>>43219876I had a lot of issues with the story. For starters, I'm not a fan of pokemon's world-ending stories. I prefer the more personal and understandable ones which don't focus heavily on some apocalyptic conflict, like those in Gen 1, 2, and to some extent Gen 5.
As for SwSh's story, it is entirely crammed in the final parts of the game, and feels like it comes out of absolutely nowhere. It is terribly paced, with random "events" happening (like pokemon dynamaxing out of nowhere) without the player being there or any effects of those events being seen. By the time the story does happen, I barely understood what was on or what team Macro (is that what they were called? I can barely remember them) is attempting to do, or why the undefeated champion needs to be rescued. Speaking of Team Macro, they don't show up until the very last seconds of the story, and then they are gone for good.
I don't have an issue with Sonia, Hop, or Leon. They did establish good character relationships, but that's about it. They don't stand out from other rivals, but that's not really an issue that I have with the game.
Additionally, the postgame felt awkward to me. Again, I don't remember it too well, but I remember there being odd exposition about the player character being the chose one or a reincarnation of the hero? I could be wrong, but basically it wasn't memorable and the battle was anti-climactic (as was the wacky subplot with the traitorous professor assistant and the royalty with funny hair). At the very least, returning to the gyms for raid battles was fun.
