Fair Warning: this post is about 4.4 years old, so some of the information might be a bit dated. On the other hand, this post was last modified about 4.3 years ago, so maybe it's up-to-date after all. In any case, please keep all this in mind while reading. Thanks for understanding!
A Quick Diversion:  


The Actual News:

Pokemon Sword-Shield artwork
Oh man.

OK so apparently there’s some serious controversy about SWSD being rushed and not optimized properly. I’ve got a few things to say about that, but I’ll share that later when I’ve gathered my thoughts about this some more.

Another thing I’d like to cover is the Galar alphabet, which I find super interesting… to put it as simply as possible. … OK I’m CRAZY about it. I LOOOOVVVEEE languages, writing systems, this kind of stuff. So much that I’ve made up many of my own! Anyways, I’m keen on deciphering it, but I’ve already discovered a couple things about it already… but I’ll share that in another post.

Finally, my initial thoughts on the game. So far it’s… ok! Look, I’m gonna be biased about Pokémon in general, but so far I’ve just finished the Gym Challenge opening ceremony and nothing seems too amis. Hop is your typical “friendly rival”… annoying and over-enthusiastic, but whatever, typical fare for Pokémon.

The world is bigger, but it also seems a bit smaller too. It’s hard to explain. There is definitely more of that “open world” style that made Sun/Moon so different, and definitely better… but at the same time, now that Pokémon is on a console like the Switch, it’s size no longer feels appropriate. Pokémon has always been an “portable” game on a portable console, but now it’s a “portable” game trying to fit inside a console that can play Skyrim and Witcher III no problemo. I think it’s going to be judged on different standards now, and I honestly think that’s fair.

Er, well, this is going in a direction I want to save for another time. Right now, the game is still entertaining and I want to continue playing to see where things go. Hopefully it’s just as entertaining as every other Pokémon game has been for me.