Official Pokémon Sword and Shield speculation thread (Updated June 5th, 2019)

[TheElderKing]

I know its a bird and i am not looking at the climate right now, but just taking in mind Gamefreaks mindset that they only include Pokemon in regions that make sense for them. But considering its based on the national animal for the USA, it doesn't make much sense too include it in a region that is not based on the USA or is a neighbor for them, since that basically defeats the: We only look at Pokemon that makes sense argument.

But even so, Gamefreak can only have that mindset for 2 regions, since technically every Cat, Dog, Sheep, Cow and Horse Pokemon fits in every region, with Seagulls and Swans fitting in almost every region, so you need to put those Pokemon in every dex in order for the mindset to work.

If we want to go really technical, Drednaw being introduce in Galar also doesn't make sense, since Europe doesn't have Snapping Turtles, meaning Gamefreak already dropped the ball there, taking in mind their mindset.

To be fair, they took inspiration from the UK in regards of its shape, clothing, and certain new Pokémon. They never said that the ecosystem would mirror the one in the UK or Europe.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

I know its a bird and i am not looking at the climate right now, but just taking in mind Gamefreaks mindset that they only include Pokemon in regions that make sense for them.

Zebras are not native to the US.

And unless you count Gibraltar, which is British territory, then monkeys are not native to Britain (or anywhere else in Europe) either.

I know you already conceded to this with Drednaw (though to be fair, snapping turtles have become an invasive species in parts of Europe), but I'm just saying you can't really put much stock in what "makes most sense" for a Pokemon to be there. They design whatever they feel like.

 

[Lennongrad]

The "animation work and balance issues" is just PR talking. Something had to be said and they just went with that stupid excuse. What else Game Freak could say? "Ah yes we're cutting Pokémon because we're literally forced to bake out a new generation every three years due to the brand popularity and because most of our fans couldn't imagine a 2018 without a game nor 2019 without another so yeah please understand"? lol

I'm a few pages behind so forgive me if the discussion is somewhere else right now -

I'm one of the people very disappointed about "Dexit" (genius name, btw) - and the current state of SwSh in general - but I completely agree that if Game Freak/Pokemon/Nintendo/fans expect a new game every year and a new generation every three, more and more sacrifices like this will have to be made. I'm totally against crunch culture and the pressure Game Freak's small staff must be going through (and go through every year) has to be immense. I don't envy them. Personally, I would not just be completely fine, I would be happy if they decided Pokemon main story games will only come out every two years to allow more time for development. I would actually prefer it if SwSh was pushed back another year to allow for more Pokemon and better graphics. However, I also know they're a corporation, so profits are the big priority for them, and the profit loss that would come from extending release dates is probably a bigger loss than releasing iffy games once a year. It's depressing to think that's how decisions are being made, but it's almost certainly how it's happening.

I also strongly believe GF needs to at least double their staff. I completely understand their wishes to maintain a "small company" feel, and the higher risk of leaks that comes with more employees is a real concern for them, but if they're getting the directive to release a game every year and the content of those games is suffering because of those constraints, the least they need to do is hire more people so there's less stress on all of them. Money isn't the problem here, or at least it shouldn't be - they're under a billion-dollar franchise; they could hire 100-200 more employees full time (and I do believe they could find 100-200 more top tier developers easily considering their reach is worldwide), give them a princely salary with amazing benefits, and still likely make up for any lost revenue because the game quality will be all the better for it.

Different topic, but because people were discussing difficulties with Bank & Home a ways back: I don't know how Home will work, maybe it will indeed delete your saved Pokemon as soon as you miss a payment, but as of now it's not how Bank works. I'm in a precarious money situation myself, and I've gone 6 months past a due payment without being able to throw $5 Bank's way, but as soon as I was able, all of my Pokemon were there. Either Bank saves user data indefinitely or they just have a very generous window in which you can pay before they're deleted. Again, that may not be how Home works when it comes out, but Bank will not immediately delete Pokemon.

 

[Zweilous]

Charizard is automatically passed off as overrated these days. I see more love for Bulbasaur these days (specially on Instagram) and anyone liking Charizard on those posts ends up with almost brutal replies. People like to boast of their own starter choices by degrading others' and I find it a bit weird.

I like both Mega Charizard X and Y. Fite me.

Pretty much this for me , well, minus Mega Charizard X as that one never appealed to me. I do understand feeling a little offput by its constant attention, but that's not on the Pokemon or the fans who like it (well, the fans who aren't overzealous over their love of it at least), that's on the company. Ideally they'd spread the love out and make its exposure feel more natural, but it's easier to play into what's popular.

The problem already is this: There are already four Pokemon confirmed that don't fit in the region, being: Gyarados (Based on a Chinese Dragon), Tyranitar (Based on a Japanse Myth about Godzilla), Braviary (USA national animal and as such doesn't fit in any non-USA based region) and Bounsweet (Based on a Tropical Fruit and as such doesn't make sense being in a non-Tropical Region). Those four mons already go against Gamefreaks logic that they want to only include mons in a region that makes sense for them.

However, out of the four i mentioned that don't fit, 2 are popular (Gyarados and Tyranitar) and 1 is semi-popular (Braviary) and one of the most popular mons of Unova and Tsareena is among the more popular Alola mons.

So despite Gamefreaks logic and mindset, it seems they cannot get rid of the popular mons and fan faves, which narrows the pool they can choose Pokemon from down even more.

Eh, Eagles exist outside of the USA and while Pokemon like Tyranitar are inspired by Japanese culture that doesn't mean it can't fit into the environment that it's placed in as its lore states it hangs around mountains generically. Also, as mentioned before there are Pokemon that aren't popular that have popped up in the Galar dex and even looking in past games we did get Pokémon like the Elemental Monkeys running around Kalos, so it's not going to be so lopsided that we're only seeing those like Charizard while others are left in the dust.

 

[Oriden]

Different topic, but because people were discussing difficulties with Bank & Home a ways back: I don't know how Home will work, maybe it will indeed delete your saved Pokemon as soon as you miss a payment, but as of now it's not how Bank works. I'm in a precarious money situation myself, and I've gone 6 months past a due payment without being able to throw $5 Bank's way, but as soon as I was able, all of my Pokemon were there. Either Bank saves user data indefinitely or they just have a very generous window in which you can pay before they're deleted. Again, that may not be how Home works when it comes out, but Bank will not immediately delete Pokemon.

That's because it's not a set "you get so many days to renew your pass before we wipe your pokemon," it appears to be more of a periodic cleaning that can happen at any time.

Pokémon Bank - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

"After a pass expires, Pokémon in Pokémon Bank may or may not be preserved, and eventually will be lost entirely if a new pass is not purchased in time. If the stored Pokémon have not been lost yet, it is possible to connect to Pokémon Bank and withdraw them without purchasing a new pass.

Player reports have varied considerably as to how long Pokémon have been preserved after a pass expires. There exist reports that Pokémon have been kept for multiple years, as well as reports that Pokémon have been deleted after a few days or less. It is conjectured that sweeps are done at arbitrary times to all accounts with expired passes at the time of the sweep."

So yeah, your pokemon can wind up immediately deleted if you don't pay in time.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

The fact that you can't send Pokemon back from Home makes that bit especially worrisome. May as well not even bother.

 

[TheElderKing]

That's because it's not a set "you get so many days to renew your pass before we wipe your pokemon," it appears to be more of a periodic cleaning that can happen at any time.

Pokémon Bank - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

"After a pass expires, Pokémon in Pokémon Bank may or may not be preserved, and eventually will be lost entirely if a new pass is not purchased in time. If the stored Pokémon have not been lost yet, it is possible to connect to Pokémon Bank and withdraw them without purchasing a new pass.

Player reports have varied considerably as to how long Pokémon have been preserved after a pass expires. There exist reports that Pokémon have been kept for multiple years, as well as reports that Pokémon have been deleted after a few days or less. It is conjectured that sweeps are done at arbitrary times to all accounts with expired passes at the time of the sweep."

So yeah, your pokemon can wind up immediately deleted if you don't pay in time.

It’s quite honestly a dumb system. They should keep the data here regardless if a person doesn’t rene a subscription. Or, if they want to eventually delete it, they should do it at a fixed time that is already known by people, so that they can act accordingly.

I can understand if a person didn’t renew for months and he/she lost the Pokémon (even if we I said, it shouldn’t be like this), but there have been people that lost it for a few days of missing the renewal. That’s unfair.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

The fact that you can't send Pokemon back from Home makes that bit especially worrisome. May as well not even bother.

Also the way Nintendo is handling the purging of Pokemon seems like a random process...but who knows, maybe they have like a handful of people doing this job for thousands of accounts

 

[Oriden]

Also the way Nintendo is handling the purging of Pokemon seems like a random process...but who knows, maybe they have like a handful of people doing this job for thousands of accounts

Purging shouldn't be a manual process, though. You can tell the system to wipe accounts after x many days or tell the system to just purge everything that hasn't been renewed. The former would be a better system if any purging is to be done at all.

 

[Silktree]

I'm tempted to write a short fanfic about what it's like for a bunch of Pokemon to wait years for their trainer to take them back, and what happens when they get erased from existence.

"When this kind of fire starts, it is very hard to put out. The tender boughs of innocence burn first, and the wind rises, and then all goodness is in jeopardy."

 

[Joker901]

I'm tempted to write a short fanfic about what it's like for a bunch of Pokemon to wait years for their trainer to take them back, and what happens when they get erased from existence.

"When this kind of fire starts, it is very hard to put out. The tender boughs of innocence burn first, and the wind rises, and then all goodness is in jeopardy."

Basically the sad story of Purugly in the last 6 years...XD

 

[techitisJ]

I have thankfully not heard the horror stories of loosing your Pokemon immediately after not renewing your bank. I guess I was extremely fortunate when I left my Pokemon without paying for like, 5 months or something, maybe more, and they were all still there.

But the idea of loosing them instantly if I missed a day makes me nervous.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

Now even Japanese fans are fuming with Game Freak with their decision.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge6QUcy2_hI

 

[IncineROAR]

I have thankfully not heard the horror stories of loosing your Pokemon immediately after not renewing your bank. I guess I was extremely fortunate when I left my Pokemon without paying for like, 5 months or something, maybe more, and they were all still there.

But the idea of loosing them instantly if I missed a day makes me nervous.

I have a Nintendo 2DS and Nintendo 3DS. I haven't bothered renewing my subscription for Pokemon Bank on my 2DS and my Pokemon are still there. The two pokemon banks are two different accounts.

We'll know limitation of only Galar pokemon being allowed in the game is due to storage issues, etc, is a cock and bull story if a ton of non-native Galar Pokemon are available to capture in the postgame.

 

[RileyXY1]

Zebras are not native to the US.

And unless you count Gibraltar, which is British territory, then monkeys are not native to Britain (or anywhere else in Europe) either.

I know you already conceded to this with Drednaw (though to be fair, snapping turtles have become an invasive species in parts of Europe), but I'm just saying you can't really put much stock in what "makes most sense" for a Pokemon to be there. They design whatever they feel like.

Additionally, we have a Panda Pokemon in a France based region and a Koala Pokemon in a Hawaii based region.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

Doesn't have to be completely accuate. I mean look at Drednaw, that's an Alligator Snapping Turtle that you don't find in the UK. It's Pokemon, they can add whatever they want to each Region.

 

[bulbasaur99]

I updated my Galar-dex list.
Purple - Confirmed
Gold - Legendary * I think none of them will be part of Galar-dex
Brown - Fossil Pokemon * Wild card, some may be included, some may not
Blue - Starter Pokemon * They should be included but who knows
Red - I think these ones will be left out
Green - Most likely included
White - Have no idea

I will also leave an empty list. Feel free to fill with your guesses

Spoiler

 

[Scruffyjay]

To be fair, they took inspiration from the UK in regards of its shape, clothing, and certain new Pokémon. They never said that the ecosystem would mirror the one in the UK or Europe.

Yeah. There are no wild lions or pandas in France or wild koalas in Hawaii or wild zebras in NYC or wild camels in Japan. No region to date has mirrored its base ecosystem exactly.

 

[SinnohEevee]

I wonder if Megas have been retconned out of existence.

 

[BackSet]

Zebras are not native to the US.

What are you talking about. There are Zebras all over. Heck, I just saw one in my backyard a couple minutes before writing this post.