Pokémon Sword & Shield

[Vec]

So, basically, Pokémon Home will build a wall to keep unwanted Pokémon out of the Galar region...man, you can see how far Gumshoos' influence can reach in the Pokémon world

[Sapphirine Wind]

I'm sorry if I'm getting annoying (go ahead and say the word when that's true), but as of the time I wrote this, there are 9K dislikes to 10K likes on the official video where they unveil their exclusion of non-Galar regional Pokemon.

It might not be half, but I'm pretty sure that's pretty bad, right?

 

[Salamander]

If I'm honest, I can't blame GameFreak for not wanting to have to remodel and rebalance getting on for a thousand Pokemon every single game, and I've felt for a while now that the games were getting bogged down with minutiae from previous generations like an endless sea of outdated moves and items, classic legendary transformation items, gimmicks like Mega stones and so on.  This decision was inevitable, and if Game Freak are finally pulling the plaster off, I hope they'll use the opportunity to make Sword and Shield's gameplay options tighter and more focussed.  At least they're still providing a way to carry all your Pokemon forward at all, which has not always been the case; it's easy to envisage a version of the franchise which never allowed such an option.

The battle background for the Water gym does look unusually plain, and since we know that backgrounds aren't this blank in the rest of the game then perhaps it's a game-in-development thing, or just a weird stylistic choice for this gym in particular.  I'm just glad to see gym puzzles back; they have been sorely missed.

[Blue Blood]

Pokémon is definitely bogged down by the fact that Game Freak have historically been very adverse to streamlining. You end up with so many items and features that are so specific and limited in purpose (like dozens of different incenses for baby Pokémon introduced after Gen 2), that many aspects of the game remain a mystery to the player without an online guide.

But streamlining like this is the absolute worst. Cutting things out of competitive play? Okay. I can kind of understand that because that's where balance becomes a real issue. Omitting them from the games entirely though? Fuck off. The games have always upheld the tradition of you being able to keep your beloved collection. The one time they dropped it before in Gen 3 was because of a significant change in the data format. The excuse here is one very different. Understandable, but not really passable.

[Marcello]

Models aren't a problem. They have high quality models for every Pokémon.

[KHCast]

I have to ask why they didn’t  just delay this. I mean I’ve heard the argument that the games need to launch the same time as the shows and merch, but idk...I think this is a glaring omission that would warrant it. 

[Marcello]

Oh, man. I'm watching the Treehouse gameplay right now and I'm at the part where they get on the bike. And they put you in stupid biking clothes when you get on it -__- I hated that when they did it in Sun & Moon with the Ride Pokémon and I hate it here. What's the point of customizing my character if it'll be hidden when I use the most common way of travel?

[Kuzu]

1 hour ago, Marcello said:

Models aren't a problem. They have high quality models for every Pokémon.

Its probably a coding issue

[Soniman]

So many people canceling their pre-orders.

Good job GF, this Gens over before it even starts LMFAO 

[gato]

Oh, I was thinking this was all about balancing since they are introducing a new mechanic that seems like a combination of two previous mechanics and didn't want to bring all that "obsolete" luggage with them, and then later slowly introduce the mons back (maybe not even in the same game, do it in future games with the chance of transferring Galar mons to the new titles).

But they are outright saying each region is going to be a different toybox and you can only play with the toys you get on it huh?

 

This is upsetting. You just know there is a list of "bro" Pokémons (and Ultra Beasts) that are not going to show up anytime soon because they don't fit or are not from Gen1. And this might even cause friction among fans since you know there are some controversial picks already in the game (I still love you Vanillite).

[8ther]

1 hour ago, Soniman said:

So many people canceling their pre-orders.

Good job GF, this Gens over before it even starts LMFAO 

Source?

[Blue Blood]

3 hours ago, 8ther said:

Source?

I'm willing to bet it's a very vocal minority on a very limited number of outlets. Most people, be they the hardcore fans or more casual/younger players, won't be aware of the change or won't care enough to cancel their orders.

YouTube like/dislike ratio on the video that broke the news is hilarious

As of posting... 660k views, 13k likes and 23k dislikes.

@Marcello The ride gear looks absolutely awful. It's just one of those really weird things that Game Freak insists on.

[8ther]

I don’t think this game will flop, however I don’t see it outselling ORAS and especially Sun and Moon.

[Pawn]

So, I thought I'd finally upload a video about how I was thinking the starters might evolve (at least prior to the leak, since much of that contradicts this). It only took me two or three months to get around to editing it together. =P

Time stamps:

Grookey

Scorbunny

Sobble

Summary

[Sonictrainer]

We're starting to get Abilities that affect Poké Balls.

Quote

Yamper's Ability: Ball Fetch

If the Pokémon is not holding an item, it will fetch the Poké Ball from the first failed throw of the battle.

 

[Big Panda]

Junichi Masada talks more about the Pokemon “lock-outs”.

There are a couple of different parts to the thinking behind it, but really the biggest reason for it is just the sheer number of Pokemon. We already have well over 800 Pokemon species, and there's going to be more added in these games. And now that they're on the Nintendo Switch, we're creating it with much higher fidelity with higher quality animations. But even more than that, it's coming down to the battle system. We're making sure we can keep everything balanced and give all the Pokemon that appear in the games a chance to shine.

We knew at some point we weren't going to be able to indefinitely keep supporting all of the Pokemon, and we just found that Sword and Shield would probably be a good point to go back and reevaluate what would be the best selection of Pokemon that appeal to the widest audience while keeping into consideration the balance of the battle system. It isn't just going to be all-new Pokemon in the Galar region Pokedex; there's still going to be a lot of favorites that fans will be able to bring over that they've adventured with previously. But yeah, it was pretty much just balancing and getting this optimal selection of Pokemon for the adventure we wanted to provide.

[Semi-colon e]

Like they give a fuck about balance. It's just laziness and pandering. Especially that line of evaluating what would "appeal to the widest audience". So Kanto pandering basically, and then about half the rest of them.

This was looking pretty alright until they dropped that bomb. If your bro misses this game, pray it's in the next one. If past regional dexes are any indication, we're getting Eeveelutions, Lucario, Gardevoir, Charizard, Pelipper, and Kanto mons like Psyduck and fucking Goldeen (seriously why is this in every region besides Unova, this is one of the worst ones from gen 1 and barely anyone even uses it) over and over again, while things like Cacturne or Purugly will likely sit in Home for a decade. Such a terrible decision.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Kinda funny how the first big mainline Pokemon title that will be also a console game... will probably have far less content then some of the handheld only titles before it. Hahaa! All that extra power & storage space gone to near waste. Hopefully the fan backlash will get them to change their minds later... even if it is only on future games. Anyways this was a big face-plant on their part. They are better off just taking more time to make these games and release them little less often instead of sacrificing quality of the games just for the speed & quantity production of games.

[Soniman]

Delaying a game is a rational option for just a video game series. But pokemon is a franchise. They have toys to sell, events to plan, the corresponding anime series to release along side the games. All these things need to come out at around the same time as to have the most effective marketing strike possible, which is why Delaying it is probably impossible for them at this juncture. To much money to lose I assume 

[Tara]

I'm sort of in a difficult position when it comes to this whole ordeal of cutting out Pokémon.  It doesn't impact me because I don't have Switch Online, which both means I probably won't be getting the game at launch and I won't be transferring previous Pokémon to the game even if it were possible.  To some extent, I'd certainly like to in case my 3DS dies sometime in the next decade, but it's not a priority to me.  For that matter, getting all the Pokémon really isn't a priority to me anymore.  But I absolutely understand and can more than sympathize with those who do find this to be a huge turn off for them, to the point where it kind of depletes any interest in the game.

My problem with this personally is that I'd actually advocate for the series slowing down on creating new Pokémon and regions in favor of developing the world and creatures they already have... but only if it meant they were also revitalizing the formula dramatically so that the single player campaign itself is unique and interesting in its own merits.  But while doing away with HM's is an incredibly good move on GameFreak's part, nothing else that I've seen so far leads me to believe this will anything other than business as usual for Pokémon.  And even if it was, I still think that allowing you to transfer Pokémon from previous games should be a thing, even if there's no other way to encounter them within the game itself.

It's an idea I can get behind in theory, but don't trust it was done with the right intentions.

[Kuzu]

This is just conjecture, but I've read that Game Freak has shifted development of Pokemon towards their B team while their main guys work on something else; likely due to sheer burnout from having to churn out games every 1-2 years with no break. I don't think they're doing this out "laziness", but just to make it easier on themselves for developing the game. 

It doesn't justify it, and the situation still sucks overall but my assumption is that they know at this point Pokemon is in a comfortable enough state to not suffer too much loss should something like this happen, so they' just decided to pull the trigger and go for it. 

[Big Panda]

Maybe this is a sign that they should take a break from core series titles and work on spin-offs for a while.

I’d be up for it, as long as the spin-offs continued to expand the lore.

[Sonicka]

18 hours ago, Sapphirine Wind said:

I'm sorry if I'm getting annoying (go ahead and say the word when that's true), but as of the time I wrote this, there are 9K dislikes to 10K likes on the official video where they unveil their exclusion of non-Galar regional Pokemon.

It might not be half, but I'm pretty sure that's pretty bad, right?

 

Wow, 24k dislikes to 12k likes. What a bunch of self entitled goofs some people are. Got to feel for gamefreak. 

In my opinion I think it is Totally the right call they’ve made. Exclusive Pokemon only (and favourites returning) is the best move. It means we can get used to the newer Pokemon in this region and game than rely on the past. 

Lets be honest here, eventually they’ll probably all be available to use in the future through post game updates. But how can you expect a team to ready for launch this soon with over 800 of these bloody critters. That’s just insane. It’s also incredibly off-putting to me.

I haven’t played a mainline series title in a while and am thinking of returning with this entry. That they are streamlining the ‘Mon and having Galar only is a huge relief and big appeal. 

[Splash the Otter]

Two of my favorite Pokemon are Chesnaught and Skuntank, neither of which are very popular AFAIK. The thought that I might never see them again upsets me...

[Strickerx5]

Yeah, I'm going to be honest here; this is a major problem for me.

At the end of the day, they're alienating people who grew up with the franchise who are now having their favorite Pokemon taken out of a mainline game. It might sound petty to some, but for others, this is a huge deal. I know people who live and die on the same team layout they've had since gen 4 and they're already fearing that a member of their team isn't going to make the cut. The fact of the matter is, GF is asking people to invest money and dozens of hours into a game where they simply can't get the same features they've been promised in all of the older games. Plus, frankly, I really don't get their reasoning for it.

First off, I'm sorry but I'm going to call some major BS on that whole "higher quality animations" bit. Outside of this gen's line-up, the older gen pokemon are as static as ever from the gameplay I've seen; and that's actually a good thing. They've already done the legwork to make the inclusion of the other pokemon easier on themselves. I can only speak for myself here, but I don't need my Empleon doing a little jig mid-battle. I don't need a Drilbur to be playing hopscotch in the hubworld. I'm good with the basic idle, attack, and hit animations we've been given in the 3DS games.

Which leads well into the fact that the models in the 3DS games upscale incredibly well into HD. Look up any video of Citra (a 3DS emulator) running Sun and Moon and honestly, you'll see very few differences in quality when compared to the ones seen in Sword and Shield. Of course the texture work is still compressed on them (thanks to the 3DS's memory limits) but I have to imagine that GF has those uncompressed texture files in-house. If they've actually managed their pipeline well in the other games, small touch-ups should be the most needed to bring all these pokemon in. Hell, it also isn't like the Switch itself is a graphical powerhouse; demanding only the most polygons in each model. You could very easily cheat a bit.

Lastly is the worry about balancing to which, pff, I'm sorry again but is that seriously the angle GF want to fall on here? These games have never been that tight and the comp scene has always worked around that. The amount of people that legit care about such things are in the severe minority here and shouldn't be the deciding factor in such a devastating decision. I mean hell, there's still going to be hundreds of these things in there and all it takes is one slip up for the meta to be busted. They couldn't even get it right when the number was down to 150. Balance is a much more time consuming and "impossible" task than porting in the 3DS models.

And all this isn't even going into how full-fledged HD models already exist for the first 3 gens through Pokemon Go.

Also, and this is a bit of a side note, but why on earth did they even bother introducing Pokemon Home? They knew this news was coming. Talk about killing something before it even lands...

Imo, this decision wasn't needed. Pokemon is a franchise that has all the money in the world behind it. GF should have the resources to pull this off. I'm not saying it'd be a cake walk, but it's a feature level this high profile series has relied on since its inception. As we've seen, for many, it's damn near a necessity. I'd be all for a delay so that they can sort this out. It's one of Nintendo's biggest money makers, it shouldn't be rushed out like this.