Pokémon Sword & Shield

[Marcello]

I wonder if Pokémon Company has heard of Europe. You'd think they have, considering their new game is set in a European country, but then they set their conference at 2/3 am.

[Salamander]

I don't recall the press conferences being particularly interesting in the past, so I'm not too fussed about it happening in the middle of the night here.  The Sword & Shield Direct, by contrast, is very carefully timed to be accessible in daylight across the world.  This is presumably why the former is more or less a last-second announcement, while the latter has over a week's notice.

[Big Panda]

41 minutes ago, Marcello said:

I wonder if Pokémon Company has heard of Europe. You'd think they have, considering their new game is set in a European country, but then they set their conference at 2/3 am.

It’s literally impossible to time these things so that it’s convenient for every timezone.

[Sapphirine Wind]

Finally! Not just one, but two satisfying forecasts of Drizzle in this Drought! One of them in 15 minutes long, no less!

I hope we see the box mascots/Legendaries. This might also be the part where we see whether or not Regional Forms make a return. We might even get the gimmick (and see if those armor rumors have any weight)!

Man, this is so exciting!

[Sonictrainer]

Well, the most important information in regards to Sword & Shield is that instead of Bank, a brand new cloud service, called Pokémon Home, will connect with Bank, GO, Let's Go, & Sword & Shield in 2020.

...hopefully, they've learned their lesson after they had to delay Pokémon Bank for players outside of Japan...

[tailsBOOM!]

3 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Well, the most important information in regards to Sword & Shield is that instead of Bank, a brand new cloud service, called Pokémon Home, will connect with Bank, GO, Let's Go, & Sword & Shield in 2020.

...hopefully, they've learned their lesson after they had to delay Pokémon Bank for players outside of Japan...

That means we'll have to wait a bit before we can transfer our Pokemon since the game releases this year while Home drops next year.

[NegaMix]

I'm happy to see them already announce a way to bring our older Pokémon over to Gen 8, yet for some reason I never expected it to also be compatible with GO and Let's Go! too (or at least, not at launch). It'll be interesting to see how the service handles the change from CP in GO/Let's Go! to the standard level system.

Though now I wonder if Meltan/Melmetal will remain a Pokémon GO exclusive because of this...

6 minutes ago, tailsBOOM! said:

That means we'll have to wait a bit before we can transfer our Pokemon since the game releases this year while Home drops next year.

Wouldn't be the first time. And hey, this'll give Sword/Shield players some time to try out the new Pokémon choices and create some new teams...

...until Home releases, and we just use our old ones again. (I ain't leaving my Beedrill behind, damn it!)

[Big Panda]

Would it really kill them to make generational migrations reversible? A part of me hates migrating certain Pokemon up a gen because I know they can’t be sent back again.

[Sonictrainer]

What's that?

Someone leaked an entire list of new Pokémon appearing in Sword/Shield?

...Please...

Well, in cause anyone was interested in this rumor, here it is

Spoiler

 

[PublicEnemy1]

5 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

What's that?

Someone leaked an entire list of new appearing in Sword/Shield?

...Please...

Well, in cause anyone was interested in this rumor, here it is

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Spoiler

1. This contradicts the Chinese leak (See @tailsBOOM!'s status about it yesterday.) The leaker got everything from S/M right, so he's more trustworthy.
2. Some of these species names are quite bland. One of them is literally just "Bird Pokemon". 
3. Some of the names themselves sound more Fakemon-ish. Like, "Climake?"

All in all, I personally don't believe it.

[Salamander]

More than a hundred new Pokemon?  Past-gen evolutions?  Fake.

...But in all seriousness, it sure is nice of all these leaks to come out so near to a Direct which will de/confirm them.  Very convenient.

[Zaysho]

Real or not, I kinda dig the proposed names for Sobble's evolutions.

Spoiler

I also kinda feel we're at a point where they'd be a lot more mindful about names due to how the GTS would reject perfectly normal Pokémon because they accidentally brushed up with the word filter, so stuff like "Swaggot" and "Bascrap," while I get what they're going for, kind of pull this list into doubt for me.

 

[Salamander]

1 hour ago, Zaysho said:

Real or not, I kinda dig the proposed names for Sobble's evolutions.

  Hide contents

I also kinda feel we're at a point where they'd be a lot more mindful about names due to how the GTS would reject perfectly normal Pokémon because they accidentally brushed up with the word filter, so stuff like "Swaggot" and "Bascrap," while I get what they're going for, kind of pull this list into doubt for me.

 

That is a very good point.

Spoiler

I hadn't noticed that first one; that definitely wouldn't fly, can't think what else it would even be derived from - unless the alleged leaker had misread "Swaggart" (swag/braggart).  Not sure I can see what "Bascrap" could easily be a misreading of, though.

The only counter I can think of is to say that a lot of these names, assuming for the sake of argument that they're real, look more to me like first-pass localisation codenames likely to be subject to further redrafting.  But some of the Pokemon concepts in the list seem so unlikely that it's a long-shot for it to be real anyway; it's the kind of list a fan would come up with.  And anyone can just write out a text post and call it a leak...

[Zaysho]

15 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Spoiler

I hadn't noticed that first one; that definitely wouldn't fly, can't think what else it would even be derived from - unless the alleged leaker had misread "Swaggart" (swag/braggart).  Not sure I can see what "Bascrap" could easily be a misreading of, though.

 

Spoiler

My reasoning is more so because of it sounding like "bas-crap" rather than "ba-scrap" (so "Bass" and "Scrap") in connection with Basculin. It's the sort of thing that might sound "wrong" to people or potentially be a word filter issue like Cofagrigus was initially.

Regarding "Swaggot" I read it as "Swag[ger]" and "Maggot" since it's a bug type. It makes sense but it's also asking for trouble lol

I agree it's possible they could always be first passes, but I'm usually pretty skeptical with Pokémon leak lists like this. Stuff like this does make me look forward to the upcoming news though.

[Pawn]

 

Since we're less than a day away now before we likely see some early game Pokémon, I just want to say that I'd love for the regional bird to be Water/Flying and based on a heron or northern gannet. The gannet (above) is our fastest bird and utilises some pretty distinct diving poses. "Gannet" is also a synonym for glutton here, so that could influence its potential name and lore.

 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

7 hours ago, Pawn said:

 

Since we're less than a day away now before we likely see some early game Pokémon, I just want to say that I'd love for the regional bird to be Water/Flying and based on a heron or northern gannet. The gannet (above) is our fastest bird and utilises some pretty distinct diving poses. "Gannet" is also a synonym for glutton here, so that could influence its potential name and lore.

 

I see your birb and can only hear a cartoony wobbling sound as it shakes from being pinned into the dirt like a dart.

[PublicEnemy1]

Spoiler

So, a semi-open world Pokemon game... seems interesting.

 

[Marcello]

Spoiler

"Open World only on Routes" doesn't make sense. Do they just mean each Route is more expansive?

 

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

This game is releasing on November 15th 2019.

The gimmick for this generation is GIANT POKEMON BATTLES

They showed some new mons, one evolved Mon, and the Legendary mons

They showed the professors, rival, the champion early and one gym leader.

...and there's a vocal song?

[DarkRula]

 

I'm confident the vocal song is just a hype song for the video, but it certainly gives the vibe the music will be taking.

Just wow, though. That Wild Space is looking like a great space to be exploring, and is possibly a stop-gap for such a thing to evolve into a full game rather than just being a part of one.

[StratusAsterion]

New mons deconfirm that list of rumored names too now

[Salamander]

According to the website, you now have a Rotom Phone whose functions include the following: "For example, you can attach it to your bike to make it move faster on land, or it can even help you travel over water!"

In other words, HMs and PokéRide are dead.

[Sega DogTagz]

4 minutes ago, FFWF said:

In other words, HMs and PokéRide are dead.

Spoiler

You can see the trainer riding a hydro-bike in the trailer. No need for Surf or a RidePokemon if you can do that.

Other than that, a note on one of the new Pokemon

Spoiler

WooLoo is my jam. That thing is adorbz.

 

[QuantumEdge]

It was okay, I guess.  The mascots aren't doing anything for me, but the wild space idea is excellent.  Can't help thinking they're taking a page out of BOTW and with good reason.  I also love how gyms are proper stadiums now.  That said, dynamaxing just feels like another gimmick the series doesn't really need.  I was also holding out hope for some update to the battle system, but it looks like they're keeping it tried and tested.

[TCB]

That vocal theme was hype as hell. Cheesy yes, but hype all the same. Really set the mood for this adventure. Holy hell eveything in that direct I loved. I have one comment though. Free roaming camera is only usuable in those Free Areas now. Would you rather see it be used for the entire game or just relegated to those areas?

Also...CORVIKNIGHT