(Third time I'm writing this) Alright so basically this is just gonna be a series of observations I've had after experiencing SS (Sword & Shield), I'm gonna try to keep these concise so if you want elaboration please ask so in the comments I'm going to keep things to dot points because paragraphs end up getting way too long. Also spoilers if you didn't read the title, I'm gonna be spoiling various things including post-game so leave if you don't want to be spoiled.
- Series Issues
- The battle system is outdated, the series has been stagnant for years in this regard, given how Battles are described in the games and shown in the anime as being high energy affairs that can wreck a house, they need to iterate on them by adding more action/tactical strategy elements into the mix.
- Exploration is also outdated in the series, it needs to become more free-form and allow the player to be able to explore to a greater degree, the corridor nature of previous games particularly the 2D ones could be acceptable due to the way the games are portrayed but particular with Gen VI onwards you have these 3D worlds but it's still treated as though they're no different from the 2D ones in which case I have to wonder why bother changing from sprites to models.
- Pokemon is still chasing gimmicks and trends instead of being the trendsetter, this has been an issue ever since Crystal and has become an increasing detriment to the games, they need to stop trying to copy their competition and do their own thing, the gimmicks also fall under this and need to cease.
- The franchise refuses to iterate on itself, many elements of gameplay and story structure are either constantly changing and being thrown out as soon as they're used once or remain completely static and seemingly never change.
- Sword & Shield Issues
- The game's linearity is a detriment and makes it feel confined and restrictive in spite of how it is expressed as being an open and exploration drive game.
- The Routes and Dungeons for the most part are pathetic and the best of them only rise to mediocrity, the fact the best dungeon in the game (Glimwood Tangle) is on the same tier of complexity as Viridian Forest is embarrasing.
- There is a complete lack of proper side areas, you visit every location in Galar throughout the game and the Wild Area doesn't really suffice in providing interesting or engaging optional elements.
- The Wild Area is a Hyrule Field situation, it lacks the topography and variety that other open worlds have, it is definitely an indicator of the series being behind the times.
- Battle Tower is once again an underwhelming post-game and fails to live up to previous generations (III, IV and V) in terms of variety of content.
- The Plot is a complete mess and is one of the worst in the series:
- Bede's Character Arc is just dropped halfway through and doesn't show a progression from antagonist to supporting character instead just telling the player instead of showing the progression of character.
- Marnie and Team Yell are barely present and feel like their role in the game is kind of pointless, Marnie's goal to become Champion is admirable but really has nothing to do with anything else in the game.
- Hop's character development in the later part of the game is rather stilted and doesn't really convey the idea that he's having a rough time coming to grips with his role as a Pokemon Trainer.
- Chairman Rose is a complete non-entity who feels like he's only the villain because they couldn't think of a proper way to write the antagonist, Eternatus is also a terrible villain, Pokemon make for awful villains, they're forces of nature and lack the proper build up to work as that sort of antagonist, this is why Pre-Gen VII the Legendary was never portrayed as being evil but rather subordinate or rebellious towards the real antagonist.
- Type: Null's reason for being in these games is really flimsy and ruins a lot of the mystique that the Pokemon had in previous games, there could've been multi-generational development for Gladion with the Pokemon's presence in these games but instead he's completely absent and the games basically just state that Type: Null will probably be turning up as a normal Wild Pokemon in future.
- Sordward & Shielbert should've been the villains of the main plot, their dynamic with Sonia and the Legendary Wolves as well as how they can relate to the plots of other characters like Bede, Leon, Hop and Marnie would make for a more cohesive plot and I genuinely believe that they were meant to be the main villains but then dropped for some reason.
- The Gym Leaders are a step back from Gen VII's Trial Captains, several Gym Leaders have basically no presence outside of their gyms and while the League Cards to alleviate some of that it's another case of show don't tell, given the role of Gym Leaders in this region though it's really disappointing they weren't more properly utilized.
- Exp. Share forced on is a terrible decision and makes the games actively more restrictive than previous ones, this is only a small issue in comparison to others to be fair although I've seen people state that they thing it's good that it's mandatory now.
- Dex Cut was a massive blow to the post-game since it discourages exploring previous locations and contributes to the lack of things to do after the credits roll, part of the appeal of the previous games was that the ultimate goal was to catch all the Pokemon, sure not every Pokemon was in the region but there was always more that became available for capture after completing the game, it leaves the game with a hollow feeling ending as a result.
The overlooming issue with Pokemon Sword & Shield comes from how restrictive and claustrophobic it comes off, the game needed to be distinctly longer not only in the plot to allow for characters to be established, developed and have completed arcs but also in the gameplay and world with more effort put into the Wild Area and Routes to make the latter not feel so barren and featureless and the latter to be more open and explorable. A lot of SS is designed to distract, to look away from the glaring issues this game and the series in general has, however this is the third time I've felt uncertainty from the series and it makes it impossible to ignorethe faults any further.
Anyways that was a long ramble and I'm probably forgetting a thing or two to mention, like I said before if you want me to elaborate on any of these points please ask so I tried to keep them short as possible and while others are certainly more important than others I find that they're all issues the games suffer from.