This review contains spoilers
In my opinion, this game and his conterparts represents the real lowest point in the franchise. Let's cast aside the story that is a personal question and can be argued (I only liked Arven and Riben as characters, the rest of them bored me). Let's talk about the battles, that is a good half of Pokémon concept's core, gym leaders are completely incapable of countering a super effective pokemon and what's even worse, if they find themselves to have their last pokemon who's type is advantaged against the pokemon who destroyed their entire team they're still going to teracrystalize and make that advantaged pokemon weak to ours just because it is scripted that they tera first turn, a thing that not even mega wielders in 6th gen were forced to do, even if it was only the best option. There are few combo that can really work (Iono's ace for example) and when they try them the level design decides to break the combo (by raining when someone sets sunny day). I won't talk about the technical issues because it would be rubbing salt into the wound, but I can complain about the graphic that is ridiculous and doesn't even try to make up for the lack of content(yes, I am looking at mount glaceado). At least, there are some of the best designs in the last generations like ceruledge, annihilape, roaring moon and flutter mane, at the cost of some nightmares like spidops, baxcalibur and most of all orthworm, but this again is a personal matter. Than, I found some plot solutions really lazy like the final battle Miraidon vs Miraidon, while it could have been Miraidon vs Koraidon (maybe they could have said that the others was the only pokemon the professor brought from the future/past because it was too aggressive, just to justify his presence, and it could have been quite interesting seeing a professor that is obsessed with past/future fighting his last battle with a pokemon coming from the opposite timeline), or the epilogue after the dlc which was meant to explain how pecharunt was using the deepest desires of pokemons and humans to control them (that could have been a super interesting matter, because it could have been linked with the main story and the desire of the professor for the future/past by revealing at the end that it wasn't pecharunt's control's fault but it was his true desire for example), but degenerated in clearly stating that all human's true desire was to be a damn chicken.
I am really disconsolate about what Pokémon is giving us especially after what they demonstrated to be able to achieve in the golden era of NDS, and I think it is obvious that this product is a rushed project that was completely destroyed by logic of market and profit. I will now put my hope in the legends series that I have appreciated up until now because if this is what the main line is planning to feed us from now on than I think I am not gonna catch 'em all anymore.
I am really disconsolate about what Pokémon is giving us especially after what they demonstrated to be able to achieve in the golden era of NDS, and I think it is obvious that this product is a rushed project that was completely destroyed by logic of market and profit. I will now put my hope in the legends series that I have appreciated up until now because if this is what the main line is planning to feed us from now on than I think I am not gonna catch 'em all anymore.
it's technically the best core gameplay loop pokemon has had for years but also it fuckin sucks
Open world without scaling...
Idk, got bored of it fast. First time a mainline Pokémon game has done that.
+ 11/2 stars for the selfie camera unironically where I got most of my enjoyment
Made it up to the postgame but got too burnt out to continue past that. Framerate and other performance issues aren't enough to turn me off from a game but ffs the wasted potential here is so irritating. There's a great game buried in here somewhere but Game Freak farting this one out in such an early stage of development knowing it'll make a trillion dollars regardless is shameful.
The only time I become one of the "but the tree graphics!!1!" people is when it involves literally the highest-grossing franchise in the world... who cares about the integrity of putting out a quality product when you know consumers will eat up whatever you put out ig. The last mainline game I'm playing on release.
Bring back the PSS and Pokemon Amie and then we'll talk 🤚 Until we get Pokéathlon in glorious HD with Mario & Sonic Olympic Games-level graphics I'm #done
Made it up to the postgame but got too burnt out to continue past that. Framerate and other performance issues aren't enough to turn me off from a game but ffs the wasted potential here is so irritating. There's a great game buried in here somewhere but Game Freak farting this one out in such an early stage of development knowing it'll make a trillion dollars regardless is shameful.
The only time I become one of the "but the tree graphics!!1!" people is when it involves literally the highest-grossing franchise in the world... who cares about the integrity of putting out a quality product when you know consumers will eat up whatever you put out ig. The last mainline game I'm playing on release.
Bring back the PSS and Pokemon Amie and then we'll talk 🤚 Until we get Pokéathlon in glorious HD with Mario & Sonic Olympic Games-level graphics I'm #done
You know, if they actually released this game without the performance issues it would've been one of the best Pokémon games they have ever made.
Open world, interesting story, interesting Tera mechanic, the base was there for them to really make it a perfect game for the series. Instead, it's incredibly hampered with performance issues. Despite releasing expansions, updates, whatever, the issues are still there and really ruin what could've been an all time Pokémon game.
Open world, interesting story, interesting Tera mechanic, the base was there for them to really make it a perfect game for the series. Instead, it's incredibly hampered with performance issues. Despite releasing expansions, updates, whatever, the issues are still there and really ruin what could've been an all time Pokémon game.
Buggy? yes. Still a very fun game, and a step in the right direction
The first mainline Pokémon game that couldn't overcome its flaws by being Pokémon.
well, it's a pokemon game. i can't really rate it any worse because of that fact.
they certainly did better than sword and shield, i'll give them that, but as time goes on i feel like the pokemon experience is getting more and more convoluted and warped beyond my recognition. of course, the main loop is still there in a way. battles function the same, you go through all the gyms and become the champion, but they've done something new in introducing a fully open world.
...buuut they don't really take advantage of this. sure, they have new quests for you to partake in, all of them required to reach the ending of the game, but the way they are paced and placed make them feel more like a checklist rather than actual story content. not to mention that the quests themselves aren't even level-scaled. you can take them on in any order, but it's very clear there is a definitive order they want you to go in, considering the levels of the pokemon you encounter. that kinda defeats the point for an open-world game, doesn't it? and with this free-form choice given to the player and the lack of level-scaling, they were able to forego both giving the game a progressing story AND having to balance a free-roaming pokemon experience, the worst of both worlds!
as for the story itself, it's not terrible. some aspects are pretty adventurous for a pokemon game i'll admit. i am, though, starting to get tired of the pretty basic formula and assumptions the game makes about you as a character. i didn't really find myself with a reason to appreciate any of the characters i encountered, and yet i was constantly bombarded with them as if i actually had reason to care. thing is, pokemon has always had this issue of having very bland or flat writing, and i've always just dealt with it. but as the games evolve, so does their potential for cutscenes and storytelling. it went well for a while leading up to gen 5, but once gen 6 entered the scene it started to tumble back down and drag its feet.
i dunno. the characters themselves seem more like storytelling devices rather than actual people, and i can't find myself getting that attached to them like other people have.
at the end of the day though, its a pokemon game. i love to see and catch new pokemon, and learn how they function in battle. not all the designs are winners, but most i can still appreciate, and it's still the one thing i look forward to whenever a new game releases. they've got a winning formula there, at least! let's just hope that they begin to see the light and not introduce 10 more broken abilities in the next one, right?
they certainly did better than sword and shield, i'll give them that, but as time goes on i feel like the pokemon experience is getting more and more convoluted and warped beyond my recognition. of course, the main loop is still there in a way. battles function the same, you go through all the gyms and become the champion, but they've done something new in introducing a fully open world.
...buuut they don't really take advantage of this. sure, they have new quests for you to partake in, all of them required to reach the ending of the game, but the way they are paced and placed make them feel more like a checklist rather than actual story content. not to mention that the quests themselves aren't even level-scaled. you can take them on in any order, but it's very clear there is a definitive order they want you to go in, considering the levels of the pokemon you encounter. that kinda defeats the point for an open-world game, doesn't it? and with this free-form choice given to the player and the lack of level-scaling, they were able to forego both giving the game a progressing story AND having to balance a free-roaming pokemon experience, the worst of both worlds!
as for the story itself, it's not terrible. some aspects are pretty adventurous for a pokemon game i'll admit. i am, though, starting to get tired of the pretty basic formula and assumptions the game makes about you as a character. i didn't really find myself with a reason to appreciate any of the characters i encountered, and yet i was constantly bombarded with them as if i actually had reason to care. thing is, pokemon has always had this issue of having very bland or flat writing, and i've always just dealt with it. but as the games evolve, so does their potential for cutscenes and storytelling. it went well for a while leading up to gen 5, but once gen 6 entered the scene it started to tumble back down and drag its feet.
i dunno. the characters themselves seem more like storytelling devices rather than actual people, and i can't find myself getting that attached to them like other people have.
at the end of the day though, its a pokemon game. i love to see and catch new pokemon, and learn how they function in battle. not all the designs are winners, but most i can still appreciate, and it's still the one thing i look forward to whenever a new game releases. they've got a winning formula there, at least! let's just hope that they begin to see the light and not introduce 10 more broken abilities in the next one, right?
I finished every single storyline and then never actually finished the game. Whoops.
Not for me
It’s nowhere near as buggy as people say it is, and the story is actually pretty interesting. Mechanically it’s just another Pokémon game which isn’t bad, but they don’t do a lot of creative things with it.
I feel like this game is just a prototype for future Pokemon games because you see how they are experimenting. I also feel like this game is held back by the switch itself, graphics-wise.
i cant see shit
Does it have a bit of jank? Yeah, definitely. But it's not as big of an impact on the experience as people make it out to be, and boy what an experience this game gives you. If nostalgia was easier to break through, this could've easily been my favorite gen. I know a lot of people hard disagree, but this game just reaffirmed to me that Game Freak still has it in 'em.
game rocks when it doesnt fuckin SUCK
best pokemon game so far, still disappointing compared to other games of its generation. please hand this ip to a different company. look at palworld
they made a mainline pokemon game that takes most of the things i liked about arceus and throws away most of the things i disliked about older mainline games! yay! first mainline game i actually finished and it was pretty fun
i like the open world part of just hanging around :] i'm still too lazy to battle though. half of the battle gameplay was me asking one of my wives "hey what type is good against this one". i never remember.
great story, really funny characters. literally making a rival whose only braincell is pokemon battling is so funny. music is great, love some dynamic audio
i will however be one of those people: damn the rendering almost ruined this game for me. it's a damn shame the game has all these cool mechanics and story and everything and then you get the final thing running at 15fps and glitching its visuals constantly. i really wish they had the time to work on that. i wish pokemon devs had time, period
i like the open world part of just hanging around :] i'm still too lazy to battle though. half of the battle gameplay was me asking one of my wives "hey what type is good against this one". i never remember.
great story, really funny characters. literally making a rival whose only braincell is pokemon battling is so funny. music is great, love some dynamic audio
i will however be one of those people: damn the rendering almost ruined this game for me. it's a damn shame the game has all these cool mechanics and story and everything and then you get the final thing running at 15fps and glitching its visuals constantly. i really wish they had the time to work on that. i wish pokemon devs had time, period
i got this shit early and i still didnt beat it LOL
this game had a lot of cool ideas, but unfortunately were so bugged out on my docked switch i didn't get to appreciate most of them
Actually a lot better than other recent games from what I’ve played. Though I am against any of the weird new forms during battle.
Honestly the characters are fun and it perfects the pokemon formula but the graphics aren't good at all and my lord the framerate is horrendous.
does quite a few things right, but ultimately very flawed. enjoyable enough for me to finish, and gives me hope that someday we'll get a really good 3d pokemon game, but that's not this one. if they'd let it bake another year or so and been able to properly integrate the dlc content and story it could've been much better, but alas.
never really liked pokemon but the story's pretty good
if we keep going in this game and Arceus's direction we will eventually arrive at the dream pokemon game, as for this one, i had a great time with it. i feel it's going to be hard to play the older games now, IF only i could catch pokemon on the fly like in Arceus insted of battling them we would have been golden
this game is the best nothingburger ive ever played
I had to get over the open world, but once I did I enjoyed the game.
Honestamente, se a otimização desse jogo não tivesse sido feita com o CU (além de sair num console datado) seria um dos mais divertidos da franquia. O combate em específico pra mim é o mais legal feito até hoje, mas na gameplay os seus pontos negativos sobrepõem muito os positivos.
I honestly can't say why I like this game in comparison to other pokemon games. The open world gameplay is arguably a lot worse than Legends Arceus', but I still found myself enjoying this game. The open ended exploration was pretty fun and pokemon is just inherently suited for an open world. The formula needs severe tweaking though, gyms being fixed level makes zero sense for a game where you can do gyms in any order, the catching should take more elements from legends arceus, and I also miss the actual gameplay challenge of pokemon being dangerous from Legends.
vroom vroom sanwich eating motorbike