SwSh Your thoughts on the Galar region?

[Gísli]

As both an introvert and a football fan, I am confused by the dichotomy being discussed here. I prefer staying home reading my books to going to parties but I also prefer going to my local team's football stadium for matches to lots of solitary activities. People don't fall so neatly into boxes. Having previously lived in the UK and gone to a few matches there, I'm very excited about the Premier League setting for the Galarian league and, simultaneously, I'm absolutely sure that it won't detract from other cultural content in Galar outside of the stadia. It's not like the arts and sports are mutually exclusive. Just different parts of any given cultural sphere. (You could even write multiple theses on the focus on sports in classical occidental arts: literature like the Iliad, visual arts like Greek vases, architecture like Rome's Colosseum etc. etc.)

So why not both?

 

[Shib]

I'm from the UK and not a football fan but the gyms as football stadiums makes perfect sense to me, I've always thought it odd that there were no spectators for gyms/league in previous games as its a world where Pokémon trainers are seen as celebrities. I think that the anime setting of Leagues having massive audiences and gym battles having none as pretty odd too, even small local games tend to draw a bit of a crowd.

As for the rest of Galar as we've seen, I'm optimistic - the one thing thaf really sticks out to me is the Pokémon drawing on the hillside seen quite a while ago - that screamed Whitehorse to me, I live in a region of lots of chalk hills and the tradition of large images cut into a hillside like that rang so true to me.

 

[Emmy]

While we have yet to see the Region in full, so far I like what I see.

Not a sports fan at all, but I really like making the League closer to the anime where it's a big event with spectators. The visuals of the environments look nice and I love all the little details they put in to make it feel authentic.

 

[Esserise]

As a human Sobble who doesn't give a single fuck about sports, that doesn't negatively influence my opinion of the Galarian Gym system at all - whether you're introverted or not, Pokémon training is a physical and social activity, and frankly it never made much sense to me in the first place that these eventful battles weren't broadcast or commercialized, because that just seems so self-evidently like something that would happen in the world of Pokémon given that their entire society revolves around the things. They've had fan clubs for Gym Leaders and such in previous games, and some of those members would even become your fans after you won the Championship, but it seems rather hollow if they never actually get to witness you battling, no? And I think, say, N's plan of defeating Alder with the Legendary dragon in order to impress the people of Unova sure would have felt a lot stronger if the whole region were watching it unfold live rather than reading about it in the papers or getting news updates on their gadgets.

 

[JFrombaugh]

I'm from the UK and not a football fan but the gyms as football stadiums makes perfect sense to me, I've always thought it odd that there were no spectators for gyms/league in previous games as its a world where Pokémon trainers are seen as celebrities. I think that the anime setting of Leagues having massive audiences and gym battles having none as pretty odd too, even small local games tend to draw a bit of a crowd.

I’ve always seen it more as being viewed as your own personal journey (as opposed to say Contests, where pretty much the whole point is to perform for a crowd) and most people (aka the many Trainers you battle in routes & caves & the like) never become strong enough to get more than a couple of badges, let alone be allowed to challenge be Elite Four.

And so for the most part I think it’s only the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champions who are really “celebrities” who get some degree of media publicity in-universe. And due to them all falling on different areas of the introversion/extroversion spectrum, they vary in how much they actively seek attention. For example Jasmine is very shy and doesn’t even have any Trainers in her Gym, versus somebody like Misty who is very well known for her beauty.

 

[Scruffyjay]

Feels like home...And I'm not even from England.

I'm not a big fan of the whole sports thing though.

 

[emerson.brant]

Feels like home...And I'm not even from England.

I'm not a big fan of the whole sports thing though.

The "feels like home" I had in unova. It's a great feeling for a game. Loving galar for what we've seen.

 

[PocketMonster]

I think Galar looks like alot more fun than Alola did. I really like the idea of the wild areas. I like how the cities look more like cities as pokemon progresses. graphics i think look nice. I don't like sports, so I am not a huge fan of the idea of things being sports themed, but since it applies to pokemon battling I actually kind of like it. I just hope it isn't in your face the whole game though. I look forward to exploring this region. It looks like there are actual areas to check out on the side unlike Alola. The Music is nice, but pokemon always has nice melodies. When new pokemon games come about, I am most interested in actual pokemon though. Map comes second, then the story then everything else.

 

[Tood]

I don't like sports, so I am not a huge fan of the idea of things being sports themed, but since it applies to pokemon battling I actually kind of like it. I just hope it isn't in your face the whole game though.

This something I really don't want to happen. I don't want a sports game. Not too much of a sports fan, and I don't care if it's just there, but if it's rubbed into my face everywhere, I'll definitely be petty enough to let it ruin SwSh for me.

I always saw gyms as gyms where you train, not as stadiums. Like the gyms were the lead-up to the big televised events; they were where you'd get tested for qualifications. The Pokemon League with the E4 and Champion always felt more like it would be the broadcasted part. Maybe I'm just an idiot because that's clearly not the case right now.

 

[PocketMonster]

yeah I am afraid of sports things hinted in NPC conversations all the time or sports puns....

 

[PinkIceFox]

I'm cautiously curious about Galar. They've shown us next to nothing about it outside of quick glances at things in trailers but for the most part the only things they've focused on is how the region is obsessed with a Sports themed League style and Supersizing Pokemon for the spectacle of it. I'm really really not fond of sports culture in real life so I'm going to pay as little attention or care to the Gyms and League things this time around. I'll probably be writing the League as a corrupt 'entertain the mook population, bleed their wallets dry' type of thing in my collective head canon for the region at this rate.

I'm really hoping there are at least some mythological and magical feeling locations and story beats. When I think of the British Isles, I've always first and foremost started thinking about fairy tales, knights, dragons, and the fair folk. So I'm pretty disappointed that we've finally gotten to a region I was excited about ever since Fairy types became a thing only for the league and story focus to be "POKEYMANS IS A SPORT." And now they're gonna make my poor girl wear a hideous sports jersey to fight in a big public arena.

My universe counterpart of Leaf is having an anxiety attack just thinking about it. My counterpart of Serena is dying from fashion poisoning. My counterpart to Selene is apologizing for calling her riding gear stupid. My counterpart to Gloria is contemplating flying far away, getting a new identity post-game, and hoping Hop and the media never find her again.

...Oh my god my version of Gloria's gonna become the chick who gives you the HM for fly in the Kanto games.

 

[PocketMonster]

I'm cautiously curious about Galar. They've shown us next to nothing about it outside of quick glances at things in trailers but for the most part the only things they've focused on is how the region is obsessed with a Sports themed League style and Supersizing Pokemon for the spectacle of it. I'm really really not fond of sports culture in real life so I'm going to pay as little attention or care to the Gyms and League things this time around. I'll probably be writing the League as a corrupt 'entertain the mook population, bleed their wallets dry' type of thing in my collective head canon for the region at this rate.

I'm really hoping there are at least some mythological and magical feeling locations and story beats. When I think of the British Isles, I've always first and foremost started thinking about fairy tales, knights, dragons, and the fair folk. So I'm pretty disappointed that we've finally gotten to a region I was excited about ever since Fairy types became a thing only for the league and story focus to be "POKEYMANS IS A SPORT." And now they're gonna make my poor girl wear a hideous sports jersey to fight in a big public arena.

My universe counterpart of Leaf is having an anxiety attack just thinking about it. My counterpart of Serena is dying from fashion poisoning. My counterpart to Selene is apologizing for calling her riding gear stupid. My counterpart to Gloria is contemplating flying far away, getting a new identity post-game, and hoping Hop and the media never find her again.

...Oh my god my version of Gloria's gonna become the chick who gives you the HM for fly in the Kanto games.

I'm hoping that ancient fae stuff will be the other side of the coin of Galar. I think it would be an interesting contrast.

 

[Matthew Clerkin]

In spite of my negative opinions of Game Freak's recent decisions, the region itself looks really cool. There are definitely bits of each region I dislike (Hoenn's uninteresting water routes) and dislike how certain regions are handled (X and Y's disregard to the Kalos region in the postgame is one of the reasons I don't like X and Y), but I don't really dislike any region overall.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

I had Isshu and Alola as the two worst regions, the first due to that circle-like path up north and Alola because of each island feeling too small and the whole archipelago also, but Kalos seems to me like a tree where you have small branches of exploration but what matters is the trunk that follows technology evolution. Since it's based on the UK, the region had much more potencial.

 

[PocketMonster]

I hope we have some diving areas... those are always fun. (like in a lake?)

 

[Zamajedi]

I like it since it looks interesting and not like alola. The wild area is hopefully like FFXV where you can get sidequests and maybe hunting by here you'd be forced to catch certain pokemon

 

[JFrombaugh]

I'm cautiously curious about Galar. They've shown us next to nothing about it outside of quick glances at things in trailers but for the most part the only things they've focused on is how the region is obsessed with a Sports themed League style and Supersizing Pokemon for the spectacle of it. I'm really really not fond of sports culture in real life so I'm going to pay as little attention or care to the Gyms and League things this time around. I'll probably be writing the League as a corrupt 'entertain the mook population, bleed their wallets dry' type of thing in my collective head canon for the region at this rate.

I'm really hoping there are at least some mythological and magical feeling locations and story beats. When I think of the British Isles, I've always first and foremost started thinking about fairy tales, knights, dragons, and the fair folk. So I'm pretty disappointed that we've finally gotten to a region I was excited about ever since Fairy types became a thing only for the league and story focus to be "POKEYMANS IS A SPORT." And now they're gonna make my poor girl wear a hideous sports jersey to fight in a big public arena.

My universe counterpart of Leaf is having an anxiety attack just thinking about it. My counterpart of Serena is dying from fashion poisoning. My counterpart to Selene is apologizing for calling her riding gear stupid. My counterpart to Gloria is contemplating flying far away, getting a new identity post-game, and hoping Hop and the media never find her again.

...Oh my god my version of Gloria's gonna become the chick who gives you the HM for fly in the Kanto games.

You took the words right out of my mouth and I'm the OP, who has never had anything against British culture in general or the high fantasy genre or anything like that. I don't dislike the look of the sports jersey your character wears for the Gym Challenge personally (in fact I think Gloria looks kinda hot in it), but my Alice character would be more or less a mix of your Leaf & Serena counterparts.

As I've said before many times in the leak threads, I get the feeling that some the things that are being kept under wraps, are going to end up being my favorite parts of the games - which is I think is kind of unfortunate. TBH, I could see it cracking my Top 5 favorite regions if there ends up being a lot of sidequests that strike a chord with me, like those in USUM. With so few trailers, I can only really judge the Gyms & Dynamax, and with the trailers doing their best to glorify the Gym Battles & promote Galar as a very sports-y region, I'm finding it hard to really be as excited about the main storyline as perhaps I should be.

That being said, I am still looking forward to playing Shield in less than three weeks, because who knows, maybe there will turn out to be a lot of things that I actually like about Galar that will put it above Kalos & Alola for me!

I mean, who would've thought that the Let's Go games would end up being actually pretty good just going by the overly-cute trailers and the emphasis from GameFreak that the games were aimed at younger kids...?

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Now that the games are out and many people here have gotten their chance to travel through this Great Britain and Scotland inspired region, what are your thoughts on the Galar Region?

Galar as a whole is decent as a region, though flawed. I think some of my biggest problems with it is how linear its routes are, how some of the towns have nothing to them at all, and the lack of dungeons. The cities themselves look appealing and some are nice to explore. I love how varied they are honestly, from a beautiful mushroom lit forest to an industrial city. There are some cities though that are very lacking, namely Spikemuth and Turffield. Ballonlea and Stow-On-Side are very small, though at least have more than Spikemuth and Turffield. Plus, Ballonlea has the best aesthetic out of any town.

As for Galar itself, I love its culture surrounding the Gym Challenge. It feels big and you even see people talking about it. You can tell how important it is, and how big of a role the Chamipon has. The stadiums make it feel much more like a sporting event than any other game and I just love these massive crowds and hearing people talk about you and other trainers like Hop and Marnie.

 

[ThatAsianInTheCorner]

Honestly, the only thing holding the region itself down is literally just Dexit, which personally isn't that big of a deal.

 

[Silktree]

Honestly, the only thing holding the region itself down is literally just Dexit, which personally isn't that big of a deal.

Dexit is a game problem rather than a region one. That said, Galar is far from perfect as A Wild Luxray noted. You can tell that Game Freak prioritized the Wild Area over the routes, but the former is relatively barren and rough around the edges to accommodate the MMO aspect, where players act very robotically (outside of battles).

What bothers me the most is the low number of landmarks, especially ones that expand the lore. Only Slumbering Weald is worth mentioning in that regard, while Glimwood Tangle is merely pretty with no event to speak of.