Getting Recaptured by Pokémon
As much as the blogs are a spot for advice and weird pieces of fiction, it’s also historically been a bit of a look into my actual life at times. Given that everyone state-side is nursing a full stomach and potentially battling crowds in the blood sport of capitalism, this seemed like a good day for something a bit more chill.
Pokémon came around right when I was in the target demographic, and I was certainly swept up by it in youth. Cards, games, the anime, I went through the usual interests of the fandom. But the really deep content, the EVs and IVs and all that heavy post-game work, never appealed much to me. It’s the same reason I’ve dropped untold MMO characters at the halfway point and failed to get hooked on magic, once the work-to-fun ratio dips below a certain point I tend to bail out. I’ve got passions I am willing to go that deep on (such as writing) but for me the games were meant as a fun escape, and after it stopped being enjoyable enough I’d find something to do the job better.
Once I hit the older stretch of youth, Pokémon fell out of my life substantially. I would still see the games released, however for a long stretch I didn’t even own a handheld console, so multiple generations passed me by without giving them so much as a second thought. It was Pokémon X and Y that drew me out, no surprise since they marketed that game very heavily to the nostalgic Gen 1 crowd, all the way down to letting you pick a second starter from the original three. Fun a game as that was, playing on a 3DS always held it back a step. Might be a me-thing, there’s just an inherent comfort barrier on a device/screen that small, I can only ever play for so long. Which meant that I played through the game, enjoyed myself, and then put it away.
Sword and Shield (SaS) was a different prospect from the start, by virtue of being the first main series Pokémon game on an actual console, and that had my attention from the start. Seeing the bigger world option looked cool, of course Pokémon being on the actual map were a big plus, and dynamaxing… yeah I’ll be honest: after mega-evolutions, dynamaxing feels like a major step down in creativity and coolness. But that wasn’t enough to sour my spirits, so I went ahead and put in a pre-order for Sword to see what the new generation had to offer.
One quick aside, I’m internet-aware enough to know there was a controversy about the pokédex, character models, and other stuff way too in the weeds for me to remotely care about. If you want coverage of that, probably best to find a source that doesn’t skip all the in-depth mechanics in favor of thinking of pun nicknames.
Now that SaS has been out for a while, I have to say, I’m really loving it. Being able to play on a couch, with a controller that fits my hand, is a big plus, and overall they’ve added a lot of quality of life changes that make it more streamlined fun. Fast travel is unlocked super early in the game, they’ve gotten rid of HMs and the need for them entirely, you can access your storage from nearly anywhere, basically Sword and Shield chucked out the headaches that have lingered in the series past the point they were needed.
In term of new features though, Pokémon wandering the world is so much cooler to see than having them hidden in patches of terrain. This is one of the big points I want to talk about, because changing the way you find Pokémon also dramatically shifts the overall pacing. Gone are hours creeping through a cave, hoping the next square won’t launch you into a random encounter dropping your already limited health. Gone are hours running around in the same patch, hoping that this time you’ll get the encounter you’re hoping for. It’s all there, on the screen, making the entire process go so much smoother.
The flipside of this is that the game can feel a little thin during the main story. There’s not the usual side-diversions you frequently encounter in these games, blockades between gyms that force more grinding. With a few exceptions, you can almost run the gyms straight through, assuming your team is strong enough. While that does allow you to control the rate at which you progress nicely, it also sticks out compared to games from the past.
Then again, games from the past didn’t have shit like raid battles or the wild area. If this area is something of a testing phase for future versions, I hope we see these spots even bigger and more geographically diverse as they develop. I will occasionally spend time just riding around the wild area, grabbing stuff and scanning for Pokémon. It’s interesting in a way that feels like it’s finally evolving the concept of the series.
Ultimately, I think the most telling thing about SaS and how much I’ve enjoyed it is this: for the first time I’ve finished the main story and am still playing. There are Max versions to find, raids to complete, and maybe biggest of all, I enjoy the act of exploration. Searching for new Pokémon is relaxing, rather than a grind of one encounter after the other. I’m sure eventually my attention span will kick in, but I have to say, I’m really impressed with how well this game has kept me entertained in my downtime. If you’re a lapsed pokéfan like myself, this might be a great time to jump back in and see whether this new version delivers on what you imagined it could be way back in the Gameboy days.
P.S. I shared this on social media, but here’s my friend-code if you’re also playing Sword and Shield(5763-8490-6800) . Maybe I’ll see you on a Max Raid!