Pokémon Sword & Shield

[Meta77]

something different. I do wonder when they will mix animal crossing aspects into the game. I seriously want a house that people can come into and visit and just sit around chatting about. And a backyard where we can let our pokemon play while we sit inside the house.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

5 hours ago, knuckles20 said:

Sooooooooo is anyone actually looking forward to the games?

Not me. I was already seriously questioning if I even wanted this game before the cut content controversy because the game wasn't looking great in various ways to me. But after the bad news and doing closer research at how poor the quality of this set of games really is... I am now putting my foot down and refuse to buy it. The past few games were already starting to make me feel more apathetic with each passing title. But this is the worse yet to me and it is true disappointment, I didn't expect much from these games and was still let down. So I'll be skipping this set and wait and hope for better future titles in this series.

[Sonictrainer]

2 hours ago, Meta77 said:

something different. I do wonder when they will mix animal crossing aspects into the game. I seriously want a house that people can come into and visit and just sit around chatting about. And a backyard where we can let our pokemon play while we sit inside the house.

Well, there was the Villa in Platinum that was similar to this.

Also, while we don't know for sure just yet, that sounds like what Pokémon Home is supposed to be.

 

[SaturnWolf]

Sword and Shield are a hard pass from me. Unfortunate, as I really did like Sobble and was looking forward do it, but so much of what I hear in favor of removing the National Dex are just flimsy, poor excuses.

Mr. Amateur Game Developer here, but Game Freak has had the Switch development kits since like, what, 2015? But they still made the decision to split off their teams to things like Home, this, LGP/LGE...it really makes me scratch my head and wonder what they were thinking.

Obviously I'd never advocate for harassment and death threats, especially as someone who has been on both sides of the fence as far as developers vs. consumers go, but a response that basically amounts to "Yeah, we hear you, but we aren't going to do anything about it" feels like a really half-assed statement. Which, if that's to get back at the people who have been sending those things...well, fair play, I guess, but what about everyone who hasn't been doing those things?

That's my take, anyway. I'll probably wait for the inevitable third edition where this is all curiously not a problem anymore, but until then...well, at least I'll always have Gen 1-5.

[Cayenne]

This may sound a bit strange and I don't know if it was said here before, but...is anyone cheering for Yo-kai Watch's success?

I don't like YW, but I think Pokémon really needs a very powerful competitor to break its monopoly and encourage more effort and changes. If you observe the old video game generations, history already proved how good a competiton is for any company and consumers: Some of the best games of the 16-bit era, for example, came from the famous console wars between Sega and Nintendo, with one always trying to one-up another with a much better and hi-tech game.

Yo-kai Watch is the only monster franchise that ate Pokémon's lunch in Japan and may even be the reason of some changes in Pokémon Sun/Moon, but, sadly, if what I'm reading from people living in Japan is true (correct me if I'm wrong, YW fans), the series is slowly losing its own momentum and the kids aren't that interested anymore. I hope the franchise can be restored to its former glory with the new Switch title because every developer at The Pokémon Company (Nintendo, Creatures and Game Freak) needs a big wake-up call to make better games.

[KoDaiko]

1 hour ago, Cayenne said:

This may sound a bit strange and I don't know if it was said here before, but...is anyone cheering for Yo-kai Watch's success?

I don't like YW, but I think Pokémon really needs a very powerful competitor to break its monopoly and encourage more effort and changes. If you observe the old video game generations, history already proved how good a competiton is for any company and consumers: Some of the best games of the 16-bit era, for example, came from the famous console wars between Sega and Nintendo, with one always trying to one-up another with a much better and hi-tech game.

Yo-kai Watch is the only monster franchise that ate Pokémon's lunch in Japan and may even be the reason of some changes in Pokémon Sun/Moon, but, sadly, if what I'm reading from people living in Japan is true (correct me if I'm wrong, YW fans), the series is slowly losing its own momentum and the kids aren't that interested anymore. I hope the franchise can be restored to its former glory with the new Switch title because every developer at The Pokémon Company (Nintendo, Creatures and Game Freak) needs a big wake-up call to make better games.

From what I hear, Level5 is somewhat famous for making smash hit games but terrible in keeping them successful.

YW may become popular again, but I don't think it'll ever return to whatever formal glory they had. 

[Kuzu]

There's literally nothing that is going to dethrone Pokemon today. Pokemon is more than just the video games, so even if a competitor stepped up, it would have to compete with more than just the games.

[8ther]

What are the odds of this game outsell Sun and Moon? Isn’t SM the best selling games in the series iirc?

[Soniman]

2 hours ago, 8ther said:

What are the odds of this game outsell Sun and Moon? Isn’t SM the best selling games in the series iirc?

No? I'm pretty sure Let's Go sold more 

[8ther]

6 minutes ago, Soniman said:

No? I'm pretty sure Let's Go sold more 

Ah, what are the odds of this game outselling Let’s Go?

[Splash the Otter]

18 hours ago, 8ther said:

Ah, what are the odds of this game outselling Let’s Go?

Hopefully very low. I want GameFreak to learn something from this.

[Marcello]

21 hours ago, 8ther said:

What are the odds of this game outsell Sun and Moon? Isn’t SM the best selling games in the series iirc?

19 hours ago, Soniman said:

No? I'm pretty sure Let's Go sold more 

Both of these are wrong. Let's Go sold 10.63 million, Sun and Moon are at 16.15 million. The best selling Pokemon games are Red, Blue, Green at 31.38 million. The highest post-Game Boy sales are from Diamond and Pearl which are at 17.67 million.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/3ds.html

https://www.resetera.com/threads/nintendo-software-and-hardware-sales-data-from-1983-to-present.2725/

I think this game will definitely outsell LGPE and has a decent chance at outselling SM considering the sales boost other series have gotten on Switch.

 

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Going to post the 2nd video here about debunking Sword/Shield defenders as it brings up more good points to remember.

I especially agree with his comments on how absurd it is to call disappointed fans overly entitled for wanting a better quality game, and how the people saying that don't even understand the real meaning of the word and have no real argument.

[8ther]

34 minutes ago, Marcello said:

I think this game will definitely outsell LGPE and has a decent chance at outselling SM considering the sales boost other series have gotten on Switch.

 

True, though it’s worth noting BotW was the first open world Zelda game, Odyssey was a return to the nonlinear gameplay of Mario 64, and Ultimate had “Everyone is here”, SWSH meanwhile has pissed off a sizable portion of potential buyers and no longer has the novelty of being the first Pokemon game on home console thanks to LGPE.

[Marcello]

17 minutes ago, 8ther said:

True, though it’s worth noting BotW was the first open world Zelda game, Odyssey was a return to the nonlinear gameplay of Mario 64, and Ultimate had “Everyone is here”, SWSH meanwhile has pissed off a sizable portion of potential buyers and no longer has the novelty of being the first Pokemon game on home console thanks to LGPE.

Sadly, I don't think that'll really affect sales. This is still the first HD mainline Pokemon, and it also has the big open-ish world area.

[DarkRula]

I'd really love to know how much Let's Go impacted SwordShield's development. If the Let's Go games were never a thing, how much better would SwordShield look?

[PhantomFox]

I was really excited for Sword and Shield when they were first announced, that I overlooked a lot of negatives. Now that a LOT of people have pointed those things out, my hype for the game has dropped a considerable amount.

Something that really bamboozles me is that somehow LGPE looks BETTER than SWSH? Now I get that SWSH has larger areas and way more Pokemon, even if they are cutting some of them, but it gets even worse when you compare it to Breath of the Wild, an open world game. I'm sure that Game Freak has a ton of money, so this is disappointing to see. I don't really care about graphics too much in games, but I feel that Pokemon, one of the largest franchises, should definitely have better graphics then it currently does. Sure, the graphics might improve before launch, but I don't think it'll be significantly better.

I also really don't like the Dynamax feature. I'm sure there might be more to it than just being bigger and more powerful, but even so I'm not a huge fan of it. Sucks that Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves were removed, but I can kinda understand why.

I still think the games will be good but maybe not as good as I hoped. Hopefully, they'll reveal a bunch of new stuff for the game that can make up for these shortcomings. A big franchise like Pokemon really shouldn't be having these problems.

[Sapphirine Wind]

I was once really looking forward to the game, but now that's changed. They've... kinda gone and promoted a feeling about apathy for just about every aspect of the game.

A Pokemon? Well, don't get too attached, it might not appear in a new game for a while (Shinx, a fairly liked Pokemon, has shown up in only one regional Pokedex; Sinnoh, its debut region).

That one mechanic? Those have been dropping like flies since before this mess.

That battle gimmick? It's gonna be thrown out for something else in the next generation.

Like, what's sacred now? If the Pokemon aren't, what's next? How long until certain less popular Pokemon (Simisear) are retired? It might be unthinkable, but so was this.

What was the point of all that poetic waxing about how people love their Pokemon and want to take them to the new generation?

The strongest system Pokemon has ever been on, and this is how they plan to kick off Pokemon's main series console debut? Not only does it not inspire confidence, it's a hype killer when you realize a lot of the Pokemon you've taken time to capture and raise are going to be fragmented across multiple games at best.

[Kuzu]

On 7/2/2019 at 12:16 PM, Lord-Dreamerz said:

Going to post the 2nd video here about debunking Sword/Shield defenders as it brings up more good points to remember.

I especially agree with his comments on how absurd it is to call disappointed fans overly entitled for wanting a better quality game, and how the people saying that don't even understand the real meaning of the word and have no real argument.

I know you're trying to make a point; but that video title is so blatantly click bait that it's not really doing the job you think its doing.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

56 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I know you're trying to make a point; but that video title is so blatantly click bait that it's not really doing the job you think its doing.

Are you really complaining about the mere title of the video instead of what is actually inside the video? Kinda petty don't you think? Click bait title or not, the guy offers really good arguments against people who are trying to blindly defend the game without really knowing what they are even talking about. So yes I think the 2 videos I linked are doing a fine enough job here regardless if the title isn't the best and might turn away a few peps.

[Kuzu]

46 minutes ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

Are you really complaining about the mere title of the video instead of what is actually inside the video? Kinda petty don't you think? Click bait title or not, the guy offers really good arguments against people who are trying to blindly defend the game without really knowing what they are even talking about. So yes I think the 2 videos I linked are doing a fine enough job here regardless if the title isn't the best and might turn away a few peps.

Yes, because if the video is making as good a point as you're saying it is, why the click bait title to begin with? There are enough people to know what's going on, understand what's going and why its happening, and still want to play the game. So I don't understand the need for such a title that basically reads "HAHA, FUCK YOU IF YOU'RE EXCITED FOR THIS GAME". Even if you're making a good point, doesn't make the title any less of bait. 

 

[Mega]

The answer is simple: The Youtube Algorithim.

Sometimes people make clickbait titles because it's a good way to take advantage of Youtube's frankly broken algorithim.

[Soniman]

19 hours ago, Mega said:

The answer is simple: The Youtube Algorithim.

Sometimes people make clickbait titles because it's a good way to take advantage of Youtube's frankly broken algorithim.

Exactly why I hate it and refuse to watch these kinds of videos 

[Blue Blood]

On 7/3/2019 at 10:12 PM, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I know you're trying to make a point; but that video title is so blatantly click bait that it's not really doing the job you think its doing.

 

On 7/3/2019 at 11:55 PM, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Yes, because if the video is making as good a point as you're saying it is, why the click bait title to begin with? There are enough people to know what's going on, understand what's going and why its happening, and still want to play the game. So I don't understand the need for such a title that basically reads "HAHA, FUCK YOU IF YOU'RE EXCITED FOR THIS GAME". Even if you're making a good point, doesn't make the title any less of bait. 

 

 

14 hours ago, Soniman said:

Exactly why I hate it and refuse to watch these kinds of videos 

And this is exactly the height of pettiness and triviality.

Yes, the title of the video is click bait. Yes, YouTube is full of click bait and shitty videos. But honestly now, does it really matter in this specific case?

The video, if you cared to watch it for just 30 seconds, takes comments made in defence of SwSh and demonstrates why they're pretty weak arguments. @Lord-Dreamerz posted the video as a recommendation (and didn't make the video so there's literally no point in saying "well why have a click bait title if the video is actually good?"), so with that you've already got your evidence that it's worth your time to watch. Are you really saying that you totally refuse to look at a video based on the baity title after it was recommended to you by someone that you're having a discussion with? Because that's just petty. Ignoring it as a suggested video on YouTube or because it shows up in search result and looks shitty? That's what you're supposed to do. But this is dumb, guys. You're standing in the way of the argument and discussion.

If you're not going to watch it, just ignore it. No need to tell everyone how much you're not going to watch it because you dislike the title.

Rant over

-

The animations in SwSh are as basic as they could be. The Pokémon model is moved around on their axis down without being animated,  or they lean forwards and open their mouths. The specific graphics for a move (like the kicking feet from double kick) are overlaid. Thats really about it. It gets the job done in the most generic way, do that the animations can be recycled for as many purposes as possible. With ~ 1000 Pokémon, being economical is pretty essential, I don't think anyone would argue that. But the older 3D games handled it so much better.

The example seen right at the start of the video with Blastoise is great. In Stadium, its cannons open up and the hydro pump effects are overlaid on both of the cannons. The result is that it actually looks like Blastoise is doing something. In the newer games it's so much worse. Blastoise leans forwards, opens its mouth and then out of nowhere, about two feet in front of it, a jet of water appears. The cannons? They do nothing.

Both approaches are the same in theory. Every Pokémon has an idle animation and 2 - 3 attack animations that can be recycled for various purposes with different effects overlaid to signify which attack it is. It's simply that the raw animations themselves are much, much more basic now. All of the new Pokémon in SwSh will have brand new animations and models, but everything else will be using retouched versions of SuMo models (or even LGPE for the Kanto lot, so there's even more legwork already completed).

[DarkRula]

I owned Battle Revolution, but it's been so long since I actually played it that I'd forgot how good it looked in terms of animation. And that video brought up a comment that of course PBR is going to have higher quality animations since it's just a battle simulator. Go back a generation, and what do you know? Colosseum and Gale of Darkness exist and are more than just battle simulators with the same level of animation quality. And the dynamics of how the battles look. I'd have to watch the Treehouse footage again, but that camera is too static and too willing to remain behind your team with barely any movement between attacks. It's something I talked about when the games were first announced, then fell into the hype immediately after the Direct to have noticed much, but we are on a console now. It shouldn't be looking this bad. If side games more than half the generations ago could get battles looking right, how is it that we're still stuck with just another incremental update from what XY started in 2013?

I don't mind all this as much as some, but even the 3DS should have been capable of producing more. When XY were first announced, I took to my blog to talk about them, and I said this near the end when talking about the battles, "But if this is what is available now, think what is going to be done with the next Generation, or even the second games of this Generation." I had greater expectations for what gen7 would be, clearly. No wonder I keep putting remakes of Colosseum/Gale of Darkness into wishlists. I have a feeling Genius Sonority would work wonders on another side game that exceeded the scale of the main games, and even if it was just one game for the entirety of generation 8 and 9, it would prove how things could be for the main series.