Pokemon Sword And Shield

[Highwind Dragoon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOPVBm0sA7Q

Not sure how to feel about this, but I liked the OG Sword and shield better, myself.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Qwb0Wjz8w

:P

[YoshiM]

Great...I'm sure I'll be bombarded with this news by my resident Poke-xperts that this is coming. My 16 to 12 year old step sons are big into this and are walking encyclopedias on the subject. Obscure stuff like where the proper places are for the dishes after they've been washed by their hands for years get forgotten. Ask about what PokeMon are common in Kyoto, hoo boy get a chair and a tall drink.

My question is...will the Switch PokeMon games only have a single save slot or will they have save slots for other players? I have a feeling it will continue to be the former but families with more than one child at close ages, parents won't drop $360 per Switch and game for each kid.

[Highwind Dragoon]

https://www.serebii.net/letsgopikachueevee/

Nope, It's probably going to have only 1 save, just like the Let's Go! Pokemon switch remakes.

[Tupin]

I honestly thought that they were going to break the mold like how BoTW did. This just kinda looks like an HD version of the game we've been playing for 20 years.

[Rickstilwell1]

https://www.serebii.net/letsgopikachueevee/

Nope, It's probably going to have only 1 save, just like the Let's Go! Pokemon switch remakes.

You can have one save for each game for each user on your Switch. So theoretically, you can just create more profiles on your switch. They won't be able to interact with each other but you can play the game through more than once without deleting your first file.

[Haoie]

Looks like they're off to Merry Old England. That's a lot of fake countries they've covered now!

[Highwind Dragoon]

https://www.serebii.net/news/2019/05-June-2019.shtml

Looks like an open field in the middle of the country.

[gbpxl]

When I was a kid, I wished for a 3D Pokemon RPG. Too late for me now. Though if they remade Red and Blue in a fully 3D game, Id want it

[sleepygamer]

This upcoming title is quite controversial for not including every single Pokemon in existence. Sure they may reach the 1000 milestone in the pokedex but it's disappointing if they offer Pokemon Home where you can transfer your Pokemon from previous games but unable to use them in Sword and Shield. I was hoping Gamefreak would just include the updates on the pokedex through patches but they confirmed that it's not going to happen.

[Baloo]

This actually looks like the coolest thing to come out for the Pokemon series in quite some time, considering there was absolutely zero variation for every game in the series after Ruby and Sapphire. Never understood the appeal of playing what was effectively the same game over and over again with a grind battle system. Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 were lots of fun, but mainly the minigames and sometimes with showdown battles with friends. This seems like the actual next generation of Pokemon, and it's surprising that it's taken Nintendo so long to do something like this.

[Edmond Dantes]

Never understood the appeal of playing what was effectively the same game over and over again with a grind battle system.

Especially when the original game, when it came out, was already such a backwards and dated game by late-90s standards that its a shock it became the most-played RPG in a country (the USA) that didn't even like RPGs back then.

I was 18 when Pokemon first became a thing. I remember liking the anime, but then I played the game and was like "Seriously? This is the game I was so hyped for?" It was... well, I don't know a good comparison to make, but like, I was used to games like Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger and then this comes along with its 1v1 battle system and only four moves (and a lot of other issues I could rant on but won't because I might do a video on it), it was hard to see what the appeal even was.

I could see young kids getting into it, but it apparently has an avid adult fanbase too, and that I'll never understand unless those adults are just in it for the cute girls, which is one of the only positives Pokemon has.

[Gameguy]

I was 18 when Pokemon first became a thing. I remember liking the anime, but then I played the game and was like "Seriously? This is the game I was so hyped for?" It was... well, I don't know a good comparison to make, but like, I was used to games like Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger and then this comes along with its 1v1 battle system and only four moves (and a lot of other issues I could rant on but won't because I might do a video on it), it was hard to see what the appeal even was.

The Pokémon games were portable so you could play them anywhere, in an age without smartphones and portable internet. And because they were marketed as a "collect them all" thing, you basically had to play them to fit in with everyone else, and play them with a link cable at school during recess. The cartoon and trading cards all helped with the hype. Plus being simple games they were better suited to casual gamers who didn't like RPGs much. I never got into them when they first became popular, I wasn't that social back then and I didn't like the cartoon much anyway.

I plan to someday play a Pokémon game as I do own copies of Blue and Red for Gameboy, but I still haven't played any of them.

[Aussie2B]

A game that makes a good entry point to a genre isn't necessarily also a good game for established fans. If Pokemon Red/Blue were designed for established RPG fans and more complex as a result, I don't think it ever would've had the same level of mainstream success. Same deal with Final Fantasy VII and how extremely easy it is.

I was already an established RPG fan when Pokemon came out too, and it didn't catch my interest. I didn't bother playing it until the 00s, and I ended up finding it mediocre, but I was also playing with zero involvement with anyone else (of course, considering most Pokemon players had moved on to later releases at that point). I can see how the collecting, trading, PvP battling, etc. would make it appealing to many, though. I have enjoyed collecting Pokemon in some of the non-RPGs, like Snap, Pinball, and Go.

[Edmond Dantes]

I think another reason Pokemon baffled me is because of how many other "made for beginner" RPGs like Dragon Warrior (which was even given out for free) or Final Fantasy Mystic Quest wound up being failures or in some cases even lambasted, then decades later Pokemon makes it big.

I'm guessing the collecting/trading aspect was a huge factor. Well that and Dragon Warrior didn't have an anime to promote it... well okay it did, but not until the third game in the series.

[Aussie2B]

I think you basically answered your own question. Pokemon had the Nintendo name, a huge marketing machine behind it, and then the factors that make it different from other RPGs at the time.

The first Dragon Warrior (the only one published by Nintendo in the West) did okay. It was only a disappointment relative to its massive success in Japan, which Nintendo thought they could recreate in the US (the same thing happened with the first Final Fantasy). But the different reception makes sense. Japanese players, even Famicom players, were already used to more cerebral games, like the popular Portopia Serial Murder Case, also from Yuji Horii. Meanwhile, many NES players had never played anything but action games, so they didn't know what to make of Dragon Warrior.

Mystic Quest I don't think ever had a prayer of a chance of going mainstream. Squaresoft just didn't have the name or marketing power at that point. They tried to bank on the Final Fantasy name, but that doesn't make much sense when even the mainline Final Fantasy games were still niche in the West then. The only people who would be drawn in by the Final Fantasy name would be established fans, and they obviously had no need for an entry-level RPG. Squaresoft was trying to tap into a market they didn't know how to reach.

[Edmond Dantes]

Part of me also wonders if factors around Dragon Warrior's release might've shot it in the foot. One thing about my own discovering it is the first time I played, I tried using a walkthru, and wound up not liking the game. Then years later I tried the game again but this time no walkthru (and actually not intending to seriously commit to it) and it was awesome. It's a game where you have to be willing to explore and have personal initiative, a lot like Myst in that regard.

I've read that the original release came with a guide right in the box. And if a guide actually makes the game worse...

Pokemon was linear right out of the gate. Its something I held against it at the time (mostly because "if my whole goal is just to study Pokemon and beat a cockfighting league, why do I have to do things in a specific order?") but it probably helped younger players who might've otherwise gotten confused.

Doesn't change that Dragon Warrior was infinitely the better game tho

..... All this said, I replayed Pokemon Blue last night and... I'm not sure if I'm just in a forgiving mood or what but I was kinda enjoying it. Then again I no longer have the lofty expectations I did back when it was new. But I also feel like I need to pick up Dragon Warrior Monsters.

[Aussie2B]

I used all the included documentation when I played through Dragon Warrior, and I think it helped my enjoyment of the game, if anything. It's such a grindy game, the more it can be streamlined, the better, in my opinion.

I found Dragon Warrior Monsters even more dull than Pokemon Blue, mainly due to the randomly generated dungeons, where you very quickly see the same map shapes over and over and over. But I know the game has its fans, so YMMV. To be honest, I think monster-collecting RPGs in general aren't for me. I do like collecting things in other games, but something about that specific combination always seems to be a bore for me. I've had similar meh feelings about others I've beaten, like Metal Walker. Maybe someday I'll find one that clicks with me.

[Edmond Dantes]

I used all the included documentation when I played through Dragon Warrior, and I think it helped my enjoyment of the game, if anything. It's such a grindy game, the more it can be streamlined, the better, in my opinion.

See though, that's exactly the problem... it only seems "grindy" because you have a guide telling you "don't go here until you're at level X." I wasn't doing that, I was exploring and seeing what was around every bend. Yes I died a lot, but considering you get to keep your EXP even when you die.... and it's honestly a lot more satisfying to find the guy who tells you where the fairy flute is than to just have a guide say "Oh, its right here."

Had a longer response but it wound up repeating a lot of what I planned to say in a video, so I cut it. Said video has unfortunately suffered setbacks (sigh.... seems like any time I start actually working on something, a setback happens -__- )

To be honest, I think monster-collecting RPGs in general aren't for me. I do like collecting things in other games, but something about that specific combination always seems to be a bore for me.

I think I understand the feeling. Any sort of monster-recruiting game, whether its Pokemon or Megami Tensei, leave me with a simultaneous feeling of being overwhelmed and underwhelmed.

One issue I personally have with the genre is that, well... I mean, you've essentially got 100+ recruitable characters, who you don't know the full potential of unless you either A) spend hours levelling them all up or B) purchase the strategy guide. Like, for all I know this snowman dude I'm letting onto my team could be either the greatest asset ever, or a huge waste of time. Or for another thing, did anyone ever figure out--without having a guide or having it spoiled by the anime or manga--that Magikarp evolves into Gyarados if you keep on giving it experience points? I somehow doubt it. And to be frank I am not gonna spend hours getting 100+ characters to level 99 just to see what all moves they get.

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne was really bad about this because early on you get a boss fight that requires you to know how to do some really specific things in order to win. Again, how do without strategy guide...?

At least with classic RPGs of the fighter/thief/cleric/mage persuasion, I have a solid idea what to expect. With mons I really don't.

But the flip side is that whatever they can do naturally is... usually all they can do, period. Like in Dragon Warrior II I can make characters immune to poison marshes by giving them a certain armor, but in Pokemon I will never be able to grant Pikachu any special abilities because all I can do is level him up. Even learning new moves feels a little limiting because of the four-move limit, which often makes me feel like I have to make a choice of evils.... and I know I tried playing FireRed and had the issue of "I don't know what this move is or does so I'll accept it and try it out and then reload my last save if it sucks." Like... that just seems like.... how is this game popular again?

I seriously had a period while playing a borrowed (well, bought then traded back at the store) copy of FireRed where one of my mons learned two moves after one level up, and both wound up lame compared to moves I had to replace... sigh... I mean not every spell I learn in a traditional RPG is golden but at least my mages don't have to forget old magic to make room for new stuff.

[Aussie2B]

Does the official documentation for Dragon Warrior say not to visit a certain area until a specific level is hit? I don't even recall. Either way, the game is grindy regardless, so I prefer to spend my time with the game as efficiently as possible. I don't want to waste time on enemies weaker than I can handle, and I don't want to waste time visiting areas where I'll get creamed and have to start back at the castle. That's why I prefer the GBC version of the game. You get more experience and gold, so you can move through the game at a quicker pace.

[Edmond Dantes]

I've never owned a CIB copy of Dragon Warrior, so I don't know if the included documentation says that... I just know I've seen faqs and guides which do say such things.