Catching all 151, er, 368, er ... a lot: The Pokemon Infodump Party!

I’m seeing so much negativity online about Sword and Shield, I’m not used to people having this reaction about a Pokémon game (especially not before it’s even out). I know it’s gonna have it’s flaws, but we gotta give it a chance.

 

Spoiler: sword/shield spoilers

holy shit

 

(Flips table)

 

POKÉMON

 

tbh, this is the first OG game that I'm passing on. While disappointed with the national dex cut, it's not a deal breaker for me, in fact I think in theory it's probably really good for the metagame. Some of the choices of what to keep vs. cut are deeply puzzling to me, like why did they keep a bunch of sort of redundant pokemon like the wooper, shellos, AND tympole lines, Or the machop and Gurdurr lines? Why is the charmander line the ONLY previous gen starter line in the game?

But like I said, this is puzzling, not deal breaking. My frustration has been growing with world design, and from what' I've read, this game just escalates my concerns. The move from sprite to 3d made routes and dungeons shorter and less complicated, and I've enjoyed the worlds a lot less since. There aren't any dungeons or forests or maze buildings like the Slyph Tower or the Galactic Hideout in this game--the only forest is ostensibly about the complexity of Veridian Forest, and the towns are full of closed doors and empty, inaccessible buildings.

I think it's a shame, and I'll stick with my fan games for now.

 

I’m on day three of Pokémon Shield and enjoying it quite a bit. Today I got pokerus AND caught a shiny Skorupi!

 

Update- I have now beaten the evil boss, the champion, caught a legendary, AND a shiny Rookidee! This has been a good couple of days.

 

No matter how shit the game was, I was never going to pass on a region based on my home country. And to be honest? I like it, I'm enjoying myself. The wild area's a lot of fun, I like most of the town designs (Spikemuth not included. Great aesthetic, terrible execution), I like the characters. Is it the best Pokemon game? Fuck no. Are some of this Gen's Pokemon designs baffling? Fuck yes (those fossils, man). Is there a lot of untapped potential? Totally! Are my standards low? Kind of! But that's what I'm taking from it.

Also, I thought X/Y was kind of lacking in the story department (which SwSh definitely is) and the character department, then Gen 6 pulled out ORAS, so... I have hope for the rest of Gen 8.

 

I wish Spikemuth had been given like... depth? (Also very odd that the punk clothing wasn't located there, but whatever.) But overall I absolutely enjoyed this game, and it struck a good balance between battling and story for me--I ended up hitting a spot in SuMo that left me not finishing the game (don't ask me what, I can't remember, only that the back to back cutscenes started to grate after a while) but I didn't really hit any drags in this one.

And I absolutely love the wild area. It fulfills the fantasies that Baby PR had when he first picked up Blue decades ago. The only thing that would make it a perfect game is if we had contests, BRING BACK CONTESTS FROM HOENN, GAMEFREAK.

 

i am gonna pass on a region based on my home country because i hate being reminded that it exists

 

Spoiler: sword/shield spoiler

 

I know, right? I was expecting at least actual physical dimensions rather than being a glorified corridor, and I was so disappointed by its lack of boutiques (or anything else). And what, does no-one live there?

Contests were so good, and I wish they'd stayed a feature of the games after Gen 4 (and Gen 3 remakes).

 

Its evolution is pretty, though.

 

Spoiler: swsh spoilers ahoy

• Me: bede, quite aside from his battling skills, leon is bigger than you
• Me: also, his charizard can gigantamax and you now hang out in a stadium
• Me: he will have it SIT on you
• My GF @Pumpkageist: yeah, but for a psychic specialist, bede is fuckin stupid, and also tends to lash out at literally everything once he gets going
• Me: bede attracts psychic types bc they know he needs extra brain cells
• My GF: Lol yes
• Me: the solosis was the first
• My GF: The literal brain cell
• Me: "he Needs Me"
• Me: "My Time has Come"
• My GF: Awww
• Me: that poor long-suffering neuron
• My GF: Good goo
• Me: the gothita, on the other hand, just watches bede get himself in trouble and then does the fenneko laugh
• My GF: Looool
• My GF: It is there for the schadenfreude
• Me: yesh
• My GF: But they also worry for their little shit
• Me: it came for the schadenfreude but stayed bc okay this guy actually needs help
• Me: the ponyta on the other hand is just a sweet softe thing that wants to make better
• My GF: Nice horse
• My GF: I posit that Bede kept running away from his various children's homes and being adopted by a new psychic type each time
• Me: lol yesh

 

Somebody on tumblr (at least) has already completed their pokedex. Evidently i’ve fallen behind, time to scramble and catch up so I can get a shiny charm.

 

my partner caught me a shiny cottonee for christmas
it only took him an hour too!!!!!

 

Congrats!

Also if anyone wants to help me finish my pokedex let me know, I have 6 pokemon to go (Slurpuff, Sableye, Rhyperior, Solrock, Turtonator and Stonjourner) and I have various pokemon up for trade.

 

Anyone who wants a Dreepy, Applin, Deino or Jangmo-o can hmu, also should get started on breeding Raltses soon.

 

And G-Corsolas, hopefully.

 

I am down to ONE pokemon left to complete my pokedex, Slurpuff is all I need. If anyone has one or has a Swirlix with a Whipped Dream, I will trade you anything you want except my shinies.