Pokemon ScarletandVioletplayers are already taking issue with one of the game’s most frustrating aspects. Despite launching just today, criticism of the newPokemongames has already grown to a high level. Performance issues leading to serious graphics limitations, pop-in, and glitches have been the main focus ofPokemon ScarletandVioletunhappiness so far, but a growing number of players are pointing to something else hurting their RPG experience.
Reports from early coverage ofPokemon ScarletandViolet, as well as confirmation from early adopters, detail a variety of performance issues. Some of these issues includeclipping throughPokemon ScarletandViolet’s worldand into the ground or invisible Pokemon. These issues are unfortunate, but for the most part, don’t seriously impact gameplay. At the very least, they can be worked around. That’s not the case with all issues, though.
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A post to thePokemonsubreddit from Monte_20 calls attention to what they call “waiting second in between little actions.” The post says thatPokemon Scarlet andViolet’s frame rate drops, camera issues, and visual glitches can be dealt with. The game’s lag when opening and closing menus, waiting for the Rotom phone animation to complete, dialogue, and battles, however, stretch what should be quick actions into a slog.
Comments in the thread add further context to these frustrations. One player mentions that just choosing different clothing options inPokemon Scarlet andViolet’s store is “excruciatingly slow.” Another added that it took 7 seconds to look at a backpack. One common sentiment was how slow it is toswapPokemonmid-fight, pointing to how players have to wait for their opponent to perform a roar animation before theirPokemoncan be summoned. In other words, it’s not just lag that’s an issue, it’s part of the game design.
Players have multiple theories for why the issue is so prevalent acrossPokemon ScarletandViolet. Some say that the open world is loading all the time, even in stores. Others say there’s a memory leak that Game Freak needs to fix. A significant number of players say it’s simply thelimitations of the Nintendo Switch, and that Game Freak is doing everything it can to hide the console’s struggling hardware issues.
Game Freak is under a lot of pressure to deliverPokemongames on a very tight schedule. This certainly isn’t the first time a mainPokemonrelease had issues with slowness during gameplay, withPokemon DiamondandPearlbeing egregious examples. The hope is that now thatPokemon Scarlet and Violetare out,Game Freakcan focus on optimization.Pokemonfans probably shouldn’t set too high of expectations, though.
Pokemon ScarletandVioletare available now on Switch.
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