The Pokémon Company has dropped a new trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. This was a longer video highlighting many of the new features that trainers will find in their journeys. If you’re interested, go ahead and check out the trailer below as I won’t be covering everything in the write-up, but more so sharing my thoughts and reactions. Scarlet and Violet are set to release for the Nintendo Switch on November 17 with pre-orders open on the eShop and at your favorite retailers including GameStop (affiliate link).
The trailer really focuses on Terrastilizing which makes sense as it’s the generation’s new battle mechanic. Any Pokémon can potentially have a Terra Type that is any of the 18 types, which means that you can find some very interesting combos for unique strategies. There are also Terra Raids that will provide opportunities to find Pokémon with rare Terra types and seem to be polished Dynamax Raids.
Speaking of polishing features from previous games, we got to see Picnics. These appear to be extremely similar to Pokémon Camp, but the aspect where you play with Pokémon seems to be a bit nicer, you make sandwiches instead of curry, and there’s also the option to clean your Pokémon, and that reminds me of the Pokémon-Amie and Pokémon Refresh. In addition to healing your Pokémon, sandwiches will also provide bonuses like make it easier to catch certain types of Pokémon and more. Also, the hairstyling feature looks a bit more streamlined.
We also got a look at the Let’s Go feature in action. This allows your lead Pokémon to go out and do auto battles with wild Pokémon or grab items in the distance. It looks like a very useful tool for grinding. Something that caught me off guard was that we saw the player’s Quaxley defeat Litleo’s and would gather Litleo Tufts. This made me think that apparently we are going Monster Hunter and harvesting parts from Pokémon. But to what end?
The end for gathering resources from Pokémon is to get TMs. In Scarlet and Violet trainers will have the option to use a TM Machine to craft TMs for their Pokémon to learn. For instance, you can craft Icy Wind (TM34) by spending 800 League Points, 3 Snom Thread, and 3 Snover Berries. This is definitely an interesting route to take that I think brings back some of the challenge and scarcity to TMs where in some previous entries, you could infinitely use TMs at no cost. It also further leans into the open world RPG/adventure game that the development team appears to be going for.
Speaking of, we got to see the trainers walk around, and they really are shooting for an open world game experience. There’s a mini-map in the bottom corner, a more detailed world map that you can put markers on, and more. I really hope that with the legendary Pokémon Koraidon and Miraidon bringing the same energy as Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds to Pokémon that we can do more vertical exploration. It looks like they want more of that with the Drive Mode. Here’s hoping.
In the trailer, we also see that in Paldea Girafirig can evolve into Farigiraf which gives the Pokémon a bit of a tan and moves the tail to come up and over the head which is interesting. During this section, we got a look at the new Pokédex and it looks really nice. This is due in part to the fact that Pokédex entries not only have the image of the Pokémon, but each entry also has a nice postcard-like photo. This is a change that is very cool. That’s not the only photography added to the game though. There’s a new photo mode so you can take pictures of your trainer with your Pokémon and update your profile picture. This can even be done in Picnic with your entire team which is fun.
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Farigiraf
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Category: Long Neck Pokémon
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Type: Normal/Psychic
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Height: 10'6" (3.2 m)
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Weight: 352.7 lbs. (160 kg)
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Ability: Cud Chew / Armor Tail
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As a result of its Evolution, the head of its main body and the head from its tail have become one. Both of Farigiraf’s brains are connected through thick nerves, increasing its psychic energy, and it can emit psychic waves from the antennae on its head. Farigiraf is always mindful of its surroundings, and while it can detect danger in an instant, there are times when its body cannot react as fast as its two brains can think.
Farigiraf’s Ability, Cud Chew, is a new Ability appearing for the first time in these titles. When a Pokémon with Cud Chew eats a Berry, it will eat it one more time at the end of the next turn. Armor Tail is another new Ability appearing for the first time in these titles. It makes opposing Pokémon unable to use priority moves.
In the Victory Road storyline, trainers will compete at Gyms and work towards taking on the Pokémon League like traditional games. A new feature I’m excited for is that each gym appears to have a non-battle challenge that needs to be completed before the battle. This is something I’ve wanted since I was a kid and watched the Orange League arc in the anime. I love this! However, this section of the trailer does have me a little concern. At this point the trainer is going around finding Sunflora and the Sunflora seem to be running at a very low frame rate. Now, the trainer seems to be running at only a slightly lower frame rate but the Sunflora are very choppy. That being said, this footage is probably not finalized and so hopefully they will have ironed it out by release.
Finally, we’re shown a trainer trade the Girafirig that then evolves into Farigiraf and this makes me hope that they made a huge correction from Sword and Shield. The Link Trade feature was not done very well and I really hope that it’s improved in Scarlet and Violet. There were so many times that I ended up in a trade room with someone that wasn’t my friend, making trades a pain in the butt!
Are you excited for Scarlet and Violet? Which one are you going to pick up?
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