While fans of a series are excited to see a new title release for them to dive back into a world they have grown to love for a new adventure and thrill. However, when a project is rushed out or not well optimized, it tends to leave a sour first impression and can even end up being unplayable for some that can’t get over the graphical downfall.

This is the issue that players have been facing since the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It seems that Game Freak, The Pokemon Company, and Nintendo didn’t put enough care into the graphical side of their game. However, when it comes to the actual gameplay content itself, which is arguably the bulk of what makes a game entertaining and replayable, they definitely knew what they were doing.

So, take a moment to ignore all the grips and complaints you’ve heard so far to allow me an opportunity to break this game down how I would any other title and answer the ultimate question: is the game worth getting?

Story

Despite being a new student at the academy, you are given the chance to traverse the new region of Paldea in hopes of putting together a proper Pokemon team. Sent out by the school to find your treasure, or a personal achievement, you set out to see what this new area has to offer. It isn’t long before you are given three different quest lines to follow; become a Champion by defeating the Elite Four at the Pokemon League, participate in Project Starfall to bring an end to Team Star by defeating each of their base bosses, or take down Titan Pokemon that will ultimately lead you to a special herb.

Each of these questlines can be done in any order or completely ignored, but in the end, they all come together to a focal point of an overarching tale. By completing all three of the quest lines, you will learn more about your legendary Pokemon and get it back into top fighting condition! Plus, once you beat the entire game, they even throw in a few more challenges with a school-wide Pokemon tournament and then difficult raid battles - which actually lead into future, limited-time content opportunities.

Gameplay

A lot of the game is exactly what you would expect when it comes to the Pokemon and putting a team together. This is Generation IX for players and so we are in a new region with new Pokemon. You can find a multitude of different Pokemon throughout the region, many located in only specific sections and some even only during specific times of day, each Pokemon has their own stats and you can always improve them, there are shiny versions of Pokemon - as well as region-specific designs for some - that can be found, and you can only have a team of six ready for battle at any one time. Don’t forget that type match-ups matter a lot in combat, so diversify that team!

Some of what is different are how you handle the management side of your Pokemon. Your box system is right there in your menu which allows you to trade out your party or look through all of your caught Pokemon anywhere you are by simply pulling up the menu. There are no more HMs to learn and instead you team up with a hurt legendary Pokemon that allows you to ride them everywhere and will eventually gain the abilities to surf, glide, climb walls, and more. Also, to fly to places you have already been, you simply pull open your map and select where you want to go and an air taxi (without animation) takes you there. The key to flying is to simply pass by a Pokemon center and then that will become a point to fly to. They give a few other key locations to fly to on the map, but Pokemon centers are easy landmarks for pretty much everywhere.

Catching Pokemon is fairly the same as usual. They have a variety of Pokeballs, ranging from the standard collection to the specifics collection, and you will need to weaken wild Pokemon in battle to catch them. Of course, it is easy to catch them while they are under a condition as well, such as sleep or paralysis. From there, you just need to make sure you have enough gym badges for the higher-level Pokemon to listen to you. This means that it is recommended to at least follow the path to collect gym badges if only to have a functioning team.

The game provides an open-world approach this time, with all the good and bad that entails. So, from the start when you have only your one starter Pokemon, you can choose from a few directions to take. These will take you to some initial areas, but given the location, they are in the levels of these areas could be higher than you can currently handle. I would suggest going to the right from the school at the start for a more balanced start as I started out by going to the left which led me to struggle through my first two sets of gym battles before I backtracked to that side of the map. Once you have a team of Pokemon ranging from the high 30s in level, that will be when the free roam is more realistic and enjoyable.

Something that is brand new to this game is the new Terastyllization aspect of battle. Pokemon that are caught will also come with a Tera Type now. This type can either match the Pokemon’s type or be something completely different. It is best to have the Tera Type match the Pokemon’s type as this will give the biggest boost in their attacks while it is active. You can only Terastyllize one Pokemon per battle and you won’t be able to do it again until you visit a Pokemon center where they will recharge your Tera Orb. When you a fighting through gyms, and most other major battles in the game, the opponent will always Terastyllize the final Pokemon they throw out. Do what you will with that bit of information in your strategizing.

Keep in mind, you will be able to change a Pokemon’s Tera type at some point in the game, but it won’t be easy, In order to change a Pokemon’s Tera type, you have to bring 50 tera crystals of the type you want to change it to. For instance, my Garganacl had a Ghost Tera type and I wanted it to be a Rock Tera type. To change this, I completed the classes and mini-side quest with the school teacher Ms. Tyme and she rewarded me with 50 Rock Tera Crystals which I then used to change my Garganacl’s type. Other than the one-time gift from teachers, tera crystals can be earned in various ways, such as taking down raid Pokemon of the type you are trying to find crystals for.

I played through the game as I do with all new Pokemon titles and ensured I used a team of only new Pokemon. If it helps at all, my base Pokemon team suggestions are Pawmot (Lightning/Fighting - have Close Combat move), Garganacl (Rock - have Salt Cure move), Kilowattrel (Lighting/Flying - have Brave Bird move), and Skeledirge (Fuecoco’s evolution, Fire/Ghost - have Fire Blast and Shadow Ball moves) with the other spots open for your choice. These three came in clutch more times than I remember and are easily the reason I barely ever lost once I got the squad together.

To finish up the gameplay aspects, they changed up the egg system to when you host a Picnic. You can do this at any time and while you are there it is possible for two of your Pokemon to produce an egg. They also have an online multiplayer system where you can play with up to three friends in one game and you can all be working on your own adventures while playing side-by-side. Plus, this is how you evolve some Pokemon, such as Finizen which will turn into Palafin which will make him finally useful in battle thanks to his ‘Zero to Hero’ ability.

Audio and Visual

Here’s where the big problem of the game is. They did not optimize the game in the slightest to be run on the Nintendo Switch. While some might argue that the Switch itself is underpowered and we need an upgraded version, perhaps a Nintendo Switch Pro, there are plenty of games out there that were released on the switch and were able to pull off more graphical aspects than this game even tries to. It runs at a very low frame rate and causes some visual bugs to appear. All of this is ignorable and doesn’t really take away from the game’s experience, but it is just a shame to see such shortcuts taken to get this game out regardless of the condition it is in.

As for the music and sound effects, they are all very fitting to the Pokemon franchise. I wouldn’t say any of the music really stood out and made an impact, but at least it flowed well with the events going on in the game and did its part to bring out the various moments in the story.

Replayability

Of course, this game has replayability! All Pokemon games are designed with replayability in them whether that be to put together the ultimate team of strong Pokemon, find all your favorites in their shiny forms, collect all the different shiny Pokemon, or whatever else you can think of. There is so much to do in this game that finding a reason to get back on the game is as easy as remembering the title exists and there is at least one thing you’d like to do.

What It Could Have Done Better

It is no secret and without any doubt that they could have done so much better on the graphical quality of this game. From the framerate issues to the visual bugs that were everywhere, not to mention the design of some of the locations you visit, all could have been improved upon in various ways.

I would say that there should be a small “where to go” suggestion option that is more obvious than asking a random Pokemon center for help. The first few times you use a Pokemon center, they give random tips that have almost nothing to do with the map, so I didn’t think to ask them about directional tips. It should be said which directions lead to what level of difficulty in each area. The same could be said with the fly taxi service as I don’t even really know when that first became available. I just realized I could fly to places on the map one of the times I was looking at it.

Verdict

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is a wonderfully entertaining Pokemon title! Despite the wild response from many users online and the accurate complaints on the graphical quality of the game, the gameplay, story, and adventure in their own right are all a ton of fun to play through. If you are someone that can look over a few graphical issues, then you are going to really enjoy this game. Whether you have played Pokemon games in the past or are considering making this one your first, I would recommend it as a game worth adding to your library.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.