Pokemon Sword & Shield: The Verdict

[@NocturnalFudj]

These old Pokemon videos suck go watch some of my newer stuff kzbin.info/door/yAuKT-djIfpvsFxEGkIhDg

[@goku7090]

You have a very nice cadence

[@goku7090]

​@Olivia 757 Fudj's diction and cadence are quite familiar, and I think I know from where. It's all good.

[@yuh7968]

Fudj: talks about how much healthier the competitive metagame became with the dex cut Gamefreak: we're bringing back 200 pokemon for dlc. Including all the legendary pokemon. And the rest of the pseudos.

[@blackdot105]

Even then, quite a few of the previous game's OU pokemon return (looking at Clef).

[@yuh7968]

@@blackdot105 while that is true, ou staples like landorus, magearna, heatran, the tapus, and much more were cut. And now with dlc, these mons are gonna come back and most likely take over the metagame. And national dex and natdex ag has shown us the destructive power of these gen 7 top tiers; and while the showdown swish metagame has banned dynamaxing to ubers, the games haven't and will probably be ridden with dynamax lando, garchomp, and tapus (also, I know that I've repeated some of the pokemon a couple times, but those are the ones that come to mind when thinking of gen 7 ou and that some of the ou mons from gen 7 have been programmed into the base game of gen 8).

[@gintuner4371]

@@yuh7968 I mean, it really was just an excuse to make it seem like a good decision. All this could have been solved by means of a competitive banlist/ tier list (like Smogon does, or any TCG really). You don't need to remove half the pokemon for all the casuals that just want to catch their favorite pokemon.

[@yuh7968]

@@gintuner4371 I mean yeah.

[@helfyr9656]

Sure, there are more contenders for top spot now, but the odds of seing mons outside the top has decreased. As soon as the feeling of being new wears off, people will probably remember this meta as stale as well.

[@megaknight4441]

There are no hard puzzles or caves to travel to or explore. No route has any caves or any side areas. Its just route town route town. Take gen 5 for example, there were multiple caves where you could explore that were in no way story related. They were tucked away and you could explore them for your leisure.

[@jacobhate]

Gen 4 is an even better example

[@funninoriginal6054]

Not only that, but Black/White actually REWARDED you for exploring those caves, with the Sword of justice legendary trio! (Is that how they are called?) Gen 1 did this too, but i love the idea of going to closed off areas of the map so that you can capture legendaries, it adds to their more "mytyical" nature and is a thousand times better than the "fuck it here's a Latios now go kill people" nature that the new games have

[@mr.e1292]

sword and shield just sucks end of story people who defends it are fighting a losing battle

[@charliez077]

Jerry Z lol yeah but this was already a problem of Gen 7 which had maybe even worse locations. The Volcano or Mount Lanakila in SM were absolute sad jokes.

[@megaknight4441]

@@charliez077 It was supposed to be a "victory road" or something, but dang they did bad. Mt Coronet is what mountains should be like.

[@danhall2674]

"It feels like like the weather is changing dramitically everywhere you go" Yeah sounds like Britian to me fam

[@NocturnalFudj]

can't change from rain to rain!

[@brandonadrien3476]

@@NocturnalFudj Try telling that to Florida.

[@freeloguy3387]

Haha amateurs - Vancouver, Canada

[@inconemay1441]

Ah yes from sandstorm to snow in britain

[@astracrits4633]

@@NocturnalFudj *laughs in Michigan*

[@kdjets]

I really feel like this may have started life as a 3DS title that haphazardly got transitioned to a Switch release.

[@kdjets]

I could also be entirely wrong. I really did enjoy the gym battles. I loved the Pokémon added too. Game needs polish, but it felt better than Sun & Moon to me. They need another development cycle and I hope they do more right next gen.

[@al8951]

Well I heard that the game was originally meant to be a 3ds game, but I don't know if its true

[@al8951]

@Enagah Oh man, thats pretty bad

[@Chronoflation]

At the very least, it was a Switch game since 2017, when Gamefreak first announced they were working on a Switch game at E3 (maybe that was 2018, I can't totally remember which). Point is, it had plenty of time as a Switch game. I honestly just feel like Gamefreak are doing their best not to set the bar too high cause, 1) they're pretty shitty programmers and always have been (gen 1 is famous for the in game bugs and multiple generations have had frame rate issues, they had to recruit Iwata develop the tech for gen 2 to get Kanto, so even their impressive stuff was outsourced), and 2) the series has become nearly annualized and they probably have realized their profit margins are so absurdly unrealistic for any competitor to achieve just cause their branding and formula is so strong that they just don't want to spend the time or money it would cost to make the games better than the minimum "necessary" effort cause the sales they get from minimum effort are already extraordinary. To explain that a bit better, basically what I'm saying is most games need teams 10 times the size and working for 3 or 4 years to get half the sales that Pokemon gets, and Pokemon is releasing games almost every year at this point. I'm haven't looked over their financial records, but I'm sure they have the best development cost to sales ratio in the industry

[@ancientshiv9837]

idk, its their first time developing a big main series pokemon game on the switch. I feel they wanted to add the wild area and sacrificing everything for it.

[@pokefriend123]

Pokemon SWSH is what happens when don’t cook your chicken completely

[@AkaiAzul]

Salmonella?

[@pokefriend123]

AkaiAzul / That sounds good. I wish I had that instead of my copy of Pokemon Sword and Shield

[@princesspikachu3915]

pokefriend123 Isn’t that what Moltres is?

[@Mojo1356]

It definitely is. This is the potential to be my favorite Pokémon game even with the dex cut, but too many corners were cut. They clearly needed more time on this game, but they had to rush it because holiday, cards, and anime. Gamefreak needs to reel it back a notch.

[@JJSquirtle]

@@Mojo1356 kinda hard to take a break between the franchise's popularity and more importantly, Nintendo breathing down their backs like a bunch of angry neckbeards to release a game every year or two along with like 3 spin-offs

[@samhayes-astrion]

They need to stop adding to the XY engine and just make an entirely new game engine. It's the same problem Bethesda has with its Creation Engine.

[@darknessknows1235]

You really think Gamefreak is competent enough to learn how to use a new engine?

[@samhayes-astrion]

@@darknessknows1235 Hope's always a good thing to have. :(

[@PoppaFrost]

I agree with you, but comparing Game Freak to Bethesda, in regards overuse of their custom engine, is like comparing a cigarette addiction to a methamphetamine addiction

[@shadestrider1033]

Creation Engine is actually pretty cool and can render some pretty decent stuff. The problem is Bethesda themselves. I Still think Skyrim’s visuals are engaging despite the graphics being aged. But Gamefreak probably needs an engine change.

[@yiangaruga4928]

@@shadestrider1033 No it's not. The Creation engine is full of bugs and glitches that have been around for decades now and still continue to make appearance in the most recent games. Fallout 76 says it all about how outdated and bad the game engine is. Bethesda is infamous of their glitches and for a very good reason. As for Gamefreak, the issue is alot deeper than the engine. They have no budget and the vision and passion of the devs is nowhere to be found. They're not even trying anymore. The engine should be changed, true, but it won't fix the fundamental problems within the company.

[@armorelarmadura7807]

"The handholding is almost entirely gone is swsh" *Hop waves from 3 steps down the path, and shouts that you can't go any other way*

[@vittorio1727]

Literally never happened in the game but ok

[@armorelarmadura7807]

@@vittorio1727 I'm not sure what game you played, but literally the first route Hop prevents you from going in the grass, so you can literally only go one way, towards him and into the next cutscene. Really makes me wonder if you've even played the game

[@Ahandle272]

@@armorelarmadura7807 you don't have a pokemon yet what

[@Ahandle272]

@@armorelarmadura7807 bruh.mp4

[@sorakh4119]

@@armorelarmadura7807 Yeahhhh... perhaps that wasn’t the best example you could of used

[@realkingofantarctica]

Since people are getting very heated, how about we take a step back and just agree about how good B2W2 and HGSS are.

[@D0MiN0ChAn]

Amen!

[@infernogaming6925]

HGSS run in a pretty slow engine though. I didn't have as much fun with them as I did with Crystal. B2W2 I'll definitely agree on though.

[@battledroidmk129]

H-super G-mario S-rpg S-

[@charliez077]

That's a part of why i hate that USUM has 87% on Metacritic from both critics and fans - ridiculous! Now everyone is sh*tting on SwSh but USUM was a great game? Fuck no guys. SwSh is a very flawed game and USUM is not horrible BUT: a) many Gen 8 issues were already in Gen 6 (broken difficulty) and 7 (better but still broken difficulty, no good exploration/dungeons) b) USUM as a 3rd game is FAR worse in content than BW2

[@dogestep64]

I still haven't play HGSS but I really want to

[@danielpruitt8550]

I can't wait for my childhood to bastardized when the Sinnoh remakes come out.

[@danielpruitt8550]

@@AquaticAgis You're right Pokemon Platinum is a treat to play through every year or 2!

[@ButterflySimmer]

Now idk if I want remakes or not. I going to say yes

[@juanin200]

I keep my faith in believing that SwSh was so unpolished and felt like it was mid-cooked because GF is using it as a sketch for what could and could not work (and what can be done better) on the remakes of Sinnoh, given that it is possibly the most anticipated remake of all gens by the fans, and they want to make it right just this one particular occasion

[@danielpruitt8550]

@@juanin200 I hope you're right! though tbh I am really over the Generational Gimmick from gen 6 - on words. Make pokemon about the NEW pokemon no forms, mega, z moves, dynmax, gigantamax. Just Pokemon, a new region, and maybe at the start as the proffesor introduces the region and you pick your gender you get asked if you want to play in easy, normal, hard, or Nuzlock mode to future games? I would love if that was the case! Also with the increasing graphical fidelity and overall scope of the new regions they should have 4-5 years with more assists and resources going towards the new region as the deadline approaches, mind you not CRUNCH but prioritization. Also, I am really sad we didn't get a Dark or Ghost-type grandfather clock in Galar.

[@pasteljunkieee]

At this point I don’t want them to even touch sinnoh because of the shit show sword and shield were

[@jdboss1487]

Fudj: These games are fair and balanced and the battles aren't under leveled. Me using exp candies mid play through breaking the game: ???

[@jdboss1487]

side note, if you are gonna say, just don't use them forehead, that excuse undermines how broken a mechanic is in the game and it should be addressed. Post game exp candies are great, but not in the middle of the story, they break the game.

[@ZRob23523]

I agree. I lost an entire single battle the entire game, and that was to Bea because I forgot to heal my Pokémon beforehand. I barely used exp candies and never had to grind. Ever. Also, FUCK HOP. He was so annoying.

[@clocked0]

@@ZRob23523 I concur, FUCK Hop lol

[@atlow2543]

@@jdboss1487 This game is meant to be played by children. If we want the game to be difficult enough for those of us who are good at pokemon, there needs to be an option to make it easier for kids. Don't use the obviously overpowered items. It's obvious. The only inexcusable thing is that there isn't a 'difficulty option.' I don't need nuzlocke programmed in by any means, but at least a hard mode that raises the IV/Ev's, adds pokemon to teams, raises the levels, shuts off EXP share and disables mid battle item use.

[@jacobhate]

@@atlow2543 nuzlockes are 100% the way to go for casual players like us. Also I liked hop

[@DerAstrophysikerr]

>Celebrates that Garchomp (and others) has left the metagame >Gamefreak announces Garchomp for expansion pass >Dynamax is an absolutely broken feature in competitive play, so much so that Smogon, the leading competitive community, has outright BANNED it Not as a criticism of you, but Gamefreak either does not care about proper balancing or does not have the ability to do it. The cut was not justified with balancing; if that had been the true reason, they could have introduced game-intern banlists or, well, just not reintroduced those Pokemon in the DLC.

[@infiniter4in178]

Its just about making money. You want the Chomp, the best boi ever btw, then please get in line and give them that sweet sweet cash of yours. Sad but true :/

[@charliez077]

DerAstrophysiker btw i will partly defend gamefreak in that in Doubles or Battle Spot Singles Dynamax is actually not broken and in my experience is fun. There stops my defense of Gamefreak lol. Dmax IS broken in 6v6 Singles and the WORST part is they could easily deal with balance fuckups through releasing patches. Mega Kanga was absolute cancer in Gen 6, everyone knew it instantly and Gamefreak could have released a fast patch nerfing Parental Bond. But no, they wait til Gen 7... honestly if only we could fire Gamefreak and have Nintendo take over, they suck so much at this point.

[@user-pe1bv9xw7q]

SMOGON IS THE SHIT FROM MY ASS NOBODY PLAYS BY SMOGON CUZ ITS RUN BY IDIOTIC children. and thats the TEA☕️

[@alventuradelacruz522]

I don't play competitiv epokemon and loves using Garchomp hooray for me 😀(wish Dragonite was too )

[@youwayo]

Well at least Weavile is in the game so Garchomp isn’t completely safe :P

[@thats4thebirds]

I don’t really like the excuses of their development time crunch or home console development or like town hero. They have the cash to hire a larger team like much smaller companies do to handle larger projects.

[@wolfgangfegelein2450]

Exactly! And to add to that, games like USUM and LGPE were completely unnecessary. The team working on that should've been assisting with SWSH the entire time. A new generation every three years is doable, but they insist on annual releases, making things much harder on themselves than necessary.

[@Chronoflation]

That's true, but we have to look at it realistically. Pokemon is made with a super small team for the scale of the project, and they get out annual releases or near annual releases. They're getting record sales for the franchise too. Sure, they could double their development budget and team size, and we'd all love it. But, the fact of the matter is, Pokemon is seen as a cash cow. They'll do whatever they can to keep costs low, and they make a franchise that sells number comparable or more than games with teams 10 times their size. And with the margins they're already getting, would upping the quality really get them the sales to make up for the cost when they're already selling at record numbers? Idk, but I'd guess that Gamefreak and the Pokemon Company don't think so. It really sucks. I'd love to see the franchise in the hands of Monolithsoft, cause that team is always dedicated to making the best product possible whatever the cost

[@khdayskh1314]

Not to mention that little town hero looks significantly better than SWSH

[@DannyDog27]

Yenrzzvezdrz too bad Little Town Hero sucked too (from what I’ve heard)

[@khdayskh1314]

@@DannyDog27 that's the problem. Visually you can see a lot more was put into LTH than SWSH. And the investment wasn't even worth it. LTH is the epitome of a throwaway title.

[@xRolyJoel]

"I was not overlevelled at all" Just as he pulls out a Pokemon SEVEN levels higher than his rival

[@t.l.p2387]

And EIGHT levels lower than the champion

[@tenda1950]

That’s the point. It’s so easy to level up and get stronger that you end up levels above the opponent who’s supposed to be the same level or a little higher than you.

[@charliez077]

@@t.l.p2387 Leon is THE exception in this game. Even without grinding i was like 7 levels above everything and only Leon matched my levels.

[@Redranger99]

charlie z Yeah I just replayed through sword and I didnt struggle at all. Like I wasnt was even trying grind or anything. I beat the game in like 12 hours and one shot like all of Leon’s team. I probably only had like 6 or 7 times were one of Pokémon fainted throughout the whole game. Idk how the heck he whited out.

[@persoonophetweb2891]

it's not his footage lmfao

[@EnclaveXForever]

It’s just underwhelming for a switch game and it felt rushed...

[@sinoroman]

gamefreak: gotta get that money money money..!!!!

[@bartelvandervelden9894]

@raffle baffle yet the game was already in production in 2017. Sun and Moon weren't great, but they didn't seem rushed

[@jackjack1298]

@@bartelvandervelden9894 BC they put a milion cut scene

[@handsoaphandsoap]

It’s crazy to me how you mention the pacing without talking about the god awful pacing in the main story. There’s nothing going on until right at the end where they try to cram EVERYTHING into like an hour and none of it is good or interesting. By far the worst story in a Pokémon game and that’s saying a lot considering Gen 2 doesn’t even really have a story.

[@JohnSmith-up4wz]

i agree. Also, the gyms make no sense. I understand that they're supposed big events in Galar, but are there crowds of thousands always on standby at any time of day for a bunch of kids challenging them at different times on the same day? And why not make some of the lower gyms have more vacant crowds, to make the big end game stadiums actually imposing?

[@cresoma]

John Smith Maybe the stadium crowds would get larger as you collect more badges to make it feel like you’re actually moving up in the challenge/ranks

[@JohnSmith-up4wz]

@@cresoma And also, when you first start your challenge you choose a color or can even make your own logo for your uniform. Then, as you gain more badges, you start to see more and more people in the crowd wearing your colors.

[@cresoma]

John Smith There could’ve also been team banner/posters in the crowd They’d initially all be supporting your opponent, but as you grow in popularity/badge numbers your team banners appear more and more until it’s a 50/50 split at the eighth gym leader (The champion would definitely have more banners though due to being the “best trainer of the region”)

[@JohnSmith-up4wz]

@@cresoma It's sad that our simple brainstorming has more soul in it than the game.

[@squill4883]

"there is actual challenge in this game" Me only losing 1 battle and defeating the champion with only my outrage haxerous: WHAT I don't mean to sound rude but if you are struggling in this game I just don't understand.

[@ZRob23523]

YES. I got through basically the entire championship cup with only my starter (sobble superiority) and i also only lost 1 battle, and that was due to forgetting to heal my Pokémon beforehand. It was painfully easy.

[@criticalpeak5664]

I lost once and that was to Bea for some reason idk what happened but then I destroyed Leon with my dragapult

[@ginkowave5829]

No offence to the guy but after watching this video, BW and XY he seems extremely incompetent at both writing and understanding game design. If I were him I'd study up.

[@JJSquirtle]

@@ginkowave5829 what's wrong with his approach? these games are still aimed for like 7 year-olds. for them, it IS the right difficulty. as far as game design is concerned for a kid's game anyways. it's still definitely harder than xy or sm. I mean, the hardest part about sm was either the wishiwashi or the fomantis titem battles, depending on starter choice. and only if ur playing stupid and going for minimum encounters or something to make sure u can't just beat over them with ur 10-15 level difference. I beat the entire game with magnemite line. didn't even use my starter outside of a couple battles (kiawe and ground-type chick come to mind) after i got the ball rolling. i feel like people saying gen 7 is harder are comparing usum to swsh which isn't even fair as that's like comparing pokemon emerald to bw1 instead of bw2. there was another release later to fix sm's problems slightly. who knows? maybe the DLC will up the ante? (I mean unless u like throw ur level 100's at it or something. I kinda hope to see a dlc that Forces u to kinda stsrt over where u can't bring anything with you to the dlc (kinda like Zero Isle in explorers of time)

[@charliez077]

William Richards mate while in Gen 6 and 7 the experience/difficulty totally depends on turning on/off (the broken) Exp Share, here it totally depends on how much extra time u spend in the Wild Area and how much Exp candies you eat. I was less overlevelled than in Gen 6 and 7 with Exp Share on but only because i spent very little time in WA after seeing how broken Exp cookies are.

[@goldengoodra2941]

I found it quite upsetting how nonconsensually overleveled I was for the entire game. Even adding a 7th team member didn't fix the issue, until the end, of course. Honestly I could forgive every trash aspect of this game if not for the Exp Share harming the replayability factor in this.

[@jankglass7098]

Hi yes I agree. I dont think he talked about the problem of Raids in the over leveling portion. Sure the EXP share doesn't cause you to be too over leveled but my god doing a few raids and you'll be way over leveled. I spent the entire game, no joke, AT LEAST 10 levels above any gym or main plot battle with 2 pokemon solely from farming a few raids.

[@Lorenzo2300]

@@jankglass7098 Honestly I don't have a problem with exp candy you get from raids destroying difficulty because unlike the exp share you can actually choose not to use it. Yeah, I get the argument that they shouldn't just hand you the tools to break the game so easily but at least it was really easy to see it coming and avoid it. You think after playing through gen 6 and 7 with the buffed exp share and knowing I don't have the option to turn off the exp share in gen 8 I'm gonna willingly dump MORE free experience on my pokemon? I only used a few candies to bring super low level pokemon up to speed instead of grinding, saved the rest for the post game. But yeah even without exp candies, the permanent exp share did make my experience worse, I basically swapped between two teams throughout the whole game to spread out the exp gain and avoid getting overlevelled and like he said in the video it did work... but by the end of the game I didn't feel attached to any of my pokemon

[@TheDiego908]

"nonconsensually overleveled" Well that is one way to put it lol

[@goldengoodra2941]

@@jankglass7098 The Exp Candies aren't the problem. They're optional anyway. To grind something to the point that I can battle against other trainers with it, I'd be fighting wild Pokemon anyway. So using Exp candies to skip grinding wouldn't affect the experience I get from trainer battles. Again, the forced Exp Share is just awful

[@JJSquirtle]

I vote for exp.all to make a return. now that's how exp share should work imo

[@eliack95]

Finally, someone else who recognizes SW/SH has no business looking as outdated as it does when something like DQXI dropped for the Switch that same month.

[@joelhutchison5214]

Pob Lowe DQX1 honestly amazes me with how good it looks and I find myself telling my friends this is what pokemon should’ve been

[@muffinknight8101]

Joel Hutchison really the game looks hideous in some areas and should look a lot better everywhere else

[@slakoththesuperstar2639]

* $W&$H

[@jinkisaragi874]

@@muffinknight8101 Dragon quest? There was no point in the game where it ever looked hideous, the artstyle is spot on all the way through.

[@muffinknight8101]

Jin kisaragi look t the wild areas how cheaply done they are look t the trees for instance they look terrible another thing to keep in mind is how much money gets put into Pokémon games, with lol that money they should Atleast be able to release a polished game

[@aleckermit]

Sun & Moon was a 20 hour tutorial.

[@stxrstrxckmxteo515]

aleckermit thank, no doubt SwSh is meh but Sun & Moon were boring and USUM didn’t need to exist

[@phatboi3249]

@@stxrstrxckmxteo515 usum was better than sumo

[@redbrokenwing8904]

Facts. I like the characters, but every time I play I feel dull.

[@charliez077]

phat bo i yeah but USUM was still a MAJOR cashgrab with WAY too few upgrades. Most of the game seems absolutely identical to SM, after BW2 had soo much new content, USUM feels like such a step back. Just compare - BW2 gave us whole new towns and routes, USUM - Ultra Megalopolis (a meh comparable to Evergrande 'City'). BW2 - new dungeons (Relic Passage, Reversal Mountain, the epic Castelia Sewers), USUM - Sandy Cave (lol). BW2 - you go through the region mostly in a very different order, USUM - identical. BW - two great new battle facilities (PWT, Unova Challenge), USUM - a very meh Battle Agency. BW2 - a very good sidequest (Pokestar Studios), USUM - Photo Club (meh). USUM gets points for Mantine Surf (i liked), Ultrawormhole Ride (I liked, pity that the really cool Ultrabeast Areas are yet again corridors...), I guess the Rainbow Rocket sidequest (tho i feel it's quite silly, but at least some content) and apart from quite a lot of (small) sidequests (I did love the Charjabug puzzle) that's it imo! BW2 >>>> USUM.

[@Ghoats]

I honestly liked swsh much more then i thought i would and put over 100 hours in it within the first few weeks

[@Legoluigi26]

That comment about no Landorus-T already dates this video so badly.

[@notsocooldude7720]

Man fuck lando-T

[@Chronoflation]

I know singles works differently, but I'm hoping competitive doubles just continues to not allow legendaries. Parting Shot Incineroar is already bad enough, no matter how much I like to do it to other people 😂

[@subscribebecauseiwontmakea9550]

I’m not ready for vgc 2021 when dynamax lando t will probably be a thing

[@KingLucarioxx]

@@subscribebecauseiwontmakea9550 All you see is Dynamax ultra beast and legendaries now for vgc 2021

[@chaosgamer7348]

@@KingLucarioxx Right!! It’s so freakin’ boring now

[@elenilove2125]

8 gens of a franchise and they can’t even make some god damn facial expressions

[@user-oy7sh9uy2b]

They did it Gen 6 with XY and ORAS

[@theminecraft2516]

9 Gens if you count Black and White 2

[@trxxblx-wxs-hxrx]

@@theminecraft2516 bw2 isn’t really a new Gen it’s like Gen 5.5 or 5 v2.0

[@danielpruitt8550]

We haven't been able to name the rival since B/W that makes me sad man.

[@jimmybob5541]

Yeah kinda sad that they've phased out a lot of old features. Naming your rival asshat was a fun quirk that made pokemon awesome

[@danielpruitt8550]

@@jimmybob5541 # Bring Back Asshat

[@Grammarhead]

I mean... you can name your rival in Let's Go

[@petelee2477]

Yeah loved black and white N was by far the best rival I've ever faced, oh cheren was cool to.

[@dasutanehineri]

i always named Barry Berry in dppt. no clue why.

[@zeeduardopenedo2547]

I've been playing Sword for a little less than a month and I would like to leave my two cents here. 1. The problem with the dex cut is, in my opinion, what it represented. First of all, it represented that some pokémon are worth it and some are not. It was absolutely ridiculous that the Charizard line was in the dex and Bulbasaur and Squirtle weren't (not to mention every other starter line). Second, it opened way for what was now revealed: payed DLC. DLC in itself is not a problem, but in a game like pokémon it really will make this kind of money-grabbing tactics a normal thing in the future. I always loved how Marvel aproached their assemble movies. They always thought that some people's favorite hero is Iron Man, others' is Ant-Man, others' is Black Panther. No mater which hero, there's always someone who buys the ticket to see him/her. Same applies to pokémon. Personally, my favorite pokémon are Luxray, Sceptile, Infernape, Greninja, Lucario and Dragonite. Out of those 6, only 1 is in SWSH. And when I say they're my favorites I don't mean they are the only ones I play with. No. I always play through the game with a team of new pokémon and I'm always open to switch up my "dream team". But I like those six the most for whatever reasons and I like to, after beating the game, face the post-game with them. Which brings us to: 2. There's no post-game. At all. The wild area? Sure! If your idea of post-game is farming items and watts. This wouldn't be a big issue if there was a great story throughout the game and a big world to explore, but: 3. There's no story. Again, at all. Not even for a kid. And believe me, I have four nephews. None of them was able to tell me the plot of this game. Because clearly there's none. And the hand-holding is a big problem, obviously. 4. Some people argue that we had to have dex cuts in order to have animations or that we had to have a simpler story to have those gorgeous cities. But to them I ask: did you pay full price for this game? Because if you did, you should be able to judge the game in all of its aspects: story and characters, pokémon, animations, graphics, world building, new features. And judging all of these the only thing I can praise Game Freak for is the new pokémon, which in my opinion are mostly good. To wrap this up I would like to say that a complete boycott to future pokémon games (and the expansion pass) seems to me to be quite fruitless. In my opinion, the best tactics we can use is to wait. Don't buy the DLC right way. Don't buy future games right away. Wait three months. Or four. Or five. That's the most realistic way you can send a message to Game Freak and The Pokemon Company. Because if they lose that initial massive spike in sales, it will not only hurt them with investors, but it will also show them that the pokémon games are no longer relevant the way they exist. They are no longer a priority. You can wait to play them. Because, invariably, they will be the same rehashed formula that's been in existence since Red/Blue. Then, after a few months, buy the game if you want, try it, and take your own conclusions. And decide if the game after that is actually worth buying. Because I just spent 60$ in Sword and I wish I'd used that money to buy Breath of the Wild or Luigi's Mansion. Or even Link's Awakening. Anything would have been better than the total disappointment I felt playing this game.

[@alventuradelacruz522]

I hate the dex cut Dragonite is my favorite pokemon and it's no there , and everyone has a favorite pokemon , also I like dunsparce for some reason and always train one

[@nickibonesskeleton6411]

I wish there was a thing in the game in which when you loose a main battle it changes the story, giving you multiple endings , or maby your given a set number of times to beat a gym leader in which if you dont your character goes through a hop story line

[@gretelandcat6393]

Nick Wilson that would be really interesting and would be good to mix up the Pokémon formula. Unfortunately, I think GameFreak's too lazy to even consider something like that

[@DaAssMan]

I actually found Sun and Moon's meta game to be the most fun, and thanks to Z-moves (status Z-moves to be exact) gave me the ability to use quite literally any pokemon i wanted in some vastly unique ways. Double Battles were also a thrill thanks to a lot of the newer pokemon having a lot of abilities that were more double battle focused (Oricorio, Passimian, etc.) It's just disappointing how after finally being able to use and enjoy some older pokemon that I've never even tried before, they are now being stripped away until gamefreak inevitably puts them behind a paywall...

[@Glory2Snowstar]

Gen 7 was a blast! Over 800 Pokémon to play with, breed, and make wacky strats with... I’ll never forget my Sucker Punch Wormadam that won a match for me. Or my Crobat that hit like a truck on cocaine. Or my Comfey, who was the trolliest medic I’ve ever had. I love every Gen 7 Pokémon, and I especially love experimenting with them and the other Gen’s Pokémon to make dozens of fun teams!

[@ginkowave5829]

@@Glory2Snowstar Thank God, there is hope for humanity.

[@kennethconnally4356]

It's the ancient quandary: "Fast, cheap, and good: pick two." GameFreak is committed to a faster development cycle than other studios AND keeping their development team smaller than other studios, so it's no surprise this is what you get.

[@vivillonenthusiast781]

SwSh is neither cheap or good tho.

[@blueyoshi4211]

Fudj: these games were actually a challenge Oh yeah that A button was even harder to press the 27th time, frankly I’m surprised you found this game difficult but Sun and Moon easy. Sun and Moon made me think and several of the trial battles had me stop and strategize, while in Sword and Shield save for Leon I don’t think I seriously thought about any battle considering literally all of the major battles with gym leaders and rivals make monotype teams without covering their obvious weaknesses... and Hop is unfortunately Hop

[@charliez077]

blueyoshi1124 partly agreed, partly not. Yeah - sm had better bossfights in totems, loved them. However, after you got powered Z moves, the rest of the battles turned into a complete joke since you could just nuke every single opponent (especially many NPC's with ONE pokemon) and the only thing that kept me from doing it were the painfully long Z animations. SwSh regular NPC's are still painfully easy, but at least you can only Dmax in boss battles (and Battle Tower which Gamefreak somehow managed to totally fuck up...)

[@charliez077]

@TheBoltMaster tbh without exp candies i was a bit less overlevelled in SwSh and i loved that there was no unfair "win button" in the form of Z moves in every battle. And the final fight with Leon was legit great in my playthrough. But if i used exp candies it would be even easier than (U)S(U)M.

[@Ratoncitow]

@@charliez077 You think dynamax is not a win button when gym leaders use 4 pokémon at most? lol

[@alexpotts6520]

On the Wild Area: I think it could have taken notes from Octopath Traveller. That's a pretty non-linear JRPG, so it's inevitable you can run into areas where you're catastrophically underlevelled. But whenever you walk into a new area, a little icon pops up telling you how strong the encounters there are. If the Wild Area could have had that, I might have actually wanted to explore it. In fact, since SwSh doesn't even have random encounters, you don't even need to level-mark the area, just level-mark the Pokemon in some way, like the DexNav in ORAS did. As it was I was too frightened of running into something massively overpowered and suffering a total party wipe for me to want to explore the area.

[@Dawnmon]

Alex Potts A fellow Octopath fan, nice! I agree, I felt similarly when I played Sword

[@saltynoodles4104]

I really liked how your rivals actually did something after the championship match instead of just disappearing once you become the champion and crush their dreams.

[@australis3169]

I felt that linearity segment. I went back to play platinum and gen 1 just because I felt like it and was startlingly reminded “I don’t have to go fight (insert gym leader here) immediately! WOW!” I wish they could get at least 2 years to create the games (3-4 preferably) look at the backlash from fans and spend time developing their games. Though that probably won’t happen I completely agree on that because corporate world yay!

[@kwayke9]

Ideally, we should only get 1 new Pokémon game per console gen imo. And maybe a remake in between but anything more is shady. And yeah TPCi needs to get its ass bought out ASAP. Horrible company run by actual bullies who like to throw their devs under a PR disaster so they get 0 bad PR

[@rogue685]

Agreed.

[@darknessknows1235]

@@kwayke9 Honestly they just need a bigger team and actually put some work in plus get with the times. I mean look at D/P/P, HG/SS, and the BW1/2 games. They were all amazing for whatever problems they had.

[@dogestep64]

I'm so confused how you struggled at all throughout this game personally I steam rolled everything because the xp candy is absolutely stupid broken and I used them all when I first had a ton not to mention the battles just aren't hard also the pacing is awful nothing happens until the end and I could not care less about the legendary pokemon

[@rhymeswithmoose228]

In my experience, if you don't grind and don't use candies it'll go like his experience. I keep the candies for when I have a low level pokemon I want to quickly level up.

[@AdamAbove]

@@rhymeswithmoose228 XP Candies were introduced like halfway into the game. If they didn't want you to use it, they would have introduced it postgame or something. That's just poor game design in my opinion.

[@rhymeswithmoose228]

@@AdamAbove I used them, I just didn't use them on pokemon that didn't need them.

[@kingofhearts9020]

I had like 20 Pokémon I used so it made it harder. I also had it on set and didn’t use candies. It wasn’t hard but still wasn’t super easy. I would say it’s like easy-medium it that makes sense.

[@sinoroman]

gamefreak: "our target audience are: infants. please do not play our games if you're not an infant."

[@gars129]

Why do people hate the last stage grass starter, It is exactly what Id expect, a gorilla drummer. Not every Pokemon is a slim agile Lucario.

[@sreenaths6829]

That's the only decent looking gen 8 starter to me. The rest of them absolutely suck design wise.

[@nidohime6233]

Rillaboom is fine, Cinderace too but somehow I find its arms a bit too short, I would say the "ugly" one of this gen is Inteleon, it haves too many human features. I don't know why Game Freak got into making every Pokémon into a furry. (Rillaboom doesn't count because is based on a primate, and since primates are related to us humans of course they would look somewhat human)

[@shepardice3775]

A lot of people just hate how anthropomorphic the starters are becoming. Starters are beginning to look more like humans in an animal suit than Pokémon. They're more and more based on very human concepts or even professions unlike previous generations that drew from several influences. Rillaboom is definitely the most ok of the Gen 8 starters tho

[@sreenaths6829]

@@shepardice3775 hardcore agree.

[@houndofculann1793]

@@shepardice3775 God I hate Torracat suddenly starting to walk on two legs and becoming a wrestler

[@Cafetos0777]

I lost all interest in pkmn after S/M, I just recognized that the franchise is another Fifa, just dance or cod. I think you hit the right spot when you described the formula, it's always a kid trying to beat 8 trials in order to get to the olympics with some stupid evil team along the way, it worked for 4 times in a row until the fifth time where it actively hurt the arguably more interesting story beneath it. Pkmn needs a complete rework tbh, but then again GameFreak is too creatively bankrupt to come up with something fresh.

[@bigtrolly]

I don't think it's fair to compare it to FIFA, Just Dance and CoD (although MW19 has an *amazing* campaign imo). Those games, especially FIFA and JD, are literally the same every time, and basically a €60+ DLC for the previous games. I think it's better to compare it to Assassin's Creed. AC has the same formula every game, tracking missions, unnecessary cutscenes, defeat bad guys, plot twist. Basically the only differences in games are the locations, characters, story and a unique gimmick. The game got stale and boring, and a decision was made to give development an extra year. Incredible improvement. I remember seeing a video about a pokemon game concept from someone named Jelly or something. Can't remember. That idea would be absolutely perfect if implemented.

[@Cafetos0777]

@@bigtrolly yeah you're probably right, I compared pkmn to those games more on how formulaic the feel to me, but the quality of pkmn is obviously higher

[@Cafetos0777]

@TheBoltMaster I'm glad you enjoyed the B&W gen, it wasn't super good for me. That was the first time that I thought of the untapped potential of the pkmn games, imagine if you didn't play as a trainer in those games and instead you played from the start as N, the story wouldn't be about some kid and the olympics but about a kid who grows to inherit a big problematic group that explores the ethics of pkmn training. One would still use pokemon for leveling up and battle and the core mechanics wouldn't change, the context would

[@Scyxurz]

20:00 I never get this argument. Yes, they're on a time crunch to release a mainline pokemon game every few years. But with them working on Little Town Hero alongside swsh, gamefreak has proven that they're capable of splitting up manpower to work on multiple projects at once. What's stopping them from developing the next generation of pokemon games while the other team is working on the current one? They could have teams working on gen's 9 and 10 (assuming they'll both be on switch) at the same time right now, and they could have had a team working on swsh while the other team was working on let's go pikachu/eevee.

[@nidohime6233]

Even more they could contract third parties to help them in some areas, like how Nintendo had Monolith to make Zelda BOTW map and enviroments.

[@ironmanmason4247]

My biggest problem is the special treatment of certain pokemon, mainly charizard

[@samuelkimball-sperberg6109]

Great video! I agree with you on most things about SWSH. Allow me a quick rant on something I've thought a lot about in the past: The non-linearity you referenced in Gen 2, where you can explore a ton of different areas once you reach Ecruteak, actually works AGAINST the game in a big way, so much so that I'd say it's a huge contributor to the game's *single biggest flaw*. Why, you ask? Well, since you can go to all those areas in any order, the developers had to make enemies of equal strength for all those areas instead of progressively ramping up the difficulty. In other words, it absolutely WRECKS the game's level curve. By the time you're working on the 3rd or even the 2nd pathway, you're grossly overleveled and nothing even comes close to being a challenge. I think the issue is pretty well illustrated when you look at Pryce; The *7th* gym leader has Pokemon in the mid level 20's. He's about the same strength as Erika, and only marginally stronger than Lt. Surge, the 3rd gym leader in Red and Blue. The impact this design choice has on the whole game's level curve is actually pretty monumental I love exploration in Pokemon games, I really do. It might actually be my favorite part of the whole series. But if it's not done right it has some real drawbacks. The best way to fix this imo would be if every trainer's levels adjusted based on how many gym badges you have

[@NocturnalFudj]

This is a very good point and something I think another commenter brought up as well. The Gen 3 example was probably better and I probably could have talked about Gen 4 with Hearthome/Veilstone/Pastoria City as well. I might make a little pinned comment kinda psuedo-correcting myself. Thanks! :)

[@ScarletMomiji]

It would be nice if the main games all had that with a more open feel; Currently only the Crystal Clear hack of gen 2 Pokemon Crystal does something like this.

[@inconemay1441]

And then after all the easy battles you reach Clair and get demolished by her dragons.

[@andresmarrero8666]

You were challenged? I am baffled as to how. When I can beat nearly every single trainer with a fire/bug that knows coil while half asleep from boredom, then you have a problem. And those jocks that they call gym leaders don't really have any understanding of the type they specialize in except maybe the fairy one, typical that the old lady would know what she is talking about, at least on some small degree but the supposed gym challenges have nothing to do with the specialized type nor anything to do with being a trainer. If I wanted to be in fun zone then I would have gone to Sophocles's horrible plaza instead, or better yet the park where pokemon toys come alive. The designs of the pokemon don't really look like pokemon for the most part. They look like they live in some twisted alternate reality of pokemon that has Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse in it. And Rose is the single most idiot in the pokemon world. You literally cannot have an energy crisis in the pokemon world! I hate this gen with every fiber of my being.

[@charliez077]

Poop agreed but so was Gen 6 and 7, the only exception being Totems and Ultra Necrozma

[@skiddy3715]

Ok this game definitely wasn’t challenging. I don’t know what you’re talking about

[@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214]

I mean, if you dont Grind or dont use a Competitive Team, Its Kinda Hard

[@skiddy3715]

@@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214 first, who’s using a competitive team in regular game. Nobody. You take what you want and just go. Second, you don’t need to grind, since the game does it for you when you cant turn exp share off, and even when you take the tedious route by putting things in the box constantly and taking them out to control leveling to avoid over leveling, the game still spoon feeds you way to many fuckin tools to succeed with no effort whatsoever. It’s a joke.

[@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214]

@@skiddy3715 then i really dont know what is my Problem, because i am actualy having having problems in some Parts (And yes, i already played the Older Games)

[@Tony7Seven]

Im really glad you mentioned ducklett. Its my favorite pokemon and for the exact reason you mentioned it! Its just a duck

[@jupiterivan3433]

I fell in love with Nickit the moment I saw it. Everything about it was so well designed. From it’s name to it’s animations. To nick something is to steal it, sure. But do you know what a baby fox is called? A kit. And it’s tail... hnnnng I used to hate it’s tail. It’s so weird looking... Until I realized something. After it attacks it lightly brushes the ground with it to “dust its tracks”. That’s so damn cute! Almost all of the designs in gen 8 are top tier and well thought out.

[@johnnikolic893]

I like nicki too. But that's mostly because I found a shiny one within like 5 minutes of the game lol

[@FranzoOnLine]

In FireRed and LeafGreen, my favourite Pokémon games, the developers relied on you exploring the game to find items necessary for progression. For example, you can only find Surf by exploring the Safari Zone looking for its prize, and once you get it you can use it to progress... or you could remember there's a patch of water on Route 10 that leads to Zapdos. It's ingrained in my brain that Koga is the fifth gym leader and I always go fight him after Erika, but I was surprised when I found out one of my friends thought challenging Sabrina before Erika (probably because you need Cut to get to her) was what he was supposed to do. I think the first generation and its GBA remakes (and to a slighly lesser extent gen 2) is the closest Pokémon has ever been to being like a Metroidvania. What I wish the next Pokémon game is that GameFreak takes inspiration from Kanto, not by pandering with new Charizard forms and things like that, but by doubling down on those elements that made Pokémon like a Metroidvania. Unfortunately I have little faith in GameFreak, TPC, and Nintendo, so I think the only way I'll ever get a game like that is to look for rom hacks (which I usually find frustrating rather than fun) or learn how to make one myself.

[@kwayke9]

I have negative faith in TPCi making ANYTHING good for Pokémon. Buy them out, Nintendo, or you WILL lose the few rights you have (they already have basically no word on it since Creatures Inc owns 70% of the income). This is the company that not only knowingly threw Game Freak under a PR disaster so the actual culprits get away with it, but also the one who charged more than a PS3 at launch to 100% a game

[@ginkowave5829]

Just play crystal clear and some other really good ones, you'll be enjoying yourself way more thank SwSh. Btw really odd question but do you still know where you got that Goodra pic? It gives off a gurreb lagann style and I want to see the whole image.

[@FranzoOnLine]

@@ginkowave5829 I'll check CC out at some point. I actually got my pfp by googling "gurren lagann pokemon" and I found this: www.deviantart.com/wouhlven/art/TEGGEN-TOPPA-GURREN-GOODRA-LAGANN-416036159

[@ginkowave5829]

@@FranzoOnLine Well thank you(big gurren lagann fan) and I do hope you enjoy CC when you give it a go, for me it was bit too convoluted to even start playing so eventually I gave up and deleted it.

[@AwesomeMooseSmile]

Funnily enough, let's go Pikachu and Eevee are even less linear since hms aren't locked behind gyms anymore.

[@MrSupersonic2012]

For me this game was much easier to get through than Sun and Moon. And I'm still playing even though I've already beaten it. (Trying to fill the Pokedex.) It's fun. I like this game, but I have many issues with it just like the last few generations. The games were too easy in my playthrough. Didn't get a real challenge until Leon, and I will say that he was an absolute joy to fight. Mixed bag is the best way to describe this game. At the end of the day it does a lot right, but also a lot wrong.

[@oksusceptible5040]

What made me mad about the lead up to the game is how they weren’t transparent enough about the dex cut. From what I remember it was only mentioned once and an interview. I would’ve never found out about the dex cut if people didn’t make a fuss about it. They didn’t even give a definitive number of Pokémon in the game and leakers had to reveal that about half the Pokémon are gone.

[@wintersong2266]

In Japan they didn't even try to tell their fans about the cut. Japanese fans wouldn't even have heard of it if the western audience hadn't made a fuss about it.

[@oksusceptible5040]

Winter Song that’s terrible it’s really hard to respect gamefreak.

[@noobpaints6114]

Yeah same here, I was willing to accept the cut and then with every new leak I got more and more mad. Dex cut, fine. Dex Thanos'd WTF?! And with every game, although this one did it better than most I think. Every time there's a new dex the second most populace group is ALWAYS Gen 1 mons. and even when they didn't overwhelm with gen 1 they cut out Blastoise and Venusaur then Marketed Charizard as the champions ace?

[@oksusceptible5040]

Noob Moose Charizard being the ace was irritating

[@noobpaints6114]

@@oksusceptible5040 For real, there were plenty of cool pokemon other than Zard to have. The dlc announcement was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I sold the game back in december/January and forgot about the franchise until this vid popped up into my recommendations.

[@John_aka_Alwayz]

1. EXP Share unable to be turned off outweigh any improvements to how EXP is divided up. If you're like me and battle the occasional wild pokemon instead of running away, the game was no challenge. 2. Being boxed in a city is the worst its ever been I agree. 3.Subjective butpPersonally don't care for a ton of the pokemon designs, especially the galar forms. At least with Alola forms made sense (aside from Raichu the pancake eater), but whats special about galar that makes Mr Mime & Darumaka ice types 4. Presentation/graphics idc for honestly, although some animations and things popping into view is laughable. 5. "A lot of things feel cheap", maybe not cheap, but I do feel like X/Y, the absolute minimum effort was put in cos its pokemon on a new system, it will and did sell by the bucketload. Hence the complete lack of story told in both games. While it logically makes sense to shield off a 10 year old from all the conflict ongoing, it doesn't make for an engaging plot. If anything, you're playing Hop's story cos he never goes away and no matter how much you 6-0 him, he is presented as your equal and is blasphemously given a legendary pokemon. 6. The whole gyms in stadiums thing loses its luster fairly quickly, although the gym leaders deserve credit for actually being interesting characters and getting involved in the splot, especially the dude from Spikemuth who doesn't dynamax (even if they're only there to show off max-raid battles, which tbf are nice). Champions Cup just re-using old characters you've already beaten isn't great, its fine for defending your title. 7. Wild area agreed, great idea, flawed execution. 8. I wish a ton of the quality of life features are great, but it doesn't make up for me not enjoying the rest of the game. The advancements to breeding/EV training don't matter to me if competitive to e is ruined by dynamaxing. It does make me very very hopefully for the potential insane quality of Gen 4 remakes 9. Although on that note, Dynamax in gen 4 remakes does not entice me at all, Dynamaxing isn't inspired at all. The fact any pokemon can dynamax and can instantly be 50% stronger is busted, and the whole gimmick is "they get big lol" The region absolutely makes no sense geographically, a random snow area for the sake a snow area is not at all British Overall, I expected greatness and this is the game that turned me off the franchise, my least favorites main series games aside from XY. (which is even easier, has even less inspired characters and story), although I also would say Gen 7 & Gen 5 are in the top half of pokemon games ever made (not that they're touching Johto or Hoenn games) so I guess we don't see eye to eye. Regardless, enjoyed your thoughts on the latter half of pokemon generations

[@apt_get]

I barely spent any time in the Wild Area during my playthrough and actually had trouble with the Champion, which was surprising, but... that was it. I saw potential in SWSH, but I just can't play it at all anymore. The routes are just... straight lines, and the characters, while charming, end up having zero weight or presence. When Sonia tells you not to worry about the evil team because it's something for adults to deal with, I felt crushed. When did Pokemon ever stop a kid from doing important things? I felt like I never had a moment to myself in this game and I experienced the "guided tour" vibes from SM. I liked the stadium setting of the battles, but I didn't feel the stakes you describe in those final battles. Urgh, I dunno. I've kind of resigned from Pokemon. I used to be obsessed, I love competitive battling even still, but I was just so burned out from this installment. They didn't give it enough time. It could've been good, maybe, if they had put development time into this, but it's just so obvious that they didn't.

[@juanin200]

Adults telling your character to stay away from the evil team because you're just a kid and they could hurt you/you don't understand what's going on has been part of the game since always tbh. Tho I guess it never did matter because in the end you alone defeated those criminal organizations.

[@letsgetfluffy3138]

Try fan games, I recommend Pokemon Reborn.

[@ungulatemanalpha]

Gen 2's 'nonlinearity' is atrocious and a key contributor to the game's level curve being a total joke. Pokemon has never done nonlinearity well. The closest it's come to being good was the midgame of gen 4, and even then they enforced linearity on you again in Platinum, which improved its flow significantly.

[@FiboSai]

This is the first time that I have seen someone expressing a critical opinion on non-linearity, and I couldn't agree more. The wild battles and generic trainer battles in gens 1 and 2 after the thrid or fourth gym are all terrible. The game accounts for your choice of choosing where to go by making all trainers and wild pokemon roughly equally strong. No matter which way you go first, you will be overleveled by 10+ levels by the time you complete open section of the game. If you don't fight all trainers, which is likely what the game designers for gen 1 at least intended, you will have to grind for the elite 4 because you are underleveled.

[@JJSquirtle]

truer words...

[@funninoriginal6054]

I agree 100%, i love gen 2 to death but its level curve is just total garbage, even more so considering that the trainers in Kanto later get a 5+ level increase and Red gets roughly a 30+ level increase from Blue in his gym battle.

[@timucinkiylioglu4893]

Johto was pathetic. Even after the 7th badge all trainer Pokemons level were like 20ish. And the 8th gym was like 35. The game wasnt hard at all. I was just underleveld and had to grind on lv 15 wild encounters

[@astracrits4633]

@@FiboSai Honestly, yeah. I'm actually a big fan of nonlinear games, but there are some instances where it just doesn't work, and Pokemon is *definitely* one of those instances. Even so, I feel like SwSh actually suffered from being *too* linear. While every prior game aside from gens 1 and 2 were linear, they didn't feel like you were constantly being shunted down a single corridor; you at least had room to explore, experiment and generally run around. But the entire Galar region just feels like a narrow, one-way (because there's barely any backtracking at all, let's be real here) railroad track to me for the most part, and even with the Wild Area it feels kind of claustrophobic (in spite of the backgrounds that clearly show a very expansive region which you should've been able to explore.) In the end, the large world that they try to present just ends up clashing with the small space that you're actually allowed to move around in. Even the Wild Area stops feeling so big once you have the bike upgrades.

[@justacommenterperson2290]

Gen 5 had linear paths but also balanced it with many sub-areas from that path and having big paths along with caves. If they want to keep things linear then they should at least have optional areas.

[@GallowsofGhent]

The weirdest part about Piers not singing is that they could've just had lyrics to his theme and implied it was him singing. They don't need full voice acting for every character in the game, just someone singing for Piers' theme. There's no reason not to since everyone seems to have their own unique theme anyway. Edit: On the point of the game needing to come out in 3 years, I don't think we should cut them too much slack. While it's true they're under a bigger time crunch than usual, there's no reason they shouldn't outsource work that needs to be done. Either that or take on more people to help out. Or just give it to a studio that can pull it off. They've done it in the past with Colosseum, and other IPs get this treatment regularly. The Ocarina of Time 3DS remake wasn't done by the same studio that did BoTW, and it came out great. You can blame poor management all you want, but not so much a lack of time it seems to me.

[@SMAnthonyW]

Lmaooo “Congratulatiins Pokemon, you’ve got me again. Bastards.” 😂

[@RWAsur]

"They're not going to take Pokemon off of the air for a while" *1 Pandemic later...* Maybe what we needed all along to save this franchise was a deadly virus forcing everything to shut down so they can slow down and actually take their time developing a game.

[@scientistservant]

Honestly, as bad as this pandemic actually is, I do hope this makes GameFreak and the Pokemon Company in general slow down. They actually USED to do that, back during gen 2 and gen 3 I believe.

[@-meinjuaco-6439]

I feel this game does too much for you. Like, you need to impose yourself a butt load of artificial obstacles so the experience is something more than plain easy, like not using the very broken and accessible exp. candies, or spending all your money on revives that I could barely use, seeing how my pokemons evolved without even going out to battle. This game just felt rushed, unpolished and uncared for by the developers. Do something barely enjoyable and they'll probably buy the content that we locked away to begin with, like we actually took effort in putting those 200 premade models back into the cartridge. Best of all: they'll praise it because it's 30 dollars extra for a decent experience instead of buying it again for 60... and then we WILL release a sequel or remake or whatever it's called at full price. Brilliant

[@-meinjuaco-6439]

This game just gor me real upset, and overall i realised how nintendo is running things nowadays. I think I'll stick to the Wii, idk

[@charliez077]

-MeinJuaco- yes but difficulty-wise all you described is already 100% valid about every Gen 6 and 7 game.

[@TrigramThunder]

just a small gripe. the patch that will code the "new" 200 pokemon into your game is free and separate from the DLC. they've been transparent about that. granted those Pokemon wont spawn anywhere outside armor island so if you don't have DLC you can't catch them directly, but it's entirely possible to 100% the (so far) 635 Pokemon we'll have come the summer by transferring those 200 from Home (and getting them to Home from Pokemon Go when they enable that functionality which they said they would). also home has a free 30 mon box which is tiny i know but technically free so you could do it slowly or pay $20 for a full year of home which comes cheaper than month to month

[@Squidoodle]

That intro was funny. Love the notes about death stranding

[@banobobot]

When making the comparison to Unova and how "simple and uninspired" the Pokémon designs are, but not only does Unova introduce the highest quantity of new Pokémon since Kanto, but this style of design has existed on a lot of Pokémon since Kanto.

[@katieluvsubies]

The reason the battle tower music was such a banger is because it was composed by Toby Fox

[@seth7514]

The issue with your point on competitive balancing is the fact that they left EXTREMELY prominent Pokemon in the game that "terrorize the metagame". An example of such a Pokemon would be Excadrill. Why the hell would you keep Excadrill in the base game if you're wanting to balance competitive battling? Excadrill is THE staple of offensive cores in a lot of scenarios, and the fact that its Dynamax can self-enable its ability Sand Rush is a massive oversight. Then there's Dynamax by itself that got BANNED ON SMOGON. An entire mechanic, banned. Even then, due to the National Dex being cut certain Pokemon rose to prominence yet again, such as Clefable, which again it's like....how did they balance competitive? And by extension, how did the National Dex cut balance competitive? All of this points to Game Freak not really caring about competitive battling, when what they're actually doing is listing off numerous bogus reasons as to why the National Dex was cut; with the only reason that WASN'T included being their incompetence and complacency. I've been playing competitive Pokemon since late gen 4, and all I can say is that this current metagame is THE most stagnant it's ever been. It doesn't help that due to the Dex cut there is an extreme lack of breathing room for innovation. How can you innovate a metagame with limited selections, not only in Pokemon, but in moves as well? Game Freak tried and failed to be hip by removing old moves and adding new ones, and overall it just isn't enjoyable when mainstream Pokemon games remove moves entirely. We as a community can do that ourselves. If a move is too oppressive we could always ban it on certain Pokemon or entirely, and if Game Freak adds new moves then MAYBE one of those new moves can fill that slot for a Pokemon. I'm sorry, but when it comes to competitive battling I just disagree entirely.

[@aldrinvendt8524]

As far as the difficulty of the game, as soon as I saw that the exp share wasn't an option, I immediately created a bunch of self imposed challenges:only 8th gen pokemon, battle style on set instead of switch, no dynamax, and no items during battles. And I have to say, the game was enjoyably challenging this way. Never lost a battle, but there were some close calls for sure, so I think you're right about them solving the over leveling problem.

[@kwayke9]

I'm kind of baffled on how shift style hasn't been outright removed yet. Its presence just makes the game objectively worse in every way

[@aldrinvendt8524]

@@kwayke9 I wouldn't say worse, just way easier. For players like you and me, it makes the game worse by making it brain dead, but newer players may appreciate it. As long as it remains optional it's fine, but if they do what they did to the exp share, then we will have issues. I do think it would be interesting if more enemy trainers used entry hazards to try and punish players.

[@hostiusasinhostilityhostil7853]

From my point of view, it genuinely sounds like you've had to solve the levelling problem yourself. Maybe I'm wrong about that - I haven't played the game myself - but what do you think about that? I remember when Sun and Moon came out, people were going, "It's the best Pokémon game I've played in a long time, turn off the Exp. Share if you want a challenge", and so I did. The first battle I ever lost in Moon was against Anabel in the postgame, specifically when her Weavile swept my entire team. It seems like the same problem has persisted, it just has different seals on it. Also, is it more annoying to EV train a team in SwoSh?

[@aldrinvendt8524]

@@hostiusasinhostilityhostil7853 So, since my first comment, I started replying sword and shield, and it does seem like without the restrictions the game is braindead easy. I hadn't used the exp candies in my first play through, and if you do use them you get way over leveled, I had a fully evolved starter before the second gym, out leveling the gym leader by 12 levels. Of course, you do have to consciously use these candies, it won't happen by accident, but they are super easy to get. And now that I'm using dynamax, there is literally 0 challenge. Add the fact that the game throws power house pokemon at you from the beginning like honedge, axew, and larvitar, and yeah, I'm starting to think you have to go out of your way for a challenge. As for EV training, its pretty easy. vitamins can now max out EVs instead of just going to 100. And the event meowth lets you farm money crazy fast. So, grind money for half an hour, buy the vitamins, and voila, EV trained pokemon. Unless you want super specific EVs of course. Also, as mentioned in the video, there are candies you can use to change natures, and hyper training is back, so it's fully possible to turn your in game team competitive If you really want to. However, Dynamaxing has completely turned me off the competitive scene...

[@JJSquirtle]

@@hostiusasinhostilityhostil7853 it's WAY easier to EV train i. Swsh than gen 7. they lifted the caps on supplements so u can literally buy ur way to max EV's if u want. and money is easy to get as well. almost as easy as BW2 post-game even

[@epyon542]

I understand you apathy towards the roster cut, I personally don't care that they were cut either. My big issue is the bold face lies told to use over the course of development. If they just cut them and gave a legitimate reason then I'd be fine with it, as it stands now they lied through their teethe, the animations are re-used or none existent and the Pokemon models are exactly the same from the previous generations which were two things they said they cut the dex for. If we got actual revamped and high quality animations or higher quality/new models then I'd be fine but that just simply isn't the case. Also there's no excuse for Sword and Shield, Pokemon never used to be to be annual until gen 6 cam out in 2013, before that the game were Bi-annual with a mainline game, remake, and expansion. The games don't have to beholden to the anime, they can come out later or they can just make more filler in the anime. There are other ways around it besides just saying "the anime is annual therefor the game needs to be too," when in reality the game should take precedent since they can easily pad an anime's run time. Gamefreak also had many chances with 3D pokemon and hasn't learned from any of them, they even stated that if there was a traditional handheld this time around that they would have developed for that instead, Gamefreak didn't want to to develop for the Switch and it shows.

[@lukedetering4490]

24:44 I wonder if Burgh's gym from Pokemon BW had some inspiration from this

[@elijahmuller5041]

One thing I love about this game is that competitive is really accessible, max raids give pokemon with good enough IVs to make breeding faster, money is easy enough to get so vitamins are easy to get, mints make natures not annoying, and exp candies, while they do break the main game, do make it easy to level up bred pokemon, I never actually thought I would get into the competitive scene, but sword and shield made it easy

[@gizmoman2388]

For me this game has been almost as easy as X and Y, EXP Share made my team overlevelled, I am at like the 6th gym with level 60+ for my team. I have given up on the story until I finish pokedex for each area I've been to.

[@Wurmze]

6th gym at level 60?! How? My first pokemon to reach level 60 was during the championship battle with marnie and i grinded before raihan to get a ponyta i hadnt been using up to level.

[@cresoma]

SW/SH are like a Shiny Moltres: Raw, undercooked, and lit ablaze

[@psycalibur4291]

I just know that when Sinnoh remakes happen GameFreak is going to remove the Battle Resort and Battle Frontier. Literally the best postgame ever. They got rid of the Frontier in ORAS, so why would they in Sinnoh remakes? Pokémon just keeps disappointing me nowadays. I'm not expecting much despite it being my most anticipated remake.

[@invisibilius1978]

6:14 laughs in bland and uninteresting single-faced meta in eight gen. thank you, dragapult, dracovish, and (before ban) dynamax barraskewda!

[@BlackSalamander439]

Exactly my opinion, they introduced a lot of small gameplay, design, QoL changes, some amazing character and Pokemon designs which were completely wasted due to lack of polish, planning and care in the story department. I also agree on the difficulty part but that's mainly due to the fact that I had a team of like 11 Pokemon that I swapped out using the PC menu (another great feature) and had no idea Exp. candies exist until the end of the game lol

[@calebelliott2629]

The thing I want more than anything is a game that allows you to choose which sequence of gyms you fight, scaling the gyms to difficulty equal to the amount of gym badges you have. Or don’t scale them. Imagine being curb-stomped by the eight gym leader in Sinoh or Jotoh. The second thing would be consequence. Make things change when you loose battles. Your rival shouldn’t roadblock you forever until you beat him, they should go “hah, I beat you, now I’m going to the next gym” and he leaves. That would be great. Have the Majora Mask moon scene when you loose in the final battle against a legendary or evil leader, where there’s no real “consequence” but you feel the mistakes you make before reloading the game. Those, and please no dynamax, that shit ruined competitive Pokémon.

[@slowburgundyy574]

To expand on your linearity section, the first three gyms could be the Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce of this generation but it was such a missed opportunity. You've left the Wild Area, the path through Motostoke, Turffield and Hulbury is *literally a loop*. Milo's, Nessa's and Kabu's Pokemon are that of the starter trio. It's very much implied to you that all the gym leaders are in the same range of strength and use certain teams depending on how strong the challenger is. The designs of routes 3, 4 and Galar Mine 1 compared to 5, 6 and Galar Mine 2 are essentially symmetrical. It's a part of the game that almost seems like it was _planned_ to be non-linear but scrapped at the last minute. The jump from the Wild Area and the introduction of Motostoke to being shuffled back along route 3 is almost comically bad in its implementation. I think my retrospective of the game (which is admittedly still more positive than other people) would probably be a lot better if, after leaving the opening ceremony, one of the characters just strolls up to you and says "So you can fight Milo, Nessa and Kabu in any order you want, head on to Hammerlocke when you're done!". It would be a great way to keep the idea of exploration even after leaving the Wild Area for the first time.

[@TheSaltedGawd]

Not sure what Fudj was doing having found a challenge in the Champion. In my experience, he was about as easy as easy could be

[@elfyar5786]

pokemon: here is a healthy meta for vgc doubles 2020 also pokemon: HeRe TaKe InCiNeRoAr

[@Grammarhead]

I've watched a couple of your Pokémon videos now and I love your style. I don't really share your perspective on modern Pokémon, but it was interesting to hear and I found myself agreeing with a lot of your points. Keep it up!

[@thecowcowclash]

16:33 what about the squirrel?!! There’s just a squirrel in the game.

[@gars129]

As a geography nerd, there must be a good balance between realistic and interesting. Reflecting the geography of islands is easier since it feels more dense, than, say, most of Florida being entirely flat. Climbing a mountain for tree hours is also too much.

[@drc2433]

Honestly I completely agree with you. I went into these games with very low expectations and I think, because of that, I enjoyed them. Just cuz of the fact that I expected so much less from them.

[@UltraBall23]

Astroclutz Gaming I expected a new Pokémon game with new Pokémon and better graphics. I got everything I wanted ant the additions were a bonus. I had fun, for the first time I’m actually doing competitive and shiny hunting, doing raids, and just enjoyed it.

[@hellscoutaidan5134]

8:22 Leon was an absolute pushover for me which was actually super disappointing. I swept his whole team except for aegislash with a level 65 Cloyster with skill link and icicle spear because 4 of his pokemon are weak to ice if you choose sobble as your starter. Aegislash went down in 2 hits from lv 64 Obstagoon's Night Slash Dragapult,Haxorus,Rhyperior and Rillaboom all went down in 1 use of Cloyster's Icicle Spear (Skill link maximizes the number of times multi strike moves hit and Icicle spear has 100 accuracy) Dynamax Charizard hits a Max Rockfall and goes down to a Max Geyser

[@frostingorb2181]

Whenever they release 2 generations on the same platform, there seems to be a consistency of the first gen on the console focuses on adapting to the new hardware while the second gen on the console gets more experimental and makes some very appreciated changes. Like with Diamond and Pearl being really slow (like, even the health bars are slow) while Black and White makes a lot of visual improvements and includes changes like reusable TMs and the Poke Marts being in the Pokemon Center. My point is that, assuming Gen 9 is also gonna be on the Switch, there will be many improvements for it.

[@MrSecretSentai]

Here’s an idea for the next Pokémon game the starter Pokémon you chose determines the town you start in and the gyms around you

[@foolboyv5]

I pretty much feel spot on the same Brad, excellent video, you put my thoughts into a well made structured essay. I will say I disagree about the ending feel earnt, the pacing was pretty good until the dinner with Leon, then after that it goes from 0-100 and not in a good way, things just seem to happen and you can really feel the crunch on the game as they struggled to find a way to end them. There are clear cut corners in places like the town with the dark gym, it's literally a Pokémon center and a corridor it's actually embarrasing. Also found it strange at all the improvements they've made to competitive just to cut half the roster, to me it's a pretty big deal as not only have my favourite Mons been cut (got unlucky) but on principle I just don't like cut content when it's not justified, and my biggest criticism with the games is that nothing they do justifies the amount of stuff theyve cut. But fucks sake I did quite enjoy them, just have no desire to play competitive for the reason above, which is a big shame

[@NocturnalFudj]

Things definitely started to seem pretty lazy or rushed or whatever it may be towards the end. The Dark Gym just being a straight line and then the Dragon Gym being three double battles in a row kinda sucked and I can see what you mean about it going from 0-100 because the ending stages of the game are very battle heavy but I dunno! I never really got a sense of whiplash or like things were going too fast. Each to their own I suppose.

[@foolboyv5]

@@NocturnalFudj Yeah for sure!, Looking forward to the next one sugar ❤️❤️

[@drVarulv]

I just powered through your whole Pokemon series and you've put into words exactly how i felt, great videos

[@nopatiencejoe6376]

This must be yet another of those reviews that are overly lenient with the most recent game for hype reason, and end up stating "the game it's not the best, but it's fun". Meanwhile the same reviwer bash the older games to the ground over every minor detail... Oh, well

[@GoldenRose116]

the thing is both B/W and S/M where better in pretty much every way

[@PassTheSnails]

Golden Rose sun and moon were terrible, so the fact that you are completely right is just downright sad.

[@michelecastellotti9172]

@@GoldenRose116 you said it, i agree

[@michelecastellotti9172]

@@PassTheSnails well, at least we all agree that BW and B2W2 are good (for me are the best, but everyone had its own tastes)

[@davefromaccount6766]

How dare he criticize the older games. How dare he not hate sword and shield...

[@Fran-ss7wn]

Does anyone else think Pokemon games went downhill ever since they took the more '3D' design route? Everything before Gen 6 is so good and I absolutely love the design so much more than X/Y onward. HG and SS will always be my favourites.

[@Marabo77]

U guys had a challenge? Laughs in Cinderance Tyranitar Quagsire Obstagoon Sirfetched & Bultund

[@dummythin5378]

I just now discovered your channel because of that smash video of yours that blew up, but damn I love hearing what you have to say. Your criticisms actually feel fair and genuine.

[@MysticEyesUK]

I love your personality in these vids.

[@Big_Dai]

People don't seem to understand the brilliance of pop-ins! Things don't appear unless you are close enough, which forces Players to properly explore and visit every location! ..............................

[@irradiated6126]

when I got the game I thought I was gonna be super frustrated and disappointed playing it but I ended up having a lot of fun, maybe because my expectations were so low

[@bottlegang3187]

Fudj: I feel like the competitive scene will be a lot more healthy now, with the removal of some pokemon- Competitive SW/SH: *d r a c o v i s h*

[@sixeyes7413]

To be honest, my feelings on Pokémon are so weird. There are things from all the generations that are great, but also blow. I think agree with the sentiment that gen 1-4 is probably the best. But elements from gen 5 and on make the series so much better. For example I love the sprites from gen 2 and 5, but natures and ivs really screw everything up. I mean why even have a Pokémon be a nature that is nothing but detrimental? Like an adamant alakazam. So nature mints and hyper training really help (though getting the mints can suck sometimes). I just wish Gamefreak would take its time with the series, but it won’t happen. So I pray to the nine divines that some genius is out there with a Pokémon like passion project that can really capitalize on the series potential.

[@ScarletMomiji]

It's always so hard when they change good old things because of how many good new things are added, yeah. Like I love how they finally made TMs infinite use in Gen 5...then they changed how exp gain worked which made grinding on wild pokemon for newer members of your team much more annoying...or not reusing the VS Seeker. Gen 2 and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald rematches were just stupid. VS Seeker allowed you to level nicely in FR/LG on your own choice and gain extra money for items.

[@jinkisaragi874]

I thought Temtem might be a good pokemon like game but it doesn't really feels good to play and the designs are horrible in my opinion , the whole artstyle in fact. Digimon story is kinda good but has it's own set of problems. I just wait for SMT 5 these games never dissapointed me so far.

[@bdown_hbunz]

Natures I think are still a good idea, give the pokemon a sense of individuality and charm to each of them, for better or worse. What I despise are the FUCKING IVS!! I came from breeding in gen 6 and I like how they're making it easier but then it's like why add it in the first place? Also with the resources gamefreak has, why didn't they just make the entire game full 3d? With how it looks now, especially with it being on the switch, it just feels weird to me now.

[@theoford753]

B-Down HBunZ Well in RPG game I believe IV helps with the rng aspect. While majority of the time I dislike competitive breeding for IV’s I know it’s a quote on quite necessary evil. And to address your second question. They rushed these titles which is why there are some many lackluster aspects about this game.

[@missmangas7298]

'' I really like the Spin-off games like Colosseum and XD '' What about the Dungeon games? They were fun and different! Your character is turned into a Pokemon, you explore new places, use new objects, can speak to any type, travel through time etc. The plot was simple and creative, the adventure was awesome and challenging, the characters were funny and likable, the villain was spooky. The music was beautiful and the animations too. Thoses games are excellent :D

[@VicRoseHere]

I don’t know what Pokémon you used but I think we had different experiences. I didn’t have to think about almost any battle in this game except for Leon and the last battle with Hop and even still I never blacked out. The game felt just as brain dead and easy as the last few games to me. I didn’t even use experience candies or anything nor did I have to grind or battle any wild Pokémon.

[@lavii3355]

As small as it is, I really like this game for the character designs. I don’t know what it is about them but they just look great.

[@alventuradelacruz522]

Eceryone look great...everyone but the champion

[@lavii3355]

+ Alventura De la Cruz Leon? I thought everyone simped for him though lol

[@jetstreamjackie3437]

I really loved SwSh, my first time through. Despite some late-game hiccups, I got really excited and genuinely attached to my team as I played through the game. But then when I tried to do it again in Sword to get the version exclusives, I dunno, I just couldn't bring myself to do everything again. I might just reset my Sword file and try again, it might've just been my headspace at the time. I really wish the tower ascent segment straight out of Ranger 2 had a little more going for it than one elevator ride and the emotional stakes of "Leon's late for dinner", but despite having literally no ground to stand on, I did enjoy that classic battle rush. Complicated feelings about this one. Real hyped for the DLC though, I'm so happy the Regis are getting more love :D

[@RWCFORESKIN]

Man I plowed through this game in less than 24 consecutive hours. Idk how anyone thought it wasn't ridiculously easy

[@TwoNumbahNiens]

You could probably play and beat any pokemon game in 24 consecutive hours, lol

[@RyanFilmMaker]

I feel like you are too kind to the challenging nature of the game. This game was painfully easy. I'm with you on the negatives for sure. Just think you are far too kind outside of the designs. The designs are the only good thing agree with you. The little design changes are pretty great.

[@UnCoverOne]

I really enjoyed this review. It's really well written and I like your approach to reviewing the games. Too many people look at video games as a list of features and content instead of an overall experience and I really appreciate the choice of talking about the aspects of the game that actually impacted your playthrough. I see many people complain about the textures on the trees or the number of Pokemon instead of focusing on more important issues such as the lack of focus on the second story line, the lack of side quests or the hard to navigate inventory. At the same time I see people praise the games for the flashy new features such as the wild area or the battle tower while ignoring things such as the really well written characters, the great new Pokemon designs or the new and improved Championship and Gym formats. I know that fans just want the most complete pokemon experience they can get with all new and old pokemon, features, animations, characters but we can't expect Gamefreak to keep making good Pokemon games if we are only criticizing the games and telling them what we don't want. We need to tell them what we like about these games, what they should keep and improve, because they have some really good ideas put into them.

[@caesar2185]

Dude what on Earth are you talking about these are the easiest games in the series next to X and Y, it is not balanced there is ZERO challenge!

[@trippytrinder7111]

GF stopped making animals and started making characters. At least in my opinion, this is why the Pokémon feel empty. I can’t imagine a pack of Cinderace roaming around. I can’t imagine most of the new Pokémon in a natural setting.

[@naomi_2949]

Before I begin a mini rant, i just want to say that your video is great and helped me understand how I've been feeling about Sword and Sheild. So thanks for your hard work man! Otherwise...lemme begin. Hehe I'm not exactly the most 'savy' about game design but for someone who has left pokemon in Ultra Sun and Moon, it was different (obviously haha). I stopped playing for sometime because Pokemon disappointed me after X and Y. I vowed to never pick it up. I only recently came back to Sun and Moon (I realized I bought it a LONG time ago) but then I saw that I never finished it bc it was TRAaaassshhh. So when I finally got the motivation to get Sword and Sheild bc I replayed Black 2, I was preparing myself to be disappointed bc of ALL the backlash I had read. But these are MY personal feelings on it. Game Design: Yeah there are other games that are beautifully done. Pokemon is definitely behind in that aspect. But as a person who is in college and really only plays pokemon cuz it has a special place in my heart, I wasnt that disappointed. I probably would've never noticed the small things I have seen criticized in other videos. BUT the wild area is sometimes a little crazy. I bumped into a strong ass snorlax by mistake bc I was in Gym 1 still and I stupidly was running away from another pokemon and since it spawns like TWO SECONDS away from you, I got into a battle with it. (WHOOPS) So in terms of that, yeah, it's annoying. Difficulty: I WILL admit that it isn't as hard as other games. I do not think I've had a REAL challenge since BW/BW2. I was overleved majority of the game. My overconfidence and annoyance in that is what brought me to be UNDERleveled for Leon. (Oops haha). My battle with him was something I ACTUALLY enjoyed for the first time in a pokemon game in a while. Even in the entire sword and shield game. I was actually happy to be underleveled lol. The gym leader battles and the level of importance placed around them were AWESOME. I was pumped every single time I had to battle a gym. Storyline: it was dry. I didnt care for it. Only time I got even Simicurious was in the end but even that was meh. Didnt make sense. Characters: I liked the characters but I HATED the fact that they always made you feel like a child. I understand they were "children" games but come on Game Freak. You know a majority of your audience is old ass 20-30 yrs old who love these games. Dont insult us like that. I loved the progress in the character of Hop 🙂. He actually grew and I was happy to see that. Wild Area: the spawning is annoying, yes. But the battles, treats, environment, I actually loved exploring it even tho I was vastly underleveled when I did. Towns/routes: towns were SUPER cool in design. I wish there were more places to explore but it was alright. The routes were too small tho. :/ Pokedex/DLC/pokemon: I love the new pokemon. I actually like the new opportunities to get into competitive battling bc it makes it much easier for those who haven't before. I always wanted to, I've dabbled a bit myself but gave up bc it was SO MUCH work. And I'm a college student, I dont got time for that. I'll happy take my simple vulpix anyday haha. But NOW I can attempt to do it and it will be much easier. The DLC is way overpriced and I have yet to play it. So...I'll see about that. Overall: I liked the game. Some parts were good and some bad. Just like this video, I had the same sentiments. I just hope the remakes for Diamond and Pearl dont destroy my heart just like it had after X and Y.

[@test18fort]

That comparison with the hexagon maze in Takeshi's Castle got me.

[@casualcrusader1547]

i had an incredibly easy time with this game difficulty wise, buts thats literally only because i enjoyed the wild area and dynamax raids a little too much LMAO

[@Corvo743]

I'm gonna have to disagree with the difficulty. The only person I lost to the entire game was Leon. And all it took was switching which pokemon I sent out first.