In total and complete unsurprise to anyone given my usual way of not agreeing with the norm...
...this is fantastic. I loved Sword, but Sword was - and even I'll admit this - extremely linear to a fault (and if I, queen of linearity says this, you know it's true) and also very very VERY easy. Aside from having trouble catching Pokemon, the game was like so easy it could be an introductory game for young children to the franchise. That being said, I still loved it to death, and it's easily in my top Pokemon games from the mainline series.
But Scarlet is on a whole other level. Aside from some minor lagging and visual glitches here and there, which is completely understandable considering the Switch is NOT a graphics powerhouse, and frankly graphics are the least important part of a game to begin with anyway, and aside from the lack of interesting battle animations, this is the open world Pokemon game it feels like they were always working towards.
I've really liked, especially the 3ds installments, how varied the concept is becoming. For example, in Moon you were just straight up on a pseudo Hawaiian island doing research, and had to visit other neighboring islands to get your badges. Awesome. In Sword, while still fairly traditional, the fact that you had to face down not just the Champion but also deal with your classic Legendary was a very neat approach, especially since it had so many other interweaving plotlines with surrounding trainers. And here, the whole basis is you're doing a treasure hunt for a school, and that is just...that is such a cool place to take it because, let's face it, "go out and collect random animals for me, small child" was not going to hold forever, conceptually.
The story is super cool, the fact that there's, so far, 3 paths to take (Gyms, Titans and Team Star) and honestly this might be my favorite generation of new Pokemon since Gen 2. I genuinely love each and every single one of these new additions to the roster so so SO much. The only thing I REALLY don't like is the way the Pokecenter is essentially a goddamn self service gas station design. Like, I long accepted that they merged the mart and the center, and while I dislike that immensely, that's just the way it's been forever now and it's the way it will always be, and sure it makes it more convenient, I just liked seeing the Pokemart as its own building.
But now it's not even a building. Now it's just literally a Sonic drive in, and I for one am NOT okay with that.
Anywho, I've beaten one Titan and going for my second gym badge now, and I am having the absolute time of my life. This is absolutely fantastic and everyone needs to cool their jets when it comes to bashing modern Pokemon, seriously.
