Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the latest entries in the long-running series and this time takes place in the Paldea Region. Sporting some new mechanics to enhance the gameplay, you will be sent on an adventure that will see you visiting pretty much every corner of the map. It does so in an open-world format and while this is very exciting, there are some issues that hold it back from being truly great.
New region, new friends, new adventures
As mentioned previously, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet take place in the Paldea Region. Your character is the new kid in town and is on the verge of starting their academic life at either Naranja or Uva academy, depending on which version of the game you play. While it does follow the traditional storyline of catching them all and being the best like no one ever was, there are actually three stories to enjoy as you make your way through the game.
While they’re nothing new in terms of Pokémon storylines, I found them to be surprisingly entertaining. Each of the stories pertains to a specific character or even the academy and the different branches tend to weave together quite nicely.
There are some really cool moments in the story and over time, I really started to care about the characters. Their personalities shine through brilliantly during the cutscenes and this doesn’t apply to just the humans either. The Legendary Pokémon Koraidon and Miraidon from Scarlet and Violet, respectively, also have some fantastic moments. They can be pretty cute at times and even have some tender moments; which was quite reminiscent of Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon films.
A tale of three paths
When it comes to the story, Victory Road covers the traditional tale of gathering eight badges from gym leaders and then challenging the Elite Four at the Pokémon League. However, the extra layer introduced in Sword and Shield is present here, where you have to complete a trial of sorts before being able to challenge that gym’s leader. They aren’t particularly challenging, but it’s a nice fun activity before battling it out.
Path of Legends sees you seeking out Titan Pokémon in order to battle them and find the Herba Mystica. The Titans themselves are essentially much larger versions of Pokémon you’ll find in the world, however, they don’t put up the biggest fight. For the most part, you should be able to take them down without much of an issue. The storyline itself is fantastic though and honestly had me feeling a little emotional at times.
Starfall Street is the storyline that sees your character taking on a villainous organisation. In this case, it’s the Paldea Region’s Team Star. Although, this isn’t the usual fare where you take on each member you find in a battle. Instead, you’ll visit each of the Team Star bases, send out three Pokémon from your team and must defeat a certain number of enemies within ten minutes.
This all happens in the overworld though and utilizes the game’s Let’s Go feature, which sees your Pokémon auto-battling others while walking around with you. It’s a bit of a race against the clock, but can also be a challenge if your team isn’t varied enough when it comes to type advantages. The only way you can heal them is by using a vending machine located inside the base, however, if all of their health has been depleted before doing so, you’ll fail and have to begin again. Hit your quota, and you’ll be able to take on the base’s leader. It’s actually pretty exciting and the Let’s Go feature changes up the challenge somewhat.
Walk this way
Being an open-world experience, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet allows you to take on gyms, titans or bases in the order of your choosing. Of course, this means that you could show up at one of these points before being at the appropriate level range, which adds a substantial challenge to your path. This also means that you’ll have a rather easy time later down the line though. The choice is all yours. I mainly tried to take one of each as I travelled, but there were some instances where took on two gyms in a row before switching it up.
The open-world format is a joy and visiting each of the biomes means new Pokémon to find and catch so you can fill out your Pokédex. I loved the freedom of being able to go wherever I wanted and stumbling upon items, rare Pokémon and mass outbreaks. Plus, Pokémon can be seen in the overworld and will approach or even avoid you. Bug types hang from trees and flying types hover above you.
Additionally, travelling becomes easier as you progress through the game with Koraidon or Miraidon learning new abilities. Even battling trainers has been improved as you no longer have to avoid their gaze if you don’t feel like taking part in a battle. You actually have to go up to them and start a conversation before a battle will ensue.
Tera-fying tactics
Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet each have their own Tera type and can enhance their abilities during battle by Terastallizing. Along with a flashy transformation, this allows the Pokémon to become their Tera type.
Using attacks that match the Tera type makes them even stronger, however, it also adds a nice layer of strategy where with some Pokémon, you can change their type mid-battle. For example, an Electric type like Pikachu could possibly change to a Flying type and essentially be immune to Ground type attacks. It’s a great feature and it looks cool to boot!
Game Freak have also somewhat mitigated the one-time use change made to TMs. While this is still the case in Scarlet and Violet, a TM Machine has been introduced, which allows you to craft additional copies of one that you’ve found. Finding a TM in the world also unlocks the crafting recipe and each time you defeat a wild Pokémon, they drop materials. Most of the time, you’ll even have the required materials before you’ve even unlocked the recipe simply because they’re in abundance. The machine can be found at each Pokémon Centre too, so they can be accessed fairly often.
Nutritional nuances
Speaking of crafting, you can also create sandwiches when having a picnic. Recipes can be found all over Paldea and each one provides different buffs, be it for encountering certain types, increasing the rate of getting eggs or even making it easier to catch certain types. You can also order meals from stalls and cafes if you don’t want to buy fillings and condiments to make sandwiches. The latter is definitely the cheaper option though.
Also, the Let’s Go feature comes in handy a lot when getting the required amount of materials or just trying to level weaker Pokémon. All you have to do is hit the “R” button and your lead Pokémon will head out and battle wild ones or even just pick up items. Wander too far from them though and they will return to their Poké Ball. It’s great for exploring when you don’t want to fight the same wild Pokémon over and over.
It’s not very effective…
Not all is well in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet though as the visuals and performance leave a lot to be desired. The visuals are fine, for the most part. Character models of people and Pokémon look really good inside and in battles and the glossier textures shine beautifully. Other times though, it looks rough.
The environments can get fairly blurry and there are times when models in the distance pop in out of nowhere. In addition to this, the performance is quite choppy. This applies to scenes when NPCs struggle to move at the same frame rate as the main characters, but also when you’re out exploring. Just riding Koraidon in the world can be a little hard to look at. Nintendo have confirmed that they are dedicated to fixing these issues, so let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long until the game is in a better state.
The audio is fantastic though and sports a varied soundtrack that changes depending on the biome you’re currently in. There are some really great tunes that bring an equal measure of funky tracks with bass-laden riffs and fast-paced electronica. I do wish that there was voice acting for some of the cutscenes though because there are a good number where it could work really well.
Flawed, but not broken
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are really good. It delivers an entertaining story with branches that weave together nicely and the personalities of the characters shine through brilliantly. The open-world format of the game works incredibly well and I sincerely hope that this is the way forward for future games. The Let’s Go feature also makes exploring that much more enjoyable. Tera types and Terastallizing adds a surprising layer of strategy to battles and looks really flashy as well.
The visuals and performance do dampen the experience though. There are times when I thought the game looked really good and then other times, it looked like a step backwards for the visuals. The same rings true for the performance, which can be incredibly choppy as the frame rate struggles to keep a steady pace. I sincerely do hope that this is remedied soon though as it puts a blemish on the experience of an otherwise great game.
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