Pokémon Sword/Shield, expectations and concerns

It's this time of the year again, and a new Pokémon game is around the corner. As a long time fan, playing Red back when I was 8, I have various expectations and concerns about the new releases.



I've seen the series slow slip down in quality over the years, where they didn't even get the 3rd gen remakes right after nailing the 2nd gen remakes! Something has happened to Gamefreak, or the directors of the games, because the quality is far from what it used to be.
Yeah, I know, nostalgia can blind you, but if you've experienced all the games like I have (even replaying the old ones to compare), you can clearly see things are not as good as they used to be.

The things I've seen and heard about the games make me even more concerned, as these things haven't really been good. When I start the games however, I'll stand as neutral to it as possible, I'm going to praise the good things, but also be critical to the bad things. I was really excited for this game, but you could say my hype has vanished. So at least I'm going into this without being blinded by the hype, like a lot of others do.

With all that being said, let's break down my expectations:

- Stable framerate. It doesn't need to be 60fps, 30 is fine! I only ask for it to be stable, and not stuttery or dropping at random.

- Game runs generally well. That means as few glitches as possible, and the game is playable without fear of gamebreaking bugs. It should also be pleasing on the eyes. This is to be expected from a first party game.

- Good story. I don't need something big and out of the park, but at least it should be interesting. Sun/Moon was very blant and generic in the beginning, and I ended up never finishing the game! Trying to finish the Ultra versions now, but it just feels so dragged out with the trials!


So, as you can see, my expectations aren't very high. It's very basic, and how a game should be by it's release. Unfortunately I'm concerned that one or more of these will not be fulfilled. But I'll have to wait and see for myself before I'll judge the games.

My list of concerns is a bit longer and more on the critical side, but some of these things are important for me personally to enjoy the games. Most of these concerns are also based on what I've heard, and may not be something to worry about, they might just be rumors and nothing more.
So here's my concerns:

- Future paid DLCs. This is something that's NEVER been in a main series Pokémon game, and I'd be hugely disappointed if that's going to start being a thing now. I heard data miners has found possible traces of this being a possibility with this game, but I'm hoping and praying this is false!

- Choppy/laggy Framerate. I've seen the gameplay footage on reveals etc, and I'm honestly concerned about what I've seen. It looks choppy/laggy, and since this is a first-party game for the Switch, I'm not forgiving for any other reason that it's been rushed (which is not a good enough reason either, as I'd rather they delayed the game than stressing it out).

- Lack of interesting Pokémons now that National Dex has been confirmed to not be part of the game. I've seen some of the pokémon that comes with the game, and they seem ok. I just hope I haven't seen the best ones already...

- Mystery gifts being locked behind a paywall? This one sounds very messed up in my opinion, and not very likely. But this is apparently another thing data miners found! I've barely seen any internet mystery gifts for the past few years for any of my games (I believe I have yet to see one for my Let's Go Pikachu), so putting it behind a paid fee is just not acceptable!

- High pricetag for less content. So this game is more expensive than the past games, probably because it's for the Switch. This is as far as I see it okey. BUT if there's less content as well, I'll be feeling very cheated to be honest.

- They're doing another "Ultra" version next year. This one. This will piss me off so bad. This is why I strongly disliked Sun and Moon. The first set of games SHOULD have been the Ultra versions. They could have used more time to make the game great when they first made it, instead of releasing the same exact game over again, but with more content.

Yeaaah, there's a lot of negative rumors going around, and I'm hoping they aren't true.
They are reasons for concern though, because if any of these are true, it means Pokémon games in the future will probably have these same things implemented again, lowering the standard yet even more, because loyal fans and hypeblinded people makes them rich.

I bought these games because I'm a fan. But honestly, if these games are yet another dud for me, it's going to be the last Pokémon game I ever buy. They did good with the Let's Go games, I really enjoyed them, and are probably the best remake they could make for the old games. So I might still consider remakes, after I read reviews, but no more main series games!

I hope this blog post wasn't too negative, I'm just concerned, and I wanted to really point it out, I want a good game for the price I paid. Anyone would get behind that, right?

Anyways, I hope this game is what I expect, and not what I'm concerned it'll be, and I hope people enjoy it~! ♥
Until next time~!

~ Kori

The year of 2019...

... has been one hell of a ride! And not a lot of good stuff has happened...

Hey~! Long time no write, again! I'm sorry I don't write much here, but I tend to keep updating my "fans" (or whatever I should call the people paying attention to me) on Twitter, Facebook and Discord rather than blogging these days. But I feel like it's better to write a longer and more detailed post when I first write here, kinda like a journal of sorts.

So what's happened so far this year? We're already in November, but it feels like spring was just yesterday.
I started the year in a very depressed state, as my personal economy was in ruins because I lost my support last year. It was hard for me, and I was unable to pay rent most of this year because of that. I'm still 4 months behind, but I've made a deal with my current landlord about this, and hopefully I'll get it resolved eventually.

In February my mother in law got diagnosed with ovarian cancer. We already had a hard time dealing with our financial state, so these were naturally not very great news. I was busy going to a course, and trying to get a job in all this, so it was a very stressful time. I remember the evening she was rushed to the hospital, and later called us to give us these grave news. She could barely speak. She was just crying, she was not ready for this. She was very afraid of dying. We tried our best to keep her spirit up. She could still manage through it, and I think she believed what we told her. She wasn't going to give up that easily, even though it was hard news to hear. There was a tumor type of lump growing onto her urethra, which gave her a lot of trouble, but they told her they could remove it if they got the cancer itself under control. So we kept telling her it would be ok.

March arrives, and I finally get a practice/intern job, at the storage at the local brewery! Things were starting to look a bit brighter. Mother in law had been staying in the hospital to get rid of sickness that made her unfit for chemo therapy, so we visited her in suits and masks during this time. She was really happy, yet appalled about my practice/intern job. She was joking about me running over others with my forklift! :) She was still doing good, and we were still very hopeful she'd get her chemo asap.

April comes, I'm still working, and mother in law finally got her first therapy, and got to come home! It was my birthday (the 15th) when she came home. I still feel bad about wanting all focus on me that day, I should have been joyful to see her on her feet, home again. She was so happy she didn't loose her hair, and we were all happy things looked so bright so far. We really thought it was going to be ok!

And then there was May...
Things started to look down pretty fast. She got sick while she was at home, as the nurses weren't careful enough with hygiene when they came to help her... Eventually she was sent back to the hospital, then to a type of nursing home, because the hospital didn't have the space to keep her there. She was always nauseous, and started to eat less. She puked things back up, and it was just terrible to see her in this condition. One day we got called down for a serious talk.
Her condition was worsening, and if she didn't eat anything soon, she would pass away from starvation. It was rough news after seeing her look so much better for a while, then spiraling down very fast. I started bringing her home made food, and it actually stayed down for the most part. But it was probably too late already.

By the middle of the month she was less responsive, and coming by her room to talk to her only ended up in tears in the hallway. We dreaded the visits, because we knew what was coming. The last week before she passed she didn't even respond, it was terrible. She was drugged to the limits of how much they could give her, and it felt horrible to keep her alive like that. It might sound morbid like this, but I'd rather be helped to die rather than lying there just waiting for it to happen if I had no way of recovering. She couldn't even move, and was just lying there. We visited her every day the last week, telling her good things, and remembering fun things that happened in the past. Her best friend even played her favorite music for her.
The 31st of May she passed away, there were a lot of tears shed that day. We had a very closed funeral a bit of a week later. Only close family, and of course her best friend, who stayed with her most of this time in and out of hospitals as well.

May was rough on both of us, but I was too busy keeping my practice/intern job to grieve for too long. I really wanted a steady job back then, and wanted to show how strong and resilient I was, just to have a chance. In June I was given the opportunity to get a forklift licence, and I eagerly went ahead and nailed the tests! I came back to the job with my paper in hand, and the boss was really pleased. He told me that what I just did was going to help me further down the line, job wise.
Later that month I was offered a summer job as a substitute throughout July and midway through August. I was really happy, and really looked forward to earning some money, and being able to pay off what I owed in rent!

Then July came, and my summer job began! I was really excited, and I even started riding my bike instead of the bus, just to get to work in time. My boss told me it was ok if I came in a bit late because of the bus, but I decided riding a bike also gave me some exercise. So I rode my bike to and from work, hit the shower when I came home most days, and relaxed. Only problem was that I was too exhausted to do anything after a day of work. The money was really needed, so I just pushed through, even though I was so tired that when it was around 5 pm, my eyes almost shut because I was so tired! But like I said, I just pushed through for that money I really needed.

Just 1 week into the month, we had to get Gizmo (my boyfriends childhood pet cat) to the vet. He's been on medications for his metabolism for the past 1-2 years, but he suddenly started to get thin again. They ran some tests on him, and we were really worried. She came back with the tests, and it turned out his kidneys were failing. We had the option to either put him down while we were still there, or we could take him home for one last night with him, before coming down again the next day. We chose the latter one, and took him home that night. I'll never regret that.
That evening he got ALL the treats we had on hand, and wet feed, and so much cuddling he was probably annoyed at us that night. He deserved all of it after the 16 years he's been around, even more. The next day we brought him back to the vet, and were with him through the whole thing, cuddling and relaxing him. He was very calm through it all, though he puked a bit from the sleep narcotics. Rin decided he wanted him cremated. It was originally his mom's cat, and wanted to put him in the grave with her, since they were so close.

Not more than a week later the next tragedy hit; Impa suddenly passed away. I was cuddling her like I usually did, and she was curled up around my neck, sleeping. Suddenly she started to move weird, like she was choking. She'd been doing it sometimes the past month, and we thought it was nothing, 'cause she tended to choke on food every now and then. But this time it was worse, way worse. She started to really spasm, a lot worse than before, and I started panicking and screaming her name. She started to calm down, but she also stopped breathing. I was crying by this point, trying to rub her upper body to make her breath again. I was desperate, and didn't know what to do. I listen to her heart, and it still beat for a while. After a minute of desperate prayers and rubbing, her heart finally stopped. I was really shaken up, and needed the day after off. I think that was the only day I took off during my summer job.

My summer job got extended by 2 weeks when my end date was close in August, and I was really happy! At least my hard work paid off, I thought! Nothing much happened during that month, except trying to work out stuff with Rin's inheritance, but I was sad to leave at the end of it.
One of my co-workers kept telling the others he missed me apparently. Felt good to know I'd left a positive impression on someone at least, I thought. :)

After this it took NAV almost 2 months to get me back into another activity, and another month (almost 2) to get my new support rolling. How is my current economic state? Not any better than when I started this year to be honest! That summer job did nothing to help me, because the NAV system failed to help me properly.

In the beginning of November I went to my doctor about the fact that I'm tired all the time, and asked for help. His solution was to get me checked for ME (Chronic fatigue syndrome), to see if that could be a possible cause for this fatigue of mine. So last week we sent a letter to the hospital, and I'll just have to wait for a response. I'm hoping to get to go through this check, but not sure what result I('m hoping for. On one side, if I got ME I'll have an easier time getting help and support, but on the other side; living with ME is not an ideal life to live either. But then again, if I really have it, would it be any different for me though? Nope, I'm already there!

So what's going on currently? Well, there is a lot of stressing about paperwork, and eventually moving into the apartment mother in law left behind. Unfortunately she left behind quite the debt, so Rin had to get a loan to keep it all. Luckily it seems like he's getting said loan, it's just a matter of time before it's all settled and we can move. That way I'll be able to pay less rent (seeing as I'll pay my boyfriend a bit each month instead), and we'll have more storage and living space.

Christmas this year might be a bit rough tho, but we've invited 2 friends to celebrate with us, and both said yes. So I personally is looking a bit forward to it, while kind of dreading it at the same time. it's definitely going to be different than we used to, as we used to celebrate with mother in law. But a good thing is that we usually went to her mom's place to celebrate, and not at her place.

So yeah... That was 2019 for me this year. Like I said in the beginning, not a lot of good things happened. I felt like finally writing about it, get things off my chest. I'll admit that I shed a few tears writing this, it wasn't easy. But yeah, I wanted to write about it to maybe heal a bit as well. I didn't grieve when I should have, so my process is lagging behind a bit.
I'm hoping 2020 has a lot more good to offer than this, and I hope you guys also take care of yourselves and your loved ones. You never really know when tragedy strikes, so better love while you can! ♥

~ Kori