having played a lot of Pokemon games through the years, i kinda just wanna get my thoughts out there on the latest mainline release
spoilers below
having cleared my 6th gym, all 5 titans, and 3 of the team star bases, there's 4 takeaways so far
-
From a character design standpoint, it's going pretty good! The NPCs feel distinct, have good personality, and a fair portion are memorable even after clearing their section.
-
Total open world doesn't quite work out for the game. I know it's something that's been clamored for for a long while, but. The game feels muddled for it. Most of the experience has been spent trying to navigate confusing landscapes, avoiding 8-inch tall sprites spawning right underneath me, and watching children stroll directly in the way of my ghost alligator sending a fire hawk into my enemies. Sword and Shield's Wild Area worked because it was contained to a specific zone for exploration, while story beats were contained within the more traditional instances.
-
Having battles occur within the overworld doesn't feel good. Sure, in concept it sounds cool to go "whoa i can rotate my camera and see the fight from every angle, people are watching, etc.", but the experience has become "the camera angle on this mountainside has me watching from underneath the floor". I've barely fought any trainers because all the fights are totally opt-in, and I can't find them most of the time.
-
I know I'm far from the first to say it, but this game needed more time and needed more people. It's playable, yes. It's recognizable as pokemon, yes. But there's a lot of friction moments present throughout play that really make it clear that it needed more time to get polished.
Scarlet/Violet are fine, so far. The characters are great, some of the new pokemon are cool, I almost cried during one of the plot lines yesterday. But by trying to be a huge open-ended world, the game ends up being an ambiguous experience that leaves me unable to get fully immersed in a state of play.