At first glance, Pokémon Sword & Shield seemed like a masterstroke by Game Freak. New Pokémon, a new location, and upgraded graphics were enough to entice many Pokémon fans. However, the decision to exclude the National Dex and many of the prior Pokémon received major flak from most players. To tackle this, Game Freak promised to release more future content, first of which being The Isle of Armor, which has just been released.
The DLC area features a new legendary Pokémon, Kubfu, as well as a lot of returning favorites. Even though the latest DLC has received a positive reception, there are still a lot of features that the game is missing. Here are the biggest fixes that The Isle of Armor needs.
10 Pokémon Following The Trainers Are Extremely Slow
One of the surprise features that came with the DLC is that captured Pokémon can now follow players around in the Isle of Armor. This isn’t something new as the same feature can be found in other Pokémon games, notably in Let’s Go, Soul Silver, and Heart Gold.
However, a lot of the Pokémon that follow their trainers around are extremely slow. Even when walking at a normal pace, the Pokémon will most likely be left behind. In most cases, they will magically teleport back to the player again, but that doesn’t feel legitimate, and it needs to be addressed.
9 Storyline Doesn’t Fit Well
When trainers first reach the Isle of Armor, they will be bombarded with NPC trainers with under-level Pokémon. Nobody on the island recognizes the player even after they became the champion of the region. This is not the case in other locations in the game as NPCs often do recognize the protagonist.
Dealing with low-level trainers quickly becomes repetitive, and there isn’t much one can do to avoid the encounters. Setting the Isle of Armor as post-game content where NPCs would recognize the player and their prior actions in the game would have made much more sense.
8 Not Challenging At All
The Isle of Armor is pretty mediocre when it comes to difficulty level, and most trainers will easily cruise by all the challenges on the island. Trainers who have already defeated Leon will most likely obliterate all the opponents on the island. Players can make the conquest more challenging by bringing in lower level Pokémon, but most trainers will simply run their best team.
GameFreak did hand out a bunch of Experience Candies before the release of DLC, which led many to believe that The Isle of Armor was going to be extremely difficult, but unfortunately, that proved to not be the case. However, raising the bar of trainers and including level-scaling in the game would help greatly.
7 Glitches Still Exist
Even with a release of the new DLC, both Pokémon Sword & Shield are still suffering from glitches and bugs. Characters become invisible, Pokémon suddenly vanishes, and camera angle acting weird at times are the few problems a lot of players have been facing.
Although the game is pretty well optimized and delivers a solid content with the latest DLC, the glitches and bugs often ruin the playing experience. It is a no brainer that removing these glitches and bugs will make the DLC better.
6 Raid Battles
A new feature of Raid battles was introduced in Sword & Shield, where players could battle Gigantamaxed Pokémon. Not only it’s super fun to fight these humongous Pokémon, but there are some cool incentives when you defeat a Gigantamaxed Pokémon.
However, all the Raids are extremely slow, and even with the animations turned off, these battles tend to drag out. Doing Raids consecutively quickly becomes repetitive and even boring. Providing an update that allows Raids to play out faster in The Isle of Armor would be a welcome change from Game Freak.
5 Content Is Too Short
Even though it’s only the first half of the promised DLC, the actual content in The Isle of Armor is disappointing. Hardcore players will exhaust the entire content in no time, and apart from catching the newly added Pokémon, a new Wild area to explore, and the Gigantamax Soup, there isn’t something enticing on the island.
There are a couple of new challenges on the island, but even those are pretty easy to clear. Adding more challenging content to the DLC would have greatly improved the overall experience.
4 Side Quests Are Tedious & Boring
A new side quest was added to the game where players need to find 150 Digletts that are scattered throughout the island, hidden with only their hairs visible from the top. This feat is very hard to complete, and without any external help, finding 150 Digletts will take plenty of time.
Most of the game's side quests are easy but very tedious to complete. Very few of them feel rewarding and there isn't much to achieve. Making them more interesting and adding a variety of side quests is certainly the way to go.
3 The Main Rivals Can Be Better
Just like all Pokémon games, there are two principal rivals of the main character, which are presented as the final battle of the DLC. Depending upon the version someone is playing, either Klara or Avery will be the antagonists of the DLC.
Both of the characters have bland personalities that barely leave much of an impression. They don’t bring anything to the table and are not at all challenging. Expanding upon their personalities and making their Pokémon roster stronger would definitely improve the DLC.
2 Adding Old Characters
Meeting and challenging old characters in a Pokémon game always feels pleasant. This has been done before, the most notable example being the last generation Pokémon games(Ultra Moon and Ultra Sun), where the players could battle famous foes such as Giovanni and Cyrus.
Adding characters from previous generations would not only make the DLC more exciting, but it would also add another layer to enjoy for long-time fans of the franchise.
1 Better Rewards For Completing Restricted Sparring
The main feature of the DLC is the ‘Restricted Sparring,’ which requires players to battle using a specific type of Pokémon. Once players clear the five battles using all 18 types of Pokémon, they will be handed a prized T-shirt.
This reward is extremely underwhelming and should be replaced by something that feels more rewarding. Handing out rare items such as a Master Ball would certainly sweeten the pie and give players an extra reason to grind hard.