Pokémon Sword &Shield and the fumbled promotion of a great series entry

Posted by Lana Meeren on December 10, 2019 in Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Pokémon, Pokémon Sword and Shield, review, video games,

I have played Pokémon ever since I can remember really. If there is any staple of what got me into gaming, what kept me there and made me return after small fallouts with the hobby the credit definitively goes to this one series of games.

So, what better thing to start a new blog about gaming off than a review of the newest instalments that released about a month ago?

The most important choice in the game! Source

Pokémon Sword and Shield had a rough time leading up to their release for sure. Ever since Junichi Masuda sheepishly announced that they would not in fact feature all the Pokémon a very vocal part of the fanbase was ready to burn them at the stakes.

Every little imperfection was from then on noted and put on display.

I’m not going to lie; I am one of the people who personally is super disappointed by the decision to cut the Pokedex (basically in half as we now know). I grow ridiculously attached to my Pokémon and so far, I transferred at least my main playthrough teams to all the newest games, so I feel pretty disappointed that I’m now supposed to blindly entrust them to a yet unreleased service in the future. Even with that though, the worst part up to release was the constant rumours which clearly had the malicious intent to turn people away from buying. Those made it into my not so carefully moderated social media bubbles and they actually made me really sad or sometimes even angry. At the people who spread them and at the company for constantly hiding behind vague statements.

So not only was my usual interest and anticipation marred by the fact that I already expected I would be unable to bring along my favourite Pokémon but also by the constant negativity I encountered whenever I went online. 

And picking the games up actually felt different. I was still stupidly excited, and the GameStop employee still tried to sell me a ton of stuff I will never need, but there was this little grain of doubt. Would I for the first time in my life regret buying a Pokémon game?

I did not regret it.

By now I have already spent way too much time with the games, around 100 hours to be precise as of the time I’m writing this. The new games are not perfect in any way, but they are also not deserving of the hate they got. In fact, I must chime into a long list of people who proclaimed them to be the most fun they had with the series in years.

I started my journey with the Sword version and all most of my prejudices were thrown out of the window by the time I faced the first gym leader. The graphics are gorgeous for the most part and right out of the gate there is a lot of new Pokémon to discover and catch. The routes are short and don’t offer many opportunities to explore, something that has been criticized by fans ever since the games got the 3D graphics overhaul with X&Y. They are still beautiful and every single one clearly features a theme and a carefully selected cast of Pokémon on them. Sadly, they fade into the background once the game has been cleared as there is little to no reason to revisit them, except for the rare case that a Pokémon cannot also be caught in the Wild Area.

My final team I beat Pokémon Sword with

The game allows to skip tutorials as well. which is an option the Pokémon games lacked for so long I never actually expected to see it.
There’s unprecedented freedom in just being dropped off at the Wild Area in the beginning of the game. Yes, you get told where to go to next, but in comparison to Sun and Moon where I could not walk for a minute on Melemele island without being stopped and forced into a cutscene, the Wild Area was a revelation.
It took me a few hours to return from my deep dive and continue on to the gym challenge. By that point, it actually felt like I went on a long camping trip with my newly caught partners. The actual threat of high-level Pokémon is refreshing as well. It adds to the narrative that it is dangerous to leave the house without Pokémon at your side.

That said the open world-esque part of the game is not flawless, the infamous trees that were so heavily criticized as lazy design work are found here and generally the game drops the gorgeous look it usually captivates its players with. All of this is probably done so the game runs as smooth as possible even if connected online, but in the end, the frame rate is still dropping left and right as soon as the functionality is activated through the new Y-Comm.

Ballonlea is by far my favourite town and really showcases how gorgeous the game looks. Source

The Y-Comm replaces the Festival Plaza and the PSS from previous games and must be one of the worst systems Sword and Shield presents. While you can see what your friends are doing by so-called stamps, there is no way to just click a friends avatar and start trading. Instead, you must enter a four-digit code and start searching for trades, hoping that you will pair up with the right person. In trying to trade with my friends we had to restart multiple times after we got paired up with random people who just happened to be using the same number. You also only see the name of your trade partner if you hover on the name of a box or a free box space in the PC making extra navigation necessary to confirm the trading partner.
All the other functionalities you might want to use exclusively with a friend work with the same system. After a certain time, it becomes quite tiring to enter the same four-digit code, again and again, to access or set up raids, trades or battles.
The game even obviously knows which players I have on my friends list as it shows a special symbol next to them, just the option to invite-only them is glaringly absent.

The next big new thing in the games is obviously Dynamaxing and the Max Raid Battles. Both of which you gain access to as soon as entering the Wild Area for the first time.
The Dyna-/Gigantamax option is the new battle gimmick introduced in the games. Other than Z-Moves and Mega evolution it is not available in every battle, only so-called power spots offer the ability to have your Pokémon take on enormous sizes. The gyms are built on such power spots for example and the raid dens in the Wild Area seem to be as well. The restriction in its usage actually made Dynamaxing feels special and exciting. It’s not a constant bother but rather a treat that the player gets to enjoy on special occasions. Even more special and rare is the opportunity to Gigantamax Pokémon, while the feature works everywhere where you can Dynamax it requires special Pokémon to function. This is a very two-sided mechanic. On one hand, it’s sad that the Pokémon you’ve been training all game will just never be able to achieve this form simply because they aren’t “special” enough. On the other hand, it is a lot of fun to hunt for the elusive Gigantamax forms in raids. I would have highly welcomed a mechanic that offered me to award some of my long-standing teammates with this ability, even if it were limited to the postgame and hidden behind a limited item. Especially since Game Freak kept making a point about how they want the Pokémon you travel with feel special when they explained how certain mechanics allow to change a Pokémons nature in a way.

Finally finding and beating a special Gigantamax form is pretty cool. And while setting up a raid with some friends still has its hiccups, as they sometimes just don’t seem to appear for the other person (meaning you must back out and enter the code anew) it is also immensely fun. The raid battles differ in how strong the opponents are by a star system and offer lots of items and a chance to catch the Pokémon in reward for winning them.  Raids can also be taken on alone, the player is then given a team of three NPCs and their Pokémon, the same pool of NPCs also fill raids that have two to three real participants so a raiding party will always feature four trainers.
While I love the mechanic of raids I can see how they can become very frustrating for players who lack a Nintendo Online subscription (which is needed to access these multiplayer features apart from local play).
Some of the raids are quite challenging and an NPCs bringing a Magikarp or even just a Pokémon with a type disadvantage can ruin that entire run very easily. It’s easy to be cynic and see this as the way people are incentivized to opt into buying the subscription after all, especially since trying to access some features apparently lead to an e-shop site where it can be directly purchased. I haven’t seen any of this myself since I own the subscription already and it’s nothing other games haven’t already shoved in our faces but with Game Freaks continuous marketing focused on kids it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Raids are shown in the overworld as giant beams of purple light

When I finally emerged after exploring the Wild Area one of my biggest concerns was that I had over levelled my Pokémon so much that I would actually need to skip trainer battles as best as possible if I did not want to one-shot every opponent in the first gym. Thankfully the game allows access to the PCs boxes on the go, so instead, I began swapping my team out frequently, filling the Pokedex along the way. The level curve is also rather nicely done and seems to account for players exploring and catching a lot. Since the new games do not allow the shared experience system to be turned off this implementation was extremely necessary but something players feared in advance would be missing.

A hard-learned truth of the Pokémon series is that once you have learned your type advantages the game is pretty easy to beat even if the Pokémon is slightly under levelled. The days where I mindlessly used my Swampert for just everything are done for me and of course, it’s become a lot easier since then to beat my rivals Sceptile.
 So personally I don’t mind the game showing me the effectiveness of moves. I know them anyway. It’s a very beginner-friendly feature that similarly to the experience share would be just a touch better if players could opt not to use it.
A difficulty setting from which the players can choose could have benefitted Sword and Shield greatly. Even if just operated by adjusting levels of opposing Pokémon and limit the ever-present healing by basically every special NPC you come by. This setting would have added the challenge that some players crave and try to create with custom rules. After the post-game, it would no longer have any real significance and thus players of both difficulties could play together without a problem.

This is just one of the what feels like 1000 curries in the game

The often-criticized constant healing is another feature that will probably only bother players who want the games to be more of a challenge, healing is a free commodity anyway. I am always slightly relieved when my team with nearly no moves left gets refreshed ahead of battle.
To treat your Pokémon’s injuries and taste buds on the go you can set up camp and quickly cook a curry with them. The mini-game is mostly button mashing but gets more fun if other players who must work in unison. Generally, this the camp is easily identified as the new gimmick that will probably be removed come whatever the next generation of Pokémon might be. It’s still fun and useful but nothing to get too attached to.

The biggest point in buying a new Pokémon game for me is usually the new featured critters. There were certainly less than I had hoped for, just around 80, probably driven by the fear of the ever-closer looming #1000.

I get why that number is intimidating and instead of investing in completely new designs we get more of the same in a new coat. I like the regional forms, it’s a nice idea to give overlooked or proven Pokémon a chance to shine in a different light. However, they don’t carry the game for me. That is what the new Pokémon need to do. For the biggest part, the selection of new Pokémon that is offered in the games is amazing. There is a lot of them that have a true potential to become new favourites of players new and old. Some designs might not work for some people (I never evolved my Sobble) but I think that has always been the case and as usual, we’ll see people starting to love the newcomers within a few months. I will just keep hoping that we might at some point get a Pokedex featuring more than just 80 new Pokémon. Maybe once the big bad 1000 is broken Game Freak won’t care so much anymore or maybe I will need to adjust to the fact that there will only be a few new critter lines added in upcoming games.

My Sobble never evovlved and likes to take naps after eating curry

The story of the game took me about 35 hours to complete, though my tendency to talk to everyone and catch every Pokémon on every route surely played into this. The narrative itself is not the games strongest point as it is largely just the very same, we played over 20 years ago. Some of the cast, however, bring a refreshing charm with them as we get to see glimpses of their journeys and struggles along the way. It’s charming but also made me realize that this game offers you one of the blandest Mary Sue plotlines in the series history. You show up and get a Pokémon and from then on you are the young prodigy trainer and everything kind of works out for you without too much of a hassle. Not only that but of course you are also the one enlightening everyone around you, including people who should definitely be more studied and knowledgeable.

This being a Pokémon game my expectations for the story weren’t sky-high, so I was not that bothered. However, I still long for a return of the narrative design that the Black and White collection offered. Hopefully Game Freak will strike a bolder note in a future instalment.

Other than the story the music really grabbed me. I think it might have influenced a lot of my feelings about certain story parts, especially the fights in the gyms and the league.
A peculiar choice was to hide the audio settings behind random NPC that technically you never have to talk to. Now audio settings in itself are a new feature for Pokémon games but for accessibility reasons alone they should be available from the start.

Sword and Shield did not revolutionize the Pokémon series as this first main series entry on the Switch. They are great Pokémon games but having seen what the creators of Zelda and Mario did with their debuts on the platform they leave this lingering feeling of how much more potential there could have been explored. Especially after these games were praised to be for the long time series fans back when Let’s Go came out. All that talk vanished quietly earlier in the year and ever since the games set sail in the seemingly never enduing pre-release shitstorm caused by the cut of Pokémon and other issues, the Pokémon Company and Game Freak seemed wise enough not to bring it up again.
Personally, I enjoyed less information about the games ahead of time instead of being completely spoiled but much of the other communication was and is lacking.
While I can see the logical necessity to cut the amount of Pokémon in an instalment it would be desirable to be offered clear information right away. Not only to offer reassurance but also to take the ground that might otherwise be claimed by people spreading negativity and hatred. Honest communication is one of the most powerful tools companies like these have at their disposal, yet they refused to use it for the benefit of their fans and themselves.
Pokémon will always sell well, or like in this case exceptionally well, but it would be sad to see those who’ve supported it for the 20 years of its existence being driven away by poorly handled PR. There is be a middle ground between revealing everything and staying completely silent and Game Freak and Nintendo should try to find it to assure long-time fans feel seen and valued.

In the end I love these new games and I will put many more hours into them. But I will also, remember the bad feelings that the whole release cycle made me go through which leaves a certain mark. And while I probably won’t remember much of the story for a long time, but I will remember setting up raid evenings with my friends and playing together with them I hope Sword and Shield will be used as a steppingstone that improves on the potential the Switch as a system and Pokémon as a series still have.