Pokémon Scarlet & Violet shakes its structure to deliver what could be the best delivery in years

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Pokemon it is a franchise that, unlike pocket monsters, has had small increases. From one generation to another, the substantial changes seem insignificant at first glance, but together – and all the knowledge they represent – they are a much bigger leap.

During the eighth generation of Pokemon We received 2 products that presented interesting ideas, but were not quite what the fans expected. For example, Pokémon Sword & Shield he experimented with an open area, but sacrificed quality in other areas and the experiment did not come to fruition. For its part, Pokémon Legends: Arceus it gave freedom, but never sought to deliver the traditional experience that many seek.

Fortunately, both projects turned out to be a perfect opportunity for Game Freak and The Pokémon Company to learn and shape the future of the series. A future that will come in the form of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. Perhaps in advances and news it is not entirely clear, but it is about the Pokemon which I have been waiting for a long time.

How do I know? Well, it turns out that The Pokémon Company and Nintendo gave me the opportunity to take a taste of more than 45 minutes of pokemon scarlet. There are several things to talk about, but I think what will leave the most impact is the fact that I had the game in my hands for almost an hour and the time just flew by. It’s been so long since the last time the Pokémon world caught me like this!

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Related video: Pokemon Scarlet & Pokemon Violet – “Iono” Character Trailer

A structure that offers freedom

But what did Scarlet & Violet to catch me like this? The answer is simple and can be summed up in one word: freedom. In my eyes, Pokemon has always tried to live adventures. Fulfill the dream of leaving home to embark on a journey to a mysterious world full of things to discover. The franchise achieved this for a long time, but it was time to take advantage of the new possibilities to offer a different structure.

the freedom of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet it is present that there is more than one path to explore. By this I not only mean a very good size open world, but also that it gives you the opportunity to choose which path you want to follow. Maybe your thing is to go down the path of research and complete your Pokédex or find unique creatures; Path of Legends will give you that and more. Perhaps you are more traditional and want to go on an adventure Pokemon Ride through Victory Road to defeat Gym Leaders and earn medals. Or you may want to follow Team Star to learn their plans and defeat them if necessary. The same and you want to follow the 3 paths! Regardless of your choice, you will be able to do it.

In the demo I started just a few steps ahead of my front door. I didn’t have to walk far to find the wild area of ​​Paldea, which is full of wild Pokémon that appear walking around. Some of them looked at me warily from afar, almost as if they knew that I have over 20 years of experience kicking Rattata butt on my hands. Others went directly to attack me, poor naive! Did they really think they had a chance? Luckily the wear was unnecessary. It was enough to press a button and the Pokémon at the top of my team would come out and fight them without me having to worry. The best thing is that at the end of the battle I received experience and it gave me precious materials that now turn out to be very useful, but more than that in a while.

After defeating a few creatures I was able to see that, as I expected, the combat system is the same, albeit with a few additions that suit it. To begin with, they released animations; the end result is not the most complex, but the attacks now look heavier and more impactful and are closer to those of pokemon stadium. The camera gives you the opportunity to move freely so you can enjoy the action from your favorite angle. We also have the new Tera forms which, although I only used them a little, seem to me to be a better alternative to the Dynamax of the eighth generation, since it changes the type of the creatures and their movements. In this way, it has enormous potential in the competitive as it is an ace up the sleeve that changes the rhythm of the most intense combats.

Enough of the fights. After a bit of fighting the first few creatures I encountered, I decided it was time to complete some of the objectives, so I headed straight for the legend path. Going on foot in the huge Paldea region is a bad idea because of its huge dimensions, so I invited Koraidon to ride on his back and use it as a motorcycle. The great thing about riding a legendary Pokémon is that it’s so much more than the bike we’ve used on other adventures. Pokemon. This mighty creature can climb and glide, making world travel fun, organic, and free. In the purest style of breath of the wild you can climb a huge mountain (only here without worrying about an energy bar) and then jump and glide to get to the place you want. It is worth mentioning that the path is full of creatures, materials, objects and secrets, so there are times when you can see something in the distance and feel inspired to reach it by the route you reach.

“It was time to take advantage of the new possibilities to offer a different structure”

While Paldea appears to be a very large region, it didn’t take me long to reach my objective on the path of legends thanks to the help of a minimap. As I approached the place, I noticed that in the distance, near a rocky mountain, was a Kwlaf, a huge Pokémon with the appearance of a crab. With Koraidon I glided to his location and started a Pokémon battle. After defeating it, the creature escaped. I decided to leave it there to better meet my goal: get my first medal in Paldea.

After another journey with Koraidon I arrive at a small town with a nice main square and an amazing swimming pool. Before going to the gym I visited the stores to buy everything I needed to celebrate my imminent victory with a picnic. I then headed to the gym and was notified that I had to pass a test before fighting the leader. “More pointless fights”, I thought without realizing that I was wrong. What was asked of me was something different: to go through the town to find a bunch of Sunflora that were hiding. It was a challenge that I completed quickly and easily, but was as entertaining as it was charming. Each of these Pokémon was hiding in a cute way or was performing an activity that presented them as living beings. Anyway, with the Sunflora I was able to fight against Brais, a gym leader specialized in Grass-type Pokémon. The combat was just like what you’d expect from a gym battle, only with a smoother, more cinematic presentation to tap into this guy’s massive personality.

I won the match! Time to celebrate! Paragraphs ago I said that I relate Pokemon with an adventure and it is true that every good excursion is more enjoyable with fun moments. Scarlet delivers moments like this by giving you the option to forget about exploring for a while and have a picnic with your Pokémon. So I ran out into the wilderness and packed up everything I needed for a picnic. Although I had the table and the dishes, something very important was missing: food, so I prepared a sandwich. To make it I participated in a minigame in which I had to take all the ingredients I chose and put them in my culinary work. It sounds easy but it is not. It’s a physics-based minigame where you have to balance each ingredient to prevent everything from collapsing or falling down. It is important that you do it right so that your sandwich is delicious and your Pokémon are happy to receive the boost that their incredible flavor will give them.

A huge success that changes everything

After several minutes with pokemon scarlet I realized that its greatest success is so subtle and elegant that I didn’t notice it right away, but boy, will you enjoy it from the beginning. Game Freak went to great lengths to make their new open world experience as smooth and seamless as possible. Thanks to clever adjustments I felt like I was playing the whole time and never got disconnected from the adventure. For example, when you encounter a wild Pokémon you don’t get a transition and charge into the battle scene, just your Pokémon comes out and the commands appear. On the other hand, the Pokémon center is no longer a place you enter and from a kind of window you heal your team. In addition, the content of the stores is acquired without having to enter to speak with a seller. Everything is fast so that the sense of adventure is not mitigated for a second.

This effort to make Pokemon Scarlet & Violet be a smoother adventure will also affect how it will affect breeding Pokémon. There are still many details that I don’t know, but it caught my attention that there is a new Technical Machines (or TM, as they are colloquially known) shop. In each Pokémon Center you will find a place where you can use the materials you gather along the way to get TMs that your team can learn. In this way, getting these movements comes as a much more interesting process than finding them lying on the floor or buying them in a store. I’m excited to think of this as a way to make building viable teams more accessible to newbies.

“His biggest hit is so subtle and elegant that I didn’t notice it right away”

I still have a lot to see Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, but the little I was able to play left me delighted and wanting more. Looks like Game Freak is finally delivering an adventure Pokemon that feels like a real step forward and not a half-hearted attempt. I am already counting down the days to be able to return to Paldea and lose myself for hours finding all the secrets it hides.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet will debut on November 18, 2022 exclusively for Nintendo Switch. Follow this link to see all of our coverage of the new generation of Pokemon.

Related video: Pokemon Scarlet & Pokemon Violet – Gameplay Trailer