11/25/2022: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet - One Week Later

It's been a week after the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and the dust is beginning to settle. Whenever a new game is released, there's an explosion of online disussion but one week in, and we're beginning to see less immediately reactionary opinions. Whether it's people playing the game and getting used to its quirks or people being able to vent, we're able to dig a little deeper.

I released my initial reactions blog only four days ago, but now that it's been a week since I've owned the game, I'm a little more prepared to talk about specific details of the game, both positive and negative. Again, there will be spoilers, and since this is a deeper dive into the game's specifics, there will be more specific spoilers as well. Be warned!

New Pokemon Designs

As stated before, I'm a big fan of a lot of the new designs! We've finally got a flamingo in Flamigo, a dolphin with Finizen and Palafin, and an ostrich in Esparada. I love Orthworm so much; look at his little legs when he wiggles them! I love Sprigatito, Floragato, and Meowscarada. I still think it's hilarious that he became bipedal. Like I said, Incineroar is one of my favorite Pokemon, and I think it's really funny that there were so many people dreading this outcome.

I'm also a fan of the Paradox Pokemon. More specifically, I love Slither Wing, Great Tusk, and Roaring Moon. Since I haven't played Violet yet and I haven't traded for them yet, I don't know too much about the future Paradox Pokemon. I do think that Iron Valiant is really cool, though! As for the convergent evolution Pokemon... I was disappointed, frankly. Wigglet is a funny concept, and I do like garden eels, but I thought that it would evolve into something more suited for its habitat. Instead, we got Wugtrio. I think it's kind of a funny concept in theory, but in practice, it's just another reskin of Gen 1 designs. Toedscool and Toedscruel follow the same principle to me. They even have the same Base Stat Total distributed in the same way! It's just a Type change...

We also didn't get a lot of Palean Regional Variants. We got Paldean Wooper who evolves into Clodsire and Paldean Tauros with three variants: regular, Blaze Breed, and Aqua Breed. Again, I'm a big fan of these, but I would have like more of them. I will admit that I'm conflicted: I like new Pokemon, I like Regional Variants, and I like the idea of Convergent Evolution Pokmeon, but I know we can't have a game completely made up of brand-new Pokemon, so what percentage needs to be old Pokemon? This new game being set in Spain is also a good reason to have Pokemon from Kalos and Galar show up, giving them some much-needed attention.

Open-World Design

This is one of the more contentious discussion points from what I've seen online: Does this game "count" as Open-World or not? Well... I think it does count. You aren't limited to specific zones, you arent' forced to go in any particular order, and you can explore wherever you want almost right off the bat. Now, does it count as a good Open-World game? This one is a little more influenced by preference.

A big sticking point for a lot of people is the lack of automatic level scaling. If you were to go immediately to the last two Gym Leaders, they'd have teams that reflect that, no matter what level your Pokemon are at. If you beat the toughest Gym Leaders and then go to the first Gym Leader, she'd have a team that's still low-level. There's a similar argument for the Titans and for the Team Star bases. One of the proposed solutions is to have each Gym Leader use a modified team based on how many Badges you have. I think that that's a great solution; I'm not sure how they would implement it, but it doesn't seem impossible.

However, looking at the game we have now is also important. I feel like, as it stands, this isn't necessarily a bad implementation of Open-World design in a Pokemon game. Yes, there are low-level areas and high-level areas, so you can't just go anywhere immediately, but for the type of game Pokemon is, I feel like this makes sense. If we look at other Open-World games like Breath of the Wild and Monster Hunter Rise, there are still "tough" areas and enemies and "weaker" areas and enemies. You could make the argument that there's a "correct" order to tackle The Divine Beasts. For Monster Hunter Rise, it's still divided into zones, and you unlock new Monsters the more you play and the more experience you get. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the same way. Also, since it's still an RPG, you need low-level areas to grind new Pokemon and high-level areas to challenge yourself.

I feel like having the different areas also allows you to challenge yourself, if you want to. Sure, you could go the "recommended" path (which isn't even spelled out in-game), or you could challenge one Gym past your level. You could still do a Nuzlocke Challenge, if you wanted. My partner is currently doing one where he only catches two Pokemon from the Tera Raid Dens in each Area. This will net him about 40 Pokemon, if he manages to catch them all, and since the average Nuzlocke nets about that many Pokemon, this is a valid way of playing.

Minor Gameplay Mechanics

The removal of the "Switch / Set" option has annoyed a lot of the more competitive fanbase, and I can understand why. While it doesn't remove the way that they want to play (you can just refuse to Switch), it is a Quality of Life option that has been there since Gen 1. I'm not sure why they removed it this Gen. In Gen 8, Exp. Share was removed, which was met with outcry as well. It does seem like The Pokmeon Company wants to make the games generally easier, but is that the case? I feel like having Exp. Share always on will allow them to better balance the game. I'm not sure why the removal of Set style, though. I'm also not a big fan of the removal of the option to turn off Move animations, but I can understand why they did that. They spent time working on those animations; I may as well look at them.

I made a Tutorial on Pokemon Breeding the other day, and I mentioned that the breeding mechanics were a little different in Gen 9. Instead of going to the Daycare Center, you can now get Pokemon Eggs while Picnicking. Honestly, I was a little skeptical at first, but this seems to be a great change! Now instead of being locked in one location and only breeding one Pokemon at a time, you can breed multiple target Pokemon at once with a Ditto wherever you want! The important mechanics that I like (Destiny Knot, Everstone, Egg Moves, etc.) seem to either be untouched or changed for the better. I need to do more research on The Mirror Herb, which appears to have some properties with Egg Moves.

Story

I'm not sure how specific I will get in this section, so this is another warning about spoilers! The conclusion will remain spoiler-free, so feel free to skip ahead if you want to do so.

I really like the companions that you get in this game. Nemona is competitive, driven, and so excited to battle you. Arven is sullen, but he's sensitive and has a heartfelt goal. Penny is quiet, but so many of her lines made me laugh, and she's very introspective. All of them bring something new to the table, and all of them make me excited to continue my adventure with them. There have been rumors that the Pokemon Anime may shift the spotlight from Ash for the first time ever, and whether or not that's the case, I hope that these three show up as traveling companions or recurring characters.

Koraidon was my buddy throughout the game, and I love him so much! He's so expressive, personable, and energetic. You can get the feeling that he cares about the player from the second that they meet, and that bond only strengthens throughout the adventure. I always felt happy whenever I saw him come out of his Pokeball to cause mischief.

The ending of the game was really, really cool. I won't spoil it here, but I will say that I didn't expect how it would all work out in the end, and I almost teared up. I think it's really awesome that, even after so many years of Pokemon, they were able to make an ending that I didn't see happening from the beginning and that emotionally moved me. I will say that a lot of modern Pokemon stories have been pretty cut-and-dry, so the bar was already low, but it's still refreshing that those expectations have been exceeded!

Conclusion

Overall, while I was initially negative in my first review, I'm still having a lot of fun with Pokemon Scarlet. I feel like my first review focused more on graphical glitches and how disappointing it is that the game released in this state, but mechanics-wise and story-wise, I really like this game!