Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - PLEASE TAG SPOILERS/LEAKS

[Sonictrainer]

This might be the last official update before release

New Pokémon: Donphan? (Great Tusk & Iron Treads)

Great Tusk

Spoiler

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The Monster Known as Great Tusk
The Scarlet Book describes how this savage monster attacked the expedition team with its large body and tusks, mortally wounding one of the explorers.

Iron Treads

Spoiler

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The Monster Known as Iron Treads
It is said that when this monster curls its body and rolls to attack, it leaves a trail gouged into the ground, as if it had scorched the earth.

New Features: Scarlet/Violet Books

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The Scarlet Book, which will appear in Pokémon Scarlet, and the Violet Book, which will appear in Pokémon Violet, are records from an expedition, and they were written long, long ago. The expedition is said to have traversed an uncharted area of the Paldea region, but whether or not the accounts depicted in the books are true remains unclear. It seems Arven always carries a copy of one of the books with him.

Photographs and sketches of unidentified creatures fill the pages of the Scarlet Book and Violet Book. While there have been sightings of similar creatures in recent years, such reports are rare, and specific details of the creatures’ biology are still a mystery.

 

DLC: Rotom Phone Customization

Spoiler

If you have play records from the Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, Pokémon Shining Pearl, Pokémon Sword, Pokémon Shield, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!, or Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! games, you will be able to receive a Rotom Phone case in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet with a design inspired by the game the play records are from. Swap out your Rotom Phone case to one that suits your style as you set out to explore the Paldea region!

NOTES:

• You can receive these Rotom Phone cases by talking to the woman in front of the stairs leading up to Mesagoza’s central plaza.
• It takes approximately two hours of play time to reach the point where this feature is available.

Tera Raid Events: Dragon Tera Type Charizard Event

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During your adventures in the Paldea region, you may find black crystals that look different than the ones you ordinarily approach to take on a Tera Raid Battle. The Pokémon you’ll face at these black Tera Raid crystals are much stronger than those that appear at ordinary Tera Raid crystals, and defeating them can net you rewards that are even more exciting than usual!

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Charizard with the Mightiest Mark will be appearing at black Tera Raid crystals during two time periods: first December 1–4, then again December 15–18.

Charizard cannot normally be encountered in Paldea, and the Charizard appearing during this event has Dragon as its Tera Type, making it a formidable foe and powerful ally! It will use devastatingly powerful moves in battle, so defeating it by yourself will be extremely difficult. Team up with family, friends, and Trainers around the world to take it on together!

Event Schedule:

• Thursday, December 1, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. – Sunday, December 4, 2022, at 3:59 p.m. PST
• Thursday, December 15, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. – Sunday, December 18, 2022, at 3:59 p.m. PST

Note:

• This Charizard will have the same mark, Ability, and moves regardless of when it is caught during the event.
• This special Charizard can be caught only once per save data.
• You will still be able to participate in black crystal Tera Raid Battles and receive rewards even after you have already caught the Charizard with the Mightiest Mark.
• Charizard may appear again in other events or be encounterable in different ways in the future.You’ll be able to take on Tera Raid Battles at black crystals after completing certain postgame events. However, players who haven’t completed these events may still participate in these Tera Raid Battles by joining another Trainer’s Tera Raid Battle, whether they’re in a multiplayer group or using a Link Code.
• A paid Nintendo Switch Online membership (sold separately) is required to participate in Tera Raid Battles with other Trainers online.
• To encounter Pokémon featured in Tera Raid Battle events, you need to have downloaded the latest Poké Portal News. Poké Portal News will automatically download if your Nintendo Switch™ system is connected to the internet.
• You can also download the latest Poké Portal news by selecting Poké Portal from the X menu, then Mystery Gift, then Check Poké Portal News. You do not need a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership to receive the latest Poké Portal News.

 

[Soniman]

Sitting at a 77 currently this is the lowest reviewed Game Freak led Pokémon game since Emerald at 76 (which, being honest I think most fans would rate higher today). The majority of the complains seem to focus mainly mainly on the god awful performance 

It seems game freak’s (or rather the people managing them) penchant for cutting corners and having way too short dev times for making games on this scale are finally catching up to them, Arceus was already not very good performance wise having similar issues and this seems way worse. Hopefully this is a wake up call for them to take their time because I’m hearing the game otherwise is a nice new take on the formula.

I’m still planning to get it as I think it has more to it than SWSH for me to sink my teeth into but it’s still incredibly disappointing that it was released in the state that it was 

[DaBigJ]

Lowest reviewed, huh. 

That performance...yikes. Cutting corners can be a good thing, but Game Freak relies too heavily on it. Hoping this is a wake up call indeed.

Can't wait for RadicalSoda's review

[Salamander]

I am not normally bothered too much by poor performance - but what I've seen is really poor.  If my copy hadn't already dispatched I would seriously consider cancelling it, to be honest, given that I was pretty ambivalent about the game in the first place.  Eurogamer's review was quietly devastating from a point of view of things I was worried about - complex dungeons, interior areas generally (it sounds like "indoors" scarcely exists in this game).

The series has been having obvious content production issues since the jump to 3D, and even more since the jump to HD.  I think the fans have by and large had their wake-up call by now; I know I have.  But what will it take for the partners in the Pokemon series to finally change how they develop these games, when Scars/Violence are almost certainly going to be the best-selling games in the series to date?

[Sonicka]

Goddamn... that is, not so great.  

Well, we'll see what happens when this arrives tomorrow, so no turning back for me now. I'm sure it will be a fun (if janky time) and they'll be patches down the line. The reviews seem to cite that the open world structure and gameplay was nailed, and only the performance seems to let this down overall.

I mean, Arceus was sorta alright in the end, and that game visually looks far worse than this does... but saying that it probably runs a lot better than Sc/Vi because of that factor. XD

It's just a shame that we have our BOTW / XC3's of high caliber... but not our open world Pokemon's to match the same quality. C'mon Gamefreak. 

 

[Sega DogTagz]

People got on me for being hard on Arceus's low quality graphics and performance issues and are now somehow shocked at the slippery slope its enabled. Pokemon games print money and the more they feel like they can get away with doing the bare minimum, the more they will. And the more they do that, the more studios that are a tier below them will follow their lead.

*cough*SonicTeam*cough*

 

It is not okay to release a game in this state. Its almost borderline predatory since they know it'll sell a few million copies in its first week regardless.

[Tornado]

How does a game this fucking ugly run this fucking bad? Even the PS2-era games that had texture work as bad as this game frequently does at least tended to run fine.

[Rabbitearsblog]

And I thought that only the Sonic games had this problem...

[DarkRula]

It's a great time for sure, running around and exploring this new region. Lot's of interesting encounters. Performance is... okay... I've not ran into anything massively bad yet, but there have been a few frame lags. And that one time where an encounter put me on the edge of a ledge which I then fell down once it was over (though onto land, thankfully).

[Soniman]

9 hours ago, Tornado said:

How does a game this fucking ugly run this fucking bad? Even the PS2-era games that had texture work as bad as this game frequently does at least tended to run fine.

When it comes to games like this you can either look like shit or run like shit and Game Freak somehow found a way to do both it’s almost impressive 

[Kuzu]

This is what happens when everyone gave them a free pass for so long.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Goodness gracious.

[Indigo Rush]

4 hours ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Goodness gracious.

I'M HANGING ON TO THE OTHER SIDE

[DaBigJ]

100 billion dollar IP, folks, in 2022

[KHCast]

I think I made the better choice just getting legends Arceus a few weeks back. Like holy shit dude what is going on with this game…

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

4 hours ago, Indigo Rush said:

I'M HANGING ON TO THE OTHER SIDE

WE WOOOOOON'T BACK DOOOOOOWN!!

[Soniman]

Today has honestly been a treasure trove of absolutely hysterical content , this game is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Sega DogTagz]

Maybe a bit to soon, but has GameFreak pledged any kind of commitment to getting this cleaned up?

 

I don't need a timetable... just an acknowledgment that they will at least make an effort to do something.

[DaBigJ]

Game Freak would probably break something fixing something else tbh

[Tornado]

8 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

 

Maybe a bit to soon, but has GameFreak pledged any kind of commitment to getting this cleaned up?

 

I don't need a timetable... just an acknowledgment that they will at least make an effort to do something.

 

"There will be a laughably overpriced expansion pack in 6 months that will accidentally fix one or two of these things. Buy it and fuck off"

[Salamander]

I played the game for a couple of hours last night - long enough to get to the city where the school is, though that was with thoroughly exploring every area and it could probably be done in like half an hour, twenty minutes if you were in a hurry?  My impressions so far - the mildest of mildest spoilers, but I'll put them under a tag anyway:

Spoiler

• Running around and catching Pokemon is fun so far.  Well, that's the pros, now for the cons!
• I haven't encountered any of the really dramatic bugs, but visually the game is a mess; shadows and lighting are all over the place, and the framerate's not much better.
• They've gone for a slightly more realistic graphical style on humans, and it is not a success.  This is in unfortunate combination with much of the character design being unusually subpar for the series - or perhaps it's the art style making it look worse than it is?
• Your rival is a champion-level trainer who fawns over you for using super-effective moves, etc.
• It's an open-world game, so we're going to put in a linear hours-long tutorial sequence.
• The opening ten or twenty minutes or so are agonisingly slow-paced.
• They're still using exactly the same molasses-slow battle engine, which slowly narrates every little thing.
• Let's Go is useless, because your Pokemon despawns if you get more than a short distance from it.

In summary, so far the game has all the flaws of every 3D Pokemon game, and a few more besides.  In the opening stages in particular, I frequently found myself wishing the game was 2D because I knew it would be much snappier if so.

[Blue Blood]

I'm really disappointed to have missed my delivery got this game, resuscitation considering that I'm not going to be home now until Monday. I ended up waiting all day for it to arrive, only to get the notification of delivery at about held part five in the evening, an hour after I'd left the house. Oh well

[Sega DogTagz]

1 hour ago, Tornado said:

"There will be a laughably overpriced expansion pack in 6 months that will accidentally fix one or two of these things. Buy it and fuck off"

 

It'll also contain a few of the most popular mon's not in the game yet, as well as a handful that will instantly walk in and flip the meta on its head - thus guaranteeing people will buy it in droves.

 

(holding back Garchomp in Sw/Sh was pure evil genius)

 

 

This game deserves a Cyberpunk level rebuke, but Nintendo's not gonna de-list one of their big guns while the team gets their act together.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Dear lord. End their suffering. They are in physical pain.

[Sonicka]

Now - before I go into my first impressions, I'm NOT excusing the jank and problems this game has - that needs to be fixed ASAP. I've come across a few of these specific problems on my own, nothing particularly jarring, but noticeable all the same - clearly they need to work some crap out with some patches. I think Gamefreak taking on the Open World formula & implementing roaming multiplayer in one fell swoop was too big of a job for them, it's a shame they didn't get more time on this, or just focused on one of these elements. 

That being said so far... I... LOVE. THIS. GAME.

I'll have to bullet point some thoughts so far (apologies if these zig zag):
 

• Whilst making my way to the first town (I'm not yet at the school) I got sidetracked and went exploring and spent a good 20 minutes taking selfies with 4 Le'chonks that followed me up a grassy hill. From this moment when looking over the lovely looking flowy grassy plains, I knew that this is a game I'm going to get lost in for hundreds of hours. Easy.
   
• That opening sequence to the game was wonderfully shot and the introduction to the starters was cute. I usually go fire, but I don't like the design of the flame croc, I wanted to go Sprigatitto... but everyone else I know went for Grass Kitty, so I chose the flamboyant little Quaxley instead, and I'm pretty happy I did. Also the way you are introduced to the legendary is really well handled, they really want to show you the bond between your character and Miraidon / Koraidon and they animate this pokemon and their emotions (it's all in the eyes) beautifully IMO.
   
• Graphically speaking, this is far superior to Legends Arceus - I get the feudal-era vibe that game was trying to emulate, but it was a poor trade off for my tastes and made the game feel empty and barren for the most part. Visually, pokemon needs a vibrant colour palette and this is delivered in here in buckets. There are also all these neat little visual touches with the flowing grass and sparkles on the lakes and sea which is also very welcoming. It's not like, standout switch visuals or anything, far from it - but it's matches the world I personally would have pictured Pokemon to look like. In terms of the style they went for with the NPC's this time - I'm a purest in what I like... buuut I don't hate what they did here, it meshes well with the art style of the game very well and I soon gelled into them not looking all regular long eye'd anime anymore. 
   
• They really improved upon the wildlife and habitats of where these critters live and how they react to you. No longer do Pokemon feel randomly placed (like with Sw/Sh/Legends) but instead actually have a meaningful location in the design and landscape of the world, this all feels carefully considered and constructed so far - and it's so delightful when they come up to you inquisitively, I don't think that will get old. This feels like a world lived in is what I think I'm trying to say., and that's a hard thing to pull off.
   
• The downsides obviously are some of the graphical quirks, and the fact that the battle camera doesn't like sticking to the open world sometimes (which is why the visual weirdness happens), it can't handle some of the locations you might battle. But this  is something I can overlook, but hope gets patched. It is also a shame that switch games (not limited to Pokemon) still do that thing where NPC's drop frame rates the further you strive from them, that crap is a tad distracting.  
   
• But back to the positives... The Lets Go mechanic is far more useful than I thought it would initially be. I've been letting Quaxley grab my items and do some quick battles whilst exploring which has been excellent. I think this feature could very well be this games secret weapon, it's keeps things flowing fast but you don't feel the loss of training your Pokemon (like EXP share can).
   
• I also really like that they went for Adaptive Music. Hearing tracks layer from one version to another in fields or towns and inside houses is wonderful... but the fact they did this for Pokemon battles (because each area has different themes it turns out) is marvellous. I also really enjoyed that the first route (Poco Path) is a rearrangement of Viridian City, so it sold me with the nostalgia notes. 

So yeah, so far this is really REALLY good stuff. The game is indeed marred by technical issues, but the players milage is going to vary with their tolerance of this. 
 

7 hours ago, Tornado said:

"There will be a laughably overpriced expansion pack in 6 months that will accidentally fix one or two of these things. Buy it and fuck off"

Ha, probably. But like Sw/Sh this an expansion will still be more value for money than the antiquated "third" version. It's the one thing they did get right last generation at least.