significant unintentional impacts, including some of these bugs. Additionally - and take this one with a grain of salt, because I’m not a game developer and we don’t know for sure - some people have suggested that these bugs are intentional on the part of Game Freak as a response to hacking. That is, when the game detects certain code has been manipulated in a certain way, it throws a wrench into things as a kind of punishment.

Ah that makes sense. Saw videos about games that do this kind of things to hackers.

 

[Ignition]

Is this spoiler related to the plot/characters?

No

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

Is this spoiler related to the plot/characters?

Mine isn't, don't worry