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

[PkmnTrainerV]

Then they already got plenty to catch up on right from the get go in terms of mechanics. Well except megs since LGPE had them

Yeah, so they’d avoid adding something with further complicated effects so that they’ve got no further increased information and deem it too much to continue in the franchise.

I expect any new mechanic to be quite simple to grasp and not require complicated learning. The item system you’re suggesting about pairing items and their effects seems just like that.

In these posts I’m going by what GameFreak would do rather than my own wish lists.

 

[Knightwolf09]

Yeah, so they’d avoid adding something with further complicated effects so that they’ve got no further increased information and deem it too much to continue in the franchise.

I expect any new mechanic to be quite simple to grasp and not require complicated learning. The item system you’re suggesting about pairing items and their effects seems just like that.

In these posts I’m going by what GameFreak would do rather than my own wish lists.

How difficult would you say it was in Final Fantasy's equipment and enchantment system? Cause it'd at least that level, if not made simpler

 

[Poke Dragon]

Pokemon's core mechanics are already complicated seeing how there are both damaging and stat affecting moves combined with many existing types, so this armor system wouldn't really affect the complexity all that much.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

This is why I feel an armor idea would work better as an equipment system, with certain battle held items being separated into 2 categories of armor and enhancements. I'd imagine clothing like held items such as Choice Band will constitute as armor while items like Charcoal will act as enhancements to said armor, giving the item additional effect. Which would mean Choice Band would then boost fire type moves.

It seems a very roundabout way of giving the player a Fire-type boosting item when that's already what Charcoal does. And what about held items that clearly aren't armor, but need to be held for evolution, like the Metal Coat, Deep Sea Scale, or Razor Fang?

 

[Oriden]

This is why I feel an armor idea would work better as an equipment system, with certain battle held items being separated into 2 categories of armor and enhancements. I'd imagine clothing like held items such as Choice Band will constitute as armor while items like Charcoal will act as enhancements to said armor, giving the item additional effect. Which would mean Choice Band would then boost fire type moves.

This does sound like your typical over-complicated RPG armor system that Pokemon would sooner avoid...

A simpler system would just be adding a second held item slot without this whole "armor enhancement" thing.

 

[Knightwolf09]

It seems a very roundabout way of giving the player a Fire-type boosting item when that's already what Charcoal does. And what about held items that clearly aren't armor, but need to be held for evolution, like the Metal Coat, Deep Sea Scale, or Razor Fang?

They would still evolve the pokemon of course cause it'd still be held of course. However you seem to miss the biggest thing about what I mentioned. If a choice band is equipped to an armor slot let's say, and Carcoal is added to an enhancement slot to said armor, not only would choice band now have it's usual effect, but it's also gained fire boosting abilities as well see? You essentially have a combo item

This does sound like your typical over-complicated RPG armor system that Pokemon would sooner avoid...

A simpler system would just be adding a second held item slot without this whole "armor enhancement" thing.

It's kinda what I'm letting on to am I not?

 

[Oriden]

It's kinda what I'm letting on to am I not?

I... guess? In a bit of a complicated way? It could be simpler without having to add an item to another item. Especially when you would have to go through and figure out which of the existing items are armor and which are "enhancements" and how to not totally break the existing system that way.

I think a more feasible system might be just two held item slots- one for permanent items and one for consumable items. So you could attach an item and still give your pokemon a berry.

 

[Knightwolf09]

I... guess? In a bit of a complicated way? It could be simpler without having to add an item to another item. Especially when you would have to go through and figure out which of the existing items are armor and which are "enhancements" and how to not totally break the existing system that way.

I think a more feasible system might be just two held item slots- one for permanent items and one for consumable items. So you could attach an item and still give your pokemon a berry.

Also kinda what I'm leading if I wasn't being that clear. I even mentioned earlier that items will be categorized so people can tell what's what. So if there's and item bag and armor bag let's say. And of course there'd be 2 slots to equip the pokemon. Enhancements would essentially be putting together the armor and enhancement together to create one item to put in the armor slot, while held item slot is still free. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

[Oriden]

Also kinda what I'm leading if I wasn't being that clear. I even mentioned earlier that items will be categorized so people can tell what's what. So if there's and item bag and armor bag let's say. And of course there'd be 2 slots to equip the pokemon. Enhancements would essentially be putting together the armor and enhancement together to create one item to put in the armor slot, while held item slot is still free. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

...okay so armor slot also has an enhancement slot while you still have a held item slot? That's... too many items applied to one pokemon.

 

[Knightwolf09]

...okay so armor slot also has an enhancement slot while you still have a held item slot? That's... too many items applied to one pokemon.

Hmmm, I know Yo-kai watch has a system like this. But enhancements would of course be a limited number of items. Let's say items like soul dew, light ball, or hard stone would count as enhancements. So not any items that isn't armor would be enhancement items. But enhancements can still work as regular held items.

 

[Boss1708]

Armor evolution is exactly the kind of mechanic I would rather be exclusive to the box mascots.

Kinda like fusion in Gen V and Gen VII.

 

[Desdar300]

Happy Easter people

 

[Knightwolf09]

Happy Rise of the Living Dead Bunny Day to you too bud

 

[Boss1708]

Happy Easter, guys! God bless

 

[Myth]

Only 6 gyms would be depressing, even Sun/Moon managed 7 trials, and clearly intended for there to be an 8th (which was then included in USUM).
Must confess I'm not thrilled by the whole football theme. Yes England has the premier league and most of Galar is England, but we have so much more than that. 1 gym leader based on sport/football would be fine, but all of them :/

In PixelPar's analysis, he points out that there may be a hidden city inside a mountain. Maybe we could have a hidden arena there? And we have been seeing people speculate that there may be a whole underground region, I wish, but I think it's unlikely.

Spoiler

Depending on the experience and amount of gameplay that each arena would be able to deliver, I would not mind a small number of them. For example, if each one of them really had a different and interesting mini-game each, with the gym challenges later, I would not mind. Make mini-games like the ones from Pokéathlon in 3D now would be much more complex and would require a lot more work to be done in a interestingly way, especially if they wanted to allow multiplayer matches, so I would understand that the workload would be huge, and so I would be satisfied even with a little amount of them.

Whatever kind of feature exists in these arenas (even if there are not sport-like mini-games), I think that what would bother me most would be if all of them were just soccer themed, like the whole region with soccer themed gyms...It would be boring, imo.

But a few minutes ago, I just realized that the arena that appears with the Lucario and Tyranitar battling looks different from the "grass" one. It's not possible to say how different they really are, because with the grass arena we see an overworld cutscene, with the protagonist entering the arena. While regarding the former, we see only what appears to be the "battle scenario" used for battles held within that arena. But we can see they are different because the grass arena has green panels, and in the last one we see red panels. So I think that's the arena of the first city. It is interesting to note that its field also looks like a soccer field, though.

(edit: I meant, they don't look to be the same, and still both presents soccer field-like arenas).

Many sports uses fields similar to soccer fields (rugby etc.), so I hope that's the case tho.

 

[swiftgallade46]

I don’t think I’ve seen a single interpretation or theory about armor evolution that sounds appealing to me lol. I would really just rather it were not a thing. Most theories sound overcomplicated or add too much to an already subjectively complex battle system. A lot of other theories just sound like they’re changing the word “mega” to “armor” and calling it a day.

 

[Oriden]

I don’t think I’ve seen a single interpretation or theory about armor evolution that sounds appealing to me lol. I would really just rather it were not a thing. Most theories sound overcomplicated or add too much to an already subjectively complex battle system. A lot of other theories just sound like they’re changing the word “mega” to “armor” and calling it a day.

None of the theories or rumors that mention it remotely interest me- especially since they all mostly just stem from the existence of Armored Mewtwo, which is about as much of a game mechanic as Ash-Greninja was.

Aside from that, I don't like complicated equipment systems. I don't have the patience to figure that shit out so no thanks.

 

[ParasectfulDreams]

inb4 Armored Forms/Evolution are just what Galaran (Galarian?) forms are called.

I don’t think I’ve seen a single interpretation or theory about armor evolution that sounds appealing to me lol. I would really just rather it were not a thing. Most theories sound overcomplicated or add too much to an already subjectively complex battle system. A lot of other theories just sound like they’re changing the word “mega” to “armor” and calling it a day.

There aren't any I really don't like so far, but none that really excite me or make me particularly want them over anything else. I wouldn't be opposed to it being implemented, but as someone who often forgets about held items being a thing in the first place (well, forgets to give better held items once I've given my team each something to hold once) I'm not really that invested in whether they're true or not. Plus I'm still hung up on Megas getting shafted after Gen 6-- I've seen a lot of fan games that put them to good use, and it makes me wish even more that they hadn't just kinda dropped it.

None of the theories or rumors that mention it remotely interest me- especially since they all mostly just stem from the existence of Armored Mewtwo, which is about as much of a game mechanic as Ash-Greninja was.

Aside from that, I don't like complicated equipment systems. I don't have the patience to figure that shit out so no thanks.

Yeah, that's pretty much me too. I don't mind more complicated equipment systems, but I tend to ignore them completely (or do the bare minimum with them) because I'd rather be out doing stuff than worrying about my equips.

 

[Knightwolf09]

Then it's gonna be harder to enjoy the series from here on as it progresses

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Why do you think that? Pokemon's gone twenty years without including a more complex equipment system, and even the more radical changes like Megas and Z-Moves were easy to understand.