The Charming Agony of Pokémon Sword and Shield
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- 5 years after their release, let's head back to Galar and take a retrospective review of Pokémon Sword and Shield, the 8th generation of mainline Pokémon games.
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The thing about Leon is that he ISN'T actually full of himself. The reason he wears the flamboyant outfit and cape is to please his fans. The dude is actually pretty chill.
Plus, whilst the game himself doesn't really do it, the evolutions short focusing on him being unable to beat Eternatus really delves a lot into his character. How he's the strongest trainer in the world, and at his best, he was unable to stop a world-ending threat. He has this crushing expectations on him from across the whole country, and he couldn't fulfill. Really brilliant stuff for his character.
The cape is also where all his sponsorships are placed, while the rest of the outfit is the league's champion uniform (you get it too when you beat him). And he's really just looking for a challenge and bored of being unbeatable.
"I'll dynamax a thousand pokemon before I let this company die!"
- Chairman Rose probably
This comment is the funniest thing I’ve read in forever💀
I have somebody who started with sword and shield. It’s really nice seeing a video that’s purely supporting them
That was the game I first started when it was brand new. Glad to see it in a good light
I started with swsh too
Something that I think it's important to point out to understand the story is that the dynamax energy wasn't just used for electricity. It had applications in pretty much every filed in the region.That's why many of the companies affiliated to Macrocosmos aren't even energy related.
And Rose's plan does makes sense. And it's highly tied to everything you hear and watch during your entire playthrough about the legend of Galar, the characters and specially about Leon. In fact, something that people loves to mention is the whole Leon being the unbeatable champion thing but this is actually a huge plot point.This because Rose was developing his plan based on his (incomplete/inaccurate) knowledge of the legend of Galar (the one that talks about how a hero was the one who stopped the first darkest day). Literally every single town and city is tied to the lore Eternatus and the legend of Galar. With the exception of Ballonlea due to its hidden fairy type town aesthetic and Spikemuth for being the town that doesn't relate to Dynamax.
And as I said, a fact that people tend to miss when it comes to his plan is that, while dynamax energy is incredibly useful in many fields, the wishing stars themselves (that are parts of Eternatus scattered through the region 3000 years ago) aren't unlimited.
So in order to ensure the future of Galar (by making Eternatus scatter wishing stars once again through the entire region like it did in the past), he needed to recreate the events of the first darkest day. Because of this, he needed two things: to bring back the darkest day (a.k.a Eternatus) and "a hero" to defeat it (and in current times, this would be Leon, the strongest trainer of the Galar region). Which made Leon´s cooperation an absolutely vital part of his plan.
As seen through the game, Rose isn't really a bad person. He loves Galar, had a huge role in his development as a metropolis and has a great eye to find talented people that could help with that growth (Oleana, Leon, Bede, etc). But he also has some really strong ideals.
And that's why the scene where he expels Bede from the gym challenge for destroying the ancient mural is so important. Because is meant to show that Rose cuts associations with anyone that goes againts the well being of Galar in some way or another. And just like what happened with Bede, he also got dissapointed with Leon's actions.
Bede wasn't Rose's adopted son. However Bede wasn't just the challenger endorsed by Rose either. He was pretty much his plan B in case Leon refused to take part in his plan. A challenger with great talent that could potentially beat Leon and become the champion. Even Bede's original type specialty was influenced by taking into account his potential cooperation with the plan. That's why he was a psychic type user. With psychic being obviously one of Eternatus weaknesses.
But he lost this plan B as a result of what happened with the mural since he considered Bede as unreliable due to his actions. Although he was unaware of Oleana's petition to Bede and how (unintentionally on Oleana's part), encouraged Bede to go to extremes to help Rose.
It's also important to mention that the reunion with Leon in Rose Tower wasn't Rose's first attempt to convince Leon to participate in the plan (but the problem is that as the strongest trainer of galar, he was vital for his plan, so he HAD to take part in it).
Quote from Rose:
"Leon, we have discussed this a hundred times already. And you still fail to understand what's at stake? You, who are supposed to be our champion".
In fact, Oleana's entire ambush to Leon on his way to the dinner with Hop and the player was their last attempt to get Leon's cooperation by his own will. To the point where Oleana makes everything in her power to delay your (and Hop's) arrival to the tower to gain as much time as she could for Rose to convince Leon, even if she herself had to battle againts the player to do it.
And even things like the lines in Leon's conversation with Sonia right at the beginning of the game (where she asks him if he's still looking for info about a super strong never before seeing pokemon) and Bede's type specialty have important meanings/foreshadowing.
At the end, this last reunion failed (because he only got another "promise to help" from Leon because he still thought it was too dangerous) and this is the moment where Rose got dissapointed with Leon just like he did with Bede. But he still needed him for his plan, specially after the experiments required to awake Eternatus (the explosions you hear through the game each time you get near to hammerlocke and that Leon took care of).
Because of this, Eternatus was already fully overloaded for Leon to fight (thanks to the wishing stars used to awake it, but this also made it harder to control, which is why the plan couldn't be delayed) and Rose no longer trusted in Leon's promises to help with the plan. So given the situation he needed to force Leon to cooperate (by awakening Eternatus in a way that Leon couldn't ignore: during the final match of the gym challenge).
Quotes from Rose:
" I think it's time to bring the darkest day. All for the sake of Galar. But I´m in a bit of a pickle. The energy released by the darkest day it's too much for us to contain."
"I'm sorry it's come to this. But it's you who forced my hand, Leon. You refused to listen"
"In order to solve the energy issue, we awakened Eternatus but we couldn't control it. The champion still came to aid me, even at the cost of abandoning the match. Indeed, just like a knight in shining armor coming to rescue a princess from a dragon".
So, in summary, the experiments caused Eternatus awakening to accelerate and their reunion in Rose Tower was Rose's last attempt to convince him to take part in the plan by his own will since Leon was vital for it. But he refused to take part in such a dangerous plan and this became the moment where he saw Leon just like he saw Bede, but he was still vital for the plan. And because of this, he made sure to force Leon to participate in it by letting Eternatus awakening happen in a way Leon couldn't ignore (during the final match of the gym challenge) and Leon had to participate just like he expected and just like his plan (that was based on the incomplete/inaccurate version of the legend of Galar) intended.
By the way, Rose fights Hop and the player because as I said, he's not a bad guy. He was convinced on Leon's ability to take down Eternatus and Leon was indeed pretty strong. He literally weakened Eternatus enough to attempt the capture without using gigantamax (and this is a legendary pokemon that literally required two legendary pokemon to be defeated). The reason he fought against the player and Hop was for stopping them from interfering but he also didn't want two kids getting in the middle of such a dangerous plan even if they were strong as well.
But only you, the player, thanks to the fact that you went through the gym challenge, Sonia's research in the places related to the legend and to the discovery of the lost ancient tapestry with the missing part of the legend (that hinted the location of the relics necessary to summon the legendaries that protected Galar), discovered the actual cause of Eternatus defeat 3000 years ago that no one else knew. And with Hop's help you were able to summon the only ones that could actually defeat Eternatus (Zacian and Zamazenta), just like the two kings (ancestors of Swordward and Shieldbert) did in the past and saved the region (while also ensuring the future of Galar with the wishing stars being scattered once again through the region).
Sorry for the extremely long comment. I tend to write a lot sometimes.
@@giboit. bro wrote a whole essay in the comments
@@keviaaar and waste everyone's time
@@giboit. That's actually a really good explanation. At first I didn't care about the story seeming rushed towards the end and I enjoyed the game for what it was. Eventually it did start to feel a bit weird and forced to me, partially due to commentary on the story like in this video.
Your comment puts it in a more nuanced light and makes me want to replay the game again to look for all the clues and hints supporting the buildup of the story :)
I actually think that the fact that you can battle the gym leaders in the finals of the gym challenge is extremely cool and makes a lot of sense. Galar is easily the most competitive region when it comes to gym leaders trying to take the title of champion. You can actually see the gym leaders actively trying to take the title. You get to know the gym leaders outside their own gyms and the league cards were also an amazing way to get to know more about this competitive aspect of them and how they all aim to defeat the champion. Something rarely seeing witn gym leaders of previous games.
Usually you never see the early game gym leaders after you beat them, but here, every gym leader gets spotlight. Even the early game gym leaders thanks to the fact that they take part in the finala llater on as well. Heck, Milo, Nessa and Kabu even appear after your victory in Motostoke to cheer you on and show your support.
In Galar the gym challenge is awesome. It has a great pokemon league system with the minor and major leagues, the gym leaders are widely recognized, famous and respected across the region, there's league cards, gym uniforms, sponsors, the region loves the gym challenge and the gym challenge itself feels huge event that everyone looks forward to see and the gym challengers get fans and can become the champion. This also extends to the gym leaders. Which are allowed to participate in the gym challenge finals precisely because as gym leaders they have the right to face the champion for his title.
And it's also very likely that gym challenge also works as some kind of scouting process. Specially considering that characters like Sonia, Milo, Nessa, Piers and Raihan took part in the same gym challenge where Leon became the champion. Very likely getting scouted after a great performance during their gym challenge (Sonia didn't get scouted because she quitted her gym challenge at Opal's gym as implied in her notes about her). This also explain why the other gym challenger npcs (and even Bede and Marnie) tend to specialize in a specific type. To get scouted. In fact, we actually see Opal actively looking for a successor during the story. So this is very likely the case.
This was a nice retrospective! Also 5 years makes me feel old, wow. It's wild to think that for all the controversy the games experienced, Dynamax Adventures have truly stood the test of time and become arguably one of the most popular mechanics in the series. They need to find a way to bring them back (or at least the idea back) in Gen 10!
Dynamax Adventures was just extra raid battles. Nothing special, why do you ppl pay for incomplete garbage with overpriced dlc?!
Glaze harder😂
@@haroldnecmann7040 Um... what?
@yukiizurur drunk, go home old man
@@haroldnecmann7040 Uh... right. Ok my love, go throw your pissbaby temper tantrum for someone who cares, and let the grown folk speak instead xoxo
I'm going to be honest, in my opinion Leon is easily the most fleshed out champion of any pokemon game.
We know literally everything about him. Where he lives, how his room looks, how he started his gym challenge, which trainers where his friends and rivals during that time, who trained him, how he got his signature pokemon, how much time he has been the champion, how he influenced the gym leaders and trainers to improve, how highly they think of him and its pretty fleshed out how much the other gym leaders aim to beat him and which ones are considered in the region to be the closest candidates to the champion title after him (something rarely seen about gym leaders from other regions), his connection with Rose and Professor Magnolia (who raised Sonia), how the people in the region think of him, the kind of aspects that he considers his responsability as a champion, his influence over Hop as his older brother and how much he likes the pokemon battles. He has a key role in the story not only as the final boss and we also know his entire personality overall (including aspects of him like catchphrases, the fact that he tends to get lost easily, etc) and what happened to him after he lost his title. Not to mention that all the twilight wings episodes relate to him.
He literally saved the region like 3 times during the game, has meaningful rivalries, Sonia is his childhood friend (and very likely love interest), he trained under mustard (but never took the final trial because of his habit of getting lost) and he also has the dream of turning the galar trainers into the strongest of the world and actively works towards that goal by becoming the new chairman of the pokemon league and founding the galarian star tournament. And he also make sure to tell Hop that he was proud of him and recognized his strength as a trainer in the post game.
Honestly, Leon is an awesome champion. His influence in the characters, the region itself and the story is the biggest out all the champions.
He felt like he was the most realistic champion, and honestly Galar was the most realistic region.
Pokemon battling in Galar is a professional sport, and their events are televised, and professional trainers are celebrities. It's a huge spectacle. And Leon FEELS like a professional athlete who 1.) Loves the game, 2.) Loves to entertain and inspire others, 3.) Wants to inspire and mentor kids to grow up and do great things and 4.) He's covered from head to toe in sponsorships as someone in his status would.
Not to mention the fact that he also actively participated to keep his region and the gym challengers he endorsed safe.
Finally, the thing that really sold me on Leon was his reaction to losing to you. The Galar gym leader are easily the most competitive trainers in the entire franchise (in a good way).
Most trainers/gym leaders are frustrated/upset/sad when they lose to Leon with Nessa shaking her head and tossing her hair out of (understandable) frustration and becoming more strict in her gym to improve as mentioned in her league card, Bea going on long solo training sessions after her defeats with Leon, Gordie not giving interviews until he could deal with his defeats because he cares about his fans and doesn't want to be mean to them or how Raihan takes pictures to not forget the pain of his defeats against Leon. These are natural and understandable reactions to fighting someone extremely strong.
Now Leon, who became a trainer at 10, who went undefeated and became the champion in his ever gym challenge, and has been the champion for more than a decade now. What does he do about losing the first time ever?
He's devastated at first, pulling down his hat over his face to hide the fact that he wants to cry, but then a smile shows up as he realizes that he's done exactly what he wanted to: he inspired a young trainer to the be best they could be. And then he throws his hat up (the crown hat, literally de-crowning himself) in sincere celebration of your victory and offers a heartfelt congratulations. Showing that despite the fact that he's essentially a hero to the entire region and the sole reason all the other gym leaders train so hard to beat him, he's still humble.
Being a Brit myself and also starting with Red in the late 90s, I honestly agree with you and see the games the way you did, I never camped in my first play through, I loved the story of the 2nd dlc but look back with fond memories of the game. I don’t understand people’s frustrations but am able to look past flaws even with Scarlet and Violet. Thought it was just me
I did understand people’s frustrations**
I'm glad that Sword and Shield seems to be looked at a little more fondly nowadays. They're absolutely very flawed in their main story and some technically details but I still think they feel nicer to play than Scarlet and Violet. That said, I am surprised a little bit about some things you glossed over, like Hop's insecurities of being in his brother's shadow, the massively improved second attempt with the Wild Area that the Isle of Armor brought (like holy crap something other than just flat grassy terrain, there's oceans and caves here finally), and nothing on Restricted Sparring, the battle facility where you're forced to use a monotype team.
Pokemon sword and shield are my favorite pokemon games!
Then you haven’t played any other Pokémon games
@@amirrbah167 Personally, it's way better than scarlet and violet and all the older pokemon games look outdated
@@not_haks octopath has the pixilated look does it meant it was outdated too?
@@haroldnecmann7040 In general older pokemon games are pixelated because they are literally old games and the hardware wasn't strong enough while octopath was aiming for that retro style. Also pixeliated doesn't mean outdated but in pokemon's case it does.
The thing with Sword and Shield is that they're actually easy to replay. There's tons of variety and you can run through it without the story pulling you away from the main quest too much. I've beaten Shield like 6 or 7 times and I've yet to restarted Violet despite it being ostensibly better in many ways.
I think I miss linear Pokémon games. The vast plains of Paldea felt empty and didn't leave much to imaginations.
i have 3000 hours on sword (thanks switch-up mod) and i can definitively say that these games weren't bad, they are just really shallow. they created some of my favorite mons (dragapult) and paved the way for the best game in my opinion (PLA) to be made on the switch. i just wish galar wasn't super shallow.
I can't see a world where nintendo would make a pokemon game with only Japanese voice acting. Its a franchise aimed for kids and that would be extremely jarring and would probably put a lot of new players off, which is like the main aim of each new generation being released so frequently.
I really enjoyed them. I don’t care what people say, they did many things right
Nope those games were so wrong in so many ways. Dexit, incomplete galar fossils, bad story, lifeless overworld pokemon, half assed wild area, overpriced dlc that fixed nothing, etc all made this game the mess that it is today.
Many things, such as? Dexit? High quality animations?
@@haroldnecmann7040 it was better then scarlet and violet
@@Sobble_99 better hall ways? What better?
@@haroldnecmann7040 artstyle and gameplay and i hope they improve that instead of empty open world.
Dynamax Adventures is the most fun i’ve had in pokémon in a long long time
I like the joke that the player and Hop where so hungry they stormed Rose tower to yell at Leon for being late. I really love these games though lol I recognize the flaws but I enjoyed them so much I dont care much about those flaws. (also side note, absolutely LOVE Bede fr)
These were actually my very first Pokemon games, I love them so much, and I’m very biased :)
I like to think that if Leon had a different ace it would be Aegislash. I just think that Aegislash represents the games Sword and Shield very well unlike Charizard. After all, it is literally a sword and a shield which is just such a cool design I must say.
the problem is its just a 3ds game with a wild area, tbh sun and moon look better sometimes w a better story and region
@@Yffgh5677 Still looks better than Scarlet and Violet. Those most of the time look like N64 environments.
I'm so happy more people come around liking Sword and Shield. They're my most played games in the franchise, I just love the region, characters and new Pokémon.
But yeah, the plot around the Darkest Day and Chairman Rose could have been so much better. And don't even get me started on the royal brothers in the post game. Hate those guys, haha.
Bro who is coming around to like this game??? If this is your most played Pokémon game I feel sorry for you
@amirrbah167 LOL, why are you harassing people for liking Sword and Shield? It's totally fine if you don't like them, doesn't mean people who do like them are wrong for doing so.
Grow up.
@@Lost_In_Neverwhere Yes they are wrong m, you can have a wrong opinion just say you haven’t played any other Pokémon games
Congratulations on your first 1000 subs! It's an amazing feeling I remember it so well 😁
This video made me feel better. I actually enjoyed SwSh back when it was new, so thank you for this video. :D
looking back at Sword and Shield, and especially taking into account the games that were released after that more or less scratch my itch with what I wanted from Pokemon on Switch (Scarlet and Violet looks like shit still but is fun), I've come to really appreciate these games and it is a damn shame Game Freak was clearly dealing with so much crunch with this game and Scarlet/Violet. With more polishing Sword and Shield truly is (trying to be) the culmination of everything that came before it, taking aspects from all the prior generations to make a very familiar but strong bridge between the 3DS games and Open World games.
I think the biggest issue with Sword and Shield is overall its lack of dungeons, short routes, messy story and overall weird moments where it just lacks polish where you wouldnt expect it to. In an alternate universe where Sword and Shield released a year later, while I do still think it wouldve been met with a lot of backlash initially for just being so similar to what came before and dexit, I think it could very much be viewed as the one game you could play that sums up the series prior whist providing an invitation to its future.
It's damn shame and I'm glad we're taking a year off this year so these games can receive the time they so desperately deserve. Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet are very messy games, but it's undeniable they were made by a talented and passionate team who probably just needed more time and less crunch.
The Fossil-Pokemon are actually a refrence to past archeologists piecing wrongly togehter fossil either accedentily or on purpose to create new species. I was a rather common practice in the past,
'They can't just code all Pokemon into the game, there's too many!" DO YOU KNOW HOW RICH NINTENDO IS? DO YOU KNOW?
@Trinthegay could be a memory issue. Think about how much ram that would take up. But to a degree its nice. It keeps rhe competitive metagames diverse
@@pangorofists No it doesn't, literally everyone uses the same teams, the same pokemon, it's not diverse at all.
And anyway, you can't argue RAM or storage. The switch is pretty powerful and yet they still managed to make SV buggy.
I don't think these games get enough credit for being some of the best looking and best running pokemon games!!
Pokemon snap, pokken?
@@haroldnecmann7040 yeah those too! i said “some of” because i definitely think new snap is absolutely gorgeous
Had fun waiting for this
My Gigantimax Gengar Is Boss Just Like Ash Ketchum's.
Bro, i chose scorbunny, and Leon's inteleon later DEMOLISHED me
I always wonder how SwSh would have been revived without the dex cut. Also when Masuda said "higher quality animations" I watched a video where the creator said he likely ment that the animations themselves were of a higher visual quality because the games were in HD instead of the 3DS's quality, which is way more blurry, so it requires more effort the make the same simple battle animations look as good as they did on 3DS, which makes a lot of sense. Compare Mean Face 😈 n 3DS and Switch, and if we have 3DS Mean Face at its resolution, it would look terrible. They had to put in more work for a higher quality visual aspect to achieve the same kind of animation, which makes a lot of sense.
Also I loved the DLC areas, especially the Isle of Armor which always felt more grand to me than the Crown Tundra in some aspects because of how open it is.
Although I definitely agree that the Gameplay and Story of the Crown Tundra is far superior. It wasn't just a legendary hunt, (like the Max dens or previous games,) there was story that made you feel like you were chasing down mythical beats! (In the traditional sense of the word, not the in universe sense of "mythical (aka event exclusive) pokemon.")
Oh no, a liar apologist appeared😢
@@haroldnecmann7040 What a sellout am I right?
@@shinymk6562ur going down with mrbeast
Dragapult would be a cool Ace if it had a GMax
Pokemon camps was all about the curries. Heals your team in the wild area, plus you have a curry dex. And some ingredients are hard to get and you have to perfect your stirring technique
Team Yell acting as the standard roadblocks for the game is pretty infuriating, especially because the map has a lot of circular and forking designs that could've easily been used as a customizable order
The game was really good
Looking back, it was as bad as I thought. But hey, somehow scarlet and violet are even worse. Good job on going 3D gamefreak, lmao.
Hop really is just Hau 2.0.
I am trying to get a shiny latias before going for the second gym because i think its funny and i like latias' shiny
Whilst bewear isn’t my least favourite pokemon, I’ve held a grudge against it since post game moon so it’s nice to hear someone else dislikes it 😂
Do not praise this boring and unchallenging and ugly game. The new pokemon of this region look horrible.
Gen 1 glazer