Day 104

Day 104:

(Continued from Day 103):

Up until this point, every main series Pokemon game has broadly followed the same linear plot lines. You start the game in your family home, then pick a starter Pokemon and leave home on a quest to become a Pokemon champion (and often never return home). You also meet your 'rival', a character who progresses through their Pokemon journey with you, and you fight at regular intervals throughout the story. To become a champion, you need to complete the challenges set by the eight Pokemon gym leaders, then defeat them in a battle to claim their badge. Once you have all the badges, you can face off against the powerful 'Elite Four' trainers, and then the champion. Beat them, and you become the greatest person to ever pick up a Pokeball. There is also some sort of 'Team' that you have to fend off throughout the game, which range from the rowdy (but harmless) fans that are Team Yell, to the literal murderers that are Team Rocket. There are also 'Legendary Pokemon' which have varying degrees of plot significance, and are often shrouded in mystery and are deeply involved with a side character.  The capture and use of them is normally reserved for after you have become champion, or in the 'Post-game content'.

These elements are all very much present in Scarlet and Violet, with the key difference that they are separated into three independent quest lines, rather than all being a part of one linear story. You can go almost anywhere, and do almost anything, in any order. For example, the first thing that I did after completing the tutorial was march straight up the hill to the 'Pokemon League' building and try to battle the Elite Four. Amazingly, the security guard let me in, but I failed the exam because I "Didn't have any badges, and only level 9 Pokemon." These exams have gotten far too tough, I tell you. The only issue that this open-world approach can cause is that it's quite difficult to tell what order you are supposed to do the gyms and challenges in. I wondered why I was struggling so much to beat the gym leaders, and why they had so much stronger Pokemon than me, until I realised that I had skipped over two gyms, and was fighting the 5th gym leader before I had beaten the 2nd and 3rd.  Maybe that was more of a 'me' problem though, since I almost never stuck to the signed pathways, and thought that going 'as the Murkcrow flies' would be faster.

You'll notice that I said 'almost' anywhere: there is one part of the map that is forbidden and greyed out. You can access it, but only after you have completed all three quest lines. This makes it 'Post-game content', which is REALLY annoying because it by far the BEST part of the game and the story. You also can't really talk about any of it without giving out big spoilers, which does seem to matter far more in this game than for previous Pokemon stories. All I will say is this: within about an hour of starting the game, you'll think that you have all the big plot points figured out, as is the case with most 'kids games'. You might have a couple of things down, but this story is far more complex, sensitively deals with more serious topics, and has more twists than a lot of video games on the market. I'm talking about the good sort of twists, too. These aren't "That makes absolutely no sense and is only shocking because it makes absolutely no sense" twists. These are "OH MY GOD THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE AND I JUST CAN'T" twists. Even more minor characters like gym leaders have likeable and memorable personalities, and most of your decisions change the game in some way (except the ones you take with your rival, which are meaningless, because they'll just battle you regardless of what you say). 

Game Freak have cleverly implemented the recognisable Pokemon plot points in a way that doesn't fight the open-world nature of the game too much. It's a shame that a by-product of this is that you have to play through almost all of the game to get to the best part, where everything comes together. By this point, some players may have lost interest. 

I haven't spoken too much about the gameplay, and that's because it's broadly the same as all the other Pokemon games, at least in terms of battling. The capture system involves approaching the Pokemon that are playing at the sides of the main paths (or anywhere else on the route), then battling to capture them in the usual way. You can also initiate a battle by throwing a Poke-ball at them, but because this does not have a chance to capture the Pokemon (like it did in Legends: Arceus), I never really used this feature. As you progress, you unlock more ways of travelling to access the harder-to-reach Pokemon, such as swimming on the water or climbing up mountains. There are TM's, eggs, Pokemon centers, and all of that good stuff.  The Pokedex has surpassed it's 1000th entry, and there are some very fun new editions. It's a Pokemon game, albeit with a few more bug types than normal. 

After I got over the initial shock of seeing a lot of the bugs, like the camera sinking into the ground, or the player character standing right next to the trainer they were battling, they almost became, a strange part of the experience. I never saw anything truly horrible or game-breaking beyond having to fly back to the nearest Pokemon center, although others have encountered more severe things than me. Once I got used to them, and became more immersed in the world of Paldea, the bugs and framerate issues and visual quality seemed to fade into the background. Of course, they were soon snapping back to the forefront when a funny new error happened, like burying my head in a stone wall whilst trying to catch a Pokemon in a cave. However, they more often created moments of laughter than moments of frustration. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's good to have a buggy game, but I do believe that the reason why almost all reviews talk about them more than anything else is because it's one of the first memorable experiences you will have whilst playing, because you aren't expecting it.

Unfortunately for Scarlet and Violet, the first hour is also probably the worst hour. To draw in new players and retain old ones, that first hour really ought to be very good (although that hasn't stopped the game from breaking Pokemon sales records, not accounting for refunds). However, if you can get past the first hour, you are treated to a fantastic and unique Pokemon experience. It has a wonderful score, including contributions from Toby Fox (yes, THAT Toby Fox) and Ed Sheeran. It has a huge Pokedex, and a world that literally never runs out of things to. It has the really strategically interesting 'Terastralisation' mechanic, allowing Pokemon to change to a new 'Tera type' mid-battle, which I've just realised I haven't bought up yet even though it's a core part of the experience...

Yes, the townsfolk are juddery and lifeless. Yes, you'll have to remember to save every 10 minutes in case something weird happens, Yes, the UI can be unintuitive at times. But, the multi-player mechanic allows players to adventure together in ways that would've been unimaginable in Pokemon before. The 'Raids' feature gives you a huge amount to still do in the 'Post-post game'. The open-world design allows for incredibly exciting possibilities, especially when Game Freak are given more time and the next generation of hardware. 

The game itself is much like a Pokemon: the longer you play with it, and the more love and enthusiasm it, the stronger and stronger it grows. It evolves from an underwhelming game that you would walk past in a store, into an excitable, mostly tameable, and loveable beast. It has learned new moves that we never thought it could; not all of them have been super effective, and there are some that we'd all rather forget. But it can always surprise you, and can really come through for you when you least expect it. 

When you finish an experience on a high note, the hardships and struggles that you felt along the way can fade away from your mind, leaving you with the wonderful memories that you created, and the lessons that you learned. That is what happens when you finish Scarlet and Violet.

That is why I think it's so great.