Why You Can Trust CNET Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Preview: Monster Catching Enters an Exciting Open-World
The open-world RPG feels like a clever marriage between the traditional Sword and Shield and the new gameplay seen in Legends: Arceus.
Riding Koraidon through the open world of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is a heap of fun.
I've played the early hours of Pokemon games in pretty much exactly the same way since the '90s, always picking the fire starter, getting to its second evolution before the first gym and obsessively gathering a balanced, cool looking team. This comfortable tradition encapsulates so much of my experience of the monster collecting and battle series.
So attending a preview session for the upcoming Scarlet and Violet in New York City earlier this month proved a slightly alien experience as I dived directly into a bunch of new features with a pre-made team of six Pokemon (with helpful publicists watching my every move).
The games, which are the ninth generation in the franchise's mainline RPG series, hit the Nintendo Switch on Nov. 18. I got to play for about an hour and a half, getting into battles as I explored a small section of the new Mediterranean Europe-inspired Paldea region -- making sandwiches, trying out character customization and wrapping things up with a multiplayer raid.
The wide-open Pokemon world
Both 2019's Sword and Shield and this year's Legends: Arceus toyed with the idea of an open-world experience (the former only got it right with its expansion, but those areas were small). However, loading screens as you entered or left towns diminished the sense of wonder.
Scarlet and Violet aim to make Paldea feel completely open, with no loading as you leave the wild regions and step into towns. The outdoor Pokemon Centers and Poke Marts are a wise addition, allowing you to heal your team and pick up supplies without breaking the flow of exploration.
Paldea is begging to be explored.
Key to the exploration was Scarlet box art star Koraidon (Miraidon fills the same roles in Violet). This legendary mount allowed me to quickly traverse the area, with its sprinting, mountain-scaling, swimming and gilding abilities opening up every angle.
Legends: Arceus players might recall the cumbersome process of swapping mounts to get around that game's open areas, but Koraidon can do the whole lot, and it's extremely satisfying. Your buddy comes to a slightly jarring stop when you leap from a height though.
The only area where I recall that the flow of exploration stopped came as I exited one of the game's gyms -- the approximate 15 to 20 seconds of loading (I didn't time it) felt interminable, but it's possible I'd been conditioned by the lack of loading elsewhere. The preview build could also have an issue that'll be addressed when the full game is released, but it's a minor annoyance.
Lechonk is a charmer.
Meeting and fighting
Aside from delightful cuties Lechonk and Fidough, the new Pokemon haven't really captured my imagination yet. That didn't hurt my sense of wonder as I wandered Paldea's fields, mountains and waterways, spotting all manner of Pokemon new and old -- accepting each generation's new batch always takes me a while.
Battling is a clever mix of the series' traditional style and the looser approach seen in Legends: Arceus. You can fling one of your team straight in for an old-school turn-based encounter, but the transition from exploration to battling is much smoother than it was in Sword and Shield -- there's less of a visual distinction between the two states.
You can also throw out one of your team to battle wild Pokemon automatically for you, so you can take down random weak ones and gain experience points without stopping at all.
It's a welcome change from the shift seen in older games, where getting into a battle felt like it brought exploration to a grinding halt -- something I've found increasingly frustrating in recent years. Scarlet and Violet has a satisfying flow throughout its gameplay.
There are some fun twists on the series' traditional battles.
Unfortunately, encounters with other characters interrupt that flow because of the continued use of slow text boxes. The dialogue when gym leaders, fellow trainers and random townsfolk challenge you or offer some nugget of information is consistently well-written and charming, but clicking through can feel like a chore when you just want to get to the battling.
The visuals are also a little uninspiring; I spotted one distant windmill with an extremely jerky animation (it improved as I got closer, and this might be fixed up in the finished game). Characters are more detailed than in previous games, with plenty of cool customization options for your avatar, but they look primitive compared to those seen in recent Final Fantasy or Persona games.
Battle transformation
Recent generations of Pokemon games have introduced unique battle mechanics, like the awesome Mega Evolutions seen in X and Y and the less imaginative Dynamaxing of Sword and Shield.
The Fire/Psychic Armarouge is one of the cooler new Pokemon.
Scarlet and Violet introduce Terastallizing, which gives your Pokemon a crystalline appearance and changes its elemental type. The visual change isn't the series' strongest (I'd still give that honor to Mega Evolutions), but the way it changes types adds a new strategic layer to battles.
The transformation gave me major battle advantages, and left me in bad situations, even in my brief session; my awareness of most Pokemon types tripped me up when Terastallization resulted in an unexpected shift and my team started taking major damage.
Crucially, you can Terastallize in any battle (Dynamaxing was frustratingly restricted in the previous generation) as long as you have energy to do so. That can be refilled at Pokemon Centers and certain points in the wild.
Chilling with your team
One of the game's fun nonviolent features lets you gather your Pokemon around a picnic table out in the wild. In addition to the joy of seeing your team hanging out, you can engage a fun sandwich-making minigame.
Having a picnic with your party is a fun distraction.
Grabbing ingredients picked up on your journey or purchased in stores, you manually place them on the bread or bun. If you drop them or they fall off, tough luck, buddy, they're gone. I created a pretty conventional savory sandwich for my character and team to enjoy (though the bun disappeared on me), giving them all temporary stat boosts based on my choice of filling.
This process was deeply satisfying, and my mind briefly raced with possibilities for the monstrosities I'll be able to create in the full game. You can also give your Pokemon a wash, which felt like the Refresh minigame in 2016's Sun and Moon.
Battling with friends
The final part of the preview gave me a chance to try out a co-op multiplayer Tera Raid battle, which saw me taking out a Terastallized Pokemon with three other trainers. This felt like a more active version of the Max Raids seen in Sword and Shield, in that it tweaks the traditional turn-based system.
Instead of waiting for everyone to choose a move, a bar starts to empty when the first player inputs an action and everyone can make a choice within that time frame. It isn't superfast but adds just the right amount of urgency and keeps the action going at a satisfying clip, since you aren't left sitting around if one of your allies isn't fully engaged.
Multiplayer raids have just the right amount of urgency to make sure everyone stays engaged.
After taking down the tough Terastallized Pokemon, you get a chance to catch it and discover its unique properties. Our game suffered a glitch in that only the host player got to do the catching, but the publicists assured us the full game would give everyone the same opportunity.
My brief Pokemon Scarlet and Violet experience left me cautiously excited for the full game next month. Setting aside some weak presentational elements and lack of engaging new Pokemon designs, my glimpse of the open world, new battle mechanics, and fun new features suggested a rich adventure ahead.
I can't wait to set out with my starter (Fuecoco FTW!) to discover some awesomely designed creatures, create a balanced team and spend hours wandering into every nook and cranny Paldea has to offer -- just like I've done in Pokemon games for more than 20 years.