Finally some new info for the games! I didn't watch the direct this time around, it started at the same time as I stopped working for the day and I did not feel like getting home early just to watch the direct like I did last time. I didn't watch the entire Direct afterwards either, just the trailer and then I read about some things on Serebii and other sites. I have also not read through all the new posts in this thread, so apologies if I'm repeating what others have said.
I didn't want to make a long post this time around, but there were so many things I wanted to comment on, so it became quite long in the end anyway.
- I really like the look of the new region. It looks good, vibrant and varied. I visited London for a short vacation earlier this year, one of the few times in my life I have been in the UK (I have also been to Scotland once in 2006, though I don't remember much from it). It will be interesting to see how the "capital" of the Galar region is compared to its real life counterpart, I guess I'll do a few comparisons once the games are out.
- The new characters look alright. But I'll take a better look at them once I have the game.
- How does the encounter system work? Has it been changed or not? It looked a little different, but still very similar to how it has been in the past. It also seems to be a bit of a combination of the traditional system with tall grass and the LGP/E system with wild Pokémon walking around in the overworld. It has the potential to be very good.
- As always, I think the new Pokémon look really weird. Wooloo and Gossifleur are cute, Eldegoss is more creepy-cute, while Drednaw and Corviknight are cool. Seeing 5 new Pokémon satisfies me greatly.
- In the trailer, there's a short scene of a Sobble with hearts around it. Is this Pokemon Amie/Refresh or a successor/similar feature? I sure hope so since I love Amie/Refresh and I hope they'll continue with it or something like it in these games.
- There's a lot of old Pokémon shown as well. As for those we didn't see in the previous trailer, I notice the following: Sawk, Bewear, Wobbuffet, Raichu, Hippopotas, Snover, Rhydon, Golurk, Duskull, Gyarados, Frillish, Butterfree, Mudsdale, Seismitoad, Avalugg, Hawlucha, Milotic, Mantine, Stufful and Charizard. As well as others that I might have missed. Like last time, all previous generations are represented. I really get the impression of an X/Y-Pokédex in terms of size and variation... but it is still too early to say what it will be like.
- There's still no signs of any Pokémon following the trainer. Since I don't like that feature, I highly approve of this! I hope it will stay limited to awful remakes for all eternity forward.
- The trainer is whistling to call out wild Pokémon from the grass? That's really cool.
- Shaking trees to get berries from them? I like this idea.
- The areas in the games seem to be pretty open. I like the concept of a linear open world Pokémon game, I hope these games will be a little like that. Maybe not completely, but a bit at least.
- I don't quite understand the Dynamax thing and I'm too lazy to read up on it right now. I'll just wait until the games are out before I look into it more. But making your Pokémon giant is really cool, that's for sure.
- Seems like there is a Grass-type Gym in the games, the first one or at least one of the earliest ones. That's good news for me since I'm going with Scorbunny on my initial playthrough.
- The legendaries are two wolves, just as I thought. They look really cool. I think Zacian looks a little cooler (but Zamazenta is awesome too), so that settles it. I'm getting Sword version. Also, both of their names start with Z. Very interesting. I wonder what this means... if it means anything.
- I'm very happy that the games seem to be getting a true worldwide release. At least I can't find that any region gets another release date. And it is on November 15th, one of the dates I predicted. I have marked it in my calendar, now I'm ready. Also very happy that it is on a Friday, that's the best release day for new games if you ask me. That said, I'm not too happy about a November release since it is so late and I tend to be very busy during that time of the year, but what can you do. At least it isn't released among the very busiest times of the year, so that's good.
- According to Serebii, it seems like there's a Rotom Phone in the games. I really hope it doesn't start babbling endlessly like the Rotom-Dex in US/UM does. I also hope that the National Dex will return, but it is hard to say for sure. I can at least dream about it.
With all the new info that we got today, I have seen everything I want from the new games before their release. A few more new Pokémon, the cover legends, and a proper release date. That's all I wanted. Now I will try my very best to not look into any more new pre-release information until I have played through the game myself. It is going to be very hard, but I will try. That said, I'm not quite ready to go on hiatus from the forums yet. I still need to make a post in the Battle Tree thread, it should have been done by now but I have been so busy that I just haven't had time to get it done. My current plan is to be done with it and post it on the 15th of this month, I hope I'll be able to make it. There's also one more post I have planned to make, I'll probably post it as well before going on hiatus. And beyond that, I will probably lurk around for a bit longer until I have beaten the Battle Agency in US/UM. But in terms of pre-release information for S/S, as well as this thread, I'm done. To summarize all of this, I'm very satisfied with the new info we got today, and I'm looking forward to the games.