Bulbagarden

I feel the same. To me Galar is basically just a poor man's Kalos.

I hate when fans throw the term "rushed" but this time I think it is completely justified. This game feels rushed and unfinished imo.

It was sort of inevitable since they're the fourth consecutive release since 2016. USUM and LGPE were lacking in content, too, but at least they weren't hyped up to be the best games ever.

Have you played Polished Crystal?

No, sadly I haven't had time/motivation to play Polished Crystal and any other Pokémon game since we last talked in Summer, due to family issues. But hopefully I might start playing it again, soon. I will definitely tell you my impressions, as soon as I continue playing it.

As for "unfinished dev" games, I think there were already signs of Game Freak's problems during SM. Ohmori said he had to basically develop Trials singlehandedly... But with SwSh it's worse. I don't remember a more content lacking game since GEN 1, tbh.

And in Gen 1's case it was kinda justified. GF had a completely different staff size back then.

But I think it is a safe bet to say that SwSh has been the most disappointing Pokémon game ever. Especially due to the excessive hype they generated, as you said.

There were only about 20 employees with limited experience back in the 90s. And they had to do a lot of trial and error in terms of the mechanics, rather than rely on a pre-existing formula.

Is your family okay?

Well there are health problems at home currently.

My grandma had suffered a micro stroke when you and I were talking in Summer. And now there are problems with my mom's health.

I pray to God that everything is going to be alright soon. But currently, we are still under a lot of stress. Thank you for asking!

As for Game Freak, I wonder why they made better Pokémon games back in the day. Maybe it's just "inspiration"? I feel like they are relying too much on gimmicks nowadays. Gmax and Dynamax make me cringe.

Sorry to hear that. If your grandmother is worried about her daughter(?), then that could cause another stroke. How old are they?

Pokemon used to be a passion project for Game Freak, certainly in the first two generations. The more they felt "safe" about their success, the less effort they put into their work. I think that the transition to 3D and now HD made them think "oh, this and the gimmicks should be enough." They aren't wrong sales-wise, unfortunately. They're really good about maximizing sales while minimizing work.

My grandma is 82, and my mom is in her 50s. But yeah, it is a lot of stress for us, unfortunately. I hope things get better soon.

I know exactly what you mean, when you say Pokémon was a passion project for them for the first two generations. But for me, the real (negative) change happened when moving on the 3DS.

You explained it very well, they are just relying on shiny gimmicks nowadays, and unfortunately it is working.

How are SwSh sales going for now, btw? I heard they are selling very well.

Here's hoping. What does your mom suffer from?

You can tell that Masuda was very excited about BW. In RS' case, he was under a lot of pressure to prove that the games could exist in the post-Pokemania era, so he probably did his best. I just prefer the Tajiri-directed games for the Pokemon designs, less grandiose plots, mystery-driven lore and interconnected regions.

Sales seem to be exceeding SM, although not by much. But considering the 50% increase in price... It's a pretty depressing picture for non-SwSh fans, so far anyway.

Have you played Masters? Either way, do yourself a favor and collect the daily gems; they've been pretty generous this month. I only have 8 gacha pairs left to summon, which isn't an easy task but pretty impressive out of 50 gacha pairs (74 with the story ones). The game isn't perfect, but considering that it's free, complaining about its flaws is silly. I've been playing for 4 months and still haven't finished all the single player content, which they expand every month. Granted, I only play about 20-30 minutes per day on average, but that's the recommended time, I'd say.

I figured that it was some kind of cancer. Has she removed the breast?

Masters can often be challenging and you'll have to rely on an array of sync pairs. For instances, I've used the PC, Brock, Blue, Erika, Pryce, Kris, Lyra and Korrina pretty often, but also used Misty, Karen, Skyla, Iris, Viola, Mina and Hapu for coverage in some battles. The story is simple (although it might be getting more complex), but the dialogue can be surprising at times in a good way. It's a fun game overall and there are training sessions and events for more battles, not to mention co-op which isn't my cup of tea (but I might try it with a friend).

It's a fun game overall, and it puts a new spin on Pokemon (some are much better than in the main games) and definitely fleshes out the characters (believably). The main drawback is that some items can be a pain to get, including gems until recently. But that's very mild for a free-to-play game which you can absolutely enjoy without paying a cent. Another complaint is the weird difficulty spikes that pretty much force you to use level up items (experience points are very limited), but luckily I've been getting a lot of those items in the past month or so.

They're going to add two nifty features soon, allowing for more ways to power up sync pairs and battle with them.

Thank God, the breast has not been removed. Instead of cutting, they are giving her intravenous chemo to shrink the size of the lump, hopefully until fully disappearing.

Masters sounds good, if I feel better, I might try it soon. Can you say anything about the region (Pasio), Villain Team and Plot of the game? If there is anything interesting to say, that is.

Pasio is a man-made region. It has some nice scenery, but the whole game might as well take place in a stadium. The guy who had Pasio be made is Lear, who is very rich and hates Red because he lost to him. I guess that Lear wants to defeat Red in the most humiliating way possible. Unfortunately for him, he loses to the PC before Red even shows up, lol.

Things get a little more interesting in the cliffhanger. Team Break, who consist of masked NPCs, manage to steal Hoopa from Lear (he used it to transport some of the trainers to Pasio). Now they're plotting to summon legendaries to ruin the Pokemon Master League. Why? Who knows.

There's also USUM Giovanni's debut next week, but it's separate from the story. The regular Giovanni should appear later judging from the animated trailer.

Thanks for the info, sounds interesting.
Also, I like that this guy hates Red (all losers do ).

It figures that Bolt would like SwSh due to the Wild Area. He doesn't even mention that most of the region is exactly the culmination of everything he's criticized since BW. Galar has a serious lack of landmarks.

I can believe that SwSh are a "fun ride" despite their flaws (although I honestly didn't enjoy Y very much), but he's unusually forgiving. Come to think of it, I think that he was overall positive about SM only for that to change later, maybe due to USUM.

Personally, I don't see myself spending time in the Wild Area for much longer than an hour. And I don't agree that most of the new Pokemon are charming... They've grown on me, but it would still be hard to build a team when I only (somewhat) like four of them.

I haven't read his opinion but... LOL

I think Bolt was maybe so DESPERATE for an Open World experience in Pokémon, that he just forgives everything else. But what about the non-OpenWorld parts of the game (aka everything other than the Wild Area)? They are all more corridor-like than ever before.

Also, was Bolt pleased with SM? Because it doesn't seem to have anything that he has been "fighting for" and "demanding".

I can almost swear that his initial SM review was positive... Yep:

"I haven't beaten the game yet so I haven't seen all of Poni Island (there does seem to be a post game "route" there leading to the Battle Tree), but in general it doesn't seem to feel that incomplete at all. Like I said, it's style over substance, there are some sections that look like they could be explored but aren't, but unlike Kalos there's no mention of these areas or hints that they could be explored. Frankly, area wise I don't think there's much if anything that could be expanded on, they'd have to add more islands to the game and I don't think they'll do that because it would screw up the game's lore if there's extra islands."

"Definitely disagreed. I would've killed to have features like Poke Pelago and Festival Plaza in XY, that's the kind of extra content those games needed. The story, while not as great as BW, still stands above pretty much every other, the region and the characters feel more alive than ever and the storyline is one of the most intense I've ever seen in the series. I wouldn't call it the best game in the series, that honor goes to Platinum, but it's definitely the best one since Pokemon went the casual route.

The only disappointment I have with this game is the linearity, there's really no excuse for it anymore. With the Rotom Dex telling you exactly where to go and giving you a detailed map of nearly every nook and cranny of the region, there's no way anyone could possibly get lost anymore. I was hoping with the Rotom Dex around, they'd let you explore the island any way you want and complete the Trials in any order you want."

Not too positive, but it even seemed to suggest that SM were better than B2W2 (unless he meant initial versions). Since then (three years), he's been more critical and that will probably happen with SwSh, too. The honeymoon always comes to an end. I think that his main point boiled down to "see, this is what XY should have been like."

You should download Masters if only to start hoarding those gems. Who knows how generous DeNA will be after next month.

Yeah, he does seem to have liked SM more than I thought haha.
Yet I still probably prefer XY to SM, in everything except for the plot/lore. Alola did it better there.

Yes, I will check out the size of Masters and see if I can download it... I might have to delete some other apps first lol)

I tried to download Pokémon Masters. My android version is not compatible with it, unfortunately. I will have to wait until I have a newer smartphone at hand.

Do you have an iPad?