What we know so far: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
The Pokemon Company recently released another trailer video for their upcoming game, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The video contained some reveals regarding the games’ box legendaries, some more new Pokemon, and of course, the game’s new gimmick that would replace Sword and Shield’s Dynamax and Gigantamax forms.
Open World
The game continues with the trend of a fully-explorable open world, a trend set by Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This also means that the game would now do away with random encounters of Pokemon in tall grass, instead having Pokemon walk in the overworld for you to pick and choose which ones to catch and avoid.
A place to relax your ‘mons and a convenience store? It’s giving gas station vibes.
The game will also seemingly have a Pokestop feature of some sort, a one-stop shop for all your adventuring needs. These stops seem to contain a PokeMart, a Pokemon Center, and a WiFi Battle Center all in one. Sounds like a good place to “catch” a break after all that exploring, eh?
You and your friends, riding legendary motorcycles into the horizon.
The game also allows co-op play of up to four players. Exploring the vast areas of Paldea will be more fun and exciting adventures you can get on with your friends, including all the raid battles you’ll be fighting alongside each other.
Revvin’ up your legendary rides
If there’s one thing that fan speculations got right from the box legendaries aside from their themes, it’s the fact that these legendaries will be your main modes of transportation. Need a bike, these “dons” will go on all fours and will use their wheel-like protrusion as, well, wheels. These vehicular mons can also traverse mountains, surf on water, and even fly! Talk about a swiss army Pokemon.
Cruise the streets with your legendary ride…
…or take your adventuring to the next level and soar with them through the skies.
It’s unsure as to whether these box legendaries will be available from the beginning of the player’s journey, or be obtainable via storyline methods, but it is certain that these mons will be traveling with you, literally.
Mapping out your journey
The region of Paldea seems to be a vast area ripe for exploration, with a city in the heart of the island, supposedly where most business and other transactions are held.
The map reveal, unfortunately, does not reveal any details of the plot. Fans have long been speculating on a past/present divide between the two versions of the game, with Scarlet held in the past, and Violet being held in the distant future.
It’s Terastallizin’ time!
This is inarguably the best part of the teaser video. “It’s Terastallizin’ time!”
With new generations come new generational gimmicks, or whatever Professor Oak used to say. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet introduce a new mechanic to the game called Terastallizing.
Pokemon transform when infused with the power of Tera crystals, which are obtainable during Tera Raid Battles, which work the same way as Dynamax Raid Battles.
So what happens when a Pokemon goes Terastallizin’ time? Well, there are no official news yet, but there are a bunch of speculations.
When a Pokemon is infused with the power of Tera crystals, they change their typing. In a tweet by known leaker Riddler_Khu, they state that Terastallizing a Pokemon completely changes its typing.
Yep, and if it turns into a former STAB type, the STAB goes from 1.5x to 2x. Imagine tera water kyogre, kill me now, lol. https://t.co/9t9oTWK1LQ
— Zodiac Khuller (@Riddler_Khu) August 4, 2022
According to the Tweet, a Pokemon completely changes its type when Terastallized. If it changes to a type it has a same type attack bonus (STAB) with, the bonus increases from 1.5 times to a 2 times bonus. This sets a very good precedent for a meta shift in the Pokemon competitive gaming scene, as all generational gimmicks do.
That’s all that we have on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet so far. The game is set to be released on November 18 of this year, so we expect more teaser trailers and leaks as the release date approaches.
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