Topic: Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet

I find his animations hilarious to be honest. I haven’t seen the other starter evolutions yet, but judging from the rival’s fuecoco and its middle form, I imagine that one goes a little bit more into the Mexican spectrum.

Which leaves me wondering if Sprigatito will complete the three caballeros by evolving into a grumpy American with a speech problem.

I personally think Quaxly's evolutions are awful. I feel like Fuecoco's final evo is probably my favourite of the three, but I dunno whether it fits with the first two evos. I really like Sprigatito's final evo too, but I feel like the middle evo is more interesting.

@Eel
Sprigatito turned into Zorro.
Fuecoco turned into Coco alligator.
Quaxly, sadly turned into Capoeira Pave (Animal Crossing).

@Pizzamorg with Fuecoco's, I originally had a feeling that it didn't really make sense as a final evo for a starter design, but it grew on me the more and more I used it. Sprigatito's and Fuecoco's final evos are definitely the stronger ones to me.

Yeah! It doesn't make a huge amount of sense connected to the others, but I still love the design in isolation. Love that little bird friendo, when it jumps into Skele's mouth and then jumps out at the last minute. I also like how the signature move you get when you evolve uses the bird, I kept that move just for the aesthetics 😂

I'm not a fan of Fuecoco's final evolution. I have nothing particularly against it, it just strikes me as rather...ugly. That said, it is beginning to grow on me a little, and I feel like its more animalistic/monstrous design is quite reminiscent of the earlier starter designs. Still, for a croc/alligator Pokemon I'd take Feraligatr any day.

Sprigatito's final evo is definitely my favourite, although I don't mind Quaxly's either. My only disappointment with Sprigatitio's evolution is that the grass typing doesn't seem to fit in as naturally as with other grass starters...it just feels like they made it green, added some leaves, and called it a day. But being my favourite grass starter since Torterra...can't really complain.

@araquanid
Ah, that's a shame, and I think Silvally is legendary? Anyways, not planning to get this one then until most of my favorites are added. I was hoping to transfer in all my favorites and then sell Sword secondhand.
The list of guys I want to bring, off the top of my head are
Zubat, Chansey, Tangela , Silvally, The Alolan legendary trio, Marshadow, Magearna, shaymin, garchomp, and probably more. I haven't checked my boxes in Sword in a long time.

@Sisilly_G @Eel @Pizzamorg If I had to give my opinions on the starters this gen:

• Sprigatito: An adorable little cat that has only gotten cuter with the game's release. Not my all-time favourite Grass starter (Turtwig/Chespin my beloved) but definitely up there. 8/10
• Floragato: This is one of the greatest middle evos ever created. The swagger, the pose, the combination of elements from both Sprigatito and Meowscarada, it all comes together so well and makes this not only the best middle evo out of the Paldean trio, but up there with Monferno, Grovyle and Frogadier as one of the best starter middle evos in history, absolutely adore this Pokemon. 10/10
• Meowscarada: Don't like it nearly as much as Floragato but I still think it's cool. The magician/Puss-in-Boots theming is great with this one and the fact that it's literally just physical Greninja thanks to Protean is hilariously terrifying. I think the only thing I'm not the biggest fan of is that it got rid of the shade of green used for Sprigatito and Floragato's main body in exchange for a desaturated mint. It's not the worst thing in the world but I did really like that shade myself. 7.5/10
• Fuecoco: ....do I even need to say anything? 10/10
• Crocalor: Took me a bit to get into the swing of things with this guy but once I did god did I love him. Realising that he was actually wearing a nest instead of a sombrero made it go from tacky to lovingly tactful and the way he runs around with the dopiest face is so lovable. Don't like it nearly as much as Fuecoco or what's about to come next but he's still a funny little guy. 8/10
• Skeledirge: I was absolutely terrified they were going to massacre Fuecoco's evolution when I adored it as much as I did and I'll be the first to say....that I was not let down in the slightest. Not only is it our first ever fully evolved quadraped Fire starter, but it's also got a tiny bird that hatched from Crocalor's nest on it's snout AND it's a singer?! ABSOLUTELY ADORE IT, ONE OF THE BEST NEW POKEMON FROM THE GEN TEN OUT OF F****** TEN.
• Quaxly: My least favourite out of the Paldean trio when they were revealed that I've thankfully warmed up to now that the game is out. It still doesn't feel like a starter to me (don't ask to me to explain why, I don't really know myself) but the personality is absolutely perfect. 8/10
• Quaxwell: ....it sure is a Pokemon. 6/10
• Quaquaval: It's been a few days since I saw this Pokemon for the first time and I still haven't got a clue what to make of it. I think I like it but it's just so radically different to any starter that came before (apart from I guess Inteleon?) that I don't think I can quite put a pin in regards to my thoughts on it just yet. It has my favourite shiny out of the lot of them though. ???/10

Overall, there are some high points, some low points and it all averages out to being an acceptable starter lineup this gen. I'd probably rank it in the middle of all the other trios but that's not to say it's bad: they've got personality in spades and I always appreciate that in a starter

With you on most of that @Fizza, I feel like Sprig's middle evo makes for a more coherent final evo than it's actual final evo does, but I like the final evo design enough that I don't really mind it. Much like with Coco's final evo, I dunno how it all fits, but I love it, so yolo. But yeah, Quaxly is ass all the way through to me 😂

Rowlet and Grookey for life though when it comes to grass starters, we ride or die baby.

@Fizza Meowscarada isn't as cute as the middle evolution but it is much more adorable running around the world map than it is in a still image. Also, I will totally take the new dark coloring in exchange for dark element. I love having dark for one of my main pokemon. Overall, I didn't think I would like this evolution until I actually got it and played with it and then my opinion got much higher.

Ok I saw pics of all three starter evolutions.

The fire one is definitely some sort of Day of the Dead mesoamerican icon, and the grass one seems to be inspired by Mardi Gras. So ironically in a way, they do complete the three caballeros.

You have the Mexican Day of the Dead, and Carnaval/Mardi Gras represented in a ways that evoke Brazil and the United States respectively.

Which leads me to believe perhaps these are meant to imply Paldea was, at some point in the past, just as happy to expand and colonize as its real world inspiration; taking Pokémon from the “new world” back to Paldea.

Is there ever anything to do in the cities outside of gym battles and shopping? (or the occasional trade)

It seems every time I visit a city I made a habit of taking to every NPC and get absolutely nothing out of it. It really feels like a waste of time with how big these cities are, yet they seemingly have very little of value within them.

First form: Sprigatito > Quaxly > Fuecoco

Middle form: Quaxwell > Floragato > Crocalor

Final form: Quaquaval > Skeledirge > Meowscarada (one of the worst Pokemon designs I've ever seen, lol)

Quaxly's line ended up being the only one I could tolerate, so I went with him. His final evolution is awesome looking. Total icon.

Rolled credits. Weird Ed Sheeran song aside, the final stretch of this game is really excellent. This ain't quite what I hoped for, it's technically very rough, but at least it's not Legends Arceus, a game full of misguided change for changes sake and honestly I enjoyed my time with this one more than I expected given the rational part of my brain kept telling me this wasn't very good.

Shield is still my favourite Pokémon game on Switch, this comes second for me. I'd probably go Arceus 5, this a 7 and Shield an 8.

Now onto post game content if there is any.

@Buizel It seems like the cities mostly took a back seat this time around, given how the devs had limited time, and wanted to do an open world and good end game area.

@VoidofLight It's a shame, really. It's not like a large wild area and interesting cities don't go hand-in-hand...in particular, having NPCs give you quests (like in Legends Arceus) might have made the open world more appealing to explore.

That move is unironically busted. It boosts your special attack with each use and it's already on the stronger side in the first place.

I didn't see a single shiny through my entire campaign, but now I am doing postgame stuff I found my first shiny - Lechonk! It is kinda weird, because it just colours them in more natural pig colours, I guess. I kinda regret letting it evolve as now it literally just looks like a regular pig, only it sometimes shakes its ass to send out sparkles.

The Judge thing you get when you get to postgame is excellent, I didn't realise for most of my playthrough almost all of my Pokemon had bad stats, but now I can very quickly see when I have the best version of a Pokemon and then drop the others (or if I am sentimental, buy some items to prop up where they suck).

Yeah, it is like the inverse of overheat, you get one big hit in but then it cripples your special attack after that point. Whereas Torch Song hits hard to begin with and snowballs out from there.

@Pizzamorg torch song(?) also has the benefit of having the cute birb do stuff. I love the birb so so much lol

And the hot PINK on the shiny Skeledirge honestly makes me want to breed a shiny Fuecoco... If that wasn't so boring.

Good lord I've been searching for a Glimmet for the past hour there and I still haven't found it. I know where it is and it's even ON THE MAP but I JUST. CAN'T. FIND IT.

I just want the cute Rock/Poison type man....

In other news, I evolved my Rellor and holy s*** Rabsca is so cool.