Pokemon

[The People's Hero]

My son wants the new one and a Nintendo Switch for Christmas.

 

I took a look at reviews just out of interest and I don't think I've ever seen so many gamers in meltdown. There is some serious backlash.

[Mike the Metal Ed]

8 minutes ago, The People's Hero said:

My son wants the new one and a Nintendo Switch for Christmas.

 

I took a look at reviews just out of interest and I don't think I've ever seen so many gamers in meltdown. There is some serious backlash.

Fans like doing that.

 

It's already downloaded on my Switch ready to go, so they already have my money, but I'm interested to see how bad it really is, because it seems like a bit of an overreaction to me (although I've not delved too deep because I want to keep some surprises for myself, good or bad).

 

At least with it being a Christmas present you've got a few weeks to see how it looks once people actually play it. I don't think it'll be so broken it'd ruin the experience for a kid. Red and Blue were glitchy as hell in subtle ways we didn't even realise as kids and we ate it up.

[The People's Hero]

1 minute ago, Mike the Metal Ed said:

Fans like doing that.

 

It's already downloaded on my Switch ready to go, so they already have my money, but I'm interested to see how bad it really is, because it seems like a bit of an overreaction to me (although I've not delved too deep because I want to keep some surprises for myself, good or bad).

 

At least with it being a Christmas present you've got a few weeks to see how it looks once people actually play it. I don't think it'll be so broken it'd ruin the experience for a kid. Red and Blue were glitchy as hell in subtle ways we didn't even realise as kids and we ate it up.

 

My boy has only played Pokemon Go and a little bit of one on a 3DS. He has become transfixed on having a Switch also, so it all adds up and makes sense. He will obviously love it. He has played and loved some absolutely rubbish games and enjoyed them so I think its irrelevant.

 

I'll give it another year before I try to get him hooked on XCom or Disgaea.

 

Enjoy Pokemon mate!

[Samilktray]

Hasn’t the game itself been fairly well reviewed? I thought the uproar was surrounding the fact you can’t transfer alot of your Pokemon from old games onto the new? 

[Innovindil]

Wtf, preordered the sword version ages ago, just seeing now these "new age" games have less than half the pokemon in? How the hell am I supposed to catch em all? 

[Xen]

11 hours ago, Samilktray said:

Hasn’t the game itself been fairly well reviewed? I thought the uproar was surrounding the fact you can’t transfer alot of your Pokemon from old games onto the new? 

That's part of it, and was certainly the main source of fans' ire pre-release. Now that the game is launching, though, there's a lot more that's coming out about it. A lot of anger about animations in particular - Gamefreak promised there'd be brand new animations for certain things and instead they've reused old models and animations from the DS games. A lot of moves haven't been animated at all and look comically bad, pokemon in the overworld have poor AI and equally poor or non-existent animations (bird pokemon look like they're just hovering in whats essentially a T-pose). The graphics are questionable at best and don't hold a candle to similar flagship games like Breath of the Wild - it barely even holds up compared to PS2 graphics at times. In-game mechanics have been getting increasingly hand-hold-y over the last few years but from what I've read it takes a particularly strong turn in these games to the point where you can't help but be massively overlevelled throughout the game, and certain things are locked off unnecessarily and popular mechanics have been dropped for generic  (or sub-standard) alternatives.

 

There's lots more, and if you do a quick search on twitter (I think it was #GamefreakLied) there are plenty of long lists of all the various bugs and flaws with the game. Some of it is needlessly petty from disgruntled fans, of course, but the majority of points are actually pretty legit and don't put the game in a good light at all. Certainly not worth paying full price for, imo. 

[Samilktray]

4 minutes ago, Xen said:

That's part of it, and was certainly the main source of fans' ire pre-release. Now that the game is launching, though, there's a lot more that's coming out about it. A lot of anger about animations in particular - Gamefreak promised there'd be brand new animations for certain things and instead they've reused old models and animations from the DS games. A lot of moves haven't been animated at all and look comically bad, pokemon in the overworld have poor AI and equally poor or non-existent animations (bird pokemon look like they're just hovering in whats essentially a T-pose). The graphics are questionable at best and don't hold a candle to similar flagship games like Breath of the Wild - it barely even holds up compared to PS2 graphics at times. In-game mechanics have been getting increasingly hand-hold-y over the last few years but from what I've read it takes a particularly strong turn in these games to the point where you can't help but be massively overlevelled throughout the game, and certain things are locked off unnecessarily and popular mechanics have been dropped for generic  (or sub-standard) alternatives.

 

There's lots more, and if you do a quick search on twitter (I think it was #GamefreakLied) there are plenty of long lists of all the various bugs and flaws with the game. Some of it is needlessly petty from disgruntled fans, of course, but the majority of points are actually pretty legit and don't put the game in a good light at all. Certainly not worth paying full price for, imo. 

Yeah I’ve seen the full reviews since I posted. They really need to dump Gamefreak if they ever want the Pokemon games to become what they could be 

[Xen]

7 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

Yeah I’ve seen the full reviews since I posted. They really need to dump Gamefreak if they ever want the Pokemon games to become what they could be 

Its a real shame, as a proper overworld-type pokemon RPG is what people have been crying out for ever since it became feasible. BotW shows that you can take a long-running franchise in a new direction with loads of success, so Pokemon should have been chomping at the bit to do the same. Heck, you could probably have used the exact world from BotW and just put pokemon in instead of the dungeons and it would've worked pretty well (purely as an example, not advocating they do this of course!).

 

Unfortunately I think GF is part of the furniture for this franchise and I can't see them going anytime soon. Hopefully the backlash is enough to trigger some sort of change, but so many people are going to be buying it regardless that I'm not sure it'll make a difference.

Edited 14 November 2019 by Xen

[Darkon84]

Looks like i need to add some friends on GO, what's everyone's code? Alternatively, mine is 6149 7675 9786

[Samilktray]

I bought Sword today and it’s actually really good fun tbf 

[kingcarr21]

14 hours ago, Samilktray said:

I bought Sword today and it’s actually really good fun tbf 

Also got sword, just done the 2nd gym and im absolutely loving it. So many new pokemon (which ive stayed away from the internet so no idea on any of them)

 

Chose Sobble as my starter. 

 

So many negative reviews cause of the national dex which I don't get. Surely you just want to experience the new pokemon anyway. The Wild Area is really good.

 

Big thumbs up from me so far

[kingcarr21]

Just finished the 3rd gym leader and now back in the wild taking on Dynamax battles. The rewards you get for beating easy dynamax pokemon is really good.

 

Why do I have to work Just want to play it

[Xen]

Despite my rvious post I ended up buying it (sword) anyway as my partner - who hasn't been that bothered about pokemon in the past - was keen to play it anyway. I've not played it myself yet, but from what I've seen of him playing it a lot of those complaints were misguided and it actually looks like a whole lot of fun.

 

Still room for improvement, of course, but some of the scaremongering around release date was way off the mark, and I fell for that. Going to make up for it by sinking a whole lot of time into it from now on, though  

[Samilktray]

Whoever signed off on calling a town Motostoke at Gamefreak needs sacking tbh

[kingcarr21]

finished the main story, really good game. Just wish it was a bit longer. Gyms are too easy to get to and no Team Rocket (Team Yell can get in the bin).

 

Too easy to level up pokemon also. They needed to make the game longer and add in side quests etc. Still for the Switch first Pokémon outing its really good.

 

Probably go and trade it in now. 

[Xen]

29 minutes ago, kingcarr21 said:

finished the main story, really good game. Just wish it was a bit longer. Gyms are too easy to get to and no Team Rocket (Team Yell can get in the bin).

 

Too easy to level up pokemon also. They needed to make the game longer and add in side quests etc. Still for the Switch first Pokémon outing its really good.

 

Probably go and trade it in now. 

Fingers crossed they can take this one and build on it for the next generation, or even just expand it a little with a mid-generation game (like Yellow, Crystal, etc.).

 

Will be interesting if the next big release after that is another new Gen, or if they go back and remake Diamond/Pearl/Platinum for the switch. 

[Samilktray]

27 minutes ago, Xen said:

Fingers crossed they can take this one and build on it for the next generation, or even just expand it a little with a mid-generation game (like Yellow, Crystal, etc.).

 

Will be interesting if the next big release after that is another new Gen, or if they go back and remake Diamond/Pearl/Platinum for the switch. 

Apparently there won’t be another Sword & Shield game after this so I read the other day. I think they’ll definitely remaster an old game for the Switch and then maybe we’ll get a Let’s Go game based on Gold/Silver before they roll out the next main line game 

[kingcarr21]

36 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

Apparently there won’t be another Sword & Shield game after this so I read the other day. I think they’ll definitely remaster an old game for the Switch and then maybe we’ll get a Let’s Go game based on Gold/Silver before they roll out the next main line game 

This sounds a likely scenario. Wouldn't mind a remake. Even though i've exhausted the old games to play them on the Switch in the same format would be good

[Carl the Llama]

Game Freak desperately need to get a better graphics team because 90% of Switch titles blow this one away visually and the pop-in is painfully short-distance.  Beyond that though the negative reviews are blatant salt: I've seen people complain about the lack of random NPC's with world-building dialogue or the failure to include pokemon milling around in the big cities yet I've not been to a single city without either of those things, a bit more flesh on the cities would be nice though, for instance that lighthouse at Hulbury could have been made into a dungeon like the one in Olivine in Gold/Silver.

 

I will also say that the start of the game is painfully slow: There are nowhere near enough route trainers before the first gym.  Maybe it's because I spent too long covering every inch of the wild area's starting zones before moving on to Motostoke and then the first gym but the first hour or so of gameplay was almost devoid of trainer battles.  Then there's the weird problem pokemon games have developed since X/Y of cut-scenes ending in a certain location then starting a new one as soon as you've walked out the door.   Just make the journey from the room to outside part of the cut-scene!

 

Other than that it's pokemon and as long as the core catching and combat mechanics still exist it's hard to make a truly bad pokemon game.  Sadly Game Freak seem to know this so I wouldn't hold your breath for a significant improvement on missed opportunities in the next title.  Which I'll still probably buy.  For now I'm more concerned about who I'll drop to make room for Galarian Ponyta/Rapidash when I get to their catch site.

[Stadt]

I absolutely adored Pokemon as a kid but I hate the art of style of Pokemon post Diamond and Pearl are there any goos titles since then? I've thought about getting a DS just to play Heart gold/Soul Silver because I never had the originals as a kid (my first game was Fire Red) but last time I checked they've eld their value really well 

[Carl the Llama]

9 hours ago, Stadt said:

I absolutely adored Pokemon as a kid but I hate the art of style of Pokemon post Diamond and Pearl are there any goos titles since then? I've thought about getting a DS just to play Heart gold/Soul Silver because I never had the originals as a kid (my first game was Fire Red) but last time I checked they've eld their value really well 

Nintendo games don't tend to drop in price so you could be waiting a while. Black/White were really good games too if you're jumping on the DS train.

[kingcarr21]

On 06/06/2019 at 19:17, Foxhateram said:

Guys need Pokémon go friends for a research module. Can you add me?

 

3602 5405 4573

 

On 21/06/2019 at 18:34, Phube said:

Not Pokémon (and I doubt they’ll be enough people for a whole thread) but if anyone is doubling down on sad middle aged man-ness my Wizard’s Unite code is: 5542 4187 6451

 

On 22/08/2019 at 12:15, The People's Hero said:

Hi All,

 

Been meaning to jump in this thread for a while.

 

Friend of mine had managed to get this son (12) interested in walking and exercise with pokemon go. I do a hell of a lot of walking and I've been trying to get my son (7) involved with me to get him away from just sitting on the ipad all day. Pokemon go seemed a great distraction and so we've started playing pokemon go. What I mean by that really is that I know where some of the basic station or gyms or whatever are and he's happy to come on a walk with me providing we stop at the park, stop at the lake to feed the ducks, and visit some pokestops and also catch some pokemon as and when we stop walking for a rest.

 

So far so good, but he's now asking me questions I can't answer... please can you help me with following:

 

We have loads of pidgeys etc. I know you can get rid for candy... should I be doing this? How do we decide which one to keep?
 

Trial and error we put a Mr Mime in a local gym our team (YELLOW!) holds. What is the point of this? Any benefit? Can the pokemon get stronger as a result?
 

We had to choose a buddy - he loved the crab so our buddy is a crab. Does it really matter which pokemon is your buddy? Whats it all about?

 

At pokestops we get razzberries or gifts. My boy often throws the fruit before the ball to catch... should he? What are the 'gifts' for?

 

Incubators... are they multi-use or do they get 'used up'?

 

How do you make your pokemon stronger other than spending candies on them? Is there another way or not?
 

Any point in battling?

 

Any other tips you can give us?

 

I don't know how long he'll continue wanting to walk with me; but its really got him even enjoying the outdoors; so its been a great benefit already.

 

Our trainer code is 3675 7786 2888 - Dylan would be delighted if you'd become a friend ! 

James

 

On 22/07/2019 at 18:26, Foxhateram said:

Guys could you please add this other account im working on.

 

9918 2523 4893

 

On 15/11/2019 at 10:41, Darkon84 said:

Looks like i need to add some friends on GO, what's everyone's code? Alternatively, mine is 6149 7675 9786

Added you all. Im not a hardcore player but thought I may aswel add you and send gifts etc

[Great Boos Up]

All these eggs and only ONE damn shiny!

[Great Boos Up]

Yay @Phube lucky friends! we've been like an infertile couple for a year of trying.

[Phube]

1 hour ago, Great Boos Up said:

Yay @Phube lucky friends! we've been like an infertile couple for a year of trying.

 so true!