SwSh What are the things you like and don't like about Sword and Shield?

[Johtoo]

Despite introducing DLC, Gamefreak have yet to introduce any free updates that enrich the original sword and shield experience. If games such as Animal Crossing can do it, why can't Pokemon? Free seasonal updates such as christmas themed cosmetics or events or even spring events could make the game feel more lively and supported.

 

[Esserise]

I really, really love the Crown Tundra as an area, but I’ve been doing a lot of Raids lately, and I’ve noticed that unlike the Isle of Armor, there’s not really a good spot that offers a vantage point of the entire area so that I can see all of the active Raid dens. There’s some spots that are serviceable, but so often there will be a bunch of active dens at the Frigid Sea that I just plain couldn’t see from afar.

Despite introducing DLC, Gamefreak have yet to introduce any free updates that enrich the original sword and shield experience. If games such as Animal Crossing can do it, why can't Pokemon? Free seasonal updates such as christmas themed cosmetics or events or even spring events could make the game feel more lively and supported.

Most of the Animal Crossing updates are just adding in things that already existed from the start in previous games. I think that sort of speaks to its own time management issue, if so much of that stuff wasn’t ready in time for the initial release. That situation is more like if SwSh lacked, say, the entire breeding mechanic upon release and needed it to be patched in later.

Probably another factor, I suspect, is that Game Freak are likely already at work on creating the next Gen 8 game, while also developing the concept for Gen 9. Meanwhile, what else does the studio responsible for Animal Crossing have going on at the moment? (Kinda genuinely asking here; near as I can tell, the game is made by a subset of Nintendo itself, but it’s not clear to me how much overlap there is with AC’s team and the teams behind Mario or Zelda and the like. I think the AC team is also responsible for Splatoon, but...?) Of course, that is a frequent criticism of Game Freak, that their turnover time is too quick.

Also, while not comparable to new holiday-themed content, Pokémon seems to be relying more on Max Raid events as their seasonal highlights.

 

[prog rocker]

Most of the Animal Crossing updates are just adding in things that already existed from the start in previous games. I think that sort of speaks to its own time management issue, if so much of that stuff wasn’t ready in time for the initial release. That situation is more like if SwSh lacked, say, the entire breeding mechanic upon release and needed it to be patched in later.

I think I also recall reading that they also did that so people don't use time travelling to discover events.

 

[Esserise]

As an alternative (or accompaniment) to a all-seeing physical vantage point, I'd be willing to accept a display of active Dens on the Town Map.

By the way, Restricted Sparring is so much fun, but I really wish it supported Doubles.

Also you know on the Animal Crossing note... I love New Horizons, but man alive do SwSh run rings around that game in terms of quality-of-life. I spent a large chunk of the weekend island-hopping in search of a specific Villager, and I gave up after 90 trips because my hand was just fucking done from having to fly to each island, fly back, go through the loading prompts with Orville, rinse, and repeat until I ran out of Nook Miles Tickets, and then had to buy them one by one at the terminal in the Town Hall. I mean, Pokémon's let you buy multiples of something at once since... literally 1996, right? And now someone else has automatically moved in, so in order to get that Villager I wanted, I just have to look for a bootleg amiibo card, and even if I find one for a decent price, it's still a three-day process of summoning the Villager to your island and gradually enticing them to move in. It really made me re-appreciate how SwSh are over here letting me change Natures, relearn moves for free (even previously-learned TRs without requiring another copy!), fly around directly from the menu in a flash, and swap party members in and out of the PC virtually anywhere with just a couple of button presses.

 

[SinnohEevee]

There really is just no reason to be this pessimistic with zero explanation behind your opinion. Not everyone is disenfranchised with GF so please speak for yourself.

Once we moved to the 3DS, Game Freak adopted the mobile mentality that everything must be easy and their games still printed money. SwSh without the Wild Area and the DLC would be terrible.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Once we moved to the 3DS, Game Freak adopted the mobile mentality that everything must be easy and their games still printed money. SwSh without the Wild Area and the DLC would be terrible.

That’s because “easy” is not only subjective, but also doesn’t equate to a poor game. “Mobile mentality” also is not the same as “easy” and is a rather loaded phrase.

Anyway, SwSh did have the Wild Area and DLC so that’s pretty much a moot point as well.

 

[Esserise]

Some UIUX criticisms that’ve been in my head lately:

Psychic Terrain and Misty Terrain should be more distinguished from one another. I’ve noticed that when Electric Terrain is active, it not only has a unique yellow shade, but you can also see arcs of electricity surging across the screen. Similarly for Grassy Terrain, there is a distinct green shade to the environment, but you can also see blades of grass drifting through the air. But when it comes to Psychic and Misty Terrain, not only are their color palettes very similar (lavender and pink), but they also lack those sorts of extra effects. All you have are the puffs of mist around the field, but those are present with Electric and Grassy Terrain as well, so as a visual signifier, that doesn’t work so well because the errant mist is something you see with all terrains - it’s not something unique to Psychic and/or Misty. This wasn’t nearly as much of an issue in Gen 7, when terrains changed the entire look of the battle environment. Psychic and Misty terrains were very visually distinct from each other then.

Next point is a small one, but why is the current weather in the overworld displayed in the lower-left corner of the Max Raid Battle invite screen? Near as I can tell, it has no bearing whatsoever on the actual battle, which always starts with neutral weather and terrain. I find it kind of misleading.

Lastly is actually a pretty big annoyance for me, but is small in terms of its actual complexity. So, let’s say you go into your party menu, wanting to change a Pokémon’s current held item. You click on the Pokémon, and then choose “Held item.” Your options at that point are as follows:

- Open your Bag (in other words, select a new item from the Bag to replace the current one)
- Put it back in your Bag (take the current item away without giving this Pokémon a new one)
- Give an item (move the currently held item to a different Pokémon in the party)

Who... the hell words it like that? I can’t be the only one who reads “Give an item” and interprets that as what “Open your Bag” refers to, can I? And because I do, my brain always latches onto that as what I want to do rather than going straight to “Open your Bag,” which I feel is somewhat linguistically abstracted from the actual goal. “Open your Bag” is more open-ended and vague a directive than “Give an item,” which describes precisely what you are doing and with what.

B2W2 accomplished this flawlessly using only one word for each: Give, Take, and Move. Give an item to this Pokémon, Take an item from this Pokémon, and Move this Pokémon’s item. That, to me, was so much clearer. But even if they insisted on a wordier approach here, why not “Give to another Pokémon”? That’s 23 characters, exactly as many as “Put it back in your Bag,” so it’s not like it wouldn’t fit in the box, right?

 

[imaperson]

like:
-the fact that the game looks realistic
-dynamax/gigantamax
-the new pokemon (snom and morpeko are so cute! )
-pretty much everything
dislike:
-almost nothing actually

 

[Welkamo]

Things I like

-The Galar region is really cool
-The characters are all iconic
-There were so many cool Pokémon

Things I don't like

-PSS System will always be the best online format
-The region felt a tad too linear
-Wyndon could have used a few more buildings to go into (West End esque theatres, a ferris wheel, etc.)

 

[WyndonCalling]

Most of the things I love about Galar relate to world-building; town designs and theming, fleshing out the structure and significance of the League, the character of most of the Gym Leaders etc. I really like a lot of the species designs, too, there's few instances of the outrageous twee-ness or 'happy face' that's put me off some later Gens. The music is all excellent, too.

I dislike the great pile of good ideas that were undermined by a lack of time, lack of money, other pressures, or some combination of all the above. The barren main Wild Area, the awful animation in some of the cutscenes, the conspicuous lack of voice acting, the equally-obvious story shortcuts. But for an additional six months of development....

I do also have a minor complaint about some of the designs, inasmuch that they lean a bit too heavily into cultural tropes at times. I like a high proportion of natural animalistic designs in new regions to help establish a sense that these are credible natural environments. Galar has a handful of good basic animals (Corviknight, Barraskewda, Bolthund etc.) but then you have species such as Obstagoon which just is Gene Simmons, and it's jarring to see it walk around the open fields. It's fine to have a handful of these in more obscure areas, but the Galar roster leaned a little too heavily into them, I felt.

 

[Emmy]

While people commonly rag on the Kanto favouritism of the choice of Gigantamaxing, I have a bone in particular to pick with Allister. You see, I ended up playing Sword so I didn't really know or care much about him. But after thinking a bit more about him because of his focus in the anime, it occurred to me that it was a massive missed opportunity by giving Gengar a G-Max form when it already has a Mega Evo, when instead you could have given the Ghost Gym Leader of Galar a Golurk whose G-Max form turns it into a facsimile of a suit of armour in reference to the cliché of the haunted knight's armour. It would have been way cooler in my opinion.

 

[Camille]

Liked: the fact Rare Candy can now make a Pokemon evolve even at level 100, the addition of moves like Poltergeist and Scorching Sands, Pokemon of the same species being able to pass down Egg moves while at the Nursery.
Disliked: Flying Taxi and Rotom Bike (they should have just let you ride your own Pokemon to travel over water/fly), Dexit, Galar's lack of large cave areas and water routes, Nature Mints, the removal of Affection, Eevee/Charjabug/Magneton evolving via stones and not by leveling up at specific locations.

 

[Isaac the Investigator]

I like:

• Trade evolutions can be caught in the wild
• Less randomness with Pokémon encounters
• Exp. Candies make grinding to level 100 less tedious
• Natures and Hidden Abilities no longer locked, removing two arbitrary barriers
• Some improvements to area design in the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra

I dislike:

• Many Pokémon not being in the game, including my favorites
• Poor graphics and animations, especially for an eight generation title
• Terrible online play behind a paywall
• The GTS behind another paywall
• Boring linear routes and few dungeons, no optional areas to explore
• Permanently on Exp. Share with no way to disable it
• Dynamax is incredibly broken and boring
• Costs $20 more than previous Pokémon games, despite not having more content to justify it
• Lacking postgame, even compared to other recent Pokémon games

 

[Poke Dragon]

Things I like:

• The balanced challenge - That is something I really enjoyed on the Gen 5 games and was very disappointed that all of Gen 6 and most of Gen 7 were too easy, but I also didn't like the overly hard parts of Gen 4. Sw/Sh struck the perfect balance for me as I wanted Gym Battles to be challenging enough that leaves me with the last party member being the deciding factor, but that those Gym Battles should be beatable the first time through as well.
• Trade evolutions as wild Pokemon - This has saved me so much time in regards to completing the Pokedex.
• Max Raid Battles - I really enjoyed this aspect because I felt like Pokemon was missing a big co-op PVE feature, so to have something like this in a Pokemon game was amazing to see and I hope something like this happens in a future Pokemon game.
• Exp. Candy - This is such a great thing to have when you are completing the Poke Dex, and the fact it can be farmed from Max Raid just makes this even more awesome.

Things I don't like:

• Locking out certain Pokemon - I just hated this aspect in the Crown Tundra, like what's the point other than forcing the player to trade to complete the Poke Dex? I like that the player gets the choice, but if that locks you out of certain Pokemon with the only way to obtain them being trading, then I'd rather not get a choice at all.
• Max Raid Adventure randomness - It's way too tedious when you want to go for a specific legendary Pokemon, but you never encountered it. This only adds to the tedium when version-exclusive legendary Pokemon come into the picture, like why make it so artificially difficult for a player to encounter all of the legendary Pokemon? There's no puzzle involved, only random chance at even encountering the legendary Pokemon you want.

 

[galacticarticuno]

Things I don't like:

• The Galar Gym league seems different than the other leagues. The puzzles thing for example...I think that's entirely new for this region?
• Needing to be 'endorsed' by someone to enter the gym league.
• No national dex.
• It doesn't even look like the UK. I'm sorry, I'm not seeing anything but England there...not seeing Wales, Scotland or Ireland. I'd expect it to be bigger with more towns/cities.
• Galar Meowth/Persian evolution. Looks stupid.
• Galar Zapdos looks like an ostrich.
• Galar Articuno...that seriously looks like an evolution for that purple bird in Alola...the one that can change its form depending on the nectar it drinks.
• Team Yell is stupid.

Things I do like:

• I like the Wild Area. That's fun.
• Galar Zigzagoon, fell in love with it when I saw it.
• Galar Moltres...looks awesome though it'd do better as a Dark/Fire type. Fits the design more.
• Pokemon camping is cool. I like being able to practice cooking, especially as I'll never do it in real life. Wish there was more one could do there though.

 

[prog rocker]

The Galar Gym league seems different than the other leagues. The puzzles thing for example...I think that's entirely new for this region?

Puzzles have been there since Gen I, though.

 

[R1ke]

Things I like

• Characters
• Pokemon
• Region/themes
• Music

Things I dislike

• Story
• Diffeculty (or lack of)
• Some visuals/graphics (particularly in wild area)
• Postgame content
• Linear routes

 

[henrymidfields]

I haven't finished the main game yet - I'm just before my sixth badge so far but here my take so far:

Likes:

• The towns and routes for Galar really now look like they belong in the Pokeverse.
• I like how the addition of roaming Pokemon makes the routes more lively. It also helps in navigating those routes without the random encounters.
• As people said, the new pro sports-like take on the Gym Challenge with us being athletes, Gyms being stadiums, and with fans and followers cheering on us...is awesome!

Dislikes:

• A shame that Dexit happened. It was going to happen eventually, I think, but a shame regardless.
• Uhhh...never thought I say this, but Leon taking care of things himself and not letting me seeing the incidents myself at the Hammerlocke Tower (right after getting Opal's badge) kinda takes the story tension out of the air... I guess "Adults [were] Useless" in fiction for a reason...
• Speaking of which, there doesn't seem to be any presence of the actual villains? Normally we'd have something by this stage in a mainline Pokemon game.

 

[Dorothy]

I really like the wild area! I think it was a good area of experimentation for GameFreak which then informed Legends Arceus, which further refined the concept. I really hope future Pokemon games continue the trend. I like Galar as a whole, I think it does a good job of translating its real-world inspirations to the Pokemon world.

It's sad, then, that the games these things are in are, well... subpar. Obviously reasonable people can disagree but there is an objective dearth of post-game content compared to previous generations, without even a token postgame route and new area like Sun and Moon had. All that's shunted off to the DLC, with an additional cost. Beyond that, the story is fairly limp in comparison to series heights like Gens V and VII, even if the characters involved are fairly likable and engaging. Pokemon is, of course, a children's game series and I am not the target audience, but even so I know Game Freak can do better because they have done better and not very long ago.

 

[SacredSky]

Just got this game and what bothers me is I can't pet my Pokemon... weirdly makes me more mad than a lot of the other issues present
We could do it previously, now we have a whole "Nintendogs-esque" set up in terms of them playing and running around, and you can't even pet them
What makes it worse is that there is dialogue along the lines of "[Blank] wants more attention!" or "[Blank] seems like they want to be pet!" Like omg I'm sorry I promise I'm not ignoring you on purpose