Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s Performance Has Improved, But At A Cost

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A recent update to has improved performance, but this has come with a more negative side effect. have been known to have various gameplay-affecting glitches since launch, which have generally been met with a mixture of amusement and dissatisfaction. More recently, updates have sought to resolve these issues, sometimes to mixed results.

Bugs in have included bizarrely distorted character models and issues with the music during the Elite Four battles. Although these issues have been viewed with humor at times, it cannot be denied that they also badly impact the gameplay experience. As a result, there have been several updates to aimed at giving the games some much-needed polish. For the most part, these updates have provided nothing but positive benefits. However, there have been some instances where the updates have actually had some undesirable effects of their own in turn. The most recent update is, unfortunately, a perfect example of this.

Related: Why Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC May Not Be Worth Buying (Yet)

The recent 1.2.0 update for has sought to address the many performance issues that have affected the games, including crashes and poor frame rates. To do so, the numbers of Pokémon and NPCs alike have been limited to far fewer than before. As a consequence, Paldea often seems devoid of life, making the region a much lonelier place. This has also affected Shiny hunting in due to the lowered spawn rates of Pokémon. On the other hand, the games do indeed run smoother now. This is obviously a preferable state for, but the downsides are still striking.

It seems that the sheer number of entities inhabiting Paldea’s overworld are at least partly to blame for ’s poor performance, which does make this a natural