#tldr: handful of good concepts. good ideas. bad stinky execution for most of those ideas

[shiny-meowstics]

some extended thoughts on gen 9 since i was gifted the game as an unintentionally late birthday gift 🤔 warning: it's long

context: i'm basically halfway through. i've gotten 4/5 titans, 4/8 badges, 2/5 star bases. my team's late 30's/early 40's. i do have a mew, but considering i got it at level 5 it's basically on the same standing as the rest of my party/obviously is not game breaking because this game doesn't give out TMs like candy like gen 8 (which, good choice tbh. kind of stinks that the TMs aren't infinite use, but I haven't used them enough to be that bothered by the choice. getting materials is easy enough, anyway)

also i've been ignoring the tera raid dens, for the most part. i've done like 2 of them solo, and? they're fine. a good way to make money if you need it since they drop things like pearls. probably easy to exploit for exp candies if you know what you're doing, but i'm not about cheesing games on my first playthrough of them

positives:

the music's alright! i miss having dedicated route themes, but what the game has to offer is fine enough. the smooth transition between area/battle music is a Very Nice Touch. some tracks are depressingly underused (looking at you, rival themes) but everyone knows that. the gym theme is a bop (aside from the one that plays at the end but. my thought on that are in a later section)

the auto battle feature?? also pretty good, i definitely prefer it than having to fight things one by one for exp. it's also extremely funny to see one of your mons just go absolutely ham and decimate a whole squad of pokemon. siccing mew at tauros that keep fucking running me down: cathartic

also not a point for or against the game but i've already found 3 shinies, lmao

mixed thoughts:

the balance of difficulty is fine (though this is with hindsight/knowing the "correct" order for the badges beforehand. if i went in totally blind, i would be singing a different tune). nothing's too strong or weak in a given area so long as you're in the correct level range, and the sheer amount of items you find lying around means you will not be wanting for potions or pokeballs, or even money. evo items are easy enough to find once you learn where they spawn. pokemon variance per area is also good and gives a good amount of options to pick through

however, if you are playing blind, it would be extremely easy to wander into an area or fight that is far above your level range, and that can be a frustrating experience. the game is paradoxically open world while having an absolute, linear path that players are expected to take (and usually don't). the nurses do not guide you to the next objective with your level/badge count in mind, they just tell you to go to whatever objective is closest iirc. would be a lot better if the badges had true scaling instead of fixed levels/difficulties

exploration/traversal leaves a lot to be desired. maybe it's because the map is already filled out at the start, maybe it's because aside from a few areas most spots look samey, maybe it's partially me not being great at keeping mental maps of areas (aphantasia), but getting around has basically amounted to "wandering around kind of aimlessly just so i can snag centers for later." i might've enjoyed it more if my progress for exploring was a little more tangible- like, let me see the map, but grey out the areas i haven't been to yet and fill it in with color/give a little notif ping that says when i've discovered a new (to me) area

*just as a disclaimer, i don't dislike open world game design. even though the areas were more like larger hubs, i think legends arceus had a pretty good balance, and i enjoy exploring in botw. in this game it's like. glaringly apparent when they're trying (key word being "trying") to keep you from getting to certain higher level areas via blocking the areas off with skills your bike dragon of choice will get later. which, i mean. if you don't want the player wandering into a level 50+ area when they're only level 14, just... don't put the level 50+ area a stone's throw away from the starter area? Just A Thought)

negatives:

i'm sorry. everyone says it. everyone knows this, but i have to say it too. oh my god this game runs like absolute butt cheeks. i am usually pretty tolerant towards spotty game performance so long as the experience as a whole is relatively stable, but this game runs like complete and utter poo poo. slow downs are constant and it's almost headache inducing when it's bad enough. i made the unfortunate decision to explore a water-abundant area. i am not going back there until i can get the titan, and after that i am never going back there ever

also FUCK veluza, me and my homies HATE veluza, that bitch needs to Fucking Leave. i'd threaten to filet it but it'd probably enjoy that

the music's fine, but the sound effect design is kind of shit. the little "ding" that plays when you navigate menus is really sharp, and i have to put the SE volume at a minimum so that it wouldn't be so grating to the ears. visual design of the game also leaves a lot to be desired, but again, nothing new and low-hanging fruit. the kind of cartoony/saturated look of the environments does not mesh that well with the semi-realistic textures of the pokemon. also i'm sorry, but i hate the finale/tera gym theme (the one that plays when the final pokemon is sent out). it's trying to be galar so bad with not nearly the same amount of charm or forethought

the lack of any real buildings/npc dialogue in towns outside of shops is palpable and as disappointing as i expected, smhh. none of them really stand out to me that much, and navigating through the larger ones are kind of annoying (but that could absolutely be a me thing, [gestures at section about exploration] )

it's extremely aggravating that this game's almost been out for a year, and aside from a handful of inconsequential bugs/one game breaking bug that they literally could not ignore, the game is still basically in the exact same state as it was at launch. this is genuinely embarrassing