Topic: Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet

Good lord the middle evos for the starters (Fuecoco and Sprigatito's at least) have been absolutely brilliant this gen. It took me a minute to get into the groove with Crocalor but once I did I really love what they did with it and Floragato is one of the best starter middle evos....ever (up there with Grovyle, Monferno and Torracat in my opinion). Excited to eventually get a glimpse at Quaxly's at some point!

@Fizza Why does it feel like you and I are the only people having fun with this game. Everywhere I look to find people liking the game I see hate.

Although my post does read quite negative because I had more to say about the bad parts, I am actually enjoying my time with the game a lot.

@Kermit1Pineapple I'm loving the game personally. I feel like my brain isn't wired to notice frame rate unless it is SUPER bad so it feels fine to me. And I haven't run across any bad bugs. I love the freedom of the game and all the little secrets. I think the cities have been a bit dull, but I just love wandering around outside.

Just some lag and animation problems? LOL!

• The vast majority of Pokemon battle move animations are absent, missing, broken....animations that were present / introduced in Sword/Shield (and even that game missed a lot of animations and had basic placeholders with a some moves still).
• Game has no GFX whatsoever! No weather effects, nada! Shadows are pretty much absent, no rain, no fog, no sun glare, no snow, no sandstorms, no atmospheric lighting in caves, etc (like the early trailer actually showed us. Trailer even showed day/night cycles that also did not make it). This at least partly explains as to why the game world feels flat, boring and soulless.
• You cannot enter any house, hardly any NPC can be talked with, stores have no interior (you cannot enter them and instead just show a pop-up product list on your screen).
• Lot of duplicated assets in the cities. Like you see the exact same coffee shop (which you also cannot enter) over a dozen times in the same city. Feels a hell lot like place holders they had no time to replace before the deadline.
• Gyms are the most simplistic and boring to date. Done two and I think its the worst designed gyms to date. Absolute bare minimum effort.
• Even the Pokemon Centers are now just reduced to a boring Gass Station like pop-up outside. Again absolute bare minimum effort.
• Lot of the excellent Quality of Life additions and fun little side stuff that were introduced with Pokemon Sword/Shield are absent.

Etc. etc.

All the above is what the previous games had. It gives soul and immersion to the game. It adds overall atmosphere to the game and makes the game feel more alive (again more immersive).

What's the point of going Open World, when they have to cut out all of the above to make the deadline. Than I rather have a mixed linear/Open wild area game like Sword / Shield.

@Jeronan have you played the game more than 5 minutes? Most of what you listed there just flat out ain't true lol

Right: there's been something I've been immensely confused about ever since they started popping up and I was wondering if anyone here would help me out on this: how the hell do you do the classes? They keep popping up every so often after getting certain tasks done and I'm just baffled on how I actually use them since whenever I go to the classrooms, no one talks about them.

@Jeronan That desert sandstorm that caused me to run headfirst into a pack of Rufflet must've been my imagination then.

Well then the game is more broken and inconsistent even. As I haven't seen any of it.

PS. Are you playing it on the OLED Switch or classic Switch? Though that shouldn't matter, as its mostly just a new better battery and OLED screen.

if you go into the lobby (of your school) and talk to the front desk, they'll give you your list of classes you can do.

@Pizzamorg

Never thought I'd be excited to do virtual schoolwork yet here we are. Definitely would've been handy to have a Pawmi by my side during lockdown....

@Jeronan Been playing it on crustiest launch Switch imaginable while I wait for my newer model to come back from repairs.

What of it isn't true? I have played 5+ hours, done first two gyms before I give up and requested a refund.

Just the person above apparently having experienced a sand storm, I haven't seen myself. So if that is a rare occurrence in this game, along with rain and snow, I stand corrected. Though not seeing a single weather effect in 5+ hours is questionable.

That still doesn't explain away everything else I mentioned!

PS. Regarding the GFX part. I have fired up Pokemon Shield along Pokemon Violet and the difference in overall graphics and GFX is like night and day. In Pokemon Shield the terrain, trees, houses, assets, pokemon, etc cast shadows. In Violet it's completely absent. Same with normal atmospheric effects. Present in Pokemon Shield, not present in Pokemon Violet. Caves have atmospheric lighting in Shield, but not in Violet. Etc, etc.

@Jeronan I agree with Cheese Pizza here

@Kermit1Pineapple Then show me otherwise with screenshots/videos with proof.

Show me screenshots and videos of full GFX in the terrain. How the trees, pokemon, rocks, etc cast shadows? Show me heavy sun glare? Show me fog? Show me rain? Show me snow?
Show me the gloomy atmospheric lighting inside caves like in previous games?
Because I don't see it in Violet, but I can fire up Pokemon Shield and see it all there.

Show me how all the pokemon have the same/better battle move animations like in Sword/Shield? I don't see them other than the basic of basics placeholder animations. Just very few moves have actual unique animations, but not of the same quality as in previous game.

Show me video/screenshots of how you go into houses and shops with full interior? How you talk with many regular NPC's like in previous games?

Show me how you enter a Pokemon Center with full interior?

Show me videos how much better the Gyms are compared to previous games? I am not the only one complaining about this.

Some screenies from my journey so far:

The two pictures on the left? Were those cut scenes? As I have seen (albeit inconsistently) that shadows are visible in cut scenes.
But when I am just roaming around in the game world. Nothing cast shadows. They are completely absent.

@Jeronan

Are you serious? I don't see that at all lol! That actually looks a bit decent!
Is this a physical copy or digital download from eShop?
Is this recorded in handheld or docked? I have only played docked, thought that would be hilarious.

This is nuts.

@Jeronan it's a digital copy

Yeah I guess. There aren't really any traditional cutscenes, but those are moments where the game takes control of the camera for you for animations.

The game is absolutely woeful docked, play it in handheld.