At roughly 33 hours I beat the eight gyms of Pokemon Sword/Shield, and at 48 hours I finally beat the champion and the game (Edit: at editing, I am at over 100 hours). Pokemon Sword/Shield had one of the most controversial releases of a Pokemon game I can remember, but beneath the controversy, beneath the reasons for that controversy, and beneath the myriad of issues and disappointments in the most recent release in the legendary Pokemon series is one of the most fun and time-sinkable games since, what, Red? Silver? When was Pokemon last so bingeable? My point is, I could have easily beaten this game at the 34 hour mark, if I'd chosen to. Hell, I could have beaten this game far earlier as well, if it wasn't for just how good Pokemon Sword/Shield's tools are in building the best team you can, and if they hadn't added the Wild.
The controversies are numerous when it comes to the most recent installment in Game Freak's nearly mythic game series, and some of these are good criticism. Pokemon Sword/Shield generally doesn't look that great, especially if you compare it to the recently ported Dragon Quest XI, which looks phenomenal. There are moments here and there, where rolling hills kissed by twilight act as backdrop to your traveling down various routes and paths, where the city you've been looking for looms over a cresting hill of farmland, where the game truly looks awesome and more adventurous than any Pokemon game to date. There are cities and towns that glow or feel lived in, but these pocketed moments of beauty are peaks in a host of valleys. For the most part, Sword/Shield look like suped up, HD versions of 3DS games, with (infamous) blurry textured trees and plain foliage dotting empty, slightly rolling hills. There was definitely an effort to make this a better looking game than any game previously in the series, but it feels like the standard they were trying to outshine was what was found on the 3DS, as though they were pushing forward the standards of handheld gaming. That would be fine and grand if it wasn't for the fact that the Switch is also a home console, and thus boasts a few games in its library that look truly awesome (although, full disclosure, most Switch games - especially ports - look rather muddy, or otherwise lacking compared to other platforms, an issue usually offset by the thrill of playing the game portable). Sword/Shield just doesn't look like console games. I could see part of this being because of the technical issues with the Wild, something we will talk about later, but it does little to dampen the disappointment.
The primary controversy, however, is the lack of the National Dex. No longer can Pokemon support all previous games before it, and for the first time since its introduction, the Pokemon Box can't import your vast collection of limbo'd Pokemon to the new game. Instead, Sword/Shield are limited to the 400 Pokemon handpicked or created for this release, no exceptions or plans for future inclusions of other Pokemon. This is disappointing, but feels pretty practical. Game Freak's roster of lovable monsters has officially exceeded the 1000 count, and since we have moved past sprite work to fully animated (err, mostly animated, I should say) 3D models, the amount of work and time required here has become insurmountable. People can go on about reusing old models to fill in the gaps, or the rumors that old models were used here and that it is just laziness to not use them, but a lot of that talk is coming from people who simply do not understand how game development works. Animating and fitting art assets and models isn't some small task that comes together in a matter of weeks. It spans most of the development, and can even cause a lot of the delays we see happen to AAA titles. Its intense, difficult work. To see this in action - and with easier to animate models, no less - look no further than the Double Fine Adventure documentary on YouTube, which often remarks just how many days the head animator has been sleeping at the office to try and get things in and done on time (spoiler: even then he doesn't even come close). And that was on a 2D adventure game, something you would expect to have minimal technical difficulties, not a 3D, multiplayer, semi-open world adventure RPG. My point is, perhaps they exaggerated slightly about not reusing models or some such, but a slight exaggeration doesn't matter because 1000 models being ported/produced, animated, and refined for a new release is an insane amount of work, and if it is between doing that or adding new and interesting features into the series, I'd go for the latter. It was always inevitable for this to happen at some point, and maybe this game will make it easier for future Pokemon games to have more, but I'm not losing any sleep because Game Freak cut an extremely practical corner here, especially when you consider that 400 Pokemon is still a lot.
My real issue with this newest installment is in how the game follows the same cliche story beats all previous games have, albeit in the most streamlined, unobtrusive way yet (a minor improvement). You are a young would-be Pokemon trainer that wants to defeat the 8 gyms of the Galar region to prove yourself in the championship (this game's version of the Elite Four, this time being more of a bracket with other trainers and previously fought gym leaders - a really weird and not so welcome change, but relatively inoffensive all in all). This time, your gangster/hooligan antagonists are Team Yell, a satirical take at the most intense of Soccer fans from the UK (or, Football fans for those of you abroad). Here, Soccer is replaced with Pokemon battles, and Team Yell are here in support of Marnie, another challenger and a sort of secondary or third rival. There are several pseudo-rivals in this game. Previous games have toyed with the idea of multiple rivals, and Sword/Shield sort of does this as well. Technically, you have one true rival, Hop. Hop is a sad character, one of the saddest since your rival in Gold/Silver. Hop is the younger brother of Leon, the Galar region champion who is beloved and respected by everyone. Leon struts around with a cape covered in advertising logos like a jersey or NASCAR car, is colleagues with some of the most powerful people in the region, and has a significant role in protecting the peace in Galar. He's a Big Deal, and Hop wants nothing more than to beat him in battle. The problem is Hop decided you would be his rival to help him train towards this goal, and if you haven't played many Pokemon games, then let me tell you that in every one of them you play as a virtual Pokemon training God. Hop doesn't stand a chance, and instead of feeling empowered when you battle him it just feels sad. Even with Hop being incredibly annoying, I took no pleasure in repeatedly slamming him back to earth from his lofty dreams. I understand the pros and cons to comparing rivals to Blue from Red/Blue, and yeah, maybe having a straight jerk as a rival is less interesting than a character that you actually like and feel some kinship with, but I need to feel good fighting them or else we get what we have with Hop here. I think this may be part of the reason you are given some pseudo-rivals throughout the game. Leon counts as one, obviously, representing the final boss of the game. Marnie, leader of Team Yell, considers you her rival, and is a rather likable character (although equally not very tough as Hop). And lastly we have Bede, who is a self absorbed jerk, and less fun than you'd think at defeating (and whose story seems to teeter out a bit by the end). While there is some story involving legendary Pokemon as in all previous games, this has the most subdued plot of any in the series. Mostly, Sword/Shield breezes through its story and the Gym challenge to get you to the end game quickly, and that is because the end game is where this game seriously shines.
Sword/Shield continue previous games' post game features such as breeding and the Battle Tower, while also adding a reworked Gym system in the post game. Once the champion is beaten, you can go back and fight harder versions of the gym challenges, which is a fun side quest. There are more than enough distractions between these new battle features and Pokemon collecting, but the true meat of the game's post game is in the Wild. The Wild acts as a pseudo MMO area, something in the vain of Destiny or other online multiplayer games without going full World of Warcraft. The Wild is the only area of the game that allows you to control the camera, a first for the series. Likewise, when connected online you can see other players roaming around and attempting to catch Pokemon. Weather states across the various sections of the Wild will change what Pokemon will spawn, drawing you back to it repeatedly to find new Pokemon or to catch more of those rare Pokemon to look for better IVs and EVs. The Wild is by far the most impressive addition to the series, giving us the closest we will most likely ever get to a true Pokemon MMO. While in the Wild, you can also do raids by finding glowing Pokemon dens, or by using a Wishing Star in an empty den. You can then invite three friends or random players to play against tough versions of Pokemon, which have at least one max stat, with upwards of four. They are also the only place to get a Pokemon with a hidden ability, and some of them will be rare or otherwise conditional to find (such as weather conditions). You will also get a handful of TMs and TRs (like powerful, classic TMs with only one use) based on one or both of the raid Pokemon's typing, which can be incredibly valuable in tuning your team. One of the more inspired choices by Game Freak was introducing you to the Wild before your first gym. At first, this felt like a misstep since I wasted hours catching Pokemon and leveling up before ever going to the first gym, leading to an extremely easy win once I finally faced the grass gym leader. But the game is surprisingly well tuned after this first Gym, scaled under the assumption you will return to the Wild after each Gym battle. You are incentivized to do this since Gym badges are now also your gate from catching Pokemon of certain levels. For the first time in a Pokemon game, the Wild boasts extremely strong Pokemon (upwards of level 60 or so before beating the game) that can totally wipe your team early in the game. To offset this new terrifying dynamic, the game gives and sells you PokeDolls, which in this game allow you to run away without fail. The intimidation of seeing an Onyx while roaming the Wild is a feeling I never thought I would feel in a Pokemon game, and is easily one of my favorite new features in this game. Once the game is beaten, all Pokemon in the Wild will be minimum level 60, making late game catching much more interesting. The Wild is one of the most exciting features in the game and the series at large, but that may have come at a great cost. When connecting online, the game drops frames like crazy, making me think that the simplified art style so criticized may have been a concession to get the Wild working on whatever engine they are using. It feels a bit unoptimized, but given these games always have 3 year cycles, I think that this may have been accepted knowing they could use it as a foundation for the next game in the series. It isn't an ideal, or even something I'm particularly comfortable with, as it feels like the Pokemon games are always taking baby steps with each entry, rather than the leap everyone really wants, and this seemed like the perfect time to do it as we finally got the home console release so often asked for. Despite this trend still being true, there are still significant additions that make people coming back to the series have a much better time than in previous games.
There are a lot of convenience features added or taken from Lets Go Pokemon, such as permanent experience share. While I've heard some controversy about this feature, I think it is a complete success. I can't think of any other JRPG that doesn't level up your entire party after a battle, and while I realize that Pokemon is mostly 1v1 rather than 3vWhatever, mechanically Pokemon has always felt very much like a JRPG party, and this addition only makes training less painful. Likewise to experience share, your Pokemon share EVs earned, meaning if you fight a Pokemon that gives you 1 speed EV, your entire team will gain that EV. This can be a mixed thing if you are very tight about how you distribute your EVs (remember, you can only have 252 EVs on a Pokemon, but there are berries that will take away stat-specific EVs, so you aren't locked into it). Overall, however, I think this is also a plus. The Pokemon centers now boast a the Pokemon namer guy, which allows you to nickname your Pokemon at will, but also lets you relearn forgotten moves, making it easier than ever to truly tune your Pokemon's moves at will. The general impression is that Pokemon is now trying to give you more ways to engage with its endgame, something mildly ironic given the public response to the game.
I understand everyone's frustrations with how compromised this game feels, but those compromises come as payment for one of the most fun games in the series, bar none. I'm at over 50 hours (Edit: 100+ as of editing) at this point and still not thinking of putting it down. Running around the Wild still hasn't gotten old, and tuning different teams has never been more engaging and less tedious. It is frustrating that this game's groundwork feels as though it could easily have been revolutionary for the series, but I will settle with it being the most fun and engaging game in a long time.
8.5
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