How Pokemon Scarlet & Violet RUINED Pokemon- A Retrospective Of The WORST Pokemon Game

The Pokemon Scarlet And Violet situation has been crazy to say the least. With the major performance issues as well as glitches and horrible graphics, many are hopeful for a DLC patch to save the day. That's all the game needs, right? That is not entirely the case. Because Pokemon Scarlet And Violet have some of the WORST game design I have ever seen. But could there still be some good?! Let's hope for Nintendo's upcoming games, they can learn from this situation. We don't want the new Mario game to be like this.

[@Demeech]

There was an issue where the premiere froze. Hope it's fixed.

[@Gordonjamesheneryproductions]

Sorry

[@tony76935]

Sorry about the issues fren, hopefully you don't have too much trouble with things like this later on

[@SoshiTheYoshi]

At least it still ran better than the game

[@Grenademan1]

I'm repeating myself here but I think Nintendo might be trying to silence you, demeech (I wouldn't put it past them knowing their history).

[@Goomba1309]

@@Grenademan1 Didn't it already happen with Nintendo Switch Sports if I'm not mistaken?

[@ThatGuyLegend]

Sometimes I just really wonder, there's no way someone playtested these games and were like "yeah this is acceptable"

[@Demeech]

Keep in mind Nintendo also released Nintendo Switch Sports and Mario Strikers: Battle League. They're not above doing shady stuff.

[@ThatGuyLegend]

@@Demeech at least those games were playable

[@knuclear200x]

"How's the game? Any proble-" "Yeah yeah it's fine, release it already please"

[@noheffthing]

It was rushed duh

[@ThatGuyLegend]

@@noheffthing well obviously, I'm just curious on how exactly did the playtesters think this was acceptable or maybe they didn't and gamefreak didn't care to fix it

[@perrytheplatypus4620]

It's more than obvious that Fuecoco was your starter choice. Respect. EDIT: Could this be the start of a Smarty Boi Redemption Arc?!?

[@ThatGuyLegend]

Fuecoco is the only right answer

[@perrytheplatypus4620]

@@ThatGuyLegend on god

[@Demeech]

Smarty Boi is dead

[@perrytheplatypus4620]

@@Demeech Just as he was beginning to redeem himself… RIP Smarty Boi.

[@StevenVillman]

@@ThatGuyLegend I say *_yes_* to this! (This is coming from someone who is a huge reptile fan, so...)

[@Garfunkle_99]

I broke the game within five minutes of playing, the camera legit just left my body and I could go out of bounds, keep in mind, this all happens within my first five minutes of playing

[@albertthepeacock8020]

This is from the same franchise that pushed the Nintendo DS to its limits with graphical and sound design with memorable Pokémon designs. I love the Pokémon company and want to see it succeed but also at the same time loathe it and want to see it burn down to the ground for their treatment of employees and releasing unfinished products for a quick buck.

[@adultmoshifan87]

I played just enough to get my first Pokémon and all the current Mystery Gift items. Not gonna play beyond that. Your main character staying in school boarding accommodation adds salt to the wound, brings back bad memories of my unfortunate past.

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

@@albertthepeacock8020 that’s completely false. The DS was the system that launched with a Nintendo 64 remake with more content, and even 2D games blew GameFreak’s trash out of the water. You’re proof salty Pokemon nerds don’t play other games with your ignorance.

[@healgoth]

@@adultmoshifan87 🙃 at least in a lot of dorms you can customize your room and wear non-uniforms when not in school

[@adultmoshifan87]

@@albertthepeacock8020 Scarlet and Violet are to Pokémon as The Angel of Darkness is to Tomb Raider

[@larslionheart]

I lose braincells every time I hear someone say the trials in Sun and Moon were an improvement over gyms as if the only difference between trials and gyms wasn't just the name. Trials are still puzzles, smaller battles then a big battle. There is LITERALLY no difference between gyms and trials and I can't believe people actually fall for this shit still.

[@trashboat10969]

Not that I disagree with what you're saying, but when the gameplay is so one dimensional and unchanged since the Gameboy era, what exactly could they have done that would have satisfied you without a complete gameplay overhaul? Genuinely asking, since the extent of the gameplay in SM was literally puzzles or battling. Or are you suggesting they should have built on the gameplay or changed it completely at that point?

[@larslionheart]

@trashboat10969 My complaint is not about how they should have fixed the game. It is about them claiming it's the new crazy thing and fans believing it. While literally nothing changed.

[@oyeh8908]

According to an interview with Shigeru Ohmori, the island trials were so badly rushed that they had to be implemented during the debug phase of development with no time to flesh them out. Maybe if they'd gotten any substantial development then they would have been an actual improvement. Totems were great bosses at least, so no complaints on that end.

[@Matty002]

its crazy how well say we want better, people defend poor billion dollar companies and call us entitled, when the point of being the consumer is getting the best product for the least amount of money.

[@Driggsdamonstah]

This is… kind of the Sonic 06 of the Pokémon franchise. A game that has the bones of being the BEST game in the franchise but winds up being one of if not the worst games in their respective franchises because they’re glitchy unfinished messes. (Shame because the good is there and leaves me on the fence about S/V as a whole.)

[@MadSociety-uy6zg]

Nah it is worse than Sonic 06. I could still beat Sonic 06 more than once Pokemon skarlet and violet are more broken than Sonic 06.

[@GlitchanBlack]

@@MadSociety-uy6zgAgreed. At least Sonic ‘06 is a playable & FUN glitchy mess.

[@braxtonyeary9398]

At least sonic 06 is still fun

[@theenderkirby939]

I belive despite the mess this game is unless the pokemon company put another mess in a short time they won't get financial punishment the main reason I see this is sonic show that was the case O6 is an infamous mess but between this until rise of lyric non of the titles were O6 levels of mess and did well financially until rise of lyric showed up and punished sega for this

[@thefollower2933]

Hey, at least Sonic 06 has... Good things about it.

[@TheBooBomber609]

XY is where Pokémon started falling off. It was painfully easy, it started the tradition of over-relying on Gen 1 nostalgia, it began the trend of every game needing some sort of battle gimmick, and the postgame was completely devoid of anything interesting or worthwhile (another trend to be continued from that point onward). And none of that even mentions the fact that Kalos gave us the least new Pokémon in the series by far, which is especially noticeable coming off the heels of Unova which gave us the most new Pokémon to this day.

[@InMooseWeTrust]

More is not better. I remember the gen 6 mons more than 5, 7, 8, or 9

[@a.x.x8184]

@@InMooseWeTrust Gen 5 dex is great tho out of the 156 only 40-38 are widely hated which leaves Unova with a SOLID 100 mons. That’s still more than gen 6-9s dex who have there share in horrible designs😂.

[@a.x.x8184]

@@InMooseWeTrust oh you don’t remember gen 5? Hydreigon? Haxorus? Golurk? Zoroark? Eelectross? Meloetta? Victini? Gigalith? Gen 5 has solid designs I’ll never understand how people can call it the worst over LESS than 50 mons of it designs being bad, and to me personally I like all Unova mons specifically the fire starter Emboar, mandibuzz and Braviary. Y’all try so hard to discard Gamefreaks most effort games💀

[@papapapa16]

Yeah but gen 6 is when it transitioned to 3D. Also had less pkmn to compensate gen 5 which had more.

[@tritonerbui7724]

Gen 7 did have megas, just no new ones

[@Demeech]

The point was that they never continued past Gen 7.

[@InferiorSerperior]

FR ? How do you trigger them

[@InferiorSerperior]

Only saw it on opponents's pokemon

[@tritonerbui7724]

@@InferiorSerperior You buy the mega stones from the battle tree

[@ceecee6521]

@@InferiorSerperior I know you can get the Mega Stones from the Battle Tree and you can freely use them in any battle. But I don't remember when you get your Key Stone.

[@MateuLeGrillepain]

One thing I'm sure won't be mentioned because the video is in English, but why have you never been able to change your language in Pokémon without deleting your save? This was a relic of a time when you needed multiple PAL versions of a game or else you'd run out of space, but whereas other games started cutting them down to 2 or 1 by the GBA/DS era, with the only understandable holdouts being licensed games with a lot of options or stuff like Rhythym Paradise where the songs were all covered in the four extra languages (go check out the Spanish version of Fan Club 2 btw). In fact, you couldn't even pick a language without importing the game from another country until X and Y

[@potato-kb7ld]

its pretty dumb, but is it really an issue? like what kind of person accidently picks the wrong language, plays for 10 hours and is like "wait i picked the wrong language! ill lose all my progress!"

[@MateuLeGrillepain]

@potato you might want to show the game off to friends who don't speak the same languages as you Many countries are officially multilingual like Canada or Switzerland, for example (EDIT: not to mention the boatload of places that are unofficially multilingual like Spanish and German in Texas or Japanese, Chinese, and Korean in Hawaii)

[@yokaipinata1416]

Speaking of languages, the Latin American fanbase has spent the recent years calling for Latin American Spanish translations. The games only get translated to European Spanish, and the terms, slang, idioms and the like are so unfamiliar as to render a lot of the content unintelligible to players this side of the Atlantic. In some cases, idioms that are completely harmless in Spain have inappropriate meanings in Latin America. [And from what I hear, some of the idioms/slang/terms/etc are so outdated even people from Spain (the people the translation was _supposed_ to be for) don't always understand them]. Despite all the campaigning as well as letters being sent to The Pokémon Company over the matter, last I heard they have shown no interest in remedying any of this. Do correct me if this situation has changed as of late, I _would_ love to hear if they're finally starting to care. It should be beyond trivial to the highest-grossing franchise in the world. There's no way they don't have the resources to make a localization for us. But they can't be bothered to actually do it. I'm not personally affected by this as I play in English due to force of habit (in fact video games helped me improve my English growing up), but I feel strongly for my fellow Latin Americans who would benefit a lot from a localization.

[@MateuLeGrillepain]

@@yokaipinata1416 it's funny how some of Nintendo's other games do this for both Spanish and French as Pokémon continues lagging behind here

[@zjzr08]

@@potato-kb7ld If you're multilngual it could be very helpful to have more access to different languages IMO.

[@Kohchu]

Thank you for being completely honest about these games and not being biased because 'it's Pokemon." I've grown tired of seeing people defend them on that grounds alone. The Switch could've easily handled a better game. Honestly, it just makes me worried about the future of the series. The over saturation of these games will eventually cause it issues.

[@Colinjo6]

Man, now that’s how you end off a year. Demeech has single handedly became my favorite Video Game Reviewer in the span of a few months. The first video I watched from him was his Mario Forever video and I’ve been hooked ever since. Here’s to 2023 to everyone who has worked with Demeech and the Awesome Alligator himself!

[@Demeech]

Thank you so much man! Means a lot. I'm trying to fully embrace the channel going into the New Year

[@noko_9796]

I don't think level scaling would fix anything, yeah, maybe it would feel more open world, but alot of my enjoyment from games comes from going into areas that feel like I'm not supposed to be in, trying again and again to beat a lynel in botw when I was underprepared, trying my best to beat a high level boss I found in Xenoblade, and even the high level alpha encounters in pokemon legends , those parts where highlights of those games to me, and being able to do that in a standard pokemon game was really fun. I do get most of my enjoyment out of playing online with my friends on pokemon games, and for that, the games have been a blast. Though I do acknowledge everything else is really a joke.

[@ramenbomberdeluxe4958]

Well I have to politely disagree. The level scaling should have been a given. I think a good compromise is for the specific roads to these cities to be more treacherous, and you'd have to find a way to avoid certain encounters on said road through careful maneuvering and whatnot. If you survive the more treacherous route to a far away city, then there you go, that's your reward, being able to experience the less easily reached towns earlier, and everything they have to offer.

[@Demeech]

Do you think the game being more challenging would be satisfying? It could have level scaling, but be more challenging.

[@noko_9796]

@@Demeech Yeah, I believe if there was level scaling, maybe having it so that the gym leaders ace could be around 4-7 levels higher than you would be enjoyable, of course, I feel what would make this be even more satisfying, is if you were rewarded more for the more challenging foe, the ability to glide, dash, and swim, would of felt way better to get if it wasn't the same difficulty as picking up an item if you are in the right order of things. Though with the gym leader example, I'm not sure, the TMs the gym leaders give in this game aren't great. They would probably would have to change how exp works in gyms as well for level scaling, if they are higher level than you, you'll get much more exp, and it may go back around to not being a challenge again. There definitely is a way to keep exiting moments of fighting a powerful foe and have level scaling to get the best of both worlds.

[@noko_9796]

@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 The problem with creating the pathway to get there challenging, is that items such as poke dolls or the smoke ball, would make it so wild battles would be entirely avoidable, and the trainers on routes would be completely optional, so there isn't much to force a challenge, I could see a town being locked behind something similar to a titan pokemon behind interesting though, perhaps it would be terrorizing the town, and you'd have to stop it in order to get to properly do anything there, though I feel like that is something separate from the argument of level scaling, as the fights themselves are what would be determined, you could get past the challenging obstacle, and then the things inside would be lackluster relative to it. I do see level scaling being possible, but several other changes would be necessary to be bundled with it

[@stanzacosmi]

not necessarily level scaling, but rather a level floor could fix it. as it stands, I did katy last in my playthrough. First gym leader. what they could do is, do an origins. Have a minimum level for team to have a recommended order, but if you go over, THEN it would scale. grusha would only have 1 team, while katy would have 8

[@thebenwilbert]

All Demeech’s Fury: Demeech’s Fury: 14:51 Demeech’s Anime PFP Fury: 22:18 Demeech’s Fury DELUXE: 30:30 DEMEECH’S MAXIMUM FURY: 39:30

[@mrgreenmario64]

I really wanted this to be the game that I could use to finally get into the Pokemon series, but after the state it released in, I think I'll probably stay clear of the brand for the coming years.

[@Milo_751]

Just emulate some of the older ones

[@EVPointMaster]

I can not recommend playing any of the "recent" games. You'll have to play the GameBoy or DS games to understand what people like about Pokemon.

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

The GameCube Pokemon games are really the only good ones

[@Isla-eq9qh]

Sword and shield was good. Underrated. But better than let’s go ( that’s also a good game)

[@DishonorableMentions452]

WAIT NO GO PLAY SWORD AND SHEILD OR OMETHING

[@willgpb_]

I love the points you're making because they are true! I skipped every single Pokémon game on the Switch and I think I'll keep doing that for the next entries because there is no sign of changing. And yes, you talked about it but I don't think GameFreak will change what they do because the bad reputation is OUTSIDE of the fanbase. The Pokémon fanbase just accepts everything GameFreak, The Pokémon Company and/or Nintendo shovel down their throats. If the criticism was coming from the fanbase itself, than I think we could see a change in the next entries, but... That's not the case. So yeah, Pokémon is dead for me. I'll keep track on what's happening because I'm still a fan but I won't buy them until they are fixed.

[@Demeech]

Same here man

[@N12015]

@@Demeech I think it's mostly that those are ex-fans who went away from pokémon precisely because it was getting bad.

[@wolfgangfegelein2450]

It just goes to show that the real "toxic" fans are the ones who happily eat up whatever slop is put out without questioning it.

[@adultmoshifan87]

As a long time Pokémon fan, I am genuinely HURT by what the franchise has become. Scarlet and Violet are Pokémon's ANGEL OF DARKNESS! I have been a Pokémon fan since Red and Blue. My brother and I got our copies imported from the States before they came out here in the UK. I even remember Sky One (replaced by Sky Showcase and Sky Max in 2021) started airing the Pokémon anime HALF A YEAR (roughly) before the games were released over here! When Pokémon Mania was in session here in Britain and over in America, it was a GREAT time to be a kid! Even after Pokémon became less popular outside Japan, I still continued to be a devoted fan of the franchise, importing every main series game from the US, but buying the PAL versions starting with Black and White! The Pokémon anime is still one of my favorite cartoons ever, although I stopped watching new episodes due to the bad change of art direction for Sun and Moon. I admit X and Y aren't the best Pokémon games but at least you didn't have to go to an external online world with a PC or Mac to plant berries, one of Black and White's STUPIDEST design flaws! I declared Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon the UNOFFICIAL end of my Pokémon journey. Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee I decided not to bother with because I heard they are butchered takes on Gen 1, Sword and Shield I skipped due to Dexit, I pre-ordered Shining Pearl because it looked promising, I like the art style they chose for it and I wanted A Pokémon RPG experience for my Switch. Shining Pearl sucks. Legends Arceus is a VERY good substitute for a main line Pokémon RPG. Out of desperation and hope that Scarlet MIGHT be an improvement over Sword and Shield, I pre-ordered. I deeply regret doing so. As soon as possible after release, I am washing down the pain of Pokémon Shining Pearl and Scarlet with Digimon World: Next Order. I have always loved both Pokémon and Digimon but even if I was a biased Pokémon fanboy who hated Digimon with a passion, the current state of Pokémon would've caused me to get into Digimon. I hear there is a new Pokémon anime on the way with a new protagonist (or is it 2 new protagonists?), if at the very least the character designs are as good as what we got before Sun and Moon, I'm checking it out as soon as it can be watched legally here in the UK.

[@M64bros]

Somehow this video makes me appreciate Sonic frontiers even more now. The reason why is I know for a fact Sega wanted to create a very good Sonic game after the failure of Sonic forces. I can tell Sega took all the time they need cuz I'm assuming they developed the game during the pandemic learned from their mistakes thankfully and actually followed their own path rather than listening to fan criticism and fan complaints. I'm assuming Sonic Frontiers might have taken 5 years to develop after the downfall of Sonic forces and you can definitely tell they did a good job. Sonic Frontiers is a masterpiece anyway 💙

[@Demeech]

Many are comparing Pokémon to Sonic Frontiers. I still need to beat the game.

[@M64bros]

@@Demeech Same here!

[@bobbovine]

@@Demeech I have arrived to urge you to do so

[@Frogadier_00]

Not only is it a pretty fun time, but they're adding in more content this year! I know stuff should've been there for the start, like with multiple playable characters, but the fact that they're straight up free updates is so cool and gives me hope Sonic team can make a great decade fir Sonic. Hopefully SEGA sees that potential as well because Sonic team need that support

[@zeal9442]

Sonic Frontiers sucks, but it at least tried. Pokemon can throw literal garbage at you, and fans will eat it up.

[@nubychuriz_be]

Hey guys, I forgot which "worst pokemon game" we are currently on, is it the 8th time in a row? I'm not sure anymore Just counted, we are currently on the 9th time people called the newest pokemon game the worst

[@sheikahblight]

Definitely the 9th

[@brycetheobald5512]

It's the first for me as an OG, I genuinely hate this gen and refuse too play it anymore.

[@sheikahblight]

@@brycetheobald5512 Damn, the curse of having mid taste

[@Goomba1309]

Honestly, say what you want about Scarlet and Violet, I can sorta see why some people like it to an extent since it had potential, but you really can't deny that, regardless of whose fault it is, whether it's Nintendo's or Game Freak's, it still is unacceptable to release a game with THIS many bugs, glitches and even crashes in it in 2022, ain't about to be 2023... Even Switch Sports and Battle League, for all of their many (and I mean MANY) problems, didn't have this amount of bugs in them (besides the Waluigi Hyper Strike one in Battle League, but still)

[@ramenbomberdeluxe4958]

Even then, if it ran perfectly, its still an unacceptably mediocre and rushed product.

[@Goomba1309]

@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 Exactly

[@jiyanmehta7250]

Ehh hot take but even without glitches and performance issues it would be a bad game...

[@positivea9111]

@@jiyanmehta7250 Wait I have a question then, what make this game bad, everyone keep on saying the game is only bad because of the frame rate, bugs and glitches. If we taken out those things what will make it bad? Because the story isn’t bad, the new mechanics aren’t bad, the new Pokémon aren’t bad, then what it is.

[@GameFreakSucks]

@@positivea9111there’s no level scaling, you can’t turn off exp share and the Dex cut is still a thing

[@BedsideTechSupport]

I'm extremely stumped about how it runs better on Switch Lite than a normal Switch. I'm not even a Pokemon fan and I was HOPING these could be a good intro to the series, but the opposite ended up happening. Glad I ended up telling my parents NOT to get it. I instead got other games I wanted, like Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 and Kirby Triple Deluxe (I WOULD have gotten Sonic Frontiers if it wasn't out of stock, but I still spent my money well). But I still want to get into Pokemon. So for people who play the games, which of the modern games (the ones on Switch) could be a good intro to the series?

[@kitkrat9332]

Legends Arceus or Pokémon Mystery Dungeon DX, though that one is a spin-off

[@mariotheundying]

People hate gen 8 and gen 9 so definitely not SWSH or SV, people also hate BDSP because of being a super mega bad remake (which changes almost nothing so play it if you want to play the gen 4 games, tho everyone agrees that Pokemon platinum is the best version of the game to play, you would probably need an emulator for that tho) so only choices would be Pokemon legends arceus, Pokemon let's go Pikachu/Eevee or the Pokemon spin-off that the one above mentioned Also fun fact, speedrunners have trouble with scarlet and violet because they don't know how to break it funny enough

[@MP_Guz]

as someone who never cared about pokemon until recently sun & moon was amazing, though it's a lore heavy game so there's a lot of dialogue which is a problem if you don't like those kind of games. otherwise I'd start with a DS entry or ORAS, none of the switch games are a good introduction to the series imo, I guess let's go Pikachu/Eevee is the closest to that.

[@onesingularjosh3103]

Yeah, definitely Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I got it a bit ago, and honestly, had a great time. Probably the best modern Pokémon game

[@Demeech]

BASED! New Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Legends Arceus are good.

[@MaximumRK]

Game Freak and Nintendo are not the same thing. Just because Game Freak released something broken but quality doesn’t mean Nintendo will do that, as even after the free update games I still don’t see Nintendo stooping that low. Edit: If you see this Demeech, sorry for coming off as a shill, as I agree with most of this, and GF should get punished for this. While I had fun with the game, I still feel for those who didn’t, and wish the patch that fixes stuff (which was already announced) would come already.

[@yokaipinata1416]

I absolutely loved the twist regarding what your overall opinions actually are. Regarding your "When did Pokémon decline?" summary, just a note on Gen 6. While I definitely agree that Gens 6 & 7 are overall solid and by no means comparable to the wreck that was Gen 8, I do think there was _some_ laziness with X & Y, aside from your own admission that it needed proper postgame content and deeper lore. Many major trainers (Gym Leaders, rivals, villains...) over the course of the whole game have incomplete movesets. First Gym is understandable due to the low levels. Second Gym I might be willing to tolerate. But there's _absolutely no reason_ why the final Gym Leader should have an Abomasnow with only three moves. Most egregiously, when you fight Tierno in Route 19, his Roserade only knows ONE move. Mercifully, all of the Elite Four and Champion do have full movesets on all their Pokémon. And while it's true that story is not the series' main draw, it's hard to ignore the problem Kalos had with too many characters (while I sort of see what they were going for with the rivals, I'd have cut a couple of them, same with the Team Flare scientists who are beyond forgettable) leading to a failure to make us care about them due to insufficient screentime and fleshing-out (also, the "twist villain" was so obvious). There's also the big pacing issue with the climax; the conclusion of the Team Flare plotline is pretty fatiguing, with the player having to go storm their base in Lumiose then immediately go storm their _other_ base in Geosenge (well, the bunker is full-on linear as opposed to the lab being the series-tradition 'maze', but it's still exhausting). It's not comparable to how disastrous Sword & Shield were, but it's definitely not easy to ignore either. I see Gens 3 through 5 as a "Golden Age of Pokémon" and consider Gen 6 somewhat of a step down, but I do recognize Gens 6 and 7 were handled with a lot more care than Gen 8 and at the moment 9. EDIT: I also understand that the "When did Pokémon decline?" summary is far from the most important part of the video. I understand it was not the time to go into too much detail, and this doesn't really affect the overall point you were making. Just sharing some thoughts, really.

[@ThomastheDankEngine8900]

Lmfao Pokemon fanboys are so melodramatic about what’s essentially the McDonald’s of video games and has always been Nintendo’s lowest quality and most samey franchise.

[@mephilisthedarkelijahramat182]

Wow I can see you know nothing not defending x and y story but there's an actual reason to this don't you know x and y plot changed mid development there are some elements leftover of it actually in the game like for example Valarie design

[@yokaipinata1416]

@@mephilisthedarkelijahramat182 Could you elaborate about the plot being changed during development? First I ever hear of it.

[@mephilisthedarkelijahramat182]

@@yokaipinata1416 well the original plot had aliens and team flare,diantha and Valerie were aliens

[@yokaipinata1416]

@@mephilisthedarkelijahramat182 Okay, I did quick looking about this. Not quite something that would excuse redundant characters (especially regarding the rivals, who would still suffer the problem I mentioned even in an alien plot; the scientists _might_ have had more going for them in such a scrapped story, but we'll never know), but I guess the "twist villain" thing would be a remnant of that and have worked better there, with a reveal such as "Lysandre is an alien". I also found the claim that the alien thing was changed for "being too weird". I doubt this would have been the actual reason, seeing as aliens, whether implied (Clef line) or explicit (Deoxys) were nothing new to the franchise by that point, nevermind the story and lore we got for the immediate next Generation (okay, Gen 7 was interdimensional beings-- but that only makes it weirder lol). In any case, from what I found the alien story rumor seems to be neither confirmed nor denied, but it's an interesting idea.

[@Truttle1]

I remember being so excited for Scarlet and Violet, and I originally planned on buying it a couple days after launch (to wait for reviews to come in first). I am so glad that I didn’t…

[@Demeech]

Just play an older gen

[@DishonorableMentions452]

I'm playing it and honestly it's so fun I really love it the storylines are really fun :)

[@Synies]

​@@DishonorableMentions452retard

[@thebenwilbert]

Dark Age Of Nintendo 2022 Anyone? Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Strikers Battle League, Pokemon Scarlet And Violet

[@Demeech]

Not according to Twitter.

[@BananaReidy]

I can say they scarlet/Violet repetitive in some areas, the lack of dungeons & puzzles also kind of hurt, the limitations on the trainer customization is annoying and the dex cuts are still a problem.(at least for me) Though story is major improvement from Sword and shield though.

[@tanzolo4487]

Better story than Swsh? Were is this story you are talking about? 🤷🏻‍♂️ I just now started to play this game. Me and my mom moved to a new house, the school’s director gave me a starter pokemon, went to school, confronted some bullies, found a wounded legendary pokemon that saved me from some dogs and now travels alongside me. Now I’m off doing some gym badges. What story? 🤷🏻‍♂️ At least swsh had me caring a bit for my rival, the regions champion, the legendary pokemon in the woods from the start. And wth is with this terastilizing. It makes cool and cute pokemon look dumb as hell. Man I swear this game is giving me a headache at a rate of 15fps.

[@a.x.x8184]

@@tanzolo4487 Never played gen 9 but apparently they’re calling it the best story in the series 🤣

[@tanzolo4487]

@@a.x.x8184 Stay as far away from this game as you possibly can. I sold it the day after I finished it. I wish I could get that time back and the tought of the game erased from my memory. Compared to Scarlet & violet, Pokemon Sword & Shield were masterpieces. Go figure.

[@LandynGunderfan]

Even as someone who's never played a Pokémon game in his life, I can't deny that 2022 was not a fun year for Nintendo fans, at least not the blind fanboys, and we ended with total Rock Bottom and missed the bus.

[@video-luver769]

Um, Xenoblade Chronicles 3? Kirby and the Forgotten Land? Pokemon Legends Arceus? Y'all hate Nintendo SO MUCH that you'll just ignore some really good games to push a narrative that Nintendo is all trash.

[@LandynGunderfan]

I will admit, these games are good and stand out among the rest, but the good stuff that we got was not even primarily developed by Nintendo and was very few and far between

[@silentkill450]

I personally enjoyed the game myself honestly, I really like going around the region and the new Pokémon were pretty awesome! Teratalizing was a neat concept that was unfortunately hardly used well in the main game but it’s a blast to use online and has a lot of depth for something relatively simple. However, While I do personally think that calling it one of the worse games of 2022 is a bit hyperbole, i am in zero ways defending the issues this game has. The performance is abysmal, there’s a lot of questionable decisions with how certain animations are applied like eating a sandwich and while I didn’t deal with any crashes, there were quite a few bugs that made me question how this slipped through the cracks. It’s a really fun game that definitely deserves the criticism it’s receiving.

[@DishonorableMentions452]

SAME I WAS HYPED

[@crashban4t.f.s.b783]

For sure. Especially when you give them only 2 or 3 YEARS TO MAKE IT!!!!

[@Demeech]

Feels like it was made in a year

[@GreenKnight07]

I love how when demeech premiered this video the Premiere stopped working at the coffee scene

[@kitkrat9332]

I hope that the future mystery dungeon games continue to have good quality, those are what I truly look forward to whenever a new generation is released

[@Demeech]

How was the remake?

[@kitkrat9332]

@@Demeech it was pretty fun, they updated the cutscene animation where Alakazam’s teams attack you. The boss battles are always challenging and don’t get me started on monster houses, but that’s what makes it fun. I never made through wish cave sadly, the highest I got was to the 20th floor out of 99. Even though you can have up to 7 Pokémon join your team in a dungeon, they can be picked off by enemies if you’re in a small hallway or they can help you jump enemies in a large area. I will say though the made it easier for my 2nd play through but you can always choose if you want to go or not which is great. The game runs pretty smoothly but that rayquaza battle is very challenging, I suggest stocking up on violent and evasion orbs before reach that point. I will say if a voltorb wants to join your team, kick it off, I used a petrify orb on a monster house, voltorb used discharge, making the enemies move again. I lost half of my team because of that stunt it pulled. Sorry for the rant, I love this game so much!Do you have a favorite PMD game?

[@kitkrat9332]

@@Demeech I forgot to add that some bosses can mega evolve and go primal, so be on the lookout. Even with training at Makahita dojo, the bosses still give you a run for your money. It’s a pretty solid though I wish they did use the 2d art style when showing the Pokémon’s profile picture, IMO it looks better than the 3D one but that’s mostly a nick pick. The battle style is more similar to Super Mystery Dungeon and while there’s no z moves, there is mega evolution through empowerment seeds.

[@fluffernal]

While yes, Scarlet and Violet were not the best upon release, I do genuinely enjoy the games.

[@brycetheobald5512]

That's all you got, your opinion is irrelevant lmao.

[@Funktastic09]

Bro let the dude enjoy games

[@Funktastic09]

Not everyone cares what people have to say so let people have their own opinions and not change their mind

[@wijinsama]

Imma be honest, this game really isn't bad. Glitchy, yeah but it still works for the most part and doesn't damper the gameplay for the most part. And people gotta stop complaining about more pokemon. Considering the amount of Pokemon we have...400 is enough honestly. Just have fan favorites or underrated Pokémon appear in raids or mystery gifts or DLC. I don't need a Pokémon game with almost 1000 Mons. Yeah it's great for variety sake but that's about it

[@JBzucc]

To me, I think the legendary being so integral to the story was a bad design choice, because it's totally reliant on my liking it, I personally hate both the designs of them, I hate the concept of them being a futuristic/ancient dragon motorbike, I didn't want anything to do with it, not only that but there is no alternative like a bike, I'm just forced to see and use this pokemon I don't want, it felt like it overshadowed my whole team without even being on it This is why I've realised I actually miss HMs, cause it let's me use the pokemon I want to overcome roadblocks, it made me feel like I was actually bonding with my pokemon, instead I was stuck walking cause I didn't want to use the stupid box legendary to get around but that just made exploration and travelling anywhere just as bad The open world format just isn't it cause there isn't anything to explore, it's just open spaces with nothing in it but pokemon standing around doing nothing, this also makes me miss random encounters, I think if the pokemon are gonna be out in the open world they should be more curated in how they are presented and interact with the world around them, it doesn't feel alive, the world should be smaller, more dense with more branching routes, Alola did that perfectly, I dont see how they can go from that to Galar which every route was a hallway then to PLA and SV which are so open there's just nothing interesting to explore because it's all just dead space

[@yoshitheorbit1118]

15:00 I love how you matched Crocalor screaming with the sound effect for the Demeech’s Fury segements That and the fact you named her Fury lmao

[@Demeech]

That actually WASN'T intentional. I just noticed it.

[@goatresx1799]

Gen 10 leaked: Crocalor’s fury

[@SpectreBagels]

I think ALOT of the problems with current day pokemon did start with Sun and Moon. Sun and Moon was where the Rival personality issues started, the dumbing down of the game and gameplay, lack of care for some locations and other route designs, cinematic over something more meaningful, the dreaded boxed in trend where we are given new locations to "explore" but they are essentially a box or 1 way street with a few toys and bland scenery(the ultra traveling being the worst offender), pretty barren locations with little to no people or things to do, etc. etc. The only reason Sun and Moon have a leg up on Sword and Shield is because at least you could say the games were competently made and they tried with going for something a little more ambitious. But I think by the time we got to Sword and Shield, that's more like the pinnacle of what was already started. It took the worst traits of Sun and Moon and made a game out it with even worse things, and Scarlet and Violet are no different. A lot of people seem to be falling for the jingling keys and pretty sparkles approach Pokemon have been doing. Where to people as long as the game looked decent a good portion if the time and you could play it most of the time, that means it's an amazing game cause it's "new" and "modern". I believe these people would be called consumers

[@googamp32]

THANK YOU! I love how there are still non-brainwashed Pokémon fans like yourself who are willing to call out GameFreak for pushing out crap like this!

[@Grenademan1]

Here here. Sadly though we're the minority and that's the biggest problem I see with not just the Pocket monsters community but the gaming community as a whole. We as a community have to do a better job at saying no to all these egregious practices that are common place nowadays in the gaming industry. Now I'm all for the whole "you do you" and "it's your money, spend it how you want to" notion but they have to understand that when they buy into these type of products (even at times where they should know that it's a mistake) they're only enabling this disgusting behavior from the bigwigs of these mega corporations. Admittedly I hadn't bought a mainline pocket monsters game new since x / alpha sapphire (I forgot which one). But this is just my two cents anyway.

[@Demeech]

You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it

[@HandheldGamer1991]

If kids that grown up watching shity lets players play some weird and dumb indie games are the ones saying they like games like scarlet and violet because they have funny bugs then there is nothing we can really do to change their minds. I mean what are we going to do? There are way to many of them now and their way of thinking has hurt the gaming scene in a big way. I hate that this is now the future of gaming and i rather just pirate the shit out of games first before i buy them for my collection.

[@googamp32]

@@HandheldGamer1991Well said.

[@goatresx1799]

I think Scarlet and Violet are good, but ye they forced it out too quick and look what became of it, a horrendous mess of what could’ve been another goated entry, or that’s what I think

[@AndreaPancakes]

Bad Pokemon Games are loved while the good ones are hated

[@KEATX]

This was my favorite Trash Or Treasure episode you've done yet! As someone who got into Pokemon this year with Legends Arceus, I bought Violet and had a okay time with it. But if there's one thing I hated about this game it was constantly crashing. I eventually beat the game, but then went to play the older gens and enjoyed my time glad there's people like you who give their honest opinions on games like these. Let's hope Game Freak steps it up!

[@Demeech]

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

[@kaboomgamer333]

Even though I personally like the game, I can understand it's flaws. And it's sad that series like Pokemon get a pass because it's Pokemon, but other series like WarioWare often got shat on. Game and Wario was a complete, good game for the Wii U, and it got shat on for "not being WarioWare". It doesn't even say WarioWare in the title, the main reason people complained about this was because it had the characters and it was fun to crap on the Wii U (it was not but ok). Same thing with GIT, the reviewers find small things to nitpick and turn it into their main point while series like Pokemon get a free pass because Pokemon and Nintendo Switch.

[@stanzacosmi]

28:41 unfortunately thats due to contracts with the anime tcg manga and merchandise. They really should figure out how to make it a 4 or 5 year cycle though especially because that would allow for more substantial stories to the manga and anime. less designwork needing to go in with pokemon designs, so thats less money they'd need to pay the artists, and would probably allow them to finally do the only piece of pokemon merch that I want, which is a rotom minifridge

[@Nephalem2002]

I think the laziness and lack of polish started back in Gen 6. It started with no Battle Frontier in the ORAS remakes, then releasing the same game TWICE IN A ROW FOR THE SAME PRICE WITH WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE HAD AT LAUNCH THE FIRST TIME(The Alola Games). SWSH then started the whole “Not every Pokemon available in each game despite re-using the same models since 2013.” Then BDSP came. That’s when it happened; The Franchise killed itself. These are the worst remakes of all time. So much laziness, a Day One Glitch that removes the music and SFX, and more. And lastly the nail of the coffin, S/V. What do I even say that hasn’t already been said? They forced this game out despite the fact Arceus released FINE.

[@TheBooBomber609]

21:12 I used to think Pokémon appearing out of nowhere was pop-in as well. After a while, I noticed that I could see Pokémon a farther distance away from me than the proximity they initially popped up. This lead me to the realization that it wasn’t pop-in at all. It was actually the game’s method of spawning random Pokémon encounters. This also explained why once a Pokémon was out of rendering distance it ceased to exist entirely. I could go into the mechanics behind how Pokémon spawn, but the point is it’s not pop-in, but an intentional effort on the part of the developers to keep some semblance of the random encounter system from the previous games. That’s not saying it’s a good implementation as both Sword/Shield and Legends had arguably better spawn methods, but it functions at the very least.

[@MeatEatingVegan777]

So....this is weird to say, but i love this game and favor it over sword and sheild. However, i am 100000% aware of the performance issues and glitches. As a matter of fsct, mine crashed and i lost progress a few times. To me, this gen has more charm than sw/sh and is much more fun. Yes, i am aware i sound insane.

[@RioluLucario1994]

I agree. I'm not a fan of the performance and glitches, but I LOVED Area Zero. It instantly became my favorite area in ANY Pokemon game

[@Imagools]

You’re not crazy, everyone is just super against to change

[@MeatEatingVegan777]

Would also love to add that I lost a shiny because it spawned on top of the roof of an area zero cave......rip shiny pawmot. That made me very angry. Yet, I still love this game over sword and shield. Sword and shield had no personality or soul to me, and just wasn't interesting. Logically speaking, the many glitches and frustration I have delt with with pokemon scarlet should make me hate it over sword. I had no such experiences in sword. Yet, I still favor and adore this game over sword and shield.

[@daichiboi]

This is the reason why I played Pokemon Moon and Pokemon Shield and I even watched the anime Pokemon Black and White I have the game on my switch but after hearing the glitches and the bugs And even also and sword and shield you can enter the clothing shops and walk around and this game you can't no more

[@spsaofficalchannel]

I still like the games! BUT! Demeech’s criticism is more than valid! I can’t believe we live in an age where I have to say this but… DO NOT by any circumstance go after, harass, or attack anyone who has an opposing viewpoint to yours! There isn’t a correct opinion and yours is more than valid!

[@Unprotected1232]

I honestly don't know how Gamefreak can fix this heap of technical debt. Even with its technical problems solved the art is so botched. Crudely tiled and blurry textures, crudely sculpted terrain, and completely botched lighting. Even with its more cartoonish look the game is hideous to look at. Even the sandwich minigame is completely broken. Just compare it to Pokémon Arceus Legends and you'll see what I mean. The even more absurd thing is that this game gets DLC. I'm so done with Pokémon. I haven't touched it since release.

[@diamonddrawsthegoat]

Goofy crocodile man changes a file in his computer to an angry crocodile man as he rages about a kids game

[@goGothitaLOL]

Also doesn't help that there's *NO Level Scaling* meaning none of the gyms, titans, nor bosses scale. Level Scaling is also ideal for a open-world. EDIT: The GTS has been exclusive to Pokemon HOME since Gen 8.......................specifically the Mobile version of Pokemon HOME.

[@arendardeshityrion3296]

Hey Demeech. What do you think about Spanish controversy at this game and in Pokémon in general? I think that most part is about the laziness of Nintendo of America to bring a LATAM Spanish translate...

[@dylans.1741]

Now lemme get one thing straight. As much as I quite like this game, you are absolutely correct about most if not all of its shortcomings. Just because I like something doesn't mean I have to defend every single aspect of it. For example, Fairy Tail is one of my favorite animes of all time and inspired me in a lot of ways. However, I will also point out that the animation quality took nothing short of a nosedive starting with the second half of the Grand Magic Games arc, the filler arcs are all poorly written first drafts that contribute nothing of any real value to the series, Zeref is probably one of the worst written villains of any show I've ever seen, and the constant reliance on fan service and boob shots gets old fast. Similarly, as much as I liked Scarlet and Violet, I simply can't bring myself to defend the fact that the graphics are on par with early PS2 games, the glitches and bugs are somehow worse than those of Red and Green ever were, the WiFi straight up doesn't work, and the game crashes if you so much as breath on it. As such, I tend to agree with basically every criticism that isn't levied at the plot or characters. Again, I like these games, but I'd be lying straight through my teeth if I said that I didn't mind the plasticky character models or the fact that the game crashes more often than a Long Island driver.

[@Marbilou]

Woah that was an amazing video, really all the arguments seems to be valid, and hopefully we get to see a good Pokemon game in.... 2 or 3 years.

[@Demeech]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@thekrampusclaus4148]

It’s not just Pokémon. This has become a norm in the AAA game industry and it doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. Deadlines above all else. Personally, I had fun but these games were definitely undercooked. 1 step forwards, 2 steps back, sadly a norm for Pokémon games nowadays.

[@bradleytreinen]

"I don't understand why they ditched mega evolutions." "Brand new designs for every pokemon."

[@HeroTheHedgehog999]

Sonic has had to have patches twice for Colors Ultimate and Origins and both games were at least playable at the very least and Pokémon is way bigger than Sonic by the way.

[@Ultimatedogfan]

I mean both Colors Ultimate and Origins were just ports of already existing games (except for 3 and Knuckles in Origins, which was remade from scratch)

[@ChristianRosario-tj1qs]

Scarlet violet story was buns 🗑️

[@vengeflyking2722]

This may sound controversial but…open world just doesn’t work for Pokemon. In this game, your skill doesn’t matter if your levels are low, so that’s why games like Xenoblade force you to do everything in order to. There, you also can’t beat the final boss before you take on the first. And…level scaling is also something I don’t think is that great. Maybe it could just increase everyone at once when a challenge is conquered, but to be honest it’s kind of whatever at that point. It’s like in Monster Hunter when you go from low rank to high rank. It doesn’t change anything, it’s just that both you and the monster have higher stats.

[@whiskeysour1179]

Yeah, selling dlc, online balance whatever... But I still don't think it makes sense to change the regional and national dex system. Have your limited set of mons, that's fine, just let EVERYONE in after the E4. Just program the fucking game, guys. The monsters already exist, you have nothing holding you back, just let people use the Pokemon they've already caught. You made your money on those, stop filtering mons for NO reason.

[@dylus7434]

I think you hit the nail on the head with this one. You did give the games a fair chance, but criticized the aspects that warranted it. It's a shame that buried underneath the rubble you mentioned is a gem that the Pokémon games need. They need more manpower to actually finish the digging, and stop constantly having every single release be baby steps. I heard that Game Freak wants their team small to make communication easier, but for a brand as colossal as Pokémon, hiring more people to work on the games isn't just recommended, it's necessary. By the way, I don't think level scaling is as easy as you make it out to be. Level scaling seems to be one of the most difficult elements to get right in RPGs, because in a genre that has growth as part of its core, level scaling could make it seem like you're not actually getting stronger. I want level scaling to be in this game and future games to keep with the lore established by the anime that Gym Leaders use different teams based on how many badges they have. Anyway, with all that said, you did well explaining what went wrong with Pokémon Scarlet & Violet and the whole series as of late. Keep fighting the good fight out there. I would join you, but I've just about had enough with Pokémon after 20 years and trying new monster-taming games. Also, is the Maximum Fury timeline when Nintendo approved a new Kablooey game or something?

[@munchrai6396]

What baffles me more than the lack of level scaling is the fact that both sides of the map do not increase in level at the same rate. This is most evident in the level difference between the Steel titan and the Ground titan. This even makes it feels like gen 1 had better overall level layout than these games because at least their later challenges were much closer in level

[@EvilKingLogan]

If you ask me, Pokémon does a good job on concepts, and an absolutely awful job at actually being a games. Things like the world, story, characters, and Pokémon are almost always fine or good. Meanwhile, the actual games are terrible, and manage to be worse than N64 games that came out 20 years ago despite being made by the largest and most popular media franchise on the planet. It. Sucks.

[@User13565jk]

You are the biggest KZbinr I discovered in this year, i'm so glad to have found you because i'm a Big Mario Strikers fan and thanks to you i managed to avoid buying Mario Strikers battle League After realising what you were saing was actully true. Happy New Year Demeech and thank you for this Amazing Year! :D PS : i Love your content so much that i'm made your Sprite on Scratch and a Mini Figurine

[@Demeech]

Happy New Year to you as well! Means a lot. Where can I see the sprite and figure?

[@User13565jk]

@@Demeech m'y Sprite is on m'y Scratch acount, strangly i can't show the link so instead search m'y Scratch acount, m'y name is "NoahSaturne"

[@SuperStarEevee]

I don't know how many people are going to read this, but I can't overstate how important this is. PLAY YOKAI WATCH. I had been on the fence about the series for years before finally giving it a shot about two months ago and it was easily some of the most fun I have had since I first played Pokemon way back. These games are innovative, fun, full of life, and absolutely CRAMMED with content. On top of that each one is only 40 dollars on the 3ds eShop and come as more complete experiences than the recent 60 dollars plus dlc Pokemon games. If you were a fan of the charm gen 7 Pokemon had, these games did it before Game Freak and they did it way better. The biggest example of this is Yokai Watch 3. This game is the largest 3ds game content wize, and it really shows. There is more content in this 3ds game than Breath of the Wild and on top of that it just so happens to have a 20 dollar side game built into it, you know, just because. There is a free demo for the first game on the 3ds eShop and I highly recommend y'all try it out. Yeah it's kinda cringy, but it's honestly really fun and I regret not trying these games out earlier. Thanks for reading this and have an awesome day! :)

[@Demeech]

Are physical copies still expensive?

[@SuperStarEevee]

@@Demeech depends i could find the first game for cheep, but I had to get digital for the others

[@SoshiTheYoshi]

I should probably be glad I only like the older spin-offs.

[@HarvoSpoon]

1:14 _there are laxatives in the coffee_

[@Xenoiswatching]

Multi billion dollar franchise btw

[@Epsilonsama]

The game is obviously unfinished not only the performance is bad but the low quality textures are a case of programmer's graphic that never got replaced due to lack of time. Certain unique places have better textures which makes me think that. That being said regardless the game is a mess and I feel that while they sold a ton it will damage the Pokemon brand for years to come. Sonic 06 for example sold very well even releasing a Best Hits version which is usually reserved for games that sell a lot but it damaged Sonic's reputation for many years to come.

[@cosmicspacething3474]

Unfortunately the franchise may be too big to fail…

[@Demeech]

It will decline if this keeps up

[@cosmicspacething3474]

@@Demeech I really hope so…

[@MowThatLawn]

Reminder: Same was said about the big banks, and those failed

[@thebigskip-e]

I clocked in 30 minutes before I quit. After boring cutscenes I finally got to step outside the house, and there was no sky box. Never picked it up again since.

[@michaelfortheloss292]

Don't tell me this isn't Sonic '06 but with Pokemon characters

[@supermariobrot1762]

Pokemon '06 if you will

[@jackh124]

It is 💀

[@Goomba1309]

Too bad it kinda is, and that's being generous.

[@Koshiedreams]

After digimon Survive was delayed,I Thought it was a Good reason to delayed the game, Most likely to avoid Negative reviews and Bugs and Glitches, But the Pokemon company decided to Release Scarlett and Violet Way too early for the Christmas buying season

[@Yinyanyeow]

Gen 7 was the big signal that things were going south.

[@stanzacosmi]

25:45 the only thing I disagree with in the video, because that's just a stock sound effect and that's what stock effects are for. zelda uses them, mario uses them, star wars uses them, kirby uses them. maybe not this exact sound effect, but its still a stock sound effect.

[@Harrymation-productions]

2022 is officially the year Pokémon fell from grace, and sonic rose to glory.

[@ThatGuyLegend]

I'm probably just coping rn but I think pokemon still has a chance

[@Harrymation-productions]

@@ThatGuyLegend I’ll be there to help you quit coping.

[@radioactivebeverage]

@@ThatGuyLegendJapan is an aging country, soon gamefreak will die out and we will be freed from this mortal coil

[@staringcorgi6475]

Pokemon has fallen from glory since gen 8 or gen 6 depending your tastes

[@Goldenduck409]

Pokemon tried to take us down

[@Goomba1309]

Those fiends!

[@RoninCatholic]

Game Freak, despite being the sole developers of the primary medium of the biggest media franchise in the world, run on a rushed development cycle with sub-200 employees on the payroll. If they were _serious_ about making these games at this pace, they'd have as many employees as there are Pokemon, not a smaller number than we had in Gen 2. Splitting a team this small compared to their intended scope _in two_ to develop two rushed games at once, that's just begging for both products to fail. Which is what happened here, with Scarlet/Violet and Legends Arceus each being made by separate teams _within_ Game Freak.

[@aerrae5608]

I found Sun and Moon too boring, every trainer has only one Pokemon for some reason and it's hopelessly easy. You can destroy the game without exp share with just ONE Pokemon. You could do that with a lot of Pokemon games of course but S/M hand holds you all day and then disrespects you with pathetic npc trainers. I say the series definitely died at 7.

[@ThePrismaticEnder]

I expected this to happen. Damn it seems like every Nintendo franchise is getting screwed over now (with exceptions). Pokémon SV could have been good, but as with recent Nintendo titles they had to rush it. Sticking to indie titles and games I can actually trust to be good. Thanks for making this video mate.

[@Demeech]

Anytime. This needed to be said.

[@DragonWhoFoundTheInternet]

My particular stance on this set of games is just that under all of the bugs there is in fact a really good story. This is the first time I’ve actually felt something big while playing a Pokémon game. In conclusion I feel satisfaction with this series for once and thus no longer need to shell out 60 dollars every 3 years to observe quality I will never find.

[@HenryBenedictUSA]

Please don’t make excuses for the game. The story was bad IMO. You play 90% of the game for the last 10% in area zero.

[@chrisfarleyshrek4347]

I blame both Game Freak and the Switch's aging hardware. Just play Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and Digimon World: Next Order instead. Digimon does what Pokémon didn't.

[@turntprophet7960]

Crazy, I was ready to buy this on day 1. Even blocked out Pokémon news to not spoil anything, but on that day I somehow got a recommended video about its poor performance. Didn’t it get it. That was the last straw for this franchise.

[@goGothitaLOL]

Sonic Frontiers - 60+ employees, 5 years Pokemon Scarlet/Violet - 169 employees, 3 years at most (whiling they were working on 2 games at once, with the other one being PLA) which one has more polish?

[@theenderkirby939]

Frontiers hands down

[@M64bros]

I've defended Sonic frontiers ever since that gameplay reveal trailer and deep in my soul I knew it was going to be good while the sonic fanboys were scared that was going to fail. Look at it now though, it was very successful!

[@teamrocketjoe1621]

Not even Lechonk could save these games.😔

[@robertwildschwein7207]

Sword and shield killed the series. Scarlet and Violet are just the zombie of the series.

[@turntsnaco824]

I really wish we got S&V in Sword & Shields place all those years ago. People still would've been upset, but not nearly this much. Everyone would've still been hopeful for the next game, as it was a promising sign in a good direction, despite its problems - or rather, we would've gotten whatever that next game would be by now. But instead, back then we got Sword & Shield, which were like steps backward for the series in a lot of ways. Not graphically, but mechanically. There was major backlash, and three years later, instead of doing a complete 180 and delivering something insanely good, we just got a different kind of "bad" Pokemon game. I mean I have fun with it - but I understand the issues people have with it, and how short of its full potential it is. It feels more like side steps from Sword & Shield, than steps forward. And people are just tired of waiting for the NEXT game, hoping it will be good, hoping it will be the one to turn everything around.... I'm of the opinion that S&V are a sign of better things to come, but I missed the first hand experience with the past few gens, so I haven't been dragged through the mud the way many people have. I'm not bitter and hopeless yet. S&V has been for me what I think Sword & Shield were for a lot of people - playable, even fun in its own way, but leaving SO MUCH to be desired. And for me, the next gen is their last chance to get it right. But I get for a lot of people, S&V was it, and they missed the mark. I just think that's all we can expect as long as they're on crazy deadlines and crunch times.

[@turntsnaco824]

That said, while I agree Sword & Shield killed it, I disagree with the sentiment that S&V is the zombie aftermath. That would have been if Game Freak just completely gave up trying to make anything more than the bare minimum of what a child needs to enjoy the series. Sword & Shield were literally "Baby's First Pokemon Game", the whole formula completely dumbed down and over-simplified. The route and town design....abysmal. If Game Freak was really tapped out at this point, we would've just gotten more of that, something that basically just built on or reiterated Sword and Shield. They could have easily, and I mean EASILY just done that.... But that's _not_ what happened. S&V are _ambitious_ games for the series. Too ambitious, which is undeniably their failing, as they were never going to have enough time to give the games the kind of time and love such large scale games need. But the vision was there. They _wanted_ to do something bigger, something better....something the fans would actually love, not just the kids getting their first Pokemon game for Christmas. But it doesn't matter what their vision was or how much care they wanted to give to it - they didn't have time. That's the core problem. It isn't that they've given up or they have no idea what people actually want or how to make a game worth playing - they could only do so much with the time constraints they've had. I'm not saying this is why it's okay that we got what we got. I'm just saying it's why we got what we got, and I think it's important to understand that.

[@frankfernandez2690]

It's embarrassing how level scaling still hasn't been incorporated to pokemon, i don't know coding but it should be fairly easy imo, object your party pokemon median level, opponent level assigned within a distribution of 5 points. Forget new mechanics, just give us 5-10 new mega evolution per new game and do 60-80 new regional forms per new game and add another 20-30 regional forms and fill with old mons

[@Noxis07]

People keep telling me "Oh they'll fix the games. They're just bugs. When you set those aside, it's the best set of games in a long while!" How low did we set the bar to call these games good? You want good pokemon games? Go play HGSS, DPP, BW/BW2, RSE. I'll even go on a limb and say the Sun/Moon series games put these games to shame, despite the numerous issues they have. These aren't good games. I can go on and on about everything wrong with the games, ranging from Character designs Pokemon designs The half-assed environment The excessive hand holding The cheesy villains that make team rocket look like the freaking mafia The limited roster of pokemon Etc. It's one thing when a series is complacent/rests on it's laurels (Such as Call of Duty. The fandom complained about how samey they felt for the longest while), but this is a full blown regression.

[@Demeech]

Those are the excuses I ALWAYS see. If you don't play the game, you can ignore ALL THE ISSUES!

[@serily4524]

You cant put the bugs of the game aside ever and say "its a good game" no it isn't they are just having a blind biased way on things, they dont really wanna see the game for what it is, they just wanna focus on the mediocre parts of it, theres tons of pathetic new gen gamers that dont know a shred of what a good game is, they just have been slowly but surely getting used to low effort crap games and "call them good", its the new gens probably that say the most braindead takes, since those people dont have a clear bar or compass on what is a good and bad game, this is the era we live in sadly, an era where many lack or understand the definition of a quality game

[@Imskittlez22]

Another thing that this game annoys me with is the clothes I get that the game is in a school setting but you only spend a hour or two there and its all cutscenes that barely work so just let me customize my character how I want them to look or at the very minimum get rid of the clothes icon in stores as if it’s an option.

[@scotty3189]

I did pick up a copy of the game, I have to say it is pretty fun running around with all the story options. However the entire experience is brought down by the terrible draw distances and battles near the water where my Pokémon just disappear into the water.

[@Isla-eq9qh]

Galar had at least some challenge, I played it when I was seven, kept getting lost, couldn’t beat gym leaders etec ( I wasn’t a dumb seven year old either). My seven year old sister complained this game ( apart from getting lost constantly) was too easy

[@Shootingfoul]

I can't believe you addressed the elephant in the room. Pokemon fans think this game is a 4 out of 5 and got a billion upvotes.

[@LyfallStudios]

Despite being a Nintendo fan, I never was a fan of the pokemon series, they have good ideas, i like some of the creatures designs/concepts and I actually loved Black and white 1 & 2 plus the gold and silver remakes but the rest of the series is not for me, there are a lot of problems and take the fact I'm a casual player, I can easily do an large essay about why the pokemon franchise has problems even in the day of it's birth red and blue on the Gameboy (and no I'm not defending scarlet and Violet). Talking about the current state of Pokemon is just seeing what is wrong with the actual videogame industry (that being the enterprise and consumer), you can even add the free update trash and the Mario sports games on that. I don't know why people take criticism as an attack to their person, both side of the coin are bad then. Outside of that Great video Demeech I was waiting for it, unlike pokemon you didn't disappoint

[@Demeech]

Thank you! You nailed it by saying fans often see criticism as an attack on them. You see that a lot especially on Twitter.

[@theenderkirby939]

Here my overall thoughts on S&V after the vid: while is nice to hear that the game have really good story and good story is the second driven point for me enjoy a game I cannot really let it to consider the game automatically good, the frame rate issue is something that really bother me I can manage 30FPS in games but when it look like the game choke it can cause me a headache, the pokemon line up is alright I don't really complain about the line up but I can understand if you see the misses as damaging, but the crossed line that you can try everything but still have forced locks is a serious problem that I can't really compare to anything aside from mega man granted you can take the harder route but at least you not forced to have specific weapons to get through a spefiic levels and beat unless you count that you need the super arm to get the magnet beam or retry and get the thunder beam in mega man 1 which I don't give it a pass as in both cases you punish the player for expirience the game. As for the presentation my god I am know to be a broken record at this point that presentation don't matter for me as long I can understand what is going and isn't causing a headache and granted while they reached the bar they still one of the ugliest games I see in my life, really the only thing that look good are the charater models, and as someone that despite a passionate minecraft fan I agree the presentation is ehh this is just a low point, but isn't the ugliest game of all time in my opinion in gaming I can think on bubsy 3D and pac land to be uglier and the switch had uglier games that while not exlusive to them like popeye and crash dummy this is just a walter white shock face. How I see pokemon financially in the future, well I think isn't gonna get financially punished even in later titles and I explain why, as demeech said pokemon is the biggest media franchise and as far as I saw even a low quality moment it didn't really punished them until they gave low quality product in a short time despite how critically not recived well sonic O6 was this and titles afterward did got financially sold until sonic boom rise of lyric which granted the lack of sales in the wii u did some damage but still they pulled a poor product and pay the price so I belive if sonic did sell well after the mess of O6 was I am sure pokemon will have the same case unless they pull poor product in a short time say what you will on sword and shield and briliant diamond and shining pearl but they not really come to the O6 levels when the public forgive less for this mess. Bottom line is feel like the same case of what happened to dimps with their last 5 sonic games which the short development time only really give us 2 worthy title to return in my opinion being sonic colors DS and generations 3DS with the other 3 you know are not really worth to return nowdays, I give pokemon scarlet and violet the rank of middle D tier I really want to give it low D tier but consider some freinds and family members of mine have the game and for some it played with no issues I cannot really say it hit on the same levels of mess that is balan wonderworld or bomberman act zero. As for my overall thought on demeech's retrospect as a whole I think it was mostly well done but I saw some stuff that were a bit weird for example when the fury deluxe section was showed up I didn't here the small double dash jingle like previous fury deluxe sections I don't know if you forgot to add it but if you can add it back please do it, I think the main shill section was really well done though it could be a bit shorter and for the maximum fury section I think is your second best only behind your very first one, it was pretty focused and kept not too long but I felt the first one was more epic in vibes and feeling but regardless it was pretty solid but I also wonder what happened with the ugly pokemon person character that was promoted in community post does it was meant only for the posts or it was scrapped during the later editing

[@Demeech]

Petey saying the Nintendo council thing.

[@theenderkirby939]

@@Demeech (POYO!) Petey he not showcase the worst type of people on earth but isn't get a past form me

[@Hip-Gnosis1134]

Not gonna lie, the “more buggy than johto national park” joke took me a lot longer to get than I’d like to admit. Well done sir.

[@josedomingues6367]

I haven’t played it yet, was hesitant to buy it at all due to previous switch pokémon titles and unfortunately i’m glad i didn’t. I’ve played and/or owned pretty much every generation and S&V made me realize how frustrated i felt with the franchise, i looked back without the nostalgia glasses and felt like even tho a handful titles were early releases on the consoles a bunch weren’t and those were also underperforming most of other franchises’ games imo. I really love pokémon dearly, and hope that the games cameback to live up to it’s what it deserves and it’s fullest potential.

[@jodohe]

Gamefreak stands for Greed, Sloth and Pride!

[@GXrst64tlc]

Honestly, I started losing interest in Pokemon after Sun and Moon and I'm glad I stopped following it. Now I can safely say my pokemon experience was never ruined by glitchy games. Thats why I'm only playing fan games now, they have more fun into them.

[@PurpleKittenofDeath]

The answer why the game couldn't be delayed is simple: it's because Pokémon is the highest grossing media franchise in the world. The game releases MUST coincide with the releases of the card game, the anime, and new merch. They simply can't afford to stall the entire franchise to finish the games in an acceptable state. Ironically, Pokémon's success is the games' greatest detriment. This is in no way a defense of the state of things, there's alot that could be done to fix these issues, outsourcing, or bigger teams comes to mind. But the point is that Pokémon can't wait for a great game to be finished unless the entire franchise gets a restructure, the machine is simply too big at this point.

[@tippedjoshua6802]

Yeah I don’t really like the exp share like I just beat Pokémon white last year and when I first played it like 6 years ago I only used my starter which made that one really powerful and others not which meant I actually had a reason to use my other Pokémon besides from just gym battles, and also I loved how the exp share worked in that game

[@a17yearoldonyoutubeluigi]

Sorry I misses the premier, am in the middle of a massive road trip and didn’t have the time, great stuff as always.

[@Demeech]

The premiere actually glitched out. So it all worked out!

[@a17yearoldonyoutubeluigi]

@@Demeech okay great, also just a suggestion, why not try also focusing on the story of games rather than just gameplay and presentation, it’s an element just as important.

[@oskar5088]

These games aren’t perfect, they’re fun, but they run horribly. But it didn’t ruin the franchise