Pokémon Sword and Shield: A Reapers Review
Since this challenge was posted by Mr. Prose reviewer himself, it seems appropriate for yet another Reapers review! 25 years and counting Wow! Reapers an OG Pokéfan. Been in the game since the 1st 151 but today the primary focus will be on the latest instalment’s sword and shield (sword specifically because that’s to one Reaper played)
[Warning Spoilers Ahead!!!]
Playthrough Impressions
The last few instalments in the Pokémon series have had a growing emphasis on the cultural differences of life, traditions, and what it means to be an aspiring young Pokémon trainer in each Region. The Galar region(based on Great Britan, England) certainly provides a distinct and refreshing atmosphere to begin the journey of a lifetime. Leons introduction was epic! Though Reaper had low expectations of the new dynamax battle gimmick, he can’t deny that when the proclaimed unbeatable champion casually states he doesn’t lose Pokémon battles before whipping out a Charizard that looks like it did the fusion dance with Endeavor just before digivolving to ultimate, it did invoke feelings of uncertainty. (is little grookey going to be able to overcome something like that?!) The idea of spinning the gym challenges into a major sporting event was brilliant! And Reaper must admit that donning a uniform with his favorite number and heading out onto the pitch for the opening ceremony was one of the most immersive experiences in the game. Exploring the wild area, interacting with several rivals, and competing in larger-than-life battles in a packed stadium were details that certainly made this experience different from other Pokémon games. They brought back the regional variants which were a huge hit in Sun and Moon and introduced a ton of new items to help tweak your Pokémon to get the stats you desire. Every now and again on your road to the top they mentioned a plot that appeared to be some big dark cover up of Galars shadowy past but it ultimately turned out to be nothing. By the end of the day, your rivals fall to the wayside, you dethrone Leon (who does not live up to the hype) and children sing in the streets hailing you, the new champion, Happy Day!
Likes/Memorable Moments
The Gym Leader Walk: As Reaper stated earlier the opening ceremony was one of the most immersive parts of the game. Having the gym leaders do their slow-motion superhero walk into the stadium was a great touch. It showed off the gym leaders as professional athletes who anyone would be honored to get a chance to battle in the arena. We get so use to the idea of 10 year old children casually slapping gym leaders aside, so it was good to be reminded that in this universe it’s like standing in the stadium with, Tom Brady, Labron James, or Serina Williams and you getting a shot to beat them at their own game!
The Wild Area Onix: Pokémon Sword managed to make Reaper feel something he hasn’t experienced since playing Pokémon Red. They made Reaper afraid to fight a Pokémon! 1st time in the wild area and here comes this onix. It looks stong, we have room... sure let’s catch it! Then the battle began. At LV 21 the creature toward above Reapers crew both physical and metaphorically. After it one shotted 2 of Reapers party members and proved immune to pokeballs Reaper was forced to make a tough call. “Let’s retreat...” but the onix was having none of it. It blocked our path and beat another teammate to sleep. That’s when Reaper got angry. “You had one chance to walk away from this encounter. You won’t get a 2nd...” What felt like a half hour later Reaper walked away carrying most of his unconscious team mates and an empty bag that had previously been filled with supplies. His bloodied raised fist resounded the cry of victory. Behind him the lay the fallen onix. It moved no more.
NPC Lingo: It really helped getting a feel for Galar (Great Britian, England) when you hear the NPCs use the same lingo you might here on a British TV network (or maybe outside depending on where you live) If you like to travel around like Reaper does you might already know that a common way locals can spot a tourist is by how they reference everyday items. Sometimes it’s the little things.
The Rivals: Having multiple rivals was a good touch and really fit well into the grand competition theme of the game. It helped that each rival had a story arc throughout the game to remind you there are other trainers striving for the number one contender position.
Dinner with Chairman Rose: Being invited for an exclusive dinner with Chairman Rose was a very memorable moment in the game. By this point most of the competitors have dropped from the competition and after your last big televised victory you’re really starting to turn heads. Chairman Roses attempts to get into your good graces now seeing you as a potential asset to his scheme. Theres a realistic and very important lesson here. Sometimes it can be lonely at the top because you never know when someone’s kindness is just a ploy to exploit your talents for their own personal gain. Rising stars beware!
Dislikes/Disappointments/Missed Opportunities
1. It’s a Cake walk: This Game takes the train out of trainer. It is so very easy you will have no trouble clearing it regardless of starter Pokémon choice, typing diversity, or conceivable strategy. EXP Share is not only present from the start of the game it’s a requirement. In addition to having no off switch, it seems capable of dishing out even more EXP than is actually earned from knocking out the Pokémon. Rare candy, and Exp candy are handed out like... well... candy. And it’s very OP. With a fist full of candy, you can take a freshly hatched Pokémon and have a fighting machine ready to take on the champion in less than 5 min. (Reaper actually did this in the post-game it’s not an exaggeration) 95% of your opponents will employ the same strategy which is, pick one type of Pokémon, attack, and hope for the best. Since you’ll typically be two or three levels above your opponent just by walking strait to each mission objective these slugfests should typically end in your favor. You can skip on trekking to Pokémon centers. It seems every highway has good Samaritans ready to fully heal your Pokémon just as effectively as Nurse Joy minus the speech. And only 3 or 4 trainers in the entire game actually use six Pokémon! Like seriously Game Freak?! Even monotype nuzlock might not be enough to make this game a challenge.
2. Wild Area: The wild Area was a good idea but ultimately it was disappointing. With such a vast and central location in the game you’d think the wild area would be a hub for unlimited adventure but, it gets old pretty quick. It would have been nice to have some unpredictability to really bring out the adventure you’d imagine by ruffing it in the wild. Instead of Pokémon meandering towards you when looked at and having an ordinary battle, what if there were Pokémon like ryhorn that instantly charge at you when walking into their territory and causes damage to your whole team if hit by its charge? How about fighting a swarm of beedrill 2 Vs 5 or 3Vs 5 in reminiscence of the Pokémon hoards we saw in earlier games? What about Pokémon that will run instantly when spotted and they move so fast you can’t hope to catch them unless you either sneak up on them or chase them down on a bike? It also would have been cool to see the wild area play a role in the actual story. Maybe you have to hunt down a Galvantula that stole a competitor’s league registration card, or catch a very strong wild Sir Fetche’d that challenges anyone who tries to cross its bridge. Or perhaps add in a side quest where you run into one of your rivals in a secret cave trying to catch a rare Pokémon. There’s a lot of missed opportunities here!
3. The Rivals: Yes were talking about the rivals on both sides. Although its Reaper’s opinion that having multiple rivals helped validate the theme of the story, the rivals could have been so much more to make the journey a memorable experience. Besides a few minor changes in dialogue none of the rivals really stood out that much. Besides Hop who had a little more screen time they each showed up a few times had a little banter and a battle then voila story arc complete. Pretty dull especially considering each one was no more difficult to beat than the average trainer and they all used the same battle strategy. (Which as mentioned is train one type of Pokémon and punch.) Wouldn’t it be neat if they all employed dynamic battle strategies that made there battles memorable and unique? “Oh no we have to battle Hop again! Last time he had all his Pokémon use iron defense till there defense stats were maxed out! It took 15 min to chip his HP down to zero! This time it might be worth the extra turn to use X Attack or Dire hit to try and stop him from drawing this battle out.” Or maybe we get a rival that always tries to one shot us with solarbeam. Which is an easy and predictable fight. However, by the time we have our last battle they have a team utilizing sunny day and all their Pokémon have chlorophyll, So while their firing solarbeam after solarbeam in rapid succession we have to figure out how we’re going to cope with these super speedy grass Pokémon. Do we have a steel or poison type Pokémon to absorb the damage? Do we have someone in our party who can change the weather to something more favorable? Are we forced to take the hits and wait for the right moment to strike as soon as the sun disappears behind that cloud!?! Doesn’t that sound more interesting than; “Oh another Pikachu clone. Its gonna switch types next turn. Seeing that we have 16 Lvs on this thing pretty sure a good Wood hammer should do the trick.” Give us the Rivals we deserve Game Freak!
4. Graphics/Battle Animation: The graphics in Pokémon Sword and Sheild are a sin. Last time we jumped from hand held to counsel we compared the graphics of Pokémon Gold and Silver on Gameboy Color to Pokémon Stadium on the N64. Talk about a dynamic shift! Sword and Sheild is the 1st true Pokémon adventure on console since Gale of Darkness on the GameCube. Thats 3 system generations old! Surely, we can expect a spectacular visual experience in the world of sword and shield right? Nope. The graphics of Pokémon sword are barely a step above Sun and Moon. Besides Glimwood Tangle and maybe Motorstoke no location in Galar really stands out. Most places look kind of barren or just plain insignificant. Outside of max moves there are only 9 or 10 particularly flashy battle moves. Most Pokémon barely show any personality in battle. Theres no excuse for this. If you think Reapers exaggerating. Look up how blastoies in Pokémon stadium 2 pulls out his cannons, levels them, then fires two distinct shots when using hydro pump. Then compare it to the Pokémon sword blastoise where a stream of water is pasted in blastoise’s general head area. Does he even know he’s in battle with that docile expression? Look at Pokémon stadiums raichu use surf by jumping on its tail like a surf board and riding the wave, or Machamp jumping up with all four arms raised preparing for a brutal cross chomp, or see it struggle to remain in the fight when KO’d or watch poliwrath flex on his foes before performing a move. Look up Pokémon coliseum and see typhlosion rev up before spewing a flame thrower from its mouth, watch Alakazam loose its footing after taking a heavy hit and struggle back to its feet. Look at that then compare it to Pokémon swords generic battle motions and cut out battle movements. Having Pokémon show a little more personality in battle will make us form a bond with them more effectively than 100 Pokémon refresh mini games. Theres no reason 15 and 20 year old games should be beating sword and shield in simulating Pokémon personality.
5. The story: Pokémon games have never been known for their awe-inspiring story. More iconicially its, new kid in town rises the ranks to be champion, and also you might want to stop team so and so from accomplishing whatever vague agenda. Pokemon Sword and Shield seemed like it would be the game to break the mold. Starting off with the mysterious location of the Slumbering Wield early game, and teaming up with Sonia to discover how the dynamax phenomenon is related to the cryptic darkest day event that occurred 3000 years ago. This reminds Reaper of episode 72 of the Pokémon anime where Ash and his friends meet a group of archeologists researching the ancient civilization of Pokenopolis. According to research this ancient civilization used a strange dark power to wage war using giant Pokémon. This power was more that they could handle and it was eventually their own downfall. Later in the episode when this ancient power is accidentally unleashed gargantuan Pokémon appear generating a storm so vast and dark it appears to be nighttime in midafternoon. Battling the giants seems futile but the team gets a lucky break and the massive Pokémon eventually take care of themselves. Over 1000 episodes later this is never revisited. But the similarities here are uncanny. What if the darkest day was actually the day pokenopolis lost control of that great power? What if Chairman Rose is the last descendent of that ancient civilization? What if his primary goal was to regain that dark power of bending dymamax Pokémon to his will and resume his ancestors wishes of world conquest. Surely in the wake of an army of Kaiju sized Pokémon the other regions would be powerless to stop it. Or... or... we could go with option B another generic, vague, and shallow plot by a generic, vague, and shallow villain. It seems like the reason we have chairman Rose as a villain is because the game needed one. Oh and lets throw in team yell just for kicks. Come on Game Freak!
Post Game/DLC
Whether its catching Mewtwo, fighting ultra beasts, or exploring a brand-new region, fans always know there’s a little something extra to look forward to after the end credits of every Pokémon game. The post-game content in Pokémon sword was poison. Reaper believes the “villains” were supposed to be comical but they were incredibly annoying. The entire thing consisted of repetitive mind numbing dynamax battles and repeatedly letting the villains escape because... we’re much faster stronger and smarter than them and usually have them outnumber? It’s a sad statement to say the most exciting part of the post-game was Hop having a 2nd redemption arc.
The DLC Isle of Amor and Crown Tundra were both interesting in their own right but hardly justify the extra purchases. Essentially each of these expansions allowed you access to a new wild area, gave the added side quest of training at a dojo and the champion cup, unlocked the ability to give eligible Pokémon the dynamax ability, and unlocks Pokémon from different regions including legendries. These are the type of perks usually unlocked for free after completing the main story.
Verdict
So, Reapers final verdict on Pokémon Sword and Sheild is... Try it! If you’re a Pokémon fan there’s no doubt you’ll have lots of fun collecting and battling the creatures we all know and love. You might find a few new pals to add to your favorites list. If your knew to the Pokémon family this game is a great place to Hop in. (Pun intended) Its low difficulty means you don’t need to feel overwhelmed by not knowing type matchups, advantages and disadvantages. Just do what feels right, add it to your team if it looks strong, cool, or cute and have fun. If you change your mind on who you want to focus on raising mid or late game the easy EXP option makes for a very forgiving game format. You never have to worry about wasting time, EXP items TMs etc. Everything is plentiful and easily replaceable.
Reaper recommends passing on the post-game content unless your simply in love with the game or a diehard fan who would feel the story is incomplete without the little bit of extra. The amount of new content in the DLC is good for a few extra hours of game play but all in all is more equivalent to unlockables or a system update. Reaper wouldn’t suggest spending extra money on the DLC unless it’s bundled with the game. And that’s about all she wrote on this one pokefans! This has been a Reapers Review. Thanks for reading!