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TopicPokemon Sword/Shield Discussion Topic - Part 2
TheCodeisBosco
12/03/19 4:40:24 PM
#177:


After playing the campaign + dabbling in the postgame, here are my key pros and cons. I'm gonna try to keep these reasonably short - except one point I have to sound off about. Feel free to "Ok boomer" me if that's even a thing still. Minor spoilers below.

THE GOOD:

-They knocked it out of the park with the designs this gen. I can confidently say that this is my favorite batch of new Pokemon since Kanto; it's that good. Even the humans are well-designed, save for Hop being Galarian Hau.

-The soundtrack is great. Turffield has my favorite town song since Ecruteak City in GSC. The Chairman Rose battle music is my favorite boss tune in the series. Those are some highlights, but really, the whole thing sounds damn decent.

-There are some great QoL changes - Corviknight Taxi, no more random battles, rental Pokemon at the Battle Tower, nature mints, etc. I appreciate 'em a lot.

-The Wild Area is a solid addition, even though it's uglier than sin and lags like crazy while online. Mechanically, it's good fun for the most part and I enjoy non-Gmax raids a lot in particular.

-If you just want to "shut up and battle your Pokemon," this game more or less allows you to do so, instead of stopping you every two seconds with "malasadas" and "NEBBY GET IN THE BAG". Between this and the QoL improvements, this really is one of the better campaigns in the series IMO. However, I also see how people who play Pokemon for the story would dislike it.

THE BAD:

-Dexit. Won't beat this dead horse though.

-The graphics. Another dead horse; no elaboration needed. I will say that I'm struggling to think of a single other Nintendo-published Switch game that looks less appealing visually.

-A general lack of ambition/exciting innovation on Game Freak's part. Oh hey, a third dead horse I won't beat!

-The online seems to be getting better, but still, lol

-Whoever was in charge of the catch rates this gen deserves to be sacked with no chance of rehire. This actually isn't a dead horse, and I'm surprised it hasn't pissed off more people.

The fact that they jacked up the catch rates of Pokemon who outlevel yours is obnoxious during the campaign and feels unnecessary (even a bit callous? Like, why). But the big offenders, of course, are the Gigantamax catch rates. Between the absurdly low odds of finding non-event Gmax Pokemon, and the absurdly low odds of catching the fuckers, Gmax hunting - one of the few appealing postgame activities here - is rendered insufferable.

This is carrot-on-a-stick design philosophy at its worst, folks, and I don't blame anyone at all for doing the raid exploit - even though that, too, is a joyless pursuit.

...
All things considered, I think this gen is like a 6.5-7/10. Much like how Gen 6 was a "good enough" game for 3DS owners, this feels good enough if you just want mainline Pokemon on your new-ish device. I mean, barring some insanity, mainline Pokemon will always be fun at least. I don't regret buying it at all, especially since I got a decent deal, but it's no must-have either.
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The music was thud-like.
The music was... thud-like.
... Copied to Clipboard!
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