temptation is too great so I'm taking a break from Ishgard to dip my toes into Galar today hahaha

so cool that they get the head of the ~football federation~ Pokemon league to do the Welcome to the Pokemon World introduction

LEOOOONNNNN

ahh the console vibrates when dynamaxing/gigantamaxing(??)

also the environment looks STYLIN

I saw people on Twitter who were like "I miss the Pokemon games of the old )'''':". Well I'm the "Technology is amazing!" NPC

they have a Munchlax T_T <3

mate my house is so big. You can only explore one floor but it's huge!

the game environment is fucking stunning and all people want are pixelized sprites and 400-something Pokemon they won't catch anyway

THE FIRST TOWN IS HUMONGOUS

LMAO "LEE IS HOPELESS WITH DIRECTIONS SO IMMA GO GET HIM"

ahhh so Hop lives in an apartment building? And it has a small barbecue pit and a tiny Pokemon battle field

Leon that is a lot of snapbacks

the brothers' rooms are so cute T__T especially Hop's

lmao poor Leon has to wear his sponsor-filled cape everywhere

ERM BEST WAY TO INTRO YOUR POTENTIAL STARTERS

lmao Hop stole some huge ass kebabs from the barbecue

oh my gosh Slumbering Woods... so so pretty

it's "just" a foggy forest but Pokemon's never had environment like this before

WAH MAMUSHII

HOLY SHIT? AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE LEGENDARY THIS EARLY

SUPER COOL

and the encounter bgm sounds vaguely like a wolf howling too

suuuupppeeerrrrr

hkfasf "how'd you manage to find us Lee? You're pants with directions. You always gets lost"

Leon: REAL NICE TO HEAR FROM THE LITTLE BROTHER WHO HAD ME WORRIED SICK

fsahk the dialogue I cannot

Hop I love the way you talk

you're like that guy from Diamond Pearl but a lot funnier

"East or west, home is best." Couldn't have put it better myself, in-game Mom T_T

all these awesome wild Pokeymanz and I have no Pokeballs yet?? BALLS

the Pokemon lab looks AMAZIIINGGGGG

the architecture is so amazing T__T

my god the Pokemon lab... it's just so GORGEOUS

each Pokemon game looks even more amazing than the next...I'm so moved

slams Pokemart counter WHERE ARE YOU POKEBALLS I WANT TO BUY THEM

you need to be endorsed to join the gym challenge..?? Tough

LEON I'LL BE YOUR BIGGEST FAN FROM HERE ON thanks for your bribe of 20 Pokeballs

PROFESSOR MAGNOLIA

I love that you can feel the professor's personality from both her house and her lab. The plants, the books, the generally calming atmosphere

aww you can see Sonia's room too

I really appreciate how characters' rooms have come beyond TV screen, the latest game consoles, and the occassional Pokedolls

???

Hop: WOAH WHAT'S THAT
-meteor flies through the sky and lands on the ground with nary an impact-
Hop: RUNS OVER AND PICKS UP WITH BARE HANDS
Hop: They're Wishing Stars!

HOP IS SO HILARIOUS my gods

and while my console charges, back into Ishgard for more gathering/grinding lmao

oh man, 24 years on and finally the game knows you need CAMPING GEAR

what to do on a train ride? BROWSE YOUR ROTOM PHONE OBVIOUSLY. Aaaahhh

"I'm sorry to tell you that the train is halted, due to a flock of Wooloo on the tracks" IMCRY

Hop: What's there to be sorry about? THIS IS BRILLIANT! WILD AREA TIME HOOOO

...and off he goes

yaaay I got Eevee because I played Let's Go Eevee

the wild area...HUUUUUUGE

...that's not a lift that's an unauthorised amusement park ride

THE GYM STADIUM IS HUUUUUGE

MARNIE YOU'RE SO CUTE

your fans are really funny too

the Gym stadiums kept the statues from previous gens in their vague dragon-ness glory hahaha

Rose sure looks the part haha I dig his design (save for the weird mustache/beard detach )

the Gym leaders look rockin!!!

Nessa and Bea <3 <3 <3

aww when you leave the Gym, there's a crowd cheering you on

I'm dead I named my Nickit Emet-Selch because of his face, put him up against a Pancham. He got hit with an attack that left him with 1 HP and he noped out of there and dragged my other Pokemon into the fight

peak ES energy

the upcoming cave is a mine. The entrance is ginormous??

even the mine looks stunning yo

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

this game is super generous with items

WOW the geoglyph

OH NO THE FIRST GYM CHALLENGE IS HERDING SHEEP

SO CUTE

THEY'RE MIXING THINGS UP THAT'S SO AWESOME

that was an intense gym battle LMAO. Nerve wracking AND SUCH INFECTIOUS ENERGY

AND THE MUSIC

wow

AND THE CROWD

amazing man

holy shit you can gain EXP from camping???

screams I can't stop laughing at the whole capturing of Dynamax Pokemon

the ball lands and makes a crater but still shakes three times

the flying taxi loading screen is darling hahaha

I miss the flying animations but this is really cute

THE NURSERY LOOKS SO CUTE

Rotom Bike

lmao a wild Eldegoss just floated in. Ran up to it and caught it

whacking Wobbuffets on Route 5 for exp...

loving the music and vibe of Hulbury!

Nessa...beauty

she's so coooool

lmao the two Pokemon statue in front of the lighthouse remind me of Sahagin

mates... the music is banging and THE GYM IS GORGEOUS

Nessa is so cool

"next up is the fire gym" I DON'T HAVE WATER POKEMON

there's a new elephant Pokeymanz T_T <3

team yell's BGM is kickass

MARNIE IS SO CUTE TOO. It's so funny that she has two Team Yell people cheering for her in the BG

HEY KABU IS SO COOL

omg?? The first 3 gym leaders gathering together to see you off to the next step of your journey T__T

I was thinking the past games have given us wonderful characters but SwSh have really upped the mettle

I laughed at the concept of Dynamax but it's so entertaining as an in-game mechanic. TENSION AGARU

YO HAMMERLOCKE LOOKS AWESOME

lmao Rose's casual shorts look like underpants

HAMMERLOCKE GYM IS A CASTLE

I just saw the tapestries and...aahhh. This game gives me the good chills

THAT APPLIN SIDE QUEST WAS SO CUTE WHAT

T__T Hop...

wah Bea's Gym Challenge is super fun

wow I have no love for Bede but to have the one person you look up to basically throw you out like that...

NO ONE ASKED YOU TO WRECK ANCIENT RUINS YEAH

Sonia is SO CUTE

the GIRLS IN THIS GAME ARE SO CUTE WHAT

BALLOONLEA IS SO PRETTY YO

reminds me of the stuff of the fair folk. Very nice

oh my god Opal stole Bede like a fairy stole a kid

omg route 8 is ancient ruins

SUPER COOL

omg saw my first bunch of Falinks. THEY'RE GREAT

Circhester is so pretty... the hotel rooms are gorgeous too

lmao Gordie's Gym... not even the Gym Trainers can see in the third section

"GYM CHALLENGER! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE

the Bob restaurant makes me think of Monster Curry.. I guess it's because the colours are really similar lol

SPIKEMUTH HAS SUCH AN AWESOME VIBE AND DESIGN

A PAIR OF TEAM YELL GUYS LEAPT FROM THE SECOND WINDOW AND LANDED IN JUNK

I'M CRYING

oh my god the stuff they say OTL I'm dead

Team Yell member: BACKFLIPS IN I practised so hard I'm better than a pop star. Were you surprised? Oi, be surprised! And while you're surprised, I'll sneakily win this battle--

ONE OF THEM IS HALF DRESSED

PIERS WHAT IS YOUR HAIR

I know your guys are supposed to be cheering but those sounds like jeers LMAO

Piers you total drama queen and entertainer, I LOVE YOU LOL

it doesn't matter if you can't dynamax you are the bomb

a Dynamax'd WILD Pokemon??

LAST GYM. This will be tricky because I have no Ice moves

man I love the League Cards stuff in this game, it makes me think of those football TCGs and mobage character cards and just...online trading card games in general

plus I can get them just by doing stuff I'm already doing!!

I also love that each gym gets its own set of trainers with their own designs

yay I got all my badges!! I do love that the badges come together to form a medallion of some sort

HOP YOU BEAT RAIHAN IN RECORD TIME

man I don't feel ready....

ahh that view of Wyndon, has anything felt more rewarding. AND IT'S SO BIG TOO. AN ACTUAL CITY

good lord this city goes on forever

dives back IN

am I ready to take on the champion cup? NO

Marnie is so cute in her gym challenger uniform...please don't kick my ass

ahhh Hop T__T <3

lmao after winning the semi-finals, we come down to see LEE IN HIS CHARIZARD POSE

Leon: Let's go grab dinner!
Hop: But you have crap taste in food.....let's go somewhere nice instead of getting bad takeaways?

HOP

and we go to a super fancy place after that lol

I love that Dynamax Cinderace is like FOOTBALL VICTORY YELLS AT HEAVENS AAAHH

dksjg "Lee never breaks his promises. He said he'd become a champion when we were kids and he went and did just that! He wouldn't skip out on dinner plans"

AHHH PIERS

PIERSSSSS

PIEEERRRSSSSS

Hop: PIERS TAKE US TO ROSE TOWER NOW
Piers: So demanding...but fine if we're gonna do it, I'm bringing my noisy pals along

Hop: Let's go collect Lee and get out of here! No champion means no champion cup finals!!

PIERS PUTTING UP AN IMPROMPTU STREET PERFORMANCE SO HIS FANS CAN STOMP THROUGH THE HUMAN BARRICADE AT THE STAIRS. AAAAH I'm crying

Piers: yeah just like the good ol' days at Spikemuth. Wait, you're still here?
Marnie: I'm gonna stick around here to make sure my bro doesn't do anything too crazy

I LOVE

Rose Tower is so tall...

Me: That's a huge lift.
NPC: It's built to withstand Pokemon battles!! /demonstrate with double battle

LMAO this is like that one fight from Coils of Bahamut

taking a lift, then lift stops and you have to fight monsters

"Unfortunately, our insurance doesn't pay out for losing in Pokemon battles..." GOLD

Oleana you broke. I feel you, I feel you...

oh! Illustrated cutscene between Leon and Chairman Rose

<s>bead</s> BEDE LMAO

LMAO "I was gonna use retiring as an excuse to get away from that old lady! Though with my talents, I suppose I'll overtake her in no time"

as I thought, Raihan is tough...but I managed to beat him! Yzy

Yay, even

AHHHHH

Rose: I interrupt your championship finals to inform you that I'm trying to bring about the Darkest Day and, oh, looks like things are getting out of control
Leon: I have to go stop him as Galar's champion!
Hop: But you're BS at directions!! What if you get lost??

slumbering weald is so pretty... all the environments in this game are

there's something rather heartbreaking about two hero Pokemon, visibly battered and worn down, sleeping/hiding in a place away from human eyes after saving their world

...THIS GAME IS SO BEAUTIFUL

and a quiet remix of Slumbering Weald T____T

I also really appreciate that the plot hits its climax NEAR THE END OF CHAMPIONSHIPS. In all the other games, you resolve the big conflict before you face the E4 so this was a very cool change, and so nicely handled too

...holy cow I'm getting goosebumps from all this

the carnage at the power plant just to drive home what kind of Pokemon Eternatus is...

ROSE IS SO GREAT AAAHHH

THAT LITTLE CHUCKLE IN THE END T___T

SwordShield your human character game...powerful...powerful........

ETERNATUS....your design is so out of this world. YOU ARE BEAUTY

now don't kick my ass TOO hard

TT____TT THIS IS THE BEST CHAMPIONSHIP EVER

LEON TAKES YOUR HAND AND RAISES IT HIGH. TRUE SPORTSMAN

lol at the Pokemon rock band at the end with Obstagoon, Toxtricity and Rillaboom

THIS GAME IS SO GOOOOOOD

LMAO THE LIST OF IN-GAME SPONSORS

AND ROLLING WOOLOOS

aaaAAAAHhhhh

my team of winners! I have a Thievul named Emet-Selch (because of his face lol) but had to swap him out for a Dragon-type

Swordward and Shieldbert.............

you guys make Piers' hair look tame by comparison

but congrats, Professor Sonia!!

LMAO HER SUPER FAST FINGER SKILLS

mate, RAID BATTLE WITH PIERS

AND HOP

Tsareena is so cute T__T

LMAO PIERS

Sonia: Dynamax Pokemon are running wild in Hulbury and Motostoke! Things are a real mess
Piers: I'm worried about Marnie!!
Sonia: I didn't see anything strange in Spikemuth though, so things should be okay?
Piers: ah cool

Sonia: Those sword and shield weirdos stick out like a sore thumb, so Imma look up on social media

post-game is trust dungeon, I see now

I love love LOVE that Piers is coming around with us to beat giant Pokemon into the ground

post-game quest feels pretty solid so far!

but of course, PIERS IS HERE hahaha

"What an obnoxious Gym Leader. The next Gym Challenge is shapin up to really be somethin." PIERS

now that I think about it, the historical Hammerlea City helmed by such a trendy Gym Leader is such a cool idea hahaha

AHH Zamazenta picked Hop TT___TT

HOOPPPP

lmao Sordward and Shielbert and Piers and Leon. The strangest group of people to greet you

ahh!! Beaten the post-game quest too

WAAAH I don't ever want to leave Galar

will there be a third game to this region too, I wonder..

the game does an unexpectedly nice thing for you in which you don't have to face 5 consecutive battles with the E4/Champion. I didn't know the game recovered your pokemon for you and so I was stocking up Max Potions and Revives and Full Restores lmao

I remember growing a TON of Leppa berries in Moon/Ultra Moon because free ethers LMAO