It's been a hot-while since anything significant has moved on the Pokemon front, hasn't it? And for better or for worse I'm still invested in these games, I have my ludicrous-hour Sword and Shield save with whole sections of the PC dedicated to competitive build Pokemon, (Who are about to get a lot more competitive if those rumoured 'Hidden Ability Capsules' are real) so it's safe to say that I'm ready to eat up anything that Gamefreak can throw at me. Although to be utmost and honest with you, I am wondering about the longevity of a title like this going into the backend of the year. Sure, in the Summer we can joke around and make time for Pokemon, all else that's going on in the gaming world is a pandemic and Animal Crossing, there's little competition for the dedicated Pokemon scene. But we're coming into the season of Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Cyberpunk and Next-gen consoles; unless The Pokemon company are prepared to pull that secret third DLC that everyone and their mother appears to be certain is happening, I don't know how much further Sword and Shield's legs can carry it.
And to spoil anyone who's excitement for such was raised upon hearing about the new Pokemon direct, let me ruin it for you; they didn't announce a third DLC. In fact, as far as Pokemon Directs for the year go, this was perhaps the most lackluster. (The first revealed both DLCs and what they were capable of, the second announced a Pokemon MOBA and a couple or remakes; yeah, this was barren.) All we really got was exactly what we came to see, the announcement that The Crown Tundra would be launching in a wee- month!? A month? Far be it from me to tell a multimillion dollar company how their scheduling should run, but doesn't that cut it a bit close to the death month of November? You know, the month that only the absolute heavy lifters of the year contend in, I mean I know Sword and Shield was a huge sales success, but does TPC really think they're in the same weight class as those titans? (At this rate, this revitalisation to the Pokemon Competitive scene is going to last about 8 days at best)
So, 23rd of October; no more release date speculation. But why don't I roll back a little and look exactly at what this DLC pack has to offer, now that there's been an exhaustive reveal to confirm all that we could speculate on. Firstly, this DLC pack has Absol. Yes, I know a lot of fan favourites are coming back such as Dragonite and literally 100 other Pokemon, but I used to main Absol back in the day; so that's what I care about. Indeed, this vaguely Scotland-inspired frozen northern expanse called 'The Crown Tundra' is home to a collection of Pokemon that most would consider decently adverse to cold environments. (Like a fire-breathing dragon) What's more, we have the Max-raid-adventures, which I'm sure are going to be a pain to go through with a bunch of randos who don't know how to match type advantages. (It just takes a Google search, people, what's the drama?) And then there's the new Star tournament coming to Wyndon. All of these topics are actually rather interesting so I'll go into them bit by bit.
First we have the Adventures; these are essentially Pokemon's version of Raid Dungeons from your typical MMO. They are a collection of high level max-raid bouts with various Pokemon all leading up to the final duel against a legendary Pokemon from a past game in the franchise. Now this alone is a little contentious given the fact that this very mechanic was available in previous Pokemon games for free, albeit not in such a built-up and multiplayer-accessible way. You have to judge for yourself whether you consider the systems around it enough to justify having this feature of encountering past legendaries torn from the main title and stuck behind a paywall. (I'm guessing a lot of people are going to vote 'no' on that one.) Personally I like the idea of having to really work together with folk to get our legendaries, and I really like the fact that the trailer ended on a shot confirming the appearance of my favourite (and objectively the best) legendary; Rayquaza.
Then there is the less exciting addition of the Star tournament, and I say that because of a distinct lack of any evidence pointing towards this being a worthwhile or substantial mode. Basically, after the Crown Tundra is finished, everyone's favourite Champion Leon (I hear he's never lost a match) opens up something completely unheard of in the Pokemon world! Doubles matches... he just sets up doubles matches with the main characters from the game. In their defence, I'll admit it's quite cool to team up with faces from all over the story from a thematic perspective, but how is this going to play out in terms of gameplay? Even in this Direct they just pitched this mode as a way to see different sides of the characters from the game, but unless there's some sort of limit on the Pokemon that you can bring into this mode (Such as the usual level 50 cap which, notably, isn't there for normal Wyndon tournaments) this is going to last people a couple of hours until they get bored of it. The reason why I lay in so hard to the need for level caps is because I'm still grinding away at completing the limited-type challenge from 'The Isle of Armor', and that acts as incentive to return to the game; making a mode difficult creates it's own agency if implemented right.
Aside from that there is the location of the Crown Tundra itself to explore, and I'll admit that I am curious to see exactly what it is that makes this place so weird looking. Tucked away to the north, the Crown Tundra seems to have a curious duality to it's appearance that switches between luscious green and arctic white. You wouldn't usually expect these types of colourful tree tops and deep morning hazes in an ice-tundra, so I'm curious about the geographical anomalies which births such a place. Of course, I'm not expecting a huge land to explore, maybe just something of the size of the Isle of Armor and with a couple of mysteries to poke at- that'd be fun enough for little 'ol me.
On a more miscellaneous note, The Pokemon Company also announced that they're finally getting around to adding Pokemon Home integration to their years old, though still decently popular, mobile app; Pokemon Go. As of yet we are still unclear about basics, like if this integration will work both ways, (as in, can I take Pokemon out the mobile game and transfer them into it, because I'm guessing not) and even more basic things like when this integration will even happen. ('Before the end of the year' is frightfully vague) They've also gone so far as to dangle the promise of a Dynamax Melmetal in Sword and Shield to folk who take advantage of this, basically handing out the last Pokemon hidden in the code which kept people excited for a third DLC. (Things aren't looking good for the DLC theorists out there.)
Of course I'm going to play the heck out of this DLC when it comes out, it marks the bookend of my Pokemon adventure through my digital Homeland. (Also I've technically already paid for it, so it behoves me to play it) But even with that admittance I'd be lying if I said I still felt the same excitement for it that I did 6 months ago. Maybe they just left it a little too long, or maybe I've just found one too many other games to grab my attention in the meantime. (Persona 4 Golden has swallowed me life lately; I love it) Either way, like many I'm already looking past this game and wondering what the next Pokemon will end up shaping up as, so here's hoping that whatever the denizens of the Crown Tundra have to show us is worth the wait. I just hope it ends Sword and Shield's Pokemon tenure with a little bit of justice.
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