Pokémon

[thatblindgeye]

ive seen review sites give it good reviews, whereas people on Twitter started a Gamefreak lied hashtag over stuff. Which, I think people need to take leaks with a grain of salt sometimes because how can you know it's the final version or that a day 1 patch doesn't fix it (though that really shouldn't be the norm to need a day 1 patch), and also there possibly being translation issues in terms of interviews where they claimed stuff. 

 

I get people being upset if the final games do end up, graphically, not being well done (there was a leaked clip of a Pokemon turning around by walking in place and being rotated 180 degrees which didn't look great), but it honestly doesn't bother me and I expect it from a Pokemon game even though there should be a higher standard on the switch. 

National dex I was annoyed about at first but I'm over because I always use the new Pokemon in new games and don't play competitively. I get why those that play competitively would be upset and not get it, but it definitely doesn't warrant the extent some people have gone.

[DoubleX]

On 14/11/2019 at 22:38, Mad Jack stans Wiccan said:

A lot of the criticisms just seem kinda dumb. No national dex? What, you mean they're only putting pokemon in that make sense for the setting? Oh dear how horrible, better jump on twitter to send death threats to game freak.

I think a good comparison to this, which makes the concern a bit clearer, is to when Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire came out. There wasn't a big sprawling post-game, the National Dex wasn't a thing yet, and moving from the Game Boy to the GBA meant that it was impossible to transfer Pokemon from the older games, so you had a fairly clear separation there, and it was essentially a clean slate. That said, the data for the old Pokemon was still in Ruby and Sapphire, so when Leaf Green and Fire Red came out, there wasn't any incompatibility for trades and such. From what I understand, Sword and Shield have no data for any of the Pokemon not in the games programmed in, which means that either they'll never have any non-native Pokemon after future releases (like if they remade Gen IV, which if they continue the past trend is about where they're up to), or they're going to have to build it and patch it in later (which I don't even know how hard or possible it'd be, given that I'm not a programmer).

Now, all of that said, death threats and a petition to the leader of a country are way over the top and melodramatic, and people really should get over themselves. If they don't like how the game's been made or presented, they should express it with their wallet and just not buy the games. I've personally held off on getting these at release, partially due to issues people have raised regarding difficulty, and to a minor extent the national dex issue, but the main reason I've held off is the loss of the GTS, which was a fantastic way to get things that you needed, like trade evolutions and such, and has been in the games since Diamond and Pearl. I'm going to see how much the complaints people have had hold water once the game's been out for a bit and has had time to settle in, before deciding if I'm going to get one of these, but we'll see.

I may cave in a month's time and get one anyway, who knows >_>

[Katsuya]

We got it, and from the first couple hours of gameplay, it's genuinely pretty solid. A lot of the initial hand-holding that I had a huge issue with in Sun & Moon seem to have been dropped, and the Wild Area is pretty cool from the bits I've got to so far. The graphics aren't anything breathtaking, but then again...it's Pokemon. The graphics have never been the main reason to play these games.

And as for "Dexit", I actually quite like how it's played out so far in the game - there's some Pokemon I wouldn't usually use who are available early on now, so it still feels like there's plenty of variety. I guess it's more for the uber-competitive people who don't like they can't use the same Pokemon sets all the time (and especially with so few legendaries) that it's proving an issue. Like, am I a little annoyed that my two favourite Pokemon aren't in the game so far? Yeah, a little, but that doesn't make me not want to play the game as a whole.

[Lineker]

12 minutes ago, Katsuya said:

"Dexit"

 

[Chris2K]

I'm enjoying it so far, the Wild area is a great mix of things and it's a very good balance of Pokémon available in my mind.

 

As for Dexit, my favourite Pokémon is the Mareep family, which has been available in G/S/C, HG/SS and as a horde encounter in X/Y. I'm very much used to it not being available.

[Ruki]

I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far! Doing a lot of mystery trades and usually sending those 'mons right back out. Also the raid battles are fun!

[Sousa]

I'm surprised at how quick it feels given how they've adjusted things like leveling and tutorials. It's a lot of fun! Like, after seeing X/Y doing a lot of the same dumb bullshit that was stale back in gen 1 it's nice to see the last few games have gone for genuine quality of life improvements (no HMs isn't new but stuff like the move reminder in every center, seeing mons in the field, easing up on the grind, all very nice). It's impressive how they took the best stuff from Let's Go and incorporated into an actual by god for real main series Pokemon game.

To wit: I was running a team of five (Rillaboom, Sirfetch'd, Rapidash, Cursola, and Toxtricity) with the sixth slot kinda cycling depending on what I needed. Lo and behold, a raid battle gives me Deino, who has the coverage I need and doesn't overlap as far as typing goes. And look, I know people think that Pokemon games are easy now, but they were always easy--the "difficulty" was in the grind. This generation is smoothing out the grind so much. I basically did a few raid battles, got a few more mons that I wanted, and on Exp Candy and Rare Candy alone I was able to get Deino up to Hydreigon without having to slog my way through her first two shitty forms. I did a game once where I lugged that fucking thing around from level 1 and I learned to hate Deino and Zweillous so goddamn much. Being able to skip right to the good stuff is an excellent improvement.

Really, a lot of it makes me feel like... I wanna see what they do next? This builds so much on the last two games (Sun/Moon and Let's Go) just like Sun/Moon built so much off of moldy HM-filled Gen 6. This is genuinely exciting!

[thatblindgeye]

I will always say that Pokémon was never difficult, it was just time consuming. I love the improvements they've done like no longer needing heart scales for remembering moves and whatnot. I will say I'm not a fan of them bringing back one use TMs in those TRs, but at least you can pretty easily get those. 

[Ruki]

Just beat the first gym, solo'd by Raboot. I liked the gym mission before hand! I also think making at least the gym leaders have 6 Pokemon would be nice, just to make them seem like they are all powerful trainers.

 

Anyone have an idea where you change what you're wearing for gym battles? I bought the steel uniform, no idea where to put it on.

[thatblindgeye]

Apparently you can't actually change that, unfortunately. I think it's just you buy the outfits to wear as your normal outfit, so you can mix and match the Steel outfit with normal clothes etc. 

Another QoL thing that has been a blessing: doing away with the tutorials if you know what you're doing. Early on I was afraid I was about to get a "how to catch a Pokemon" tutorial, but then they were like "oh, but it seems you already caught some on your own." Big chef's kiss.

[Ruki]

Someone just sent me a Sobble in a surprise trade.

At level 1? How does that happen.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Breeding I imagine?

[Ruki]

59 minutes ago, Jericode said:

Breeding I imagine?

Looks like. Because I just got to the breeding place, and an NPC just gave me a level 1 poison/electric thing.

But it was great, my first battle with Sobble on the bench... got enough xp to level them from 1 to 10. 

[thatblindgeye]

There's few things more satisfying than giving a level 1 mon an Exp Candy L and seeing that experience bar shoot left to right over and over.

[Tigerstyle]

Completed it last night, first one I played all the way through since Diamond/Pearl.

It was decent enough but it really makes you wish instead of LGP/E they just redid RBGY this way, started from the beginning gives you years of upcycling. M

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I'm hoping they resolve some of the issues by the time the Gen 4 remakes come around, but Jim a lot more positive about Gen 8 than I was before.

[thatblindgeye]

I finished the gyms so still have some left to do in regards to the main story. Really wished the last 2 gyms had better missions before the gym leader since I really enjoyed what they did with the gyms this time around. They felt like they really mattered with the presentation. 

Currently clocked in at 24 hours of play time so needless to say the wild area definitely sucked me in. 

[Chris2K]

I'm at 34 hours and haven't beaten a gym yet. Got to train them all up to be the same level, at least I do because I am insane.

[Ruki]

1 hour ago, Chris2K said:

I'm at 34 hours and haven't beaten a gym yet. Got to train them all up to be the same level, at least I do because I am insane.

How on earth do you get 34 hours with no gym?! Capturing every pokemon you can and maxing their level?

[Chris2K]

Not maxing, but getting them all the same. So Level 20 for the first gym (its been 15 in the previous games but this one seems tougher at the start).

I should note I haven't finished the last two games because of this.