Pokémon fans list big issues ahead of Sword & Shield launch

A post by Terotu on the r/pokemon subreddit has listed all of the issues people have raised surrounding the incoming Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield release.

The removal of the National Dex had angered many fans, with over half of all Pokemon cut from the roster for Sword & Shield. This includes the majority of past legendaries including the legendary birds from Gen 1 and the legendary beasts from Gen 2.

Other Pokemon have not escaped the cull as Salamence, Garchomp, Slaking, Crobat, Dragonite and Alakazam are just a few of the familiar faces not returning for the latest installment.

While the number of catchable Pokemon has been reduced, the level of Pokemon you are allowed to catch has also been restricted.

You may run into Pokemon of higher levels, but you will need to have progressed enough to earn certain badges in order to be allowed to catch them.

This has many worried for shiny hunters as not only is the indication of a shiny present in grass now gone but they may find a shiny only to be told they are not 'allowed' to catch it.

Moves have also been cut from Sword & Shield. Hidden Power, Dragon Rage, Return and Sky Uppercut are just some of the removed moves and any attempt to transfer Pokemon with these moves will give the following message: "This move can’t be used. It’s recommended that this move is forgotten. Once forgotten, this move can’t be remembered".

Game Freak used the improvement of animations, graphics and character models as one of the reasons for cutting down the Dex, however the quality of these has been criticised.

What is supposed to be an epic interaction with one of the box art legendaries, Zacian or Zamazenta depending on the version, is plagued by a lack of music and poorly animated movement. 

Pokemon have not been scaled to their true size and there are moves that do not correspond to the animations with the example in the post showing a Headbutt being performed with a flying kick motion.

Various other graphical issues have been seen while others have noticed the reuse of models and animations from previous entries in the franchise.

After the removal of so many classic features many had come to expect from Pokemon, there was a high bar of expectation Game Freak were expected to meet and sub-par graphics, removed Pokemon, lack of difficulty and the absence of music at crucial moments fall beyond short.

With just three days until the official release and unrest growing, this plethora of issues is not helping to settle the fanbase.

To see the full list of compiled issues, you can see the original post detailing them with links to examples here.