So... Pokemon Sword and Shield are out and, uh... I really, really wanted to like these games. Honest to God, I did! But... *sigh* It's unfortunately what I dreaded. So, let's not waste any time, let's dive into jolly old England-I mean, Galar and talk about Pokemon Sword and Shield.
STORY
Our story begins in the Galar region which is modeled after London, England. A tournament is underway to see who will be the Champion of the region as your rival is named Hop and his older brother Leon, is the undefeated Champion. Along the way, you meet a bunch of fanatic groupies called Team Yell, they, uh... don't really do anything but get in people's way by being biased to who they cheer for.
I think they were trying to be like Team Skull from Sun and Moon but backfired horribly. Anyways, the Galar region has a legend that 1000 years ago, there was an apocalyptic event called The Darkest Day that nearly ended the region and by extension, the world. However, a legendary hero armed with a sword and shield vanquished the threat and brought peace.
But we'll get to that later. As you continue on your journey and challanges, you hear of some corporation called the Cosmos Macros Inc. headed by Vice President Oleana and Chairman Rose, the guy who started the Gym Challenge in the first place. And if you think these people are our antagonists? You are absolutely correct because it's fucking obvious.
Anyways, we uncover more of the legend and find out it wasn't one hero, it was two. One wielded a sword and the other a shield and it's said that the spirits of the heroes have been reincarnated in sacred beasts, Zacian and Zamazenta. When you finally make it to the Pokemon League in Wyndem City, Leon is supposed to meet the Player and Hop for dinner before the finals. However, he's running late and went to Rose Tower.
So, they investigate and find Leon and Chairman Rose talking about an energy crises in the distant future. During the matches, Chairman Rose makes an announcement to the whole region that he revived the Darkest Day and the prophecy is set. So the group hauls ass and puts a stop to Rose's plans.
After defeating him, Leon went up ahead and it's revealed that the source of the Darkest Day is a legendary being called Eternatus, a alien-like Pokemon from... somewhere. It's never really explained properly, but who cares? Final battle time! After capturing Eternatus, it's time for the final match against Leon, and after the battle, the Player is crowned the new Champ of the region and after the event, Chairman Rose steps down from his position and turns himself in. THE END.
Oh, and the after story is cleaning up the mess he caused and capturing one of the legendary wolves.
So, uh... as you can probably tell, the story is really badly told and paced which is quite frankly, disappointing. But I digress, let's continue shall we?
GAMEPLAY
It's pretty much the same like every other mainline Pokemon game. However, we are introduced with a new mechanic called Dynamax, where you can make your Pokemon grow and boost your power. Hmm... sort of like Mega Evolution. Except, not really. Yeah, Mega Evolution, Key Stones and whatnot are gone. And no, I have no damn clue why. And no National Dex either.
If people thought Pokemon and Digimon are similar, welp, they are now. Thanks Sword and Shield.
MUSIC
The music is 50/50. On one half it's very good, and the other's well, a bunch of noise and poor choice of instrumentation. Which is unfortunate, also, Toby Fox composed one track. Yes, the very same Toby Fox who made Undertale and Deltarune. Man, first Small Village Hero, Sans in Smash Ultimate and now here. The guy doesn't catch a break, huh?
REPLAY VALUE
I don't really see any point of going back aside from catching some more Pokemon... how limited there are anyways.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Pokemon Sword and Shield is unfortunately what I feared it was gonna be. The story is lackluster and painfully rushed just like in Pokemon X and Y for the 3DS, the main antagonist's motivation is painfully moronic. "I'm going to start a doomsday event to save on energy in 1000 years down the line. Just 'cause." What?
They don't really explore very much with the Galar region either despite mixing in with steampunk technology and being based in Britain. That's it. It's such a shame, I wanted to like these games but they've made such stupid decisions that I wonder why they bothered to begin with? Yeah, I'm gonna skip this generation. Oh well, maybe a new Mystery Dungeon game will fix this... if they make one anyways. We can only hope and dream.
This is just my opinion but... wow, this game's story sucks. X and Y's are a masterpiece compared this half-assed waste of potential. And speaking of wasted potential... the excuse for getting rid of some Pokemon and the National Dex was to improve some animations. Guess what? They're exactly the fucking same.
Wow, time well spent, huh guys? These games are built on lies! You wanna know the real reason they couldn't put in more Pokemon in this game? Because they couldn't be fucking bothered to put more work into actually, y'know, making animations? This whole thing is just lazy.
No indoor backgrounds during battles, lack of animations for NPC's, the plot is heavily rushed and doesn't explain jack shit about anything, and of course, lazy and uninspired Pokemon designs. I don't like some of the Galarian variants of the Pokemon either. They either look incredibly stupid, or downright ugly.
Yeah, I'm skipping this generation. But hey, there's always the next one right guys? Hahaha... aha.. ah... *sobbing* I hate these games...
My final rating is...
2/10
The graphics are nice, and it at least plays well. But everything is just half assed. Gamefreak should be embarrassed. AND! There's going to be an Anime about this. How the flying fuck would this work when nothing's explored?! Fuck, what dumbasses!
Ugh... I'm gonna stick to Sun and Moon because they're, y'know... fun? Not this.