I am in no way shape or form even close to the ending of the game because I've been having prior commitments and because of, well, the game itself I guess, but I did want to jot down some thoughts after spending some time with it.
-
So, obviously this is a very half-baked game and and an obvious result of either being rushed for the holidays, being way beyond Game Freak's abilities, or both. I'm not going to bother mentioning the technical issues because everyone has already done so, but that's not where the the problems end - or even really lie in, because for all its bugginess it's actually quite a stable game for me, just very janky.
-
The key thing that comes to mind is the open ended nature of the game. The idea of building your own adventure is befitting in this context and I really like the concept of the three different "plotlines" and how they in practice act as way to have challenges for the other element types not covered by the gyms. But the claims about being in charge of your own adventure - which the game also really hammers into you after the tutorial - fall apart the moment you realise that none of the events scale with you and the intended path (because there is one) is an incoherent jump back and forth the map. I'm currently going through some incredibly underleveled gyms and I feel like this issue is going to get worse, even though this would actually be the perfect opportunity for the challenge to scale based on your prior gym badges.
-
Same with the whole open world concept in general. I know so many fans have yearned for this for so long and I do really like seeing the pokémon in the overworld, but once again this is an open world with literally nothing to explore for outside the main population areas beyond some TMs and other items. The cities and towns have suffered the most: there's literally nothing to them apart from pokécentres and the few repeating shops. The emptiness of it all is more disheartening than the glitches. The Let's Go function also feels like it's got the start of something but they stopped working on it before they actually found a real purpose for it; after the first tutorial I've forgotten it exists altogether outside the Team Star bases. And the sandwiches are somehow both less developed yet deeper than the curry system.
-
But there are good things! There's definitely reasons why I keep playing. The general "gameplay loop" is as engaging as it was and I love building my team and my dex, the latter even moreso with those nice splash screens. The designs of the new mons is once again top notch like they've been for the past few generations, and one of the few areas where Game Freak are genuinely consistently good right now (though, like with the last gen, the starters once again feel like they put all the focus on the 1st form and then sketched out the rest on the way to the pub). Terastallisation is the first time the mega form format has actually felt like it has a point beyond a boring I Win -button, with the type swap offering some cunning options. And if there's a reason to look around the wide open wasteland world, it's watching the wild pokémon going about with their little behavioural quirks.
-
No comment on the story yet, especially given my understanding is that all the good parts kick in until the very endgame/post-game anyway. But all the little storylines are fleshed out decently enough that I'm sort of interested in the final outcome for both the Titans and Team Star and the underlying Big Mystery of the crater, and the Gym storyline just appeals to my preference of these games being about my trainer's journey above any doomsday cult nonsense. Not a big fan of the rival with her one-minded "WE MUST FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" mentality which got boring halfway through the first conversation with her, but maybe she'll have some hidden depths, IDK.
In summary: I'm enjoying this and I'm having fun playing it, but I think so far it's an obvious flawed entry on which we can spend the next few years debating on the internet about what could have been. A clear step down from Sword & Shield which was one of the strongest generations in the series' history for my money, and I think it'll take me a while to properly find the time/energy to finish this fully, but I'm enjoying my time with it regardless of the flaws - and I prefer using that word instead of "issues" or "problems" for a reason.
