Unpopular Opinions: Scarlet & Violet Edition

[bdt2002]

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet have been released on the Nintendo Switch for two months as of tomorrow, January 18th, and now that the new generation has had some time to settle, I figured it would be a fun way to start posting in OI again than to talk about something everyone on the Internet loves to hate: other people’s opinions. Had I thought of this thread idea back in 2020, I would have considered posting a similar thread for Pokémon Sword & Shield also, but I guess it just didn’t come to me until now.

In any case, the premise of this thread should be pretty simple. With every new generation comes popular opinions about them, and with popular opinions being a thing, the opposite is bound to be true as well. Ideally, this can be a space where we can discuss the latter, whether those opinions be positive or negative feedback. It’s good to be back, and happy posting!

(This isn’t necessarily related to the thread at all, but I was also considering using this as a fun conversation topic amongst me and my roommates later tonight since they’ve been getting back into Pokémon as of late.)

Edit to prevent double posting: I’ll start with an opinion of my own, just to get some form of discussion going. I genuinely think Tinkaton might be one of the most overrated Pokémon we’ve had in quite some time. For a Pokémon with one of the best type combinations, its battle performances honestly isn’t that great, and its “Corviknight lore”, so to speak”, feels like little more than a reason for Game Freak to give it an incredibly lazy Shiny form, since it’s only actually the hammer that changes.

 

[Valoo]

Nemona kind of sucks as a rival, and I was surprised to see so much praise for her. She’s just sooo generic. For most of the game all she really does is talk about battling and/or Geeta. The likes of Hop at least had his relationship with Leon and eventual switch to research.

I think the way they handled the open world kind of hurt her. She never really interacts with anyone bar the player and Geeta until the end of the game, and by then it’s mostly just background stuff in Area Zero.

 

[Jungle cruiser]

Oh I like these type of thread! I can state things I consider true without being massively flamed! Anyway:

-I actually rly like dudunsparce. Sure, kinda anticlimactic all things considered. But it managed to preserve all the things that I liked about dunsparce, while also granting them better stats (and stab boomburst!). Also, and this isn't an opinion it's just a fact, dudunsparce has much more changes than just one or two more body segments.

They also gain an extra pupil, one more chin spike and a weird thing at the tip of the tail!

I also like other unpopular mons like grafaiai, scovillain and spidops, tho those don't get nearly as much detractors as the earth snake.

-This may sound weird, but I.... actually wasn't as bothered by the bugs as other people. I mean, they were certainly there and were kinda hard to ignore. But....Idk really. Maybe my childhood of watching movies on damaged cds made me overtly tolerant to sudden frame drops and stuff like that. Oh well. All in all, I'm happy that my brain wasn't bothered by that, it certainly helped me enjoy the game itself more.

 

[Esserise]

The group dynamic between Arven, Penny, and Nemona is, I feel, somewhat overrated. I’ve seen a few posts around the web saying they’re “what Hop, Bede, and Marnie should have been,” but like… in the grand scheme of Scarlet & Violet, your three rivals barely even interact with each other outside of the final mission. I think people are mistaking them being strong individual characters that end up paired together as them having a strong group dynamic. But really, Penny and Nemona hardly even have a reason to be involved in the final storyline. I’m not going to fault Hop, Bede, and Marnie for never being shoehorned into a scene with one another just to exchange some snarky remarks about each other.

Actually, expanding on that, I feel like the writing for The Way Home is maybe some of the weakest in the game. At least up until the very end. The stuff with the AI professor and their relationship to Arven, that’s all good. But when you’re adventuring through Area Zero, why do Arven and Nemona’s IQs take a plunge? How did Arven manage to confuse “research stations” for “radish rations”? Why is Nemona like 10x ditzier than she ever was during the rest of the game? Penny at least gets to be sarcastic about the whole affair, but that running commentary is all she contributes besides turning on a lightswitch (we really needed a STEM track hacker genius to handle that).

and its “Corviknight lore”, so to speak”, feels like little more than a reason for Game Freak to give it an incredibly lazy Shiny form, since it’s only actually the hammer that changes.

I don’t really follow your logic here. Tinkaton’s hammer isn’t made of Corviknight metal, it’s made of metal from stuff like Pawniard and Bisharp (see Tinkatuff’s Scarlet Pokédex entry). And in any case, Shiny Tinkaton’s hammer is bronze, which doesn’t correspond to the Shiny colorations of Pawniard, Bisharp, or Corviknight, so I doubt they had any kind of “lore” in mind when determining that.

 

[R_N]

I liked their dynamic and I thought Nemona was still in line with the rest of her characterization but I agree Penny's contribution to The Way Home is so weird, just being turning on the lights.. The entire reason she's brought on at all is because of the worries about the security systems, but every single security system is handled by the AI even the more dangerous or beat up ones.

Wonder if there was some rewrites there at some point.

 

[Worldie]

I liked their dynamic and I thought Nemona was still in line with the rest of her characterization but I agree Penny's contribution to The Way Home is so weird, just being turning on the lights.. The entire reason she's brought on at all is because of the worries about the security systems, but every single security system is handled by the AI even the more dangerous or beat up ones.

Wonder if there was some rewrites there at some point.

Well to be fair, it still is "logic" in the sense it's not that they would know beforehand that the AI would handle it, so her presence there was a necessity

 

[CTNC]

I'm not a fan of open world Pokemon done this way. It worked for Legends: Arceus and I liked SwSh's Wild Area and DLC places, but there's something about SV I don't like. It's just so uninteresting! Too few landmarks for a map too big and it feels like it's flat or mountainous with little in between. The main exception is the field between the Grass and Electric Gyms, but there's nothing there. Going from Mesagoza, you either go west to a different colored flat area or east to a different color mountainous area that I have to admit is more interesting but is annoying to navigate as the north east mountain areas. There are some really nice areas like the cliff bridge leading to the Psychic Gym, the Forest where the Poison Team Star Base is, and even the area with all the lakes before Mesagoza, but I just don't like most of SV's open world. Maybe there's some other stuff I can't put my finger on too. I'm pretty sure the next thing I want to complain about is a major thing too.

Not sure how unpopular this is, but Shiny Pokemon are WAY to common in SV and makes even looking around at whenever Pokemon spawn when I'm running around for Terastal Dens almost feel like Shiny Hunting. They were already too common is Legends: Arceus, but SV makes it even worse by letting Pokemon despawn so easily to let new ones spawn. They should've changed the odds back to 1 in 8192 for wild Pokemon, or this may be a veryunpopular opinion, but maybe even decreased the odds to 1 in 16384!

Edit to prevent double posting: I’ll start with an opinion of my own, just to get some form of discussion going. I genuinely think Tinkaton might be one of the most overrated Pokémon we’ve had in quite some time. For a Pokémon with one of the best type combinations, its battle performances honestly isn’t that great, and its “Corviknight lore”, so to speak”, feels like little more than a reason for Game Freak to give it an incredibly lazy Shiny form, since it’s only actually the hammer that changes.

I don't see how Shiny's Tinkaton's Bronze is anything like Shiny Corviknight's color but I completely see not liking Tinkaton's Shiny for just changing what it's holding. It's still better than Shinies you can't tell like Paladian Tauros. (Why did they think a Black Shiny for a Black Pokemon was a good idea in a game with overworld Shinies!?) At least it looks better than Komala.


This is probably because you can't make changes to make lots of people happy withoug making some others unhappy and I'm in the minority, but I think I liked SwSh better... Not being able to hunt for a Ditto for breeding as easily as even Pre-DLC SwSh and not having a Battle Facility would probably be enough to make me feel that way because there's no postgame without a Switch Online Subscription, but even other in game things too like Trainers being so ignorable instead of obstacles...

 

[Ironmage]

I don't think the past paradox mons as a group look any better than the future ones. It feels like they only remembered to have a consistent design aspect in the dinosaur tail for some of them, and it looks pretty stupid on some of those.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Tinkaton's shiny form does actually change something about the body, but it's very subtle. All three mons in that family have metal bits sticking out of their torso that changes color to match the color of the hammer (though oddly their eyes remain the same color despite being the same color as the metal in the regular form).

It's most noticeable with Tinkatink, since its metal bit covers most of its torso.

 

[Lectrys]

I had nausea - the type of nausea I get watching my siblings play Bioshock and me and my family play Katamari games - watching my nephew go through Pokemon Sword's Wild Area the first time, and all I can think about with the open-world direction Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are taking is that Game Freak is losing a not-inconsiderable portion of their audience with nausea-inducing open-world gameplay. I now have to watch my nephew playing the latest Pokemon games from behind the sofa, not sitting on it like he wants me to be. I probably can't play open-world games for more than 20 minutes at a time without nausea unless I use handheld mode on the Switch or only play games behind the sofa (and probably getting drinks or bathroom breaks every 15 minutes or so).

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Regardless of how close its design (and the Naclstack line's, especially Naclstack) is to copyright infringement, I actually think Gholdengo's design is kinda cute.
The post-release marketing for Natdex #999-#1000 is getting a little too on the nose, though. I get how Gimmighoul takes most of a playthrough to evolve, but do the official Pokemon websites and videos have to emphasize the line and their positioning at the 1-grand mark that much? The official website's SV Trainer's Guide mentioning this line abnormally often compared to other lines with weird evolutions is pushing me over the edge, and this line is already probably my favourite lore-wise in all of Gen 9.

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Say what you want about all the future Paradoxes' names beginning with "Iron" and all of those Paradoxes looking like robotic versions of their counterparts - their official art all having cool white dot effects on body parts is a really nice touch.

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I do not get how Maschiff evolves facially into Mabosstiff. At all. The other 2 dog lines make sense; this one does not. It's like they switched dog breeds in the middle for the "please stay mastiffs" line.
I do like how it's implied that Mabosstiff has given up completely when it comes to making children treat it seriously, though.

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Compared to the worrying levels of flamboyance in descriptions of Lechonk2's and the PinkHammer lines in pre-release leaks, I like and appreciate how restrained Oinkologne and the Tinkaton lines' designs turned out to be. Tinkaton is not a loli - she's a teenager at oldest, and she has a square-toothed dwarf/troll face to boot.
Roaring Moon, on the other hand, deserves all the roaring praise it got on its initial leak through gameplay. Really cool design and MegaMence shout-out. Game Freak did not hold back there, and I appreciate that, too.

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This might be my habit of tracking Magic: the Gathering set previews leaking in (and most of the average MTG set consisting of bad cards - by design), but I prefer judging generations by peak design instead of average design. And as floozy as several lines of birds and uncreative as 3 lines of 2-stage dogs are (we'll ignore the 3 lines of 2-stage insects/arachnids because those arthropods are that diverse IRL), and as obviously derivative as every single Paradox(-category Pokemon) is, Gen 9 has some of the zaniest Pokemon designs in years. Honestly, I think they're at least as zany as Gen 7, if not more. And that zany creativity is really nice to see.

 

[MellowBusiness]

Scarlet and Violet's open world isn't actually a good open world.

For one, it only gives you the illusion of choice. Yeah, after the two hour tutorial, you can do whatever you want, but people tend to overlook there are like 17 tiny asterisks next to it. You're still going to be forced into progressing in a specific way because if you don't, you can't swim or climb or glide, and catching Pokemon soon becomes a pain in the ass. But even the former can mostly be circumvented in clever ways. The latter is all messed up because catch rates and obedience are tied exclusively to the gym badges where instead they should have been tied to overall progression.

There's no sense of danger, and barely any sense of discovery. The most memorable open worlds are ones where the world itself feels dangerous and where through multiple playthroughs, you'll still discover something you haven't in the previous ones. What's the point of high level areas where you can simply walk past them like any other area? And all you're really doing in the overworld is scavenging items and collecting Pokemon. where's the sidequests?

And then the three arcs don't even tie into the overworld all that much. Team Star feels like the most neglected and wasted potential. You have this whole group that's supposed to interrupt the whole quest in the first place, but then they pretty much stay in their corner. Plus all they unlock is just some TMs in which you can get most of them through the overworld in the first place. Team Star should have done what Team Yell was doing in Sword and Shield and hinder your progress until you beat the snot out of them. It would have made them feel more
The Pokemon League, a concept that's been around since the very beginning is downsized in its importance so it wouldn't outstage the finale. I wouldn't be surprised if Game Freak outright removed the League and didn't replace it with an equivalent in Gen 10 because they seem to be doing this often. Just look what happened to having all the Pokemon playable in one game, and the Battle Tower.
Arven's quest does manage to tie into the overworld because his arc doesn't even end at the completion of the quest.

And then the actual layout in itself. It's just geometrical shapes slapped onto each other that make traveling it pretty cumbersome. There are actual 90-degree turns and stuff within the map.

In many ways, Scarlet and Violet is like the Sonic Frontiers of Pokemon games. They both made a change to the formula after a controversial previous entry. Both stories are held in a positive light because of the previous entry's story and characterization. They both have some great highs, (maybe even some of the best in the series), but also some egregiously disgusting lows that neither IP should be making when considering how old each franchise is.

 

[Just A Seaking]

This game overall feels more like an elaborate tech demo or proof-of-concept than an actual, complete experience. Complaining about TPC’s crunch culture and lack of polish is nothing new or unpopular, but frankly I think this game is little more than an unpolished template and feels horribly incomplete as an actual 60-dollar AAA game.

Do I want Pokémon games in the future to expand upon and improve from this template? Yes, 100% I do. But I don’t think these games will stand the test of time at all - which is a shame, because with just a bit more time to marinate (say, a 2023 release to better Soave it out from PLA), it could have been something truly special. I’m glad that people found the game fun, and I do to an extent, but my frustration with it feeling blatantly incomplete outweighs that.

 

[TheMantyke]

I like the new egg system of idle -> hatching. I know some folks are frustrated with the fact you can’t hatch and get eggs at the same time, which is fair, but I still like the idle for eggs bit a lot. I feel like I’m wasting way less time going for shiny Pokémon when I’m working on something else with Pokémon going in the BG.

Jubilife Village should have been in SV and the big school should have been in PLA. What I mean by that is that the game with segmented levels should have had a nice cool central hub I can explore in between visits to places while SV should have had a mostly tame little town you don’t feel bad about not visiting a lot. I’ve still spent basically no time in the school; I don’t actually remember its name. I want to drive around the open world, not sit in some laggy city.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Starfall Street is the best of the three storylines, or at least a strong contender. The gameplay is bad, except the sheer hype of the squad boss fights, but that's not what I'm here to defend.

Most criticisms I've seen of the story boil it down to just "bullying bad," but there's a lot more to it than that. In fact, I don't think it says much at all about how/why bullying is bad; it kind of just reasonably assumes that we'll accept that and focuses on other themes. The word "bullying" is said often, but there isn't a lot more in there about bullying itself.

Meanwhile, Starfall Street gives you:

• Various kinds of loveable misfits, perhaps relatable to anyone who struggled/struggles at all to fit in as a kid (I doubt I was half as "weird" as Atticus and I find him kind of relatable anyway).
• Those misfits rallying together in the face of adversity and supporting each other in a really wholesome and endearing way.
• A group that seems abrasive at face value, but then flips that perception on its head pretty much as soon as you beat any boss.
• At the same time, a group that stood up for a righteous cause but ended up taking things too far and needed to be confronted about the path it was on.
• And my favourite of all: An authority figure who goes out of his way to understand the abrasive-seeming outcast group, and ends up properly apologizing for the ways his institution failed them. It's kind of weird how Clavell, an extremely important character in this story, seems to seldom even be mentioned by its haters. Also, Pokemon is partly a children's game, the SV stories all deal heavily in children's story themes, and I think the example of a respectful authority figure that Clavell sets is excellent for the kids.

Throw in an okay gag with the Clive stuff, a reasonably fun character in Penny, and an identity twist that's obvious to adults but might plausibly fool some kids, and you've got a solid story here.

It's fine not to like Starfall Street - this post is just sharing my opinion - but this is one of those moments where a lot of the vocal critics don't seem to have even understood it.

 

[LonelyGaruga]

Team Star is a bunch of weirdos that deserved to get picked on.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Nemona kind of sucks as a rival, and I was surprised to see so much praise for her. She’s just sooo generic. For most of the game all she really does is talk about battling and/or Geeta. The likes of Hop at least had his relationship with Leon and eventual switch to research.

By the end of the game, Nemona had cemented herself as my most disliked major character in franchise history. I skipped gens 6 through 8, so I'm sure that I've missed some other clunkers, but out of the games that I've played I can't remember a single other character who left a strong enough negative impression to actually bother me. This is partly because of how she's written, but also part of my biggest problem with the adventure as a whole: this game doesn't have a real antagonist. Not until the final boss anyway, which is mostly out of left field and not really built up to.

I don't care for the Team Star plot and think that it's pretty lame on the whole, but I'll at least score that one as a matter of taste and preference. There's at least a novelty to a non-villainous villainous group, so I can live with it even if I don't really like it. But even taking that into account, Team Star suffers further from the way the open world is set up: the three major questlines are treated as entirely separate things, and not one of them ever really has any bearing on either of the others. In past games, you'd have the villainous team get in your way in some manner or another as part of your main quest, diverting your attention and establishing them as a threat that needs to be defeated. That can't really happen here with how S/V is set up. You can (and I did) ignore Team Star entirely until the other two quests are completed. So not only are the stakes lower than they've ever been in the series for a villainous team, the way that they're implemented here ensures that they have the least possible impact on the world around them. They hardly matter.

Arven's plotline ended up being my favorite of the three, but even then, I expected more out of it than what I got. Like at first I thought, okay, this guy is using me for his own ends and is probably going to double-cross me at some point for one reason or another. Or barring that, his plan of reviving Mabosstiff is going to backfire on him and I'll end up having to battle Mabosstiff as the final Titan or something. Neither happened; there wasn't any twist at all. And you know what? I'm okay with that too. On some level it's actually refreshing to have a somewhat competent supporting character who doesn't need me to completely bail them out in the end. Way to pull your weight, Arven.

And that leaves Nemona, the so-called "champion" who--despite being a super-competitive battle genius--never actually tries to defeat you and never once even expresses any disappointment for losing. That's an awful spot to be in for a "rival" character. I don't need every rival to be a GB-era jerk, but I expect them to at least show some kind of motivation of their own as a character. Nemona doesn't. All she's good for is some of the most patronizing interactions I've ever seen in a video game, in the same encounter going back and forth between "taking it easy on you with a weak team because you're a greenhorn" and "showering praise and astonishment on you for being a genius who knows how to... utilize type advantages." It's borderline insulting.

With BDSP fairly fresh in my mind, I think back to Barry for contrast. He wasn't a scumbag out to make your life miserable like Blue was. But he very much felt like he had his own goals to achieve for himself and was--quite literally--one step ahead of you throughout the adventure. He plainly demonstrated as much through his actions. Until he loses to Team Galactic ~75% the way into the story, that is, and you switch places with him from that point onward, being one step ahead of him for the rest of the way instead. That's a really basic but nevertheless effective way of conveying progress for the player character.

S/V doesn't have anything like that. It doesn't feel like there's a single major character in the quest who is serving as a barrier for you to overcome. It feels like the player character is never really given an opportunity to grow. It's kind of a problem for all three questlines, but it feels most pronounced for Nemona because, out of any of them, you'd expect the rival to carry the load of being the designated obstacle.

I've said this elsewhere and got "lol way to overthink a kid's game lol" in response, and okay, sure. But every single Pokemon game is built for barely-literate children, and every other one that I played managed to have at least one antagonist.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

By the end of the game, Nemona had cemented herself as my most disliked major character in franchise history. I skipped gens 6 through 8, so I'm sure that I've missed some other clunkers, but out of the games that I've played I can't remember a single other character who left a strong enough negative impression to actually bother me. This is partly because of how she's written, but also part of my biggest problem with the adventure as a whole: this game doesn't have a real antagonist. Not until the final boss anyway, which is mostly out of left field and not really built up to.

I don't care for the Team Star plot and think that it's pretty lame on the whole, but I'll at least score that one as a matter of taste and preference. There's at least a novelty to a non-villainous villainous group, so I can live with it even if I don't really like it. But even taking that into account, Team Star suffers further from the way the open world is set up: the three major questlines are treated as entirely separate things, and not one of them ever really has any bearing on either of the others. In past games, you'd have the villainous team get in your way in some manner or another as part of your main quest, diverting your attention and establishing them as a threat that needs to be defeated. That can't really happen here with how S/V is set up. You can (and I did) ignore Team Star entirely until the other two quests are completed. So not only are the stakes lower than they've ever been in the series for a villainous team, the way that they're implemented here ensures that they have the least possible impact on the world around them. They hardly matter.

Arven's plotline ended up being my favorite of the three, but even then, I expected more out of it than what I got. Like at first I thought, okay, this guy is using me for his own ends and is probably going to double-cross me at some point for one reason or another. Or barring that, his plan of reviving Mabosstiff is going to backfire on him and I'll end up having to battle Mabosstiff as the final Titan or something. Neither happened; there wasn't any twist at all. And you know what? I'm okay with that too. On some level it's actually refreshing to have a somewhat competent supporting character who doesn't need me to completely bail them out in the end. Way to pull your weight, Arven.

And that leaves Nemona, the so-called "champion" who--despite being a super-competitive battle genius--never actually tries to defeat you and never once even expresses any disappointment for losing. That's an awful spot to be in for a "rival" character. I don't need every rival to be a GB-era jerk, but I expect them to at least show some kind of motivation of their own as a character. Nemona doesn't. All she's good for is some of the most patronizing interactions I've ever seen in a video game, in the same encounter going back and forth between "taking it easy on you with a weak team because you're a greenhorn" and "showering praise and astonishment on you for being a genius who knows how to... utilize type advantages." It's borderline insulting.

With BDSP fairly fresh in my mind, I think back to Barry for contrast. He wasn't a scumbag out to make your life miserable like Blue was. But he very much felt like he had his own goals to achieve for himself and was--quite literally--one step ahead of you throughout the adventure. He plainly demonstrated as much through his actions. Until he loses to Team Galactic ~75% the way into the story, that is, and you switch places with him from that point onward, being one step ahead of him for the rest of the way instead. That's a really basic but nevertheless effective way of conveying progress for the player character.

S/V doesn't have anything like that. It doesn't feel like there's a single major character in the quest who is serving as a barrier for you to overcome. It feels like the player character is never really given an opportunity to grow. It's kind of a problem for all three questlines, but it feels most pronounced for Nemona because, out of any of them, you'd expect the rival to carry the load of being the designated obstacle.

I've said this elsewhere and got "lol way to overthink a kid's game lol" in response, and okay, sure. But every single Pokemon game is built for barely-literate children, and every other one that I played managed to have at least one antagonist.

Look, I love Nemona, but I will say this:

There is NOTHING wrong with wanting to think a lot about “kids’ media” (man I hate that condescending term).

I like “kids’ media” because it does so much of a better job sneaking mature themes in rather than the obviously adult media going “LOOK HOW ****** DARK AND EDGY WE ARE” - see: HBO Max’s Velma.

Kids media doesn’t have to be exclusively for kids. It can be for everyone, it just takes the right execution, and screw people who think otherwise. I’m 25 and I still enjoy several kid-related franchises and shows and movies. Pixar is perhaps the shining example of this philosophy.

 

[Absolclaw]

Making it so the only buildings you can enter in the game are the school, the gym lobbies, the sandwich store and that restaraunt where you fight Larry makes this "open world" feel tiny and closed off. (Especially since most of them are tiny little square rooms). Was it really that necessary to appease people who would joke about player characters barging into strangers houses in RPGs to make the world feel so barren?

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Making it so the only buildings you can enter in the game are the school, the gym lobbies, the sandwich store and that restaraunt where you fight Larry makes this "open world" feel tiny and closed off. (Especially since most of them are tiny little square rooms). Was it really that necessary to appease people who would joke about player characters barging into strangers houses in RPGs to make the world feel so barren?

The benefit of this is that the game barely has any loading/transition screens or "guardhouses" littered all over the map that do nothing but connect the actually functional areas. That's worth something, and it's a notable QoL perk in a game that's otherwise full of performance issues.

But it does make the world feel pretty empty at times. Like there ought to be at least one notable and unique building per city to explore. Or actual dungeons for the titan and/or legendary pokemon.

 

[Rapti]

I hate the new designs of the human characters in this game

especially the player characters; for an anime aesthetic, they're coded as ugly

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Disclaimer: I have no idea if any of these opinions are actually unpopular. But here goes!

I think the Sprigatito line is amazing in every possible way and Meowscarada is one of my all-time favorite final stage starters. I'm very happy that Sprigatito stood up because it wouldn't have been nearly as awesome if it had stayed quadruped.

The Fuecoco line is my least favorite starter line from ScaVio. I don't dislike it, but I just never saw the appeal in Fuecoco. Crocalor did not really improve upon it. Skeledirge on the other hand is the best member of the line, but at the same time, it feels very off compared to the pre-evolutions. I usually like when Pokémon evolutions take an unexpected twist, but here, it bothers me. I think I would have liked it better if the pre-evolutions had looked more similar to Skeledirge.

From what I have seen, it seems like several fans were disappointed by Quaquaval, but I think it is fine. Not my favorite Water starter, but definitely my second favorite Paldea starter.

I think the only real negative about the new Pokémon on the whole are the low number of new regional forms/evolutions.

Being unable to enter most buildings wasn't as bad as I thought since it makes things a lot more convenient while shopping.

I think the Let's Go feature outclasses the following Pokémon feature in every possible way since it actually does something, and it feels a lot more immersive than just having your Pokémon following behind you like a slave.

The bad performance of the game didn't bother me all too much. I still consider it a negative since my game crashed once, but even so, I can live with it.

However, one thing I consider to be a big negative is how battle animations can't be turned off. I think that's my second biggest issue with the games (the first one is obviously dexit).

Nemona is a great rival. While not my favorite overall, she is still fantastic and I'll take her over Blue and Silver any day (those are the two most overrated rivals ever if you ask me).

I think ScaVio are great games, but I think they are actually about equal to S/S (which I am also a big fan of). Though I think both are way better than L:A. With that said, I do prefer the way L:A handled the region design by having a linear open world, as opposed to a full open world.

Tinkaton is the best Pokémon ever. Okay, that's definitely not unpopular.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

However, one thing I consider to be a big negative is how battle animations can't be turned off. I think that's my second biggest issue with the games (the first one is obviously dexit).

I feel like poor pacing via presentation (battle animations, # of menus/prompts, etc.) is an evergreen problem with the series. Some aspects improve or regress over time, but in general it always sticks out to me. Like I can still remember how glacial D/P's pace was and how much Pt tightened it up within the same gen.

It's wild to me that trainer-to-trainer trades and box releases are still 1 Pokemon at a time. Compare it with how much has changed granularly over the decades for the many aspects of raising competitive pokemon. Trades aren't any speedier than they were on the Game Boy.

 

[R_N]

I feel like poor pacing via presentation (battle animations, # of menus/prompts, etc.) is an evergreen problem with the series. Some aspects improve or regress over time, but in general it always sticks out to me. Like I can still remember how glacial D/P's pace was and how much Pt tightened it up within the same gen.

It's wild to me that trainer-to-trainer trades and box releases are still 1 Pokemon at a time. Compare it with how much has changed granularly over the decades for the many aspects of raising competitive pokemon. Trades aren't any speedier than they were on the Game Boy.

They clearly like making trades an "event" and probably do not care that people might want to trade multiple things in a short period of time. Now you would think with how Surprise Trades work (& encourage you to keep the train going) that they would make this a lot more instant, or at least have a faster variant, but....no. No they sure didn't huh.

Mass box release meanwhile.... You'll note that Lets Go & Legends Arceus both have it, but I guarantee the logic is "these are capture games, you're capturing things all the time for resources but the normal games aren't that, qed there's no reason to have it because most people aren't capturing or filling in a million boxes"
In the former, just about everyone is capturing a ton of Pokemon. In the latter, very few people are doing intensive breeding or shiny hunting through eggs for a finizen (my boxes are so full..........not to mention those hunts I did 3-fam Maushold and 3-segment Dudunsparces...), so they just do not see it as a thing that would be in there.

 

[Samtendo09]

I think the only real negative about the new Pokémon on the whole are the low number of new regional forms/evolutions.

For Regional Forms and Regional Evolutions, that’s understandable. Several more regional forms wouldn’t hurt anyone.

For new traditional evolutions, I don’t think we need any more of those this badly, since both it and LA just brought back traditional evolutions as concept for new Pokémon despite some caveats on the latters’ Pokémon. At the same tine, few more wouldn’t be a bad thing.

As for the thread… Did anyone else thought we didn’t explored enough of Geeta’s questionable decisions in action?

 

[R_N]

For Regional Forms and Regional Evolutions, that’s understandable. Several more regional forms wouldn’t hurt anyone.

For new traditional evolutions, I don’t think we need any more of those this badly, since both it and LA just brought back traditional evolutions as concept for new Pokémon despite some caveats on the latters’ Pokémon. At the same tine, few more wouldn’t be a bad thing.

As for the thread… Did anyone else thought we didn’t explored enough of Geeta’s questionable decisions in action?

I kind of floated it elsewhere, in the story thread I think, that we might get something more with Geeta (& perhaps the other characters in general) in DLC.
Even ignoring the strangeness with Glimmora and that random errand she put Nemona on but didn't follow up with, it'd be a little odd (though, also, very interesting for a Champion) for the last impression of Geeta being "she's a boss that everyone who works under her hates or is unnerved by"