Sword & Shield **Official news only** DLC Crown Tundra 22nd October

[deluge]

It seems I had my ONE post on the topic of "Pokemon mass extinction" deleted after I was informed that a gag order had been imposed.
But I see people talking about it so I guess that the edict has been lifted?
Assuming so...

I won't repeat my old post, but I'll say that the decision represents a bad miscalculation by GF.
They forgot what their game is about!
Pokemon was never about flashy graphics.
Heck, you can usually turn off battle animations.
(And Sword/Shields animations are still rudimentary)
The games became popular on Gameboy where you could count the pixels (and they were all black).

What Pokemon is, is a game about catching and training all the little critters.
It's ultimately a take on the virtual pet genre.
(Tamagotchi was popular around the time of Gen I's release too)
Pokemon were accepted even as limited sprites. People's imaginations filled in the details.
The fact that players can become attached to the bundles of bits is a testament to the formula's success.
So, to compromise the core appeal to prioritize things that are less important is misguided.

I definitely disapprove.
(Especially as someone who tends to like off-the-wall Pokemon that'll probably be eradicated)

 

[Cresselia92]

I have a question: is there any reason for Gamefreak to have removed Megas from the game other than to sell the new gimmick?

Like, they had Megas in LGPE, and a significant number to (if not all of them). If they just imported them to Gen 8 (which we're assuming they're doing for the others) they'd be about 30% done. Even if they wanted to be really awful and just import those 15 Megas, its still free Pokemon they don't have to use a whole lot of effort to add.

Eh, just more reasons to hate on the new gimmick.

I feel like this is in order to bring a mechanism that is less centralizing, especially if Mega Evolutions will be turned into the rumored Gigantomax (the version of Dynamax that changes formes).

Three turns of transformation with the possibility of holding items and using Max Moves could be the new norm, and force you to think when it’s best to trigger the transformation. Could Choice Band “Giga” Mawile with the Defense-boosting Max “Steel” becomes the new meta?

Besides, I’m not sure how fun and creative teams would become if they all became “Z-Crystal + Mega + Dynamax + three fillers”…

 

[deluge]

It seems we all misunderstood Pokemon HOME too.

It is THE new home for your Pokemon because it isn't planned that there will EVER be another game that will support all of them.
So perhaps Spinda is cut from Sword and Shield but comes back in Pokemon Meat and Potatoes but Growlithe is cut from those games.
You can transfer your SS-caught Growlithe to Home and transfer your USUM-caught Spinda from Home to Meat and Potatoes.
Now, next year when Pokemon Cut and Run comes out and Growlithe is back in the Dex but Spinda is out you can do another shuffle.

That seems to be the intent behind it.
You need a place to stash your Pokemon permanently because USUM will be the last games to support all extant Pokemon species.
If they're in Home, you'll be able to transfer a subset of them to new generations if they are in that regional Dex.

 

[Worldie]

It seems we all misunderstood Pokemon HOME too.

It is THE new home for your Pokemon because it isn't planned that there will EVER be another game that will support all of them.
So perhaps Spinda is cut from Sword and Shield but comes back in Pokemon Meat and Potatoes but Growlithe is cut from those games.
You can transfer your SS-caught Growlithe to Home and transfer your USUM-caught Spinda from Home to Meat and Potatoes.
Now, next year when Pokemon Cut and Run comes out and Growlithe is back in the Dex but Spinda is out you can do another shuffle.
That seems to be the intend behind it.

That was clear after a few announcements that happened after Masuda's.
And not even *that* bad for the franchise per se.
As I said earlier, a rotating pokedex mimicking the rotating metas of card games is a inelegant but effective way to tackle the content bloat that Pokemon was inevitably going to face.

Now, imagine if GameFreaks actually had a competent PR instead of Masuda.... They learned nothing from the backlash that happened from trying to sell us Let'sGo as a game cathering hardcores in same way as complete novices, at this point I have given up the hope they ever will, until they hit a Bethesda and bite more than they can chew.

At least, Sw/Sh itself looks fun to play, either ways. And potentially should still have a wide enough Pokedex to have variety / replayability / potentially a varied postgame and competitive scene due to the versatility that the Wild Area can have as far as pokemon species.

 

[deluge]

That was clear after a few announcements that happened after Masuda's.
And not even *that* bad for the franchise per se.
As I said earlier, a rotating pokedex mimicking the rotating metas of card games is a inelegant but effective way to tackle the content bloat that Pokemon was inevitably going to face.

Now, imagine if GameFreaks actually had a competent PR instead of Masuda.... They learned nothing from the backlash that happened from trying to sell us Let'sGo as a game cathering hardcores in same way as complete novices, at this point I have given up the hope they ever will, until they hit a Bethesda and bite more than they can chew.

At least, Sw/Sh itself looks fun to play, either ways. And potentially should still have a wide enough Pokedex to have variety / replayability / potentially a varied postgame and competitive scene due to the versatility that the Wild Area can have as far as pokemon species.

I think Go has had a huge influence on GF's outlook, TBH.
Another factor is probably the rate of releases they wish to maintain.

However, I feel like the fact that they will stop making definitive games with all the 'mons will make each release feel like less of an event.
One possible approach would be to have special generations, after every couple generations, that have all the existing Pokemon but few, if any, new Pokemon.

They could heavily reuse assets (models/animations etc.) from previous generations to make those games and even make the region smaller.
But I think fans would appreciate those "Grand Gathering" generations where they could play with all their Pokemon.
I know I would show up for those.

 

[Sirya]

It seems we all misunderstood Pokemon HOME too.

It is THE new home for your Pokemon because it isn't planned that there will EVER be another game that will support all of them.
So perhaps Spinda is cut from Sword and Shield but comes back in Pokemon Meat and Potatoes but Growlithe is cut from those games.
You can transfer your SS-caught Growlithe to Home and transfer your USUM-caught Spinda from Home to Meat and Potatoes.
Now, next year when Pokemon Cut and Run comes out and Growlithe is back in the Dex but Spinda is out you can do another shuffle.

That seems to be the intent behind it.
You need a place to stash your Pokemon permanently because USUM will be the last games to support all extant Pokemon species.
If they're in Home, you'll be able to transfer a subset of them to new generations if they are in that regional Dex.

Can we just, like, stop justifying everything they do?

I think we all misunderstood Pokémon Home. Yes, we all misunderstood it. It is an online Poké Bank that doesn't let you to transfer your old Pokemon to the new games due to the shitty new politics of Game Freak.

I think we all misunderstood the wipping of 600 Pokémon. Yes, we all misunderstood it. It is to reinforce the feelings of trainer and Pokémon and make Pokémon great again. We also misunderstood the 0 graphic evolutions, they want to recover the nostalgic feeling of being a child playing Pokémon for the first time. We also misunderstood the VACUUM that dominates routes, the null interaction between Pokémon and overworld (they could've made Timid Pokémon run from you and Adamant Pokémon to attack you, for example, or interact with each other, with berries, etcetera), we will also misunderstand the total abscense of Post-Game, it is to bring back, again, the nostalgic feeling of Red and Blue.

Eveytime they shit on something because SON UNOS PERROS SOBÁNDOSE LOS COJONES A DOS MANOS, it's not that bad, it's just that we, the players, have misunderstood their good intentions.

 

[PsychicAcademic]

Oh great... this is looping back. Anyway, the dislike ratio in the Treehouse demo is nearly 3:1 now, and seem to stop there. That brings us concluding that the supermajority is not happy, and nearly a consensus that this is... well....

Either way, we were also told that even they weren't happy with that decision either. I think they're testing grounds on whether they can get away with this, and... I'll just hope they would take that back and not repeat it. Condoning this fiasco would be enabling them to laze back. Yet at this point, I fear the only way they'd learn that this is a spectacularly bad idea beyond what they thought before is by the sales and the explosive backlash means little.

As of now, we too know little of Pokemon Home. It seems like some posits that it will not just be a glorified storage box and there are extra things people can do with it. I think I'll lurk more elsewhere....
Also, isn't Home also monthly paid like Bank? If yes, then it can't be the new home, not without negatively portraying them again.

 

[Worldie]

Eveytime they shit on something because <snipping profanity>, it's not that bad, it's just that we, the players, have misunderstood their good intentions.

Or... you could avoid the random ranting and notice that most of the civil posts on the topic aren't saying this at all.

Me, and most of the others, have provided some constructive criticism on how we saw this coming from a mile away, and that GF dug their own hole and now have to face the consequences, and how despite the terrible announcement and potential incompetence from their side, it was inevitable to need a solution like this.

Figuring the reasons and necessity of their decision isn't "justifying" them, it's understanding why it's happening.
Doesn't mean any of us is happy with this solution, doesn't mean we are claiming gamefreaks is the best company in the world, and in fact, there's still no justification for not having seen this coming 2 gens ahead.

And yes, if GameFreaks had a proper PR department, there'd be no "misunderstanding" going on, and shitstorms like this one, or the one happened with Let's Go, would never have happened, because they would have provided proper explanations like Pikachu315111 's one, instead of Masuda's "oh by the way Galar won't have all Pokemon" in middle of the E3.

 

[TMan87]

Something I'm wondering about Max Raids (yes that's the thing that hypes me up the most):

It's confirmed you can take on a Raid with 3 friends (local/online) or 3 NPCs... but are there other options?

- can I battle with 1 guy right next to me and 2 online friends?
- can I battle with 2 online friends and 1 NPC?
- can I battle with 1 NPC, 1 online friend and 1 guy next to me?

This could help people that have few (read: less than 3) friends that would be active at the same time they are, but still want to participate in max Raids with them.

 

[Siggu]

Something I'm wondering about Max Raids (yes that's the thing that hypes me up the most):

It's confirmed you can take on a Raid with 3 friends (local/online) or 3 NPCs... but are there other options?

- can I battle with 1 guy right next to me and 2 online friends?
- can I battle with 2 online friends and 1 NPC?
- can I battle with 1 NPC, 1 online friend and 1 guy next to me?

This could help people that have few (read: less than 3) friends that would be active at the same time they are, but still want to participate in max Raids with them.

Yes, you can. They did mention that in the E3. Dunno about mixing online with local, though.

(What I found unclear was whether you could take on a Raid with NO friends)

 

[Marty]

It's confirmed you can take on a Raid with 3 friends (local/online) or 3 NPCs... but are there other options?

https://swordshield.pokemon.com/en-us/gameplay/max-raid-battles/

NOTE: If three other Trainers aren’t available to participate in Max Raid Battles, support Trainers will automatically be added to your side to help you battle the wild Dynamax Pokémon.

To me this reads as "if you have yourself and one or two other players, you will also get two or one CPU allies". But I could be wrong and they literally mean 4 humans or you + 3 CPUs only, which would be kind of ridiculous.

 

[Worldie]

https://swordshield.pokemon.com/en-us/gameplay/max-raid-battles/

To me this reads as "if you have yourself and one or two other players, you will also get two or one CPU allies". But I could be wrong and they literally mean 4 humans or you + 3 CPUs only, which would be kind of ridiculous.

Your reading looks correct to me.

It says "will automatically be added to your side to help", it doesn't say "you will get 3 AI partners to help", which lets me understand they will just fill the "holes" in the party.

I wonder on what base they will pick their Pokemon though, but I doubt we'll really know that until the game releases.

 

[Siggu]

I wonder on what base they will pick their Pokemon though, but I doubt we'll really know that until the game releases.

I have the strong feeling the AI partners will be picked from whatever Battle Facility these games will have, and from that partner's team, they'll pick the best choice.

 

[Charisma]

If they stick with the Galar Pokedex idea, I at least hope they compromise and allow you to send mons from Home back to Gen 7 games and make it a two-way transfer similar to RBY and GSC.

 

[Tapu Koko Loko]

If they stick with the Galar Pokedex idea, I at least hope they compromise and allow you to send mons from Home back to Gen 7 games and make it a two-way transfer similar to RBY and GSC.

I believe it has been confirmed once a pokemon is sent to Home it can't go back to G7

 

[Ironmage]

I have the strong feeling the AI partners will be picked from whatever Battle Facility these games will have, and from that partner's team, they'll pick the best choice.

My mind immidiately went to imagining the sandstorm/hail snow warning aurorus failing to handle the changing weather from max moves. Afterwords, I thought of heliolisk: something with three different abilities for three different weathers. Choosing the best AI mon is going to be either failure-prone or extremely complex. Maybe this is where all their dev time went...

 

[Sirya]

Or... you could avoid the random ranting and notice that most of the civil posts on the topic aren't saying this at all.

Me, and most of the others, have provided some constructive criticism on how we saw this coming from a mile away, and that GF dug their own hole and now have to face the consequences, and how despite the terrible announcement and potential incompetence from their side, it was inevitable to need a solution like this.

Figuring the reasons and necessity of their decision isn't "justifying" them, it's understanding why it's happening.
Doesn't mean any of us is happy with this solution, doesn't mean we are claiming gamefreaks is the best company in the world, and in fact, there's still no justification for not having seen this coming 2 gens ahead.

And yes, if GameFreaks had a proper PR department, there'd be no "misunderstanding" going on, and shitstorms like this one, or the one happened with Let's Go, would never have happened, because they would have provided proper explanations like Pikachu315111 's one, instead of Masuda's "oh by the way Galar won't have all Pokemon" in middle of the E3.

What consequences? We all know why this is happening, there's no point on repeating why. Again, I've already said this some pages ago. In this forum, every single one of us has been playing Pokémon for 20 years minimum. We all know each generation to the point that if some universal power destroyed Pokémon, we could remade it just from the top of our minds. We all know that BW2 were the last ambitious games GF has done.

What I am asking is, even if we know the reasons, why should we tolerate this reasons or even trying to convince others into tolerating them? No. Oh, look at that random guy killing that other random guy, but ey, here are the reasons. Ok, now I know the reasons. What's next? Let me tell you again the reasons. I've one better idea: tell me about the repercusions. What are you going to do? What are we going to do?

Becuase we are part of this. In fact, we are this franchise. Should we go the route of actually telling GF what we don't like and convince others to open their eyes, which is our responsibility as veterans -precisely, because we know everything about the games is that we can provide others with some helpful information about this debacle-, or should we invest our efforts on repeating again and again what everyone knows and introducing messages with a "hmmm I like this, and I know why they've donde this, the reasons are...".

It's time to do the criticism we haven't done in the last 5 years.

 

[GG Unit]

My mind immidiately went to imagining the sandstorm/hail snow warning aurorus failing to handle the changing weather from max moves. Afterwords, I thought of heliolisk: something with three different abilities for three different weathers. Choosing the best AI mon is going to be either failure-prone or extremely complex. Maybe this is where all their dev time went...

I'm sure the AI will be just as stupid as it is when it's your partner in the Battler Tree or whatever, which will incentivize you to pay for the online service.

 

[AquaticPanic]

Looks like we have even more distribution for Levitate

 

[PsychicAcademic]

My mind immidiately went to imagining the sandstorm/hail snow warning aurorus failing to handle the changing weather from max moves. Afterwords, I thought of heliolisk: something with three different abilities for three different weathers. Choosing the best AI mon is going to be either failure-prone or extremely complex. Maybe this is where all their dev time went...

Or they can just completely randomise that, making a raid try fully under mercy of RNArceus giving you partners that perfectly counters them or complete failures. I'd hope at least they'd rotate that per try (not per day) so if you fail, you can maybe try again and have different party for varying degree of success instead of Battle Agency's "only change selection per day" limit which puts you to roadblock if you're rolling bad party members for the day.

On that matter too, I wonder if we can put a Synchroniser in our main party of 6 (but not bring it to the actual raid) and still have captured boss' nature synced or not. I hope I don't need to run Synchro something (Umbreon's most bulky I can think) in the actual raid.

 

[Charisma]

I believe it has been confirmed once a pokemon is sent to Home it can't go back to G7

I believe it has as well, however, changing that would be a good compromise IMO.

 

[Einstien74]

If you read through these posts, you can vaguely see that we're following the stages of grief:

Denial: No way, this must be a misunderstanding
Anger: GF is a bunch of idiots
Bargaining: Maybe this is why they're doing this
Depression: (This is constant)
Acceptance: TBA

 

[Prof. Almeida]

If you read through these posts, you can vaguely see that we're following the stages of grief:

Denial: No way, this must be a misunderstanding
Anger: GF is a bunch of idiots
Bargaining: Maybe this is why they're doing this
Depression: (This is constant)
Acceptance: TBA

I've reached the acceptance pretty early on.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

In this forum, every single one of us has been playing Pokémon for 20 years minimum

I don't really appreciate you assuming I've been playing Pokemon since I was one.

 

[The Black Hippopotas]

So SS OU will probably be a metagame with
-No Megas
-No Landorus-T
-No Heatran
-No 95% of the legendary Pokemon

This could actually be fun.