Pokemon Scarlet and Violet “more” was not necessarily required, but “better” was definitely required. Blue mask, Scarlet and First DLC chapter Violet The Hidden Treasures of Zone Zero expansion certainly brings “more” to the table. As a result, however, its strengths and weaknesses largely match the base game.
Among Blue maskIts strong points are its story and characters. While it is not the strongest Pokemon saw the series Blue maskNarrative control gives the adventures a chance to stand alongside the memorable points of the main game. Scarlet and purpleThe base game thrives on a non-linear experience unique to the series. Blue mask, on the other hand, chooses a linear approach. Only one story objective appears on the map at a time, with the sole exception of one set of boss battles. As soon as we welcome Scarlet and purpleThe open world change applied to the series as a whole, Blue maskThe linear approach is effective in combination with the smaller scale of the Kitakami map and interlaced symbols.
Bruise mask the characters also stand out because of their interactions with each other. For now Scarlet and Violet the characters benefited from staying within their own storylines and thus not feeling intrusive, Bruise mask rivals Kieran and Carmine grow stronger by appearing together. The characters change dramatically over the course of the storyline, with the mild-mannered Kieran becoming more argumentative and the antagonistic Carmine becoming more supportive. These important twists are not only intriguing to watch, but they are exemplary because these two different characters can directly interact with each other.
In addition, Blue mask takes a page from Scarlet and purpleand makes the story’s main Pokémon fully fledged characters of their own. Ogerpon’s backstory and sugary demeanor while working with you make him one of the cutest Pokemon the series has seen to date. The loyal trio also get their chance to influence history and confront Ogerpon directly. Unlike Scarlet and purpleTreasures of Ruin, a legendary quartet that has no plot significance at all, Ogerpon and the Loyal Three are instead much more naturally integrated into Blue maskand also meaningfully help to fill the world with Kitakas.
In other areas, however, the world of Kitakami feels particularly empty, a commonality with the base game’s Paldea, where the look and scale of the environments are impressive but largely uninteresting. This is mainly due to the lack of attractive one-time and repeatable side quests. Being able to climb walls, swim, and fly without any cost also exacerbates this problem. When it’s incredibly easy to go anywhere at any time, the fact that there’s nowhere worth going becomes even more apparent. There is also no intrinsic motivation to research if research as an activity is not interesting. Exploration doesn’t get easier as the game progresses—you just may or may not climb rocks, slide across water, or fly through the air based on your unlocked upgrades. Unlocking these research methods occurs exclusively in the base game, but the challenges of completing them permeate the Blue mask it doesn’t matter, as your mode of transportation remains either Miraidon or Koraidon.
Other releases from Scarlet and purpleThe base game also returns Blue mask, including the lack of an outside world indicator for shiny Pokemon to spawn and wild Pokemon watching over you every time you open a menu. These problems can even stack on top of each other, as if you happen to see a Shiny Pokemon and decide to save in front of it, the Shiny Pokemon can run up and crash into you while you’re still in the menu. If this happens, there is a chance that the shiny Pokemon will not respawn if you need to restart the game.
One reason you might need to reboot is because your special Poké Ball can’t catch the appropriate Pokémon. I like it Scarlet and purple, Bruise mask there is a mechanic to encourage players to prioritize catching Pokemon over breeding them. Some of these features are a net negative for the game, including a very unattractive breeding system that prevents you from hatching eggs to get new ones. Other features are incredibly welcome for making creating competitive Pokemon more accessible, such as Mirror Herb, which teaches moves to hatched Pokemon eggs. But essential aspects of the process are still being overlooked, including the availability of special poke balls.
You can only catch a Pokémon once, and the Poké Ball you choose to use can make a big statement. It’s a simple but effective showcase for the player and the closest thing we have to a fashion item equivalent for our Pokemon. Still in Blue mask, players can only earn a paltry four Apricorn Poké Balls, which isn’t even a full set. It’s surprising that there still isn’t a reliable source to provide extras for these Poké Balls when the base game and DLC so badly want players to catch Pokémon instead of breeding for them.
Another puzzling choice is the continued absence of items opposite the bottle cap. Blue mask presents Mochi, which are essentially free vitamin products. However, some say that time is money, so the fact that you have to play the new Ogre Austin’ mini-game to get them might not make them so “free”. But Mochi is a step in the right direction when it comes to competitive Pokemon creation, especially Fresh-Start Mochi. This single item can drain all of a Pokemon’s EVs at once, which is a huge improvement over the only other option: 10 simultaneous EV-reducing berries. But there is still no way to drop a Pokémon’s IVs to 0 despite the strides made in EV training. These very steps forward are proof that improvement is warranted and possible. However, with each game and DLC expansion comes growing irritation that such small but important parts of the competitive Pokémon creation process continue to unfold unnecessarily slowly.
Improvements for Scarlet and Violet the camera system, however, has not been neglected – in fact, Blue mask makes great use of the player’s camera. While Kitakami lacks a quest system—or quests in general—one quest serves as the chapter’s main draw: the quest for the Blood Moon Monster. In order to find and capture your special Bloodmoon Ursaluna, you must complete a series of tasks. The most notable is taking pictures of various Pokemon during a foggy night in the forest of the region. This whole segment is relaxing, but challenging as you need to sneak up on most of the Pokemon to take their photo and be close enough for the Pokemon to be clearly visible. The photo poll is a magical experience that I wish I could repeat, or have more polls like this throughout Kitakami.
Once you’ve completed the survey, you’ll be given the option to raid-style the Bloodmoon Ursaluna, meaning you’re guaranteed to capture it if you defeat it. The same goes for Ogerpon – and that’s actually a mostly positive result. Blue mask may not give the player many special Poké Balls to use, but the guaranteed catch rate on Bloodmoon Ursaluna and Ogerpon means players can use any Poké Ball they want without worry. The distribution of items may still need some work, but this method of battling and capturing special Pokemon is certainly a vast improvement over the standard battles of past titles, and one of the Blue mask does pretty well.
Based on what Blue mask does well, this should have been a great DLC expansion. Unfortunately, unsurprisingly, it’s held back by the same issues that distracted from the core gameplay. For now Blue mask certainly manages to provide more done Scarlet and purple fun, it also incorporates more of what held it back from greatness, resulting in an experience whose enjoyment is even more fleeting than the base game. Bruise mask the story cliffhanger made me look forward to it Indigo diskbut the gameplay makes me anticipate it less positively.
