Pokémon Sword and Shield

[Lightstorm12000]

I have Sword, but between work and other games that I'm playing, I've only really just beaten the third gym.  At the moment, I'm spamming Max Raid Battles to train up my Flapple, Toxel and Hatenna to match the levels of my Carkol, Drizzile and Corvisquire, since I only just added them to my team.

[Raikielia]

I have Shield and I am mostly enjoying it so far. I really hate that not all pokemon are in it, because completing the pokedex is part of the fun for me and I want to be able to catch them all. Plus, there's no Dratini or Absol and that really annoys me because they're some of my favorites and I really want them on my team. And today I realized, after spending days leveling up my Applin(and that it doesn't even evolve by leveling), that the one I want, Flapple, is exclusive to sword... I really detest version exclusives. >_>

[purpledragonclaw]

I bought the 2-pack for both games and started with Shield. I'm enjoying it so far, started with Sobble. I'm not too upset about the Pokemon cut because I like to raise the new Pokemon in the new game. Some of my favorites, like Lugia and Ho-oh, didn't make it in, but since I'm not competitive I'm alright with it. 

 

6 hours ago, Raikielia said:

I really detest version exclusives. >_>

 

Don't get me started, it's the reason I still buy both versions of the game.

[Raikielia]

15 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said:

Don't get me started, it's the reason I still buy both versions of the game.

 

I refuse to pay twice as much for just a few pokemon.

 

My brother usually gets one, so if he gets Sword I'll see if he'd trade with me. He has responsibilities now, though, so I don't know if/when that'll be. Until then, I'm going to just try the surprise trade and hope I get things I need.

 

Edit: Holy , how are you supposed to find Ponyta? Everything I've read said you have to move slow and crouch, but I only get encounters when I run.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Raikielia

[hedy]

I got Shield as a birthday present last week and I’ve really enjoyed it! I’ve beaten six gyms now, and the Dynamaxing has been surprisingly nice addition to those, I really like the visuals. One major bummer for me is the starters  I don’t like any of their final evolutions! Why do they all have to be bipedal???

There’s some new mons I love, but I wish there was more of them. Most of the Galar forms of the older pokemons are clever and look nice!

 

@Raikielia Wow, I didn’t know they were hard to find? I got mine from a ”!” encounter, so could it be that you first trigger the ”!” by running but then crouch walk to encounter it?

[Raikielia]

4 hours ago, hedy said:

I got Shield as a birthday present last week and I’ve really enjoyed it! I’ve beaten six gyms now, and the Dynamaxing has been surprisingly nice addition to those, I really like the visuals. One major bummer for me is the starters  I don’t like any of their final evolutions! Why do they all have to be bipedal???

There’s some new mons I love, but I wish there was more of them. Most of the Galar forms of the older pokemons are clever and look nice!

 

@Raikielia Wow, I didn’t know they were hard to find? I got mine from a ”!” encounter, so could it be that you first trigger the ”!” by running but then crouch walk to encounter it?

 

I was going to choose Sobble until its final form was revealed.  I ended up going with Grookey because I like its final evo best, but it's still not my favorite. Just the other day I dumped him in my box and he's been replaced by Applin(to hopefully be swapped out for Flapple, if I can ever trade for one). Boltund is one of my new favorite pokemon, though, along with Applin. Oh, and the elephant, Cufant/Copperajah! ❤️

 

I want the Ponyta so bad, but I haven't seen one. I spent a bunch of time in Glimwood Tangle looking for an antique Sinistea and never once ran into one. Then, everything I read said you have to crouch to not scare them off, but I get no encounters when I crouch, I'll try running then crouching and hopefully that works.

[Chococat0815]

I got Shield and I love it! I spend so much time exploring that I've only beaten the fourth gym today, after almost 20 hours of play  

Finally found that ponyta though, it's so cute!

 

I don't care that they didn't put all of the pokemon in the game, even though they're missing my favourites as well. I enjoy getting the new pokemon and trying them out. I haven't settled for a team yet. But ponyta/rapidash and the copper elephant are definitely going to be in it.

 

I didn't realise you encounter different pokemon when you slowly creep up to them, I have to try that out tomorrow.

[Raikielia]

Finally! Running then crouching worked. Found two Ponyta with two or three other pokemon between.

[Dirtytabs]

Have y'all tried running into wiggling grass? I *think* that's how I caught my horsies, but probably should check first.

[smokeytripod]

Is it definitely Shield that has Galar Ponyta? (seen and heard some people say Sword has it instead :/)

It's just my misses recently bought a Switch lite but no Pokemon as she doesn't care for it but she will let me borrow it now and then to play Pokemon only if I get and use Galar Rapidash lol

[Lightstorm12000]

Well, I finally have all the Sword version exclusives and a pair of lvl 1 Sobble to trade for the other two starters.  I even have some of them holding an extra Tart Apple I found on Axew's Eye and two each of the two fossils exclusive to Sword.  The only problem is that the GTS isn't in the game, so I need to find someone with Shield and/or the other two starters that would be willing to trade with me. 

Edited December 8, 2019 by Lightstorm12000

[Yennefer]

I got sword and OMG I get distracted by the raids and just wandering around the wild area. 30 hours in and I've only beaten the 3rd gym xD 

 

I'm having a blast. I'll rely on the surprise trade to get the rest of the starters and the exclusives. So far I've managed to get a ponyta and several scorbunny... But the one i chose was Scorbunny T_T

[Lightstorm12000]

Hmm...  I haven't tried Surprise Trading yet.  I'll have to do that to try and get the other two starters.

[purpledragonclaw]

Just beat Shield last night. It only took me 30 hours, but that disappointment aside I really enjoyed it. Leon actually managed to knock out two of my party before I beat him, it's been years since a champion gave me that much trouble. 

 

Spoiler

While I did miss seeing myself and my Pokemon immortalized in the hall of fame, fighting Leon to the hall of fame music hit me really hard in the feels. It took me through my whole Pokemon journey, all the way back to Red/Blue/Yellow. I also enjoyed seeing myself and my team on the title screen as champions.

 

I'm doing the post-game stuff now, then I'll take a break before I head to Sword.

 

On 12/1/2019 at 8:55 AM, Raikielia said:

I was going to choose Sobble until its final form was revealed.

 

I didn't look up the starters' final evolutions this time around so I could be surprised, and Sobble's is my favorite final form by far. I love the animation when performing Snipe Shot. I'll still be sticking to using Grookey for Sword.

[Raikielia]

On 12/7/2019 at 1:02 PM, smokeytripod said:

Is it definitely Shield that has Galar Ponyta? (seen and heard some people say Sword has it instead :/)

It's just my misses recently bought a Switch lite but no Pokemon as she doesn't care for it but she will let me borrow it now and then to play Pokemon only if I get and use Galar Rapidash lol

 

Yes, Shield has Galar Ponyta. Sword has the new Farfetch'd.

 

On 12/8/2019 at 11:13 AM, Lightstorm12000 said:

Well, I finally have all the Sword version exclusives and a pair of lvl 1 Sobble to trade for the other two starters.  I even have some of them holding an extra Tart Apple I found on Axew's Eye and two each of the two fossils exclusive to Sword.  The only problem is that the GTS isn't in the game, so I need to find someone with Shield and/or the other two starters that would be willing to trade with me. 

 

If you're still looking for someone to trade with, I'd kill for a Flapple.

 

I've been doing the surprise trading hoping to get it, but haven't yet. It has been helpful for getting other pokemon I don't have yet. I've managed to get a few Sobble, but I haven't gotten a Scorbunny yet.

[Lightstorm12000]

On 12/31/2019 at 10:18 PM, Raikielia said:

If you're still looking for someone to trade with, I'd kill for a Flapple.

 

I've been doing the surprise trading hoping to get it, but haven't yet. It has been helpful for getting other pokemon I don't have yet. I've managed to get a few Sobble, but I haven't gotten a Scorbunny yet.

Well, I can see if I can find another Tart Apple on Axew's Eye.  They don't respawn all the time, but they can.  I can also easily breed the Scorbunny that I got through the Christmas wave of Surprise trades.  As for me, I still need a Sableye and one member of the Solosis line.

 

Next day edit:  Nope.  No Tart Apple yet.  😕  I'll have to keep trying and looking on Axew's Eye every day.

Edited January 2, 2020 by Lightstorm12000

[Raikielia]

On 1/1/2020 at 8:07 AM, Lightstorm12000 said:

Well, I can see if I can find another Tart Apple on Axew's Eye.  They don't respawn all the time, but they can.  I can also easily breed the Scorbunny that I got through the Christmas wave of Surprise trades.  As for me, I still need a Sableye and one member of the Solosis line.

 

Next day edit:  Nope.  No Tart Apple yet.  😕  I'll have to keep trying and looking on Axew's Eye every day.

 

I'm working on finishing the game so I can find a Sableye, probably Solosis, too.

 

In other news, I got a shiny Magicarp from a raid! It's probably the easiest shiny to get, but it's my first so I'm excited. cx

[Lightstorm12000]

15 hours ago, Raikielia said:

 

I'm working on finishing the game so I can find a Sableye, probably Solosis, too.

 

In other news, I got a shiny Magicarp from a raid! It's probably the easiest shiny to get, but it's my first so I'm excited. cx

Well, still no luck on the Tart Apple, but I did manage to get a Solosis through Surprise Trade, so all I need now is a Sableye.  I'll keep trying on the Apple.  Hopefully it'll respawn soon.

[Raikielia]

1 hour ago, Lightstorm12000 said:

Well, still no luck on the Tart Apple, but I did manage to get a Solosis through Surprise Trade, so all I need now is a Sableye.  I'll keep trying on the Apple.  Hopefully it'll respawn soon.

 

No rush, I appreciate you trying. =3

[Lightstorm12000]

On 1/4/2020 at 12:09 PM, Raikielia said:

 

No rush, I appreciate you trying. =3

I found another Tart Apple!   So, I can trade with you as soon as you're ready.  I also realized that I'm going to need to do a back-and-forth trade with Zacian and Zamazenta too.

[smokeytripod]

Welp I caved and bought myself my own Switch lite (since where I work had a double colleague discount) and I decided to get a copy of both Sword and Shield....I'll give my misses the Shield as she now says she'll play with me but I'll play Sword for Sirfetch'd  and I think Flapple (the apple dragon thing) is exclusive there too :3

[Fortune86]

Is anyone else a tad annoyed with the weather system? I'm missing several pokes that can only be caught during fog. 

[Lightstorm12000]

2 hours ago, Fortune86 said:

Is anyone else a tad annoyed with the weather system? I'm missing several pokes that can only be caught during fog. 

Have you beaten Leon yet?  Fog won't start appearing until you've beaten him first.  But yeah.  The weather is more than a little annoying.  It's the reason a lot of people used the exploit that they've since patched out (at least I think they have) to complete the Pokédex within a few days.

[Fortune86]

18 minutes ago, Lightstorm12000 said:

Have you beaten Leon yet?  Fog won't start appearing until you've beaten him first.  But yeah.  The weather is more than a little annoying.  It's the reason a lot of people used the exploit that they've since patched out (at least I think they have) to complete the Pokédex within a few days.

 

Waaah? I've been putting off the championship because I heard all Wild Area pokes became level 60 afterwards. 

[Lightstorm12000]

23 hours ago, Fortune86 said:

 

Waaah? I've been putting off the championship because I heard all Wild Area pokes became level 60 afterwards. 

That shouldn't be hard to fix.  Just spam Max Raids and use the candies to get your team to 60.  That's what I did.  Wait... No, it was 70.  The battle with Hop at the end of the post game story is brutal if you're not 70.  Gotta love those NPC battles where they have Legendaries. 

Edited January 14, 2020 by Lightstorm12000