IGN and some other sites were invited to play Pokemon Sword & Shield on the Nintendo Switch and naturally impressions have now appeared online. It sounds as though it is shaping up to be a solid adventure for Pokemon fans. Here’s some tidbits which have appeared from the various previews scattered around the web and summarised by Reset Era member Xavi.
- Slumbering Weald
- Wedgehurst
- Someone ran into a couple different types of new Pokémon, which they unfortunately can’t talk about.
- You can also have their nicknames rated, rename them, or even delete moves at the Pokémon Center
- On the way to Magnolia’s location, someone encountered seven different Pokémon in the wild. They can’t name any of the creatures aside from Yamper
- Nearest major city: Motostoke.
- The Wild Area feels large from the very beginning. In this part of Galar, the camera swings behind their character and they can rotate it 360 degrees.
“The significant difference with the Wild Area is, if you wander into the wrong part of it, you’ll discover that the wild Pokémon can now be drastically overlevelled. It’s a series first, and it honestly feels like the bravest thing Game Freak has done for a little while. You could always dip your toe into the odd higher-level route on the other side of a city, say, but never get caught in battle with a level 50, third-stage evolution ‘mon with your starter and a level 6 Pidgey. In Sword and Shield it has a striking effect. It reminds me of some of the oldest games in the series where there was a real element of intimidation from some areas. Back then this was because of a fear of the unknown, and a spot of imagination filling in the blanks, but now it’s because seeing a whopping great Pokémon five times your level is enough to intrigue and inspire.”
Oh nice, I love the bit about stumbling into stronger pokemon early game. Really hoping you tackle the gyms surrounding the wild area in any order you like, that alone could make this best game in the series for me.
Second best for me as Sun/Moon will be my #1 for awhile. Being able to be the first champion of a Pokemon League was great. (I just wish Ultra Sun/Moon had brought back gyms as you get to play a new character trying to be the second Pokemon Champion, letting you go up against the protag from base Sun/Moon to be crowned second Pokemon League Champion. Oh well.)
The new gen has a pretty big hurdle to jump over if they want to replace Sun/Moon.
Oh yeah, I would put Sun/Moon in my top three right behind gen 2 and 4. People seem to have a weird hate train for the game being linear to the point of being railroaded (imagine that a LINEAR POKEMON GAME, BLASPHEMY!) but I adored a bunch of the new Pokemon, the charming characters, the new take on gyms. Excellent game.
But now we have the potential to get a Pokemon game that isn’t railroaded, which is something I’ve always wanted. Crossing my fingers here that Sword/Shield turns out being super good to the dismay of many.
“it honestly feels like the bravest thing Game Freak has done for a little while.” I’d argue it’s been more than a little while, but whatevs. Their opinion.