Restructuring Pokémon Swish
Jun. 8th, 2021 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetI'm sure I've mentioned here before that I feel like Sword and Shield put the final boss and the post-game boss in the wrong order. I think I might have a more comprehensive fixed storyline for that now:
Though the game's been out for more than a year now, I don't know how spoiler-averse I really need to be...
Anyway. Team Yell is effectively gone. Marnie is still one of your rivals, but she snuck out of town and is trying to keep a low profile. Trainers from her hometown/her brother's gym are looking for her, and occasionally ask if you've seen her/that sort of thing, but mostly she manages to keep out of their sight and stay ahead of them. (I know we just did a "runaway kid" storyline in Sun and Moon, but repeating that would still be better than Team Yell. Plus, it could be more from a perspective of "I want to do this on my own, not with help from you/I want to make my own name as a trainer, not be constantly compared to you" than Lillie and Gladion's thing.)
The "evil team" you're up against is one that's trying to reinstate the monarchy and put Swordward or Shieldbert on the throne. (Hopefully with better designs for both of them, good grief...) The main plotline for them becomes "monarchy vs democracy", and there should be stuff about how heroes aren't infallible, and even if a hero comes really close, that's no reason to base a system of government around them.
Meanwhile, in the background there's still all that stuff with Chairman Rose being super concerned about renewable energy and dynamaxing and stuff, but we don't get the payoff until the post-game.
Working in the legendaries might still need some tweaking, but probably not too much.
Anyway, opinions on Pokémon storytelling, I haz them.
Though the game's been out for more than a year now, I don't know how spoiler-averse I really need to be...
Anyway. Team Yell is effectively gone. Marnie is still one of your rivals, but she snuck out of town and is trying to keep a low profile. Trainers from her hometown/her brother's gym are looking for her, and occasionally ask if you've seen her/that sort of thing, but mostly she manages to keep out of their sight and stay ahead of them. (I know we just did a "runaway kid" storyline in Sun and Moon, but repeating that would still be better than Team Yell. Plus, it could be more from a perspective of "I want to do this on my own, not with help from you/I want to make my own name as a trainer, not be constantly compared to you" than Lillie and Gladion's thing.)
The "evil team" you're up against is one that's trying to reinstate the monarchy and put Swordward or Shieldbert on the throne. (Hopefully with better designs for both of them, good grief...) The main plotline for them becomes "monarchy vs democracy", and there should be stuff about how heroes aren't infallible, and even if a hero comes really close, that's no reason to base a system of government around them.
Meanwhile, in the background there's still all that stuff with Chairman Rose being super concerned about renewable energy and dynamaxing and stuff, but we don't get the payoff until the post-game.
Working in the legendaries might still need some tweaking, but probably not too much.
Anyway, opinions on Pokémon storytelling, I haz them.
no subject
Date: 2021-06-09 02:20 pm (UTC)So. Let's call our villain team 'Team Crown' for sake of argument. Team Sceptre could also work as a counterpart to sword-and-shield, but I'll use Crown as it's snappier.
Team Crown is backing Sordward-or-Shielbert's claim to rulership, depending on game; whoever isn't being backed is a second-in-command regardless, like with the post-game plot. Their deal - much to the general eye-rolling annoyance of Leon and the assorted Gym Leaders - is screwing with the Gym Challenge, because the Champion and Challengers are afforded the kind of publicity and respect that the monarchy 'deserves'.
This lets them fill some of the existing Team Yell annoyance - blocking paths, picking fights, et cetera. Because of their attitude, I'd lean towards their teams leaning more 'regal' than the usual dark-and-bug villain shenanigans - Gallade and Gardevoir showing up in later encounters.
The 'minor annoyance' kicks up a notch when that mural gets wrecked. Sonia takes an interest, and there's increased hints that the heroes who saved everyone from the Day of Darkness were Pokemon, not human kings. At that point the Player has a target over their head - they dislike you, personally, for being part of these 'lies' becoming public.
This has to reach a breaking point - but in a way, I like the Day of Darkness from the main game too much to leave that out. Post-game for Eternatus might still be appropriate, turning that into something akin to Delta Episode - and it gives Sordward/Shielbert one last huzzah as one of them tries to stop you from awakening Zacian and Zamazenta, how dare you try to steal the royal glory.
Which raises the question, what stupidity do they get up to? One idea is to involve Calyrex, the Crown Tundra Legendary, but that might be awkward to work in. The other thought is to keep the Wishing Star theft subplot - Team Crown has been stealing them from Gym Challengers along the way, or buying them off of people who have given up on the challenge.
Either way, have Team Crown act during the big final tournament, interrupting the final match before it can begin, to proclaim their glory. Out-of-control Dynamaxing, Chairman Rose aghast (and determined to pull his plan the instant this is resolved), and you need to team up with your rivals to take down giant monsters and the royal heirs themselves.
And then, after all that - now that Leon's no longer Champion, surely he has the time to hear out Rose's little request...
no subject
Date: 2021-06-09 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-10 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-10 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-10 01:09 pm (UTC)And as much as it felt a little frustrating, it was kind of nice to have acknowledgement of 'look, we're not putting the world's problems on a kid's shoulders, the adults should take care of this'. Main Character and Hop going legend-chasing comes across as feeling like they should do something - it just happens to be that their idea was better than Leon's.
(Actually, one minor tweak I'd have made is to have Eternatus show up at less-than-full HP - implying that while you might need Zacian and Zamazenta helping to take it on properly, Leon's efforts had some impact.)
There's parts of the story that work well, but it's...scattered. It's the player's agency, honestly, that stands out - you never really stop anything Team Yell is doing, they just kind of serve as a Gym Challenge in Spikemuth then get chewed out. Effectively, the only main-story actions you take are the gym challenge, the tournament, then oops time to save the world all of a sudden. It's pacing as much as content.
(Maybe part of the answer is to move the Macro Cosmos bit earlier in the game. Same setup - you want to have dinner with Leon, he's late, Impatient Hop suggests chasing him, challenge Rose Tower, get the implications of plot - but Rose agrees to put things off for now and the whole episode gets semi-forgotten.)
Ah, for a Sword/Shield Rewrite...