The Pokemon Sword & Shield Report: The Blueprint

 

Hullo, dear fellow gamers! Hope you’re doing mighty fine, and gaming like the wind. I’m currently busy preparing a massive S&S report; so massive, in fact, that I’ll publish it over the course of a few weeks, with posts about other games in between. Still, the blueprint is there already — and all ready — and so this report will unfold as such:

 

Part 1: The Most RPG-ish Pokemon Game of Them All

Part 2: Say Goodbye to the Tropes

Part 3: My Own Private Pros & Cons

Part 4: The Ultimate Overview

 

An appetizing four-course menu, if I do say so myself. And sure enough, there will also be run reports as side dishes! As a matter of fact, I’m done polishing off runs with all three Starters, and reports for my Inteleon and Rillaboom runs are in the pipelines as I’m writing this. I can already deliver my own personal ranking for the Galar Starter trio: as far as battle prowess in a solo setting is concerned, Inteleon is the absolute sh*t; Rillaboom comes close second, while Cinderace brings up the rear with a bit of lag. Still, all three Galar Starters are dope indeed — heck, they’re probably the most kickass trio of Starters this side of Gen I. 

 

For the record, I've already decided that I’ll exclusively play as Victor in Sword, and as Gloria in Shield. It does feel right and perfect to me, just like playing solely as Selene in Sun and Elio in Moon does. Not only that, but I already settled on names I’ll probably use every single time: Victor will be known as Durandal, and Gloria as Priwen — and yes, those are totally a mythical sword and shield. For some reason, I really feel the need to create a fixed narrative in my S&S experience: my Ones and Monlies can and will change, but my Trainers have to be the same over and over again. Heck, I’ll probably even go with the same hair and skin tones every time: for me, Durandal must be the lower right corner type, whilst Priwen can be none other than the lower left corner type. That’s my S&S Trainer custom jam, and I’ll stand by it ‘til the day I get bored of these games — which will probably never happen.

 

 

Indeed, I mentioned in my Cinderace run report that I couldn’t get enough of S&S; and well, this feeling is only growing stronger by the run. I feel an intense thirst for all thing Galar, a thirst that seems unquenchable; and I wouldn’t be surprised if S&S became my absolute favourite Pokemon games over time. Those games have something magical, a certain je ne sais quoi I’ve never felt before in any Pokemon title; and yet, I was missing that magic without even knowing it. I realise I don’t sound too rational and clear here, but this is exactly how I feel about S&S. I feel like I’ve barely scraped the surface of that lovely pair, and that they have so, so much more to offer me. And well, I’ll be mightily glad to take it.

 

As much as I’d love to keep gorging on S&S, I won’t do so right now. Not only would it be boring to go for another Pokemon rampage so soon after the last one, but I feel like I need to let the dough rest, so to speak. I need to digest my three Starters runs, and proceed my budding feelings for S&S; and heck, other games are tugging at my gaming instinct’s strings. My dear fellow gamers, I’ll see you soon with my many S&S reports, and fresh gaming goodness as well; in the meantime, take care and keep playing!