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

[Lunala]

100k is still less than 1% of 15 million, the amount this game is gonna sell.

The way sales projections ordinarily work (or projections of anything, really) is that you provide an estimated range deemed most probable. Also projections can be wrong, of course.

This is not a passive aggressive way of expressing disagreement with that figure. Merely, it's not how it's done IMO.

 

[prog rocker]

Wallace wants revenge for being retconned out of ever being Champion in ORAS.

Not exactly. Steven gave me the impression in the end that he would retire just like in Emerald and pass the torch to Wallace. So it could still happen, just not in-game.

They're in hiding.

And wouldn't you do that? Like, seriously, just look at the fandom even before this happened...

Most so-called fans are not real fans at all. They hate just because that's what they do. They don't want to admit it, but they hate the very things they say they are a fan of.

Didn't Weird Al Yankovic make a song about something like this, but with a blog?

That’s still a miniority. Battlefield V a game that had backlash had 500k dislikes last year trailer because of a female protagonist in WW2 setting

I think the difference here is that the backlash was not justified there...

 

[The Haymaker]

That...would actually be a pretty smart move tbh. Not saying I see it coming like that, but really, that would be a perfect save and I'd be kinda impressed.

And personally I'm just too grown up in the bitter way to be optimistic about something. Admittedly, SW/SH showed neat stuff that I really like, not gonna like. But also it showed stuff that are game design decisions that I don't usually like ot at least not in games like Pokémon (open world area, overworld encounters, raid battles) but overall I was mostly indifferent about these "downsides" because while I'd prefer not to have them, I can somewhat ignore them while playing and they don't ruin the full game for me...or so I think.
Dexit on the other hand was another blow and while it doesn't change the things that still could be fun from how things look like, it's still a negative point for me.

Imo it's overall pretty rude to act like Game Freak gave us "what we wanted". Yeah, nowadays a lot of people cry for every game to go open world. I never did.
There were people wanting overworld encounters. I never did.
There's parts of the fandom who got what they asked for and while I'm happy for them (really, I am) that doesn't mean I'll celebrate the games for just that.
You (general you) can celebrate the games, hype them, even count seconds until release if you're really looking forward to them that much, nothing wrong with it.
But I feel like to the same degree, people are allowed to be salty, annoyed and frustrated. And allowed to express that.
And funnily enough, since the thread lock, it's most often not the Anti-Dexit crowd picking the topic back up here, but instead others who have to point out again and again how people can't let the Dexit go, or similar. Not meaning to say anything with this, just found it kind of interesting/funny/ironic.

Like I mentioned previously, GameFreak is going for a game that "everyone can enjoy", and they've taken steps to implement features for different crowds. Inevitably, that means some people will like some features and not others. In your case, you don't like the open world parts and overworld encounters. Well, like I mentioned a little while ago, I'd say that GameFreak is trying to find middle grounds, like limiting those aspect of the game to just the Wild Area, and keeping random encounters too. It's good that you realize they are ultimately game design decisions that aren't a result of a lack of time or "laziness." I guess it's just a hard pill for people to swallow when they can't point the finger at something to blame for features they simply don't like. There will be some people that believe that there aren't enough positives to outweigh the ones they don't like, and it's fine to be one of them. However, it's when people try to say that GameFreak isn't trying or something similar that things get twisted and unhealthy attitudes emerge. It's impossible to please everyone, and there will inevitably be people who will not buy the game as a result, and it is unfortunate to be one of them, as I realized with LGPE.

This thread is influenced partially by the general atmosphere, too. As people are seeing Reddit posts, etc., they comment on the general opinions expressed there, not just here, which is where "a lot of people are still upset over Dexit" is coming from.

 

[Silktree]

You know what, lets double that number to 100k, assuming there are many who are gonna boycott that didnt watch the vid.

Why not multiply it by 5? The Treehouse video has 1.15 million views, while the February Direct has 5.3 million. The latter number goes up to 9.75 if you add the first SwSh trailer (the highlight of the Direct without the fluff), and then there are the hardcore fans who watched the Direct live on Nintendo.com... It'd be weird if the total views were significantly lower than the number for the LGPE announcement (17 million).

The Treehouse video wasn't particularly interesting save for the last part that was reported by several outlets (but not Pokemon.com, lol). So multiplying by 2 seems completely arbitrary to me.

 

[Myth]

50k people. The vast majority.
You know what, lets double that number to 100k, assuming there are many who are gonna boycott that didnt watch the vid.

100k is still less than 1% of 15 million, the amount this game is gonna sell.

That is not how things work tho.

Likewise, the video has only around 18,000 likes. Does that mean only less than 1% of potential buyers are satisfied? Certainly not.

Not all potential buyers will watch the video, not everyone who watches the video will have an account to give a like or a dislike, not everyone who watches the video and have an account will want to do.

The video rate shows that there are many more people dissatisfied than satisfied people among those who watched it. This may not necessarily convey the fanbase's desire for sure (although I think it does).

Edit: I mean, not sure if you were being sarcastic, because it's really a majority.

 

[Limaska]

I'm still gonna buy the Sword at the release but it doesn't mean I'm happy with the current situation. I just don't want to miss whole game because some content, very precious to me, is gone. I'm very eager to see pokémon on big screen and I just love Switch console. I'm gonna buy it and I hope it turns out to be better than excepted. Maybe this game won't be as good as some others, maybe it will be the best of them all. Can't know beforehand so I'm gonna see it myself. I'm also a bit of a collector so for that sake too I'm gonna add this game into my personal library of stuff.

Sadly my hype is not at the samel level than what it was before the heartbreaking news.

 

[Silktree]

Pokemon.com uploaded an interview with Ohmori and Masuda 4 days ago. "Oddly" enough, there is no mention of Dexit (despite the other interviews), but they confirm that development lasted around 3 years:

Creating an entirely new region sounds like a daunting task. How long does it take to develop a new region? What goes into the planning of these worlds?

Ohmori: It really depends on the game, but development can go on for quite some time. Specifically with Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, we began the conceptual phase immediately after development wrapped up on Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. That concept phase took about a year, and then we moved on to full production. All of that, along with the debug phase, took about three years.

I've seen people blame LGPE for SwSh's shortcomings, but:

What did you learn about Nintendo Switch development during Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! that you used during development of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield?

Ohmori: Well, Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! were our first full Pokémon game projects that we developed on the Nintendo Switch, and it was almost sort of a research project for us to learn how to develop on that system. We did learn a lot that we were able to use. From a programming perspective, we were able to use a very similar code base when we were working on Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.

Without having made those games, we probably wouldn't have been able to deliver Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield at this time. There were different teams working on those different games, but we were able to use a lot of what we learned.

 

[Knightwolf09]

Guys, I think I developed a compromise we can all agree on. If Home will service as a place for all pokemon not included in a certain game, why don't we suggest to GF to add a battle and trade feature? Maybe even some breeding. That way people can still interact with their pokemon even if their not in sword and shield! So instead of trying to ruin their pockets, we could instead come up with something that'll make everyone happy. I'm sure they're willing to hear constructive suggestions instead of spamming their twitter and dislike button.

 

[Lunala]

For me, I would still need to know all the exclusives for me to be able to pick Sword or Shield (even if I were buying both, I would still pick a main game). Sure, I like the Shield legendary better, but it doesn't measure up to Lunala so it's not decisive in itself.

I mean for all we know, the exclusives in either Sword or Shield could look really good while their counterparts look meh. Would you really be satisfied with choosing so early if that were the case?

 

[prog rocker]

I mean for all we know, the exclusives in either Sword or Shield could look really good while their counterparts look meh. Would you really be satisfied with choosing so early if that were the case?

Curiously enough for me, the exclusives for some reason never interested me that much, so I guess I won't be affected that much.

Or maybe I'm just lucky that the ones I want to use are found in both versions. It could go either way or this could end up being the gen where I have actual trouble choosing.

 

[Karamazov]

Guys, I think I developed a compromise we can all agree on. If Home will service as a place for all pokemon not included in a certain game, why don't we suggest to GF to add a battle and trade feature? Maybe even some breeding. That way people can still interact with their pokemon even if their not in sword and shield! So instead of trying to ruin their pockets, we could instead come up with something that'll make everyone happy. I'm sure they're willing to hear constructive suggestions instead of spamming their twitter and dislike button.

I'd still hate that, to be honest. Battling, trading and breeding are just a few things I do with my Pokemon. I want to pet them and take them on an adventure with me.

 

[techitisJ]

I've been rewatching the old trailers, especially the more recent one from early this month, and I am still so freaking hype for these games. The Wild Area still has to be my favorite part of Sword and Shield so far. It was amazing in LGPE seeing Pokemon running around in the overworld, and I was hoping we would get to see that again in Swsh.

But now it's even more so with the free controllable camera, and the expansive area to explore, the Pokemon World looks bigger and better than ever and I am so excited to see what different kinds of Pokemon spawn in the Wild Area.

I am so ready to see these games again.

Also I need that Yamper evolution (if the Pokemon that is silhouetted in the gym is the Yamper evolution). I love Yamper so much, and I need to see what the good doggo it becomes.

 

[Silktree]

Guys, I think I developed a compromise we can all agree on. If Home will service as a place for all pokemon not included in a certain game, why don't we suggest to GF to add a battle and trade feature? Maybe even some breeding. That way people can still interact with their pokemon even if their not in sword and shield! So instead of trying to ruin their pockets, we could instead come up with something that'll make everyone happy. I'm sure they're willing to hear constructive suggestions instead of spamming their twitter and dislike button.

It's a pretty obvious idea from a fan's perspective, but not one they're likely to consider. Why would they make Home be the place for multiplayer instead of SwSh? Would it accommodate breeding and training, too? It isn't going to be nearly as expensive as SwSh.

 

[FlashFire926]

Why not multiply it by 5? The Treehouse video has 1.15 million views, while the February Direct has 5.3 million. The latter number goes up to 9.75 if you add the first SwSh trailer (the highlight of the Direct without the fluff), and then there are the hardcore fans who watched the Direct live on Nintendo.com... It'd be weird if the total views were significantly lower than the number for the LGPE announcement (17 million).

The Treehouse video wasn't particularly interesting save for the last part that was reported by several outlets (but not Pokemon.com, lol). So multiplying by 2 seems completely arbitrary to me.

those videos direct have a way higher ratio of likes.

There are a certainly amount of dislikes on any popular youtube video ever.

LGPE is higher because Pikachu is popular.

 

[Silktree]

those videos direct have a way higher ratio of likes.

So? The point is to measure how many YouTube viewers have an interest in SwSh. It's way more than twice the people who watched Treehouse.

 

[Knightwolf09]

It's a pretty obvious idea from a fan's perspective, but not one they're likely to consider. Why would they make Home be the place for multiplayer instead of SwSh? Would it accommodate breeding and training, too? It isn't going to be nearly as expensive as SwSh.

I'm pretty sure they're more open to ideas for Home at least. They already say there's stuff for them to do in there. And I'm pretty sure if Showdown is cheap to run, it'd be cheap in home.

I'd still hate that, to be honest. Battling, trading and breeding are just a few things I do with my Pokemon. I want to pet them and take them on an adventure with me.

Pretty sure you'd still be able to interact with them in home. That way they'd still always be with you.

 

[Oriden]

50k people. The vast majority.
You know what, lets double that number to 100k, assuming there are many who are gonna boycott that didnt watch the vid.

100k is still less than 1% of 15 million, the amount this game is gonna sell.

It's called a sample size and is fairly representative of the whole. Which is not to say that that indicates the number of people who will boycott the games, because many will buy them regardless, but it does fairly represent the number who are unhappy with the presentation and we all know the main reason why.

Sales does not mean satisfaction, only the willingness to buy.

Guys, I think I developed a compromise we can all agree on. If Home will service as a place for all pokemon not included in a certain game, why don't we suggest to GF to add a battle and trade feature? Maybe even some breeding. That way people can still interact with their pokemon even if their not in sword and shield! So instead of trying to ruin their pockets, we could instead come up with something that'll make everyone happy. I'm sure they're willing to hear constructive suggestions instead of spamming their twitter and dislike button.

Doesn't really solve the "not safe in cloud storage" issue. Or the fact that you can't use them in Sword and Shield and turn them into ginormous monsters if that's something you would have liked to try with your cut favorite.

Not to mention that constructive criticism is going to get lost amidst the Dexit outcry anyway.

And a few people losing interest in the game is hardly "trying to ruin their pockets."

 

[Knightwolf09]

Doesn't really solve the "not safe in cloud storage" issue. Or the fact that you can't use them in Sword and Shield and turn them into ginormous monsters if that's something you would have liked to try with your cut favorite.

Not to mention that constructive criticism is going to get lost amidst the Dexit outcry anyway.

And a few people losing interest in the game is hardly "trying to ruin their pockets."

Didn't someone earlier say that the pokemon remain untouched and you just can't put anything in, but can withdraw?

Anyway, I think it's better to at least come to some compromise. At least it makes us look better. Some of my friends outside of the fandom, think this might be a bit much.

Also I say "trying to ruin their pockets" cause there are genuinely some people who won't buy the game specifically to hurt them financially, as a warning of sorts.

 

[Silktree]

I'm pretty sure they're more open to ideas for Home at least. They already say there's stuff for them to do in there. And I'm pretty sure if Showdown is cheap to run, it'd be cheap in home.

I didn't say it wouldn't be cheap (it would, for everyone involved), but it would give certain players an incentive to stick completely to Home. They could even trade (a feature that has actually been confirmed) for Galar Pokemon instead of buying those games, which would look worse competitively. If Game Freak want a "compromise", they'll just release deluxe versions with all Pokemon or maybe opt for paid DLC.

"Stuff to do" is probably akin to Ranch, Dream World and Poke Pelago.

 

[Knightwolf09]

I didn't say it wouldn't be cheap (it would, for everyone involved), but it would give certain players an incentive to stick completely to Home. They could even trade (a feature that has actually been confirmed) for Galar Pokemon instead of buying those games, which would look worse competitively. If Game Freak want a "compromise", they'll just release deluxe versions with all Pokemon or maybe opt for paid DLC.

"Stuff to do" is probably akin to Ranch, Dream World and Poke Pelago.

But pokemon can't use held items in storage, and I'm pretty sure that hurts a couple of strategies, especially for megas. As a matter of fact make it a more boiled down battle system like Let's Go. Besides it's very clear people don't quite have the patience to wait until a deluxe version.