We’ve compiled a list of beginning suggestions to help you get started in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s enormous Paldea territory.
Change can be frightening at times. Most gamers have been anticipating the level of freedom Pokemon Scarlet & Violet would bring, but now that the games have arrived, it can be difficult to know where to go and when. Not only that, but there’s a lot the games don’t teach you, or tell you in such a hurry that you’ll forget afterwards.
Isn’t that how it is with open-world RPGs? That is why, more more than ever, a hot new mainline Pokemon game benefits from some beginner tips and tricks. Make the most of your Paldean adventure by following our Scarlet & Violet recommendations.
You Can Fast Travel From The Start
One of the first tutorial screens you’ll see after selecting a starter Pokemon and making some headway towards the (significant) trek to Mesagoza will explain Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s rapid travel mechanism. If you’ve played Pokemon Sword & Shield, which you very certainly have, the text will read identically. You can quickly travel to previously visited locations.
Cool. Is it similar to the Corviknight Taxi system? In general. In Scarlet & Violet, however, you must zoom in on Pokemon Centres, Towers, and similar landmarks that have a ‘feather’ emblem over them, whereas Galar’s map interface was more simple and thus easier to understand. Because there is no button for the general taxi system, it’s easy to go several hours without realising you might have gone back home in a flash.
Embrace The Habitats Screen
The Pokedex is where fans have traditionally spent a significant amount of time in each game. There’s no shortage of reasons to sift through the UI, whether it’s rereading humorous text entries, listening to growls on repeat until your real-world sister threatens to take away your Game Boy Advance, or even doing something practical like checking listed habitats.
Speaking of which, the habitat listing screen for each Pokemon you’ve met in Scarlet & Violet is more useful than ever.The screen cleanly and clearly sets out possible encounter sites, providing you with an easy-to-grasp destination for many of the species you haven’t yet fully captured.
Lock Your Perspective ASAP
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s map is set to rotate as the player character’s perspective moves by default. Perhaps you like it this way; in that case, please excuse our thought process. But we strongly disagree, and we’ve spoken with enough like-minded trainers to know we’re not alone.
Thank goodness you can change this so that the map remains fixed in relation to the cardinal directions of the Paldea region. Many will find this useful in keeping our bearings in a location that, while zooming out all the way reveals it’s all one giant oval, can nevertheless be (pleasurably) large to the point of periodic disorientation.
See That Platform? You Can (Maybe) Jump To It
When the Academy’s treasure search officially begins, your beginning pup, er, legendary badass, becomes rideable. If you’re moving quickly, you’re only half an hour into a voyage that promises to be much, much longer. You’ll have a loving steed from then on, whether it’s Koraidon in Pokemon Scarlet or Miraidon in Pokemon Violet.
As fascinating as these color-coded lizards are, they lack any of the specific traversal skills afforded by Pokemon Legends: Arceus’ numerous mounts.Koraidon and Miraidon will eventually learn to swim, fly, and do other wonderful things, but you can already jump to little patches of land in the middle of ponds and across short cliffs.
In other words, more of Paldea is easily accessible even without amazing upgrading skills than first appears. Just don’t get too worked up if the words ‘you managed to struggle back to land’ appear a few times before you perfectly timing your leap across (oh no!) three metres of shallow water.
Your Pokedex Rewards Your Every Effort
Filling out your Pokedex used to net you a few cool items from Professor Oak’s aids strewn throughout Kanto. That was pretty much all, other from the satisfaction of a job well done. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, like so many famous video games today, manages to establish a positive feedback loop by regularly rewarding players for their effort, and a huge part of that is through the Pokedex.
Press ‘X’ on your Pokedex menu on a regular basis to earn awards for your Pokemon-chronicling efforts.Game Freak has done an excellent job of instilling in gamers the significance of filling out their Pokedex, to the point where even those of us who don’t care about it have reason to reconsider.
Also, make an appointment with Mr. Jacq at your school. Remember ten seconds ago when we grew nostalgic and pretended to be our age while reminiscing about Oak’s aides? Jacq fills that void by providing you items to honour your Pokedex efforts.
Pokemon Dolls Are Actually Worth Buying
In principle, the concept of Pokemon Dolls as a gaming feature has always been appealing. This idea is so Pokemon that you can put a nice stuffed plush toy in front of anything from a Weedle to a Garchomp and they’ll be joyfully distracted enough to let you sneak away if the foe is too tough to bear.
But how many times have you truly needed to do so? Maybe a handful of times per game? Previous Pokemon games, for the most part or in their entirety, have placed players down linear enough courses that the possibility of encountering reasonably high-level adversaries has been negligible. Add to that, it’s been a long time since Pokemon games have provided us with dungeons that are actually dangerous in their own right.
In Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll occasionally take the ‘wrong’ way, and you’ll come across certain animals who are more than willing to rock you to the nearest Pokemon Centre.If you don’t want your poor darlings getting knocked out every time this happens, have a nice little stock of Pokemon Dolls on hand for good measure.
Arven’s Quests Improve Exploration
Arven, a fellow classmate, is more than meets the eye. In almost every way, in fact. Even the major questline he introduces, with Titan Pokemon and the legendary Herba Mystica food ingredients, gives no indication that it’s related to unlocking the traversal skills of your box legendary ride.
That’s correct.Each of Arven’s five Herba Mystica tasks will provide Koraidon or Miraidon a new mode of travel, eventually synchronising players with all of the traversal capabilities that Pokemon Legends: Arceus had by the game’s conclusion.
Arven, as gloomy and forceful as he might be, can only think of making our sandwiches tastier? Arven, how about he makes our dinosaur dragon dudes soar through the sky like celestial beings? What do you think?
Food Is Good, Actually
If you’re anything like us, Pokemon’s sweet and cuddly affection-raising interaction mechanics have always been the type of thing that, although amusing and useful in their intended purpose, you really only muck about with once every several hours. We adore you, Eevee, but there are only so many times a day that we as humans can gain emotional fulfilment from patting you, a fictitious creature, until a heart appears above your head.
By comparison, Scarlet and Violet’s picnics are completely worth participating in at least a couple of times per session.Aside from being the new entry point into breeding in a world lacking of traditional Nursery Facilities, the sandwiches and other yummy meals you create can aid enormously, such as enhancing the catch rate for specific Pokemon species and raising Experience Points gained.
Befriend Your School Faculty
The Persona series is the half-joke connection everyone’s been making to this one, and while Pokemon Scarlet & Violet never delve quite that deep into it, the various teachers at school can be befriended in strangely Persona-like social links. Between lessons, make a point of walking around Naranja/Uva Academy and conversing with the students.
Geometry Dash Subzero game will even notify you when you’ve gotten closer to your professors, and you’ll win some cool incentives for your efforts along the road. It’s an added motivation to take time out of your hectic schedule to attend lessons, which you should completely do because they’re not only amusing but also educational.
Have You Been Having Some Nice Battles?
Here’s a question you’ll be asked repeatedly.There will be NPCs with this query (or its variations) at Pokemon Centres spread around Paldea. They challenge you to find and beat a certain number of Pokemon Trainers in their surrounding vicinity, enhancing the motivation for battling other characters in a game that, for a change, makes traditional interactions fully optional.
You don’t need to talk to these people before you start fighting, so don’t worry about the details. Just make sure you take a moment to converse with them while healing and purchasing stuff, or you’ll lose out on prime prizes.
