![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Pokémon Sword and Shield
Nov. 12th, 2019 05:42 pmJust popping in to leave a few remarks on the Pokémon Sword and Shield controversy. I'm somewhat loath to even comment on it, for fear of fanning the flames, or giving the naysayers more copy than they deserve. But it's something I do feel strongly about.
For those of you who are you unaware, Pokémon Sword and Shield are released worldwide on Friday, November 15th. These are the latest entries in the series and they represent the 8th Generation of Pokémon, bringing the grand total of creatures up to something in the vicinity of 1000. This might seem like overkill for those of you who were raised, like myself, on 150 different pocket monsters, but it's no cause for alarm: they don't add too many each time, and remember that these games were originally conceived in 1994. It's only logical that the number and variety of Pokémon should have increased since then. And, aside from the Pokémon themselves, the overall mechanics and balance of the games have steadily improved, making them faster-paced and less lop-sided than the earlier titles (even if they are also brilliant games). Other notable features in the new games include the ability to use Dynamax Pokémon - gigantic versions of your Pokémon, used to take part in supersized battles - and more customisation options for your trainer's appearance and apparel. The region in Sword and Shield, Galar, is also loosely based on the UK, meaning that the topography ranges from rural hamlets to industrial-sized cities.
This all sounds fun and appealing to me. However, lately, problems have arose with regards to The Pokémon Company's decision NOT to make all 1000+ creatures catchable in Sword and Shield; this is due to the fact that, with so many Pokémon in existence, it has become difficult to include and balance them all. Even the prospect of spreading 1000+ Pokémon across the world map, without littering new creatures every few steps, must be quite daunting, I would think. The Pokémon Company have also cited the graphical power required to animate so many Pokémon models as a reason for them to reduce the overall number, though I am less convinced by this: the Switch should be more than powerful enough to bring 1000 relatively simple characters to life, considering the console's success with running games like Breath of the Wild and Super Smash Bros: Ultimate. Regardless of their creators' motivation, however, the new Pokémon games will, for the first time, only play host to a fraction of "them all": around 40%, according to early reports.
This doesn't bother me in the slightest. Glancing at a leaked depiction at Sword and Shield's complete Pokédex (to Game Freak/The Pokémon Company's dismay, much of the game has been leaked online, though I have been careful not to spoil it for myself by staring for too long), several of my favourites have not been included. Each generation's Starter Pokémon, for example, will not be present, so that means no Blaziken, Blastoise, or Torterra (the Charmander line is the sole exception). Even my all-time favourite, Scizor, has been slighted. But ultimately: I'll form new favourites. Making do with the line-up that The Pokémon Company have devised this time will force me to invent new strategies and learn about new attacks; I can't be reliant on the same Pokémon I used in the past. And while I'm normally very slow to say things like "it's just a game," because I take gaming very seriously and consider it the highest art form, Pokémon IS just a game, after all, and the decision not to include Clefairy will hardly imbue me with any lasting trauma.
Although you might be surprised. While I'm firmly in the #ThankYouGameFreak camp, established online to build up hype and excitement for Sword and Shield, another group, also online, also hyper, has read the disappearance of 600 Pokémon as the result of some Thanos-like cull; a Nintendo-sponsored 'snap' that has tarnished these games before they've even been released. This other camp, which has been called #Dexit (due to the substantially reduced Pokédex in Sword and Shield... and also because of Brexit) have, I feel, viewed this issue far too harshly. These moaners will most likely still purchase the games, but they are going to complain about them up until then. This seems to me a wasted effort, far more egregious than the lack of effort they've accused The Pokémon Company of exhibiting while working on Sword and Shield.
I feel sorry for the programmers, writers, designers, and translators who've put so much work into a game only for it to be greeted with significant backlash. That's the main problem with the internet: it's given people who are only out to spread negativity and despair a voice that they didn't have before. Fine, if you don't want to play these games, then don't; but don't post underneath each attempt to market the game on social media with the same miserable comments. You're only ruining it for the rest of us. And for yourselves, too.
For those of you who are you unaware, Pokémon Sword and Shield are released worldwide on Friday, November 15th. These are the latest entries in the series and they represent the 8th Generation of Pokémon, bringing the grand total of creatures up to something in the vicinity of 1000. This might seem like overkill for those of you who were raised, like myself, on 150 different pocket monsters, but it's no cause for alarm: they don't add too many each time, and remember that these games were originally conceived in 1994. It's only logical that the number and variety of Pokémon should have increased since then. And, aside from the Pokémon themselves, the overall mechanics and balance of the games have steadily improved, making them faster-paced and less lop-sided than the earlier titles (even if they are also brilliant games). Other notable features in the new games include the ability to use Dynamax Pokémon - gigantic versions of your Pokémon, used to take part in supersized battles - and more customisation options for your trainer's appearance and apparel. The region in Sword and Shield, Galar, is also loosely based on the UK, meaning that the topography ranges from rural hamlets to industrial-sized cities.
This all sounds fun and appealing to me. However, lately, problems have arose with regards to The Pokémon Company's decision NOT to make all 1000+ creatures catchable in Sword and Shield; this is due to the fact that, with so many Pokémon in existence, it has become difficult to include and balance them all. Even the prospect of spreading 1000+ Pokémon across the world map, without littering new creatures every few steps, must be quite daunting, I would think. The Pokémon Company have also cited the graphical power required to animate so many Pokémon models as a reason for them to reduce the overall number, though I am less convinced by this: the Switch should be more than powerful enough to bring 1000 relatively simple characters to life, considering the console's success with running games like Breath of the Wild and Super Smash Bros: Ultimate. Regardless of their creators' motivation, however, the new Pokémon games will, for the first time, only play host to a fraction of "them all": around 40%, according to early reports.
This doesn't bother me in the slightest. Glancing at a leaked depiction at Sword and Shield's complete Pokédex (to Game Freak/The Pokémon Company's dismay, much of the game has been leaked online, though I have been careful not to spoil it for myself by staring for too long), several of my favourites have not been included. Each generation's Starter Pokémon, for example, will not be present, so that means no Blaziken, Blastoise, or Torterra (the Charmander line is the sole exception). Even my all-time favourite, Scizor, has been slighted. But ultimately: I'll form new favourites. Making do with the line-up that The Pokémon Company have devised this time will force me to invent new strategies and learn about new attacks; I can't be reliant on the same Pokémon I used in the past. And while I'm normally very slow to say things like "it's just a game," because I take gaming very seriously and consider it the highest art form, Pokémon IS just a game, after all, and the decision not to include Clefairy will hardly imbue me with any lasting trauma.
Although you might be surprised. While I'm firmly in the #ThankYouGameFreak camp, established online to build up hype and excitement for Sword and Shield, another group, also online, also hyper, has read the disappearance of 600 Pokémon as the result of some Thanos-like cull; a Nintendo-sponsored 'snap' that has tarnished these games before they've even been released. This other camp, which has been called #Dexit (due to the substantially reduced Pokédex in Sword and Shield... and also because of Brexit) have, I feel, viewed this issue far too harshly. These moaners will most likely still purchase the games, but they are going to complain about them up until then. This seems to me a wasted effort, far more egregious than the lack of effort they've accused The Pokémon Company of exhibiting while working on Sword and Shield.
I feel sorry for the programmers, writers, designers, and translators who've put so much work into a game only for it to be greeted with significant backlash. That's the main problem with the internet: it's given people who are only out to spread negativity and despair a voice that they didn't have before. Fine, if you don't want to play these games, then don't; but don't post underneath each attempt to market the game on social media with the same miserable comments. You're only ruining it for the rest of us. And for yourselves, too.
