As the release date for Pokémon Sword and Shield comes closer and closer, there is so much left that we don't know about the titles. One thing that fans continue to wonder about is the features that will be returning from past titles in the series.
Today, we'll be taking a look at five aspects of older titles that we'd love to see make a return, along with five that can stay in the past. Let's get right into it.
10 Hope For: Real Events
One of the best parts about obtaining legendary Pokémon in the older titles was the fact that they were actual events.
They contained story elements that tied into the Pokémon, rather than a man at the Target across the street handing you something. It just isn't nearly as rewarding when you're just handed the Pokémon, which is why it would be so great to see this feature come back for Sword and Shield.
9 Don't Hope: Easy Experience Share
While it was a bit better in Sun and Moon, the experience share has been a bit too powerful in the latest Generations. We now know that the experience share is no longer an item, but is baked into the games starting in Sword and Shield.
The best way to handle this would be allowing players to turn it off if they so choose, as some people like the difficulty that comes with playing without the experience share. Let's hope that player choice is the name of the game here.
8 Hope For: Shiny Odds
Shiny Pokémon have been getting easier to come by as time goes on, and many fans are hoping that the shiny odds stay the same with the release of Sword and Shield. While there's yet to have been any indication that they're lowering the odds, doing so would make getting shines a bit too easy.
Let's hope that they keep the current odds, or go back to the older odds in Sword and Shield, and don't lower them any further than they have in the past.
7 Don't Hope: The Same Old Formula
The look of the Galar region makes it seem as if this won't be the case, but here's to hoping that we get a different region layout than small town, bigger town, forest, BIG town, that we're used to getting from the series. They've certainly shaken up the formula in the past, so them doing this again would be no surprise.
The design of Alola was a huge departure for the series, so let's hope that Galar provides us with that same great sense of exploration that came with the last Generation.
6 Hope For: A Great Story
When it comes to story in Pokémon games, you never know what you're going to get. Some are involved stories that make you think about whether or not the entire idea of Pokémon battles is even okay, while others involve Trace.
They've been pretty good as of late, so let's hope that streak continues with Sword and Shield. They've already set up some intrigue with the League seemingly having some shady figures running it, and a reduced threat from the evil team. How many crime syndicates can one world have? Let's hope that this story is one for the books,
5 Don't Hope: Sun And Moon Waypoints
Sure, Sun and Moon had a good plot, but the hand-holding was simply ridiculous. The game marked every single destination you needed to go to (even if it was just walking five feet in a straight line), and the cutscenes were just constant.
There's nothing wrong with either of these things in theory, but everything was overdone in Sun and Moon. There was no difficulty in the slightest. Let's hope that is remedied when we touch down in the Galar Region.
4 Hope For: Battle Frontier (Postgame)
You know what was trash? Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. You know what wasn't trash? Their postgames. Story content like that and a Battle Frontier in a brand new location akin to Platinum is how you do a Pokémon postgame. You simply never know what you're going to get when it comes to this area of any Pokémon game.
Let's hope that they make it robust and fulfilling. Game Freak, copying the Maison, changing it to a tree and putting Cynthia in it isn't robust or fulfilling. It sure helps though.
3 Don't Hope: Festival Plaza
If the Pokémon games want to have an online hub, that's great. It doesn't need to be the Festival Plaza, though. The area made it FAR too impossible to play with friends, and the extra features that it added were nice, but tedious to gain access to.
The Festival Plaza sounds great on paper, but didn't translate to the game very well. If Game Freak is to try this again, they just need to make sure that they're absolutely nailing it this time around.
2 Hope For: Lore Expansion
The most lore-heavy region to date has been the Sinnoh Region. While some of this lore was spelled out, like in the Canalave library, a lot of it was seen through normal gameplay, like the events that occur at the Spear Pillar.
This was a great thing to see from the games, as the universe of the Pokémon World still has a ton of unanswered questions. Let's hope that we learn a little more with the release of Sword and Shield.
1 Don't Hope: Lack Of Difficulty
Difficulty is subjective, and the recent Pokémon games are kind of a mixed bag when it comes to the topic. When Sword and Shield roll around, we want a difficult game. We got the easy one through Let's Go!, so give us something that makes us sweat a bit.
At the very least, bring back Black and White 2's difficulty selection. Let us choose how hard our journey will be. The Ultra games definitely stepped it up from Sun and Moon, so we're certainly moving in the right direction. Let's just hope that we can keep that momentum going.