Sword and Shield Unleashed

Well, that day has come. Today is the day when Sword and Shield are officially released (again, in my fanciful terms, "unleashed") to the world. It's something that has been in the works since at least October of two years ago and announced only nine months ago. And now, a grateful world can now reap the results of that long development... or maybe for some people, a little less grateful due to what has transpired over the course of that time. It's helpful to review that as the lead-in to the happenings of this day.

The biggest issue that has plagued the games has been, of course, the National Dex controversy. It came to the point where upon various "reveal" opportunities (such as a certain "livestream"), people started pointing out which species were "safe", meaning likely to be present within the game among all other new species. This has resulted in a couple of hashtags related to communication about the final content found in the game as intentionally or unintentionally gotten, most likely through reviewers and those who received advance copies of the game. Whatever the case, it remains a brooding issue with these games.

What seems to make the greatest appeal at this point is what I term as the "unification" trailer for the game. It depicts Pokémon from all prior generations in prior games on prior consoles coming together to form the "brave new world" of the new games. While it may not ease the prior controversy and the fallout effects of the games, the premise of the trailer is epic; it makes it seem wonderful and attractive enough for fans to buy and play the games regardless of any controversy. The point just seems to be buy, play, and enjoy - perhaps the rest will take care of itself sooner or later.

Speaking of sooner or later, some of my Pokémon fellows have taken to obtain the game, and a few, in fact, have gotten it by today. One in particular, who is currently living remotely, bought a double pack of both versions and received the game two days ago, in fact, to really start playing early. Another received one of the games by yesterday and received an (un)pleasant surprise after starting to play the game. Others have indicated that they have one of the games in their possession and will be playing it soon. Still others have only indicated that they have purchased the console (Nintendo Switch) with no sign of the games, but the direction is obviously clear, being for those games.

As for me, I don't have either ready at the moment, nor anytime soon. The story for this one might end up a little like the story of my (old) 3DS, which happened to also be not at the ready when it and Pokémon X and Y (the latter my choice) respectively came out, as I've noted previously for my preparations. At the same time, I'm also negotiating my options for what I will obtain, if and when that happens, except of course that I've opted for Sword as my choice. Being that I'm a huge fan, I will eventually have to move in this direction to preserve continuity, and this in turn preserves the continuity of the franchise as well. Moreover, I may still have a few things to take care of before going in that direction, but the point is that the direction is clear, one that I will take.

For my final words, I'd like to address a popular comical interpretation of the games. It has been said (by Dan Fornace) that the games are "Sword" and "Shield" because they're half-attacked and half-defended, owing to the qualities of the respective represented objects. While it may be right to scrutinize ("attack") and then support ("defend") them, it seems even more right to take them as they are, as some of my fellows have done. At that point, it now seems apt to welcome and herald this new "royal" chapter of the main series of Pokémon games.

One year ago: Seeing Red: Cosplay Teaser for 12/2/2018
Two years ago: Ma? Ma? Ma? Marshadow...!