And difficulty options could take the game to another level entirely.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Pokémon Sword and Shield announced. Coming Late 2019
- Thread starter Xavi
- Start date
Pokémon Sword / Shield being "BOTW tier" or being a big step like "BOTW was for Zelda" doesn't necessarily mean that SwSh is going to have a big open world area (it still could, tho).
SwSh being a "BOTW" to Pokémon probably means that these games have drastic changes compared to what we've experienced so far in Pokémon games, which includes being able to visit Pokémon Gyms out of order (like, maybe there's a huge open world are in the middle and from there you can go anywhere? something among those lines).
Based on what we know so far, we can't really affirm or deny any of this, so we'll have to wait and see. So yeah, I'm gonna keep expectations low so that I don't get dissapointed in the end, but I'm hopeful on SwSh being the "BOTW" of Pokémon
SwSh being a "BOTW" to Pokémon probably means that these games have drastic changes compared to what we've experienced so far in Pokémon games, which includes being able to visit Pokémon Gyms out of order (like, maybe there's a huge open world are in the middle and from there you can go anywhere? something among those lines).
Based on what we know so far, we can't really affirm or deny any of this, so we'll have to wait and see. So yeah, I'm gonna keep expectations low so that I don't get dissapointed in the end, but I'm hopeful on SwSh being the "BOTW" of Pokémon
Compared to the scale of everything on the map from in game footage, that area is actually gonna be pretty fucking huge. I did a comparison and outlined the areas months ago, and its pretty telling that the map is in no way a good indicator of the world size. The tiny bit of route 1 seen in footage, is roughly the distance from the train station to the open field, and the length of the train station to the brick city entrance is roughly that length times 5. So imagine that then with the multiple paths, big lakes, perhaps even the western beaches, and its basically 5 or 6 Pokemon Routes clumped together. Further more, then picture the huge cities in comparison to that with consideration to their scale on the map, and its obvious that despite the smaller railroaded routes there is gonna be some big surprises in terms of exploration.
Sorry for the late reply on this, it took a while to figure out.
So what it says in Japanese is "Bouoon!!", which is an extended form of the word for the Soundproof ability (ぼうおん). It really only works in Japanese because it kinda sounds like a Kaiju roar. I'm not exactly sure why they changed it to "Sound!!" considering that's the opposite of what it said but... alright I guess?
It probably would have been a better idea to rename it to something else the Kommo-o line is known for that could more easily be changed into a roaring noise, perhaps "Uproooaaaarr!!" or something like that?
I'm extremely bored, so lets go over the Galar map again!
More specifically, I want to look at the British inspirations for a lot of the areas we can see on the map. Comparing it with an actual map of Britain, they've chopped and changed a lot of the locations, but much of the inspiration is quite clear- broadly, they've turned the country upside down, while leaving some of the physical locations untouched (mountains to the north, mining in the West, etc.) With that in mind, we can look at the map and pinpoint broad influences for many of the locations.
Southern end:
The starting areas are flat, arable land, with plenty of country cottages and farming buildings (windmills, barns, etc.). A lot of this is fairly generic British countryside, but I'm going to take a guess that this is intended to be a take on Scotland- the positioning is consistent if the map is flipped, the playable characters have notable Scottish elements in their design (a tam o'shanter on the girl, tartan on the boy), and I'd guess that the big lake by the purple building (the professor's lab?) is going to be a take on Loch Ness.
The Lakes:
No big mystery here- this is fairly unambiguously based around the Lake District in Cumbria, which is just south of Scotland, and which touches the Irish sea, much like the coastline here. The comparison isn't perfect- the area around the lakes is quite flat in the game, whereas the Lake District is mountainous- but the location and the headline features map really well. The tower in this area is a typical British Folly- a tower or mock ruin built purely decoratively. There are several examples of this in the Lake District- this probably isn't meant to be any one of them, just a representative of the concept.
The Redbrick City:
For this industrialised, redbrick city, located in the centre of the region, there are a couple of Midland and Northern cities that this could be. Manchester or Sheffield could be good options, but I'm going to go for Birmingham here- the industry and buildings match well with the history of the city, and the big tower at the centre could well be a take on the tower at Birmingham University (although the design is clearly taken from St. Pancras Railway Station in London).
The mine to the West:
Judging by the railway tracks running into the mountain to the West of the above city and the presence of what may be a factory or foundry next to it, I'm going to hazard a guess that this area may be a mining area, based on the mines of the British North-East.
Grass Gym Town:
The town directly to the north, where the hill figure can be seen, seems like a bit of a hodge-podge of different ancient British landmarks. The most obvious example is the hill figure itself, a fairly straightforward lift from the Cerne Abbas hill figure. The town itself, with its standing stones and its circular construction, is a take on Avebury, a village in Wiltshire constructed around an ancient henge and stone circle.
Eastern Port Town:
The town directly to the East, with the Water gym and the port, could be any number of British coastal towns and cities on the West Coast. There are probably two main candidates- I'm going to go for Liverpool with its historic docks, largely because my other option is represented somewhere else on the map. Ferries run from Liverpool to the Isle of Man and Ireland, so there's plenty of room for theorizing about boat trips to post-game areas from this town.
Central Dragon City:
Although the eye's immediately drawn to the huge castle in the middle of the city, I'm actually going to look elsewhere to show the inspiration for this place. If you look to the East of the city, you see some smaller buildings. These are heavily reminiscent of the Cotswold stone used to build buildings in Oxford- these buildings could have come straight from Oxford High Street. Oxford is obviously most famous for its university, which makes me wonder whether or not the city as a whole, although broadly based on Oxford, might not be drawing on something else as reference. I'm going to hazard a guess that this city is a combination of Oxford and Hogwarts from Harry Potter, mixed together to make a big, legendary place of learning.
Mountainous Western Area:
This section is pulling from all sorts of areas, and not just British ones either- I'm pretty sure, for instance, that the Dugtrio carvings are a tip of the hat to the carvings in Petra, in Jordan. If I had to guess, this whole area is another mining area- perhaps, based on the colours on the wall, the colourful jewel mine from the trailer?- and might actually be based on Wales, judging by the mountainous feel of the place.
Multicoloured City to the East:
Multicoloured buildings, constructed all in a row, right by the coast? I'm pretty sure that this area represents Bristol- it was the other candidate for the Eastern Port Town above, but these houses are a dead giveaway.
Black Gym Area:
This particular area, which we saw in the trailer, seems based on Blenheim Palace, a stately home just outside of Oxford. From certain angles, it's a dead ringer for the Palace.
.jpg/1200px-Blenheim_Palace_(6092890723).jpg)
Fairytale Forest w/ Gym:
Believe it or not, there's no area in Britain with mushrooms the size of houses. The cottage designs are fairly reminiscent of many cottages in the British countryside, but the area as a whole is clearly based more on folklore and fairytales than any actual British location.
Snowy Mountainous Area:
Not a lot to go on here, but between the mountains and the wall, this is pretty clearly a take on the Scottish Highlands and Hadrian's Wall (or the Wall and the Further North, if you're more of a Game of Thrones fan than a geography buff).
London:
I mean... it's just London.
You've got the Houses of Parliament:
The London Eye:
Piccadilly Circus:
The Shard:
Wembley Stadium:
and Charing Cross Station:
As I said: London.
More specifically, I want to look at the British inspirations for a lot of the areas we can see on the map. Comparing it with an actual map of Britain, they've chopped and changed a lot of the locations, but much of the inspiration is quite clear- broadly, they've turned the country upside down, while leaving some of the physical locations untouched (mountains to the north, mining in the West, etc.) With that in mind, we can look at the map and pinpoint broad influences for many of the locations.
Southern end:
The starting areas are flat, arable land, with plenty of country cottages and farming buildings (windmills, barns, etc.). A lot of this is fairly generic British countryside, but I'm going to take a guess that this is intended to be a take on Scotland- the positioning is consistent if the map is flipped, the playable characters have notable Scottish elements in their design (a tam o'shanter on the girl, tartan on the boy), and I'd guess that the big lake by the purple building (the professor's lab?) is going to be a take on Loch Ness.
The Lakes:
No big mystery here- this is fairly unambiguously based around the Lake District in Cumbria, which is just south of Scotland, and which touches the Irish sea, much like the coastline here. The comparison isn't perfect- the area around the lakes is quite flat in the game, whereas the Lake District is mountainous- but the location and the headline features map really well. The tower in this area is a typical British Folly- a tower or mock ruin built purely decoratively. There are several examples of this in the Lake District- this probably isn't meant to be any one of them, just a representative of the concept.
The Redbrick City:
For this industrialised, redbrick city, located in the centre of the region, there are a couple of Midland and Northern cities that this could be. Manchester or Sheffield could be good options, but I'm going to go for Birmingham here- the industry and buildings match well with the history of the city, and the big tower at the centre could well be a take on the tower at Birmingham University (although the design is clearly taken from St. Pancras Railway Station in London).
The mine to the West:
Judging by the railway tracks running into the mountain to the West of the above city and the presence of what may be a factory or foundry next to it, I'm going to hazard a guess that this area may be a mining area, based on the mines of the British North-East.
Grass Gym Town:
The town directly to the north, where the hill figure can be seen, seems like a bit of a hodge-podge of different ancient British landmarks. The most obvious example is the hill figure itself, a fairly straightforward lift from the Cerne Abbas hill figure. The town itself, with its standing stones and its circular construction, is a take on Avebury, a village in Wiltshire constructed around an ancient henge and stone circle.
Eastern Port Town:
The town directly to the East, with the Water gym and the port, could be any number of British coastal towns and cities on the West Coast. There are probably two main candidates- I'm going to go for Liverpool with its historic docks, largely because my other option is represented somewhere else on the map. Ferries run from Liverpool to the Isle of Man and Ireland, so there's plenty of room for theorizing about boat trips to post-game areas from this town.
Central Dragon City:
Although the eye's immediately drawn to the huge castle in the middle of the city, I'm actually going to look elsewhere to show the inspiration for this place. If you look to the East of the city, you see some smaller buildings. These are heavily reminiscent of the Cotswold stone used to build buildings in Oxford- these buildings could have come straight from Oxford High Street. Oxford is obviously most famous for its university, which makes me wonder whether or not the city as a whole, although broadly based on Oxford, might not be drawing on something else as reference. I'm going to hazard a guess that this city is a combination of Oxford and Hogwarts from Harry Potter, mixed together to make a big, legendary place of learning.
Mountainous Western Area:
This section is pulling from all sorts of areas, and not just British ones either- I'm pretty sure, for instance, that the Dugtrio carvings are a tip of the hat to the carvings in Petra, in Jordan. If I had to guess, this whole area is another mining area- perhaps, based on the colours on the wall, the colourful jewel mine from the trailer?- and might actually be based on Wales, judging by the mountainous feel of the place.
Multicoloured City to the East:
Multicoloured buildings, constructed all in a row, right by the coast? I'm pretty sure that this area represents Bristol- it was the other candidate for the Eastern Port Town above, but these houses are a dead giveaway.
Black Gym Area:
This particular area, which we saw in the trailer, seems based on Blenheim Palace, a stately home just outside of Oxford. From certain angles, it's a dead ringer for the Palace.
Fairytale Forest w/ Gym:
Believe it or not, there's no area in Britain with mushrooms the size of houses. The cottage designs are fairly reminiscent of many cottages in the British countryside, but the area as a whole is clearly based more on folklore and fairytales than any actual British location.
Snowy Mountainous Area:
Not a lot to go on here, but between the mountains and the wall, this is pretty clearly a take on the Scottish Highlands and Hadrian's Wall (or the Wall and the Further North, if you're more of a Game of Thrones fan than a geography buff).
London:
I mean... it's just London.
You've got the Houses of Parliament:
The London Eye:
Piccadilly Circus:
The Shard:
Wembley Stadium:
and Charing Cross Station:
As I said: London.
Really great observations there! As for the red brick city, Birmingham does make sense, but I don't think it's based on any specific Northern/Midland location, so much as an amalgamation of the most prominent ones.
I'm extremely bored, so lets go over the Galar map again!
This particular area, which we saw in the trailer, seems based on Blenheim Palace, a stately home just outside of Oxford. From certain angles, it's a dead ringer for the Palace.
And here I was thinking Snowdonia for this area. You're definitely right here, looking at some more images:
Looks like they hold a light show every Christmas. It would be cool if that was an event in the game...
Last edited:
I know there's still plenty of time for news this month, but I'm really starting to think that they are going to stay radio silent until E3 and SwSh will be one of the primary focuses for Nintendo at E3.
Last edited:
Maybe, but there's precedent for them to hold information until even closer to E3- remember, they didn't even reveal USUM or Pokkén DX until early June.
True.
Though I feel like Nintendo might have talked them into waiting till E3 since this is the first new gen on a console and it's Nintendo's biggest game this year.
Really, really cool analysis of the map. It looks big enough already, so in real-game it should have even more details / feel bigger. That "London" place with so many important buildings makes me wonder if it's gonna be filled with different activities besides just the gym-like stadium.
I really don't want to create any expectations about the new Pokémon, so I can appreciate the 50-ish new creatures we'll get lol but I'm actually more excited to see the old Pokémon in these HD graphics. Even though I wish I could've seen all of them in the Let's Go style (the one I prefer), the difference from SwSh in respect to 3DS is still huge. I can't wait to transfer my Pokémon from the GBA onwards, and all the shinies and stuff.
Another off topic comment, I'm not expecting it for these games, but I wish in a future we can get to have more profound customization of the player besides just the clothes or skin color, hair, but actually that you could pick at least from 2 or 3 different age ranges, and maybe the physical complexion, tall, short, thin, plump, etc. Or at least a variety of "pre-defined" base trainers, like in Battle Revolution.
I really don't want to create any expectations about the new Pokémon, so I can appreciate the 50-ish new creatures we'll get lol but I'm actually more excited to see the old Pokémon in these HD graphics. Even though I wish I could've seen all of them in the Let's Go style (the one I prefer), the difference from SwSh in respect to 3DS is still huge. I can't wait to transfer my Pokémon from the GBA onwards, and all the shinies and stuff.
Another off topic comment, I'm not expecting it for these games, but I wish in a future we can get to have more profound customization of the player besides just the clothes or skin color, hair, but actually that you could pick at least from 2 or 3 different age ranges, and maybe the physical complexion, tall, short, thin, plump, etc. Or at least a variety of "pre-defined" base trainers, like in Battle Revolution.
What does that have to do with the statement? Pokemon isn't Zelda. A BOTW change doesn't mean "like BOTW". It means a going back to the core principles/reimagining the series
And a reimagining of the series and going back to the core principles sounds like what Let's Go tried to do but failed. So no thanks to that either.
Let's Go didn't even do that. It's the same game we've been playing for 20+ years
More like a watered down version of the same game (with a refurbished style)
Nooo. Not sure how you arrived at that, but Let's Go very much didn't try and do that. It tried merging the Go and traditional game audiences in some bizarre hodgepodge of arbitrarily chosen elements from each that ended up disappointing both crowds
I think people believe that it did because, like Zelda, it "went back to what made the games great". but while Zelda adapted the idea (the important part), GF remade the game, tile for tile.
unfortunately the scale is off compared to previous games, so it's harder to tell just what's in it. I would hope it means towns and areas are much bigger than they used to be, but GF has to prove to me they can do such a thing
for comparison, Alola's map pretty much had every building in the game represented
This is a good thing in my opinion. We basically knew what half the region looked like by the time Sun and Moon came out because it was so easy to place scenes from the trailer on the map and they were all 1 for 1unfortunately the scale is off compared to previous games, so it's harder to tell just what's in it. I would hope it means towns and areas are much bigger than they used to be, but GF has to prove to me they can do such a thing
for comparison, Alola's map pretty much had every building in the game represented
This is a good thing really. Adds to the speculating fun.unfortunately the scale is off compared to previous games, so it's harder to tell just what's in it. I would hope it means towns and areas are much bigger than they used to be, but GF has to prove to me they can do such a thing
for comparison, Alola's map pretty much had every building in the game represented
you can do the same here. we already placed all the areas from the first trailer, but unlike the previous games, we can't gauge scale since it's way off. hence why it could imply that areas are much larger than they appear
I found out while I was at GameStop yesterday that I put $50 down on Battlefront II back in 2017. I completely forgot! I ended up buying that game for $10 half a year later. Naturally, I transferred the money to Pokemon Sword. Good Feel!
As someone who was duped into wasting $50 on that game I am a combination of jealous and touched by this story. That's how you dodge a bullet!
It's not night and day, but the starting town, the grass gym town and the red brick city all have substantially more buildings in game than they do in the map.
I think plenty of people would like Pansage if it was only pansage and also if the region's trainers wer enot littered with pansage, its evolution and the 4 other monkeys
Like it's a cute monkey design with some broccoli on its head and it evolves into a biker with a big pompadour! That's recipe for success in literally any other context
I wonder if they traveled in person, I mean, they probably did at least once, but maybe it was more of an online research, idk, it must be really interesting trying to draw inspiration from the culture of a region, the animals, habitats, the architecture, history and somehow applying all that to Pokémon and the story of the new games and region.
It's true that the Gen 5 monkey trio is more detestable as a whole than the sum of its individual parts! But they're still mediocre individually. Grookey can turn out just about any way and exceed those low standards.
I get they were inspired in those monkeys, but I think the concept of a "second starters trio" would've been better if instead of the three of them being monkeys, they were different species (kinda like how Kalos had Kalos and Kanto starters, though that's a different kind of obnoxious story). Or if the monkeys were a 3 stages evolutionary family, instead of just 2.
Or if they had a different coloration. This sort of primary colors, like they were made with Paint's basic palette is really unappealing.
And yeah, the overuse of them didn't help. Now they could've made at least Pansage a little bit more likeable through the anime, but it was a very dull kind of character.
All it really has to do is evolve into something better than Quilladin.
Look all I'm saying is if Pansage (with the exact same design) had been revealed in gen 7 with lore like "oh the inhabitants near the jungle love following pansage because it leads them to really good ingredients for cooking but look out sometimes they get a little cheeky and play tricks on you" and then the evolution was "these rove in gangs and seem to get into scuffles with troops of passimians, but secretly they have hearts of gold" there would be 60 pages of pixiv art by the end of the hour
leave my perfect round boy aloneAll it really has to do is evolve into something better than Quilladin.
i kind of like him better than chesnaught and i'm someone who loves grass bowser
Gen 8 starters
We got a ton of cereal mascots in Gen 7 so probably...Tony the Tiger, Cookie Crisp wolf, and Toucan Sam.
There's a difference between open world and big open areas. I don't think anyone expects SwSh to be open world, but it seems it might have some large open areas.
I would be ok with something modeled around GoW's open world. If anything it's very similar to a Pokemon games' open world design wise.
I think if I saw the series tread towards that direction I'd be ok with it. Sun and Moon was kind of already that on a less grand scale.
I think if I saw the series tread towards that direction I'd be ok with it. Sun and Moon was kind of already that on a less grand scale.
Possibly, but that still doesn't fit at all with zell saying he heard it's the botw of pokemon.
One thing I want to see in this generation (multiple now) is new Shiny colours for the pokemon. Maybe even 2 additional colours for each.
One for giving those that got bad shiny colours a second chance with hopefully some better colour options.
And two because... well, everyone knows about Shinies and probably has at least one of them by now, Go players espicially since they are quite a bit easier to get in Go. You know what the Shinies look like, so the hunt for them again is a little plain.
But rumors of brand new shiny colours being found in the wild? Now that would get people excited and hunting again.
They could even GAAS it and have them roll out over a year. 20 new shiny discoveries every week or so, A simple pallette swap just to get people to jump back into the games again.
One for giving those that got bad shiny colours a second chance with hopefully some better colour options.
And two because... well, everyone knows about Shinies and probably has at least one of them by now, Go players espicially since they are quite a bit easier to get in Go. You know what the Shinies look like, so the hunt for them again is a little plain.
But rumors of brand new shiny colours being found in the wild? Now that would get people excited and hunting again.
They could even GAAS it and have them roll out over a year. 20 new shiny discoveries every week or so, A simple pallette swap just to get people to jump back into the games again.
That won't happen lol Designs are permanent, colors are permanent, you don't redesign a Pokémon or its shiny form.One thing I want to see in this generation (multiple now) is new Shiny colours for the pokemon. Maybe even 2 additional colours for each.
One for giving those that got bad shiny colours a second chance with hopefully some better colour options.
And two because... well, everyone knows about Shinies and probably has at least one of them by now, Go players espicially since they are quite a bit easier to get in Go. You know what the Shinies look like, so the hunt for them again is a little plain.
But rumors of brand new shiny colours being found in the wild? Now that would get people excited and hunting again.
They could even GAAS it and have them roll out over a year. 20 new shiny discoveries every week or so, A simple pallette swap just to get people to jump back into the games again.
I'll clarify that I would like a 3rd, maybe a 4th colour variant of each pokemon. You can still find the normal and shiny versions of them, but now there's like... um... gleaming variants of pokemon as well to discover to? (Some name like that)
Zelda's "reinvention" was obvious from the offset with it's open world structure. I'm not entirely certain what the reinvention for Pokemon is beyond a similar opening up (not open world!)
0%. I'll avatar bet if I'm wrong.
lol.
I'm hoping for something like Final Fantasy XII or Dragon Quest XI.
*run