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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Nov 8, 2019 23:29:43 GMT -5
Tch, more Gen 1 pandering, thanks to a certain starter Mon being the only one available, while the others were shut out. I'm surprised that there wasn't more Gen 6 Mons available, given that Kalos is loosely based off of France, while Galar is loosely based on the UK. However, given the fact that the Kalos Dex is small compared to the other regional Dex (other that Alola), I'll take it
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Post by Blueysicle on Nov 11, 2019 13:22:05 GMT -5
Another word of warning: The games are starting to get datamined, so there's another round of leaks going around. (Previous leaks came from people manually playing early copies of the game) One thing I've seen as a part of the datamines that does mitigate a grievance I posted about a couple days ago: The Bulbasaur and Squirtle lines apparently are programmed into the game. Not just that, but a number of other past starters, legendaries, and mythicals have data in there as well. I can't remember for certain which ones off the top of my head; I only got a glimpse of that information and I don't want to dig too deep for any more lest I come across more spoiler-y stuff.
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Post by Killix on Nov 11, 2019 17:23:11 GMT -5
Yup, people have gotten their hands on physical copies of the game, and in-depth datamining is underway, as well as accounts from manual play. From what I understand, the previous Pokedex information was mined from the advanced digital download. Much Spoilers below! I wonder why the Pokedex was different between the advanced download and the release copy? Strange... but at least it's good news for anyone who wanted those starters/Legends. EDIT: I just went investigating and I see where the discrepancy is coming from! It was the Galar Pokedex that was datamined previously, and these 35 Pokemon have been found outside the dex, but within the game's data. Since they are not in the Galar dex, I wouldn't get my hopes too high. Possibilities range anywhere from them being added to the dex as event Pokemon later on, or this data being leftover from a removal and will be unobtainable.
Someone who had gotten an early copy streamed the game, and I didn't see the stream, but I have seen clips from it:
- The battle backdrops sometimes didn't match where the Pokemon/Trainer was encountered. (The player hooked a Pokemon while fishing and was taken to a grassy field to battle it. XD) Some of the battles existed in a white void. Kinda awkward, but not a huge problem.
- There are catching limitations in the wild area. The game won't allow you to catch a wild area Pokemon that is too high levelled for your current progress... I forsee some unfortunate encounters with shinies.
EDIT: Dataminers have confirmed that all Pokemon models (for returning mons) in SwSh are the previously mentioned "future-proofed" assets from the previous generation. A large number of animations are reused (untouched) as well. Gamefreak indeedily doodily straight-up lied in interviews about having to remake the models from scratch, as well as their focus on creating better animations as a reason for the dex cut. (as even most of the new animations are stiff and awkward looking.) Eegh.
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Post by Killix on Nov 13, 2019 18:46:39 GMT -5
Found a better image guide for the SwSh cut Pokemon list, for those who had trouble seeing the other one (it was incredibly tiny and difficult to comb through. XD) Same spoiler warning as the last one! Green = In the Galar Dex Purple = Has a Galar form Yellow = Have been found in the data, but are not in the Galar dex. ("They could be leftover data, giveaway/event only, could only come from other games, etc, there's no way to know the plans for them at the moment, if any" ) Red = He's dead, Jim.
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Post by Breakingchains on Nov 15, 2019 16:18:57 GMT -5
So has anyone grabbed SwSh yet, and played it enough to give an assessment on it? It's been getting some incredibly bad hype re: low effort and toxicity at Gamefreak, but gamers panic at anything and I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on the game now that it's actually in people's hands.
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Nov 15, 2019 23:18:53 GMT -5
So has anyone grabbed SwSh yet, and played it enough to give an assessment on it? It's been getting some incredibly bad hype re: low effort and toxicity at Gamefreak, but gamers panic at anything and I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on the game now that it's actually in people's hands. I've got Shield but have yet to play it.
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Post by Blueysicle on Nov 16, 2019 0:11:47 GMT -5
So has anyone grabbed SwSh yet, and played it enough to give an assessment on it? It's been getting some incredibly bad hype re: low effort and toxicity at Gamefreak, but gamers panic at anything and I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on the game now that it's actually in people's hands. Uhh... can I get back to you on that? I'm only three hours into Sword, which isn't anywhere near enough to give a fair assessment... At the very least, I can say it's not an absolute train-wreck. That said, while there are things I've seen and noticed that I think are good choices and steps in the right direction, there are other aspects that I think either could have used more polish (Visually-speaking) or just leave me scratching my head. (Gameplay-wise)
For the record, despite the flaws, I'm still having fun so far. I feel like if you're going into it just wanting to have fun with a new Pokemon adventure, you likely will. But if the past several months have soured you enough on the games, then it's probably not going to alleviate much of that.
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Post by Celestial on Nov 16, 2019 7:34:33 GMT -5
I'm in an annoying position where I would have gotten the game for sure had I owned a Switch previously. I would not have minded the whole "Dexit" thing since I rarely collect all of the Pokemon in a game and am mainly in it for the cool new region and 'Mons. A fair few of my faves are not included but that is fine. I still have the previous games with them in it.
But this game is not inspiring me to make a very large monetary investment in order to play it. Which sucks because I do want to play it, just not "put down at least £200 or more if I want a full Switch, plus game cost" want.
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Post by Breakingchains on Nov 16, 2019 11:58:29 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm not super obsessive about things like the 'dex and the metagame, etc. so I wasn't too bothered by the 'dex situation--we were spoiled for choice already, 400 critters is plenty, and if the metagame people have to face a shakeup then so much the better. I might pick through some reviews, or wait and pick up a used copy.
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Post by Killix on Nov 16, 2019 16:49:54 GMT -5
From the variety of reviews that I've read, the general consensus seems to be that SwSh is an "okay" game.
It has some very nice QoL improvements sprinkled around, and is an enjoyable game at a base level, but it also blatantly lacks polish and feels very rushed in some areas (animations especially). (Some have reported frame issues, as well, usually occurring within the wild area.)
I've also read that postgame content is nearly non-existent, which can be a minor disappointment for some, and a huge dealbreaker to others... so, it might be something to note depending on your preferences.
Overall: If you really love casually playing through a Pokemon game's main story, you'll probably enjoy what SwSh has to offer. If you're looking for more substance, it is likely to disappoint. Looking at a few reviews is a good idea! Try to aim for the most unbiased sites or individual reviewers, as the (10/10 Perfect game no flaws at all! *is handed a giant bag of money*) are too easy to stumble upon. XD
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Post by Blueysicle on Nov 16, 2019 17:57:04 GMT -5
Another few hours in with one Gym Badge, and while that's still not really enough for a full overview, I feel like I can predict that at the absolute worst, Sword and Shield will end up being "average", while at best "good." Not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it still could be better. So some stray observations from today and yesterday (No plot or new Pokemon spoilers!): - One thing that is very noticeable is the frequency of pop-in. I don't mean wild Pokemon spawning in the overworld, but how NPCs -human or Pokemon- will suddenly appear and disappear depending on the distance between them and the player. And said distance feels pretty dang short. It's really jarring when a few towns into the game I'm walking along and an Onix is suddenly sitting there at the edge of the street. - Sitting on benches and chairs makes its triumphant return. 10/10: Game of the Year. Conversely, sniffing peoples' beds have been removed, so I may have to return the game. - Wild Pokemon in the overworld do feel like an improvement over how Let's Go did it. While it would have been nice to see the Pokemon interacting with their environment in a more organic way instead of aimlessly wandering around, they do still allow some personality to shine through by how certain Pokemon will react to your presence. For example, Vulpix will run away from you if you don't sneak up on it, while Tyrogue will try to chase you down. Also, the wild Pokemon don't feel as cluttered here as they did in Let's Go. - Animations for human characters look nice. Yes, I know some will point out that they reused one of Hau's animations for Hop, but overall they seem a lot more expressive than in Sun and Moon. That does apply to the main character as well - at least in cutscenes. I hope that sticks for the rest of this game, and not like how Sun and Moon's MCs reacted to all the horror and heartbreak around them with . - Visually, the environments in the game can either be stunning or underwhelming. Towns and standard routes look really nice, with lots of little touches that give it an more authentic feel. The Wild Area, however, can look a bit barren at times. The thing that comes to mind for me is that it looks a bit too... flat? If that makes any sense? Not so much literally, as there are changes in elevation. But you compare the emptiest areas of Hyrule Field from Breath of the Wild and the Wild Area respectively, and it feels like the former has more going on. (And while we're on the subject of Zelda, the infamous Ocarina of Time Tree doesn't look that good in-game either. ) - There is quite a bit of variety of wild Pokemon early on, mostly thanks to said Wild Area. If you're trying to use new Pokemon exclusively like I am, there's not quite as many options, but if not you'll have a lot to choose from. And I don't mean just standard early-game trash, there's a good amount of Pokemon lines available before the first Gym that can remain useful through the whole game. - On the subject of the availability of new Pokemon (Without giving any spoilers!), before getting to the Wild Area about two and a half hours in, there were already five different new Pokemon that I caught that were not revealed in the pre-release period - and only two of them are related to those that were. Personally, I feel like Game Freak made the right decision only revealing a few new Pokemon before release. I've genuinely never felt this kind of excitement before over seeing a brand-new Pokemon as I'm playing the game. (One way or another, since Gen I, I've always seen most -if not all- of the regional Pokedexes before playing each game) - The design choice that irks me quite a bit so far is the decision to make the Exp. Share a permanent, non-toggable feature. I've always liked to use my team evenly and have them all be at the same level, and this throws a major wrench in that. Yes, I get that this experience system is the standard with RPGs. The difference is that most RPGs have more than one party member fighting at once, where Pokemon is mostly a 1v1 game in the main story. And while it means that grinding has thus far been unnecessary, I'm constantly concerned about overleveling. (Right now, my team is more or less on par with enemy trainers, but I'm worried about that shifting too much in my favor) Not just that, but for my Scorbunny to evolve after only using him in battle a few times just feels... unearned. I feel like in order to mitigate this, I'm going to have to think about using a rotating team. But I shouldn't have to in order to not streamroll everything. - Not just that, but there are so many places for your Pokemon to gain experience. Playing at camp, eating curry, Exp. Candies, Poke Jobs... In the post-game I imagine that will all be quite useful, but refer to my above point as to why this concerns me for the main story.
- One thing I am glad to see at least is that tutorials can be skipped. If you tell Hop when he asks you about Pokemon Centers that you know all about them, he'll just say, "Oh, okay then" and move on. And the catching tutorial will automatically skip if you have more than one Pokemon in your party when it would otherwise occur. - The music, by the way, freaking rocks. There are a few tracks like Marnie's and the Gym Leader Battle themes that I've been listening to over and over for the past couple days. Overworld themes are really good too. In particular, I really like Motostoke's music.
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Post by Killix on Nov 17, 2019 13:51:10 GMT -5
Ouch. There's no GTS or GTS-equivilant in-game option, so those who bought both copies of the game won't even be able to trade with themselves to get a full Pokedex. (unless you own two Switches) :(
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Post by Thundy on Nov 18, 2019 6:04:57 GMT -5
Hammerlocke is very clearly based on my town and this makes me extremely happy! I am 6 badges in and starting to approach the endgame bits. I'd definitely say it's an enjoyable experience. Although I am tempted to say it's a little shorter (I think I'll have 20 hours on the clock when I finish, normally finish most games at the 24 hour mark) but that's not too bad. I've been able to make some...interesting...teams using only the new Galar stuff since there are some interesting new type combos out there now. Like Poison/Electric! The number one thing for me is "have I enjoyed this game?" and to that the answer is yes. It was a pokemon game and I had fun playing it.
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Post by Blueysicle on Nov 19, 2019 15:38:15 GMT -5
I caught my first Sword/Shield Shiny today! It's a new Pokemon, so spoilers below! (Four badges, just before the town with the fifth badge) It was a Morgrem from a static encounter in Glimwood Tangle. (That is to say, it was just standing around in the overworld. Its overworld model had its normal colors) The funny thing is that I just caught and evolved an Impidimp and added it to my party a few minutes before running into it. Not too big of a deal; the Shiny one has a better nature anyways.
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Post by doctortomoe on Dec 4, 2019 21:41:19 GMT -5
I made the mistake of looking at Smogon.
They're gonna ban Dynamaxing.
So I guess competitive Pokemon doesn't have a Gen 8.
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