In a recent interview with Game Informer about the upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield, Planning Director Kazumasa Iwao spoke with the publication and revealed some pretty interesting information concerning the battle system and what facets are constantly being reexamined. According to Iwao about keeping the long running franchise fresh:

I think with the Pokemon games, you’re taking the elements that existed before and add onto them with every game, but we don’t just take the elements for granted. Each time we make a new game, we review what’s there and make sure they make sense for the project and that we’re confident we can make them fun for the next game.

Game Freak also considered changing up the number of moves Pokemon can use. But Iwao decided against this, stating that allowing for less or more would impact the gameplay balance.

If you make it five or even more than five, that makes it so a lot of the Pokemon can really do anything, and it becomes a lot harder to read what your opponent might do because there are just that many more possibilities of moves they could use. I think that hurts the balance of the gameplay quite a bit. At the same time, even if you reduce it by one to three, you really start seeing there are haves and have nots in the Pokemon world. Like, these Pokemon are obviously way stronger than the rest of these Pokemon. We keep coming back and finding that four is the right number for the current battle system, but it is something we revisit.

Game Informer also reported that Game Freak "thought about changing up the very core of the battle system from the traditional turn-based experience, but reconsidered when thinking of the initial themes for this next entry." However, Director Shigeru Ohmori stated that the team "felt like expressing the turn-based battles in their ultimate form."

After Game Informer reported that Pokemon Sword and Shield will feature 18 gyms, developer Game Freak has clarified that statement by saying it won’t feature that many gyms.

In other recent news a new form for Farfetch’d, called Sirfetch’d, was revealed. And in the 24 livestream event, Galarian Ponyta was revealed as well. We also found out that HMs won’t appear and the games will feature autosaving. Additionally, instead of exp. share returning to the series, experience points will be distributed evenly to each Pokemon in your party.

There are two other recent trailers for Pokemon Sword and Shield. The first showed off Team Yell, new Pokemon forms and evolutions, a new Pokemon, and new rivals. The second showcased more gameplay, new abilities, moves, and held items. There’s also a new video, narrated by Shigeru Ohmori, as he tours players around an unnamed town in in the game. While it seems to be a location from early on in the game, it is still quite robust and differentiates itself from previous towns with its location on the side of a hill.

Pokemon Sword and Shield will be released for Nintendo Switch on November 15th. Meanwhile check out a write-up from one of our DualShockers own, in which he claims this will be the series title to reignite his passion for the series. You can preorder Sword here and Shield here.