Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield

Rossi IRL

colmtheperson wrote: »

Can anybody figure out how max raid battles work? I keep going in to the "y-menu," connect to the internet, find somebody looking for help with a max raid, enter it, then almost immediately something goes wrong and I'm kicked out with an error

Am I missing something or is it a glitch in the game?

Sounds like the game you are trying to join is full by the time you try enter it. They can fill up very fast

Red Silurian

Rossi IRL wrote: »

Sounds like the game you are trying to join is full by the time you try enter it. They can fill up very fast

Yes I got that impression as well... Maybe it's down to lazy programming that I can still see the raid when it's full

TitianGerm

colmtheperson wrote: »

Yes I got that impression as well... Maybe it's down to lazy programming that I can still see the raid when it's full

More likely that there's a few people all trying to join that raid at the same time but someone else is connecting before you.

Rhyme

It's also such a recent release that the low and mid-level stuff is very popular. Give it a few days and a lot of players will move on to the higher end stuff. I know walking around the first Wild area used to be absolutely jammers with people, now it's a bit quieter.

Redzer7

Lads where do I get the tm false swipe? I've seen videos saying it's in the pokemon centre beside motostoke but in my one he only sells bullet seed etc? I've googled it and can't find any answers, thanks.

Rhyme

Redzer7 wrote: »

Lads where do I get the tm false swipe? I've seen videos saying it's in the pokemon centre beside motostoke but in my one he only sells bullet seed etc? I've googled it and can't find any answers, thanks.

I've been on the hunt for this as well as it's my 'Pokemon catching move'. Haven't come across the TM of it but Farfetch'd learns it at level 35. The Galerian version of Farfetch'd has much higher Attack than normal so should help.

mcgovern

Redzer7 wrote: »

Lads where do I get the tm false swipe? I've seen videos saying it's in the pokemon centre beside motostoke but in my one he only sells bullet seed etc? I've googled it and can't find any answers, thanks.

I haven't done the first gym yet and I know I bought it somewhere so should be that first town.
Did you check both Pokemon Centres there?

Redzer7

mcgovern wrote: »

I haven't done the first gym yet and I know I bought it somewhere so should be that first town.
Did you check both Pokemon Centres there?

Yeah tried both of them even looked at the videos and went step by step Haha I seen another post saying a pokemon centre left of the steampunk city so I'll have a look there when I get home. I'll report back Haha.

Deano7788

It's in Motostoke, the Pokemon Centre with the 2 sellers at the Mart. I think you need to the speak to the guy furthest right if I remember correctly, left guy was poke balls, potions, etc.

Redzer7

Deano7788 wrote: »

It's in Motostoke, the Pokemon Centre with the 2 sellers at the Mart. I think you need to the speak to the guy furthest right if I remember correctly, left guy was poke balls, potions, etc.

Not on my game it isn't.

Calhoun

Redzer7 wrote: »

Not on my game it isn't.

How many badges have you unlocked ? They don't show you full inventory until you unlock more.

Redzer7

Calhoun wrote: »

How many badges have you unlocked ? They don't show you full inventory until you unlock more.

Have got all the badges and still nothing unfortunately.

Calhoun

That's really weird I only picked it up yesterday .

Mr.Saturn

There's 2 Pokemon centres in Motostoke, False Swipe is in the one to the left of the gym.

chrislad

Just finished the 8th badge last night. I'm not in love with the game so far. It's fine and all, but it just feels very by the numbers. I've not played a Pokemon game since X/Y and it doesn't seem like anything has really changed other than better graphics (which aren't exactly great, some animations are poor [headbutt is a kick!?], and seems a bit robotic at times)

I'll stick with it, but I can't see myself going much past the end of the game, other than to beat my sons team when he finishes it

Rhyme

chrislad wrote: »

Just finished the 8th badge last night. I'm not in love with the game so far. It's fine and all, but it just feels very by the numbers. I've not played a Pokemon game since X/Y and it doesn't seem like anything has really changed other than better graphics (which aren't exactly great, some animations are poor [headbutt is a kick!?], and seems a bit robotic at times)

I'll stick with it, but I can't see myself going much past the end of the game, other than to beat my sons team when he finishes it

I'm in the same boat, enjoying it as much as I have other Pokemon games but it's not blowing me away. I've heard the post-game is a bit limited so unless I can imagine myself continuing to play it, I might trade it in.

The animation for Body Slam is hilarious, it's like a first-year animation student did it. Wobble the static 3D model, move it out of frame and then back into frame on top of the opposing Pokemon.

chrislad

Rhyme wrote: »

I'm in the same boat, enjoying it as much as I have other Pokemon games but it's not blowing me away. I've heard the post-game is a bit limited so unless I can imagine myself continuing to play it, I might trade it in.

The animation for Body Slam is hilarious, it's like a first-year animation student did it. Wobble the static 3D model, move it out of frame and then back into frame on top of the opposing Pokemon.

And the thing is, some of the animations are good - My Cinderace has Pyro Ball, and I'm still not tired of looking at it.

Rhyme

chrislad wrote: »

And the thing is, some of the animations are good - My Cinderace has Pyro Ball, and I'm still not tired of looking at it.

Oh yeah, definitely. Things like Hammer Arm and Waterfall are great. My current favourite is Hydro Pump; Inteleon winds up, charges and blasts, cut to victim, camera hesitates a second and then BAM, right to the face. Comedic timing. Hyper Beam is similar.

Just about to battle Leon now, I hate his stupid facial hair, his pose, his gammy cloak and his neurotic brother. Not a patch on Piers and Bede though, they can go and shite.

chrislad

Rhyme wrote: »

Oh yeah, definitely. Things like Hammer Arm and Waterfall are great. My current favourite is Hydro Pump; Inteleon winds up, charges and blasts, cut to victim, camera hesitates a second and then BAM, right to the face. Comedic timing. Hyper Beam is similar.

Just about to battle Leon now, I hate his stupid facial hair, his pose, his gammy cloak and his neurotic brother. Not a patch on Piers and Bede though, they can go and shite.

Yeah, the only likable characters for me was actually Sonia and the whole Darkest Day thing, which honestly, seems to be just shoved in there to give some semblance of a story - any time it got interesting, it was "No, don't help. Go get a gym badge, so you can be strong enough to face the impending Armageddon"

Rhyme

chrislad wrote: »

Yeah, the only likable characters for me was actually Sonia and the whole Darkest Day thing, which honestly, seems to be just shoved in there to give some semblance of a story - any time it got interesting, it was "No, don't help. Go get a gym badge, so you can be strong enough to face the impending Armageddon"

I do like the slow drip-feed of information on the one hero, no two, no they had weapons, no they had Pokemon, secret symbols and meanings. I've not reached the end of that thread just yet. Not having a real continuous adversary was a shame too, Team Yell don't count. A Team Rocket popping up causing mischief would have kept momentum in the second plot instead of just, as you say, "no, don't pay attention to this, go fight a gym". Something I heard from a Creative Writing instructor rings true here; if you're writing about an event and you reference a more interesting set of events than the one you're in, stop writing and write about the more interesting set of events. I want to know about the energy side of things, the Dynamax phenomenon, all that and not just get a plot dump at the very end which I feel is likely to happen.

I think I would have liked either multiple Wild Areas transitioning slowly between biomes like Breath of the Wild rather than one long one that whips between rain and desert and snow and etc so fast.

Redzer7

Got my first shiny pokemon today, Mr Mime, now Mr Rime.

chrislad

I've finished the main game, the post game, and there's not really much for me to do bar complete the Pokedex and/or do the Battle Tower. I'm at around 170/400 at the moment, and my main is around level 93, with about 6 others at 70ish. All in all, about 20 hours, so not exactly a big time sink, though I'm sure it would double if I wanted to fill out the 'dex.

Honestly, very meh. Not enough change versus the last one I played (X/Y), and I feel like the wild area needs a lot of work before it is what they wanted it to be. I'd like to see

1) Proper weather. Not 1 metre to the left is snow, and 1 metre to the right in desert. The change is too drastic. Again, look at Breath of the Wild (This will be said a lot)

2) Pokemon popping in and out of reality when you move towards them. This is supposed to be real. A Pokemon popping into the world, and then popping out again went you walk back is just silly.

3) No auto fights. This is a world when people and Pokemon live together. Fights should be triggered by actually equipping a poke-ball, rather than just walking into a Pokemon that just popped up in the grass.

4) Give the Pokemon some life. Walking around in circles is not a life. They just seem like they're there to be there because this is the area where he would be. This ties into point 2. Let them roam. While it's likely it will be in Area X, he could have migrated to Area Y because the weather was poor, for example.

5) Animations. Some are excellent, most are crap. The way the move their legs as they turn on the spot too. Again, no real improvements on X/Y as far as I can see.

6) I'm not expecting a great story, but the side story with the legendaries was way more interesting than the main "story" - The aim should be to beat the gyms, but that's a goal, not the journey. I mean, you are literally told to just go beat a gym leader, when a major event, cataclysmic really, is happening.

7) Don't cut features that were already in there. Pokemon Let's Go, you could ride your larger Pokemon, or have them follow you? Not in this case. Surf etc removed in favour of a bike with inflatable wheels, that you just happen to come across? Ties into 6) for the weak story, and things happening because they just need to happen

Doff

Story was definitely the poorest to date. The max raid feature has potential but at the moment its easily exploited and difficult to join another group due to abandoned groups (from noted exploit) or the unreliable online system.

The wild area is a nice feature and I'm hoping they release some patches in the near future to fix/tidy up the online features.

ERG89

I'm only 4 badges in & have hit a wall on the gameplay loop.

I'll start with the negatives.

The cities are so sparse, lacking life with the amount of copy and paste in interior locations. There are one or two spots where they just didn't put a wall & you see a black void.
The caves are so basically designed I'm not sure why they bothered, same with all the doors without handles.
Some animations look good (especially for newer Pokemon) but a lot of moves look incredibly bad in 2019.
The wild area is like something that they worked on more to cover the fact the towns & routes are areas where corners were cut.
The game in general runs poor with shadows & edges in particular look rough.
Dynamaxing like Z Moves I hope will not return.
The next game badly needs voice acting, every cut scene or conversation in the game really breaks any flow you have which isn't helped by having mainly bland characters. Pokemon cries are a must too.
It's very easy to accidentally over level your party with the xp share being mandatory across your party. I already had fully evolved my starter not long after the second gym.
The game takes over the Wi-Fi to the point you can't download updates in the background & once you close the game you have to turn it back on. It would help if the online wasn't so badly implemented.
Somehow all of this looks worse when you have the system docked it's like playing a handheld game on a TV.

The positives:
In general the new pokemon look pretty good.
Being able to control the Pokemon in your party all the time is useful.
I like they made an effort to try do more with the gyms.
I'd like to see the wild area return but maybe not have Pokemon pop up 5 feet in front of the player in the future.
Returning to the wild area after winning badges to see more powerful Pokemon wandering is a good incentive.
I like the way you can still choose to engage Pokemon in the routes or engage with rustling grass for Pokemon that may not appear roaming.
Leon is basically Hiroshi Tanahashi.


I'm only halfway through it so can't comment on the game overall but I cant see myself picking this up again for a few months as I lack the motivation to push myself through it. I can't believe anyone could give a game that cuts so many corners a high score based on what I had played.

Yakult

Haven't picked this back up in a while now. Just don't think it's a good game, even for Pokemon's standards, and it seems like they have dumbed the game down and just made it a long hand holding session.

The game over-all just seems stale, the dialogue is rubbish, the story is basically non-existant, textures when bad, are comically bad. And these problems are just the TIP of the iceberg.

Maybe I've outgrown the formula these games abide to so much, but until theirs radical change, I won't be picking up another Pokemon game. Back to Let's Go for me. More Charm than this game could ever achieve.

Wouldn't actually recommend to a Pokemon fan. Play Lets Go Pikachu/Eevee instead.

Redzer7

Just ran into a shiny hitmonchan in I'd say my second encounter with him, got a bit of a fright when I seen it was shiny as I wasn't hunting him.

Have about 35 to get now to compete the pokedex, is there anyone on here that could help me out?

goon_magee

Just finished the story there. Not sure how I feel about it. Finished it but some absolutely massive gripes.

The wild area was so utterly underwhelming I'm actually shocked it featured so heavily in the promotion of the game. Nothing to explore, no secrets, just a big bland empty field that is is so basic it makes Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time look cutting edge even today.

They need to ditch the linear progression from hub town to hub town via routes. Make the entire region one big wild area, make it interesting to explore, fill it with side quests, optional dungeons etc. then have hub towns dotted around. A Breath of the Wild style open world with hub towns and cities dotted around containing your main quests etc. would translate perfectly to Pokemon.

I think they also need to consider ditching gyms being tied to one type/element. It's a dated mechanic and removes any sense of challenge or anticipation for reaching the next gym. It's impossible to get excited about gym battles anymore when I know that I am basically going to one shot each and every Pokemon of each and every leader as long as I have one opposing Pokemon with a super effective attack. Speaking of gyms, WTF happened the gym missions about halfway through the game? The creativity of the first few vanishes and we get stock battles for the remainder. Its as if the guy who designed the first few got fired midway through development so they stuck a clueless intern in and told him to get to work.

And finally, I wouldn't consider this rant complete if I didn't vent about Hop. I've been gaming for 26 years, and in all that time, Hop is hands down the WORST ****ing character I have ever encountered in a video game. Obnoxious, needy, neurotic...I could go on but I've made my point. All I know is I would hate to encounter whatever shower of b*stards from Gamefreak were responsible for Hop's design and writing, cause f*ck me if Hop is anything to go by they must be an absolutely insufferable shower of c*nts.

Anyway apart from that the game was mint!

RobbingBandit

Gone back to the wild area caught some ditto and started trading got a ttar earlier so gonna farm larvitars and go into the champions battle with 6 maxed out Draco meteor ones.

Scarlet42

some advice please. ... my son (age 11) has requested all games .. Shield, Sword and Lets Go Pikachu .. they all get very mixed reviews and its getting a bit confusing!!.. I'm only willing to get him one .. which one would you recommend? thanks in advance!

Irish Halo

The Pokemon games are, nearly, always released in pairs (Red & Blue, Sun & Moon, Gold & Silver etc.) In these pairs the core game is the same with some minor differences between them.

Pokemon Sword & Pokemon Shield is the latest pair, released a few weeks ago.

Let's Go Pikachu! and Let's Go Evee! were the previous pair, released a year ago. They are also a remake of an older game with a significant nostalgia factor, incorporating aspects of the TV show and connect with Pokemon Go! the mobile phone game.

Buying the latest is the best ideas so just get Sword or Shield. I don't know how to choose which one there's no real difference.