Pokemon Sword and Shield

I started playing Pokemon Shield yesterday and I'm totally smitten with this game.

This is probably my first true Pokemon playthrough since Crystal. I loved gen 1 and 2, played all the way through those generations, then sort of fell off from the DS onwards. The solo games anyway, I always kept up with Pokemon through movies, card collecting, and multiplayer games like Smash.

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As there's been such a huge jump of time, there are a ton of quality of life changes I'm seeing. Some things I'm really enjoying:

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-I'm so glad I can personalize my outfit
-I really like that you can take your "PC" on the go, and just change your Pokemon on the field instead of having to make the trip to the Pokemon center
-Really enjoying the wild area, and just having this vast expanse where you can travel, explore, catch, and level. The days of walking up and down routes to grind are in the past. I was having so much fun there that I had to pull myself towards the next town because all my Pokemon are level 20-ish and I want to start getting badges before they start ignoring me lol
-You get a ton of items, a ton of Pokeballs from the jump. This was really nice for me as someone who likes to get out there and catch Pokemon instead of worrying about breaking the bank at the mart
-This is a small touch, but I like that they give the third starter Pokemon to somebody. That's something I always thought about as a kid. When you and your rival pick 2 of the starters, that third ball is just left there.
-Camping is so fun. I enjoy getting the chance to just play fetch with your Pokemon and make food for them.

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I also found it interesting that your rival chooses a Pokemon that's weak to yours, whereas in the past Gary/Blue would always pick the one that gives you a type disadvantage.

At first I wasn't sure what I thought about having "raid battles" in my solo Pokemon experience, but I'm having a lot of fun with the party fights. I bought my brother Sword for Christmas, which is the reason I picked up Shield, so we can have the opposite and trade exclusives, but it's been fun teaming up with him in these Gigantamax raid battles.

Overall, I can't speak highly enough of it. Again, as someone who last played Pokemon hardcore during the Crystal era, there may have been so many incremental changes over the generations that I just wasn't around to notice.

It was kind of poetic that I got a Pikachu as a Mystery Gift. As a kid, my first level 100 was a Raichu I raised from my starter Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow. It felt very fitting to go through my journey with not only my starter Grookey but with a Pikachu alongside it.

If you're someone who's been out of Pokemon like i was for a while, this is a great generation to get a fresh start with. It's lighthearted and fun, doesn't feel like a grind or a cake walk either, just really balanced.

I have definitely played the hell out of Pokemon Shield and my kids and I love it. If you like the wild area, get the expansions. They are basically entirely new wild areas with pokemon not found in the original game.

I also like the quality of life upgrades in this game, especially the portable boxes. I do have some gripes that it took so long to get some of this stuff, also the graphics and storyline were basically afterthoughts and would not even be acceptable if this came from any other franchise. It could have been so much better on Switch, but they just got lazy and knew we'd buy it anyway. However, no one really plays pokemon for graphics and story.

Dynamax is fun in a 'it's cool to team up with others and my kids like fighting the giant pokemon' kind of way. I also really like the Dynamax Adventure to catch the legendaries in the latest expansion. Tons of fun. What I don't like is how dynamax has dominated competitive battling to the point where it needs to be the focus of your strategy or you will not be competitive. Mega evolutions and Z-moves added some power to the competitive scene but they were much more situational and also cost you your held item.

It took me about a week to finish the main story. 30-ish hours maybe? Put a lot of time in over the new year's 3 day weekend.

Now I just need to dig into the post game. Yesterday I started the expansions and they're a lot of fun. Like you said, more wild areas to explore. I'm liking the story of these, with the Calyrex and the legendary bird hunting.

Not sure how I feel about the Dynamax caves. The roulette aspect and not being able to use your own party to face a legendary is kind of off putting. Can't tell you how many times I've lost one of those because the NPCs came equipped with Magikarps and you get the 4 KO maximum before the level ends.