One Fundamental Change To Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Would Breathe New Life Into The Franchise

screenrant.com:

Building upon ’s structure with one big change would herald a new era for the franchise. Every new Generation has built upon its predecessors with both mechanical improvements and brand-new features, and Gen 9’s are no different. However, even disregarding the newest games’ infamous glitches, they arguably fall short of their full potential in some respects.

have made large strides in improving gameplay with new features. They offer an open-world adventure with visibly roaming wild Pokémon, which is in itself a far cry from the capabilities of. However, despite this, the games arguably still could have done more to differentiate themselves from prior titles; for example, despite the open-world design, there is no level-scaling applied to the base game's Gym Leaders and other notable NPCs. This means that there is still a ‘correct’ way to progress, moving from ’s easiest Gym Leader to the hardest.

Throughout, there are a multitude of dialogue options that appear during conversations. However, for the most part, these have no bearing on the main story of the game; NPCs may react differently or provide slightly different information, but this will not cascade into any larger differences. On occasion, the options even simply (and somewhat pointlessly) offer different ways of saying the same thing. Arguably, beyond the choice of starter, the player cannot make any significant decisions at all. Just as there is still a best order for Gyms and Team Star Bases, the overall plot remains linear.

Despite the Gyms and Team Star presenting a steadily scaling challenge in a specific order, following said order necessitates traveling back and forth across Paldea instead of moving in a simple circuit.

Very few choices of responses to NPCs have any meaningful influence on the direction of a conversation, let alone later interactions. There are rare exceptions; Gym Leaders invited to Blueberry Academy can refer to Rika’s League interview if named the player’s favorite, but even this