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Sword & Shield proved that Nintendo, TPC, and GamrFreak can dick over the fanbase as much as they want and still make billions. They've pulled blatantly scummy shit all to shill Home subscriptions so they can hold your favorite Pokemon hostage. SwSh so shamelessly copied many character archetypes and location concepts from Sun & Moon in a "fudge it a little so it doesn't look like you copied" way, the Wild Areas they pushed so hard are boring and ugly, and Dynamax is the absolute laziest way to incorporate new forms I've ever seen, and that includes fangames. Also SwSh's 8th gym is the absolute laziest and most boring gym in the entirety of the series. Fucking BROCK had a more interesting gym.
And despite all this, Sword & Shield ended up being the second highest selling Pokemon game of all time. So excuse me for being skeptical.