This is certainly a cold take, but I think Pokémon Violet is a very good game despite how blatantly rushed it is. The three storylines and open world are a great way to shake up the formula of the series; I'd be happy to see something similar in later games. The 103 newly introduced Pokémon are wonderful, with Klawf, Tatsugiri, and especially Clodsire being some of my new favorites. The story and characters are very solid this time around, and the music is awesome too, though that should go without saying with Toby Fox's involvement. The game also felt just right in terms of difficulty, though that's probably because I went in order from lowest to highest level for each boss battle. I could imagine the difficulty curve feeling off if you don't follow this order, though I'm sure many people would welcome the challenge. Overall though, this is some of the most enjoyment I've had out of any Pokémon game!

...That said, the frankly unfinished state of the game is impossible to ignore. Sword/Shield and Legends: Arceus were unimpressive graphically, but they at least ran pretty smoothly. Scarlet/Violet, however, has some major framerate drops (North Province Area 3 was particularly egregious in my experience) in addition to the graphics still being crusty, though there's definitely some effort put into improving on that front. There is also the fact that future updates to the game will almost definitely improve this, but that absolutely shouldn't be the norm here (It's not a Pokémon-exclusive issue, to be fair). As these games expand further in scope, the strict, unchanging schedule that every aspect of the Pokémon franchise is bound to gets harder and harder to deal with. I want to say that one of the highest-grossing media franchises could afford to have its major releases more spaced out, but at the same time that astronomical level of revenue is probably at the core of the problem. I really hope this changes, as unlikely as it is, for the sake of both the fans and developers; I can't imagine working on these games under such strict time constraints being a stress-free experience. As a result, I can't bring myself to bring my rating any higher, as much as I'd like to. To reiterate, I really liked Pokémon Violet despite all of this, and I recommend playing it if you enjoy Pokémon and can look past the bad performance/graphics.

On a lighter note, here's the team I used for my playthrough:
- mark (Skeledirge Lv. 65, Blaze, Throat Spray): Torch Song, Shadow Ball, Yawn, Snarl
- wilma (Clodsire Lv. 65, Poison Point, Soft Sand): Earthquake, Poison Jab, Toxic, Yawn
- kylie (Klawf Lv. 65, Anger Shell, Loaded Dice): Swords Dance, Rock Blast, X-Scissor, High Horsepower
- scott (Scovillain Lv. 65, Chlorophyll, Big Root): Giga Drain, Flamethrower, Growth, Sunny Day
- matt (Annihilape Lv. 65, Vital Spirit, Expert Belt, Tera Normal): Bulk Up, Rage Fist, Close Combat, Metronome
- shane (Droopy Form Tatsugiri Lv. 65, Commander, Mystic Water): Nasty Plot, Surf, Dragon Pulse, Icy Wind