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A big interview between Game Informer and Game Freak has revealed some major new information about Pokemon Sword and Shield. Numerous changes have been made to the traditional Pokemon formula: for the first time, a mainline series Pokemon title will have autosaving, letting you play without fear of losing progress. For those that dislike the idea of an auto save, this feature will be able to be turned off in the settings. In addition, following upon the changes made in Sun and Moon, Hidden Machines, or HM's, will not make an appearance in this entry. According to director Kazumasa Iwao, this is to allow the player more freedom in their journey, without being bogged down by HM requirements. Your Zigzagoon need not be an HM slave this time around.

"I think they played a role in the series traditionally to be like the relationship between a door and a key; the HM will unlock something and you’re able to progress and feel the ability to go to a new place," he says. "We didn’t have them in Sun and Moon, and this time around, we didn’t feel it really matched the concept, especially with the Wild Area and wanting to have this higher degree of freedom. The player can kind of choose how they want to engage with the gameplay.

Elaborating further on the debacle over certain Pokemon not making the cut for Sword and Shield's National Pokedex, Junichi Masuda explained that even if some Pokemon don't appear in this game, they still will in future titles, with Pokemon Home being a way for players to "gather them all there and then embark on future adventures". Masuda declined to comment, regarding just how many Pokemon won't be included in Sword and Shield, though he did reiterate that Game Freak chose to focus on new gameplay ideas and features, and to find new ways to enjoy the game, rather than using the development time to cram in every single creature.

"Up until now, we’ve been proud we’ve been able to include so many Pokémon in the games, but as a result of that, there’s actually been quite a few features or gameplay ideas that we’ve had to abandon in the past," he says. "Going forward, thinking about the future of Pokémon, we want to prioritize all those new gameplay ideas, new ways to enjoy the game, and want to challenge ourselves at Game Freak to create new ways to enjoy the game. That’s really what drove the decision for this new direction."

During the interview, Shigeru Ohmori discussed the presence of the EXP Share, a series-staple, which allows players to split experience between their Pokemon. Rather than require the EXP Share, the item has been removed from Sword and Shield, and has now become part of the regular gameplay. After you defeat a Pokemon, every member of your party will receive equal experience, automatically.

Perhaps the biggest new bit of information was that the Galar region will have a whopping 18 gyms to take on, with each of them split into major and minor leagues. As to which Pokemon type each major and minor Gym specialize in, well it varies depending on if you're either playing Sword, or Shield.

“There are 18 different types of gyms in the story, and depending on the version, which gyms are in the minor league and which gyms are in the major league are different. For example, in Sword, the fighting-type gym will be in the major league, but in Shield, the ghost-type. The idea is that every year, the Galar region is playing and which gyms make it into the minor league versus the major league changes.

Lastly, Iwao took a moment to explain that there will be a new gameplay mechanic that lets players use their favorite Pokemon in a competitive way, even if they're not considered normally viable for competitive play, noting that in previous games, players would need to breed Pokemon a certain way (IVs, Natures) in order to make them the strongest they could be. The details were vague, but there's a new mechanic in Sword and Shield, which will lower the barrier of entry for those who wish to take part in competitive Pokemon battles.

When I ask Iwao for more details, he says he can't explain the system further, but he does go on to tease it a bit more. "I’ve got to be very vague about it, but one example – it will be visible to the player and they’ll know when they see it, I think – say you have a Pokémon where it’s got all the right stats and everything, but there’s a personality parameter as well that comes into play in battles, and it might not be the right personality, so you’ll breed until you get the right one, is what people do currently. But you’ll see that there’s a system in the game that will fix that for people."

While it's no longer necessary to do so, Iwao says players can still put effort into breeding to come up with the perfect specimen for competitive play. "We do think there’s value in that effort that players put into it," he says. "But at the same time, I think with Sword and Shield we wanted to also have a system that makes it a little bit more accessible. For example, if you’re bringing a Pokémon over from a previous game into these games, being able to use that specific Pokémon that has sentimental value to you in the battle system competitively is something we wanted to try this time."

Source

 

[Pipistrele]

"features" and "new".
Extra gyms have been done before, autosave is not desired in a Pokemon game, Exp Share has been in main games since Gen 5 or 6 I think.
I fail to see what so "cool" and "new" about those so called features.

Either way, enjoy your features with your limited roster of Pokeymanz

I dig the curry stuff, there's some interesting multiplayer implementation, having an open world area is pretty awesome, and I generally like the amount of care put into the setting. Considering all above, I imagine myself enjoying it more than Sun and Moon.

 

[Deleted User]

18 gyms sounds like a bit of a slog if the games anywhere as easy or unskippable cutscene filled as sun/moon. I only really play pokemon for the collection aspect (the least focused on aspect by the sounds of things), so I probably wont be picking up this one. I hope future titles include a national dex and all the previous pokemon again, I know for a fact they have the time/money to

 

[Aniblaze]

The new features sound amazing. I am bothered by the cryptic answer with battling and the influence of IV and breeding. It sounds like they cut out or modified the IV mechanic so there would be no need to breed Pokémon anymore, which is one of the features I love in the previous games. This coupled with the fact that there won't be a national dex, for the third time, bothers me a lot. I feel like it's trading in one amazing feature for the other. I could understand they decided to cut these features in Let's Go, because it was on an entirely new platform, and I'm sure they were testing the fields on what was possible. But to remove features that a lot of fans of the series were looking forward to in this series too, it just completely demotivated me from getting this game. I've been playing the game since red/blue, but ever since Sun and Moon the game has become increasingly off-putting to me, because they are removing features that proved to be fun to a lot of the fan base. I don't agree with their apparent policy that new features should come at the cost of old features.

 

[pedro702]

"features" and "new".
Extra gyms have been done before, autosave is not desired in a Pokemon game, Exp Share has been in main games since Gen 5 or 6 I think.
I fail to see what so "cool" and "new" about those so called features.

Either way, enjoy your features with your limited roster of Pokeymanz

exp share has been a thing since gen 2 lol gold and silver on gbc already had exp share but it wasnt partywide effect but a single pokemon.

 

[THYPLEX]

"features" and "new".
Extra gyms have been done before, autosave is not desired in a Pokemon game, Exp Share has been in main games since Gen 5 or 6 I think.
I fail to see what so "cool" and "new" about those so called features.

Either way, enjoy your features with your limited roster of Pokeymanz

Correct

 

[THYPLEX]

False alarm guys , only 8 gyms , as usual

 

[Xzi]

False alarm guys , only 8 gyms , as usual

Yeah that's pretty lame, 18 gyms was the best part of these announcements. I guess as long as there's some form of post-game content to make the path to level 100 Mons less of a slog, it's fine though.

 

[anhminh]

It like we didn't have enough disappointment already. The people still have little bit of hope left for this game just lost the last bit of hope. It would be a miracle if this game sell well.

 

[Josshy0125]

It like we didn't have enough disappointment already. The people still have little bit of hope left for this game just lost the last bit of hope. It would be a miracle if this game sell well.

Not really. It'll sell REALLY well, regardless. It's literally the small percentage of the "hardcore" pokemon game fans, who are complaining about this, as if it's a deal-breaker. EVERYONE will still buy this game, and will still love it. I dislike the lack of a national dex too, but I think the people who are complaining, and the nay-sayers are far over exaggerating the ratio of "I'm disgusted by this game":"Hell Yes pokemon!"

 

[medoli900]

I don't get people who don't like the XP all. You like grinding that much? Sure, it would be fine to disable for some challenge, if you love grinding that much, I guess, but hey, that's what CFW is for.

 

[pedro702]

I don't get people who don't like the XP all. You like grinding that much? Sure, it would be fine to disable for some challenge, if you love grinding that much, I guess, but hey, that's what CFW is for.

the issue is you end up over-leveled wich takes the fun of the game, and you only need to use your strongest pokemon in front for the entire game and the rest of your team is just there fro emergency and gets stronger anyway, and while you could turn exp share off since it was an item now its a mechanic you cant turn off.

 

[Xzi]

the issue is you end up over-leveled wich takes the fun of the game, and you only need to use your strongest pokemon in front for the entire game and the rest of your team is just there fro emergency and gets stronger anyway, and while you could turn exp share off since it was an item now its a mechanic you cant turn off.

The games have always been easy with or without exp share though. We just need a hard mode or at least a new game plus. Gym leaders should have six Pokemon and switch them out strategically, normal trainers should have three or four Pokemon minimum and also switch when necessary.

 

[Pipistrele]

The games have always been easy with or without exp share though. We just need a hard mode or at least a new game plus. Gym leaders should have six Pokemon and switch them out strategically, normal trainers should have three or four Pokemon minimum and also switch when necessary.

While that would be dope, I always considered singleplayer Pokemon campaign as something of a glorified tutorial/time-killer more than anything - after all, real meat of the game lies in collecting, trading and duking it out with other players.

 

[Xzi]

While that would be dope, I always considered singleplayer Pokemon campaign as something of a glorified tutorial/time-killer more than anything - after all, real meat of the game lies in collecting, trading and duking it out with other players.

Well that's why I'm pitching it as an option like any other game's difficulty settings, not something that would be mandatory.