Right, so I gotta vent about all this Pokémon Sword and Shield nonsense going around. Let me say that yes, the developers shouldn’t be rushed and I’d prefer 2-3 years between games if it made them better, however that doesn’t mean the game is trash just because management is awful. Sorry to tell you this, but ever since DP GameFreak has been aiming for some kind of Pokémon game every year. This isn’t a new issue.
Let’s get on with the show.
Keep in mind all of the released information so far is from 4chan. Even those posts on reddit are about information originally posted on 4chan. That’s not the most reliable source out there.
Yeah, it fucking sucks that the dex was cut, especially so much. Do I think that the cut was because they wanted to make sure each model was perfect? No, it’s probably a lie. However, I think the reason for the cut was something that people are overlooking: space. There are now nearly 1000 Pokémon to model and animate, neveminding the fact each one can be shiny (thus a new model) and there are tons of forms ranging from relatively useless like Resolute Form to Megas to regional variants. All of that is just the Pokémon, never mind and human models, background models like houses, trees, etc. I can’t help but think the switch just couldn’t handle all of it without going into negative frame rates. Hell, the games have been having issues with frame rate since BW and I’m pretty sure even back then it was due to size.
I think GF wanted people to hope about getting their favorites back while not admitting the switch isn’t the greatest thing since the invention of the lightbulb. Could I be wrong, of course. I don’t have the ability to identify just how large everything is. But don’t just assume the Dex was cut for a nefarious reason when your proof is a person claiming to know things on 4chan.
From the videos, they certainly don’t seem to be the best. Honestly, they don’t look any better than SM and sometimes those looked wonky. But let’s be real here: when has Pokémon ever had that great of animation? I get that GF is claiming they focused on that, but the models were never going to be the best things ever. The move animations make as much sense as they always have. Don’t forget that when using flamethrower on Pokémon that are too tall in games like Platinum, the fire comes out of the stomach. There’s just a bunch of standard motions and they simply pick the best one to use for each move.
Now, stop complaining about Wingull and Xatus overworld idle animations. Wingull has always been like that, I’m pretty sure at least once Dex entry says it’s a glider. Xatu is a psychic totem pole bird, it can do whatever it wants. Wailord’s size being shrunken down so much is quite silly, but how big do you guys want it? It’d be nice to see them all proportional to their Dex sizes, but I also want to see everything clearly. I didn’t like not being able to see the top of Alola Exeggutor after I got over how silly it was. I don’t want the same thing for other Pokémon too. Hop reusing Hau’s animations is ridiculous, but I don’t really pay attention to that kind of thing typically. He’s just meant to be a nice kid to be the rival. Don’t forget that this is a kid game, subtle emotions are both difficult to express and to interpret for someone young. If you want to do an emotion, you have to go big. There are only so many ways to express the same emotion with large movements.
Alright, if this is true I am indeed pissed. There’s no need to cut the moves, especially the ones like return and hidden power which people actually use. If they were worried about the number of moves (and I’ll be fair, it’d be insane), don’t add new ones? I don’t think people would be that upset a generation added only a few moves so long as the movepools themselves were okay.
... I get why they did it. Monetarily, it’s more logical to have a paid subscription service for online play rather than it being free. I don’t like it, but so long as the fee is low I’ll accept it. Servers are expensive and more people are wanting access to online. They have to pay for it consistently somehow.
There are people complaining that Dynamax/Gigadynamax Pokémon aren’t hard enough. The evidence they have is Coalossol being one shot by Intellon (Intelleon? No idea how you spell it). Please remember that our coal dude is fire/rock and the water starter used a decently powerful water move. Being surprised the Pokémon with a quadruple weakness to water was OHKOed by a water move is like being surprised Charizard Y is OHKOed by rock slide. At least wait until a harder challenge appears before judging the gimmick like that.
Look, I’m obviously a fan of the series. I admit some of the changes fucking suck, no matter how much I may understand why it was done. But the people who are bitching the most about how awful the game is are probably the same ones who bitched about BW when it first came out. A game many look back on fondly now.
Everyone should stop freaking the fuck out, form your own opinion about the game when it’s actually released and not just leaked, and stop trying to scare people away because you can.
