Nostalgia is seemingly always in style. Every company loves to reference their older titles to play with their fans and their love of classic games. Few companies embrace nostalgia like Nintendo, who's always riding the wave of "old-school" favorite. Many fans would say the biggest culprit in nostalgia baiting is the Pokémon franchise, including the Nintendo Switch entry in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
How many people remember grabbing your Gameboy Color or even Nintendo DS to play the latest Pokémon title? Well, Sword and Shield continued to bring the fun, comical, and downright wholesome experience of "catching them all."
However, while many praised the newest entry to the Pokémon franchise, others were (and still are) a bit wary of what the game offers. The choices and prioritizations made during development can be a bit of a head-scratcher. Some things just don't make any sense.
Updated October 31st, 2020 by Tanner Kinney: Pokémon Sword And Shield have now been out for almost a full year at this point. By now, both of the planned expansions have been released and thoroughly explored. While many of the nonsensical decisions made by GameFreak still stand (and should be improved), the game is certainly in a better spot than at its release. However, there are still a number of decisions that make no sense, regardless of perspective.
15 The Bizarre Dynamax Adventures
Dynamax Adventures are the biggest addition to The Crown Tundra, the latest DLC expansion for Sword and Shield. In it, the player takes a rental roster and plays a cooperative "dungeon" with three other people or NPCs. The goal is to make it to the end and defeat the powerful mythical Pokemon hiding in the shadows.
The concept is certainly cooler than anything else Sword and Shield has done, but it's still rather limited. The "dungeon" is fairly one-dimensional, and the fact that they're still just Dynamax raid battles makes them less enticing to play over and over. It's a step in the right direction, could have used some more variety.
14 Galar Is Home To A Lot Of Legendaries Now
With the Dynamax Adventures and other events, The Crown Tundra unlocks so many different legendary Pokémon from every other title. They await the party at the end of a Dynamax Adventure, or are found through solving mysteries in the DLC campaign. Either way, they're readily available.
Which leads to a question: how are they all here? Pokémon like Dialga and Palkia, for instance, are kind of majorly important to the lore of Sinnoh; it's hard to believe there's more than one of them roaming around. It's even more of a convoluted explanation than that of Ultra Wormholes, which is quite the achievement.
13 Pokémon Can Have Two Abilities
GameFreak can't help themselves but break the fragile meta of competitive Pokémon battles. There's a reason many players opt into rulesets like Smogon's, and that's because there's so much jank when legendaries get involved. This is further exacerbated by Calyrex, the High-King Pokémon.
Calyrex on its own is actually fairly underwhelming. However, when given its noble steed of Spectrier or Glastrier, it obtains an extra ability and a huge statline. It's an incredibly powerful Pokémon, and who knows what'll happen in the future now that two abilities are possible. Game Freak will surely make everything nice and balanced, right?
12 Starters Are Still Waiting For A Green Card
The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra both added back many of the missing Pokémon from prior games. This included the rest of the Kanto starters, the Alola starters, and the Hoenn starters. However, for some reason GameFreak has decided that the beloved starters from every other region just get to keep waiting.
With some Pokémon exclusions, it's understandable. But the starters are some of the most popular Pokémon across the board though, so it's hard to imagine why some would make the cut and others wouldn't. Hopefully in whatever game comes next, the Chikorita of the world can finally leave their cushy Alolan vacation for a new adventure.
11 The Expansion Pass Entry Fee
Possibly the most irritating decision of all, at least for players who invest late into the game, is the expansion pass fee. Make no mistake, Sword and Shield on their own aren't complete games. The DLC helps to complete them across the board and genuinely make great strides. In a fair world, they would be included in a new bundle with the original game or given to all players for free.
But, since GameFreak is still trying to make more of a profit, there's a barrier to entry to get the expansion pass. It's possible that down the line they'll release a complete edition or a Pokémon Gun third version to bundle it all together. For now, though, it's either open up the wallet or live with an incomplete game, and that feels terrible as a consumer.
10 Faulty Animations
Game Freak, the studio developing this game, has been taking some heat for some of the design elements of Sword and Shield. For instance, there are claims that some of the animations are reused from older games, while others are just lackluster. While some of the animations live up to the hype, others fall by the wayside (especially during battle). It is very odd that Game Freak could not ensure the animations within the game are uniformly stellar.
9 All Pokémon Are Not Included
Wait...the whole goal of Pokémon is "catching them all." Right? For this go around, gamers are sadly mistaken. The typical Pokedex includes approximately 800 Pokémon. However, this time, players can expect to only have access to 400, with some major legacy Pokémon missing from the line-up. There are assumptions that this happened because of time and resource limitations, but it is hard to imagine a Pokémon game without all of the creatures being available or viewable. Even with the expansions, many fan-favorite Pokémon are still left behind. Who made that decision?
8 The Inconsistency Of Random Encounters
This game allows you to bypass training and even gives you the opportunity to travel to various destinations without a long and drawn out loading screen. However, Sword and Shield changed the game regarding how random encounters happen. Back in the day, you could be walking through a field and instantly have to do battle with a Pokémon.
Today, you have a choice. This feature is a great touch but also seems inconsistent. While you can see most Pokémon, there are others that you can only catch through engaging in a random encounter (signified by an exclamation point). Do all players know this? An all or nothing approach might have made more sense.
7 Activities That Make The Game Easier Are Optional
Gamers are creative. That's a fact. We enjoy creating various strategies and developing new ways to solve a puzzle. Yet, it still helps to get a little guidance sometimes. When it comes to Sword and Shield, many things are optional but shouldn't be. Feathers can improve your stats, while Poke Jobs can give you the points you need to level up (which is going to be essential in battle). However, you are not steered toward these and are made to feel they are not necessary when they are. A bit of a heads-up, or making these elements mandatory would be helpful.
6 A Diverse Audience
For over 20 years, Pokémon has seemed almost to define the millennial generation. From the cartoons to the games, the childhoods of those born in the 80s and early to mid-90s was tied to this franchise. Alternatively, this game was made to appeal to a wide variety of audiences. From competitive players to today's children, almost anyone can jump in, understand the game's culture, and have a blast. It almost makes no sense that after two decades, this game is still resonating with many and is a staple in pop culture.
5 The Varying Opinions
Sword and Shield is one of (if not the most) polarizing Pokémon game ever. There are countless reviews about this game, and the consensus is not the same. Some are loving this game, while others are disappointed with the outcome.
There is a subset that thinks the game is "average," but most either love it or hate it. It is amazing that multiple gaming sites are reporting such opposite reviews for this. Some like the animations, while others hate them. Some favor the raids, while others are not impressed. We guess Nintendo can't win them all.
4 Detailed Pokemon
While the jury is still out regarding the battle animations, many fans are loving the individual animations and personalities of the Pokémon. Each Pokémon has a distinct personality that is shown off in how they interact with the character. It is striking that the developers were able to attach a unique motion and reaction to each Pokemon character. For a game that is simple in many mechanics, it almost doesn't make any sense that this game is so detailed in several ways.
3 The Inclusion Of Dynamaxing And Raids
At its core, Pokémon is a story about catching Pokémon and participating in Pokémon battles. Period. It is great to include other features, but they should not take away from the original purpose of the game or story. For many, Dynamaxing feels like a departure from what Pokémon games are truly about.
Now, it is pretty cool to fight a giant Pokémon and even have your Pokémon grow to Godzilla-like sizes to battle as well. However, it is a little puzzling that "raiding" and "three-on-one" battles have become prominent in this space. It may be too much to juggle this with the primary purpose of the game.
2 Why Curry?
Now, don't get us wrong! We love our curry. Yet, we find it a little weird that this is the food of choice chosen for Sword and Shield. What is it about the dish where they decided to select this as the food of choice? Is there an inside story we don't know about? Did the developers have a preference for this dish? There are more than 100 types of curry in the game. Whatever the reason, we are a bit jealous of these guys. Curry for life? That sounds like heaven.
1 The Lack Of Dialogue
We know that in the past, Pokémon games on handheld consoles have lacked in the audio department. It made sense. The graphical capabilities were low, and it just made more sense to focus on other things. However, this game pushed the envelope when it came to the graphics and even animation details. A lack of dialogue and talented voice actors doesn't seem to go with this vibrant new iteration. It was a missed opportunity to add some nuance to the story and encourage more engagement and investment.