Scarlet/Violet DLC

[Nitro Indigo]

Also, I bought the DLC, but haven't gotten the new outfits. Unless I have to do something in-game to unlock them?

 

[Esiouqrut]

I think we could start actually with the name itswlf, notably, em using the English word of "Blueberry", rather than using the Spanish word "Arándano", in a similar vein to Naranja and Uva.

Now, from what I can tell, the original Japanese version never had the Spanish naming, calling the original two schools the English words of "Orange" and "Grape" respectively, and in that fashion, this one's also just called "Blueberry" over there. But having that carry over for us here while the original two schools were given Spanish names here seems... weird

Maybe it was a random fluke from the English localization team, or is was a conscious decision that could potentially tell us that the region it sits on/is adjacent to is based on a place that speaks English.

Seeing that they use the kanji 学園 (gakuen, academy) for the Blueberry instead of the katakana アカデミー (akademii, academy) like with Naranja/Uva makes me think that Blueberry Academy is set in some sort of Japanese-inspired place. Maybe it's close to Kitakami, as the sibling duo is said to be from there and they attend Blueberry Academy.

 

[Cute Charm]

Also, I bought the DLC, but haven't gotten the new outfits. Unless I have to do something in-game to unlock them?

It's not automatic. Click the banner in the X menu and then the button on the DLC pop-up.

 

[Karatekid5]

A bit of a controversial take here, but.... I'm not really a fan of Kitakami. Traditional Japanese-based culture is already in such an abundance in games that it really isn't too special or interesting anymore, especially when pairing it up with a Spain-based region. Plus we just got a Japanese-based game in Arceus, which was a great game, so those who are fans aren't starved for Traditional Japanese content. They could've taken the field trip to a more Iberia-connected and lesser touched upon exotic location such as Mexico, Brazil, Peru, the Galapagos, Puerto Rico, etc. Just imagine a DLC city based on Rio with an open-world map based on the Amazon Rainforest! There's so much potential there that I feel is being wasted. You can even tie the Teal Mask into a Brazilian Carnival mask, especially when they're often adorned with jewels (which gives an easy design entry point for tera crystals). And if they wanted to do something Eastern, why not China? Tie it into the lore of the Ruin Legends and have this be the far off Kingdom where said legendaries came from!

I'm sure the DLC will still be a fun time with plenty to offer, and I do like that they use the Momotaro story to kinda tie it all together, but I feel like there was a lot of missed potential in that regard. Especially for a region based on a country so rich in history.


Blueberry does intrigue me a bit, will the whole thing be underwater or will there be a new open area to explore? Given the name of the central legendary, the Galapagos Islands would be a super cool choice! Both contain the Spanish word for "Turtle", and the submerged Blueberry Academy implies that it will be in a water-heavy area.

 

[Greninjaman]

Now that I have bought the DLC, what I might do is create a whole new team of Pokemon for each story instead of using the team I cleared the main game with. They are all level 80 right now. Of course, I will bring the starter along until I get something.

 

[Eitarou]

A bit of a controversial take here, but.... I'm not really a fan of Kitakami. Traditional Japanese-based culture is already in such an abundance in games that it really isn't too special or interesting anymore, especially when pairing it up with a Spain-based region. Plus we just got a Japanese-based game in Arceus, which was a great game, so those who are fans aren't starved for Traditional Japanese content. They could've taken the field trip to a more Iberia-connected and lesser touched upon exotic location such as Mexico, Brazil, Peru, the Galapagos, Puerto Rico, etc. Just imagine a DLC city based on Rio with an open-world map based on the Amazon Rainforest! There's so much potential there that I feel is being wasted. You can even tie the Teal Mask into a Brazilian Carnival mask, especially when they're often adorned with jewels (which gives an easy design entry point for tera crystals). And if they wanted to do something Eastern, why not China? Tie it into the lore of the Ruin Legends and have this be the far off Kingdom where said legendaries came from!

I'm sure the DLC will still be a fun time with plenty to offer, and I do like that they use the Momotaro story to kinda tie it all together, but I feel like there was a lot of missed potential in that regard. Especially for a region based on a country so rich in history.


Blueberry does intrigue me a bit, will the whole thing be underwater or will there be a new open area to explore? Given the name of the central legendary, the Galapagos Islands would be a super cool choice! Both contain the Spanish word for "Turtle", and the submerged Blueberry Academy implies that it will be in a water-heavy area.

They already used a Chinese theme for the Isle of Armor. Granted, it's not in an area based on China...

 

[Jolty94]

i think what made swsh's dlc a bit more engaging to folks is seeing actual gameplay previews of it. seeing mustard and the new rivals of isle of armor and then calyrex in crown tundra and news of dynamax adventures, that sorta thing iirc. meanwhile we've pretty much been shown some good artwork, but nothing in the form of gameplay previews, which might've been a letdown to some folks who want to visually know what to expect.

i'm not disappointed.... yet. cautiously optimistic is how i'm feeling rn. hopefully we'll hear more about the dlc in the coming months and see what it's all about.

I personally believe they didn't show any footage because they are aware there would be heavy backlash, asif there wasn't backlash already because a lot of people wanted acknoledgement on camera that they are aware of the current performance issues with the game, and that they would fully address it and not basically completely ignore it (besides the obvious social media posts).

I think it's extremely ballsy of them to reveal pretty much both concepts for both DLCs and still not admit on camera that the game has glaring flaws, a lot of people appreciate honesty and I think that's what made the Presents even more disappointing for a lot of people.

I love everything I've seen about the DLC so far, but I'm very pessimistic as of now because they still haven't really announced performance fixes, just patch notes on other issues and quality of life updates, and like I said it's VERY ballsy to expect more money from people when your current product (regardless of how it's sold), is still not technically functioning properly. It doesn't scream good consumerism imo.

 

[Kallyle]

I personally believe they didn't show any footage because they are aware there would be heavy backlash, asif there wasn't backlash already because a lot of people wanted acknoledgement on camera that they are aware of the current performance issues with the game, and that they would fully address it and not basically completely ignore it (besides the obvious social media posts).

I think it's extremely ballsy of them to reveal pretty much both concepts for both DLCs and still not admit on camera that the game has glaring flaws, a lot of people appreciate honesty and I think that's what made the Presents even more disappointing for a lot of people.

I love everything I've seen about the DLC so far, but I'm very pessimistic as of now because they still haven't really announced performance fixes, just patch notes on other issues and quality of life updates, and like I said it's VERY ballsy to expect more money from people when your current product (regardless of how it's sold), is still not technically functioning properly. It doesn't scream good consumerism imo.

Is it possible that they can’t fix the issues without remaking the whole game? As an IT major (going for a Master’s degree) currently having a course on software testing, one of the most important concepts is that the further along you are in development the harder it is to test and maintain issues with the software. It’s possible these issues are (unfortunately) baked into the game’s code by now. Or am I mistaken?

 

[Cute Charm]

Considering most true leaks come from people supposedly testing the game...maybe they need a better vetting process?

Because if it's true and the play testers are those leaking game info, then maybe the full blame isn't completely on Game Freak and Nintendo since they probably never got the needed feedback from the testers that were too busy making notes about what the new Pokémon are based on for internet points.

 

[Norzan]

It’s possible these issues are (unfortunately) baked into the game’s code by now. Or am I mistaken?

Rarely they are baked into the code and most of the time they are odd issues that are not related to bad perfomance, bad draw distance or bad texture poppin. I very much doubt that Gamefreak's code is some special code that seemingly has such bad performance that requires a full remake of a game to fix. I have been beta testing for a game since 2017 and the issues the devs can't fix is ancient spaghetti code related to game mechanics, not framerate drops.

My theory is that either Nintendo, TPCI or Gamefreak are not giving these games the proper development time they deserve and they are coming out more and more unpolished.

 

[Greninjaman]

Rarely they are baked into the code and most of the time they are odd issues that are not related to bad perfomance, bad draw distance or bad texture poppin. I very much doubt that Gamefreak's code is some special code that seemingly has such bad performance that requires a full remake of a game to fix. I have been beta testing for a game since 2017 and the issues the devs can't fix is ancient spaghetti code related to game mechanics, not framerate drops.

My theory is that either Nintendo, TCPi or Gamefreak are not giving these games the proper development time they deserve and they are coming out more and more unpolished.

And if they keep doing this, less and less players will buy the games and bring about the end of the franchise, right?

 

[Norzan]

And if they keep doing this, less and less players will buy the games and bring about the end of the franchise, right?

Beats me. I was gonna say that the game sold well regardless, but most of the copies sold are done so before people are even aware of the state of the game since a lot of them are pre-orders and on release day purchases. We'll see how it goes for the next game.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I personally believe they didn't show any footage because they are aware there would be heavy backlash, asif there wasn't backlash already because a lot of people wanted acknoledgement on camera that they are aware of the current performance issues with the game, and that they would fully address it and not basically completely ignore it (besides the obvious social media posts).

They had no qualms about showing footage of the Tera Raid Battles, though. It's more likely that they haven't finished the DLC yet.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Yeah, we probably haven't seen the DLC yet because it's not in a state that's ready to show. Yes, an even worse state than what the final product is for the main game right now. If the fanbase is that critical of the main game as is (and that's not to say that it's unwarranted), that's all the more reason not to show off the DLC before they feel it's ready.

 

[godiego]

I personally believe they didn't show any footage because they are aware there would be heavy backlash, asif there wasn't backlash already because a lot of people wanted acknoledgement on camera that they are aware of the current performance issues with the game, and that they would fully address it and not basically completely ignore it (besides the obvious social media posts).

I think it's extremely ballsy of them to reveal pretty much both concepts for both DLCs and still not admit on camera that the game has glaring flaws, a lot of people appreciate honesty and I think that's what made the Presents even more disappointing for a lot of people.

i think they didn't show footage for the very obvious reason: it's not in a finished enough state to share. they've already acknowledged the performance issues and that's likely the last and only time we'll hear of it from them until they drop any kind of fix (which is probably going to coincide with the release of Part 1).

 

[Silktree]

A bit of a controversial take here, but.... I'm not really a fan of Kitakami. Traditional Japanese-based culture is already in such an abundance in games that it really isn't too special or interesting anymore, especially when pairing it up with a Spain-based region. Plus we just got a Japanese-based game in Arceus, which was a great game, so those who are fans aren't starved for Traditional Japanese content. They could've taken the field trip to a more Iberia-connected and lesser touched upon exotic location such as Mexico, Brazil, Peru, the Galapagos, Puerto Rico, etc. Just imagine a DLC city based on Rio with an open-world map based on the Amazon Rainforest! There's so much potential there that I feel is being wasted. You can even tie the Teal Mask into a Brazilian Carnival mask, especially when they're often adorned with jewels (which gives an easy design entry point for tera crystals). And if they wanted to do something Eastern, why not China? Tie it into the lore of the Ruin Legends and have this be the far off Kingdom where said legendaries came from!

Blueberry does intrigue me a bit, will the whole thing be underwater or will there be a new open area to explore? Given the name of the central legendary, the Galapagos Islands would be a super cool choice! Both contain the Spanish word for "Turtle", and the submerged Blueberry Academy implies that it will be in a water-heavy area.

I think you're missing the main point of the DLC, which is to bring back 200+ old Pokemon and introduce under 10 new species (not including forms). So why pick an exotic place instead of an area near an existing region? Even Galapagos would be a waste of potential, let alone Brazil or China. Really, the only area they could have used instead of Kitakami (or something like it) is south France, and even that wouldn't have had much to do with Spanish history (which Paldea deliberately ignored).

Blueberry is most likely not far from Kitakami. That's why the map of the latter is shown after the former in the trailer, and two rivals appear in both DLC parts (while the Paldea rivals are missing). It would be cool if we could dive under the academy, but the only new "region" is obviously Kitakami. This will allow it to be bigger than, say, Crown Tundra.

Kitakami would have been a much better fit for PLA, but does it matter? They didn't have time to expand that game due to SV (even the Sinnoh islands were removed), so they're making up for it now. It's about time we saw more of Japan. If it isn't different enough to be used for another region, why not DLC?

 

[FelipePR]

Just imagine a DLC city based on Rio with an open-world map based on the Amazon Rainforest!

There is almost 2,000km of distance between Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon rainforest. We would have to have a gigantic map, much bigger than the base game.

 

[skynerel]

Certainly not exited about yet another monkey pokemon. Many of the other pokemon do look cool or interesting, I think some are a step up in comparison to the ones we got in the main game.

That stadium in the ocean certainly sparked my interest.

 

[nickdt]

Certainly not exited about yet another monkey pokemon. Many of the other pokemon do look cool or interesting, I think some are a step up in comparison to the ones we got in the main game.

That stadium in the ocean certainly sparked my interest.

Same about the Monkey Pokemon argument. I am having a case of Monkey Pokemon fatigue ever since gen 7. We have too much of them as is at the moment and i wise they would skip a generation (We have gotten one every generation since gen 7, which even introduced 2).

 

[Funnylion]

I wonder if the reason the 1st part of the DLC is in Autumn instead of Late spring- Early summer like the first DLC is because they're not ready to release it yet and they're giving themselves a bit more time to make it.