Watch Live: 'Pokemon Direct' Stream for 'Pokemon Sword' and 'Shield!'

[Poke_collector]

The legendary Pokemon are pretty awesome, (but Zamazenta looks a bit too much like Solgaleo). Since both Zacian and Zamazenta look so similar, they're probably the final evolutions of the same Pokemon, like Solgaleo and Lunala (I guess evolving mascot legendaries are the trend)

Another awesome thing is manual camera movement and roaming Pokemon. The manual camera means that these games will essentially be open-world (to a degree). And like Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, roaming Pokemon are always awesome (Here's hoping we can have Pokemon companions like we do in LGPE).

As for Dynamax, not sure what to think of it at the moment as all we know is that it boosts a Pokemon's moves a certain amount for 3 turns. Since we don't have specific stats, it's hard to know what to think of it but being able to boost a Pokemon's power by at least 25% for 3 turns would mean that this is certainly going to be meta changing.

The new Pokemon introduced are also some of the best as it usually takes a while for some, if not all, of the Pokemon to grow on me but all 7 Pokemon introduced all look awesome to me. I especially like the look of Corviknight and I like how they subtly confirmed that HMs aren't returning (Fly at least).

And finally, not sure what I think about Max Raid Battles. Without knowing it I can do them by myself, or how strong the Pokemon becomes when Dynamaxed, it's hard to know if specific Pokemon are locked behind having to do multiplayer or if a single person with strong enough Pokemon could do it by themselves.

Edit: Apparently there is something called the Rotom Phone, which is a phone that acts as your Pokedex. Does these mean NPC phone calls are coming back from HGSS? Also, perhaps we'll get a proper camera feature to go with the manual camera movement and open world game?

Edit 2: The Pokemon website states: "For example, you can attach it to your bike to make it move faster on land, or it can even help you travel over water!". Not sure how but sweet!

Edit 3: Bike can go on water, there is a picture on the official Pokemon website.

I’m hoping the legendaries don’t evolve

 

[Poke_collector]

According to the Pokemon site, you can battle in Max Raid Battles by yourself and you'll just have 3 filler NPC players join you, so certain Pokemon won't be locked behind multiplayer.

Also, according to the website "Pokemon from the Galar Region are capable of Dynamxing...". It sounds like only Pokemon caught or breed in Gen 8 will be able to use Dynamax but I doubt it and we'll have to wait and see.

Finally, judging on the images on the Pokemon site, when you Dynamax, get changed into a variety of different things like a Normal Physical Attack (ie; Scratch) becomes Max Strike, a Grass Physical Attack (ie; Razor Leaf) becomes Max Overgrowth and statue moves, regardless of type (ie; Growl and Taunt) become Max Guard. Also Max Strike lowers the speed of the Pokemon hit. By the sounds of this, it sounds like Z moves are getting replaced.

Here are said images:

Less replaced more souped up if you think about it

 

[Jabberwock]

Do Dynamaxed Pokémon get ... proportionally bigger? Or do they just all go to the same 50-foot height? Wailord would like to know. :x

I'm just imagining a Joltik growing to be like five hundred times its original size, towering over everything, and then Wailord just *popping* and growing slightly bigger. :U

 

[Rcxd9999]

I’m hoping the legendaries don’t evolve

Based on how similar their names are as well as how similar how they look, they will almost certainly evolve from a different Pokemon. Whether that Pokemon will evolve depending on the game that it's in (like Cosmoem) remains to be seen but it seems that Pokemon is trying to combat exclusive legendary Pokemon, and are instead making it so that you can own one copy of the game and still get every legendary just by cooperating with someone. With SM, you could get a Cosmog which could then be trained up and traded to the opposite game to evolve into the other mascot legendary (or you could fully evolve it and then just trade it for someone else's spare mascot legendary) and with USUM, you could easily get multiples of every Ultra Beast. Either way you look at it, it looks like Pokemon is trying to combat exclusive legendary Pokemon.

 

[TheRealBro..]

Gyms are back and Corviknight looks awesome. That's enough for me for now. Yeah Wooloo could have been thought up by my three year old son but we'll let that one slide.

 

[Rcxd9999]

Less replaced more souped up if you think about it

Z moves massively increase the power of an offensive move so as to deal massive amounts of damage, but as it's a once-off, you have to use it carefully, whereas Dynamax lasts for 3 turns so chances are that the amount that moves are powered up will be less than Z moves, otherwise being able to use 3 moves equivalent to the power of Z-move, in a row would be overpowered to the extreme, especially against Pokemon that aren't also Dynamaxed. Also, since status moves are now all turned in "Max Guard", they no longer get turned into whole new status moves like with Z-Moves. As such Dynamax is most certainly an offensive-based battle mechanic, rather than an overall game-changing battle mechanic like Z moves, not just a "souped up version" as you put it.

 

[Rcxd9999]

Interesting thing about flying with Corviknight. It seems that it's from town-to-town, so you can't just fly from the middle of a route to a town. Also, you don't ride Corviknight. It picks up a taxi with you in it lol. And finally, for those interested in having Corviknight on your story team, it seems Corviknight in a late game or post game Pokemon as the picture on the Pokemon site shows it at Lv 60 (But then again, they've shown Lv 50 Pokemon in Pokemon Direct Trailers before so maybe not).

 

[N's Rhyperior]

Okay! In-Depth review!

• Gossifleur/Eldebloom - Pure Grass-type which sucks Defensively, but Regenerator is its saving grace! Hopefully this dude is dang bulky so we can throw it to OU. Cotton Down? Its Gooey and Tangling Hair after all. Nothing too special.
• Drednaw - Water/Rock = 4 Weak to Grass. Since it has no Sturdy (Hopefully its HA) means not a good Pokemon. Most Water/Rock mon are thrown straight to PU, I am not talking about Barbaracle here. Hopefully a Fang STAB will be introduced to hopefully Drednaw a possible competitive candidate.
• Wooloo - New Route 1 Normal-type? Maybe. Weak to Fire ability? Pass!
• Corviknight - Its not Dark/Flying, but the second Flying-type whose Primary typing is FLYING. Its like a bulky Aerodactyl based on its abilities (Yes, abilities confirmed!). Hopefully it will learn Defog, Hazards, and some defensive moves so that I'll be ready to face him in competitive.
• Zacian and Zamazante are cool looking Legendary Mascots! The typing is the one thing we need to guess. My guess is one or both of them has Steel or Fighting in their typings. I won't surprised if Zamazante will make King's Shield not a Signature move anymore.
• Dynamax - OK! Dynamax is seems overrated to sone but cool to me. It has downsides like most mechanics did which only activates once per battle and lasts for 3 turns like Taunt. I hope this will be a held item because we'll gonna did this mechanic in AG if we do Dynamax+Choice Item/Life Orb on a Pokemon or DynaMega would be broken.
• Wild Areas - they actually adapt what Let's Go has it. I hope it'll be an easy way to spot rare mons for Dex Completion (Hopefully a National Dex this time)
• Rival and the Champion - OK Friendly Rival and Epic Galar Champion. I like it.
• What Magnolia is based of? A Tree? Oak, Birch, and Elm are based on trees.
• Another Rotom-related stuff? Oh boy. At least a phone-thing from HGSS is back.

Hop. DRAW 3 CARDS.

 

[SmiteKnight]

Okay! In-Depth review!

• Gossifleur/Eldebloom - Pure Grass-type which sucks Defensively, but Regenerator is its saving grace! Hopefully this dude is dang bulky so we can throw it to OU. Cotton Down? Its Gooey and Tangling Hair after all. Nothing too special.
• Drednaw - Water/Rock = 4 Weak to Grass. Since it has no Sturdy (Hopefully its HA) means not a good Pokemon. Most Water/Rock mon are thrown straight to PU, I am not talking about Barbaracle here. Hopefully a Fang STAB will be introduced to hopefully Drednaw a possible competitive candidate.
• Wooloo - New Route 1 Normal-type? Maybe. Weak to Fire ability? Pass!
• Corviknight - Its not Dark/Flying, but the second Flying-type whose Primary typing is FLYING. Its like a bulky Aerodactyl based on its abilities (Yes, abilities confirmed!). Hopefully it will learn Defog, Hazards, and some defensive moves so that I'll be ready to face him in competitive.
• Zacian and Zamazante are cool looking Legendary Mascots! The typing is the one thing we need to guess. My guess is one or both of them has Steel or Fighting in their typings. I won't surprised if Zamazante will make King's Shield not a Signature move anymore.
• Dynamax - OK! Dynamax is seems overrated to sone but cool to me. It has downsides like most mechanics did which only activates once per battle and lasts for 3 turns like Taunt. I hope this will be a held item because we'll gonna did this mechanic in AG if we do Dynamax+Choice Item/Life Orb on a Pokemon or DynaMega would be broken.
• Wild Areas - they actually adapt what Let's Go has it. I hope it'll be an easy way to spot rare mons for Dex Completion (Hopefully a National Dex this time)
• Rival and the Champion - OK Friendly Rival and Epic Galar Champion. I like it.
• What Magnolia is based of? A Tree? Oak, Birch, and Elm are based on trees.
• Another Rotom-related stuff? Oh boy. At least a phone-thing from HGSS is back.

Hop. DRAW 3 CARDS.

I think every professor is based of a tree. And yes, magnolia is a tree

 

[Scattered mind]

Ok so I will break it down to the good and bad imo starting with the good:

1) I love the graphics for this game. In the first trailer it didn't look as good and many people said it was because it was not final, which I didn't buy. But they were right. The graphics did improve and it shows. I love the fact that the camera control is now the same as other switch games. Hopefully exactly like in BOTW.

2) Open world just like Lets Go with the Pokemon showing in the grass is very welcome. I just hope it is like I imagine it and not some specific tiny location and the rest is just as before.

3) The raven Pokemon and that snapping turtle.. amazing. I like them very much.

The bad:
1) So... Generation 6 had mega evolutions, Generation 7 had z moves
And generation 8.. slaps raid battles from Pokémon GO and call it a day?
I knew it’s all downhill from Gen7 but my ..

2)The flower and the sheep Pokemon.. are so unnecessary. The sheep Pokemon is too similar to Mareep. If you are going to make another Pokemon based on the same idea at least change its design. This is just not enough.

3) The legendaries look super dumb. The sword one actually made me laugh when I saw its cover image.

The sad:

It seems like this generatiuon is another confirmation to the fact that
a- there will be no new evolutions to old Pokemon
b- there will be no new Mega Pokemon

I mean I kinda understood that from the past generation, but I really didn't want to believe that.

 

[Wechselbalg]

It seems like this generatiuon is another confirmation to the fact that
a- there will be no new evolutions to old Pokemon
b- there will be no new Mega Pokemon

I mean I kinda understood that from the past generation, but I really didn't want to believe that.

Who needs interesting new evolutions and new additions to an actual good gameplay mechanic when we can just have huge balloon pokemon, right? (/s)

 

[Rcxd9999]

1) So... Generation 6 had mega evolutions, Generation 7 had z moves
And generation 8.. slaps raid battles from Pokémon GO and call it a day?
I knew it’s all downhill from Gen7 but my ..

It seems like this generatiuon is another confirmation to the fact that
a- there will be no new evolutions to old Pokemon
b- there will be no new Mega Pokemon

Comparing the Max Raid Battles, which are a minor feature and have no effect on multiplayer and little to no effect on single player experience, to Mega Evolutions and Z moves doesn't make any sense. It'd be better to compare Mega Evolutions and Z moves to Dynamaxing, which is the actual new battle feature.

As for how it compares; first off, mega evolutions were specific to a handful of Pokemon and while they certainly gave new like to some old Pokemon but it was also given to some unnecessary ones as well. And then next, with Z moves, they were a one-and-done sort of mechanic and while they could change the course a battle, you had to have a specific Z crystal to use a specific Z move and if the opponent protected or switched, it was wasted. In comparison with both of them, Dynamax appears to be usable with every Pokemon rather than specific ones and unlike Z moves, you don't a specific item to power up a specific type of move and as it is a 3 turn longer transformation, it means that the opponent can't just protect or switch once to avoid the brunt of it. In other words, Dynamax is a true meta changing mechanic as it isn't specific to a small group of Pokemon and it goes on for 3 turns instead of 1, which makes it fairly unpredictable in comparison to Mega Evolutions are much more game changing than Z moves.

In regards to no new Mega Evolutions and no new evolutions for older Pokemon, all I can say is chill man. This is only the second Pokemon direct and other than the obligatory starter Pokemon and Legendary Pokemon, we've only seen 5 other Pokemon, one of which is an evolution of another of the revealed Pokemon. We still have E3 (whether or not we'll see anything there is unlikely because of close this Direct is to it but who knows) and 5 months until the game comes out. Chances are that they'll keep most of the Pokemon secret since it's this close to release. Also, while it's unlikely that we'll see any new Mega Evolutions because of the above reasons stated in regards to Dynamax, just remember that with XY, most Mega Evolutions weren't revealed until people discovered them in game. So again man, just chill and stop jumping to conclusions this early into the reveal.

 

[Seng vang]

Dynamax seems so busted. Can't wait to see how it transfer to tcg game.

 

[Merovingian]

TFW the new Pokémon mechanic makes Pokémon chonkier.

 

[Anees Azeemi]

Woo hoo. New News!
Really like Corviknight and Drednaw. Drednaw reminds me of Gen 2. Corviknight is awesome. I would probably expect more Pokemons to reference 'Knight' or 'Blade' or similar stuff.
Roaming Pokemon is so awesome. Coupled with movable camera I think this is really nice feature. And gradually we are heading towards an Action-RPG. Here is hoping for Skyrim: Pokemon Edition.
The legendaries? The Shield one is okay. Greatly similar to Solgaleo so not sure about what to say. The Sword one is (in my opinion) very... not okay...ish? I particularly do not like how it holds a sword in its MOUTH. Literally one of my most disliked designs.
Dynamax is pretty neutral. I really prefer Megas and Z-moves.

Overall a good update. I still can't help myself hoping for more Megas. Good luck Nintendo.

 

[jo94]

I imagine dynamax in tcg as break card. You slap it on your pokemon and it buffs hp and gives you an extra powerful attack. Then you discard it after some turns (maybe in the lost zone)

 

[TheRealBro..]

Ok so I will break it down to the good and bad imo starting with the good:

1) I love the graphics for this game. In the first trailer it didn't look as good and many people said it was because it was not final, which I didn't buy. But they were right. The graphics did improve and it shows. I love the fact that the camera control is now the same as other switch games. Hopefully exactly like in BOTW.

2) Open world just like Lets Go with the Pokemon showing in the grass is very welcome. I just hope it is like I imagine it and not some specific tiny location and the rest is just as before.

3) The raven Pokemon and that snapping turtle.. amazing. I like them very much.

The bad:
1) So... Generation 6 had mega evolutions, Generation 7 had z moves
And generation 8.. slaps raid battles from Pokémon GO and call it a day?
I knew it’s all downhill from Gen7 but my ..

2)The flower and the sheep Pokemon.. are so unnecessary. The sheep Pokemon is too similar to Mareep. If you are going to make another Pokemon based on the same idea at least change its design. This is just not enough.

3) The legendaries look super dumb. The sword one actually made me laugh when I saw it’s cover image.

The sad:

It seems like this generatiuon is another confirmation to the fact that
a- there will be no new evolutions to old Pokemon
b- there will be no new Mega Pokemon

I mean I kinda understood that from the past generation, but I really didn't want to believe that.

I mostly agree, however Raid battles does remind me of a pimped up safari zone which still packs a lot of nostalgia. We'll see.

That sheep though. Very insulting

 

[Scattered mind]

Comparing the Max Raid Battles, which are a minor feature and have no effect on multiplayer and little to no effect on single player experience, to Mega Evolutions and Z moves doesn't make any sense. It'd be better to compare Mega Evolutions and Z moves to Dynamaxing, which is the actual new battle feature.

As for how it compares; first off, mega evolutions were specific to a handful of Pokemon and while they certainly gave new like to some old Pokemon but it was also given to some unnecessary ones as well. And then next, with Z moves, they were a one-and-done sort of mechanic and while they could change the course a battle, you had to have a specific Z crystal to use a specific Z move and if the opponent protected or switched, it was wasted. In comparison with both of them, Dynamax appears to be usable with every Pokemon rather than specific ones and unlike Z moves, you don't a specific item to power up a specific type of move and as it is a 3 turn longer transformation, it means that the opponent can't just protect or switch once to avoid the brunt of it. In other words, Dynamax is a true meta changing mechanic as it isn't specific to a small group of Pokemon and it goes on for 3 turns instead of 1, which makes it fairly unpredictable in comparison to Mega Evolutions are much more game changing than Z moves.

In regards to no new Mega Evolutions and no new evolutions for older Pokemon, all I can say is chill man. This is only the second Pokemon direct and other than the obligatory starter Pokemon and Legendary Pokemon, we've only seen 5 other Pokemon, one of which is an evolution of another of the revealed Pokemon. We still have E3 (whether or not we'll see anything there is unlikely because of close this Direct is to it but who knows) and 5 months until the game comes out. Chances are that they'll keep most of the Pokemon secret since it's this close to release. Also, while it's unlikely that we'll see any new Mega Evolutions because of the above reasons stated in regards to Dynamax, just remember that with XY, most Mega Evolutions weren't revealed until people discovered them in game. So again man, just chill and stop jumping to conclusions this early into the reveal.

Well, I was referring to the dynamax- you are right that it is not just like raid battles, but the idea is similar and maybe a better comparison would be the totem Pokemon in Sun and Moon. My criticism is not on how useless or not the mechanic is, but how it's not new. It's not an original mechanic but another take on a very faniliar mechanic which they just twiked to fit to all Pokemon. It just doesn't feel fresh to me.
Maybe I am too quick to jump into conclusions with the evolutions, and I truly hope so but idk. I feel like there will be no new evolutions to old Pokemon. Again, hope I am wrong.

Also. I rather have Mega evolution to some of the Pokemon and not satisfy with just making them bigger and call it a day. It's too lazy to me. But perhaps it will turn up to be something else than what I curently imagine.

Also I am chilled. Believe it or not but it is possible to be calm and share negative opinions on something

 

[Scattered mind]

I mostly agree, however Raid battles does remind me of a pimped up safari zone which still packs a lot of nostalgia. We'll see.

That sheep though. Very insulting

It is something I definitely need to see more of as it can go either way depending on how exactly this mecahnic will be excecuted.

 

[SmiteKnight]

There was a leak a while ago that may have been confirmed by this direct