Pokémon Sword and Shield have attracted their fair share of controversy over the last several months. The primary point of contention, of course, has to do with the series’ beloved National Dex or, more specifically, lack thereof. Whereas previous games allowed Trainers to transfer the entirety of their existing Pokémon collections between titles without limit, this year’s Switch exclusives have been confirmed to curb the habit, not out of preference, but as a necessity.
According to recent comments put forward by Game Freak, the developer explained how with so many Pokémon to account for, porting over every single creature to each new game – not including any new ‘Mons – has grown increasingly difficult as the total number has ballooned over the years. This, it says, has prevented the studio from introducing new gameplay ideas due to limited storage space. The introduction of Dynamax battles, raids, and the Wild are evidence of the renewed freedom Game Freak has to experiment, but now, another massive change to the status quo is causing outrage.
Sword and Shield will be the first entries in the long-running franchise to have a permanent ‘Exp. Share’ effect. In essence, the feature automatically doles out experience points to each Pokémon on a team at the end of any battle, regardless of whether they participated in the fight directly or not. In Sun and Moon and its predecessors, however, players were able to toggle its use on or off. That appears to no longer be the case.
Why is that controversial, you ask? For many, it’s inconsequential.
Why do people want to turn exp share off at all in Pokemon? Nothing is worse than an RPG where your party members don't level up unless you're using them
— Θ (@Agneas_Arrow) October 1, 2019
Pokemon fans being mad about EXP share is just further confirmation that they don't play any other games.
Most JRPGs have something like EXP share now. Look at DQ.
— gameonion (@gameonion1) October 1, 2019
For others, the decision is incredibly controversial, as it makes training the hidden stat values (IVs and EVs) of any individual Pokémon incredibly difficult.
So Pokemon Sword & Shield will have forced Exp. share? God can they do anything right? So even the most core gameplay is ruined. No more EV training without dropping all your team to bank. nuzlocke is also axed because of this.
— Hannah (@CutieHannyah) October 1, 2019
Why? What was the reason for this? Did people just forget to switch the EXP share on so now nobody gets to turn it off? Do they have any idea how difficult this will make IV and EV training? pic.twitter.com/hrAoYPTGH2
— 『Smuggy』 (@Smug_Legend) October 1, 2019
Is this the deal-breaker for Pokémon Sword and Shield as some commentators believe it to be? Not at all, but assuming early reports of its mandatory use are accurate, the change demonstrates a certain lack of awareness on Game Freak’s part about how many players, especially in the competitive scene, chose to play each new Generation of games. As we said, nothing has currently been explicitly confirmed, but the outlook isn’t good for the naysayers.
