Official Pokémon Sword and Shield speculation thread (Updated June 5th, 2019)

[swiftgallade46]

Wasnt it just the anime that revived it? Or TPC? Either way, wasnt game freak. Theyve been talking about there being too many pokemon to keep up with for a while now

Nah it was never a GameFreak thing, I don’t think. Definitely still a major theme for Pokémon as a franchise, though. If you were to ever ask me what their slogan is I would still say “Gotta Catch ‘em All”

 

[MineFreak18]

Honestly, I don't like the idea of including Pokemon based on popularity mainly because it leaves certain Pokemon behind just because they aren't popular enough.

Yeah i don't like it either considering that its completely subjective, but I feel like they are trying to appeal to the majority of what fans like. I say this but they added the Trubbish and Vanillite lines into SwSh (both of which I like but are/were relatively unpopular). In their case I feel like they were added based on theme ( trash in industrialized cities and UK's cold climate ).

 

[RK9]

"We're all sick of Landorus-T and Primal Groudon everywhere in competitive!"

"We got you, fam."

 

[Cute Charm]

All they can do for reference is look back on pokemon used in competitions and tournaments. You still even see some competitive pokemon in the game.

The problem with that though is that it sucks if you're not competitive and your favorite Pokemon happens to be a pokemon that's considered to be weak competitively.

 

[Daenerys]

Why wouldn't you believe it?

Imagine a Hoenn fan, who has waited for a new Hoenn game ever since Emerald, and hoped it was basically Emerald but with up to date graphics and mechanics.

And then ORAS comes out and Masuda literally defines said fans as a minority that's just not worth the extra effort.

Of course I am still salty.

I would blame said fans for thinking that ORAS would pander to Emerald lovers in spite of the fact that the games were always hyped up as RS remakes rather than an Emerald remake in the first place.

But I don't want to get into that again since this isn't 2014. My main point was that Masuda has done more good than bad for the franchise overall, so I find it a little sad that fans are aiming for his jugular so quickly without having all the facts yet.

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Guys, why keep discussing this?

Having all Gen 1-7 pokemon available in the next games after Sw/Sh is good marketing strategy. Duhhhhh.

Be patient. People will keep discussing it until the conversation naturally peters out. It's always like this with a big outrage-inducing announcement like this. You just have to wait until it settles into people's minds and they can accept it better with time. The initial sting of something is always the worst.

Also, it really isn't guaranteed that they're going to have all the Pokemon available in future releases. Masuda is heavily implying that this is just what they'll be doing from now on, because the amount of content is just too overwhelming at this point. It's understandable, even if it sucks so damn much. Pokemon as it was going was just... unsustainable.

I really wished they had thought of this back in Gen 4, we could've prevented this. But I guess maybe they thought Pokemon would peter out by now or something. It's too late now. I can only hope they're more forward-thinking from this point forward.

 

[AngryBinacle]

Yeah, he's implying this will be the thing for the future.

 

[Joker901]

Considering how they handled LGPE, and how they phrased things at E3, it isn't unlikely that they don't have plans to patch the rest in. The thing more likely to change that is the massive outcry going on right now, so I say let people be upset. They're the most likely to change things.

While that may be true, have you considered at what cost they will reach the goal? Because honestly, if in sw/sh they cut half of the pokedex and still the graphics look like that, the camera is fixed in almost all the region, the mechanic is just big pokemon models, what will they deliver next time if they have to put 1000 pokemon in Gen 9 but always being forced to respect a fixed release date?

 

[Cute Charm]

Guys, Amety Square park was a warning of what was to come.

 

[Poke Dragon]

All they can do for reference is look back on pokemon used in competitions and tournaments. You still even see some competitive pokemon in the game.

The problem with that is that many Pokemon, not just legendaries usually come in the form of duos, trios or other related groups, so Beedril was used but not Butterfree, is it really a good idea to include one but not the other for the mere fact of popularity? What about Shelmet and Karrablast, you would need both in the data to be able to access their evolutions.

 

[9tiefly]

So they're trying to balance things out by... eliminating thousands of different possible and unique team combinations and strategies? Lol, okay. Literally all of this is fixable, they just can't be bothered. I'm not sure if I'm getting these games now.

 

[Cresselia92]

Well, isn’t Dex-picking something that people do with their hack games, since you can’t have all Pokémon in the old cartridges? GF is simply taking inspiration from that.

 

[Joker901]

Don't know if this has been posted but, quoting from serebii:

In an interview with USgamer, Junichi Masuda has reiterated that the volume of higher quality animations required due to the Nintendo Switch for such a large amount of Pokémon was a big part in their decision to cut connectivity with Pokémon not in the Galar Pokédex. With that, it also brought the balance of the competitive scene into the fold in order to make the best decisions and keep the competitive nature of the game which results in them going back to reevaluate the best selection. The quote from the interview is as follows

There are a couple of different parts to the thinking behind it, but really the biggest reason for it is just the sheer number of Pokemon. We already have well over 800 Pokemon species, and there's going to be more added in these games. And now that they're on the Nintendo Switch, we're creating it with much higher fidelity with higher quality animations. But even more than that, it's coming down to the battle system. We're making sure we can keep everything balanced and give all the Pokemon that appear in the games a chance to shine.
We knew at some point we weren't going to be able to indefinitely keep supporting all of the Pokemon, and we just found that Sword and Shield would probably be a good point to go back and reevaluate what would be the best selection of Pokemon that appeal to the widest audience while keeping into consideration the balance of the battle system. It isn't just going to be all-new Pokemon in the Galar region Pokedex; there's still going to be a lot of favorites that fans will be able to bring over that they've adventured with previously. But yeah, it was pretty much just balancing and getting this optimal selection of Pokemon for the adventure we wanted to provide.

 

[Cresselia92]

So they're trying to balance things out by... eliminating thousands of different possible and unique team combinations and strategies? Lol, okay. Literally all of this is fixable, they just can't be bothered. I'm not sure if I'm getting these games now.

Then pray tell how you would fix this. It’s so easy to say “but there is another way”. Well, what is this other way?

 

[Knightwolf09]

The problem with that is that many Pokemon, not just legendaries usually come in the form of duos, trios or other related groups, so Beedril was used but not Butterfree, is it really a good idea to include one but not the other for the mere fact of popularity? What about Shelmet and Karrablast, you would need both in the data to be able to access their evolutions.

Depends on the pokemon people actually care for. plus if one pokemon has a trade evolution like those 2 then they have to include both as the logical response..

 

[Lunala]

Here's what Pokemon I think should get in:

*All Ghost types

*All Fairy types

*All Dragon types

*All Dark types

*All Fighting types

*All Psychic types

*All Ice types

*All Steel types

*All starter Pokemon

*All legendary Pokemon

*All pseudo-legendary Pokemon

*All fossil Pokemon

*All Pokemon that evolve by trade

*All Pokemon that evolve by use of items

*All Pokemon that evolve at a certain time

*All Pokemon that evolve with high friendship

*All Pokemon that evolve by gender

*All Pokemon that evolve by knowing a move

*All Pokemon that evolve with a unique method

Miscellaneous other Pokemon that I think are important like Toxapex.

Just my opinion.

 

[dvor]

my friend canceled his pre-order, ouch.
first time he skips a pokemon game

 

[Boss1708]

I would blame said fans for thinking that ORAS would pander to Emerald lovers in spite of the fact that the games were always hyped up as RS remakes rather than an Emerald remake in the first place.

You literally sound just like me in 2015... But then I realized that blaming Hoenn fans for expecting ALL Hoenn fans to be acknowledged in a long expected Hoenn remake, is not fair.

But when one applies critical thinking, they realize that HGSS pretty much destroys this argument, as it was hyped up as a Gold/Silver remake only, yet they still included everything from Crystal, without the need to hype it up as a Crystal remake.

 

[Juizel]

so I guess pokemon home will be like a hub we store all our pokemon in, and then each game from here on out will just feature isolated selections of different pokemon

I don't hate the idea tbh

I do, because now you're forced to buy and keep multiple different games just to be able to use all your favourite Pokémon, unless they're generally popular ones that are in every game anyway.

Content bloat is one of those things when developing a game that you can usually prevent by thinking things through before implementing content. By thinking "how does this interact with the rest of the content", "does this really fit into the vision", "is this really necessary for the experience"
As much as I personally like Mega Evolution, for a lot of features that Game Freak added in their games, they apparently didn't really consider those questions. Features being only present in one game/gen, maybe two, then removed shows that.
The things aren't uncreative at the core, but there is simply no point in creativity if you let it bloat your project completely to the point that it's either becoming a mess or you have to cut things out after making them public.

"We have too many creatures to properly balance now" could have been avoided easily, had someone, at some point, ever thought "Hey, are there any drawbacks to making about 100 new monsters every 3 years and slapping them into our game?" or had someone, at the very beginning, ever thought "Hey, isn't it a cooler idea to vary what kind of monsters appear in which game, to keep the experience fresh?"
Nope, instead they kept bloating it more and more, until now they feel they reached a limit, and now they cut things out. Nobody would miss even a Charizard now, if a Charizard never came to exist.
There wouldn't be 800+ Pokémon now, if there wasn't such a strong need for a new generation like every 3 years, with all the new Pokémon.

I do understand the reasoning. But it's nothing I'd expect of a company that makes games for decades, if it's usually a sign of someone skipping the mere basics of the concept stages for developing games. An indie dev, or a beginner bloating their project with content and reaching this kind of block, and having to redo stuff and cut things out, okay, trial and error is a thing.
But there is absolutely no good reasoning in my opinion on why it took Game Freak to reach the limit to notice it's there, to address the issue, and to proceed with the most extreme measure.

I'm genuinely happy for anyone who still looks forward to these games, and for everyone who will enjoy them - you deserve it, really. I'll get Shield, and I'll probably enjoy it, too, not gonna lie.

But this is the last straw for me, and after these games I don't really feel like I want to financially support Game Freak by purchasing their games anymore.

Also, for me this discussion is now pretty much dropped, as there is not much of a hope for future "fixes" left, and a clear statement is there, not like the Treehouse bit wasn't clear enough yet.

As for the other news, I don't have much of an opinion on Nessa (neither on Milo) because they're not bad designs, but nothing I personally love. Yamper's not my cup of tea because I dislike dogs to begin with, and Impeldimp reminds me of a cheap off-brand version of Impmon
Also slightly considering to maybe move over to camp Sobble, because the evolution the leak claimed seems more interesting than Grookey's.

 

[Knightwolf09]

I really don't like this reaction. My boy Inferenape, or Incineroar, or even my shiny Naganadel might not be in the game, but I'm not gonna ignore the game cause of that.