It's good to finally experience a 3D mainline Pokémon game, they finally know what they are doing.
I'm glad they stopped doing whatever they were doing since XY a decade ago, which is trying to make 2D Pokémon games but inevitably failing because of all the content harder to make in 3D they thus wouldn't make because of tight development time.
XY was extremely short and lackluster in content, SM felt extremely restrictive and bland, and SS was like XY but with an uninteresting open area.
Scarlet and Violet on the other hand seems to aknowledge it is a 3D game and finally offers a "new" type of experience for the mainline series, one where the whole region is available for us to explore right from the get-go, one where everything feels so much free than before.
I loved exploring the Paldea region, wherever I was there was always trainers to battle, story events to unfold, sometime landmarks to discover, and of course new Pokémon to catch. There was in fact so much Pokémons in there I think no previous game had this much monsters available before the postgame. The new batch of Pokémons for this gen are my favorite since Black and White too, they was a lot and they all felt unique, with some completely straying from a "typical" pkm design.
I also really liked the art direction of this game, especially characters which were extremely expressive. Despite the outrage for the graphics, it never bothered me. I played the entire game in handheld mode so maybe it looked better that way idk. It also never lagged for me, plus I never encountered any glitch. I read it may had something to do with not letting the game rest by never closing it, which I always did regularly so maybe that's why I was spared from any issue.
One thing I didn't like about this game though is that while it is the most "open" game in the series, the movement and capture mechanics felt extremely stiff compared to Legends Arceus. I know they were made by different teams and all that, but I hated pressing ZR and having to wait a few (sometime precious) seconds before it locked on the Pokémon I was aiming for, or the gliding being strangely limited to like 15 seconds before dropping you down, or the catching system being strictly the same as the previous games. The latter issue was especially frustrating, because the catching mechanics is the one aspect of the series I absolutely hate, and Legends Arceus at least tried to change things up and make it fun.
Story-wise, I think this game had the best-written characters in the series, with extremely endearing backstories. Side characters like the gym leaders or the teachers were also pretty fun. I loved how the formers had their own activities beside battling, as well as seeing the more "administrative" aspect of that bizzarely weird society. Everyone also had godtier designs too but that has always been a staple of the series for some reasons. This game also has the best story of the series but that wasn't really hard. Some might argue BW was better in that department, but I admire how SV ties it with such an open gameplay loop, as well as having more than one character.
A game like this not being level-scaled, even for trainers, is absolutely insane lmao. I really like it though, I was either exploring areas or fighting gyms way underleveled or too overleveled. By the end of the game once every stories have been completed, I was overleveled but the game still managed to be challenging which I found amazing. Because the battle mechanic seems to solely rely on knowledge of type advantages, I can't imagine having to fight endgame battles as a newcomer.
I'm glad they stopped doing whatever they were doing since XY a decade ago, which is trying to make 2D Pokémon games but inevitably failing because of all the content harder to make in 3D they thus wouldn't make because of tight development time.
XY was extremely short and lackluster in content, SM felt extremely restrictive and bland, and SS was like XY but with an uninteresting open area.
Scarlet and Violet on the other hand seems to aknowledge it is a 3D game and finally offers a "new" type of experience for the mainline series, one where the whole region is available for us to explore right from the get-go, one where everything feels so much free than before.
I loved exploring the Paldea region, wherever I was there was always trainers to battle, story events to unfold, sometime landmarks to discover, and of course new Pokémon to catch. There was in fact so much Pokémons in there I think no previous game had this much monsters available before the postgame. The new batch of Pokémons for this gen are my favorite since Black and White too, they was a lot and they all felt unique, with some completely straying from a "typical" pkm design.
I also really liked the art direction of this game, especially characters which were extremely expressive. Despite the outrage for the graphics, it never bothered me. I played the entire game in handheld mode so maybe it looked better that way idk. It also never lagged for me, plus I never encountered any glitch. I read it may had something to do with not letting the game rest by never closing it, which I always did regularly so maybe that's why I was spared from any issue.
One thing I didn't like about this game though is that while it is the most "open" game in the series, the movement and capture mechanics felt extremely stiff compared to Legends Arceus. I know they were made by different teams and all that, but I hated pressing ZR and having to wait a few (sometime precious) seconds before it locked on the Pokémon I was aiming for, or the gliding being strangely limited to like 15 seconds before dropping you down, or the catching system being strictly the same as the previous games. The latter issue was especially frustrating, because the catching mechanics is the one aspect of the series I absolutely hate, and Legends Arceus at least tried to change things up and make it fun.
Story-wise, I think this game had the best-written characters in the series, with extremely endearing backstories. Side characters like the gym leaders or the teachers were also pretty fun. I loved how the formers had their own activities beside battling, as well as seeing the more "administrative" aspect of that bizzarely weird society. Everyone also had godtier designs too but that has always been a staple of the series for some reasons. This game also has the best story of the series but that wasn't really hard. Some might argue BW was better in that department, but I admire how SV ties it with such an open gameplay loop, as well as having more than one character.
A game like this not being level-scaled, even for trainers, is absolutely insane lmao. I really like it though, I was either exploring areas or fighting gyms way underleveled or too overleveled. By the end of the game once every stories have been completed, I was overleveled but the game still managed to be challenging which I found amazing. Because the battle mechanic seems to solely rely on knowledge of type advantages, I can't imagine having to fight endgame battles as a newcomer.