Pokemon ScarletandVioletare a big step forward for the franchise. Carrying on whatPokemon Legends: Arceusstarted, these games have pushedPokemonfurther into the open-world genre, this time with a land only broken by the large central hub city of Mesagoza. Players are free to mount their version’s box Legendary and ride around the Paldea region, alongside friends if they want. Setting aside technical issues,Pokemon ScarletandVioletoffer a smooth experience that encourages exploration more thanPokemonever has before.
It’s interesting to see how far open-world games have come.Pokemon ScarletandVioletare not model examples by any means, but they have benefited from decades of innovation and Nintendo’s own prior work with open worlds. Movement on the back of Koraidon and Miraidon take full advantage of the 3D space, doing so in deliberate ways that weren’t always found in every big open-world game as recently as a decade ago. Comparing something likeThe Elder Scrolls 5: SkyrimtoPokemon ScarletandVioletunearths a number of interesting points about both games, and highlights how the open-world RPG genre has evolved.
RELATED:Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Town Set Pieces Needed a Little More Automation
In Skyrim’s Day, Travel Was Rough But Simple
Back in the day,SkyrimandPokemonwere roughly on par in terms of traversal options. Players could walk through their worlds, or they could mount a horse or bicycle, respectively, to go faster.Skyrimwas released during the 5th Generation ofPokemongames, so Hidden Machines (HMs)were still in use. These allowed players to remove certain obstacles, fast travel to visited towns, and move through the water. Nothing there is unfamiliar inSkyrim, even if obstacles that must be broken down are rare.
That brings up the primary difference betweenSkyrimand more linearPokemongames at the time.Skyrimhas an open world, and thus the expectations of how one can move around are different. Every direction is open to the player, and there are a lot of small stops to make along the way.Horses can be purchased throughout Skyrimas early as the player can afford them, though they don’t open up any new avenues of movement beyond the well-known exploit of climbing steep cliffs. Dragonborn can employ in-universe fast travel systems in addition to their instant travel method, but they have no other methods of moving through the world besides walking or swimming.Pokemon’s environmental interactions had experimented with things like rock climbing in the Generation 4 games, and they would get more complex over time.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Supply More Options with Less Clutter
By the timePokemon Legends: ArceusandPokemon ScarletandVioletrolled around, trainers were looking at a suite of movement options based on various Pokemon. The usual fast movement and swimming were still available, but so were climbing up most walls, jumping higher, and even gliding.Pokemon ScarletandVioletstreamlined these optionsonto a single Pokemon mount, albeit one that needs to unlock its movement abilities. Once again, outside of glitches and exploits,Skyrimhas no equivalent.
With the advent of gliders and grappling hooks in open-world games, it has become obvious that vertical travel is as important to consider as horizontal movement.Skyrimhas no intended vertical travel to speak of, aside from a DLC Shout that lets players ride on dragons. This is notable, asThe Elder Scrollshave had flight and levitation spells up untilMorrowind- though in that game Icarian Flight was optional and had to be used carefully.The Elder Scrolls 6may not make itwith just standard horseback travel, and it will be interesting to see what solutions it comes up with, and if it can streamline them as well asPokemon ScarletandViolet.
Pokemon ScarletandVioletare available now on Nintendo Switch.
MORE:The Elder Scrolls 6 Needs to Evolve Travel Past Horse Riding and Carts
