Topic: Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet

@Tyranexx
Do you want to see Koraidon (Scarlet) with awkward motorbike riding or Miraidon (Violet) with anti-G motorbike riding ?
Well, it's Flinstones (Scarlet) vs Jetsons (Violet) anyway ? 🤭

@Kermit1
Team Violet too.

@Kermit1 I'm solely leaning towards Scarlet because Larvitar is a version exclusive lol. I prefer Tyranitar's line over Salamence's, though I do like both. /nostalgia If only the newer games implemented something like the GTS vs. Surprise Trade or "friends only"....

@Anti-Matter Honestly, I'll take either/or at this point lol. Both the past and future aesthetics interest me. Though "Big Tusk" (AKA giant Donphan) is a little more intriguing in my book.

@Tyranexx I've basically been Scarlet since the Legendaries were revealed (Koraidon is both a badass and the goofiest lizard I've ever seen and I love him so much) but the exclusives (THAT HAVE BEEN SHOWN) have also been a big factor as well. Tyranitar is a VGC fixture so not having to do any trade shenanigans to get one ready is very much appreciated, Armarouge is literally just Mega Man and I have a big soft spot for them as a result (though Ceruledge has been creeping up as one of my favourites from this gen) and Stonjourner is a mon I've never been able to catch natively until now (since I chose Shield for Gen 8). I'll lament once again missing out on my beloved Bagon but it'll be a small price to pay for the ones we have available.

@Fizza Tyranitar is a certified badass. That's where the "Tyran" in my username mostly comes from lol. I slightly prefer Ceruledge over Armarouge, but I like both. Serious Mega Man vibes off of both. Same issue with Stonjourner since I own Shield. In addition, the counter exclusive in Violet is Eiscue, and I really don't care for that 'Mon. The design just seems uninspired IMO.

@Tyranexx I like the little penguin a lot personally. It's got a pretty fun gimmick (even if it's literally just worse Mimikyu), it has some fun options to play around with in terms of movepools and the giant block of ice with a face just appeals to me for some weird reason. I've liked this guy ever since I first saw him 3 years ago and I don't think that opinion has changed all too much in the years since.

Or it could just be that I hunted for a shiny one of him but that's neither here nor there.

@Fizza I admittedly am not too into the Pokemon meta - I don't have the time or patience to play competitively - but Mimikyu indeed is a better (and cuter!) Eiscue. I think the ice face is what I find so off-putting. It's just...a blank stare. Makes you wonder what the poor thing got into....

All in all, I don't think Eiscue is a terrible Pokemon or anything. I'm just not a fan of the design. Granted, there are usually a few designs out of each gen I don't find appealing.

That's a shame. Legends: Arceus is fantastic. I mean, obviously not as polished as something like a first-party Nintendo title like Zelda or Mario, but SO much better than the other disappointing products GF has churned out these last couple of generations. I really wish they'd pushed this new gen off a bit so that PLA's overhauled mechanics could be integrated into it.

I haven't been looking at many of the leaks, but from the bits and pieces my friends following the leaks, and the scraps from a friend who's played the game for 30 hours or so, it sounds really great. I heard there's a bunch of graphical glitches and stuff, but apparently the Day 1 patch fixes those. The friend who beat it said that it['s one of their favorites in the series now, and some others are saying the gameplay is really good and story is insane.

Overall, this gen sounds like one of the most experimental ones Gamefreak has done, to the point where I don't even mind that the big core gameplay mechanics from Legends don't make it in. I'm just ready to pick up the dual pack I pre-ordered so I can play Scarlet in my free time and Violet on my youtube channel.

I can already see the cycle repeating tbh... "the past games were sooo disappointing, but these ones. These look great" and then straight into "bummer Gamefreak can't design games for $#@&", not realizing that, maybe, just maybe, you just don't enjoy Pokémon anymore because the last two gens were easily among the best games in the series (we shall not talk about XY because those are ACTUALLY terrible. Not even people who say they liked those games can remember Kalos properly..)

I remember Kalos perfectly.

@Dom_31 Honestly? No. I personally think the Alola games were good BUT I still think SWSH were just mediocre at best. Like... the routes were SO borring and the game interrupts the main story every few steps for uninteresting dialog.

...did you hear about Leon and his unbeatable Charizard!?

I really hope the story is as good as you say. Good storylines/lore in games can stick with me long after I've beaten them. As a perfect example, take PLA: after the crushingly mediocre story of SwSh, I was only cautiously optimistic prior to starting the game up (and that was moreso due to the 'stuck in the past' premise rather than me being excited for the story itself). I proceeded to have my mind absolutely shattered to smithereens by the bonkers twists, top-tier fanservice, fascinating lore and surprising amount of maturity for a mainline Pokemon game (DEATH IS ACKNOWLEDGED AS A REGULAR THING IN THE STORYLINE OF A POKEMON GAME HOLY) and I will never forget that glorious week between January 28th-February 5th where I was just taken on a wild ride that I never wanted to end.

If SV can get even close to that then I'll be over the moon (though I am curious as to whether it's going to feel a bit disjointed due to the new open world structure and the three storylines and all).

To be fair, death is not that rare of a theme for Pokémon.

It’s been there since the first games, most of them have some sort of reference to it in some way, and XY has lots of it. Conveniently off screen.

@Eel Hmm, lot's of XY talk... Hmmmm is XY hinting something?

@Eagly Maybe Scarlet & Violet are that 3rd entry! It all makes sense now!

They’re neighboring regions, so I suppose it would be cool if they included lots of references.

Actually, from the promotional material, it looks to be that Paldea is just isolated from the other regions as a whole. They show a map in the gym leader reveal, and there's no place where Paldea connects to other regions. @Eel

@VoidofLight No visible place yes, but that bunch of clouds in the top right (especially when you compare it to a map of Spain) is fooling nobody with what it's purpose is:

When (not if) we get dlc it's either gonna be south France (kalos) or the Canaries.

Hoping more for the latter cause it could mean we might get a better version of Sevii, maybe. If they don't just give us both, of course. Maybe they're gonna do another two-parter