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| Pokemon Sword and Shield |
In the region of Galar, legend speaks of a terrible crisis in ancient times called the Darkest Day. It also speaks of two Legendary Pokémon rose up to put an end to the calamity.
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| Legendary Pokemon: Zacian and Zamazenta |
The journey begins as in any Pokémon game would start; the player and their neighbor/ rival "Hop" chooses one of the three starter Pokémon; the grass-type “Grookey”, the fire-type “Scorbunny”, or the water-type “Sobble”, to journey with them on their quest to become the top trainer and dethrone the Pokémon League Champion.
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| Starter Pokemon: Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble |
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| Gameplay |
The Galar region which is inspired by the United Kingdom in the real world. A lot of the region’s landmarks actually resemble places such as the Houses of Parliament and the Cerne Abbas Giant. Many cities feature sprawling countryside towns with cottages and Victorian architecture, but also contains some Industrial Revolution-like city with steampunk-style elements.
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| Town areas |
What sets Galar apart is that a large portion of the region is the 'Wild Area' which became an open-world area with numerous Pokémon species freely roaming around while the weather changes regularly.
Gameplay & Features:
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| Dynamaxing |
If there’s a phrase that sums up neatly on how the progress of Sword and Shield has made the Pokémon game even better, it would be ‘ease of accessibility’. Right from the start, players can experience a feature that all veteran players have desperately wanted – the option to skip tutorials and jump straight into the action! (We don't need to learn how to use a Pokeball from an old man anymore!)
Another prominent change to the mainline game title is that the developers have done away with random Pokémon encounters in the wild zone areas and now have visible wild Pokémon roaming on the map that you can choose to encounter, a feature incorporated from the Pokémon: Let’s go Pikachu/ Eevee titles.
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| Pokemon field encounter |
This makes traveling and exploring in-game much faster! No more unwanted random battles and dealing with the annoying hundreds of Zubats in caves, leaching away your time and patience.
Another Pokémon game system revamp is that Sword and Shield allows for PC boxes to be accessible outside of Pokémon Centers. Imagine being able to switch your team while exploring without the hassle of running back to the nearest Pokémon Center!
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| Gigantamax Pikachu |
Another "BIG" feature, quite literally, are the Dynamax" and "Gigantamax forms! Once during gym battles and raids, players can activate this special move to transform their Pokémon into these giant-sized cute monsters which also grants them heighten stat boosts!
Final Thoughts:
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| Gigantamax battle! |
If there is one downside to the game, it would be that the 1000+ national Pokédex has been trimmed down to around 400+. Sad news for collectors there…
Sword and Shield has also removed some features from previous generation titles, namely Mega Evolution and Z-Moves. However, they did maintain the regional forms feature from Sun and Moon, enabling some Pokémon to keep their Galarian Forms.
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| Sirfetch'd |
The open-world exploration feel adds to the sense of adventure for players going on their epic journey. Leveling is also pretty balanced throughout the three starter Pokemon. Average players will neither be over-leveled or under-leveled while playing through the story as you do not have to grind much compared to previous games.
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| Gigantamax Pikachu and Eevee! |
Battles in Pokémon Gyms are also something to look forward to! Most of their battle arenas are stylized into football stadiums, making the match seem like a big spectator sport. Add in the Dynamax" and "Gigantamax forms and it becomes a genuine Kaiju Pokémon battle!
We just hope a Pokemon's Gigantamax move doesn't cause any horrific injuries towards the crowd as the compacted gym space kind of seemed dangerous to have thousands of people seating closely just to spectate their destructive battle...
Written by KittyBoss
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