When I first played S&S back in January 2020, I couldn’t immediately write about it. I remember being completely disoriented by that first brush with Gen VIII: Sword felt sorta foreign to me, yet it also felt kinda familiar. How was that even possible? One year and a couple of runs later, I finally nailed down the reason, and it’s encapsulated in this very post’s title: of all the series’ entries, S&S are the closest thing to a regular RPG and the farthest thing to a true-blue Pokemon game.
A bit of elaboration is in order. Technically, Pokemon games are RPGs, and I’m fully aware of that; yet, they always sported their very own set of tropes, while leaving other long-running RPG tropes completely untouched. But lo and behold, S&S finally embraced the latter, and incorporated RPG tropes that have been around forever yet never made it into a Pokemon game before that — hence that nagging feeling of mixed familiarity and strangeness I got from my first run. Without further ado, here are the tropes in question:
Boss Rush. Although the Elite Four showdown has a slight Boss Rush quality, it was never a true-blue Boss Rush. For once, there were simply not enough bosses; for another, they were all brand-new foes. This time around, we have no less than six opponents we’ve fought before, coming at us with revamped and stronger teams. Now that’s a real Boss Rush; and if you fancy adding the fights against Oleana, Rose, all the Macro Cosmos Grunts and Eternatus that you also have to tackle before you engage Leon himself, you totally get the grindiest final stretch you’ve ever fought in a Pokemon game.
Mandatory Level-Grinding. I’ve played three runs of Sword already, and I needed to level-grind in every single one of them. You know what they say: once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is definitely friggin’ mandatory grinding. The moment I needed to grind was different every time, but it always happened. I cannot stress enough how much of a departure this is: never before have a Pokemon game forced grinding on me so consistently. And if I have to grind in a solo setting, then I’d wager everybody has to grind in S&S indeed.
Wake-Up Call Boss. There were never such bosses in Pokemon games; just Gym Leaders that were more or less challenging, depending on your team’s make-up. But this time, there’s no getting around it: it’s pretty obvious that Raihan was designed to be a complete b*tch and a giant thorn in everyone’s side. As master Yoda said: you will falter against him — and if you don’t do so during the first fight, you’ll do so during the pre-Leon reprise. Not only does the guy have a full team of overpowered Dragon ‘Mons at his beck and call, but he’s bringing the infamous Gen V Weather Wars back with a vengeance. Let me tell you: never before have I struggled so consistently against a Dragon Trainer in a Pokemon game — heck, I used to handle Dragon Gym Leaders so effortlessly that I always wondered what the fuss about Dragon ‘Mons was about. Well, now I get it — painfully.
Grinding Patches. I know what you’re thinking there: Wild Area! And true enough, the Wild Area is indeed a giant grinding patch — or more like a grinding field at that point. But the Grinding Patch theme runs a bit deeper than that. For the first time ever in the series, wild ‘Mons are routinely stronger than Trainers’ ‘Mons, which totally screams ‘grinding fodder’. Also, look closely and fight often on Routes, and you’ll undoubtedly find at least one spot teeming with wild ‘Mons that are perfectly weak against your team leader. Route 7 hosted both my Cinderace’s and Inteleon’s private grinding patches, while the entirety of Route 9 was my Rillaboom’s playground.
Exit Dungeon Spell. Hey, that’s a minor thing, but it’s still an RPG trope, ain’t it? No more disposable Escape Ropes, baby — Galar is recycling-friendly! You get one single Escape Rope, that can be reused to your heart’s content. I never though reusable Escape Rope should be a thing in Pokemon games; but now that I have it, I’m quite content with it indeed.
Exploration Thrill. This is less of a trope and more of a running theme in regular RPGs; and for the first time ever, it’s also a thing in Pokemon. Exploring every nook and cranny of the Wild Area, the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra is a most delightful activity indeed, and I’ve been pouring more hours than I thought I would in said activity. But apart from the actual exploration, S&S also have a way of kindling wanderlust in a gamer’s heart. Something in Galar’s distant views and open, faraway horizons makes me wanna step out of bound and discover those places. That’s my good old gaming fernweh coming back full force for you; I’ve not felt that way, that strongly, for a very long time — let alone in a Pokemon game, of all places. The only instance of gaming fernweh in the entire series took place in Explorers of Sky, and it was mild compared to the way I feel about Galar. Man, I’m lusting hard after those Galarian vistas; and I feel a sweet, wondrous ache every time a bush or a fence stops me dead in my tracks.
Now, should we be delighted or miffed that Pokemon is more classic RPG than ever? That’s most definitely everyone’s call; as for me, I’m mighty fine with that evolution. This is certainly the most major departure we’ve ever seen in the series; this time around, no one can blame GameFreak for being allergic to change. And mind you, the changes go even deeper than being more RPG; S&S is also decidedly less Pokemon, as we’ll see in the second part of my report. Until then, dear fellow gamers, keep playing and take care!
You can find the rest of the report here:
Part 2: Say Goodbye to the Tropes
Part 3: My Own Private Pros & Cons
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