Scarlet & Violet First Impressions and General Reviews Thread

[Nicolas721]

Hi guys, as you know the game is being released today. Therefore I decided to create this thread so you can write about your first hours in the game and your opinions on them, and when you finish it you can also come back here to post your general thoughts. Remember to keep spoilers to a minimum for a few days.

There's other thread about Graphical Performance if you only want to discuss only that.

Have a nice day!

 

[MrMeowPuss]

For me it’s been quite enjoyable after 10 hours or more of play time.

I do feel though that it does feel like a step back in many ways. No stealth catching, choosing when to evolve your Pokémon and Pokémon actually attacking you etc are something I really miss. I also do wish they added level scaling, I keep having to make new teams as I’m way over-leveled for the area I’m in.

Outside of that I really like the new Pokémon designs and having this open world feels like there’s so much to do and hard to choose what I want to do first.

 

[techitisJ]

I am having so much fun with this game. Between late last night and today, I have sunk 8 1/2 hours into the game so far and I am absolutely loving it. Paldea feels absolutely massive, and there is something to do around every corner. I always find myself getting side-tracked. Legit, I haven't even touched any of the three storylines yet. I've just been catching Pokemon and exploring the region.

If this game ends up having a great story, it's possible that this game will surpass Sun and Moon as my favorite. And Paldea is very likely to become my favorite region to date. The verticality of the terrain is just incredible, and the environments are so diverse. I am nowhere near finished exploring the area and I've already seen so much. I can't wait to sink hundreds of hours into this game.

 

[wanderist]

I'm having fun, just also a little disorganized and overwhelmed with all the freedom. This isn't just Pokemon's first open world game, it's mine too. Having trouble figuring out where to go where I won't end up underleveled. Nurse seems to give recommendations based on location rather than levels. So far I've managed to complete 2 titans, 2 gyms, and 1 star base. Difficulty wise the main battles have definitely been more challenging than I expected, but I'm not sure I'm going in the intended order.

Other than that though, I'm having fun exploring and what little I've seen of the story so far seems pretty good. It does feel like a weird mix of the usual and Legends with the moving camera, environment, and the catching. Catching isn't as streamlined, but it still feels faster and better than pre-Legends to me. Raids felt chaotic, but that's probably just because I'm not used to the format yet.

Love most of the new mon designs I've seen. Too many I wanna use.

 

[Funnylion]

Only played 1 1/2 yet and I haven't even reached Mesagoza yet, I've just been having so much fun exploring!

 

[CynthiaLover]

I'm having a fair bit of fun. The sheer openness of the game is rather overwhelming and I often find myself lost or running low on Poke Balls. I've only beaten one Gym because I wanted access to Great Balls before I started mapping out my team more. I've been going in completely blind so I'm certain I've missed at least a good dozen things. The Terra Raid Battles are much more tolerable compared to Sword/Shield, with everyone moving at a much faster clip and a more forgiving timer. I like that the day/night cycle isn't tied to the Switch's clock, being the same as Legends: Arceus. That'll make certain time-based evolutions easier. I also seem to have a habit of using the Auto Battle a lot to farm materials from the wild Mons, though it does make my team overleveled. I'm still ironing out what I want for my final team, especially since I haven't a bloody clue where I'm going or where anything I want to find is. The game is pretty fun, though, and I've sunk at least a good half a day into it by now.

I do feel that the games are a step back in certain aspects, just like @MrMeowPuss said I already miss the stealth capturing, Mons attacking you directly, and certain other aspects. Plus I find the map way too confusing. And I'm not liking just how open the region is, as I feel like my sense of direction has just been scrambled. My biggest complaint is that I always seem to be low on funds and struggle to find Trainers to battle, especially since the vast openness of the games means that Trainers are placed in odd locations and are very spaced out, which frankly annoys me. While I can get some vendor trash like Pearls from the Terra Raid Battles those are far and few between with no set locations, which, when combined with the confusing map, really turns me around. It's reminded me why I'm not a fan of open-world, especially when the map isn't helpful.

But, nevertheless, these games are pretty good. They're not my favorite, especially with the lack of direction, and the vast openness is a bit too much. I still like Legends: Arceus better but so far these games are pretty solid overall.

 

[Aulos]

I've only got a couple of hours in so far as I wasn't able to start until after I got after work. So I'm not very far in.

One thing that I'm really happy about is the early Pokemon selection. Between the first and second "routes" (before even reaching the first town/Pokemon Center) a lot of bases are covered. Also, three of my top favorite Pokemon are available, just like that! Perhaps that makes me biased, but it's more than that. It's the type coverage that can be found that early on, when in a lot of Pokemon games you don't have that.

The introduction to the cover legendary was cute, so I'm warming up to the legendary. It won't top Zacian for me, but it is cute! The story being based around a school is interesting. It's a major cliche in similar Japanese media, but not something we've seen in Pokemon, so, something new!

The open world seems...limited. Like I'm not saying that it's bad, but I've played quite a few open world games and it seems like Pokemon is still lagging behind a bit. My impression (and hope) is that the vast majority of the game is open, but so far I've seen a whole area behind a loading screen, and some buildings/the lighthouse behind one as well. These are overall minor so far, but it does kinda break the immersion.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

I'm having a fair bit of fun. The sheer openness of the game is rather overwhelming and I often find myself lost or running low on Poke Balls. I've only beaten one Gym because I wanted access to Great Balls before I started mapping out my team more. I've been going in completely blind so I'm certain I've missed at least a good dozen things. The Terra Raid Battles are much more tolerable compared to Sword/Shield, with everyone moving at a much faster clip and a more forgiving timer. I like that the day/night cycle isn't tied to the Switch's clock, being the same as Legends: Arceus. That'll make certain time-based evolutions easier. I also seem to have a habit of using the Auto Battle a lot to farm materials from the wild Mons, though it does make my team overleveled. I'm still ironing out what I want for my final team, especially since I haven't a bloody clue where I'm going or where anything I want to find is. The game is pretty fun, though, and I've sunk at least a good half a day into it by now.

I do feel that the games are a step back in certain aspects, just like @MrMeowPuss said I already miss the stealth capturing, Mons attacking you directly, and certain other aspects. Plus I find the map way too confusing. And I'm not liking just how open the region is, as I feel like my sense of direction has just been scrambled. My biggest complaint is that I always seem to be low on funds and struggle to find Trainers to battle, especially since the vast openness of the games means that Trainers are placed in odd locations and are very spaced out, which frankly annoys me. While I can get some vendor trash like Pearls from the Terra Raid Battles those are far and few between with no set locations, which, when combined with the confusing map, really turns me around. It's reminded me why I'm not a fan of open-world, especially when the map isn't helpful.

But, nevertheless, these games are pretty good. They're not my favorite, especially with the lack of direction, and the vast openness is a bit too much. I still like Legends: Arceus better but so far these games are pretty solid overall.

Funny enough I've ALWAYS wanted an open world Pokemon game but I did find the lack of linear direction to be a bit confusing/overwhelming as well. The story does sort of hint to you where to go but the vastness of the world really distracts you from getting to point A to B.

I would say in future games if they could make it both open world but design the maps in a way you have clear routes but can venture off the path easily as well it would be great for those who do prefer the linear style. Funds are definitely an issue for me too, I've been spending all my money on Pokeballs and have had to progress the story before I want to purely because I need money lol

I prefer PLA more too and I think a lot of the improvements from that game will be in the sequel to this (I would assume with the release cycle of Pokemon games, they have two alternating teams working on games hence why some features are added then disappear much like Assassins Creed).

 

[Bolt Strike]

It's been great, with plenty of things to do and Pokemon to catch. I've been having a lot of fun wandering all over the region wondering what Pokemon I'll find next. However, I don't think it's quite there yet as an open world game with the lack of level scaling and the persistence of obedience mechanics. In theory, the game is open world and you can go to whatever you want and go wherever you want. In practice though, it's really not feasible to do things out of order. Try to complete a quest the game didn't want you to do and you'll run into Pokemon that are way too strong for you, and if you try to grind them up or catch stronger ones to match them, you won't be able to use them because they won't obey you. I experienced the latter myself, I wandered around past Artazon and I was excited when I discovered and successfuly caught a Finizen but it was Lv. 22 and wouldn't obey me when I didn't have any badges, which was a huge letdown. This dynamic needs to change for open world Pokemon to truly work. The game desperately needs a level scaling mechanic of some sort and IDK why Game Freak is so allergic to doing this.

 

[PokéSean]

I haven’t played it but in future updates, it has to have an option of normal animal sounds and name saying. Who doesn't want that?

 

[Neo Blaze]

I don't know, but I'm not feeling it yet. I only played about 2 to 3 hours yesterday and I haven't really felt like returning to it yet or playing it for hours on end. I'm sure there is a fun and engaging game somewhere in there, but the glaring performance and technical issues are hindering my enjoyment and excitement a great deal. Maybe it will eventually start to grab me but for now I'm rather disappointed.

 

[Cainhxrst]

played a bit six hours after work last night. Overall, I'm really enjoying it, like, it's probably the most I've been actively engaged with a pokemon game since like gens 5 or 6. I have my gripes (customization being blatantly worse than in Sw/Sh, lots of empty space with admittedly nothing to do, visuals looking kinda ehhhh outside towns) but the overall loop is fun. I went in mostly unspoiled on new mons, so I guess the motivation to explore the region is trying to find and catch pokemon I've never seen before. If it wasn't for that, I probably would've gotten bored of the open world relatively quickly.

Game feels more like an RPG now, with drops, crafting, etc, which I've been wanting. I think this could probably straight up be the best pokemon game if the towns felt a little more meaningful and the region had more random events or sidequests scattered about as you travel.


Still having fun though. I've only done one gym then just randomly visited like three towns lol. Most of my impressions of the gameplay loop are just from kinda running around and exploring the routes. Maybe my opinion will change as I engage more in the 3 paths stuff

 

[Mia Solastasia]

So far, it feels like a clunkier, inferior version of Legends Arceus. The lack of being able to capture Pokemon out of battle is sorely missed, and the fact that my character cannot dash if they're not on Koraidon also feels like a downgrade. So too does being forced to wear this terrible school uniform - it's really ruining my immersion that I have to look so goofy. Arceus didn't have very good character customization, but at least you could change your clothes.

I miss the dodge roll too, as well as Pokemon actually being intimidating and being able to attack and lower your health. Also, why don't your Pokemon continue to follow you on the overworld? If they fall behind, they just... go back in their Pokeball. This was done right in LGPE - why do they keep messing this up?

Further, the world just feels kind of empty and unnecessarily big. Something I expect out of open world games, but a reason why I don't generally tend to enjoy them. It takes so long to travel to new places and the amount of trainers is so sparse. I wish there were more of them. The game unfortunately seems to retain Legends' de-emphasizing of battles and towns - the two things I enjoy most about RPGs. I hope there are more interesting towns ahead. I've heard that trainers continue to remain unfortunately sparse throughout the entire experience though.

The lack of level scaling is also painfully noticed - it's so difficult for me to try to stay on similar levels to the challenges ahead and know what order to tackle them in without making the game trivially easy. What is the point of making everything open if there's a set path to follow if you want to retain a normal difficulty curve? And why did they remove the option to select Set battle in the menu? I can't even do this simple thing to make things a little more challenging. I overall have endless questions about many of the decisions they made.

The saving grace is that it has the more typical battle system of Pokemon, without the whole multi-turn nonsense that was poorly implemented. I also like how you can buy a bunch of useful items to begin with - with none of them being shoved to the post game. Very nice. And there's a good variety of Pokemon available to begin with. Crafting TMs is kind of fun too - it helps remove some of the salt I had from them no longer being infinite that your Pokemon can relearn them without having to use the TM again. And I have a reason to actually use the auto-battle feature, and fight Pokemon without capturing them. [Even though I find sending Pokemon out of their Pokeballs in this game to be clunkier and less intuative than Legends Arceus, where you can just throw the ball at a tree or item or something and the Pokemon immediately collects it rather than making them march forward, only to disappear when you get out of range] I just wish I could craft more things with the materials Pokemon drop, like Pokeballs or Potions in Legends Arceus.

The changes to breeding are also much appreciated, as is the auto-heal button. I just like overall how much more accessible things are compared to the older games. It's strange how this game removed a lot of quality of life features from the older games, and then implemented some of its own in turn. But that's always how Game Freak works - one step forward, two steps back. I keep comparing this game to Arceus because that game set a new standard. It isn't even the greatest game ever made, and had a lot of its own flaws and issues, but it had potential. And just as expected, some of that potential is squandered here, because Game Freak insists on having two development teams co-develop their games instead of actually giving projects their own room to breathe.

Conceptually, I like this game, and I have been having some fun since Koraidon got its dash ability, but it still feels sluggish and not as smooth as previous entries. I really hope they take more time on the next release and also actually implement more of Legends Arceus into the design. But I'm super cynical that they're even going to bother patching the egregious issues out of these games, so I doubt it.

 

[Esiouqrut]

Been playing for at least 6 hours, and while I do enjoy it I feel like I enjoy PLA more within the same amount of time. PLA's battle and movement feels more fast and fluid. And I don't really mind framerate drop and stuff, but I do get why it's becoming an issue when it happen almost every time I move my camera.
Also, why does every Pokemon in Paldea is soo tiny. And I keep on stumbling wild Pokémon without even intending to. Am I the only one who do that? Like, it's not even funny anymore.

 

[NinjutsuSen]

Without a doubt the best games in the 3D era, no contest.

Region was amazing, especially if you compare it to the shallow Legends worlds. There are heights, there are trainer and items, of course the new Pokemon, caves etc. where exploring every single corner of the region is rewarding you.

Story was also very fun, the climax of the game is really a step above the other Pokemon main game stories. Lore was also so interesting. Really took the hour to read all books in the library.

Games were too easy though and definitely need some kind of fix. Harder difficulty added in a DLC or something like that. Post-game as usual lately dissappointing but the massive main game makes it more bearable.

And the performance...yeah it sucks. Not having these big glitches/bugs but the lags are notable.

A huge improvment content wise but needs a performance patch badly.

8.5/10

 

[Insanish Danish]

I haven't played very much yet (game arrived a day late when I was at Anime NYC and I'm still exhausted from it lol), but I can sum up my first impressions as:

1) LMAO I AM SO OVERWHELMED. Like I knew I would be, since open world stuff always is for me, but it's way worse than I thought. The region is lovely, yes. I'm not disputing that. But god give me back my linear Pokemon games please.

2) I love Nemona!! Oh my goodness she's so good. Newest addition to my never-ending list of fictional children.

Yeah I honestly haven't gotten far enough to really form a real opinion yet. I imagine once I explore further and meet more of the characters and get more of a feel for the story this time around I'll probably start enjoying it more, but right now my thoughts are just "Nemona good" and "I am very overwhelmed please send help I'm dying"

 

[Yuunagi]

I think with something like 16 hours or so logged, I’m too early into the game for a review, but I’m certainly far enough to share a first impression.

First thing’s first: these games are not as good as Pokémon Legends Arceus as far as I currently see it. But even with prominent technical issues, Scarlet and Violet are leaps and bounds above games like Sword and Shield. I foresee them ending up better than other releases in the series, too - right now I’m thinking they’ll rank above the following:

• Gen 1 entirely (though I respect that it is the foundation of the entire Pokémon vision)
• FireRed & LeafGreen
• Black & White
• X & Y
• Let’s Go
• Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

I was really on the fence about whether these would be better than BDSP for me - it seems like a no-brainer, but those had an immaculate Battle Tower and I don’t currently have a battle facility to look forward to at all. But so far, the open world experience and the writing have been impressive enough that I’m willing to tentatively place Scarlet and Violet as the second highest ranked Switch games in the series.

The magic so far lies in exploring a completely uninhibited open world full of Pokémon. Of particular note is the level of verticality - this isn’t just a flat sheet of land to run around, but has towering mountains and deep valleys and caves all around. I’ve taken more than a couple screenshots of landscape views. It helps that I actually like the graphics, generally, besides character models and some Pokémon textures. Much like Legends, I see a lot of the criticisms of the actual look of the region to be incredibly overblown. At the same time, performance issues are immersion-breaking and negatively influence the look and feel of the game.

There are things that I think Legends did well that I would have liked to see carry over here, and I hope they return for whatever the next main series game is. I want to be able to catch Pokémon the way I did in Legends, I want better animations in battle that see Pokémon actually move and make contact, I want to be able to physically move my trainer in battle, I want a sound notification for shinies spawning… there are many, many things that I miss from Legends when I ply this. None are deal-breakers, but they speak to the success of Legends’ attempt to redefine the Pokémon formula. I can’t help but wonder whether some of these things could have been kept if the teams had worked more closely during the parallel development period.

With a performance patch and some updates, this game will end up a very good piece of work. With a hypothetical DLC that adds a respectable battle facility and gives back sorely missed feature options, it could be truly great and rival some of the better entries in the series. The bones are there - I can only hope the rest of my experience with the games lives up to what I’ve seen so far and that Game Freak has the sense to build on what they’ve released here.

 

[Nicolas721]

The beginning of the game felt like a classical new Pokemon generation, with basic routes with better graphics than before, Normal and Bug types galore, a persistent rival and hints of a bigger story. But then the world opened and it turned into something different. The areas are reaaally big, and you can get lose very easily, yet the game doesn't punish you if that happens, you are really free to explore, and unlike Arceus you don't have to worry about an ultra aggressive Pokemon coming after you, making it a very relaxing experience. Also, the amount of Pokemon that appear in every area is insanely high ad varied, and like in Arceus each one have their own behaviors so catching each one feels like a different experience. The returning features are poilshed and fun enough, through my opinions on Tereastalizing didn't change much from prerelease. The lack of level scalling is its biggest flaw over anything technical, specially as the map hints are extremely ambiguous about the location's strength, but it's still a game I'm really enjoying and that deserves more recognition.

 

[Kelleo]

I'm finding quite a lot of pros with SV so far, even though I've currently quit playing because I don't know how to deal with Iono's last Pokemon... But there are some cons too.

Pros:

• Gameplay is fun, so is exploring the open world
• Graphically improved over Sword/Shield and Legends Arceus
• The trainer customization is great besides clothes
• Several great new Pokemon
• Being able to find so many items lying around on the ground is helpful
• Raids are less of a chore than in Sword/Shield (although Sword/Shield's were by no means bad)
• Deerling/Sawsbuck is back!

Cons:

• Too many reported performance issues, and I myself had slight lag
• No level scaling
• No clothes to pick from other than the ugly school uniforms
• Difficulty is too high sometimes, like I mentioned above I'm struggling with Iono (I explain why in the travelog thread)
• No shiny sound effect like in LA, so it'll be harder to get certain shinies (some barely look different)
• A few Pokemon designs feel lazy, though that's occurred in past generations too
• No Blitzle/Zebstrika...

My cons are mostly minor stuff, so I'd say great game so far.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

I'm finding quite a lot of pros with SV so far, even though I've currently quit playing because I don't know how to deal with Iono's last Pokemon... But there are some cons too.

It took me like 4 or 5 attempts against her. I ended up going to catch some other Pokémon then coming back to beat her. It was tricky but still possible so don’t worry! I personally liked the challenge though, I hate it when I just sweep them without any challenge.