Pokémon Sword and Shield

[Flame Dragon 19]

1 hour ago, LordCowCow said:

It's still very possible that post-game might unlock the ability to transfer and/or more will be added later. But yeah I get it sucks for some but for others like me and Shradow it's a non-issue and Twitter has been full of people saying this will kill the game and I just don't see that happening.

I feel like if they were going to do that they would have just said so. Leaving it at "The team discussed many options, but finally decided to only allow Galar region Pokémon to be imported." after they spent a press conference talking about how important it is for people to get to keep using their Pokemon is REALLY bad optics. 

 

56 minutes ago, Shradow said:

They say they can't make everything transferable over concerns of development time and balance, but I could see them maybe patching in and making more transferable later down the line with updates.

Development time they can fix with the time between the game coming out and Home. Balance is a load though. If they wanted to restrict it to just Galar Pokemon and no Megas (and Z-Moves) they could just make that the tournament rules. 

[TheEternalWinter 22]

Which game are you thinking about getting?

 

There should be a neither option after that press conf

[Sleepy 211]

Hmm Dynamax being a multiplayer event that needs 4 people, and some Pokemon stated to only appear as Dynamax, makes me think even within the Galar dex, there's gonna be a number of pokemon one simply can't get, and it'll be a very bad mechanic once the rest of the world moves on to a newer gen and one wants to revisit the game.... Seems like a lot of the wild area is gonna become useless pretty quickly. Not one of their best mechanics I have to say.

As for the no National Pokedex bit:
I usually never play with my old teams and I leave them in their respective games, it's where their homes are at... but I transfer them back and forth before to save them from the game reset. Still, it is less options and less options is not a good thing... somebody out there uses them. I'd take a game of sprites like old times over sacrificing content. 

Heck, I'd take a region with no new pokemon if they mix and mashed some of their forgotten/unused traits into the new games. Megas, Z moves, battle frontier, pokemon following you, the non-easy-mode Exp Share, etc.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Sleepy

[LordCowCow 840]

1 hour ago, Sleepy said:

Hmm Dynamax being a multiplayer event that needs 4 people, and some Pokemon stated to only appear as Dynamax, makes me think even within the Galar dex, there's gonna be a number of pokemon one simply can't get, and it'll be a very bad mechanic once the rest of the world moves on to a newer gen and one wants to revisit the game.... Seems like a lot of the wild area is gonna become useless pretty quickly. Not one of their best mechanics I have to say.

As for the no National Pokedex bit:
I usually never play with my old teams and I leave them in their respective games, it's where their homes are at... but I transfer them back and forth before to save them from the game reset. Still, it is less options and less options is not a good thing... somebody out there uses them. I'd take a game of sprites like old times over sacrificing content. 

Heck, I'd take a region with no new pokemon if they mix and mashed some of their forgotten/unused traits into the new games. Megas, Z moves, battle frontier, pokemon following you, the non-easy-mode Exp Share, etc.

Meanwhile I'd rather have the new models. To me I feel if I want to use those others I'd just replay the old games. Which is something I often do anyway.

Personally I get new games for new experiences.

Not to mention in the other games they have limited amount you can catch during normal gameplay anyway. Transferring them from other games to me feels like its taking away from the game.

I get it from a collector standpoint but in that case I don't get why where the collection is matters. They don't delete the previous games.

Plus from what I hear about Home you can play with the Pokemon in ways you can't in the games which sounds pretty nice.

Sorry I seem to have fallen into a rant lol

[Sleepy 211]

1 hour ago, LordCowCow said:

Meanwhile I'd rather have the new models. To me I feel if I want to use those others I'd just replay the old games. Which is something I often do anyway.

Personally I get new games for new experiences.

Not to mention in the other games they have limited amount you can catch during normal gameplay anyway. Transferring them from other games to me feels like its taking away from the game.

I get it from a collector standpoint but in that case I don't get why where the collection is matters. They don't delete the previous games.

Plus from what I hear about Home you can play with the Pokemon in ways you can't in the games which sounds pretty nice.

Sorry I seem to have fallen into a rant lol

Don't worry about that, I like rants xD

The single player campaign to me covers the new experience thing without having to necessarily use the new Pokemon, to me at least. Playing with my favorite Pokemon (Furret) in Alola is a different experience than having a Furret in my team in Unova, especially if I wanted to develop a different growth path for it for whatever reason. My favorite Pokemon game is the HGSS which was still sprite-based so without disregarding the value of aesthetic, I wouldn't really put it absolutely upfront.
It is one way of playing to just go test out the new content (the new Pokemon) but part of the allure of the franchise is to customize. A number of people have at least 1 specific pokemon they want in their teams, and odds are said pokemon is not among the new ones more often than not.

There's the collection factor but due to event Pokemon like getting Celebi in gen 5 and whatnot mean I never really fill up the Pokedex so I don't personally look forward to catching them all myself.... Still that has been a part of the experience to many other players so I kind of feel for them there.

I heard they over-achieved the models back when they transitioned from gen 5 into XY so that they'd be usable in future games, and that they pretty much cover the requirements for usage in the Switch with walk cycles and everything. I don't doubt they'd still need work to accommodate for the new features Sword & Shield might have, but it's still a huge amount of work pre-made for them right there. Ideally they should have updated their assets when Sun & Moon came around and would only need the textures to update there. I don't think after all that that it would have been unavoidable to sacrifice part of the Pokedex in favor of the experience.

If Pokemon Home is gonna use them, I would imagine it'd be some sort of evolved version of the island you could visit and collect jelly beans at, maybe with more minigames and stuff like the Pokathlon of HGSS or contests of some kind.... or it'd be amusing to see an Animal Crossing esque game but with Pokemon, though it is only my guesses here, but tbh the better whatever we get at Pokemon Home ends up being, the more people will probably ask why the resources to do that weren't directed into the main game...
 

[Flame Dragon 19]

6 hours ago, Sleepy said:

Hmm Dynamax being a multiplayer event that needs 4 people, and some Pokemon stated to only appear as Dynamax, makes me think even within the Galar dex, there's gonna be a number of pokemon one simply can't get, and it'll be a very bad mechanic once the rest of the world moves on to a newer gen and one wants to revisit the game.... Seems like a lot of the wild area is gonna become useless pretty quickly. Not one of their best mechanics I have to say.

 

They've confirmed you can do Dynamax stuff solo. 

 

4 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

Meanwhile I'd rather have the new models. To me I feel if I want to use those others I'd just replay the old games. Which is something I often do anyway.

Personally I get new games for new experiences.

Not to mention in the other games they have limited amount you can catch during normal gameplay anyway. Transferring them from other games to me feels like its taking away from the game.

I get it from a collector standpoint but in that case I don't get why where the collection is matters. They don't delete the previous games.

Plus from what I hear about Home you can play with the Pokemon in ways you can't in the games which sounds pretty nice.

Sorry I seem to have fallen into a rant lol

 

Even if the old Pokemon were transferable to the games, you'd still get a new experience. Home isn't coming out well over a month after SwSh launches. Late January is the earliest I see it coming out. Meaning you'd have had 2 months where you couldn't use old Pokemon anyway. Also, while I doubt they could do this with home, Gens 4 and 5 also had the transfer function locked to the post game. This also just feels like an argument that ignores the actual point anyway. Most people don't want the transfer function to use for actual main game stuff. Even if they did Home is still allows you to send over like half the existing Pokemon. I can still breed and train Pokemon a team in Galar and send it to a new game. This change doesn't stop people from cheesing it. 

I want to play with my Pokemon in Galar, not Alola. I want to have my old Pokemon take advantage of the new additions Gen 8 brings. I'm missing like 7 Pokemon from having a finished living Pokedex. I made it with the intent of moving the whole thing to the new games as they come out and I was excited of seeing all of that work on my Switch. I'm a Pokemon breeder, I wanted to breed updated competitive versions of all my Gen 6 stuff in Gen 8 while also breeding all the stuff I never did in Gen 7. 

The only thing we know about Home is that Pokemon will have "an active role" in it. We don't know if that function is going to be something that isn't in the games. And what ever the role is though it needs to be substantial since sending a Pokemon into Home that isn't in Gen 8 is literally sending it into the void since it is trapped there for the timing being.

 

2 hours ago, Sleepy said:

I heard they over-achieved the models back when they transitioned from gen 5 into XY so that they'd be usable in future games, and that they pretty much cover the requirements for usage in the Switch with walk cycles and everything. I don't doubt they'd still need work to accommodate for the new features Sword & Shield might have, but it's still a huge amount of work pre-made for them right there. Ideally they should have updated their assets when Sun & Moon came around and would only need the textures to update there. I don't think after all that that it would have been unavoidable to sacrifice part of the Pokedex in favor of the experience.

If Pokemon Home is gonna use them, I would imagine it'd be some sort of evolved version of the island you could visit and collect jelly beans at, maybe with more minigames and stuff like the Pokathlon of HGSS or contests of some kind.... or it'd be amusing to see an Animal Crossing esque game but with Pokemon, though it is only my guesses here, but tbh the better whatever we get at Pokemon Home ends up being, the more people will probably ask why the resources to do that weren't directed into the main game...
 

 

I honestly don't know anything about programming, but I imagine the jump from the 3DS to the Switch meaning even if they can use some of the old work, it likely won't even be half of what they'd need to do. We'd need over 910 Pokemon done to maintain the same competitive options that we have in Gen 7 and that is a lot of work assuming only like 350-400 of them are going to be in SwSh.  

As much as I'd like for it to not be the case, yea, I can't see the "active role" we've been promised for Home-stuck to be all that substantial. Though saying they should have been spending those resources elsewhere feels disingenuous. In all likelihood a different group is working on home. And assuming it is pretty minor taking that out of Home wouldn't have made much of a difference for SwSh. 

 

[Shradow 38]

While I'm not bothered personally by this whole controversy about transferring Pokemon, one frustration I've see voiced that I can understand is that while updating all the Pokemon would certainly be a huge undertaking, if anyone can do it it's Game Freak and they're just choosing not to. Pokemon is literally the highest grossing media franchise in existence, it's not like they don't have the money or resources that would be necessary to pull it off. In general it has a lot to do with the sentiment that Game Freak just plays Pokemon far too safe since the series just prints money regardless.

[Kazooie 167]

4 hours ago, Flame Dragon said:

I honestly don't know anything about programming, but I imagine the jump from the 3DS to the Switch meaning even if they can use some of the old work, it likely won't even be half of what they'd need to do. We'd need over 910 Pokemon done to maintain the same competitive options that we have in Gen 7 and that is a lot of work assuming only like 350-400 of them are going to be in SwSh.  

We aren't getting any new models for the basic Pokemon most likely.

The only new models for old Pokemon we'll be getting are the Dynamax models, which are... Lazy at best and downright ugly to me. Scaling it up, applying a gross looking filter over it, it's not really impressive. After everything, regional variants will almost certainly not be returning, after all, that would take away from Alola's uniqueness. Same reasons Seasons never returned from Black and White, despite making the world feel more alive.

The Pokemon battle models are the same ones we've had since X/Y. You could always run them at HD quality on emulators, it's just that the 3DS itself didn't support it. But these are the same models we've had since X/Y from what they've shown us, and the Pokemon on the overworld appear to use the same walking animations that have existed since at least last Gen, and I believe the one before that. Looks like the majority of Flying types for example will just glide around as usual, even Wingull shouldn't be T-Posing in the air, and it literally glides to move around.

Needless to say, I'm really disappointed in Sword and Shield right now. They don't look significantly better, the tree textures for example are directly comparable to the Ocarina of Time trees. Pokemon spring up out of nowhere on the Overworld again and the draw distance is so bad things are popping into existence right in front of you. If they want to cut Pokemon from existence entirely and say it's to improve their graphics and shit, the graphics better be on par with Nintendo's other major franchises, Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild were gorgeous games. This is not. This is hardly any better looking that Sun and Moon were, we've settled with okay products from Game Freak for a long time, but at this point, this is getting absurd.

Right now, definitely won't be buying new. Won't give Game Freak, and to a larger extent The Pokemon Company, money if there aren't some significant improvements to the series, it's hard to say since this'll be the first main series game I didn't get at launch that I knew about, but welp. I don't like the direction Sword and Shield are going, National Dex is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Edited June 19, 2019 by Kazooie

[TheEternalWinter 22]

If you look at it they've been screwing with quality for a while now. They got lazy with Delta Emerald and Z. Sun and Ultra sun are basically ripoffs. And now this. 

I'm not going to rewards this tbh

BTW, does anyone have ORAS here?

[Yemachu 49]

Some more new Pokémon have been revealed, as well as a new concept called "Gigantamaxing". Which is basically Dynamax which also changes the shape of the Pokémon. It seems thee are some Version exclusive gym leaders as well.

 

[DragonSage 52]

Does Alcremie look like an alternate Swirlix evo to anyone else? I know they haven't done that aside from Eeveelutions since Gen 4 but still.

Edited July 8, 2019 by DragonSage

[LordCowCow 840]

32 minutes ago, DragonSage said:

Does Alcremie look like an alternate Swirlix evo to anyone else? I know they haven't done that aside from Eeveelutions since Gen 4 but still.

It looks like a new favorite pokemon is what it looks like

Super excited about this game ahhhhh

[Kazooie 167]

oh, also for cow, this was found in the japanese trailer.

Spoiler

 

if i remember, Maractus was one of your favorites. congrats, she survived the snap!

 

[Flame Dragon 19]

Since no one brought it up Gigantamaxing is SUPER narrow. Not only is it limited in game to gyms and raids it has an additional restriction. For example the Alcremie you catch/evolve might not be able to Gigantamax. Honestly this seems like a needless restriction and makes me care a LOT less if Maxing Pokemon doesn't get brought back in future Gens. While that is certainly AN upside, it isn't really a good thing. Side from that I'm curious what exactly it does. The descriptions we have for them read like they get stat buffs, but we also know that it unlocks special moves that seem like the special Z-Moves from last Gen. Time will tell. The forms look pretty cool. Though assuming Giga is locked to fully evolved Pokemon I'm sad the turtle won't evolve. 

As for the Pokemon

Alcremie looks cute. Going with what I said about assuming it is fully evolved  which is kind of a shame, but I'm not sure how you could evolve and keep it looking adorable.

Rolycoly looks cool and I'm excited to see how it might evolve. Steampower is an interesting ability that doubles speed when hit with a water or a fire move.

Duraludon is a breedable Steel/Dragon and I am SO happy about that. Really hope it evolves, but it starts out giant some I'm not sure if it will or not. Both abilities suck but maybe it will get a move to make them suck less? At least it has its HA.

[LordCowCow 840]

 

 

Yo I'm all in for Kiss Fan Zigzagoon

[Flame Dragon 19]

I'm really happy regional Pokemon are back. They are really cool and Weezing looks amazing. Curious what the national dex would do with Obstagoon. For all intents and purposes they are similar to past evos added to old Pokemon so my guess is they'll be somewhere in the Galar part of the dex. Pikaclone is interesting. Curious exactly how the ability works.

All the people that have wanted an asshole rival seem to have finally gotten what they wanted. Marnie looks pretty goth. Team Yell basically confirms the leak.

[Phantom Roxas 38]

Wasn't too bothered by whether or not we got a jerk rival again, but it is nice to see. Though I do love that we're fighting toxic fans in this game.

Not sure how I feel about Obstagoon. I think it's that I'm so used to Zigzagoon/Linoone as the typical HM Slave that giving it an evolution that looks more inspired by Lucario or Zoroark seems... off. Like it's the evolution for a different line entirely. That said, I believe this is the first time we've had an evolution that seems specifically designed for a regional variant, so that's rather interesting.

[Summer Darj 292]

I too am conflicted about Galarian Zigzagoon line and the new evolution. First, I'm a big fan of Linoone (and its unique Belly Drum + Extremespeed + Gluttony combo), and yet, this new line and evolution don't look like an improvement from original Linoone IMO. From an appearance standpoint, IDK you but this Kiss/rocker appearance doesn't look natural to me: I see little reasons for wild Zigzagoon line to adapt into such black and white colors and conveniently star-shaped fur around their eyes, doesn't look like an effective camouflage. In short, doesn't feel as natural, as far as Pokemon go anyway, instead as if catering specifically to the rock/punk/whatever fashion. That can be justified if the Pokemon is found in towns or dead-grassy areas, though.
Then, not digging the 3rd evolution as a bipedal werewolf-like Pokemon that reminds me too much of Zoroark and Lycanroc midnight. Also it breaks this trend of Normal starters having only 1 evolution (e.g. Rattata, Furret, Bibarel lines).

Its saving grace would be getting access to Sucker Punch for punishing Ghost Pokemon, which otherwise would wall the Extreme Speeds, with STAB bonus. Also, stacking Belly Drum with Guts would be scarily strong, but without Gluttony to get a stat boost or recover LP, it's riskier, in addition to the x4 weakness to Fight moves. And unless they introduce a Dark move with recoil damage, it won't capitalize from the Reckless ability.

It's cool to have confirmed that non-Kanto Pokemon can have regional forms, too.

Galarian Weezing looks fine. Was a bit puzzled at the Fairy typing but I was told it's because it cleanses the air through its pipe, so the benevolent nature can justify such type.

I dislike this Bede guy already, one can tell from the face that he wouldn't be nice. Marnie is solid waifu material IMO, but not too comfortable with her having such... enthusiastic fans. I feel if I were to be a fan of her, I would be associated with those guys too, yuck xD
Also I get the impression the attire and attitude of the fans don't really reflect Marnie's style nor personality. Strikes me as odd.

[LordCowCow 840]

6 hours ago, A Crap Guide to CC said:

I too am conflicted about Galarian Zigzagoon line and the new evolution. First, I'm a big fan of Linoone (and its unique Belly Drum + Extremespeed + Gluttony combo), and yet, this new line and evolution don't look like an improvement from original Linoone IMO. From an appearance standpoint, IDK you but this Kiss/rocker appearance doesn't look natural to me: I see little reasons for wild Zigzagoon line to adapt into such black and white colors and conveniently star-shaped fur around their eyes, doesn't look like an effective camouflage. In short, doesn't feel as natural, as far as Pokemon go anyway, instead as if catering specifically to the rock/punk/whatever fashion. That can be justified if the Pokemon is found in towns or dead-grassy areas

This is evidently the original zigzagoon. It implies that hoenn zigzagoon is the adaptation

[LordCowCow 840]

Yo this stuff looks pretty cool for competitive. Also an actual ranking system is really neat. Been seeing competitive players on Twitter really hyped which is nice.

Machamp's fist from heaven makes me smile.

Corviknight's ability is great, was worried it'd be locked to iffy abilities.

[Flame Dragon 19]

I think my favorite thing about this is how it shows GF does know what they are doing when they make shots for competitive play. The abilities, items, and move all are stuff I can see being used if they find a home (and the move if it has decent power).

[norI worK 69]

meta gonna get stale with no national dex

also dynamax is dumb af, still buying tho story will be fun probably

[LordCowCow 840]

39 minutes ago, Krow said:

meta gonna get stale with no national dex

also dynamax is dumb af, still buying tho story will be fun probably

You say this as if the Meta hasn't been like 30 Mons for ages.

[Summer Darj 292]

On 8/10/2019 at 10:28 PM, LordCowCow said:

This is evidently the original zigzagoon. It implies that hoenn zigzagoon is the adaptation

IDK how serious you were with this statement, but you actually may be onto something, IMO.

 

Digging the new abilities, even if they still feel a bit of variants of existing ones. The gas is basically a field Mold Breaker, while Corvinight's is a weaker Magic Bounce. Regardless, they look good, let's see if the Pokemon that have them can make effective use of them. For instance, IDK if I would forsake Weezing's Levitate for the gas.

Unsure about Eject Pack in competitive use. It's a reverse Parting Shot that depends on the foe. Safe to say it will have a niche at best, but said niche may be too small to make an impact. Room Service doesn't look that good,. IMO. If you have a Trick Room team, most likely your Pokemon are the slowest around already. An Speed drop in exchange of the item slot may be an overkill. Then again, it's consumed and that reminds me of Hawlucha with its Electric Seed + Electric Terrain + Acrobatics strat.

[LordCowCow 840]

5 minutes ago, A Crap Guide to CC said:

Unsure about Eject Pack in competitive use. It's a reverse Parting Shot that depends on the foe. Safe to say it will have a niche at best, but said niche may be too small to make an impact. Room Service doesn't look that good,. IMO. If you have a Trick Room team, most likely your Pokemon are the slowest around already. An Speed drop in exchange of the item slot may be an overkill. Then again, it's consumed and that reminds me of Hawlucha with its Electric Seed + Electric Terrain + Acrobatics strat.

Fun thing about Eject Pack, I think, is that things like Draco Meteor likely will cause it to go off. So, if what I'm thinking is correct, it can turn moves like that into a U-Turn style move which could make it a bit more interesting.

Room Service yeah seems niche but it could be good to counter a Trick Room team, or allow you to have a fast Mon that can still work when Trick Room is up.

Just some idle thoughts.