Pokemon SwordandShieldhave been out for well over a year now and the latest entry in the long running series is still going strong on Nintendo Switch.SwordandShieldreached an impressive milestonein regards to sales in August 2020, and both games are continuing to sell well on the Switch in Japan and the US.
Additionally, despite the games being in player’s hands for more than a year, many players are still discovering new things aboutPokemon SwordandShield. Now, Seribii.net founder Joe Merrick is reminding players that the way shiny Pokemon encounters work inSwordandShieldis completely different to how the mechanic worked in past entries.
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There are a lot of new elements thatPokemon SwordandShieldintroduced that may end up changing core elements of the series going forward. Perhaps one of the biggest changes involvesPokemon SwordandShield’s Wild Area location. The Wild Area is an open-world location that is filled with wild Pokemon that spawn around the overworld. A few days ago, Merrick sent out a tweet reminding players that in Generation 8, all random stats for a Pokemon’s gender, IVs, and even Shiny chances are determined when a Pokemon spawns in the overworld, not when a Pokemon is encountered.
In past games, all of these stats were rolled when a player encountered a random Pokemon in tall grass, as Pokemon didn’t freely or frequently spawn in the overworld like they do inSwordandShield. This means that there are many opportunities for players to completely pass upshiny Pokemon inSwordandShield’s overworldwithout even knowing that they are doing so. Naturally, this revelation has rubbed a lot ofPokemonplayers the wrong way, as it completely twists the tried and true shiny hunting methods of past games. This new way of handling shiny Pokemon encounters is made even more frustrating due to the fact that Pokemon in the overworld never appear shiny, despite being so in the game’s code.
Even if a Pokemon is rolled as a shiny Pokemon when it spawns into the overworld, players have no visual indication of it whatsoever. This new realization will also no doubt make thosearduous shiny Pokemon hunting sessionsjust that much more agonizing forSwordandShieldplayers. On one hand, it makes sense that Game Freak would want to keep that incredible feeling of rarity that comes with a shiny Pokemon encounter intact. On the other hand, not giving any sort of visual indication for an already determined shiny Pokemon feels more than a little unfair from the player’s perspective.
It’s a strange situation all around, as it really wouldn’t have made much of a difference if Game Freak had just left the previous system in place. Now, players will just have to come to terms with the fact that they may be missing potential shiny encounters constantly. Still, it will be interesting to see if any morenew shiny hunting methodsspawn from this revelation. Hopefully, all of thoseSwordandShieldshiny hunters don’t lose faith in their hunts going forward.
Pokemon SwordandShieldare available now for the Nintendo Switch.
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