I thought I would hate this one for the lack of the national dex, but it's not too bad, there's plenty of new content that makes it more fun. I really like the wild area, and dynamax is an interesting compromise between mega Pokemon and Z moves. I mean, I don't think Z moves have a place in Pokemon to begin with, and would much rather have had megas come back, but oh well. Max raids get old, but I appreciate them for making good IVs and hidden abilities easier to get, even if you have to use exploits. I'm excited for what the expansions will bring.

My re-entry into the Pokemon franchise all the way since the release of BW2. Initially, I described the game as a masterpiece, but eventually I've come to understand the glaring issues these titles may have. Regardless, I consider my attitude towards these games as generally favourable.

The roster, as usual, has no complaints from me. From release, the games were embroiled in controversy, but for me DEXIT was never much of a concern (not to say that it isn't relevant for the overall health of the franchise). I can however assure you, if you are a returning player after a long hiatus, the game will definitely shock you (in a good way), and you'll be hooked.

All the towns are absolutely beautiful. The story is best defined as a "coming of age" plot, and the world feels very interactive. Music as usual, are absolute bangers, and some of the OSTs I can guarantee will become well remembered. Characters are all very well fleshed out with somewhat sufficient backstories and personalities. Unfortunately, the story in terms of the main antagonist (which had massive potential) falls very short of what it could have been.

I don't think this set is the death knell of the franchise, nor do I believe that the franchise is going downhill overall. The optimist in me says that this was a test of building on new hardware while keeping quality as high as it can for what they intended when they made this game.

I do have gripes with the game -- I think the Gigantamax stuff isn't very fun (especially with some of the terrible AI you can get stuck with), and the initial lack of a GTS for people that wanted to trade mons without using Wonder Trade is a bit frustrating.

The worst offense this game commits is that it simply lacks a solid amount of postgame content -- something that up through X/Y, players had grown quite used to. It seems like from Sun/Moon going forward, content has dwindled and in the case of Sword/Shield, it's a ~90 minute fetch quest more or less.

I'm hopeful that future iterations open up more possibilities and introduce some fun potentials -- I'm looking forward to the day we can do a REAL gym build/customization to invite other players to tackle. It might be wishful thinking, but given TPC's desire to try different things each gen, I'll stay hopeful.

If I could describe Pokemon SwSh in one word, I would call it paradoxical. At times, it can be plenty of fun, but the main campaign is dreadfully boring. Some of the battle animations are rather intricate while others are disgustingly bland. Places like Wyndon and Ballonlea are actually quite pretty, but the Wild Area is filled with muddy textures that belong in a game from three generations earlier. The overall plot is downright atrocious, but some of the ideas presented had immense potential. Considering his motivations, Chairman Rose could have been a sympathetic and multi-faceted antagonist, but the writers made him cartoonishly evil.

Ultimately, I play Pokemon because I'm a pretty dedicated competitive player, but that doesn't mean I don't want the actual games to be good. The absence of so many old Pokemon is still extremely annoying, since I'm forced to pay for Nintendo's Home Subscription just to keep my old buddies alive. And to add insult to injury, Dynamax, the latest generational gimmick, is the most nonsensical one yet–– even if it's really interesting in terms of its impact on the competitive scene. But its mechanical aspects could still be kept the same without making the latest gameplay addition something as ridiculous as giant Pokemon.

But I don't think any of those issues are quite so egregious as the biggest problem yet. Pokemon SwSh could have been amazing games. The potential was all there, but for some reason or another, the developers have given us the most underwhelming Pokemon games to date.

y'know. I'm sensing a pattern where I'm less compelled to be funny when talking about the pokemon games I really like. dunno why but I'm gonna roll with it

I'm one of those nutjobs that really likes this game. one of my favorite new monster rosters. and running around the wild area searching for dynamax raids was honestly a blast and something I never really got tired of. DLC was rad as shit too. this also has my favorite fashion choices of any pokemon game

yeah just going through the main story is nothing too special but everything surrounding it more than makes up for it