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Monday, July 8, 2019

Drednaw Likely Won't Evolve, But Will Be GIGANTAMAX!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - (Let's hope the first four words of this headline won't be fake news.)

Consider this possibility: The Pokémon Company wasn't going to do constant news drops of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield to avoid what happened to the Generation 7 main games. But then, all of the GAME FREAK bashing with the no-National Dex news made them adjust all of their plans, and now they're going to regularly putting out trailers with news like this until the mid-November launch:
 

The video title might say the game is being changed all they want with Gigantamaxing, but I don't think that's going to change the negative perception. Just look at the notable strength of that dislike bar. (Compare to the widely-positive reception of the sure-to-be-a-disgrace Pokémon Masters.)

Wait, Gigantamaxing? I know we discussed Dynamaxing a month ago, but what's Gigantamaxing? Well, while every Pokémon found in Galar (which is to say, every Pokémon coded in the game) can become huge with Dynamax and get access to stat buffs and special Z-like moves, only certain Pokémon species (likely Galar-introduced final-evolution-stage Pokémon... and maybe Charizard) can Gigantamax. In fact, you gotta be a special snowflake within that species to Gigantamax. Gigantamax Pokémon have access to a special species-unique “G-Max Move”, which is basically a species-exclusive Z-Move. (Which is already a concept that existed with moves like Mimikyu's Let's Snuggle Forever.) They also change forms, instead of just becoming resized. (Which is already a concept that existed with Mega Evolution.)

Pokémon Sword Shield Drednaw Gigantamax Dynamax form
It's Gigantamax Drednaw!

Gigantamax Drednaw's special G-Max attack is G-Max Stonesurge, which is basically a powerful attack that appears to also set up Stealth Rock. Guess that's not going away. By the way, Pokémon Sun/Moon was able to give a new signature move and/or signature ability to nearly every new evolutionary family without any gimmick required to access them.

There are also new Pokémon shown in the trailer. An electric mutt named Yamper (yuck), a piece of coal named Rolycoly that should pair great with the Torkoal of West Virginia, a Steel/Dragon named Duraludon, and a creamy Alcremie that should've existed years ago so I wouldn't have had to reference Bundt from Super Mario RPG in the Cake vs. Ice Cream Splatfest. (I still would've voted for Team Ice Cream.)

There are some new humans as well. There is the chairman of the Galar Pokémon League, a creepy dude named Rose who is “the president of a large business conglomerate.” He's also joined by his bored-looking secretary, Oleana. Samantha Lienhard thinks that they're going to be the game's villains, and she has a pretty decent track record on calling this. (Just not a good track record on predicting the writing quality associated with the villains.) Besides, large business conglomerates usually aren't portrayed favourably.

There are also version-specific gym leaders. There's the Fighting-type karate master Bea exclusive to Pokémon Sword, and the creepy Ghost-type dude Allister who got lost from Luigi's Mansion 3. He's exclusive to Pokémon Shield. Guess I better get somewhat used to him.

Luigi's Mansion Shy guy Ghosts Allister ghost type gym leader Galar Pokémon Shield
Well, if Allister can beat Luigi, I guess I'll try to be his friend.

Ludwig doesn't see the point of the franchise officially moving past concepts like Z-Moves and Mega Evolution only to bring them back under a different name. At least the Gigantamaxing are of Pokémon within that same generation instead of Mega Evolutions which were only of previous generations... but then why not just make them regular evolutions? If you see any sense in this, please let Ludwig know in the comments section. Also, since he glossed over quite a bit in this article, comment if there's something revealed you want more opinions on. He thinks there is a high percentage chance that he misspelled Gigantamax at least once in this article.


The next news batch is in August, with more Pokémon and people. 
Alcremie comes in a variety of flavours.
Want to see more Gigantamax Pokémon? Have some Kanto bias!

6 comments :

  1. I am going back and forth if I want to skip the games because it is anyway harder for my to play JRPGs and nothing seems to appeal to me so far and then getting it anyway despite the flaws because as a JRPG it is not a timesink compared to other games of its genre and can be a fun casual run because suddenly I remember I do like some of the newer Pokémon. Hope people in my Religious Jewish Women Facebook group do plan to get it anyway so I can have a peer group with similar interests play with me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Guess we'll need more news releases to make up your mind.

      Hoping the next one is in August rather than next week.

      Delete
  2. Hooray for being cited!

    I'd argue that the writing quality for Lusamine specifically was actually pretty good, just that the pacing and consequences weakened the rest of the story and made it feel like a drag to get through.

    I bet they went from Z-Moves and Mega Evolution to Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing so they can introduce exciting "new" features without trying to juggle all of these feature at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For that last point, you mean in a "Well, we can't have a new feature AND add new Z-moves AND add new Mega Evolutions, so let's just cut those last two out. ...And the new feature happens to be kind of identical." way?

      Delete
    2. Yeah. With the bonus of being able to say "Look at this cool new feature in the new games!"

      Delete
    3. Better with emphasis...

      “Look at this cool new feature in the new games!”

      Delete

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