Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, analysis of the new trailer

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet

At this point we can divide the reactions towards each new trailer of Pokémon Violet and Scarlet between those who are on average intrigued by the new Game Freak proposal and those who, on the other hand, are horrified every time and do not fail to externalize it on the Internet: unfortunately it is difficult to find comments unilaterally optimists even in a web that thrives on extremism.

Notwithstanding that the new Pokémon risks being a rather antiquated production from a technical point of view, it must be said that the latest trailers have focused on really important innovations in terms of content and the one published just yesterday shed some light on some wait that the Pokémon Presents of early August had just mentioned.

Let's see what they are in this analysis of the new trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

The search for treasure

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, the Starmobile seems to have a pokémon on cofano The new trailer adopts a graphic layout that evokes, in the cuts, the entirely scholastic context of this adventure which, we remind you, will begin in the Orange Academy or in the Grape Academy, depending on the version chosen. One of the courses offered is on the so-called "treasure search", an extracurricular activity that encourages students to explore the Paldea region.

In case you just tuned in, we remind you that Pokémon Violet and Scarlet is the first chapter of the series to be distinctly open world. The same trailer shows us, right in the very first bars, a preview of the Paldea map: dotted with icons that signal the presence of services and places of interest - perhaps reachable by fast travel? - but also of functions that allow, among other things, to set destination points as happens in many other open world experiences. Probably this function will allow us to better orient ourselves during our wanderings in the 3D world.

The trailer then delves into one of the most interesting dynamics of Pokémon Violet and Scarlet which, until now, had just been mentioned on the official website and in the information previously disclosed. We knew, in fact, that the player would not necessarily have to follow one, but three different stories, choosing independently and in complete freedom how, when and if to carry them out. So far we only knew that one of the three would be focused on the traditional tour of the gyms: the new trailer revealed the other two, while the official website of the game, promptly updated in these hours, has deepened some aspects that we will explain in the next lines. .

Predictably, one of the subplots will see us face the inevitable antagonists, who this time call themselves Team Star. However, there is a twist: instead of being criminals, the members of Team Star are ... thugs, who do badly in school and who

Pokémon Purple and Scarlet, two members of Team Star Each base of Team Star is chaired by a leader, but to reach it we will first have to face the Recruits who will throw at us their pokémon non-stop, in a kind of "Horde mode" that will force us to micromanage our team. By defeating enough Recruits within a certain time limit, you earn the right to challenge the base leader.

The trailer introduced us to one, which is called Pruna and commands the Fire Division of Team Star, also known as the Schedar Band. Apparently, the boss will face us aboard a gigantic vehicle called the Starmobile which, in some way, will give us a hard time together as it seems to have a strange pokémon on the hood ...

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet , Pruna is the head of the Schedar Gang We have to admit that this transition from the Criminal Teams of previous Pokémon to a completely anonymous looking gang of thugs - although Pruna is visually much more interesting than the Recruits - has quite blown us away, but it is clear that Game Freak is treading the hand on a more ironic and surreal atmosphere, it being understood that the three stories should intertwine, at some point, and we imagine they lead to the usual catastrophe to be foiled with our monsters.

Be that as it may, this is subplot, called "The avenue of stardust", would seem to promote a very different gameplay from the usual and an unprecedented feature of Violet and Scarlet that fishes with both hands in the experience ment of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and which the Italian localization would seem to have renamed "forward".

Keeping the pokémon forward

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, the automatic Battles seem a welcome change Call simply Let's Go! in English, as a quote from the spin-off Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee a few years ago, this new feature allows you to send - or forward, in fact - in any direction the pokémon we have chosen to keep us company during our wanderings . The monster will therefore move alone, collecting collectibles for us or even attacking the wild pokémon in what the new game calls Autonomous Fights. Under these circumstances, the pokémon fights for the facts of him, but gains items and gains experience points normally; in the meantime we will be free to move freely and collect objects.

Suppose it is possible to intervene in Autonomous Battles to capture wild pokémon under attack without participating in a traditional fight, a bit like it was done in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but there are still many aspects to be clarified. For example, we do not know how far it is possible to move away from the battle site and from our pokémon, nor do we know how effective the artificial intelligence that will control the monster during the autonomous fight is. However, it seems that the Autonomous Battle can significantly streamline the exploration and growth of pokémon, bypassing the repetition of traditional battles against wild pokémon.

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, the dominant pokémon return Returning to trailer, we also found out more about another subplot, which the game calls "The Legendary Path". In this case we will have to help Pepe, a cook and student, to collect the hidden spices, a mysterious and delicious ingredient that is hidden in the most remote corners of Paldea. The problem is that to guard these spices are the dominant pokémon, monsters larger and more powerful than normal who will act as real bosses, engaging in much more challenging fights. The trailer showed us Klawf, the giant pokémon dominating the cliffs, which belongs to the Rock type. This seemed to us the least exciting subplot of the three, but it could also be the one that will incentivize the most to explore Paldea.

Speaking of unreleased pokémon, the trailer has revealed two that seem to come out of Mega Man Zero. They are called Ceruledge and Amarouge, and are respectively of the Fire / Ghost and Fire / Psychic type. So far we have to say that the look of the new pokémon has really convinced us.

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, to face the Gym Leaders we will have to pass their exams The trailer ends with a brief overview of "The Path of Champions", the history of the gyms which seemed the most obvious and which instead reserves many innovations. As we know, in the Paldea region there are eight gyms that we can visit in the order we prefer. So far we've been wondering how Game Freak intended to balance progression and experience levels, but perhaps the new trailer may have shed some light on this mystery. In fact, it seems that it is not necessary to fight against other coaches to challenge the Gym Leader: instead, we must pass a test that changes from gym to gym and which also serves to illustrate the customs of Paldea.

In the Los Tazones gym, for example, we will have to pass an exam focused on the collection of various Sunflora and only at that point we will be able to fight with Brassius, the Gym Leader, who will not even say it will face us with his Grass-type pokémon , among which a Sudowoodo capable of Teracrystallization stands out.

Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, Alisma is the president of the Pokémon League Once all the Gym Leaders have been defeated, we will be able to face the so-called Pokémon League Champions Exam, which is based in a large glittering building and is chaired by President Alisma , a kind-mannered but authoritarian woman who is gathering the best coaches in Paldea, including our friend and rival Nemi.

This new batch of news - which includes the announcement of a collectible thematic version of the Switch OLED - it certainly served to better delineate the structure of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but several important unknowns still remain. The idea of ​​diversifying the campaign, dividing it into three distinct parts that we can follow at will, is certainly a step forward for the series and goes well with the open world approach attempted by Game Freak, but only a thorough test of the game will demonstrate. if the Japanese developer, while neglecting the now necessary technical improvements, managed to find a convincing balance in the gameplay.

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