Things that irk me about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet 😒

[Sweet Serenity]

Pokémon Violet is a game that I enjoy a lot, mainly because of the open world freedom, no roadblocks, the ease of preparing Pokémon for competitive battles, and many more reasons. Gameplay wise at least, this might be the most fun Pokémon game I've ever played. However, despite the many great things about this game, there are a few things that really irk me about it. It might be small, but sometimes the little things can have a big impact on you.

1. Map issues – I hate the rotating map. Because it rotates, it makes it hard to find things on the map. When playing with friends on Union Circle, it's hard to locate them on the map because no map legends exist and no feature exists where the map can automatically pinpoint where your friends are. Accessibility is poor.
   
2. Unbalanced Water-types – Even though I love Water-type Pokémon, there are too many in the game, which really stands out when you consider that only 39% of all Pokémon are in the game. The worst part is that the vast majority of them are physical attackers! Where's my Starmie?
   
3. Skin tones – I don't like the skin color options. I try to base my character as much as possible on how I look, but the darkest skin tone available is actually a lot lighter than I am. Ever since Gens 7 and 8, they have had dark skin, but why stop now?
   
4. Battle Box accessibility – I also hate how you can't select Pokémon in your Battle Box for Tera Raids or other things, but the worst part is that you can't take them out of your Battle Box at the menu. You must exit the menu and perform the action from the boxes menu.
   
5. Let's Go feature – It irks me how your Pokémon can't seem to keep up with you all the time when walking with you. It's weird how Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver handled this the best of all games.
   
6. No variety in venues and arenas – I hate how there are no other venues to battle in other than what appears to be the schoolyard. I would love the option to have multiple venues that you could select when battling competitively.
   
7. NPC Pokémon – NPCs also don't seem to have enough Pokémon on their teams. It sucks when so many of them seem to have just 1-3 Pokémon.

Is there anything about this game that bothers you too?

 

[Nah]

I'm like 99% sure that there's an option somewhere to stop the map from rotating

A (small) thing that bothers me is that you if you put your Miraidon/Koraidon in its battle form and then later hop on it for traversal, it gets removed from your party and you have to re-enable its battle form if you want to use it in battle again. I know that catching the other one and using it instead would fix the problem, but it's still annoying, and I want to use the one I spent the whole game with instead of the belligerent other one

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I'm like 99% sure that there's an option somewhere to stop the map from rotating

Crazy how I never knew this. Wow

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Lol ngl, I thought I was the only one having issues with the rotating map. I am not too good with orientation in real life, but something even in the games it's pretty hard to find a precise point with the rotating map. Also, I think the zoom could have been done better. More than I often I want to zoom in a little more, but very often I want to zoom out more than what they allow you (at some point, zooming out results in seeing the whole region, so I would have added another zoom out level before viewing the region). And I also think that the biggest thing that those map miss are the pins that PLA had. I mean, not with the same symbols obviously, but it would have added a lot more to the games: you can use one to check a location that you want to explore later, you might use them to remember the location of a Pokémon you want to catch, you could use it also just to have a better understanding of the region environment or maybe to help you find your way around the region.

I also kinda agree with all the other stuff.

 

[Palamon]

All the stupid internet talk in these games. Get that shit out of my Pokemon game.

....I don't want to hear Nemona saying "an l or a w" that is annoying and takes me out of the experience.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

All the stupid internet talk in these games. Get that shit out of my Pokemon game.

....I don't want to hear Nemona saying "an l or a w" that is annoying and takes me out of the experience.

That's not just internet talk though. People say that in real life a lot too.

 

[Palamon]

That's not just internet talk though. People say that in real life a lot too.

I still hate it. It's annoying. I was hoping the extent of the "meme" talk would be Lechonk (which I hate) and Smoliv (which I don't like either). I'm just bothered by it.

I feel like such a boomer rn and I'm 26.

 

[Lynetté1]

Nemona's very existence would qualify for this for me, she's the most infuriating NPC I've encountered in a Pokemon game since...well, Hop, I suppose. In fact, if Hop was a girl and slightly more in-your-face throughout the game, with even less purpose for being so, I am fairly certain he would be exactly like Nemona.

I wasn't overly keen on the Let's Go feature either, if only because it was somewhat poorly executed. I didn't expect the Pokemon to follow me on-rails the way they did in HGSS, but it would have been nice if they could have kept up whilst travelling, and if they had interacted with the environment in a more consistent and meaningful fashion. It didn't seem like a very well thought-out or realised game mechanic, which is a shame because it's a nice concept.

Also the clothing options in these games were by far the most limited we've ever had and that upset me far more than I thought it was going to.

 

[Corveone]

Yeah, you can stop the map from rotating by pressing 'R3' on the map screen.

My main complaints with SV are:

The open world structure and the level progression are concepts that boycott each other, and they didn't put much thought into trying to make them work together.

Terastalization for the AI is fixed, sometimes leading to silly scenarios, like making Glimmora pure Rock in front of a Grass type.

I didn't use the Let's Go mode or Picnic (except once for testing the new Egg move system) so I can't say much about those mechanics. I just keep avoiding this stuff like in Sw/Sh to prevent Affection bonusses from invading gameplay.

Early in the game, I also had the feeling that navigating through the world and exploring it was sometimes painful, but that was mostly just me trying to explore difficult to reach areas without knowing that Titans unlocked Koraidon upgrades to improve world navigation.

 

[Sheep]

Oh gosh.. let's see. I'll need to think for this one.

1) The lag when opening up PC boxes. I really have no idea why this happens. Yes, the game is laggier than its predecessors, but what is with opening the box that makes the experience so.. not smooth? It does have a lot of options but so did SwSh's and I don't remember that being laggy at all. The Pokémon in boxes also take a second or two to load in, which is tedious when you're doing quick scrolling.
2) Not being able to change my outfit. I understand this fits with the school uniform experience kids have in real life, but it doesn't...really work when a bunch of other characters can go to school wearing whatever they want (looking at you, Team Star). At least let me buy a jacket!
3) The camera when exiting the shops is jarring and faces in odd directions. I keep accidentally going back inside the shop after leaving it.
4) No sparkle sounds for shinies!!
5) Mass Outbreaks seem limited. I feel like I'm constantly seeing the same 10-20 Pokémon. I can only handle seeing Magneton, Veluza, Gyarados, Swablu, Varoom, Basculin etc so many times before I get tired.
6) No quick deposit/withdraw from PC button. Instead I have to click the Pokémon and drag it over to the box, or from the box, to the slot I want it in. Which gets a little exhausting when you're hatching eggs.

Plenty more I'm sure, but this is what I can think of currently.

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

I have a couple nit picks as well.

1. The Pokedex not having a search option. You can change how the Pokemon are ordered, but other than that you have to scroll through all of those entries to find the one you're looking for. It doesn't even remember what Pokemon you looked at last, going all the way back to the first one.
2. Actually, just the lack of cursor memory in menus like the bag menu. Not too bad, but it can get annoying.
3. To add to Sheep's PC issues, there are less options for moving Pokemon. Sometimes I just want to move a group of Pokemon, so I miss the option to toggle onto the drag and click option. You also cannot pick up a pokemon, go into all boxes, and just click on the box to drop the Pokemon into, like you could before. You can't even open the box from this screen if you're holding a Pokemon.

 

[Sheep]

I have a couple nit picks as well.

1. The Pokedex not having a search option. You can change how the Pokemon are ordered, but other than that you have to scroll through all of those entries to find the one you're looking for. It doesn't even remember what Pokemon you looked at last, going all the way back to the first one.
2. Actually, just the lack of cursor memory in menus like the bag menu. Not too bad, but it can get annoying.
3. To add to Sheep's PC issues, there are less options for moving Pokemon. Sometimes I just want to move a group of Pokemon, so I miss the option to toggle onto the drag and click option. You also cannot pick up a pokemon, go into all boxes, and just click on the box to drop the Pokemon into, like you could before. You can't even open the box from this screen if you're holding a Pokemon.

Oh man, #1 is an absolute yes and I am surprised I forgot to mention this. Why do I need to manually scroll?!

 

[Meister_anon~Master_o f_None]

wow sounds like with all the functional issues, and other lack of polish, its just outright missing qol features
that have been part of the franchise for sometimes over a decade. sheesh.

 

[Maserati777]

1. Pokemon attacking you/Veluza
Veluza is a menace in this game and the game would be far better without it

2. Not enough Pokemon. Overall the game feels empty for how big it is due to the same Pokemon being featured in any area. I hope dlc comes and fixes this

3. I really hate the way the map works. For one thing you can't easily search pokemon locations like you could with dexnav in oras. You have to scroll through the dex, then you can see a tiny box on the map and figure out where that is.

4. The fact you can only buy curry powder and klawf sticks in stores after beating 8 gyms. All items should be purchasable after 5 gyms tbh.

5. That being said placing a table in this game. You should be able to place while riding Miridon. Also you should be able to place it on small hills. And near npcs as long as they are outside the radius.

6. Fake outbreaks

I hate going to an outbreak and it doesn't exist. I know sometimes outbreaks only spawn at night but sometimes they are inside a wall or sometimes they just don't spawn at all. Went to a Luvdisc outbreak, i ran into a horde of Luvdisc on the way and it wasn't there when I got there.

7. Lack of outbreaks, there should be 10 every day and the diversity should be different. I get Rufflet every day but have to wait weeks for another Tatugiri

8. Pokemon camping on your avatar while in a battle. While in a battle your avatar should be invisible to wild Pokemon so they can't camp on you.