Fans criticise Pokémon Sword & Shield as reuse of models is ‘confirmed’

‘#GameFreakLied’ trends as fans vent frustration over limited Pokedex.

[Jimboms]

Jeez, it's a new Pokemon game, chill out!

[Old McGroin]

It's not really looking good now is it? Have it on preorder but I'm edging closer to cancelling, not much positive feedback from leaked copies. Going to wait for reviews tonight and if it's as incredibly dull and easy as Let's Go I'll be giving it a miss.

[DARK_FOX]

Just so you know reviews will be up in 40 minutes. The embargo lifts at 9am est.

[Neonridr]

ok, then cancel. And it will be nothing like Let's Go, as there are no Pokemon Go mechanics shoe-horned into the game.

I'm still willing to wager the game will review well and it will go on to sell 10+ million easily.

So define "looking good"

[crxss]

nah, you'll still get this

[AspiringProGenji]

Yeah go tell Matsuda that.

[Knushwood Butt]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[-Foxtrot]

Yes because Pokemon should get a free pass /s

[ufo8mycat]

A game catered for children. Hmm who cares?

[execution17]

Most of it's fan base are people that grew up playing the games and having some of their favorite pokemon get the cut was pretty disheartening

[gtxgamer2]

Hell yeah! I'm 25 years old and still playing Pokemon. If you enjoy the games who cares what people say

[sprinterboy]

I'll clearly get dislikes but that's OK but I just don't understand adults still play it? I enjoyed it as a kid but I grew out of that when I found girls, it's the same with "animal crossing" I just don't get it? Again great for kids or maybe some teenagers but anyone else? Is mind boggling imo.
Each to there own of course so all good but just puzzling to me.

[Chriswynnetbh]

Sprinterboy gets girls guys he's waaaaaaaay too cool for Pokémon.

[RosweeSon]

Specially if they paying to store them in their online bank.

[tontontam0]

Too bad children today are spoiled, they'd rather play phone games with high quality animations than play this game.

[Juusterey]

You clicked
you commented
you care

[rainslacker]

Game has an addictive quality to it. I'm not a huge fan, but I tend to get sucked in on the occasional release when I do play it. I usually got pulled away after just switching what portable I'd carry to work. I dunno if I'd really call it overly fun if one is looking for a deep experience. More like mind numbing and you end up feeling like you have to be a completionist while playing it.

[RosweeSon]

It did you gotta catch em all. Not so much now.

[rainslacker]

I guess it takes less time to catch em all now.

[dotwithshoes]

I'm gonna guess you only play those mature games like Call of Duty? Perhaps you're better than those people, a Battlefield person?

[Rachel_Alucard]

It's no surprise, they looked exactly the same from the first demo. From the datamine the only Pokemon that had any difference whatsoever were Pikachu, Charizard, and one other mainstay. The models aren't even the biggest issue because X&Y intentionally made very good ones for futureproof reasons. The animations are still laughable with a single jump and special hit spark to indicate almost all of the moves in the game with one special move that's actually properly animated. I know for a fact these people are really incompetent at software engineering considering their model importer failed on them.

[jaymacx]

I am not saying that you can't be critical of things you are passionate about but some people do take things to the point where they don't know how to appreciate things and have fun. Why are we letting "Entertainment" Frustrate us? if you don't like said game don't buy it. I remember when The Outer Worlds was just about to be released and people were saying it looks like a RPG from 2012 IIRC .The point is the game was a blast to play and that really is the point of playing games.

[tontontam0]

That's the point we need to spread this shit to let other people know these shit, and let them decide whether to hate it or not. I'm pretty sure that there are some people that have no idea about these issues and will buy this game because they like pokemon only to be dissapointed and wished they knew these issues before buying the game

[Juusterey]

Yeah
you should be ok with the company giving you less and lying to you

[rainslacker]

I think people get frustrated over it because they want their entertainment to continuously improve. Not revert back to things we've grown past in terms of technology or presentation. I don't really get into Pokemon. Played a few games, found it addictive, but usually just stopped in the middle to move onto other games.

But, the criticisms that have been demonstrated aren't even a step up from the 3DS, and in some ways are even a step down. While the game will probably still be fun to those who enjoy the series, others just want to see it become better, not go backwards in design.

[Realms]

So basically don't criticize them so that they have even fewer incentives to actually improve the quality of their games. Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

[IMissJimRyan]

They will buy both versions regardeless. Nintendo fans are a joke.

[King_Noctis]

You always talk sh*t about the whole fanbase, as if everyone in the fanbase will accept everything that Nintendo do. Enough, mate.

[Ricegum]

The problem is Noctis we never see you actually criticise Nintendo, or MS for that matter. So you're probably the wrong person to make this point.

[CuVe]

Says the guy who is always bashing Sony without any real reason...

[King_Noctis]

Never criticize? Look at my comment history.

[Imalwaysright]

Most gamers are a joke. Gamers are the reason why we have paid online play, MTs, lootboxes, broken games at launch, rampant false advertisement...

[Kaii]

A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.

Way to piss on Nintendo's legacy, Lazy Assholes.
Dislike away, don't lie when eventually it'll come back to bite you in the ass

[Juusterey]

That philosophy was crap from the start and used as an excuse

[rainslacker]

An excuse to what? Delay a game?

Maybe so, but if it improves the game, isn't that better for the consumer. I'd rather wait for a good game, than not play a bad one.

[LMosche]

I said this before the Sword n Shield fiasco that Pokemon should be taken away from Gamefreak. Gen 6 was a bad joke. Gen 7 was even worse. I want 1 GOOD Pokemon game. Even Ubisoft would do a better job. They proved it with Mario vs Rabbids.

[LOLcheeseORZ]

I try to think rationally before I comment about things like this but after seeing in person that the game barely has any new animations from its previous handheld versions I can't help but feel that there is a definite lack of immersion since this is a console game now.

[lellkay]

I hope it severely under performs.

[Outlawzz]

I ask myself why these guys continue to make these crappy Pokemon games but of course ppl still buy it so they have no reason to improve it much. There's no reason to invest more in the game for improvements if people will still buy it regardless. Pokemon is a business cash cow and they want to maximize profits. This game will sell millions guaranteed.

[badz149]

yep. it's not THAT hard to herd millions of sheep to a slaughterhouse with just a couple of dogs. The Sword and Shield dogs from this game is the perfect metaphor for that.

[rainslacker]

Pokemon is considered a media franchise. It's like any Disney product. It's not just the games, it's the entire ethos around the games, TV Shows, movies, and merchandising. Even if the game fails miserably by not meeting expectations, it still is marketing for the entire brand. The games aren't even the place they make most of their money off the franchise....and if people started demanding more and voting with their wallets, they probably still wouldn't try to improve on them. They'd talk about how they're improving, then not do it.

[djl3485]

1. So character looks the same so that means they reused a model?

2. Those two pikachus don't look exactly the same.

3. Let's say they reused models......reusing models and ACTUALLY ANIMATING the models are TWO SEPARATE things.

4. Stop bitching about not having the whole pokedex....good god fucking entitled children.

[Juusterey]

They're entitled for expecting a full pokedex in the first console pokemon?
expecting better from a more powerful system is entitled?

[rainslacker]

They datamined the models to show that they're exactly the same.

Not sure it matters much with Pokemon considering they aren't very complex designs to begin with. But, the reason those two models don't look the same is due to 3D modeling effects applied to the drawn object. Line smoothing, AA, lighting and shaders. I'm not going to try and find the datamined stuff to compare, but I can tell that the actual vertex models aren't changed much, if at all, and can recognize several rendering effects applied which cause 3D rendered models to look better, and are used in many, if not all games.

[RosweeSon]

You gonna pay for my Pokemon bank subscription.

[Relientk77]

- Cut out over 1/2 the Pokemon
- restrict Pokemon catching to certain levels
- Cut out over 120 Pokemon moves
- reusing animations

I really hope this reflects in the reviews. Really seems like Game Freak is being lazy, cutting content, and adding restrictions for the hell of it.

[Docmortem]

Every pokemon game is like 80% reused assets ... but sure lets start complaining now..

[BionicRogue21]

Yes but game freak lied saying that these 3D models are brand new from the ground up when really they are the same from the 3DS games... they used this excuse to pretend they didn’t have enough time for all the Pokémon models...

[antikbaka]

WOW! what a surprise... pokemon franchise reuses itself! impossible to imagine

[-Foxtrot]

The majority of comments here are disgusting

Everyone is giving them a free pass

THEY LIED...they literally said months ago this wasn’t the case and they’d all been reworked from scratch.

Expect better guys jeez

[Kaedro]

Thank God I'm not the only one who's amazed at how everyone is giving GameFreak a free pass. They lied, produced a game with laughable graphics (compare that to Zelda, Mario, Xenoblade, etc.), the camera is only controllable in the open field, and combat still happens in a "different field"... even Dragon Quest has fixed that by having battles happen in the same places you explore. If this was a lesser known franchise reviewers would be eating them alive.

[jts1891]

Except they never actually claimed that, and it was just a shitty translation of a Famitsu interview spread around by the community. You're getting outraged over nothing. It's kind of sad.

[-Foxtrot]

LOL...the goal posts have changed once again

Now it was a whole "mistranslation"

Sure...

[jts1891]

Except people have been calling out the shitty translations for months since the interview came out.

[Rebel_Scum]

If they said they weren't doing that and they did, that sucks. Idk about this translation bizzo.

But, in software development you try to reuse as much as is possible so not to do the same thing twice. Code especially is reused all the time.

I can see how art assets, models, animations for a pokemon game can be re-used. Makes sense. I mean even the whole premise/story is reused as is probably the combat logic.

[masterfox]

what you wanted something like this?
https://encrypted-tbn0.gsta...

[D__RAiL]

I mean its not like the models are super complicated. They could make a model from scratch and it would look exactly the same.

[Bruh]

LOL are people really surprised? Game Freak never puts any effort in the first entry of ANY Generation. They usually have to improve graphics and other features to convince buyers, so when Pokemon Gun or whatever next comes. You can actually expect improvements to fidelity.

[AnotherGamer]

So they pretty much lied to everyone.

[bumbleforce]

Better give the game 9s despite this and all the negative things said in the reviews

[Tross]

Why am I not surprised? They’re cutting other corners, so why not art assets?

[jts1891]

Except there was no 'lie'. The claim was ripped from a badly translated Famitsu interview, and they were talking about how new models and animations had to be made for the Dynamax forms, which every single Pokemon in the game has.

[Rebel_Scum]

Your preaching to the choir here mate. I don't know if what you're saying is true but most of the half wits here never listen to reason. They all run like sheep with the outrage without thinking.

[oricon]

lol i knew this game will trend on this site because of the negative reaction from the hardcore competitive pokemon fans. You rarely see games that have positive feedback from other consoles make news unless theres something to bash like fire emblem, astral chains or w/e. This site is one of the few places i visit where i see console wars being a thing. Is being a fan of a specific console supposed to impress anyone? lol.

[Blaze929]

I mean if they 'said' they removed features from the game in order to improve in other areas, and fans see that they didn't improve anywhere and reused a lot of the old assets, I'd be mad too because know you're blatantly being lied to and they think it's ok. Of course reviews won't mention any of this.

[FanboySpotter]

I want to be excited for a pokemon game but last time I was interested in anything pokemon related- Lugia, mewtwo (and raikou, entei, suicune) were new. What the hell happened to all the new types lol anywho this game looks cool idc for reuse models in games like these. What else is there to add differently to pikachu or whatever? They look fine.

[dorangift]

so bad..

[Elronza]

This series has become stale and disappointing, because we the fans didn't speak out and act sooner; allowing for the creation of this shallow empty husk of a game. We are to blame for not taking action years ago with our wallets.

[Mr Marvel]

Fans getting angry?
NO WAY! That’s unheard of. /s
I kind of like that it has a more focused lineup of Pokemon, because let’s be honest... the Pokédex has gotten out of hand in recent years and most are complete crap anyway.

[Pyrofire95]

Why wouldn't they the models aren't bad and they can and did use different shaders, lighting and whatever else to make them look better.

[IAreBeMrLee]

Just let people enjoy things :(

[gleepot]

This is the dumbest reason to get mad, and people are jumping the bandwagon at the "proof" provided. Wireframes, whoopideedoo.

[AuraAbjure]

None of these criticisms negatively impact the game's fun factor. Especially to players new to the series or to players who haven't messed with pokemanz for a few years.

[terrorofdeath]

Ummm...so what?