Last Review: 2022 Game Thoughts Wrap Up End of the Year
I went into Pokemon Scarlet and gosh was this a rough game to look at. Looking past the graphical blunders, the gameplay itself is great and I feel is a solid entry into the Pokemon lineup. I knew that Arceus was something of a flash in the pan and I did not expect S/V to be anywhere near as good. My expectations were appropriate.
Here's how my reviews work. If I like a game enough to complete it then it gets a review. If I don't like a game and don't enjoy it to completion, I won't review it. I try to keep spoilers to a minimum and I won't review games I don't want to complete.
Themes and age rating
Monsters fighting other monsters to see who can be the very best. This game is mild in it's conflict and dialog. Rated E for everyone!
Story Thoughts
It's the typical pokemon story, with a mostly light hearted tone and a few serious notes sprinkled in. It's not super deep or highly emotional but it does have some takes regarding school place bullying, expressing oneself and choosing your own path.
Graphical Presentation
This has been beat to death by other reviews but if you haven't heard the game itself visually looks very bad. Choppy framerates, game freezes, laggy controls, mushy textures, awkward lighting, aliasing everywhere you look, bad draw distance, bad shadows. This is definitely the result of not wanting to compromise. Perhaps they should have done simple lighting, reduced the draw distance, added loading zones, and doing simple shadows would have done this game favors. I would have been fine with reducing graphical load and getting a much pretty looking game. Graphics aren't everything and it's sad to see devs push and mandate graphics over game smoothness.
Audio and Sound Presentation
This game sounds very good. There isn't really a track I dislike. I love the wild pokemon theme, and the fact that the theme changes based on the region of the world you're in really makes it extra cool. Town music is inoffensive, some tracks make a return like the pokemon center theme. Some of the standout tracks are Team Star's various themes and Area 0. The overworld wild pokemon battle music is also some of my favorite.
Main Gameplay
It's pokemon. You catch pokemon to make a team then challenge overworld trainers to earn money and level up your pokemon. What sets this game apart is that you have three separate roads you can challenge and you are given free reign to choose your path. The game doesn't really tell you where to go or what to do, so it's very easy sequence break, or to get lost. This in turn encourages exploring but got to watch out if you enter zones far above your team level. Filling the pokedex and checking your progress awards useful items. In the overworld, most places, if you can see them, you get get to those areas. You are able to explore more of the world with more abilities you earn through gameplay. The pokemon battles can be simple or hard depending on your team make up and experience earned. You can change clothes but only accessories. Full on outfits are limited to the school uniform in different seasonal flavors. You can choose a binary pronoun by choosing a portrait at the beginning of the game, then dress and style your hair however you want. A strange oddity of the game is very weird catch rates. Some pokemon just felt broken, with catch rates really low after paralyzing/sleeping and getting the pokemon to 1hp. It highly encourages the use of quick balls, dusk balls and timerballs. This game also features boss battles against certain big pokemon and the leader of team star which adds a new dynamic to the pokemon formula. (The boss concept seems brought over from Pokemon Arceus.)
Conclusion
This game is rough visually, amazing aurally. I enjoyed the game's theme of choice, and the game provided a somewhat decent challenge here and there. I'm heading into post game and if there's anything of note that happens there I may make an post for those. Currently looking for the rest of the pokemon and see where it takes me. So far, I'd say this game is alright. Not the best, far from perfect but perfectly ok. Perhaps I'm a little blinded by the fact I really love pokemon. (But truth be told, I love pokemon themselves, I've always thought of the games as somewhat subpar, so I think my bias is balanced and under control.)
Thanks for reading,
-LilTigerRawrz