Despite the huge controversy involving this game, I really enjoyed it. Obviously it's still Pokémon, if you've enjoyed Pokémon at its most basic level, I see no reason you wouldn't enjoy this.

I absolutely love what this game does with gym battles, turning it into a huge competition. Everyone starting at the same time means you get a true feeling of progression, and as you go on you hear of more and more challengers who had to drop out due to it being too tough. The way it starts out with you registering with everyone else, then going to sleep at a hotel before waking up to see a crowd of people gathered to cheer you on creates such a huge scale of excitement.
It does kind of die down near the end unfortunately. By the 5th or 6th gym the challenge is treated almost like any other game, until we get to the finals, which once again bring up the scale far above anything seen in past games.

So overall I really enjoyed the story, even if it was simple. Just you, the player, on a quest to become the greatest trainer of all time. It's what all the games have technically been about, but this is the first one that truly made me feel like the game took it seriously. I also liked the little sub plots it caused, like Bede being disqualified and then picked up as the fairy type gym leader.

The difficulty in this game is a somewhat weird one. While I do feel like the game is scaled to exp share, the Wild Area makes trying to predict player levels a mammoth task. A player could skip the Wild Area completely and maybe be under-leveled, especially if they don't catch or beat any wild Pokémon. On the other hand a player could spend hours and hours in there before even getting their first gym badge. By adding so much freedom to the player without dynamic scaling, finding the sweet spot is difficult. I had a really weird experience myself, for the first 3 gyms I was slightly ahead of the gym leaders, then the 4th gym had a big boost and caught up to me, but after that, despite me not changing my play-style, I skyrocketed ahead of the rest of the gym leaders.

This weird level curve is especially prevalent in the "champion cup" as its called. It's essentially a long stretch of story which, while technically possible to take a break from and grind, isn't encouraged at all by the way it pushes itself forward. But when I started this section I was about 10 levels ahead of the first opponents Pokémon, then by the time I got the champion I was actually slightly under-levelled. The game essentially makes it that you have to be over-levelled for most of the climax to stand a chance against the final boss; it's such weird game design.

As for the Exp scaling, the game uses the method of giving less exp the higher level you are compared to your opponent. This works pretty well for the most part, but there's one major flaw: Wild Pokémon. For some crazy reason the wild Pokémon in this game are far above even the trainers in their area. Hell I ran into a few wild Pokémon that were higher level than me! Since a huge part of Pokémon has always been to "catch 'em all", naturally I did try to catch a bunch of Pokémon on my journey, but because they were all buffed to crazy levels, the idea of getting less exp for beating/catching lower level Pokémon kind of became futile. If they just lowered the levels of the wild mons it would have done so much to improve game balance. Of course you could just ignore them to not get the exp, but if your idea of game design is to not play as much of the game as you can, there's a problem.

Presentation in this game is definitely a step above anything we've seen in the series so far. Gym battles alone are a great example of this, as now there's no transition between the pre-battle dialogue and the battle itself. Instead the opponent and your character with get into position and it flows into the start of battle seamlessly. Add in a bunch of Mid-battle dialogue and it really helps make these battles stand out from the rest, whereas in previous games the only real difference between a gym battle and a regular battle was the music and a slight difficulty increase. Unfortunately it's not all great, a lot of the animations and cutscenes still look cheap. It's a shame because the very early cutscene of the starters showed such great promise, but nothing like that ever really came up again.

Going on to the things that make this game unique over other Pokémon games, let's start with Dynamax. Personally I hated it. Mechanically it just feels like a mish-mash of Megas and Z-Moves, but both of them done far worse. And from a practical point of view, trying to imagine these Pokémon fighting each other at that size is just ridiculous. I would have much preferred to just have no gimmick at all over this.

The Wild Area is decent. It's not super deep or anything, and the weather effects changing from area to area look janky as all hell, but it does a pretty good job of showing off a bunch of Pokémon walking around, making it feel alive and active. Raid battles are also a fun addition, even though I don't think they have the staying power I think Gamefreak wants them to. But the amount of rewards you get every time you clear one is bound to set off those happy chemicals in your brain that make you want to keep playing.

The gym challenges before the gym battles themselves are very hit or miss. On one hand we have creative ideas, like trying to gain points by catching/defeating Pokémon while also having to deal with an NPC trying to sabotage you, we have things that give a unique gameplay mechanic that we've never seen before in Pokémon, like the spinning cup thing, or Wooloo herding. Then we have ideas that aren't necessarily bad, but aren't new, like the water maze feels very similar to past gyms with switches/levels to control water flow. But then the last 2 gyms just gave up completely and made the pre-leader challenges just a bunch of trainer fights. Even the fairy gym, which is done in the style of a quiz - not a new concept, but they try to make it feel fresh by adding stat boosts/debuffs depending on your answer - feels worse than old versions as the questions no longer test your knowledge of Pokémon and instead just ask dumb questions about the gym leader that feel like they're purposely set up to trick you. Overall it's a promising concept that just wasn't utilised very well outside of a couple of gyms.

I had fun with the game, and other than a certain lack of undeniable cheapness in certain scripted events, which give the impression this was a 3DS game, it does its job just fine. What's wrong with it is what it doesn't have, because there's so much damn potential in this game just begging to come out. This could have easily been the best game in the series if they just put in some extra effort.

A little messy for a Pokemon title, but beyond the bad story and simple routes is a Pokemon game with some of the best optimization and 'mon collecting from the franchise. Also the new Pokemon added are wonderfully designed.

Post game was fun in completing the dex and hunting for shinies. Wild encountering for shinies is fun this time around because of the overworld Pokemon, but a lot more tedious. Masuda methoding for shinies is probably the most streamlined it's ever been though, with the ability to access the box from anywhere, and it's been a blast.

That said, this is also the Pokemon game that has gotten me to stop caring about Pokemon. Very obviously rushed. Makes me sad to see the franchise kneecap itself year after year by trying to stick to this impossible release schedule. Pokemon games should be high quality, and it's ridiculous how little polish this game released with.

Ich hatte Schwert aus einer Laune heraus gekauft, weil ich bereits vor dem eigentlichen Release dachte, das dieser Teil wiedereinmal aufs neue die Sattheit von Gamefreak gegenüber dem Franchise zeigen würde.

Was soll ich sagen, ich sollte wohl leider recht behalten, wenn auch das Spiel am Ende trotzdem einen gewissen reiz hat.

Bereits im Vorfeld gab es erhitze Debatte über, vom 3DS 1zu1 übernommene Animationen, die leere Spielwelt, die fehlenden Pokemon und Attacken. Und das alles.. obwohl es sich nach Pokemon Lets Go nun doch endlich um die ersten CORE-Teile der Reihe, auf einer richtigen Konsole handeln sollte.

Nun, diese Punkte lassen sich wohl nicht mehr aus der Welt schaffen und sie sind in Teilen schlimmer als ich Erwartet hatte.

Was mit den Mega-Evolutionen in X und Y begann ist nun das "Dynamaxing" oder auch "Dein Pokemon ist nun Groß, als hätte es einen Super-Pilz von Mario geklaut".
Natürlich bleibt es Geschmacksache ob man diese Stufe mag oder nicht, für mich jedoch ist es schlichtweg, wie viele Entscheidungen in der Entwicklung von Schwert und Schild nur eine einfache... keinesfalls aber eine gute.

Alles wirkt, trotz der neuen technischen Basis der Switch als Hintergrund nach wie vor wie ein altbackener Pokemon-Teil von vor 10 Jahren. Das ist auch eigentlich mein persönlicher Kritikpunkt an den "neuen" Pokemon teilen.

Trotz der neuen Möglichkeiten, trotz moderner RPG Mechaniken die in fast jedem Spiel mittlerweile Einzug erhalten und sich weiter entwickeln... trotz allem bleibt Pokemon das was es schon auf dem Gameboy war. Im guten, wie auch im schlechten. Nur das das schlechte mit jeder verpassten Chance auf Innovation und frische, langsam die guten Teile nicht mehr halten kann.

Lasst mich endlich die Welt allein und ohne 80 Stützräder und vierfachen Boden erleben (Ja, auch Kinder können das). Steckt kleine liebevolle Details in die Welt und ihre Bewohner. Macht die Städte und Wiesen lebendig, lasst die Bewohner mit ihren Pokemon agieren und nicht nur dumm in der Idel-Animation rumstehen, mit einer Text-Box und einem nach GameBoy boxen klingenden Sound.

Gebt mir vielleicht kleine Quests, in denen ich vielleicht sogar mit meinem aktuellen Pokemon-Team schauen muss, wie ich diese angehen möchte.

Erwarte ich zu viel von einem Pokemon-Teil in 2019?
Spricht der alte, grantige Opa aus mir der sagt "Früher war alles besser!.. gebt mir die alten Teile wieder und nur 151 Pokemon"?
Ich glaube nicht.. viele meiner Lieblings Spielereien sind mit mir zusammen Groß geworden, sind gereift, wurden verbessert, gepolished und sind heute großartiger Denn Je.. Warum dann nicht dieses Franchise?
Nun ja, vielleicht ja der nächste Teil..

Sword and Shield break my heart, because they're failures on almost all fronts.

In terms of audio/visual presentation, they are jarring at best and pitiful at worst. Their multiplayer experience is a tremendous backslide even from Gen 7, and so is their story. Their new battle mechanic is the only one to receive a near-immediate ban from Smogon singles, and be logically unworkable in most narrative situations. Postgame, even with the DLC, feels nonexistent, especially when Pokedex completion now feels like a fool's errand.

As of the time that I am once again paving over this review, there are now over one thousand Pokemon. I understand the difficulty in making every main game compatible with each and every one of them. I really, really do. I also understand that there is an entire other support company under the TPCI umbrella who makes all of these models and animations, and that significant assets for all contemporary Pokemon already existed on the 3DS, and that most of them showed up in Sword and Shield with minimal changes.

The fact is that when you cannot assemble all of your Pokemon in one game and cannot use significant portions of your ideal team, it absolutely slaughters a critical part of Pokemon's core appeal. What is the point of Catching Them All when they can only rot in Pokemon Home? Why even bother putting them in Pokemon Home when all usable Pokemon in any given game can be caught with ease in that very same game? Even if one seeks only the thrill of collection, that generally involves evolution, and have fun looking up a compatibility spreadsheet so that you can find a game to evolve each monster in. It turns one of the franchise's core activities into an existential nightmare, and not in the fun way it was in Gen 3.

Pile the loss of megas and Z-moves on top of this and combine it with the immense frustrations of a morbidly unfinished, clumsy campaign and a vacuum of postgame and multiplayer QoL, and you get a game that almost feels like some kind of intentional insult. Nowhere does this hurt more than the base game's Wild Area, a vast, flat nothing-burger with none of the verticality of interest or care of Gen 9's maps. It could be fun to camp out some corner of the zone as soon as you first reach it and catching something interesting, but you're more likely to immediately try to catch the big, impressive, static spawns and be told flatly that you're not allowed to catch them, for some magical, nonsensical, spiteful, hateful reason.

Galar is a great region. It beams with personality and good ideas waiting to be explored, and it feels so utterly wasted on Sword and Shield, even with their DLC. It is common that the initial games of a generation feel incomplete. It's often the Emerald or the Platinum that sees them completed and immortalizes that whole generation in the public mind as "one of the greats." This did not happen for Gen 6, Gen 7, or Gen 8, and I don't think that even The Indigo Disk can salvage the reputation of Gen 9.

Amid all of these "bad generations," I see no way to convince myself that Gen 8 is not the worst. X and Y certainly have their problems, but they shine so brightly from angles people seldom consider. Gen 7 may annoy the shit out of me with its stopping and starting and ultra beasts and festival plazas, but they're generally pretty solid.

Half of why I even like Gen 9 AT ALL is because it feels as though it's slowly undoing the damage of Gen 8, and my god, does that ever speak more volumes than I can write.

A lot of wasted potential. The first mainline Pokémon game on a console and yet it feels like a step backwards compared to the last couple entries. The core is still as fun as ever but all of the outer edges are fumbled. And I’m sorry but it just looks like a cheap phone game. I don’t think it’s crazy to expect more from such a huge company. Look at the first party Nintendo games on switch, look at Dragonquest on switch - Pokémon Sword / Shield looks kind of embarrassing compared to those. Even the cover for this game looks like an Devianart post. I know art is super subjective but I would love if they switched it up - the current look of these games does nothing for me.

As the first mainline home console game in the Pokémon franchise, there was a lot of pressure to live up to expectations. Pokémon Sword lives up to many of those expectations but lacks in others. In terms of gameplay, this is one of the stronger titles. The new overworld features that were present in the Pokémon Let's Go games, such as Pokémon appearing physically and being able to pick and choose your battles, are both aesthetically pleasing and functionally well designed. The idea of being able to run through an open plain with tall grass blocking your path is not nearly as daunting and encourages exploration. Battles are mainly the same, however type differences are much more apparent which makes the game easier to understand for a newcomer. The obvious main grievances gameplay-wise is the stripped down National Dex and poor visuals which have plagued this game since it's reveal. The visuals in the game are not great, models like trees look unfinished, the pop-in is awful and the game can really drop frames in some places. The National Dex being taken away was not a bad choice on it's own but when coupled with the context that it was stripped mainly to time restrictions and became released later as paid DLC is a bummer to many. The main gimmick of the game, Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing, are a really lame well to say 'This game has a new powerset, what do you mean?' without having to put in work to make proper unique models for most characters like Mega Evolution did in the past. If Gigantamaxing was the only thing power in this game, I would have been fine with it, but that would have required more time to work on unique and creative models. That brings up what I believe this game lacked in, time. If given more time, I believe this game could have become one of the best Pokémon games to date and I will mention later on where I believe the game feels unfinished due to a lack of time. More on the gameplay however, the overworld is pleasant but that's all I can really say. Nowhere did the game particularly fascinate me, and anywhere slightly fascinating, was typically over very quick, such as the towns of the Fighting gym leader and Fairy gym leader. The Wild Area, as advertised, is easily the best and most interesting part of the game. However, much like the other towns, it too is over far too quickly and lacks much to do, other than filling out your PokéDex. Finally, we turn to the game's story, which is overall fairly good for a game rated E but compared to how deep, or even just well-thought out the stories of the Mario and Zelda entries on Switch, there was a lot to be desired. Spoilers here for obvious reasons, so if you wish to skip over them, my overall summary of the game will be marked at the end. The game focuses around these wishing stars which are brought up at the beginning of the game but quickly forgotten about until the end of the game. Most characters and character designs are done well at beginning, but as the game moves on, the designs become lackluster and stories are wrapped up poorly. This is another big aspect of the game that could've been done beautifully if given more time, but it is what is. Hop, your rival, starts as a very generic character, until later in the game where, after being repeatedly, the player becomes more sympathetic to him, before he goes right back to being generic. Other important character, like Sonia or Bede, start out as okay character, build into better character, and almost as you reach the climax, their stories are wrapped up rather quickly and in an unsatisfying way. The main villain of the game, Chairman Rose, basically becomes evil out of nowhere, believing he needs to unleash an event known as 'The Darkest Day' in order to save the power from going out in the town 1000 years in the future. This motivation comes from almost nowhere and this plan has massive flaws that completely break his character, before he goes back to being his cheery self after being defeated and turns himself in. This wraps up the main plot but there is a fraction of post-game content that, in my opinion, could've fit nicely into the main story and actually make Rose a better villain without having to change his already poor writing. This post game content includes two new characters who are the direct descendants of hero's who saved the region long ago, and believe they are entitled to the throne. They attempt to make themselves look better by wrecking havoc on the region, making wild Pokémon look at fault and turning the legendary Pokémon against the townspeople. These two are written significantly better than most characters, and actually wrap up Hop's story in a much better way than the main game could. The gameplay in the post game content is basic but good enough to still make it worth playing through for the legendary Pokémon and the story.
---------------------------------------Summary-------------------------------------------Overall, Pokémon Sword (and Shield, for that matter) are good entries in the franchise but could have benefited from more time to brainstorm ideas, program better models and create a better story. A solid game, but I will likely not be revisiting, even to finish the PokéDex. If you are an older fan who wants to revisit the franchise or a newcomer who wants to know where to start, this is well suited for you.

A.K.A “I bought a Switch for this?”

That joke of a tagline is at least partially true, as there are other games I want to check out on the Nintendo Switch system, but one of the major factors was indeed for the sake of Pokémon’s first ever port to console.

I’ll use an asterisk there, as I played the game on the Switch Lite that I own, thus the entire game was played via handheld and honestly not much different than playing any of the past titles on the DS.

What a disappointment. There was so much build up, not for Sword and Shield specifically, but for Pokémon to get its first major release on a home console system. There had been talks of such an eventual transition happening for years, and such talks had always speculated what new possibilities it would open up for the franchise once it had evolved past its handheld history. All that build up was for naught, as the result we received with Sword & Shield was a rushed display with very few new mechanics and essentially not much different or innovative than its handheld predecessors. It basically felt like it didn’t even “need” to be a Switch game and could have easily existed on the Nintendo 3DS as an exclusive handheld game like all of the past titles. There was not anything truly new and special to differentiate between old and new to warrant the change in device. The graphics were not that much better than Sun & Moon, not that the Switch is known for its graphical prowess in comparison to its competitor counterparts (PS4 & Xbox One). The length of the game was not any longer than usual, although it would have been awesome to have a sprawling epic in a Pokémon story based game. So why now, with this particular title duo does Pokémon want to make the jump? Why not wait a little longer until they have a more polished and innovative title worthy of the switch (no pun intended)?

Sword & Shield definitely feels like a rushed product that Game Freak put together quickly after the release of the “Let’s Go” titles on the Switch (which served as a primer). I didn’t expect Pokémon to change up its tired but true formula with its gameplay mechanics and story structure but they went beyond and barely made any pivotal changes compared to the handheld titles. I feel like I am repeating myself, but to elaborate with more examples, I didn’t expect them to change anything in regards to battling, catching, collecting, item utilization, etc., nor to change the same Gym structure they announced they were returning to after its absence in Sun & Moon. However, what I did expect was for all of the aforementioned details plus more to be more fleshed out and detailed for expanded capabilities the game developers now possess. As far as I can tell, the only notable changes are the Max-Raid battles, the wild area, and camping for some reason but even that is similar to the “Pokémon Refresh” feature in past titles. I’m not even going to include Dynamax/ Gigantimax given how they are basically a version of mega evolutions. Everything else is identical to the handheld titles while perhaps being with even less features and details.

For instance, character customization in this game was extremely limited and poor. One could customize their character with far greater options in Sun & Moon. Trading is worse off now as well, with the absence of the GTS (Global Trade Station). What we have now is extremely hit or miss to whatever random person (if you have no friends) may accept your trade invite and be offered to give up, as we cannot see what pokemons they may have unless they choose to display it. Surprise Trade is the same exact thing as Wonder Trade so nothing new there except a name change. However, the most glaring omission of all, that everyone on both sides of the debate have been hearing about forever now, even prior to the game’s release, is no National Dex, hence no way to transport pokemon from previous generations forward. You can tell right away which side of the controversy I am on. This has been a staple in Pokémon titles since its existence. Hell, they even gave us the capability using the Pokémon Bank to transfer “mon’s” from the digital versions of Pokémon Red, Blue, & Yellow, to current gen. Why eliminate that now, when Game Freak is taking the next steps to making the franchise in its biggest form to date?

This generation could have been so much better, and I do hope one day we will see a proper Pokémon title that is deserving of console status. Even the world building in the game was so damn limited and restricted. Aside from the wild area, there wasn’t much room for exploration, and the map itself seemed incredibly small as I worked my way through it. There would be a city in the game like Spikemuth for example, that the developers would intricately design and make it extremely appealing as far as visuals are concerned; but then, actual gameplay and movement would be restricted to one small straight way with virtually no room for exploration or interaction. It was such a waste, and frankly a lazier option to go with in making the game, instead of doing something like a true open world format, or even partial open world (like the Wild Area but all over). Another thing that could have been drastically better is the story. I know Pokémon has never relied heavily on its story, using a basic formula which is literally:

Begin Pokémon Journey -> Face your rival multiple times -> create some type of conflict with new “Team” baddies -> finish gyms/trials -> become Pokémon Champion -> Conflict resolution -> Capture box Legendary -> hopefully some end game content…

I’m not saying they need to scrap the entire formula but at this point, there is no excuse to be this lazy when it comes to the plot of your video game. It’s as if they are just letting the franchise sell itself, while doing the bare minimum. The story in Sword & Shield was down right atrocious. Sun & Moon actually had a fairly decent story and did not deviate too much from the formula, and then you have Black & White (in my opinion the best of them all) that proved Pokémon could even tell a story with complex characters, and morality tales. Black & White also turned the story on the player in a meta sort of way. as if we were the villain, because we wanted to capture and “enslave” pokemon. It’s story blurred so many lines, and even though there was a “true” villain revealed in the end, so many other characters (including player character) fell into this grey area where no one is all good or bad. I mean why couldn’t they bring back some of that innovativeness to this new title, instead of virtually going the entire plot with no conflict only for one to be suddenly thrust upon us at the end with no logic or build up involved whatsoever. The writing in Sword & Shield was just terrible, even the characters were generic, with Piers, the Spikemuth gym leader, being the most interesting, but even he was just reminiscent of a nicer Team Skull member from the previous gen.

As far as pokemon designs go, every generation has its hits and misses, and the same applies here as well. I’ll give it to them, there were some pretty cool pokemon designs in Sword & Shield, most notably Corviknight, Centiskorch (my personal favorite), Grimmsnarl, Toxtricity, and more. While on the other side of the spectrum, you have “mon’s” ranging from an apple pie dragon (Appletun), or a penguin with a ice cube for a head (Eiscue) that were less than inspired. One more mention regarding pokemon design, the starters this generation were among the worst if not the very worst looking ones. This was the first gen that I didn’t even have at least one of the starters that I was keen on. I wound up going with the monkey Grookey/Rillaboom, simply because he was the only one that “looked” like an actual Pokémon even though I really disliked his drum. Cinderace looked like a cross between Sonic the Hedehog and Blaziken, while Inteleon (the worst of all) looked like some awkward, flamboyant humanoid that was way too weird, and did not remind me at all of the Spy look they were going for.

To wrap this up in a TLDR recap; The Good: some cool new pokemon and honestly it’s a new pokemon game, the franchise really does sell itself at this point and it will always be at least mildly entertaining. The Bad: Everything else, literally everything; and I’ll even throw in The Ugly: Inteleon.

https://themadnessofdionysus.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/pokemon-sword-shield-2019/

The worst mainline Pokemon yet. It's clear that Game Freak had tunnel vision in terms of criticism towards Sun and Moon's copious amount of cutscenes because Sword and Shield has no story. It's really as simple as that- Gen 8 consists entirely of walking into a town, entering the gym, fighting the gym leader, and leaving. There's nothing in Sword and Shield that can't be found in any other game in the series, and therefore no reason to play it. It doesn't even have every Pokemon, which seems like such a joke- what point is there to a new Pokemon game if you can't even catch 'em all?

its another pokemon game! the story had a lot of character moments that had me smiling :)

the new pokemon this time around stick out to me as some of the strangest we've ever had. they really went ham on the unique concepts and visual design for all these creatures

also the new wild area and max raids are really fun to play around with and make completing the dex more worthwile!

I love Pokemon, and while there are some obvious issues with this game the core charm of the franchise will always win me over in the end. The world feels a little small for a AAA rpg, especially one based around exploration and catching cool monsters, and as always the plot is boring and non-essential, but something about being able to play pokemon on a tv screen while chilling on my couch really did it for me and I had a great time playing through this and doing raids with friends.

I am hoping the added content in the dlc will bump my score up a bit, as I do love the game a lot and put about 70 hours into it before calling it quits, but I was a little let down with the uninspired structure and world design. I wish they went all in on the wild area and make a few more, or even every section in between towns its own big wild area. It felt like they had such a great idea but didn't implement it fully.

All right... go on and hate me.

There was so much before the game was even released. #Bringbacknationaldex etc. Well to me the world did not seem empty at all. And there were no Pokemon missing. It's just the correct amount to not overload it with too much.
(Pokemon Home is a whole other story)

I actually enjoyed this game very much. Yes, it is easy but I think I just managed to accept the fact that Pokemon will always be easy.

The only thing that triggers me is Delion. I mean, this guy is not a champ at all. And his brother is even worse. Betys is the way better rival. But back to Delion. First of all, I don't want to know who the champ is. But the game tells you in the first 5 minutes... great.
Then it cannot be that the signature Pokemon is Charizard. This is ridiculous!

But those Legendarys ... wooooow *_*