“These titles will be open-world RPGs, a first for the Pokémon series,” the story said during the livestream. “There is no set path to Gyms,” confirmed a post on the games official website, enticing fans into thinking that truly every path across this world is theirs.
Then things grind to a halt with the following sentence: “You can purposefully seek out a stronger Gym Leader, or you can just stop at a Gym that happens to be in a city you came across on your journey. This time, you can create your own. plot a path along Victory Road.”
To understand why that seemingly innocuous few sentences would give players a break, you must first understand “level scaling,” a game mechanic where enemies don’t have fixed levels, but instead increase in level proportionally next to a player’s own level. This is usually used in open-world games to ensure a player has a smooth experience: they won’t encounter overpowered enemies, nor will they feel overwhelmed by incredibly weak ones, no matter how they choose to explore the environment.
So it’s a big deal that the next generation of Pokémon games — the first open-world titles in the history of the main franchise — probably won’t have this mechanic, especially for gyms, the serial version of big boss battles. The point of an open world is to explore at your own pace, following a path of your choice. However, removing level scaling narrows the open world and, by extension, the paths players can reasonably follow.
Having dissatisfied fans already started voting their distaste for the design choice, and who can blame them? It represents yet another stumbling block that Game Freak and The Pokémon Company have created for themselves during the transition of the Pokémon series, which is based on turn-based battles, random encounters, and preset story progression, to a fully open-world experience. If you offer the fans an open world, they’ll want to explore it in any order they want. Why create a difficulty level by requiring some gyms (you need to clear eight to reach the endgame) a higher level to beat than others? On paper, the choice makes it almost impossible to actually progress in the order players choose.
To be clear, the official Pokémon website never explicitly states that there is no scaling in “Scarlet” and “Violet”. In theory it could be that every gym has a fixed base level, some higher than others, on top of which a scaling system is applied. Regardless, the post indicates that there is a clear path of progression from gym to gym as some gyms are inherently “stronger” than others.
Game Freak, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo did not respond to a request for comment.
Traversing the Pokémon regions from gym to gym, catching and leveling Pokémon on a set path to the final challenge of defeating the Elite Four – it’s a gameplay loop Game Freak has relied on for twenty years of mainline games. That’s why it’s admirable that they’re trying to be an open world where players can theoretically go where they want. However, without level scaling, “Scarlet” and “Violet” risk essentially leading the player back to the same gameplay loop of the past two decades: one particular path, one specific order of gyms, one route to the Elite Four.
Earlier this year, “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” cracked down on creating an open-world experience in certain areas; it also faced several stumbling blocks in the transition, particularly around the graphics and technology. That said, one big change for the series – the lack of gym leaders – worked hand-in-hand with the open world structure. Players were not directed to a predetermined path.
It seems like “Scarlet” and “Violet” draw heavy inspiration from that game; some of the open-world traveling features that have been teased for the two upcoming games, such as flying, appear nearly identical in function and animation to their “Arceus” counterpart. It’s still unclear if the capture mechanics of “Scarlet” and “Violet” will take inspiration from “Arceus,” which not only included classic capture mechanics with turn-based fighting, weakening, and throwing a Poké Ball, but also a ” Pokémon Go” – like a hybrid where you sneak up and throw a perfectly aimed Poké Ball before the battle even started. The ‘Scarlet’ and ‘Violet’ battles and UI were only briefly shown during the Pokémon Presents.
Eight generations of Pokémon games with the same formula show that Game Freak has a hard time letting go of the more long-running aspects of the Pokémon series — even those that directly conflict with the new direction, and the design principles of open-world game that gamers have embraced. have come to expect. But when a Pokémon evolves, it becomes stronger. Game Freak should be inspired by its own IP.
“Scarlet” and “Violet” will be released for Nintendo Switch on November 18, 2022.
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