Oh golly gee wilikers. Where to even begin? (INCOHERENT RAMBLING WARNING)
Well, you see my rating so let me make this clear: Yes, it runs badly. Yes, it ain't that great looking. Yes, the shadows appear and dissappear whenever they feel like it. Yes, the camera during battles clips into the ground all the time. Yes, other games on the Switch look and run way better.
Here's the thing: I don't care.
OK to be more specific, I stopped caring. Because I was having fun with the game. Does that mean I have low standards? Maybe, though it might just be because... it's Pokemon.
It's a series that I've poured thousands of hours across nearly a dozen games. For context, I started with second gen and played until seventh. Why did I skip Galar? Well, I got a job. ("Yes Pokemon is only for unemployed people") I could finally buy and play so many games that I never could before. This included a lot of other RPGs, namely Dragon Quest and Shin Megami Tensei. I kept saying to myself "I'll get to eighth Gen soon", but I never did. I honestly couldn't put my finger on why. I certainly didn't have as many initial grievances as other people before release, including the infamous national dex controversy. "I wouldn't want to play a new Pokémon game without using the new Pokémon anyway, I don't need all the old ones back", at least that was what my thought process at the time. Yet I kept pushing it off as I kept playing more and more games, greatly expanding my taste in this medium. And Pokemon just didn't seem to be... interesting anymore. I actually tried replaying an older game (my mind is blanking on which) but I couldn't make it too far without wanting to move on from it.
To move on from Pokemon even...
Then Legend Arceus comes out am I like "Welcome back childhood!" That game brought me back to that cozy feeling of raising monsters of utter carnage while adding some fun traversal mechanics. Like Scarlet, it had a lot of faults, and these faults I eventually just got over. If you wanted to be blunt, "ignore" might be a better way of putting it.
Not long after I got done with completing Legends, I replayed one of my all time favorite games: Fallout: New Vegas. Nothing quite like calling a technical disaster with subpar combat mechanics and slow as snails traversal one of my favorites. I'd say that game has way more faults then any Pokemon game, but we aren't robots. Our enjoyment shouldn't be categorize by ""objective scoring"", I gave New Vegas a 5 star ranking and I'm not changing my mind. Yeah it is not fair comparing Pokemon and Fallout at all, especially when one of them is hardly a month old at the time writing. Point being is that how a game makes me feel is the single most important thing for a game, and if I feel like I'm having fun with a a open world game with monsters that pop in ten feet in front of you, then I'll simply accept that my player character is near sighted or something. Technical issues in games can affect my enjoyment for the record. I tolerate it in a turn based game, but action games is way more difficult for me to look past if it requires quick reaction times or simply looks very ugly.
Now to actually talk about the freaking thing: open world ain't very elegant but I always love it when a game allows me to tackle areas at a much lower level. I love seeing what I can get away with, sneaking by Pokemon that'd annihilate my party as I scavenge for high level items. The new Pokemon are some of the best in series, especially the end game ones. Loved that idea.
I actually care about the characters. It ain't no masterful RPG epic, but going from a kid who literally skipped all the text in every Pokemon game cause "reading is boring" to actually paying attention because it engrossed me is still bizzare to this day. Personally found it more interesting then Sun and Moon, as I know a lot of fans like that ones plot. The game just keeps giving you rewards at every turn, kept me hooked to keep exploring, if at the cost of the games challenge. That last part might be because I used so many highly offensive Pokemon to eradicate every HP bar I see, but I hardly struggled at any point. As I've seen, end game content ain't too great, which is generally where my playtime goes to triple itself. But you know, being content with a Pokemon game is probably better for me then sticking to one game for months. No shame if you have a game like that, by the way.
I guess the only other thing I can add is: don't buy this game if your hesitant on it. I didn't buy it day one and I heard all about its issues from other people, yet I also kept hearing things that made me go "That's really cool what they're doing" and as you can tell, that interest won out over the hesitancy. I'd be lying if I said I bought this with zero caution, but if your really unsure then don't bother unless you can afford to be disappointed spending $60 (or $120 for both... ugh that is one practice I will NOT defend).
As for me, thank you Pokémon. I don't know where I'd be without out you. (Not the Pokemon Company, you guys need to stop with this game scheduling hell.)
Well, you see my rating so let me make this clear: Yes, it runs badly. Yes, it ain't that great looking. Yes, the shadows appear and dissappear whenever they feel like it. Yes, the camera during battles clips into the ground all the time. Yes, other games on the Switch look and run way better.
Here's the thing: I don't care.
OK to be more specific, I stopped caring. Because I was having fun with the game. Does that mean I have low standards? Maybe, though it might just be because... it's Pokemon.
It's a series that I've poured thousands of hours across nearly a dozen games. For context, I started with second gen and played until seventh. Why did I skip Galar? Well, I got a job. ("Yes Pokemon is only for unemployed people") I could finally buy and play so many games that I never could before. This included a lot of other RPGs, namely Dragon Quest and Shin Megami Tensei. I kept saying to myself "I'll get to eighth Gen soon", but I never did. I honestly couldn't put my finger on why. I certainly didn't have as many initial grievances as other people before release, including the infamous national dex controversy. "I wouldn't want to play a new Pokémon game without using the new Pokémon anyway, I don't need all the old ones back", at least that was what my thought process at the time. Yet I kept pushing it off as I kept playing more and more games, greatly expanding my taste in this medium. And Pokemon just didn't seem to be... interesting anymore. I actually tried replaying an older game (my mind is blanking on which) but I couldn't make it too far without wanting to move on from it.
To move on from Pokemon even...
Then Legend Arceus comes out am I like "Welcome back childhood!" That game brought me back to that cozy feeling of raising monsters of utter carnage while adding some fun traversal mechanics. Like Scarlet, it had a lot of faults, and these faults I eventually just got over. If you wanted to be blunt, "ignore" might be a better way of putting it.
Not long after I got done with completing Legends, I replayed one of my all time favorite games: Fallout: New Vegas. Nothing quite like calling a technical disaster with subpar combat mechanics and slow as snails traversal one of my favorites. I'd say that game has way more faults then any Pokemon game, but we aren't robots. Our enjoyment shouldn't be categorize by ""objective scoring"", I gave New Vegas a 5 star ranking and I'm not changing my mind. Yeah it is not fair comparing Pokemon and Fallout at all, especially when one of them is hardly a month old at the time writing. Point being is that how a game makes me feel is the single most important thing for a game, and if I feel like I'm having fun with a a open world game with monsters that pop in ten feet in front of you, then I'll simply accept that my player character is near sighted or something. Technical issues in games can affect my enjoyment for the record. I tolerate it in a turn based game, but action games is way more difficult for me to look past if it requires quick reaction times or simply looks very ugly.
Now to actually talk about the freaking thing: open world ain't very elegant but I always love it when a game allows me to tackle areas at a much lower level. I love seeing what I can get away with, sneaking by Pokemon that'd annihilate my party as I scavenge for high level items. The new Pokemon are some of the best in series, especially the end game ones. Loved that idea.
I actually care about the characters. It ain't no masterful RPG epic, but going from a kid who literally skipped all the text in every Pokemon game cause "reading is boring" to actually paying attention because it engrossed me is still bizzare to this day. Personally found it more interesting then Sun and Moon, as I know a lot of fans like that ones plot. The game just keeps giving you rewards at every turn, kept me hooked to keep exploring, if at the cost of the games challenge. That last part might be because I used so many highly offensive Pokemon to eradicate every HP bar I see, but I hardly struggled at any point. As I've seen, end game content ain't too great, which is generally where my playtime goes to triple itself. But you know, being content with a Pokemon game is probably better for me then sticking to one game for months. No shame if you have a game like that, by the way.
I guess the only other thing I can add is: don't buy this game if your hesitant on it. I didn't buy it day one and I heard all about its issues from other people, yet I also kept hearing things that made me go "That's really cool what they're doing" and as you can tell, that interest won out over the hesitancy. I'd be lying if I said I bought this with zero caution, but if your really unsure then don't bother unless you can afford to be disappointed spending $60 (or $120 for both... ugh that is one practice I will NOT defend).
As for me, thank you Pokémon. I don't know where I'd be without out you. (Not the Pokemon Company, you guys need to stop with this game scheduling hell.)