This review contains spoilers
After 7 months of on and off playing, I finally rolled the credits on Pokemon Violet. There was so much of this game that I was in love with, but its visual performance issues gave me bad motion sickness that prevented me from playing it as often as I wanted. I had this issue in Sword/Shield as well, but I had a worse time with it in Violet because of how much I was enjoying myself (and therefore pushing myself to play) otherwise. I really wanted to immerse myself in this game, but I couldn't because I had to pace myself carefully so I wouldn't get sick.
For this review, I'm going to focus on the positive things about Pokemon Violet because truthfully I don't have anything else worthwhile to say about why the game frustrated me without being a broken record. If it was not so painfully evident how much this game was rushed, it could have been the best Pokemon game yet.
Paldea was a region I really enjoyed spending time in. I tend not to like open worlds but it was just big enough to feel like I was on an adventure but not so vast that I was overwhelmed by details. The landscapes were conceptually varied and beautiful even when the graphics fell short and the way wild Pokemon were incorporated into them was often very clever. I loved the music at every point, it was some of the best they've ever made for a Pokemon game.
The biggest advantage to the open world was the three story paths: Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends. I was interested in all three and appreciated how they filled the map in a way that felt pretty natural. I tried my best to spread my exp over as many Pokemon as possible so I wasn't too over-leveled at any point but I inevitably ended up trivializing some battles anyway. It didn't feel as bad I feared because I was focused on the plot rather than how easy the battle was.
I loved the story's main NPCs (Nemona, Arven, and Penny) and it was easy to get attached to them and get invested in their problems. Arven's story made me actually tear up on more than one occasion and Nemona being her unhinged self made her a great rival. The way everyone came together in Area Zero paid off really well with their dialogue and banter. It really felt like me and my weirdo friends were getting into something good.
The side NPCs were even better and I was in love with the presence of adults of this world. There was an emotional undercurrent in this story about the loss of youth and struggling to find joy and purpose when the freedom of childhood is gone. With so many adult Pokemon fans who grew up with the original Game Boy games being old enough to relate to these feelings, it genuinely felt good to have these NPCs in the game. I'll never expect to be able to play as an adult in a mainline Pokemon game but it's cool to imagine that there actually is a place in these worlds for us as Pokemon trainers and students too.
The Pokemon that were new to Gen 9 were overall super cool. There were some exciting freak designs in this batch and while I didn't fall in love with every single one, I always saw what they were going for. A lot of them were very inspired and it was a delight to see them in motion both in battle and at picnics (even those rancid sandwiches grew on me).
I wish this game had gotten the development time and money it deserved and that they had prioritized patching the game more after release. For me it came down to a major accessibility issue. It was really disappointing to not be able to fully enjoy this game because I knew I could have. I don't see myself being able to play the DLC, nor do I think I should pay for it if they're not going to fix the base game, but I am going to hold out hope for Gen 10 being better. If I could ask for anything, it would be that they stop rushing these games.
For this review, I'm going to focus on the positive things about Pokemon Violet because truthfully I don't have anything else worthwhile to say about why the game frustrated me without being a broken record. If it was not so painfully evident how much this game was rushed, it could have been the best Pokemon game yet.
Paldea was a region I really enjoyed spending time in. I tend not to like open worlds but it was just big enough to feel like I was on an adventure but not so vast that I was overwhelmed by details. The landscapes were conceptually varied and beautiful even when the graphics fell short and the way wild Pokemon were incorporated into them was often very clever. I loved the music at every point, it was some of the best they've ever made for a Pokemon game.
The biggest advantage to the open world was the three story paths: Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends. I was interested in all three and appreciated how they filled the map in a way that felt pretty natural. I tried my best to spread my exp over as many Pokemon as possible so I wasn't too over-leveled at any point but I inevitably ended up trivializing some battles anyway. It didn't feel as bad I feared because I was focused on the plot rather than how easy the battle was.
I loved the story's main NPCs (Nemona, Arven, and Penny) and it was easy to get attached to them and get invested in their problems. Arven's story made me actually tear up on more than one occasion and Nemona being her unhinged self made her a great rival. The way everyone came together in Area Zero paid off really well with their dialogue and banter. It really felt like me and my weirdo friends were getting into something good.
The side NPCs were even better and I was in love with the presence of adults of this world. There was an emotional undercurrent in this story about the loss of youth and struggling to find joy and purpose when the freedom of childhood is gone. With so many adult Pokemon fans who grew up with the original Game Boy games being old enough to relate to these feelings, it genuinely felt good to have these NPCs in the game. I'll never expect to be able to play as an adult in a mainline Pokemon game but it's cool to imagine that there actually is a place in these worlds for us as Pokemon trainers and students too.
The Pokemon that were new to Gen 9 were overall super cool. There were some exciting freak designs in this batch and while I didn't fall in love with every single one, I always saw what they were going for. A lot of them were very inspired and it was a delight to see them in motion both in battle and at picnics (even those rancid sandwiches grew on me).
I wish this game had gotten the development time and money it deserved and that they had prioritized patching the game more after release. For me it came down to a major accessibility issue. It was really disappointing to not be able to fully enjoy this game because I knew I could have. I don't see myself being able to play the DLC, nor do I think I should pay for it if they're not going to fix the base game, but I am going to hold out hope for Gen 10 being better. If I could ask for anything, it would be that they stop rushing these games.