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Pokémon: Sword and Shield


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#16 klop422

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Posted 28 February 2019 - 04:54 PM

Ok, sorry, Gen 5 tried to reinvent the games. Tried to be a kind of soft reset. Didn't work. Love the games, to be fair, but it didn't work. And a lot of the nice new features (challenge mode, seasons, achievements) never saw the light of day again.

That said, a lot of the other nice features (the ones that added more to what existed: hidden abilities and double grass in particular) are actually really nice. The new battle styles are gimmicky, though :/

 

You can't get anymore connected to the old pokemon by going back to them and give them new things. And that's what Mega Evolutions and to a lesser extent Z-Crystals did. And Mega Evolutions were no different than regular evolutions.

Ok, it's connected to the old pokemon, but it's not really connected to the old games that much. As I say, it feels like a tacked on feature, especially since they didn't do anything more with them in Gen 7.

And they absolutely are different to regular evolutions. They're temporary, in battle only, and can only be done once per battle. Mega evolved pokemon have different stats, but not different movesets. It's not really the same. At all.

 

Problem with Alolan forms to me is that, while they're based on existing pokemon, with a couple exceptions they might as well not be. Alolan Vulpix and Ninetales, Ratatta and Raticate, Meowth and Persian. Might as well have been new ones. Again, I don't dislike these (I love Vulpix/Ninetales, and I used Grimer/Muk on my team), but it'd be nice to have more regular evolutions.

I guess if there's some way to evolve into Alolan Marowak, Exeggutor, and Raichu in Galar, then it won't be so bad, but as it is, they just feel like new mechanics rather than improved mechanics.

(Although I would like to see some Galar variants as well. Of all 7 generations. Though please not too much Kanto.)

 

Anyway, my point is, the (current) favourite generations, as I understand it, are 2, 3, and maybe 4. And none of them tacked anything on. Gen II was mostly quality-of-life, plus maybe time, plus a bunch of new pokemon. Gen III had double battles, I guess, and contests? Gen 4 did the physical/special split across moves rather than types. None of these are big innovations, they're improvements on the systems that already existed. And, frankly, if the new games introduce no new mechanics, but are solid (i.e. balanced, great story, great characters, whatever) pokemon games, then I'll be exceptionally pleased.

 

Oh, problem with not revealing typing on the pokedex when you catch a pokemon - you learn the typing when you're using it. Or, I suppose, you could not learn it when you're using it, but then you might do something stupid like send out Scorbunny's full evolution against a Hippowdon (assuming it turns out electric and not, like, flying).

Just pointing it out~

Although the idea isn't too bad. I've long thought that the Pokédex gaining full knowledge of stuff by shoving it in a ball for a second is a weird thing. Maybe every time you catch one or fight one or while you use it in battle, it just reads more and more data? I dunno, but there's something there. Which GF will probably never do :P



#17 Haylee

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Posted 28 February 2019 - 06:52 PM

So lemme just drop this here:

IMG_20190228_165856.jpg

Game's got better visuals. Nice.

#18 Koh

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 07:10 AM

Hmm...better?  Well, some things look sharper, but I think Let's Go has the better colors; they look more vibrant and less bland.  Pikachu's mouth looks low res compared to the rest of him for the new one, but that could also just be due to the source of a video rather than the actual game, or a case of it still being WIP.  The shading at least seems to go for a more cel shaded approach, which makes it look more like the artwork/anime.  However since it's the same console, I wouldn't expect a huge leap in graphical fidelity.  I'd wait until the final to do a real comparison, but I wouldn't expect anything major, aside from maybe palette differences and shading style, as I saw.  


Edited by Koh, 01 March 2019 - 07:13 AM.


#19 Nicholas Steel

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Posted 02 March 2019 - 12:41 AM

The left image looks around 80% better. Directional lighting exists in that universe unlike in Pokemon Let's Go where it's uniformly lit (which makes the shadow beneath weird too since it doesn't match the lighting on the character). I definitely agree the left side has gone with a cel shaded look to be significantly closer to the anime appearance.



#20 Koh

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Posted 02 March 2019 - 07:47 AM

 

Saw this yesterday, and I have to agree...

 

The sprites were way more vibrant and stuff, and had more personality. The models are pretty stiff and cookie cutter... I get it's a lot of work though, since there's over 800 of the damn things. Rigging and animating each one. But...dang is it underwhelming graphically now. There's few animations, so they're recycled a lot. Sometimes they don't animate at all and just sorta wobble. I feel like we've seen more animation in the Coliseum games. A part of me feels like they shouldn't even be having a problem here.

1. They're a multi billion dollar franchise; resource should be anything but an issue.

2. The monsters are supposed to be the selling point of the series. They should be all for expanding further in this area for each monster.

 

You know, when we first got animated mon in Crystal, it was super amazing. Sure, only the front sprites animated, but they were very personality filled, and had a lot of frames (though some were more stiff than others).

 

When we lost them starting with Ruby, it was underwhelming again. But, at least now, we had a big jump in quality, to 16-bit color sprites. Also, trainer backsprites finally animated throwing the Pokeballs.

 

Emerald saw the return of entrance animations again, though I think it was still just the front sprites. Not only that, but the monsters only alternated between two frames of animation. But at least it was SOMETHING again.

 

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver saw two frame animations again, but they tried their best to make them as animated as possible using offsetting and such. But again, the sprite quality got to improve, so it was a layered package. Not only that, but starting with Platinum, even important trainers got entrance animation now (3 frames).

 

Black and White was the first time we got continuous animation for the monsters, but now it applied to front and back sprites. Not only that, but this would be the first time we get full back sprites of the monsters also, since the combat was in a 2.5D space. In addition to all that, aside from their bouncy idle animations, the monsters also closed their eyes when falling under the SLP status for the first time.

 

Black and White 2 was the epitome of the sprites and animation. On top of the previous advances, now, all the monsters also had a second animation with the idle animation, that plays in intervals. ALL trainers animated, no matter how insignificant, and even all the battle grounds with elements that can animate animated. This was truly the best sendoff to the sprite era of Pokemon; there was not a single cardboard cutout entity to be found in these games.

 

So naturally we'd expect it to continually gradually evolve like that. I don't even think the leap to 3D was bad. I 100% prefer the more vibrant sprites, buuuuut, the 3D models themselves look just right in terms of structure and design; all the monsters look like what their sprites have been conveying after all these years.

 

The problem comes in the form of there NOT being any sort of evolution with the models since X and Y. They feel copy paste, because they ARE copy paste. Here's your fun fact: The 3D models made of the monsters were future proofed. They have a lot of polygons, even though they're on the 3DS. So they've been made with more advanced consoles in mind, which is also why the 3DS games lag when any sort of double battle happens.


Edited by Koh, 02 March 2019 - 08:04 AM.


#21 Adem

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Posted 25 March 2019 - 03:34 PM

Sprite-wise, I kind of disagree that BW were any sort of peak for the series. It was a nice attempt at breathing life into battles, but the animations in those games are my biggest gripe with them. I couldn't play for more than an hour without getting an intense headache. I've never experienced that with any other video game. I was so relieved when I finally beat them XY went the 3D route, and I'm glad it has continued. 

 

I do agree that the models could use a little updating after three generations, but I do think there's been some improvements. And as long as the overall graphics and gameplay continue to improve, it's a small complaint from me.



#22 Daniel

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Posted 31 March 2019 - 08:56 PM

I'm really looking forward to these games. I got decently far into Lets Go but kind of lost interest in it due to the lack of traditional battle systems. I haven't been following Sword and Shield aside from the original trailer but I hope it keeps some aspects from Lets Go such as the Pokemon being visible in the overworld. 

 

Also I hope the Pokebank goes over to it which I would guess due to free Pokemon being available in Ultra Sun and Moon right now that it will be. I would be devastated if I couldn't transfer my lvl 100 Rayquaza into it. 



#23 Adem

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Posted 01 April 2019 - 09:16 PM

I'm really looking forward to these games. I got decently far into Lets Go but kind of lost interest in it due to the lack of traditional battle systems. I haven't been following Sword and Shield aside from the original trailer but I hope it keeps some aspects from Lets Go such as the Pokemon being visible in the overworld. 

 

Also I hope the Pokebank goes over to it which I would guess due to free Pokemon being available in Ultra Sun and Moon right now that it will be. I would be devastated if I couldn't transfer my lvl 100 Rayquaza into it. 

They've already said they intend to figure out some sort of transfer system, so don't fret! Specifics remain to be seen, though.


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#24 klop422

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Posted 02 April 2019 - 06:19 AM

What I'm hoping is that they can send things forward from Let's Go. It would certainly help them sell more copies of that :P



#25 Adem

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Posted 02 April 2019 - 09:13 AM

What I'm hoping is that they can send things forward from Let's Go. It would certainly help them sell more copies of that :P

It would be interesting to see. The battle mechanics are pretty different in Let's Go, so I'm not sure how that would work. Additionally, would you be able to transfer your partner Pokémon? Arguably the Pokémon people would most want to transfer, it seems unlikely given how much of the game relies on them. :?

 

EDIT: It would also open up a door for Pokémon Go captures to mingle with Pokémon from previous generations. An interesting an idea.


Edited by Adem, 02 April 2019 - 09:14 AM.


#26 klop422

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Posted 02 April 2019 - 10:56 AM

I mean, stats are the same, right? I can't entirely remember... There are regular battles as well, right?

The Partner Pokémon, I kind of feel like they should allow, but it would make Let's Go unplayable as well, I think. I'm not sure - how does Yellow's Pikachu work from VC?

Thing is, unless there's some way up from either Go or Let's Go, they'd need to shoehorn in Meltan and Melmetal somehow, and that would just be a bit odd.



#27 Haylee

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Posted 11 April 2019 - 10:51 AM

Given that supposedly Let's Go has abilities in its code despite you not being able to access them, I imagine there'll probably be a way to transfer mons.

As far as the partner mons go, they have different base stats and movepools from there non-partner counter part so I heavily doubt you'll be able to transfer them.

Which is good, the partner mons are so absurdly broken that putting them in an actual competitive environment would break it in half.

#28 Adem

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Posted 05 June 2019 - 08:11 AM

Pokémon Direct is about to start!

 

EDIT:

Spoiler


Edited by Adem, 05 June 2019 - 08:31 AM.


#29 klop422

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Posted 05 June 2019 - 11:49 AM

Ok, from Adam's post (i.e. the post above mine) on, there are probably spoilers for that Direct. Just so you know :P

 

Dynamax is kinda dumb, I agree. I've said a hundred times that I really with they'd stop tacking on new mechanics. That said, the Max Raid Battles look pretty cool, once you get over Dynamax.

Still hoping for some additional evolutions to the previous pokémon, but the new ones look great. Ok, the flowery one (I already forget its name) is kind of eh, but still. The sheep, the bird, and the legendaries are awesome - although constantly having a sword in your mouth seems like an incredible nuisance :P. Also a decent set of the old pokémon returning.

 

Also, kind of looks like a friendly rival again, which I'm not the biggest fan of, but whatever, and some of the animations still look a little awkward (the armour bird or whatever looked a little stiff in the overworld, and the berry tree that they shook), but that'll probably be fixed. I'm now really confused about whether it is random encounters or overworld pokémon or some combination of both.

 

Anyway, those're the thoughts that come to mind right now. Just hoping for some additions to the last generations rather than only new stuff. And also, ideally, a way to evolve stuff into Alolan forms.


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#30 The Satellite

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Posted 05 June 2019 - 09:15 PM

GIANT PICHUS


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