Topic: Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet

Should I feel as bad about buying Scarlet as I do? I liked it, but I know it’s unacceptable, and it will definitely be the last one I buy, but should I wait for the Indigo disk or just stop caring now?
Edit: Plz don’t reply anymore, Fizza and Blindsquirrel have made me like Pokemon again.

@MaximumRK I mean if you enjoyed what you played then I don't think there's really anything to be 'ashamed' of personally; it's all down to personal opinion when it comes to games and if you liked SV while also acknowledging their shortcomings then it's more than OK to feel the way you do about them (I'll probably keep on buying Pokemon games for as long as I'm able to as it's the series I hold dearest to my heart in both it's classic and modern incarnations but again: entirely down to personal opinion).

As for your query on getting the DLC itself, I think it really depends on how much you enjoyed the base game as the DLC is pretty much just more of that in every way. If you feel bad at the idea of grabbing it but still want the DLC then maybe try and get it from a second hand site such as CDKeys since I believe they would have it for cheaper? I'd personally recommend it coming from the angle of a Pokemon superfan but I'd definitely hold off until Indigo Disk comes out if you're on the fence about it as you'll be able to see what the general consensus regarding it is

(also love the PFP XD)

@Fizza This may be the most nuanced take on the game I’ve seen. Thank you.

@MaximumRK
Who cares what other people think. Others opinions are nice when deciding if you should buy a game, but once you’ve played it all that matters is your personal feelings. You liked it, so don’t feel bad for enjoying a game.

@blindsquirrel Huh. I thought the opinion about this would be more negative, and thanks for setting me straight.

Just spent the past 4 hours absolutely no-lifing Indigo Disk and I am quite frankly speechless at how incredible it's been so far; the Terrarium is absolutely MASSIVE in scope and the four different biomes really feel unique from each other with all the little nooks and crannys they have (the Chargestone Cave callback in the Mountain Biome being my personal favourite thus far), the characters are all really enjoyable and distinct from each other in both personalities and designs, there's a ton of great choices for returning mons (still haven't located the starters though XD), the difficulty is, compared to the average Pokemon experience, utterly masochistic in the best way possible (I've only fought Crispin so far and nearly had a heart attack ten times over during that single battle alone), the music is expectedly brilliant (with special mention going to the Gen 5 callbacks in particular) and the amount of nostalgia pandering to the Unova crowd is excessive and I LOVE IT.

So yeah: overall having a brilliant time and I can't wait to keep going at it over the weekend!

also this happened right as I was about to wrap up for the day

@MaximumRK While it's performance is definitely something to criticize, these have been the best Pokemon games in many ways. Ironically, people are calling the ones that like these entries "sheep" while following the hive mind and being quite aggressive about it. I understand when they decide to skip these entries and be vocal about the problems, after all I did that with Omega Ruby and Sword and Shield (which I ended up playing because they were gifts), but people are lashing out their frustration that they should have expressed since previous entries. Now they finally took steps forward and yeah, that doesn't excuse the quality in which these games were delivered, but at least they aren't stale anymore while lacking elements that they used to have like story and exploration and they are finally getting to the scale that Pokemon should have. Personally, these games finally deliver in all of that.

There's middle points to these situations, but from what I've seen the internet tends to go to extremes with pretty much everything.

Besides the DLC 2, there's also the Mystery Event Master Ball to get also. Time is going by real fast today. dang. really need to load up my Pokey Violet game to get the frikkin freebie Master ball to use on something

I'm not done with the DLC yet, but it has been a really enjoyable experience so far. I echo the sentiment that including the DLC, this is probably one of the better entries in the series... or at least it would be if it weren't for the performance issues which plague it. I can get by those issues, but it doesn't make them any less excusable, given the company making the game is capable of doing far better.

Outside of that though, it amazes me how much hatred and vitriol this game gets based off of its gameplay alone. Especially given that they've been doing things people have been asking for. Things like a proper battle facility with actual difficulty, or things like the Safari Zone basically making a return. Lore that actually is pretty deep and interesting for the region as a whole, and (Technically) multiple regions in one game. The roster of pokemon even went back to the 100's.

If it wasn't for performance, the game would be an easy 9/10 for me. If they had fixed performance and also tweaked just a couple things (some type of level scaling, better clothing options, maybe make towns a little more interesting) it would have easily been a 10/10, one of if not the best Pokemon games.

I also find the hatred towards the game weird. On the one hand, they were so close to making something truly amazing that it's a little disappointing they didn't, but on the other hand I would rather play a new innovative fun to explore Pokemon game with a great plot even if the graphics are sub-optimal than a would another more-generic Pokemon game with perfect graphics. I can understand the annoyance but not the hatred.

@FishyS : Borrowing the wild encounter/catching mechanics from Legends Arceus would have made such a world of difference as well.

Running into your 50th Flabébé or Sinistea due to their almost undetectable size is even more irritating than the random encounters from the Pokémon games of yesteryear.

And the lack of shiny audio cue a la Legends Arceus is also such an annoying step backward. They don't even sparkle in the overworld a la Let's Go either, so I'm always agonising about every Pokémon in my vicinity at all times just in case, especially as there are quite a few Pokémon with almost imperceptible shiny forms. I was lucky enough to find a shiny Slowpoke (which looks almost identical to a normal Slowpoke) due to my Braviary eye. These eyes were also fortunate enough to find a shiny Larvesta in the desert too, which was another that I could easily have missed as it mostly blended in with the background (and was muddied by the game's crap resolution).

@Sisilly_G I understand that they were trying to be a little more traditional (and also less scary) than Arceus, which is fine, but I agree they really messed up on things like accidentally running into small Pokemon and shinies. You could make an amazing game combining the best aspects of Arceus and S/V, but I feel like they also could have drastically improved S/V with just a few tweaks. I'm still sad my info page claims I accidently murdered 3 shinies without noticing. 😝

@FishyS : I think somebody else mentioned similar a fair while ago. It's probably a bug.

Or... transferring/trading shinies from other games also registers as a shiny encounter, so... could that have been it?

I just spent the last 3 and a half hours doing basically nothing but grinding out BP for the league facilities and somehow still had a brilliant time, WHAT AM I BECOMING.

Did you evolve any of your shinies by chance? The Profile screen counts ALL shinies collected, not just those battled/caught (despite what it leads you to believe) and whenever you evolve a shiny, it contributes to that tally as well.

@Sisilly_G Ehhh. I didn't really like Legend's catching system. Especially with Pokemon in the water. It felt like it fit for the type of game Legends was, given its about grinding out the pokedex to fully complete them (catching multiple of the same species), but I don't think it would have worked well with the type of experience the mainline games want to end up being.

I do think that they need to bring back the shiny sound though, since its annoying missing shiny pokemon unknowingly.

Finally got the 2nd Elite Four member out of the way today, decided to finish off Perrin's sidequest whilst I was at it and HOLY S*** GOUGING FIRE IS BONKERS

Entei as a triceratops was not on my bingo sheet for this year but I welcome it all the same

@Fizza Its such a good mon design. Scarlet has probably some of the best Paradox Pokemon designs, where as Violet just.. got the short end of the stick.

This is exactly why Gamefreak stopped making mythical events. People ruined them by leaking them early, and they keep doing so. Pokemon fans are unable to actually be patient.

@Slugg After you finish a battle in which you terastelized your pokémon (Tera Raids don't count), you need to go to a Pokecencer/healing station in the Terarium to recharge your Tera Orb and be able to terastelize again. But if you still can't do it after doing so, then it may be a problem you need to reset the game to fix.

Been tackling that current Delibird Outbreak event today and amassed over 1000 materials, got 2 shinies and managed to get a Love, Lure and Beast Ball from the Item Finder with the accumulated materials.

not too bad for a first day if I do say so myself XD