This franchise has been dragging my corpse around for the last 8 years or so. Deep down, I knew I wasn't having fun - that the games maybe "weren't for me". Which is a tough realization when it's a video game series you've played your whole life. More than that, it's a series that actually got you into gaming. And now it's not for you. Yet I pushed through, hoping I'd find something worth playing. And in this particular entry I found that this wasn't "the best Poke'mon has ever been." It's actually quite the opposite.
Arceus created an iterative blueprint for Poke'mon in an open world. And S/V tried to expand that. Arceus had its problems, but the snappy gameplay made S/V perform like a slug.
That's the first problem with S/V. It plays so slowly. Battles are sluggish and you're inundated with text prompts that offer no value. The game doesn't treat you like a kid - it treats you like an idiot. At the very least, where is a setting to disable all the text? Abilities are back and further slow down momentum. The battles are so slow, that the Let's Go mode can actually get you more EXP, despite the penalty.
Which leads me into the next issue - game design. Nothing in this game fits together. The open world is wretched - it's ugly and boring. Trainers randomly stand around and Poke'mon pop in 2 feet in front of your face. Any potential for discovery is neutered by the amount of pop-in. To take out some binoculars and spot a rare Poke'mon on the horizon - boy that would have been nice.
There are no HMs, but your riding Poke'mon essentially replaces that. You eventually get to swim, fly, and climb. But these features do not actually gate the player. Poke'mon levels make no sense. You can climb a mountain that is only accessible in late game and find Level 10 Poke'mon up there. The gym leaders suffer the same issue. Because they don't scale with the player or # of badges, you will most likely dominate the competition or be dominated yourself. The game lacks any meaningful balance.
Most of the other features are padding or cruft. Picnics aren't fun; gym leader challenges make me think bad things; Team Star bases are embarrassing; and the Elite 4 are pushovers.
The previously mentioned pop-in is one of many disparate issues culminating in a horrendously-performing video game. Slow-down is frequent and textures load-in often. Something as simple as switching a Poke'mon could end up taking ~5 seconds. And the premier co-op experience - raids - only kinda work.
The only spark of legitimate joy I saw in the 25~ hours was the final battle. And the music was good too.
So yeah, I guess I'll give into the main criticism for people who don't like these games anymore. It's not for me. I'll be back when a Poke'mon title wins GOTY from multiple major publications.
Arceus created an iterative blueprint for Poke'mon in an open world. And S/V tried to expand that. Arceus had its problems, but the snappy gameplay made S/V perform like a slug.
That's the first problem with S/V. It plays so slowly. Battles are sluggish and you're inundated with text prompts that offer no value. The game doesn't treat you like a kid - it treats you like an idiot. At the very least, where is a setting to disable all the text? Abilities are back and further slow down momentum. The battles are so slow, that the Let's Go mode can actually get you more EXP, despite the penalty.
Which leads me into the next issue - game design. Nothing in this game fits together. The open world is wretched - it's ugly and boring. Trainers randomly stand around and Poke'mon pop in 2 feet in front of your face. Any potential for discovery is neutered by the amount of pop-in. To take out some binoculars and spot a rare Poke'mon on the horizon - boy that would have been nice.
There are no HMs, but your riding Poke'mon essentially replaces that. You eventually get to swim, fly, and climb. But these features do not actually gate the player. Poke'mon levels make no sense. You can climb a mountain that is only accessible in late game and find Level 10 Poke'mon up there. The gym leaders suffer the same issue. Because they don't scale with the player or # of badges, you will most likely dominate the competition or be dominated yourself. The game lacks any meaningful balance.
Most of the other features are padding or cruft. Picnics aren't fun; gym leader challenges make me think bad things; Team Star bases are embarrassing; and the Elite 4 are pushovers.
The previously mentioned pop-in is one of many disparate issues culminating in a horrendously-performing video game. Slow-down is frequent and textures load-in often. Something as simple as switching a Poke'mon could end up taking ~5 seconds. And the premier co-op experience - raids - only kinda work.
The only spark of legitimate joy I saw in the 25~ hours was the final battle. And the music was good too.
So yeah, I guess I'll give into the main criticism for people who don't like these games anymore. It's not for me. I'll be back when a Poke'mon title wins GOTY from multiple major publications.