Pokemon Scarlet & Violet - 18th Nov 2022! **OFFICIAL INFO ONLY**

[Esserise]

I don’t get it.

Gen 4 Pokémon have been around for 17 years, but the only cross-gen additions they’ve received in all that time have been a few Mega Evolutions and Origin Dialga / Palkia. (And Rotom’s new utility applications, I suppose.) No cross-gen evolutions, regional forms, convergent mons, Gigantamaxes, etc. Even with Paradox Pokémon, Gen 4 only sort of half-scored with Iron Valiant’s hybridization of Gallade, which is itself an extension of a Gen 3 family to begin with.

Meanwhile Gen 8 *just* ended last year, and already in this DLC it’s racked up two cross-gen evolutions and a convergent species.

 

[TheTraininator]

Gen 4 Pokémon have been around for 17 years, but the only cross-gen additions they’ve received in all that time have been a few Mega Evolutions and Origin Dialga / Palkia. (And Rotom’s new utility applications, I suppose.) No cross-gen evolutions, regional forms, convergent mons, Gigantamaxes, etc. Even with Paradox Pokémon, Gen 4 only sort of half-scored with Iron Valiant’s hybridization of Gallade, which is itself an extension of a Gen 3 family to begin with.

Meanwhile Gen 8 *just* ended last year, and already in this DLC it’s racked up two cross-gen evolutions and a convergent species.

To be fair, it makes some sense when you consider a huge portion of gen 4’s dex was also cross-gen evolutions of old mons to begin with. But I agree the other Pokémon deserve some love.

 

[Coronis]

I for one was blindsided (though in a kinda good way) with the Hisuian starters, I was expecting some sort of focus at least on the Sinnoh starters. I enjoyed most of the new mons and forms, but I was a little surprised and sad more wasn’t done with original Sinnoh Pokemon - though as has been said, a large portion of them are already cross gen evo/prevos.

The only one with a Gen 4 connection was Sneasler kinda.

 

[Esserise]

To be fair, it makes some sense when you consider a huge portion of gen 4’s dex was also cross-gen evolutions of old mons to begin with. But I agree the other Pokémon deserve some love.

For sure, that was probably a factor. Still though, one would think that with Legends: Arceus focusing on Sinnoh and being willing to add new cross-gen evolutions, we would have seen at least one for a proper Gen 4 family. Instead, GF seemed to be taking the route of “any new additions should be for Pokémon that didn’t appear in the original Sinnoh Dexes,” which I could sort of understand as a weirdly devout adherence to continuity, but even that doesn’t quite hold up due to Scyther and especially Sneasel getting new family members.

 

[R_N]

For sure, that was probably a factor. Still though, one would think that with Legends: Arceus focusing on Sinnoh and being willing to add new cross-gen evolutions, we would have seen at least one for a proper Gen 4 family. Instead, GF seemed to be taking the route of “any new additions should be for Pokémon that didn’t appear in the original Sinnoh Dexes,” which I could sort of understand as a weirdly devout adherence to continuity, but even that doesn’t quite hold up due to Scyther and especially Sneasel getting new family members.

I think the real line was just the 107 Sinnoh Pokemon wouldn't get extensions. Scyther was part of the Platinum dex but not one of the new ones, so they probably went whatever.
Sneasel is still a weird decision, but strictly speaking Weavile didn't get an evolution it got a counterpart.

I kind of wonder if the initial plan (note that beyond some concept art that makes us pull out some thinking emojis, this is pure speculation on my part) for BDSP might have been inclined to add some new form mechanic. Whether that's gmaxes (just instaretcon dynamax's galar stuff ala megas), megas or something else new, it'd have hypothetically been something to give to the Sinnoh Crew. Then BDSP could have that while LA basically stayed how it was, giving more stuff to other Pokemon and leaving the Sinnoh (beyond Dialga & Palkia and kind of Legend-Plate Arceus) untouched.

It'll be interesting to see what a hypothetical Unova game does, especially since it's kind of made out like a bandit already with regional forms, regional evolutions and even (what might be) a normal evolution. Will it also make the decision to leave them alone, will it go a new route as an excuse to continue expanding lines, will it add <ancient unova name goes here> forms as response to Hisui not doing it, etc etc

 

[AztecCroc]

Interestingly, unlike Sinistea

I'm gonna be frank, there's really nothing about the Terastal phenomenon that dictates it can only be used in Paldea. It's not like Dynamax where not only was the Dynamax phenomenon only seen in Galar, it was a case where even within the region itself it was only usable in certain power spots scattered across the region.

Kitakami and Blueberry Academy are both noted to be entirely separate landmasses away from Paldea. The Blueberry Academy is noted to be a place where you're "studying abroad", aka overseas in a foreign place, thus denoting the BB Academy to be foreign. and Kitakami is also foreign to Paldea. Neither are a totally new region or a new generation, but are both completely separate lands from Paldea.

Terastal was believed to have been found in Paldea and only seen there but there's nothing stopping Game Freak from saying "nah that's a lie, it's elsewhere with its own lore", and since Ogerpon is tied to Terastal as much as Terapagos seemingly, that would explain why a distant land like Kitakami has the Terastal phenomenon.

Case in point is Mega Evolution, which was originally stated in X and Y to have only been found in Kalos, but then ORAS came into the picture and proceeded to go "hah nope, Hoenn has Mega Evolution energy and Mega Stones too!" with its own separate lore about how it got there, different from how it got into Kalos.

Really I think it's just a matter of Game Freak having a shift in philosophy and these supposed "convergent" species, ie two unrelated species who became similar, being what they want to do now. Regional forms have definitely taken a backseat this gen with only Wooper and Tauros being such, while they have given more focus to convergents (Wiglett and Toedscool for instance), Paradox Pokemon, and a return of traditional new evolutions such as Dudunsparce, Farigiraf, Annihilape, Kingambit, and now Dipplin and Archaludon. Regional forms are something they are shifting away from, and they've felt they've done everything they wanted to for now in Alola, Galar, and Hisui, and are now trying out new concepts in terms of designs.

I mean with D-Max/G-Max, your band sucked up ambient Galar Particles to power the form (and it seems to be inherently more unstable than Tera or Mega given it will end on its own) whereas Terastalizing is caused by releasing a pre-collected concentrated burst of Tera Energy from the Tera Orb. There doesn't need to be ambient Tera Energy to Terastalize.

Also "Mega Energy"? That's a Go thing, in the actual canon Mega Evolution just requires the rocks, no outside energy required.

 

[pika pal]

Also "Mega Energy"? That's a Go thing, in the actual canon Mega Evolution just requires the rocks, no outside energy required.

Sort of. Despite the frequent contradictions in Gen 6, the running theme with Mega Evolution is that the transformation is induced by Life Energy and the Mega Stones are essentially keys/catalysts for the transformation, with Rayquaza's ability to do so stemming from the Meteorites it consumes serving the same function internally. Infinite Energy is also frequently connected to Mega Evolution in depictions like the Manga (where it's drawn specifically out of Mega Evolved Pokemon) or powering the Ultimate Weapon that is speculated to be the cause of Kalos's Mega Stones. One could argue the contradictory themes share the thread of being a similar source through different means for the Phenomena to appear in other regions (meaning nothing obligates GF to explain Megas the same way if they want them to appear again somewhere). The energy is also in many ways rooted in Pokemon as a collective rather than a single Pokemon like Necrozma to Z-Crystals or Eternatus for Galar Particles (nice name for ensuring no portability)

Pokemon specific Mega Energy is a Go invention, but the idea of an energy related to Mega Evolution as a Phenomena is still a concept the series has done in the proper games. The other thing I would note is that Megas are vague in where the energy comes from beyond being a common factor, as is Terastal Energy pending Terapagos; however, with Megas it's related to the irradiated Stone drawing power out of the Pokemon itself, whereas Terastal seems to require the Energy be granted each use and has to be recharged at a Pokemon Center. Depending on what the source is revealed/not confirmed to be, they can anchor it to Gen 9 with a handwave of "the Power Crystals appear in Area Zero or this place in Kitikami but nowhere else" since Crystals don't "grow" like the HM they took out of the Crater

 

[AztecCroc]

Sort of. Despite the frequent contradictions in Gen 6, the running theme with Mega Evolution is that the transformation is induced by Life Energy and the Mega Stones are essentially keys/catalysts for the transformation, with Rayquaza's ability to do so stemming from the Meteorites it consumes serving the same function internally. Infinite Energy is also frequently connected to Mega Evolution in depictions like the Manga (where it's drawn specifically out of Mega Evolved Pokemon) or powering the Ultimate Weapon that is speculated to be the cause of Kalos's Mega Stones. One could argue the contradictory themes share the thread of being a similar source through different means for the Phenomena to appear in other regions (meaning nothing obligates GF to explain Megas the same way if they want them to appear again somewhere). The energy is also in many ways rooted in Pokemon as a collective rather than a single Pokemon like Necrozma to Z-Crystals or Eternatus for Galar Particles (nice name for ensuring no portability)

Infinity Energy is directly produced by all Pokémon. It's not an ambient energy like how Dyanmax and Terastal work.
Life Energy is just a different name for Infinity Energy in the context of XY (literally, it's the same words for both in Japanese).

There is no outside force required for Mega Evolution, just the correct Pokémon and the correct rock.

 

[Esserise]

There is no outside force required for Mega Evolution, just the correct Pokémon and the correct rock.

Yeah, even back when XY were stating that Mega Evolution had only been seen in Kalos, I never took that to mean it could only ever happen in Kalos; just that it was the only region where Mega Stones had been found, which made sense at the time because of what the game suggests about them being a product of the ultimate weapon.

I didn’t think there was anything preventing a Trainer from taking a Mega Stone and a Key Stone to another region and using Mega Evolution there. According to XY, the main limitations on Trainers using Mega Evolution were 1) scarce resources (the Mega Evolution guru only has so many Mega Rings to give out), and 2) the “intensive” training needed to master it (obviously that doesn’t apply to us as players, but Prof. Sycamore is said to have dropped out of training at the Tower of Mastery because it was too difficult for him). In fact, I feel like back then, a lot of people were assuming that Mega Evolution would become something they’d build upon for many generations, which would of course require it to be possible in other regions.

 

[Eriorguez]

We also saw a Mega Evolution in Kanto before we even could PLAY with Megas.

 

[R_N]

We also saw a Mega Evolution in Kanto before we even could PLAY with Megas.

it took me way too long to remember this is referring to Origins

Man gen 6 was a while ago, huh

 

[Eriorguez]

An entire fucking decade; FRLG are as close in time to XY as those are to SV.

 

[HiWorld64]

An entire fucking decade; FRLG are as close in time to XY as those are to SV.

Reading that shocked me a bit. Thinking about the fact that I didn't even start with gen 6, but with gen 4 which would be even older make it feel even more weird to me personally. Then again, I get this feeling of shock anytime I realize something is older than I thought. Even the fact that Scarlet and Violet released almost a year ago feel a bit odd to me now.

 

[Perriechu]

Part 1 of the DLC has been previewed by some Japanese outlets, so we have some new information;

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1698609435080347803

(Not embedding properly because of that man and his app, it's essentially Serebii reporting but can also be found on his site)

Notably, the first things are TMs, Famitsu (their article is here) reported that some of the TMs they have seen are Grassy Glide, Poltergeist, Burning Jealousy and Lash Out were among them, as well as Toxic.

One thing to note is Grassy Glide being 60bp now, are GF sick enough to give it to Breloom? :p

The balloon min-game can be done in multiplayer and has several levels of difficulty, also offers Tera Shards as a reward. The Roto-Stick also plays music where Pokémon react to it, allowing for more immersive pictures to be taken, which is cute..

We also have a new item for EXP, and the ability to rearrange Picnic furniture as well as outfits/hairstyles etc.

 

[Worldie]

as well as outfits

Honestly all I really want is they let us rid of the damn uniform.

Yes I know we're getting the two matching dresses for the specific DLC but I'd like some actual normal clothes ... :\

 

[R_N]

It's going to be so funny when Toxic is back but it's still only going to Poison types


The EXP item being a held item thank god they learned THAT lesson

 

[reaverz]

It's going to be so funny when Toxic is back but it's still only going to Poison types


The EXP item being a held item thank god they learned THAT lesson

Hopefully they’re a little more generous with it and allow more defensive Pokémon to learn it. Umbreon is one of the premier non-Poison ones that sorely misses it.

As far as the EXP item goes, it looks like it was a misunderstanding originally and it actually is the return of the EXP Charm from SS. That’s what I had guessed, because otherwise wouldn’t a held item that raises EXP just be a Lucky Egg clone?

 

[CTNC]

Notably, the first things are TMs, Famitsu (their article is here) reported that some of the TMs they have seen are Grassy Glide, Poltergeist, Burning Jealousy and Lash Out were among them, as well as Toxic.

Toxic TM?! This should mean some Pokemon that couldn't already learn Toxic will be able to learn Toxic through TM, but after BDSP... Don't do this to me Game Freak. Don't get my hopes up.

 

[R_N]

As far as the EXP item goes, it looks like it was a misunderstanding originally and it actually is the return of the EXP Charm from SS. That’s what I had guessed, because otherwise wouldn’t a held item that raises EXP just be a Lucky Egg clone?

I hate gamefreak so much sometimes

at least let us turn it off this time, please.
it was a machine! just put a toggle!

 

[woodgoldtwo]

Why do people hate the EXP Charm so much?

 

[Worldie]

Why do people hate the EXP Charm so much?

Something about fucking up the level curve of the game even harder than it already is.

 

[R_N]

Why do people hate the EXP Charm so much?

In IOA it's thrust upon you, you can't turn it off and in a game where exp share is always on this means everyone who was already getting overleveled is now even more overleveled
If it was either 100% optional or could be turned off I wouldn't care.

The only positive spin was that the DLC had few battles and I did it after beating everything else, but it still got in my craw and it meant that if you wanted to do any of the IoA stuff on a new file you still had to deal with it.
Like...in-universe its a machine. There's no reason to not let us flip it on or off.

Meanwhile there seems to be significantly more batles ahead of us in this DLC so I'm not exactly thrilled since I highly doubt DLC2 will be really built with it in mind.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Notably, the first things are TMs, Famitsu (their article is here) reported that some of the TMs they have seen are Grassy Glide, Poltergeist

 

[pika pal]

One thing to note is Grassy Glide being 60bp now, are GF sick enough to give it to Breloom? :p

252+ Atk Silk Scarf Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mew: 163-193 (40.3 - 47.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Technician Breloom Grassy Glide vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mew in Grassy Terrain: 211-249 (52.2 - 61.6%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery

Gamefreak please, this would be so funny. (Realistically I think they won't because Breloom already has Mach Punch and they're afraid of Spore-mons in VGC)

 

[Talpr0ne]

Unfortunately, among the few Grass Pokémon who don't learn Grassy Glide in SWSH are Amoonguss and Shiinotic, so they might want to exclude mushroom mons before any balance consideration even.