Pokemon Sword and Shield - Were the Sacrifices Worth It? | The Completionist

Pokemon Sword and Shield is the most controversial Pokemon game to date. With National Dex drama, then models and animation issues, users were not kind to this addition to the franchise. But regardless of it's shortcomings it still is a Pokemon game with the classic formula: Be 10, catch 'em all, save the region. And Galar is beautiful to explore with the Pokemon involved. But c'mon, you could've added Bulbasaur, my sweet sweet boy.
Let me know what you thought about my Pokemon Sword and Shield review!
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Watch more game reviews like my Pokemon Sword and Shield review and other video games on my channel below! | The Completionist
/ thatonevideogamer
#Pokemon #SwordAndShield #Galar

[@ThatOneVideoGamer]

Which Pokemon starter is your favorite, and why is it Bulbasaur?

[@Ichirushu]

My favorite starter is Bulbasaur because you forced me to love him. Jk i actually rlly like Bulbasaur but Greninja is my favorite starter.

[@chilledtokyo1696]

Squirtle all the way!!

[@breion1496]

The Completionist ekans 😭😭😭

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

Bulbasaur. Just, Bulbasaur.

[@yam2299]

Bulbasaur’s in the code, it’s probably going to come in an event

[@memesmakedreams9697]

I think Alpharad put it the best. "The best part is that it's Pokemon, but the worse part is that it's Pokemon."

[@dragofand]

Ya that's the best review of the game I've heard. It's fun; because its Pokemon.

[@xemnasxiii3992]

@David Calihan *the best part is that it's pokemon, the worst part is that it's in The pokemon Company tight schedule *

[@valletas]

@@xemnasxiii3992 the creation of the pokemon company was a mistake They only serve to remove control of the series from gamefreak and they are the ones responsable for every problem in the franchise

[@xemnasxiii3992]

@@valletas it's a 50/50 you can't blame TPC for GF not wanting to hire more people bc they still want to feel like a small developer wich arguably they could have done considering the amount of money the games makes

[@valletas]

@@xemnasxiii3992 wait weren't you suppose to be dead?

[@jafortune]

Where does Opal's story go? Home, she's retiring.

[@twitchywitchx]

P O K E M O N H O M E ?

[@flamezyz]

OH SHOOT

[@4everzard]

She will be the main character in the spin off game "Pokemon Cross stitch"

[@onijester56]

There's a yes-and-no. Since Gen 1's "Fighting Dojo", I've always liked the idea of smaller gyms. When Opal retires, nothing prevents her from having a "Dojo"...or maybe Bede hosts both the Fairy-type gym (with Opal in the background) and the Psychic-type Dojo which is something he can have true pleasure with. And that could exchange with everyone else. Have Piers (whose gym is smaller anyway) be upset at his gym being 'downgraded' to the Dark-type Dojo...which could have been a decision made by Leon because he values Piers as a trainer and wants a genuinely-strong trainer to show that even the 5 or 6 Minor League/Dojo challenge isn't going to be easy. Hell, the emphasis on Sw/Sh's "Minor League"/"Major League" as differing things kinda sucked because it gives you the impression that there are gyms that aren't as well-known but that can offer the player a challenge. Not the same 8-gym format of pretty much every other game, with the first three and the last five only separated by what's arguably a (admittedly-fun) Safari-Zone knock-off.

[@CheeseBlaster]

I bet he didnt know that there are 60 forms of Alcremie

[@Mystic-Aidan]

I’m almost to the end and he hasn’t mentioned it. HMMMM.

[@cool23819]

Shhhh.... let him have fun

[@stoodmuffinpersonal3144]

Some completionist he is, lmao

[@SlimeBlueMS]

You're kidding right? That's fucking dumb as hell

[@CheeseBlaster]

Slime Blue check bulbapedia

[@BocookGaming]

"2020 is going to be even more insane..." Oh, past Jirard, if you only knew.

[@aidanjackson5084]

Especially given how the DLC for the game is out, bringing back his "best boi Bulbasaur" with Isle of Armor, and the Crown Tundra right around the corner.

[@Sahil-ph1bp]

what about now, with sinnoh remakes and Legends Arceus

[@slavkei]

I love how when you cook curry for your pokemon, it never shows them eating it or you feeding them, they just kind of bite at empty air and then go YAAAAAY Truly a next-gen experience.

[@labetenoire]

They would have had to cut another 100 Pokemon to animate the food in their mouths

[@JoeNeutrino]

Such expressive animations!

[@HeilRay]

@@labetenoire They could of easily have them munching off camera making a curry splashing mess we actually see.

[@Abyzz_Knight]

I love how they put so much effort into a goddamn curry mechanic to the point there's a goddamn curry dex with 151 different curry when that time could have been spent including more pokemon.

[@generalmaddox8389]

I would rather have 200 more Pokémon than have curry at all

[@aeroblaze4]

I feel like Leon and Sonia were having more fun and adventure than my character in the game.

[@jonathantruong7069]

"Oh hi protagonist, we just gotta handle this big amazing important thing K thx bye" "Oh wow protagonist, you never would've guessed, just before you arrived there was a crazy thing that happened! Oh yeah you weren't there rip K thx bye"

[@pyrojackgaming837]

@@jonathantruong7069 I mean it makes sense man. You're a kid and they're adults. It's the most realistic thing I've seen in Pokemon.

[@jonathantruong7069]

@@pyrojackgaming837 Right, realism in every aspect is exactly the type of thing I want in a game series where mythical creatures are converted to light energy and captured within small spherical devices, before being released again to fight against other people who have trained those said mythical beasts. Generally when you play a game where you go on an adventure, you kind of want to, how do I say, *go on an adventure* . Being the most realistic (as in, close to our reality) in a Pokemon game isn't exactly a good thing.

[@jonathantruong7069]

@@anemonedaytona Actually, Platinum happened to be my first and one of my favourites. But thanks for assuming, it's really intelligent of you. Thanks for replying 2 months later by the way. Though you could've at least come up with something a *little* better in that time.

[@billybob9495]

@@pyrojackgaming837 THEN LET US PLAY AS THE ADULTS

[@ExperienceExplosion]

11:02 one problem with your point, you didn’t. In sun, moon, and the ultras, you only had to catch the alola dex, the difference was that you still could bring old Pokémon in. They just didn’t count towards completion.

[@Swaxeman]

Yeah, neither did most of the collectibles he’s needed to get

[@daffyfable1983]

Actually, this channel is known for making their own requirements so that people in the comments don't say "You technically didn't get all the Pokemon!" Watch his Persona 5 episode and you will see what I mean.

[@DarkAngelEU]

@@daffyfable1983 Back in the day, he used to actually 100% the game and it was worthy of being called Completionist, because he actually did everything there was to do in the game. Setting up your own requirements just equals to throwing in the towel.

[@OkamiRose]

@@DarkAngelEU Really? You're gatekeeping a aKZbinr for not being good enough? They spend all this time and effort on these videos and overwork themselves (especially this guy it seems- I have no clue how he hasn't burnt out) and you want to be a little shit when you have to put almost no effort in a comment to beat the person down in his video's comment section? It'd be more apt to say maybe you shouldn't judge a dude who puts in more work on other stuff in his brand.

[@DarkAngelEU]

@@OkamiRose There's this old phrase that goes, quality over quantity. It wouldn't hurt this channel to put out videos that actually have the quality instead of trying to complete 40+ hour games, edit and review them, all the work that goes into making quality content, on a schedule as if it's just mechanical labour. The guy's not a machine and should respect himself, or he actually will get a burn out and hate video games for the rest of his life. You'd think that a platform like Patreon would provide some economic relief, but instead it just grinds the channel down to a pulp.

[@deet917]

If you loved the single player on this one I think you'll love B/W 1 and 2. It's been the only set of games that had a story beyond "go to gym, beat gym, bad guys comes knocking" rinse and repeat for hours.

[@HeilRay]

The series went downhill after Black White 2.

[@rocvalleycreations]

*HellRay* i feel that, gamefreak sticks to a really safe storyline like the same for every game, tbh i dont wanna sit in a battle tower and game I wanna pub stomp npcs with my post E4 super team and have enough new trainers to train against and reach lv100 without grinding the e4

[@rocvalleycreations]

I want a game with the full pokedex and a post game like black and white and main story like heart gold soul silver. Imagine 16 gyms, afterwards the minor league locations get unlocked with another 6-8 unnoficial uncapped level gyms and trainers with a battle fronteir where after my pokemon lv100 i can use them to win prizes that will help me with competitive i want another game I can 100hrs on or more

[@EvyDevy]

You do that formula in B/W and its sequel. And team plasma functions like every other team in the previous games. The story has bit more to it but is still a story about evil person uses organization and legendaries to rule world. Still great but not too different than other games.

[@rocvalleycreations]

Evy Devy we do need a different plot fr, I honestly have no suffestions for that. Tbh want something different than an evil team cant even play it for that anymore really i just play to see cool mons and mash A. Unfortunately I dont see them changing any of this soon.

[@ppmaq]

Every Pokemon Sword and Shield reviewer: *"1 ouf 10, love it."*

[@WooperGamerYT]

PPmaq Channel that is so true and I feel the same way

[@seantaggart7382]

@Toadused2stink yeah it was litterally crashing at pulled up at the runway seriously WE WERE THIS CLOSE!!!

[@shybluehope894]

Truth

[@tsyumamatsuthehavenofguard32]

It's good, but it's clearly has so many flaws. Translation: it's a good incomplete, but the incomplete feels forced

[@Daniel-pi5qd]

This is one of the nicest examples of “stay of the internet and things are way better”

[@HydraLeech]

Ok it really bothers me when people say dexit makes dex completion easier. Gen 7 had all the Pokemon able to be transferred in but ONLY the Alola dex was necessary for completion, there was no national dex upgrade

[@SoftEndy]

Yeah he said he would have to catch all the other 400, but even if the National Dex existed, they wouldn't be catchable in the game anyways.

[@Shinius]

Critics like less content in their games so they can complete them sooner and move on. Critics and fans are just looking for different things in the video games.

[@Aronia55]

@@Shinius Most critics don't 100% complete games.

[@Law34prez]

U guys are mistaking "critics" for "casuals".

[@kekchanbiggestfan]

Shinius but in this case the content that was cut had literally no impact on anyone’s ability to complete the game

[@TehGamingMasta]

"Can you imagine having to catch 890 pokemon is ridiculous" Except you never had to catch 890, or any number near the 600 or 700s. recent pokemong ames made the pokedex local to the region only, meaning you only had to catch pokemon that actually appeared in the game, but the rest were portable from older games. You could still complete the game and not have to catch 890 pokemon, and we could still have all the pokemon in it.

[@granflecha]

The first game to do this was sun and moon. In X and Y you still had to fill out the 721 pokemon dex (minus mysticals)

[@stupidbandkid741]

Black and white 2 gave you the shiny charm for completing the national dex

[@daffyfable1983]

Actually, this channel is known for making their own requirements so that people in the comments don't say "You technically didn't get all the Pokemon!" Watch his Persona 5 episode and you will see what I mean.

[@tvftw1]

"It feels like it was made for 3DS" I'd be more willing to accept this if the Let's Go games didn't exist. Those were the test run, any issues with making a pokemon game on the switch should have been discovered and dealt with alongside Pikachu and Eevee

[@GamerFromJump]

CouchPotatoCNPB - Come to think of it, why were _any_ Kanto or Alola forms of Kantonian Pokémon cut? The models were already there. The only thing that would make me really upset is if you can’t bring in Meltan and evolve him in SwSh. It would suck if they only way to get Melmetal is by a Gigantimax Raid. I want to Home in Meltan as my starter, dammit!

[@fabricefaustin1134]

@Vlad Tepes let's go and Sword and Shield were in development at the same time I think

[@DelphinSquared]

My guess would be that SwSh and Let's Go are made by different teams.

[@renno2679]

The thing is, they only had 151 Pokemon to work with. Gamefreak being incompetent developers and coders, they couldn't do as good as those games. Also they gotta hit that yearly release otherwise the fans might forget them or something idk what theyre thinking they're literally the biggest franchise. no one's gonna care if there's no pokemon game for a year.

[@CIyepiz]

Even Pokemon Let's go looks better than Sword/Shield, and it's more fun too

[@radioactiveriver6718]

The Internet: **Angry because Dexit** The Completionist: **Angry because Curry**

[@stoodmuffinpersonal3144]

Not ubreasonable. I don't hate it but fuck completing the curry dex 🤣

[@edvance1030]

@@stoodmuffinpersonal3144 Agreed. It's the ONLY thing I didn't do in the game. I made ONE curry just out of curiosity and then said "fu** it. I'm not doing all 151 curries".

[@stoodmuffinpersonal3144]

@@edvance1030 I make them when I have the spoons cause I know my loves like it, but that's about it. It's easier to get the better ranks woth friends which can be good for EXP. That's like. The sole reason I did it. I felt BOTW did it a bit better, outside of ot being harder to make the fancier recipes!

[@PeterGriffin11]

I like making curry I've probably spent more time making it than most others sense I've made 60+ types of curry but it would be nice if you could make other foods.

[@Twilight17Petkoton]

Yeah i perform complete the Pokedex over the curries because you get nothing on 151 which that is bullsh**. I hope your happy The Completionist curries more painful then Pokedex itself.

[@aquilonthepro8319]

Me: (Sees dynamaxed ball guy thumbnail) *"Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well."*

[@WildPortraitArtist]

This game had so much potential. The music was absolutely beautiful. The art direction, while corners were cut and it's very rough around the edges, was still beautiful. The tournament system for the gyms was really fun this time around. But the closer you get towards the end of the game (the last 4 badges) it just feels....hollow. Loads of black screens instead of cutscenes. Missing plot points. Extremely stilted dialogue with no plot. The gyms become static battles vs other trainers down a corridor with the puzzle elements gone. There are no dungeons or places to explore and get lost in. The routes are very linear. This game could have done with an extra year in development. It's tragic to think about what this game could have been if the dev team hadn't tried to rush it out for Christmas this year.

[@agentbuddy5786]

Wild Portrait Artist You summed up the game exactly how I feel.The game was very fun but it could of been way better

[@zeroattentiongaming820]

So basically we might see what it should've been by the time they release the expanded versions. Hopefully.

[@TonyJenn]

There were other factors besides simple "rushing" the game. Being a media conglomerate had a large part in it as well. Did it need more time in the oven? Yeah, but when execs wan that money and to milk the media empire, devs don't have much of a say unfortunately.

[@Thund3rDrag0n12]

Zero Attention Gaming Sucks they’re making us pay for it though...

[@minecraftotalwar]

You haven't played the wild area, have you

[@DaFro3713]

Wait, why wasn’t Alex called for this? Seems like he would’ve been the perfect tag team partner for this pair of games.

[@adhamwashere5320]

I wish i knew what happened to alex and pokekellez cuz the dex channel seems to be discontinued

[@MalikEKC]

Preparing for his wedding I think

[@jpcsdutra]

Alex was for sure working on this behind the scenes. The fact that Jirard has 3 super OU 'mon on his team are probably because of him. Kellz has a real life job as a vet that she prioritizes, at one point she had to pick either her career or her channel and she chose her career.

[@MrBizznessMan]

TLDR: Life just takes priority, and KZbin doesn't generate enough income to keep the channel going. Maybe someday in the future though. Alex and Kellz are still doing well though!

[@baddragonite]

Probably wants to do his own review or avoid the controversy

[@phantombounty6328]

The Gen 2 starters have gotten almost no representation in modern pokemon games.

[@Mystic-Aidan]

At least they adknowlage my homie Quagsire exists

[@phantombounty6328]

@@Mystic-Aidan yeah but I'm more of a cyndaquil guy. And in modern pokemon games (not including go) I never been given the chance to play as him

[@pickedceasar1216]

PHANTOM BOUNTY hopefully gen 4 remakes change that. Or some kinda let's go Johto

[@phantombounty6328]

@@pickedceasar1216 hopefully

[@SlimeBlueMS]

And they never will again, they were deleted.

[@blue-eyesdepresseddragon3753]

"Strongest Single Player Experiences" Can you hear it? That's the sound if "didnt appreciate gen 5"

[@PokeDeses]

You want a streamlined pokédex? The one in SM and USUM was smaller than the one in Galar without needing to remove over 400 creatures from the code - since those 400 had no pokédex entries or number or built-in way to keep track of how many you've collected. They also had a story worth mentioning.

[@V-Jes]

USUM had 403 pokemon in it's dex thanks to mythicals so it is a bit bigger there compared to gen 8.

[@PokeDeses]

@@V-Jes By a marginal amount that will be caught upon in a couple years.

[@NameName-yj7lp]

SM story was grabbing, was a small problem tho because long cut scenes but still better than this story

[@finaldusk1821]

Mainline Pokémon games have such a low bar for story telling, it's actually impressive that Sun and Moon's story turned out as well as it did, same to Black and White. I normally wouldn't mind this since the story has never been the main selling point, if it weren't for the fact that the player is forced to trudge through those long and cringy stories no matter how much they'd rather be doing anything else.

[@Lt._Nut]

True

[@plam246]

Jirad said it right. This game feels like a port of a 3ds pokemon game doesn't feel like a console game

[@DelphinSquared]

True. Pokemon have become what Nintendo had been, a company that is too ahead of its time. Sure they have console games, but those are made by other developers. I think the main Pokemon team needs more experience in working with home consoles.

[@Zeno11Salazar]

And it looks worse than most of the other games.

[@mullaoslo]

To me it does, but I've only ever played gen 1

[@tmgthemariogamer3676]

DolphinSquared I’m sure game freak could have made it much better if the Pokémon company didn’t demand yearly releases

[@mekudu-man3804]

@@DelphinSquared the "funny" or rather ironic thing is that the lead designer worked on XD and Battel Revolution which were both for the Gamecube and Wii and were way better than this game ever will be (animation wise and everything else)

[@theresastarmanwaitinginthe5149]

We all know the best Pokemon is Ball Guy.

[@cool23819]

FUCK YEAH HE IS!

[@zachthepolisaur]

Ball guy for president 2020

[@xenobestx8423]

Ball Guy is awesome. He’s just basically the Malo Mart dude.

[@Egellol]

The internet funny man is calling you

[@Valkenhyne]

He scares me

[@xeruexe1624]

It is a flawed game, but it is still very fun to play. As I told my friend, while I certainly had hopes and expectations, I'd like to see the game for what it is rather than what it is not, and for all it's worth, the game itself is still very enjoyable to me. But that's not going to excuse what they did wrong here. My particular gripe is the Y-comm, and how it took my friend and I 30 minutes just to find each other for a trade. If it's that hard to see the people in your Friend List then there's a big problem with their online features. Next time they should have a long testing period and more testers before their game. They should be more concerned about getting their games right than patching up leaks.

[@MJ-oi6ul]

But it's good for being Pokemon NOT for being sword and shield! This is a huge problem going forward because it means they have no reason to improve the future games since we will "love them and buy them anyways" just for being Pokemon!

[@xeruexe1624]

While this is true, this is also the inherent problem with the majority of sequels. Some become better, some become worse, but at the core most of them are built on the previous one. In that aspect Pokémon has been the same from Gen I to Gen VII, and I've enjoyed them all because of that and despite of that. As I've said, it has it flaws, it has it's problems, and the fact that I enjoy it will not change those facts. If they don't resolve them somewhere along the line they're going to release a bad, unenjoyable game, and that's totally entirely on them they will nobody else to blame when people stop patronizing these games and their company. And directional and migratory reasons aside, I do think there are some problems that are inherently unexcusable (see previous comment for it). I understand and respect people who refuse to buy the game; my friend was pretty adamant on not getting the game and that's okay to me, although I do find it sad we can't talk much about it anymore (we had crazy ideas in previous games). But for the people who had fun with it, I don't think it's a bad thing that this game came out. Who knows, maybe this'll be the last enjoyable game, and if it is I think it's good to have it while it's lasting. A fun game, in spite of and despite all reasons, is still a fun game.

[@nofilterneito]

I wholeheartedly agree. Using the Y-Comm on a current gen console is completely archaic. The fact that the only thing joinable through the Stamp system is Raids? Fine, but infuriating, I don’t want to see them if I can’t join them, which is sort of a nitpick. Like... nobody cares most of the time if they check their Stamps and someone caught a Wingull in a Raid Battle. Following that nitpick, the fact that Y-Comm doesn’t automatically refresh for the player so they can actually find active Raids? Archaic. You have to manually refresh Stamps when the prompt appears, and when it doesn’t you have to either disconnect and reconnect to Y-Comm or start a Trade and cancel it in the hopes it appears. The Link Code system for trading? You have 10,000 unique trading IDs for OVER 1 OR MORE MILLION PLAYERS. No wonder it takes some people ages to get the right person. Surprise Trading is actually the most consistent thing out of the Y-Comm for me, as since you’re not actively searching for a particular person the game can just match you randomly. But outside of that the game doesn’t even try to use the NSO outside of showing your friends in activities. You know what could’ve been implemented if GF were focusing on this instead of Town? Usage of NNID friends in trading. Imagine being able to invite friends to trade or battle via NSO. Would completely remove the hell of waiting via Link Codes (unless you didn’t want to add the other person), and would allow you to directly trade or battle with them right away. It’s depressing that because of multiple factors, GF cannot manage to put in the full force to actually implement a online system comparable to current RPGs on the market.

[@matthewoleary5844]

Just link trade lol

[@Felicat82]

@@matthewoleary5844 In 2020 with social distancing and The Illness That Shall Not Be Named?!? Dream on, my friend...dream on. And that's assuming you have IRL friends to trade with. I have NO friends within a 1/2 hour's driving distance, and only a few, period.

[@BLourenco96]

11:11 You're comparing completing the National Dex in Gen 3 to completing the Regional Dex in Gen 8. There's 200 Pokemon in the Gen 3 games that are all available to catch in the games, just like there are 400 Pokemon in the Gen 8 games that are all available to catch in these games. The reason it's so difficult to complete the National Dex in the Gen 3 games is because they're not all obtainable in the R/S/E games, you have to trade from other games. Completing the National Dex in Gen 8 is even harder because it's impossible to do.

[@GOOODA20TH]

Does he know that in Gen 7 you didn't have to catch/transfer all Pokémon to complete the Dex since there was no National but still had all Pokémon and forms.

[@laudydorado5245]

He said he missed out since playing FR/LG & Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee... But I guessed he didn't complete the Dex in 7 since he knew Hau.

[@MegaSceptile99]

All pokemon existed in SM and USUM. The culled pokemon don't exist in SwSh

[@outtaideas849]

@@MegaSceptile99 Not all. Wormhole Pokemon weren't in the dex, but they existed.

[@outtaideas849]

@@MegaSceptile99 wait, that's what you meant. Sorry

[@cidlunius1076]

I can't fault his excitement for the game, but I can't help to find it... Dishonest. Maybe it's my own dissatisfaction with where the game is lacking, knowing it was rushed and feeling like this game isn't worth buying. Heck, it did what I always wanted: evolve Farfetch'd into a vegetable warrior. Thank you for your opinion and evaluation of the game and the massive trouble you went to complete it. It's always appreciated.

[@buchiklop110]

Part of his opinion is skewed though, since he's going in as a completionist and hasn't played any games in Gen 4-7 (aside from Let's Go).

[@supersasukemaniac]

it didn't just turn Farfetch'd into a vegetable warrior, it turned farfetch'd into a vegetable warrior with a bedroom stare.

[@cidlunius1076]

@@supersasukemaniac It made Polnareff the Leek Warrior a thing and I really loved that meme.

[@cidlunius1076]

@@buchiklop110 Opinions are always gonna be skewed and biased. I can't fault that, if he had fun, that's what matters. But in my opinion, Pokémon spin off games surpass the original on just the fact that I don't need caffeine or an eager girlfriend who knows I can get tons of money for fashion to stay awake through them.

[@LoganWH8]

the story is definitely NOT "bigger than ever" Gerard. the story is literally "go to the next gym, go to the next gym. go to the next gym. is something outside the gym challenge happening? let Leon handle it and get to the next gym." up until the last five percent of the story.

[@Shawnercaw]

@king of games and anime Not even just let Leon handle it, you don’t even get to see most interesting things happening outside of the gym challenges.

[@thomasmcmahan2631]

Yeah pokemon sword and shield was a lot more disappointing than I wanted it to be. I really was expecting more out of the game

[@pokemind7159]

Idk man Pokemon games aren't really known for story except gen 5, 7 and mystery dungeon

[@thomasmcmahan2631]

@High Definition But it's still less. It didnt even have an evil team. I guess it sort of makes sense from a realistic standpoint that leon tried to handle it on his own. But we literally had the whole plot of the game dumped on us right before the champion. It was the fastest I had ever beaten a champion in any pokemon game. I finished the game In like 19 hours. And that was taking my time. They really could do more especially with the updated engine on the switch.

[@Wildstar5267]

Ehh yea I think he really did brief research about the controversy, doesn't really play pokemon all that much, and praised sword and shield when other games have done what it tried to do much better, that he didn't even play.

[@confitao]

I completely disagree with the phrase "strongest single player experience", black & white 1 and 2 are easily better.

[@travelsizedlions]

B&W was awesome. It maturely dealt with real life ethical criticisms about the franchise in a well told story.

[@Ronnoc1235]

I felt the single player experience was the weakest in swsh

[@Galeigh]

BW 1 was trash. BW 2 was golden though

[@matthewoleary5844]

1 but not 2

[@matthewoleary5844]

Connor Anderson you think red and blue, gold and silver, ruby and sapphire and Xy were better looking back on them they were all lacklustre. FYI I love ruby and sapphire but the story sucks

[@garlicxlr]

"How cool would it be to explore that in the future games!?" You must be new here. It's GameFreak we're talking about!

[@purpledawn2727]

There were some stuff I liked in SWSH, but overall it was a very underwhelming experience. And I weren't hating on it beforehand. I went in with an open mind. I think it's very concerning when this series seems to get worse with every gen. Now, the national dex and graphics doesn't bother me at all, but the region and lore kind of sucked. Galar ended up really linear(in a bad way), and the story was pretty half assed. They should've either kept everything super vague like in gen 1 and 2 or just go all out like gen 5. SWSH just falls in this akward in between thing and it doesn't work that well. Galar looks pretty, but there's nothing to explore really. There's no difficulty getting anywhere nor is there any items or task you need to get/do before progressing which just makes everything boring and flat and you don't even have to think. The rival was boring too. He was better than Hau, but not by alot. My personal fave is still gen 2. It was so fun to explore. Stuff would happen on certain weekdays, that pokegear was a neat addition, and the johto just felt alot bigger than galar. Gen 2 also added kanto and 8 more gyms... can't believe they haven't done that since. Gen 2's rival is also a really good one. I mean, even lets go pikachu/eevee was a more enjoyable experience than SWSH to me. I've been playing pokemon since the very beginning, but I think I'm breaking up with it. Gamfreak has even more to prove after this game. SWSH is a heartless excuse for a pokemon game.

[@purpledawn2727]

@Austin Jones heh, pokébuddies! But it's good to see that I'm not alone. I feel like it's the little things with pokemon. Like getting that drink from the vendingmachine to give to the saffron guards, getting the squirtbottle to awaken sudovoodoo or just aquiring an HM. None of these tasks are difficult to do, but it made everything seem way more thought out and it made you explore areas and npc's that you normally wouldn't. I almost didn't talk to any npc's in this game, because why bother? And games like sun and moon had that awful "oh there's a tauros in the way! I guess we should go and do this unrelated thing before we can pass!" Like why is this even a thing? Just let people explore or add something like idk, HM moves? (Sun and moon technically had HM pokemon, but they were still just handed to you). I never thought I'd miss HM moves and key items this much, but here we are😂 I also miss roaming pokemon, bad guys that are actually bad, event pokemon that actually has some sort of ingame story, the game corner(!) and just letting me figure out stuff. Wasn't the whole mew/mewtwo story in gen 1 way more interesting because you had to snoop through those diaries?😊 in SWSH and S/M all that would've been spoonfed to us. I'm kind of given up the main series. I actually hope we're getting a "lets go gold/silver" game. That would've been awesome! How do we make that happen?😉

[@SuperSSSSooonniicccc]

@Austin Jones Yup. Because it gave utility purposes to pokemon. It's the reason Bidoof is so well known, because Bidoof and Bibarel happened to have access to most of the HM moves. They took that away, so now some people won't have these special connections. If these ride pokemon were in gen 3, Tropius wouldn't be as helpful. Just a weak pokemon with a neat design. They could have made a dedicated helper pokemon slot that wasn't in battles or something. But that slot occupancy made people hate HM moves.

[@aaronjames3228]

Your loss. Pokemon has been getting better. Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean you have to "break up with it."

[@aaronjames3228]

@Austin Jones that's fine, I still disagree with you. I like how quickly I got strong and I think doing away with hms is really useful. I do miss contests though. I admit it's not my favorite Pokemon game but it's another win for gamefreak in my opinion

[@CpnGame]

Thank you for summing up my thoughts. I didn't play it, but I went around watching videos and gathering opinions to avoid just being Francis from Super Paper Mario, and... this, basically. It was the same list everywhere I looked for opinions... Wild Area is mostly empty, story amounts to going from gym to gym, champion can be summed up with the words "unbeaten" and "Charizard", lamest villain we've had in ages, everyone else has so little personality they may as well not exist, models and animations are about the same as X/Y, online problems everywhere, Dyna/Gigamax weren't balanced at all, raids are a long grind, and the people defending it never seemed to have much to say past "It's Pokemon! I like Pokemon." or "It's kinda pretty". I found myself going from being angry about the missing Pokemon to being angry that I couldn't figure out where the time saved by cutting them went, and now that they're asking for another $30 dollars on top of the $60 they already got just for one more area... I just can't justify following the series anymore.

[@miguelrg0503]

What about the lack of dungeons and exploration of routes :/

[@vamtired]

Jirard: **is upset that bulbasaur isn't in sword and shield** Data miners: *THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE WRONG BUCKO*

[@Azardea]

The one thing that basically ruined this game was the lack of exploration. All the routes are incredibly linear outside of one small lake you can backtrack to. The dungeons can barely be called dungeons, they're just as linear as the routes if not more so. No real optional areas to find. No cool secrets (remember the Regi sidequest? Solving that without a guide was the absolute tits.) Nothing. "What about the wild area?" you might ask. Well, excuse me for not finding a large, open and mostly flat plain filled with Pokemon we've seen and caught several times already too exciting. And honestly, I think that looking at something from a completionist's point of view is terrible. You like having less content just so that you can be done with the game faster? Really?

[@DocDoesGamingTV]

Yeah, Galar is so linear I thought I was doing something wrong on my playthrough like "am I so blind I can't see the content?'

[@MrTeamFoolish]

I agree. I would have enjoyed my time more if I could get lost for a bit (or maybe a new area for post game). Not to mention, they literally called the two caves Galar Mine #1 and Galar Mine #2. They feel like place holder names can't belive it went into the final product.

[@Raichu159]

The wild area?

[@onijester56]

In defense of the "less content", let's put something in perspective. Jirard spent 305 hours of play-time in the endeavor for 400 Pokemon. Even accounting that's for both game, the result is over 150 hours of doing the same shit over and over and over again in a single game. THIS IS NOT JUST GETTING FROM START TO END OF A GAME. IT'S SPENDING WEEKS STRAIGHT EXPLORING EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY FOR EVERY DETAIL. And the end result of easily a couple dozen hours is 10 different Normal-type mice that barely differ by their names? A dozen stupid Flying/Normal birds that are interchangeable in almost every aspect? Capturing several dozen Milcery to evolve each one into a different form of Alcremie? ----- A game isn't necessarily improved by having more content when the content only just repeats shit that the player has already done countless times already. Being a completionist, or even just going for a semi-Completionist mindset of "Doing what I can", is an awareness and acknowledgement of this. ----- ----- Also, the Regi sidequest can, well I won't say it could "suck a dick" because the reward of three practically-guaranteed decent legendaries was ok, and it wasn't as horrible as Gen 2's "Random Encounter" post-game with the Legendary Dogs (though Kanto was a nice little exploration...and Red was a genuine challenge of skill). But...I think "sick a duck" is a fair sentiment for Gen 3: not quite sucking a dick, but not something good either. ----- ----- To the linearity, I did dislike the linearity of the main story. It makes sense, given that the Champion should be involved in such a thing...but it was kinda lackluster to just be shoo'd off to the next gym. What might have been good was a Dojo system, where you could beat a mini-gym that unlocked an offshoot area or expanded the Wild Area's accessibility. Then the Wild Area could have been a worthwhile post-game that actually felt significant as a reward...

[@SuperSSSSooonniicccc]

@@onijester56 The point of services like Pokemon Bank/Home is so you don't do that grinding. They assume people have some prior pokemon, transfer them in, them complete the remaining ones. Not grind it all out in a row like the Completionist...as a job. This does not reflect most gamers and thus divides the perspective. Also on a side note, ORAS did what Jirard said but better. Instead of a checklist approach like this game, ORAS incentives getting all the pokemon by each route. It shows you when new pokemon appear via rustling grass, so it doesn't waste your time. Got a certain pokemon already? How about a perfect IV stat or egg move as a reward for encountering that pokemon again? It went beyond just catching for catching's sake and finally pushed me to complete the pokedex. Yes there weren't as good level grinding mechanics, but still a better implementation. I had about 350 some hours...and got all the 720 pokemon outside of recent event pokemon at the time. Jirard's pushing his time as an excuse and it kind of feels disingenuous...along with saying he shiny hunted. Ya know, time wasting personified.

[@SchmergDergen]

Maybe if the quality of the game reflected the money the franchise makes all Pokémon fans could be pleased. Or we could just half ass it to crap out a new product before the holidays.

[@Openreality]

Or perhaps the biggest let down was its most counteracting point to the entire franchise, which was its internet requirement. Yeah you could turn off the internet, but it doesn't seem to alter anything whatsoever. Its become more and more clear as the generations of pokemon introduced new pokemon to the franchise, that gamefreak truly doesn't care about pokemon. I hope we get pokken 2 or something soon.

[@ElNeroDiablo]

or maybe if Nintendo & The Pokemon Company didn't hoover up like 95% of the money the franchise makes, leaving Gamefreak (and formerly Creatures Inc) the last 5% to try and subsist on to develop new games...

[@firstmategiddy]

@@ElNeroDiablo I get what you're saying but 5% of a billion dollar franchise is still millions.

[@moddedgeneration7374]

The problem is tho there is nothing that gamefreak can do to please all pokemon fans. One way or another people will say "the game is not good or this wasn't good" for the sake of just saying it wasn't good

[@cwega2463]

ModdedGeneration not really. They could just take more time and put more effort into their games to make them actually look like triple A games on the switch, as sword and shield look like they were up scaled 3DS games at best and HD ports of PS2 games at worst.

[@CinemaStix]

As a continuous player since gen II, I’m enjoying this game ..fine. But part of me thinks I could’ve just waited for this video to happen instead of getting it.

[@SoGoodContent]

The issue wasnt dexit, it was that they straight up lied about why they did dexit. They claimed animations were new and they straight up weren’t. It was a complete lie

[@Bryguy_Gaming]

No the issue was dexit

[@nofilterneito]

Brian Danback Not really, I am in this crowd. I feel that a lot of other people would not have complained as much if the excuse Masuda put out about better animations and graphics wasn’t found to be phony AF. So many people skipped out on 3DS so to them it’s disappointing to not have their favorite in but they were a casual enough player that they just wanted to play Pokemon.

[@MrGhosta5]

they should have just said that the cut pokemon don't live in the galar region.

[@Aquanex2]

It was the models he said were new, not the animations. There are a few new animations, (Like in Pokemon Camp; a lot of the battle move animations are new as well) but models were reused, which was still a lie.

[@realar]

Dexit was part of it, but it was the lying to their consumers also a lack of care in the construction of the game. It also was made worse by not giving us all the details of Home (which we have to wait for until NEXT YEAR >:( ), on top of that we have to wait for another game so we can use the ones not in Galar after frankly a very scant experience. Why won't they allow their games to have longevity I'll never know. There's absolutely no Mythical in this game which would add to the lore. There also is sadly no connection to Kalos which would be next door on the region map.

[@gamerkingdom1442]

(Edit: oh right! Technically, Bulbasaur is in the game. There’s about 30+ data locked Pokémon. I believe GF will release them eventually.) Sorry Jirard, it’s not worth the sacrifice. Look, I won’t say this isn’t a bad game, it’s at least good. It’s not Fallout 76 bad. But eliminating over 500 Pokémon, for all the sub level “improvements” on the game. Sigh..... Honestly, personally, I could have tolerated the decision if this game was amazing! If the game was at the level of Breath of the Wild was for Zelda! Hell, if it was at least 300 cut! It could have been incredible. But, it’s not. My only hope is, GF and Big N learned from this mess, and the next game truly is amazing. There’s nothing wrong to hope.

[@skyshepherd]

What they've learned is that they can get away with lowering their standards given that sword and shield are their best-selling games to date.

[@kalelrodriguez5685]

Not only that, but the story connected to it is barren and lifeless. You as a player are never part of all the crazy action that goes on, and are instead simply informed of it after the fact. Also Dynamaxing is just a win button with extra steps in most cases, even in competitive play if you know when to use it.

[@DocDoesGamingTV]

Pokémon Sword and Shield for me felt like "It's good, but where's the rest?"

[@Hikouma]

@@xboxswitch9457 Paying 20$ more for a game that has less content than the games before it sure is entitlement. Fuck off, dumbass.

[@DocDoesGamingTV]

Oh no, I posted an opinion on the internet, better start being toxic now

[@webalot]

@@xboxswitch9457 and you call us out for being toxic then throw out insults for someone telling facts

[@aaronjames3228]

How so? Seemed pretty complete to me.

[@BLourenco96]

@@aaronjames3228 I guess compared to older games it lacks a lot. SwSh has fairly barren story and post-game story, a plain old Battle Tower, camping and curry, then the Wild Area and raids. Whereas a game like HGSS had: - A story revolving around the return of Team Rocket where you got to infiltrate their secret hideout and clear them out of the Radio Tower. - A post-game that takes place in Kanto where you get to battle 8 more gym leaders and do a small questline to return power to the Power Plant. - A full Battle Frontier that included a Battle Tower plus 4 additional facilities each with their own unique rules. - The Pokeathelon, containing 10 different mini-games within 5 different courses that your Pokemon can compete in, and their performance is determined by their uniquely assigned performance stats that can be tweaked with Apricorn juice. Your Pokemon earn a medal for winning each course and your records are stored in special rooms to track your progression. - The Safari Zone returns and allows you to customize the 6 plots of land with different biomes and decorations after unlocking them. The different biomes contain different Pokemon, and the types of decorations you use further unlock more available Pokemon. - Follower Pokemon that you can interact with and take pictures. - Bug-catching Contest - Full dungeons to explore of varying difficulties like Sprout Tower, Dark Cave, Mt. Mortar, Ice Path, Mt. Silver, Whirl Islands, Bell Tower, etc. - GTS still existed as an easy and simple way to trade online, for free. - 493 Pokemon programmed into the game, 100% of the existing Pokemon at the time. - $40 game for the Nintendo DS, a handheld console that came out 15 years ago.

[@ordonlink259]

Jirard describing how we all felt when our favorite pokemon didn't make the cut.

[@nick-fil-a1297]

RIP my boy Oshawott

[@chendror872]

To quote a meme I saw: your favourite pokemon was replaces by a fucking apple

[@bradencosier80]

I’m genuinely surprised you thought the single player storyline was the best it’s ever been. I was SEVERELY disappointed by it. It’s like they completely forgot to even have a conflict until it was 2 weeks from shipping and they were like, “oh shit! We’d better just chuck in a few encounters with the villain here and there, make the champion deal with it so we don’t have to develop it, and then have an underdeveloped man hunt and tower climb right at the end to cap it off! What’s the threat? I dunno, something vague will do! Hopefully shoving Hop in the player’s face constantly will keep them distracted!” The only improvement over other games was the wild area, aside from that it was a very bland experience.

[@violentbobross155]

Braden Cosier yeah I just don’t know how he can say this story was good at all damn near all of it happens off screen until literally the very end

[@EvoBeDevo]

Well, he did mention that he generally has no experience with any of the non-gen 1 games. Coming in as a fresh pair of eyes, you don't see the flaws as much.

[@tripalink]

people HATED gen 5 because of the story and now it is recognized as one of if not THE best story

[@Gigachad-pp2np]

Hop was actually very different, losing to you actually impacts him unlike other rivals

[@rackel9574]

I mean what i will give sword and shield is up to the first 3 gyms, the story was pretty good and game wise, the gyms were great. Each gym had a different task that was unique, and as much as we like to shit on Hop being like "tYPE ADVANTAGES" The way they formated the first battle with him was great for new players. Take out Wooloo to level up, learn the typed move, be like "ok I'll use this move next" and then Hops speech will imply to the player "ooh, different types will do differing amounts of damage to each other." It just felt like ever since you crossed over the wild area, Game freak was like "oh shit the other half of the game-" and it was lazily sloppily slapped together.

[@buchiklop110]

Also, Jirard's notion that Sword & Shield have the strongest single-player campaign and most unique Gym Leaders in Pokémon is amusing since he hasn't played Black/White or Sun/Moon yet.

[@alexanderyarbrough-fowler7420]

It’s the second-strongest single player campaign.

[@Darksupernovae]

Cries in soul silver

[@Mystic-Aidan]

It’s second place. S/M is 3.

[@pickedceasar1216]

Some Random Guy I'd still say SwSh has more unique gym leaders than SM

[@skidaddle4642]

Sun and moon can burn in hell

[@rabidmeese]

"One of the strongest single player experiences in the series." Listen, I liked Sword and Shield. I was disappointed by it, but I generally thought it was a pretty decent game. I had more incentive to play this title over ones like X/Y, which I crawled through because I absolutely hated them. Sword and Shield did not have a good story, at least not for the player. Leon and Sonia probably had a pretty decent adventure. But the game just kept on saying "Oh hey cool stuff is happening go to the Gym and Leon will take care of it, while Sonia digs around and tries to uncover a mystery." Diamond and Pearl's initial launch was notorious for having one of the worst paced stories; but I'd honestly take those games over Sword and Shield. Basically the same amount of monsters to collect, but you actually get to do things in the story. There are dungeons and a general world to explore. And it didn't feel like they cut every corner possible.

[@ATNtalk]

The thing is story is not the whole single player experience. It really depends on what you're looking for in the game. For some people like Jirard and me the Gym Challenges and league alone makes the single player experience worth it, because imo it's the best in the series by a longshot and is whay i've always wanted it to be since i was a kid. Again it's a matter of preference so you can of course disagree, especially if you value the story in a pokemon game

[@SakuraAvalon]

Piranha Plant I just can't agree. While I enjoyed the game overall, I just found a lot of the Trainers, and Gym Leader's were... bad. Usually running 1 to 3 Pokemon at most. It was shocking seeing anyone who used 6. And outside of your rivals, until the final part which while a neat story concept, was just more signs the game was rushed(as they were now reusing the Gym Leaders, rather than making new characters, ie the Elite Four), no one used healing items. And if they did use a healing item, it was just once. I never really got a sense of tension in these battles, that I did in the old games. And it didn't help that all of the Gym Leaders(minus Piers), saved their Dynamax for last, so you always knew when it would happen. Not to mention the last few Gym Trials really scream 'we didn't have time to actually do something cool, so we're just gone to do the quickest, and easiest thing we can."

[@byronlyons3548]

That's kind of thing I never understand, when it came to the previous games. And part of what I liked about this game. The whole relation of adult characters in the games (like Gym Leaders), with the villains/bad guys. Where throughout most of it, only you, the newly 10 year old to early teen character, is the only one who deals or is capable of dealing with the threat of the land. All while the rest of the _responsible_ adults or older characters just sits there, doing nothing to them. There are some minor exceptions, such as Lance in Gold and Silver, or the Gym Leaders in Black and White. But still, it's been mostly up to you on dealing with them 90% of the time in them. Where as in this, you don't have to deal with the bad guys until near the end, because the Champion upholds the peace in the region, and does stuff. Even to the point he attempts on capturing an out of control Legendary. While yes, I do enjoy the stories those games had, and it's nice of how epic they are at times. But that doesn't leave room for them to just toss aside common sense, which Sword and Shield at least didn't do that. As that's a good way to put a damper on the story. So with that, the previous games aren't without flaws either, especially to their stories.

[@rabidmeese]

@@ATNtalk here's the thing with the story: it struck a perfect balance of being way to present and way to absent at the same time. It's been something the series has been doing since X/Y, but in this case they whiplashed you around. The game would stop you, say something just meaningless and vapid, and then go away until another meaningless and vapid scene. I'll just throw this out there: it's not a good story telling hook to tell us about the Darkest Day and make us wonder the mystery of the Sword and Shield heroes when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt going in that it's the Pokemon on the front of the box. Having Dynamax Pokemon randomly appear in Hammerlocke and having Leon go take care of it while you get pushed to the next gym is bad story telling. Instead of Sonia making me look at some hillside and wonder if it was carving if an ancient Dynamax Pokemon or some other throw away scene, we could have gone with Leon and perhaps gotten a glimpse of the Chairman using Eternatus, and figured out why he's so important to Dynamaxing. Or we could have found out why the Chairman was so strung up on solving an issue that wouldn't face the world for another 1,000 years TODAY. Pokemon has had hands off story. Gen 1 and 2 haven't aged the best, but they at least got out of your way. Gen 3-5 at least had the right balance of story and exploration. This game basically took the weird, nebulous goals of Team Aqua, Magma, and Galactic, rolled it into one, and then cut out the corresponding story beats where you encounter then, shut them down, raid their warehouse to foil their master plan. And it sucks because they did some awesome stuff with the story. Ya know what part I adored? Team Yell. It was refreshing that they weren't evil; they were just rowdy sports fans from a poor town trying to help out an under dog. The reason I like Pokemon games, and I repeatedly play them, is that I like the adventure. The world has always been doofy and dumb but it was at least pleasant to explore. X/Y was linear and boring, but the stuff about the ultimate war was interesting. Alola had a lot of similar issues but exploring the islands wasn't terrible. These games were linear, and even the wild area pales in comparison exploration wise to places like Mt. Silver, Mt. Coronet, or the large swath of Hoenns oceans. It was essentially Hyrule field with random weather every 10 feet.

[@ATNtalk]

@@SakuraAvalon that's fair, as most things are a matter of preference and opinion

[@Dedwagon]

well they could of just had a thing like the alola dex where you only needed the native pokemon to complete it.

[@mildtomfoolery5048]

They ALWAYS do that

[@onijester56]

I believe Gamefreak intended for that. In fact, I watched a KZbinr a few weeks ago hack into the game some Pokemon that were both totally removed (as in having no game data to recall) and partially-removed (as in the data exists in the game for them, but they are version-exclusive to as-yet-unreleased games). So, like, what a player could do is hack/illicitly-transfer a Bulbasaur onto their team, they could breed that hacked-Bulbasaur with a Ditto, and the egg will give them a 100% totally-legit Bulbasaur. Inversely, if someone moved their Deoxys or Rayquaza into the game with a similar hack, it will list the moves known and have actual data even for exclusive and removed moves...move name, base damage, accuracy, description, etc... but trying to use those moves gives an "Error" message. And trying to use this totally-removed Pokemon gives a default sprite inside of and outside of battle, with base-stats at I believe it was zero for everything except HP. ----- Since there's two different levels of "Cut Pokemon", this leaves me to believe that their focus was on porting and creating data for a Regional/Galar Dex. Whatever they decided to not be part of the Regional Dex had the bare minimum reference data (such as the Pokmeon's name, maybe a description) but nothing like sprites or stats. Meanwhile, what remained in the game was the portion of the Regional Dex they were able to complete...with excluded-but-still-present Pokemon like Bulbasaur maybe have things they couldn't finish in time (like programming moves correctly or completing things for their evolutions). Otherwise, there would be no reason a player could hijack into their Sword/Shield a Bulbasaur that functions nearly-perfectly but isn't within the game....while a Pokemon like (random Pokemon...uh Psyduck? Yeah), while a Pokemon like Psyduck might not even be affected by type match-ups because it doesn't have a programmed type...

[@Cherrytangela]

"See this guy who everyone loves, and is the strongest trainer in the world?" I don't think Cynthia is a Guy.

[@chendror872]

Exactly 😂

[@AnyThingWorx]

But Cynthia's ass.

[@shash._.]

@@AnyThingWorx is massive 👀

[@AnyThingWorx]

@@shash._. I mean true lmfao

[@MerkhVision]

...he was obviously referring to Leon

[@TheSchnieder6]

Filling the Dex is the easiest it's ever been. They've also cut out half the pokemon. The data is there. The pokemon animations were not improved enough to be used as a justification. Neither are the other excuses given. Balance issues, self-made problem. Cutting pokemon and moves to balance a series that has virtually zero power-creep. Could've solved the "problem" with using the same list of cut pokemon as a list of banned pokemon instead. Have them in the game, but you can't use them in certain "high-rank" game modes. They're going to make more games on the Switch but have decided to never have the entire Dex in one game again. Asinine. Dynamax is dumb, it's a wast of a mechanic and adds to the bloat that GF wanted to cut back, with the cut pokemon. They didn't bring back Megas or Z-moves. Megas lasted 2 generations and 4 releases(X/Y, OR/AS, S/M, US/UM), Z-moves 1 gen and 2 releases. How long until the new gimmick? The story is whatever. It's pokemon. Every gen is more anime than the last. 5/10 In some aspects it's great, in many others it's the bare minimum.

[@ChristopherMoom]

I'd cut every Pokémon instead of half of them just for Ball Guy honestly

[@SlimJimGod]

@Tom The Fish triggered

[@ArtsyJet]

@Tom The Fish You know they're joking right...? People can't sense a joke these days...

[@thatonestarmanintorobotics4319]

@@ArtsyJet Well, he said that Super Paper Mario was shit, sooooooo...

[@ArtsyJet]

@@thatonestarmanintorobotics4319 Didn't even see that, must've deleted that comment.

[@thatonestarmanintorobotics4319]

@Tom The Fish And why, exactly?

[@LagoonKnight]

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." - Shigeru Miyamoto

[@DjPrimeVideos]

Tell that to Mighty no 9, sonic forces, duke nukem forever

[@dylqn55]

@@DjPrimeVideos 2 of those 3 were delayed though

[@MsLucho1998]

@@dylqn55 and that's the point, all of the are bad.

[@PotatoToon]

@High Definition Thing is, Gamefreak doesn't do updates.

[@benlohmer5703]

I hear you, but OG battlefront 2 tho

[@MrFuffy-wz8nh]

finally, somebody recognizes the best pokemon, BULBASUR

[@navelwarfare3247]

If you have a bulbasaur in your heart, you should see a doctor. Can't be healthy to have such a bulby boi in there.

[@gio9255]

I saw Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness on your shelf and therefore you are obligated to complete it in the future. I will bring up XD from now on in your future videos. If you thought completing currys are a challenge, wait until you have to complete the Orre Colosseum in its entirety. Merry Christmas Jirard and Happy New Year. I can't wait to see more completed games in 2020. PS: A leaker confirmed that 30+ Pokemon are coming to Sword and Shield in the future. Bulbasaur and Squirtle are among them and have gotten some amazing buffs that will make them completely different Pokemon in use.

[@granthse]

Hes gota do colosseum first tho lol. Both would be great, they are both better than these games

[@aeroblaze4]

If megas ever return, Blastoise is going straight to ubers with the shell smash set

[@hogoototwilightian628]

I concur. You will be tested with the limited amount of tools you are given in that game. Plus, XD is way better than Sword and Shield. (You actually do shit and not let people like Leon taking all the glory.)

[@davidarcher2717]

On the topic of Dexit: I feel that perhaps, if Gamefreak was so concerned about animating all 900 something pokemon (Which we know they lied about, but it was their reason for not including all of them), then maybe its time to stop adding more. Yea its cool to see new little fuzzy friends being added to the roster, but *gameplay* wise, the world of pokemon has remained largely the same. I believe that its time to change that. Instead of adding another ~200 (plus or minus) to the roster next generation, add the ones that were taken out, write a kickass story, take some of the positives of Sword and Shield (Because there certainly are some), refine them and expand. I love pokemon and I want to see more of the world. Instead of adding more pokemon (Since again, they claimed this was a major reason why they cut some), add more of the world itself, not the monster. Take a step back and do some world building. Not pokemon building.

[@flatkitten1831]

John Doe you don’t add new ones then it’s basically not a new game just a new “story”

[@matthewoleary5844]

I disagree putting together of Pokémon you’ve never seen before and building new connections is what makes the experience of Pokémon Pokémon

[@Thund3rDrag0n12]

Joshua Paul I mean... a new game is supposed to be a new story. A different perspective and series of events using the same materials. Games do it literally all the time and it’s not a bad thing

[@jico5147]

That would be boring not seeing new pokemon

[@keithmichael112]

I get the feeling they just don't want to make this game any more - they seemed more excited about that other game(Little Big Town?)

[@devilishjester7718]

Pokemon sw&sh controversy summed up: we've been lied to, we've been deceived and we have possibly even been bamboozled

[@ninjamoncaudle5320]

Haha! RvB reference XD

[@nextgenconsul6572]

Watch out, personal opinion here: The reason Dexit was so controversial isn't directly because it cut a bunch of pokemon people like; it's because pokemon has very rarely added features that continue to BE features in subsequent games. The only things that have been consistently included across all gens from their introduction have been: -New Pokemon -New Types (Steel, Dark, and Fairy) -New Pokemon Traits (shinies, moves split between physical and special, abilities, design variants based on gender/environment/etc.) Compare this to so many of the features that have been removed in subsequent generations: -Battle types (triple battle, rotation battle, horde battle, 4-way battle, beauty pageants, movie battles) -Power-ups and Moves (Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves) -Environmental factors (seasons, weather, berry growing, honey trees, underground exploration, diving, secret bases) I think a very real concern is that for so long, being able to "catch 'em all" (even if you had to transfer them over from previous games) was one of the few dependable mechanics that reliably came back in each game. Removing that stability would be bad even in the best possible case, never mind what Gamefreak actually did, which was claim it was a trade off for graphical improvements (that don't seem to be very, er... evident?). Then you add in the aforementioned "where's [my favorite pokemon]?" and people get, perhaps somewhat rightfully, irate. I can say honestly that I have no plans to buy Sword or Shield new; I don't think the product delivered is worth it, and I don't want to reward a bad product with a purchase. I don't doubt it's fun, and I do want to play it eventually, but for this level of quality? I can wait.

[@blueaqua2122]

Exactly. I may buy it, but I'll buy it second-hand for like, $20, if I can find it for that price.

[@sharktenko267]

1: most of the battle types were hardly ever played 2: they didnt take out z moves or megas but they instead combined them into one 3:the graphics were improved all around on top of that most pokemon do have new animation, and allot of moves have new animations

[@rod5474]

@@sharktenko267 no

[@salisburybavo]

@@sharktenko267 big no

[@sharktenko267]

@@polocatfan yeah they did

[@SchmergDergen]

Maybe those fans would be less pissed about the Dex cut if they didn’t LIE about what they were doing, (animations) putting more attention on animations that aren’t as eye catching as ones from 20 years ago on the N64. Game Freak’s PR team should be fired at the very least.

[@dylqn55]

They did not lie, they just didn't go as far as people expected

[@SchmergDergen]

Dylqn55 they said they had to sacrifice Pokémon for animations... maybe they were for Pokémon Camp animations but that doesn’t justify it. The attack animations were flat for the most part.

[@jabariwiththebois5765]

@@dylqn55 Yes they lied. They Said they were making models from scratch for Sw/Sh but they are re-used from the 3DS

[@dylqn55]

@@jabariwiththebois5765 I don't recall that ever being said. If it actually was said, are you sure they were talking about remaking models for the old pokemon and not the 100+ models of new pokemon/gigas?

[@rarefishtycoon6430]

How do you remake new things

[@Sundiny]

Merry Christmas Jirard and team And merry Christmas to the comment section as well

[@99Mysteries]

Merry Christmas!

[@carolinaremley1377]

There were so many times where I could make my team stronger by switching out Pokémon but I didn’t have the heart to drop Pokémon I had since the beginning.

[@paulydoregon]

2:00 this is incorrect. when ruby/sapphire came out it was not possible to transfer any pokemon from gen 2. so you had to wait for more future games, or get pokemon needed from spin-offs

[@superdario2425]

Vlad Tepes and Firered/Leafgreen.

[@paulydoregon]

@@superdario2425 yea i know, they would be under the category of future games, since they came out after ruby/sapphire

[@frankiecedeno3724]

Oh, so that’s why Jirard thinks this is a great game and story. He hasn’t played Black and White yet. The best generation so far.

[@MsLucho1998]

Black and White 2 were the shit, my favourite by far.

[@chironthecuddley6144]

The original BW were kinda bad story-wise for me, but that's just because I noticed team Plasma were hypocrites when you first engage them and that took me out of the story. Emerald/Platinum were my favorite games story wise.

[@Azardea]

@@chironthecuddley6144 Well, that was kinda the point. They want to force everyone to release their Pokemon so that they're the only ones left, and basically have all the power. (also Velouria is cute. >_>)

[@luxmar1]

GenIV and GenV are the best

[@jothki]

It's interesting that in BW2, the few remaining idealists kept using the uniform, while the criminals changed theirs.

[@SchmergDergen]

The Dex isn’t the only thing in this game that makes it not worth it. I can’t call this a triple A game with a straight face.

[@mintcey]

"The first pokemon game where I actually want to see what happens to our characters next" *cough* Black and White *cough*

[@buchiklop110]

He's only played Gens 1-3 and Let's Go. It actually makes this video amusing because a lot of the stuff he raves about was done better in Gens 5-7.

[@13KuriMaster]

He hasen't gotten to them yet.

[@Slewiwe]

ǝɔʇuᴉW peak Pokémon story and art work

[@pickedceasar1216]

Some Random Guy I think you mean just 5&7 cause 6 was straight doodoo

[@Slewiwe]

PickedCeasar121 was more talking about five and five two

[@araknair9605]

>the curry dex is time wasting >actually does ev's and iv's for his shiny mons

[@chendror872]

"If you waste time doing something you love it's not a wasted time "

[@jordantatata155]

If ya don't iv or ev your pokemon or give them a good nature ya won't do anything in competitive pokemon

[@waywardlaser]

I gave this one a chance and I was still underwhelmed. Pokemon has so much potential and Game Freak continues to squander it.

[@Dr.Spatula]

Doesn't help that everyone will buy anything they release regardless of how garbage it may be

[@FlyboyEz3]

@@Dr.Spatula agreed. They keep ditching winning mechanics and adding unnecessary power creep. This gen, it went way too far... The hardcore fan base is not trusting their IP anymore, and the casuals will begin to jump ship too, with any hope.

[@Bornagainvillain]

@@FlyboyEz3 and that will not happen. Most fans are satisfied with this game. It doesn't matter what GF does, the fans will complain if it's not the 20 region, open world crock of feces they think will be a good game.

[@JameyMcQueen]

@@FlyboyEz3 If the hardcore fans jump ship, then they're not hardcore fans. It's like saying "I love The Completionist", but not being subscribed to the channel.

[@ChichiNaka]

I hate how so many game 'journalists' reviews mentioned "I finished the campaign in 15-20 hours and didn't even notice the national dex drama' it's such a fundemental misunderstanding of how any of it works let alone why anyone had a problem with it. I don't personally care about the national dex I'm just sad a franchise I've loved for 20+ years has the creative output and innovation of a leather boot, I understand they're basically a merch company at this point but why wouldn't you want the game to have a lifespan longer than 15-20 hours for most players, the second games in the series (Gold/Silver) had more changes and innovation than the last 15 years combined

[@mariopkmnzelda]

I currently have 150 hours in Pokemon Sword, in what world is this only 15-20 hours? Breeding, competitive battling, shiny hunting, heck even just catching them all take up dozens of hours.

[@ChichiNaka]

@@mariopkmnzelda That could be said for any pokemon game past the original two, also I said "for most players" do you honestly think even 10% of the playerbase touches breeding/cpmpetitive battling or even something as simple as 'catching them all' which hasn't been a tag line for the series since 2002

[@mariopkmnzelda]

@@ChichiNaka Yeah so what? That doesn't negate the fact that it's present in this game still. And name one thing in the previous games that kept "most players" busy for hundreds of hours. Cause aside from the things I mentioned, no Pokemon game is that much longer than maybe 20-30 hours at most.

[@dustymarie53]

@@mariopkmnzelda replayability. Catching all the Pokemon, the battle frontier, tree, Maison, train, etc. All of which are more extensive then the tower in SWSH. Other parts in routes and dungeons to explore which SWSH doesn't have much side areas and basically 0 dungeons. There were the Amie mini games, which were fun. There were contests. Trainer rematches. These are just some examples of things other games had that made the experience longer and more substantial then SWSH

[@muticere]

Downvoted for stupidity.

[@ExpertDual]

Gamefreaklied was the original leak FuckYouGamefreak is Japan exclusive hashtag, when they found out ThankYouGamefreak was USA exclusive hashtag to combat the toxicity thats the pokemon lore

[@ExpertDual]

My friend completed this game 3-4 days into it lmao His whole team was cut and the only one that got in was nerfed aka aegislash

[@MsLucho1998]

"Combat toxicity" what a load of bull. It's amazing how people hate negativity.

[@queentsareena1768]

@@MsLucho1998 It's also funny how no one with the ThankYouGamefreak hashtag even mentioned Little Town Hero or their other games like Drill Dozer. It felt like they were just trying to damage control.

[@jamescanjuggle]

@@MsLucho1998 positivity and negativity both have their place in the world, sadly cancel culture is trying to change the game

[@darkmoon2503]

SmashBrosFan3827 I don't think a lot of the people using the hashtag even knew why it started. A lot of people I saw were thanking them for Gen 1 or 2, but hadn't played a game since. Others were posting about their time with games Gamefreak didn't even make, like Stadium and Mystery Dungeon.

[@Zelkiiro]

My biggest problem with the main story was that it was clearly setting up a Doctor Faustus-style narrative--Rose makes a pact with Eternatus for Galar's endless energy and enlists Bede to help him gather Wishing Stars to appease it, but he can't keep up with Eternatus' demands, and so it goes on a rampage and enlists Leon (and you) to help fix his mistakes--but NOPE! He's just an idiot who pushes the Apocalypse Button because...reasons. 30 hours of build-up and character development, balled up and thrown in the trash with the writer shouting an exasperated, "Fuck it! He does the bad thing! Now go fight him!"

[@zigslotheon]

Zelkiiro they outright fucking say that he was paranoid as crap about the future of Galar. He jumped the gun. Can’t get more blatantly obvious than that!

[@greenhat8978]

I actually like your version of the story better. If you write a fanfic I'll gladly read it

[@SakuraAvalon]

And now the signs of a rushed game begin to stick out. Sword and Shield had to meet a deadline, and the game suffered for it. And I'm afraid, with GameFreak's insistence on a yearly release, while also keeping their team small, the games will just become more and more rushed.

[@byronlyons3548]

It's honestly no different than Maxie and Archie in that aspect though. Because they do the same thing, and think the Legendaries are automatically in their control and they can do whatever... just because. And their justifiable reason is "I want save Pokemon! By killing Pokemon!" It's just stupid, to the point it stops being funny levels of stupid.

[@byronlyons3548]

@@SakuraAvalon It's not Game Freak though, it's the Pokemon Company, because of the show and merch.

[@dennisvillamor2806]

"Why is the Champion the best?" It's because he has Charizard, duh.

[@ManinTidyWhities]

When you realize the Pokémon games are overglorified advertisements for their merch

[@42Caio]

It wasn't always like this. This shift started in 2013 but everything went to hell after Pokémon Go.

[@ians_parks]

@@preparefordededestruction2661 the pokemon company*

[@fredinred3226]

all i wanted from the game was a more fleshed out story and better bad team :-/

[@nofilterneito]

Fredinred if you missed out on Pokemon Black and White check that out.

[@TheFirstTriplefife]

"Idiotic beta Cuckuna." Oh man. That was gold. Made me giggle.

[@slavkei]

omg I missed that he was saying Cuckuna, I didn't get it until you spelled it out.

[@DaermaeonBranKor]

Thank you for catching that!

[@TheFirstTriplefife]

@@slavkei It was good word play.

[@TheFirstTriplefife]

@@DaermaeonBranKor No problem. Well you know how it goes. Got to catch'em all, all these puns at least.

[@slavkei]

@@TheFirstTriplefife I know I hate having not caught it. XD

[@realpatriot1769]

I think the fact that you're a genwunner has absolutely colored your expectations and impression of SWSH for the worst. Like, SERIOUSLY. Play HGSS and BW2 if you want to see the potential the pokemon series had, and understand our disappointment.

[@chendror872]

If he was a genwunner he wouldn't have played any of the other gens

[@Rickyplaysgames]

@@chendror872 thats dumb, im a gen oner and have played all of them... since gen one. i agree with him that sw and sh are flawed but still very good games.

[@chendror872]

@@Rickyplaysgames a genwunner isn't just someone who's favorite gen is gen 1 it's someone who doesn't except any game past gen 1

[@MerkhVision]

Chen Dror thats exactly why OP is suggesting he play those other gens they mentioned! Did u miss half the comment somehow? Ur reply is redundant lol

[@MerkhVision]

Dont u mean his inexperience with those game’s colored his experience for the better? Him sharing your disappointment would make his impression worse, not better lol

[@sebastiantrost6409]

I had fun with sword, but it repeats the same problems prior games had: *The game is too easy. Most battles are won without paying attention. *I still can't choose an adult trainer in a series whose veterans are adults. *Every single time you do something, somebody comes to pick you up and lead you somewhere. Dexit was expected to happen at some point, but they cut many signiture critters like starters as well as some classic competitive choices. But the worst part is having been paying for Bank! If you cut half my collection, at least give me something for it in exchange. Kids are not stupid and many actually rise to a challenge. This game doesnt need to be easy! The wild area at least offers strong pokemon to fight. DMAX is ok. The 3 turn limit is good, but the attacks get repetitive fast. And they change the usage of choice items - we'll see wether this is good or unbalanced.

[@GamerFromJump]

I really want a game where you can choose between kid, teen, and adult at the start, along with your appearance. I’d also like a setting for newb or veteran. Veteran would only explain stuff new to the game. As long as I’m wishing, I’d like a New Game Plus that let you keep your items and Pokémon. Maybe it’s a new season and you’re off to play through the league and defend your Championship.

[@blad...]

Kids are stupid. Although some can ride to the challenge.

[@joeschof_95]

The “time it would take to catch them” argument is redundant, you never catch them all in one game, but you have the option to transfer them from previous games, an option this game just doesn’t give you

[@Tienko]

Exactly!!!!

[@TheSchnieder6]

Dexit is such fucking horseshit. Not one of the excuses holds any water. If they would've just come out and said that they didn't have enough time to do it that would've been the end of it. But instead they piss on our heads and tell us it's rain. When we ask why it's yellow they tell us we're being showered in gold. And expect us to say "A golden shower? I've heard of those before, but I can't remember where. Is it a Japanese thing?"

[@PomuLeafEveryday]

It’s kinda cheating to just transfer the Pokémon that exist within the game. Even so, completing the Pokédex by transferring Pokémon over would still take fucking forever. At least catching Pokémon is fun, transferring Pokémon is just a chore. I can see why Jirard is relieved by it. The Pokémon being cut is a shame, it really is. But from the Completionist’s point of view, yeah makes sense.

[@joeschof_95]

why is it cheating? Like I said you’ve never been able to catch all the Pokémon in one game anyway they’ve always had a national and a regional dex and if you’ve spent 20 years collecting all of the Pokémon and are a long time fan why shouldn’t you be rewarded for that

[@PomuLeafEveryday]

joe Schof I mean as a completionist, doing a completionist challenge. You should really challenge yourself to try and catch it if it exists within the game. It’s fun tracking down where different Pokémon exist within the region, it’s like being a tracker finding the animal’s natural habitat. Otherwise, yeah, it’s fine to just transfer Pokémon over.

[@M567dk]

I am a bit annoyed that we were lied to about the overall graphics within this new Pokemon game. That and no one wants to do 151 curry recipes. Also I am also surprised and upset over the many cut Pokemon in these games. I mean half cut Pokemon in this game ?!? Honestly I am glad that I am saving my money on this.

[@plotakma]

I Just wanted to say that I just found your Channel through persona 5, and I really love your Energy. You come across very happy to do what you do and your videos are always fun to watch :D

[@SilverMillsy]

You completely missed the point of Dexit. I don't want to catch all 900 odd pokemon either! I want to be able to bring the ones I ALREADY HAVE over to the new game! Not at the beginning, sure, but once I've completed the main story? I want to play with MY pokemon, that I've ALREADY invested tons of hours into.

[@dankyleg4933]

The models werent changed ag all, jirard. The reason people were mad at them wasnt because they couldnt add all pokemon, but because they lied about why

[@aaronlaughter6471]

Finally, someone understands why people where mad, you have my respect man.

[@Philip027]

>observes the seething hatred for curry >notes the overlooking of the fact that each curry technically has to be made 3 times for small/medium/large sizes for true currydex completion >:)

[@ReddFiveOhOh]

don't forget getting Charizard quality at least once! for some reason i really love the curry stuff, maybe because it reminds me of the Pokeblock and Poffin mixing from Gens 3 and 4 and I loved just doing that over and over

[@Philip027]

The curry stirring really felt like a subtle nod to Poffin making; that combined with Poffins being released in Pokemon Go really has me feeling like there is something to the gen 4 remake rumors

[@MrGhosta5]

actually only twice as the medium sized curry you cook for yourself is added to the curry dex along with the small/large curry you cook for your lead pokemon.

[@brony4869]

he also ovelooked all of the alcremie forms

[@ReddFiveOhOh]

@@brony4869 that's fair because apparently 2 sweets are just not obtainable at this time

[@alexmammoth2916]

"2020's gonna be crazy." I found who to blame!

[@le.banana]

Actually, Bulbasaur is one of the twenty-something Pokémon that isn't capturable, but still is obtainable trough Pokémon Home. Guess your Bulba-buddy survived the snap

[@infinitygames9317]

The Scott Lang of this generation?

[@Mystic-Aidan]

Really? I thought he was only a few scraps in the code

[@le.banana]

@@Mystic-Aidan It's been proven to be completely useable, along with the Squirtle line, the Alolan starters and box legendaries, the Unova box legendaries, The Swords of Justice, and last but not least: Mewtwo. (I probably forgot some)

[@Miisee]

Don't you mean.....POKÉMON SNAP? .....I'll see myself out...

[@ArcadianLegend]

The Bulba and Squirtle lines, the Alola starters, various legends and mythical like Mewtwo, the tao trio, (including black/white kyurem) Zeraora,the light trio (including Dusk and and Dawn Wings but no Ultra) plus more are fully in the game. The scraps of code you're thinking of is likely every other Pokemon.

[@QuadraCh]

I like pokemon sword and shield a lot but, i also think it was not worth the sacrifices.

[@harveycustodio2625]

A lot of people... Those that aren't angry about dexit Some people feel and think that Sword and Shield are originally for the 3ds and had to change to the Switch... Though it's a rumor.

[@QuadraCh]

Harvey Custodio That would make a lot of sense

[@TheJoelMH]

Harvey Custodio 3ds to mobile and then to switch. The head of the pokemon company thought the switch would flop. The games weren’t finished. They released an unfinished beta to come out in time for the anime and merch.

[@ASquared544]

"A lot" is an understatement. I kid you not when I say all but maybe 2 models were cut & pasted from the 3ds games into Sword & Shield, & all that was changed were a couple dozen polygons.

[@BroZilla-vh3tu]

ASquared I don’t care about that, the game is still great

[@ivanpabon2741]

@@BroZilla-vh3tu and what that means is that it doesn't matter if you half ass it or not. People will still buy your games.

[@gokuss9999]

“The gym battles were an EVENT!” Me (who used Dracovish): umm yeah

[@dafroakie9984]

Well I mean he's in there, but you can't get Bulbasaur till there's some kind of event or you can transfer him in after Pokemon Home launches.

[@bernardoberruga5946]

Grenji that’s not true.

[@Bubbabyte99]

@@bernardoberruga5946 Yes it is. Look it up.

[@kaioken301]

My complaint about Pokemon games, for many years now, is that with every generation the games somehow get easier and easier. That, and the fact that the graphics and overall presentation of the game(particularly battles) have hardly progressed since the debut of the DS all those years ago.

[@PomuLeafEveryday]

Kaio Ken What do you mean? The battles have changed a lot. Gen 5 introduced a moving camera focusing on different sprites, so the screen wasn’t so static. Gen 6 and the move to 3D added a 3D moving camera. Now with Gen 8 SwSh, the other trainer is visible constantly, like everybody is part of the battle. Gym battles transition from cutscene to battle seamlessly! I’m not sure what you want out of it. You’re right on how easy the games have become though, that’s disappointing.

[@kaioken301]

@@PomuLeafEveryday The battle presentation in Pokemon Colloseum was the best I've seen in the series.

[@provence8917]

I wished they made the EXP-"Multiplier" optional. It's a really good addition in XY (fugg these games btw.) and USUM but the fact it was always turned on means that the games has to be played without a core team. I was always lacking behind in levels because I trained 12 or more Pokémon at any given point in the game but if you stick to a core team of 6 Pokémon it's super easy. If you don't, then it has a very interesting difficulty curve, much better than in the previous games. I feel this gets overlooked very often: This game isn't easier per se, however you can't stick to only 6 Pokémon. The game is much more accessible because of the box that'S always available but it'd be a much better game if the EXP-Multiplier wasn't mandatory. For me, it's one of the better games because you can train multiple Pokémon without any pain but the games pretty much forces you to play in a certain way and while it doesn't affect me, I can fully understsnd why people may find that unappealing.

[@kaioken301]

@@provence8917 You make a valid point. Exp.Share working for the entire party cheapened the experience for me, because while my main party could be pretty highly leveled pretty quickly, it was more fun and a bit more of a challenge to have to manage each Pokemon individually in preparation for upcoming battles. In a more traditional turn based rpg, everyone receiving equal amounts of exp is perfectly fine. But in Pokemon it was fine as it was when Exp.Share affected only one other Pokemon on your team.

[@vengeflyking2722]

Provence This game makes exp grinding easier than ever but it’s balanced assuming you use said exp share. It took me 30 minutes to get my starter to lv 50 when first entering the wild area. Max Raid candies are more than enough for casual players that have trouble with rpgs... People that say Pokemon had ever been difficult are simply misremembering the times before they understood the system of RPGS. I played the gen 1 and gen 2 OGs and they weren’t hard, just slightly janky or unbalanced with the gym battles. I wouldn’t say they are harder with SwSh. At least not the battles, only the maze puzzles.

[@tessbolick6605]

Short answer: no. Long answer: depends on what you like Pokemon for. I'm glad that there are people like you who are still optimistic, I guess, but every time I look at the new stuff I just feel sad. Almost all of my favorites got cut, and while they'll hopefully show up eventually (bear in mind how long it takes to get new generations of games, and the chance that we'll have galar Pokemon to deal with too... It could be 4 or more years), I'll probably never be able to make a team with my six main favorites ever again. And that right there just bums me out.

[@devastatheseeker9967]

"Improving animations" lmao

[@megasnowey7177]

You point out double kick I point out pyroball

[@devastatheseeker9967]

@@megasnowey7177 you point out pyroball I point out tackle, nuzzle, tail whip, flamethrower etc.

[@megasnowey7177]

@@devastatheseeker9967 I was making a joke about the back and forth of the community, not trying to make an argument

[@devastatheseeker9967]

@@megasnowey7177 tone doesn't really tend to translate in text

[@megasnowey7177]

@@devastatheseeker9967 wow congrats I dont give a crap

[@mesadrums375]

No offence, but even though it “felt” easier to catch all the Pokémon cause there’s less, the reality is the wild area and xp candies made everything a million times easier. I don’t disagree with the dex cut, but the story and post game were so poor and rushed through that for once I felt like I could catch them all, and once I did I still felt like doing more, cause that’s literally all that there really is to do. They made all Pokémon a lot more accessible, I didn’t need to trade anyone for my machamps and gengars, but yet the post game felt less than 30 minutes long. There really was no excuse besides they didn’t want to do it so they could meet the deadline they set and couldn’t meet cause they were working on some next game that they could receive 100% profit from. It’s been all around agreed that the game isn’t lazy, it’s still Pokémon. But it’s very rushed, which is sad cause usually they’re games are very nicely polished with a few gameplay details that are usually chalked up to tradition. I’ve played every single Pokémon game, all the mystery dungeons, side games, pinballs and rangers, and all mainline games, I love Pokémon but I will give them no excuses on this one. But I strangely agree with how addictive this game is, even more than others. The dens and shiny hunting feels as fun as ever and for the first time it feels really accessible to everyone for the competitive mode, and I actually have been trying online battles now. The blueprints for the best Pokémon game is there, but the design is executed horribly. If they carry over the good aspects from this to the diamond and pearl remakes (we all know they’re coming), they really could be some of the best Pokémon games ever. The game has a lot of good stuff and a lot of problems. The also series needs a heavy facelift, and I’ll never stop loving them, but I’m not alone in thinking that they’re not 60$ AAA games, and I just won’t pay for that. I hope this game helps them get back on their feet and help them finally evolve, but it’s unlikely with how much money they made.

[@kristinacollins3749]

Thank you for this. You were critical where you needed to be without being overwhelmingly negative, and also acknowledged all the things it also does right. You made it ok to say "yeah I enjoyed this" in the middle of a rabid fan storm, and we appreciate you for it.

[@AstralKat]

Idea for pokemon sword and shield sequel. Your character from the original retired and went to explore another region. So raihan steps up as the champion. Leon now has matured and becomes the pokemon professor. Sonia is a well respected author. Marnie now runs the dark type gym. Bede is now the fairy type gym leader. Rose now sees the error of his ways and attempts to contain rouge dynamax pokemon through out the region. More pokemon from other regions return and more galarian forms are discovered by the ex professor magnolia and you are the a new trainer in the gym challenge. Through out the game people tell the tale of the second darkest day. And how the old protagonist stopped it. There's a new evil team who idolized roses old ideas that the darkest day would help the future of galar and through out the game are actually seen doing evil deeds. The gym leaders have grown and changed their teams to accommodate the new pokemon as well.

[@TheMS991]

I would like to see that. Seems cool to me. Maybe Oleana (was that her name?) could be the evil team leader, seeing how much she wants to help him out.

[@AstralKat]

@@TheMS991 that's actually really clever

[@TheMS991]

@@AstralKat That's where I thought they were going, and then Rose did it. So, I'm kinda disappointed. Still enjoyed myself playing mind.

[@AstralKat]

@@TheMS991 yea I agree. Still a fun game tho

[@joeyteter9383]

“Time to grab my ol pal Bulbasaur and complete Sword and Shield” Oh no, poor Completionist

[@yveshku5583]

Honestly, Sword and Shield I would say is average among mainseries games. Not bad, but not great. The rivals are among the better ones. Would say mega and z-moves better, but the gym battles are definitely portrayed better. Still very handholdy, but a couple points can be skipped. Champion and gym leaders are great as well. Team yell, iffy, but good. Dex cut, not fond of, mainly as Switch is better hardware. Call me old fashioned, but I liked having to go back to the pokemon center to swap the team up. Raid battles, are good given dynamax. Wild area, iffy, but great. Sorry, but screw currydex. Camp is good, but screw currydex.

[@gabrieldelarosa8187]

I would say is bellow avarage, something you can have fun with but not say it's good

[@agentbuddy5786]

Gabriel de la Rosa But it’s not bad either I spent over 100 hours on I’m legit addicted which I can’t say i had in long time (which was gen 5) I would say the game is mediocre

[@JDoodlii]

Camp is kinda underwhelming for me. At least let me pet my pokemon instead of having me shake a feather and watch them cycle through the same attack animation

[@yveshku5583]

@@JDoodlii Said it was good. Never said I'd take it over Amie or Refresh.

[@JDoodlii]

@@yveshku5583 I was just stating my opinion. No need to get defensive

[@Mystic-Aidan]

Fun fact: Bulbasuar IS in the game. However, it’s only some sparartic coding. He’s not catchable or useable, or even able to be hacked in. There’s a good chance we’ll be getting Bulba in an update/sequel/sinnoh remake.

[@theultimatewaluigi4594]

Game Freak said the pokemon that are in the code will be able to be transfered when pokemon home comes out

[@Mystic-Aidan]

The Ultimate Waluigi Niiiiice. Good to know! I thought it was just a bit of misc. code in there.

[@stoodmuffinpersonal3144]

I hope I get to see that and Squitle. He was my forst Poke Child

[@wispthevulpix7857]

@@stoodmuffinpersonal3144 Squirte is in the code as well! Other than that, there's Mewtwo, a few Unova legendaries and mythicals, including Keldeo, the Sun and Moon starters, Solgaleo and Lunala (along with their pre-evolutions), Necrozma, Magearna and Zeroara. I might be missing one or two, but I think that's pretty accurate.

[@q-miiproductions878]

LIKE THIS MORE SO JIRARD IS REASSURED!

[@MrTulio517]

Hey Jirard! Nice video! Just wanted to clarify a couple of things. I think you're misguided when you cheer dexit for making completing the Dex easier, and I'll explain why. Here's the thing, the National Dex was already cut in Pokémon Sun and Moon. I did not have to get all 800+ Pokemon to complete the games. BUT, you were able to get all of them through Pokemon Bank when it was updated to support the games. You see the difference? Alola's Dex was just as small as Galar's. But no pokémon was downright unobtainable. Also, there's another issue. You say that it's never been easier to complete the dex since gen 3, but you missed on a feature that came on Gen 4: the Global Trade System (GTS). The GTS was the best and easiest feature to complete the dex ever made. Not everyone has a bunch of KZbinr friends and Twitter friends that can get you what you want in the blink of an eye. And you know what? The GTS is dead, for the first time ever since gen 4. Theory says it will be implemented in Pokemon Home. And hey, Game Freak will absolutely not update Sword and Shield to add the cut Pokemon. Bulbasaur is in thou, he's in the code, just no available yet. Anyways, I love Pokemon as well and am having a lot of fun, despite the bad stuff, but feedback is absolutely necessary so that Game Freak knows whats up. Constructive feedback, not harassment. Anyways, cheers and have a nice Christmas

[@joeybosse227]

There was also a lot of context missing from it I feel, such as their disingenuous reasoning ("Animations and graphics", which has been objectively proven false) and deception at not announcing how cut it was or what Pokemon did/did not make it until the dex was leaked, as well as the fact that it was only mentioned in English, and the only segment Japanese audiences would've seen it would like be during E3 where it was mentioned for about a minute, hidden in the middle of a 30 minute presentation.

[@TazTheYellow]

Thank you for posting this for me. You have no idea how much it makes my Klang use Gear Grind the frequency of which I see people going "Oh, Dexit sucks, but at least the Pokédex is easier to complete," *FOOLS!* Regional Dex has been a thing since Gen freaking III, and Galar actually has one of the most ridiculously large Regional Dexes in the series. Moreover than that, though, ever since the very beginning, you have never been able to catch every single extant Pokémon in a single game! That's kind of Pokémon's whole shtick and nobody is seriously expecting them to break it. *The problem,* however, is that bringing over certain Pokémon you have previously caught and grew an attachment to from previous games, even after you've finished the storyline, is now artificially impossible, which sets an incredibly dangerous precedent, *especially* in combination with Pokémon Home. If you make the foolish mistake of sending, say, an Arbok to Home, it is now effectively stuck in limbo with no way out as of yet, and that limbo has a subscription fee. Can you understand now why players are so up in arms about this, Jirard? It's not merely about favorites being in the game itself, it's about the fate of those favorites in the franchise moving forward.

[@TazTheYellow]

In other words, it's incredibly short-sighted to be asking whether your Cyndaquil will ever make it *into* Galar. The question Trainers should be asking is whether their Scorbunny will ever make it *out.*

[@MrTulio517]

@@TazTheYellow couldn't have said it better!!

[@paco2042]

Hey, so i am all for feedback without the harassment stuff, so i hope i am not attacked for this but i wanted to share a few things. I think the dexit was a justifiable thing to do. Many people say that graphics were the main reason but they state in an interview that the main reason was game balance. Kind of like how dynamax works for everyone and not just a few like megas. Yeah, only a few get to gigantimax, but gigantimax and dynamax are virtually the same and some gigantimax are arguably worse. But i am off topic, dexit was mainly for game balance. Also, the transfer of 3ds models to the switch didn't work, so the models are new believe it or not. i don't understand why people would think that they wouldn't make them as visually the same as they could. The gts isn't exactly my area of expertise if i am being honest, but i don't really care for it. On the occasions i did use it, i could only find people putting up ridiculous requests like offering a Togepi for level 100 legendaries and just god awful scenarios like that. I'm sure this wasn't 100% of the gts but it was a good majority of my friends and my experience with it. I completely understand why people disagree. My friends and i have argued about it constantly. But i whole heartedly disagree with people attacking game freak and claiming they don't care for their fans when they try to make their competitive post game adventure as easy and inclusive as ever amidst all the hacking. I lost a lot of my favorites, but these games made the ones that stayed more viable and useable, and i look forward to playing with my other favorites in future games.

[@jakepocock5883]

I’m not sure if the excuse of “ I don’t have the time to catch them all” is fair. The vast majority of players have no obligation to collect every Pokemon.

[@Itchy681]

Jake Pocock ... the vast majority of players don’t collect every Pokemon. I don’t think you can use it as an excuse but you can’t claim that. I wouldn’t be surprised if less that 5% of the people that bought the game complete the dex. It could be as low as 1%.

[@webalot]

@@Itchy681 you're so wrong you can't tell the difference between that and then

[@jakepocock5883]

Itchy Platypus sorry but what are you arguing against? Do you agree with me or not. My argument was that just because the mans job won’t take as long and he’s happy, it doesn’t mean that it’s a good reason for most people to be happy with the cut Pokemon.

[@BulletBillSoilder]

When you’re seeing people talking about SWSH’s story but you’re like “What story? There literally was none.”

[@KaleSings]

God I am jealous of your feelings for this game. I really don't couldn't find the fun in it, I liked some of the gym leaders but even 2 of your biggest pros about the gym league and decent story aren't true for me. I hate sports and really Pokemon becoming a sport killed some of the magic to me and I find the story and characters (like Hop) to be annoying as shit. All of this plus very few changes to gameplay and graphical improvement made the magic feel lost. I think it's a testament to how fun Pokemon can be that even when it's flawed the fun of catching, collecting, and training Pokemon is still enough to make the game enjoyable. This is also to the detriment of Pokemon that this doesn't encourage improvements since so many fans can enjoy the games without changes or improvement. All of this is exaggerated on the switch since it is so many peoples main console, which is why I think you are finally getting into it. I am really happy you enjoyed the game Jirard, and I hope that I can join you on your enjoyment in the next instalment.

[@marksammie830]

Its the same when I saw the reviews especially nintendo lifes one where they praised the lack of hand holding but I don't see that..

[@darknessscythe1]

Thank the lord that bottle caps let you get perfect IVs on your shiny pokemon.

[@boucer2]

Just don't try to breed a shiny trick room pkm

[@ciarangrimes7912]

boucer2 not that difficult. Catch the mon you want until you get one with a no good speed stat, give it a band, breed it with your foreign ditto and you’re good to go

[@boucer2]

@@ciarangrimes7912 I didn't know about that, so which band do I want for a no good speed pkm?

[@ciarangrimes7912]

boucer2 stick the speed band on a Pokemon with a no good speed stat and it is guaranteed to pass down that stat to an egg

[@boucer2]

@@ciarangrimes7912 thanks a lot, you just made my life easier

[@voltrainer]

hearing you praise makes me remember, you havnt played gen 5. XD have you played gen 4 and up on the show yet? cause i think that would shift how you view a few things.

[@ExHappyFace]

22:17 This statement is the the true reason Dexit is a problem. We assumed it was true, but after the games were released datamines went in and confirmed the worst. All the pokemon (except a few) are cut with no models in the game and have no ability to be added. Some pokemon are programmed in the game like Bulbasaur and a few stuff like Alola starters and legends will be transferable or able to come into the games cleanly but the remaining will never find there way into SwSh unless a massive increadable update is planed.

[@Teh8Swords]

Strongest Single Player experience? What game did you play and why didn´t I get it?