Board 8 > How did you feel about Pokemon Sword & Shield?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Ive been a fan of the series since day 1, and ive played through every generation, but Scarlet and Violet really opened my eyes to how bad these games have become

I originally thought Sw/Sh were fine; it was the maximum of bullshit i was willing to tolerate. The gym leaders and battles were fun at least.

But now im starting to second guess that. I might revisit sw/sh here in a bit. I feel like ive overlooked a lot of badness from this series just because its pokemon

Better than S/V, but not great still. Honestly feel like the last Pokemon game that still had the magic was BW 1-2 not counting the ORAS remake.

Are you saying S/V is so bad that it's the impetus for this, or that it's so good in comparison to swsh?

Easily the worst main series games.

I'd argue its worse than S/V. (outside of some character designs and it being less buggy)

Emeraldegg posted...
Are you saying S/V is so bad that it's the impetus for this

this

It didn't look appealing to me, and I'm somebody who even liked S/M and wants S/V. Skipped it.

Sw/Sh is the only generation I've not played. I'll definitely never buy it, but I've considered borrowing it from a friend. I can only imagine it's worse than S/V by default.

I liked Sw/Sh but it wasn't great. I liked the cast and some of the Pokemon designs and music, but the story was whatever and they clearly didn't have time to finish all of it. The wild area was also poorly implemented and Gigantamaxing/Dynamaxing just wasn't as novel as Mega Evolutions. Raid battles were a good idea poorly implemented and the DLC was promising, had they built on it for the next game.

Still better than S/V though.

Played it years after release- it was alright. Had some good moments and some of the best music in the franchise, but it didn't really feel cohesive. Leon's great, Marnie's great, Hop is forgettable. Dynamax was a fun gimmick for the main story, though it being limited to certain fights was kinda a letdown.

Waluigi1 posted...

I can only imagine it's worse than S/V by default.

It runs better and routes/cities look better due to being glorified hallways designed with a fixed camera in mind rather than open-world. There's a good amount to like over SV.

swordz9 posted...

Better than S/V, but not great still. Honestly feel like the last Pokemon game that still had the magic was BW 1-2 not counting the ORAS remake.

Probably but were reached standards where even XY and SM/USUM seem to have magic in hindsight.

Liked it in the first half then it dropped like a rock in the second. Postgame means nothing to me so can't speak on that.

That game was carried by it's music.

Didnt look good enough for me to bother, just like XY before it

Ive since dabbled in X, using my brothers copy, and I was right about it not being particularly good. Im pretty sure I would feel the same about Sword or Shield.

Started out promising, then devolved into a rushed disappointment. DLC didn't really change my opinion much, and I never finished the second part.

I really struggle to understand people who think SwSh > SV. On almost every metric - difficulty, story quality, etc. - it comes out on top.

I liked Sword/Shields characters and world more. It also ran a little bit better, but both had performance issues. S/V just wasnt very great to me outside a couple of Pokemon designs and Larry and it running like absolute shit made it less fun to do anything

Hbthebattle posted...

I really struggle to understand people who think SwSh > SV. On almost every metric - difficulty, story quality, etc. - it comes out on top.

S/V's world design is extremely bland, whereas there was some actual effort put into various parts of Galar. That, and it obviously performing better, are the only things that Sw/Sh have over S/V.

definitely the inferior Switch game, really not a fan of the world but at least the big zones were a start to S/V realizing what I actually wanted. Marnie & Leon were cool tho and Nessa's a top-tier gym leader design. Team Yell tho uhhhh fuck no that has to be the worst antagonist org in the series

it did however have real bangin' costumes which where SORELY missed from S/V like wtaf how did S/V step down there so bad it's honestly concerning (even to S/V at the same time greatly improved facial customization)

S/V's the first Pokemon game since B/W to really feel special to me

mnk posted...

That, and it obviously performing better, are the only things that Sw/Sh have over S/V.

holding back my screams of outfit customization

Hbthebattle posted...

I really struggle to understand people who think SwSh > SV. On almost every metric - difficulty, story quality, etc. - it comes out on top.

SwSh is aesthetically several times better. It's not even a little close, SV is a very bland game.

Also it, you know, was a functioning video game and not a disgrace on launch. SwSh had performance problems but wasn't an early access grifter indie game level of busted.

Also I have never once heard a notable S/V music track, but SwSh had several bops.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

SwSh is aesthetically several times better. It's not even a little close, SV is a very bland game.

do i need to post the tree again

Also I have never once heard a notable S/V music track, but SwSh had several bops.

SV has even more IMO

And if we're talking aesthetics, I'm going to point out that SV basically did remodel all the old mons, which SwSh was supposed to do. Blastoise actually uses its cannons for Hydro Pump, for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WDx6V-YD78

SwSh never captivated me at all (bland new roster, weird choice to have the main story happen completely off-screen). S/V, meanwhile, is probably my favorite generation now. I know it's not perfect, but a lot of the things it's lacking are things that, while better in other Gens...were never really the MAIN focus of things I like in the games. Only thing that really stands out as actively worse about Gen IX is that the gym leaders are probably the most forgettable in the franchise...but even then, you've got Team Star to kinda offset things.

I actually care about the aesthetics of the Pokemon far less than the aesthetics of the trainers, lol. That's where SV absolutely tanked.

I replayed Sword late last year. It's okay in that it never actively annoys me the same way that Let's Go, BD/SP, or even Arceus does. But it's all-around underwhelming. The gameplay and story start alright, but after around the 5th gym everything gets too rushed and yet you end up overleveled despite that, and the story becomes a total joke.

iono & grusha are literally the 2 best gym leaders in the pokemon franchise tho

also like rapping grandma & Tulip

Grimlyn posted...

holding back my screams of outfit customization

lmao, yes there's that too.

odd numbered gens are always the innovators, the ones that do something different because they're the second game on the console compared to the gen before it that stuck with the basics. Compare 4 vs 5, 6 vs 7, and 8 vs 9, the same pattern emerges.

Inviso posted...

Only thing that really stands out as actively worse about Gen IX is that the gym leaders are probably the most forgettable in the franchise

Larry is possibly the best gym leader in the franchise though

When I played BD I did a single nonstop run from launching the game until I reached the town that has the customization. When I found out you couldn't actually customer in any way that mattered, I dropped the game and haven't booted it up since.

I couldnt even remember who Grusha was without Google. For non-gym leaders the only S/V characters I remember the names of are Nemona and Penny. I cant even remember the name of the goofy ass dude trying to help his dog you see several times in the game because it just doesnt stand out at all. I cant remember the names of the professors either, but I remember their designs

I completely forgot that I played BDSP

man

I sometimes forget BDSP exist

I also skipped those and Lets Go

I suspect (hope) that Nintendo isn't too keen on hiring ILCA again for BW after the shitshow.

People can have their opinions about BDSP, but the fact that the potential tease for Gen 5 remakes that Pokemon out out a couple days ago was met with mass amounts of FEAR should say it all.

I would absolutely love to play a great remake of Gen 5, the last good Pokemon gen, but after Gen 4 was a farmed out ugly pile of garbage mobile game, I have absolutely no faith.

Let's Go was great, definitely not for everyone because its completely different mechanics, but that at least leaves an impression for me. the model redesigns are perfect & I had a blast shiny hunting. it was a fun way to re-experience Kanto as opposed to BDSP which really just blends the fuck in with your memories of the original

ofc S/V is the bets shiny hunt game ever tho

Yeah before BDSP Id have been insanely hyped for a BW remake, but after how mediocre that was and how terrible S/V was performance wise Ive severely lowered my excitement

Hbthebattle posted...

I suspect (hope) that Nintendo isn't too keen on hiring ILCA again for BW after the shitshow.

That game was probably the most profitable they've ever released, since there's no way it had a high budget and still brought in 15 million sales. They'd probably love to recreate that scenario.

In my opinion, in terms of mainline games (so no remakes, no secondary games like Arceus):

IX > V > VII > VI > I > III > VIII > IV > II

BDSP happened because Gamefreak decided to do something different with Arceus rather than put out another remake. Hopefully, the critical reception suggests to them they can just do the unique game without feeling the need to hire someone to output a quick remake for a quick buck.

for Pokemon I have a clear top-shelf grouping (GSC > BW/2 > RBY > SV) but the rest I kinda just shrug, think VI might be my next in line

honestly BDSP just brought the generation down for me lmao, I was a big fan of Platinum... and then we get an exact barebones remake that doesn't even have Platinum content wtf

I guess ORAS started that trend of ignoring the third title but at least ORAS did clearly put a lot of work into adding cool new stuff

Inviso posted...

In my opinion, in terms of mainline games (so no remakes, no secondary games like Arceus):

IX > V > VII > VI > I > III > VIII > IV > II

what in the world lmao

I genuinely don't know how people can enjoy S/V lol. I literally cannot fathom it.

Even if you fixed all the bugs and framerate issues, it's still fundamentally busted. I remember I discovered an entire city, and there literally wasn't anything to do in it. I've never in my life seen an open world game where you discover things that don't matter. I mean, sure, there was a sandwich shop, but who cares?? Why were those games so obsessed with sandwiches lmao??

And then you go to a gym, and play completely busted mini games. Or go to a team base, and instead of battling Pokemon like normal, you participate in some god awful mini game that bypasses battles, and then you fight a giant car?

You literally can't make this shit up

Hbthebattle posted...

BDSP happened because Gamefreak decided to do something different with Arceus rather than put out another remake. Hopefully, the critical reception suggests to them they can just do the unique game without feeling the need to hire someone to output a quick remake for a quick buck.

This is where I go so fucking hot that I shoot myself in the foot, but Arceus was fucking dreadful. The most bland, boring, repetitive game they've put out. Nothing but annoyances and boring traversal. The only reason anyone cares about that game is because it's something different, in a vaccum it's a mess.

To me, Arceus was proof that they SHOULDN'T do anything different, they just need to do everything they can to put every single resource they have into making a regular ass pokemon game that fires on all cylinders.

Frankly, I don't think it's ever going to happen.

TomNook7 posted...

You literally can't make this shit up

They made an open world pokemon game where you can tackle gyms in any order...but the gyms don't scale. A fundamental failure of execution, it was literally the most important thing in the game to get right. You can't recover from that.

This was something they got right in the Pokemon Origins ANIME of all places.

TomNook7 posted...

I genuinely don't know how people can enjoy S/V lol. I literally cannot fathom it.

Because S/V is the best gen aside from performance issues. No random battles, tera types, shiny hunting, open world non-linear, no HM Moves, the best story since Gen V, likable rivals, and a lot of QoL changes.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

This is where I go so fucking hot that I shoot myself in the foot, but Arceus was fucking dreadful. The most bland, boring, repetitive game they've put out. Nothing but annoyances and boring traversal. The only reason anyone cares about that game is because it's something different, in a vaccum it's a mess.

To me, Arceus was proof that they SHOULDN'T do anything different, they just need to do everything they can to put every single resource they have into making a regular ass pokemon game that fires on all cylinders.

Frankly, I don't think it's ever going to happen.

you are definitely the minority opinion here, you can see tons of people under those Reshiram/Zekrom posts praying that it's Legends Kyurem

I actually thought Legends Arceus was pretty damn good. Being able to throw the Pokeball as a mechanic meant the player could micromanage like a dozen different things at once. Throw one Pokemon out to collect a berry, throw another out to fight something, throw another out to catch a weak Pokemon. Take all the useless Pokemon in your PC and turn them into candy. Accidentally run into super powerful Pokemon in the wild and they literally kill you, which made exploration more meaningful.

It gamified and sped up a lot of the core experience, and personally it's been really hard going back to same old after playing it. Also the story was horrendous, but who cares

SV has major fucking issues even beyond performance, but i do find the idea of the open world really cool.

Christ please no.

I would just straight up not buy it if they did that, couldn't imagine something more disappointing.

Well, frankly anything but a super pristine 2D sprite thing is gonna disappoint me, but there are levels of disappointment. Optimally this game looks like Start Ocean 2 R which I now consider a gold standard for this kind of thing.

Tera typing is the first actual good mechanic gimmick introduced into Pokemon since the franchise started doing these things (X/Y's Megas)

it astounds me how much it actually improves gameplay rather than just trying to stick some bells & whistles on like Megas/Gigantamax

(that being said Megas certainly are cool I absolutely won't be denying that)