Pokémon Sword & Shield (Crown Tundra Out Now - Play It Quick Before It Votes For Independence)

Robbo-92 wrote:Has anyone got round to starting the DLC then? Not got round to its myself, tempted to leave it a while before cracking on with it (still got 3 other games on the go currently with another already in the backlog) but would like to know how it is, decent length to it?

It's decent, I'll give it that. I'm not too sure on length since I've mostly just been exploring the island, but the storyline is pretty much go here, collect that for the first section, and I would hazard a guess it's the same for the second section, too, considering what I've now got to do. Very handholdy still, but that's to be expected. I'm finding myself liking the island, but there's still the feeling of unnaturalness in the way it's designed.

DarkRula wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:Has anyone got round to starting the DLC then? Not got round to its myself, tempted to leave it a while before cracking on with it (still got 3 other games on the go currently with another already in the backlog) but would like to know how it is, decent length to it?

It's decent, I'll give it that. I'm not too sure on length since I've mostly just been exploring the island, but the storyline is pretty much go here, collect that for the first section, and I would hazard a guess it's the same for the second section, too, considering what I've now got to do. Very handholdy still, but that's to be expected. I'm finding myself liking the island, but there's still the feeling of unnaturalness in the way it's designed.

I’ll be doing plenty of exploring to fill out the dex (believe the Isle of Armor has its own?) so reckon that’ll take up a chunk time I’d imagine. Wasn’t expecting the story to be anything amazing really, hopefully the frozen tundra can be a bit more story focused with all the ruins and then being able to get a lot of the older legendary Pokémon. How’s the level scaling by the way? Not sure if I should take a level 100 team along or get myself a relatively new one to play through it with.

Robbo-92 wrote:

DarkRula wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:Has anyone got round to starting the DLC then? Not got round to its myself, tempted to leave it a while before cracking on with it (still got 3 other games on the go currently with another already in the backlog) but would like to know how it is, decent length to it?

It's decent, I'll give it that. I'm not too sure on length since I've mostly just been exploring the island, but the storyline is pretty much go here, collect that for the first section, and I would hazard a guess it's the same for the second section, too, considering what I've now got to do. Very handholdy still, but that's to be expected. I'm finding myself liking the island, but there's still the feeling of unnaturalness in the way it's designed.

I’ll be doing plenty of exploring to fill out the dex (believe the Isle of Armor has its own?) so reckon that’ll take up a chunk time I’d imagine. Wasn’t expecting the story to be anything amazing really, hopefully the frozen tundra can be a bit more story focused with all the ruins and then being able to get a lot of the older legendary Pokémon. How’s the level scaling by the way? Not sure if I should take a level 100 team along or get myself a relatively new one to play through it with.

What level scaling? I go in with a mid-20s Umbreon and Espeon, and only because the Shield rival uses Psychic types did I get away with totalling two high 50s. Get into an encounter with a wild 'mon and almost get completely trounced by a Kingler. Then swapped back to the Lv100 Umbreon and Espeon. From what I've seen around, there's only two states in levels. The low-level not-a-champion set or the high-level champion set. No inbetweens.

whelp finished the story better find those last 60 or so diglets

DarkRula wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:

DarkRula wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:Has anyone got round to starting the DLC then? Not got round to its myself, tempted to leave it a while before cracking on with it (still got 3 other games on the go currently with another already in the backlog) but would like to know how it is, decent length to it?

It's decent, I'll give it that. I'm not too sure on length since I've mostly just been exploring the island, but the storyline is pretty much go here, collect that for the first section, and I would hazard a guess it's the same for the second section, too, considering what I've now got to do. Very handholdy still, but that's to be expected. I'm finding myself liking the island, but there's still the feeling of unnaturalness in the way it's designed.

I’ll be doing plenty of exploring to fill out the dex (believe the Isle of Armor has its own?) so reckon that’ll take up a chunk time I’d imagine. Wasn’t expecting the story to be anything amazing really, hopefully the frozen tundra can be a bit more story focused with all the ruins and then being able to get a lot of the older legendary Pokémon. How’s the level scaling by the way? Not sure if I should take a level 100 team along or get myself a relatively new one to play through it with.

What level scaling? I go in with a mid-20s Umbreon and Espeon, and only because the Shield rival uses Psychic types did I get away with totalling two high 50s. Get into an encounter with a wild 'mon and almost get completely trounced by a Kingler. Then swapped back to the Lv100 Umbreon and Espeon. From what I've seen around, there's only two states in levels. The low-level not-a-champion set or the high-level champion set. No inbetweens.

Ah my mistake then, thought I’d read something about there being some sort of level scaling in play. Sounds like I’ll bring in a good chunk of my best ones then! Do you need Kubfu with you all the way through? Only Pokémon I really want to use is the Luxray line as I loved it in gen 4.

Robbo-92 wrote:

DarkRula wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:

DarkRula wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:Has anyone got round to starting the DLC then? Not got round to its myself, tempted to leave it a while before cracking on with it (still got 3 other games on the go currently with another already in the backlog) but would like to know how it is, decent length to it?

It's decent, I'll give it that. I'm not too sure on length since I've mostly just been exploring the island, but the storyline is pretty much go here, collect that for the first section, and I would hazard a guess it's the same for the second section, too, considering what I've now got to do. Very handholdy still, but that's to be expected. I'm finding myself liking the island, but there's still the feeling of unnaturalness in the way it's designed.

I’ll be doing plenty of exploring to fill out the dex (believe the Isle of Armor has its own?) so reckon that’ll take up a chunk time I’d imagine. Wasn’t expecting the story to be anything amazing really, hopefully the frozen tundra can be a bit more story focused with all the ruins and then being able to get a lot of the older legendary Pokémon. How’s the level scaling by the way? Not sure if I should take a level 100 team along or get myself a relatively new one to play through it with.

What level scaling? I go in with a mid-20s Umbreon and Espeon, and only because the Shield rival uses Psychic types did I get away with totalling two high 50s. Get into an encounter with a wild 'mon and almost get completely trounced by a Kingler. Then swapped back to the Lv100 Umbreon and Espeon. From what I've seen around, there's only two states in levels. The low-level not-a-champion set or the high-level champion set. No inbetweens.

Ah my mistake then, thought I’d read something about there being some sort of level scaling in play. Sounds like I’ll bring in a good chunk of my best ones then! Do you need Kubfu with you all the way through? Only Pokémon I really want to use is the Luxray line as I loved it in gen 4.

You don't get Kubfu until halfway through, and even then you don't need it first in your party for the rest.

Good to know, Luxray will be taking its spot then!

Well, you'll be forced to only use Kubfu within the tower you choose, but that's the end of the story.

Yeah my first impressions are a bit meh. Once I put more time in it, and chase the living dex again, I'm sure I'll get my money's worth out of my £20, with the superior half coming later in the year, but it's just pretty uninspiring.

Which is initially odd, as I have fond memories of the base game and really enjoyed it despite its obvious flaws. This flaws seem much more evident now, or maybe a little less forgiveable given they had a little bit more time.

Firstly, the wild area seems to look worse. Now, I don't think it actually does, as the base game's wasn't a looker. But the wider, more open spaces of (what I have seen of) the island just seem blander than what we got before. Plus you had the towns and routes to mix things up visually.

The "new" selection of Pokémon don't hold much attraction. Firstly as my team is set up already, secondly because there's nothing new to surprise me and thirdly because I caught most of these monsters in Pokémon Sun (and X before then, and Black before then etc...). I could just transfer them all over if I wanted. Feels a bit arbitrary catching them again.

And finally it just seems criminally undercooked or half-arsed. I stuck up for the base game a little so maybe I'm a hypocrite, but some stuff seems inexcusable. The bare bones story was there in the original title for example, but here it rankles. Most of it, it's the lack of bloody scaling. Most people complain about a DLC that arbitrarily makes you grind or has the level cap higher than you would be when trying to enter the game.

This is baffling as they must know a lot of players finished the game and their EXP share reduced the grind so everything levelled up quickly. So why does scaling stop at level 60 and make it a cake walk? Surely it wouldn't be that hard to program to match your team? They already added some scaling but tied it to gym badges, so you just wonder whether they are too blindsided to think any further ahead in terms of the player's leve, are scared of a "kids', game" being too challenging (Blue was pretty hard when I was 10) or they just couldn't be bothered implementing it.


Maybe I'm just in a bad mood today. Or got plenty of games on my plate so it wasn't the best time to splash out on this. Just came home with the Last of Us too, and got back into Destiny, so wonder how much this will keep my attention. Very average.

found a shiny jigglypuff today

Finished the main game last night and I throughly enjoyed this. I liked the ending the Chairman and the big battles leading to the finale.

Overall I really liked how it looked, the towns and cities all had their own charm to them and I loved exploring the world. I'm going to take a break before starting the DLC but yeah, enjoyed this more than Let's Go

Finally going to get around to starting this tonight!

Put a few hours into this so far and it’s quite ‘meh’ so far, it’s more of the same which isn’t bad per se but was expecting something quite different but I’m thinking (and hoping) that’s what the second part of the DLC will be, still not found any of the Shinx line yet either also I’m not sure if I’m yet to find it, but no Pokémon centre on the isle itself?

It’s not all bad though, seems to be a very good mix of Pokémon in here again like the base games and I generally just enjoy Pokémon

No Pokémon Centre, but the guy behind the counter at the station runs the shop. Instead, there's a way to rest somewhere in the dojo (same room as the boutique appears, I think).

I wouldn't call it disappointing in terms of it being a new place to explore that again seems to be experimenting with how biomes can be done with a free camera, but the proper content is lacking. There could have been more to see around rather than just the collectathon of Diglett. Side quests are one thing the series lacks in general, though. Which I hope can become a larger thing should the scope of the series ever improve, even if it's just one or two per location.

Yeah the isle itself is good, its just that all I’ve had to do so far is beat 3 Slowpokes and I’m currently finding 3 mushrooms, just a bit lacking even compared to the main story. I just don’t see it improving from here on either. Hopefully with the Frozen Tundra and the heavy focus on the legendary Pokémon it’d be good to see them delve more into the history behind some of them, or why so many legendary Pokémon are in one place all at the same time (by the looks of it) but I can see it just being the same as this.

Proper side quests would be a huge departure for the series and it would be a very welcome addition, they seemed to almost tease it in X/Y with Zygarde and the haunted house on one of the routes but it just came to nothing, likewise they could have had a spooky side quest involving Spiritomb in DPP but again, didn’t. I don’t quite know why they seem so unwilling to experiment with the mainline games and would rather just release various spin offs to varying success rather than fully focus on the main games to improve them.

I very much doubt any of them will get explored beyond the Galar-variant Bird trio and the new Regis, and even then it probably won't be anything deep.

I still reckon they could take the series into a more open world direction. Not on the likes of Skyrim or Witcher level, but have the routes widened out to allow a greater sense of space with them, expand the towns and cities to make them feel more urban, give one main quest of taking on the Gym challenge, scatter the world full of side quests that explore the lore of the region, have three or four core rivals who you can follow their questlines of to learn more about them and deepen your rivalry - whether that be a friendly one or not. All of those quests you could choose to ignore if you want to rush through the Gym challenge, but then - shock horror - your actions have defined just one small part of the game as the rivals will not know you since you never introduced yourself to them.

I'm going to stop thinking on what could be, now.

That’s what does annoy me slightly about the Pokémon franchise and especially the main games, in that could be so much more than what we get but they just don’t want to.

They've got the brand recognition. Pikachu only has to appear and millions jump on the latest product. There's no reason for them to have to try at all when such will happen time and again.

And yes, I know that was a huge exaggeration.

TemTem does a lot of that sort of stuff. I've not played loads of it and it's certainly not perfect but it's probably as close as we'll get for the time being.

Is TemTem releasing on Switch in the future? Can’t remember if it is coming to consoles or not.