Do not get pokemon sword and shield...

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Any idea if pokebank is included in that now?

Pokebank is a separate service. I do not have a Nintendo Online subscription and still maintain Pokebank. However, Nintendo Online may include pokebank, I simply don't know.

Mega Evolutions were okay. They added gameplay niches like mega slowbro, mega scizor, mega gengar, etc.

The only problem I ever had with them were that you could use all 3 of the legendary mega evolutions in the online battle mode that only allowed 3 pokemon...letting you stat-check pretty much anyone. I didn't use them, but so many people abused it. Normally you're limited to one mega evolution per team. You use it on one pokemon, the rest are locked out, with the exception of those 3 legendaries. But it wouldn't let me use my Keldeo lmao.

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Mega Evolutions and Z Moves are both unnecessary gimmicks that were added to individual games in a vain attempt to make them feel different from other games. (I'm not a big fan of the giganotamax mechanic either, btw, I'd prefer if that didn't exist either, but at least it's the only one instead of all three existing, you know?)

National Dex is wildly unnecessary. Play the game you're playing, there is no reason to add six hundred pokemon to the game just so you don't have to deal with change and actually use new pokemon for once. The game is about capturing new pokemon, not about re-using the ones you already caught.

Mega Evolutions still had strategic value because of type changes in some of the pokemon (Charizard being an immediate example). Not making new ones is somewhat understandable due to the extra work required.

Z Moves I can do without but would rather have those over Gigantomax. Those at least have time and place as you can only use one type of Z move per pokemon. Gigantomax is just... yuck.

National Dex means you can keep using pokemon you've used over several games. For some people, that is pretty important. They have an attachment to those pokes and want to be able to bring them forward. I wouldn't call it unnecessary either. It's an extra feature and gives you opportunities to get pokemon in games you otherwise don't have. I would say being able to get any pokemon from any non-future game with only one copy is pretty nice.

I understand your arguments but Gigantomax just turning pokemon into Kaiju, while much more generic, has even less time/place thematically than Megas and Z moves.

National Dex is wildly unnecessary. Play the game you're playing, there is no reason to add six hundred pokemon to the game just so you don't have to deal with change and actually use new pokemon for once. The game is about capturing new pokemon, not about re-using the ones you already caught.

I hate when people use this reasoning, tbh. Every new Pokemon game comes out I use teams almost entirely of new Pokemon, or older Pokemon I haven't used before (like Banette in my Diamond team). After the story is all done I bring all of my old teams forward, all my old Pokemon that Ive trained over the past decade and a half, everyone comes forward so they're all in one place. I can mix and match them for use in battle facilities and in battles against friends.

Nobody is crying to use their level 100 team from Firered to breeze through any of the new games.

[{quoted}](name=Soul Dealer,realm=NA,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=8Ofd5A2O,comment-id=000000000001000000010001,timestamp=2019-08-12T01:52:42.714+0000)

National dex is not being removed. I don’t know where you are getting that from but that’s just not true

GameFreak already made statements that you will not be able to bring your pokemon from older games into Sword/Shield, which IS the National Dex.

The REGIONAL is the pokemon you can catch within the game (or its pair).

[{quoted}](name=Soul Dealer,realm=NA,application-id=yrc23zHg,discussion-id=8Ofd5A2O,comment-id=000000000001000000010001,timestamp=2019-08-12T01:52:42.714+0000)

National dex is not being removed. I don’t know where you are getting that from but that’s just not true

GameFreak said that National dex will not be a part of Sword and Shield. Google it and you will see.