Pokémon fans around the world were anxiously awaiting the launch of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet on Friday. As the launch drew closer here in North America, review scores and firsthand accounts started flooding the internet. And it was not the overwhelming wave of amazement that fans were hoping for to say the least. Reports of framerate issues, subpar graphics, and weird glitches filled every review and every user posted video. Despite that, review scores were surprisingly decent.
Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet took the mainline series into a true open world for the first time. Pokémon Legends Arceus, which released earlier this year, gave us a glimpse of what gameplay of that type could look like though. Up until then, Pokémon had always been a fairly linear adventure, with some exploration opportunities scattered along the way, as you aimed to reach the end game which granted full independent movement throughout the world. According to reviewers (and my own personal experience so far) the games accomplish this remarkably well. After a short tutorial mission to kick off the various storylines, the game really leaves the world wide open for you. Of course, there is a path that is intended for each storyline that’s designed to follow your strength as you level up. Each main quest giving character will mention the next stop on your journey they’d recommend, but it’s up to you to follow that or not.
Along with this expansive, new open world there’s also plenty of Pokémon about. New and old Pokémon alike exist in the overworld for you to encounter, battle, and catch. Trainers and raid battles are sprawled around you. And the 3 different storylines give you plenty of options of how to explore and how to build your team. It really is disappointing just how broken this game is from a visual standpoint. The systems and story seem to be some of the best that Pokémon has ever presented to players. Sadly, the missing frames and missing optimization can make it very distracting for players to really dive into. Hopefully Game Freak continues to provide updates on the backend to go with the seasonal updates that are coming to get this game to the level it deserves to be at because the world they’ve created really deserves to shine brighter than this.
Image from: Nintendo
