the0last0one0

Well Ive just become the Pokemon champion in this game, so Im guessing Ive played enough of the game to say this is disappointing. Pokemon games have a habit of going 'one step forward, two steps back', but this game is just two steps back. Or three. I thought things couldnt get worse than the Sun/Moon games, but Sword/Shield is the most frustratingly basic game of the whole franchise. There are no side quests here at all. It is the most basic 'A to B', or 'gym to gym' game released. The antagonistic 'team' doesnt exist. Team Yell are nothing more than supporters of a gym leader who do very little. Theres no sidequest like a 'Team Rocket trying to take over the world' at all. Theres two gym leaders who take a little more thought on how to beat than normal, which is a nice change, but thats it. The sudden bad guy at the end (who has no real story development) has the most stupidly easy pokemon to beat. All the same type. There are only really three gyms that you have to spend more than three minutes travelling to. But then the last gyms are a rediculous 'go from one gyme to another in two seconds'. Seeing some pokemon active in the grass is nice, but its the only place you'll find them. Theres no traditional tunnel you have to work through where you suprise bump into zubats and no surf/ocean travel where you suprice encounter water pokemon. It's just basic. This generations games are a complete case of style over substance. Pokemon players want to a) catch em all (you cant here), b) have a good story, c) enjoy new pokemon designs, d) have some challenging battles and e) have replay value. Instead, here you have no interesting side story, like we did with 'N' in the Black/White games. No mini games like the great games you had in Soul Silver/Heart Gold or the great mini games we had playing with pokemon in the X/Y games and no challenging battles. Its bizarre that the switch light has a touch screen yet you cant use the touch screen at all. The most engaging outing of the franchise was clearly the X/Y games where you could 'touch'/'stroke' your pokemon with the 3DS stylus. Pokemon was clearly at its best in the DS consoles and thats where it should still be. We really dont need better graphics than the X/Y outing, especially not at the loss of story. And the 'elite four'... Where are they?? You just go up against previous gym leaders youve already beaten and use the same species of pokemon. No variation. No long quest to discover where the elite four are; you just fly back to a gym you've already been to. Usually when you battle the elite four and champion you cant heal your pokemon at a pokecenter in between those battles, which make them more challenging. Here your pokemon get healed after each battle. This game is so easy its embarrassing. All I can say is sort yourself out Game Freak. You've forgotten whats at the heart of this franchise and how to make a great game.