Sooo Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is a really mixed bag if I'm being honest. First of all, Pokemon is literally what introduced me to gaming as whole, and since then I have played every mainline entry and most of the spinoffs. Pokemon is pretty important to me as a person, so keep that in mind as I explain why I'm conflicted about generation 9.
Let's get the obvious things out of the way first. The technical state in which this game launched and still is one year after release is absolutely unforgivable. I'm not even talking about the bugs here, I can ignore that pretty well as long as they aren't game breaking or something like that. The performance on the other hand is reaaally bad and very close to unplayable at times. This game needed a lot more time in the oven.
Then we have the character and creature designs. This is a very subjective topic, some people will like the more simplified design of older Pokemon and for others the new Pokemon are the highlight of the show. I consider myself in both camps as I love all the older designs, but when it comes to a new generation I prefer to explore the new Pokemon. Scarlet/Violet hit it out of the park when it comes to designs (including characters) as they pull heavily from both culture and history of the Iberian Peninsula, which is what Paldea as a region is based on.
And then there is the new shiny open world. Since Pokemon went 3D, the games have struggled extremely when it comes to level design. When the games used sprites the routes and caves were much more complex instead of straight ways with some branches here or there. With the addition of an open world, Gamefreak had the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and really think about how this world could come to life. Instead, it is literally one of the worst open worlds I have ever seen, with no interesting landmarks, secrets to explore or anything else of note. Most of it is boring grass lands, and the more interesting areas like the bamboo forest are small and struggle a lot with performance. Also, since there is no level scaling, if you even move one meter away from the predetermined path for the player you're immediately overleveled and therefore punished for exploring.
But then we have the story of Scarlet/Violet. Pokemon games never really focused on storytelling and used it more so as a way to flesh out the world of Pokemon and give you a motivation to progress. While the story of Generation 9 is of course nothing groundbreaking, I really enjoyed how they split the main story in three parts (Nemona/Arven/Penny) and by doing so telling a much smaller grounded character based story. All 3 parts lead to the finale in area zero, which is maybe one of my favourite moments in any Pokemon game ever? The build up, the atmosphere, the music and the mystery about it are so well done that I wondered if I'm playing the same game as before hitting area zero.
The DLCs are also out, and I think they are very much a continuation of the main game and how conflicting it is. Pretty much all the flaws and strengths of the main game apply to the DLC as well. They do not expand the game in any meaningful way, but instead focus on bringing more of the same to the table. While I don't think that is something bad, it really doesn't help me like this game more as would've liked.
This review is probably as mess, but that represents my feelings toward Scarlet/Violet pretty well. I want to like this game, but the game really makes me work for it. I hope I explained somewhat understandably why I feel the way I feel about this game.
Let's get the obvious things out of the way first. The technical state in which this game launched and still is one year after release is absolutely unforgivable. I'm not even talking about the bugs here, I can ignore that pretty well as long as they aren't game breaking or something like that. The performance on the other hand is reaaally bad and very close to unplayable at times. This game needed a lot more time in the oven.
Then we have the character and creature designs. This is a very subjective topic, some people will like the more simplified design of older Pokemon and for others the new Pokemon are the highlight of the show. I consider myself in both camps as I love all the older designs, but when it comes to a new generation I prefer to explore the new Pokemon. Scarlet/Violet hit it out of the park when it comes to designs (including characters) as they pull heavily from both culture and history of the Iberian Peninsula, which is what Paldea as a region is based on.
And then there is the new shiny open world. Since Pokemon went 3D, the games have struggled extremely when it comes to level design. When the games used sprites the routes and caves were much more complex instead of straight ways with some branches here or there. With the addition of an open world, Gamefreak had the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and really think about how this world could come to life. Instead, it is literally one of the worst open worlds I have ever seen, with no interesting landmarks, secrets to explore or anything else of note. Most of it is boring grass lands, and the more interesting areas like the bamboo forest are small and struggle a lot with performance. Also, since there is no level scaling, if you even move one meter away from the predetermined path for the player you're immediately overleveled and therefore punished for exploring.
But then we have the story of Scarlet/Violet. Pokemon games never really focused on storytelling and used it more so as a way to flesh out the world of Pokemon and give you a motivation to progress. While the story of Generation 9 is of course nothing groundbreaking, I really enjoyed how they split the main story in three parts (Nemona/Arven/Penny) and by doing so telling a much smaller grounded character based story. All 3 parts lead to the finale in area zero, which is maybe one of my favourite moments in any Pokemon game ever? The build up, the atmosphere, the music and the mystery about it are so well done that I wondered if I'm playing the same game as before hitting area zero.
The DLCs are also out, and I think they are very much a continuation of the main game and how conflicting it is. Pretty much all the flaws and strengths of the main game apply to the DLC as well. They do not expand the game in any meaningful way, but instead focus on bringing more of the same to the table. While I don't think that is something bad, it really doesn't help me like this game more as would've liked.
This review is probably as mess, but that represents my feelings toward Scarlet/Violet pretty well. I want to like this game, but the game really makes me work for it. I hope I explained somewhat understandably why I feel the way I feel about this game.