I definitely wish there was a bit more to do in Kitakami, but I really liked how it felt more like an actual place than the giant theme park that is Paldea. The story was pretty decent, but that's not surprising considering how Scarlet and Violet had surprisingly solid character writing. Carmine and Kieran were cool characters, but I can't really elaborate on them further since I haven't played Indigo Disc yet. I'm also surprised by how much I like Ogerpon. It's such a cute design and its little cloak/hoodie changing color with each mask is a nice touch.

If you're reading this, you already know the deal.
Same graphical issues, same performance issues. All that still hasn't been fixed and will never be fixed, so let's get to the content.

It's cool. It feels like those early Pokémon movie stories, albeit without the "epic legendary fight at the end" part, since this is only part 1 anyway (and part 2 isn't that much...).

There's a buttload of Pokémon to catch, a decently cool story with cool characters, and some "secret" content and a "secret boss" to fight as well. There's a lot of cool little details hidden around the map, and it's a nice city (even if it looks bad because everything in this game does).

It's just not worth the money, though. That's pretty obvious, as much as I enjoyed it. But you still get more out of this than you do out of Part 2.

Isle of Armor certainly had a lot going for it in the fact that it pretty much upstaged a rather mediocre game by giving fans what they wanted. On top of that it gave a lot more thought into Pokemon interactions, habitats, and basically showcased Pokemon games as we know it today. The Teal Mask DLC however is, more or less, just more of Pokemon Scarlet. As someone that is a big fan of Pokemon Scarlet, I certainly don't see that as a problem, but there just kinda isn't much else to dazzle me the way that Isle of Armor did to it's based game. Teal Mask does have neat plot developments, added a new mini game, and gave a new location to explore, but it sort feels more like it's set up rather than an expansion on it's based game. Yes, Teal Mask gives us more Pokemon Scarlet, but it's not exactly doing much else that Scarlet didn't already do, so if you're not a fan of Scarlet, Teal Mask isn't winning you over either.

Teal Mask still has it's own unique story and area to explore though, and I absolutely can say it at least feels new even by pokemon standards. Teal Mask starts off rather in-line with most Pokemon games when it comes to meeting new characters, but this time they actually do have some bite to them. While I certainly wouldn't call the new characters, Carmine and Kieran, hostile, they at least have enough agency to not be so agreeable. This makes me happy in a story perspective down the line because Teal Mask certainly feels interesting when it starts breaking pokemon standards for it's characters, but it never quite gets there to really feel much different from it's usual writing. The mountain area and boondock town we visit is certainly a different vibe from the usual Pokemon fair too, but I just don't feel they capitalized on that as much as they should have. Also the fact we really only interact with two characters this whole DLC feels like such a missed opportunity.

Teal Mask certainly has heart to it, but I feel compared to previous DLC Pokemon has had, this feels a little rushed out of the door. Like there is absolutely something here for players to enjoy, but in terms actual gameplay or exploration it kinda just feels too similar. The story has some nice points to it, but when it comes down to it, it's rather bite sized enjoyment over consistently being good. Still, it is more Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, and for that I have to say I am grateful for. Hopefully it being a part 1 means part 2 will build on it more.

Looking past all the performance issues…it’s still pretty just alright.

This was a quick play, maybe not even 4 hours, added back some cool Pokemon and got a shiny bisharp so that’s cool. Story is whatever, Ogerpon is cool, onto part 2.

Somehow performs worse than base game at parts which is insane that it’s this unpolished still, Nintendo do better.