Pokémon Shield - Nintendo Switch

Long more in-depth-like review from a 20 year Pokémon fan.Pokémon got back on track with this one. After a disappointing Generation 7 ,the Pokémon series really redeemed themselves here with Gen 8. Sword & Shield has so many fantastic features & additions that aren't too drastic so the game still feels similar but rejuvenated.They don't bore you with endless text & annoying "rivals" or friends like they have been doing in the past couple games. Instead you're left alone, for the most part.. to do your own thing & you're not waiting for cutscenes to end to get back to catching & battling 'mons. Not to say that there isn't any, it's just not drawn out like previous installments from the franchise.Regional forms return in this generation & have my approval.. for the most part. Over half the Alolan forms were just plain dumb.. with the only perfect one being the 9 tailed beasts Ice Form. Galarian forms are all pretty well designed, with the Queen of them all of course being Corsola. Ponyta is also really great, for those 2 reasons is why I chose Shield over Sword even though I planned on getting Sword up until realizing they would be exclusive to Shield. But I also feel like some forms are unnecessary.. such as Meowth & his evolvement, they could have easily been an entirely new Pokémon.. idk why they had to make it a regional form.. they have so many variations of Pikachu-like ‘mons, but they couldn’t do that with Meowth ? Whatever. Keep giving him regional forms I guess..GigantaMax/Raids a much better NEW addition to a generation instead of stupid mega evolutions & silly dance moves before Pokémon moves. This is something I can get behind. if they keep being innovative in this direction. I was on the fence about it at first especially after seeing a desert Pokémon turn into a giant cake... but the concept of it is pretty great. It's essentially a Boss Battle of sorts & the rewards are ridiculously plentiful. Too ridiculous if you ask me..With that last statement you may be wondering if the difficulty is dirt easy like the the past few games have been. Well sadly it's still not challenging or demanding like the first couple generations. I could do with battles being difficult, especially for the likes of Gym Leaders. Granted there was 1 Gym Leader I fell to, the Ice Queen Melony. But overall I didn't struggle much with battles & when someone drops your Pokémon all you have to do is set up camp & make some curry to heal everyone, which takes away some of the challenge of trekking through the wild. BUT I wouldn't say it's overly easy like Generation 6 & 7, those games I ran through & stomped everyone no problem. Wasn't this case here with Sun & Shield. I did change my team of 6 completely though through the adventure.YES the return of GYMS !!!… well sorta. They’re arenas now & you have to wear a football like jersey when battling, so you can’t show off your sweet new fit to the audience & opponents at the gym *sad face* but I like the idea of it being a public showing/big deal sorta thing. The roars of the crowd when a Pokémon faints & the intense music while battling with your giant Pokémon in the arena felt like something special, even if most of the fights weren’t that difficult. You basically become a regional celebrity as your make your way collecting the badges instead of just a silent no body hero going around & doing all this stuff for little to no recognition like in past games.NEW POKEMON: My favorite part of a new Pokémon game. Overall I liked a lot of the new Pokémon. think the dex was pretty strong for Gen 8. However None of them would make my top 10 list & even Sun & Moon had 2 ‘mons break my top 10. (Tsareena & Toucannon)I would put Dubwool in my top 20 though. Corsola has been my 2nd favorite Pokémon since I was young so her Galarian form just solidifies that position. More good than bad, that’s what i’ll say. Questionable Pokémon started showing up in Gen4, increased in 5, 6 was pretty safe, more silliness in 7 but seems to have gone down in 8. I think the dumbest Pokémon being Applin.. which is basically just an Apple with eyes.. really… what’s next ? A talking Orange.. The evolutionary stages are pretty interesting & make me not want to eat an apple again.The Environments: Gorgeous. Best looking Pokémon game to date, not just graphic wise. I’m talking design wise, from the snowy locals to the fairy forest , each town/city felt unique, not like a re-skin. Each one had personality & more life to than other gens. Still not perfected though, they could make it more lively like Skyrim villages. But this game has cities similar to Gen 6’s large Paris like location. On the other hand, the prettiest town in the game has nothing to see.. or do.. or really anyone to talk to. I love the mushrooms & the look of the place, but overall I was let down by how small it was. Then you get to the Dark City & it’s essentially just there to be a Gym.. I was excited to explore the ghetto, but nope.I feel like they ran out of space for the rest of the game due to the Wild Area. But that’s fine. The Wild Area is a BIG part of the game, i’m not just talking size wise. This is where you’ll likely spend half of your playtime if not more. Also it makes sense that all Pokemon from different levels are in one spot & not neatly places from weakest to strongest, more realistic. Weather conditions plays a huge part in this game on effecting who shows up or not, so be aware of that. You may never run into some Pokémon if you don’t know what weather condition they come out in.The Story, not much really there, pretty basic. & that’s okay ! because really.. who tf plays a Pokémon game for the story ? lol. Legendaries are pretty cool & the story revolves around them. This game is based in the UK I believe ? So a lot of Old Englishy references, pretty castle, medieval like Pokémon, beautiful PokéCenters. Really cool region, arguably the coolest so far.Customization, Outfits, Hair, Color Oh My !A lot of choices, after disappointing lack of choices from the 3 previous games, this is much similar to X & Y’s customization options. Sadly the best stuff you don’t get until the very end. However there are plenty of options before that point, I chawed my outfit several times through my journey & loved seeing my player card afterwards. Which is another really cool new feature. Making funny, sassy or badass poses to showcase your character. Very neat I hope they stick with this sort of representation.Other new things I can think of:1 Riding Bike on water, it was pretty annoying to have to hop off your bike or stop running to click on the water & select surf in older games, esp when you were checking every island you passed, stopped the game flow. This new feature you ride from land right onto water, love it. Fast travel is back, I missed HM’s at first when they ridded of them, but the new way of traversal makes the game much more fluid without them + not taking up a move slot is handy.2 Showing what an item is does/description when finding an item so you don’t have to go into your bag & read what it’s all about.3 Camping is cool how it gives you xp & improves friendship & restores health when you cook some curry. I wish there was more play options than just a wand & a ball. Additionally I miss being able to pet my ‘mons. But overall a step in the right direction, there’s actually meaning behind doing it rather than just a gimmick.NO MORE ANNOYING ROTEM ! Technically rotem is still your dex/phone thing. But he’s not buzzing around & talking to you like a child anymore, even with him taking over the PC at Pokécenters, they turned down the childish & annoying meter big time, big plus. Overall the game feels less babyish which is a godsend considering they’ve been getting more & more childish as time went on. I get that they’re targeting the new younger generation but a lot of their fans are adults. Probably 60% of the games buyers are older then 16.. They should cater to us more & this game feels like that.Final Score for Generation 8:Sword & Shield gets a 9/10 in my book.

I have not fully beaten the game but i did make it to the third gym and a route beyond that and i was not expecting it to be this good :) with past games, u just simply go in the gyms and beat some trainers to get to the gym leader. This game still holds true to that but they added a gym challenge to spice things up. Gym challenges are certain objectives u have to do while you're also beating the trainers and its just so much fun and the scenery as u walk in is so breathtaking :) once u complete the challenge, the doors open and tons of people r cheering making u feel like actual pokemon trainer :D When the first gym leader dynamxed his pokemon, it makes things a bit tougher as it did way more damage than what i expected it to even though his pokemon isnt super effective against mine. That forced me to dynamax and set up defensive moves such as light screen and reflect and held up just in time for the 3 turns to be over and his pokemon reversed back to being tiny. I ended up beating the gym with red hp. The second gym was easy to beat since i had an electric type corgi and the 3rd gym gave me a bit of a challenge since i didnt have any pokemon with type advantages but still managed to win my second time around :)This game has more freedom to roam around when ur done interacting with the main characters and theres lots of hidden stuff on the roads that shine as ur passing through. The diversity of old and new pokemon is outstanding as well. Theres lots of pokemon to choose from in every route. Even in the beginning of ur journey, u can start fishing with ur fishing rod so u can mix and match the perfect team from the start :) i would also advise being very careful in the wild area because i got my butt kicked with a level 45 Galvantula while i was just level 12. I was lucky to escape with my last pokemon still unfainted xD i was dumb enough to interact with it since i thought i would be lucky enough to catch it but found out u have to beat a certain amount of gyms in order to catch high level pokemon or else it'll just tell u that it wont let its guard down. Its the same concept as having a certain amount of gym badges to make high level pokemon from trades obey u. I had to find out the hard way lolNow for the designs of the new pokemon and graphics of the games. Everyone has their own opinions on this ever since it was announced that there was gonna be no national dex. Personally, i avoided the leaks so idk what im expecting to get. So far, i love every single pokemon i have come across. Some r weird and funny looking but they do grow on u as u figure out they are really good in battles :) when they evolved, i still love the designs and was so surprised of the typings that were added and became even more useful to keep in ur team. It is true that many battle move animations and models r reused from past games but it really shouldnt matter all that much as alot of old moves have new animations and the pokemon's colors and textures look way better than the previous generations. The graphics in the wild area is the best ive seen except for the trees. The weird part is, the berry trees in the wild area look completely fine and fit well with the good graphics so my guess is that the company didnt really bother making those normal trees look as good since u cant interact with them at all and in my opinion thats completely fine. The graphics in the towns, caves, and routes are completely breathtaking so theres nothing negative i can say there :)Despite lack of national dex i will say this. Overall, this game deserves its 5 stars and worth every penny. The variety of pokemon, the fun battles, and both ur awesome and jerk rivals make it a really fun experience for both oldschool and new trainers to enjoy. As i stated, i avoided every single thing about this game besides the announcement trailers from pokemon and nintendo so i was nervous since so many people were stating that the animations were garbage. Playing this game, i just dont see anything wrong with how it looks and how the pokemon move. The game and its scenery looks absolutely beautiful. I really recommend this game to at least be given a chance. I know it will be worth the gameplay :)

That it lasts a long time to play

Entrega rápido embora tive um contra tempo com relação a minha conta ser uma região e o jogo outra acontece !!!

Works great and arrived very quickly!

at the time was hard to find. my grandson loves this game. thank you

El envío y la logística de Amazon fueron excelentes, como de costumbre. No me quejo de nada en cuanto al envío y a la puntualidad. Llegó en perfecto estado junto con mi Nintendo Switch de Animal crossing.En cuanto al juego, me encantaron los gráficos y los apartados visuales, sobre todo elementos de la jugabilidad que se mantienen fieles a la entrega. El juego es muy similar y al mismo tiempo muy distinto a sus predecesores. Es igual en cuanto a ciertos elementos que ya se vienen extrañando desde entregas pasadas recientes, como la ausencia del Pokédex Nacional, la ausencia de los Pokémones compañeros, entre otros.Una de las cosas que ciertamente no amé pero tampoco me causó disgusto de la entrega fue que no hay GTS incluido en el juego. El GTS en esta entrega se hace por medio de una aplicación móbil (el intercambio de pokémones) y la función de banco se lleva a cabo con la misma y con una aplicación de Nintendo Store.Fuera de eso, el juego presenta muchas mejoras en cuanto a comodidades y facilidades, entre las que se encuentra la ausencia de los HM (una mejora, en mi opinión) y la posibilidad de encontrarte con otros jugadores en las zonas de uso común como en la Wild Area.En resumen, este juego de Pokémon me pareció maravilloso y para mí fue una excelente entrega a pesar de que muchos dijeron que fue mala. Me agradó bastante, superó por mucho mis expectativas y, en definitiva, fue una excelente primera compra para mi sistema Switch (del cual me enamoré desde el día que lo recibí).Muy recomendado, aplausos logística de Amazon, GameFreak y Nintendo

Está reseña la escribí para pokemón espada también ya que compré ambas versiones (una para mí novia <3), así que no te espantes sí lees lo mismo.En su momento el juego me costó $1,100.00 MX. Que fue una semana después del lanzamiento, no hay mucho que decir, compras directo con Nintendo por lo que es garantía de calidad y además el servicio de paquetería de Amazon siempre hace bien su trabajo.Espero cuesten menos en la eshop desde que sale, aunque nada cómo un juego de Pokémon físico.Sobre el juego en sí, pienso que pueden encontrar mejores en YT, pero ahí va: pokemón espada y escudo siguen completamente la fórmula de juegos anteriores (Omitan sol y luna, esos no existen :v) con la novedad de las formas Dinamax y Gigantamax. Además de contar con la increíble área silvestre que está especialmente dirigida a atrapar tanto a veteranos cómo a personas que vienen de Pokémon Go.Pese a que la narrativa se torna confusa en la parte final del juego, está entrada de Pokémon me ha brindado horas y horas de diversión. Recomendado 100%, y ya sabes lo que dicen: sí alguien dice que no le gusta Pokémon es porque no lo ha jugado.