Pokémon Scarlet and Violet could have been so much more

arrived a little less than half baked and . But for all of the glitches, frame rate dropping, and straight up crashes that plagued players as they first began exploring , the promise of new gave many hope that the games would get some much needed polish in due time. — this generation’s first DLC drop — delivered on that promise to a certain extent with its streamlined story and slightly different approach to presenting new locations in the larger world.

And that was even more true of ’s second chapter — — which established a number of promising connections between Paldea and and ’s . In small yet significant ways, both halves of and ’s DLC made the games as a whole feel closer to the finished product Nintendo and Game Freak probably wanted to lead with.

But neither nor ever really delivered in terms of fixing the things that felt fundamentally broken about this generation of core titles, and the same goes for , After years of the games and anime making it seem like going to school was optional for young trainers, and turned getting an education into one of the key parts of one’s path to becoming a true .

Unlike the smaller schools that appeared in older games, and ’s Naranja and Uva Academies were seemingly massive places where students were meant to meet new friends and monsters as part of a nontraditional educational experience built around exploring the outside world. Given how well games like and incorporated student life into both their narratives and game play, it seemed like Game Freak wanted to do something similar with and when the games were first released.

Despite that seemingly being the intention, though, what became clear as players began matriculating at Naranja / Uva was that while the schools might have looked somewhat impressive from the outside, on the inside, they were rather lifeless places filled with stiff NPCs, and menus (rather than explorable hallways) guiding you to a handful of classrooms.

Because and put so much emphasis on sending students out into the Paldean wilderness for their big Treasure Hunts, the games’ focus on school ended up feeling kind of like an afterthought due to how unevenly the school itself, its teachers, and its general student body factored in to the core story.

By giving you the ability to take on gym leaders, and progress through the core stories in essentially whichever order you wanted, and ’s main game also made it easy for character details and narrative beats to get lost in the mix. That made it very difficult to become attached to or invested in people like Nemona, Arven, and Penny, who are supposed to be your new best friends.

But by narrowing its scope to a fateful school trip outside of Paldea, and keeping its story focused mostly on one specific adventure revolving around legendary pokémon, was able to give us a promising taste of how much more compelling could be with a bit more restraint and refinement. The same could be said of , which transported players to the Unova Region’s Blueberry Academy, a floating school out in the middle of the ocean where you’re reunited with Kieran and Carmine, the brother / sister duo first introduced in .

Despite it mostly being every bit as structurally simple as Naranja / Uva, the way Blueberry Academy and its underwater, multiclimate terrarium full of wild pokémon were laid out made them infinitely more fascinating places to explore. After months of having to figure out how Paldea’s sandwiches worked, it was amazing to be able to just order up a plate of food guaranteed to make shiny hunting easier for a little while.

Rather than exchanging real money or league points for pokéballs and potions, things could only be bought with Blueberry Points earned by completing small (at times repetitive) tasks designed to get you out into the Terrarium batting and catching as many monsters as you could. Following the introduction of the Terastallization mechanic — which made it possible for pokémon to change their types mid battle by putting on gaudy hats — the return of double battles, and the inclusion of a new Elite Four were welcome surprises that reinforced Blueberry Academy’s focus on battle strategy.

And for folks who were more interested in things like just vibing with pokémon in nature, or getting into some gambling, delivered by giving you a way to play from the perspective of your favorite pokemon, finally enabling your legendary ride pokémon , and debuting that put . Some of ’s more buzzed about updates, like the newly introduced , wound up feeling like they were meant to appeal more to hardcore competitive players than anyone else.

But many of the DLC’s smaller features — like making it possible to obtain multiple Master Balls, new styles of throwing pokéballs, and more clothing options — all felt like the product of Game Freak trying to make and the kind of games that people might want to actually hang out in. Though it didn’t have any bearing on how the games play, being set in Unova was exciting because of the way it suggested Nintendo might be eyeing and remakes for either the Switch or its successor.

Post and , the words “Pokémon remake” haven’t always sparked joy. But between the surprisingly delightful and the way featured pokémon from the ancient past and distant future, it’s been easy to imagine Nintendo taking a more inspired approach to the way it revisits elements from older games.

With both and , it often seemed like and were trying to keep players thinking about the future and what’s coming next — partially for the sake of hype. That said, it also felt as if those teases about what might be coming next were meant to keep you from focusing on the games’ still persistent technical issues, and how they weren’t being ironed out.

Unfortunately, and ’s epilogue — which is only accessible if you’ve bought the DLC — does not come by way of a patch that finally puts an end to all of the stuttering animation that’s plagued this generation from launch. Instead, merely sends you back to ’s Kitakami region for a goofy and creepy mini adventure that’s less about catching rare monsters and more about illustrating how much of a social butterfly your character’s become.

It’s admirable how attempts to neatly wrap up and ’s many narrative threads with a story that brings your pals from Naranja / Uva and Blueberry Academy together for the very first time. Coupled with the legendary pokémon featured in , the mythical creature spotlighted in makes for a far more interesting piece of lore than the from and ’s core game.

There’s a pleasant tidiness to the way , , and feed into one another and give you the sense that your character’s a person who has been out having the kinds of adventures that change the way you see the world, and how people see you. But in the same way that tidiness makes specific character arcs like Kieran’s feel well thought out, it also ultimately makes and feel unfinished in a way that’s distinct from how they arrived.

It was nice when it still seemed possible that maybe, just maybe Nintendo might come through in the end with a bunch of fixes that somehow transformed and into the expansive, exciting open worlds that fans have always wanted to dive into. is decidedly not the answer to those prayers, and that’s just going to have to be okay..