I cannot say that I’ve been a hardcore Pokémon gamer since the beginning.
My console journey started with my parents’ Atari…yes, you read that correctly, an Atari. I didn’t get an actual console for myself, handheld or otherwise, until I was around thirteen, and I’m in the low thirties now. From the Atari I jumped to a PlayStation 2 right around the time I was in Junior High, and then I saved and bought myself a Gameboy Advance a few years later. I then jumped to an Xbox 360 about a year and a half after it hit the market, and a PlayStation 4 a year or so after it’s release, and the same goes for the Nintendo Switch.
All that to say, my consoles have been all over the place and I’ve not been a diehard Nintendo owner and Pokémon enthusiast (that’s my husband).
I did however love the show with a passion and you better believe I had plushies and figures that I played with while watching it after school. I ate that stuff up like no one’s business.
Eevee was my bae, and Arcanine was my boo. They still are 9 generations down the road.
There are a lot of competitors for those titles though, and the new Pokémon of Scarlet and Violet are some of the strongest contenders to date.
A Note to the Reader
There may be mild spoilers ahead. I will try not to go into specifics and keep things in pretty general terms. I’ve also included some pictures of my journey which may be spoiler-adjacent.
Consider yourself warned.
Also, I write this review as a casual Pokémon player. I’ve not done many raid dens, and I’ve not made a single sandwich for myself. They are worth looking into though. However, since I’ve not done much, if any, of either I’m not including them in this review.
You may proceed.
Game Overview
The world is inhabited by creatures called Pokémon, and it is your purpose and joy to go forth and catch them all, while defeating gyms to become a Champion…Oh, and go fight these enemy groups that call themselves Team Star. Also can you go to these locations and find these strange large Pokémon and in doing so gather some magic herbs that they will munch on? And can you take care of this weird looking Pokémon who definitely isn’t from around here?? That would be great! 😆
You are a new transfer student to the Academy Uva (Violet) or Naranja (Scarlet), and are visited by first the school’s director, and shortly thereafter you get to meet your “rival” as in all Pokémon games. Your starter options are presented, and the story begins.
You are presented very quickly with the three main paths of the game: Victory Road (gyms), Path of Legends (titan Pokémon), and Starfall Street (Team Star). This game does a fine job of throwing all the options at you from the very first few minutes and turning you loose into Paldea, the region in which Pokémon Scarlet & Violet take place.
Actually you can wander around and take off without even heading to the school or starting any of these paths. That’s how open the game is.
However, to roll credits you will need to accomplish these paths.
What I Loved
Open World
Being able to just turn and go in any direction is amazing. Like most games the Pokémon are scaled to regions, and at a super low level you can roll up on level 50+ Pokémon. You may regret it if you choose to battle, but you can certainly do it if you want. No one is stopping you, which leads me to the next thing I loved.
No Forced NPC Battles
By this I mean those strangers standing along the road as you head between towns or on a random mountain top. You’re not going to find your character get stopped in their tracks and have to turn and face Youngster Maddie (I’m sure there’s one out there) and defeat her in battle. You are encouraged to battle these NPCs in the form of the Pokémon Battle League. Near most Pokémon Centers is an NPC that will reward you once you’ve fought X amount of NPCs in that region.
The Story
I’ve heard of lot of gripe about the story (about a lot of things let’s be honest) but I really enjoyed the narrative of this game. There was a good little mystery teased throughout. The Path of Legends arc was super touching and I won’t deny I teared up a little at what might be happening. And the last bit of story/endgame had me running to the finish because I wanted to see how things concluded. This story actually kept me interested and doing the Paths presented versus just wandering aimlessly forever, like I may have done had the story not compelled me onward.
The Pokémon
Not sure about you all, but my friends and I love to come up with pun names for our Pokémon buddies. The cheesier the better in most cases. And we all had a difficult time topping some of the names that were already in place. I mean come on, Fidough…’cause he’s a dog…made of dough… And we of course have to mention Lechonk… There were only a couple of Pokémon from this generation that didn’t do anything for me. For the majority, I loved everyone I saw and their evolutions.
I don’t normally try and complete the Pokedex, mostly because I have other games I’m wanting to play after finishing a story, but I will definitely be going for that shiny charm in Violet.
What I Didn’t Love
Framerate Issues
Now, I know the Nintendo Switch isn’t the newest console on the block anymore, but when the background NPCs look like they’re in an old stop-motion picture, we have a problem. And I’m talking the silent 1925’s Lost World rate of stop-motion. It’s not good.
I know the gaming industry as a whole was hurt by the Covid-19 Pandemic, suddenly having to work remote had a negative impact on what was being done and the rate at which it was being done. And I just wish that instead of pushing Scarlet and Violet out on schedule, I wish Game Freak had just addressed it’s audience, “Hey, we need like six months to polish things up.”
We all would’ve been just fine. And Scarlet and Violet wouldn’t be getting as much hate as they are.
Graphics
The cutscenes, and your character look awesome in my opinion. The texture on the clothes? Great! But when you are roaming this grand open world, you can tell they skimped on some textures which really sucks because it does kind of chip away at that beautiful landscape. That being said, I guess I’m just used to playing some older games so the poor graphics didn’t bother me as much as others it seems. But with as big of a title as Pokémon is, it really should’ve given this game and it’s loyal fans the time and/or money’s worth they rightly deserved.
The Glitches
This one is a little more personal, but I’m sure many will be able to relate…
When I’m shiny hunting a Noibat, and half of them are spawning IN the cliff wall…I take issue with that 🤬 I didn’t sign up for a Bethesda game here. (I love you Skyrim & Fallout 😘)
Also looking at you CD Projekt Red and Cyberpunk 2077 and your clothing malfunctions.
Along with Pokémon spawning in the terrain, I had mass breakouts indicated on the map that simply weren’t there. I’ve seen my husband’s Koraidon disappear from underneath his character but his trainer continues on with Koraidon ghost feet leaving shadows on the sand.
Needless to say, it’s been voiced by so many, but Scarlet and Violet I feel have more than their fair share of glitches and issues and it’s really not acceptable from such a title as Pokémon anymore that has more than ample resources.
In Conclusion
Yes, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are chalk full of issues, and there’s really no excuse for it.
But if you enjoy a good and fun Pokémon game, you’re going to enjoy this one. Part of me thinks even the haters like it a bit, but I understand wanting to stick to your guns and tell Game Freak off for the mass of technical issues.
Did I personally still enjoy this game? Abso-freaking-lutely.
I love this game. I know it has it’s haters, but I’m so here for it. I still think we the fans deserve an apology or something for it’s lackluster performance in parts. A finished game should not have this amount of issues. But all that being said it didn’t stop me from enjoy my Pokémon journey in Paldea, and I would recommend it to what few friends I have that don’t already own the game.
Until Next Time,
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