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Pokemon Sword & Shield [Switch]

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    Pokemon Sword & Shield [Switch]

    Alright, I've started it. After checking out the starter Pokémon and more importantly, seeing their final forms, Grookey was the only legitimate choice for me. His final evolution's a beast. The other two look lame.

    There's a lot of nice localisation touches for a game set in an alternate UK (mum, telly, mate...etc).

    The opening in-game cinematic wasn't voiced which seemed a bit strange to me. Detective Pikachu had voiceover but there doesn't seem to be any here. It doesn't need it 100% but having it in the occasional cutscene would be nice.

    Still, it's had a nice and pleasant start which I'd say is par for the course with Pokémon.

    #2
    I've had a confusing few messages off Amazon. At the start of the week, they said I had a guarantee of "release day delivery", then the game was dispatched yesterday.

    Then about half an hour ago, I got a notification saying "Royal Mail couldn't deliver your package" (note the past tense) and that it "was expected tomorrow". This isn't a failed delivery; it was going to an office with a monitored entrance so there's no way that could happen. Something's obviously gone wrong. Needless to say I'm not terribly happy about it.

    The worst part is that their tracking info is completely screwed; it doesn't actually explain anything.

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      #3
      My friend's having the same issue, hopefuly they arrive soon

      Don't forget to connect to the internet via the mystery box to get a Gigantamax Meowth when it does arrive!

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        #4
        [MENTION=6808]Cepp[/MENTION] do you know how soon you can trade with other players? Got my copy today, but haven't had time to play. Wondering if I can do the ol' trading starting Pokemanz trick and start with all 3.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Adam View Post
          [MENTION=6808]Cepp[/MENTION] do you know how soon you can trade with other players? Got my copy today, but haven't had time to play. Wondering if I can do the ol' trading starting Pokemanz trick and start with all 3.
          I didnt get too far myself, just about 90 or so minutes in and most of that was spent battling/catching Pokemon but theres no option to trade as yet. I imagine you can probably start trading once you hit the second town though.

          I was surprised to hear that not all of the gen 1 starters made it into this game. No Squirtle!
          Last edited by Cepp; 15-11-2019, 07:26.

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            #6
            Played some more, and visually, it's a really... Strange game.

            Visually it yo-yos, and I think I know one of the reasons why.

            So, the cutscenes look wonderful, and the towns often look great too. However, those work because GameFreak had total control over how they looked, so they're effectively like dioramas. When you go through the bulk of the game, the camera is "on-rails" so at any time, GF have pretty much total control over what the player can see, and from what angle, which means they were able to carefully construct good looking scenes with good composition.

            Conversely though, the battle backdrops and the Wild Area aren't of the same standard. Firstly, the battles have a roving camera, where some of the angles it choses are just bad - like there's ~30 or so angles it randomly cycles between (including splitscreen comic-panel-style views) and there's ~5 or so where the camera is far away and very close to the ground, with this weird depth blur effect. I get what they were going for, but it really shows up the repeating textures on the ground and the low-poly objects close to the camera. These really shouldn't have stayed in the game, as they break the illusion. Then, the Wild Area, while quite nicely shaped and spread out (like from most of the main thoroughfares it looks okay), the environment is really quite sparse and low-poly; it's not quite "OoT Hyrule Field" as some have (cynically) labeled it, but I can see why some would jump to that.

            That being said, both of these things are indicative of time constraints/staffing. It's like if you have only one pad of butter and four slices of toast; you could either spread it very thinly or you can put the whole pad on one slice and just throw the rest away. That's kinda what's happened here; GF have picked their battle and that's how they've resolved it; but it also suggests that they maybe just don't have the skillset for something more akin to an open-world game in their studio (a theory further supported by how the performance in the Wild Area does tank from time-to-time).

            The battles themselves have some good elements. The 'mon look good, with nice idle anims and solid rendering, and the VFX is generally good, but there are some weird things too, like how when you use "tackle", your monster's anim just involves it jumping forward a bit then backing up (not getting anywhere near the other monster). Honestly? They look just like Pokemon X/Y, which is fine, but like has been said by everyone, incremental steps.

            Few other things before I go back to it, the story hasn't grabbed me at all. Surprisingly Y's story really did. It was simple, but I liked the characters, whereas so far the ones in Sword seem kinda annoying (especially the rival, Hop). Also, there are mechanics which require you to do motion control-stuff with the joycons (so if you're in handheld mode, you just have to not do those things).
            Last edited by Asura; 16-11-2019, 09:07.

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              #7
              I was so-so on X/Y's story despite enjoying the game overall. I do wish they'd do another rival like Gary though; they're all so nice and friendly in these newer games! Give me a jerk so I can feel smug everytime I beat him.

              I got to see those low res trees that kept appearing on twitter I think graphically it's a little more simple looking than I'd like but it's not a deal breaker.

              Not being able to capture Pokemon above a certain level (depending on how many badges you have) is new; I really wanted that Onix. I'm still not too far though, I'm sure there's a gym close by.

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                #8
                My son wants this for Christmas.

                Is it different enough from Let's Go to warrant Father Christmas bringing it?

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                  My son wants this for Christmas.

                  Is it different enough from Let's Go to warrant Father Christmas bringing it?
                  I think so. Pokémon Let's Go is just a remake of Red/Blue/Yellow. This one's completely new (story, region, Pokémon...etc.). The wild areas at least are a lot more open and MMO like in scale than the corridor like areas of older games as well.

                  If he liked Let's Go he should have a good time with this.

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                    #10
                    Wait does this require the paid membership in order to trade online?

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                      #11
                      Well, we're both going to CEX with ours as they give £40 cash, meaning we're pretty much getting back what we put in, plus we got to play them for a few days.

                      Speaking personally, it's just too incremental a step. I thought we would get into it, as we're both old-school fans of the franchise who really got into X and Y despite thinking we probably wouldn't (only reason we didn't get Sun/Moon was because we'd moved on from 3DS for Switch by that point), but despite the visual upgrades (which I'm honestly not too bowled over by), it's just not worth the full-whack £45 cost when there's so much out this season.

                      That being said, I'm not joining the chorus of people on the #GameFreakLied hashtag. I don't think the game is any more or less than what GameFreak promised (though I think they've made a mistake with the Dexit thing, as this title is otherwise really pitched at their core fanbase). It seems like a perfectly good Pokemon game.

                      I've had a bit of a bad run lately!

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                        #12
                        Pity it didn't stick for you Asura, at least you're not losing out as you say though.

                        Originally posted by fishbowlhead View Post
                        Wait does this require the paid membership in order to trade online?
                        Seems like it. I just cancelled my sub as well. I'm sure I put in for that Twitch promotion a few months back that gave free online membership. Need to look into it.

                        -edit-
                        This game's a lot more open than older entries, at least in the initial wild area. If you don't go straight to the first town and go left or right there's some bloody strong pokemon about. Way above my current level. I ended up using quite a few poke dolls and revives before heading back to the main route.
                        Last edited by Cepp; 17-11-2019, 17:07.

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                          #13
                          Played this for about 10 hours now and ive got a decent handle on the game.

                          This is a seriously lazy effort that we should of got on the gamecube, not 15-20 years later.

                          We should be WELL beyond this now, instead it’s effectively a 3ds port with some up-resed models, actually its not as good as Sun/Moon.

                          Id be investigating GAMEFREAK if i were nintendo to find out exactly what they’ve been wasting all that time on, because it clearly wasn’t spent making content for this.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by fishbowlhead View Post
                            Id be investigating GAMEFREAK if i were nintendo to find out exactly what they’ve been wasting all that time on, because it clearly wasn’t spent making content for this.
                            In defense of Game Freak, I'm not sure if it's totally fair to blame them.

                            GF have cranked out what is basically the same game for >20 years, and this has come up before. The GBA titles looked fine, but they didn't really get the best out of the GBA, and technically paled next to something like Golden Sun. Hell, there are even pretty comparable titles like SNK Vs Capcom: Cardfighters Clash on the NGPC which looked far better than their contemporary Pokemon games.

                            I think, if I'm honest, the reason this has come about isn't due to mismanagement as such; it's due to a lack of vision/desire to mitigate risk.

                            Pokemon sells so well on the back of what is a very simple formula, and there's almost certainly a pressure there not to rock the boat. Plus, while there are fans who want their real-time, Breath of the Wild, AAA, cinematic adventure, there are doubtless plenty of fans who want exactly what they've played ~5 times before.

                            Then, on the other hand, Nintendo/TPC are also complicit in this. They doubtless oversee GameFreak's budget, and they know what they're producing each time around. If they pushed for a more contemporary-feeling Pokemon title, things might be different, but it's self-evident that they're not doing this.

                            Admittedly that first point is why the dropping of the National Dex is such a big thing, because Sword and Shield, being close-to-formula, really should please that core fanbase, so this is a bit of a problem.

                            We've reached a point where Pokemon is developing its own Sonic Cycle, and it's for the same fundamental reason - the series has been around long enough now, and is so broad, that it means very different things to different people.

                            Personally I think Nintendo/TPC should let GF continue as-is, but they should work up their own spin-off which functions closer to something like Monster Hunter World, in the way that broke out of the formula of its predecessors. That way everyone's happy.

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                              #15
                              Expectations are simply higher for a console game. I don't have any issues with it personally but its clearly got a lot of peoples backs up. I expect the next game will be more in line with what people want.

                              I'm about 10 hours in now as well and just got my second gym badge. Got myself a Pikachu and Gyarados as per usual. I'm enjoying the format of the gym battles although I do wish there were more trainers inside each gym.

                              The gigantamax gimic is pretty fun as well, much more enjoyable than the mega evolutions in x and y. Giant fat Pikachu saying 'pika' in a slow deep voice never gets old.
                              Last edited by Cepp; 20-11-2019, 10:55.

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