"game looks bad! :yum:" lol

pokemon scarlet and violet is a fucking smear in the face of triple a gaming, and the near perfect track record of first party nintendo games during the switch era. a broken, buggy mishmash of game elements inbred from decades of stagnation in the series. it almost reminds me of how megaman failed to innovate from entry to entry, but megaman always had a solid foundation for gameplay and knew what it was good at. pokemon has similarly lost it's luster in favor of... i don't know... cool sounding lines on the back of the box?

i say a lot of harsh things, but this game has an audience. children will be astounded by the games sense of scale and mystery, and longtime fans of the series will enjoy seeing their favorite critters walk around, but no more. outsiders to the series will find the flaws too numerous and the strengths too weak or too few to truly enjoy it from start to finish. i've been in touch with pokemon my childhood, but the short amount of time from alola to paldea was enough to let me grow out of the series

i should talk about the open world, the game's strongest aspect. despite being able to tackle any midgame challenge in any order, an open world doesn't benefit this game too much. there simply isn't enough to keep most players interested in actually exploring. pokemon are fine, but in s/v, they're signifigantly less fun to catch than in legends thanks to the different engine. gimmighoul coins only do anything after 1k of them, same with all of the stakes. tm's will only occaisionally benefit your core party, same with other floor items, and tera raids are... not fun. I avoided them a third into my playthrough.

This really only leaves the main quests of worth doing. I'll give the game some credit, these aren't... horrible. Even when overleveled or underleveled, i still had fun creaming or getting creamed by the gyms, titans, or bases. The combat still lacks a considerable amount of depth, leaving all the cool competetive mechanics (alt tera types, evs, items, egg moves, hidden abilities) to the postgame. Postgame or requires such ludicrous grinding it isn't fun anymore.

the plot is fun and charming. i'm disillusioned and i feel this would have had an impact on me more as a kid (hence, why i recommend this game to younger people). it's a little clear the writers had no room to move, as the final questline, when all of your friends are in your party, has by far the best dialogue in game. this is because they don't have to talk to you, the silent charisma vacuum.

this leads to a mediocre experience, one that i would rank as 2 stars on my scaling. what i feel tips this game from mediocrity to distasteful is the performance and qol. the game lags constantly, doesn't look good, and doesn't allow you to skip any animations or cutscenes. i felt like i had to drag myself through the worse performing areas of this unattractive game.

i think i might have grown out pokemon, which breaks my heart. no one wants to make a bad game, and this one almost certainly needed a year or two extra in the oven before it should've came out. i hope they improve on the combat, plot, and exploration int he next one, as opposed to throwing out all interesting aspects to chase old money. i'm rooting the best selling franchise in the world to make a good game.

Really fun experience! I liked the bosses and level design a lot. I was constantly impressed by fun and clever bits in the level design. The OST is also top notch being one of if not my favorite Mega Man OSTs. Even my least favorites were still pretty good.

I also appreciate how well they let you manage the difficulty in this game, as not only can you choose which of 4 difficulties you want to play the game on, but also they give you access to the shop, gears, and chips. All of which can make the game easier or harder depending on how much you use them. Personally for me I love the speed gear so much it was a lot of fun to use.