I really don't know how to feel about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

An hour really isn't enough time to spend with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. But as I head into Paldea for the first time, that's all I have. This preview session drops us into Pokemon Scarlet a little way into the game, skipping all the opening tutorials and other early narrative beats, to get us into the game proper, armed with a pocket full of Pokemon and a vague guide on where to go. 

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the series' first open-world titles, and although I do have some issues with that terminology, being dropped into the Iberian Peninsula-inspired region with a whole forest of Pokemon to catch was an exciting experience. It's a bright, colorful, and vibrant setting, and with my house behind me, it's all too easy to step out into the wilderness to see what critters I can find. 

Exploration and catching Pokemon very much builds on what Pokemon Legends Arceus delivered back in January and what the Wild Area of Pokemon Sword and Shield did in 2019. A plethora of Pokemon are visible around the world wherever you look, and all ready to start battling. You can't just lob a Pokeball like you can in Arceus, but there's the same level of visibility on wild Pokemon. Interestingly, Pokemon that have appeared in the wild then appear on your mini-map but there's a certain lag to it that I couldn't figure out, as it only seemed to show Pokemon that had appeared in the area I'd just come from, not what was ahead. I'll be intrigued to see how this works when it comes to the full release. There are nice additional touches here too, with clusters of Pokemon regularly appearing like a flock of birds, or individual Pokemon reacting more to their environments. I watched a Psyduck waddle across the grass and ease its lardy form into a small lake, and let me tell you watching a Psyduck swim is a particular treat. 

Food for thought

That's just one of the reasons why an hour with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is nowhere near enough time. By the time I've caught some Pokemon and ticked off my personal quest of adding Fidough to my party, I've only just reached the main city in the area I'm given to explore. And I discover that it sits behind a gigantic door that requires a loading screen to move between the wilderness and the urban areas. It's not the case in a smaller town I reach later, but it does somewhat break down the idea that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is a seamless open-world game, which is disappointing. 

Between my home and here though, I've discovered that with the move to an open-world structure a lot of the core elements of traditional Pokemon games have gone through their own evolutions. Take trainer v trainer battling for example. No longer is a battle instigating the minute you lock eyes with another trainer, as now you have to go and physically speak to a person to start battling them. It makes exploring Paldea a lot more streamlined, because if you just want to get from A to B, you can do that without every random person you meet wanting to immediately fight you. 

Pokemon Centres too, instead of being limited to towns and cities have effectively become gas stations. They're positioned as pit stops all over Paldea in order to do things like heal your Pokemon, buy items from the Pokemart, or new features like crafting TMs or linking up with friends for co-op play via the new Union Circle (more on that later). I don't think this change is going to do anything to help the narrative that Pokemon games are becoming too easy, with it essentially diluting the need for potions and other items to restore your team, but it does mean that you can spend as much time catching and grinding as you want to without worrying about what resources you have in your pockets.

What you may want to spend your hard-earned cash on though is food. Well, actually there are two forms of currency – cash and League Points, or LP – but both can be redeemed on various food items to be enjoyed by you and your Pokemon team. Each food item has various perks, which then affect what kind of Pokemon appear in the wild, including their size and Type. Of course, that means picnics have more value than just being a cute activity to do with your squad – although it is super adorable, as you can throw balls and pet them as well as wash and feed them. 

Stars and Flowers

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have plenty of distractions to keep you from following the trio of core storylines. Between shopping, picnicking, catching Pokemon, battling, and otherwise exploring, it's easy to avoid Team Star, ticking off the gyms, or hunting down Titan Pokemon. And that is essentially what I did in this preview. Now, that was partly because there's so much to see in Paldea, but also because Pokemon Scarlet and Violet doesn't seem to have any kind of quest log. So, for me, being dropped in without the preamble made it pretty tricky to really understand where I should be heading for. The map has faces and icons all over it, but other than that there's no guiding hand telling you where to head next. I guess that's partly on purpose, to give that sense of being able to go wherever you want whenever you want in Paldea, but some kind of inkling on what's what does feel remiss.

I did start the Grass Gym's Test, which asked me to find 10 Sunflora hidden around the town, but I frustratingly only found nine before my time with the game was up. But, what it did help to highlight was Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's graphical issues. Pop-in was prevalent everywhere in the wild – akin to that in Arceus but much more obvious, with Pokemon literally spawning directly at my feet. It was the same story for human NPCs too, but with the added frustration that those that remained on screen but further away dropped to a ridiculously low fps count, lurking in your peripheral vision like bad animatronics. Unfortunately the same was the case in some of the Pokemon battles I had too, particularly the Sunflora battles in the town. Because battles take place exactly where you start them, you'll get passers-by and other Pokemon also on screen, which just makes some of these framerate issues even more obvious. 

Transform

However, battling is fun – as always – and does come with the added bonus of the new Terastallization feature. Your Pokemon can have a different Tera Type to their normal Type, and the designs are brilliant for the Tera Form of each Pokemon. In traditional battles, you can Terastallize whenever you want as long as your Tera Orb is charged up – something which happens when you heal your Pokemon at a Pokemon Centre. However, in the new Tera Battles (which work in a very similar way to the Raids in Pokemon Sword and Shield except for the fact they play out in real-time, Pokemon Go-style, rather than turn by turn) you need to do three normal attacks before you'll be able to Terastallize. 

The raids can be done with up to three friends, but so too can the entire game. Up to four players can explore Paldea at once through the Union Circle menu found at any Pokemon Centre – all you need to do is have one player host and send the generated link code to your pals and within minutes you're all in the same game. You can take selfies, have picnics together, trade, battle, and more. It's not clear how story progression works in co-op but just existing together in a Pokemon game with friends is such a revelation for a long-term Pokemon fan like myself.

It's also fun that each character can look so unique. The new character customization options are easily the most diverse a Pokemon game has ever had. Clothing is no longer gender locked, so while you'll choose a male or female body type, no clothes or hair options are exclusive to a single gender. Later on, I pop by a hairdresser to switch up my do, nip into a shop to buy a new backpack, and check out just a small selection of clothing. You can see why an hour wasn't anywhere near long enough. 

But the problem is, it's made me less sure how I feel about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The graphical issues are worrying, and I fear that's going to dominate conversations around the game at launch. The seemingly missing quest log and the presence of loading screens also makes me worried that it's going to feel like a dated open world game, which isn't what you want for a game released in 2022. But, more importantly, it feels too close to Pokemon Legends Arceus to really make an impact. I'll say again, I've only had an hour with the game, so nowhere near enough time to make a proper verdict, but, for now, I'm very much on the fence about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. 

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet still remain a duo of hotly anticipated upcoming Switch games, and drop exclusively on the platform on November 18.