Pokemon ScarletandPokemon Violetrepresent an opportunity for the mainlinePokemongames to evolve. The franchise has been stuck with a growing list of problemsever sincePokemon XandYtransitioned to fully 3D graphics on the 3DS. Many felt the games’ story and rivals were poorly implemented, a lot of the models and animations were simple to a fault, and the typical structure of facing a Gym Challenge while dealing with enemy teams and rivals felt like it was growing stale.XandYalso felt like they were leaning heavily on one-off gimmicks, particularly Mega Evolution. A postgame lacking in substance was the cap on what should have been a historic jump to 3D.
The next fewPokemoniterations from Game Freak tried to address these issues to varying degrees of success. TheRubyandSapphireremakes combined the best of their old selves with improved versions of generation six features, though fans were annoyed by the refusal to bring backEmerald’s beloved Battle Frontier postgame.SunandMoonbroke away from the standard Gym Challenge successfully, even if some thought the story’s pacing was poor and Z-Moves were another one-off gimmick. Most recently,Pokemon SwordandShieldmade the firstPokemongeneration leap onto a home console, but stumbled through the whole process. The best thingPokemon ScarletandVioletcan do at this point is avoid repeating the mistakes that definedSwordandShield.
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The Pokedex Controversy
The firstPokemon SwordandShieldcontroversy has defined all discussions regarding the games since its announcement. During the E3 2019 Nintendo Treehouse stream, it was announced that only Pokemon in the Galar region Pokedex could be imported from past games. This immediately sparked a wave of controversy, and the reveal that 465 total Pokemon were cut did not sit well with fans. Even after221 species were added by the DLC, Pokemon collectors and veterans with an attachment to their old favorites fear that the franchise motto of “Gotta catch ‘em all!” is dead.ScarletandVioletbringing the full Dex back may be unrealistic, but having the majority of Pokemon at launch and adding the rest in free updates would please most players. Emphasizing new Pokemon during the main journey likeBlackandWhitewould also lean into the novelty of the experience.
Pokemon Visuals
The other big issues that plaguedSwordandShieldsince their announcement were their graphics and performance. Given how much hype there was around mainlinePokemonfinally leaving handhelds, fans went in expecting more from these titles than they were able to deliver. From the textures to the frame rate in the Wild Area, the games were covered in rough patches. The simple and reused battle animations did the games no favors either.Pokemon ScarletandVioletwill not be able to escape from the Switch’s low hardware specs, but they are working with a new art style and lessons learned from theopen-worldPokemon Legends: Arceus. Hopefully, that will be enough for this generation ofPokemon.
Pokemon Game Mechanics
A couple of mechanics present inSwordandShielddrew players’ ire as well. The strength of the full-party EXP Share has been contentious ever since it was introduced inXandY, butSwordandShieldforcing it to stay on was too much. An option to turn it off or return to a single-target use would fix it, but the Galar-exclusive Dynamax and Gigantamax won’t be so lucky. These are another one-off gimmick that felt like a standardized approach tomerging Mega Evolution and Z-Moveswith only some of their charm. They also posed balance issues in PvP, though their severity is up for debate. IfPokemon ScarletandVioletintroduce another major mechanic to their battles, it would be nice if it could be something that could stick around like a new elemental type or the return of Mega Evolutions (as unlikely as that is). Either way, these gimmicks should be properly utilized.
Pokemon Sword and Shield Story
The story ofPokemon SwordandShieldwent back to basics, which wasn’t a bad thing. The Gym Challenge being framed like public sporting events was a nice touch, and the player got to know the core cast and gym leaders fairly well. Things started falling apart when Chairman Rose finally revealed his well-intentioned but dangerous plans in the endgame.Rose’s motive of averting a Galar energy crisisin a thousand years is ludicrous, and the fact that the plot only focused on him once he directly interrupted the Gym Challenge made it feel like his character and villain team had no build-up.ScarletandVioletneed to at least be a little more tasteful in inserting their storylines throughout their runtime.
Pokemon Game Structure
Speaking of which,SwordandShieldalso had problems pacing their content. Despite having three rivals, the games throw a huge number of Hop fights at the player while leaving Marnie’s seemingly important storyline underdeveloped. There are barely any dungeons to make use of the improved Escape Rope, andthe Wild Area fails to impressdue to only taking up part of the map and the story being very linear.SwordandShieldfelt like they had a lot of ideas they just couldn’t fully execute on, and hopefully the experience developing them andPokemon Legendswill allowScarletandVioletto have a more compelling open world and progression.
Postgame and DLC
Part of that progression is sticking the landing, and that’s somethingPokemonhas had trouble with. The postgame content ofSwordandShield, like the last few mainline titles before them, is devoid of content. A repetitive sidequest ending with the chance to catch the box Legendary and difficult gauntlets of competitively-minded trainers are all the new content that the base games offer. The DLC areas bolster the postgame a lot, but players who dropped out in the middle ofSwordandShieldwouldn’t really be motivated to come back.ScarletandVioletshould still have DLC in place of upgraded re-releases, but addressing issues with the base games should also be a priority. At any rate, if buying one piece of an expansion DLC unlocks it for both versions, thenPokemon ScarletandVioletwill be able to easily avoid at least one ofSwordandShield’s complaints,
Pokemon ScarletandPokemon Violetwill be released in late 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
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