Apparently, with the recent release of Pokemon Sword & Shield, it has brought a lot of negative criticism.

I know to some, especially some users I speak with on DeviantArt stated that Sword & Shield isn't that bad, so it's really depend on the person exactly.

Ok, one of the controversy going on that Game Freak apparently reused the Gen VI/VII models for the Switch and Game Freak stated that they will cut half of the PokeDex because they said that "they needed to remake the models from scratch".

Ok, I would understand that if they really created new models for the Switch and sacrificed half of the Dex, but them reusing the Dex from the previous 2 generations, that's inexcusable on cutting half of the Dex, and if you think the hardware limitations of the Switch prevents this, it won't because look at TLoZ: Breath of the Wild, the map is like 2-3 times the size of Pokemon Sword/Shield's map, and that game has far more material and still able to perform on the Switch with little to no problems.

Originally I skipped out on getting Sword & Shield because I'm way too much into Super Smash Bros Ultimate right now (tbh, I'm more of a Smash fan than a Pokemon fan, and you know which one I prefer more), but glad I didn't spent us$60-$120 on those games, because I would be a little frustrated.

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Anyways, what are your thoughts about the issues that Sword & Shield has.

Cutting half the Dex does sound rubbish. Back when we had hacks in this place, the GBA games allowed for a full Dex and maps which were twice as big or probably even more. It's impossible that we can't have 500 more Pokemon compared to the GBA times due to hardware limitations.

I also don't see a point with Dynamax, at least with the info we have now. It apparently seems to be linked with a legendary and could be part of the plot, and if so, then I could understand its inclusion. Otherwise, I see no real point in making new models for special Pokemon to get unique gigantic forms when all they get is a boost in stats.

I've also seen a few things here and there that could be controversial, but so far I don't want to dig any further. Maybe by next week we'll have more info on everything after players have had 72 hours to explore Galar.

https://youtu.be/OYU51Gebx4w

This sums up everything you need to know about why they did this. If you're a Pokémon fan like me, it may also depress you.

https://youtu.be/OYU51Gebx4w

This sums up everything you need to know about why they did this. If you're a Pokémon fan like me, it may also depress you.

pennylessz : I have watched the video, and how much I even pains me to admit after being a Pokemon fan for 12 years (2000-2004 & 2011-present), I agree with the video, the series is taking a huge downfall at a point that the series is basically "over", and both Game Freak and The Pokemon Company isn't even realize that they are killing their own fanbase, or they realize it, but they don't give a cabbages.

To be honest, I've stated that I've skipped both last year's Let's Go Pikachu & Let's Go Eevee, and skipped this year's Sword & Shield, which has been the first time I skipped main Pokemon releases 2 years in a row since my 2011 return to the series, and the direction the series is heading, more in likely I might just end up retiring my interest from Pokemon for the 2nd time, but this time, it's because of Game Freak screwing everything up, but the only reason I'm sticking around is because of two things, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, as well as waiting for remakes of Diamond/Pearl, and remakes of Black/White, and in fact, I even stated that the Black & White remakes is considered my "Endgame" of the Pokemon Franchise because the Black & White remakes will be my final Pokemon games that I will purchase, and won't buy any future main-title Pokemon games from that point on, and will retire my interest in the series as soon as Black/White remake run ends when the next games are released.

I know some people commented between here, DeviantArt, YouTube, and other places I visited, it really depends on who you ask on which Generation was the generation that killed the series entirely, but most I seen, it was Gen VI that basically the tradition aspect of the Pokemon Franchise (thus why personally, X & Y were pretty lackluster to my opinion).

As for merchandises, I haven't really bought anything from The Pokemon Company for like over a year, other than maybe a couple of things, but that's only because of my interest in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.


Plus to anyone that wants to say that "I'm not a "real" Pokemon fan, look, it doesn't matter, plus I also stated that I'm more of a Smash fan over a Pokemon fan, and the only reason that my interest in the Pokemon franchise is being held by a thread is because of Smash Ultimate, and tbh, if it wasn't for Smash Ultimate, I would of been done with Pokemon altogether well before the Black & White remakes (a.k.a. my endgame/retiring games with The Pokemon Company).

pennylessz : I have watched the video, and how much I even pains me to admit after being a Pokemon fan for 12 years (2000-2004 & 2011-present), I agree with the video, the series is taking a huge downfall at a point that the series is basically "over", and both Game Freak and The Pokemon Company isn't even realize that they are killing their own fanbase, or they realize it, but they don't give a cabbages.

To be honest, I've stated that I've skipped both last year's Let's Go Pikachu & Let's Go Eevee, and skipped this year's Sword & Shield, which has been the first time I skipped main Pokemon releases 2 years in a row since my 2011 return to the series, and the direction the series is heading, more in likely I might just end up retiring my interest from Pokemon for the 2nd time, but this time, it's because of Game Freak screwing everything up, but the only reason I'm sticking around is because of two things, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, as well as waiting for remakes of Diamond/Pearl, and remakes of Black/White, and in fact, I even stated that the Black & White remakes is considered my "Endgame" of the Pokemon Franchise because the Black & White remakes will be my final Pokemon games that I will purchase, and won't buy any future main-title Pokemon games from that point on, and will retire my interest in the series as soon as Black/White remake run ends when the next games are released.

I know some people commented between here, DeviantArt, YouTube, and other places I visited, it really depends on who you ask on which Generation was the generation that killed the series entirely, but most I seen, it was Gen VI that basically the tradition aspect of the Pokemon Franchise (thus why personally, X & Y were pretty lackluster to my opinion).

As for merchandises, I haven't really bought anything from The Pokemon Company for like over a year, other than maybe a couple of things, but that's only because of my interest in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.


Plus to anyone that wants to say that "I'm not a "real" Pokemon fan, look, it doesn't matter, plus I also stated that I'm more of a Smash fan over a Pokemon fan, and the only reason that my interest in the Pokemon franchise is being held by a thread is because of Smash Ultimate, and tbh, if it wasn't for Smash Ultimate, I would of been done with Pokemon altogether well before the Black & White remakes (a.k.a. my endgame/retiring games with The Pokemon Company).

Well, regardless of how many fans Pokémon drops, it's such a juggernaut at this point, that it's as likely to fail as Wal-Mart. We might actually get something decent from Game Freak if their series ever actually ends up in financial trouble. Besides, it's not all about quality. I personally think there's a lot more to Digimon, the earlier stuff at least. And the games have had a refreshing resurgence as of late.

I haven't bought a new Pokémon game since Alpha Sapphire. I'm glad I did actually, that was a wonderful remake. I have X, but I couldn't get through it, there's too much clutter in content and environment, and not enough style. I may beat it one day though.
Honestly, my route with these games has largely been to buy them used, that way you don't feed the Pokémon behemoth. I'll likely get Sword and Shield this way, but I'd never buy it new.

I've never played Black & White, I'm waiting till I finally get through Platinum. But I had to beat Heart Gold first, which wore me out.

I've bought my girlfriend a couple Pokémon pushes over the last year or so, they're undeniably cute. I always liked the Pokeball toys as a kid, but they were really disappointing in the end.

I want to pose a question to you. What if, the Black and White remakes don't have every Pokémon from those gems? Let's say, they cut out an earlier gen or two?

pennylessz : to answer your question, they will more in likely pull a Let's Go move, and only include the all of the Pokemon all the way up to the original generation (649 at the end of 2012's Black 2 & White 2, or 493 at the end of 2009's Platinum) for those remakes, I'm willing to make that sacrifice, although it might be tough to assemble my Gen IV team, as for Gen V, a majority of my Gen V team is the Unova PokeDex (except for only 1, but I can substitute that one no problem).

I'm kinda like you, I haven't really played a main Pokemon title since Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon back in November 2018 and that's been a year ago since I played a Main Pokemon title. I'm willing on trying out the Diamond/Pearl remakes because I completely missed out on Gen IV's run during my 7-year hiatus from the Pokemon Franchise (2004-2011), but like I said, I'm looking forward to Black/White remakes because it's my favorite Generation, and the Generation I returned to the Pokemon Franchise.

As for my fate with getting Sword and/or Shield, I'm not going to buy it new, like you are, but maybe, just maybe over time, when my interest in Super Smash Bros Ultimate dies down, then I might buy a used version of either Sword or Shield (not both though), and maybe try it out, but till then, more in likely that I won't be playing Sword/Shield.

While I'm not a fan of the fact that they cut out 55% of the Pokemon and before the release I was firmly on that side of the fence, I'll be the first to say that I didn't really find this too glaring of an issue playing through the game. The regional dex is still roughly the same size as usual so for the main game you had plenty of Pokemon to choose from.

I would also like to mention that all the criticisms around the graphics and all that stuff really didn't bother me in the slightest playing the game. The routes and towns look absolutely gorgeous, the music was honestly some of my favorite in the franchise and the new Pokemon they added honestly had fantastic designs. I also appreciate that even though they cut out a lot of Pokemon, they made a great effort to introduce more "meta" items and abilities to make the competitive scene more fun and interesting. I don't think it'll have the exact effect they're hoping for but if in the future we get a game with every single Pokemon in it it will be amazing.

My biggest complaints come from the Wild Area. I love the concept and raid battles are more fun than I anticipated but there does exist a slight rendering issue, I have experienced a few lag spikes there (although minor and still playable), but worst of all is the multiplayer functionality.

Instead of the amazing concept they had in gen 6, or even the festival plaza from gen 7, gen 8's version of multiplayer is utter dog s***. You can't add people as friends or at least to a favorite list in the game to make it easier to find each other. Instead you'll have to stick a pincode on a trade request, for example, and have your friend use the same pincode, and then you can find each other. This isn't so bad if you're both in a call, for example, but I've noticed how much of a struggle this system can be to communicate through just text.

I know they're probably going to patch the game in the future because dataminers found more Pokemon in the coding than there are currently available in the game, and I hope they add something like a friend/favorite list to the Wild Area as well.

But yeah, the games are more expensive than usual, but if you can find them at the same price as other Pokemon games, or as a used copy, I'd say it's worth it.

It looks like the games are meant to be a reboot that takes place in a new region with new features. Keeping the game simple.

I haven't gotten too far into Sword but already think it's not worth the full $60 price and Wal-Mart and Amazon had the right idea to sell for $50 on release day.

I see it as a trial and error thing though, the capabilities of what can be done with a new gen on the Switch were tested out and they should learn for the next game

It's just not a very good game, my opinion anyway. Even if it wasn't a buggy mess of bad choices and reused assets. It's not worth buying right now.

For those who are all upset about the lack of a pokedex or the use of last-gen models. Vote with your wallet. Don't buy the game.

I was very mixed on the game, in one hand the game is lots of fun and the Pokemon selection is decent, on the other hand the game doesn't seem to have any major improvements to warrant getting rid of half the pokedex. So like on one hand I love the game but I can't decide if everything we lost was worth it, I think the thing that pushes me against the game is that the post game is highly lacking.

Regardless of how the game is, dataminers have shown very strong evidence that the models are reused, with only a few pokemon having minor model updates. I don't want to support something when the company lies directly to me, well not to me personally, but as a consumer. I love me some pokemanz, but I personally can't stand behind something like that, while my impact will be very very small, considering it's success financially, I am speaking with my wallet and not buying it, which is what most companies listen to.

While I have really enjoyed sword and shield and I enjoy some of the new features brought to the series such as the raid battles or the customisation of league cards. I do have to admit that the series as a whole is taking a turn which I don't really approve of, it's kind of painful to watch if I'm completely honest which is a shame considering this is probably one of my favourite series of games as a whole but however I do remain hopeful and I'm curious where they will go and what they'll come up with next.