103) Pokémon Violet (2022)

Beginning development in 2019, shortly after the initial release of Sword and Shield, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet represent an ambitious step forward for the series. The titles ditch the linear routes and progression the series is known for, instead focusing on a fully open world that had been heavily requested by fans. The team at Game Freak made realism one of the primary goals of the games, setting out to craft realistic areas, redoing Pokémon models with more detailed textures, and incorporating more natural sounds into the environments. The results are a mixed bag, to say the least, which is sadly going to be a recurring theme.

We begin by first creating our character, featuring a surprisingly robust character creator. Robust in terms of what the series has had before, which means plenty of hair styles, eye shapes, and hair and eye colors. Afterwards, we're given a dynamic overview of the Paldea region, which is clearly based on real world Spain, getting to see a few of the biomes and Pokémon we'll encounter as a mysterious creature flies and crashes into the world. We learns that our character has just moved to Paldea, and is set to enroll at the prestigious Uva Academy (Naranja Academy if you're playing Scarlet). We're greeted by the school's director, who summarily introduces us to our starter options. We're then led to our neighbor's house to meet Nemona, our soon to be rival, and to officially choose our starter. Nemona, being the newer type of rival character, will choose the starter weak to the player and challenge us to our first battle.

After the obligatory tutorial fight, we begin making our way to the academy with Nemona running ahead as our guide. Before we can make it beyond the first area, we get derailed into falling off a cliff so that we can meet our box art legendary of the game who has crashed on the beach below. After giving away our lunch, the creature guides us through a small cave back up to the path, smashing rocks and scaring Houndours along the way. Once we make it back up top, we meet with a particularly sour student named Arven, who challenges us to a sad excuse of a battle and tells us a bit more about the box art Pokémon. It's called a Miraidon (Koraidon in Scarlet), and for some reason Arven has its Poké ball, which he then gives to us. Unfortunately, in its current state it is unable to battle, which means it will primarily serve as our living motorcycle.

After what feels like another three hours of introductions and tutorials, we're finally set loose to participate in a school event known as the Treasure Hunt, a dubious extracurricular event in which students are free to explore the region in order to find their own personal treasures. The only restriction is to not venture into the large crater at the center of Paldea known as Area Zero, as this is off limits due to how dangerous it is. Of course meaning that, ultimately, we will be going there. It's here we're presented with three separate quest lines which will provide us goals across the region. This is actually one of the most interesting aspects of the game, as it provides us with a boss battle for each of the 18 Pokémon types in addition to giving us three full storylines to pursue at our discretion.

As the game is a completely open world, you can tackle any of the 18 objectives in whatever order you desire. At least in theory. In practice, each region of the map has wild encounters at a set level, meaning some areas are far better suited for early game, while others are best left for later. In addition, the boss battles mentioned previously have set levels, meaning that while you can tackle them in any order, there is an intended order that you're supposed to follow. It would have made far more sense to have dynamic leveling for areas to keep wild encounters around the player's level, in addition to scaling the boss encounters based upon how many you'd completed or to match our level. Not doing so pretty much defeats the entire purpose of an open world as it rewards the linearity that the game seeks to do away with.

The three questlines are a bit of a mixed bag, each having things I liked or loved while also being held back. The primary goal, defeating the eight gym leaders in order to become champion, is a pretty standard Pokémon affair with the biggest thing setting it apart being the challenges you must complete prior to fighting the gym leader. These include rolling a giant olive, winning an auction, slaloming, and a rap battle to name a few. The gym leaders themselves are pretty forgettable, with only one or two standing out, and the battles are ridiculously easy. While all of them have the gym leaders utilizing the new gimmick of the region, Terastilization, which allows a Pokémon to change its typing, they never do so in any interesting ways. The elite four is similarly underwhelming, and the Champion battle against Geeta is one of the most bafflingly bad fights in the franchise's history.

Another quest sees us assisting Arven in finding the fabled Herba Mystica, magical sandwich ingredient said to cure a variety of ailments. This sees us fighting Titan Pokémon, giant versions of Pokémon that we must defeat once on our own, then again once they've powered up with the "help" of Arven. The most useful thing he does is have his Pokémon knocked out. We come to learn that his ultimate goal is to heal one of his Pokémon which was badly injured, and completing Titan missions unlock new features for Miraidon, allowing us to move faster, glide, and even climb vertical surfaces.

The final quest sees us fighting against Team Star, a group of truant academy students, to aid the mysterious Cassiopeia. We're joined in this quest by the totally not an adult Clive, who seems more interested in learning Team Star's motivation than in actually helping us fight. To fight Team Star, we must challenge each of the five type themed bases by sending out our Pokémon to battle on their own in the overworld against mobs of weak enemies. After pounding the grunts enough, the base leader will emerge and fight us, culminating in fighting a type themed car. Afterwards, we learn the members of Team Star had actually been the victims of bullying, and when they stood up for themselves, they feared expulsion. It's a bit of a preachy quest line, which tries to subvert expectations but ultimately ends up being predictable.

Once we complete all three stories, we then get to go to Area Zero, where we learn more about the region, Terastilization, and get to encounter strong Pokémon known as Paradox Pokémon, which either look like ancient or futuristic versions of creatures we know depending upon the version. It's ultimately a satisfying way to tie together all three stories, and gives us a much more satisfying final boss battle. The implications and ramifications of what exactly happened in Area Zero are probably best not to dwell on, as it seems almost a step too far, which is saying a lot since the series has previously tackled a literal multiverse.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are tough entries in the franchise to analyze. On their own merits, they are average games that get bogged down in some atrocious technical difficulties that are only slightly alleviated by playing on the Switch 2. Graphically, the games are absolutely atrocious with muddy textures, horrible pop in, and completely bland and uninteresting environments outside of the actually impressive Area Zero. While I greatly enjoyed the music in the game, the complete lack of voice acting is frustrating, especially considering this is the second home console release to lack it while also having a music themed gym leader. It genuinely seems like the team either wanted to have voice acting or specifically wanted to call attention to the lack of it, and I genuinely couldn't tell you which is the case.

All of that said, I can't deny that I had a good time with the game despite all of the issues. The new Pokémon are, for the most part, fun and creative, and I genuinely loved the mystery surrounding certain aspects, such as the set of legendaries. Although the environments were bland, there was a certain charm and joy I found in just aimlessly wandering. The open world formula, though certainly not properly utilized, mostly serves as a hindrance. There's simply nothing to do, and to compensate the environments are littered with useless junk to collect. If you're a die hard fan of the series, there's enough to enjoy to warrant your time. If you're a newcomer, wanting to experience the world of Pokémon for the first time, I'd highly caution against this being your first exposure, as it leaves an unsavory taste in your mouth.