well, i finally did it! after months of being right near the end, i managed to boot the game back up and finish pokemon violet. this was urged on by my desire to not leave a bunch of games unfinished before moving on to the next one (casually kicks pile of other games under bed before you can notice), and since the new zelda is out this friday... i dedicated this weekend to pokemon.
i have to sayyyy... i'm very torn on this one. i'm not someone who thinks too hard about pokemon games, usually. 9 times out of 10 when i pick up a pokemon to play it's just because i wanna look at the cute monsters and dress up my trainer. i've been playing this franchise since i was a wee lass, having started with yellow, and i dip back in every so often, mostly at random, whenever the mood suits me. i haven't played every game in the series, and the ones i have played i don't always finish (this is my worst habit). i did, however, finish shield, and i enjoyed it a lot (although i've been told it wasn't very popular?). i tried legends arceus but didn't like it much personally, it felt very empty and unfinished, and i honestly, i feel similarly about violet.
i had a lot of issues performance-wise and it impacted my enjoyment of the game overall. i'm not a huge graphics person honestly, and i hardly play triple-A games, which is to say i'm not really a stickler for ~optimization~. i don't play pokemon because i expect it to play like last of us, ... however, i do expect to be able to walk down the slope of a mountain without the animation being cancelled every 3 seconds because it wasn't smoothed out to ensure your character could actually traverse it properly.
it wasn't empty like arceus at least - the world felt very lived in, but i never really felt the need to run around and explore like i did in breath of the wild (or even mario odyssey). the inability for the world to just, load in all the way??, meant my interest in exploring was nonexistent. beyond that, the textures on most objects were truly horrible, and i thought a lot of it was unpleasant to look at overall. i have no desire to go back and run around the world looking for secrets or side quests.
beyond just performance, the lack of customization for your trainer was disappointing too. i get that your trainer is a student this time, thus you must wear a uniform!!, but i wonder how much the school setting was a natural development, or one they chose so they didn't have to make as many clothing options as they did in shield. mmm well, regardless, even the way they presented the clothing shops were lackluster. it wasn't exciting going to the shops because of the clunky way trying things on was handled. if you were at a store that sold phone cases, for example, you would have to look at the tiny little icon next to the name of the pattern or style of case, instead of previewing the case in a panel next to the list of items you could buy.
the saving grace of it all, and the only reason i wouldn't outright call violet a bad video game, is that the characters are very charming. the stories themselves take a bit to get started, but there's enough going on in them that it kept my interest. i personally enjoyed the team star story the most, but i had a few outright favorites of the gym leaders (i fucking love larry) even though i'm a bit over the generic "gym battles and rivalry" plot device in pokemon. out of the 3 main characters, penny is my favorite, but both nemona and arven have their perks too. nemona is the best rival we've had in a while, and arven is a nice wholesome boy who desperately needs a haircut.
the ending of violet made me wish we could just have a "go around a pokemon world with your friends and explore!!" game that actually ran well. i don't mean like... open world pokemon a la horizon zero dawn, but something more downscale, with characters more fleshed out than the ones in violet, who get to have their own character arcs in conjunction with one another, that tie together in the final plot line. maybe something in the vein the "tales of" franchise would suit this ideal pokemon game in my head.
regardless, it wasn't my favorite, but i think i'll remember the characters from this one a bit more clearly, unlike characters from the other installments in the series. i liked them enough that i almost wouldn't mind a sequel game featuring the same cast, ...but hopefully during summer vacation so everyone can wear fun clothes again, lol.