Sword & Shield Info

• SPOILERS AHEAD •

Okay, so these past few days, people have been chosen to go ahead and play the first 90 minutes of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. And after looking through a lot of different articles, I've come up with a pretty short list of what to expect in the beginning of the game.

- Wedgehurst is the name of your hometown, as well as Professor Magnolia's lab

- Unlike previous games, where the Professor introduces you to Pokémon, SwSh has Chairman Rose on a tv broadcast explaining that the Galar League is coming up soon

- Again, this also differs from previous games in that Champion Leon gives you and Hop your Starter Pokémon

- Hop picks the Pokémon weak to yours, but in the first battle he has a Wooloo as well, so he's already at an advantage

- Leon takes the last Starter for himself

- You then have to go to Professor Magnolia's lab, but a Wooloo breaks out of a cage and rolls into the "eerie" Slumbering Weald. You have to go into the forest to find and bring it back

- New Pokémon can be found and caught here (could not say or describe what they were)

- While in the Slumbering Weald, you encounter a huge, majestic Pokémon (probably a Legendary if I were to guess)

- You finally bring Wooloo back to its home, only to find that Magnolia isn't in her lab. Sonia tells you that she is in the northern town

- You eventually meet Magnolia, before getting a Letter of Endorsement from Chairman Rose

- The Letter basically enables you to participate in the Galar League

- There are special hotels called "Budew Inns" that are specifically for people participating in the League

- Motostoke is the first big city, and is also home to the first Gym

- On your way to Motostoke, a "Wishing Star" falls from the sky. This object enables you to Dynamax your Pokémon

- You can play online and interact with real players or play solo, your choice

- Raid Battles can be done online with strong teammates, or offline with AI teammates

- There is now a clear objective marker showing you exactly where to go and what you need to do

- Your mom is called "mum"

- Buildings are very United Kingdomesque (supposedly there's a building that strongly resembles an English pub)

- Rival Battle theme for Hop is 10/10

- Raid Battles are tiered from 1-5, with 1 being the easiest and 5 being the hardest (much like PoGO)

- If you go too far into the Wild Area, you will encounter extremely strong Pokémon 30-40 levels higher than your own

- There is very little to no handholding in this game; you either know how to play Pokémon, or you're going to have to learn pretty quickly

- You encounter the "evil" Team Yell in the first hotel you go to. That is also when you meet Marnie

- You are able to switch your Team out while in the Wild Area by pressing the 'SELECT' button

- All Pokémon Centers now have places for you to change nicknames as well as other cool things

- Early on in the game, you're watching Leon battle against another person, whom the Champion does not seem too happy about (Raihan??)

And that's all I was able to get from everyone that played. I'm sorry for not being able to tell you more, or explain what kind of Pokémon they saw, but they couldn't say anything about it themselves. However, they all agree that this is going to be the best Pokémon game to ever come out, and that even non-Pokémon fans should play this, because it is amazing.

Well, I'm still conflicted on whether to get Sword or Shield...

I mean, there's Sword Doggo in one, but Allister and Ponyta in the other... I can't decide. (And now that I'm writing about Bea, I'm finding that she's actually not that bad either)

Anyway bye!