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With the dust settled, how does Pokemon Generation 8 (Sword/Shield) stack up against previous games? (Light Spoilers)
- Thread starter ThisIsBlitz21
- Start date
Sword/Shield are objectively awful. The Sinnoh remakes are going to have to be something special to salvage this shitstain of a gen.
OP
OP
Honestly, I totally forgot mentioning the multiplayer.
Its horrible. Makes me feel like they just got lucky with gen 6 instead of actually knowing what they're doing.
Its horrible. Makes me feel like they just got lucky with gen 6 instead of actually knowing what they're doing.
OP
OP
Are you my long lost identical twin? My order is the exact same lol.
Felt like a step down from gen 7 which is the best. Still good though.
They did a good job with Hop as a friendly rival. He actually behaved like a trainer with how he experimented with his team.
Champion difficulty was a good surprise if your team was in the low 50s like mine.
The wild area was great but underutilized. It should have replaced routes as a whole with dungeons and towns linked in.
Story and region design were the main failings. Everything from 7 was better: the villains (both the obvious and ""surprise"" ones), the legendaries (nothing like the UBs, Tapus, just boring cover trio), the story, etc.
Competitive is fun and they did a good job with systems and new Pokemon. It feels similar to XY in that way.
They did a good job with Hop as a friendly rival. He actually behaved like a trainer with how he experimented with his team.
Champion difficulty was a good surprise if your team was in the low 50s like mine.
The wild area was great but underutilized. It should have replaced routes as a whole with dungeons and towns linked in.
Story and region design were the main failings. Everything from 7 was better: the villains (both the obvious and ""surprise"" ones), the legendaries (nothing like the UBs, Tapus, just boring cover trio), the story, etc.
Competitive is fun and they did a good job with systems and new Pokemon. It feels similar to XY in that way.
Honestly, I'd say it's only better than Gen 6. The best thing I can say about it is that it has an awesome soundtrack and it's easy to level and train Pokémon for competitive play partly due to cheating. But it's worse than every other game except XY outside of those two things. My opinion of it has only gotten worse with time.
I'm worried about Platinum content. They cut corners with Emerald content in ORAS, but Platinum was so obviously better than the originals that they can't afford to ignore it.
The poll is really emblematic.
The last 3 gens are by far the worst 3 gens and combined reach 16,6% of preferences. Gen 3 is the next in order and it has 17.8% preferences.
The last 3 gens are by far the worst 3 gens and combined reach 16,6% of preferences. Gen 3 is the next in order and it has 17.8% preferences.
Heh, I replayed HG, Plat and W2 in the last four months, I felt pretty strongly that those were my top 3 but I wasn't sure the order, these replays pretty definitively cleared it up (and I replayed White back in 2018 as well). Still love the Johto games but the wonky level pacing and Pokemon distribution makes it hard for me to rank above Platinum and BW2, even accounting for nostalgia. Still, that trio is definitely the most-content heavy core Pokemon games, and that's what I will always value above all else.
Fun for a week, story really rushed, easy as heck. Some good designs and cool music. Liked the dragon guy with the dad bod.
Black 2, Emerald and HG/SS are still the best, undefeated games.
Black 2, Emerald and HG/SS are still the best, undefeated games.
I'm enjoying Sword/Shield but it's low tier Pokemon. I don't like the Dynawhatever giant Pokemon thing at all. Also, the sort of sporting event direction it took with the gyms is not very appealing to me.
It's in a lower tier for me, alongside X/Y and R/S. You can tell exactly where they ran out of time for the game and had to start rushing things (Glimwood Tangle and Gym 6) and the story wasn't exactly amazing beforehand. A few hidden gems in the characters like Bede didn't change that for me. Mechanics wise I don't really have any strong opinions about but I am always going to say I don't feel like there was anything worth mentioning that we got in exchange for cutting the dex.
Hopefully like R/S it recieves an Emerald equivalent cause what's wrong seems mostly salvageable to me
Hopefully like R/S it recieves an Emerald equivalent cause what's wrong seems mostly salvageable to me
2>1>6>3>4>8>5>7
Not including remakes.
Sword and Shield do a lot of things really really badly. But its still better than the games that try so hard to have a story and fail. At least it stays out of your way and lets you actually play it most of the time, and many of the new designs are cool. Loses all other points for being linear as hell, having garbage exploration, zero challenge and not looking like a console quality game. Its my last mainline pokemon game until they learn how to make games and not cash grabs.
In mean time gonna get some rom hacks to squeeze out some goodness of the actually decent games Ive played to death.
Not including remakes.
Sword and Shield do a lot of things really really badly. But its still better than the games that try so hard to have a story and fail. At least it stays out of your way and lets you actually play it most of the time, and many of the new designs are cool. Loses all other points for being linear as hell, having garbage exploration, zero challenge and not looking like a console quality game. Its my last mainline pokemon game until they learn how to make games and not cash grabs.
In mean time gonna get some rom hacks to squeeze out some goodness of the actually decent games Ive played to death.
I pulled out of buying this before release at the last second. Sounds like I didn't miss too much.
I've a found spot for X/Y, and i will defend them in many aspects.
Also, as the first 3D Pokemon, had a lot of QOL improvements (and sadly to this day the best working online), and a new platform, i understood that it wouldn't be perfect. It was also 10 months prior that i started to play pokemon again with Black 2 and SoulSilver after being bored after gen 3 and finding gen 4 to slow.
now, 3 gens from that removed, I see it as the beginning of the falldown.
Were there improvements in some aspects? yeah. but X/Y was a way bigger move from the DS games than Gen 8 was from Gen 7.
The art style, the pokemon models, the simplification, the way the cutscenes are directed... yeah, Gen 8 is essentially a continuation of gen 7, and I was not a fan of gen 7. In some aspects better, in some worse, and all in all unfinished. I would rate gen 8 a 7/10. Is it a bad game? no, because the core concept is to good. Is it a rushed, to safe, and not imaginative enough product? Definitely.
This year Iplayed: FF7, FF8, tales of Vesperia (first time), and felt in all 3 that the world is better, the story is leagues above pokemon, and i felt the vision they had was represented in the games way better. with pokemon it just felt like safe design by comitte.
Especially tales of vesperia is shocking: the places, the world, the dungeons, the animation, full voice over... honestly, the game is 10 years old, and pokemon in many aspects can't hold its own against it. And pokemon games sell 10 times as much, if not 20 times the amount that Tales of games sell.
Also, as the first 3D Pokemon, had a lot of QOL improvements (and sadly to this day the best working online), and a new platform, i understood that it wouldn't be perfect. It was also 10 months prior that i started to play pokemon again with Black 2 and SoulSilver after being bored after gen 3 and finding gen 4 to slow.
now, 3 gens from that removed, I see it as the beginning of the falldown.
Were there improvements in some aspects? yeah. but X/Y was a way bigger move from the DS games than Gen 8 was from Gen 7.
The art style, the pokemon models, the simplification, the way the cutscenes are directed... yeah, Gen 8 is essentially a continuation of gen 7, and I was not a fan of gen 7. In some aspects better, in some worse, and all in all unfinished. I would rate gen 8 a 7/10. Is it a bad game? no, because the core concept is to good. Is it a rushed, to safe, and not imaginative enough product? Definitely.
This year Iplayed: FF7, FF8, tales of Vesperia (first time), and felt in all 3 that the world is better, the story is leagues above pokemon, and i felt the vision they had was represented in the games way better. with pokemon it just felt like safe design by comitte.
Especially tales of vesperia is shocking: the places, the world, the dungeons, the animation, full voice over... honestly, the game is 10 years old, and pokemon in many aspects can't hold its own against it. And pokemon games sell 10 times as much, if not 20 times the amount that Tales of games sell.
It's pokémon. Just pokémon, not new pokémon. And let's not get overwhelmed by the glitchy, tiny wild area which doesn't even include any dungeon nor anything that makes it worth exploring. But atleast some of the tunes were good and practically all pokémon designs were great. But guess were I saw those two things? In previous pokémon games, and I kind of miss the times were I could say that this franchise was innovative.
It's pretty terrible honestly and even the people I've spoken to who enjoyed it still think it's mediocre overall. If any other series produced a title this barren and stripped back then there would be legit petitions and mass fan movements against it.
Ironically, the truncated Pokédex was what the feature I found LEAST upsetting. The linearity, awful writing and general slowness are unforgivable.
Ironically, the truncated Pokédex was what the feature I found LEAST upsetting. The linearity, awful writing and general slowness are unforgivable.
That's fair. I hope you got most of the Dex done, at least.
Gen 5 and Gen 2 are still the best with g
Gen 7 being third. I put 8th gen in 4th.
I really never cared about Gen 4 and Gen 3 would have gotten the same criticism if not worse if released today.
Gen 1 was a broken mess
Gen 7 being third. I put 8th gen in 4th.
I really never cared about Gen 4 and Gen 3 would have gotten the same criticism if not worse if released today.
Gen 1 was a broken mess
Gen 1 was a good beginning
gen 2 was an amazing sequel
gen 3 was a nice generational leap that had the misfortunate of coming after Gen 2
gen 4 really struggled at first but by platinum, things were tip top for the series
Gen 5 was gamefreak at their peak
Gen 6 was a tad underwhelming but the QoL improvements were amazing, the ruby ans sapphire remakes were huge flukes though
I could not care less for gen 7, forced tutorials galore and it was as slow as molasses, I hope I never see Lily again
Gen 8 has some of the best pokemon designs and it probably has some of the best human designs in JRPG history imo, too bad the rest of the game is not that great. I would be cool with the cut dex if the game was bigger but it's just as linear as Gen 7 but with none of the cool sidestory of Gen 5 and still no postgame
gen 2 was an amazing sequel
gen 3 was a nice generational leap that had the misfortunate of coming after Gen 2
gen 4 really struggled at first but by platinum, things were tip top for the series
Gen 5 was gamefreak at their peak
Gen 6 was a tad underwhelming but the QoL improvements were amazing, the ruby ans sapphire remakes were huge flukes though
I could not care less for gen 7, forced tutorials galore and it was as slow as molasses, I hope I never see Lily again
Gen 8 has some of the best pokemon designs and it probably has some of the best human designs in JRPG history imo, too bad the rest of the game is not that great. I would be cool with the cut dex if the game was bigger but it's just as linear as Gen 7 but with none of the cool sidestory of Gen 5 and still no postgame
That's exactly my life, same start (beginning) down to the favorite games!
Your age at those games? Maybe those were your "breaking point."
Easily my favorite gen in a long time. The wild area and the fact that you have access to it early on is a huge part of that, and raids kept me playing in postgame for longer than I have with any other Pokemon game.
I love the way these games combine random encounters with the Pokemon roaming the overworld like Let's Go. Hiding rare Pokemon in the random encounters added a nice little bit of challenge (I know, it's Pokemon, it's not really that challenging) because in some zones the overworld Pokemon are so aggressive that you have to dodge them just to get to the random ones. And in general it adds a ton of charm and personality to the routes, especially since there are a bunch of different ways Pokemon react to you. Seeing a few Stufful curiously walk up to me and do their cute little bark on an early route was pretty great.
The soundtrack is the best in a long time, especially the fantastic gym leader battle music. Just everything about the gym battles, the stadium environments and the dynamaxing all come together really well. Raids are super fun. Gigantamax Alcremie is amazing. In fact a lot of the new Pokemon have great designs and I can't remember the last gen where I liked new Pokemon as much as this one.
Very little to complain about. I'd love it if a Pokemon game had a solid campaign story with voice acting, so that's my biggest knock against the game but compared to the others...eh, Pokemon story is always kid nonsense anyway so it's not like this was a huge difference. Black and White probably had my favorite story but even that is pretty disposable.
Anyway, this is the first Pokemon to crack my top ten for the year in...ever, maybe? Looking forward to whatever is next and I hope they decide to take the wild area and run with it instead of throwing it in the cool-features-we-added-and-then-forgot-about dumpster :)
I love the way these games combine random encounters with the Pokemon roaming the overworld like Let's Go. Hiding rare Pokemon in the random encounters added a nice little bit of challenge (I know, it's Pokemon, it's not really that challenging) because in some zones the overworld Pokemon are so aggressive that you have to dodge them just to get to the random ones. And in general it adds a ton of charm and personality to the routes, especially since there are a bunch of different ways Pokemon react to you. Seeing a few Stufful curiously walk up to me and do their cute little bark on an early route was pretty great.
The soundtrack is the best in a long time, especially the fantastic gym leader battle music. Just everything about the gym battles, the stadium environments and the dynamaxing all come together really well. Raids are super fun. Gigantamax Alcremie is amazing. In fact a lot of the new Pokemon have great designs and I can't remember the last gen where I liked new Pokemon as much as this one.
Very little to complain about. I'd love it if a Pokemon game had a solid campaign story with voice acting, so that's my biggest knock against the game but compared to the others...eh, Pokemon story is always kid nonsense anyway so it's not like this was a huge difference. Black and White probably had my favorite story but even that is pretty disposable.
Anyway, this is the first Pokemon to crack my top ten for the year in...ever, maybe? Looking forward to whatever is next and I hope they decide to take the wild area and run with it instead of throwing it in the cool-features-we-added-and-then-forgot-about dumpster :)
I'm not going to tell you my age on a video game forum mate lol. All I know is BW2 and XY were released a year apart and they could not have been any further apart in quality and content. The only "breaking point" was when the games started to decline.
If we get a Gen 6 scenario, the next set of games won't change anything. If we get a Gen 7 scenario, the next set of games will marginally improve things. Either way, I don't think people's opinion of Gen 8 will change very much.
I also didn't even play gen 5 until after gen 6. Gen 5 came out at a time when I'd kind of lost interest and then only a few years later started craving a new game and so picked up Y.
So yeah I don't think my pick of Black as the best game is all that dependent on nostalgia since I played it as a pallet cleanser immediately following the worst game in the series.
Which of those opinions of mine rustles your jimmies more, me not liking SwSh, or me not liking the original G/S/C? Because I find both gens wildly unfulfilling with lopsided difficulty curves and Dex issues.
The last one I played before Shield was Pokemon Black, so it's been a while.
For some reason I felt like I was barely challenged throughout most of my time with it. I don't know if it's because all Pokemon gain XP now or what, but almost every battle was cake. Gym leaders were complete pushovers, as was the 'champion'.
Previous games felt tougher to me.
For some reason I felt like I was barely challenged throughout most of my time with it. I don't know if it's because all Pokemon gain XP now or what, but almost every battle was cake. Gym leaders were complete pushovers, as was the 'champion'.
Previous games felt tougher to me.
That's been a pretty consistent complaint since XY through the 3DS games.
Crazily enough, Sword and Shield are actually a small step up in difficulty from XY and SuMo, trainers in those games couldn't stand up to a stiff breeze so you just waltzed your way through if you weren't taking every precaution to keep from overlevelling
I'm not a fan of the series at all, only playing Gen 1 back when I was a kid and enjoyed it okay, but never played a single other game in the series unitl Gen 8.
I LOVED IT. Maybe everyone else just needs to take a ~20 year break from the series like I did? haha
I LOVED IT. Maybe everyone else just needs to take a ~20 year break from the series like I did? haha
USUM had a pretty solid difficulty curve. Definitely one of the more challenging games in the series.
Mediocre. Still can't believe they managed to make a game just as bad as X/Y. Only redeeming things are having some of the best Pokemon designs in ages, and good music.
Let's be honest here, with how Gamefreak handled Gen 6 and Gen 7 with their "third" game (X/Y didn't get shit), there's little hope that Sword/Shield will be improved in significant ways.
I guess you must not spend much time around Pokemon fans? Because Gen 2 being the best is a pretty popular opinion, not just here. I agree with you though.
