I have been looking for a console Pokémon game for a very, very, very, very long time. My first game was Pokémon Diamond on the DS, and since then, I was enamored with the world of Pocket Monsters since. Pokémon is one of my favorite games, competing with Kingdom Hearts--and I have emphasized how much I LOVE Kingdom Hearts.The last time I played a main Pokémon game (without emulators) was Pokémon Black back in 2010. Fast forward nine years later, the future has been very promising. But has it fully delivered?
Two weeks ago, Pokémon Sword and Shield came out to the wild, and I waited so long for my pre-order. No really, I waited until 9 PM, until Amazon delivered the goods. But through determination and patience, I am glad to say that I am one of the first people in the world to get a Shiny on the first day. A Shiny Galarian Zigzagoon. And not just ANY Shiny Galarian Zigzagoon. A Shiny Galarian Zigzagoon with square sparkles. What's the difference between a regular shiny and mine? A regular shiny glimmers with little sparkles and has a 1/4096 (0.02%) to encounter in the wild without modifiers. A Shiny with a square animation to be encountered in the wild has a chanceof 1/65536 (0.001%). That is super-ultra-gorgeous rare, and I have a Shiny Galarian Zigzagoon that looks like KISS!
I was very immersed with Sword. As of this moment, I have 95 hours of gameplay on my Switch. I love how the world looked, the overworld graphics and the models.(even though GameFreak lied about making their own models from scratch, and recycled them from the 3DS, cutting 409 'Mons in the process, 81 one of them being Gen VIII, which means that only 319/890 Pokémon alumni are actually in the game). As a competitive Pokémon expert, I did not use Dynamaxing throughout my entire playthrough at all, as it is totally broken and unoriginal. It's basically Mega Evolution (transforming into another form for one battle) and Z-Moves (a super-powerful move with added benefits) all at ones, for three turns. As for the story, I felt that everything was shoved down the line at the end with no plausible explanation whatsoever. I won't spoil it, but it's pretty shitty, and the post-game is the exact same.
Though, I do liked how they brought back Gym Leaders and made the story your trial to fame and fortune as the Champion. My favorite part of the game is the Wild Area, a section of the map where you are able to catch old-school Pokémon, as well as participate in Max Battles, where you team up to fight a giant boss 'Mon to catch. As for the new Galarian forms (Pokémon from older Generations with revamped designs) I enjoyed them all, from the lance-wielding Sirfetch'd to a certain 'Mon affected by climate change--which I will take about later.
Overall, I feel like Pokémon Sword is an amazing game. It's just that it could be better. As these are the first main games to be on console (the Let's Go's DO NOT COUNT) GameFreak should have placed more emphasis on making EVERY Pokémon a one-way ticket to continuous placement, as the motto is "Gotta Catch 'Em All!", not "Gotta catch some of them all?" One pro of this is that it is way easier to complete the Pokedex, which I am 8 'Mon away to complete. Their story could be highly improved next sequel, as there is a bunch of lore scattered around, but not fully explained. Hopefully, GameFreak remembers that they are the making a large-grossing game for the largest-grossing media franchise in the world, and respects their fans more.
8/10
