A Brief Interlude Where Medic Talks About Pokemon Shield So Far

I must admit, I’ve been getting carried away with all this Pokemon stuff. It’s all such a genuinely new experience for me. But today, I am taking a break from playing, so I can discuss my thoughts so far. Granted, I’ve only beaten a quarter of the gyms, and am still running around like an idiot, but I’ve been making process and slowly getting the hang of how Pokemon works.

It’s alright.

Funnily enough, turns out I don’t have much to say about the game. I like wandering around and catching Pokemon, and I like the Pokemon battles. The Pokemon I have are cute and the game has a nice art style. While I play, I do find it enjoyable, and I can sit and play for a while before getting bored and moving on. The game’s goals and quests are easy to reach, and the music is nice. I also very much enjoy the camping aspect and the mini games before the gym battles. It’s all been pretty much alright.

However, nothing really stands out to me. Despite not having played a proper Pokemon game outside of Shield, I’ve kinda seen a lot of this before. Same sights, same sounds and, kinda honestly, the same story. It all feels heavily recycled.

And really though, Pokemon Shield feels very much like a kids’ game. Yes, that is the target audience, but there’s nothing wrong with adding some difficulty here and there. The game can be insanely hand-holding-y for no real reason. Do I really need a guard to walk me to a hotel? No. It’s small stuff like that which becomes frustrating. But as I said, it’s not aimed at 30-somethings like me.

Missing Favourites

There’s also one massive downside. Either I haven’t ventured far enough yet, or there’s no Houndours to be found. My beloved skull doggo hasn’t appeared, and I really want one. So I actually went and looked it up* and this game has no Houndours in it at all. Then again, I haven’t found a Galarian Ponyta yet, but I assume they are just down the road. Bede did actually fight me with a Galarian Ponyta but it was knocked out by a wave of mud from Tim the Tympole. Who I brought out by accident, thinking I’d be fighting a Kanto Ponyta.

I have found some of my other favourites though. Growlithe just seems to be a common low level spawn, and it turns out there’s a bunch of fields outside of Motostoke, and some of them contain Noibats. Heck, I nearly got my ass handed to me by a level 50 wild Noivern. However I haven’t managed to catch a Rhyhorn or a Scyther yet (another two favourites of mine), and all my favourite Legendary Pokemon are obviously missing. But that’s fine. I probably haven’t gone far enough yet.

*I’ve been purposefully not looking online with this game. So I am going in completely blind. Aside from seeing if Houndour is in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

All that being said, I wouldn’t buy Pokemon Shield

Or any Pokemon game for that matter. This copy of Pokemon Shield I am playing? I borrowed it from my brother, who has been busy playing the new Arceus game. However, I don’t think I’d ever put down €50-60 for any modern Pokemon game. It’s a lot of money for what is essentially 80% of a game, because you need both copies (or a friend to buy the other game) to actually catch them all.

However, I would be willing to try and play on an emulator.

Either way though, I want to finish Pokemon Shield first. At the very least, I’d like to finish all the gyms. How long will that take me? I have no idea…