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SwSh Sword & Shield: Expansion Pass

Minor league gym leaders could be in West Galar, a copy of Ireland. It's possible Klara and Avery could be from West Galar.

Game Freak has two studios now.
 
embargo lifting
Pyrax said:
Hello, are you enjoying Crown Tundra? This is a reminder to keep all DLC spoilers inside this thread or in this one until 23rd November, that way we can prevent accidental spoilers.

Thanks (y)
As it's been a month, the embargo is officially lifted! Crown Tundra spoilers can now be freely discussed in this section :bulbaWave:
 
Am I the only person who like’s Avery more than Klara?
I like him quite a bit, and his rare league card is amazing. As I have Shield, I never met Klara properly, but she does seem fun.

Also, I wish he had a better outfit than... That thing
 
Am I the only person who like’s Avery more than Klara?

Avery's fine in my book, my only gripe with him is that I think his move-themed puns are kinda lame (although I actually quite like his outfit). But his backstory is interesting, arguably more intriguing than Klara's. I just really adore Klara's overall energy (as well as her battle theme, but again, Avery's is also good).
 
I've only played the Sword DLC so I can't really say much about Avery, but Klara being the rival makes more sense to me. In Sword, you have two female rivals and two male rivals, all of whom specialise in different types. In Shield, you have one female rival and three male rivals, two of whom share a type speciality at the beginning of the game. Introducing another male rival who uses Psychic types seems a bit redundant to me.

From what I have seen of Avery in trailers and such, he does seem like the kind of character I'd enjoy, with his old-fashioned turns of phrase. In the Galarian Star Tournament he actually criticises Bede for abandoning the Psychic type, so at least they aknowledged the similarity between the two characters and wrote it into the story.
 
Someone correctly me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the Crown Tundra update makes G-Max Coalossal raids no longer a Sword-exclusive? It seems you can find them in Shield through Dynamax Adventures, as well as at a certain Den at the Slippery Slope.

The same did not occur with Lapras, which I thiiiiiiiiink makes this the first version-exclusive disparity since HeartGold (which had Mantyke and Gliscor due to the exclusivity of Mantine and Gligar, but there were no equivalents on the SoulSilver side), or the White Forest Pokémon in White Version, if you count that (technically there wasn't a disparity there; Black Version's equivalent was simply that you could battle Trainers who would use the fully-evolved stages of those White Forest species... but, come on, who wouldn't rather be able to catch them?).
 
Someone correctly me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the Crown Tundra update makes G-Max Coalossal raids no longer a Sword-exclusive? It seems you can find them in Shield through Dynamax Adventures, as well as at a certain Den at the Slippery Slope.

The same did not occur with Lapras, which I thiiiiiiiiink makes this the first version-exclusive disparity since HeartGold (which had Mantyke and Gliscor due to the exclusivity of Mantine and Gligar, but there were no equivalents on the SoulSilver side), or the White Forest Pokémon in White Version, if you count that (technically there wasn't a disparity there; Black Version's equivalent was simply that you could battle Trainers who would use the fully-evolved stages of those White Forest species... but, come on, who wouldn't rather be able to catch them?).

G-Max Coalossal and Lapras (and also Machamp and Gengar) were technically no longer version-exclusives once The Isle of Armor introduced Max Soup. That's still quite odd if they didn't add any G-Max Lapras dens in Sword, though.
 
Am I the only person who like’s Avery more than Klara?
Well I have always liked mystirious male charecters with long hair and Avery checks all those boxes and I just got really attached to him the moment I saw him even thohg I didn't know his name. The first battle was so easy it was funny but he is a little bit more chalengeing now becasuse he won't stop using max gyser against my G-max Cinderace which is very anoying but I use him for easy training now and I just love his persenality :giggle::bulbaWave::bulbagarden:
 
Tried doing the isle of armor before even entering motostoke was a grind and actually difficult especially kubfu because it needs to be level 30 to stand a chance against mustard. But while this made the isle of armor more enjoyable, and actually feel like you were training to improve yourself, it makes the game to easy. You'll out level all the gym leaders until the 4th and thats if you avoid as many trainer battles as possible. Not sure where the optimal place to play it would be but I'd guess around the 6th/7th gym badge
 
Tried doing the isle of armor before even entering motostoke was a grind and actually difficult especially kubfu because it needs to be level 30 to stand a chance against mustard. But while this made the isle of armor more enjoyable, and actually feel like you were training to improve yourself, it makes the game to easy. You'll out level all the gym leaders until the 4th and thats if you avoid as many trainer battles as possible. Not sure where the optimal place to play it would be but I'd guess around the 6th/7th gym badge

Personally, I find it best to intersperse the Isle of Armor with the first few Gyms. It's a bit tricky to get the leveling right (especially with that accursed Exp. Charm), but in my experience, it feels better than doing IOA all at once and then steamrolling the early Gyms, or doing those Gyms first and then crushing the IOA story. (Of course, there's also the option to postpone the entire IOA story until the post-game, but I like being able to put the Gigantamax Factor on my Starter as soon as possible, and it's fun to use Kubfu/Urshifu during the main storyline.)

Level-wise, I feel like it's supposed to progress in roughly this order:
  • Battle against Hop before leaving Motostoke (His team caps at Lv14)
  • First battles against Klara/Avery (Lv12) and Mustard (Lv13) on IOA (I've found that this Mustard battle can be pretty tough if done at this point)
  • Route 3/Galar Mine/Route 4 (The strongest Trainer in this stretch is Bede, with his Lv16 Hatenna, and the Trainers on Route 4 all hover at Lv14/15 as well)
  • Chase down the fast Slowpoke (All three of which are Lv17)
  • Turffield Gym (Milo's Eldegoss comes in at Lv20)
  • Battle against Klara/Avery in Warm-Up Tunnel (Their ace is Lv19)
  • Hulbury Gym (Nessa's Drednaw is Lv24)
  • Final battle against Klara/Avery (Their Galarian Slowbro sits at Lv25, and my god this battle can be difficult), receive Kubfu
  • Progress through Galar Mine No. 2, battle Marnie at Budew Drop Inn (Lv26 Morpeko ace), and take on the Motostoke Gym (Kabu's Centiskorch is Lv27)
  • Head back to IOA for the Tower of your choosing (Mustard's Kubfu will be at Lv30 and yours will need to be at least that)
  • Then finish up Wild Area trek #2 and go to Hammerlocke and progress through the main storyline as normal
I also find that you can help to avoid overleveling if you skip several of the Trainers on Routes 3-5 and the Galar Mines when you first go through them - especially since that will leave lower-range opponents for you to come back and train your Lv10 Kubfu up against later.
 
So, uh, Keldeo might've gotten reclassified as a Legendary?

If you talk to Sonia in Wedgehurst after catching it, she says, "What?! There was a fourth Legendary Pokémon after Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion?!"

Although on the other hand, it is still banned from Restricted Sparring, while its mentors are not. Of course, many Legendary Pokémon are banned from competing, too, but it is consistent that all Mythical Pokémon are.

(This is distinguishable from how Deoxys was treated in ORAS, where the scientists at the Space Center still referred to it as a Mythical Pokémon despite it being catchable in-game.)
 
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So, uh, Keldeo might've gotten reclassified as a Legendary?

If you talk to Sonia in Wedgehurst after catching it, she says, "What?! There was a fourth Legendary Pokémon after Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion?!"

Although on the other hand, it is still banned from Restricted Sparring, while its mentors are not. Of course, many Legendary Pokémon are banned from competing, too, but it is consistent that all Mythical Pokémon are.

(This is distinguishable from how Deoxys was treated in ORAS, where the scientists at the Space Center still referred to it as a Mythical Pokémon despite it being catchable in-game.)
I think it’s either a minor slip-up or it may indirectly confirm that Mythical Pokémon are a subset of Legendary Pokémon.
 
Just a question. Is the DLC idea done? Of course we don't know how well it went considering they're no sales figures, but Nintendo did note that DLC lead to strong digital sales. The problem is that Sword and Shield sold 20 Million (While it's 4 million more than Sun and Moon) The Total sales of Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were 25 Million (Sword and Shield won't get anywhere near this). Why would Gamefreak persist with it when they can get more sales doing what they were doing before? Logistically, if Ultra Sword and Ultra Shield were released and sold between 7-9 million units at $60, is that not far better than 1-2 million sales in DLC sales that only charged half the price? Honestly, I would prefer they go back as well. I think Sword and Shield could have done with a 3rd version that tried fixing up the game rather than adding things to it.
 
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The Total sales of Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were 25 Million [...] Why would Gamefreak persist with it when they can get more sales doing what they were doing before?
I don't think this is a fair comparison considering USUM aren't 3rd versions, they're the second games of the generation, and I don't think GameFreak is going to only release SwSh and the DLC this gen. I figure, with a second pair of games plus SwSh's numbers and the DLC will probably result in 25 million or more sales. Not only that, updated versions like B2W2 typically sell a little more than half of what new games and remakes sell. USUM, for example, only sold 8.77 million copies while ORAS sold ~14 million. I'd imagine that the second pair of games this generation will most likely be more distinct than an updated version and will thus sell much more. I'd imagine that they profits GameFreak would make from first pair + DLC + second pair would probably be similar to first pair + updated second pair.
(Sword and Shield won't get anywhere near this).
This is a bold statement to make considering you're looking at combined sales numbers of two sets of games that have been out at least four more years than SwSh. The fact that SwSh only sold 5 million less copies within one year than the combined sales of two sets of cheaper games that have been out for four years isn't that bad.
Logistically, if Ultra Sword and Ultra Shield were released and sold between 7-9 million units at $60, is that not far better than 1-2 million sales in DLC sales that only charged half the price?
But, USUM are cheaper games on a cheaper console. They might have not sold as much if they were $60 Switch games considering how similar they are to base SM. I can't imagine many people would be eager to pay another $60 for a game that is rather similar to one they already own.
 
I don't think this is a fair comparison considering USUM aren't 3rd versions, they're the second games of the generation, and I don't think GameFreak is going to only release SwSh and the DLC this gen. I figure, with a second pair of games plus SwSh's numbers and the DLC will probably result in 25 million or more sales. Not only that, updated versions like B2W2 typically sell a little more than half of what new games and remakes sell. USUM, for example, only sold 8.77 million copies while ORAS sold ~14 million. I'd imagine that the second pair of games this generation will most likely be more distinct than an updated version and will thus sell much more. I'd imagine that they profits GameFreak would make from first pair + DLC + second pair would probably be similar to first pair + updated second pair.

No they're not. Black and White 2 are legitimately the only sequels to the original games. The Ultra games are in the same vain as platinum, in fact, the changes are probably less in the ultra games. There is no way we will get an Ultra edition of Sword and Shield now. Diamond and Pearl remakes will most definitely be out this year and Gamefreak have already released DLC for SWSH. Releasing a 3rd version after DLC just doesn't make sense. I get what you're saying, but adding generation sales by including another different generation game isn't the point here

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For reference. Red/Green/Blue are 1 game (selling just shy of 32 million). Yellow is the 3rd version of the same game. So the total sales of that generation of games are 45 Million. Ruby/Saphire/Emerald are 23 Million. GSC are 29 Million and so on. As you can see here Sun and Moon and the Ultra games are 25 Million - which Sword and Shield won't get near and this is my point. Gamefreak could have released a 3rd version (Ultra Sword) and they would have made more money and looking at this, it's obvious they would have. Ultra games are usually brought by people who brought the original games, and ususally sell half the amount of the main games, so Gamefreak lost a lot of revenue by selling DLC instead of releasing an 3rd version.
This is a bold statement to make considering you're looking at combined sales numbers of two sets of games that have been out at least four more years than SwSh. The fact that SwSh only sold 5 million less copies within one year than the combined sales of two sets of cheaper games that have been out for four years isn't that bad.
There is a 0% chance Sword and Shield sells 25 Million. Even Joe Merrick doesn't believe Sword and Shield will pass Gold and Silver because the legs are not there. There's no new DLC and there's a remake coming. Sword and Shield's sales are about to capsize like all previous pokemon games do when there's a new game coming out.
But, USUM are cheaper games on a cheaper console. They might have not sold as much if they were $60 Switch games considering how similar they are to base SM. I can't imagine many people would be eager to pay another $60 for a game that is rather similar to one they already own.
So was Sword and Shield, and the price rise didn't stop its sales. All i'm saying is that the DLC route is less financially successful than releasing a 3rd game and I really don't see how anyone could suggest otherwise.
 
No they're not. Black and White 2 are legitimately the only sequels to the original games. The Ultra games are in the same vain as platinum, in fact, the changes are probably less in the ultra games. [...] As you can see here Sun and Moon and the Ultra games are 25 Million - which Sword and Shield won't get near and this is my point. Gamefreak could have released a 3rd version (Ultra Sword) and they would have made more money and looking at this, it's obvious they would have. Ultra games are usually brought by people who brought the original games, and ususally sell half the amount of the main games, so Gamefreak lost a lot of revenue by selling DLC instead of releasing an 3rd version.
[...]
There's no new DLC and there's a remake coming. Sword and Shield's sales are about to capsize like all previous pokemon games do when there's a new game coming out.
[...]
All i'm saying is that the DLC route is less financially successful than releasing a 3rd game and I really don't see how anyone could suggest otherwise.
I had written a whole paragraph about how USUM aren't third versions until I realized that LGPE were also released in gen 7. Whoops.

Had SMUSUM been $60 console games and sold the same amount, then, yes, they would have outsold base SwSh by about $284.4 million. And, ~9.48 million copies of the Expansion Pass, a little under half of all purchasers of SwSh, would have to be sold to earn as much. However, that assumes that both SM and USUM would have sold the same if they were $60, and then we get into the hypotheticals territory. Ultimately, I don't think anyone can say for certain that GameFreak lost or gained revenue by not releasing Pokémon Gun instead of the Expansion Pass when we don't know how well the gen 7 games would have done on the Switch, we don't know how much DLC has been sold, we don't know if the DLC may have extended the lifespan of these games, and we don't know how much it costs to make DLC vs. updated versions.
Even Joe Merrick doesn't believe Sword and Shield will pass Gold and Silver because the legs are not there
Is this the tweet you're referring to?
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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