We had a Pokemon Direct this morning and here is the new trailer:
While Scorbunny is still my favorite of the Galar starters, I find myself loving Grookey the more I see it too. Both of their expressions during the scene where you pick your starter made them more endearing to me. Sobble is still cute too, but so far Scorbunny and Grooky are my favorites of the three starters. That could still change once their evolved forms are revealed. I love that there seems to be a brief shot where Sobble looks happy with hearts. It was cute and it also implies that there is another Pokemon Amine/Refresh feature in the game, which would be terrific.
There are quite a few new Pokemon shown here as well. Wooloo looks like the early route Normal type, but I really like its design. It's so cute and round. Plus, I like sheep, so another sheep based Pokemon sounds pretty cool to me. Gossifleur and Eldegoss are pretty nice. Eldegoss reminds me of Roselia for some reason, but they look pretty neat. Drednaw looks pretty strong. I wonder if it could be a fossil Pokemon. Corviknight has a really cool design. I kind of wonder if it is an evolved Pokemon or if it doesn't evolve. It looks so tough and the shade of black looks really neat. It also sounds like Corviknight can fly players around to places they've been do, which indicates that HMs aren't going to be in this game too. I'm glad that they're finding different ways to get around a region instead of just using the same HM moves.
The new Legendary Pokemon are pretty cool. I knew that they were going to be wolves based on the logos. Zacian and Zamazenta are going to be hard names for me to pronounce. The sword and shield aspects of their designs are pretty fitting, but it is kind of strange for Zacian to just carry its sword all the time. It might work better if it was shown to just pull out the sword from its side or something before making an attack. Zamazenta's shield looks also really huge, but I imagine that was the point. I'm sure that they're at least part Steel types. I wouldn't be too shocked if at least Zacian turned out to be a Fighting/Steel type.
We also learn of the special battle mechanic in this game called Dynamax. It was certainly unexpected to see giant Pokemon fighting each other. It sounds like it fits with the Galar region when even Gym battles are in huge stadiums and are broadcasted on TV. It almost sounds like a combination of Mega Evolution and Z-Moves. The Pokemon turn into giants and their moves are drastically increased in power, but they only have the form for three turns. It looks pretty cool and I'm kind of curious how it will be featured in the anime. It looks like Pokemon have to be released from a giant Pokeball to use Dynamax, which could be a problem for Ash's Pikachu. But I also wouldn't be surprised if the anime found some way around that for Ash's Pikachu at the same time. It also seems like we have another Rotom based Pokedex, which does make it likely for Ash's Rotom Dex to follow him from Alola to Galar. It isn't a one hundred percent confirmation, but it's pretty darn close and I'm okay with that. I kind of miss the regular Pokedex from previous generations, especially when I never had a problem with Ash using the Pokedex on Pokemon he already saw, but at the same time, I can see why they'd want to keep a Rotom Pokedex. It allows for them to make the Pokedex more marketable if there's a Pokemon inside of it.
The concept of Max Raid Battles definitely reminded me of Pokemon Go's Raid Battles. It sounds like a fun way to battle with other people, although hopefully it wouldn't be impossible to do them alone or to just rely on people you meet online to participate in them. It sounds like a fun and different way to battle, as well as possibly a more challenging way to capture a Pokemon. I also really like the Wild Area. Seeing Pokemon in the overworld is so cool and it can really help to make the game more immersive. It looks and sound like they'll only appear in the overworld in the Wild Area. That would be fine if that is the case. As much as I would have liked that to be a feature of every game, having it as a part of a special area works too. That way we can have random encounters and still find Pokemon through the overworld at the same time.
Making the Gym battles such a huge deal in the game is a pretty neat idea. It helps to make each battle feel important and can give each Gym a unique visual design to them at the same time. The new Professor Magnolia and her assistant Sonia seem pretty interesting. It's been awhile since we've had a female Professor and Sonia having a connection to Leon, the current Galar Champion, sounds interesting. I already really like Hop's design. He reminds me of Hau and I could see him having a pretty neat storyline with his goal of becoming a Champion like Leon. Having a pair of siblings becoming rivals, or at least making it a goal to surpass the older sibling, sounds pretty cool. I like Leon's design. He comes off as tough and cool all at once. I've also kind of missed having an official Champion character, despite how only a few of them really stand out to me. I'm sure it will be treated as a huge deal to defeat Leon in battle. I do hope that they'll still have players being able to defend their Champion titles like they've been able to for the past few games.
I'm also really glad that we finally have an official release date for it. I figured that it was going to be in November. They'd want to get a hold of that sweet Black Friday money and it makes more sense than waiting until December to release the games, but it was good to learn when it will come out exactly. I'll wait to see what kind of pre-order bonuses they'll have, but I'm certainly going to pre-order the games. The scenery is just beautiful, I like the new Pokemon, the battles seem cool and there's a lot of potential with the storyline and characters. I just hope that we'll be able to get more information during E3 and that we'll get monthly updates from this point forward.
While Scorbunny is still my favorite of the Galar starters, I find myself loving Grookey the more I see it too. Both of their expressions during the scene where you pick your starter made them more endearing to me. Sobble is still cute too, but so far Scorbunny and Grooky are my favorites of the three starters. That could still change once their evolved forms are revealed. I love that there seems to be a brief shot where Sobble looks happy with hearts. It was cute and it also implies that there is another Pokemon Amine/Refresh feature in the game, which would be terrific.
There are quite a few new Pokemon shown here as well. Wooloo looks like the early route Normal type, but I really like its design. It's so cute and round. Plus, I like sheep, so another sheep based Pokemon sounds pretty cool to me. Gossifleur and Eldegoss are pretty nice. Eldegoss reminds me of Roselia for some reason, but they look pretty neat. Drednaw looks pretty strong. I wonder if it could be a fossil Pokemon. Corviknight has a really cool design. I kind of wonder if it is an evolved Pokemon or if it doesn't evolve. It looks so tough and the shade of black looks really neat. It also sounds like Corviknight can fly players around to places they've been do, which indicates that HMs aren't going to be in this game too. I'm glad that they're finding different ways to get around a region instead of just using the same HM moves.
The new Legendary Pokemon are pretty cool. I knew that they were going to be wolves based on the logos. Zacian and Zamazenta are going to be hard names for me to pronounce. The sword and shield aspects of their designs are pretty fitting, but it is kind of strange for Zacian to just carry its sword all the time. It might work better if it was shown to just pull out the sword from its side or something before making an attack. Zamazenta's shield looks also really huge, but I imagine that was the point. I'm sure that they're at least part Steel types. I wouldn't be too shocked if at least Zacian turned out to be a Fighting/Steel type.
We also learn of the special battle mechanic in this game called Dynamax. It was certainly unexpected to see giant Pokemon fighting each other. It sounds like it fits with the Galar region when even Gym battles are in huge stadiums and are broadcasted on TV. It almost sounds like a combination of Mega Evolution and Z-Moves. The Pokemon turn into giants and their moves are drastically increased in power, but they only have the form for three turns. It looks pretty cool and I'm kind of curious how it will be featured in the anime. It looks like Pokemon have to be released from a giant Pokeball to use Dynamax, which could be a problem for Ash's Pikachu. But I also wouldn't be surprised if the anime found some way around that for Ash's Pikachu at the same time. It also seems like we have another Rotom based Pokedex, which does make it likely for Ash's Rotom Dex to follow him from Alola to Galar. It isn't a one hundred percent confirmation, but it's pretty darn close and I'm okay with that. I kind of miss the regular Pokedex from previous generations, especially when I never had a problem with Ash using the Pokedex on Pokemon he already saw, but at the same time, I can see why they'd want to keep a Rotom Pokedex. It allows for them to make the Pokedex more marketable if there's a Pokemon inside of it.
The concept of Max Raid Battles definitely reminded me of Pokemon Go's Raid Battles. It sounds like a fun way to battle with other people, although hopefully it wouldn't be impossible to do them alone or to just rely on people you meet online to participate in them. It sounds like a fun and different way to battle, as well as possibly a more challenging way to capture a Pokemon. I also really like the Wild Area. Seeing Pokemon in the overworld is so cool and it can really help to make the game more immersive. It looks and sound like they'll only appear in the overworld in the Wild Area. That would be fine if that is the case. As much as I would have liked that to be a feature of every game, having it as a part of a special area works too. That way we can have random encounters and still find Pokemon through the overworld at the same time.
Making the Gym battles such a huge deal in the game is a pretty neat idea. It helps to make each battle feel important and can give each Gym a unique visual design to them at the same time. The new Professor Magnolia and her assistant Sonia seem pretty interesting. It's been awhile since we've had a female Professor and Sonia having a connection to Leon, the current Galar Champion, sounds interesting. I already really like Hop's design. He reminds me of Hau and I could see him having a pretty neat storyline with his goal of becoming a Champion like Leon. Having a pair of siblings becoming rivals, or at least making it a goal to surpass the older sibling, sounds pretty cool. I like Leon's design. He comes off as tough and cool all at once. I've also kind of missed having an official Champion character, despite how only a few of them really stand out to me. I'm sure it will be treated as a huge deal to defeat Leon in battle. I do hope that they'll still have players being able to defend their Champion titles like they've been able to for the past few games.
I'm also really glad that we finally have an official release date for it. I figured that it was going to be in November. They'd want to get a hold of that sweet Black Friday money and it makes more sense than waiting until December to release the games, but it was good to learn when it will come out exactly. I'll wait to see what kind of pre-order bonuses they'll have, but I'm certainly going to pre-order the games. The scenery is just beautiful, I like the new Pokemon, the battles seem cool and there's a lot of potential with the storyline and characters. I just hope that we'll be able to get more information during E3 and that we'll get monthly updates from this point forward.
