Pokemon Shield begins like every other main Pokemon game, a young Pokemon Trainer is inspired to become the next Pokemon Champion of their region. Pokemon Shield takes place in the region of Galar which to some may resemble England as its design and some of its landmarks were heavily inspired by it. The game begins with our hero watching a Pokemon exhibition match on their phone. Hop, the brother of the current Champion, Leon came at our place to invited us over to his place as his brother would soon be returning home
and apparently today its a big day. Our hero changes their adventurer outfit and the two race to Hop's house. The Champion Leon also flew back which attracted alot of people, as Leon is some sort of an attraction. Once the crowd is clear, Leon greets us and he releases three Pokemon and asks us to choose one to be our starter. Once a decision was made, our hero and the Hop have their first match with Leon being the spectator. Once the match is finished, Leon who saw our potential suggests that we should both take the Gym Challenge
and that this could be a nice rivarly between us and Hop. With that Leon tells us where we should be heading next and that he would expects us there. Before leaving the village the trainers noticed that a Wooloo forced its way through a fence gate and made its way to Slumbering Weald, a location that was sealed off due to it being far too dangerous. The two decide to go in in order to save it. The forest was foggy and they couldnt see anything infornt of them, however a wild Pokemon appeared infront of them and soon the boys(i chose the male avatar)
passed out. When they got up Leon was there who rushed to their rescue as the boys were late to their meeting.
Our hero then bids farewell to our mom and we set to find the Pokemon Research Lab to find Leon. There we meet Sonia, a trainer who used to be Leon's rival when they first began their journey. Sonia now works as the professor's assistant and is interested into Dynamaxing and ofcourse the legendary stories of the Galar region. She also gifts us with a Pokedex as a friendly gift. Our heroes make their way to Motostoke, a big city in order to register fothe the Gym Challenge.
Uppon registering we meet other trainers who made their way there in order to also undergo the challenge. The next day, the oppening ceremony takes place and the crowd as well as some of the organisers had their eyes on us and Hop as we were endorsed by the champion himself. The Gym Challenge requires the participants to travel arround the Galar region in order to collect 8 badges from the Gym Leaders.
Throughout the Journey, Hop is always there to challenge us and to push each other limits to the max. At the same time we keep meeting up with Sonia who studies the legends of Galar. Galar was built upon the victory of a knight who used his sword and shield in order to stop the Dark days. The more we proceed we come to know that it wasnt a brave knight but instead it was two simblings one holding a sword whilst the other being his shield. However, the two brothers turned out to be two rare pokemon, one holding a sword whilst the other being a shield. The two
pokemon dealt with the threat and then vanished. Ofcourse it wouldnt be a Pokemon game without an additional sublot regarding power hungry humans. I wont say much as it may contain spoilers, however there is a person(predictable really) who was willing to risk everything in order to stay ontop. The plot then continues with a destined match.
Will our hero become the new Galar champion?
Will the Galar region sink in despair of the new threat?
Who was the sword and who was the shield?
I personally enjoyed the story of Pokemon Shield. It did what it does best and as someone who did not play all the pokemon games i found it very fun and easy to follow for anyone going in without playing all the games. There are three stories to follow however all of them progress smoothly without causing any confusion or feeling fillerish. The main plot is the one regarding our hero undergoing the Gym Challenge mission. The power hungry human subplot is perfectly aligned with that of the Dark days and the Sword and Shield plot that Sonia studies. Needless to say it was fun and i appreciated it from start to finish.
Pokemon Sword and shield is a perfect game for any newcomer to the series. It doesnt differ much from the last release, that of Pokemon let's Go, which might be a dissapointment for some but not for me.
The player gets control of the Characters Victor or Gloria who can be customized and renamed to your liking. The players also receive their Pokemon buddy based on their choosing who will be escorting them through the adventure. This is a "normal" pokemon game and this means that the player
can remove their Pokemon at any time. Once received the player can then move into the wild and begin adventuring.
When moving around the environment, wild pokemon will appear walking around the area. By walking towards them, you will trigger a pokemon encounter. Unlike Pokemon Let's Go, an encounter is following the traditional way introduced back 1996, meanning that the player will first have to weaken the pokemon in order to
throw a pokeball and capture it. Pokeballs can be thrown at any moment, however, when the encounters HP is significantly low, it makes capturing it easier.
Collecting/capturing pokemon rewards your current party with EXP points. EXP helps the Pokemon level up. The higher the level, the stronger the pokemon. Some Pokemon when reached a certain level will level up improving their power and skills. Some pokemon also obtain different abilities when leveling up. A pokemon can have up to 4 skills at a time and will have to replace a move to learn a new one. Each skill has its own elemental attack, EG. a pokemon can have a normal attack, a passive attack, a fire attack and even a ground attack. Each attack also has its own
number next to it(PP) indicating how many times the pokemon can use that ability. Some skills will have to be taught to a pokemon manualy as its not in their power up lists. Each time you defeat an NPCs they will reward you with a skill that you can then teach it to the pokemon. Furtermore, each pokemon has its own stats that the player can upgrade using Candies. Moreover, the player will have an item bag with certain stat boosting items. The player can choose to give them to Pokemon to improve their elemental abilities. For example, giving Arcanine a coal will increase
its fire using abilities. Unlike past entries where games went straight to the computer, the player now has access to all his pokemon at any moment.
During a Pokemon encounter, the player can choose to battle using the top pokemon on the party or swap to another one. The combat is turn based meanning that a pokemon attacks and then its being attacked. The pokemon with the highest speed
gets to attack first. When selecting an attack the player can see whether or not that attack will be Non effective, Effective or Super effective based on the type. For example using fire based attack on a water type Pokemon
or a fire type, wont be as effective and wont deal as much damage as it would on an ice type. You wont know which skill is effective againts which unless you have encountered that pokemon before and you either caught it or beat it.
Ofcourse Pokemon knowledge and experience can also be handy as you may be able to tell a pokemon's weakness by its looks, types of attacks or if you ve seen them in past media such as older games, TV series, movies or elsewhere.
Pokemon Battles is the where the main combat of the game is. Around the world there are different trainers who want to have a piece of the player. Whether they re trainers wondering around, Hop, team Yell or Gym leaders defending their Gym, pokemon battle is the way to do it. When an encounter begins the player is free to use whichever pokemon he wishes(out of the 6) but the one placed in the number 1 spot is the one that will come out first. The opponents have different quantities of pokemon, some have 1 other have 6. During combat the pokemon
with the fastest attack speed will most likely attack first(unless a special skill like Quick attack is used) similarly to Pokemon Encounters. Each battle is played in turns, the player will select an attack, the NPCs their ones and the animations will play out. Each Pokemon has HP representing their life, once a life of a pokemon hits 0 that pokemon will faint. the player who runs out of Pokemon first will lose the encounter. Pokemon of higher level will always have an advantage over the other. Another factor during battle is the type of pokemon. If a pokemon of water phases a pokemon of Fire, any water type
attack will cause more damage(potential one shot) to the other and if it receives a fire base attack will barely scratch its life. Every encounter is like chess, where the player will always try to use the pokemon with the advantage over the other. During battle, the player can change pokemon whenever they want skipping their damage step and even use items such as healling and revive with the same penalty. Any weak pokemon can be cured with items bought from the stores or by visisting a pokemon center in order to cure them. Battle items can be purchased from the stores.
A new addition to the game is the Dynamax raids. Early on in the game Sonia spoke about Dynamaxing, an ability that makes Pokemon gigantic and more powerfull. The trainer can challenge these raids in Online or offline where a random party of NPCs will join the player.
During a dynamax raid, the player can choose to dynamx their pokemon in order to fight, if they dont then the party members will dynamax theirs instead. A Dynamaxed pokemon changes in size and its abilities change based on their element. A dynamaxed attack can also have an enviromental
effect such as creating rain if it was a water type movements or a sandstorm if it was ground based. A Dynamax pokemon will have three attacks/turns before it turns back to its normal form. Dynamaxing is once per battle so used it wisely. Uppon defeating a dynamax raid the player can then
capture the pokemon. Dynamax can also be used when going againts Pokemon gym leaders or during certain story events.
Unlike past entries, the player does not need certain skills in order to go on water, to cut trees or to fly. Sword and shield followed the Lets Go logic of having items to do so. In the case of surf, the tainer can simply use their bike which has two modes. Normal mode which is
traversing on the land and water mode where it allows it to move on water. Fly has been completely removed with the Pokemon taxi. The player can open their map and fast travel to any other city or use the train line to go there. Cut or other abilities(Strength, Flash going up waterfalls/dismissing watewhools) are simply skipped and not needed.
Around the world, the Trainer can take on Pokemon Jobs and Bike races which will award the player with currency and items. Pokemon Camping is also a thing. Whilst in a wild route, the player can camp from the menu, talk to their Pokemon, play with them and even cook for them which will boost temporarily
their stats.
Comming back to the Pokemon world i found the game mixed myself. Everything that came up in the hub-world was perfect. Seeing the pokemon move around reduce unwanted encounters and made the world more alive. Encountering NPCs is also more dynamic by drawing attention lines. Manuvering was fun however i found it lacking in compare
to Let's Go as there you could ride your pokemon on Land, water and air where as here you can only ride your bike on land and water. Your Pokemon does not follow you around and are only out of their Pokeballs during combat and during camping sections. My main complain with this game is how easy it was. From start to finish i dont think
there was a battle where i was at the brick of fainting(losing), infact most of the times i was 1 hit K-O the opponents pokemon.
Once the player successfully defeats Leon and becomes the new champion there is a small story which will follow in order to complete the Sword and Shield legend. Hop and your character will have to return the treassures however a new pair will come and will try to take it off from them. Then a quick chase around Galar will begin before officially concluding the story. For me this felt like they were dragging the game's story a bit. Aside from that, the players can take on the Pokemon Jobs which are small side quests and also take the Bike challenges each rewarding the player with items. Furthermore, like any other pokemon game the players can try and complete the Pokedex by collecting all Pokemon. Shiny hunters can grind the game for hours/months in order to complete the shiny Pokedex. If you re feeling battle hungry the battle tower becomes available where you can test your skills. Last but not least, the player can challenge other players in Online battles or can join other for online Dynamax raids. Last but not least as mentioned the game did receive DLC Expansions with new locations and pokemon to be found.
Graphically i believe this game is as good as Pokemon Let's Go with certain parts being better whilst others slightly worse. The Gallar region was designed very well and had alot of England references. The pokemon designs as well as the NPCs were nicely deisgned, i liked them.
Certain moves had nice animations which is worth commenting. Some locations were simply astonishing such as the Ballonea with its glowing mushrooms and stones. The open area however i found it plain and boring in comparison to something like Lets Go or my minds interpretation of
how heart-Gold would look. For example the texture used for the water wasnt as good as the ones found in Lets go. During Combat the camera angles are going crazy and i liked it. Through te encounters they keep showing dynamic angles of both pokemon, trainers and surroundings. They even include certain
cutscenes of trainers reacting to Criticals, Dynamaxes and last chances making it feel more realistic and more intense.
The audio department is also very good. Each area and route have their own OST in the background. Yet again the game does not have voice acting which i didnt particularly mind with the exception of Piers Gym battle. Piers is a rock musician and uppon reaching him he is having a concert however
we dont hear any lyricks. Aside from that the rest of the game's OST are really good and enjoyable. The pokemon have their own battle cry and each move have its own battle effect. I do appreciate that some effects are carries over from 1996 but have a slight change duo to the hardware being vastly superior.
In conclusion, Pokemon Shield is a good game for all newcomers to the series and for people who played a few titles in the past. Was the game the next BIG next gen game that everyone wanted it to be.... No. To start with the story was very well written and introduced us to a new region, new characters and a
new battle system. The region of Galar was well designed and had different areas such as green areas, snowy areas, dried and special ones. The pokemon walk around the world making it feel alive and it has activities for people to partake. The battles are the normal turn base combat we get to know and the capturing
system is revert back to its roots and did not go the Pokemon Go way. The paths were straight forward with the normal routes guiding the way, however there was a wild area which was more open zoned and had pokemon of all levels. For example you could meet a level 35 Onix whilst your party is at level 7, making some feel
like a threat. Most of the gyms had a fun minigame before the leader and the escorting OSTs were good.
Now why did the game felt short of expectations and why were fans upset. First of all the game was way too easy which to some can be considered boring. Pokemon Lets go allowed us to travel with our companion out of its Pokeball and we could ride it, swim on it and even fly on its back something which Pokemon Shield completely ignored.
The Pokedex being shorten was a massive hit to hard core fans and it only sting more when future DLCs were announced which would featured them. The open zone and the exploration felt boring and downgraded from its Ds era. In older pokemon the trainers could obtain skills that would let them go againts the waterfalls, flash caves to explore,
solve puzzles that would open secret paths, dive down the ocean and many many more things which expanded the world and its magic. In Pokemon Sword and shield none of that exists. Furthermore, the lack of animations during the attacks shows laziness in comparisson to fan made projects, Emulations and others. Yet again you can compare the animations of skills
like Pyro ball and double quick. If all had the Pyro Ball treatment this wouldnt be an issue.
Again i would like to make it clear, that i enjoyed the game, especially since it was the first new entry i played in a while.