A.K.A “I bought a Switch for this?”
That joke of a tagline is at least partially true, as there are other games I want to check out on the Nintendo Switch system, but one of the major factors was indeed for the sake of Pokémon’s first ever port to console.
I’ll use an asterisk there, as I played the game on the Switch Lite that I own, thus the entire game was played via handheld and honestly not much different than playing any of the past titles on the DS.
What a disappointment. There was so much build up, not for Sword and Shield specifically, but for Pokémon to get its first major release on a home console system. There had been talks of such an eventual transition happening for years, and such talks had always speculated what new possibilities it would open up for the franchise once it had evolved past its handheld history. All that build up was for naught, as the result we received with Sword & Shield was a rushed display with very few new mechanics and essentially not much different or innovative than its handheld predecessors. It basically felt like it didn’t even “need” to be a Switch game and could have easily existed on the Nintendo 3DS as an exclusive handheld game like all of the past titles. There was not anything truly new and special to differentiate between old and new to warrant the change in device. The graphics were not that much better than Sun & Moon, not that the Switch is known for its graphical prowess in comparison to its competitor counterparts (PS4 & Xbox One). The length of the game was not any longer than usual, although it would have been awesome to have a sprawling epic in a Pokémon story based game. So why now, with this particular title duo does Pokémon want to make the jump? Why not wait a little longer until they have a more polished and innovative title worthy of the switch (no pun intended)?
Sword & Shield definitely feels like a rushed product that Game Freak put together quickly after the release of the “Let’s Go” titles on the Switch (which served as a primer). I didn’t expect Pokémon to change up its tired but true formula with its gameplay mechanics and story structure but they went beyond and barely made any pivotal changes compared to the handheld titles. I feel like I am repeating myself, but to elaborate with more examples, I didn’t expect them to change anything in regards to battling, catching, collecting, item utilization, etc., nor to change the same Gym structure they announced they were returning to after its absence in Sun & Moon. However, what I did expect was for all of the aforementioned details plus more to be more fleshed out and detailed for expanded capabilities the game developers now possess. As far as I can tell, the only notable changes are the Max-Raid battles, the wild area, and camping for some reason but even that is similar to the “Pokémon Refresh” feature in past titles. I’m not even going to include Dynamax/ Gigantimax given how they are basically a version of mega evolutions. Everything else is identical to the handheld titles while perhaps being with even less features and details.
For instance, character customization in this game was extremely limited and poor. One could customize their character with far greater options in Sun & Moon. Trading is worse off now as well, with the absence of the GTS (Global Trade Station). What we have now is extremely hit or miss to whatever random person (if you have no friends) may accept your trade invite and be offered to give up, as we cannot see what pokemons they may have unless they choose to display it. Surprise Trade is the same exact thing as Wonder Trade so nothing new there except a name change. However, the most glaring omission of all, that everyone on both sides of the debate have been hearing about forever now, even prior to the game’s release, is no National Dex, hence no way to transport pokemon from previous generations forward. You can tell right away which side of the controversy I am on. This has been a staple in Pokémon titles since its existence. Hell, they even gave us the capability using the Pokémon Bank to transfer “mon’s” from the digital versions of Pokémon Red, Blue, & Yellow, to current gen. Why eliminate that now, when Game Freak is taking the next steps to making the franchise in its biggest form to date?
This generation could have been so much better, and I do hope one day we will see a proper Pokémon title that is deserving of console status. Even the world building in the game was so damn limited and restricted. Aside from the wild area, there wasn’t much room for exploration, and the map itself seemed incredibly small as I worked my way through it. There would be a city in the game like Spikemuth for example, that the developers would intricately design and make it extremely appealing as far as visuals are concerned; but then, actual gameplay and movement would be restricted to one small straight way with virtually no room for exploration or interaction. It was such a waste, and frankly a lazier option to go with in making the game, instead of doing something like a true open world format, or even partial open world (like the Wild Area but all over). Another thing that could have been drastically better is the story. I know Pokémon has never relied heavily on its story, using a basic formula which is literally:
Begin Pokémon Journey -> Face your rival multiple times -> create some type of conflict with new “Team” baddies -> finish gyms/trials -> become Pokémon Champion -> Conflict resolution -> Capture box Legendary -> hopefully some end game content…
I’m not saying they need to scrap the entire formula but at this point, there is no excuse to be this lazy when it comes to the plot of your video game. It’s as if they are just letting the franchise sell itself, while doing the bare minimum. The story in Sword & Shield was down right atrocious. Sun & Moon actually had a fairly decent story and did not deviate too much from the formula, and then you have Black & White (in my opinion the best of them all) that proved Pokémon could even tell a story with complex characters, and morality tales. Black & White also turned the story on the player in a meta sort of way. as if we were the villain, because we wanted to capture and “enslave” pokemon. It’s story blurred so many lines, and even though there was a “true” villain revealed in the end, so many other characters (including player character) fell into this grey area where no one is all good or bad. I mean why couldn’t they bring back some of that innovativeness to this new title, instead of virtually going the entire plot with no conflict only for one to be suddenly thrust upon us at the end with no logic or build up involved whatsoever. The writing in Sword & Shield was just terrible, even the characters were generic, with Piers, the Spikemuth gym leader, being the most interesting, but even he was just reminiscent of a nicer Team Skull member from the previous gen.
As far as pokemon designs go, every generation has its hits and misses, and the same applies here as well. I’ll give it to them, there were some pretty cool pokemon designs in Sword & Shield, most notably Corviknight, Centiskorch (my personal favorite), Grimmsnarl, Toxtricity, and more. While on the other side of the spectrum, you have “mon’s” ranging from an apple pie dragon (Appletun), or a penguin with a ice cube for a head (Eiscue) that were less than inspired. One more mention regarding pokemon design, the starters this generation were among the worst if not the very worst looking ones. This was the first gen that I didn’t even have at least one of the starters that I was keen on. I wound up going with the monkey Grookey/Rillaboom, simply because he was the only one that “looked” like an actual Pokémon even though I really disliked his drum. Cinderace looked like a cross between Sonic the Hedehog and Blaziken, while Inteleon (the worst of all) looked like some awkward, flamboyant humanoid that was way too weird, and did not remind me at all of the Spy look they were going for.
To wrap this up in a TLDR recap; The Good: some cool new pokemon and honestly it’s a new pokemon game, the franchise really does sell itself at this point and it will always be at least mildly entertaining. The Bad: Everything else, literally everything; and I’ll even throw in The Ugly: Inteleon.
https://themadnessofdionysus.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/pokemon-sword-shield-2019/
That joke of a tagline is at least partially true, as there are other games I want to check out on the Nintendo Switch system, but one of the major factors was indeed for the sake of Pokémon’s first ever port to console.
I’ll use an asterisk there, as I played the game on the Switch Lite that I own, thus the entire game was played via handheld and honestly not much different than playing any of the past titles on the DS.
What a disappointment. There was so much build up, not for Sword and Shield specifically, but for Pokémon to get its first major release on a home console system. There had been talks of such an eventual transition happening for years, and such talks had always speculated what new possibilities it would open up for the franchise once it had evolved past its handheld history. All that build up was for naught, as the result we received with Sword & Shield was a rushed display with very few new mechanics and essentially not much different or innovative than its handheld predecessors. It basically felt like it didn’t even “need” to be a Switch game and could have easily existed on the Nintendo 3DS as an exclusive handheld game like all of the past titles. There was not anything truly new and special to differentiate between old and new to warrant the change in device. The graphics were not that much better than Sun & Moon, not that the Switch is known for its graphical prowess in comparison to its competitor counterparts (PS4 & Xbox One). The length of the game was not any longer than usual, although it would have been awesome to have a sprawling epic in a Pokémon story based game. So why now, with this particular title duo does Pokémon want to make the jump? Why not wait a little longer until they have a more polished and innovative title worthy of the switch (no pun intended)?
Sword & Shield definitely feels like a rushed product that Game Freak put together quickly after the release of the “Let’s Go” titles on the Switch (which served as a primer). I didn’t expect Pokémon to change up its tired but true formula with its gameplay mechanics and story structure but they went beyond and barely made any pivotal changes compared to the handheld titles. I feel like I am repeating myself, but to elaborate with more examples, I didn’t expect them to change anything in regards to battling, catching, collecting, item utilization, etc., nor to change the same Gym structure they announced they were returning to after its absence in Sun & Moon. However, what I did expect was for all of the aforementioned details plus more to be more fleshed out and detailed for expanded capabilities the game developers now possess. As far as I can tell, the only notable changes are the Max-Raid battles, the wild area, and camping for some reason but even that is similar to the “Pokémon Refresh” feature in past titles. I’m not even going to include Dynamax/ Gigantimax given how they are basically a version of mega evolutions. Everything else is identical to the handheld titles while perhaps being with even less features and details.
For instance, character customization in this game was extremely limited and poor. One could customize their character with far greater options in Sun & Moon. Trading is worse off now as well, with the absence of the GTS (Global Trade Station). What we have now is extremely hit or miss to whatever random person (if you have no friends) may accept your trade invite and be offered to give up, as we cannot see what pokemons they may have unless they choose to display it. Surprise Trade is the same exact thing as Wonder Trade so nothing new there except a name change. However, the most glaring omission of all, that everyone on both sides of the debate have been hearing about forever now, even prior to the game’s release, is no National Dex, hence no way to transport pokemon from previous generations forward. You can tell right away which side of the controversy I am on. This has been a staple in Pokémon titles since its existence. Hell, they even gave us the capability using the Pokémon Bank to transfer “mon’s” from the digital versions of Pokémon Red, Blue, & Yellow, to current gen. Why eliminate that now, when Game Freak is taking the next steps to making the franchise in its biggest form to date?
This generation could have been so much better, and I do hope one day we will see a proper Pokémon title that is deserving of console status. Even the world building in the game was so damn limited and restricted. Aside from the wild area, there wasn’t much room for exploration, and the map itself seemed incredibly small as I worked my way through it. There would be a city in the game like Spikemuth for example, that the developers would intricately design and make it extremely appealing as far as visuals are concerned; but then, actual gameplay and movement would be restricted to one small straight way with virtually no room for exploration or interaction. It was such a waste, and frankly a lazier option to go with in making the game, instead of doing something like a true open world format, or even partial open world (like the Wild Area but all over). Another thing that could have been drastically better is the story. I know Pokémon has never relied heavily on its story, using a basic formula which is literally:
Begin Pokémon Journey -> Face your rival multiple times -> create some type of conflict with new “Team” baddies -> finish gyms/trials -> become Pokémon Champion -> Conflict resolution -> Capture box Legendary -> hopefully some end game content…
I’m not saying they need to scrap the entire formula but at this point, there is no excuse to be this lazy when it comes to the plot of your video game. It’s as if they are just letting the franchise sell itself, while doing the bare minimum. The story in Sword & Shield was down right atrocious. Sun & Moon actually had a fairly decent story and did not deviate too much from the formula, and then you have Black & White (in my opinion the best of them all) that proved Pokémon could even tell a story with complex characters, and morality tales. Black & White also turned the story on the player in a meta sort of way. as if we were the villain, because we wanted to capture and “enslave” pokemon. It’s story blurred so many lines, and even though there was a “true” villain revealed in the end, so many other characters (including player character) fell into this grey area where no one is all good or bad. I mean why couldn’t they bring back some of that innovativeness to this new title, instead of virtually going the entire plot with no conflict only for one to be suddenly thrust upon us at the end with no logic or build up involved whatsoever. The writing in Sword & Shield was just terrible, even the characters were generic, with Piers, the Spikemuth gym leader, being the most interesting, but even he was just reminiscent of a nicer Team Skull member from the previous gen.
As far as pokemon designs go, every generation has its hits and misses, and the same applies here as well. I’ll give it to them, there were some pretty cool pokemon designs in Sword & Shield, most notably Corviknight, Centiskorch (my personal favorite), Grimmsnarl, Toxtricity, and more. While on the other side of the spectrum, you have “mon’s” ranging from an apple pie dragon (Appletun), or a penguin with a ice cube for a head (Eiscue) that were less than inspired. One more mention regarding pokemon design, the starters this generation were among the worst if not the very worst looking ones. This was the first gen that I didn’t even have at least one of the starters that I was keen on. I wound up going with the monkey Grookey/Rillaboom, simply because he was the only one that “looked” like an actual Pokémon even though I really disliked his drum. Cinderace looked like a cross between Sonic the Hedehog and Blaziken, while Inteleon (the worst of all) looked like some awkward, flamboyant humanoid that was way too weird, and did not remind me at all of the Spy look they were going for.
To wrap this up in a TLDR recap; The Good: some cool new pokemon and honestly it’s a new pokemon game, the franchise really does sell itself at this point and it will always be at least mildly entertaining. The Bad: Everything else, literally everything; and I’ll even throw in The Ugly: Inteleon.
https://themadnessofdionysus.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/pokemon-sword-shield-2019/