Rumour Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Leaks/Spoilers

[goldrogerii]

Not at all. All I did was say "think I haven't caught that one yet" and catch it. Only exception was going hunting for the last two/three paradox pokemon in the post-game. I'd say the last 50-60 pokemon would be mostly those I haven't evolved and then some that are harder to find - I caught 3 eeveelutions but I know the rest are out there - all appear to be rare-ish spawns with the exception of Vaporeon who was everywhere lol


It wouldn't surprise me if they put younger talent on the Arceus team and if they had some help from BotW UI staff. It feels like a more modern game unburdened by the conventions of old pokemon games with such a heavy emphasis on recreating BotW's gamefeel. Scarlet very much feels like a large open world game made by the exact same people who made the Sword/Shield wild areas - very similar gamefeel.

But who knows. Maybe the guys who peep the credits will be able to tell us.

Hopefully given a few patches Scarlet can get to that level - but given Game Freak's history I doubt it. With some performance patches and DLC content to add things to the open world this really could be the best pokemon game.

many of the younger staff who worked on PLA worked on SV too.

 

[Heron]

Apparently this game has a Victory Road? Is it similar to the past Victory Roads (solid-sized cave complex with strong trainers)?

No, there's no victory road, and no cave complexes with strong trailers.

There are some caves, though. Most are short and linear, one set has some good verticality and branching paths. Nothing you'd get lost in, but big enough to explore.

But since you never have to battle if you don't want to, the presence / lack thereof of trainers really isn't a factor.

 

[Leica]

Apparently this game has a Victory Road? Is it similar to the past Victory Roads (solid-sized cave complex with strong trainers)?

Most random trainers are extremely insignificant. Boss trainers at the end of the game have pretty legitimate teams (One of them I really liked, very cool riff on a style you see in 6v6 singles a lot) but the ones you find standing around in the world are very weak.

 

[Heron]

Most random trainers are extremely insignificant. Boss trainers at the end of the game have pretty legitimate teams (One of them I really liked, very cool riff on a style you see in 6v6 singles a lot) but the ones you find standing around in the world are very weak.

Yup. Most of them have only one pokemon, and really feel like they're only there to make the world feel less empty. They don't really succeed, they feel too randomly placed.

They function more as a treasure hunt as the prizes you can get for beating all of the trainers in an area are pretty good. I think Game Freak knew that the odds that you would run into a trainer at the right level to have a balanced fight were... slim. And unlike past pokemon games there's no point in chip damage because you can fly to pokecenter any time, you can switch pokemon for boxes at any time. There's just no point to trainers in the field.

I'd argue that this is a flaw with their world design - that it was TOO open. They needed to have actual routes that were guarded by trainers to make it feel more like a traditional pokemon game. There's one area of the map with windmills - that was a good example of good level design where trainers barring your way would have been appropriate, where you can go multiple directions but each has you on a set path. I really like that area.

The "bosses" of the three paths were awesome. Very strong battles. Elite 4 and Top Champion were disappointing by comparison.

 

[DunningSmith]

Okay, one last question before my copy arrives tomorrow: How is the soundtrack? I thought SWSH's soundtrack was very lacking compared to older games.

 

[Heron]

Okay, one last question before my copy arrives tomorrow: How is the soundtrack? I thought SWSH's soundtrack was very lacking compared to older games.

For me, it was functional but nothing more, and outright disappointing at times (elite 4 theme... woof). I never caught myself thinking "Yeah, that's a nice track."

Music is very subjective so your mileage may vary, but I agree that SWSH wasn't good, while I thought Sun/Moon were a recent standout in the series - especially that 4th island had some gorgeous tunes.

 

[maniacmaison]

Caught the four legendaries. Pretty cool. As far as I can tell that's it. Post-game over. There's not much there, but I don't mind.

Post-game is:
Rebattle gym leaders
School tournament
Rebattle team star
Find binding stakes to release four legendaries and catch them

Total time: 40 hours. Pokemon caught: 310/400 (actually 378 available I think)

Having gotten used to Scarlet and enjoyed it but remembering I thought Arceus was far better at first I went back to play 15 minutes of Arceus again to compare. And holy SHIT did it immediately hit me how much better that game is. Just.... by miles. The only way I can describe the difference in craftsmanship is that it's like a senior and junior dev teams made the two games, it's that apparent.

I'm not talking about gameplay decisions or battle systems here - I'm talking about gamefeel, UI, map, camera, performance - all the little things that make you say "this is a high-quality game". We really need side by side gifs of performance, of how battles flow, of the way lock-on works between them. Things of that nature.

I've done two gyms, two totem Pokemon and one star camp and I fully agree with you. Im actually having a GREAT time with the game and enjoying it so so much more than Sword and Shield, but it's true that it has some very important and evident technical issues. Im seeing clipping everywhere, the camera glitches through the ground in battles letting me see weird stuff, the characters pop in and out after battles and cutscenes in a very "beta" state of game feel.

I'm lucky that my LG tv has a very good function that fills missing frames to create a fake 60 fps output, because I was, for the first time in my life, feeling dizzy playing a videogame. I know it sounds extreme and I was one of those rolling my eyes at people who say literally unplayable at frames that drop, but ever since I activated that on my TV I dont feel weird while playing anymore. Before activating that, when I was driving Miraidon I had to look at the center of the image and not the landscape around me. Now I can properly explore without feeling dizzy.

As for the music, it has some very nice music, but nothing that Im loving as much as in the previous games (even Sword and Shield). I agree with you that Sun/Moon has the best soundtrack in recent Pokemon. Legends Arceus also has some really cool tracks that match perfectly the vibe of the gameplay. The bad thing is that it got constantly interrupted when a pookemon spotted you.

I also think that for the next game, they should design the cities and routes as if it was a 3DS Pokemon game and then will the spaces in between with other stuff. This one feels a bit like that in some areas, and those areas have been the cooler to explore so far. In general Im enjoying this open world, but I clearly see the potential for something better that does't need to be as masterfully designed as BOTW or Xenoblade 2.

And all in all Im loving this game. You can't just beat Pokemon. It's always so charming. Which make these problems even more frustrating, because what would happen if they happened to nail everything? Would it be the best game ever? lol

 

[Sheldon]

Just quickly dipping in and out with eyes closed with one question:

Is Ditto in the game? If yes, how deep into the game?

Because if Ditto isn't available until post-game, I'll have to reset for a female starter.

 

[Bonejack]

Just quickly dipping in and out with eyes closed with one question:

Is Ditto in the game? If yes, how deep into the game?

Because if Ditto isn't available until post-game, I'll have to reset for a female starter.

Pretty sure i've seen screenshots with Ditto in them during the leak phase.

About when it's available, sorry, no idea.

 

[Apopheniac]

Is Ditto in the game? If yes, how deep into the game?

Ditto is in the game. You can theoretically find one before doing any story content, though it may be tricky. I personally intend to reset for a female starter.

 

[Sheldon]

Pretty sure i've seen screenshots with Ditto in them during the leak phase.

About when it's available, sorry, no idea.

Ditto is in the game. You can theoretically find one before doing any story content, though it may be tricky. I personally intend to reset for a female starter.

Thanks, both of you. I guess I'll make sure to save regularly in the opening minutes and reset. It'll spare me having to look up instructions on how to get Ditto online and accidentally getting spoiled on unrelated stuff, too.

 

[Paxie]

Thanks, both of you. I guess I'll make sure to save regularly in the opening minutes and reset. It'll spare me having to look up instructions on how to get Ditto online and accidentally getting spoiled on unrelated stuff, too.

iirc Ditto is on the upper left quadrant of the map. I think it also disguises itself as other Pokemon, so you'll probably have to be very thorough

 

[Sheldon]

iirc Ditto is on the upper left quadrant of the map. I think it also disguises itself as other Pokemon, so you'll probably have to be very thorough

Or maybe I'll stick with a male starter if I like its nature, then go set out to explore the upper left quadrant whether my team is ready for it and the game wants me there or not. Sounds good, too. Thanks for keeping my options open!

 

[Bonejack]

Or maybe I'll stick with a male starter if I like its nature, then go set out to explore the upper left quadrant whether my team is ready for it and the game wants me there or not. Sounds good, too. Thanks for keeping my options open!

Did you play any Xenoblade game? If yes, you should've enough experience to run around in high level areas and dodging high level aggro threats like a crazy!

 

[maniacmaison]

I find it incredible that they designed "big" cities and yet there's nothing to do in them. You only interact with the gym, a couple of shops and the sandwich restaurant. No side quest, no nothing. It was baffling in Sword/Shield and here it's even worse.

Playing this game is thinking all the time that they really need more time to make a more rounded game.

 

[Weebos]

Palkia Origin posted this video of the Past Paradoxes, nice little showcase for their designs:

Spoiler

Also worth noting that Serebii is now updating, so we have an actual usable site to look through.

 

[Sheldon]

Did you play any Xenoblade game? If yes, you should've enough experience to run around in high level areas and dodging high level aggro threats like a crazy!

I'll re-activate the skills I learned in Everquest making the trek through level 30+ areas as sub-5 newbie because my friend and I picked different races!

 

[Cubs017]

Reviews are about what expected due to technical stuff. I'm fine with that - Arceus was a mess but I loved that game.

Super pumped to play tomorrow. I took the day off.

 

[Red Monster]

I'm lucky that my LG tv has a very good function that fills missing frames to create a fake 60 fps output, because I was, for the first time in my life, feeling dizzy playing a videogame. I know it sounds extreme and I was one of those rolling my eyes at people who say literally unplayable at frames that drop, but ever since I activated that on my TV I dont feel weird while playing anymore. Before activating that, when I was driving Miraidon I had to look at the center of the image and not the landscape around me. Now I can properly explore without feeling dizzy.

I can understand feeling dizzy playing ScarVio. Just watching reviews has given me the feeling that these games might make me nauseous. I think it's the low framerate combined with the slowdown, when the camera pans it makes me feel queasy. And that's not a good sign.. I hope it's not as bad as I'm thinking it will be, or that maybe playing undocked will help somehow. A Pokemon game should not be giving me motion sickness concerns.

 

[Deleted member 2]

Should we lock this thread now that the game's out? Plenty of other places for discussion