The launch of Pokémon Sword and Shield is slightly more than a week away and yet Pokémon has only just announced new features, items and other game mechanics. Through the official game website, fans now have a clearer picture of what to expect once the game gets released on November 15.
Handy Features
Three new gameplay features will grace this new Pokémon game to make the lives of their players much easier. These features include portable Pokemon boxes, autosaving and more nicknames.
Pokémon boxes were always the place used to store caught Pokémon that you didn’t want in your party. Creating your team and training your Pokémon required careful selection. Sometimes it’s a bittersweet goodbye to those you’ve spent half the game training only to find a Pokémon that’s better suited for the challenges that lie ahead.
Now, players can skip all the tediousness of travelling to a Pokémon Centre to swap out your party by accessing your boxes almost anywhere along your travels. Only certain mission areas such as Gyms will disable this function. And that’s where a good save point comes to save the day.
Consistent saving was one of the earliest lessons you learn while playing the earlier Pokémon games but in the upcoming game, there is an autosave feature which pops up at various points such as when players enter towns or buildings. For those who feel that this might make the game too easy, you can simply head over to your settings to deactivate this feature.
Moving on to the last point of more nicknames, while you still can’t change the existing nickname of a traded Pokémon, players may now bestow nicknames onto the Pokémon that didn’t have a nickname prior to the trade.
New Consumables & Held Items
New items in Pokémon Sword and Shield will make breeding and training competitive Pokémon even easier. Whether you’re a survivalist and buy everything in the Pokémon store or only stock up on the essentials, these new items are sure to make your journey smoother.
Mints are a never-before-seen addition to the inventory, they’ll impact which stats of your Pokémon are likely to grow faster than usual. The Nature of your Pokémon already determines how quickly a particular stat can grow but Mints can alter these patterns.
Supplement drinks, like Calcium and Zinc, were also a common item used to alter the stats of your Pokémon but previously, there was a cap on the maximum number that you could give to your Pokémon. Now, players can max out their Pokémon’s base stats solely using these nutrients.
Remember how excited you would get when you managed to get a Rare Candy? That was a whole lot of time saved not having to grind and train a Pokémon that was significantly weaker than the rest of your party. Now Pokémon has introduced a similar item called Exp. Candy that awards varying amounts of Exp. Points. These candies can be earned in Max Raid Battles.
Lastly, Egg Moves are now easier to be shared. Egg Moves are moves that may only be acquired through hatching from an egg. By placing two Pokémon of the same species in a Nursery, an Egg Move that either one of them knows may be passed to the other Pokémon.
Gigantamax Pokémon Encounters
In Max Raid Battles, four trainers team up to take on a Wild Dynamax Pokémon but there is a chance (a slim one, but a chance nonetheless) for trainers to go up against a Gigantamax Pokémon instead.
However, your chances are about to get a little better. There are certain times where encountering Gigantax Pokémon become more common. From November 15, until early January 2020, players will be more likely to encounter Gigantamax Butterfree. During this same period, players of Pokémon Sword will also be more likely to encounter Gigantamax Drednaw and players of Pokémon Shield will be more likely to encounter Gigantamax Corviknight.
Galar Beginnings
The first competition for Pokémon Sword and Shield is officially announced, entitled Galar Beginnings! Sign-ups start on November 15 and end on December 5. This single-battle tournament will take place from December 6 to 8. Only Pokémon from Sword and Shield will be permitted during this competition and they will all be upped to level 50 for the duration of the competition.
Chelsea started playing video games at a young age and has since sunk deeper into the hole of geekdom. She dreams of one day studying pop culture for a living so she can watch Netflix all day in her pyjamas.
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