Your controversial opinions

[FelipePR]

And a lot of that comes from the way the open-world concept is portrayed in Scarlet and Violet, but there are other issues I personally have with the games' layout as well. The lack of routes seems trivial, but really does remove the sense of modernity in the games. It made sense for Legends because the region was supposed to be relatively unexplored, but for a region as large as Paldea? It just makes things way more complex then it needs to be. I think the general organization of the map could be executed better imo.

I think it's not because the map is "Open World" that it can't be well organized, or even have "routes". This is just harder to achieve it in an open world.

 

[Beer&Nyquil]

I think Pokémon is a perfect series for an open world. But I don’t think this is by any means a perfect open world game

 

[Emmy]

^ Even then, you have people who simply don't care for Open World type games and so even if Pokémon games improved going forward, the fact remains that it won't be for everyone even if they otherwise enjoy the franchise, especially if other non-standard games like Legends also end up being Open World it doesn't give much variety to choose from within the brand.

 

[Daren]

^ Even then, you have people who simply don't care for Open World type games and so even if Pokémon games improved going forward, the fact remains that it won't be for everyone even if they otherwise enjoy the franchise, especially if other non-standard games like Legends also end up being Open World it doesn't give much variety to choose from within the brand.

Unfortunately, GameFreak can't make everyone happy in that regard unless we get an even more rushed schedule; as much as some hate open world other people have been asking for open world Pokémon for a very long time.

I'm very iffy on Scarlet/Violet after much of what I've read and am reluctant to buy them unless the DLC/patching fixes a lot of issues. However, open world always felt like an obvious step for the franchise for me, but I generally prefer a level of non-linearity and freedom in RPGs that modern Pokémon had seemingly just gotten rid of at some point.

 

[Norzan]

My problem is that Pokemon has gotten to the open world trend way too late because at this point it's just played out. Even by 2017 when Breath of the Wild came out i was already sick of it because Bethesda had been doing nothing but open world games, same for Ubisoft. Even CDPR had their own open world game with Witcher 3 in 2015.

And from what i've seen from Scarlet and Violet it doesn't do anything new in the open world formula. It just has big areas because open world has to have big areas.

 

[Yuunagi]

The entire open world debate seems strange to me. Pokémon’s core design radiates the kind of energy that perfectly synchronizes with an open world setting, and as a fan of open world fantasy games above perhaps all else, I haven’t found Paldea to be a poor execution of an open world. It’s not quite Breath of the Wild, but it’s not as if it fails to give us the sense of freedom and adventure that such worlds are built to provide in the first place.

 

[Pasio]

Personally I just want Pokémon games to stop restricting fundamental aspects of the game to extreme levels. For example, I'll bring up battling.

Scarlet and Violet still have a 20 minute battle timer; it appears it also has a 7 minute chess timer added to it. 6v6 pvp battles are very difficult to pull off. There is no battle facility in the game, there is no Vs. Recorder to save any of the pvp matches you've played to watch or rematch in mock battles. Set Mode has been removed. EXP Share cannot be toggled off.

Another thing is my opinion of the Gen 9 mechanic:
Terastallization invalidates one of the key aspects to defining a Pokémon and figuring out how to prepare for them in battle; their typing. All of the best things in the game no longer have a consistent check when they can just change their type to whatever at any point to remove their set of checks. If there are new Pokémon that check them as a result, they can just change into another tera typing. Terastallization in the long run is gonna either lead to Hyper Offense coinflip games or games that are extremely matchup reliant. If Pokémon wasn't already very competitive before, it's worse with this.

Scarlet and Violet are Pokémon games that provide the most freedom in world exploration but the least freedom in battling. Battling is one of the major fundamental aspects of the Pokémon series. Gamefreak messing it up this poorly certainly leaves a massive dent to any large portion of the Pokémon fanbase.

 

[Daren]

Scarlet and Violet are Pokémon games that provide the most freedom in world exploration but the least freedom in battling. Battling is one of the major fundamental aspects of the Pokémon series. Gamefreak messing it up this poorly certainly leaves a massive dent to any large portion of the Pokémon fanbase.

Hmm, I admit this worries me. I suspected based off a comment on the official site pre-release that battling was going to be put aside in favor of capturing and it sounds like this might be true.

 

[FelipePR]

Hmm, I admit this worries me. I suspected based off a comment on the official site pre-release that battling was going to be put aside in favor of capturing and it sounds like this might be true.

And, from what I've seen, the catches don't seem to be as interesting and rich in diversity of methods as the one in Pokémon Legends. But I could be wrong.

 

[Rockapheller]

Scarlet and Violet are the best Pokémon main series titles on the Switch console yet.

 

[Norzan]

Set Mode has been removed. EXP Share cannot be toggled off.

We ask for more options and instead we get less. We have other franchises frankly giving way too many options sometimes (some games can have like five or more difficulty options) but Pokemon does the exact opposite. For a franchise that likes to claim that people should play the way they want Gamefreak sure tries its hardest to funnel everyone into playing the same way.

 

[Pasio]

BDSP should have been 20 USD.
Legends Arceus should have been 30-40 USD.

A 20 USD BDSP would have been much better received considering the real purpose it had.

 

[Flannery]

1. Pokemon SuMo and Pokemon SwShi are overly disliked because it's popular to dislike modern Pokemon games even before they come out for the most mild of nitpicks. This isn't to say they don't both have massive issues such as the quantity of cutscenes compared to the amount of time you can play without cut scenes, but as games they were relatively inoffensive and fine. Worth $60? Maybe not, but I have a skewed sense of how much Pokemon games are worth after I managed to buy X&Y for $15/each within the same month they released. I'm not a good judge of what a game should cost because I will skew towards games being worth less than they are. But are SuMo and SwShi bad games? Not even close. My only regret is we can't keep the mechanics moving forward for Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, and D/G-Max. But we were always told they would not last so it's not that big of an issue.
2. Terastalyzation is horribly unbalanced for competitive play and this is, in all likelihood, going to be one of the most unfun competitive seasons we see. This is going to be a resurrection of the Dragon Gem Draco Meteor Gen V format, but worse. And while there's certainly counterplay, the fact of the matter is this mechanic has all the worst parts of Gems and Hidden Power and I do not like it. Cool gimmick for main playthrough. Not fun for competitive laddering. And I'm looking forward to winning Worlds (or more realistically fail trying) just to prove my point.

 

[Spurs1819]

I don't play any other games but Pokemon. And even then, only played SWSH and SCVI.

So I don't echo the hate and criticism directed towards SCVI. SCVI is the best yet, and hopefully they continue improving and moving towards this kind of game, open world whatever.

SWSH really felt like hallways. And I didn't know how much nostalgia was carrying the experience I had (played Y, GS, RS, DP/FRLG a bit on emulator) but revisiting it with SWSH got old quick.

Open world works with Pokemon. Seeing the different interactions, animations etc. in appropriate biomes works. It's not shoehorned in like the Wild Area, nor is it back to the archaic going into the grass to generate an encounter.

 

[Norzan]

A 20 USD BDSP would have been much better received considering the real purpose it had.

Sure, but i would be extremely disappointed that my favorite generation got this treatment while Gen 1 to 3 got all the pomp and circumstance.

So yeah, i still wouldn't like BDSP.

 

[Snowy.ninetales]

I think that the newer games are some of the best games ever made and prefer the 3d style over the 2d. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are some of the best games with a cool story and I actually like the glitches cause its funny.

 

[Sheep40]

Y'all expecting Pokemon to make Skyrim, y'all got it.

Be careful what you wish for.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Open world works with Pokemon. Seeing the different interactions, animations etc. in appropriate biomes works. It's not shoehorned in like the Wild Area, nor is it back to the archaic going into the grass to generate an encounter.

I feel Wild Area was a test run for Paldea.

 

[Pasio]

Zygarde was treated better without ever having much significance to the plot or its own game, than the entire lake trio, creation trio, and Arceus were in Gen 4 especially with their plots, whether that'd be in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, or any of the Gen 4 movies.

Zygarde didn't get its own game but it had cool unique lore, 3 useful signature moves, and a unique method to be obtained through a side quest that had you build the legend from scratch, in a setting that made sense for Zygarde's lore based on the climax of Sun and Moon.

Palkia, Dialga, Arceus, and the lake trio had some of the coolest lore in the series but this was misused in all of the Gen 4 game and movie plots to such an unfathomably egregious extent that it makes all of these special Pokémon look like a joke in comparison to every other legendary mascot. There are plenty of people who truthfully believe Arceus's lore is fake because of this.

Giratina was shafted to the least extent but it almost died in its own movie. This defies all logic tied to its position in the Pokémon lore. Additionally, in the games it was really just randomly slapped in the climax for the sake of doing something for its own game. There was never any build up or anything grand like there was for Necrozma, nor was Giratina present for anything lore relevant like Rayquaza or the aforementioned Necrozma. You were just mysteriously invited into its home to battle and catch it. I feel there was no real explanation behind Giratina's involvement in Spear Pillar and the plot could have technically been resolved the exact same way it was in DP. It was only until 13 years later, with Legends Arceus, that any sort of explanation was hinted for this. Giratina was forced onto the story for no great reason when a unique story could have been built for it.

 

[Bahamut]

I dislike the Pokémon manga. Everyone loves the manga, but I really hate it. That manga made my favorite character a coward. My favorite character is ORAS Tabitha, who isn't a coward in the games. He tells Maxie about the dangers of Groudon, which is something that takes courage. I don't care if the manga is "objectively good", I hate it for making ORAS Tabitha a coward. I genuinely think that the manga should end soon.