{"id":95549,"date":"2019-06-22T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/06\/soapbox_why_sword_and_shields_pokemon_purge_will_benefit_everyone"},"modified":"2019-06-22T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-22T11:00:00","slug":"soapbox-why-sword-and-shields-pokemon-purge-will-benefit-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/06\/22\/soapbox-why-sword-and-shields-pokemon-purge-will-benefit-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Soapbox: Why Sword And Shield’s Pok\u00e9mon Purge Will Benefit Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When you’re trying to please a fanbase that’s been around for over 20 years, any major change to the status quo will always divide opinion. Pok\u00e9mon is a series that\u2019s kept under heavy scrutiny by its loyal community, with each minute detail studied under a Silph Scope with no place for mistakes to hide.<\/p>\n

Despite this, I doubt Pok\u00e9mon Sword and Shield<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s producer, Junichi Masuda, quite understood how people would react after appearing on Nintendo\u2019s Treehouse livestream and in a subsequent Famitsu interview, where he detailed some specifics of his future game. Masuda explained only the Pok\u00e9mon that appeared in the new Galar region could be transferred in from older titles through Pokemon Home. His justification was a little vague, stating not only would it have been extremely difficult to recreate the 1000+ Pok\u00e9mon (including their various forms) for the Switch but the number of Pok\u00e9mon in the National Pokedex would be detrimental to a balanced battle system.<\/p>\n

Without going into great detail about what was said by Masuda and subsequently game director Akira Omori, it\u2019s clear that the Pok\u00e9mon community are fairly divided on this news – after all, Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s motto is Gotta catch \u2018em all!<\/em> and not Gotta catch a few!<\/em> On a surface level, some are understandably very upset that their favourites may not make the cut, but looking deeper there seems to be a larger problem with how the most loyal of fans are taking Masuda\u2019s words – they don\u2019t trust him.<\/p>\n

When you consider just how little official word has been said about the reduced roster and Pok\u00e9mon Home, it pales in comparison to what has been said online by those enraged by Masuda and Omori\u2019s comments. Misinformation in the form of hastily composed infographics has been used as a kind of smear campaign against the makers and Game Freak as if to paint them as enemies of their own brand and fanbase. It\u2019s a sad thing to witness and one that completely detracts from all the recent positives following on from Pok\u00e9mon GO<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

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Whether or not Masuda and Omori are honest in their reasoning behind the cull, it\u2019s important to take a look at the situation from both sides before grabbing our pitchforks and rallying behind a hashtag.<\/p>\n

Firstly, you can\u2019t deny that when it comes to Masuda\u2019s first point, balance, there\u2019s a lot of problems with the National Pokedex. Masuda stated that Sword and Shield wasn\u2019t the first time they considered a cull – that goes back to Sun and Moon<\/strong><\/a>. When you consider the sheer number of Pok\u00e9mon, each with different types, base IV stats, and different move-sets, the combinations are astronomical and understandably some Pok\u00e9mon get forgotten about. Masuda clearly believes the time was right when moving to an entirely new platform for a chance to refresh the Pokedex.<\/p>\n

Whilst the majority of Pok\u00e9mon are eligible in competitive battles, some are far too overpowered to be playable. Even when removing banned Pok\u00e9mon from the equation it\u2019s clear that some tournament-legal \u2018mons are more gifted than others.<\/p>\n

Just take a look at the 2018 World Championship\u2019s top eight players. Out of the 700+ Pok\u00e9mon that were available to choose from, every one of the quarter-finalists had one or two of either: Incineroar, Snorlax, or Landorus – with one of them, semi-finalist Nils Dunlop, having all three. There\u2019s a reason games like Overwatch<\/strong>, Smash Bros.<\/strong><\/a>, or even League of Legends<\/strong> with 144 Champions have succeeded competitively – there is a manageable level of balancing. You don\u2019t necessarily see the same characters being played time-in-time-out at tournaments and when one character or strategy appears more powerful than another, adjustments and tweaks are made to keep each and every character relevant.<\/p>\n

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This is admittedly an entirely self-made problem. With every new generation, new Pok\u00e9mon were added at the behest of the fans. It was just a matter of time, as Masuda says before the roster became unmanageable.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the Trading Card Game, there are routine rotations as to what is and isn’t playable at sanctioned events – as cards are released, the meta evolves. Not every Pok\u00e9mon in the National Pokedex has a tournament-legal card, so this cull may be part of a plan to unify these two competitive scenes. If there\u2019s less confusion as to what Pok\u00e9mon are or aren\u2019t playable, then players may be more inclined to get involved from a grassroots level, with a more level playfield featuring all available Pok\u00e9mon. Remember, there will be plenty of newcomers alongside the returning players.<\/p>\n

Whilst it may appear to some that many of the game\u2019s assets are straight copies from older games, gameplay videos have shown new idle and battle animations with higher quality Pok\u00e9mon models than previously seen. I\u2019m not a game designer, but it would be fair to assume that these designs would have taken up a fair chunk of development time, especially as it appears that these models and animations have been made from scratch. The animations themselves have been subject to some direct criticisms by those cherry-picking specific animations (with graphical glitches aside) in an aim to disprove this. Take Wingull for example, its Pokedex entry states that: \u201cIt has trouble flapping in flight. Instead, it soars on updrafts,\u201d so naturally you wouldn\u2019t expect it to flap in its idle animations. For years, the same animation of Wingull swaying from side to side has been recreated but when it comes to Sword and Shield this suddenly becomes indicative of lazy development.<\/p>\n

It would have been extremely safe for Game Freak\u2019s team of 143 to put all their resources into remodelling each and every Pok\u00e9mon into Sword and Shield, happily plodding along with the same balancing issues, a few notable additions, and a generic plotline. Given more time and manpower, I believe 1000+ Pok\u00e9mon may have been possible. Yet, when you look at the series entries that have performed the best, it\u2019s those that have embraced innovation that have continued to perform well. Sun and Moon were the first games to really break from the mould of \u2018catch, train, battle, gym, repeat\u2019 and have gone on to be some of the more critically acclaimed titles in the whole series. Already, Sword and Shield look to take things one step further with open-space Wild Areas and local and online Max Raid Battles, with no doubt more features to be announced in the near future.<\/p>\n

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Whether or not Game Freak\u2019s justification for the upgrades being too much work is truthful or not, no matter how much time there is to set aside, this wouldn\u2019t have changed the balancing issues mentioned earlier. In this instance, you can\u2019t have the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n

Those most vocal about this culling should be picking their battles better. When trying to address minor gripes with false information and wild assumptions, it takes focus from the larger more pressing issues.<\/p>\n

One of the more glaring negatives is regarding Pok\u00e9mon Home and Pok\u00e9mon Bank. Pok\u00e9mon Bank is a premium service that allows players to store 3000 Pok\u00e9mon online for use in games spanning generations six and seven. It\u2019s unclear whether Pok\u00e9mon Home – the new overarching storage service linking up Pok\u00e9mon Bank, Let\u2019s Go Pikachu and Eevee<\/strong><\/a>, Pok\u00e9mon GO, and Sword and Shield – would require an additional subscription fee. If many of the Pok\u00e9mon available in Pok\u00e9mon Bank are incompatible with Sword and Shield, then there will need to be a pretty decent initial incentive for players to perform such a transfer considering they won\u2019t be able to get them back to Pok\u00e9mon Bank or their original games; leaving them in Pokepurgatory with no real use. As it stands, no such incentive exists other than a vague comment by Masuda on the topic to suggest some gameplay elements for Home may be incorporated in the future.<\/p>\n

Many players would have spent hundreds and in some cases, thousands<\/em> of hours training and breeding Pok\u00e9mon over the course of more than a decade, to have them seemingly become defunct. Whilst you could argue there\u2019s a false sense of entitlement from fans for these Pok\u00e9mon to continue being usable in Sword and Shield as well as future games, Pok\u00e9mon Bank is a paid-for service that encourages the cross-title support for 99% of all Pok\u00e9mon. For these fans to be told that Pok\u00e9mon Bank would be compatible with Home but only to a certain degree, is like being told that you can only keep half of your childhood toys when your family moves home. Patrons of Pok\u00e9mon Bank shouldn\u2019t be expected to pay for a subscription-model service that only offers limited support for the next game in the series, a bit like paying for a Netflix that doesn\u2019t add titles to its catalogue.<\/p>\n

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When communicating such a prominent predicament, it\u2019s important to be as clear and transparent as possible but if anything Masuda\u2019s comments muddy the water and are part of the reason why some people choose not to believe the balancing or graphical rationales. I believe that the news broken by Masuda and Omori was done so both prematurely and without any proper planning. Nintendo and The Pok\u00e9mon Company are often fairly tight-lipped when it comes to articulating features of a game; limiting such announcements to formal press releases and Directs. These comments are clear evidence that, even supposing the best of intentions, miscommunication can be a PR disaster. No matter how many Pok\u00e9mon are to be culled from Sword and Shield, The Pok\u00e9mon Company owe it to their fans to address, at the very least, the objective issue surrounding Pok\u00e9mon Bank\u2019s subscription model and its compatibility with Pok\u00e9mon Home.<\/p>\n

Assumptions have been made from both sides of the argument. Heck, I\u2019ve made some here. Without concrete evidence to back anything up each side will continue to speculate and draw their own conclusions as to how the saga will end. For now, here are the facts: Pok\u00e9mon Sword and Shield will be released Worldwide on November 15th, both games will feature new and returning Pok\u00e9mon, and eager fans will buy both games at launch.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an embarrassing few days for the community, but now it\u2019s time to fight for the answers that really matter and embrace this series\u2019 evolution from an entirely different perspective; one of optimism and opportunity, not anger and frustration.<\/p>\n

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Are you disappointed that the entire Pok\u00e9dex won’t be returning for Sword & Shield? Do you agree that it’s time to embrace and explore fresh opportunities? Feel free to share your thoughts below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you’re trying to please a fanbase that’s been around for over 20 years, any major change to the status quo will always divide opinion. Pok\u00e9mon is a series that\u2019s kept under heavy scrutiny by its loyal community, with each minute detail studied under a Silph Scope with no place for mistakes to hide. Despite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}