A recent Elden Ring mod video has shown what Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s open world should’ve been like. The mod replaces the Elden Ring enemies with Pokémon, allowing players to summon and battle them in the world. The mount system is replaced with Koraidon, while Pokémon Centers are littered around the map, notably on the backs of Walking Mausoleums. A much darker tone is also incorporated into the video, as a trainer is shown being attacked by a Meowscarada.Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s open world has added numerous new features to the franchise. The elimination of tall grass, making it so Pokémon roam freely, was a significant first step, followed by the different storylines players could complete in any order. Generation 9 also took features from Sword and Shield, like Scarlet and Violet‘s Tera Raid battles and more extensive co-op features, expanding on them to fit this new title. These new systems helped bring more freedom to players and enhanced the gameplay experience.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s Open World Needed More
While many of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s new features were steps in the right direction, they did not accomplish enough compared to what it could have been. In comparison to the Elden Ring mod, shared on Twitter by Arestame, several further additions could have been made to the game to enhance how the open world feels and plays. One prominent example is the graphics of Gen 9, which in some ways feel like a step down from Generation 8. How the world evolves and the Pokémon interact with it is another noteworthy example that could’ve taken Scarlet and Violet‘s open world up a level.
How Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s Open World Could’ve Been Better
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s forgettable graphics are the most apparent issue with the open world. The Nintendo Switch limits games’ graphical ability, but other titles have been able to have beautiful worlds on the platform. Pokémon is this fantastical world, so it would be understandable for it to appear less realistic, and while Elden Ring isn’t on the cutting edge of graphics either, its art direction is astounding. Pokémon, NPCs, and towns themselves look fine, leaving the woes of Scarlet and Violet‘s environment ever more prevalent. Certain areas of Elden Ring feel rushed as well, but more development time for Scarlet and Violet could have conceivably resulted in a more appealing game world.
Scarlet and Violet‘s open world also sometimes feels very lifeless. The best fix would be to include more dynamic events for Pokémon to do, both regularly and in a single occurrence. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s Titans are great examples of this, as they could have changed the map’s landscape more than just opening up a cave wall. Free-roaming Pokémon could have furthered this by doing more than just running around, like interacting with the surrounding environment, even if it did not change it permanently. Elden Ring‘s world, while also fairly static, feels significantly more alive.
Scarlet and Violet‘s open-world systems and features are good first steps for the franchise’s future. Though it is disappointing that the chances for large-scale changes to the game are low, Gen 9 was still monetarily successful. However, fan-created mods, like in Elden Ring, will continue to show what Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s open world should’ve been like.
Source: Arestame/Twitter