Over 26 years the games have grown in size (and let’s not talk about the growth in the Pokédex) from our original adventures in Kanto, where we looked down at our character as we moved across that 2.5d map. We had to follow quite a linear path with well placed obstacles in our way to prevent progress (here’s looking at you Snorlax).
I’m sure back then the thoughts of a Pokémon game becoming more of an open world adventure would have been almost impossible to believe, as almost every game made you go through that set path, where you follow the roads between each gym. Your final goal; those eight badges and a chance at the Pokémon League.
Pokémon Sword switched things up a little as while you went after the badges like before, the adventure was much more akin to your normal adventure like games. Those final battles where you work to become champion, much easier as your Pokémon were rested between each battle, where before you had to slog it out and make sure you had enough potions, revives and ether to keep your team going.
Fan favourite Buizel
While I’ve not gotten far into Scarlett yet, it’s clear to see where it’s taken elements from Pokémon Legends: Arceus as you wander around Paldea, meeting all the new faces and seeing some of those cute new Pokémon that they’ve added. There is a lot there for the returning fans as well as so far I’ve run into quite a few old favourites such as Azumarill, Buizel and Ralts. If you play the game until 28/02/23, you can also get your hands on a Pikachu which knows fly. This does give this writer memories of the days where you saw the surfing Pikachu on the beach, and one whom rumours said you could get by completing certain tasks within Pokémon stadium.
The launch of the game so far, hasn’t been without it’s issues as there have been widespread reports of frame rate issues which I have seen myself while I’ve been playing. But games these days all seem to have issues which the developers usually get fixed fairly quickly.
So far, Scarlett is shaping up to be quite an interesting game and a worthy instalment to the franchise, and it makes you wonder if this is the kind of game we’re going to be moving too, what will we see in that inevitable tenth and eleventh generation of games.
The only people who can answer that for us will be the fine folk over at Game Freak, but I think it’s safe to say, they’ll have ideas for years to come and keeping that world of Pokémon alive.
Let us know what your experiences have been like so far. Do you think this new generation is as good as the previous one(s)?
WRITTEN BY: Chris Wilkinson
EDITED BY: Solace
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