After multiple teasers and trailers, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are finally here! From what we know, the new Pokemon games will have returning elements from Pokemon Sword and Shield and Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
To be exact, Scarlet and Violet will use an open-world concept in Legends while sharing traditional elements from the mainline games of Sword and Shield. In other words, the games will be a test for Game Freak on how they adopt these elements. So let’s take a look what are the nay and yay for the newest Pokemon entries!
Let’s start with the things that we love.
The Plot and Gameplay are Non-Linear
Commonly, Pokemon games tend to be very linear with their plots. You play as a child that aims to be a Pokemon League champion and along the way, you are to deal with a criminal organisation that is unique to each game.
For Scarlet and Violet, this premise has been overhauled. Instead, you get to choose your own path where you either choose to be a Pokemon Champion, help Arwen or assist Cassiopeia to disband the delinquents called Team Star.
The choice lies in the player’s hands as they get to emphasise which journey they want to take. Although, it is recommended that you complete certain parts of the paths as they all come with benefits that will help your Pokemon team get stronger.
Overall, this is an awesome change and hopefully, this would be the structure for future Pokemon games.
A Huge Variety of Pokemon
Building a Pokemon team can be a tough thing to do as most of the time, one region has only a limited amount of top-tier Pokemon that can be caught. Well, for Scarlet and Violet, the options are aplenty.
Instead of strictly including new Pokemon from the Paldea region only, the game opens up and has a truckload of Pokemon from other regions. As such, players can now truly diversify their Pokemon teams and can also essentially make an all-star team to beat the game.
Added with the recent change to how your entire party gains experience after battle means that forming more than one core team is also viable. This opens the door to more strategising and can also potentially reduce the mundanity of fixating in just one team.
A Good Change to the TM System
Before this, Technical Machines (TMs) are usually either one-time use or can be used repeatedly. This time around, TMs are also a single usage but the game allows you to craft more TMs through material drops from wild Pokemons.
This is a page taken from Pokemon Legends’ book and it is brilliant. Indirectly, this makes grinding a lot more worthwhile and catching new Pokemons better as their drops can be used to convert into powerful TMs.
Plus, we also love that the materials’ names have the Pokemon name on them so searching for the right Pokemon that drops the spoils is actually super easy!
Remembering Moves is Now Free
One of the most frustrating things about the previous Pokemon games is getting your Pokemon to recall forgotten moves. You will commonly need to get either a hard-to-find ingredient to pay the Move Reminder to do this and getting these ingredients is a hassle.
Finally, this has been reworked or should we say removed! Recalling forgotten moves has never been easier in Scarlet and Violet as it can be done from the menu itself. All you need to do is select your Pokemon and select the option to remember past moves. Super easy and really convenient.
So, now that we’ve covered the good stuff, it is time to reveal some of the not-so-good parts of the game. These are areas we felt that the developers can improve upon to make the game much more enjoyable.
Also, do note that we are not bashing the game or anything as these are our opinions and we advise our readers to take them with a grain of salt.
Performance Issues
Unfortunately, the game is rather poorly optimised. In certain areas, especially in large crowds or places with many objects, the game’s framerates will see a noticeable dip.
These FPS drops will also cause micro-stutters can be annoying and will make the adventure across the Paldea region less seamless. The slowdowns can also be pretty random causing lag spikes and hopefully, the developers will put out a patch to address this.
Additionally, there are instances where the load times are very long. For example, a player leaving an area or entering a cutscene can take a good 5-6 seconds which is considerably lengthy by modern-day standards.
Unable to Enter Houses
Discovering new places has always been one of the best parts of Pokemon games. Sure, Scarlet and Violet might have the open-world feature, but taking away most interiors of towns is a little disappointing.
The excitement of entering a new house or what we can get inside is non-existent here. Remember how frightened we were when Cynthia suddenly popped up in a random house in Undella Town? It was scary but it was also a memorable experience.
Moving forward, we do hope that the developers would consider including the interiors again. We understand that it might take extra work but it is one of the more adored charms of the Pokemon games.
Set Mode Has Been Removed
This might not be significant for newcomers but veterans of the Pokemon series will know this is a game changer. Generally speaking, Pokemon games are very easy to play and one of the ways to make them more difficult is to turn on Set Mode.
For those who don’t know, Set Mode basically means you cannot freely change your Pokemon after fainting an opponent’s Pokemon. If you wish to switch out your current Pokemon, you will need to sacrifice a turn. In other words, you need to rethink when and how to switch out, allowing for more depth in gameplay.
Also, Set Mode is basically a must for Nuzlockes and without them, the challenge will be a lot less fun. Of course, you can still cancel the option willfully when asked to change, but it is kind of a hassle and sometimes rather annoying to do manually.
And there we have it! This is what enjoyed and didn’t enjoy so much about the new Pokemon games, Scarlet and Violet. Do you share the same views as us? And if you are looking to play them yourself, be sure to purchase them using our Nintendo eShop Gift Cards here!
