Topic: Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet

@novasoup you're going to get very varied opinions, because a lot of it is just a matter of taste.

The performance issues I personally barely notice just because I don't have an eye for subtle frame rate issues (although it is humorously bad in the classrooms for some reason). If it hadn't been in the news so much and I was just playing myself, it wouldn't have occurred to me that there were serious performance problems.

The graphics amd camera have some jank which reminds me of a lot of somewhat older 3D games, but I stopped consciously noticing most of it when I got into the gameplay and it just hasn't bothered me much. Some of the art (including in some of the most important places / activities) is still lovely with absolutely adorable pokemon wandering around and that's what I focus on.

As for the fact that not all 1,000+ pokemon are in the game, that's even more a matter of preference; I like each pokemon game I play to be different so I don't mind if there are differences, especially with hundreds of Pokemons walking all over the place, including some seriously cute new ones. As an interesting thought experiment, there are 1,000 pokemon now; if pokemon exists for many more decades it could eventually get to 5,000 which sounds to me too much for one game.

I'll probably take away one point for the jank graphics from my score (so it won't be a 9/10 game but may be an 8/10 for me).

To me, this game is such an anomaly. Almost everything you've probably heard about its performance/technical state/(lack of) innovation are true, but man, I just lose hours to this game. I lose hours really unlike I do to any game. Evenings gone in a joy filled blink. And when I'm not playing, all I can think about is how I want to play it some more. I don't think I've ever had an experience with a game like this. I was so confused by all the 7 and 8s this was getting based on the tech stuff, but I dunno, I sorta get it now. This game is like crack.

Anyone mind making a Union Circle with me? I'm one level away from evolving my Finizen and need it in order to make it fully evolve!

This is probably the best pokemon game I've played, tech issues aside. Most fun I've had with the series since Black and White back on the DS, and probably the first game where I want to 100% complete it, before moving onto the next version. It's addictive, and I really enjoy it.

@Eel
What?
A sudden black screen whenever you tried to open that door?

@Eel Lucky, all I had was a Pokemon fall into an abyss and a fish walk on land.

I'd say it's a solid 3rd (behind Gen 3 and Gen 6) so far. This is the first full open world game that I can say I'm really enjoying, I really like plenty of semi-open world games like the Xenoblade franchise and Legends Arceus but full open world games I find myself easily getting burned out on (e.g. BotW took me a year from game start to defeating Ganon but that wasn't due to extensive exploration of the world, rather that I'd get burned out and then play something else).

Just getting close to that wall in general made the screen go black. Perhaps it’s just an European house design thing.

@Eel I can say as a European myself that we regularly visit t̷̡͖͓̼͚͈̣̽̒̉̎̋͌ḩ̵̻̣̳̼̙̞͌͗́̄͜͝ȇ̶̡̢̖͈͕̈́͛̓̑̒̐͌ ̸̧͚̙̏͠ŕ̸̢̧̝̹̭̝͕̳̩͐͐͘ę̵̖̞̗͎̱̥̞̱̱̀a̴̧̬͖͇̪̰̫̻͇̞̋̐͛̇̋̍͗̑̓l̴͍͙͇̙͇͔̽̈̒͗̚͜ṃ̸̢͉̣̻͙̟̱̪͕͛̈́͋ ̴͉͈̦̗͉͉̋̿͂̚f̶̰͕̜̝͔̈̓͝r̴̡̼͖̣̥̮͊̈̀̉̐̈́͑o̵͓̗̥͈͕͔̬͒̃̈̄͝m̸͚̟̿͗̍͋̔̎́̈̎̚ͅͅ ̶̪̝͔̯̼̑͂͗̚͠w̶͖̼̻̱̺͕̬̘̦͋͂̌̚͠ͅh̷̡̘̪̼͖̱͕̙̯̐į̷̢̡̙̳̯̏͗̀c̶̳̗̀̔̈́͠h̶͑̎̚̕͜ ̷̲͎̠̙̹͆̚n̵̛̘̑͘o̷̡͚͈̞̖̅ ̷̧̡̳̇̅̒̃̋̿̆͋̋ͅm̶̼͓̰̬͎͇̈̽̓̓̿̎ě̷̝͕̫̭̬̃̐͐̐̐̀̿͋͝ͅr̵͓̈́͠͠e̴̦͓̣͇͖̓ ̷̥͙̠̯͍̻̞̟̓̈́̽̑͝m̶̢̩̘͆̃̿ơ̴̢̛̝̘̘̝͇̝͕̎̐͆͗͝͝ṟ̸͊̆̿̑̍͝ẗ̸̪̯̞̜̙́̒̈́̉͌̓̽͠͝ă̷̡̡̛̦̫̳͎̬͙̜̈́́̓̅̚͜ĺ̷̗̱͚̱̣̭͓̝ ̴͇̬̙̔̑͌̿̂͐̎͘͠ͅh̸̘̘̳̋̈̑̈́̓̒̇͠a̴̧͇̘͋̄́̾͝s̸̨̻͉̜̼̤͋̇͗ͅ ̸̗̪͙͉͖̑̉̆̀̄̃̒̀͑͝ḛ̵̻̣́͂v̴̯̲̗͖̪̬͙͔̾̓̾͆́̏͘͘̚͝ͅͅe̸͚̻̰̓͘r̵͙̤͉̫̋̓̅̀̍̍͐͝͝ ̶̢̭̻̗́̓́͋̌͐̄̿͘r̸̛͖̳̭̜̦̹̤̞̆͐͋́͊͊̊͌e̷̮̒̈́̒̆͌̈̾͝t̵̨̛̊̒͐͜u̵͓̭͒r̵̟͉̣̺̯̟͆̊̈́̊̄͘n̵̡̪͙̟̟͂̓̒́͑é̵̦̪̜̥͎͔̠̳̩̓͑̌͘͘͠͝d̸̝̺̳̭̼̳̖̰́̑̎̂̒̄̈̐͜͝ͅ in order to grab our weekly shopping.

@FishyS when i talk about pokemon being excluded, i specifically mean pokemon not even being transferable to the game
i'm fine with them not being catchable in the region itself, but i feel that every pokemon should at least be able to be transferred to the game (which isn't a hard thing for gamefreak to code in, as they've done it before)

I've now beaten all the campaign bosses outside of the final, final, final boss of the Star quest.

The difficulty tuning in this game is absolutely all over the place for me, I guess it's just the nature of the rock paper scissors foundation of Pokemon's combat, but I dunno, it often feels like if you have the type advantage it's a joke, but even if it's a neutral battle, the CPU can hit crazy hard even when you out level them by quite a few.

I also often had a really hard time trying to understand turn orders, as it often felt like the CPU would get an extra couple of hits in and wasn't quite bound to the same rule sets, with them getting two hits in a row in vital moments turning a close battle I should have won into a loss.

I had to really grind out a bunch of gyms and star leaders, but then I dunno, I blew through the Elite Four for some reason like a hot knife through butter. I failed on the first member the first time, but then on my second go I went all the way to the end, through La Primera and Nemona no issue. The Elite Four even includes the gym leader I had the most trouble with in the campaign, but they use a different set of Pokémon this time and I guess for my team comp it was laughably easy this time? Should have brought those Pokémon from their gym! Both him and one other I basically just spammed one move on one Pokémon and cleared their entire parties.

I thought the Elite Four was like the pinnacle of challenge in these games, I had to grind way more for other battles. This was about as easy as some of those early cakewalk gyms.

**** I'm not suppose to be here

I want to love this game despite its flaws but the brutal honest is that it's so ugly, bland and broken that it's not fun to explore at all. I'm still in the early hours, but there is a place with what's supposed to be a waterfall... God, everything looks awful, the waterfall, the river, the grass, worst than a child's drawing. I think I'll take a break and wait for a few patches first.

@Fizza it's one of new Pink Shinies, so I may try change my actual starter with Shiny one via breeding, but still unsure. Had similar problem in Shield, where after I caught good GZigzagoon and then started my speed training my team against them, I found Shiny one, but kept in team the one I almost finished speed training cause IVs being a bit better on it to begin with then with Shiny one, so. But this Gen I can not even finish game and do all alteration trainings (Hyper, Mints, Feathers, Vitamins). xD

Just beat SV, and I sincerely believe this is one of the best games in the series to date. The ending is insane, and it took a massive twist from what I was expecting. For once in a Pokemon game since gen 5, I can say the story is actually really great.

Don't hold your hopes up for this, as I sincerely doubt GameFreak is going to bother.
They sold over 10 mil copies in 3 days. This just gives a clear signal to them its fine what they did and they don't have to bother fixing anything. Bad reviews and low metacritic scores be damned.

After a week, Gamefreak hasn't even bothered to come out and acknowledge the issues yet and when we can expect the first patch, etc.

If this was any other game on any other console or PC, the devs would have been forced to come out with an apology the day after launch and post a patch/update roadmap to the public! /shrug
( like Cyberpunk 2077 for example, which in my opinion ran better and was more playable at launch than this game. I played it on the previous gen. XBox One X at the time and it ran fine, other than some bugs and glitches ).

This is me. I definitely agree that there's some glaring issues with the technical stuff but it's just a fun game otherwise. If you like pokemon, you WILL like this.

Best selling game ever in Japan doesn't just come from negative headlines about visuals but positive word of mouth from people who play and enjoy the games as much as I do and as much as I see MANY other people enjoy it.

If you're a complete stiffler for performance and low quality textures, that's fair and I'd argue you should stay clear, but everyone else is in for an honestly good time.

I definitely agree with the 7/10s, overall. If it weren't for the tech issues and the ugly environment textures it'd be an easy 9/10 from me.

Best selling game is only because of how popular the Pokemon franchise is. Nothing more, nothing less. Add on top that in Japanese culture people simply don't critize any flaws/problems like we do in the west. They are very passive in that regard.

Gamefreak can just put out an empty cartridge with the Pokemon logo on it and it would still sell millions of copies, before people even notice.

And this is the problem. With Scarlet/Violet selling so well, no matter the abysmal state of the game. It just gives a signal to Gamefreak and the Pokemon Company, that they can put even less effort in their next game and still get away with it.

This is not good at all for us as gamers who want a high quality game (what you have come to expect from Nintendo), when people acting like blind rabbit fans of the franchise and keep buying everything TPC/Game Freak throws at them, no matter what.

So you can very well expect and even worse game next time around. Even more unfinished and probably runs just as horribly performance wise.

@Jeronan : It's not just that. The now accepted practice of releasing buggy and/or incomplete games and patching them later is a practice that the industry has become all too complacent with, and I suspect that developers/publishers pace themselves accordingly. Standards are dropping across the industry, and I suspect that it will take an industry-wide crash or some other kind of wake-up call for things to improve in any meaningful way.

I have always said that the fact that BD/SP launched unfinished is absolutely pathetic and sets a horrible precedent for the franchise moving forward. Scarlet/Violet's performance issues is just another manifestation of that sort of complacency.