A rare (these days!) post about a game I’m playing but have not yet completed!
So I’ve very much enjoyed recent, as in, 3DS onwards, Pokémon games. Partly because I’ve played them all while my daughter plays the other game (Violet, this time) and we sort of race to the end. Naturally, I win.
This time around there has been more than usual in the way of complaints about the game. Mainly to do with bugs and performance issues, and because of these I’m posting. Mainly to say, they’ve not been a problem for me! I’ve completed all eight gyms, have taken down three Titans, and beaten three Team Star camps, so it’s fair to say I’ve seen a good proportion of the game so far. And yes, I’ve seen bugs and glitches. But literally none of it has affected the game itself.
The main issues I’ve come across have been visual. Frequently, in battle, the trainers are spaced so far apart the camera can’t include them both in a wide shot so it often ends up inside a cliff, a pokémon (especially if mine is huge), or facing completely the wrong way. It means you don’t see much of the action, but it doesn’t make any difference to how it plays. Also visual, sometimes pokémon in the wild will spawn right in front of you. Not usually a problem, but can be annoying if you’re riding your Koraidon fast and run into them.
I’ve mentioned before that framerates mean nothing to me. I can’t tell the difference between 30 and 60fps, and sometimes 15fps and 30fps look identical too. I do, however, notice fluctuating framerates and dropped frames, and that has happened a few times. In particular, the forest area around Atticus’ Team Star base slowed to a crawl. But, it didn’t affect the gameplay – it just felt like wading through water. I’ve seen complaint about moving objects and characters in the distance animating at a low framerate. Yeah, that happens. I don’t care, because it doesn’t affect anything. It’s also a pretty common thing these days and not just on the Switch.
Much has been said about how ugly the game is too. It isn’t. No, it isn’t as good as Horizon Forbidden West or the new God of War (gee, I wonder why). It’s also not as good as Breath of the Wild, or, some of the time, even as good as Arceus, which is a bit more baffling. But it’s not a bad looking game – just not as good as it could, or perhaps should, be. And some areas still look amazing, not least in how you can see for miles.
Well, there you go. Some issues, for sure, but I believe many people have been over-complaining about them, and almost none of them actually affect the core gameplay which is one of the best pokémon experiences there is. I would have liked the “catch without having to fight” mechanic from Arceus to have come through, but the autobattles sort of make up for it. Everything else? Excellent. Especially Lechonk.
