Sword/Shield What should I know before buying SW/SH?

Okay so as the resident "I love these games sue me" person, I feel obligated to respond here, despite very few people agreeing with me.

So here goes nothing.

I personally love these games very much. Like to the point where they're my second favorite in the series that I've played. I like the different focus of the story (even though that makes the climax come out of nowhere), they have the most consistently good lineup of new Pokémon out of any generation imo, there's a huge amount of QoL changes, and raids are actually really fun. I also enjoy Dynamaxing but I know most people just don't really care about it. I can see why people were so upset about the dex cut, but personally I was never that effected by it.

In my honest opinion, I think a lot of people just didn't give the games a fair chance for various reasons. For one, the dex cut. I don't think I need to explain that. Second, I've seen a lot of people online who were expecting way more out of this than they should've. Mainly people expecting beautiful graphics solely because these games were on a home console, despite graphics never really being a big focus of the main series previously. There also might've been a bit of a hive mind mentality with this. Like that awful internet trend where people just hate on something because everyone else is, and not because they actually agree.

Now, none of this is to say that everyone who dislikes these games isn't worth listening to. I've seen people (specifically on this forum) who legitimately just didn't like the direction these games took. Which is completely warranted.

Now back to your actual question. Here's what I think you should know:

--Don't expect a big, world-ending story like all the games since Gen III have had. This game doesn't do that. The focus is on the gym challenge itself, and your journey through it. The world-ending stuff does have a presence, but not really until the climax (which, as I said earlier, comes way out of left field as a result)

--The DLC is kind of worth it imo. The first expansion doesn't really add much, but it's a fun romp. The second one has WAY more to do, and adds a new mode that is pretty fun, is a good way of getting legendaries, and is a pretty reliable way of getting shinies (do some research on that)

--Don't go into it super critical. If you do that, you're bound to find everything wrong, thus tainting your experience. Just try to keep an open mind and focus on having fun. At the end of the day, Pokémon is just about going on an adventure, making friends, and collecting fun creatures. Don't expect to get much more than that. You're just going to be disappointed.

 

It's pretty easy. the game drives you in the direction of story development, and doesnt make things hard for you.

There are a lot of Pokémon to choose from early on.

This game however relies on internet connection for a lot of features. Which you have to pay for separately for switch games (lame). Especially if you want to play with your friend.