I honestly don't really know how to rate this game. I went into playing it with a relatively optimistic mindset, even if I had low expectations. I enjoyed the story while I was playing it, I liked how open it felt, I like a lot of the new pokemon (though I'd honestly say this has to be my least favorite pokedex of the 3D pokemon era so far). I had fun with the first few hours of game play.
But I don't know, looking back, I feel rather pessimistic about the whole thing. I really didn't have that much investment in this game's world or it's characters (with the exception of the trio of rivals), I didn't really have fun exploring or discovering things like I had with past games, and I honestly felt like all the post game content pre-dlc was very lack luster. I was sorely disappointment by the very limited character customization. I feel like this game offered an illusion of openness rather than any real depth or choice. I felt like the map wasn't particularly interesting nor memorable. Any replays of this game I've attempted have felt like pulling teeth.
And from a technical standpoint, I played mostly in handheld mode, so I didn't really experience many of the bugs, but my god this game is poorly optimized. And it was even worse during the few times I did play on the big screen.
So if I had to describe this game with one word, I would use the word "disappointing", which is honestly bizarre feeling because I went into this game with my expectations very low. If I didn't know any better, I'd say "maybe pokemon just isn't for me anymore," but I know that's not true, because I still really loved Legends of Arceus and more recently, Pokemon Infinite Fusion (which, I know, it's a fan game, it shouldn't count, but underneath it's gimmick it's literally just fire red/leaf green with a little unique content thrown in and a jhoto post game).
Maybe this game wasn't for me, maybe I'm not "getting it", maybe I'm just really fucking fatigued because of the 1 year release cycle and taking it out on this game. But I don't know how to feel about Scarlet and Violet.
But I don't know, looking back, I feel rather pessimistic about the whole thing. I really didn't have that much investment in this game's world or it's characters (with the exception of the trio of rivals), I didn't really have fun exploring or discovering things like I had with past games, and I honestly felt like all the post game content pre-dlc was very lack luster. I was sorely disappointment by the very limited character customization. I feel like this game offered an illusion of openness rather than any real depth or choice. I felt like the map wasn't particularly interesting nor memorable. Any replays of this game I've attempted have felt like pulling teeth.
And from a technical standpoint, I played mostly in handheld mode, so I didn't really experience many of the bugs, but my god this game is poorly optimized. And it was even worse during the few times I did play on the big screen.
So if I had to describe this game with one word, I would use the word "disappointing", which is honestly bizarre feeling because I went into this game with my expectations very low. If I didn't know any better, I'd say "maybe pokemon just isn't for me anymore," but I know that's not true, because I still really loved Legends of Arceus and more recently, Pokemon Infinite Fusion (which, I know, it's a fan game, it shouldn't count, but underneath it's gimmick it's literally just fire red/leaf green with a little unique content thrown in and a jhoto post game).
Maybe this game wasn't for me, maybe I'm not "getting it", maybe I'm just really fucking fatigued because of the 1 year release cycle and taking it out on this game. But I don't know how to feel about Scarlet and Violet.