In the last few months, the Pokemon community bitterly fought against each other over the National Dex issue and other quality issues plaguing Pokemon Sword and Shield.

As there was a lot of misinformation thrown by both sides, Reddit user Sneaky_Pebbles reviewed the soundbites and claims made by Pokemon fans about the controversy in a neutral fashion.

Here are a few notable claims he reviewed:

1.5 – It’s okay if [specific Pokémon] is removed

• Inapplicable / subjective

• Some Pokémon may be less likely to be included, but underlying reasons by Game Freak can’t be determined. Note that every Pokémon is someone’s favorite, or second favorite, or third. While it’s okay to not care about inclusion of specific Pokémon, there is an assymetry of stance that invalidates such views as justification for the removal. If all Pokémon are available, many won’t care and many are satisfied. If Pokémon are unavailable, many won’t care and many are discontent.

1.14 – At some point it would be necessary to remove Pokémon

• Variable

• This claim depends on the premise that all existing Pokémon have to be recreated from scratch or altered significantly on a regular basis, i.e. per-generation. This may be necessary with major changes to shading styles, as is currently the case regarding textures and other mappings. A temporary split in the pool of existing Pokémon occurs for this reason, as it takes a significant amount of time to apply the necessary changes to each Pokémon. If this task is not completed during the development period, it serves as reasonable justification for the temporary removal of Pokémon from the total roster. This is, however, in stark contrast with the official statement regarding the issue. The policy change applies to all games in the future, negating the temporary aspect. This leads to the conclusion that the choice is not of technical nature.

• Furthermore, the premise is invalid. Significant changes do not need to occur each generation. Given a base quality on each model, the assets can be re-used many generations. This principle is confirmed for the 3D vectors, unknown for image mappings. If mapping images have vector-based raw formats, they can be used indefinitively. Even in a future with 5000 Pokémon, this principle applies. The sheer amount does increase the development time in case all assets do need to be updated, but does not negate the temporary nature of such event. The total time required depends on the nature of the alterations as well as available workforce and desired development time. One may argue that at some point the required period spans multiple generations and is no longer worth the effort for each Pokémon. Alternatively, the choice exists to not update the Pokémon at all if their base quality is deemed sufficient. In any case, the decision is based on business factors rather than technical factors.

1.17 – The same thing happened with Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald

• Incorrect

• While initially not all Pokémon were obtainable in said games leading to complaints from the community, the Pokémon were programmed in from the start. The release of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, as well as Colosseum, made it possible to obtain all existing Pokémon within this generation.

3.2 – The Switch can’t handle 1000 Pokémon

• Incorrect

• This claim is referring to the processing power of the device. It is dismissed due to the fact that not all Pokémon are loaded at once. This principle applies among videogames in general.

4.1 – Models in Sword and Shield look like 3DS models

• Variable

• This argument depends on which aspects of the models are considered. Model vectors show no evidence of alterations indicative of being recreated. However, shaders, texture maps and various other maps have been updated, providing a noticable difference in perception of lighting, clarity and depth. Increased resolution native to the Switch compared to the 3DS further improves the perceived quality.

7.3 – Wanting the National Pokédex / all Pokémon is entitlement

• Incorrect

• Customers are justified to express discontent with a product in an open market. Entitlement does not apply since the discontent is based primarily on a decision to reduce a critical standard in the games, instead of demanding substantial creative input in the series. Additionally, the games are not free and consumers have the right not to purchase.

7.4 – Children aren’t as critical, so you shouldn’t be

• Inapplicable

• One may argue that children, as part of Pokémon’s demographics, are not as critical as adults when it comes to qualitative aspects of the games. Some may state that children will enjoy the games anyway. Whether or not this claim is correct, it applies to each of the Pokémon games and as such rules out children as differentiating factor for the overal experience of said games. The variance in experience is thus more dependent on the experience of adults. Additionally, there is no logical connection between one group’s level of critical interpretation and the right of other groups to be critical.

8.8 – Game Freak is prioritizing Town

• Correct

• The company officially stated to prioritize Town over Pokémon. Staff is divided in 2 teams. The size and communication between these teams is unclear.

For the full set of claims, read it on Reddit here.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.