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

[prog rocker]

Why did they make this movie again? It honestly doesn’t seem worth it.

Again. Nostalgia. And like I said before, it can backfire. Hard. Someone mentioned what happened to the shot-by-shot remake of Psycho and I think there's a chance that will happen with this movie.

 

[techitisJ]

Wow they're not even replacing the Donphan? Come on guys that were such a brilliant way to market the new generation and you could have done it again and it would have blown everyone's mind.

I officially have no reason to watch the new Mewtwo movie. I mean, I was only planning to probably watch the beginning anyway, but now I don't have a reason to watch any of it.

Can we have some SwSh news already GF?

 

[prog rocker]

Wow they're not even replacing the Donphan? Come on guys that were such a brilliant way to market the new generation and you could have done it again and it would have blown everyone's mind.

I officially have no reason to watch the new Mewtwo movie. I mean, I was only planning to probably watch the beginning anyway, but now I don't have a reason to watch any of it.

Can we have some SwSh news already GF?

Well, if you want to watch the new movie you could just play the first movie in Netflix and pretend its CGI. It will have the same effect.

 

[techitisJ]

Well, if you want to watch the new movie you could just play the first movie in Netflix and pretend its CGI. It will have the same effect.

Lol I could do that. The CGI is what turns me away the most though XD.

 

[KiranTheWitch]

I want there to be a large dex full of diversity. 150 new Pokemon? Give em to me, the more the merrier.

 

[Jukain]

What even is a game for the older fans?

 

[Oriden]

It's not me. They said they wanted older fans to look for these games, so we're allowed to expect something from these games as older fans. What I don't want to discover is that these games were addressed to older fans just for marketing.
Because apparently GF is afraid to admit that older fans exist. Let's go games were for everyone but they needed to underline that the older fans should have looked for the 2019 titles (knowing that we wouldn't have liked let's go games since the announcement).
It's not like they ever listen to older fans requests, so why bother addressing games to them? I'm 100% sure these games will be just an upgraded version of the previous ones and nothing that an older fan will appreciate more than a new one.
I just don't like that GF consider us just like games buyers and not like proper fans. It's been 23 years we have been waiting for an older fans game, I thought the passage to a home console would have been a good opportunity to do it but probably we're not gonna see it. Sad but true.

I don't know what you're expecting?? It's a game using the traditional formula of gym battles, random encounters, wild pokemon battles-- what else is there supposed to be in a game meant for older fans?

GF acknowledges its older fanbase plenty! We have references to past regions, merchandise designed for adults- hell Let's Go was practically made for adult fans to share with their children.

I don't understand what a game for older fans is supposed to be.

 

[Joker901]

What even is a game for the older fans?

One where you are not 10yo, where there's no 2 hours long tutorial on how to catch a pokemon and what is a pokemon center. One where you are clever enough to move the right analogic and rotate the camera. One where your rival is not a 10 years old funny friend you almost feel sorry to destroy. One where competitive battle has a meaning and it is not restricted to world championship while in your game people face your legendary pokemon with a lv 40 koffing (when you are lucky). One where features that older fans love like following pokemon, pokemon in the overworld, soaring, mining, diving, gym leaders rematches, battle frontier, regional forms, evolutions for old and weak pokemon, are used again and not left behind and forgotten or used to make you buy a remake of a remake or a third version you didn't really need.
Nobody is asking for a revolution. But God, is it so diffucult to use the things they created and that we fans love instead of always living with the fear that whatever good thing they introduce in a game will be deleted in the next game? Is some new unuseful battle mechanic that we older fans want? No. So why on earth it's been two gens that we are getting those instead of following pokemon or a battle frontier? Because they try to appeal new audience with ultraspace sci-fi stuff and act like we don't exist.

 

[Oriden]

One where you are not 10yo, where there's no 2 hours long tutorial on how to catch a pokemon and what is a pokemon center. One where you are clever enough to move the right analogic and rotate the camera. One where your rival is not a 10 years old funny friend you almost feel sorry to destroy. One where competitive battle has a meaning and it is not restricted to world championship while in your game people face your legendary pokemon with a lv 40 koffing (when you are lucky). One where features that older fans love like following pokemon, pokemon in the overworld, soaring, mining, diving, gym leaders rematches, battle frontier, regional forms, evolutions for old and weak pokemon, are used again and not left behind and forgotten or used to make you buy a remake of a remake or a third version you didn't really needed.
Nobody is asking for a revolution. But God, is it so diffucult to use the things they created and that we fans love instead of always living with the fear that whatever good thing they introduce in a game will be deleted in the next game? Is some new unuseful battle mechanic that we older fans want? No. So why on earth it's been two gens that we are getting those instead of following pokemon or a battle frontier? Because they try to appeal new audience with ultraspace sci-fi stuff and act like we don't exist.

Man we don't know jackshit about the content of Sword and Shield yet, calm down on the doom and gloom.

 

[Joker901]

Man we don't know jackshit about the content of Sword and Shield yet, calm down on the doom and gloom.

I'm totally calm. I'm just saying that these games are probably not meant for older fans as they said (unless with older fans GF intented those who only played red and blue in 1996, because they will probably see no difference right now apart from the graphics).
And in the end I'm fine with it (not that I can do anything anyway). I just wish GF stopped treating us as the dark side of the pokemon fandom, remembering of us when it's time to buy the games and not when they create them.

 

[Scruffyjay]

I want there to be a battle frontier on the scale of Emerald's. That'd give me enough "trying to pull old fans back in" to satisfy me.

I'm also pretty surprised we've gotten no new info yet. Hopefully that just means that when we do, it'll be a good amount or at least really interesting.

 

[Desdar300]

Looks like Mewtwo knows Psytrike in the movie.

 

[Joker901]

I want there to be a battle frontier on the scale of Emerald's. That'd give me enough "trying to pull old fans back in" to satisfy me.

I'm also pretty surprised we've gotten no new info yet. Hopefully that just means that when we do, it'll be a good amount or at least really interesting.

Masuda already said that they are not making battle frontiers anymore because people don't have time for that nowdays. I wouldn't expect one.

 

[Scruffyjay]

Masuda already said that they are not making battle frontiers anymore because people don't have time for that nowdays. I wouldn't expect one.

That's very disappointing.

 

[Jukain]

One where you are not 10yo, where there's no 2 hours long tutorial on how to catch a pokemon and what is a pokemon center. One where you are clever enough to move the right analogic and rotate the camera. One where your rival is not a 10 years old funny friend you almost feel sorry to destroy. One where competitive battle has a meaning and it is not restricted to world championship while in your game people face your legendary pokemon with a lv 40 koffing (when you are lucky). One where features that older fans love like following pokemon, pokemon in the overworld, soaring, mining, diving, gym leaders rematches, battle frontier, regional forms, evolutions for old and weak pokemon, are used again and not left behind and forgotten or used to make you buy a remake of a remake or a third version you didn't really need.
Nobody is asking for a revolution. But God, is it so diffucult to use the things they created and that we fans love instead of always living with the fear that whatever good thing they introduce in a game will be deleted in the next game? Is some new unuseful battle mechanic that we older fans want? No. So why on earth it's been two gens that we are getting those instead of following pokemon or a battle frontier? Because they try to appeal new audience with ultraspace sci-fi stuff and act like we don't exist.

The age of the protagonist is irrelevant, unless they're too young to do anything, which this is not the case. Children have a large enough amount of independence at that age, so that aspect isn't far fetched. Taking on dangerous villainous organizations? That part, I will agree shouldn't be plausible, and neither is a kid being able to overcome experienced adults at a sport, no matter how much of a prodigy they are. The argument, however, is that this aspect was never SUPPOSED to make sense. An adult can still enjoy raising monsters and fighting bad guys and reaching the top just on the principle alone.

As for the tutorial, I agree there should be a way to skip it, but not eliminate it entirely because then how can we get new players? This is a flaw that is present in games that are meant for an older audience as well, though.

You would need to justify a reason to have a moving camera, such as having things you need to look around to figure out or even having things that aren't immediately facing one direction. This has nothing to do with the age bracket being aimed for either, and is rather a design aesthetic. I do not understand why they do this and not just stick to 2.5 D.

The attitude of the rival is irrelevant, it's if they actually have a memorable presence. I will agree the latest rivals have been lacking in that department, too, but changing their personality will not save that. Not entirely at least. Poor writing has nothing to do with the target demographic.

Having a game that is Smogon would crash and burn horribly. Most of the fandom doesn't care about competitive. Those that do either don't mind the game the way it is or they would eliminate the main part of the game entirely. I don't think I need to tell you that would make a ton of people very upset. We can have both. We have had both before, and no one complained.

The features that the fans like also have nothing to do with age. All of them have different views on what they like and want to see again in pokemon. This is yet again a design matter. I do not find their reasoning behind it justified either.

None of your arguments have anything to do with the target demographic. They are all merely design choices that are perhaps flawed in their own way, but don't really pander solely to kids. The rest are just bad choices regardless and seem to be pushing one opinion over another and alienates another part of the fandom. Pokemon is supposed to be a game where all of these aspects can exist, not just one of them.

 

[Scruffyjay]

Having a game that is Smogon would crash and burn horribly. Most of the fandom doesn't care about competitive. Those that do either don't mind the game the way it is or they would eliminate the main part of the game entirely. I don't think I need to tell you that would make a ton of people very upset. We can have both. We have had both before, and no one complained.

Indeed - I myself don't really care much about competitive battling. I will do the things in-game for the fun of it and not take it seriously (battle frontier was amazing not because it was a competitive battling sort of thing, but because it was so interesting and there were different ways to battle) and only occasionally try to ladder climb on showdown. I feel as though making a game primarily for the competitive audience would be a big mistake, marketing-wise (I don't think they should do away with it entirely, but I'm certain they won't anyway).

 

[TechSkylander1518]

pokemon in the overworld,

are used again

Overworld Pokemon were only in LGPE, a game which certainly wasn't intended for older fans. So why treat it as an established love of the old fanbase?

regional forms

Is some new unuseful battle mechanic that we older fans want? No. So why on earth it's been two gens that we are getting those instead of following pokemon or a battle frontier?

Regional forms were only introduced in Gen 7-why are you acting like it's an old feature that's been abandoned?

Because they try to appeal new audience with ultraspace sci-fi stuff and act like we don't exist.

Plenty of older fans enjoy the Ultra Space elements. How the heck is adding a new element to the games proof that Game Freak hates old fans?

 

[Joker901]

The age of the protagonist is irrelevant, unless they're too young to do anything, which this is not the case. Children have a large enough amount of independence at that age, so that aspect isn't far fetched. Taking on dangerous villainous organizations? That part, I will agree shouldn't be plausible, and neither is a kid being able to overcome experienced adults at a sport, no matter how much of a prodigy they are. The argument, however, is that this aspect was never SUPPOSED to make sense. An adult can still enjoy raising monsters and fighting bad guys and reaching the top just on the principle alone.

As for the tutorial, I agree there should be a way to skip it, but not eliminate it entirely because then how can we get new players? This is a flaw that is present in games that are meant for an older audience as well, though.

You would need to justify a reason to have a moving camera, such as having things you need to look around to figure out or even having things that aren't immediately facing one direction. This has nothing to do with the age bracket being aimed for either, and is rather a design aesthetic. I do not understand why they do this and not just stick to 2.5 D.

The attitude of the rival is irrelevant, it's if they actually have a memorable presence. I will agree the latest rivals have been lacking in that department, too, but changing their personality will not save that. Not entirely at least. Poor writing has nothing to do with the target demographic.

Having a game that is Smogon would crash and burn horribly. Most of the fandom doesn't care about competitive. Those that do either don't mind the game the way it is or they would eliminate the main part of the game entirely. I don't think I need to tell you that would make a ton of people very upset. We can have both. We have had both before, and no one complained.

The features that the fans like also have nothing to do with age. All of them have different views on what they like and want to see again in pokemon. This is yet again a design matter. I do not find their reasoning behind it justified either.

None of your arguments have anything to do with the target demographic. They are all merely design choices that are perhaps flawed in their own way, but don't really pander solely to kids. The rest are just bad choices regardless and seem to be pushing one opinion over another and alienates another part of the fandom. Pokemon is supposed to be a game where all of these aspects can exist, not just one of them.

• The age of the mcs forces us to be the same beginners of 23 years ago, which we are not. In the pokemon worlds there are tons of professions, we are forced to be the 10 years old who starts from not knowing anything. The truth is: we could beat the league of sword and shield before getting our first starter. The fact that the mcs are still 10-14 makes you understand what is the main target of their games.
• The fact that you cannot skip the tutorial is a strong indicator that they think their target is greatly made by young people who need those tutorials and should not skip them.
• It's about time for a movable camera. We have the 3d world, we have a right joystic for which we payed. They could make the camera moveble even for having a better look at the battles.
• The rival is friendly because they don't want children to see a bad guy in their friends.
• I didn't say I wanted a smogon based game. I just said that it's completly unuselful that they add new battle mechanics, new items, new abilities etc that are only useful in double battles when there are 5 double battles in the entire games. It's unuseful to have a mega or a z-move when trainers are so weak even team rocket could beat them.
• The features that fans like were in my post because that's what most of older fans want. If a battle frontier is not in the game because "people have no time for that", it's obvious that we are not "people" for GF, cause that's something 90% of the older fans want, like following pokemon.

"People" for GF means "children". Let's be honest. Cause when you respect your fans you don't create a game thinking that your fans have no time to play it. You create a game that fans will enoy and play everytime they can.

Overworld Pokemon were only in LGPE, a game which certainly wasn't intended for older fans. So why treat it as an established love of the old fanbase?



Regional forms were only introduced in Gen 7-why are you acting like it's an old feature that's been abandoned?

Plenty of older fans enjoy the Ultra Space elements. How the heck is adding a new element to the games proof that Game Freak hates old fans?

• Overworld pokemon is something a lot of fans want since heart gold and soul silver. The fact that it was in let's go doesn't mean it's a feature GF invented and that fans never wanted.
• If the features from the latest games were left out why should I believe they brought back something that it's usually left behind? Megas say hi, evolutions for older pokemon say hi.
• I didn't say they hate us for that. Just that they try to appeal more fans with that stuff. If you could choose, as an older fan, something to add to the 7th gen back in 2015 would have been ultra beasts and ultra space?

 

[TechSkylander1518]

• The fact that you cannot skip the tutorial is a strong indicator that they think their target is greatly made by young people who need those tutorials and should not skip them.

When was it shown SwSh doesn't let you skip the tutorial?

 

[Joker901]

When was it shown SwSh doesn't let you skip the tutorial?

Maybe you are misunderstanding my words. I am not saying that sword and shield don't let you skip the tutorial. I'm saying that for what we have seen right now, these are not games where older fans would be considered for what they are: older fans. These are games for anyone that older fans can play as they played s/m. A 30 years old and a 10 years old can both play Zelda BOTW, can both beat it, can both enjoy it. The older one will think that's a game made for 16+ people, the younger will just think it was a difficult game at the beginning.
Every main line pokemon game is a game for 10 years old children that we like to play. So when they promised two games for older fans, I was simply expecting a game for older fans or a game with a lot of things that older fans wanted. For what we've seen so far, that's not the case. To be clear, if we are still 10 years old, if we are still beginners who cannot move their camera and use two joysticks at the same time and if two of the best features of the latest games have been removed, why should I believe that these games are made particularly for older fans? And if they are not, why should the tutorials be skippable?