A new trailer arrived for the start of the ninth generation of Pokémon games, showing off some more of Scarlet and Violet’s world and introducing a few characters and creatures we’ll be encountering across our journey. And now we can do so with our friends, no matter where in the world we are. Um… both the real one and the one of this game.
Four player co-op means a group of four can meet up and just explore as a group, or go their own way and talk of what they’ve found, easily battle against someone else with it, and then trade it after the battle. The world and the journey are now open, so experiences gained in this world are yours more than ever.
There’s a past and present theme that seems to be here, with both the professors and the legendary Pokémon. Yes, the professor now differs by region, too. For Scarlet, you have Professor Sada – a female professor whose attire is very caveman like, and Koraidon – a dragon that kind of looks like a water chicken. For Violet, you have Professor Turo and Miraidon, who are both very futuristic themed.
Our rival is Nemona, a more skilled trainer from the school who becomes our guide on this adventure. For the other Pokémon revealed during the trailer, there’s the new electric mouse Pawmi, the grass olive Smoliv, and what seems to be becoming everyone’s new favourite – Lechonk, the normal type hog.
We had more of the world shown off, which is looking very nice. There’re rocky and snowy areas to go with the grasslands and swamp we previously saw from the first trailer, along with a cave. The closest we see of an urban area here is a battle stadium surrounded by flowers and a windmill, which looks as though it will be a Gym stadium. There’s also Poké Centres that look like gas stations, which we’d previously seen, but have a better look at here.
Overall, I’m happy with what this trailer presented. Seeing more of the world is what I wanted, and knowing there’s a lot of variation in the biomes has me happy in my thoughts that the world size hasn’t decreased despite being an open world. Yes, it was something I had been wondering about. The music I feel isn’t representative of what we’ll have in-game, except maybe the opening theme. That is what I want to hear. Battle themes are always enjoyable to listen to.
The journey we’ll undertake being open rather than linear is an interesting one, as that is something fans said needed to happen should the series go open world. Well, it’s certainly happening here, but as of yet we don’t know how it’s being handled. Like the wild area, where you can find a jumble of levels in every area? Based on Gym battles, where levels of every trainer and wild Pokémon will increase upon beating one? However it happens, I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.
