Hey, liked most of the Direct Overall. Some issues, but I'm generally positive on what I saw. Also using some of the info from here as well for the write-up:
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield introduce the Galar region and more Pokémon to discover!
swordshield.pokemon.com
- All the new pokemon look pretty great, Corviknight is probably the highlight of the bunch, DreaNaw, Wooloo and Eldegoss are good to (Although I hope Eldegoss is the mid-stage of the Gossifleur line)
- Zacian is Sif, but I love it, it might be because of wolves though, Zamazenta is alright, I know people are mixed, but I love me some regal wolves.
- A duo of Female Professors is nice, we've been overdue one, Magnolia has a Corviknight Cane as well. Sonia seems nice as well.
- Hop is apparantly One of your rivals, so maybe there will be more than one again? At the moment he seems to be the games Hau, need to know more before making final call.
- I don't like Leon. Maybe it's because he's got a Charizard. Boo. I hope he's not the actual final boss and we've got another Gen 5 villain team is actual final boss situation (Or maybe he has a dark secret and he's the villain boss... could be him or Magnolia, but who knows, we need to see if they are doing a Villain team first, odds are likely!)
- Rotom Dex is back as a phone. I like Rotom but I know it does annoy others, also Bike is back and apparantly Rotom can power it up to surf across water now as well.
Also Wild Milotics, Ooh... I want one.
- Wild Area is basically the "Why Not Both" approach for those that want Wild Battles and those that want overworld pokemon. With people concerned about it being one area... yeah, have you seen the Galar Map? The Wild Zone is like, a third of the entire region. I don't think you have to worry about it being small.
- Galar new areas also look very diverse and interesting to explore, I want to see more.
- Alright, Dynamaxing... this is the gimmick of the game isn't it? Boy it feels a bit gimmicky doesn't it? I need to know the full mechanics for it, like what do Max moves do, Can Max Moves hit through Protect because otherwise I see people running Protect to stall through it. At present, they look like souped up Z-Moves but you do get some stat boosts as well (Fairly significant looking at Grookey's health increase here)
I like how every pokemon can use it like with Z-Moves, but I'm sure there is going to be some that get special treatment again...
- Yeah, slight diversion but. We are still doing Gen One Pandering aren't we? Here is the region champion, he has a Charizard, we gotta make that the last shot of the trailer because hey guys, It's Charizard! You like Charizard right? Charizard, Charizard, Charizard. Well excuse me for picking Pokemon Blue. And then when we show off the Dynamaxing first... it's between Gyrados and Raichu. Didn't want to show one of the new pokemon first as a Dynamax huh? At least it wasn't just G1 Dynamax stuff. And the artwork at least uses multiple generations.
- That said though, Raid Battles are great! It's something the Main Pokemon games should have been having for awhile and gives me hopes on this game having some pretty good online options (Bring back Wondertrade)
- I do wonder about Status Effects in raids, Ultra Necrozma was an intimidating fight and Dynamax does try to be aiming for the same concept, but Ultra Necrozma was also super vulnerable to status moves to trivialize it, maybe Dynamaxed mons aren't effected by them as much (Like they never get Fully Paralyzed, They sleep only for 1 turn, take less Toxic damage). I imagine you won't be able to just Perish Song and win so quickly. I guess with Dynamaxed mon the goal isn't to KO but capture them though.
- Wonder if raid bosses can also call in support pokemon. 4 Moveset syndrome is probably the biggest challenge for them, Totem Pokemon solved it with the Supports that can give additional moves to assist like, setting up Rain if they were weak to fire, setting up the sun so they 2 turn charge moves charge in one turn. Heal them up and remove status effects. Stuff like that.
...I think that's everything for now? Box Art could be better. That's all revealed I think.
