Fixing Pokémon Sword and Shield's Story 

I think it needs to be publicly stated that there was a Piloswine named DabbingGod in this video.

My biggest change? Let Piers sing an actual song. That foottapping, mic squealing cut scenes was a disgrace

“Oh No! My brother is late for dinner!” “Time to raid a million dollar corporation”

I think for Bede it would’ve been pretty interesting to see how he would’ve reacted to Rose’s plan. Just that “oh god I helped cause all this with all my wishing Star gathering” which could’ve helped Bede with some character development later on Also a bit ranty but gladion is such a good character, his backstory, motivations and personality fit really well with the story and his character. I personally think the only eh characters in that sun and moon are the trial captains since you only see them for a tiny bit

During the game I always wished we'd actually see Leon get lost. It was mentioned so much that I thought it would have plot relevance at some point but as far as I can remember, it was only relevant for why Hop didn't get worried sooner when Leon was late for dinner. As it is in the game, it just feels like they decided Leon needed some kind of character flaw or fun fact about him and they just decided on "having no sense of direction". Plus it would've been fun to find Leon at a route like "Oh so nice to see you, could you point me towards Hammerlocke?" and he'd maybe give you an item or tell you about the place he's going to/the person he's meeting there.

Step 1: don't have Hop be ALWAYS impressed that you know fire beats grass.

also on the whole “leon being late to dinner” thing, why did nobody think to just CALL leon to see why he’s late? the pokedex is literally a cell phone in this game but nobody thinks to call him??

50:20 - If we go with the backstory idea of "maybe she was homeless before Rose helped her", her team could still make sense. All the graceful ladylike Pokemon are ones she got _after_ Rose, and her Garbodor could be a dear old friend she'd made when she was still living on the streets that she couldn't bear to leave behind.🤔🤔

Tbh I think Rose turning himself in at the end is actually stronger characterization for him not feeling guilty for his actions rather than him being on the run by the end of the story. If Rose turns himself in, it’s as if he’s saying; “I did what I set out to do, and the future is safe, and that’s all that matters. Do whatever you want with me, I have no regrets.” His ideals are all he cares about, and he puts them before his own personal well being. And ultimately, he did what he did because he cares about the people of Galar more than anything, even if it manifests in a super twisted way (a la Thanos) Rose going on the run at the end weakens that characterization because it implies that he cares more about saving himself, and basically means that he acknowledges he knows he did something wrong so he needs to flee the consequences.

I kinda love that Opal wanders in and forcibly adopts Bede. "Congrats kid, I'm going to be a positive influence in your life and you have no choice in the matter!"

52:09 Jacob: "Firstly, swordbert and shield guy don't exist, period. They were either not born or were murdered before the game started" Me: *"HECK YEAH!!!"*

One of my biggest issues that could so easily be fixed is the game constantly tells us how great Leon is but never really shows us in a meaningful way. A cutscene I'd have loved to see would be: The player character, Hop, and Leon are near a city when a dynamax Pokemon begins to rampage. In this case we are close enough that Leon doesn't just shoo us off, but opts to handle it himself with the player character and Hop watching. At this point, we have experienced a dynamax battle and how "tough" they supposedly are. However Leon steps in, Gigantamaxes his Charizard and proceeds to one shot the dynamax rampaging Pokemon. This shows just how powerful he is without any words needing to tell us, a real show don't tell moment. As Leon basks in the cheers of all the randos around and the player character is clapping in amazement, the player character looks over at Hop, but hop isn't clapping. He is actually looking down, away from his brother. Leon's display further reinforces Hop's feelings of inferiority to his brother and pushes him further into his depressed state that Bede began him down. This cutscene would add so much to really hitting home how great Leon is supposed to be and Hop's internal struggle in just a few minutes better than any words could.

One of the biggest tragedies of this game and the plot was how amazing Rose's battle music was for what felt like a side battle, and I really love how you built Rose up in your video to the battle. It felt like it solved all the problems about his battle in the games. In the games it didn't feel like I was battling the Big Boss because Rose was never a bad guy up until that point. There was no bad guy up until that point, I wasn't battling against anything bad. Rose's battle music could honestly be the best Pokemon Boss music out of all the games, but the impact of it was lost because the story fell short, and that's honestly criminal. A perfect boss battle song for a really sad excuse at a boss battle. However, when watching your video, after hearing the build up of Rose's potential story, the moment in your vid when the music cuts in and the Rose battle starts, I got actual goosebumps! THAT'S the reaction you want in your game to your boss battle!

I love how the game plot's so sloppy that the anime's just like "Screw it! We're not even gonna spend the whole season in Galar!"

I always thought that since you have 3 rivals and a raid battle needs 4 people, the final raid with Eternatus should be with the player and 3 rivals. Possible the player and Hop use the 2 dogs and Marnie and Bede use their pokemon.

Alternative Rose story: he was the first character to be the introduction to the world of Pokémon that ISN’T a professor. The man is a showman above all else. In Hullbury, the people treated him like a celebrity. And the Championship? He believes that’s the perfect time to show off a whole new means of using Wishing Stars as energy, but as you go through the game, you start learning the myths a little more, and Eternatus is actually obsessed with Wishing Stars, so if they are energized the way Rose wants to, Eternatus will return. A mix of Chernobyl ignoring safety in the name of showing off amazing energy and a Dragon turning attention to a brilliant hoard of treasure.

I think honestly that the twist ending that Hop wants to be a professor is more suited for a rival like Barry. Barry literally talks about feeling empathy for the pokemon mistreated by Team Galactic.

Can we just give credit to this guy for completing Sword/Shield with an entire Ice type team? That's pretty impressive.

As I was playing through Sword and Shield, I was thinking to myself how neat it would be if Oleana was actually behind everything, and she was planting all of these "change the world" ideas in Rose's head so she could steal his company out from under him at the opportune time and use its capitalistic monopoly on the region to take over and rule Galar. After all, she's his VP and most trusted advisor, yet she deals with most of the nitty-gritty work while Rose just goes around doing whimsical shit. She's in the best position to usurp control of his company, and she would arguably have the most incentive to do so. But then it turned out that she was just a blind follower of Rose, and I was like "oh that's way more boring"

There's a lot of headcanons where it's said that Leon caught Wooloo for Hop, maybe we can add that to his character, similarly to morpeko and Marnie! At the beginning, we can show that Hop likes to take care of pokemon, even taking care of the Wooloos to the point that one of the babies got attached to him, which is why the wooloo is now his pokemon because Leon helped Hop catch it with a pokeball. He once said that he's "probably the best at wrangling wooloos", so a cutscene where he used to take care of Wooloos wouldn't be out of place, especially with his first pokemon being a wooloo. Around that time, maybe Hop can promise that he will defeat Leon with his Wooloo by his side. Maybe Hop wants to be champion because in a way, he wants the attention and wants to be equals with Leon. It's not that his family doesn't give him attention, they love him and he knows it. It's also more so that Hop wants to be around his brother more. Being champion is a very demanding job, and that in a way, Hop misses Leon and he thought that being champion would also mean Leon would be back more, and at the same time, part of him wants the attention, and at the same time, it's peer pressure. His brother is the champion, so he should be as great as the champion! People keeps saying that Leon's little brother should be as great as him, and that also gives some sort of pressure of Hop being a champion just as Leon is the Unbeatable champion. Bede, just to give him a bit more asshole into his character, might point out that Hop just wants to be champion just because of the attention, which isn't true, but there's a part of him that does wants it and that makes him gets into a crisis. Especially when he realises that the pressure is starting to get to him, and it sinks in, which starts the entire moping thing. He would then realise that, as he gets defeated by the mc, he's crushed because his hardwork was put to waste, but at the same time, he doesn't really feel hatred nor jealousy, as he slowly realises that, he likes to battle yeah, the adrenaline of going in with strategies and trying out different things is fun, but at the same time, he can't picture himself as a champion anyways. Later when we talk to him, it's the final push to a realisation that he's been fighting FOR Leon, but never for himself, like what Opal said. That's my intepretation anyways

i think that hop should have had a moment at the end of the game where he realizes that he has only ever wanted to follow in leon's footsteps so he would have more praise and attention, i mean at Hop's house everything in the living room has something to do with Leon, not Hop, so it feels odd that he never seems effected by it

I do love Oleana’s additions. Her league card does add to her backstory showing she came from scraps before Rose hired her which is why she has the trubbish from her orphanage days. It does still line up with your backstory trying to fit in with the high class crowd while hiding her roots.

I like what you did with Oleana, and I think that even more could be done with it. Her obsession with Rose could mirror Hop's with Leon, and upon her defeat Hop is the one who talks her down and tells her to be her own person. I think it could be a neat parallel.

55:12 At this point, I think it would have been cool if the player, Hop, and Leon worked together with Rose, who was watching these events unfold and realized that Eternatus is not a being that bestows energy, but rather, a being that consumes energy and is on the brink of consuming all of Galar's energy. Seeing the error of his ways and wishing to rectify his mistake, Rose attempts to assist you three in taking down Eternatus. Rose and then Leon both get knocked out of the fight partway through, leaving you and Hop with no recourse but to summon sword and shield doggos to help save the day.

50:35 It actually makes even MORE sense that Oleana's character would have a Trubbish then, if she was Homeless or down in the dumps, then the pokemon based off trash fits, as its the one pokemon she could connect with. Im sure someone else had said this before but I just had to share this

The fact that hop goes through a confidence crisis by losing to Bede and that they don't face off in the challenge semi finals (hop just beats an unnamed trainer off screen) is such bad writing. Also the game cucking you every time something potentially interesting happens and shooing you away to let the adults handle it makes it feel like this isn't really your story, like you're just a bit player next to Leon

Excellent take on Sword and shields shody story

That's a misconception: Piers didn't form Team Yell. Team Yell was formed on the declination of Spikemuth in terms of industry and economic growth and thus, to help combat the problem, the Team was formed to encourage Marnie, who took part in the gym challenge, to become Champion and help make change within the city

Why 1000 years? Why not 10 years to display urgency or even 100 years, which is long enough to brush off but close enough to worry about the next generation. Not to mention why can't they say that with an increase in energy consumption and demand has moved up Galar's time limit.

I actually quite like Gladion as a rival, he starts off seeming like a generic mean rival, but he’s on the same side as you, even helping you go up against Lusamine and the Aether Foundation, he even one time apologizes for lashing out at you in anger at one point (I honestly think Sun and Moon are some of the best games in the series, plus his battle theme is really good)

I really agree with this, I think it’s the most significant criticism of Sword and Shield. The last Pokémon game I finished before Shield was Platinum, where I feel the story was pretty compelling. There was a lot of secrecy and mystery around everything and you were always at the center of the action. Sword and Shield has a lot of interesting characters, but it doesn’t feel like you participate in the story. It’s the first Pokémon game I’ve played where they actually treat you like just some kid. Every time a big event happens Sonia or someone says “Oh, I’ll go deal with that! You just keep fighting gyms.” Aside from feeling a little too linear in terms of exploration, that was my biggest problem with Shield. You just feel uninvolved, so it’s not as exciting.

I say you’re version is pretty great. Though I have a few things to add. Make Team Yell more important. Like say have Rose frame them for the fossil goin missing. Also when Eternetus awakens, he started destroying everything in the room, shocking Rose. Then when it looks like Eternetus is going to kill him, have Olivea come in and push him out of the way, taking the attack. This causing Rose to realize what he has done and maybe help out in the final battle.

Sword and Shield’s original story feels like you’re a side character, this is a vast improvement

A thing i'd like to add from the anime's interpretation of the story Rose lost his father at a very young age, while he was gathering energy in one of Galar's mines. This adds huge motive to Rose wanting to supply Galar with infinite energy

48:00 Having Olena be homeless really works, given that the only tidbit of her backstory we get is her Garbodor. It's the only thing she shows emotion to in the story, and could be explained by it being her one companion on the streets before Rose saved her! Oh god, this is going into fanfic territory 😅.

If this was the actual story then this genuinely would’ve been one of my favorite Pokémon games lol. The story alone was my biggest issue with it.

You did a great job of cleaning up the original story without drastically changing or adding anything. Sometimes people go too overboard and it's just kind of a mess, but you took all the original plot threads and put them together more neatly, nice and simple. I do think that Rose's conflict would be a lot more meaningful if the energy crisis was, say, 100 years in the future instead of 1000. It would make for a more poignant parallel to our own real world concerns of fossil fuels and pollution, after all.

When you said that Rose was there to delay you, I had a miserable idea where his team, still consisting mostly of steel type pokemon, would be one of defensive walls with Protect on each members of his team. Make it feel like Rose knew someone would show up and built a team designed, not necessarily to win, but to make a pokemon Battle as LONG as possible.

A good post game story could expand on the Rose storyline by having random NPCs talk about Rose's conservation efforts and how he helped them in the past, so maybe instead of making the energy crisis be his only act of activisim he can be a core part of his character. Like at the sea town where you battle the water gym leader you can find someone who says Rose helped the water pokemon in the area who were suffering from some type of habitation loss caused by humans, friction between the wild pokemon and humans that could have escalated to dangerous levels before Rose stepped in to fix things. The NPC could then express disappointment over Rose's actions. As you travel around stopping out of control pokemon who've lost control due to the reintroduction of Eternetus to the world you can constantly hear about Rose's conservation efforts prior to the game which will add juxtaposition since as you're hearing about his efforts to make a better future for all of Galar you're having to witness the destruction that his actions caused for the current Galar. In the end the player character would be approached by Leon who confirms that Rose was a very caring individual before the darkest day incident. He constantly emphasized the impact that humans had on the pokemon world and tried to bring awareness to the responsibility that humans had to maintaining a positive future. Leon could then express disappointment for how things ended and remind the player character to never allow their ambitions no matter how righteous to drive them to insanity like Rose.

One thing that I would had liked to see on SwSh is for MC to show some emotion to Hop’s struggle Because its heavily hinted that Hop and them are childhood friends that had known one another for a long time, so that makes him basically their brother So that MC never shows any sort of emotion to Hop’s OBVIOUS depression and inferiority complex is a very jerk move by their part Because one thing is to make a self-insert character, and another is for them to be a literal statue that doesn’t know to do anything other than smile I would’ve liked that after his first few battles, MC shows concern at Hop’s constant loses against them The next times they see Hop they try to be more insistent on not wanting to battle him as they don’t want to make him feel worse, but that only makes Hop feel like if they truly believe that they also think him as weak so they have no other option but to battle him But during said battles instead of smiling, MC has an expression of worry and their dialogue when they take out their Pokémon isn’t as cheerful as in other battles Saying things like "Go [Insert Pokemon Name], try to not hurt him please…" or something similar They win of course as they’re the protagonist, but instead of celebrating MC looks at the ground guiltily and/or tries to comfort Hop the best they can When Bede insults Hop MC looks at him with outrage and immediately demands to battle against him every time they meet him That would make the battles against Bede feel more personal as we’re battling against our friend’s bully and not simply 'our eyes met so we must battle' During the semi finals after Hop loses instead of celebrating because that would look like if we’re mocking him MC instead hugs and gives him a reassuring smile as if to tell him that "You’ll always be a champion for me" On the battle against Leon instead of fighting him right away we have a final conversation with Hop in which we thank him for being alongside us this whole way and that they will win the battle for him, and that no matter what he was more than enough for them

"She's (Marnie) popular because she's a lovable character with positive traits" No. Let's be real. It's because she's goth.

It's funny, in the anime (which I know is a separate continuity, but still), Rose *didn't* turn himself in after the Darkest Day arc. Both he and Oleana disappeared, with Leon trying to track them down. So it seems even GF realized how stupid his sudden "I feel bad now" moment was in the games, after he was legit driven mad about Galar's future. Also, Eternatus' Poké Ball got sealed deep underground, which would've been cool if perhaps the player was given a choice to give up the dangerous Legendary, sealing it to be secure, or keep it and risk another Darkest Day event. Your version of the story is amazing, no joke! For someone who said they weren't that big on Pokémon, you still did a better job than GF did. Seriously, if there was a modded version of SwSh put out at some point with your story or based on it, I'd actually enjoy playing SwSh, minus the dex cuts, heh.

5:43 One good option for Marnie's 'losing' animation in the tourney is perhaps for her to rub her eye or otherwise be implied to be holding back tender tears, calling back to her sensitive youth and showing that this side of her had not entirely faded away. Not only would that add an extra, albeit tiny, touch of depth to her character (and perhaps make her even more endearing to fans), but it would also further tighten the already decent dispositional triangle between the three rivals. I imagine, though, that perhaps the dev team decided her normal losing animation worked just fine since it still befits her cute and stoic demeanor (which I think myself). 33:42 Whoa, I actually did not notice that Hop was copying his big brother in his animations! It probably helps that their respective battles are far enough apart that this can be a hard catch. 35:52 Having the Darkest Day be foggy would even fit the Great Britain region inspiration more if you relate it to the Dark Ages, which from my understanding are called that because we are very in the dark about what the time was like due to few surviving resources (perhaps amplified by "economic, intellectual, and cultural decline"). 41:47 I think nearly all your suggestions for fixing Rose's story are great, but I am a bit iffy on the cast being so persistently dismissive of his concerns; it would surely make them less sympathetic if they come off as the reason Rose resorts to extreme measures. I also think ending that first exchange with an unheard ellipsis would be a bit on the nose with the foreshadowing. I also do not really mind Rose turning himself in regret for his actions, and I think that it would still fit in just fine with the revised story presented here (i.e., presuming he can manage to calm down and return to his senses). With that said, I also like the suggestion from another commenter of seeking out Rose and Oleana being the post-game.

When it comes to the history of the Darkest Day and the twin heroes storyline, a lot of your suggestions are exactly what I would have done. As for the main storyline, I've said it a million times before, but I'll say it again: It seemed to build up to a Doctor Faustus kind of plot, in my opinion, and so it should have gone like this... - A young Rose inherits the Macro Cosmos energy company from his family. It's a modest business. Galar is a bit backwater but does fine. - As technology advances, Macro Cosmos scientists discover an odd energy signal deep in the mountains. Rose comes in to investigate. - Rose discovers Eternatus, an extremely emaciated and primordial dragon Pokemon that can generate tremendous energy. - After some research, they discover Eternatus craves Wishing Stars, because they restore its strength. In return for Wishing Stars, it willingly allows Rose to harness its energy. - Over the next 20 years or so, Rose and Macro Cosmos turn Galar from a quaint backwater to a technological wonderland brimming with power and energy. - During this time, Rose encounters Oleana and her Trubbish living in a dirty alley in Spikemuth. Seeing potential in her, he takes her in, gets her an education, and she becomes his secretary. - But over the years, Eternatus' hunger for Wishing Stars grows exponentially. Rose and his employees used to be able to find enough easily, but now they have to outsource. - Enter Bede. Aside from running an energy company, Rose is heavily involved in the Trainers' School program, believing the Pokemon Gym Challenge to be an important and fulfilling pasttime for Galar's people. Bede's situation resembles Oleana's, and Oleana was a huge success, so he naturally takes Bede in as well. - Since, as mentioned, Eternatus is becoming harder to please, Bede takes to the task of finding Wishing Stars with earnest. - Around the 3rd gym or so, we get the first quake. Eternatus is becoming more demanding and more unreasonable, so the quake serves as a warning. Rose begins to panic and asks Bede to step it up. - Maybe Rose even tries to enlist the player's aid in finding Wishing Stars, but Leon says, "Nah man, they just started as trainers. They need to focus on learning the ropes!" to which Rose awkwardly and nervously concedes. - Then we get Bede trying to knock down the mural in search of Wishing Stars, to Rose's chagrin. As desperate as he is, he doesn't believe destroying historical monuments is the way to go, and pulls Bede from the project, to prevent anymore such incidents. - Of course, this means Wishing Star acquisition slows down. More quakes. Random Power Spots resulting in Dynamaxed wild Pokemon. Things are getting hairy. But when you see Rose, he is flustered and panicked, but tries to insist everything's fine. - The night before the match, Leon is late and Oleana shows up to let you know the match is cancelled and Leon will be working with the chairman. Oleana's tone seems to imply coercion, so the usual suspects all bust into Rose Tower to save Leon. Oleana thinks your interference will cause a catastrophe, so she becomes unhinged and challenges you. - The emergency meeting on the eve of the match really was Rose trying to get Leon to cancel the match, but for an emergency Wishing Star search and not for anything sinister. Leon doesn't take the threat seriously, but promises to help once the match is over. Rose hopes that they'll have enough time. - Finally, as the Champion's match is about to start, Rose appears on the monitor desperately calling Leon for aid, before the beams of energy start blasting out everywhere. - You rush to Hammerlocke, Oleana begs you and Leon to head to the Power Plant, and you find Rose down below. Eternatus has escaped, and Leon rushes to stop it. You go to join him, but Rose stops you. It's too dangerous! And so Rose challenges you to a battle--if you can't even beat him, then you stand no chance against the legendary beast. - You win, and Rose commends your courage and strength, allowing you to pass. Hop shows up afterwards, and catches up on the situation. - Eternatus has gone to Rose Tower, because it's the highest point in Galar and thus the best staging point for the Darkest Day. - But there are Dynamax Pokemon everywhere, and you, Hop, Leon, and Sonia fear that there may be too many to stop. That's when Hop shows initiative and gets the idea to go to the Slumbering Weald. Given the wolf-like Pokemon beside the heroes at the mural on Stow-on-Side, he thinks that mysterious wolf Pokemon you encountered at the beginning could be related. It's worth a shot, at least! - Then the rest of the story plays out largely as presented. Leon rushes straight for Eternatus, and you and Hop go to find the sword and shield before flying back to his aid. Eternatus overwhelms the party, but doggos show up, and you fight off the disaster. - Rose then arrives, apologizing for his actions. He made a pact with a dangerous creature out of sheer short-sightedness, and he almost caused the downfall of all of Galar because of it. Hailing you, Hop, Leon, and the twin wolves as heroes, Rose announces that he will resign as chairman of Macro Cosmos, to let someone with more foresight and caution take the reins of the company's future. - Exhausted from your perilous battle, you wake up the next day and are summoned to Wyndon for the Champion match. You win, because of course you do. - Yay credits.

The one strange interaction/ thing I would have loved to see changed in the game/ your rewrite would be bede destroying the mural, since Rose shows up to that and considering it’s A. What he wanted Bede to do by collecting the things and B. Uncovers a much more valuable piece of art than the meal being the statues. Having something different happen there like everyone else pressuring Rose to punish Bede for destroying a tourist attraction and having him disown Bede unwillingly would have let him keep the “caring man who just wants he best for everyone” personality while slightly showing that he’s changing for the worse because he caved in and disowned Bede. Rose just disowning Bede without a second thought in the main game seems slightly out of place for him since his character only had one established trait at that point and it was being very caring towards everyone (also the line when rose asks what bedes name is right outside one of the gym would have to be removed since it shows that Rose doesn’t really care about Bede and contractdicts the likable man we see at the start)

Yup, Rose was shaping up to be a relatable, genuinely understandable antagonist, but then he completely fell apart at the end! Seems like Unova’s story will remain unchallenged for the foreseeable future…

When I first played the game I thought there was going to be a plot twist where Oleana was pulling strings behind the scenes and manipulating+gaslighting Rose for some sort of intense and malicious motives....

Bede’s character development becoming the new fairy type trainer was my favorite part of the game. Seeing him go from being cocky rival to being chosen as the replacement was so fun

I feel like Leon absolutely deserves better in the post game. He’s pretty much only presented as the unbeatable champion, so it could be really interesting to explore what he actually is without that reputation after losing that to the player.

24:30 I legitimately never knew Eternatus was even connected to the wishing stars. I just kinda went "oh cool dragon energy monster".

This all looks pretty good for a story change for Sw/Sh. However, I do have some criticisms: - I definitely think Sordward and Shielbert could have some potential, and they don't have to be removed. However, the premise for a large bulk of what the post-game is has to be changed from Dynamax Pokemon running rampant to something else (maybe battling people who support the duo and are causing ruckuses in the cities). - Maybe instead of Turffield, some ruins in Route 8 could work better, as Route 8 is essentially ruins, and those had potential to have some lore tied to them, but instead they copped out of it. - Make the DLC stories play some role in the main story. Some of these Pokemon could have had the potential to have their stories expanded upon, like how maybe the Regis went on a frenzy because of the Galar Particles and destroyed large areas of Galar, causing them to be sealed, there could have been many Urshifu trying to fight the Dynamaxed Pokemon, but failed since almost all of them turned to Dynamax and Gigantamax and they could have been slain by Zacian and Zamazenta, with the remaining fleeing to the Isle of Armor, Calyrex could have went into hiding to prevent Glastrier or Spectrier from going berserk, fleeing to the Crown Tundra to escape all of the chaos, and the Galarian birds could have utilized the Galar Particles to improve their physique, while not turning berserk. Of course, some of these might sound a bit far-out, but I find it very weird that while absolute armageddon is happening in mainland Galar, Calyrex is just chilling doing the Freezington Shanty or whatever it's called.

It's funny how much potential this game has for telling a great story, and how awful its delivery is. There's so much this game could've done right but it absolutely sandbagged it all. I think honestly, a great way of telling the story of Sword and Shield is to look at Twilight Wings, which I think paints a better story of the character of Rose. I think it would be very interesting if Rose was a character absolutely obsessed with the idea of power, but different to how most other evil team villains handle power. Without directly showing it, Rose is the most influential person in Galar. He's wealthy, he's calculated, and his company (Macro Cosmos) holds investments in many, many different types of companies in the Galar region, from construction to insurance to freight to banks to everything you can think of. But most importantly, he is in charge of the Pokemon League. I think this businessman character is really fascinating to explore, creating a narrative of how Rose is a masterful marketer and manipulator, and how he uses Leon's power and fame to strengthen himself and his influence throughout Galar. I think what showed this very well was the seventh episode of Twilight Wings, where everyone was so confused about where Leon was. And the second Leon comes flying in on a Corviknight, Rose smiles, snaps his fingers, and the spotlights appear on Leon. To Rose, Leon is a toy, a pawn that he uses to keep the Galar region under his control. I don't think Rose needed to be a strong trainer, mostly because I don't think he's supposed to be one. Rose is a puppet master and Leon is his puppet that he uses to strengthen himself, but find who Rose really is and all you see is his weak, pathetic side. I think what would've been much more fascinating is seeing Leon become the sort of bad guy in the story, who gets further manipulated by Rose into believing that the player and Hop are threats, growing mad and challenging them both to battle (which would give a great opportunity to improve the story of Hop, Bede, or Marnie by making one of them the champion after Leon and Rose are arrested). Alternatively, Oleana could serve as the trainer stronger than Rose, showing that even though Oleana loves Rose and supports everything he does blindly, Rose is in fact using her too. Or alternatively there, have ROSE use Eternatus. He doesn't have to catch him, but have him use Eternatus using some kind of "magic rope" or something like what Cyrus used in Platinum, I don't know. It's another thing he manipulates and controls for power and portrays his character well too, I think. All of those would have been incredible methods of improving Rose's character. It's so frustrating that with characters that have so much potential and great design, they waste all of it. Rose could have been such a fascinating and strong character that could have had real-world implications (comparing him to somebody like Donald Trump or Jeff Bezos and their marketing, manipulative skills, and the power they have over everybody). Every single character in this story had way too much potential, every gym leader, rival, the champion, villains, everybody, and they dropped the ball so heavily. It's truly disappointing.

I really do love this, in the anime Rose reveals his father died in a mine collapse, people struggling for energy ruins lives, If you wanted to twist the knife, he could see his rashness destroy a town (maybe have a death count), and have him spiral. Even having achieved his goal people are still suffering. Agh why did the anime rush this plot too

I actually think Bede was a bad attempt at a jerk rival, what made Blue a good rival was that he had the skills to back up his talk, but Bede feels like fighting any random route NPC. Also it bothers me how both Bede and Marnie end up Gym Leaders, it just seems like both were forced into it because someone else wanted them to and not as a natural evolution of their character

Hmm. I've been thinking about this for a while after having gotten back in Sw/Sh. For the gym leaders they could have littered each town with a little bit of the legend or even a piece of the sword/shield and they could have helped player + sonia gain access to it thus tying them a little more into the plot (hell Raihan is sitting on the damn vault and we got pretty much NOTHING from him)

I remember waiting and waiting for the "big thing" to happen in this game and it just never did, I thought that storming rose tower was gonna be it, but left disappointed, but your changes would've definitely fixed that also please finish sun/moon it actually has a great story

Just the ProZD skit of “Twist Villain” Me: So, who’s the bad guy? “Don’t you know? It was me all along, Johnson Smith.” Me: Who? Gamefreak: It’s Johnson Smith, the CEO from the beginning of the game! Me: Oh, yeah- yeah that’s pretty cool, what was his name again? Gamefreak: J-Johnson Smith..

Actually the main problem with the story is the lack of player interaction. We're fed bits and pieces of the story by Sonia but never do anything ourselves. Throw out Sonia's character and let us uncover the story ourselves by interacting with the world!

What i love about your version is how Rose is brushed off by all the others because the crisis will happen in 1000 years when they are no longer alive. Brushing it off is like the worst thing in Roses view as if everyone uses that argument than it will continue until its to late. Current Generation: In 1000 years? Not our problem. Next Generation: In 900 years? Not our problem. Generation after that: In 800 years? Not our problem. And so on. And than when the generation in 1000 years is around they will face a crisis no previous generation even thought about the prevent from happening because they brushed it off.

This re-imagined narrative building up to the Rose fight kept me far more invested than the original SwSh plot, and the payoff of including -One-Winged Dadbod- Rose's battle theme legitimately gave me goosebumps the first time I watched this.

It's easy to fix the story actually include the player in it 99% of the games story goes by ignoring the player entirely, Leon just does everything, off screen, then suddenly we have to fight an 'evil' corporation and a world destroying entity, all because our friends brother is slightly late joining us for dinner

The fact that the anime's storyline is easier to follow than the games REALLY makes you think.

I love how in the background footage he is using an all ice team.

So given the A Plot being the player's journey in beating the Gyms and Champion, and B Plot being the whole thing with Chairman Rose and Eternatus, perhaps another thing we could do is to put the decision in the player's hands; Realistically, the player is just a kid who wants to be the best trainer in Galar (beating the Gyms and Champion). When presented with the growing B Plot as we progress through the game, we get to choose to either actively ignore Rose's advocacy along with the others, or to dig more into it because he do be making sense. For instance, that part where there's an explosion after we beat Spikemuth's gym, perhaps Leon does show up, but in a way that he gives us the choice to actually care and to investigate with him; if not, it'll just be us as kids leaving the serious matters to the responsible adults. Maybe the game adapts the way it treats us as the player based on how we respond to anomalies (B Plot) that get in the way of our main goal (A Plot); if we choose to focus the most on A Plot, we still get ample hints of what Rose is up to, and it would only require us to intervene at the point when Rose interrupts our battle with Leon because the world is literally ending and we need all hands on deck; if we actually tried to participate in B Plot, we get the thickest the plot can get with the deeper history that gives everything more detail, with why Eternatus and what's with the Wishing Stars and whatnot. This way, we also tackle the feeling that we're constantly being undermined as players of the game, treating us like kids even if a lot of us are returning experienced players.

I do have one question. If Eternatus gives off so much energy and is causing Pokemon to dynamax across the region, then why are our Pokemon regular size during those battles? Wouldn't that energy dynamax our Pokemon, along with Hop, Leon and Rose's. Imagine how cool a Dynamax-only battle would be and it would fit the lore

The aftergame could have been trying to track down Rose and bring him in

No joke, there are people out there who somehow think this is the best Pokémon story ever told. Next time I see someone say that, I just need to send them this video 😂

I was recommended this video on Tumblr where it was specifically labeled as "Video essays to watch about video games you've never played". Now, I've only seen RTGame's VERY edited down let's play of sword and shield, and it's been the only Pokemon content I've ever actually engaged with. I doubt I could name more than 3 Pokemon at a time, let alone know the ins and outs of lore and what would make a good Pokemon game. But, this video genuinely had me on the edge of my seat; I love how you broke down what did and didn't work in the writing and your concepts for your fixed story was absolutely fascinating. I may not ever be a Pokemon fan, but this video definitely made me excited to plot for my own writing projects in the future.

SwSh really reminded me of XY in how it felt like they had much grander ideas than they could actually execute… which is why im keeping my eyes on the manga adaptation with how much i liked what they did with XY

What if you see Bede every so often and every time he switches one or two of his psychic pokemon with fairy until the pokemon league when it's revealed that he's the fairy gym leader?

This is so cool. I really love the changes you’ve made to the story. I’m writing an anime series based on Sword and Shield and this is so helpful

Hiiii~ This video has been on my list for a while now, so I hope I won't make a comment so big you won't be able to notice it. I reaaaally love this game's history. When I found your video, and the time I needed to read ir, I told myself "this person is NOT saying the game is bad. I want to hear them." And I must say it genuinely feels awesome you're as impartial as possible (let's keep what you didn't mention but wrote in your subtitles apart for this comment.) I agree with you on so many points I came here to study! I couldn't help but feels your recreation of the final Eternatus battle was awesome and super cool. I'm kinda slow and often dumb, so I needed to clear the main storyline (post-game DLC not included) to have opinions as good as yours. I won't comment on Oleana and Marnie's character because yeah. You understand them way better than I do. Regarding Marnie, though, I discussed with someone who pointed that the character really grew on this game; something about respecting her brother's ideals and understanding herself better. Couldn't grasp much of it, but that's interesting. As for Bede, I like how you sound talking about him. I don't like this character, but I think his growth and character development are indeed one of the best things to study in this game. Now... Big Stuff? Oooooh... I wonder if someone will read that thing. I don't feel your character is a part of the story. I had even forgotten Leon mentioned everyone was talking about them. To me, Victor/Gloria aren't heroes. They aren't a part of what I would call "C scenario" now that I've listened to your whole video. It's not the *gym challenge* which they are part of, or the *Darkest Day* which they interact with, but the *megalomania* part you choose to integrate to the Darkest Day scenario. I consider there is a mistake in Roses writing, but he's still my favourite character in the game. There are two Rose character. The one you see throughout the game and the megalomaniac one you managed to develop in your video. This one is hidden in the game's subtext and is indeed, brutally shown at the very end. - The same can be said about that megalomaniac character and Hop's desire to understand Pokémon. I feel you're too attached to text and literal proofs and less cautious about how the game looks. Your video made me realize that while Hop is always changing his team, for instance, he's also fighting you with very rare Pokémon such as Cramorant. Is he completing his Pokédex or is he actually interested in the Pokémon's environment? When scenes involve Hop, Leon and the professor, Hop is always put on the professor's side. I feel that's another hint. - You didn't talk about the tremors of the Dynamax Den getting far stronger as you progress through the game! I feel that's another thing that hints toward "your character isn't the hero." That's why you don't get to fight Dynamax Pokémon, but Leon does. He was already aware things could get messy and was actually working with Rose. Your character isn't supposed to be a hero when they discover Eternatus; the lack of music (in my opinion) shows they are disgusted by that surreal creature. This thing ISN'T a Pokémon. It was there all along, but it's a menace and a catastrophe. When they are talking about some "vortex" in the Darkest Day Legend, it's Eternatus. Back at Turrfield, Eternatus was on the mural. It's that tiny thing! I promise that's my last paragraph now, thank you for reading. The story of the Darkest Day has been forgotten. People are trying to find clues about it, but there is barely anything to work with. You despise these two guys in the postgame, but I feel there is a hint there. Why would the two wolves' statue be hidden? Why is that golden hero statue in this hotel? I feel Galar's aristocracy is the reason why. 3,000 years is far more than enough to forget everything about a story. And while the researches on the Darkest Day are progressing, aristocracy is losing in influence, hence the attitude these characters have: they don't want to be the last aristocrats, but there we are. Someone pretends that no king ever saved Galar. There is so much to theorize up that point, but if someone can get to this line, they can also figure out what are the questions we now need to ask. .... Argh... Out of every 3000 comments here, how many people have done the same as I did? I wonder. It would be a shame not to post it now that it is written, though. Here is a vibrating Rose to cheer you up after such a big read. It made me laugh. 49:24

you apologized for using the official artwork in a visual novel sorta way, stating that it was not very good-looking. but to be honest, the artwork has much more character than the 3D models, and honestly think using the art for cut scenes would have been better than what we have.

The rose rewrite is dope, I love simple, fundamental, effective storytelling, it's so satisfying to see the little changes that could so easily reframe the character into something great

I remember playing Sword for the first time and just how long it took me from the start of the game until I made it to Turffield and beat Milo. The pacing was great. You have already visited several different biomes and been through several towns or cities before you even get your first badge. You're introduced to many of the games characters during that early stretch and then the game is still well paced up until you defeat Kabu. After that...it gets bad. Really bad. The 4th - 8th gym badges can take you about one to two hours while you can spend days working your way through the first 3 gyms if you pace yourself. The changes you made are fantastic and honestly wouldn't even be that difficult to implement. You managed to maintain the integrity of the original story and characters while making it into something that would've been truly exciting to play through. My only change would be to Oleana - incorporating elements from her Twilight Wings episode rather than simplifying it down to "Rose saved her" which...I mean, he kid of did in TW anyway (brings her from toiling away in a dark computer lab to making her vice president of Macro Cosmos). SwSh are still fine as Pokémon games but how much they left to be desired will always leave me a bit disappointed. Also, fuck Swordward and Shielbert lol

I found this video halfway through my BDSP playthrough. It's insane how many investigative tasks I'm given in this game, compared to how much I'm told "let the adults handle it" in SwSh.

“One winged dad bod” makes this WHOLE video

Also, I think something interesting that could've happened with Rose and Oleana on the run is that the post game could be centered around finding and redeeming/forgiving them. Especially if Rose had been sidelined for most if not all of the game.

I really hope that we get a platinum style revamp of sword and shield as a third game for galar. swsh is definitively one of my favorite games. I liked the plot but there was still a lot they could've done more with, really enjoyed your deep dive into this!

The first time Eternatus was mentioned I was so confused on who they were talking about.

I actually like the original concept of Rose turning himself in To me, instead of this action making it seem as though he regretted releasing eternatus, it makes it seem as though he accepts the consequences of releasing eternatus It shows that Rose doesn’t care about what happens to him as long as he is able to save the future of Galar

Additionally, something I would have liked to see in terms of worldbuilding is the inclusion of the ten minor league gyms. Galar has a gym for every type and the leaders compete to see which eight will form the major league for a given year. It would have been cool to have a fuller world and be able to visit, if not battle, the other gyms.

I've always thought that Oleana's Garbodor was a hint that she was homeless Maybe when she was homeless, she befriended a Trubbish and caught it

Honestly the amount of work that you put into this story in fixing it is just immaculate. I love your passion.

Wow hearing Rose's theme after your version of the story sent shivers done my spine. It's too bad the main story is much worse than your version and now I wish we got your version :(

48:00 Twilight Wings helped A LOT in this, we can know the backstory of some characters including Oleana and why she care about Rose and take her job very seriously. Shame that this series came AFTER the games release =|

After watching your take on an alternate Oleana I had to rewatch Twilight Wings and I realized, Oleana should’ve been the Professor for Pokemon Sword and Shield and she became to antagonist. The first ever Pokemon Professor that went rogue. She was so obsessed with Pokemon research and how we used energy that forced evolved pokemon to gigantic sizes was perverse in her eyes and she wanted to give us a taste of our own medicine by using Rose and backstabbing him. All the build up of Rose being the enemy but Oleana was it all along. Edit: i would go far to say that she could been name changed to Oleander to fit the tree theme of Pokemon Professors. But a calm stoic professor with an unhealthy obsession could been ground breaking. We always trusted Pokemon Professors why not have the first evil one?

My God my people, I'm a long time fan that has stuck with the franchise and that was my biggest complaint. Everyone kept nitpicking things like the national dex, the graphics, and other little things, but the biggest and most obvious short coming to me was the story... IN AN RPG, story is the most important thing, it felt too focused on competitive players, and like the story was non existant (which frankly I would've preferred) then suddenly OH SHIT'S HITTING THE FAN, right at the last possible second. After this game's equivalent to the elite 4 (since there is none), right before the champion, "oh you're about to fight the final boss, the game's been leading up to this, and you're about to throw down with the strongest trainer in the region?" TOO BAD, psych suddenly plot. It feels like a chore, like you're cleaning up after a child, he interrupted your important business meeting drawing with crayon on the wall so you gotta go yell "NO YOU'RE GROUNDED, think about what *YOU'VE DONE!*" and Rose was such an obvious villain. He's the 1st person you see, and you immediately say oh yep he's the villain, definitely. He would've been better as a red herring, maybe make the professor or champion the villain, they'd even fit his role better. His idea was doing evil for the sake of good, which Arceus knows is a really over done trope, Lusamine in Ultra games for a Pokemon example, Lysander with his Hitler view point too, lots of shows, movies, games do this trope. You got specific sprites for characters that aren't generic NPCs, you, the rival/s, gym leaders, elite 4, champion, professor, villain, professor and villain assistants, and battle frontier or similar characters, even Bill or Mr Fuji very important characters in the original games didn't have unique sprites. So you make someone you wouldn't expect the villain, the champion the strongest trainer in the region, gets ahead of himself and accidentally sets the evil loose and turns out to be too weak to stop it (which they do with Leon he's too weak to fight Eternatus... they should've just combined it and made him the villain). The professor I feel fits it better though, they're too invested in their research, they unleash the evil like 1/2 way through the game and story, they insist no what they're doing is good and for the sake of the world, only to realize at the end after something catastrophic happens what they did was wrong. Sure maybe that's like Archie and Maxie from gen 3, but I feel it would fit a professor perfectly, and it would be really new, fresh, and neat to see someone you expect to be good to flip the script. Not to mention Rose's reasoning was weak, 1000 years in the future Galar will run out of energy... YOU'LL BE LONG GONE! Why bother? Not to mention there's tons of Pokemon that can do the job just as easily, tie up a dozen Pikachu, or heck take a train over to Crown Tundra, Regieleki alone can power an entire region, and if its like the other regis there's probably multiple. So many angles could be done to improve the story, I've seen fan regions do better.

“You can feel the urgency and sense of dread as the final battle starts” *Jacob sends out DabbingGod* Womp womp, Lol. 😂

This was so good that I literally forgot the old story, no joke.

One cool touch I just thought of would be, during the climax, when the player pulls out their dynamax band, a lot more energy is sucked in and the player recoils to its energy, almost like it's getting too strong to handle. Dynamaxes could be a lot bigger, too, maybe even gigantimaxing without a crystal or it being a special Pokemon. The region's already gone wack by this point, but having some effect on the player themselves would also be a good touch.

I sat through all of this and god damn, if they actually did build it up like this, it would've been the greatest Pokemon game ever.

I love videos like this. When people take terrible stories and make them amazing while still keeping their roots, it shows that any idea can be turned into an amazing story through the art of feeding the reading information at the right time and staying consistent. I love the way you rewrote this story. I genuinely wish that was the actual story because then I would have loved the game so much more. I personally only like it bc I enjoy the fun concept of getting strong and cool looking Pokémon, but your story would make me actually care about catching eternatis. In the original story, I really liked that Leon dealt with the dynamaxed Pokémon bc it didn’t feel like the world was relying on a ten year old when the guy who is supposedly the STRONGEST in the world is doing nothing. However, with your story it makes more sense Leon wouldn’t be there and the player would have to investigate. The way you wrote it felt less like the world was ending and more the player was genuinely curious as to what that explosion was and wanted to help. You are a great writer and I love your version of Rose bc we are meant to feel bad for him. 10/10 story for sure👍🏻

The game shows that Pokémon can’t write stories without an “evil” team pushing the lore story forward. They tried to subvert their normal trope of ‘evil team captures legendary Pokémon to do this thing.’ Evil team sections usually break up the becoming the region champion plot while dropping hints about the big bad guy/ legendary Pokémon reveal. Of course the story fails when your writing style is essentially a mad lib and you change actual gameplay into shitty exposition dumps.

Interesting little bit. In the Pokemon Journey’s anime, the pokeball Eternitus was caught in was sealed away and Rose is still at large, having not been apprehended. Rose’s motivations were also slightly better in the anime as well. He explains that his dad died in a mining accident and he wanted to solve the energy crisis permenantly so Galar wouldn’t ever have to fall back on mining for fuel resources. (That last half I’m just guessing at by putting two and two together tbh)

Honestly I'm really glad you brought up the explosion where Leon goes "don't worry about the plot, go play Pokemon"

Having just played through the game for the first time, I can comfortably say that I agree with virtually every point presented in this video. The story of S&S had some good points hidden in the rushed pacing and questionable writing decisions, and your rewrite did an excellent job at enhancing what was already there. For what it's worth, I think the characters had good justification for insisting that the player and Hop not get involved in any of the Dynamaxing events, even if it wasn't plainly spelled out. After all, compared to Leon and the gym leaders, the two of them are newbie trainers who only just started their journey; ushering them away from danger would be the logical thing to do in most scenarios. However, as you mentioned, we can circumvent this by having them take part in mandatory Max Raid battles, forcing them to act. This would also let them build their reputation as star trainers so that when the Darkest Day comes around, Leon and the others would be more comfortable with having them help against the Dynamaxed Pokemon. The one story thread in your video that was left unaddressed was the capturing of the box legendary, since that was deliberately left for the post game. Without changing the story cutscene of them jumping into the distance and removing the Sword and Shield twins, we can have the post game start in Wyndon after the player has had some time to settle into their new position as Champion. Since Rose and Oleana have not been found, the protagonist and Leon decide to lay out plans to repurpose the Rose Tower into the Battle Tower, but they note that it would be difficult to do so without Rose's explicit consent. The player runs into Hop while they are brainstorming ideas, who at this point still hasn't figured out what he wants to do specifically. Leon tells the player to take a break, and both the player and Hop decide to retrace their journey and visit the cities in reverse order to see the repercussions of the Darkest Day, starting from Wyndon and ending at Postwick. In each city, we get to interact with the gym leaders in their home turf and, in Spikemuth and Ballonlea's case, personally witness Marnie and Bede's formal inductions as the gym leader of their respective cities. This can culminate in one last traditional battle against Marnie and Bede while also giving Hop the salty runback he didn't get against Bede. Hop can either emerge victorious, but notes that victory didn't give him the same satisfaction as it usually did, or he can lose, which can be a prime opportunity for Bede to show that he has grown from the arrogant jerk he used to be when hey first battled. Their journey continues all the way to Postwick, where Hop gets to talk with the now-Professor Sonia, who has been researching the Rusted Sword and Shield and is trying to find a way to summon the legendary dogs. Professor Magnolia gives Hop some words of encouragement, since not too long ago, Sonia was in the same position that he was. The player and Hop take the weapons to the Slumbering Weald, where they reunite with the legendary dogs and capture them. Chairman Rose and Oleana can then make their appearance to give their characters some resolution. Rose can go to other regions to search for possible alternatives to Wishing Stars, showing that he still cares for Galar despite everything, and he can encourage Oleana to find her own path like Bede did. Before he leaves, he gives the player his written consent to repurpose the Rose Tower as the Battle Tower. Hop and the player have their last battle, with the former realizing his new dream after taking Magnolia's advice to heart. End of the post game. When the game starts again, the Battle Tower is completed. Meanwhile, Hop and the other box legendary can be at Postwick with Sonia. When talked to, the player can battle him again for the sake of research, similar to Colress's battles in B2W2, and as a reward, Hop can gift the player with an egg that hatches into an exclusive Pokemon from the other version, thereby letting him contribute to the completion of Galar's Pokedex. Maybe this might seem like a cop-out and discourages trading, but considering all the steps you have to go through to get to that point, I think this provides a good enough incentive to complete the post game. Also as a little easter egg, the Battle Tower can have a separate Hall of Fame room displaying all previous champions. Aside from Leon and the player, there can be two observable portraits for Mustard and Peony, hinting at their existence before players purchase the expansion pack.

“When we see that he’s [Rose] actually insane” Rose begins to vibrate

I really liked hop’s character arc. The arc actually continues into the postgame and finishes with a really nice ending to it

i rly enjoyed this video! i also had a multitude of gripes with sword and shield's story (you hit the nail on the head with most, if not all of them, actually) and even toyed with the idea of making a sort of novelization where i rewrote and improved upon the story. this video actually gave me a lot of inspiration, so if i ever decide to pick that idea up again, i'll take into account what was brought up here. the changes you made led to the story being a lot more compelling!