With Game Freak's most recent and ambitious push into open-world game design in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the series is doing its best to evolve its traversal mechanics with lessons learned from Pokemon Legends: Arceus. After it was revealed in early trailers that the mascot legendaries would become players' equivalent of a Ride Pokemon, fans were unsure how exactly this would take shape on the games' release. Despite its rocky start with a range of performance issues and unusual glitches that made the rounds online, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have at least improved upon how players can get around its map.
Some changes made were obvious to players even before the games had launched, such as replacing the roster of Ride Pokemon with just Koraidon and Miraidon, while other changes were subtle. For instance, though Game Freak touted that players could progress through the game however they liked, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet felt more like a Metroidvania by staggering out the ridable legendaries' "upgrades" to incentivize players to seek them out. Between gameplay and story, the changes made in the span of these games are an insight into how Game Freak is planning to develop the series further.
How to Ride and Jump
The first change between the games lies in the first mode of transport each game provides the player. In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, though it takes a while, the player eventually gains access to Wyrdeer summoned via the Celestica Flute. But in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, after getting a crash course in how the game works and a brief bit of exposition players, can ride Koraidon or Miraidon practically right away, even with the added bonus of it being tied to the game's story and Pokemon Professor.
However, Koraidon and Miraidon aren't able to travel as fast as Wyrdeer or even jump until the player has beaten one or two of the Pokemon Scarlet or Violet's Titan Pokemon. Tied to the games' Path of Legends storyline, Titans can be compared to Nobles from Pokemon Legends: Arceus where abnormally strong Pokemon must be defeated. In this case, beating the Stony Cliff Titan Klawf grants the player the ability to dash, while Lurking Steel Titan Orthworm grants the ability to high jump. Both of these are Titans the player is likely to encounter early on, so players can catch up to Wyrdeer's capabilities quickly.
How to Search for Items
The next new Ride or Mount Pokemon Pokemon Legends: Arceus provides players is less focused on helping players get around the world and instead allows them to unearth buried treasure. Ursaluna is the only Mount Pokemon that must first be defeated before it can be summoned, perhaps laying the groundwork for the Path of Legends storyline. It's neither as fast as Wyrdeer nor can it jump, but its ability to find certain things is tied into the game's progression. For Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, there's no such mechanic, likely because they lift Pokemon Sword and Shield's overworld items with shiny spots and traditional Pokeballs.
How to Swim
Ever since the first game, the Pokemon series has always let players surf the open waters a vital part of its mechanics. But with HMs being ditched in favor of Ride Pokemon, both Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet saw fit to let players take to the seas in the games' several expanses of rivers, lakes, and shorelines. The former introduced Basculegion, a Basculin regional evolution already a challenge to obtain, while the latter only required the player to defeat the Open Sky Titan Bombirdier.
The key difference is that while Koraidon and Miraidon will retain whatever skills they have unlocked along the players' journey, such as the ability to jump, Basculegion has these abilities already granted. Arguably, Basculegion's ability to jump and dash while swimming is presented in a more interesting way compared to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and by being able to summon it the player will be able to access a significant portion of the map otherwise inaccessible, unlike the new games.
How to Climb Walls
With the transition from 2D to 3D, Pokemon has gradually increased verticality in its games, from the initial stages of a new HM Rock Climb to what players can see now with Koraidon or Miraidon scaling mountains and cliffs. However, this ability will likely be the last that players unlock after defeating the False Dragon Titan Dondozo (and technically Tatsugiri too) due not only to the recommended Pokemon levels needed but also the necessity for players to be able to swim. For players in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, however, the ability to climb walls is a midway point after gaining access to Sneasler after Basculegion.
While this already sets them apart, if players were looking for improvements this might be one. Pokemon Legends: Arceus complicated its traversal mechanics where different abilities were split across different Pokemon. For instance, though players could immediately summon Braviary after jumping off a sudden drop and seamlessly charge into Wyrdeer on land, Sneasler would stall players if they needed to climb a cliff face. So while this disrupted the flow of gameplay, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet corrected this by having just one Pokemon to ride with Koraidon and Miraidon, transitioning from the ground to the wall to the sky, all without wasting time swapping between Mounts.
How to Fly and Glide
As with any open-world game design, Pokemon inevitably needed to rework how it applied quick travel to its games. Ordinarily, this role would be resolved by the HM Fly, but with HMs being practically obsolete it seems that "flying" in Pokemon has become letting trainers glide across the world much like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Both Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet feature the same gliding mechanic unlocked in the later stages of the game, though the former makes this the last to be unlocked while the latter ties it into Paradox Pokemon.
However, players have noticed both obvious and subtle differences between Braviary, Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Mount Pokemon, and Koraidon or Miraidon. Firstly, Braviary's ability to "dive," or essentially fly faster but at a steeper angle, hasn't translated across to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, reducing players' capacity to get around. But secondly, it appears that the flight time between the two games has been reduced, with Koraidon and Miraidon seeming to lose some kind of momentum and begin falling far sooner. For a game that boasts a vast open world, the reduction in flight has hampered some players' experiences.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.
