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Pokémon Sword and Shield Missing Pokémon is Due to Prioritizing Quality Over Quantity

Pokémon Sword and Shield Missing Pokémon is Due to Prioritizing Quality Over Quantity - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 November 2019 / 3,648 Views

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield will not have every single Pokemon in the game and Game Freak developers Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Ohmori in an interview with Famitsu clarified that the reason for this was to prioritize quality over quantity. 

When you take into account every Pokemon and form changes the total number is now over 1,000. The developers wanted to create more detailed and better animated Pokemon in the game.

"With the move to Nintendo Switch, it became possible to recreate Pokemon with more beautiful and livelier animations but on the other hand it took more time to develop," said Masuda. "Another point is that the total number of Pokemon has exceeded 1000, including new Pokemon and form changes.

"As a result, in addition to adapting to changes in hardware in order to create quality graphics, it has become very difficult to adjust the balance of each Pokemon’s unique skills. That is the reason for this decision, and why we have decided it will be difficult to have all Pokemon appear in future works.

"This decision is personally very sad [for me]. Of course I wanted to be able to bring every Pokemon if I could, but it was also a decision that I had to make eventually. In the end, I had no choice but to prioritize quality."

 

Ohmori added, "Even in Pokemon Sun and Moon it was quite the difficult situation to bring in every Pokemon, but then we switched to Nintendo Switch and the models had to be rebuilt from scratch so we had to make some decisions. However, although there are limitations to the amount of Pokemon you can play with, Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s content such as the Wild Area and story are quite extensive."

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield will launch worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on November 15.

Thanks DualShockers.


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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11 Comments
Darwinianevolution (on 15 July 2019)

Yeah, I don't buy it for a second. Especially the part where they said they did it "in order to create quality graphics". Nothing shown until now looks worth the removal of so many features, and even if it were the case, gameplay over graphics would still prevail.

  • +12
routsounmanman (on 15 July 2019)

Bullcrap. Stop being lazy and grow.

  • +8
StriderKiwi (on 15 July 2019)

This just looks desperate at this point. We're at what, 3 excuses released separately to quell fan outrage? I don't see that dying down, the same as I don't see the "quality graphics" they're claiming Sword/Shield has over previous releases.

  • +6
Mystro-Sama (on 15 July 2019)

LOL! Thats a damn lie. The animation that we're seen so far is atrocious and we know its not going to improve. It has even become a meme at this point to compare it to old pokemon games and Chinese knockoff games that have better animation.

  • +5
KrspaceT (on 15 July 2019)

Game Freak....I am pretty sure you are making it worse at this point. Just....just get Nintendo to lend you some Monolith guys, say you will at least patch in the non mega mons publicaly, and only release trailers until November. You can even have MEgas and Z-Crystals as DLC. Just....stop. Just.....listen to your community managers. Just....before someone does something stupid in frustration like hacking your stuff!

  • +4
PAOerfulone (on 16 July 2019)

Bull.Shit.
The graphics look slightly above standard AT BEST. And animation? What animation? The same ones they've been reusing since X/Y?!? You're just digging yourselves deeper and deeper into the hole. Game Freak, Pokemon Company, cut the crap. Either delay the game to add the Dex, or if that's not an option, which I can understand, then get Nintendo and Monolith Soft to help out! You've had all the time you needed to prepare for this jump. There is no excuse whatsoever for this.

  • +3
Cerebralbore101 (on 15 July 2019)

I'll believe this if Sword/Shield has a unique and incredible animation for each move performed by each Pokemon. So if Charizard's Will-o-Wisp looks entirely different from Ninetails' Will-o-Wisp, and so on, I'll believe them. But I don't see them doing that. They will copy/paste the same animation for every move.

  • +3
Metroid33slayer (on 16 July 2019)

Erm has anyone seen those screenshots comparing the trees to ocarina of time on n64? my god there is very little difference, quality over quantity my arse.

  • +2
think-man (on 16 July 2019)

Considering the shit ton of money Pokemon makes, I'm pretty sure they can invest in more staff to complete the roster.

  • +1
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