#especially since the postgame is so much shorter than the main story

[sage-nebula]

The most frustrating thing about the main stories of Gen VI (Kalos) and Gen VII (Alola) is that Game Freak quite clearly hasn’t lost their touch entirely. They still can make great characters and write fantastic stories if they want to. They just seem to be refusing for the primary stories of each generation.

Take Gen VI for example. Anyone who knows me knows that I think the characters and narrative of Gen VI were garbage for a lot of reasons. I won’t get into all of the specifics now, but the tl;dr is that I felt that while there were very, very serious concepts introduced in the narrative of Gen VI, there was no emotional gravitas put behind them. They weren’t taken seriously. Combine this with the fact that the characters were shallow and two-dimensional at best (with so many of them being superfluous---you could have easily yanked Trevor and Tierno out of the game and nothing of value would be lost), and you have something that is not only a massive waste of time, but a massive waste of time that stops you every five seconds to force you to pay attention to it. It’s terrible. It’s beyond terrible. It’s an excruciating disappointment after the majesty that was Gen V, and yet . . . and yet the Kalos games still have some glimmer to them, a diamond in the rough, in the form of the post-game. The post-game was fantastic. The post-game carried emotional gravitas; while the fact that a grown man had stripped a teenage girl of her agency and made her do whatever he wanted her to do while she retained no memory of it was horrifyingly glossed over, that girl---Emma---had more depth and characterization than all of the other characters in Kalos combined. Her struggles held emotional significance. She was someone you could at least sympathize with, if not empathize with, and root for. You wanted her to succeed. And since you actually got to see her relationship with Looker develop, you felt your heartstrings yanked on when they separated at the end. To this day there are people who still want Looker to go back to Kalos for Emma, and that fact is a testament to how effective Kalos’ post-game story was in comparison to the flimsy mess that was its primary story.

Gen VII’s Alola games were a similar mess. To be fair, they had promise; the promotional materials (along with so many other things) promised to deliver on the alchemy plot that has been building for several generations now. The characters, too, were interesting for the most part; while some of them were once again underdeveloped and didn’t capitalize on the potential they could have had (Kukui), or else just underutilized despite the importance they should have had in the plot (Burnet), others had massive potential, both in their depth at the outset, as well as the potential for development as the story progressed (Aether family). Yet, was any of this capitalized on? No. The abused children in the narrative were disrespected in the end and made to go back to their abusive parent. The first female villain in the series wasn’t allowed to be treated as a villain. And all of this was even worse in the “Ultra” games, which make the original games look good by comparison (and particularly considering the fact that the gameplay was worse in Gen VII than it was in Gen VI, that’s a feat).

But still, I find it hard to say that Game Freak has lost their touch when you dial back a bit and look at Gen VI’s Hoenn remakes. While it’s true that the main story of the Hoenn remakes was just slightly updated from the original games, the Delta Episode was brand new and absolutely fantastic. It incorporated characters you had met throughout the main story, and starred one that was there, her plans were foreshadowed, you just might not have paid her too much mind on a first playthrough. And that character, Zinnia? She’s a well-rounded character with depth and, once again, a compelling arc that makes you care about her. Yes, she has her haters, and there are a slew of distasteful reasons for why that is, but the simple fact of the matter is that Zinnia is a compelling individual. However the narrative might have ultimately disrespected her in the name of making the player feel important, the truth is that Zinnia is one of the most compelling, and one of the deepest characters Game Freak has made to date. They did that. In 2014, they did that. True, that was four years ago, but it was only one generation ago. If they did it then, they can do it again.

And that’s what’s frustrating. In Gen V, they gave us a phenomenal story. In Gen VI, they gave us phenomenal post-games (since, again, the main story of ORAS was brought over from Gen III). Gen VII gave us literally nothing of value. But my point is that they can do this. They can do a good job with their characters and their narrative. Why they seem so averse to doing this in the main plot of the game, the one players spend the most time with, is beyond me, but I really, really wish they’d change their minds and get their acts together soon.

Here’s hoping they do so by the time Gen VIII rolls around. 

[gascon-en-exil]

I suppose you can call me "villain Dimitri anon" now, but I actively dislike Azure Moon for the narrative perks that you and other fans insist it has, but I can't see. What back and forth does Dimitri have with his retainers that aren't confined to supports? There's just Gilbert, Rodrigue, and Byleth ignoring the one-eyed elephant in the room.(1/2)

What support network does Dimitri have? A bunch of badly abused subjects at the end of their rope who don't have the guts to abandon him or give him a wake up call. Dimitri's redemption in the rain makes zero sense as the scene progresses, and outside of some lip service in a support, he's so cured of any trauma that not even getting the truth about Duscur fazes him. What's worse, this redemption is the main idea of the route. (2/3 now)

The back and forth is in reference to how the army in AM feels directionless and disagrees on whether they should liberate the Kingdom or rescue Rhea first. This gets references both in story cutscenes and in the exploration of dialogue of numerous characters, heavily reinforced by many of these same characters remarking on how off-putting Dimitri’s behavior is. This stands in contrast to CF never questioning Edelgard’s actions even as they’re far more systemically terrible with the work of Hubert and the Agarthans behind the scenes; even VW offers a number of scenes and exploration content of characters questioning and critiquing Claude’s actions. Felix’s mini-arc outside his support line with Dimitri is the clearest example, because he’s the loudest voice of opposition and because if you trigger their supports some of the dialogue changes to reflect that, while Rodrigue plays a predictable but workable role as the doomed mentor figure whose death forces Dimitri to confront how his obsession with revenge is hurting the people he loves.  This is all unfortunately somewhat undermined by Byleth’s presence and the need for self-insert romance, with them supplanting Dimitri’s established support network and worst of all leading to Dedue being killed off by default and then never re-integrated properly into the story lest his intimacy with Dimitri pose an obstacle to the expected lord/Avatar romance (that can’t even be pushed in the same way that Edeleth can in all routes, incidentally, because Dimitri can’t S rank m!Byleth). This is a genuine problem in AM, but curiously it’s one that I see brought up almost exclusively by fans of Dimitri and his route rather than those who hate AM and/or rail against Dimidue as an allegedly racist pairing.

None of the other Blue Lions gets a single meaningful word in in the main story cutscenes. You can get some character development for Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix in monastery dialogue and DImitri's supports and that's it. Not to mention, gameplay-wise, dealing with Dimitri is just no fun, and there's no choice to get fed up and leave. With all of Crimson Flower's problems, at least you had to actively choose to go on that route. (3/4 now)

I wouldn’t say that’s all that different from how the other routes handle their chorus of minor characters, especially CF which again minimizes any sort of friction the Eagles might have with Edelgard even when she’s outright lying to them. There’s a reason that SS is sometimes cited as a better characterization showcase for the Eagles other than Edelgard and Hubert, particularly for Ferdinand who actually gets to be the contrarian #3 on that route. Gameplay is more subjective, although I’d rank being unable to instruct Dimitri or have him engage in monastery activities for four calendar months is more than offset by CF being exactly that many months shorter than AM or VW. Also, in terms of building characters Gilbert is far, far less of a pain in the ass than Jeritza, and I say that as someone who’s painstakingly gotten every character in the game to all ranks at S+ and all classes mastered over many NG+ runs. Having to pick CF is also an inconvenience that screws with the flow of Chapter 11 since you need to waste a battle weekend going to Edelgard’s coronation lest you miss out on instruction weeks or later weekends doing it at the start of the month. It’s kind of a moot point to argue about this anyway as the Deer have it the best when it comes to unit development, with neither of these restrictions as well as the longest route and no Part 2 exclusive to worry over.

Crimson Flower had a "big picture" war story, Verdant Wind had good character balance and exposed the truth about the player character. Azure Moon was just all DImitri. Not to mention, my own political philosophy and real-world history interests make me biased against Dimiri and his stance. (And no, I'm no fan of dictators, just not of a fan of Fearghus-style feudalism) (4/5)

I do like redemption stories. But I've seen them done better elsewhere. Dimitri's character is interesting, but his route isn't. All routes on Three Houses have problems that I nitpick about, but as thing stand, I can support Claude and Edelgard in achieving their ideals, i cannot in good conscience support Dimitri as king. Nurse him back to sanity, maybe, but put him in charge of other people's lives? No. (end)

Eh, SS is the route you’re looking for if you want the full story of Byleth’s origins and their connection to Rhea; VW’s endgame exposition dump is more about the true origin of Crests and Relics and general worldbuilding which is why I’d call it the big picture route over CF which kicks one of its major antagonists to an offscreen postgame. I also question why you single out the quasi-feudalism of Faerghus when that’s the established standard for all of FE and for most of the fantasy genre overall. Fire Emblem is notoriously reactionary when it comes to its politics, such that Dimitri’s solo ending suggesting the beginning of a participatory government might be the single most concrete move toward democracy of any lord in the series. Even as tiny a step as that is it’s more than can be said for Edelgard not delivering on her rhetoric of abolishing the nobility and...whatever she plans for the church (since she vacillates on whether she’s fine with the Seiros faith but only takes issue with the church or whether she thinks humanity has no need for gods, and the only CF ending that re-establishes the church has it run by the state which is some prime dystopian stuff). Claude similarly suffers in that his plans remain ongoing at the end of VW and lack any concrete shape beyond opening the borders and forcing people of different nations and cultures to interact and get along - a well-intended idea, but not one that will lead to serious change without a lot of work and oversight. 

Dimitri lacks such grandiose ambitions, and once he’s moved beyond his need for revenge his goals center around alleviating the suffering of the Kingdom and of his loved ones, but on a meta level that’s kind of all he needs to do. One of the reasons that AM’s story structure is more coherent and well-paced than that of the other routes is that it’s extremely well-trod ground for IS: “blue lord takes back invaded homeland from red emperor with the Power of Friendship” is the standard FE plot going back all the way to Marth, and Dimitri’s biggest deviation from that model is the somewhat realistic depiction of his struggles with mental illness. That’s probably why many longtime veterans of the series favor AM, because we know it’s the type of narrative IS excels at and we’re not expecting anything more politically revolutionary. Hell, the proto-democratic ending was as unexpected to me as Dimitri’s strong queer notes...which is why I prefer him over the other two incidentally, not because of his politics which are just fantasy boilerplate of a good king being restored to his throne, and there was much rejoicing, etc. There are gender-based readings of AM that I and others have made, not to mention people who enjoy the homoromantic push and pull of Dedue and Felix on Dimitri and how those relationships develop against one another, and I think it’s telling that those unconventional analyses of Three Houses’s most typical lord and most typical route are still more plausible than all the additional motivation and setup you’d have to throw in to make Dimitri a proper villain, or even just an antagonist for the length of more than one chapter.

[radramblog]

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon is basically OK

Recently, I’ve partaken in some kind of cultural exchange with a friend of mine- namely, I’ve lent her my copies of the Scott Pilgrim novels (god do they kick ass), and she’s lent me her copy of Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, seeing as I never played it at the time.

Well I’ve now beaten this game, and I have some thoughts about it, so chop chop Keara the story isn’t getting any younger I expect a full book report on my desk next Sunday.

Jokes aside, this was my first experience with a PMD game since Sky (discounting the demo for Gates to Infinity), and having missed the series’s third entry (fourth if you count those Japan-only WiiWare games), it’d be remiss of me not to at least mention that maybe some of the things I’m going to complain about were originally that game’s fault. But apparently that one actively sucks ass so who cares, just shift the blame over, eh?

(ah, primary-school-tier bullying, exactly what I want in my Pokemon game, cool)

I think one of the foremost issues people have about PSMD is the story, and I can’t help but agree. The game spends what feels like forever fucking about in Serene Village, doing what could charitably described as tutorial followed by slice-of-life-ish plots, and while I love me a good slice-of-life anime, those tend to be a lot less slow than this. Also the characters tend to be a lot less one-note, but it’s a kids game, so whatever. Speaking of kids, this to my knowledge is the only PMD game where you and your partner character are canonically children, and spend a lot of time around others. The game seems to establish unevolved Pokemon as kids, which while it doesn’t really add up with the rest of the series (e.g. in the first ones, Caterpie is clearly a child, but Metapod is as well and Gulpin is at least adult enough to run their own store), it would ultimately be excusable if it didn’t make that huge section of the game so boring.

They aren’t consistent with that kids thing, by the way. When you finally reach the Expedition society, you’re met with a bunch of unevolved Pokemon (Archen, Buizel, Bunnelby, Swirlix) that are running around behaving very youthfully, who then turn around and go hey we don’t allow kids in our gang please leave. Like, the plot had been leading me to believe that the whole place was shut down, Ampharos as its final member, and those kids were just running around an abandoned building, but nope, here are your teammates for the rest of the game.

(brown sus)

The remainder of the plot is basically fine, its not like the plots in this series are the greatest on the planet (save maybe Explorers), though the focus on the villains turning people into stone felt pretty awkward. It’s like they wanted to pull off a more dramatic, more personal-stakesy plot but couldn’t actually kill anyone. This gets kind of egregious when you end up in actual hell for a bit, in what I guess is the series tradition of potentially traumatic experiences and blasted hellscapes being exposed to the protagonists. The endgame plot all seems to come at you at once, not helped by it being lots of chained dungeons without returning to towns beforehand- it wouldn’t be as bad if the whole game was like this, but with such a slow start, it just feels so inconsistent. The endgame twist was pretty spicy, I’ll admit, but it didn’t have enough buildup to feel earned in my honest opinion.

(pictured: the best character in the game)

But the plot doesn’t matter so much as the gameplay does it? And as someone who has also concurrently been playing through the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game on my GBA, there’s a lot of interesting comparisons to make. The dungeons on the whole are shorter in PSMD, with few of the main-game ones reaching beyond 10 floors (and not going much past it) compared to the prequels’ capping off with a 25+5 floor behemoth in Sky Tower. This is made up for by every floor of the dungeons in PSMD feeling much larger and more labyrinthine than anything in other PMD games, meaning each one takes much longer than you’d think. I dread to imagine what the 99-floor dungeons are like in this game, especially considering you now need an item to quicksave the game if you want to do anything else now. The dungeons themselves additionally really do not feel like they’ve taken advantage of the 9 years of potential design improvements and two console generations of technology improvements between games- it is frustratingly same-old same-old in the dungeon design.

These problems are capped off with the increased difficulty- that is, that every individual Pokemon is significantly more of a threat to you than in previous games, and you don’t really get the opportunity to level grind much. And I’m not opposed to difficulty in games, obviously, but what it does in PSMD is ruin the flow of the gameplay for me. What works in Mystery Dungeons previous was that blend of exploration and combat, and in Super, that gets completely broken up by protracted encounters with even the chump-tier mons you encounter along the way. Also, they made the basic attack complete shit, and I don’t like that.

That’s not to say that the gameplay is all bad. I won’t comment too heavily on the Looplet/Emera system, because I’m kinda mid on it, but it didn’t help that despite all the game’s tutorialising I still didn’t get part of it until most of the way through the story. The game does have some moments of genuine brilliance in design, though. The way you recruit more Pokemon is so much better than the luck-based mission of the previous games, wihle managing to actually make you want to go on the random missions you get thrown throughout the game- for one thing they aren’t random, but it means you have a guaranteed good reward instead of the semi-RNG system where you just end up with a bunch of Gravelerocks and berries you’ll never use. In addition, the system where on non-plot days (and in the postgame) you just get 3 random Pokemon recommended to you, that get bonus EXP if you use them that day, is a great way of encouraging the player to diversify their Pokemon usage substantially, which is nice.

There’s a few other nice gameplay things I’d like to highlight. Considering the increased difficulty, the ability to rescue yourself (read: come back with the overpowered mons the game dropped in your lap) is really nice, especially since it’s not like anyone else is playing these games who can help. The way moves get better the more you use them is nice, especially considering how much more you use one move over and over in this game compared to main series Pokemon games. The random bonus missions and travelling mons you encounter in dungeons are nice, as well as the increased variety in missions available- as well as actually being able to revive fallen escortees, it makes the mission system overall much stronger than in previous entries.

Beyond that, though, I’m not sure what else I have to say about Super Mystery Dungeon. The game is a decent entry in what can barely be called a franchise these days, considering it’s 6 years old and yet still the newest entry, excluding the remake of the first ones that came out last year. It’d be a shame if this was the note we went out on for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but to be fair, I don’t think they’re ever going to be able to recapture the magic of the first two games. They struck gold with a lot of people, but I guess at this point, the gleam wore off.

[antialiasis]

Hello. Do you still answer questions about Pokemon? Because I wanted to get your opinion on why newer Pokemon games don't seem to be as beloved as the older ones. I'm not just talking about Sword and Shield, but also Sun and Moon and X and Y. Everyone seems to agree that the first five gens were amazing, but the last three gens seem to frustrate a lot of people. It's a bit confusing to me because I enjoy the new games as well as the old ones, and I can't see what the problem is.

Well, I think there are multiple things at work here.

I love all the main series games, but I do think that the last few generations have suffered a bit for the shortened release cycle, combined with the fact that it simply takes more time and labor by its very nature to make 3D, especially high-definition 3D, look good than a 2D handheld game. The scope of the games has simply grown massively, and I think it’s visible in the recent games that Game Freak have not had quite enough time to deal with that within their release deadlines. Sword and Shield in particular bring a lot of cool things to the table, but I think there are clear signs they were rushed and not fully polished before release - the way that the second half of the story feels noticeably more bare and less fleshed out than the first, for instance. Whether because of that or a deliberate shift because kids have shorter attention spans these days, there’s tended to be less postgame content in the recent generations. And of course, there’s Dexit, which I continue to think was an understandable decision to make but still one that I wasn’t thrilled with. So there are definitely legitimate reasons to criticize the later games - which doesn’t mean people shouldn’t enjoy them anyway, or that it’s not reasonable if they don’t bother you personally. (A lot of people have been clamoring for another Battle Frontier for years, for instance, while I never had all that much fun with the Battle Frontier back in Emerald and don’t care at all - I still respect that it’s something other people really want, and that it’s legitimate for them to want it, because people want different things out of games.)

On the other hand there is also a consistent long-running pattern within the fandom of complaining about the most recent couple of generations while upholding the one currently dominating the overall fandom nostalgia as perfect and the height of the series. I remember liking Gen I over Gen II, and then Gen I over Gen III, and then how opinions started to shift during Gen III to say that G/S/C were the best games, and how Gen IV came out and people were clamoring for G/S/C remakes, and then the Hoenn nostalgia following that, and how people called Gen IV the worst ever until one day it was the best ever, and now people are holding up Gen V. That doesn’t mean people don’t legitimately believe what they’re saying, or that individual people are blindly changing their opinions in accordance with the current trends, only that the loudest, prevailing fandom discourse at any given time reliably goes in these waves and has done since the beginning. Every generation has its flaws and good points, but what parts are generally emphasized in the fandom shifts over time. In the future we’re going to be seeing more people talking about what they enjoyed about these games - that’s just how it goes. (I can’t wait for Gen VII nostalgia - I loved Sun and Moon so much and I think they had the best story of all the games.)

[imthepunchlord]

For all the new things, I kinda wished they showed all of this before SwSh was released, now it's a bit more pricey and I feel like it's kinda rushed. Also for the Mystery Dungeon, I'm excited for that bit I really hope that include all the starters and non starters as well in the final.

I wish they went ahead and pushed back SaS so it’d be released 2020, with this expansion back already included, and the new places we go to can be unlocked during our adventure or as postgame. I would’ve fine waiting and would’ve preferred it, especially to give them a chance to do more with the main story which is pretty weak and made little sense, and Rose was a very forced in villain. Also made no sense in the story climax. Watching playthroughs and seeing the climax of SaS I’m just... 

Its also frustrating that you get to hear about things happening and not actually witness or help. Like, its nice having adults acknowledge that you’re a kid, don’t worry about it we’ll handle it, but at the same time, that’s a chunk of story we have a right to see, and we’re kids in this game, we don’t always do what adults say we should follow and see what’s going on. That could’ve been something optional. Go to event to see what’s happening or skip it to go to the next gym. 

And this is turning into a rant so I’m going to put this below. For those that just want to read my comments on Mystery Dungeon, scroll down till you get to the Pikachu gif, I’ll talk about it below. 

Also there could’ve been improvements with the rivals. Marnie is suuuuper intriguing and I love her, Bede I also like though that’s more me missing mean rivals and man, he’s a brat and I say that with affection. But in the grand scheme of things, they felt pointless. More could’ve been done to include them. And Hop. God, Hop. I know people like him, but from what I’ve seen, he seems like the most annoying “friend rival” made to date. He does not know what personal space is. He waits for you in front of gyms. He waits for you on new routes. He has to comment on almost every move you make in your fights with him. 

I don’t even own the games but just from the playthroughs I’ve watched I’m just... go away. Leave the lead alone. Everywhere you turn, he’s there, waiting for you. It also feels like he only got endorsed because he’s Leon’s younger brother. There’s nothing about him that I like. And, I don’t know why he gets the other wolf legendary? What makes him worthy?What makes him want to be a Professor in the future? That’s out of nowhere. 

Something more could’ve been done with Hop, maybe an arc of him resenting you a little because every match you beat him, and he’s the Champion’s younger brother and you just seem to stay ahead. Maybe let us have more scene of him talking with Sonia since he’s going to be her future assistant. If he’s going to be constantly stalking us and waiting for us, then yeah, let’s at least better build up where his character will go. 

Then there’s the issue of pokemon. With it pretty much confirmed they just reused models from gen 7, yeah, there’s no reason to not include more pokemon. If not the National Dex, which wouldn’t bother me too much, then go ahead and add about half. At most, I’d love pokemon included that would make the most sense. Like, lion is a big symbol throughout all of Europe. There should be a lion in Galar, either Litleo or Shinx returning if not a new lion pokemon. And with the expansion packs, yeah, they’re already adding 200 each pack. 

And a lot of this dlc should already be in the game. If 400 pokemon are going to be added in, they should already be there. The new Giga forms should already be there and we should’ve seen the Giga Venusaur and Blastoise the same time as Charizard. 

I’m also salty that there’s no going to Kalos. Maybe it’ll be a future expansion, and that’s a dlc I wouldn’t mind, but those are two very linked countries they’re based on. And Galar truly isn’t a big region. The Wild Area isn’t as big as it could be. Like, it doesn’t have to be BotW big, but it could’ve been bigger than what we got. And if not expanding the Wild Area, we could’ve had Kalos as a new region to go to, and more gyms for us to do. 

ALSO.

I am not a fan of you refacing the gyms and having them act as your “Elite Four”. 

They’ve already been fought. Aside from the first two, you’ve already fought all the star Giga forms they have. Its a really lazy decision. At least, you can have the two first gym leaders come in since you didn’t fight their star Giga forms, and include the other two version exclusive gym leaders as the other two. Just for some freshness in this final challenge. 

I know they’re not big on voice acting, but, they should’ve put some form of VA into these games. Its a little awkward to get animated cutscenes and there’s no voices coming forth. And its at its worst when you get to Piers and you see him singing away, I presume loudly, into his mic and its just awkward cause there’s no voice and you can hear him tapping his foot to the music and its just so off putting to watch cause something is missing: a voice! And you know what’s the kicker? Pokemon has included voice acting before. 

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There is no reason to not do something similar, at least for Piers’ intro so its not so awkward to watch. 

And then post game... the official post game... I, I honestly can’t say what is even going on? Those two blonde bimbos, those designs, who agreed to pass them? For sword guy, I don’t know whether I should be laughing or uncomfortable. Its like, an in between especially when his hair flops around. Also, their reasoning, they’re causing chaos in Galar because they didn’t like a book Sonia wrote???��

The villains in these games are just so dumb.

Like, Rose had a good motive but, he is still forced in. And he activates the climax for no reason. He was promised by Leon that he would help with Eternatus, all he had to do was wait through one match. One match that would’ve been 30 minutes at most, roughly. Yet he couldn’t wait for one match and went ahead and woke up Eternatus, does a video asking for help, and when you arrive, stops you for a battle that doesn’t make sense to have cause he asked for help why is he holding you up with a battle?? 

And Team Yell. Supposed to be like, a 2nd Team Skull and these guys could dream to live up to Team Skull. They can’t. They’re not funny or enjoyable at all. And my friend brought up a good point on the issue of having Team Yell based on punks when they’re supposed to be the “villainous” team. Punks, historically, were rebelling against an unfair system, they were progressive and revolutionary. They stood up for LBGT rights, they stood for having individual freedom, and just wanted to break the restrictions society wanted to place on people, let people express themselves and be who they want to be. 

If you want Team Yell to be a 2nd Skull and play around with punks as their theme, then they should’ve been set up to be red herrings as well. Be wary at first and then later find that they have hearts of gold, and mean well, even if they can be a tad extreme sometimes. And maybe they can help build up the danger of Rose, who in turn wants to paint them in with a bad image since they’re going against him and what’s normal in society. 

Anyway... Sword and Shield honestly should’ve been pushed back. They should’ve been saved for 2020, or even 2021, or however how much time they need. I would’ve been fine waiting. A lot of fans would be. But what we got wasn’t worth the $60 it was being sold at, and definitely not worth the $90 its being sold at with the expansion packs, and as far as I know, these are very, very small areas to explore. Cause as we’ve seen with SaS, they built it up to be big and grand and, well, the Wild Area was smaller than expected and the whole was far shorter than expected. You could beat it in 20 hours roughly. 

I even have mixed feelings on there being no enhanced version, cause these games do have potential, they just needed more time and polish, and then it could’ve worth the $60 price. But also thankful that there’s not another 2nd version and we may be getting a few expansion packs instead. 

Though I do think a lot they’re bringing in should already be in the game. 

Anyway, enough ranting about Sas, onto Mystery Dungeon!

Demo I think could’ve been a little longer, they stop you before you go on the Skarmory mission, I think it could’ve been a better placement to end after the Skarmory mission. 

Anyway, I like the changes so far. I love you can choose a different pokemon if you don’t like what you got from the test. I love that you have an updated move pool, though I feel kinda OP but you also kinda need it for these games cause I remember them being so hard and as a starter that can’t evolve till like, post game, yeah you’re going to need that help. I love that you get to wear a little scarf. Design wise, a little weird at first but it grew on me. Kinda reminds me of Okami. 

By trailer, for sure they’re adding more pokemon in. Lucario is seen in the team, when before, you only saw Lucario as a statue in Red Blue, I believe? Its been a long time. But they only had Gen 1-3 in RB, and Lucario is there so I would think they’d add in a lot more pokemon. 

For starters, I’m hopeful that beating the game, if you replay, you’ll get more options for the starters to play as and have as your partner. I’d loooove to have a chance to play as Popplio. Mega Evolution is confirmed, I wonder if regional forms would also be playable, like if we could evolve into Alolan Marowak or be one of the other two regional Meowths. Otherwise, everyone you could be in the old game is there, with no gender restriction! You can be a female Cubone! A male Eevee! A female Cyndaquil! I’m so happy about that since as a kid, I wanted to play Cyndaquil but never got it in the test and had to look it up and was bummed that it was male only and I wanted to be a girl. 

My biggest hope though is that with this, we’ll have a chance to play two player, since you have a team of two usually, and your friend or sibling or SO can play your partner. 

I am pleasantly surprised with it so far, though I will be holding off when its released in a few months, just going to listen to all reviews once they beat the game and if its very positive, cause SaS had a strong start and then went down hill with Gamefreak rushing it and cutting corners. I’m hopeful for this remake but cautious still. 

[annsparksthegmr]

Pokemon Black Nuzlocke - Part 5.5

Hello everyone, a little weird title for this part since it is kind of shorter than the others - at least in things I managed to accomplish. But there is a good reason which you’ll have to read up. But fair warning: next update might not be for awhile considering what transpires. Read more below if interested.

I thought I feared nothing, until I got into Drayden’s Gym. With a heavy heart, I switched up half of my original team in order to take down his Gym. I relied on two primary Pokemon for this Gym: Snowball the Beartic and BananSplit the Vanillish. Geartown hung in the back with the EXP Share in case I needed to switch him in. Expecting for her to be a sacrifice in case either of my main two needed to be switched out/healed. The only three remaining members of my team had a purpose. Pebbles had Stealth Rocks, which I would set up upon facing Drayden. Zigzagzop would be strictly for Thunder Wave uses and Captain was the tankiest Pokemon I had which I wouldn't mind losing. So I took a deep breath and entered the Dragon’s Den.

It was as challenging as I thought. Because even with having two Ice-Types, I was already struggling with their strength. Snowball and BananSplit were already in some pretty close calls already. I healed up everyone before finally reaching Drayden. And… our battle began. 

I started with Pebbles setting up Stealth Rock as Frazure began to set up Dragon Dances. Which started to worry me as Snowball was obviously slower. But one Icicle Crash took it out without issue. Druddigon was next, but barely survived only to hit me back with a powerful Revenge. One which almost knocked Snowball out completely. She barely managed to hang on and thankfully on the turn I healed, Drayden did as well. So the very least, I wouldn’t have to worry about him healing his true ace. 

But when Haxorus came out, my already weakened Snowball faced a tough choice. One which had him setting up the Dragon Dances and using Dragon Tail to switch out team members. And in his Gym, both Snowball and BananSplit were taken out… both dead as Geartown was the next to be sent out. And somehow, against all odds after I lost both my Ice-Type Pokemon, Geartown clutched the victory and prevented any more deaths by using Gear Grind. His Haxorus falling as I managed to preserve my original party members.

I dutifully put both Snowball and BananSplit to rest. After what they did in the Gym, I couldn’t be more proud of them. Even if seeing them made me teary-eyed for the sacrifices they made. But it only became worse when a Fraxure from an Ace Trainer on Route 10 took out Ramona without any issues. He nearly took down half of my team which was a huge problem. But I managed to skirt by with only losing one additional Pokemon. Making the death count three for this single part. Two I had planned and the third I thought since it was weakened I could manage but did not.

And then I accidentally clicked Sludge Bomb instead of switching and lost him to a Maractus. That actually hurt a little bit more than Ramona’s death. But down two Pokemon down in the beginning of Route 10 without finding an encounter was terrifying. Vowing to not let my death count go even higher, I decided to add Geartown back to the team and headed off once more.

Having Bianca and Cheren decide to ambush me on the bridge did not help my confidence at all. While I was aware that karma may come to bite me, I was already knocked down and missing two Pokemon who had stuck around since the early game. Though I struggled a little bit, I took down Cheren by paying more attention to the type match ups even though his Liepard gave me a scare. Nearly taking out Pebbles with a critical hit Night Slash out of Sturdy range.

But after defending myself from Cheren, his dialogue along Bianca reminded me to not just give up after losing them both. I needed to prepare as best I could for the upcoming battles. Even my encounter being a Sawk was giving me a hard time and nearly taking out both Odette and Zigzagzop. I really didn’t have much use for him on the team, but it would be nice to have in the PC. I named him Paul because it was generic. Though with the losses I have, some time had to be put aside for grinding. As I needed to find potential replacements. Because even though I do plan for Gracey to stick around, Geartown is just filler.

Though I did decide to head to at least grind up levels throughout Victory Road. And what was luck itself was finding a Dieno as my first encounter. A female as well - continuing my weird streak or getting mostly female Pokemon but I knew immediately I wanted to have a potential Hydreigon on my team. Because it would not only be good for type coverage but I really liked the pseudo-legendary line. So I struggled to keep my Pokemon alive while tossing a bunch of Ultra Balls at it. She was a troublesome Dieno to wraggle but I managed to snag her; even with being in red health and parazled it took some time. Then I decided to name her the most appropriate name: Grima.

I’ll cut the massive grinding session I decided to have to level up practically everyone in. And some extra routes I did not go to until now for reasons. Which may or may not involve a certain gifted Pokemon Egg found on Route 18. But while this is going on, I’m going back to revisit previous routes, get some new encounters and whatnot if and when possible. And locating any hidden items I can. Driftveil City encounter was a female Frillish I named Aqua. Mistralton Cave encounter… I decided to risk it and use most of my Super Repels to take a catch to catch Cobalion for my team. As for the other Swords of Justice, I do plan to catch them eventually. Though Cobalion is the only one I can actually use in my playthrough instead of an Axew. (And I don’t know if I can shiny hunt the Swords of Justice in this game but I rather not bother. I do like only certain Shiny Pokemon.) Though one small note I had with Cobalion: GET IN THE BALL! I WANT YOU!!

I secured Cobalion and nicknamed him the only appropriate name for the trouble he put me through: Nebby. And I’ll only catch the other swords of Justice either postgame or if I’m in dire need. But I do want to keep Nuzlocke Rules until the end of the main story at the very least. Though after that minor clean-up session I returned to level grinding. I even got some nifty TMs for my troubles. Next major update will be once I have a final team and I arrive at the Elite 4. Though right before I challenge them.

I still don’t have an exact final team - or at least for a final member. I’ll reveal what my ideal final team is going to be. Queen - my Serperior and starter who I don’t want to lose yet I feel like she deserves to stay on the team. Odette - the Swanna who has already showcased how useful she is now without Captain and one of the few Flying-Types I have. Grima - the newly caught Dieno who will most likely evolve into a Zweilous because I need a Pokemon who can use Dark-Type moves and is overall a pretty neat Pokemon. Plus, the other possible candidates for Dark-Type users aren’t ideal. Nebby - Cobalion who can easily help out with its Fighting/Steel Typing. Or at least I hope it can but I don’t have many other options. Lastly is the Egg found in Relic Castle but given on Route 18. I do plan to use Larvesta and I might just try to overlevel it a bit to evolve into a Volcarona. No name for it quite yet but might name it Hope. 

That leaves one spot open and while I love Zigzagzop and Pebbles, I don’t think they can assist me well in terms of the Elite 4. Especially Pebbles as I can’t trade to evolve her and she’s not as useful late game. Zigzagzop is most likely going to be the last member because using Thunder Wave is useful enough. But at the same time, I don't know if bringing a Zebstrika is useful for the last game. So I’m going to try and strategize a plan for tackling the Elite 4 and everything that comes after.

Don’t expect an update anytime soon because I’ll be on a massive training session to get Pokemon up to Level 50. And I do think i’ll try to do the same with some of my Boxed Pokemon for replacements if things get tough. All I hope is to not lose anymore Pokemon and maintain a decent Type Coverage overall. I hope that by next update, the team is ready to go and at the very least have defeated the Elite 4. Because for those of you unfamiliar with Pokemon Black/White, the game doesn’t quite end with a traditional battle. At least one many might expect.

I’ll smell you all later!

Team Recap:

Queen - Female Serperior (Lvl 50)

Pebbles - Female Boldore (Lvl 42)

Zigzagzop - Male Zebstrika (Lvl 50)

Odette - Female Swanna (Lvl 49)

Nebby - Cobalion (Lvl 42)

Egg

In Box/Reserve:

Ghost Girl - Female Liepard (Lvl 20)

Cassandra - Female Sandile (Lvl 21)

Trashie - Female Trubbish (Lvl 22)

Lowen - Male Cottonee (Lvl 20)

Lady - Female Minccino (Lvl 23)

Voltorb - Male Foongus  (Lvl 23)

Rouge - Female Woobat (Lvl 29)

BFG - Golett (Lvl 30)

Tim Burton - Male Gothorita (Lvl 31)

Aqua - Female Frillish (Lvl 10)

Gracey - Male Litwick (Lvl 37)

Geartown - Klang (Lvl 39)

Deaths: 6

Fountain - Male Sampour (Lvl 15)

Puppy - Female Herdier (Lvl 25)

Snowball - Female Beartic (Lv 41)

BananSplit - Female Vanillish (Lvl 40)

Ramona - Female Darmanitan (Lvl 43)

Captain - Male Seismitoad (Lvl 45)

[slanax]

Dumb little PSMD review thing, main story edition

Now that I’m done with the main game (for the second time) I thought I’d give some of my opinions on the game, at least pre-credits. Most of which I assume a lot of people agree with me on, but hey.

Story (Consider this your spoiler warning)

Differs from the average PMD story in that actually founding a team (and even meeting the partner) happens rather late. A lot of mysteries are opened right at the beginning, such as Deoxys commenting on Rayquazas unusual behavior, the Beheeyem showing up, and the obligatory man-character-is-human-and-also-has-amnesia trope, staple of the series. Unfortunately, the story picks up really slowly, despite it being very generous with dropping new chapter titles every few minutes. A lot of school (read: tutorial) stuff is hindering its flow, though with the new and different mechanics it’s somewhat understandable. This does mean that the villagers and school kids get plenty of time to establish their characters, something I feel was missing from the Expedition Society, with the exception of Ampharos. Nevertheless, their quirky personalities and hilarious writing make for a light-hearted, enjoyable story.

Then the “petrification arc” starts and shit gets intense. Characters show their serious sides, specifically Ampharos’ leadership qualities. The plot twist with Nuzleaf and Yveltal was pretty well done IMO, with Nuzleaf being established as the first ally in the game, and taking the children’s side multiple times throughout the early stages of the game, like when “defending” them from Carracosta or sneaking out with them against the rules of the other adults, who conveniently were mostly portrayed as stuffy buzzkills so players wouldn’t get as suspicious why going there was forbidden in the first place.

The appearance of the legendary beasts as characters is disappointing to frustrating though. First they let Krookodile do what he wants, then they let Nuzleaf do what he wants, then they let Yveltal do what he wants, then they blame it all on you. Their bevavior is explained, but not well. There’s ways of being cold and distant without being openly insulting. Maybe they just suck at socializing. Or acting. Or both.

Multiple layers of betrayal in the lategame keep the player on their toes. Both Beheeyem being honest about helping the player and Espurr actually being a double agent could be foreseen, but may as well have gone the other way. The various roles of the legendary Pokemon during the finale work great (and finally resolve the appearance of Deoxys and Rayquaza at the very beginning) and the final plot twist of the game, turning the usual player-needs-to-leave trope the series is known for on its head. I’ll chalk up the fact that it’s not as much of a tear-jerker than the previous titles to me being accustomed to it, as well as older.

(Also in the end, we didn’t get to see a Mega Ampharos/Mega Mawile moment. Bummer about that, might’ve been worth including in the Yveltal battle.)

Gameplay

PSMD’s gameplay is stellar and a vast improvement over Gates to Mediocrity. While it does keep plenty of elements from earlier titles, the changes made are enough for it to feel like a completely different game.

An overhaul of ranged attacks, with their range now varying beyond “melee” and “however long you want” as well as making them able to bypass allies to balance that, goes a long way to make the partner able to contribute more in battle, especially in hallways. It also places bigger significance on the order your team is walking in. Making the basic elemental moves 2-range was also important to avoid certain starters being straight-up better than others. Multi-hit and room-wide moves are still fucking overpowered and the bane of every player, though at least this time they can’t waste multiple Reviver Seeds.

Speaking of starters, the inclusion of choice egg moves in their movesets greatly differentiates them, which otherwise would be a lot harder since early on their learnsets are practically identical, and later their different evolutions aren’t present to differentiate them that way.

Changes to items, dungeons and enemies mean that the game plays surprisingly different than previous titles. Tougher enemies result in a need for more healing and higher HP, making Oran Berries even more invaluable than before, to the point where it’s not impossible to run out completely if one routinely eats one or two at the beginning of the dungeon, just for the HP boost. This higher pressure by enemies ties in nicely with the abundance of Reviver Seeds, now in different tiers, likely so Elixirs and Apples wouldn’t become completely redundant. Shorter dungeons overall fit the harsher belly meter and prevent the game from becoming too stale with the longer battles, the default partner AI is now more than just a mirror of the player’s movements (to the point of incorporating things other installments needed IQ skills for, like not stepping on a fucking trap) and pushing is great. The ability to leave certain party members behind without wasting Reviver Seeds on them (even the partner if you want to!) is also helpful, and Looplets bring a nice dynamic to held items as well.

Unfortunately, the story progress is incredibly linear, to the point of being frustratingly so. A concrete list of requests to finish rather than the usual random ones sounds great, and it’s something I do like about the game, but when the game forces you into the next story dungeon with no way to clean out those requests and get them done so they don’t silently taunt you from the menu, it gets annoying. Even just picking up a reward at Cafe Connection has to wait when the game decides that you want to do story now. For a game about exploration, this is unacceptable.

Somewhat related to this issue is the fact that pretty much every partner Pokemon you ever team up with outlevels you greatly. You and your partner are the weakest Pokemon on the planet, and you get carried by literally everyone else around you. A fact that you can’t do anything about since, you guessed it, grinding isn’t something the game allows you to do. This also more than likely causes you to be underleveled for the final dungeons and getting oneshotted a lot, which no matter how many million Reviver Seeds the game throws at you is frustrating nonetheless. I do appreciate the fact that the game gives you ways to take out pretty much anything using the right wands.

Difficulty wise, I’d locate this game at the top of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, at least when talking about the main storyline. Though it stands to argue that bad luck can easily put Red and Blue Rescue Team in the top spots. The difficulty in PSMD is a lot more fair compared to that, in that it gives you ways to overcome it more easily.

Overall, the game does have its flaws, though most of them come from the limitations of the main story. I’m definitely looking forward to how the postgame plays, as that’s new ground for me as well.

[recentanimenews]

Review: Pokémon Sword and Shield

Pokémon has moved forward several half-assed steps at a time, and that’s not a criticism. The series has existed comfortably in its own bubble and where other games would get lambasted for looking inward, Pokémon has thrived on reiteration and the slow crawl of minor innovations to the template. Pokémon games primarily get compared to other Pokémon games and no one expects the series to change drastically from its rock-solid fundamentals after so many years. Even as people forget weird features like poffins and Pokémon Musicals, they can take solace in the notion that even the jankiest gimmicks all work towards crafting the definitive Pokémon game, whatever that might look like in the future. Well, that future died with the announcement that Sword and Shield would mark the end of the full Pokémon roster and we would all need to leave the old “gotta catch ‘em all” mantra in the past.

I.

Pokémon Sword and Shield is the eighth generation in the mainline series of games and the first to appear on home console. It’s set in the Galar region, a place inspired by the art director’s experiences as a youth growing up in the United Kingdom. Players assume the role of a silent protagonist chasing the dream to become the Pokémon Champion, a lofty goal that is pursued with much more fervor by the player’s rival, a perennial loser named Hop who is also the current champion’s younger brother. In my mind, the player character I created, a young Pokémon trainer named Tomoyo, has lived the entirety of her life stuck in this one-Pokémon Center town knowing nothing more about the world other than what’s filtered down to her through Hop’s experiences in the comforting shade of the champion’s cape. Her growth into a person with her own story to tell spurred me on to leave home but unfortunately Hop won’t be shaken off so easily.

Even as Hop is vaunted as a formidable rival, he crumbles within seconds of any given Pokémon match against the player character and typically loses to other mid-card trainers off-camera. Loser rivals have become a staple of the series ever since Game Freak decided to let players hold type advantage over the rival’s starter Pokémon a few generations ago. For the most part, this hasn’t been a problem as balanced team-building has to grow from the initial Grass-Fire-Water triangle of effectiveness. The purpose of the rival has always been to test the player’s progress against what’s to come, gating off high-level areas until the player proves they’re capable. Hop’s path toward the Gym Challenge Finals is tightly woven with the player’s own journey and while I welcome the idea of a rival/ally having greater involvement in the storyline, Hop simply sucks at Pokémon for the longest time. And here’s the kicker to all this: everyone in Galar sucks at Pokémon.

II.

When people claim that Pokémon is “easy” and offers “zero challenge,” they tend to forget that they come in armed with a huge advantage of prior knowledge of the mechanics. By design, the player is meant to become the Pokémon Champion and there are no alternate routes to some other final destiny. That said, Sword and Shield puts up a considerably weaker fight than its predecessors. You never get the impression that the trainers are trying at all to compete and the Routes between towns are now more than ever a vestige of environment design better suited to the capabilities of the classic Game Boy. Galar’s layout evokes memories of theme parks and my quick, unimpeded dominance of the region made me feel less like a champion and more like an asshole ruining the illusion for the rest of the patrons.

Separate from Galar’s underwhelming Routes, the Wild Area received a lot of buzz when it was first unveiled and to be fair, it’s the most exciting part of the game despite its flaws. The diversity of the wild Pokémon encounters more than makes up for lame trainer battles. It’s never more apparent that certain conventions are dead and gone than when running into high-level final evolutions of Pokémon that have never appeared in the wild before. In the past, wild Pokémon were more of a nuisance than anything, hardly worth the time spent inputting the commands for an easy one-hit knockout. Along with the variety present from field to field, many of Sword and Shield’s wild Pokémon also give juicy experience points, frequently outleveling the trainers present in the immediate area. The delicate level curve of the game is easily broken as a result of meandering through the Wild Area for too long but it’s still a welcome change of pace to decades of grinding trash mobs.

Players that think too hard will look at the Routes, then at the Wild Area, and will then ask themselves why the developers didn’t just design travel around the more gratifying open world environment. The issue is that the Wild Area doesn’t have that Breath of the Wild butteriness to it, perhaps an unfair comparison considering BotW wasn’t connecting to hundreds of other players at all times. Wild Area performance takes a huge blow while online even with the console docked and although chop is reduced if a player disconnects from the internet, that defeats the purpose of the lively community feel of the Wild Area. Given how erratic the Wild Area renders under the strain of weather conditions and online connectivity, I see it more as a fun experiment than the cornerstone of Sword and Shield’s design. It shows that Game Freak is at least attempting to evolve and it’s unfortunate that the shrinking Pokédex became the symbol of change when the Wild Area is the best new idea the studio has had in years.

III.

The region of Galar is dominated by the influence of one benevolent businessman named Chairman Rose who has sculpted the culture of competitive Pokémon battles around Dynamax, a Galar exclusive phenomenon in which Pokémon get really, really big. Stadiums are built on top of “power spots” that allow Pokémon to Dynamax for the entertainment of the crowds, building up matches as a festival occasion on top of being a legitimate sport. As nice as it is to have the gyms back, this aspect of the game hasn’t grown much at all despite how they dress it up.

Even once you catch a whiff of the true nature of Dynamaxing and strange instances of Pokémon going berserk, the game is dismissively patronizing about keeping players focused on their regular journey, with characters insisting that the Gym Challenge is more important than giant Pokémon running amok in the stadiums. This subplot eventually does come to the forefront at the worst possible moment and by this point, solving the crisis that’s about to unfold has zero momentum compared to the Pokémon League. The whole farce regarding the dark omen threatening Galar wraps up as soon as it’s introduced, making me wonder why the game even bothers raising the stakes to some world-ending catastrophe if it’s compressed into a handful of battles.

For all the emphasis placed on Dynamax, the battle feature is one of the more underwhelming gimmicks in a series that’s full of them. The story explains that its use is anchored to locations featuring power spots, isolating it to stadiums and raids in the Wild Area. Despite the showy nature of the effect, it’s never utilized in any meaningful way in battle and it only takes a couple of fights to see the full extent of what the system has to offer. So long as a player can survive three Dynamax moves, the threat of actually wiping out in a Gym Leader match will have more to do with type disadvantages than the power of Dynamax. The max raids against wild Dynamax Pokémon are far more challenging than what you’ll see against trainers and the rewards from the raids are stupid good, so the gimmick isn’t entirely a worthless feature. Still, it doesn’t clear the air of this idea that Dynamax wasn’t worth the trouble.

IV.

Held up to the light at any angle, Sword and Shield is marred with flaws, but I still wouldn’t want to go back to the early generations after experiencing Pokémon on the Switch. The story is an absolute shambles but if your game is to raise, train, and tinker for the perfect critter, Sword and Shield is a considerable step up from the 3DS era’s mature metagame functionality. Untold millions of hours will be saved as a result of cutting out so much of the bullshit regarding stats, natures, and leveling. The interface is clean and responsive, controls can be set to play with a single joy-con, and the decision to give players almost-unlimited access to their Box storage is a lifesaver when it comes to breeding and farming Pokémon eggs. People that approach Pokémon at the surface level will see the same game they’ve been playing for years but the maniacs that put in the time and effort to hunt for shiny Pokémon or train for competitions will be grateful at how much the process has been streamlined.

I finished the main story at about 30 hours with a third of that time spent either going out for detours or idling to prepare coffee. The main game isn’t much longer or shorter than the past couple of Pokémon games but the scarcity of unique things to do after the credits roll is somewhat insulting. “No postgame” is an exaggeration but “minimal postgame” would be hard to argue. I can’t blame people for feeling cheated with the first $60 console Pokémon game having a single post-game quest to capture the box art legendary and no other high-priority content outside of the meta. Going back to pick up missed items and face trainers in rematches isn’t nearly as compelling as uncovering secrets after becoming Champion, especially if you have no interest in playing past catching rare Pokémon. I took myself past the 75-hour mark to complete my Pokédex and as fulfilling as it was for me, I wouldn’t claim that it’s a significantly worthwhile endeavor for the average player. By comparison, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon had its own post-game quest, an extensive roster of legendaries to hunt down, and yeah, full support of all Pokémon going back to Ruby and Sapphire for GBA. Whatever the reasons might be, Sword and Shield has a very definitive end to its adventure that comes all too soon.

V.

For all the controversy in the lead-up, Sword and Shield ended up being more than a little OK, if not a messy success that could still be better. The future of the series will be challenging as long as Game Freak commits to the idea of rotating Pokémon in and out of the main games, guaranteeing that the next game will have limited compatibility with this generation out of the box. Nintendo and co. took a calculated risk with Sword and Shield and now that the games have sold a verified and very real One Billion copies at retail, they can reasonably infer that they won’t have to bend to the will of a few thousand rowdy fans clamoring for a return to the old ways. They have a healthy base of players comprised of casuals who don’t give a shit about Dexit, newer fans that aren’t too miffed about leaving the 3DS games behind, and folks who just like Pokémon too much to complain too loudly. I found my own enjoyment in Sword and Shield, but I’m also not rushing to post #thankyougamefreak without seeing the shape of Pokémon to come. You don’t have to like it, but odds are you already paid for it.

Pokémon Sword and Shield originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on December 21, 2019 at 6:17 PM.

By: David Estrella