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

[Yung Dramps]

Anyone thought about the competitive potential for Weezing-G? Physically bulky with immunity to ground Ground, resistance to key moves like Knock Off, U-Turn, Pursuit, etc. Only 2 weaknesses, neither of which are debilitating. Likely to have an extensive support movepool on top of this. Depending on what ends up in the game, could be good against Fairy, Grass & Fighting types.

Just gonna paste this previous comment on my thoughts on Weezing: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...on-rd-15-11-2019.3647645/page-74#post-8206513. One thing I didn't mention is that if he gets popular enough, Lucario and to a lesser extent Gallade could find new niches as some of the few Fighting types that don't get hard-stopped by it.

On the subject of competitive play, Reuniclus was confirmed as a returning Pokemon! He's probably the most significant newcomer that isn't a brand new mon or form introduced through this trailer with the ability to keep up his CM + Acid Armor shenanigans while abusing common picks such as Kommo-o, Roserade, Mew, Ferrothorn and probably most importantly of all Clefable and Toxapex. The prominence of Weavile hurts it significantly though, as well as being caught in the crossfire of the abundance of phasing to combat Dynamax sweepers. It definitely looks promising, so keep an eye out on it! Toxicroak and Liepard were also confirmed, and while I could see Toxicroak giving Rain a boost in viability, I doubt Liepard will find much of a place with other generally superior Darks such as Weavile, Tyranitar and even Pangoro running around.

 

[chuckeroo777]

Garbodar is crying in the corner.
Not one, but two gen 1 pokemon are stealing its enviromental cleaning gimmick.

 

[TMan87]

So we now have 3 confirmed Rivals in Hop, Bede and Marnie.
It begins to be quite similar to XY, though at least this time the rivals seem more defined.
Maybe their treatment of the rivals in Galar will be "what XY should have been"?

 

[Count Bleck]

I wouldnt say that at all. The League here seems a lot more professional and business focused
Like this isnt something you do for fum, its like a career. Sponsorships, letters of recommendation, ive NEVER seen anyone take the league so seriously before.

This allows for some actual valid reasons for competition. You guys may be able to share a chat on a nice summer day, but only 1 person can be champion. Its a much different feel than just hanging out with your best buds, and these rivals seem to encapsulate that.

 

[Codraroll]

One thing I've been wondering about: the number of new Pokémon.

In the past two generations, or at least in their debut games, the number of new Pokémon has been fairly consistent. XY added 72 new Pokémon and 28 Mega Evolutions, a total of 100 new creatures (plus extra forms for Floette, Pyroar and Meowstick, bringing the total number of unique models to 103). SM added 81 new Pokémon and 18 Alola forms, plus 3 extra Oricorio forms, 1 extra Wishiwashi, 1 extra Lycanroc and 2 extra Zygarde, a total of 106.

It seems reasonable to assume that Sword and Shield will have approximately the same number of new creatures, somewhere just north of 100. But this means we could get the smallest number of entirely new Pokémon so far. The 100-ish creatures would have to be split between new Pokémon, Gigantamax forms, and regional variants.

Let's assume a decent but not overwhelming number of old Pokémon will get Galarian variants, say between 15 and 20. The number of Gigantamax Pokémon should also not be too limited. We've seen three already, I think we can assume there are 15 or more of them. If Game Freak has stuck to the same limitation in creature models, we're already down at around 70 entirely new Pokémon. I presume there will be some overlap between categories, ref. Obstagoon.

We can also do some assumptions on how many more of these we'll see before release day. So far, 17 new Pokémon have been officially revealed, in addition to 3 regional forms and 3 Gigantamax forms. That makes 23 in total. There are around 100 days left until release day November 15 (14 weeks left tomorrow). If the previous assumptions are correct, there are around 70 unrevealed new creatures at the moment. We can conjecture that TPC would want to reveal around half of the total creatures by the games launch, and leave players (that is, streamers who get the game early) to discover the other half by themselves. So say, 25 more could be announced before the games are out. That's around two per week, or one batch of four every other week.

 

[wdcjernigan]

Regarding the comments about the rivals and the seriousness of these trainers' careers, this seems to bolster an idea I had about the trailers. In the latest trailer (and maybe others), right at the beginning it shows the player character AND other trainers walk out into a stadium for what appeared to be either the beginning of their gym challenge or, possibly, the beginning of a tournament AFTER the gym challenge? In the anime, there's usually some kind of tournament after the gym challenge, so I wonder if this might be the first game where we get that experience (not counting PWT since it's a side thing)? it could be that the three rivals end up being the trainers we face during said tournament, or they might be the final four. The anime builds characters during the season and then Ash or other characters face them during this post-gym-challenge tournament, so maybe SwSh will do the same.

I don't think TPC usually introduces the Elite Four in pre-release marketing, so maybe we'll still have that (perhaps instead of the post-gym-challenge), but maybe we'll get a tournament this time. On my Nintendo Switch they used the term "Champion's Cup" which may just be a futbol/soccer reference, but perhaps it also implies a tournament.

 

[Prof. Almeida]

Regarding the comments about the rivals and the seriousness of these trainers' careers, this seems to bolster an idea I had about the trailers. In the latest trailer (and maybe others), right at the beginning it shows the player character AND other trainers walk out into a stadium for what appeared to be either the beginning of their gym challenge or, possibly, the beginning of a tournament AFTER the gym challenge? In the anime, there's usually some kind of tournament after the gym challenge, so I wonder if this might be the first game where we get that experience (not counting PWT since it's a side thing)? it could be that the three rivals end up being the trainers we face during said tournament, or they might be the final four. The anime builds characters during the season and then Ash or other characters face them during this post-gym-challenge tournament, so maybe SwSh will do the same.

I don't think TPC usually introduces the Elite Four in pre-release marketing, so maybe we'll still have that (perhaps instead of the post-gym-challenge), but maybe we'll get a tournament this time. On my Nintendo Switch they used the term "Champion's Cup" which may just be a futbol/soccer reference, but perhaps it also implies a tournament.

If it's a Cup, what I believe might happen is that you still fight four people before facing the Champion, but they would be random every time you face the Cup, because they would come from brackets. So the first time, there's kind of a predetermined path but on the following times you face them, it's random.

Also, I'd love if that meant at least once, your losses counted for something. Like, if there were some story repercussions for your losing in the Cup, instead of just "get back to Pokémon Center, start it all over again".

 

[Siggu]

If it's a Cup, what I believe might happen is that you still fight four people before facing the Champion, but they would be random every time you face the Cup, because they would come from brackets. So the first time, there's kind of a predetermined path but on the following times you face them, it's random.

Also, I'd love if that meant at least once, your losses counted for something. Like, if there were some story repercussions for your losing in the Cup, instead of just "get back to Pokémon Center, start it all over again".

I doubt it.

That being said, this "Champions League" of sorts is the perfect opportunity for the PWT to be recycled in some way or form, by making the cup both the Elite Four and the Battle Facility equivalent.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

If it's a Cup, what I believe might happen is that you still fight four people before facing the Champion, but they would be random every time you face the Cup, because they would come from brackets. So the first time, there's kind of a predetermined path but on the following times you face them, it's random.

Also, I'd love if that meant at least once, your losses counted for something. Like, if there were some story repercussions for your losing in the Cup, instead of just "get back to Pokémon Center, start it all over again".

As a Battle Dome fan, that would be the best timeline.

 

[wdcjernigan]

One thing I've been wondering about: the number of new Pokémon.

In the past two generations, or at least in their debut games, the number of new Pokémon has been fairly consistent. XY added 72 new Pokémon and 28 Mega Evolutions, a total of 100 new creatures (plus extra forms for Floette, Pyroar and Meowstick, bringing the total number of unique models to 103). SM added 81 new Pokémon and 18 Alola forms, plus 3 extra Oricorio forms, 1 extra Wishiwashi, 1 extra Lycanroc and 2 extra Zygarde, a total of 106.

It seems reasonable to assume that Sword and Shield will have approximately the same number of new creatures, somewhere just north of 100. But this means we could get the smallest number of entirely new Pokémon so far. The 100-ish creatures would have to be split between new Pokémon, Gigantamax forms, and regional variants.

Let's assume a decent but not overwhelming number of old Pokémon will get Galarian variants, say between 15 and 20. The number of Gigantamax Pokémon should also not be too limited. We've seen three already, I think we can assume there are 15 or more of them. If Game Freak has stuck to the same limitation in creature models, we're already down at around 70 entirely new Pokémon. I presume there will be some overlap between categories, ref. Obstagoon.

We can also do some assumptions on how many more of these we'll see before release day. So far, 17 new Pokémon have been officially revealed, in addition to 3 regional forms and 3 Gigantamax forms. That makes 23 in total. There are around 100 days left until release day November 15 (14 weeks left tomorrow). If the previous assumptions are correct, there are around 70 unrevealed new creatures at the moment. We can conjecture that TPC would want to reveal around half of the total creatures by the games launch, and leave players (that is, streamers who get the game early) to discover the other half by themselves. So say, 25 more could be announced before the games are out. That's around two per week, or one batch of four every other week.

Do you think that estimate sounds a bit high? Specifically that they'd reveal that many at that rate over the next three months? Maybe they'll let us discover more on our own when we play. Or maybe they'll have fewer than 100 new mons/forms...

 

[Codraroll]

Do you think that estimate sounds a bit high? Specifically that they'd reveal that many at that rate over the next three months? Maybe they'll let us discover more on our own when we play. Or maybe they'll have fewer than 100 new mons/forms...

Earlier, they have revealed way more than half of the new creatures during the pre-release period, so I'd even say it is a bit low. But I can't remember them doing more than a handful at a time, with weeks between them, so four every two weeks sounds reasonable in my book. We may even see both sets of starter evolutions get a separate reveal, which would only feature three Pokémon at a time and eat two of the "slots", however many there turns out to be. I think they will accelerate the pace of reveals as we get closer to release, as they want to drum up excitement (hopefully, of the positive kind) before the games hit the shelves.

 

[Wishy]

Depending on how the gym puzzles function, I could see them implementing a short tournament before each Gym Leader battle where you're forced to face a set amount of trainers in a row. Your rivals could be tossed in periodically, on top of the typical forced rival battles. Sort of like Battle Network Blue Moon/Red Sun for those who were into that series (but like...better games, I hope).

I'm really happy regional variants are back. Although a bit curious why they didn't make Obstagoon the direct evolution of G-Zigzagoon. H-Linoone being an evolutionary dead-end while its counterpart gets another evolution feels a bit "unfair". H-Linoone could get a BST boost and Obstagoon could be made its counterpart. Even their themes (dashing vs blocking) are meant to be polarized so I wouldn't be surprised if Obstagoon has a lower speed stat. On the flip side, I suppose this means Obstagoon is at least guaranteed a BST closer to 500. Also intersecting regional variants and new evolutions is an interesting avenue to take, and it differentiates the original line and the new line a lot more (G-Zigzagoon and H-Zigzagoon are not meant to be "pairs" or "opposites" the way A-Raticate and K-Raticate were presented). Now we have originals evolving into new Pokemon, originals evolving into variants, variants evolving into variants, and variants evolving into new Pokemon! I wonder what the chances are we will get evolutions for old 'mons that are not tied to a variant?

G-Weezing's hat-smokestack is ridiculous, lord. I like it. I wonder if we'll get Galarian Koffing as well. ENOUGH with the variants with mustaches though.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

H-Linoone being an evolutionary dead-end while its counterpart gets another evolution feels a bit "unfair".

It's because of this that I have a feeling that the normal Zigzagoon family will have something that gives it an edge over its Galarian counterpart, most likely being access to Extreme Speed.

 

[Worldie]

It's because of this that I have a feeling that the normal Zigzagoon family will have something that gives it an edge over its Galarian counterpart, most likely being access to Extreme Speed.

I don't quite think it's the case.

When Alolan forms were introduced, their base form didn't really have any "compensation change".

Considering the regional forms main purpose is to "rehash and improve old pokemon", it'd be pretty pointless to also improve the base form on top of it.


*silently cries in kanto ninetales still being garbage*

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I don't quite think it's the case.

When Alolan forms were introduced, their base form didn't really have any "compensation change".

Considering the regional forms main purpose is to "rehash and improve old pokemon", it'd be pretty pointless to also improve the base form on top of it.


*silently cries in kanto ninetales still being garbage*

The difference here is that regular Linoone isn't just competing with Galarian Linoone, but also Obstagoon. If BST is anything to go by, Alolan forms were designed to be about on par with their normal forms, even if that didn't always end up being the case (Ninetales and Dugtrio being the two most obvious examples). But now that regional evolutions are a thing, the regional variants have a clear advantage. To compensate for this, I have a feeling they're going to make sure the original form still has something of value that makes them worth using over even the regional evolution, not necessarily by giving them access to new stuff, but by taking away options from the variant. In this case, removing Galarian Zigzagoon's access to Extreme Speed.

 

[BlueRay]

It's because of this that I have a feeling that the normal Zigzagoon family will have something that gives it an edge over its Galarian counterpart, most likely being access to Extreme Speed.

Or it could be just another case of Muk and Alolan Muk, where the latter almost completely outclasses the former. GF could have changed Galarian Linoone's ability to differentiate it from normal Linoone competitive wise. Yet, they didn't. It's very likely that GF wants us to make good use of Gluttony, which would combine well with Belly Drum and Extreme Speed. Of course, it's all speculation, and we have to wait until we know more.

Other than that, I'm quite curious which Pkm will get the Galarian form treatment. Because of unicorns, Rapidash might be a possible candidate. A Fire/Fairy type would make it stand out from other fire Pkm as it would have an easier time to deal with dragons.

Another Pkm that could benefit from a regional transformation is Klingklang. Given the steampunk theme, I could very well imagine a Fire/Steel version with Levitate/Technician and Flame Wheel.

Or how about Galarian Granbull? In USUM, we had a Snubbull plush - or was it a Granbull plush? - with a blue (?) colour in a police department. Was that a possible hint at a Galarian form in the new gen 8? Who knows.

 

[Worldie]

The difference here is that regular Linoone isn't just competing with Galarian Linoone, but also Obstagoon. If BST is anything to go by, Alolan forms were designed to be about on par with their normal forms, even if that didn't always end up being the case (Ninetales and Dugtrio being the two most obvious examples). But now that regional evolutions are a thing, the regional variants have a clear advantage. To compensate for this, I have a feeling they're going to make sure the original form still has something of value that makes them worth using over even the regional evolution, not necessarily by giving them access to new stuff, but by taking away options from the variant. In this case, removing Galarian Zigzagoon's access to Extreme Speed.

You're really overthinking it.

As BlueRay correctly said, Kanto forms got absolutely no change/improvement when Alolan forms got introduced (who aside couple exceptions are all better in a way or another).

There's no reason to "compensate" old forms, expecially as they won't even be normally available in the game (and, potentially not even transferable if GF decides so) unfortunately.
And GameFreak isn't exactly know to compensate pokemon that become obsolete due to their new gen mechanics either... did Politoed get a compensation when Pelipper got Drizzle? Did Butterfree get compensated when Beedrill got a mega? Did Kanto-Raichu get anything when Alolan Raichu got at same time better typing, better moveset, and a signature Z-move?...

The list is really infinite... with a Pokedex this huge, it's overthinking assuming that just because a new pokemon/form might make an old one obsolete, GF would be bothered to "re-buff" the old one in any way.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Kanto forms got absolutely no change/improvement when Alolan forms got introduced

I know. I never said they'd do that. I said they won't give the new forms all the good options as the original. There's already some precedent for this, but it's mostly minor stuff (Alolan Rattata lost access to Wild Charge and Flame Wheel, Alolan Grimer lost access to Haze). However, now that regional evolutions are in play, I have a feeling they'll do that for more significant options, like having Alolan Zigzagoon lose access to Extreme Speed (and/or maaaybe Belly Drum, but probably not because they kept Gluttony)

 

[Kurona]

I think the other thing to consider is that why would they give a benefit to Linoone to compete with Galar Linoone... if both aren't going to be in the game to compete?

Now if I was smart, and I saw that we weren't going to be able to include every Pokémon; I would certainly say that the first ones to go would be one each of the regional forms. Kanto Marowak or Alolan Marowak; but not both. Hoenn Zigzagoon or Galar Zigzagoon; but not both. This of course isn't confirmed in any way, but as we know not everything is making it in the game, I would definitely expect regional counterparts to be the first ones on the chopping block: because you can still technically say those species are in the game. It also actually provides a benefit in being able to say that this Galar Weezing is Weezing without there being an obviously different old one to complicate things. It also means you don't have to come up with an awkward workaround for being able to breed or evolve the older forms if those older forms don't even exist.

I could see it being an object of interest for future games, too. I can see Game Freak making a big deal out of the Kantonian Grimer in SwSh being very different to, say, the Alolan Grimer present in a third version or a DP remake or what have you.

I don't really think we need to consider the factor of "but what if Galar Linoone being so much better invalidates Hoenn Linoone", when the latter is likely to not be in the game to begin with.

 

[Prof. Almeida]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1159612033417003009

Did you notice that Nurse Joy's Uniform is based on Nurses' Uniforms during the Victorian Era?

This is it for your episode today.

 

[Kurona]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1159612033417003009

Did you notice that Nurse Joy's Uniform is based on Nurses' Uniforms during the Victorian Era?

This is it for your episode today.

But... but this episode wasn't specifically about hats!! This series has really gone downhill; it's completely lost its original stated purpose.

(this is a really cool detail and I kinda love it)

 

[Prof. Almeida]

But... but this episode wasn't specifically about hats!! This series has really gone downhill; it's completely lost its original stated purpose.

(this is a really cool detail and I kinda love it)

Well, technically, they have hats on the uniforms. That was the focus. Yes. That was it.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

This would be somewhat of a attempt at balancing.

You really expect Game Freak to do anything of the sort in this series? The gimmick takes priority.

And tbh, I'd rather H-Linoone get an evo too.

 

[Rapti]

You know I'm kinda of upset at the fact that original Linoone doesn't get an evolution
my Glue wants to evolve dammit! :<

also in Obstragoon news

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1159107176297684992

what do you guys think? Better or worse?

 

[earl]

Why are we so sure that original forms aren’t in? In Sun and Moon there were tourist trainers with the original kanto mons