Nintendo Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Coming November 18, 2022

[johnny]

to me it sounds like the game is actually good but it runs like horseshit 

[Keyser_Soze]

Marquiz (@marqui_zzz): "“The Switch isn’t powerful enough!” Pokémon vs Xenoblade:"|nitter

NITTER.NL

---

“The Switch isn’t powerful enough!” Pokémon vs Xenoblade:

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

There are PS1 games that run better than this

 

 

[crispy4000]

 

Monolith's got at least 10 years on Game Freak.

[Spork3245]

3 hours ago, johnny said:

to me it sounds like the game is actually good but it runs like horseshit 

Same, the main gripe that’s consistent is the awful performance and sacrifices made (ie: animation framerate of npcs and objects in crowded areas dropping to like 10fps). Really makes me think a Switch Pro or Switch 2 was supposed to come out this year (or last year) and was delayed/cancelled due to the supply chain issues for semiconductors which has just recently started to somewhat normalize: this game was possibly made with better hardware in mind. Bayonetta 3 has performance issues too iirc.
This almost makes me want to figure out how to dump games from my Switch to my PC and see if any of the emulators are worth a damn. But, I have no idea how to do this and don’t want to mod my Switch where I can’t connect online   

Anyway, I kept my preorder because main-series Pokemon games never really go on sale until a year+ after release. I mean, Sword and Shield are still only $10 off launch prices

[Zaku3]

7 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Marquiz (@marqui_zzz): "“The Switch isn’t powerful enough!” Pokémon vs Xenoblade:"|nitter

NITTER.NL

---

“The Switch isn’t powerful enough!” Pokémon vs Xenoblade:

 

 

 

This is straight up cope. I get it yes the XB games look better and run better. However just because they run better doesn't mean the performance is acceptable. I noped out of XB3 as soon as I got to actual gameplay.

 

The Switch is underpowered and devs should be working around the limitations as opposed to YOLOing. I fear for BOTW2. 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[Keyser_Soze]

21 minutes ago, Zaku3 said:

 

This is straight up cope. I get it yes the XB games look better and run better. However just because they run better doesn't mean the performance is acceptable. I noped out of XB3 as soon as I got to actual gameplay.

 

The Switch is underpowered and devs should be working around the limitations as opposed to YOLOing. I fear for BOTW2. 

 

Well at least emulation can solve performance problems for Xenoblade. Emulation can't help this game from looking like poo (and apparently from performing like it either)

[Spork3245]

34 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Well at least emulation can solve performance problems for Xenoblade. Emulation can't help this game from looking like poo (and apparently from performing like it either)

I was reading that it stays a solid 30fps on PC emulators. I really wish I knew how to either dump the game from my switch or where to download a rom  

[EternallDarkness]

8 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Monolith's got at least 10 years on Game Freak.

 

or could be because Game Freak is lazy and has basically been making the same game for decades now which people have been buying by the boatload (myself included) and never felt a need to push themselves

[crispy4000]

2 hours ago, Zaku3 said:

 

This is straight up cope. I get it yes the XB games look better and run better. However just because they run better doesn't mean the performance is acceptable. I noped out of XB3 as soon as I got to actual gameplay.

 

Performance is entirely acceptable in XB3.  Yes, there are occasional framerate dips when the action gets heavy or the scenery is imposing, but nothing worse than BoTW.  And since you're still mainly inputting commands, performance drops never truly get in the way if/when it happens.

 

Better yet, the IQ is pretty darn good for a Switch game.  Which is a complete turnaround from XB2 being a smeary, smudgey mess.

[EternallDarkness]

I had no major complaints with XB3's performance. Hell I logged like 170 hours into the game

[crispy4000]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Well at least emulation can solve performance problems for Xenoblade.

I really felt hesitant going into XB3.  Without a Switch Pro, I was convinced I'd need to suffer through it.  But because the issues are so marginal, IMO it's best to play it on the hardware for the option of going portable, where it also holds up well.  I ended up doing that a lot for a large portion of the sidequests.

[stepee]

9 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

There are PS1 games that run better than this

 

 

 

From what I understand this particular scene isn’t normal and is a bug, so at least it’s something that can probably be easily fixed. 

 

Seems like yeah it might be a good game but just runs like shit. I don’t actually have any issues with how it looks (well, I don’t know what the resolution is) it looks better than Legends at least but the performance sounds unfortunate.

 

With so many other great games to play right now this seems like a good one to wait a couple weeks on for some patches. Though I doubt I make it through the weekend without at least checking it out and seeing my duck..

 

I agree with @Zaku3 that I wish they would just design games on switch for its limitations. Everything doesn’t need to be 200p/10fps just because it’s old, that’s a problem with not targeting the right performance profile more so than an inherent switch problem. 

 

Performance on the thing was just already tapped out on launch because they already knew what they could do with this level of spec hardware, so now that they try to “improve” the graphics they actually take a step in the wrong direction.

 

With that said, developers are obviously not interested in optimizing their game designs to work within what ps360 level hardware can do anymore so we just need a Switch 2 asap.

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

8 minutes ago, stepee said:

From what I understand this particular scene isn’t normal and is a bug, so at least it’s something that can probably be easily fixed.

 

Yeah there are a lot of bugs

 

なぎさ🌽🚑🌸 🧪🎋 (@nagisa_Vzuki39): "ポケモンバグったんだがwww 私のミライドンどこいったw"|nitter

NITTER.NL

---

ポケモンバグったんだがwww 私のミライドンどこいったw

 

 

[Spork3245]

Some of you played the F out of Saints Row and Gotham Knights but are concerned about bugs and performance in this?

[stepee]

Just now, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Yeah there are a lot of bugs

 

なぎさ🌽🚑🌸 🧪🎋 (@nagisa_Vzuki39): "ポケモンバグったんだがwww 私のミライドンどこいったw"|nitter

NITTER.NL

---

ポケモンバグったんだがwww 私のミライドンどこいったw

 

 

 

As a master of many a language, this confirms my suspicions.  

[stepee]

Just now, Spork3245 said:

Some of you played the F out of Saints Row and Gotham Knights but are concerned about bugs and performance in this?

 

hey I said I was gonna still get it and play w my duck :P

[Spork3245]

Just now, stepee said:

 

hey I said I was gonna still get it and play w my duck :P

 

THE DUCK IS MINE

[stepee]

Just now, Spork3245 said:

 

THE DUCK IS MINE

 

I think we want to do different types of playing

[Keyser_Soze]

Show some respect for weed cat

[Brick]

I am also wondering now if there is some overworking/crunch going on at GameFreak, and The Pokémon Company is basically forcing them to keep churning out these games like clockwork. I mean really, another standard three years since the last generation with no delay even after a global pandemic? PLA came out way too soon after the Diamond and Pearl remakes, and now these games are coming out way too soon after that game to really learn from it. 

[Zaku3]

2 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

Some of you played the F out of Saints Row and Gotham Knights but are concerned about bugs and performance in this?

 

Lol need to see how Gotham Knights performs actually will install later.

[Keyser_Soze]

18 minutes ago, Brick said:

I am also wondering now if there is some overworking/crunch going on at GameFreak, and The Pokémon Company is basically forcing them to keep churning out these games like clockwork. I mean really, another standard three years since the last generation with no delay even after a global pandemic? PLA came out way too soon after the Diamond and Pearl remakes, and now these games are coming out way too soon after that game to really learn from it. 

 

If they were overworking these games might actually change.

[Xbob42]

I've been surprisingly enjoying this one. It still looks like shit, but it looks leagues better than Sword and Shield or Arceus. Yeah, some big vistas drop the LOD of everything to 0, but at least there are consistently big vistas instead of Sword and Shield being ultra-constrained and STILL running bad and looking bad.

 

The performance seems about on par with what I'd expect from both a Switch and a Pokemon game: It runs like ass. I dunno, once you get down to 30 FPS it all looks like total shit to me and you kids can try to delineate "rock solid 30" vs "struggling to hit 30" all you want, but once I'm locked into "goddamn this is gonna run like ass" mode, it's all the same to me.

 

Watching a dude walk by in the distance at like 2 FPS as I type this is making me laugh though.

 

More importantly than the performance, which has honestly been a fucking mess since the 3DS titles, is the quality of life changes and general attention to detail.

 

I won't go into exhaustive detail (note that I did not say this won't still be long) because I'm still real early on and it'd be a waste of time, but little things like Pokemon actually being their correct size is a huge one. Mouse Pokemon are fucking TINY, big Pokemon are actually big. This makes a huge difference to me and is way more interesting than the weird normalized-sizing we've been getting for a while. I remember in Sword/Shield, a Wailord would be like not even 5% of its true size in battle, it was pathetic. Little bugs would be bumped up to cat-sized for visibility, everything fit within a small range of sizes that just made the world less interesting.

 

Some of the attention to detail stuff has been real nice. Like the curtains being very detailed and gently blowing in the wind in a convincing way at your home right as you start the game. The Pokedex being like a little library that you're adding books to, with it being a black-and-white rough cover if you've only seen a Pokemon, and a full-color graphic for if you've caught one.

 

The TM Machine (TMs are one-use again but you can craft them) having custom images of each and every TM you can make is the kind of detail I would not at all expect from The Pokemon Company's recent outings. The Pokemon Center being an outdoor stand that also utilizes the unique shape of a Pokestop in Pokemon Go is doubly excellent in terms of design -- you don't need to go into a building to get things done, since this is an open world game, and you can see the super-tall Pokeball symbol from miles away, making them useful landmarks. It's also all 3 in 1 now, Pokemart, Pokemon Center and TM Machine, so you don't have to hunt for separate buildings.

 

You can do 4 player co-op, online or local. Massive and welcome change. The Stadium system for battling (including Casual, Ranked and Rented Teams) is available after you get to the first Pokemon Center rather than at the end of the game, so you unlock all online features at once. You have plenty you can choose to do right off the bat.

 

The D-Pad now serves as a multi-function bit of kit, you can customize your look (do so as soon as you can! The opening of the game has a weirdly streamlined customization, but you start off with plenty of options including eye shape, color, different clothes, etc. Tons more than the opening.) do emotes, see notices, and open photo mode.

 

There's a quick heal option for your selected Pokemon, so you can just highlight one and hit the minus button to use items to quick heal it, and the game even tells you in what order healing items will be used. Sadly this doesn't use revives for whatever reason so if a Pokemon is fainted, you gotta manually use a revive.

 

Boxes are still available anywhere, nicknaming is always available whenever you want, Pokemon that have 4 moves now have a recommend option where the Pokemon will suggest what move to get rid of if you want them to. There's a lot of options in the main options menu right from the bat (no talking to a random NPC halfway through the game to get earbuds to unlock audio options like fucking Sword and Shield) including skipping move learning, text speed, audio options, whether or not to show nicknames, autosave, a goddamn skip cutscenes option! And more, including an interesting one: "Helping Functions" -- basically, if you fall from a great height, you can get a prompt that says "Go back up" but you can turn this off so you have to figure out how to get back up on your own. I immediately turned this off. I think it's a really cool feature to have in an open-world game and am glad it's on by default, but the idea of having to deal with where I am after a big fall is interesting to me. Also no fall damage like in Arceus; your Rotom phone will save you right before you hit the ground, so don't be afraid to chuck yourself off of cliffs.

 

Strangely no switch/set option for when an enemy trainer is gonna send out a different Pokemon. It's set to switch by default. This is a weird one, as that's a classic option that's been in forever, and putting it on "set" makes battles a little more challenging and prepares you for how online battles work.

 

You can still crouch, and use L2 to lock on to nearby wild Pokemon. This will show whether you've seen one (if their name is ??? you haven't even encountered them) and whether or not you've caught one. Very handy.

 

The R button will send out your lead Pokemon, who can auto-battle nearby wild Pokemon for lessened experience (exp share is still on by default, and no way to turn it off that I can see) and they'll also hunt for items. Can be handy for clearing an area out. But it goes by both typing and I think relative level. So even if my fire starter might still beat the shit out of a level 7 Psyduck, they're still a water type so auto-battling it will incur a much bigger hit on my Pokemon's health than a manual battle. If they take enough damage they'll auto-return to you, but never with less than 1 HP. They also return after a set amount of time or I think if you've gone a certain distance away.

 

You can also just hit R2 like in Arceus to have your lead Pokemon chill out of their ball with you. Yup, any of the ones you have! Sadly I can't figure out a way to get the entire party out like in Arceus, which I think did a great job. You can still interact with your Pokemon while it's out and it'll do its cry.

 

There's a big, easy-to-use map that has colored lines arranged in a circle around the player's location. The green one has an N so you always know where North is as soon as the map is opened, and don't get disoriented when you rotate the map. Nice clean design. It'll also show icons of Pokemon in your immediate vicinity, like in Pokemon Go.

 

It's a shame so much of the discussion is about what a technical mess it is. This is definitely the most interesting mainline Pokemon game I've played in... decades? That doesn't mean it's incredible -- again, I'm still very early, no idea how I'll feel about it in a week or even tomorrow. But The Pokemon Company being shitty at graphics and performance is completely expected and not even interesting to complain about at this point. They need an entirely new tech team, whoever they have now sucks shit. At the very least the game looks far more modern than Sword and Shield in many ways, including clothing detail and textures (when you're up close, of course, everything in this game looks bad at a distance) which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately the difference is like.... if we were climbing a mountain, this game is up the first 2 dozen steps of about 240,000 steps. Arceus and Sword/Shield on the other hand had drowned in the bathtub at the hotel a few miles from the base of the mountain.

 

Anyway, having fun so far, give co-op a shot!

[Zaku3]

9 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

Some of you played the F out of Saints Row and Gotham Knights but are concerned about bugs and performance in this?

 

Hey I get 75FPS on high at my ultrawide resolution. RT and/or high probably gonna need that 7900XTX though. Or I could keep high and probably get closer to my 120Hz refresh rate.

 

Also the game seems good but need to play more.

[stepee]

38 minutes ago, Zaku3 said:

 

Hey I get 75FPS on high at my ultrawide resolution. RT and/or high probably gonna need that 7900XTX though. Or I could keep high and probably get closer to my 120Hz refresh rate.

 

Also the game seems good but need to play more.

 

RT and you get cpu bound where nothing that exists yet can hold 60 throughout the city anyway. Might be a couple cpu gens before something can brute force the biggest swings there!

 

7 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I've been surprisingly enjoying this one. It still looks like shit, but it looks leagues better than Sword and Shield or Arceus. Yeah, some big vistas drop the LOD of everything to 0, but at least there are consistently big vistas instead of Sword and Shield being ultra-constrained and STILL running bad and looking bad.

 

The performance seems about on par with what I'd expect from both a Switch and a Pokemon game: It runs like ass. I dunno, once you get down to 30 FPS it all looks like total shit to me and you kids can try to delineate "rock solid 30" vs "struggling to hit 30" all you want, but once I'm locked into "goddamn this is gonna run like ass" mode, it's all the same to me.

 

Watching a dude walk by in the distance at like 2 FPS as I type this is making me laugh though.

 

More importantly than the performance, which has honestly been a fucking mess since the 3DS titles, is the quality of life changes and general attention to detail.

 

I won't go into exhaustive detail (note that I did not say this won't still be long) because I'm still real early on and it'd be a waste of time, but little things like Pokemon actually being their correct size is a huge one. Mouse Pokemon are fucking TINY, big Pokemon are actually big. This makes a huge difference to me and is way more interesting than the weird normalized-sizing we've been getting for a while. I remember in Sword/Shield, a Wailord would be like not even 5% of its true size in battle, it was pathetic. Little bugs would be bumped up to cat-sized for visibility, everything fit within a small range of sizes that just made the world less interesting.

 

Some of the attention to detail stuff has been real nice. Like the curtains being very detailed and gently blowing in the wind in a convincing way at your home right as you start the game. The Pokedex being like a little library that you're adding books to, with it being a black-and-white rough cover if you've only seen a Pokemon, and a full-color graphic for if you've caught one.

 

The TM Machine (TMs are one-use again but you can craft them) having custom images of each and every TM you can make is the kind of detail I would not at all expect from The Pokemon Company's recent outings. The Pokemon Center being an outdoor stand that also utilizes the unique shape of a Pokestop in Pokemon Go is doubly excellent in terms of design -- you don't need to go into a building to get things done, since this is an open world game, and you can see the super-tall Pokeball symbol from miles away, making them useful landmarks. It's also all 3 in 1 now, Pokemart, Pokemon Center and TM Machine, so you don't have to hunt for separate buildings.

 

You can do 4 player co-op, online or local. Massive and welcome change. The Stadium system for battling (including Casual, Ranked and Rented Teams) is available after you get to the first Pokemon Center rather than at the end of the game, so you unlock all online features at once. You have plenty you can choose to do right off the bat.

 

The D-Pad now serves as a multi-function bit of kit, you can customize your look (do so as soon as you can! The opening of the game has a weirdly streamlined customization, but you start off with plenty of options including eye shape, color, different clothes, etc. Tons more than the opening.) do emotes, see notices, and open photo mode.

 

There's a quick heal option for your selected Pokemon, so you can just highlight one and hit the minus button to use items to quick heal it, and the game even tells you in what order healing items will be used. Sadly this doesn't use revives for whatever reason so if a Pokemon is fainted, you gotta manually use a revive.

 

Boxes are still available anywhere, nicknaming is always available whenever you want, Pokemon that have 4 moves now have a recommend option where the Pokemon will suggest what move to get rid of if you want them to. There's a lot of options in the main options menu right from the bat (no talking to a random NPC halfway through the game to get earbuds to unlock audio options like fucking Sword and Shield) including skipping move learning, text speed, audio options, whether or not to show nicknames, autosave, a goddamn skip cutscenes option! And more, including an interesting one: "Helping Functions" -- basically, if you fall from a great height, you can get a prompt that says "Go back up" but you can turn this off so you have to figure out how to get back up on your own. I immediately turned this off. I think it's a really cool feature to have in an open-world game and am glad it's on by default, but the idea of having to deal with where I am after a big fall is interesting to me. Also no fall damage like in Arceus; your Rotom phone will save you right before you hit the ground, so don't be afraid to chuck yourself off of cliffs.

 

Strangely no switch/set option for when an enemy trainer is gonna send out a different Pokemon. It's set to switch by default. This is a weird one, as that's a classic option that's been in forever, and putting it on "set" makes battles a little more challenging and prepares you for how online battles work.

 

You can still crouch, and use L2 to lock on to nearby wild Pokemon. This will show whether you've seen one (if their name is ??? you haven't even encountered them) and whether or not you've caught one. Very handy.

 

The R button will send out your lead Pokemon, who can auto-battle nearby wild Pokemon for lessened experience (exp share is still on by default, and no way to turn it off that I can see) and they'll also hunt for items. Can be handy for clearing an area out. But it goes by both typing and I think relative level. So even if my fire starter might still beat the shit out of a level 7 Psyduck, they're still a water type so auto-battling it will incur a much bigger hit on my Pokemon's health than a manual battle. If they take enough damage they'll auto-return to you, but never with less than 1 HP. They also return after a set amount of time or I think if you've gone a certain distance away.

 

You can also just hit R2 like in Arceus to have your lead Pokemon chill out of their ball with you. Yup, any of the ones you have! Sadly I can't figure out a way to get the entire party out like in Arceus, which I think did a great job. You can still interact with your Pokemon while it's out and it'll do its cry.

 

There's a big, easy-to-use map that has colored lines arranged in a circle around the player's location. The green one has an N so you always know where North is as soon as the map is opened, and don't get disoriented when you rotate the map. Nice clean design. It'll also show icons of Pokemon in your immediate vicinity, like in Pokemon Go.

 

It's a shame so much of the discussion is about what a technical mess it is. This is definitely the most interesting mainline Pokemon game I've played in... decades? That doesn't mean it's incredible -- again, I'm still very early, no idea how I'll feel about it in a week or even tomorrow. But The Pokemon Company being shitty at graphics and performance is completely expected and not even interesting to complain about at this point. They need an entirely new tech team, whoever they have now sucks shit. At the very least the game looks far more modern than Sword and Shield in many ways, including clothing detail and textures (when you're up close, of course, everything in this game looks bad at a distance) which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately the difference is like.... if we were climbing a mountain, this game is up the first 2 dozen steps of about 240,000 steps. Arceus and Sword/Shield on the other hand had drowned in the bathtub at the hotel a few miles from the base of the mountain.

 

Anyway, having fun so far, give co-op a shot!

 

”I won't go into exhaustive detail (note that I did not say this won't still be long)” lol

 

But thank you for the impressions, this actually got my hopes up again. Sounds like the performance must not actually break the game like it sounded like. More like a little worse than usual and people finally had enough.

 

Everything else sounds good especially the size of the pokémon which is probably a bigger deal to me than most things in the game.

[Xbob42]

Yeah I've found it to be quite enjoyable. Yeah it runs like shit, for sure, 100%. But I've seen games run worse! Like, way worse. Honestly most of the time it feels roughly equivalent to Breath of the Wild on Wii U. I think the Wild Area from Sword and Shield ran considerably worse, especially with those shitty ghost people turned on.

 

That doesn't mean there's not jank. It's an open world game by a company who seems like they took the same people who made sprite-based games for 20 years and never trained them on 3D modeling or optimization, but it's no worse than you might expect.

 

There's another thing about the size of the Pokemon as well: There's actual size variance between the same species! I know in most Pokemon games it'll say how big your Pokemon was but the model is the same: here you can get a significantly bigger or smaller specimen!

[stepee]

17 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Yeah I've found it to be quite enjoyable. Yeah it runs like shit, for sure, 100%. But I've seen games run worse! Like, way worse. Honestly most of the time it feels roughly equivalent to Breath of the Wild on Wii U. I think the Wild Area from Sword and Shield ran considerably worse, especially with those shitty ghost people turned on.

 

That doesn't mean there's not jank. It's an open world game by a company who seems like they took the same people who made sprite-based games for 20 years and never trained them on 3D modeling or optimization, but it's no worse than you might expect.

 

There's another thing about the size of the Pokemon as well: There's actual size variance between the same species! I know in most Pokemon games it'll say how big your Pokemon was but the model is the same: here you can get a significantly bigger or smaller specimen!

 

last part made me start the download 

[stepee]

It is a shame you can’t bring out your whole crew like in Legends, I did that all over the place.

[Ghost_MH]

7 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I've been surprisingly enjoying this one. It still looks like shit, but it looks leagues better than Sword and Shield or Arceus. Yeah, some big vistas drop the LOD of everything to 0, but at least there are consistently big vistas instead of Sword and Shield being ultra-constrained and STILL running bad and looking bad.

 

The performance seems about on par with what I'd expect from both a Switch and a Pokemon game: It runs like ass. I dunno, once you get down to 30 FPS it all looks like total shit to me and you kids can try to delineate "rock solid 30" vs "struggling to hit 30" all you want, but once I'm locked into "goddamn this is gonna run like ass" mode, it's all the same to me.

 

Watching a dude walk by in the distance at like 2 FPS as I type this is making me laugh though.

 

More importantly than the performance, which has honestly been a fucking mess since the 3DS titles, is the quality of life changes and general attention to detail.

 

I won't go into exhaustive detail (note that I did not say this won't still be long) because I'm still real early on and it'd be a waste of time, but little things like Pokemon actually being their correct size is a huge one. Mouse Pokemon are fucking TINY, big Pokemon are actually big. This makes a huge difference to me and is way more interesting than the weird normalized-sizing we've been getting for a while. I remember in Sword/Shield, a Wailord would be like not even 5% of its true size in battle, it was pathetic. Little bugs would be bumped up to cat-sized for visibility, everything fit within a small range of sizes that just made the world less interesting.

 

Some of the attention to detail stuff has been real nice. Like the curtains being very detailed and gently blowing in the wind in a convincing way at your home right as you start the game. The Pokedex being like a little library that you're adding books to, with it being a black-and-white rough cover if you've only seen a Pokemon, and a full-color graphic for if you've caught one.

 

The TM Machine (TMs are one-use again but you can craft them) having custom images of each and every TM you can make is the kind of detail I would not at all expect from The Pokemon Company's recent outings. The Pokemon Center being an outdoor stand that also utilizes the unique shape of a Pokestop in Pokemon Go is doubly excellent in terms of design -- you don't need to go into a building to get things done, since this is an open world game, and you can see the super-tall Pokeball symbol from miles away, making them useful landmarks. It's also all 3 in 1 now, Pokemart, Pokemon Center and TM Machine, so you don't have to hunt for separate buildings.

 

You can do 4 player co-op, online or local. Massive and welcome change. The Stadium system for battling (including Casual, Ranked and Rented Teams) is available after you get to the first Pokemon Center rather than at the end of the game, so you unlock all online features at once. You have plenty you can choose to do right off the bat.

 

The D-Pad now serves as a multi-function bit of kit, you can customize your look (do so as soon as you can! The opening of the game has a weirdly streamlined customization, but you start off with plenty of options including eye shape, color, different clothes, etc. Tons more than the opening.) do emotes, see notices, and open photo mode.

 

There's a quick heal option for your selected Pokemon, so you can just highlight one and hit the minus button to use items to quick heal it, and the game even tells you in what order healing items will be used. Sadly this doesn't use revives for whatever reason so if a Pokemon is fainted, you gotta manually use a revive.

 

Boxes are still available anywhere, nicknaming is always available whenever you want, Pokemon that have 4 moves now have a recommend option where the Pokemon will suggest what move to get rid of if you want them to. There's a lot of options in the main options menu right from the bat (no talking to a random NPC halfway through the game to get earbuds to unlock audio options like fucking Sword and Shield) including skipping move learning, text speed, audio options, whether or not to show nicknames, autosave, a goddamn skip cutscenes option! And more, including an interesting one: "Helping Functions" -- basically, if you fall from a great height, you can get a prompt that says "Go back up" but you can turn this off so you have to figure out how to get back up on your own. I immediately turned this off. I think it's a really cool feature to have in an open-world game and am glad it's on by default, but the idea of having to deal with where I am after a big fall is interesting to me. Also no fall damage like in Arceus; your Rotom phone will save you right before you hit the ground, so don't be afraid to chuck yourself off of cliffs.

 

Strangely no switch/set option for when an enemy trainer is gonna send out a different Pokemon. It's set to switch by default. This is a weird one, as that's a classic option that's been in forever, and putting it on "set" makes battles a little more challenging and prepares you for how online battles work.

 

You can still crouch, and use L2 to lock on to nearby wild Pokemon. This will show whether you've seen one (if their name is ??? you haven't even encountered them) and whether or not you've caught one. Very handy.

 

The R button will send out your lead Pokemon, who can auto-battle nearby wild Pokemon for lessened experience (exp share is still on by default, and no way to turn it off that I can see) and they'll also hunt for items. Can be handy for clearing an area out. But it goes by both typing and I think relative level. So even if my fire starter might still beat the shit out of a level 7 Psyduck, they're still a water type so auto-battling it will incur a much bigger hit on my Pokemon's health than a manual battle. If they take enough damage they'll auto-return to you, but never with less than 1 HP. They also return after a set amount of time or I think if you've gone a certain distance away.

 

You can also just hit R2 like in Arceus to have your lead Pokemon chill out of their ball with you. Yup, any of the ones you have! Sadly I can't figure out a way to get the entire party out like in Arceus, which I think did a great job. You can still interact with your Pokemon while it's out and it'll do its cry.

 

There's a big, easy-to-use map that has colored lines arranged in a circle around the player's location. The green one has an N so you always know where North is as soon as the map is opened, and don't get disoriented when you rotate the map. Nice clean design. It'll also show icons of Pokemon in your immediate vicinity, like in Pokemon Go.

 

It's a shame so much of the discussion is about what a technical mess it is. This is definitely the most interesting mainline Pokemon game I've played in... decades? That doesn't mean it's incredible -- again, I'm still very early, no idea how I'll feel about it in a week or even tomorrow. But The Pokemon Company being shitty at graphics and performance is completely expected and not even interesting to complain about at this point. They need an entirely new tech team, whoever they have now sucks shit. At the very least the game looks far more modern than Sword and Shield in many ways, including clothing detail and textures (when you're up close, of course, everything in this game looks bad at a distance) which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately the difference is like.... if we were climbing a mountain, this game is up the first 2 dozen steps of about 240,000 steps. Arceus and Sword/Shield on the other hand had drowned in the bathtub at the hotel a few miles from the base of the mountain.

 

Anyway, having fun so far, give co-op a shot!

 

Dammit, you're going to make me get this game? I have Bayonetta 3 nowhere near half way, but I also don't play that with the kids up. This game, I can even play with the kids watching.

[Xbob42]

Can't wait for you guys to play it and then get mad at me for you ending up hating it! 

[Ghost_MH]

11 hours ago, EternallDarkness said:

or could be because Game Freak is lazy and has basically been making the same game for decades now which people have been buying by the boatload (myself included) and never felt a need to push themselves

 

Real answer is Gamefreak owns a third of the most profitable franchise on Earth. Meanwhile, they have 170 employees. Monolith Soft employee a hundred more people than they do. They're just trying to keep to record for the biggest profit to employee ratio in gaming history.

[Ghost_MH]

4 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Can't wait for you guys to play it and then get mad at me for you ending up hating it! 

 

I was able to look past Sword and Shield's performance issues, so if this isn't any worse than that, I'll be fine.

 

For some reason, performance did bug me in Arceus. Only Pokemon game I never finished. I think I played like twenty hours before throwing in the towel. Maybe it wasn't performance, but more world design. You spent so much time in the main town and yhe entire thing felt wildly under-baked.

[Xbob42]

Well, can't say they can't make it hype! Tera raid battles have considerably more exciting catch animations and music than I found Gigantamax raids to have.

 

imgur.com

IMGUR.COM

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Imgur: The magic of the Internet

 

Also fuck, just found this!