5 reasons players were upset with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet at launch

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are entering their tenth month since their November 2022 release, but the two games' earliest days after release were fraught with criticisms and controversy, so much so that some players even refunded their copies. Despite this, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would go on to top Nintendo Switch sales charts after their debut.

Some complaints were addressed, while others are still fresh in the minds of players. Even now, it doesn't hurt to look back at why fans were so irked by Pokemon Scarlet and Violet at launch.

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Major reasons why fans were upset with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet after their launch

1) Bugs and glitches

Bugs of various kinds were a driving factor in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's criticisms (Image via Beta Brawler/YouTube)

Although unexpected bugs and glitches are expected even in AAA game releases, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players were astonished at the ones that were encountered early on in the game's release. Characters and Pokemon were seen floating, clipping through solid objects, and flailing around during their animations.

Some glitches even caused game-breaking issues such as Koraidon/Miraidon falling through the ground while being ridden. One bug was so catastrophic that it would delete players' saved data. Although fans' experiences with these issues varied and Game Freak addressed some of them, players didn't forget.

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2) Graphics and performance

loving the graphics in pokemon scarlet and violet byu/the_carlinater ingaming

The Nintendo Switch is a fairly capable console when it comes to visuals and performance. Although its framerates can't match PC, the Switch has shown the ability to effectively render games with quality graphics like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Monster Hunter: Rise.

Unfortunately, many fans weren't impressed by Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's graphics/performance. Players complained about terrible low-res textures, especially when viewed at a distance, as well as unexpected framerate drops and even freezing on occasion. Considering what other games on the platform are capable of, criticism is certainly understandable.

Scarlet and Violet didn't draw kind comparisons with regards to visuals (Image via Game Freak)

Some players and longtime Pokemon fans even pointed to examples of previous Pocket Monsters titles that had better graphics, including games like Sword & Shield and Legends: Arceus. This left the fanbase wondering how Game Freak allowed such bland textures to exist in-game while issues like memory leaks continued to cause technological issues anyway.

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3) The easy difficulty

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's battles and challenges were far from difficult (Image via Game Freak)

It's no secret that Pokemon games have been getting easier in recent years, dating back to at least the Sun & Moon games. In some ways, this makes sense, as Game Freak wants to ensure that the games are accessible to audiences of all ages. Be that as it may, some longtime players bristled at how easy Scarlet and Violet's combat and challenges were.

Although new features like Tera Raid Battles certainly could be difficult even for seasoned vets, the battles against Gym Leaders/The Elite Four/Titan Pokemon didn't take much strategy for many fans. Winning elemental-type matchups was also seen as easier than before due to the introduction of Terastallization.

Scarlet and Violet may have their difficult spots when it comes to raids and player-vs-player battles, but many players lamented how much of a walk in the park the main story's progression had become.

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4) The return to traditional gameplay

Some players saw Pokemon Scarlet and Violet as a step back from Legends: Arceus (Image via Game Freak)

Although Pokemon Legends: Arceus had its fair share of criticisms, it did receive praise for its new spin on the traditional game mechanics seen in the Pocket Monsters series. Pokemon could be caught without battling them, and attack styles were added in Legends: Arceus to add a twist to battling, among other additions.

Even before Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were released, many trainers noticed that the games appeared to return to many of the same tired tropes seen throughout the series. Sure, the games did introduce new features, but the core gameplay loop of catching and battling remained relatively unchanged, minus a few gimmicks.

After what was seen as a tentative step forward with Legends: Arceus, players simply weren't thrilled that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fell back on the same conventions they had seen in multiple generations of games. While the two titles did make some ambitious choices with regard to the open world and co-op multiplayer, catching and battling felt quite stale.

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5) An unfinished presentation

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players commonly referred to the games as feeling unfinished (Image via Game Freak)

Development for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet kicked off not long after Sword & Shield made their debut in 2019. Be that as it may, the Q4 2022 release date and co-development of Pokemon Legends: Arceus left Game Freak and Nintendo with their schedules full. As a result, several players agreed that Scarlet and Violet simply felt unfinished.

Game Freak certainly deserved credit for aiming high in certain respects surrounding the games, but fans stated that Scarlet and Violet would have benefitted substantially from more development time. Three years may seem like a long time for game development, but open-world RPGs can take much, much longer.

Many of the two games' problems, from glitches and performance and more, likely could have been addressed with more development time and QA testing. Be that as it may, the release date for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were effectively set in stone from the beginning. No doubt some of the games' developers would have loved more time to work on them as well.

At the very least, the arrival of The Teal Mask DLC and the upcoming release of The Indigo Disk DLC may breathe a bit more life into Pokemon Scarlet and Violet as a final product. The jury is still out in that regard, but fans surely wish that the base games had felt complete from the start.