Yomi_Schwarz
She/Her- 2,618
- 569
Ok so i'm mostly done with the game (I just caught heatran and the lake trios, I need to catch cresselia and regigas, have not done most of the side quest).
Overall, these are my thoughts.
POSITIVES
-Generally, a good step in the right direction. This is what sword and shield should have been and what the franchise needed for so long and they need to keep this formula and improve/reinvent it. If this is just an "experiment" then GG and it was nice while it lasted.
-The act of catching pokemon that you care about and making them stronger is at its very strongest here more than any of the other games. Seeing the alpha versions of pokemon that you love never got old for me and the distortions are the cherry on top. (Also, is it just me or are shinies much more common here? This is literally the first time I have EVER caught a shiny and I have a shiny staravia, drifblim, goomy and the free ponyta all in this one game...nice)
-The battle system is pretty nice in terms of reinventing the same old formula. Battles do feel more "real time" and "involved" (IMO this is the least tedious pokemon game in terms of the actual grinding) and it's really nice how they dumped the TM/HM concept which I always ******* hated, it can still benefit with feeling more dynamic and I have mixed feelings with the strong and agile style option.
The case i'd like to make for strong and agile style is that you like them when you are taking advantage of them but when they are used against you, you begin to see some glaring problems. It's nice to get some extra turns and get extra damage but when they are used against you, you hate how it cheeses out speed and spams turns and how annoying it is that your pokemon is more likely to die so easily as compared to former games........
Overall, the battle system has equal highs in contrast to the lows but it does not AT ALL take away from the fun of it (just occasionally frustrating in a bad way then it goes back to being fun again).
-NO. MORE. TRAINER. BATTLE. ENCOUNTERS. (I honestly didn't think they would do this nor did I think it was possible for them but wow....good on gamefreak for taking them out)
-The noble battles are really fun. I would take them any day over the Gym/Elite Four formula and they overtake the kahuna formula for me.
-The new side quest system has A LOT of potential. I am still to go through all of them since I plan to do them after i'm done with any main mission for the post-game. Finally, something to do after finishing the story.
NEGATIVES
-This has been said so many times already but it really is just a HUGE problem, the graphics and the general art direction for this game is so bad. The hardware limitations for the switch really holds this game back a lot in terms of the "open world" aspect of it (The draw distance is GOD AWFUL, The coloring is so drab and in need of more saturation and vibrance, The character models don't look like they belong in this generation, Needs serious retexturing since certain models looks so blurry for some reason etc.). Being in the switch works against this game's own detriment since it prevents it from being a good "open-world game" in conjunction to a good pokemon game at its core.
-I don't find the story boring.....I find the characters boring and the story I find disinteresting. None of the pearl, diamond, galactic folks are likable for me at all (In fact, I actually hate how much they come across as a lowkey asshole sometimes unintentionally). Volo is nice I guess and Cogita needed more build-up, the story really does suffer near the end and It is honestly just a bummer that the story of Pokemon is still stuck in the past despite the game itself trying something new.
-The pokemon in the open world of hisui suffers from the same problem as the pokemon from the sword and shield overworld. They just mindlessly prance around or chase after you when aggro'd and it's such a shame since this would have been the perfect time to introduce an improved ecosystem to the pokemon games since the focus of this was exploration and nature.
-The research point and the star system is in need of improvements. It gets so tedious catching pokemons that you don't give a **** about over and over again just to rank up or battle the same fodder pokemon to farm pokemon data. I thankfully got used to it as I went on but when I wasn't? Man did I almost quit.
-The mounts need more polished controls. I hated how clunky Wyrdeer is when climbing literally anything, Ursaluna's radar is annoyingly jumpy and it doesn't help that literally anything in Crimson Mirelands wants to kill you while you're just here searching for a Peat Block, Braviary for some reason can't fly higher when you use him so you either hit a mountain along the way or fly too close to the ground due to elevated lands and lastly,
SNEASLER'S CONTROLS ARE ASININE since he is fidgety and jumpy when climing things that are uneven, you annoyingly transition between just walking and clinging to the side of a mountain all over again instead of just doing what you want of the two and to top it all of, he is sooo annoyingly slow. Basculegion is the only mount here that I did not find anything notable to complain about (it would have been nice if he could climb waterfalls tho).
-Lastly.....those aggro mf's luxio and luxray's can get ****** to the moon. Annoying bastards. Jk.
VERDICT
This feels like an early-access to a really good pokemon game and I mean that in a good way. Pokemon needs to use this game as a framework to improve upon for later games instead of coming back to the same formula again and this is the LAST time they get a pass for graphics....
Overall, these are my thoughts.
POSITIVES
-Generally, a good step in the right direction. This is what sword and shield should have been and what the franchise needed for so long and they need to keep this formula and improve/reinvent it. If this is just an "experiment" then GG and it was nice while it lasted.
-The act of catching pokemon that you care about and making them stronger is at its very strongest here more than any of the other games. Seeing the alpha versions of pokemon that you love never got old for me and the distortions are the cherry on top. (Also, is it just me or are shinies much more common here? This is literally the first time I have EVER caught a shiny and I have a shiny staravia, drifblim, goomy and the free ponyta all in this one game...nice)
-The battle system is pretty nice in terms of reinventing the same old formula. Battles do feel more "real time" and "involved" (IMO this is the least tedious pokemon game in terms of the actual grinding) and it's really nice how they dumped the TM/HM concept which I always ******* hated, it can still benefit with feeling more dynamic and I have mixed feelings with the strong and agile style option.
The case i'd like to make for strong and agile style is that you like them when you are taking advantage of them but when they are used against you, you begin to see some glaring problems. It's nice to get some extra turns and get extra damage but when they are used against you, you hate how it cheeses out speed and spams turns and how annoying it is that your pokemon is more likely to die so easily as compared to former games........
Overall, the battle system has equal highs in contrast to the lows but it does not AT ALL take away from the fun of it (just occasionally frustrating in a bad way then it goes back to being fun again).
-NO. MORE. TRAINER. BATTLE. ENCOUNTERS. (I honestly didn't think they would do this nor did I think it was possible for them but wow....good on gamefreak for taking them out)
-The noble battles are really fun. I would take them any day over the Gym/Elite Four formula and they overtake the kahuna formula for me.
-The new side quest system has A LOT of potential. I am still to go through all of them since I plan to do them after i'm done with any main mission for the post-game. Finally, something to do after finishing the story.
NEGATIVES
-This has been said so many times already but it really is just a HUGE problem, the graphics and the general art direction for this game is so bad. The hardware limitations for the switch really holds this game back a lot in terms of the "open world" aspect of it (The draw distance is GOD AWFUL, The coloring is so drab and in need of more saturation and vibrance, The character models don't look like they belong in this generation, Needs serious retexturing since certain models looks so blurry for some reason etc.). Being in the switch works against this game's own detriment since it prevents it from being a good "open-world game" in conjunction to a good pokemon game at its core.
-I don't find the story boring.....I find the characters boring and the story I find disinteresting. None of the pearl, diamond, galactic folks are likable for me at all (In fact, I actually hate how much they come across as a lowkey asshole sometimes unintentionally). Volo is nice I guess and Cogita needed more build-up, the story really does suffer near the end and It is honestly just a bummer that the story of Pokemon is still stuck in the past despite the game itself trying something new.
-The pokemon in the open world of hisui suffers from the same problem as the pokemon from the sword and shield overworld. They just mindlessly prance around or chase after you when aggro'd and it's such a shame since this would have been the perfect time to introduce an improved ecosystem to the pokemon games since the focus of this was exploration and nature.
-The research point and the star system is in need of improvements. It gets so tedious catching pokemons that you don't give a **** about over and over again just to rank up or battle the same fodder pokemon to farm pokemon data. I thankfully got used to it as I went on but when I wasn't? Man did I almost quit.
-The mounts need more polished controls. I hated how clunky Wyrdeer is when climbing literally anything, Ursaluna's radar is annoyingly jumpy and it doesn't help that literally anything in Crimson Mirelands wants to kill you while you're just here searching for a Peat Block, Braviary for some reason can't fly higher when you use him so you either hit a mountain along the way or fly too close to the ground due to elevated lands and lastly,
SNEASLER'S CONTROLS ARE ASININE since he is fidgety and jumpy when climing things that are uneven, you annoyingly transition between just walking and clinging to the side of a mountain all over again instead of just doing what you want of the two and to top it all of, he is sooo annoyingly slow. Basculegion is the only mount here that I did not find anything notable to complain about (it would have been nice if he could climb waterfalls tho).
-Lastly.....those aggro mf's luxio and luxray's can get ****** to the moon. Annoying bastards. Jk.
VERDICT
This feels like an early-access to a really good pokemon game and I mean that in a good way. Pokemon needs to use this game as a framework to improve upon for later games instead of coming back to the same formula again and this is the LAST time they get a pass for graphics....
Last edited:
