An Overly Long and Critical Review of Pokemon Sword and Shield

[@ostiapilotes5725]

It's truly no wonder Pikachu is the face of game freak, they both will always refuse to evolve

[@DaanCusters94]

This. This is the best comment.

[@revenone1077]

GameFreak been holding an everstone for years.

[@ego2133]

Everything make sense now!

[@emblemwarrior11]

This is an incredibly well-put comment. If this were Reddit, I'd be handing out Silvers.

[@Jdudec367]

Revenone how many? I mean there games have been changing honestly

[@Doctortots]

Nah, Rose's speech at the start isn't the part that should make you want voice acting, Piers "singing" before his battle should, you know, the part where not only does no noise come out of his mouth, but they didn't even give him lyrics in text, he's just dancing around and moving his mouth.

[@darkmoon2503]

I cringed when I saw Piers's "performance."

[@liviekumori]

Voice acting in pokemon finally?

[@donhuea447]

Not to mention you can still hear the microphone's interference and his foot tapping!

[@azuzziken]

If I may add fuel to the fire, check out Ace Attorney 6: Spirit of Justice. The fact that this game, with no voice acting outside of cutscenes (which is relatively new for the series too), managed to time one of the character's speech bubbles to his music (he's a performer) and even make a melody out of his voice bleeps, AND that the rest of the characters eventually start singing along... But Game Freak couldn't bother. I guess it's hard to navigate through the studio when you're drowning in piles of money that you're not putting back into the franchise.

[@TrackerBase]

and the awkward sound of his feet squeaking on the ground and the mic feedback.

[@michaelr3077]

Keep in mind that black and white 2 had vocals in two instances, Roxies gym had her singing as you completed the battles, Colress had a countdown in his battle theme. They clearly experimented using voices in themes, they could have eventually moved to voice acting. It's not like we dont have an anime studio worth of voice actors for pokemon.

[@Gandalf-fe3gw]

They even had voice acting at this town bridge, with the singer under the bridge :). I was really impressed at the time.

[@DomesticatedDuck]

And there was voice acting in Gen 7 in the Team Skull theme

[@rapsody230]

They could have done like most japanese visual novels do: voice act just important or relevant scenes, like introduction to characters, ending and opening of the game. Even mobile games do that...

[@donhuea447]

Elesa's gym had vocals too!

[@Marixchatt]

@@donhuea447 While it wasn’t Ghetsis singing, his theme had vocals too.

[@buynewsoul0]

"A delayed game will eventually be good but a rushed game is forever bad" - Miyamoto. Where was Miyamoto??

[@goosetaco]

Prob getting dragged in to more super smash bros dlcs

[@MoonGhostDoodles]

Probably busy going against his own philosophies with series like Paper Mario

[@pickleoperator2804]

Lol

[@eduardo_moya]

@@MoonGhostDoodles Miyamoto isn't in charge of Paper Mario though?

[@MoonGhostDoodles]

@@eduardo_moya True, but he left a nasty print since Sticker Star which has shaped the series into what it is today, a mediocre batch of bland adventures.

[@snausages43]

Another gripe I have about the Rose opening scene is he’s telling a crowd of people, who live in a world full of Pokemon, all about Pokémon like they’ve never seen them before. That’d be like if the commissioner of the NFL came out at the super bowl and explained the football rules to the people in the stadium.

[@theradicalginger3060]

しゅがーはぁと☆ or you know its like when Ash in the beginning of Pokemon all the way back in the day was watching a televised Pokemon match in his room in amazed excitement Because you know he knew he lives in a world full of Pokemon but doesnt have his own just yet and yea can walk outside and see some but can only go so far because without a creature by his side to defend him he could get attacked so i mean maybe just maybe it kinda does fucking make sense 🤷‍♂️

[@mikaeruu0309]

@@theradicalginger3060 it literally doesn't bc everyone knows what a pokémon is lol and the protagonists and ash are the only fuckin' morons not allowed to go further than five feet from their house. all these npcs for some reason CAN

[@KHfanz]

DINA'S INFERIORITY I mean you literally run to a different town in sword/shield before you get a Pokémon, you’re just told not to go into tall grass/areas with Pokémon without your own.

[@acatwithinternet5635]

That's mostly for the kids that want to play for the first time. I mean, think about it? How does game freak keep getting players? Pokémon go and children. Pokémon let's go was to lure in new players. I've met a lot of little kids that played Pokémon go that have never played a main game. They bought sword and shield and had no idea how to play.

[@unknownusername74]

Also when charizard gigantamaxes and that lady is just in awe...like bitch, YOU LIVE THERE. YOU HAVE SEEN THAT NIGGA BATTLE LIKE 48262928 times LMFAOAOAOA

[@spyr0guy]

We don't need yearly Pokemon games and here's why.

[@Galaxia53]

I guess they won't stop trying to do that because people will buy them regardless. What I don't understand is why do this at all. Even if it is for the money. They're barely scaling their company and what's the point in owning billions and billions of dollars, what are they spending all that on. Don't they have enough ya know? Can't they leave the company and be financially set or focus on making good games instead of focusing on the money grind

[@victoriatube159]

I would rather wait 3 years for a new Pokemon game then get this rushed shit repackaged

[@NickJerrison]

@@victoriatube159 Didn't we already wait three years for a new Pokemon game though? Gen 7 came out in 2016 and Gen 8 was announced in 2017. USUM in 2017 was basically a DLC sold separately and I don't believe they started making SWSH only after releasing the Let's Go games.

[@frannavarro-efejota-5018]

@@NickJerrison It's still yearly releases for RPG games, and they had other releases like Town as well. Games like these should have at least 3 years of development for a single project only now that were are in the HD era.

[@haaxxx9]

@@frannavarro-efejota-5018 What the fuck is "Town?"

[@sonarpanels]

Milo: Hey! I’m the grass type gym leader. See that gym over there, that’s where I’ll see you! *takes two steps forward after the conversation* Hop: HEY! THAT’S A GRASS TYPE GYM, THE GYM LEADER IS MILO, DID YOU KNOW THAT?

[@Jerico195]

Who wouldn't go for a super-effective hit if given the chance?

[@anothergamer112]

@@Jerico195 DiD yOu AlReAdY kNoW aBoUt TyPe MaTcHuPs!?!!?!?!?

[@CylomDashti]

@@anothergamer112 You do? WeLl LeT mE eXPlaiN iT oNE moRe TiMe tO mAkE sUrE!!!

[@lucaspoppenga6059]

You know it's a child's game right?

[@sonarpanels]

Lucas Poppenga yeah, but children who are at that reading level aren’t as stupid as you think they are.

[@josephabdilla7716]

It is absurd to me, that, in a game whose gimmick is "look how big we can make Pokemon on the console now" that they still do not scale the Pokemon properly. This is because they wanted to copy and paste the camera coding straight from the DS games where all the Pokemon we the same size, so they wouldn't have to make new camera distances for each Pokemon, and just used the same ones for all of them. I also do not see the point of making these games 3D, if they don't even want to animate the Pokemon properly or scale them. The whole novelty of being in 3D for these games is being able to bring Pokemon to life in a 3D environment, but they're so lifeless that it feels cheap. Pokemon company literally makes billions of dollars annually, from merch sales alone. That fact that they refuse to put any of that money into the development of their games to make a better product is really telling. These games are nothing more than ads for their merch anymore. The games themselves have no passion put into them are are just half baked and lazy. I grew up with Pokemon, but it has absolutely failed to grow up along side me. I want a better RPG. Something more engaging than walking into a gym and facerolling the entire building by spamming one singular move. And with towns that have personality. These games feel uninspired and half baked. Pokemon can and should do better.

[@bohenian]

Imagine fighting real scale Rayquaza like some sort of boss battle which will involve numerous interactions from the point you see him to the actual battle. A wild Rayquaza appears! It's startled and is now charging hyperbeam. You can choose Swellow to take you into the air or Sandslash for a quick escape underground. This will go on for a while until you get close enough to actually engage in proper combat. If only that's possible.

[@Jdudec367]

eh...it can work in 3d honestly not all models are lifeless I would say...but it could be better.

[@Jdudec367]

@Cyber Console wolf I don't think it's really tried to copy the colosseum camera or gameplay honestly...pokemon didn't die or at 2012 heck pokemon got more popular in 2013 if anything. what about the ranger spin offs? wouldn't they be long to be the main series ds games combined to then? sun and moon never got a sequel? I think they can still run on the original 3ds just really not the best

[@leohaddad9225]

@@bohenian yeah or imagine if rayquaza looked like those beautiful dragons from breath of the wild

[@leohaddad9225]

Yeah, they should have 7 times the amount of employes because the Pokémon company is so rich😂. Also I can’t believe people rave about the wild area when the great plateau in breath of the wild is double the size of it

[@Tomohasen]

Welp, that might be Arlo’s last review copy provided by Nintendo.

[@flallana18]

Tomohasen Thanks, Nintendo

[@pierrebegley2746]

Meh. A good one to end with. (I'm kidding I do hope they don't stop.)

[@Blackkey034]

I dont know if they can fault him for it considering its widely getting criticized by reviewers like arlo but who knows

[@metashade4218]

I doubt that honestly. This isn't the first time he gave a negative review on a Nintendo game. (StarFox Zero, NSMBU Deluxe, Kirby Star Allies etc.)

[@brandonezdoofenshmirtz2916]

Its technically a game freak game, chad was forgiven for mocking amiibo festival and got a free switch so I dont know

[@gar_ee8884]

You forgot the cherry on top, the games now cost twice as much as they used to while still pulling the two version scam.

[@haaxxx9]

Also since GTS is taken out from this game there is no way to complete your dex without having a 2nd version at your hands. And the best part is GTS was a staple in the franchise from 2006 when Diamond and Pearl came out. Now it's locked behind a paywall called "Home" with a (Hopefully not) monthly subscription. Holy fuck this series is on a train right now heading for a indestructible wall. It will not end very well... Edited: God fucking dammit it's monthly! Well I think I am done with this series.

[@mtk1808]

I'm pretty sure they spend no money making this game since they just upgrade graphics, that's pretty much it, sounds, mechanics, and a lot of things are just re used since Gameboy

[@budlikycz2445]

@@haaxxx9 And now it has been confirmed you will have to pay for Pokemon Home 3€ per month, 5€ per 3 months and whooping 16 fucking € per year to be able to move your fucking pokemon from 3ds to switch. So they created a fucking problem and now they asking payment for the solutions. Motherfucking cumdrinkers.

[@isafuchs3750]

@@haaxxx9 or you can, idk, trade with someone? I completed mine by trading with my friends, isn't that the purpose of the trading feature?

[@haaxxx9]

@@isafuchs3750 Via online or Local? If it's local not everyone have Pokemon to trade with you in person. For me that's out of the question. Online however I herd it's ass to trade it with randoms and for friends. Don't you also have to pay Nintendo online to access the internet to even trade? Phhh- No fucking thanks!

[@kanyejest1470]

Great job talking about the story and the whole “don’t worry about it we’ll take care of the conflict, you just get gym badges” I thought I was the only person that noticed that.

[@that-guy-pearce]

Same! I was so frustrated by how little I cared about the locations

[@nechocat1234]

@@that-guy-pearce actually most people notice it, but don't mind because IT MAKES SENSE in this game you aren't the chosen one trying to take down some guy trying to take over or destroy the world, you are tryiing to become the champion, the current champion is doing al the hero stuff because that's his job this isn't sinnoh where the champion leaves everything even visiting her grandma to a random 10 year old

[@that-guy-pearce]

@@nechocat1234 My guy at least in Sinnoh each city/town had something to do besides taking on a gym. Hell, some of them didn't even have gyms. You can't tell me you enjoy having a total of 11 settlements, 8 of which are gym towns when you could have a much bigger and more fleshed out region

[@nechocat1234]

@@that-guy-pearce if by something more to do you mean team galatic kidnapped a pokemon the yeah you are right, and yes it was actually fun, I never felt that the game was padding out more game time by making me run around in circles except at the end with eternatusm honestly th eternatus plot just delays the good stuff and coparing it to gen 4 of all of them about stuff to do in the towns is bad, gen 4 in the towns had nothing just npcs that some times gave you items and the mandatory (at the time) safari and casino the actual gen that gave towns some use was gen 7 serebii even made a list with how much stuff you can do on them and none of it is mandatory, galar has also at least one subplot per town except spikemuth and the first one

[@that-guy-pearce]

@@nechocat1234 Okay I never compared SwSh to Gen 4, that was all you, but it is a good comparison to make. What can you do in Hulbery or Motostoke or Circhester? You can buy new clothes or change your hair in some of them, and Motostoke has that cafe place, but that's it. It's just empty buildings to distract from the fact that the only attraction is the gym, which takes 5 minutes and then you leave and never come back. Compare to the likes of Eterna City, which has a dungeon area with an important plot battle plus access to the bike shop and cycling road, or Snowpoint City which has a move tutor, a legendary temple, and the port that takes you to the postgame area (another thing that SwSh don't have). You'll be in these areas for way longer and they give you a reason to come back.

[@leopardbunny]

Remember when Pokemon BW had all-new, really cool sound effects that actually matched the feel of the region? Remember the hidden areas where you could find rare abilities that rewarded you for exploring? Remember how BW added more new Pokemon than the original game that started it all, all of which, old and new alike, were fully animated sprites, while sacrificing none of the quality, even pushing story focus a bit more with legitimately decent characters, really cool environments, and some of the best music of the entire franchise?

[@jackwhite7955]

Yes. It was great, but those games didn't sell well. I think GF is afraid to take risks and chooses to play it safe.

[@insanexman1015]

@@jackwhite7955 did bw not sell well? Idk the statistics of it, but I dont think they would have made a bw2 if the bw games didnt sell wel

[@Ian24089]

Black and White was the first Pokemon game that I had my own copy of (I borrowed my brother's Platinum) and it is still my favorite. It was the only one I beat, to be fair, but that is because it held my interest so much. Awesome game.

[@appalachiabrauchfrau]

and they had queen Yancy.

[@zjzr08]

@@jackwhite7955 It mostly didn't sell well because they released it a year before the 3DS was released in Japan, and DAYS before it was released in the USA - B2W2 then gave what many missed from Bw, but the hype cycle of a 3D Pokemon game for the 3DS that same year messed the interest up IMO.

[@leusername]

X and Y: Mega Evolution Sun and Moon: Z-Move Sword and Shield: *BIG*

[@bdthecat3517]

They are big boyz

[@chibiemo100]

chonk

[@astick1715]

Beeg

[@jarde1989]

I’ll take BIG over some Digimon inspired “mega evolutions” and ridiculous dancing for a special move

[@Thunderhawk51]

Yeah, this trend really has to stop. It's nothing but a stupid gimmick at this point. Back to the roots I say.

[@theomegaghost]

"But honestly, if this game accurately represents what Pokémon is now, I don't think I like Pokémon anymore." That sentence sums up it all, it's exactly how I feel.

[@Kinra_Jade]

Hurtful truth put into words for me there.

[@Haildawn]

Me too. And this is coming from a loyal Pokémon fan for over 20 years.

[@haaxxx9]

And that's was me when I stopped playing in 2014... Than started back in 2018 and slowly started to not be interested in the series this again. I'm glad I played White/White 2 before the disaster strike!

[@hihowareya2209]

Been a fan since HGSS and its so depressing how true this is.

[@Sinistra359]

Same, after buying Dragon Quest 11, I feel cheated by pokemon shield

[@jpflame21]

“Haven’t played since black and white so I haven’t gotten a full Pokémon experience in 8 years” Everyone who’s been playing Pokémon for past 8 years: yeah buddy, same here

[@clamthechef2389]

If Pokemon turns out to be a mess of a disappointment, then I'll feel like I wasted my time with shiny hunting and swsh will probably be my last games.

[@corncobking600]

Ehh I liked the original sun and moon. They felt like they had the Pokemon charm, even with the crazy handholding. Not a fan of the rest of them post gen-5.

[@MeatEatingVegan777]

Pokemon sun and moon actually got me back into pokemon. Before then, the last pokemon game I had played was diamond/pearl. I love sun and moon. The game felt refreshing to me. It is a very charming game, and holds a special place in my heart, but I also cannot deny that it's an incredibly annoying game with it's constant handholding, and it feels like it's lacking. They barely added in mega evolutions. It really seemed like they threw it in last minute just to shut fans up or something.

[@jjc4924]

Sun and Moon were good games; despite it's problems.

[@Pyromkw]

i do kinda agree with this. i remember pokemon omega ruby being my first ever pokemon game ever and i wasnt even intended on wanting a pokemon game i just played on it since it came with my 3ds. it was such a fun experiance and took over 40 hours for the story and atleast 10-15 more hours on the post game. it was just such a fun game and after experiancing that and sword and shield i think i can understand why it feels so rushed. theres hardly any post game. no new areas to explore. the only thing i use it for now is shiny hunting and battling.

[@Pokomonsss]

Breath of the Wild: Everything is fun! Go have fun! Pokémon Sword/Shield: You have fun when we allow it.

[@FireCrewGAMING]

I feel bad for Arlo, he no doubt loves getting free copies to review games from Nintendo. Companies often stop giving review copies to KZbinrs for negatively reviewing their products, and there is nothing you can do about it, their games their choice. I really appreciate Arlo here giving his honest opinion despite the facts and keeping his integrity in check.

[@misaeltoral508]

Poor Arlo, he suffers so so much with these free games he gets. Boohoo

[@netweed09]

But this game has an average of between 8 and 9 /10 on Metacritic. Do Nintendo really care about 1 or 2 people's more -ve opinions on the interweb? If Metacritic posted bad scores, it would be an issue because those are done by big publications. Yes, the story was shallow, bright like a Roal Dahl's book and too much handholding - I admit myself I miss the 'darkness' and Legendary spam of previous gens. But Pokemon Sw/Sh as a game was meant to be different and a risk venture, GF can't win it seems. This isn't Skyrim; we're not meant to demand CGI grade visuals and branching storylines involving 15 different Team Rocket factions, with over 500+ voice-acted NPCs. That's just plain stupid and *not* Pokemon at all. I did want more secret areas in genreal though, that is a flaw. But try as people might; it's ignorant to say the Pokemon in full 3D HD aren't beautifully rendered and realized. Plus, We get Wild Area; a bold medium never done before and sets a new platform with so much more potential than a Black/White could have - that We are already seeing the benefits of in 'new event spawns'. It's almost a beta for a full on Pokemon MMORPG - yet Arlo says he sees ''little reason to venture back to the game''?? I just don't understand that statement, it's not correct that's for sure. Some people are simply not that grateful

[@raymondrembert6870]

@@netweed09 What you say is not true. On Metacritic pokemon is sitting at a 80 overall for cirtical score. There aren't many 9/10's. Also whycan't this game have more production values? Forget skyrim how about botw; or any other rpgs that have come out this gen. The big problem here is that pokemon is still playing as if its a handheld AA game thats only 40 bucks; not a AAA 60 dollar title that it is now. Pokemon simply needs to be better and there should be changes made to reflect current reality. To your second point the game is just ok looking specially considered that this game is mostly corridors and short routes and towns. Wild area's have been done before just check every open world RPG that has come out the past two gens. You sound like one of the people that are lauding the fact that pokemon in the wild area has 3d camera movement as if that hasn't existed since the ps2 days.

[@netweed09]

@@raymondrembert6870 Erm, ok, fine: 8. That's not quite 4/7 (lol) is it? Ok, ofc the game isn't as good as it should have been but this review sticks out like a sore (and lonely) thumb. And for good reason

[@netweed09]

@@raymondrembert6870 Lol, just checked the 'user' reviews too: utter children dislike-bombing and hate-spamming on there. Writing 1 or 2 lines, obviously 99% never have touched the game and slapping 2s and 3s on it; state of these poor little kids lol. They will never have a career in gaming

[@jackhaehl2033]

I really like this review of the game, everyone is focused on the pokedex and no one is talking about the real issues LIKE THE COOL PLOT ELEMENTS HAPPENING OFF SCREEN I miss the days of Pokemon Platinum when you watched Cyrus get swallowed up by a darkness portal created by the god of antimatter and then you leap in to explore the realm of this mysterious creature now you just hear BANG and Leon is like "Hey Kiddo! What are you doing here? You have to go fight a gym leader!"

[@soundxhunter1962]

Jack Haehl or stop a Pokémon abusing company and finding out its leader is part of a gym. This is the most empty story of the entire series.

[@Mqstodon]

@@soundxhunter1962 i mean that wasn't that good in all honesty Honestly gen 1 was kinda...bad And the fact that you have to play the gen 3 remakes if you want the complete experience (without the weird pokemon go catching thing) is even worse as, in my opinion, the games are just bad. With that i don't mean that i don't like Kanto or Hoenn, i do, especially Hoenn, but experiencing the games in gen 3...yeah it's bad

[@usermcskull4713]

I actually kinda like this, it's kinda boring to always have to battle the evil team and have the adults be basically completely useless. Here, it's mostly the adults who do all the work and than you in the end when you (and Hop) developed enough, it makes slightly more sense than in other games.

[@weebly_]

@@usermcskull4713 Yeah it is so cool to have a story play out off screen and not participate in it until the very end. It doesn't matter if it "makes sense" that the adults do the hard work, its a video game not real life.

[@usermcskull4713]

Iomah I just think it's cool because it makes sense in universe, it just makes the games feel more real.

[@ryanjanson1202]

Wonder why there was spoiler warnings, there's no story here.

[@justarandomfan2421]

I feel like i was rushed in the game

[@yesminsalima4924]

Dang man,you burned them😳

[@NameName-yj7lp]

The story gets boring Oh look artifact! Oh look connection I see? Oh yes it is! Ok now leave

[@you-yh1sb]

yes there is just nor a good one

[@you-yh1sb]

have u ever played this game. sure it may not be a good story, but its a story.

[@phantasmic9049]

The great Plateau in botw has more content then the wild area.

[@MrQuinnzard]

Amen.

[@barnaclescum7011]

and it's more difficult than the entire game lol

[@psicopato2460]

Doesn't even compare

[@mr.awesome6011]

More content than the whole game

[@ratsniffer2036]

The great plateau has more content than the entirety of sword and shield.

[@Numbuh1NerdX]

I think the most frustrating thing about this game is how every criticism is written off with a "these games are for children", as though so many of these expectations - a non-linear map, less constant cutscenes, less constant explanations of mechanics you can learn by playing - aren't present in the older titles we fell in love with - get this - AS CHILDREN. Kids did not get so miraculously stupid in the last decade that the only way a game can be enjoyable is if it's played for them. There's absolutely no excuse for these games not to be at least as well-designed as they were a few years ago. Something needs to change.

[@TheAbsol7448]

I completed Super Mario Bros. 3 when I was little, before I even learned how to read. That game doesn't provide saves, and has a lot more difficulty and depth in mechanics. When the fuck did our standards drop so low? Zelda was for kids at one point, and BotW is popular with kids. Why is Pokemon void from criticism because of that?

[@Nicholasryan17]

@@TheAbsol7448 I'm not here to defend these shitty pokemon games but you're crazy if you think SMB3 has more "depth in mechanics" than pokemon. Again not even a pokemon fan but come on, one is a literal rpg and the other is an early age platformer.

[@mageofshadow]

SMB3 has more depth in mechanics than pokemon.

[@LucasMBoysOurRoy]

Shills either say that it's for children or "yOu'Re JUsT a HAteR"

[@TheMeGuy1]

Not to mention it's THE LARGEST MULTIMEDIA FRANCHISE IN /THE WORLD/. You don't reach those heights if the only people buying your games are kids.

[@MrBizznessMan]

The Best part about this game is that it's Pokemon! The worst part about this game is that it's pokemon... ~ Alpharad 2019

[@LucasMBoysOurRoy]

- Internet Funny Man, 2019

[@orichalchem]

Truth to the word -Me, some guy on youtube 2019

[@cannabishornliu6119]

Well, he isn't wrong in the slightest! The game is so mediocre that is not that bad but not that good either! More bad than good to be honest!

[@AscendedBeyond]

Ain't that the fucking truth pepehands

[@cinnamonpanda6040]

Best part its Pokemon, worst part is an underachieving Pokemon Game

[@AshnSilvercorp]

sad thing about the "more work went into the Pokemon camping" a ton of the animations come straight from Pokemon Amie.

[@leonardofarias8843]

Maybe because its the equivalent to the pokemon amie

[@TonyNumber9]

Basically Pokemon Amie, the walk and run animations was done before sword and shield development

[@Soniman001]

And? Why waste time animating new walk cycles

[@AshnSilvercorp]

@@Soniman001 makes me wonder where all that time went...

[@White_Recluse]

AshnSilvercorp Pokémon What?

[@lyl3069]

You can unlock new wild areas. Just pay 30 dollars to Nintendo.

[@slevinchannel7589]

...Get this: I want the 'Oddly small village spawns oddly talented Trainer-Kid'-Nonsense to STOP. You know what i wanna be (among other things)? I wanna be a Make-a-Wish-Foundation-Member who gets his 'Quest' from a Child that has Cancer. This would allow for countless kinds of starting point. "Be the Champ cause thats what boys are meant to want" is such a dumb Motivation if you speak it out loud. Yeah, nothing wrong with the 'traditional' Path but MAYBE I DONT WANNA? Maybe i wanna be sponsored by a Battle-Cafe/Restaurant?! Maybe i wanna go and spread the word about 'em in exchange for Money? People thought about Sponsorship, but i havent heard from others than me the idea to have it as your START... I wanna spread Word of the Cafe in exchange for Money! And in Exchange for my Starter. Yeah, i wanna get my Starter (Lv.15) from a Cafe. Call me odd for this all ya want. I'm done with the small Village Stuff. ...Your thoughts on all this? Want the Small-Village-Nonsense to stop? What about my original ideas about being a Make-a-Wish-Foundation-Member??

[@dablindscooter1973]

in ultra sun we got all endgame for free

[@SecureInMyHead]

Well, your alternative isn’t exactly appealing

[@TwistedFireX]

Emulators are the best, aren’t they?

[@chadrasmussen1154]

The isle or armor right

[@donovanjoseph737]

When he talked about rose not talking in the opening, I was legitimately shocked that he didn’t mention the pier singing scene. How that scene was green lit is beyond my understanding

[@happiestaku6646]

Donovan Joseph both of them showed that Pokémon now need voice acting.

[@rainpooper7088]

Lv. 100 Mafia Boss Kaxu At least for scenes like that. Piers is actually less excusable there because vocals in singing is absolutely nothing new in Pokémon. Roxie and Elesa had vocalized songs in Gen 5 and other characters(Ghetsis, Team Skull, the Tapus) including some in SWSH(Rose) had some singing in their battle themes. Putting singing over this scene would have been only natural.

[@tvb5509]

Probably left it out due to spoilers. He is left out of the initial Gym Leader introduction after all.

[@elloo98]

@@tvb5509 No he isn't, he's just wearing a mask, right?

[@sogelrome9502]

elloo98 No, that’s Allister

[@jtdnweqnichoei]

I remember when seeing your rival was super exciting, now it’s just annoying

[@SnakeGuyMike]

Agreed...

[@FemkjeMW]

And depressed lol

[@ajaygopinath7459]

Personally, seeing my rival was always annoying. Actually, it was more in the older games because Blue was waiting for you at the end of the route so you would be weak.

[@ccmma8159]

he’s glued to your hip for the entire game n the awk cutscenes just destroy any vibe you were starting to get... not like it really matters since this game is basically a gym battle speed run😐

[@darknessknows1235]

Was anybody really excited to see dickheads Blue and Silver, Cowardly Wally, the gen 6 rivals and Barry?

[@hotdiddykong2]

"It's not about the dex, it's not even just about the graphics, the entire package feels so rushed and devoid of compelling content" I wish people understood this, anytime a person brings up criticism the fanbase wants to shove you with the "dexit" crowd and toxic people

[@heavylobster4339]

They put all the effort into the Wild Area/Gyms and everything else is very half-assed. Mind you it's still possible to enjoy it for those aspects and the standard Pokemon stuff, but it's pretty clear that the annual release schedule is the problem. If they were in a position where they could take more time to fully flesh out the rest of the game, be it the routes, dungeons, towns, story, performance, etc. so it feels like a complete Pokemon experience it would be so much better. The thing is they're actually trying new things with Sword and Shield, but they can't follow through on them without ridiculous compromises as long as they have to churn out a new game every year. The Wild Area is a significant step towards what Pokemon should be and is clearly the game's selling point, but most of the rest of the game is horribly lacking, and it's not all that hard to fix that given the time to do so. Gamefreak has for a while churned out Pokemon games at regular intervals and been able to do so on weaker handhelds, but when you get to HD development it just takes more time and effort to make a complete game. There are aspects of Sword/Shield that are actually really good, and with a more reasonable schedule the whole game at that level would be a substantial step forward for the franchise, but as it stands there's basically a skeleton of a Pokemon game around the Wild Area/Raid Battles. I think the Wild Area alone makes for a more engaging experience than X and Y, but there's so much in this game that you breeze through once and never touch again.

[@justinhaugan1124]

Ironic how the English region got the whole "exit" drama. It was not only geographic, Game Freak brought us the whole package

[@MrArgy333]

Tha fanbase and their lack of criticism is what has destroyed the franchise. "Just stfu, buy anything and say thank you".

[@papajohn3632]

@@heavylobster4339 they should just hire more employees

[@theradicalginger3060]

That’s because you are whats the difference? Go on and try to explain to me what you think is being logical and pointing out these factual points you think matter so much but its a pokemon game for kids like its always been... so i mean 🤷‍♂️

[@Cream147player]

Did you know that in Red/Blue you can beat Lt. Surge as the 7th gym leader (with no glitches)? Not many do, nearly everybody beats him 3rd. Why do I mention this? Because if Game Freak are concerned that if they don't make things linear, people will beat everything out of order and that will defeat their level balancing, then they shouldn't be. Gen 1 guides the player through a rough order to beat the gyms (Koga/Sabrina is the only ambiguous part) and 90% of players will comply out of choice, which is why most won't know you can leave beating Lt. Surge for so long. But it's nice to have that sense of freedom that you're doing these things because you want to, rather than because you're being forced. For the other 10% of people - they're probably the type of people who like to experiment with their freedom, and they'll understand the risks they're taking when they do that. They want to enjoy crafting their adventure their own way, and why don't you let them? It also greatly improves replayability, I bet if 100 people who played RBY read this comment, at least one person would feel compelled to go through the game again and try to beat the gyms in a weird order (I recommend Brock, Misty, Koga, Blaine, Sabrina, Erika, Surge, Giovanni as a ridiculous but possible route). It's a fun thing to try and do.

[@Oodelally]

Cool! How do you get to Koga after misty?

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@Oodelally Get this: I want the 'Oddly small village spawns oddly talented Trainer-Kid'-Nonsense to STOP. You know what i wanna be (among other things)? I wanna be a Make-a-Wish-Foundation-Member who gets his 'Quest' from a Child that has Cancer. This would allow for countless kinds of starting point. "Be the Champ cause thats what boys are meant to want" is such a dumb Motivation if you speak it out loud. Yeah, nothing wrong with the 'traditional' Path but MAYBE I DONT WANNA? Maybe i wanna be sponsored by a Battle-Cafe/Restaurant?! Maybe i wanna go and spread the word about 'em in exchange for Money? People thought about Sponsorship, but i havent heard from others than me the idea to have it as your START. I wanna spread Word of the Cafe in exchange for Money! And in Exchange for my Starter. Yeah, i wanna get my Starter (Lv.15) from a Cafe. Call me odd for this all ya want. I'm done with the small Village Stuff. Your thoughts on all this? Want the Small-Village-Nonsense to stop? What about my original ideas about being a Make-a-Wish-Foundation-Member??

[@myrealusername2193]

Gen 3 also has this, since you can completely skip brawly and beat him last. It does really mess with the level scaling though.

[@miimiiandco]

It also helps immersion - the player can do other things than just beating gyms. I can imagine these things being used to great affect with modern mechanics. Instead of locking berry growing behind a certain gym, you could lead the player to beat the gym, then go to a berry place, but if the player really wants berries, they could just find the berry place.

[@Howitchewstofeel5gum]

Not debating that giving the player more freedom is a good thing, but considering how broken Red and Blue were, this honestly seems more like an oversight than a conscious choice.

[@dasutanehineri]

i remember when rare candies were rare. i was so desperate to only use them in situations where i really felt they were needed... cause i only ever found like five

[@rainbow_vader]

Rare candies are so far outclassed by EXP candies they don't even matter

[@snausages43]

Exp Candies are a good thing though ultimately. If you want to make a competitive team, it’s nice that it only takes a few hours, if that, to get them all leveled up as opposed to the days it could take in the past. Just don’t use them in the main story because that makes an already easy game a joke.

[@sakurito55]

しゅがーはぁと☆ I don’t like that or the exp share at all I enjoy training my god damn Pokémon the WHOLE tedious journey of breeding a Pokémon with perfect or near perfect ivs then take that baby and ev train it so you have the best unique pokemon you could get that feels rewarding and makes you bond with that Pokémon that’s why I have so many good memories playing the games

[@brycehoward4139]

who cares you may be in the minority most people like the exp share

[@dasutanehineri]

i like exp share :( guys i just made a comment i didn't mean to start a debate

[@ConfettiiCereal]

We need a game that wasn't made in a year. A game that isn't rushed or anything.

[@mcglubbinfishworth3370]

Spicy-San ThePuppet B-b-but they’d be missing all the easy money?!

[@KoKo_Nakah]

@Complicated Copper Hype i guess? They expect a good experience .

[@javanscates9557]

They actually put 2 to 3 years into the next gen Pokémon games, but only one into they put out between them as sort of side projects

[@acetrainertaphat2297]

Does it matter? Just have fun

[@ConfettiiCereal]

@@acetrainertaphat2297 it does matter. A game that would be thought through and worked on more would be infinitely better.

[@travisprescott9708]

These games need a longer development time

[@netweed09]

Agree. Felt 60% finished

[@TheAbsol7448]

Having been developed for at least 2 years, they had more than enough time. Xenoblade 2 was thrown together in LESS THAN A YEAR by only 40 people.

[@netweed09]

@@TheAbsol7448 But I don't like Xenoblade 2. The battle style for that sort of Action Adventure is not meant to be turn-based like Pokemon. It suits Pokemon but for XB2, it feels oddly backdated, uncomfortable and just weird. They can take 2 days, 20 years but it seems like the people who make Xenoblade (or that style of RPG) sadly will never learn. I hate that ''menu button command'' to perform an action nonsense in action adventure games, sorry to say!

[@TheAbsol7448]

@@netweed09 I didn't say anything about combat. I was talking about development.

[@netweed09]

@@TheAbsol7448 Yes. But then, you're more replying to the OP =) I agree though; Gamefreak need to man up on this as the game was clearly rushed with cut content. We're lucky we even got the Wild Area as is but it should and easily could have been a lot more. Like Glimwood being so tiny and not spilling into the Area, so underwhelming

[@nobodyimportant7135]

"Pokemon has never had voice acting" At least on the D freaking S they incorporated singing into the music, so it sounded way better and more natural (like Roxie singing in her gym in B2W2)

[@DubiousDoom]

I'm of the opinion that the Let's Go titles should have been skipped entirely and all that development time should have gone to Sword and Shield instead.

[@CLopez63]

As well as Little Town Hero

[@Denamda]

@Marc Davidson The rumor flying around for a few years now is that GameFreak has deep concerns that all of their eggs are in one basket, and it is a basket they don't have control over. They don't own the IP for Pokemon, they're partners with Nintendo and Creatures Inc. If Pokemon stops selling well Nintendo (and potentially Creatures) can just move on no problem, but GameFreak dies, because they have nothing else to fall back on. So GameFreak really wants to create their own IP instead.

[@AofCastle]

@@Denamda This is true but Little Town Hero is kusoge, suffering from the same recycling as the Pokemon games. This defeats the whole purpose of splitting the team for a passion project

[@TheAbsol7448]

They had at least 2 years to develop SwSh, and a team of 80 people. Xenoblade 2 was thrown together in less than a year by 40 people.

[@sleepyclaus3750]

The thing is you can't keep being literally a repetitive franchise, you need to be innovative or redefine the mechanics to adapt to the new technology > attract clients or else why buy it when the gameplay experience is the same? Only biased fans will keep buying them.

[@jackbarman7063]

The game is a lot like Leon’s outfit. Some of it is very good and looks cool, some of it looks like it was put on in a huge rush by someone who had no sense of style and had never grown up.

[@camoking3605]

I like this analogy

[@icybeverage9276]

The difference is that Leon is funny and loveable because of his messed-up outfit and style. SWSH isn't.

[@Thegreatercheese]

Also it's covered with Marketing.

[@theradicalginger3060]

Jack Barman because its pokemon XD

[@mikaeruu0309]

@@icybeverage9276 thats a lie Leon annoyed me a lot and i hate him and his dumb beard

[@SeeYouInBluffington]

When you understand that Pokémon is not about the games, but about the merchandise, Pokémon sword and shield makes a lot more sense

[@poodoodrilldick7757]

all Pokemon is anymore is a rotten field nobody should taste without better companies and freelancers making quality animation and spin offs with.

[@starmanexe7721]

Pokemon is no longer being made for its fans. Its being made for its stock holders. They don't care about whats nice and good. They ONLY care about what sells.

[@datprawn4850]

Once upon a time it used to be about the games first and merchandising second. Now it has become the opposite way round. And most of it goes to Japan. You don't see a permanent Pokemon Center store outside of Japan aside from Singapore and that vending machine somewhere in America. (Website doesn't count)

[@JuniperGreen162]

When you put it like that it sounds like we are just purchasing $40 to $60 advertisements.

[@poodoodrilldick7757]

@@JuniperGreen162 Pretty much. The only reason Sword and Shield was rushed so badly so it could promote the anime and merch.

[@derrekclay7425]

I only disagree with one thing in this video: Sword and Shield do not look better than Let’s Go. Let’s Go is the perfect blend between cartoony and Sugimori’s art. Sword and Shield are just ugly.

[@Superboologan1]

I stand to argue even in the overworld, let's go's just a more vibrant game

[@MarioBeart]

I agree. The colors and the artistic choices are much more coherent. Just look at the pavements in cities to see the different. SwSh don't have the details of Let's Go. I think it's because SwSh were in developing earlier than Let's Go and they were initially on 3DS (they looked as an upgraded Sun and Moon) while Let's Go was directly developed on the Switch.

[@shierubea]

I would not say Sword and Shield are ugly, they look serviceable. But they definitely had something better going on Let's Go games visually.

[@diamondminer5459]

I didn’t think it was that ugly. The graphics were slightly polished from the 3DS, although not what they should have been for the Switch. The designs of the characters and Pokémon were great.

[@violetsparkles5453]

I agree, LGPE looks soft and fully rendered, while SWSH just looks unfinished. Then they want to sell us DLC?

[@remiiqbal9790]

Arlo: “It’s like they were rushing the game!” Game freak: *sweats nervously*

[@leonardofarias8843]

Its almost like they didn't want to try instead, because they could have come up with anything else during three years

[@TrianglePants]

That's AAA for you. They dgaf anymore...

[@starmanexe7721]

Its like GF and TPC know their games will sell well no matter how bad they are.

[@leonardofarias8843]

@@starmanexe7721 And the mindless bug catcher didn't even have to explain himself

[@TrianglePants]

@@starmanexe7721 Too bad companies care more about profiting off engineered stupidity rather than making good games.

[@switchclaw]

oh jeez. seeing your favorite franchise go down the sink hole is heartbreaking. I love pokemon but I hate what Gamefreak is doing with it. Can't they like give the game development to some other studios temporarily if they're so bad at making their own games or something?

[@Haildawn]

Switchclaw I agree

[@haaxxx9]

Maybe not sence TPC don't really care at all and only want to have this game out only for the Anime and Holiday to makes max profit... They did and I fucking despise that!

[@oramulk5901]

I am not buying a new mainline pokemon game or dlc until I hear that it is great by multiple sources like Arlo

[@starmanexe7721]

GF is cheaper, thats why TPC prefers them. Why else would they allow their franchise to go down the sink if not for money?

[@knifepony]

*coughs in Chunsoft-developed Pokemon Mystery Dungeon* Play it. Still awesome. Or get DX.

[@オラオラオラ]

"The spunky ten year old Pokemon trainer inside me can't quite seem to accept that the awesome new Pokemon adventure he was supposed to go on doesn't exist" It crushes me to know how relatable this statement is...

[@servantofthemosthigh2525]

When I heard this... I was deeply saddened. We had beautiful treasured memories in our childhood. It's almost as if we will never get that proper feeling back again. But who knows, maybe someday we will :)

[@netweed09]

@@servantofthemosthigh2525 Wow, can the soap opera already and here's a tissue? Not me: I had nightmare in Gold and Silver that after an engrossing story, the games were in the end, so backdated. Sword and Shield is always how I envisioned Pokemon sprites to be presented: not too OTT but detailed, beautifully realized and subtly animated in glorious HD. What's your issue?

[@RubinNischara]

@@netweed09 Having an actual adventure with dungeons, vast areas, and lots of optional content > fidelity of the sprites.

[@netweed09]

@@RubinNischara ermm ''dungeons'' now?? You sure you're on the right video? xD I don't agree. We've had enough of Great Plotline all while suffering potato sprites in gen5 (understandable). But gen6 was not. Sun and Moon was a valiant attempt to correct the immersion factor - but left out the gyms!! Sword and Shield gives you both. Yes, I do miss Legendaries and really want more UBs too; but I think this is the only real valid (factual) and pretty major flaw of these '1st' gen8 titles. leaving out Legendaries is too far of a gamble, it ruins the experience a bit. Eternatus was amazing, as are the 2 'Wolves' but there should be more. That proves the story was not robust enough. But Arlo in his review hating on Dragapult is laughable, sorry; he is one and alone in that 'view' of his

[@RubinNischara]

@@netweed09 I don't care how many and which Pokémon can be caught and if these are labeled "legendary" or not. Honestly, that doesn't say anything about the game. What says something is the amount of content it provides and its abysmal: 10 routes, of which most are pretty short, only 140 trainer battles, no dungeons besides two extremely linear and small caves, no secret area, no side activities, a convoluted and rushed story that has the only interesting thing happening off screen, an abysmal trading system where you need to enter digit codes instead of just connecting to your friends, a 20 minute time limit on online battles which gives even more incentive to switch to simulators etc. And those are only things the game lacks in comparison to the previous titles, I'm not even mentioning difficulty options, achievements, a large and substantial postgame, version exclusive areas, etc. that we still had in B2/W2. And then I'm still not mentioning things this game lacks in comparison to other J-RPGs. Those are "major flaws" if you want to call them and they are all over the game. I don't care how many legendaries there are, but as a game that should incentives exploring, this is so barebones it's not just a bad RPG, it's a bad Pokémon game period. The only people who seem to enjoy this game longer are those who like to hunt shinies or breed. That's it, and considering Pokémon was always one of those games many types of people could spend several hours with, it's a complete let-down. This review was as fair as it can be, the games are bad.

[@averylonelypotato]

Pokémon Sword’s isn’t great. Here’s how I would have created it: MAIN STORY: You start in southern Galar in the town of Postwick. You are told to head to the Pokémon Lab to meet Professor Magnolia and revive your starter. You are given your starter by Sonia instead. She doesn’t really like being the unofficial professor. She likes battling, but she’s told constantly that she is bad at it. Hop wants to be like Leon, he admires him greatly. He challenges you to a battle. He congratulates you after you win, and you catch a train to Wyndon. (Wyndon is now in southern Galar, due to it now being much more like London) It’s the largest city in the game and home to the Pokémon Leauge’s HQ. Here you meet Rose. Who promptly invites you to have lunch with him at one of the city’s many restaurants. (There are three restaurants and a luxury hotel in Wyndon that you can use.) He encourages you to join the gym challenge. You accept his invitation. You receive an endorsement from him. He tells you that you need eight badges to qualify for the Champion Cup. There are twelve gyms in galar. (You can do all twelve, but the final four will be HARD) Rose tells you can do the gyms in any order. Rose then gives you your Rotom phone with the Pokédex and map already I instaled on it. He then wishes you good luck on your gym challenge and leaves. You meet Hop who has been endorsed by Leon. You are now free to explore Wyndon and the towns surrounding it. (Some gyms are based on types while others, based on mechanics, this is to spice things up) You will meet Marnie and Bede. Bede will state that he has been endorsed by the Chairman and hints that he is his adopted son. You also say that you are endorsed by Rose. Desperate to prove that he is a better trainer than you, he battles you. (He was sheltered all his life and arrogantly believes that he is better than his fellow challengers) Bede shrugs off his loss and calls it bad luck. He refuses to admit that he lost. You meet Marnie who challenges you to a battle to train her Pokémon. She is shocked that she lost. She wonders why she lost. Marnie than continues train her team alone. You return to Wyndon where Hop Challenges you to your second battle. He wonders if he is strong enough to continue with his adventure you reassure him that he is and you head north. (There are towns that have little to no importance in the main story. However seaside allow you to travel between seaside towns via boat. This is important in the post game) Your train is delayed in a town with a gym. It’s run down and has seen better days. Marnie tells you that this is her home town. She battles you before telling you that living here is not easy. You beat the gym leader. Before you can leave, Leon congratulates you and Hop on the progress you’ve made. You head north and eventually end up in the galar equivalent of Edinburgh. Rose calls you and tells you to meet him in the city. You meet him where he tells you that he is surprised that you passed every gym on your first try, and he tells you that you are the talk of Galar.( The game ignores it when you loose, even to Leon, so we might as well indulge in your “win” streak :D)Bede interrupts your conversation to tell him of his achievements. Rose is impressed l, but continues talking to you. Bede, annoyed storms out. Rose tells you that you are going to be a great trainer when you complete the gym challenge and that you should compete in the champion’s cup. Who knows? Maybe you’ll beat Leon? After you leave Bede challenges you to a battle. He is starting to wonder if he is not as good as he thinks he is. You beat another gym before Marnie starts to provide you with more details of her upbringing and why she’s a lone wolf. At the end she calls you her rival and that that’s the first time she’s called anyone that. She is starting to realize that going solo isn’t always the best move. You complete another two gyms when Bede tells you that he and you should battle to practice for the champion’s cup. You head to Wyndon ready for what awaits you. You spend the last few days before the championship with Hop and Sonia. He is nervous he wants to prove himself and become someone as strong as Leon. The day before the tournament, Sonia wants to tell you that she was once a Pokémon Trainer. She was skilled enough to battle Leon. She lost, badly. She tells you to be careful. You start the championship by battling Bede. (Complete with remix of his theme) After That you battle Marnie, and finally, Hop. This match is big. Hop wants to prove himself and you want to challenge Leon. Hop looses and takes extremely personally. You challenge Leon. He is confident that he will beat you. You win shocking both Leon and Rose. The post game now starts. You begin it with a normal day. Everything is great. Hop visits to congratulate you. You have done it! You are now champion! Except... (Behind the scenes Rose is confused. Why didn’t Leon crush you? It was set up so that the match of the century would still end with his prized champion victorious. Why? It was clockwork? He needs to something about it) POST GAME You enter a tournament. Something is not right. It’s almost as if it’s... rigged. (Hint)You win and ask Rose (You still trust him) He states that’s it’s just as it’s always been. You head home, you decide to talk to Sonia and ask about what really happened during the championship match. She states that all of her Pokémon went down one by one. She also remembers that Leon wasn’t really concentrating during the battle. People assumed that she was a weak Pokémon trainer and she was forced to retire. Even Magnolia thought she was weak. She however has gotten into being the professor. You are beginning to question the motives of Rose. You trust him. He endorsed you. You head to Wyndon again and meet... Looker! He was assigned to investigate the corruption is Galar’s Pokémon League. He decides to let you help with his investigation. You meet him in his current office. (This is the post game story: investigating the Pokémon Leauge) He wants you to participate in another tournament. He is trying to determine how if they are trying to rig the tournament against you. You participate in the tournament. Looker determines that there was something shady about the tournament. He decides to investigate further. You are his partner now. He is suspicious of the league. He wonders why the league might be rigging matches. Rose calls you. He wants to discuss possible sponsors. Looker says he will investigate further. After the meeting Looker says that he found a possible lead, a match between Sonia and Leon. The match was so ridiculously one-sided that it couldn’t have been due to a sheer difference in skill. Sonia was a good trainer up until the. ,but this match completely ruined her career. She could have been great. You and Looker eventually realize the scope of it. Rose chose Leon because he was loyal. He wanted Leon to stay as the champion forever. He wanted to try and force a “Match of the Century” by putting his adopted son into prestigious trainer schools. He never developed a good relationship with his adopted son and Bede was desperate for his attention. Bede was supposed to challenge Leon and loose, but then you came along. He knew you had talent and if he could get you to trust him than everything would go smoothly. His plan backfired and now he had a champion who would not function as his puppet. You confront Leon and Rose. Hop is with you as well as Sonia.. You fight one last battle with Rose. (This is the final battle of the post game so he’s going to be over leveled) Hop feels betrayed so he cuts all ties with Leon. He wanted to like the unbeatable Leon, but he was a fraud. You were also betrayed by Rose. You were just a pawn to him. Both Leon and Rose are arrested and the post game ends. BONUS CONTENT You are now able to catch a ferry to the galar equivalent of Northern Ireland. It features a city (Belfast) with the Battle Castle, Battle Buffet Style Restaurant,and a MASSIVE Wild Area outside. This will feature green rolling hills, and the ruins of castles, houses and other medieval structures, dynamic weather, and lots of raid dens and Pokémon. (STORY WORKS BEST IF PAIRED WITH VOICE ACTING AND HALF DECENT ANIMATIONS) Thank you for reading this entire thing! (If you did). Game Freak is inclined to sit back and rush out a Pokémon game every year for the holiday season. As a result, the games are not very fun to play. I would have loved it if the game was like this. However sword is a shallow bland experience from the highest grossing media franchise. There is no excuse for it’s lack of content or quality. Other franchises like Mario or The Legend Of Zelda take their time to leave their games in the oven most of time. Pokémon has always been the same experience which is fine if you are playing it for the first time, but you’ll eventually get tired of it. My thumbs hurt...

[@jadend1241]

jesus i hope this comment blows up with how much you typed...

[@fortunavixen3210]

I would take this over the canon story any day

[@steinbooden7781]

Man F for your fingers

[@oscarowens5703]

This had a gross amount of effort put into it and I like it! Good grief, this is a much, much better storyline than what we got. Kudos to you for having the patience and tolerance to write it here in the comment section.

[@TamptheChamp2]

I can’t believe there isn’t any voice acting in sword and shield.

[@Martiriak]

As someone said on the internet, pokemon is the only gaming franchise where merchandise dictate game development and not the other way around. As long as this holds true, we will never get a great pokemon game

[@Martiriak]

Right, but I was talking about gaming franchises, maybe I should have specified that

[@samiframe4255]

You say “never get a great Pokémon game” implying that there’s never been any. What about diamond/pearl or black/white? Gen5 has one of the best stories in the series. So to say that they haven’t had a good game is a stretch I feel like

[@starmanexe7721]

@Kid 50 Thing is, TMNT is not the world's most remunerated franchise thats was ALSO born from a videogame.

[@mikaeruu0309]

@Kid 50 well, pokemon games are only $60 on switch tbf. For Pokémon standards, Gen 5 were actually really good, obviously not the greatest games of all time but they were very good for Pokémon standards. Gen 7 comes pretty darn close.

[@simsygoblue7925]

Martiriak idk, there’s a lot of good Pokémon games, diamond, soul silver, black and white, etc. were my favorite games for a while, stories were, pokemon were great, mechanics were great, etc.

[@wolves44445]

Arlo the camping animations are all reused from the 3DS era. There was a Pokemon amie feature before that let you interact with one Pokemon at a time. So those were not the new animations they claimed.

[@smpiano6605]

Wait there were NEW animations? 😂😂😂

[@maxley.]

NeonR3D nO GUyS THeYRe NEw beCAUse THEiR HeAd iS SlIghtLy TiLTed IN ThE AnimaTIoN

[@cantthinksleepdeprived]

Not really, in pokemon amie you interacted with your pokemon in a way different game. Pokemon camp does have new animations

[@elizabethhicks4181]

Luka Alfy the walking / running animations are ripped straight from the 3DS. People datamined them out years ago.

[@marcoasturias8520]

@@cantthinksleepdeprived the ball fetch...something else?

[@taken_over3416]

Pokémon Games now exist as advertisements for merchandise. This is why the games are pumped out super quickly and they reuse pretty much every idea, but the character design is still inspired for the most part. Merchandise is where all the money from the franchise comes from.

[@twenty-fifth420]

Anthony Giagiari No, you are just wrong. Back when Red and Blue came out, the games was all there was. Of course when the anime came out, they started getting huge sales from merch but even then by Gen 2 they still made most their money by the games. Obviously this changed later on, probably between the gap between 3 and 4 which was when we had the anime, other pokemon games, merch etc. Even if you somehow do a bad faith argument, Game Freak still largely tried to keep Pokemon’s quality high by working on games for years with Gen 3, 4 and 5 taking years to produce. Now, we get a new pokemon game every year. And for what? So Game Freak employees can be more overworked just so they can push out merch for the new detective pikachu. Ya no, it didnt use to always be about the merch. I dislike Pokemon and tbh, it was never A+ game design But it didnt use to always be about the merch. Sure for the majority of its history now, you can argue that. But it never use to be like that. Then again, as far as I am concerned, I just want to see more people shit on pokemon. For such a lucrative franchise, even Star Wars tries something new and daring if need be, even at the expense of alienating fans. Pokemon rarely changes. The fanbase is just as complicit too. Seeing this is music to my ears

[@XellosNi]

@@anthonygiagiari63 Even at the point when Satoshi Tajiri was first making it a game about bug collection?

[@DivisibleByWaffle]

@@anthonygiagiari63 While this has been true to an extent throughout the series history, it was reasonable when the games were constantly pushing to improve and add new features. They were there to push merchandise, yes, but provided genuinely good experiences as games. Look at the leap from generation 3 to generation 4, and especially what they did with HeartGold and SoulSilver. Really great games that stand on their own as some of the best must-own titles for the DS.

[@robertrivera5569]

Baseless cynicism

[@twenty-fifth420]

DivisibleByWaffle Just to add, I loved Gen 3 and 4. For me, that was peak pokemon. Sure, Gen 4 took years for us to get info about anything of the verse, I remember the anime in the US was mostly going back from Kanto and Hoehn for a but. (I am not a pokemon fan so forgive me if I misspell) Did we have the merch back then we do now? No. You will be the lucky kid if you had a Pokemon Gameboy, either the limited edition Advance or what not. You might be able to snatch uo a shirt or case. Back then, the games were great too. And alot of love was put into them. And I also felt like we didnt try to add new features because we can. Gen 6 with Megas made me think. But Gen 8 made me just give up. Honestly, nothing can beat berries in simplicity. Even the Poke Watch was ingenious. Sadly, I think Game Freak may be tired with the pokemon IP. Cant blame them. And that is being nice tbh. Honestly, part of me wants to assume Game Freak just wants to make new games for money and merch. Thanks to Go and Detective Pikachu, pokemon is in the popular culture again, I just want a good Pokemon Game...is that too much to ask? It has been 3 generations for me, and I feel like I have been in this battle since I was born. >rant over Honestly anyone who thinks pokemon isnt about merch now is either in denial or is just ignorant on the rise of it.

[@starcoin5653]

Probably my best experience with laziness is in the fairy gym where you fight against two trainers that are EXACTLY the same, like, Botw had MULTIPLE different npc models for the Yiga clan and all the different races in general. Imagine going into Hateno Village and all the people there had either model A or B depending on their gender

[@slevinchannel7589]

I'm so f-ed up with GF's lack of creativity inside a Universe where Creativity is f-ing Infinite+Endless. People forget more and more what Quality even looks like, but even those that dont have hard time to remember just how much Creativity is Worth. Imagine this fun and self-aware Adventure (imagine it with perfectioned Virtual-Reality, while youre at it) of being woken up by youre Mom, who sends you to School. But the SECOND you go out of the Door, youre expectations are funnily subverted, cause it's all Water. Ice-Pokemon creating Ways for you as you go are the only way to get to youre School. Youre school named Hogwarts, DUH. The cool stuff adds up and up cause guess what, Creativity is infinite, so here you go: The Tri-Magic Wizard-Tournament just now is about to happen in this schoolyear (youre age of course doesnt matter cause no matter how young or old, being a Player gives you assumedly the Skill to do more than just know what a Pokeball IS), but students are warned: A dangerous Bandit-Group named 'Phantom Troupe (from HxH)' is said to come this year and steal the Treasures a Legendary Pokemon will itself deliver to the Winner!! Mind how this is my Description of just the first 5 Game-Minutes for fluff's sake. You can infinitely build on this.

[@LeafShade]

For me the moments that defined the game were when Leon and Sonia show up when there's a major event going on and are like "Don't worry, we get this, you kids run along", and we do.

[@fishfan2]

Ikr I miss that moment when you had a revelation as to who the villain was, or infiltrating a lair and etc

[@c3ntravaswani427]

Meanwhile in diamond pearl and platinum you take on pokemon satan in the demon world and the Champion just grabs some pop corn and watches. It’s wonderful, really.

[@ameraldas3641]

in y where you singlehandedly save the world by capturing the legendary death god.

[@leonardofarias8843]

@@fishfan2 And i miss the moment where you're not treated like the messiah for just being the protagonist and not anyone else not even the champion

[@QuestionableLogic_]

@@leonardofarias8843 Good thing the game forces us do what champion fails at, catching Eternatus, and then beating him in front of everyone with it.

[@mx.e2176]

These “games” have less playtime than the *generation 5 games. When your iterations on the DS outlast your iteration on the Switch, you have a problem.*

[@popnpets8022]

Literally gen 2-5 all had more content than this lmao

[@RichtersShadow]

You mean Gens 2-7. Regardless of your opinion on gens 6 and 7 (I have mixed feelings), they were still bigger than SwSh. It's more problematic when the games have 50% less content and cost 50% more....

[@chrisnguyen2316]

Not a problem to game freak when swsh has sold 17 million units...

[@Mr.Ducksnickers]

dlc is coming out which would've been nice, but its 30$ for what the game should've been.

[@htumel8735]

Ive shed 800 hours into pokemon black/black2. I just loved those games, story and post game etc. But with SwSh you have no post game or any of the stuff youd imagine a console pkm game to have. + overpriced including the payed dlcs..

[@ezzardeyethief]

Battle Animations: Dubwool use headbutt: Kicks. Dubwool use Double kick: Bounces up and down. Truth. I hated this more than anything else in the game.

[@Okapi540]

Hitmontop had this fate for Triple Kick and it floored me the first time I saw it.

[@cheetoman42]

razor leaf!: just a png of some leaves spinning, hitting the enemy

[@chantolove]

SPIKEMUTH AND BALLONLEA DESERVED BETTER THAN TO BE A SINGLE STREET EACH

[@NeverHumorous]

True

[@mariustan9275]

I definitely agree. I know I'm two years too late, but Spikemuth should have a single main street, but alleyways everywhere. This is the seedy city. Give it ALLEYWAYS!

[@jorgec8323]

God, this review is amazing. It shows so many things that other reviewers didn't, I love how you ACTUALLY mention what you dislike about the game and the ACTUAL downsides with examples. Dude you have earn a new subscriber. Keep it up!

[@smpiano6605]

I agree! I was afraid he'd go soft on these games but he actually held their feet to the fire while remaining respectful(something I couldn't do).

[@lucaspoppenga6059]

The whole thing is dislikes. Dude is just a hater it's a pokemon game. His expectations were way too high. This game is gor children and fans not jaded nerds.

[@smpiano6605]

@@lucaspoppenga6059 Someone can't handle the truth...and don't give me this shit either about "well it is my opinion that it's good" crap. You apologists like to invalidate someone's opinion and say they're wrong if they criticize the game but then pull the subjective card when your views are challenged. Either someone is wrong about the game or differing views are opinions that can't be proven right or wrong. Pick one.

[@lucaspoppenga6059]

@@smpiano6605 ok nerd

[@jorgec8323]

@@lucaspoppenga6059 Honestly, it wouldn't say he is a hater, because his struggles with the game are logical. I used to play Pokemon competitively (unofficially) for a long time (meaning I am a "hardcore fan"? ), but I am just disappointed, I was expecting more from this Pokemon game. I really feel like the new Pokemons are badly designed, I am sorry, I know everyone has different taste, but I feel those designs (the new Pokemon) are quite lazy. On top of that, I really dislike the removal of Mega Evolutions, IMO they kept you waiting the next game just to see, if your favorite Pokemon would get a Mega Evolution. They clearly could have done a better job, the game cost $60 now, that's 50% more (not 50% more revenue for them exactly), but the customer is paying 50% more, also the 3DS lineup got deprecated and I do not own a Nintendo Switch. In the past If I wanted to play Pokemon in a budget, I could easily get a 2DS for $60 with a free game (Mario Kart), and buy Pokemon for $40. I could get a great Pokemon experience for $100. Now, I have to buy a Nintendo Switch (thank god the Nintendo Switch now exist, because it is cheaper), which is $200, the Pokemon game ($60), and now if I want the full game I have to pay an extra $30 for the DLC, and do not forget you have to pay to play online. They're asking for too much money and they're not delivering a product that I feel it is worth it. They're doing whatever they want because they're lacking competition, I am not buying these games as a sign of protest. I know my money might be worth nothing to them, but still I am not supporting this behavior. I am only advocating for the fans, for you, for me and for everyone that likes Pokemon games.

[@Pedropaulopoloni]

Everything that the game does good is like: "this is a good first step, can't wait for it to get better in the next game" The problem is, this is already the next game. And it has been that way for a while. The good reviews come from analyzing the game as the only pokémon game, but when you take into account that this is the latest entry is a long series from the most profitable entertainment brand in the world, then everything is kinda inexcusable, the problems it has have been problems since previous games, and some of their new problems were created by removing good features from previous entries. But ultimately, it's time. They need more time to make those games. Most of the problems come from not having time to make it better. I think this quote by Miyamoto was already thrown out a lot, but it's just perfect for the occasion. "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad".

[@paulelkin3531]

I mostly agree, but I think more hands on the project would have a similar effect to more time, without messing up all the other pokemon products.

[@Pedropaulopoloni]

@@paulelkin3531 For sure.

[@YBPaladin]

If they just hired more people, the issue of time wouldn't be that bad, but Gamefreak for whatever reason likes having a "small team". Like, this is the one problem they could solve by throwing money at it and they won't?

[@selder_7]

It really annoys me that they CONSTANTLY nostalgia bait original fans but then refuse to cater the game to them, make a hard mode already. The company management are such cheapskates, that a Pokémon game isn’t the biggest and best game ever is a choice that they make.

[@haaxxx9]

Seriously when I saw the only other past starter was Charizard that made it passed the cut I was pissed! Fuck Jhoto even though it fixed 95% of Kanto problems am I right? They did made a Difficulty option when Black/White 2 came out called "Challenging mode" and it was great! But kinda ass since you did had to beat the game (Correct me if I am wrong) to unlock it. And also it was in only one version too. The handholding in this game is very insulting!

[@shevrett2658]

The ai for pokemon is also always been brain dead. I can't tell you how many times a trainer's pokemon decided to go for 2 growls or 2 defense curls when it could have been attacking with super effective moves. When will this be fixed? Probably never

[@carlbreig9102]

Really good point how they consciously choose to release a substandard game when they have unlimited funds to develop it.

[@xt6997]

@@haaxxx9 pokemon black 2 and white 2 had a hard mode but you hard to beat black 2 to get a hard mode and if you had white 2 you'd have to have a friend who had black 2 or buy black 2.

[@haaxxx9]

@@xt6997 Thanks for the info! Knew I was missing something.

[@starcoin5653]

20:00 holy crap the npc’s in the background just disappear when Grookey attacks

[@slevinchannel7589]

Get this: I want the 'Oddly small village spawns oddly talented Trainer-Kid'-Nonsense to STOP. You know what i wanna be (among other things)? I wanna be a Make-a-Wish-Foundation-Member who gets his 'Quest' from a Child that has Cancer. This would allow for countless kinds of starting point. "Be the Champ cause thats what boys are meant to want" is such a dumb Motivation if you speak it out loud. Yeah, nothing wrong with the 'traditional' Path but MAYBE I DONT WANNA? Maybe i wanna be sponsored by a Battle-Cafe/Restaurant?! Maybe i wanna go and spread the word about 'em in exchange for Money? People thought about Sponsorship, but i havent heard from others than me the idea to have it as your START. I wanna spread Word of the Cafe in exchange for Money! And in Exchange for my Starter. Yeah, i wanna get my Starter (Lv.15) from a Cafe. Call me odd for this all ya want. I'm done with the small Village Stuff. Your thoughts on all this? Want the Small-Village-Nonsense to stop? What about my original ideas about being a Make-a-Wish-Foundation-Member??

[@bananachild1936]

It boggles my mind that a mainline Pokemon game in 2019 still doesn't have voice acting. Even Zelda, a video game franchise that is already perfectly fine without voice acting, *HAS VOICE ACTING*

[@junglezone7323]

The voice acting in zelda wasnt that great though

[@joshuadelafuent3]

@@junglezone7323 I thought it was pretty good compared to most dubs tbh. Play with the Japanese voice acting tho.

[@TheAbsol7448]

@@junglezone7323 I didn't care for a lot of it, but I really loved Teba and Revali.

[@machina5]

I really don't want voice acting in Pokemon

[@princeofvos]

machina188 So you'd rather pier idly scream into a mic while no sound comes out. *and people are cheering,with no sound?*

[@DaveGamesVT]

I had to laugh when he mentioned one of my primary complaints about the game. The whole "OMG this crazy thing is happening just over there, off-screen! It's so F-ING incredible! Oh no don't worry we'll handle it you just go get another badge."

[@darkmoon2503]

This reminds me of a comment I saw on a different video: "Gamefreak: "Yes, there is a plot. No, you do not get to see it. Shut up.""

[@pokekitty1]

makes me wonder if the developers saw all those people joking about kid saves the world by themselves stuff from the past games being unrealistic and took them seriously.

[@leonardofarias8843]

@@pokekitty1 That's because they did?

[@leonardofarias8843]

@Kevin Cuellar But the adults are supposed to let their kids go out to have a adventure in this world its a tradition this is logical

[@leonardofarias8843]

@Kevin Cuellar But the parents usually don't know about a thing and their kid is usually a competent trainer

[@funnifunk]

This is the opposite of what the Luigi's Mansion one will be

[@Emerardo]

at the end of Rise of Skywalker there is a post credits scene where a red lightsaber begins to levitate and is pulled into a hand as a cloaked figure emerges from the shadows and says “fine, meesa do it myself”

[@haresmahmood]

I wouldn't mind an overly long review of Luigi's Mansion though

[@sethfeldpausch4337]

The Emerald Warriors Oh thank you! I needed a good laugh today!

[@Xenomorpheus429]

@@Emerardo i fucking knew it

[@GigaSyntax]

The Emerald Warriors Thanks for spoiling it >:(

[@mattparsons6813]

"Its the 20 year old game boy game with 3d sprites." That would be an improvement. The 20 year old game boy game had more content.

[@aidanredding8058]

I'm just gonna say, that is not true. This game at least has the Battle Tower. Play the gameboy games again, their content is almost nothing.

[@familyguyfreemoviedownload8314]

nahhhhhh this is cap

[@Gabriel-dn6md]

​@@aidanredding8058 k then fast forward a couple years to the gameboy advance and emerald which blows this game away content-wise.

[@aidanredding8058]

@@Gabriel-dn6md Well they didn't say Gameboy Advance, they said Gameboy.

[@NeutralL12]

@@aidanredding8058 gen 2 had 2 regions. 16 gym badges, 2 champions. Regional sub legendary trio. Trainer house was like an early battle tower. The gameboy game had way more going on than the switch one

[@beauvoirferril]

Two words. Wasted. Potential.

[@justas423]

The actual two words are: Good enough Good enough for people to buy it like yearly sports game releases. Good enough for marketing to keep pushing out increasingly terrible yearly releases.

[@Bobamiruku]

yes!! There is a lot of good concept but if only they're not rushing it pokemon sword and shield might be considered the best 3D pokemon game. But they did which is a big waste. I wish they're not releasing pokemon game once per year/two year...

[@ego2133]

I fail to see the potential in this game.

[@TheMattLuigi]

Justas I’m sad that GameFreak won’t allow it to be more then ‘good enough’.

[@zero123alpha6]

That's how I feel about SW/SH.

[@michaelr3077]

I think the worst aspect is that it doesn't matter if Gamefreak intentionally cut corners out of laziness or even tried to genuinely create a good game but failed to deliver under time constraints.... because the investors are seeing the sales numbers and those sales numbers are telling investors they can get away with forcing GF to rush products out in such a short timeframe. The higher ups will only keep pushing these rushed products because they know they will sell. This new pokemon future is lost, quality will slowly flatline utill people stop caring for it anymore (apart from kids who are constantly being told it exists and are lured by its simplistic charm and long running history).

[@jeremyhart557]

Honest truth

[@choronos]

QUICK! WE HAVE TO MAKE THE MONEY NOW!! IF WE WAIT, THERE MIGHT BE LESS MONEY SOMEHOW!!!

[@DuskLegend]

It’s not even the kids who will care kids don’t play Pokémon it’s early gen Zers and millennials who coast by on nostalgia like a bunch of member berries

[@DumoPlays]

Dusk Legend kids not only play the games but are the targets for the merchandise which blows the game sales out of the water. The shirts, shoes, hats, backpacks, toys, cards, the list goes on. My kids had seen Pokémon before school and didn’t care. Once they got to school, so many kids were obsessed that they too now love Pokémon. That’s at 4 years old btw. The kids are still making them the big money. The games are just a small part of the massive machine that is Pokémon.

[@eafesaf6934]

Reading this Ignites my heart with anger and the list to murder. I worked in retail for 4 years and sadly it's so true. *spit* Efff those money grabbing bastards

[@wintergreen1436]

It actually frustrates me how good these games could've been if they just took the time but no, money is more important.

[@number39utopiaminecrafter30]

no money is not more important, it's impatient fans wanting the games as quick as possible

[@roguecreative8855]

It's interesting that Scarlet and Violet seemed to address almost all of the criticisms here. They would easily be some of the best games in the whole series if they'd just stop rushing and take the time to polish everything

[@TheMidnightillusion]

Yes, although in some aspects, they took things to the opposite extreme. Instead of excessively handholding, they let you do whatever you like, but there are still level caps in place and you have no idea whether you are underlevelled or overlevelled for a gym without looking up a guide.

[@AshnSilvercorp]

how to make a fun field travel in pokemon 2020: You still walk around as usual. However 1: Climbing the edge of a wall requires a ridable pokemon that is larger than you and has claws that can latch on to edges. Early game could limit this access because most pokemon early game are small. 2: An item is still unreachable? Send out one of your pokemon for a short distance to get it. There could even be the looming threat that your pokemon will have to fight alone if they are caught by another pokemon. 3: Fly and levetate could be used locally on large enough pokemon to reach higher spaces. This would effectively let you fly open world if your pokemon is large enough and has enough stamina. 4: Pokemon types could have unique operations in certain areas. For example, a psychic pokemon could create walkable floors to hop up on. and most of all, a truly open world game. Make the level the limiting factor from challenging an endgame gym too early. All of this is no different than HMs have been for years, rather, instead of being a key lock, it's a setup for freedom of play based on how well you can manage your pokemon to surpass not just a battle challenge, but an impedance in the world itself. Big departure from traditional pokemon? Yes. a truly advanced pokemon experience that focuses on its name: *POKEMON* A MEGA YES

[@zephloe]

Underrated comment. These are the ideas we've all believed in, but gamefreak dont care and just dont want to put in the work. They just want to put out a game each year for the moolah.

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

I'm not a huge fan of complete freedom because I like open world games with some semblance of direction, but challenging Gyms out of order would be nice

[@Solibrae]

Monster Hunter Stories on the 3DS does this kind of thing well.

[@hystericallover5989]

@Marin Morg "Breath of the wild u spend hours fighting the same things and getting crappy look and boring puzzles that rely on the gyroscope. " never heard a dumber statement in my life, you have caused me to have the mental capacity of a slowpoke

[@nosleep9816]

These are the things i kind of expected and should definitly be in the game

[@KillerChickenz01]

This is why I’m glad animal crossing got postponed

[@babytiny5807]

With the track record for a lot of recent releases, hearing about a delay gives me a massive sigh of relief, knowing they're getting more time to polish it. It really shouldn't have to be like that but it really is. Lots of toxic trends in today's video game industry

[@fyyfnyyn]

@@babytiny5807 let's be glad that Nintendo hasn't been affected by that yet apparently

[@AS-cs9gi]

i wish pokemon got postponed instead, im not into animal crossing

[@devilishjester7718]

Also, metroid prime 4, hearing that it will take longer is certainly sad but knowing that they're willing to start over from scratch and tell us right away just because they thought the game wasn't good enough brings me so much hope

[@Gintoki_Freecss]

Yeah, I actually like Sword and Shield, but I just wished Gamefreak put more time and effort into Sword and Shield to make it more good and polished. Let's just hope they actually do that with the DLC coming up.

[@TylerBR97]

I was saying “YESSS!!!” Over and over in my head during your online rant. Omfg it’s awful!!! I’ve experienced every single thing you’ve brought up. God the lag, the connectivity. It’s terrible. I tried for an HOUR to play with my friend because connection kept dropping (300mbps internet btw), couldn’t refresh stamps, the lagging ugh. Thank you for being completely honest in this review

[@SnakeGuyMike]

It Just Shows How Much Effort Was Made To The Games And How Much Effort Was Made To The Anime And Merchandise To Make Money...

[@puppy4779]

@@SnakeGuyMike Wtf, why are You Doing That?

[@gremlinnoodles5209]

As a fourteen year old who has been playing the same game of Pokémon Platinum on her DS for years and still absolutely loves it, this whole game just makes me sad. I was so excited to get a new Pokémon game that I didn’t have to play on my ancient DS that needs to be charged every five minutes. I’m honestly disappointed in Nintendo and Game Freak.

[@slevinchannel7589]

I'm so f-ed up with GF's lack of creativity inside a Universe where Creativity is f-ing Infinite+Endless. People forget more and more what Quality even looks like, but even those that dont have hard time to remember just how much Creativity is Worth. Imagine this fun and self-aware Adventure (imagine it with perfectioned Virtual-Reality, while youre at it) of being woken up by youre Mom, who sends you to School. But the SECOND you go out of the Door, youre expectations are funnily subverted, cause it's all Water. Ice-Pokemon creating Ways for you as you go are the only way to get to youre School. Youre school named Hogwarts, DUH. The cool stuff adds up and up cause guess what, Creativity is infinite, so here you go: The Tri-Magic Wizard-Tournament just now is about to happen in this schoolyear (youre age of course doesnt matter cause no matter how young or old, being a Player gives you assumedly the Skill to do more than just know what a Pokeball IS), but students are warned: A dangerous Bandit-Group named 'Phantom Troupe (from HxH)' is said to come this year and steal the Treasures a Legendary Pokemon will itself deliver to the Winner!! Mind how this is my Description of just the first 5 Game-Minutes for fluff's sake. You can infinitely build on this.

[@chanseytherapper8603]

@@slevinchannel7589 same man, I’m just really hoping legends arceus sells better than SwSh. It’s honestly GameFreaks last chance, and the FPS should get better like SwSh, since the games looked better when they released it so they might upscale legends arceus to better fps. I’m assuming the same little kids that bought SwSh will buy legends arceus, so it should be easy to outsell it. I just hope it sells well so gamefreak can continue the legends trend

[@Oceanandskylinevidss]

Complacency is why this game is the way it is, they could have innovate and redefine pokemon but obviously they didn't care enough about their brand. They did nothing for the industry going foward. Great review Arlo

[@thekbx]

Well lets say that they did innovate with Dynamax and Gigintamax, but these games dont even have the basic aspects that make a good Pokémon game. Exploration, battle facilities, minigames and side stories are all missing and these used to be in every 2D Pokémon game.

[@randomperson4989]

_____ Used Stick Poke

[@slandergames9494]

@@thekbx dynamsx is corney.

[@trickstercj4366]

And it's honestly sad that Gamefreak's "Rivals" have tried to innovate their franchises in many more ways and yet get shafted because "TheY arE Pokémon cLlOnes" Just look at Yo-kai Watch and how it evolves as the series continues. Hell Level 5 "Allegedly" went bankrupt during the 4th game's development and while the game is unfinished like Swsh with missing Yo-kai and all, Level 5 made it up to their fans by adding in the missing yo-kai as time went on alongside adding new ones, porting the game to the ps4 for more exposure, adding DLC that contains an all new mode, and on top of that the game has made decent improvements to the main gameplay both in the overworld and in battles.

[@TheAbsol7448]

@@thekbx Yeah, Dynamax is so innovative that it was banned at a whole, which even Mega evolution couldn't do!

[@leonblum816]

Are we not gonna talk about the scaling? How they massacred my boy Wailord? Even the GameCube games managed to get this right (they also have better battle animations imo)...

[@xwers1234]

Leon Blum those GameCube games need to come to switch

[@leonblum816]

@@xwers1234 Pokémon Colosseum or XD remastered would be so dope

[@coltonpatterson5409]

The animations are indeed dope af, but it wouldn't hurt for the battle animations in general to be sped up a bit. Some of those attack and hurt animations are a tad drawn out

[@dezooielylat9134]

When Wailord dynemaxd, it get its actuall size xD

[@PeanutTechno]

[Pokemon Battle Revolution would like to know your location]

[@commonviewer2488]

When someone makes the concious decision that they only need to be "good enough," they stop trying as hard. Game Freak has settled. Unless there's a big change, they will continue to rush their games to store shelves, despite it not having the effort put into it other games have. Ever since going 3D, Pokémon has just been ok.

[@Vvonter]

Some developers go more into the business side and others into the more creative side. Platinum vs. EA. Square Enix vs. Bethesda. Etc.

[@cammo353]

Masuda's been disillusioned with the franchise since gen 5 and Ohmori is a yes man for nintendo, the games are only going down from here

[@izanagi61]

Completely agree. Now that this game has become a massive financial success, gamefreak ha learned they can get away literally anything. Pokemon will probably never be a quality product again

[@zeteri4563]

@@izanagi61 Unfortunately I also bought the game for full price. I'm finally to the point where I have a job and was able to buy my FIRST Pokemon game, aside from Pokemon Black that I was given by a friend years ago. I even preordered it the moment I was able... I just have to say, this being on a main console, my first 3D Pokemon game, and trying to go into the game unbiased but also extremely excited.... I was met with disappointment. I will NOT be buying the next game if this is how they treat not only fans, but the highest grossing franchise of ALL TIME!! I have just accepted that at this point the unwillingness to try new things and catering to kids has gone too far and I can find much better "Pokemon" games made by those who also loved Pokemon and took inspiration to expand upon it in there own ways with different characters...

[@user-mh9dx7nz2r]

@@zeteri4563 Your first mistake was not treating this as a Pokemon game.

[@arunavagupta9382]

That hotel cutscene broke me. The """""characters""""" were irritating enough as is, especially because nearly every one of them seems like a recycle from the previous two gens (Hau and Hop even have the same damn animation half the time). But it's this FUCKING railroading. This is my goddamn adventure, let me play it instead of being other people's jumping off point. I dragged myself through XY with the tedious bunch of friends, somehow even grit my teeth through being Lillie's unpaid therapist in Gen 7, but this was just straight up like a giant middle finger from the writers and programmers to anyone who wants an adventure, giving them a visual novel with a competitive Pokémon minigame added. And the worst part is it isn't even good at being a VN. These characters make the average shounen protagonists look nuanced and complex by comparison, with a single line around which their entire personality is based. Don't believe me? Go to Hop's Bulbapedia page, check out "quotes", search for the word "champion". He says it 41 times, mostly about his brother or his future self. Gee, I wonder whether I'll ever discover his personality trait over the ten main story battles plus the two Max Raid battles and four multi battles I'll have with him. I guess that as far as mainline Pokémon games go, this is the end of the line for me, and I'm furious about it, because I have an incredible emotional attachment to this franchise. There are always older games for me, but watching Pokémon's soulful, wondrous world fizzle out like this is like slowly losing touch with a best friend, it's hella painful and most often there's nothing you can do to change it. Thanks for reading my rant about a kiddie video game series.

[@ericasawyer8985]

THIS IS BRILLIANCE IN WORDS!😆

[@lizardlegend42]

Here's your daily reminder that pokemon is the highest grossing media franchise of all time.

[@Ragnellrok]

Believe it or not, most of the Pokémon Company's profit is from merchandise, not the video games

[@lizardlegend42]

@@Ragnellrok Makes sense, still doesn't excuse anything

[@MirthMouser]

@@Ragnellrok True, but Pokemon is also one of the best selling game franchise of all time. Those games always push millions and millions of copies. Even if Game Freak doesn't see the money from merchandise, they still make BANK from the games alone.

[@baldorigami]

Ragnellrok, the merchandise couldn’t exist without the games. Everything (manga, anime, accessories, toys, soundtracks, etc.) is a promotion for the games.

[@maxexist4763]

paula no one is saying they don't believe it

[@teakettlecute]

remember when people thought gen 5 was bad? i miss those days....

[@Gandalf-fe3gw]

Just by now, people come to realize what a gem Gen 5 truly is. I have to admit, back then I truly didn't do it justice. The gen 5 games take risks, get into a new direction and, in my opinion, succeed. They are great games filled with content. We should have appreciated more what we got. The golden age of Pokemon is over (basically Emerald - Black/White 2)

[@frankchen4229]

@@Gandalf-fe3gw gen 5 and sun&moon

[@frankchen4229]

I remember the new gen hate on gen 5 then now everyone loves the decade old treasure

[@audreyf4979]

@@frankchen4229 ultra sun and moon were way better then the non-ultra

[@Htiy]

@@Gandalf-fe3gw pain. Is it sad that ive owned a copy of pokemon lets go pikachu and pokemon sword since launch, finished neither of them, but played through older games? I played through crystal and diamond recently cant get into the switch ones though

[@iangines7853]

Remember when in ruby and sapphire you saw groudon and kyogre fight while they spawned earthquakes and lighting storms everywhere. I remember....

[@povjohnyakuza]

Emerald, yes. That's the thing one would call *Legendary*

[@ZakaryShindle1-933]

Now it would be a black screen with text that says kyorgre and groudon are fiercely dueling with explosion and thunder sound effects.

[@tylerbryant7267]

"Your team will always be unique" *displays hella generic gen 4 team* 1:52

[@myahackeberg9755]

Petition to bring back the Mystery Dungeon games :/

[@Emerardo]

at the end of Rise of Skywalker there is a post credits scene where a red lightsaber begins to levitate and is pulled into a hand as a cloaked figure emerges from the shadows and says “fine, meesa do it myself”

[@wienerschnitzel1739]

At the end of rise of sky walker they give a shout out to this guy who keeps pasting this shitty comment under random comments to be funny

[@anothergamer112]

@@Emerardo cool story, bro.

[@blunderbus2695]

At least give us a Sky remake or something

[@Emerardo]

@@anothergamer112 How does it feel to know that, of the over three billion years your lineage has existed on this good green earth, you will be the first pathetic individual to go down with your v card? You are single-handedly ending a 3 billion year old line of organisms that have sucsessfuly managed to survive and reproduce to pass on those amazing genes. All that work gone to waste, simply because you are such a pathetic and hopeless creature. You haven't and won't achieve anything else for others to remember you by, either. The one thing that could have made your life worthwhile and you're going to throw it out the window? Wow. It's appaling. No wonder your mother never loved you, you waste of oxygen and water.

[@TheLordGlenn]

"Why did they have to take the option away entirely?" - Pokemon's motto regarding features since 1998.

[@amazinghoffman]

1:51 "Your team will always be unique" * shows most generic D/P/P team imaginable *

[@ryanbeam8698]

LMAO

[@ProtoManiac2283]

It really is lmao

[@MarceloKatayama]

That practically was my team

[@nosleep9816]

LMAO---

[@musicdev]

Eaxctly what I was thinking. Starter, pseudo-legendary, box legendary, Luxray and Staraptor, and for whatever reason, Bibarel. HM slave maybe?

[@graveyardmonarch1629]

I swear, sometimes the Pokemon community is literally more creative and talented than the Pokemon company. I mean the community had to invent a hard mode because it started to get too easy. They were talented enough to create their own games, like Pokemon Uranium. Yet the corporation itself can't hire voice actors, despite them having definite access to voice actors for the Pokemon show.

[@NachoCheeseDorito-Kun]

I can tell you, my sister and I were sitting right next to each other, trying in vain to connect through _both_ Wireless and WiFi. Neither worked.

[@barnaclescum7011]

"we recommend using the Lan cable for online play" my ass. I could get faster connection on a fax machine.

[@Fang_Tooth]

I think for some reason Nintendo Switch Online just doesn't work with some wifi routers/companies? When I tried to use the online for some big first party Nintendo games I had similar problems when I would only find maybe one player every 10 minutes which I knew wasn't right since these're games with millions of sales, I even tried playing multiplayer with a few friends in different games and it wouldn't let me play with certain people and made me disconnect from the game. A few months later I got a new router for a different company and all of a sudden the online was working properly and finally started letting me connect to anyone anywhere without having to wait hours for just a few players. your comment is 11 months old so yeah maybe you've found out a way to fix it and it's a different problem but if it's still happening this is probably the case, which really sucks because I doubt anyone or their parents would willingly just get a new router solely for the slim chance Nintendo games work online.

[@NachoCheeseDorito-Kun]

@@Fang_ToothI'll give a quick update since it's been quite a while :D I have not had any other issues with our WiFi that isn't just our Router giving up because it started raining lol We have indeed replaced it since, to Fiber, and even bought some extenders, but the actual quality of our WiFi has stayed the same. My 3DS and Xboxes have no issue, Switch is... okay, and then the connection just straight up breaks some games on my PS4(I swear if I lose progress in NieR Automata _one_ more time because the WiFi disconnected and apparently could not use the DLC that is INSTALLED ON MY SYSTEM I SWEAR-) The only game that still seems to be a consistent issue is Sword. Pikachu/Eevee, Xenoverse 2, Pioneers of Olive Town, Smash Ultimate, Mario Kart, Nintendo Online, Mario 35, Even New Horizons is more stable, and that game can get pretty bad. It's actually really funny, because Max Raid Battles were better when Crown Tundra came out, because so many people were playing that it was easy to find partners. Actually staying online does not seem to be a consistent issue until you get to Link Battling and Trading. Then after one attempt, the whole system just goes borked XD

[@Fang_Tooth]

@@NachoCheeseDorito-Kun it's good to hear you haven't been having big issues with your wifi (good luck with NieR lol) it's a shame nintendo switch online is the way it is since a lot of people have been having problems with it though.

[@NachoCheeseDorito-Kun]

@@Fang_Tooth Thank you, and may the WiFi be with you XD

[@Dancenorigins]

Who's gonna tell him that camp re uses animations from the old games

[@Smiley_Face0]

this poor man suffered a lot

[@gagebrammer4177]

Literally everyone, apparantly

[@embryhart539]

Thank you for dragging this game through the mud. It feel that it was hands down the cheapest, most insulting Pokemon game Game Freak has ever made.

[@victordrummond1490]

Thing is they did that stupid double game scam again

[@infinantz2115]

@@theblackcat3595 if this is your favourite game go play a different pokemon game. I recommend anything from gen 1-5

[@theblackcat3595]

@@infinantz2115 also il try to play those games like I grew up with pokemon x

[@infinantz2115]

@@theblackcat3595 fair enough then if u started late. But the best games are widely considered to be those first 4 generations

[@roccaluce]

@@infinantz2115 It's normally either Gen 4 or Gen 5.

[@bearsbite95]

Still, my favorite gym is Roxie's poison gym in Black 2. I love how you enter the stage and they are all (actually) singing and playing together

[@courtneywoodbury5198]

*That moment you realize the core of a franchise has become the least important part.*

[@elton0139]

The stock image of the legendary pokemon turning around with the leg movement stuck was the last straw for me. That was when I realized there was absolutely no effort put into this abysmal game and as soon as I got to the end of the god awful story mode it went straight to the can.

[@feliceclefie8450]

You just realised they dint out effort on this game at the very end of the game?? (Not included post game which is still bad)

[@raycraft001]

CakeCat I think they knew this was a poor experience, but something as lazy as the legendary swivelling around was the last straw

[@feliceclefie8450]

@@raycraft001 Ooh I see

[@avocadothecat]

only reason I play it is for Online Battle once in a while, bud man... I would have been more happy if Pokemon home just had a fight mode and then I wouldn't have to had bought that "game"

[@thatdarnskag5043]

Gamefreak should look to the Fire Emblem devs on how to bring a game from 3DS to Switch.

[@homiesobble6578]

People talk about how shit this games graphics are, fire emblem looks even worse

[@furfousir1420]

Xenoblade Developers would be a better choice.

[@homiesobble6578]

Furfou sir Ikr.

[@thatdarnskag5043]

Sorry, should've clarified. I didn't mean graphics or specific gameplay elements. I meant it as more of a broader statement on the frame of mind of a studio taking a step forward and innovating on their IP.

[@J.R.Unbound]

@@thatdarnskag5043 Thanks for the clarification. While the graphics of FE:3H aren't... the best, it brought over at ton of stuff from both the older games and 3DS entries, and FINALLY fixed the divide in the community. Sword and Shield did the exact opposite, doubling down on the more iffy features (EXP share permanency comes to mind) and starting a ton of fan wars.

[@afarensis9720]

I had the exact same problem with the Gym challenges...early on they were super unique eg. Milo's herding Wooloo challenge. But by the end they're all just "hey battle these trainers"...Raihan's gym challenge is literally just "fight 3 trainers"...ffs Gamefreak

[@slevinchannel7589]

I'm so f-ed up with GF's lack of creativity inside a Universe where Creativity is f-ing Infinite+Endless. People forget more and more what Quality even looks like, but even those that dont have hard time to remember just how much Creativity is Worth. Imagine this fun and self-aware Adventure (imagine it with perfectioned Virtual-Reality, while youre at it) of being woken up by youre Mom, who sends you to School. But the SECOND you go out of the Door, youre expectations are funnily subverted, cause it's all Water. Ice-Pokemon creating Ways for you as you go are the only way to get to youre School. Youre school named Hogwarts, DUH.

[@Mr._Sherwood]

Yeah, it's a real shame since they have some banger ideas in the earlier gyms. Herding the Wooloo was fun, the waterfall switch puzzle was nice, squabbling with other trainers over catching a wild Pokémon in the fire gym was fantastic, the highlight has to be the Ground Gym using controller vibrations to navigate pitfalls, that was wonderfully tense. Even the Fairy Gym had good ideas, quiz questions in the middle of a battle giving you stat buffs or debuffs for getting them right or wrong is such a cool idea. But then you get to the Dark and Dragon Gyms, and while Dark has an excuse of not being a giant stadium and mainly focusing on the showdown with Piers and settling things with Team Yell for good, the Dragon Gym REALLY doesn't and is just so barebones. Especially since double battles aren't super rare, so the gimmick isn't a huge change of pace like it is in, say, Scarlet/Violet. Plus there's no dancing Greavard here.

[@buchiklop110]

"Do they think kids are so clueless that they need to be lead along by the nose like this?" Kinda. Masuda believes that if kids are left to their own devices like in the old games, they'll immediately drop the game and go back to mobile games. Gen 7 was the same way, though the story is better in Gen 7.

[@zjzr08]

Which is funny, seeing they had paid the product anyway, so this reason is still odd, IMO.

[@darkmoon2503]

I honestly wonder where this thought process arose from. Does Masuda have kids, and this has been an issue he's seen with them, so he applies it to all children? Is it part of some trend among Japanese children we're unaware of? Is it just a baseless assumption? I need answers!

[@Blackvolttage]

@@darkmoon2503 I believe its all clueless assumption. Since ever (we have fucking aristotle talking about how "kids nowadays just want to talk with eachother instead of...") some adults believe kids are dumber than a dog. Once we start to respect a child intelect we have so much better interaction. Some 9-year kids go to play world class competitive tournaments. A 15 year old once become a chess grand-master. But kids nowadays? they cant take 3 steps in game because... they are dumb... i mean, cellphones

[@g.garcia7639]

@@darkmoon2503 I've seen my little cousins play video games, and oh boy. They are 8 and 10 respectively, and they own a switch since its release with many games, they play on average 3-4 hours per week I'd say. One day, I brought the original crash bandicoot trilogy, and they were incredibly clueless. There is an enemy with a shield on the very first levels that you have to jump over them, and then spin them. I let the first 20 lives go wild without giving them any clues, and they said it was impossible, and this game was made so you couldn't finish it. I took the controllers and taught them how to do it, "look, you have to wait here, jump on top of him, and then press the spin button, see?" I seppuku'd myself and let them try again. They couldn't do it. They legit couldn't jump on the enemy, and kill him, It got to a point that they got so frustrated that they lent me the controller so I could kill it for them. I know this is just anecdotal, but my older cousin is "the gamer" of his class, the one that beats every other kid at videogames, and got stuck on the very beggining of the game. Granted, crash bandicoot is a hard game, but that was the reason why I kinda understand where all this kid friendly tips come from.

[@facesoffearbrewing1229]

Game: "Head to the station." *Game makes sure you find the station because of that clown Hop who's annoying as fuck and won't let you explore the location for secrets...because there are no secrets*

[@williammoore1030]

Imagine pokemon having no history or nostalgia, if this was their first product how do you imagine it would review, I bet it would be between a 4-6 out of ten at most places.

[@linkthepringlesman3951]

Probably the exact opposite, actually. If little known company Game Freak, who released Little Town Hero and little else of note, suddenly came out with a JRPG with about 400 different classes, hundreds of moves, and an elemental chart with 18 different elements with varied interactions with other elements people would like it. Yes, the game has problems, but Game Freak is a small company, it’s excusable. The series shows promise.

[@LewdTuna]

@@linkthepringlesman3951 SMALL COMPANY

[@linkthepringlesman3951]

Wow, okay, apparently nobody understood what I said. In this alternate universe where this is the first Pokemon game, Game Freak would be a small company. This would be their first major game, and the problems would be much more justifiable. Not sure how saying that real world Game Freak has no excuses is making up excuses, but okay then.

[@LewdTuna]

@@linkthepringlesman3951 Oh no, don't take me wrong, I was referring to the people who actually believe they're a small company lmao Haven't heard of those?

[@seacliff217]

​@@linkthepringlesman3951 More doesn't mean better... and Pokemon also don't suddenly change playstyles when evolving. There are at best 4 classes in the game anyways. Any Pokemon can be grouped as a Physical Sweepers, Special Sweepers, Tank, or Support. There's some variety in support, but most of that relies on using a single move such as stealth rock, reflect/light screen, or toxic. But very little of that is based on how Gamefreak designed the game, it's how the dedicated social community broke it down for them over the course of over a decade. Without that initial grip Pokemon wouldn't be praised for its mechanics today, and given how broken and unbalanced Sw/Sh's meta is this game certainly won't get praised just for its ambition, just like how No Man Sky didn't at launch.

[@delkracko8139]

Why are Pokemon games becoming more and more dumbed down? "Kids these days have smartphones" - Junichi Masuda

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

Which is weird because kids are smarter than they've ever been nowadays

[@WimzorTheGreat]

@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 Kids these days aren't smarter in my opinion, but it's not their fault. It's the constant handholding everywhere.

[@starmanexe7721]

@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 Dunno if they are smarter, but they are definitely not as dumb as Pokemon games suggest they are.

[@mikaeruu0309]

@@starmanexe7721 they're deffo smarter than kids back then, from my experience talkin to the young'uns. everyone just thinks they're dumber.

[@EviIM0nk3y]

@@mikaeruu0309 intelligence can mean many things

[@ATLDASH]

"They're shooting... Bites at each other. How does that even work." 😂😂😂 most entertaining and disappointing game review I've ever seen.

[@theshinyqueen6013]

I hate to admit it. But everything that was said in this review I totally agree with. I'm actually very disappointed with sword and shield everything just felt super rushed. I was also super disappointed with the story of the game. I mean they set everything up for the story and you're ready to go and do something relevant but they're just like no you can't help go to the next gym. Sword and shield gets a 4.5/10 from me.

[@BlackRuby67]

Gets a 10/10 from me.

[@haaxxx9]

@@BlackRuby67 Yea no one will take you seriously with all the flaws with Sw/Sh have.

[@BlackRuby67]

@@haaxxx9 Still 10/10 for me

[@haaxxx9]

@@BlackRuby67 You must be easy to please.

[@BlackRuby67]

@@haaxxx9 Yup

[@Kaizykat]

I feel like each game brings something cool and then drops the really cool thing in the next game for another thing. Like, I loved doing those silly little Super Contests in Diamond and Pearl with the poffins and accessories. Then that was dropped in the next game. Or what about having a radio again like in Silver and Gold? What if there was some kind of super cool numbers station with puzzles and different new areas to unlock once you complete an instruction? That'd be rad as hell in the wild areas! What about seasons like they did in Black and White? That'd bring people to keep coming back so that they could catch Pokemon that only come out in some times of the year. Hell, what about triple battles or rotation battles? Another thing that I loved was checking on your Pokemon like in X and Y and playing with them. Sure, we have camping, but could we have some stupid minigames to play? What I'm trying to say is: Game Freak, please hire me. I have very important opinions.

[@snausages43]

The people at the top wouldn’t listen to your suggestions even if they hired you. They have their way of doing things and that’s that. No room for innovation.

[@portfolioworks1182]

Fun fact: an interviewer once asked Masuda about why GF constantly introduces features and then takes them away, like the Battle Frontier for instance. Masuda said the reason why was to keep on “surprising players” when they “reintroduce” these features later on.

[@Kaizykat]

That's fair, but it'd be pretty cool to see everything together, too!

[@melodiclogic9904]

Marin Morg hardware limitations on the switch and 3DS? Which can run games like Witcher 3 and Skyrim, like Minecraft and every handheld to date? hahaha nope. They can definitely make a few stupid mini games and make the wild area look less like a PS2 game. You act like they’re coding on a potato. They’re a multimillionaire triple A company with the biggest franchise in the world.

[@islandboy9381]

@@melodiclogic9904 "multimillionare" that's the pokemon company sucking up all the money, not gamefreak the actual development team who are still working in a "handheld gaming" format while also being crunched to the teeth by Nintendo for other projects.

[@renatoduquetm]

Pokemon camp animations are also copied from Pokémon Amie, in the generation you stopped playing.

[@c3ntravaswani427]

And Hop reuses some animations from Hau, the rival from the generation before he returned.

[@hannahshark8080]

Yeah, I've LOVED this franchise since I was 7 years old, that's over 20 years now. Thanks for helping me decide not to feed this demon one more time. So sad to see Pokemon become another dusty company.

[@TwistedFireX]

Get a switch emulator and a decent Bluetooth controller. I recommend Yuzu if you like smooth gameplay and have the GPU for it. I can run most switch games at 60fps with no lag. If you don’t have a good GPU go for Ryujinx it’s better for lower end PCs but stutters a bit and the touch screen feature is shitty. Lemme know if you need help (or anyone interested in setting up an emulator).

[@slevinchannel7589]

I'm so f-ed up with GF's lack of creativity inside a Universe where Creativity is f-ing Infinite+Endless. People forget more and more what Quality even looks like, but even those that dont have hard time to remember just how much Creativity is Worth. Imagine this fun and self-aware Adventure (imagine it with perfectioned Virtual-Reality, while youre at it) of being woken up by youre Mom, who sends you to School. But the SECOND you go out of the Door, youre expectations are funnily subverted, cause it's all Water. Ice-Pokemon creating Ways for you as you go are the only way to get to youre School. Youre school named Hogwarts, DUH. The cool stuff adds up and up cause guess what, Creativity is infinite, so here you go: The Tri-Magic Wizard-Tournament just now is about to happen in this schoolyear (youre age of course doesnt matter cause no matter how young or old, being a Player gives you assumedly the Skill to do more than just know what a Pokeball IS), but students are warned: A dangerous Bandit-Group named 'Phantom Troupe (from HxH)' is said to come this year and steal the Treasures a Legendary Pokemon will itself deliver to the Winner!!

[@motayexo]

YOU SHOULD PLAY ARCEUS THO IT FIXES ALMOST ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS

[@greatnessdelton1381]

Feel free to leave. Nobody misses you.

[@iblitztm4449]

Arlo ain't just bodying Game Freak, no he grabbed a lighter, a bottle of hair spray and slowly burning their poor souls until there isn't anything left of them.

[@pierrebegley2746]

Ehhh. There never was much soul in the company anyway lol.

[@iblitztm4449]

@@pierrebegley2746 Agreed.

[@flappetyflippers]

@@pierrebegley2746 there was. Game freak put a lot into their games. They are not the ones at fault.

[@deltalord6969]

@@flappetyflippers hahahahaahah!!! Oh wait youre seriously. AHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH! No. Gamefreak completely shunned the games and spread their resources between the stupid town game and these games. And they of course dont want to expand their staff.

[@manuelredgrave8348]

@@deltalord6969 Perhaps if GameFreak took their time to make the game and, only after finishing it well, they focused on town, both games could have been good. Too bad they developed both at the same time, rushed the main one in other to appease the anime makers and completely stopped giving a damn about improving the formula in any way because they know it sells anyway, exploiting naive children in the process.

[@averysketchygamer3241]

"If you want to build a competitive team, this is your game" You know Unless they cut your favorite Pokemon

[@thepope2412]

In which case just go to showdown, way better for competitive pokemon.

[@Brawlkings93]

my favourite pokemon werent competitively viable anyway so ya know.

[@thepope2412]

@@Brawlkings93 Dude I run a team in anything goes that has a special attacking machamp. You can make them viable.

[@averysketchygamer3241]

@@thepope2412 Agreed. My favorite is Infernape and he's pretty solid if you have the right setups

[@thepope2412]

@@averysketchygamer3241 infernape was actually better than blazikin before it got speed boost.

[@recordsystem6447]

Trust me they really do think kids are that stupid, they've said as much. Something about kids only liking easy mobile games. They also interpreted previous complaints about the hand holding to be "we don't like stories at all" instead of the actual complaints about not being able to walk 2 steps without characters running their mouths abt useless crap

[@NoFutureStartsToday]

I played every game, began with the red edition when I barely could read. I stopped after the cut scene massacre in ultramoon. I didn't even finish ultramoon. The Pokémon games are just too dumbed down to have any fun with them anymore. You don't even have a feeling of success because everything is stupidly easy and you just walk through the game without any effort.

[@悪臭-p9p]

Gen 7 is what ended it for me too. Aggravating game design.

[@justp0w3r154]

If you asked me before how I felt about Sw/Sh, I'd probably say it's somewhat complicated. But after seeing this video, I can say without any uncertainty that everything Arlo says is an accurate representation of how I feel about. From the points he makes to the experiences he had, it's safe to say that somehow this wonderful blue man (?) perfectly described Sword and Shield for me.

[@77ale]

P0w3rGam3r10154 // TheP0w3r10154 yes. He described it really well, how some parts are lackluster and other parts good for at least a while (referring to the wild area mostly there)

[@kirbinators]

I feel like he just read my mind on how he feels about the game

[@noahvanvactor9501]

I think the concept of having to use nuzlockes to have any challenge is so ridiculous. It's so inexcusable to NOT have difficulty levels in 2019. The absolute best implementation of this was in Bravely Default where they had a highly customizable difficulty and encounter slider. Just the idea of having to manually place restrictions on the game to make it any semblance of challenging is so frustrating. The only time I ever faced any genuine challenge was in the postgame and that was just because i didnt feel like using my legendary pokemon. That's it. At first i was on the fence when I saw all of those videos criticizing GF when the first few pieces of news came out, but now I'm starting to see they're right. This was such a pitiful excuse for a game in my opinion.

[@Rob23765]

Another good example of custom difficulty is Xenoblade 2's custom difficulty setting; a slider for almost everything from health, to damage, to attack speed, etc.

[@MrPeaTearGryfin]

I also like how Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order handled difficulty where higher difficulty doesn't mean more health for enemies, but instead means that enemies are more aggressive and the timing window for parrying attacks is smaller.

[@noahvanvactor9501]

@@MrPeaTearGryfin I think that's the better way to go, especially with rpg's. I noticed with b2w2's challenge mode that the higher level enemies just meant that I would gain more exp, so it didnt really do much for the difficulty. On another not I really wanna play Jedi Fallen Order it looks so good!

[@MajoraZ]

Arlo, when you mention all the animations in Camps are probably the "new animations" Gamefreak mentioned which is why the pokedex got cut... no; those animations aside from for the brand new Pokémon and for Curry stuff are all re-used: The walking and running animations existed (but were unused) in Sun/Moon, and the other animations are just the existing attack animations repurposed. So they don't even deserve credit there.

[@PhazonOmega]

This is why I LIKED Gold and Silver. They had one or two problems, which were mainly plot related, but they had color, the menus were much smoother, new mechanics like held items were added, and you could go back and explore the entire first game after defeating the Elite Four, among other things. And then in Crystal, the third installment of that generation, you had the Battle Tower, and the ability to have Pokemon follow you! Gold, Silver, and Crystal brought huge quality of life changes to Pokemon, and presented us to even more features, and the boundless potential that the series had--all in 8-bit Gameboy! And yet, Pokemon seems to have mostly stagnated after that. Some improvements and changes were made, such as Pokemon abilities being added, TMs being re-usable, and defining special and physical moves per move rather than per elemental type. However, it's taken 20 years for these changes to occur, when we had a similar jump between Gen 1 and 2. We also had some features come and go, such as your Pokemon following you. Everyone loves that feature, yet it doesn't stay. Why? It pops up sporadically, but doesn't stay. The gym training for EVs and IVs in X and Y was excellent! Why not keep that? Going back to Kanto in Gold and Silver was a fun surprise, and fun to explore, not to mention Mt. Silver and battling rivals in Viridian City! Why not do something like that, but make the gyms actually challenging, and the wild Pokemon a bit stronger? The games didn't need to become easier, and we didn't need an overhaul of the gameplay. We didn't need overly friendly and cutesy characters. We just needed Pokemon to catch and train, and challenges to overcome! Keep what works, and embrace what makes Pokemon fun: catch, train, battle, explore!