The term “roleplaying game” is a broad one, and it has grown to encompass many kinds of games. Growing out of tabletop gaming in which players had to roleplay some aspects, roleplaying games owe much to the grand, party-based adventures of their forebears. The genre eventually split into different subgenres, with broad categories like action-RPG, turn-based RPG, Japanese RPG, Western RPG, and massive multiplayer online RPG. Nowadays, RPG is often used to refer to individual, often statistical mechanics that one would find in larger action-focused titles like the Assassin's Creed titles.
The subject is somewhat muddied, but it's unlikely that role-playing games will ever truly die out. Even as some like Final Fantasy leave their initial technological limitations behind and embrace action elements, others like Dragon Quest and Pokemon remain traditional. There will always be a place for an old-fashioned turn-based adventure. Pokemon stands out from the group by being the premiere monster catching and raising series, although with the advent of Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, it now seems to be breaking away from its simplistic roots.
Pokemon Has Maintained a Specific Flavor of RPG
To understand what is so different about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, one must first be familiar with classical Pokemon. This legendary franchise started as a unique adaptation of a pet raising simulator, mixing in a major combat element. Even so, it was not particularly in-depth in either respect. There were a number of hidden mechanics, but otherwise trainers caught the Pokemon they wanted to catch, leveled them up, and proceeded on an adventure with them. A party of up to six Pokemon could have four battle abilities each, and the trainer could opt to spend their turn using an item. Gyms marked not only story progress, but also taught the use of field moves that encouraged forging new paths and returning to old areas. Even today, this simple formula remains at Pokemon's core.
For decades, this was the way Pokemon did things. With a couple versions, a linear setup, and a bit of randomness, Pokemon allowed for every player's experience to be personalized while also maintaining a standardized experience. The gym challenge and enemy teams are what give substance to this structure, and the Pokemon catching, raising, trading, and battling element keeps the postgame going long after every legendary is caught. Pokemon Sword and Shield promised to change things up a bit with the introduction of the Wild Area, but this just turned out to be a larger route. Pokemon Legends: Arceus provides a substantially different experience, but to a degree where it's more of a spin-off than a normal Pokemon game.
How Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Leaned Into Being Modern RPGs
Going off of what has been officially revealed, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet still use a gym challenge that works its way through the type chart and concludes with some sort of Elite Four scenario. Players will still be catching Pokemon along the way, and while no one knows what they are yet, gimmicks in exploration and battle are expected. However, a few major changes have been made. Upgrading from the segmented areas of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Scarlet and Violet will be the first truly open world mainline Pokemon title. With a Pokemon by their side and presumably some sort of vehicle, the players can wander as far away from civilization as they'd like.
This feels comparable to the design leaps that some other Nintendo properties have made on the Switch, and could increase the player's freedom by a significant amount. It sounds like trainers can explore far deeper into the game than past entries would allow, and even challenge gyms out of order. This also means that the Pokemon variety available to the player at any point in the game is also massive, and visible wild Pokemon make it easy to build a specific party. The ability to control the pace of both the gameplay and the story has never been placed in a Pokemon player’s hands before, and conveys the idea of an open-ended RPG. In Pokemon's eternal march forward, it has finally made a meaningful change that could alter the franchise’s identity.
Scarlet and Violet Now Have MMO-like Qualities
To support the new themes of player expression and carving out one's own journey, it seems that Game Freak has improved character customization once again. Scarlet and Violet's default trainers are two of the plainest looking avatars the franchise has seen since the days of Red and Blue, most likely because the player isn't expected to keep them. The different trainers shown in the most recent Scarlet and Violet trailer are already sporting some of the most diverse fashions the Pokemon franchise has seen. Showing off one's avatar is now beginning to feel like showing one's build in a Souls game, an MMO, or the first Xenoblade Chronicles.
And there's more where that came from. Being able to express oneself and roleplay isn't worth much without other players around, so Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will finally support instanced field multiplayer. How much this involves the story and how different players can interact with each other have yet to be expanded upon, but this will allow immediate access to Pokemon's social elements. With a follower Pokemon and another human being at one's side, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will feel like the grandest Pokemon adventure yet, and it's nice to see another title pushing the franchise’s boundaries.
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet will be released in Winter 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.
