I'm almost 6 hours in and I have to say I do not understand the hate this game gets. From a third person perspective it makes sense for the more hardcore to complain about their favourite pokemon not being in the game, but I don't think it's a big enough issue to warrant all the hate.

The game looks, plays, and FEELS the best of any pokemon game to date, making it exactly what I'd hoped for when I imagined a console Pokemon game. Sure, the animations aren't terribly great and the models/graphics aren't impressive, but Pokemon has literally never been about graphical fidelity so it's strange to all-of-a-sudden expect that of the series. Could it be better? Sure it could, but that isn't and has never been the focus.

I so far love the open world elements (Even if I don't necessarily think it's as open worldy as I'd like). I love the fact that there really aren't random battles anymore. I like the fact that you can access your box at any time. I love all the ways the game feels better and plays better than in the past. More and more I think it's clear that the complains are less about how GOOD it is and more about how disappointed people are that it's not better.

Cons:
- Over half the dex cut
- Unimpressive visuals

Pros:
+ basically everything else.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the game, it's taking a lot longer than normal to get between gyms as the wild area is so vast and overall well implemented - Im interested to see how this develops in future games. I also think the new maxing mechanic is implemented well (much better than megas and z moves), it adds a bit more tactical thinking to some wild encouters and gym battles.

Also, as somone who lives in the UK I'm surprised how well they've represented the country, from the towns, to the fields and even little quirks like post boxes and street signs.

The only little niggles for me is the removal of exp all/share options but its workable if you dont want to use it and there are some unusual graphical anomalies (but nothing that upsets the experience for me).

Oh and the music is quite unique for a pokemon game, some I don't particularly enjoy but others (such as Hops theme) are amongst the best in the series.

Finished Sword today, it has some flaws and story points that could have been further developed (almost like is a Pokemon game haha), but overall it was one of the most memorable games for me, had a good number of moments that will go down as absolute favorites for me in the franchise.

Has the best gyms and leaders in the series too. Soundtrack is my new favorite, fucking loved that they brought back the last pokemon element from Black/White and expanded amazingly on the idea.

I loved pretty much every new Pokemon, some adorable, some weird design and nice type match-ups, is nice to have the common bird being an actual pure flying type at the start.

Overall ranking would be: 5 > 7 > 8 >> 3 > 1 >> 2 >>> 4 >>> 6

Pokemon SW/SH sales at 20.35m now. On pace to overcome Gold/Silver.

On one hand, it's nice to see the series see much higher sales than what we have been accustomed to post Pokemania, but I just wish it wasn't from such a disappointing game (although the DLC did improve things slightly).

In any case, I do see SWSH surpassing GS soon. Likely before the end of the year. Can't see it surpassing RGB, but I guess we will see.