Title: Pokemon Violet (Video Game)
Release: November 2022
Genre: Adventure, Role-playing

Play it on Nintendo Switch

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the newest chapters in the Pokemon series. Both are available on the Nintendo Switch console. This is what I’ve been up to lately and it’s video game time with the latest release from the Pokemon franchise. It’s *insert badly sounding Japanese accent* Poketo Monsta Scarleto Violeto *coughs *coughs

Okay, first of all, the best thing about it is that it’s literally a wide-open world at your own pace.  Battle and try to catch wild Pokémon, and encounter the Legendary Pokémon Koraidon in the Pokémon Scarlet game while it’s Miraidon for the Violet game. I bought myself a copy of violet as it is no surprise to all that I love this color. Haha.

The location is inspired by Mediterranean Spain which is pretty beautiful. It kind of reminds me of Zelda’s Breath of The Wild. The cities are also food-centric! Your character can dine in really luscious-looking cuisine. *stomach grumbles*  The special thing about this version is that you get to create your own sandwiches which your pokemon can have the benefit of getting temporary higher stats.

There are so many new pokemon to catch and a couple of legendaries as well. The side quests are innumerable. There’s the usual battling in the gym to earn badges and then the Elite four which is usual for all pokemon games. This time, there’s another quest like the Herba Mystica which earns you skills for your “motorcycle” pokemon. I quite enjoyed following this storyline. There’s Team Star to defeat which also has a cute background story. I’m still in the process of defeating the last-standing Eri with her fighting type. Also, let’s not forget the most exciting part about this game is that you can play up to  maximum of 4 friends together! You get to meet them in the same world! The consequence for this is that it does get rather competitive on shiny hunts.

The graphics are unbelievable as well compared to the previous games. The details such as the sparkling water and sun flares caught me off guard. I loved the detail on that. I’m also glad that the wild pokemon aren’t as aggressive compared to that of Pokemon Legends: Arceus. My character kept on running for dear life with that game.

Oh yeah, aside from a couple of new pokemon. There is a new feature for them too and this is the Terastallization power. Before it was the Z-moves, mega evolutions, and dual typing. This time some special pokemon turn into a sort of crystal counterpart of themselves while turning and with a different typing (mind you this is temporary after 3 hits or when you put them in the red zone) and they change their typing totally (Fighting Raichu anyone?)

Now I’m going to put all the pros and cons in a nutshell below to the best of my abilities.

PROS

  • Improved graphics compared to the previous versions. You can interact with Pokemon better.
  • Open world. Go anywhere, start at any location, just don’t start with areas that require higher pokemon levels than yours
  •  More options. You can choose not to battle other players in the wild. Modern Pokemon games are getting easier over time and I’m not sure if its a pro though. :/ 
  • Poke-portal! Yes you can actually play with your friends this time but its going to get pretty challenging during shiny hunts.
  • Better storylines. I loved the backstory to every mission. Pokedex details include. Iyknyk
  • Content. There’s so much things you can do! Like making sandwiches, minigames, exploring the terrain, shiny hunting and a couple of secret zones. Definitely fun.

CONS

  • Horrible Frame Rate. At the moment, there have been improvements on this but they really need to improve this issue big time. It usually happens when you’re in towns. The frame rate was horrible at first. The lag was very noticeable during the first few days of release but they have made improvements. I’m hoping it improves in time!
  • Miraidon Lags. Yeah my Miraidon suddenly does weird actions in various places like diving on a mountain.
  •  No character customization. they removed this feature and what made it worse was you can’t change your uniform. You only get to choose between four different school outfits and you cannot change anything about it or the colors. You can purchase the bag, hats, gloves, etc. Just not your uniform.
  • Bad Pokemon Design. I’m just saying some of them were really made without effort. LIKE A FLAMINGO.srsly?

So yeah! That’s about it for now. I’ll be updating this once in a while if I find anything worth sharing. I might stream my shiny hunts in the future, only if you want to watch me strain, heave, be excited and react to my future pokemon adventures. At the time of posting I am currently playing a total of 45 gaming hours. It’s not much but the hours are getting longer haha.