Pokemon Sword and Shield News and Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

[Light Lucario]

Having this much DLC was a bit unexpected to me. I guess this makes up for the fact that Sword and Shield were really barebones IMO.

I honestly didn't think that Sword/Shield were barebones at all. The storymode was still about as lengthy as other Pokemon games, although that might be an issue with other people if they were hoping for something bigger for the Switch. Part of it might be just how I progress through the games, but it still takes me around forty hours to complete the main storyline. The post-storyline mode was a pretty good length all things considered and there's still a decent amount to do with the Wild Area and Battle Tower. It may not be huge, but I don't think that the contents for the games are barren in the slightest.

 

[SNS]

There have been complaints about the third version releases before, but wanting players to buy another sixty dollar game to play through the journey again to experience the new features would have gotten people pretty upset.

Instead some people are upset because they were waiting specifically for the third version and now they say that they have to spend $90 (game + DLC) for what they would have gotten in the third version. Not me though, I would have bought the third version in addition to the original release.

I'm also really glad that they are truly adding more of the old Pokémon back. I really hope some of my favorites make it in this DLC.

 

[Light Lucario]

Instead some people are upset because they were waiting specifically for the third version and now they say that they have to spend $90 (game + DLC) for what they would have gotten in the third version. Not me though, I would have bought the third version in addition to the original release.

I've heard some of those complaints and it seems kind of strange to me. I know that some people were expecting a traditional third version game and some of those games are pretty popular, especially Crystal and Platinum. But I feel like doing that route would have resulted in more backlash. Asking people to pay another sixty dollars for effectively the same game just a year later probably would have been more upsetting for more people. I'm pretty sure that happened with US/UM too. I would have bought the third version too, but this seems like a much better route to go on. People can get new content for the games they already bought at half the price instead of starting over completely to replay Sword/Shield with some new details thrown in. Paying ninety dollars for a game is a lot and I can understand wanting the DLC to be a bit cheaper. I still wanted it to be twenty dollars instead, but for everything they showed in the trailer, it seems like it will be worth the extra money.

The only way I think that they could have gone with a third version format was if they pulled a B2/W2 instead. Those games filled the third version role, but they were brand new games with a new storyline. I'd still love to see a proper sequel to Sword/Shield, although I don't know if the DLC makes that less likely, but making new games set in Galar would be still pretty cool.

I'm also really glad that they are truly adding more of the old Pokémon back. I really hope some of my favorites make it in this DLC.

I hope so too. I saw a few Pokemon that I like in the trailer, so hopefully there will be some more of my favorites in the DLC. I'd really like to try raising a Skiddo again since I only tried it once while playing X. I'm also really tempted to try out some new Pokemon in these two areas. I like being able to go on new adventures with my current teams, but with a lot of returning Pokemon, new Galarian forms on the way and other Galar Pokemon that I wanted to try out, I may make multiple teams. It is easier to access the Pokemon storage with these games and since I don't know if they'll make another game set in Galar, I could try out different Pokemon. A lot of it also depends on the levels of the wild Pokemon and the trainers you'll battle in the new areas too.

I also really hope that some of the characters like Hop, Leon and Sonia will appear in these new areas. They obviously wanted to focus on all of the new characters and elements for the trailer, but it would be nice to see more of these characters after the events of the storyline too.

 

[Terror of Death]

A mix of good and bad with the last direct.

Pros:

Mystery Dungeons new aesthetic. Nintendo more than any other game company likes to take chances by giving their properties different art styles. Epic Yarn, Rainbow Curse, Wooly World, Wario Land Shake It, Paper Mario, Wind Waker & etc forgoed the usual 2d sprites and 3d models of their predecessors. The graphics actually hold up better than a lot of their contemporaries for that reason. The backgrounds in DX look like they came straight out of a classic storybook.

Potentially no new games. I was worried there was going to be a Johto Let's Go game or an ultra sword and shield game this year. Assuming this generation lasts three years like the previous ones, Diamond & Pearl remakes are the only new games that should be released before November 2022. Anything other than that is completely unnecessary.

Some of the new designs. The legendary birds galarian forms look cooler than the originals. Mixing black with the different shades of orange, purple and blue complement each other well. Slowbro and Slowking have potential to be good with the fancy scarf and mini cape.

Cons:

New mons and gigantmax forms. The bear and grass legendary look like bad deviantart. The new regi look too similar to ultra beasts. Venusaur and Blastoise are a bit too creepy and the galar starters are kinda overblown.

Overpricing for amount of content. The original Mystery Dungeon games were short games and I doubt they'll be adding a ton of new levels and Pokemon. And even though the graphics are an improvement they're still Wii level at best. Releasing it as a $20-$30 download only title would be more appropriate since its a niche genre and the sales have been decreasing with each entry. $30 for both dlcs would be okay if they each had 50% of the content of a standard Pokemon game. That probably won't be the case and it seems like they should of been given away for free or at most priced at $10.

Absolutely no reason for all the deceit. During the summer and even as late as November they were saying Pokemon wouldn't be added and the decision was final. But all the information in the direct shows that this wasn't a spur of the moment decision and was clearly planned months ago and possibly even from the jump. Also, on the official japanese website it was quietly revealed that animations were in fact reused in Sword & Shield. They started a lawsuit over strategy guide leaks but lying to consumers for months is much more damaging to the brand overall.

Expansion passes sets a bad precedent for future entries. Having legendaries, starters, mega stones, & z-crystals locked behind dlc makes sense due to their rarity. Also, mons from the last mainline game or upcoming remakes would make sense since people could either choose to buy those or get the dlc. However, locking 50% of the roster behind dlc is excessive. Sword & Shield had a very short and linear main game and a barebones post game. A lot of the content feels like it could have been included in the initial release but was purposely held back to make more money. Future games will take it further by introducing microtransaction for clothing, TM's, stones, etc. DLC in and of itself isn't bad and it was always inevitable since console games have been roughly the same price for decades. But there's a point when developers take it too far and use it as a way to skimp on features and save quality control testing for later.

 

[Light Lucario]

I hope that we'll get some more information on the DLC sometime next month. I really like what they showed already and having more details would be cool. I also hope that the new customization options will be good. There is already a good amount of variety, but I think that the color schemes for some of my favorite colors like blue and green are too dark. Navy practically looks like black to me. The hair options for the female trainer are pretty good, but the male trainer hair options were a bit weaker, especially when long hair covers half of your hair.

 

[SNS]

During the summer and even as late as November they were saying Pokemon wouldn't be added and the decision was final. But all the information in the direct shows that this wasn't a spur of the moment decision and was clearly planned months ago and possibly even from the jump. Also, on the official japanese website it was quietly revealed that animations were in fact reused in Sword & Shield. They started a lawsuit over strategy guide leaks but lying to consumers for months is much more damaging to the brand overall.

While they did lie about the reused assets, they never once claimed that they would never add Pokémon. Instead it was always specifically that they would never add all the Pokémon in a single game.

However, locking 50% of the roster behind dlc is excessive. Sword & Shield had a very short and linear main game and a barebones post game. A lot of the content feels like it could have been included in the initial release but was purposely held back to make more money.

You can argue that region is much smaller then it should be because the locations were held back but the returning Pokémon can be transferred from previous games or traded with others. Now some people will point out that you need to pay for Pokémon Home but you also needed to pay for Pokémon Bank for the last two generations and there were also Pokémon that you could not catch in the game but needed to transfer from previous games with Pokémon Bank.

So it's exactly the way it was in the previous two generations. And generations before that required multiple systems, games, and link cables (if you go back far enough) or trading with others. Nothing has really changed since the franchise started when it comes to that subject.

 

[RDG]

Someone was playing the game at the Grammys (though he didn't exactly say which Pokemon game) Random: We Didn't Expect To See Someone Playing Pokémon On Stage At The Grammys 2020

 

[Light Lucario]

While they did lie about the reused assets, they never once claimed that they would never add Pokémon. Instead it was always specifically that they would never add all the Pokémon in a single game.

I clearly remember that they hadn't decided on including more older Pokemon as DLC yet when the news of the National Dex came out. That could have been just an attempt to not reveal the passes until after the game came out, as I don't think that DLC expansions are normally announced before games are released, but given that we mostly saw concept art during the Direct, they may not have a lot of footage ready to show yet either because of whenever they started the DLC project, especially when the first half of the DLC content won't be released until June.

You can argue that region is much smaller then it should be because the locations were held back but the returning Pokémon can be transferred from previous games or traded with others. Now some people will point out that you need to pay for Pokémon Home but you also needed to pay for Pokémon Bank for the last two generations and there were also Pokémon that you could not catch in the game but needed to transfer from previous games with Pokémon Bank.

So it's exactly the way it was in the previous two generations. And generations before that required multiple systems, games, and link cables (if you go back far enough) or trading with others. Nothing has really changed since the franchise started when it comes to that subject.

I'm pretty sure that people complained about Pokemon Bank for similar reasons. I could understand that issue more if Pokemon Bank wasn't just five dollars a year. Everyone has a different kind of financial situation, but it never really seemed like that much of a big deal to me. I do think it's a problem that we still don't know how much Pokemon Home is supposed to cost when it's supposed to come out next month, but the notion that older Pokemon are locked behind a paywall isn't really the case. You can still get older Pokemon from trading with other people without paying for the DLC passes. The DLC payment is for all of the new stuff. Technically speaking, you'll still need to pay for the online Switch features to trade with other players, but if that's still considered hiding older Pokemon behind a paywall, then trading wasn't really free for most of the series. In the past, people have had to pay more money to get extra equipment for trading, buying another system and game to trade with yourself or being lucky enough to find someone to trade with in order to complete the Pokedex or get a version exclusive Pokemon. Trading with other people was especially hard before online features were introduced.

I can understand some of the complaints about the DLC route. Spending ninety dollars on one game is a lot of money. If people weren't happy or satisfied with Sword/Shield as they currently are, then what was shown in the DLC trailer may not really improve their opinions on the games or make them want to put extra money on them. However, I still think that this is a much better decision than going with the traditional third version format. Wanting people to spend another sixty dollars on effectively the same game would have resulted in much bigger backlash, especially if they released it a year after Sword/Shield like they did with Sun/Moon. Maybe there wasn't a way for Game Freak to avoid backlash in this case for multiple reasons, but I think that DLC is a better option.

Now I really liked US/UM. I thought that they introduced some cool new features, I got a chance to try out some Pokemon that I wanted to raise before, some of which quickly became new favorites, Team Rainbow Rocket was fun post-storyline quest that has become another way to market Team Rocket in general if Pokemon Masters is any indication and the small changes made to Hau and Guzma's storylines made them some of the best characters from that generation for me. I already liked them from Sun/Moon, but the added details improved their storylines while most of the bigger changes to the storyline fell flat for me, especially with Lille's reduced screentime. But it also seemed a bit much to release it one year after Sun/Moon. I can see why when they wanted to put out one new 3DS game before moving to the Switch and they possibly didn't have enough time to make a proper sequel if they were already working on Switch titles by that point, but I do think that releasing it so soon after Sun/Moon made fans less excited for it compared to other third version games. I also remember thinking that if they combined the main storyline from Sun/Moon with the smaller changes from US/UM and its new features, we would have a really great Pokemon game. That might be what they're doing with Sword/Shield in terms of effectively combining two games together in the form of DLC as opposed to making an Ultra Sword/Ultra Shield one year later.

 

[DonTrashRoom]

However, locking 50% of the roster behind dlc is excessive.

Um... they said there will be free updates to allows players to trade/transfer the newly-added Pokemon WITHOUT needing the DLC.

 

[SNS]

Pokémon HOME

With Pokémon HOME, you can move Pokémon between compatible games, trade Pokémon on the go, and more!

home.pokemon.com

Still no release date but other details have been announced. There will be a Basic version for free and a Premium version.

$3 for a month, $5 for three months, $16 for a year

You can store 30 Pokémon with Basic and 6,000 with Premium. Pokémon Bank comparability will only be with Premium.

GTS will be available with Pokémon Home but only with the mobile version.

 

[Terror of Death]

While they did lie about the reused assets, they never once claimed that they would never add Pokémon. Instead it was always specifically that they would never add all the Pokémon in a single game.

Straight from the horse's mouth less than a week before the games release : “We currently have no plans to make the Pokemon that are missing from the Galar Pokedex available in-game."

Game Freak currently has no plans to add missing Pokemon in Sword/Shield later on

Game Freak made it known earlier this year that not all Pokemon can be brought over to Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. Based on early leaks, quite a number of creatures were cut. While some fans have held out hope that they’ll be added later on through opportunities such as updates, it sounds...

nintendoeverything.com

And it's highly unlikely they had a change of heart between November 16th and sometime in December. Game developers have been saving content and releasing it as dlc for nearly a decade now.

You can argue that region is much smaller then it should be because the locations were held back but the returning Pokémon can be transferred from previous games or traded with others. Now some people will point out that you need to pay for Pokémon Home but you also needed to pay for Pokémon Bank for the last two generations and there were also Pokémon that you could not catch in the game but needed to transfer from previous games with Pokémon Bank.

So it's exactly the way it was in the previous two generations. And generations before that required multiple systems, games, and link cables (if you go back far enough) or trading with others. Nothing has really changed since the franchise started when it comes to that subject.

I think a lot of people assumed it would become somewhat cheaper and easier to trade acquire, and transfer Pokemon, when the mainline games finally arrived on more powerful hardware. Switch Online, GTS being restricted to mobile, Bank tiers, Home, dlc, and the $20 price increase for Let's Go, S/S, areas with level caps, etc. That's a lot of time, money, and hoops to go through for a current generation video game. Not to mention all the missing features from previous generations and the fact that the games don't sound, look, or run like other contemporary rpgs and modern video games in general. The Switch is 100x more powerful than the 3ds but very little about the the last two games indicates that from a technical level. Consumers are definitely paying more for less content.

 

[Light Lucario]

I'm a bit mixed on this information. I'm glad that there is a Basic version, but I'd feel better if Pokemon Bank was included in both versions. I know that they want to include more features to get people to buy the Premium version, but since most players would want to transfer Pokemon from their 3DS games to Sword/Shield, I kind of wish it was included too. I think that they'll make it free to connect to Pokemon Bank for the first month, but that might be kind of tricky when we don't know all of the returning Pokemon that will be featured in the DLC passes yet.

Still, if you just want to quickly transfer over some older Pokemon, paying three dollars isn't too bad. That is less than Pokemon Bank's yearly price. It may not be ideal, but it would be manageable. The yearly price for Home is more than I expected. I can understand why when they need to maintain their servers and they are going to have to handle a lot of data when a Premium version can handle six thousand Pokemon, but it still seems like a lot. One of the main reasons why Pokemon Bank never bothered me was because five dollars a year was pretty cheap. Sixteen dollars still isn't a lot in the grand scheme, but it's still a bit of money to put down for these features.

I don't think that they wanted to just milk fans for more money though. A company's goal is to make more money obviously, but this could have also been an issue with Nintendo's online service. Maybe it would be too risky to have something like the GTS on Nintendo's online service, especially when the online connection breaks out fairly frequently for me in the Wild Area. Plus, people tend to put certain Pokemon up for trades where no one claims them for ages, if at all. I'm not sure if I'll use either version of Home yet, mainly because I don't really transfer over my Pokemon, but I'm glad that they finally provided more information about it.

 

[RDG]

New statement on leaker: Nintendo And The Pokémon Company Release Joint Statement On Sword And Shield Leaker

 

[SNS]

I just found out that Pokémon Home was just released on Nintendo Switch. It apparently happened about an hour ago or so. Yeah, without any fanfare or the exact date being announced. As of this writing, the website hasn't even been updated to have the release date.

Only the Switch version so far. I checked and the iPhone version isn't up (they haven't even made a page for it yet).

 

[DonTrashRoom]

Some more Pokemon HOME details:

• In both the Switch and mobile versions, when you use HOME for the first time, you'll find a Pikachu in the free box.
• When using the mobile version for the first time, you'll get to pick between Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle to keep. Each of these Pokemon have their hidden ability.
• Some previously unobtainable Pokemon can be transferred into Sword and Shield via Pokemon HOME - Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Mewtwo, Celebi, Jirachi, Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Keldeo, Rowlet, Dartrix, Decidueye, Litten, Torracat, Incineroar, Popplio, Brionne, Primarina, Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma, Marshadow, Zeraora, Meltan, and Melmetal.
• Transferring Pokemon from Pokemon Bank for the first time nets you 3,000 Pokemon HOME points, which can be redeemed for BP in Sword and Shield. 1 BP = 30 HOME points.

 

[KeldeoKitty]

I still haven’t played SwSh but I noticed on the Pokémon twitter that 90% of the comments are about bringing back the national dex regardless if it’s related to the actual tweet.

 

[DonTrashRoom]

Some more Pokemon HOME rewards:

• Eevee - obtained after a Pokemon placed in the Wonder Box has been traded.
• Rotom - obtained after a Pokemon placed in the GTS has been traded.
• Original Color Magearna - reward for completing HOME's National Pokedex. This requires that you have every Pokemon deposited in Pokemon HOME (aka a Living Dex).

 

[DonTrashRoom]

The new mythical Pokemon has officially been shown off.

Zarude is the Rogue Monkey Pokemon, and is Dark/Grass-type with the ability Leaf Guard.

 

[Light Lucario]

We finally got some new information on the upcoming DLC. Here are the English and Japanese trailers:



They showed a lot of returning Pokemon, including some of my favorites like Luxray, Absol and Dragalge, so that's really cool. I was hoping for a couple of more Galarian forms, but they could have more that they aren't revealing to us yet. I wasn't expecting Galarian Slowbro to be Poison/Psychic, but it looks pretty neat and it's a pretty interesting type combination too. It makes me wonder what Galarian Slowking will look like and if they'll give it the same typing. They did showcase more of the new Regi Pokemon, called Regieleki and Regidrago. I love the artwork for the Galarian forms of the three Legendary Birds. Galarian Moltres in particular looks just gorgeous. The type combination also make sense, although I'm somewhat surprised that Galarian Zapdos is Electric/Fighting instead of Electric/Ground like I had heard through some speculation.

They showed a bit of Gigantamax Venusaur and Blastoise. Based on a scene in the trailer, I assume that we'll be given either a Bulbasaur or Squirtle that is capable of Gigantamaxing, which is neat. One of the new features is call Max Soup. If a Pokemon capable of Dynamax drinks it, they can Gigantamax. This might be how the Galar starters get their Gigantamax forms, but it sounds vague enough to where I wonder if this could apply to other Pokemon too. I'd love to raise a Silicobra and then have it become a Gigantamax Sandaconda after it evolves, so that would be cool.

There is also the Cram-o-matic that allows players to combine items to create a new one. I really hope that you can create another Master Ball. That would probably require a lot of rare items, but I've already used the Master Ball in both Sword/Shield and considering my decent luck with finding Shiny Pokemon in Max Raid Battles, I'd like to have something guaranteed to catch them so that I don't panic. A Pokeball that is specifically designed to have better luck against Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokemon would also work. They also showed a couple of the new moves from the Move Tutor, although it's strange that they didn't showcase a new Water type move. I hope that they'll include other returning moves since some of the movepools for new Pokemon have been rather minimal.

They also showed some new features for the Crown Tundra DLC. Dynamax Adventures sound really cool. Hopefully it will be easier to connect with players online, but it sounds like a fun way to expand on Max Raid Battles, especially when we can battle against Legendary Pokemon. I really love the Galarian Star Tournament. It sounds like a fun way to battle against the Gym Leaders again without just going through the Championship again. Plus, teaming up with other character and making it a tag battle tournament is so cool. I'll get a chance to battle alongside my boy Hop again, which is excellent. The Isle of Armor sounds really great too and I'm eager to check it out, but I'm also kind of disappointed that we'll have to wait longer for the Galarian Star Tournament. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

They also provided a release date. The Isle of Armor is set to release on June 17th, which is honestly a lot earlier than I expected for a number of reasons. I'm pretty happy with that since I just bought the DLC for both Sword/Shield a couple of days ago. Now I only have to wait a couple of weeks to start playing the first half. I'm still not sure if I want to get my teams to level one hundred before the DLC, if only because I'm not sure how strong the trainers are going to be in either the Isle of Armor or the Crown Tundra. I'll at least get them EV trained by the 17th and I'll try to get my full thoughts on Sword/Shield as they currently are prior to that too. It will probably be another long post, but since talking about Pokemon makes me happy, that might be a good thing for me at least. I'll also need to double check which Pokemon I want to try raising for the DLC, but I'm also waiting and hoping for other possible Galarian forms.

There is a Wild Area event where a ton of Gigantamax Pokemon are available again. I'll have to try to find the ones that I missed out on earlier. You can also get Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble with their Hidden Abilities. You have to deposit a Pokemon from Sword/Shield into the Switch version Pokemon HOME and then you can get all three of them from the mobile version. I'll have to finally get Pokemon HOME, at least use it for free, just so that I can get all of the starters. I was thinking of raising Grookey again and possibly trying out Sobble for Shield too.

 

[TnAdct1]

They also provided a release date. The Isle of Armor is set to release on June 17th, which is honestly a lot earlier than I expected for a number of reasons.

Actually, I wouldn't say that. Had E3 actually happened this year, we probably would have expected the DLC to out around that date (or perhaps even a week sooner).