![]() As you play you learn that the Alola region is made up of four islands and you begin the game on Melemele Island. The first major change is how the game flows in terms of traveling and the gyms. ![]() Some of these changes are minor and not too noticeable while others are pretty big. If you’ve played past games in the series or at least have seen anything Pokemon related, then you have an idea as to how the game progresses, but there have been some changes since X and Y. After some introductions, which include Kukui’s assistant Lillie whom we saw during the intro, you get to pick your new starter Pokemon from Rowlett, Litten, and Popplio, after which you begin your journey and eventually start what’s called the Island Challenge. You soon meet Professor Kukui, also continuing the tradition of the professors being named after trees. Meanwhile as per Pokemon tradition you and your mom have recently moved to the Alola region, this time coming from Kanto, a nice throwback to the original games. We soon learn what’s in the bag as well as who the girl is, but more on that in a moment. Prior to seeing the title screen for the first time we see a girl running away from someone while carrying a white bag. The game begins with a bit of story, something not often present in a Pokemon game. To help cap off 2016 we now have the release of the seventh generation of Pokemon with Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon. ![]() ![]() Not only was Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow released on the 3DS Virtual Console, but special Red and Blue Collection boxes of the Trading Card Game were produced along with the Pokemon Generations set, monthly box sets representing various legendary Pokemon were also released, and players of X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire could get a legendary Pokemon each month to use in their game. With Diamond and Pearl remakes on the horizon and Legends: Arceus also coming soon, Game Freak and Nintendo have opportunities to reroute what Pokémon looks like on the Switch and going forward. With in-world battles and a need to vary terrain, the game could fix what makes Pokémon Sword and Shield less spectacular than the emulated 3DS HD versions.The Pokemon franchise celebrated its twentieth anniversary earlier this year and did so in a big way. Sword and Shield could be simply a misstep in terms of graphics, however. Newer Pokémon games have made the series approachable for casual players and less grindy for veterans, but it's failed to capture some of the magic of the Game Boy era games. The transition period between classic Pokémon entries and 3D ones has proved to be a challenging one for Game Freak. Older games can get away with cartoony movement and smaller frame rates but even on the Switch, a system known for being less powered than its competition, there are first-party games that look wonderful in HD and miles better than the current generation of Pokémon. There are areas that the 3DS games fall shorter than the Switch versions, but overall, it is easier to understand that they still gave comparative experiences on last-gen hardware. Expectations are important to keep in mind as when placed side to side in HD, the games still look similar. The 3DS games were built with its hardware and storage capacities in mind but the Nintendo Switch version feels small in comparison to other games for the platform. In many ways, Sword and Shield feel like a classic, strategic, and refreshingly difficult Pokémon game that graphically doesn’t live up to the new generation of consoles. Since the theming of newer Pokémon entries has evolved and become more unique, going back to a more recognizable and piecemeal setting feels like a step back. Rock textures on mountains feel especially barren and even Galar town designs feel lesser than the vibrant nature of Alola. Sword and Shield boast a lot of fields, lakes, and forests mirroring the United Kingdom and the European countryside, but without the detail to back those epic landscapes up, they end up feeling empty. Sun and Moon are based on tropical island locales such as the Pacific Islands and Hawaii, so there is a wider variety of landscapes like volcanoes, waterfalls, and seaside cities, and the foliage looks more specialized than Sword and Shield. With Pokémon X and Y, however, it was made clear that future Pokémon regions would be heavily inspired by countries in the real world going forward - France, in that game. Up until recently, when Game Freak said Pokémon regions were inspired by different countries and locales, this mostly meant in terms of game design and not necessarily graphics.
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