Pokemon Shield Retrospective, from the perspective of someone whose first Pokemon fandom experience was being surrounded by hate for SwSh
To preface this, when I made a discord account, it was around the time of Sword and Shield's release. While I wasn't in any Pokemon-centric communities at the time, as I was currently in the Undertale fandom, there was still lots of discussion about how bad the Galar games apparently were. But as part of this marathon, I decided to give Shield a try anyways.
Pokemon Shield is one of my favorite games I've played as part of this marathon.
I was really not expecting to like it as much as I did.
I've been playing it on and off since March of last year, so my memory of some of the earlier parts of it may admittedly be a bit spotty.
But I loved this game. It definitely has its flaws, sure, but overall, I loved it!
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning, the very beginning.
I wasn't expecting Rose of all people to do the "Welcome to the world of Pokemon" speech! It was a fun change of pace, seeing the villain do the speech, even if I wasn't supposed to know he's the villain yet.
I also really enjoyed the little scene with the starters playing together. It was adorable, and endeared me to these little fellows more than I already was.
I chose Sobble, of course, and named him Davulo.
And after my first battle with Hop, it was time to investigate the Slumbering Weald!
Like I mentioned in my X retrospective, the Weald feels very lonely, even with Hop by your side. I feel like it works to the benefit of the atmosphere, though. This area doubles as both the first and last Route of the game, and that lonely, creepy feeling at the beginning makes the revisit all the more compelling.
I also really enjoyed the battle with Zamazenta here. My level 5 Sobble, all alone against this foggy Pokemon that my attacks did nothing to. Combined with the eerie music, it was a fantastic moment.
After that, it was time for Route 1!
I caught a few Pokemon on this route who'd become part of my main team. Melva the Rookidee, and Swilno the Nickit.
And after a brief look around in Wedgehurst, it was time for me to go to the Lab on Route 2, where I met Sonia.
Sonia is probably one of my favorite professor characters in the series, thanks to her being much more involved in the plot than the likes of Oak, Elm, Birch, and so on. She’s also just a really fun character overall, from her personality to her design to her backstory. She’s great!
It was also here where I was introduced to the signature gimmick of Pokemon Shield: Dynamax!
To me, Dynamax is a fantastic fusion of Mega Evolution and Z-Moves. Barring two (or three) very special exceptions, every Pokemon in the game has access to it, unlike Mega Evolution’s very limited pool. And while Dynamaxed, every move is essentially a Z-Move.
…I’ll get to Gigantamax and my grievances with it later, but Dynamax itself is fantastic!
After obtaining the Dynamax Band, I made my way back to Wedgehurst, where the first DLC event happened: A Galarian Slowpoke had made its way onto the rails, and I had to do something about it.
And so that’s how Lazoss the G!Slowpoke joined my team, though he wouldn’t be a permanent member.
And then, at last, with the rails cleared, I could go to the central point of Galar: The Wild Area.
The Wild Area reminded me of Legends Arceus and Violet. Which makes sense, as it was the precursor to the open world-ness of those games. Ironically, despite it being much, much more limited in scope than Violet's complete open world, I kinda liked it more? The smaller area made each and every bit of it feel special.
Also I don't really get the hype of "open world" stuff. Like, does every game need to be completely open world? Is it not enough to have small sections like the Wild Area mixed with more linear Routes?
Pardon my Mario and Zelda fan, but Shield feels a bit like the Bowser's Fury mode in 3D World, with having both open and linear parts, while Violet feels more like Breath of the Wild, being completely open with little sense of direction. I personally like the former more than the latter.
But this isn't a Mario or Zelda retrospective, and I haven't gotten to my Pokemon Violet retrospective yet. So I'm going to cut this tangent short, and talk about how it felt to arrive in Motosoke, the first "big city" of the game.
(Also, on editing this, I realized that I forgot to mention that I caught a Minccino here, who would become my fourth permanent team member. I named her Mintar.)
Motosoke is awesome.
From the rows of unique stores on main street, to the giant cogs that lift you to the upper level of the city, to all the side stuff around, I was in awe my first time being here.
But before I could truly start exploring, I had a stop to make: The Budew Drop Inn, to get a good night's rest.
And in there, I encounter the second of the game's rivals: Marnie, as well as the game's "evil team": Team Yell.
I'll save my overall thoughts on both of them for later, but I quite like each! I just wish they were fleshed out more, and there were more encounters with them.
After a battle with some Team Yell grunts, it was finally time to officially register for the Gym Challenge.
That cinematic cutscene was so cool! Introducing me to (almost) all the gym leaders in such a fun way. I quite liked it! And at last, I could begin my Gym Challenge.
After I explored Motosoke some more, in which I discovered even more cool stuff, like the Hi-Tech Earbuds, which are basically a set of volume sliders. I love how they gave personality to this basic game feature, though I do wish it wasn't so missable, and was earlier on.
But to be fair, other Pokemon games also take a while to give you basic features, like how long Firered takes to give you the Running Shoes. So I can't fault Shield too much on that front, this is still before the first gym after all.
And speaking of that first gym, it was time for me to make my way towards it.
Route 3 wasn't really much to write about, but Galar Mine 1 was pretty cool! I only wish it had a better name. The music was funky, the aesthetics were neat, and I had my first battle with Bede, the third rival of the game.
Like with Hop and Marnie, I'll talk about Bede more later, but my friend @crispythecascoon made him my favorite of the Galar rivals, and this was a very fun first encounter with him!
Route 4 was very cool! I loved seeing Turffield in the distance as I traveled through these rolling fields, it was a great atmosphere for closing in on my first gym town!
Turffield was a much smaller town than Motosoke or even Wedgehurst, but what it lacks in size it makes up for with intrigue: A mystery involving a riddle and stone walls, promising a treasure to anyone who can figure it out.
I couldn't figure it out, but I had fun trying!
But, at last, it was time for my first gym, the grass-type gym.
The Wooloo herding was a fun minigame, and I quite liked it! It reminded me a bit of the Olive Roll from Pokemon Violet.
But with that complete, I was up against Milo.
He wasn't nearly as much of a challenge as Brock was in Firered, but he wasn't a complete pushover like Roxanne in Emerald either. He was a pretty great first gym leader, just the right amount of difficulty for your first real test. And with Milo defeated, I had obtained my first badge of Galar, a fragment of a larger medallion.
Route 5 was also much not to write about, though I really enjoyed the variety of layouts Routes could have now that they weren't limited to a grid. Though there was another battle with Hop here, which was fun.
Hulbury started off with running into Rose, and a small detour to find Nessa at the lighthouse, where she gives me her League Card.
I think now's the best time for me to talk about League Cards, a SwSh-exclusive mechanic.
I like it a lot! It gives a bunch of extra background info on a lot of important trainers, such as gym leaders, and you can even make your own and customize it!
I may have stopped to update my League Card after every single gym battle I did.
Anyways, back to Hulbury, the gym test for it was a pretty traditional one: Find your way through a gimmicky maze. Nothing special, but nothing bad either.
Nessa wasn't quite as much of a challenge as Milo, but she still put up a fight. I won in the end, though, netting me my second badge.
After that was an awkward meal with Rose, where he rambled on about a lot of stuff about energy. I enjoyed this little interaction to get the plot started, but I don't really understand why Rose wanted to have a meeting with the protag specifically? Is it because they know Leon personally?
Next was Galar Mine 2, which wasn't quite as pretty as the first one. It was more dim and drab, though there were encounters with both Bede and Team Yell here, which were both nice, and I got to learn more about Bede's motivations!
After that was a return to Motosoke, where I battled Marnie, and then went back into the Motosoke gym to finally do battle there.
It was really cool revisiting an earlier town to do a gym there you couldn't before! It reminds me a bit of Viridian City from Firered, with how it's the second town, but the final gym town.
The gym test was pretty unique, too! It involved a race to catch three Pokemon, in double battles with trainers who'd do their best to get in your way. I quite liked it!
Kabu himself was pretty easy, likely because I had chosen Sobble as my starter, but it was still a fun battle.
The next thing in the main story was to return to the Wild Area, but I wanted to check out the DLC areas first, the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra.
First up was the Isle of Armor, which had a really cool loading screen of the train and the flying taxi there. And upon arrival, I met the DLC rival for Pokemon Shield, Avery.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, for some reason, have version-exclusive rivals for the DLC. I don't exactly know why they did this, but I like both, though as Shield was the game I played, I'll mostly just talk about Avery.
Avery is a neat rival! He’s a minor circuit gym leader, a psychic who’s not that great at psychic stuff, and was training at the Master Dojo to try to hone his skills in order to become part of the major circuit. Very fun backstory and character concept, but I really wish I got to see more of it through cutscenes and stuff, instead of just his League Card.
After the battle with Avery outside the train station, I decided to take a visit to the Crown Tundra, to see what that had in store.
And as I came face to face with Peony’s level 70 Copperjah, I realized that was a mistake.
I immediately turned around, and went back to the Isle of Armor to do some exploring, when I stumbled upon the ingredients seller.
I had no idea about the cooking system for this game before, but I quickly decided that I wanted to find every single curry recipe in the game, and bought out the entire current stock of ingredients.
Afterwards, I went inside the dojo, to do Mustard’s tasks three. First up was the runaway Slowpoke, which was simple enough. The mushroom soup was also pretty easy, even with Avery’s interference, and taught me an important gameplay mechanic: making G-Max Soup!
Then, finally, was the final battle against Avery, for the “armor”. It was a pretty tricky battle, but I managed to come out on top, and gain not only apprenticeship, but custody of Kubfu.
Kubfu is an interesting legendary Pokemon. One of the very few able to evolve. I decided to name them Kuufo, and have them be the 5th permanent member of my team.
I made my way back to the Wild Area, and after talking to a defeated Hop, stepped into Hammerlocke for the first time. Or as I like to call it, the “bigger city” to Motosoke’s “big city”.
Despite I think being smaller than Motosoke in terms of walkable space, it feels so much bigger. Maybe it’s the wideness of it, maybe it’s the history of the place, but I love it!
Next up was heading west through Route 6, where I’d quickly stumble upon a pair of Team Yell grunts trying to keep people from disturbing a sleeping Silicobra, while probably causing more commotion than anyone passing through. Such dorks.
After that, and a brief chat with Cara Liss, I made my way into Stow-on-Side. I knew nothing of this place beforehand, other than that it had amazing music. I used FiveNineSquared’s PMD EoS soundfont cover of it for inspiration when I was writing Moonlight Town in my PMD fanfic Eternal Shadows.
It’s a gorgeous town, giving me a feeling similar to Twilight Town of Kingdom Hearts 2.
Its atmosphere isn’t the only thing special about Stow-on-Side, though. It also has version-exclusive gym leaders. For some reason.
I like having more characters to use for my writing, so I’m not too upset? But I still don’t really like the concept of version exclusive stuff.
Nonetheless, since I was playing Shield, I faced Allister as my fourth gym leader. The gym puzzle was really fun, and he was rather tough! But I managed to scrounge together a win.
Immediately afterwards is some fun story stuff with Bede, in which he destroys a cultural mural in search of wishing stars and immediately gets disowned by Rose. Great character moment for everyone involved!
Proceeding into the Glimwood Tangle as my next stop, I want to quickly talk about atmosphere, and how I feel Shield excels at it.
There’s very few “generic” places in Shield, from my experience. Everything is so vibrant, unique, and full of atmosphere. Route 4 has its wheat fields, Route 5 has its massive bridge, even the Galar Mines feel very different from each other.
The forest areas, though, are absolutely stunning. I’ve already talked about the Slumbering Weald, but Glimwood Tangle is just as mysterious and awe-inspiring, from the glowing mushrooms, to the figures in the shadows, to the beautiful music. It’s an amazing location.
I also caught my sixth and final team member here, a Galarian Ponyta I named Paliero.
The gorgeous environments doesn’t even end there. We immediately get a whole town with that kind of atmosphere in Ballonlea, and I adore it.
One thing I quick want to touch on is the guy who wishes he could be a Pokemon. As a Meganium otherkin/therian, I relate heavily, and am glad that they aren’t made fun of for it. You can even help them find an outfit that’ll help them feel closer to being a Pokemon, which is appreciated.
Opal was a fun gym leader! It was really cool that her gym test was worked into both the story, with Bede’s arc, and the actual battle with her, with her quizzing you mid-fight. That was really fun!
Speaking of Bede, we see him again soon after in Hammerlocke, and Opal immediately decides he’ll be her apprentice, progressing Bede’s character arc, which is great!
This is about when I decided I’d keep playing as much as I can until I finish the game. I had gotten fully hooked on it, and I couldn’t wait to see what else it had in store.
The next town I needed to stop at was Circhester, and so I proceeded through grassy fields, ancient ruins, and a bit of ice, until I arrived at the home of the second pair of version-exclusive gym leaders. Because that’s still a thing for some reason.
Since I had Shield, my opponent was Melony, and her gym challenge was…rather frustrating. I kept falling into the holes over and over. But her fight itself was pretty fun! Her Lapras in particular was really tricky.
After that, it was time to get a nice, hot meal at Bob’s Your Uncle! …or so I thought. No actual food was served. Unfortunate. I’d love if Bob could actually sell me ingredients, so I could further my recipe collection.
Next up was Route 9, the penultimate numbered Route of the game, where I get to bike through an icy sea, where…people are sunbathing in the freezing cold? Strange, but interesting, and a lot of fun to navigate!
Afterwards was Spikemuth, the home of Team Yell. Man, do I wish we got to see more of them. They’re so much fun, but we see so little of them. There’s so much more that could be done with them, they have so much potential!
At the very least, though, we get one final confrontation with them here, and it’s a fun one. Full of shenaniganery.
Next up was Piers, and he’s one of my favorite fights in the game. Unique and wonderful music, and a fun, yet not too brutal challenge! Very great!
Exiting from Spikemuth, and heading into the tunnel back to Hammerlocke, there’s a report that a wild Dynamax Pokemon had been rampaging! Fun foreshadowing, but I kinda wish we got to see it in person. Still, I’m happy it’s there.
And, at last, it was time to finally fight Raihan, the final gym leader, in a double battle!
His gym trainers alone were already tough, but Raihan himself is a whole other beast. With weather control on his side, he was by far the trickiest battle so far. But I pulled through, and won my final gym badge.
Now I could travel to Wyndon, but first, Route 10, the closest thing this game has to a Victory Road. I know a lot of people don’t talk about it, but it really does feel close in atmosphere to the other regions’ Victory Roads, at least to me. I liked it a lot!
And then, at last, I was in the “biggest city”, Wyndon. A sprawling, massive city, with tons of people around. I just wish there was more to do here, but it’s still really cool!
It was time for the semifinals, where I’d have my final battles against Marnie and Hop.
First up was Marnie. Kuufu could take care of most of her dark-types, but they were still tricky to deal with, especially once she pulled out her Toxicroak, the only non-dark-type on her team. Her Grimmsnarl was no slouch, either.
Then was Hop, my first rival in the game, back for one final match. He’s learned much on his journey, as have I, and brought his Wooloo back on the team, now a Dubwool. I actually lost on my first go at him, but my second attempt brought me success!
Tomorrow was the finals, but first, we had to storm the Rose Tower in search of Leon.
The fights in the tower were fun, but I wish they had unique music. Zame made a really cool concept for a Macro Cosmos Grunt battle theme, and I wish that was in-game.
But as I reached the top, it was time to fight Oleana, and her fight was a really fun one, with some very groovy music. I also love that her ace is a Garbodor, those Pokemon need more love.
After all that, and coming back down, I had a startling, terrible realization: Almost everything in Wyndon is Rose-themed.
The tower? Rose Tower.
The hotel? Rose of the Rondelands.
Even the stadium looks like a giant rose.
It was terrifying, realizing how much of a grip Chairman Rose had on this city.
But I couldn’t do anything about that for now. For now, I had to face several of Galar’s gym leaders one more time, for the League Finals.
Bede was up first, and he had grown a lot since we now saw him. Now the fairy-type gym leader in Opal’s place, he was a true force to be reckoned with. Melva was the only member of my team strong against fairy-types, but his Hatterne’s Max Flare quickly put an end to that plan, and I had to scramble to take it down using Kuufo’s Iron Head.
Second was Nessa, who was here to show that being low in the gym order doesn’t mean you’re weak. I had no electic-type or grass-type moves, and the bug-type moves were devastating against Swilno, but even still, we made it through.
Third up was Allister. He may have had a stronger team now, but I had an even stronger one. Swilno managed to sweep most of his Pokemon, and Davulo took care of the rest.
Lastly was Raihan. Dragon-types are always pretty tough, but I had a fairy-type on my team now, Paliero. Combined with Mintar’s status moves, it was a relatively easy victory.
Before I could take on Leon, though, Chairman Rose interrupted the finals, declaring he’d bring about the Darkest Day. Shockingly realistic depiction of a CEO.
It was time to travel all the way back to the Slumbering Weald, in hopes of finding Zamazenta and Zacian to save the day. With Hop by my side, we trekked deep into the wilderness, far deeper than in the beginning of the game.
I always adore it when the start of a game is also the end or near-end of a game, and Pokemon Shield pulls it off wonderfully.
With Zamazenta now at my side, it was time to break into the Hammerlocke Power Plant and stop Chairman Rose.
I promptly got my tail kicked by him. Twice in a row.
He’s a very tough opponent. Steel is a formidable type, and all of his Pokemon share it. Mintar and Paliero couldn’t do much.
But I still had my fighting-type: Kuufo. They managed to take down Rose’s Copperjah on my third attempt, and stop this CEO for good.
At last, it was time to fight one of my favorite legendary Pokemon of all time: Eternatus.
I have so much lore thought up for my PMD version of Eternatus, but canon mainline Eternatus is a whole other beast. The largest Pokemon ever, with a backstory full of mystery, and full of terrifying power.
Phase 1 was very tricky, not helped by my nerves at this point. So few of my Pokemon could do big damage to Eternatus, but Davulo was the MVP here. My starter coming in clutch against this titan.
Then was Phase 2, where Eternatus’ power skyrocketed to the heavens. There was little I could do, but just wait…
…until Phase 3, where the Legendary Wolves arrived.
With them on my side, the fight was now a foregone conclusion. It was still an awesome and cinematic moment, though, and I loved every second of it.
And with Eternatus finally defeated, the end was in sight.
There was just one thing left to do before the credits: Take on Leon for the title of Champion of Galar.
He truly lived up to the title. He was the hardest challenge I had in the entire game, and it took every last one of my Pokemon to eek out a victory. Davulo, Melva, Swilno, Mintar, Kuufo, and Paliero. Each and every one of them gave it their absolute all to ensure my victory, and I couldn’t be prouder of them, as I was crowned Champion.
And with that, I had completed Pokemon Shield.
I’ll be doing the Crown Tundra, the rest of the Isle of Armor, and the postgame eventually, but for now, I’ve won.
It was a wonderful experience, from start to finish.
There were many things I had criticisms of, sure. I wish the plot was a bit more cohesive. I wish we saw more of several characters. I wish version exclusives weren’t a thing.
But the positives far outshone the negatives. I loved the characters, I loved the region, I loved the Pokemon.
And at the end of the day, the Pokemon are what it’s all about.
