Considering the Dex has drank back a fair bit and the later games of the series are generally more accessible to new players then I'd say yes.

It's not a difficult game to get the hang of in general. 18 types that check and balance each other pretty well, hundreds of abilities and almost a thousand different possible moves make for a fairly new experience every playthrough if you don't just go for the same Mons and strategies again and again.

Edit: I'd recommend picking up an emulator and running through Fire red, Leaf Green or Emerald but if you get a chance to start in a game based on Unreal 4 rather than 32bit then it might make a better first impression.

Double edit:

New trailer showing new items that change natures as well as changes to rare candies and drugs.

Really not a fan of this. While it makes the competitive scene more accessible it's coming to close to just picking a team like a loadout in CoD.

 

Modest mint sounds like a band name.
Yeah this one should be a good starting point for the series, though that's pretty true of almost any of the series as they're pretty good (annoyingly so for Pokemon veterans) about explaining everything to new players. That said, this is the only one that has the wild area so that you can live out Pokemon Steve Irwin fantasies.

 

So, 6 more days until this comes out. I got my copy of shield all reserved so I can get my cotton candy pony. I know a lot of you are passing over this one, and that's perfectly fine, but who else is getting this? More importantly, who is getting Sword so I can trade version exclusives with them?

My friend code thing is: SW-4089-9280-4228on

 

@Jon is making me get it, please send help. He has my family...

Getting Shield but who cares? Steel Bird dude is obviously chad af and the only thing that matters. Best designed mon I've seen since the first 2 gens.

 

Agree with you about the bird, though I'm also pretty fond of the Dragon that has weaponized it's children.

 

I don't have an opinion on the matter but people up in arms over the diminished pokedex are calling it "Dexit" and that is the funniest thing I've heard all day.

 

Listen, the only thing I care about is if Haunter is in Sword so Jon can catch it and trade it to me. Everything else is 'whatever'.

 

I'm holding off for now, but I'm looking forward to seeing all your thoughts on it. Might buy it and push off Breath of the Wild a bit further if it's a hit.

 

Always knew you were a degenerate MLP stan.

 

I beseech thee God, for only two things - (1) for Scorbunny not to be the 999999th fire/fighting starter and (2) for the chance to beat up some chavs.

 

Spoiler: Starters

I'm pretty sure the leaks have confirmed that all of the starters are pure Grass, Fire, Water types

 

It's so close, folks. What's going to be your starter pick?

I've always wanted Gamefreak to make a grass gorilla Pokémon so I only have one reasonable option.

Also the other two starters are trash.

 

Scorbunny is definitely trash. Don't hate the water one. Probably go the monkey though? I dunno.

Bit concerned with all the leaks I'm seeing with how messed up the game is. They're even accepting refunds here on your pre-order no questions asked.

First Pokemon game I buy since Pearl and it's looking like a clusterfuck. Standard.

 

Or we're in the era of toxic fanbases full of fully grown children with no filter and plentiful online platforms to throw their hissyfits.

I think the game looks exceptional.

 

*Quietly takes his Scorbunny
I like all the starters, but then I have yet to see a starter I didn't like yet.
Also fuck the fanbase.

Edit: The fanbase

 

I also like Scorbunny based on the little I've read...

 

They're honestly not a bad set all around this gen to be fair though if the leaks are true I wouldn't ever want Sobble.

From each gen?

Charmander
Totodile
Mudkip
Turtwig/Piplup - that's a damned tie.
Tepig - disliked all the gen 5 starters.
Chespin
Rowlet
Grookey

 

It's still a Pokemon game, so if you just want to catch monsters and fight battles for a while, you'll have fun.

There's a lot of obvious laziness from Gamefreak this time around though. (Removal of GTS, 14 hour playtime, no dungeons, cut pokemon, bad animations/texturing/framerate drops). Additionally, Gamefreak never even mentioned in Japan that they'd be cutting Pokemon! (Which is coming back to bite them, hard.)

Regardless of the toxic fanbase, this game is still going to sell bonkers, so GF will not learn their lesson, and every future game will be just as mediocre.

Spoiler

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/dv438w/complete_list_of_all_problems_known_so_far_in/

 

In fairness Wonder Trade is still a thing so nobody gives a fuck that GTS is gone. Oh, you can't put up your level 3 Weedle for a Giratina? What a crying shame.