Pokémon Violet | First Playthrough Thoughts

Pokémon Violet | First Playthrough Thoughts

Well, I have a *lot* of thoughts about this game, but mostly good this time round! This game has an unbelievable amount of potential in there somewhere, and some of the segments really let the game shine, and in others...not so much. I'll go through the game here with my opinions on the segments.

Worth noting this is my first Open-World style Pokémon game, I have NOT played PLA.

1) Starters
I chose Fuecoco, because he was the only one who looked at me when I walked up to the 3. I actually like all 3 of the starters in their first forms, but I ended up abandoning him at Lv30 because I just found *way* cooler pokes. Once all of the starters evolve, they're all absolutely horrible looking, especially Quaquaval, screw that thing. The grass line hands down would've been the best set if they kept them on 4 legs! I do not understand the obsession with making them all stand up nowadays.

2) Tutorial
Once again I gotta complain the tutorial segment is just far too long, but I do appreciate that once it's over, you get basically unrestricted access to the entire map to go and explore as you please. I like the idea of everything taking place in a school, and that's what I'm covering next because I feel I need to give some credit where it's due.

3) School + Classes
I really appreciated these, but not because I personally found them useful. The maths class actually provides good information, like what the difference is between a stat raising "Sharply" or "Drastically". No words for that Pokeball question in Maths 2 though, stupid trick question >:(
I also find the fact you can sit midterms etc quite funny.

4) The World
It's...alright! I had a lot of fun exploring some of the sections of it, especially the South-West corner of the map and the Crater at the end of the game. The framerate when you're out there leaves a lot to be desired though. I liked that the day-night cycle wasn't bound to the system clock this time, and I like how pokes spawn in clusters and often have an evolved form as the leader/parent of the little crews. The variation of the environment is really cool, and I actually really enjoyed figuring out how to get to some places (which is something that becomes completely obsolete the more Titan pokes you defeat).

5) Battles
They removed the set battle option. WHY?! Literally no reason to remove it whatsoever. It's also odd to me they force battle animations as well, even though I was gonna keep them on anyway for this game. Outside of that, I like how most battles don't have loading screens, I'm happy we're back to pokes being out in the open to freely approach (as well as the fact their shiny forms are visible in the overworld now! Finally!).
No comment on the Team Star bases, they were boring and really un-interesting, but I did like the bosses, both as characters and their battles with the big ass car!
Oh also, I fell off of the same cliff twice in Area Zero because of leaping backwards when a wild encounter starts, that was kinda annoying.
I really, REALLY enjoyed the return to the old-style Elite Four, 4 in a row and no choice about who you fight.

6) OST
Honestly, one of the weakest OSTs in the franchise imo. There are some absolute standout themes, like the Team Star grunt theme. But a lot of the other themes we're pretty weak, kind of disappointed given the music has always been one of the best parts of these games!

7) Stories
I actually really liked the story! The titan story was heartwarming, the Team Star story is actually really good (and makes a big joke of school systems approaches to bullying which I thought was brilliant!), the champion storyline is whatever, I don't think theres supposed to be anything to it anyway. The culmination of them all in Area Zero though, I actually really enjoyed it. The only thing I didn't like about the entire Area Zero segment was the fact the final fight is scripted so you win, everything else was outstanding.

8) Post-Game
Sadly it looks like there's basically nothing to do. I've done 2 gym leader rematches, and I'm sure I'll do the schools battle tournament when I unlock it. Once again no battle frontier, a shocking lack of legendary side-quest style stuff to do (yes I know about the Stakes!)

9) Overall Thoughts
This was the most fun I had playing through a main-series Pokémon game since I played Sun/Moon, and by a SIGNIFICANT margin. I have faith they'll see how much they got right in this game, and fix the stuff they horrifically messed up (starting with the framerate pls!). For the first time in quite a while, I've got some faith in the series going forward. For what it's worth, I had 0 major bugs when playing through. A couple minor weird interactions when riding Miraidon where I had to be reset, but that's it.

Final thing, please please PLEASE add scaling to Gyms and Titans, wilds are fine as they are!