Current Events > I just beat Pokemon Sword. My thoughts...*spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

I gotta say this game feels a tad underrated. I'd rate it rather highly among the gens. It's the little things that really stuck out to me. The animations characters have when they enter a battle and when they lose are really good! I always enjoy seeing them and they're very well done. I know they were in Gen 6 and Gen 7 but Gen 6 only did it for story important characters and 7 didnt do it for everyone as well I believe.

I think Hop is a SUPER underrated rival. He's one of the few rival archtypes we've had where I feel like he's genuinely a rival. At first in the story he's ahead of you wherever you go and winning gym challenges easy. After Bede kicks his ass he falls into a slump where you're ahead and getting gym badges before him and he even has to do rematches because he keeps losing. Eventually he's just a step behind you and I didnt think he was annoying. He wasn't happy go lucky all the time. Bede is cool too if you want more of w dickish rival. Him becoming a gym leader was a neat twist.

I have a couple issues with the game. There really isn't an antagonist. Team Yell is there but...they're just dickheads who want to get in your way so Marnie can succeed. They're a lamer Team Skull. Team Yell doesn't actually want to hurt anybody. Chairman Rose is kinda the bad guy but it seems like he accidentally became one. He knows society will be wiped out in 1000 years because Galar is energy inefficient so he....causes the apocalypse? What was he going to do with Eternatus if it didn't go out of control? He's not even mad you kick his ass. I truly dont get what he wanted.

This game also really lacks in level design. That isn't the straight forward routes. Othet Pokemon games have towers, forests, dungeons of some kind for you to go through whether optionally or for progress. This game has the coal mine and mushroom forest (which is a cool forest design tbh). I know they want you to spend time in the wild area but it doesnt have too much going on. I did like the variety of pokemon in it.

Music in this game is pretty fucking good. The gym theme is a bop. Marnie and Bede have 9/10 theme songs. Leon and Chairman Rose have 11/10 themes. They gave Rose a sick jrpg final boss theme like he was gonna kill some kids lol.

TLDR: Good Pokemon game that could have used more dungeons. Most of the character designs are fucking sick as is the music. Good use of the legendaries on the box

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I agree with the point about the character animations, but it's kind of a mixed bag, honestly. You have some great ones like Nessa's losing animation, but we still have characters and Pokemon alike walking like robots and those always look bad.

I also agree with the point about the dungeons. I think they might have had more planned at the start, because I don't see why else they would give you the escape rope as a key item when there's not much to use it on.

The game really should've brought back HMs. No reason to exclude them now that we have the portable PC box...imo anyway.

If you enjoyed the base game, I'd recommend trying the DLC.

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Oh yeah I specifically meant the animations for "Blank wants to battle" and when you win. Other stuff is jank looking. Nothing in this game has an animation for turning around. They just sorta do a walking animation in a circle. It's not a good look lol.

The unique pokemon moves look really good though. I dont know if I ever want HMs to come back. They had their time in the sun. I think Sun and Moon solved that problem with its Ride Pokemon. Im definitely gonna check out the DLC once I get my doggie


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I quite enjoyed the main story and the music is great as usual

big problem is the lack of sidegame and postgame content, and no replayability

I have not purchased any of the DLC (or really touched the game after beating the Elite Four)

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Just finished it as well. I was able to get the game + expansion bundle for $65 which seemed reasonable to me

for me it was a very frustrating experience, because at its core, its still a very fun game, but its just lacking so much

everything just feels so short and small, theres hardly anything to explore, no sense of progression with new items/HMs and the whole game is basically just a straight line.

but there are good ideasthe wild area is really cool, and could be better if it was more of the game, connecting many towns instead of just a few.

the QOL upgrades are great.

just feels like if this game had an extra year in the oven it could have been something truly great. It seems like all well ever get are half assed Pokmon games anymore as they rush to get one out on a yearly-ish basis

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