General Discussion

I was so excited for Sword and Shield, especially seeing the designs, but I don't know if I can keep supporting a company that keeps giving us the lowest quality they can get away with (Which is pretty low w/ all the rabid stans who support GF no matter what). Like, the main point of the entire franchise is to "Catch em' All" and they've been slowly forgetting this and changing it to "Gotta catch all of the Kanto pokemon". You telling me that the highest grossing franchise in the world can't be bothered to put animations THAT THEY ALREADY HAVE into their game? That the switch somehow can't handle what a handheld console did 5 YEARS ago? If they don't care enough to make a half decent game, why should I care enough to purchase it?

Might be the first game I don't preorder and purchase since DP :(

[quote name="Dreamson" date="2019-06-13 06:35:14"] can't be bothered to put animations THAT THEY ALREADY HAVE into their game? [/quote] That's exactly the thing. They DON'T have the models and animations. At least not for the Switch. Have you seen how small the resolution of even the most powerful DS is compared to the Switch? Were they to import all the models from there, it just wouldn't look good. Remodelling everything and adding new animations takes a lot of time, and that, coupled with the fact they need to work with an entirely new engine for this game, would mean that the games would be delayed a lot. How long had BotW been in development? Eight years or so? And this game has a lot less unique monster designs. Do you want to wait ten years or so for a main series Pokémon game? I think not. So I think we should accept letting them take smaller steps for now. It just doesn't work any other way, from a purely technical standpoint.

@Xionahri
They only updated preexisting models. They have not created new models for any prexisting pokemon since the models were created in X and Y. I'd be more than happy to wait 2-4 years for a new game if it meant we got a higher quality. If the games weren't so rushed, and thus get boring to replay after awhile, we wouldn't need a new game every single year. I mean, people still play Oblivion and Skyrim with no complaints and it's been how many years since a new elder scrolls game? If the games were higher quality, we wouldn't need a new one to replace it in a year. If GF promised a pokemon game even somewhat like BOTW I'd more than happily wait 8 years.

[quote name="Nymphey" date="2019-06-13 06:50:50" ] With all the money that they have they can definitely do it lol no excuse.[/quote] And they didn't have enough money to make BotW faster? It's not that black and white as non-technicians make it out to be. I may be biased, being a technician myself, but the amount of people who think about us as some kinda freaking wizards is staggering. Give all of us a break, please. It's not like they aren't doing nothing. And hiring more people would not necessarily get things done quicker, as they need to adhere to the same style and have to be trained on how to achieve it. For a monster-based game, this series is already over flowing with variety. Look at other series with monsters, such as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. They have a lot of recolours filling the gaps of their monster variety. Pokémon doesn't do that at all, so this was bound to happen. Also, I believe there may be updates after the game releases and as they're working on its follow-up, allowing more of their older creatures into the game.

I feel like there is validity to what everyone here is saying **(sorry to butt in )**

I just feel like the move to the switch might be the core problem rather than the problems with having to restrict the dex, cuz at the core the reason they claim they have to is because of the switch. Moving away from the gameboy-esque console line is a move in the wrong direction in my eyes, because it is ending a tradition that has worked for the last 24ish years, and honestly I am super worried that they are going to run into problems with people being unable to afford the new games with sticker prices like 300$ for the switch and 60$ for a new game. Pokemon games have always to me been like 39.99 or so and that was a decent price point. I just worry that adding into the hype of this new system and completely abandoning the tradition is going to hurt more than help.

As someone who does not own a switch as of right now without the means to attain one, I don't think I will be able to game

I am doin a worry

@Dreamson

Okay, fair points. Though even updating models to such a vastly different resolution is not that easy, as far as I know.

I wouldn't call anything about it rushed, from what we've seen so far, but then again, I'd have to see the whole picture to make more of a judgement about it. There is still too much we don't know about yet.

Yup, people might still play Skyrim and Oblivion, but Bethesda still received a lot of criticism. That is, for releasing like three different versions of Skyrim after one another, all full price. While they could've worked either on the next Elder Scrolls, Fallout or whatever else.


I'm not entirely sure what you mean with your last sentence. I already see a lot of BotW influence in there.

The problem is that it's Pokemon, so people will buy the games regardless. I wish Nintendo would just buy out Gamefreak's share of Pokemon, I really feel like they've mishandled the franchise the last couple of years. Gamefreak knew the switch was coming and the console's been out for 2 years now, that's plenty of time to model all the pokemon. Not to mention that they've had 3D models and animations of every Pokemon since Sun and Moon! Sure, you need to add higher res textures and tweak things in the models but the groundwork has been there for years now. EDIT: I just looked it up and they’ve actually had the models since X and Y! That makes it even more confusing. [url=http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/06/pokemons_junichi_masuda_explains_the_decision_to_limit_sword_and_shields_pokedex]Junichi Masuda mentioned in at E3[/url] that the main reason they're limiting the Pokedex is for balancing reasons and so that the new Galar region Pokemon aren't overlooked: [quote=Masuda at E3][i]"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.[/quote]If that's the case, I don't understand why they couldn't do what they did for Black and White and limit the pokemon/dex until you beat the story. I guess my frustration stems from the fact that SwSh, from what we've seen so far, appear to be standard pokemon games and a big part of the standard games is collecting them all or using your favorites. I understand where Gamefreak is coming from with this limitation decision; there are a crazy amount of pokemon and having them all is probably not going to be feasible for the company in the future. But if that's the case I think they need to overhaul the games in their entirety and provide a fresh experience that works well with the pokemon limitations. Based on the past 7ish years or so they won't do anything of the sort, they'll just keep with the standard Pokemon formula and tell us to play with the banned pokemon in Pokemon Sleep or something.

Kind of agree with OP, but I will also concede that inflating the pokedex forever will bog down the quality of the new games, as people will feel less inclined to try new pokemon if they have infinite access to their old level 100's, which make the games feel less unique. But I dont think blocking their transfer altogether is the best fix, because carrying over old 'mons that you have great memories with and seeing them in new games is always fun.

Regardless of my opinion, I suggest the classic idea: vote with your wallet. Don't demonize the developers on social media, they're human too, but let them know how you feel and perhaps they will change their minds. Someone suggested going with how Black and White handled the Dex, by only allowing you to catch older Pokemon after you beat the main story.