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Wyndon Calling: Why I Love Galar & Pokemon Sword/Shield
Numerous times across this website I have professed, in 250 characters or less mostly, my love of Galar and the Sword & Shield Pokemon games. But not once have I dived deep into the matter and given some sort of longform answer. Until now. Until this thread. I cannot wait to gush about everything, so let's get into it, shall we?
Galar Itself
Let's start with the region itself, Galar. Galar is based on Great Britian, with mostly England and some Wales taking the stage. As for the DLC, those sections are based on the Isle Of Man and Scotland.With that being stated, here comes my first love of the region; the gyms. As a huge football (soccer) fan, I love the idea of the gyms being these huge stadiums where people from all over town come to watch their local gym leader take on some scruffy challenger. There's a real sense of community here, especially when characters outside the gyms mention the leaders, much in the same way an Aston Villa fan would mention their club in Birmingham. And I really love how, after you take down the leader, there are people in the lobby talking about your match. Gaining a badge isn't just some thing that happens and then nobody except the badge check person cares, in these games it feels like an event and at the very least, the whole town knows it happened.
Speaking of the towns, let's talk about those next, shall we? Sure, you've got your big metropolises like Motostoke, Hammerlocke and Wyndon, but you also have your nicely done out of the way areas like the quiet Postwick & Wedgehurst, the hidden Ballonlea, the covered Spikemuth, and my favorite town in the whole region; Hulbury. Any Pokemon town that has a lighthouse is already great in my book (I'm looking at you, Olivine City), but throwing in a pier, a market, and some levels to the housing just puts it over the top.
I'd also like to swing back around to Spikemuth and how you might think it contradicts my first paragraph of this essay, in regards to the gyms being stadiums and the battles there being big events. But it doesn't, and here's why; the battlefield is still a stadium and the battle is still a big event. In a game where the gym battles are like football matches, a stadium where it's literally standing room only is very much in line with the lower tiers of football in England, and as for the battle itself, well, pretty much the whole town (in the form of Team Yell) is there watching the action take place.
The Characters
No game is a game without a cast of characters, and this cast is pure perfection. I've talked a lot about the gyms so far in this post, so first I'm going to talk about some of the gym leaders. The first three gym leaders getting together to send you off before you tackle the upper parts of Galar is such a nice touch. It reminds me in a way of how all the gym leaders got together at the end of Black & White to help you take down the Team Plasma Sages. Piers is another highlight, since he's a reluctant gym leader and ready to hand the gym off to Marnie so he can focus on his music, and Bede, yes Bede, delivering a verbal smackdown on Hop "all this talk of the champion, have you nothing of your own to show?" is so good!I'd like to talk about Hop now as well, along with Sonia, because there's some great character arcs here. Hop is clearly infatuated with the idea of becoming the champion of the region, so much so that it's all he talks about and obsesses over, and whenever he takes a loss to you or Bede, he sometimes changes up his team or looks downcast. By the end of the postgame, he realizes that he's not going to beat you, so he starts studying under Sonia to become a Pokemon professor.
And speaking of Sonia, like I said, I love her character arc here too. She's very interested in the history of the region, and by the end of the game, she has written a book on what she has learned, and become a full fledged Pokemon professor.
The Little Things
And finally, it's time for the little things that make these games so enjoyable to me. This section will be less in paragraphal form and more just a stream of thoughts and ideas, so let's begin!There is an incredible amount of clothing options in these games, and even more so if you have the DLC. I'll fully admit that I always play as Gloria, since the starting backback for Victor is a hiedous massive trunk. And since I collect football kits in real life, the idea of getting the gym uniforms (which are essentially football kits) every time you beat a leader, having a bunch more for sale for the types that aren't major gyms, and getting one for being the champion is right up my alley. And hey, as an aside, everyone calling you champ when you pass by them or talk to the nurse at the Pokemon Center just really adds to the cool factor of these games. The events actually happened, and are talked about openly by everyone!
Speaking of incredible choice, I'm gonna say it; these games have (at least until Scarlet & Violet came out) the most amount of selection of Pokemon for you to use during the story, even with all the Pokemon they removed. That's the kind of stuff that keeps new runs through the games fresh and exciting. I have played through the region 8 times, and not once have I repeated a Pokemon outside of the starters. Not once! And thanks to the DLC, the choice of Pokemon available to you grows even greater. Twice now I've popped over to the Isle Of Armor halfway through my jolly jaunts and picked up a 'mon or two to use the rest of the way.
As for the DLC, I enjoyed the pseudo base-building aspect in the Isle Of Armor. Using your Watts to improve the dojo is fantastic. And then we swing on down South to the Crown Tundra and go hunting for tons and tons of legendary Pokemon. That's such a cool way to introduce a bunch of legendaries to the games instead of "fly through these portals and hope for the best".
Anyway, thanks for reading me endlessly gush about these games and this region. I do hope that this wasn't too disjointed or rambly. I feel safe in saying they are some of my favorites in the series, and I've been playing since Yellow!
