It has been roughly two weeks since the release of Pokemon Sword and Shield on the Nintendo Switch. It’s also the fastest selling game of the series and of the console, having sold six million copies worldwide during its first week.
This is despite the news that came out prior to its release, that the game will not include the National Dex has caused fan outcry. Players have taken to social media including Reddit and Twitter to rail on the fact that Game Freak also broke a number of its promises, while adding unnecessary in-game features.
With that, let’s break down what Game Freak has put into Pokemon Sword and Shield instead of the National Dex.
Almost 500 Pokemon Removed
As discussed above, Gamefreak has decided not to include the National Dex in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Among the Pokemon removed include classic Pokemon such as Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Ratata and even the legendary Mewtwo. As the Pokemon tagline has been “Catch ‘Em All”, the decision by Game Freak ironically defeats the purpose of the tagline.
Moves Removed
Other than Pokemon being removed, a total of 144 moves were removed. Some that were important to the competitive scene include Hidden Power, Return / Frustration, and Pursuit.
Mediocre Graphics
As the Nintendo Switch is the successor to the Nintendo 3DS system, it is expected that the new Pokemon game would have improved graphics from the previous Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon at the very least. However, the graphics in Sword and Shield looks similar to the previous game, with low-quality textures and sceneries that doesn’t look quite well done.
Mediocre Animation
"Top quality animations"#GameFreakLied pic.twitter.com/mkfQyDvsCO
— Kevin (@_KevinTheP1_) November 13, 2019
As we can see in the video, the double kick animation is simply a small hop from Cinderace. Previously, Game Freak promised Pokemon animations would be improved as a trade off of removing some of the Pokemon. However, it does not seem like the case at all.
so dataminers discovered that the models from swsh are the same as the 3ds games,and they cut national dex so they could make better models for the pokemon #GameFreakLied
white is SwSh and black is SM pic.twitter.com/UkS3vyaiK4
— Bit-Bot (@Bit_Bomb) November 13, 2019
Additionally, data miners have also found that models in Pokemon Sword and Shield are practically copy-pasted from the previous Pokemon Sun and Moon. Hence, we are practically served with older Pokemon models with no improvement.
Talking to NPC For Hi-Tech Earbuds To Adjust In-Game Volume
In the game itself, you may find that you cannot adjust the in-game volume unless you get the Hi-tech Earbuds. You are only able to unlock the in-game volume setting after obtaining the item.
Catching Restriction
In other Pokemon games, battling or even trying to catch a high-level wild Pokemon is a high-risk, high-reward play. For some reason, Game Freak has added a restriction in Pokemon Sword and Shield, where whenever you encountered a “very strong-looking” Pokemon, you are only able to battle the Pokemon for some XP. You won’t be able to even try to catch them because Game Freak implemented a restriction based on your progression in the game.
Overall, all these problems do not necessarily mean that Pokemon Sword and Shield is unplayable. At the end of the day, it is still a continuation of the Pokemon franchise since 1996. However, we just feel that it is a pity that Game Freak did not deliver the highest quality given that the Nintendo Switch console is quite a hit.
(Source: Dot Esports, The Gamer, The Verge, Reddit [1][2], Twitter [1][2] // Image: Nintendo)
