Stepping onto 's new Isle of Armor gives that quintessential Pokémon feeling of entering a wondrous new land. There's some dialogue to get through as you exit the train station and meet your rival, but then you get the run of the land. And immediately you're greeted by a beach full of the delightful new Galarian Slowpoke. There are also Kingler that chase after you while walking sideways. If you get a moment to take in the sea, you might even see a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:giant Wailord on the horizon. That's all in the first 10 minutes, and it only g𒈔ets better from there.
Later on, you're tasked with going through marshes, a forest, and a rocky mountain path. Along the wayꦐ, Pokémon will emerge from the grass, fly over you, or pop up from the ground꧂. From a mechanics perspective, it works exactly as it does in the base game. Pokémon up to level 60 dot the area, with the occasional wandering spawn giving you a rare evolved species. But it's the way they approach, and where they approach from, that makes all the difference.
The Pokémon on the Isle of Armor don't just magically appear out of thin air as if to remind you that yo🍬u're playing a video game. Some do, but many have small bits of context to help their existence feel more natural. Emolga, for instance, glides from tree to tree in the forest. Sharpedo doesn't just float about like other Water-types. It darts at you full speed like a true killer shark.
Even the normal spawns have a more organic feel simply due to the greater variety of the Isle of Armor Wild Area. Gro♔und-type Pokémon spawn in caves, the marshes have a lot of Quagsire. That sounds obvious, but it still feels refreshing when the base Wild Area lacks that variety. Sure, there are plenty of lakes, ruins, and a wasteland in the base Wild Area, but their la🌄yout comes across as obligatory themed areas in a video game. Isle of Armor blends its ecosystems more naturally, and this goes a long way to creating a better illusion of a Pokémon world.
This isn't all meant to trash the design of Sword & Shield. The Wild Area as a whole is a welcome addition to the series, and some leeway has to be given to this fi♛rst incarnation. It did give some fond memories. That high-level Onix right near the entrance is already a story many Trainers tell of their first excursion.
We should, however, be praising just how much better the design of the Isle of Armor is. We may never see the dream of an open-world Pokémon MMO with all reg🐟ions, but the continued evolution of the Wild Area is proving to be a more achievable alter🅘native.