Pokemon ScarletandVioletmarked the franchise’s first foray into a fully open world, offering players the chance to explore the Paldea region on their own terms. Though with the game’s shortage of notable landmarks and its abundance of performance issues, future generations of the series could take a cue fromXenoblade Chronicles 3to perfect this feature.
While thePokemonScarlet and Violetregion of Paldea presents itself as one sprawling map,Xenoblade Chronicles 3treats its environment a bit differently. It takes the land of Aionios and structures it between fully-explorable regions, giving the player the chance to delve into its world one environment at a time. By technical definition, some might argue that the game boasts more of a semi-open world than a traditional one; however, through its deliberate use of setting structure and its emphasis on storytelling through diegetic cues, it manages to imbue a sense of vastness in its world that futurePokemontitles might be able to take inspiration from.
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Aionios Versus Paldea
Xenoblade Chronicles 3andPokemon Scarlet and Violetshare an abundance of similarities in their emphasis on sprawling terrain and creatures that inhabit their respective worlds; from the grazingTaurosthat inhabitSV’s grassy plains, to the herds of Ardun that find shelter in the Ribbi Flats ofXC3’s Fornis region, both games exude a sense of exploration through the wildlife that pop up throughout the player’s journey. WhereXC3strays most fromSV, however, comes through its further emphasis of landmarks themselves.
XC3frequently intersperses its terrain from monster-infested areas to colony hubs, the latter being populated by NPCs who help to enrich the world through their side quests and backstories. Finding a colony nestled in the jungle area of the Pentelas region, or walking across the desecrated, rocky lands of the Old Kana Battlefield where corpses and old Levnis machinery lie silent,XC3instills a sense of actual discovery and history in its land. WhileSVcan feel exciting through the uncovering ofrare Pokemon specieshiding atop icy mountains or cavernous cliff sides, its scarcity of cities or other notable landmarks falls a bit flat. Though Paldea did include a few compelling sights, like the Grafaiai inhabited Tagtree Thicket, much of its land felt consigned to organic terrain, a feature that made its open world feel a bit listless by comparison.
XC3’s fleshing out of its world through separate regions helps both from a pacing and performance issue perspective. Imagining the world of Aionios available to the player through just one map would prove incredibly overwhelming; instead, the game maintains its pace through the gradual unfurling of new areas as players progress in its story, making sure to encourage the player to revisit older regions through its abundance of side quests and fast travel points. In a way, it shares a similar format to the Hisui region ofPokemon Legends Arceus,which might be a contributing factor as to whyLegendsran much more smoothly thanSV.
XC3’s structure also helps to reconcile the performance issues that plaguedSV’s release. First, its fixed running pace means that the game doesn’t have to contend with texture pops in and frame stuttering in the same wayScarletandVioletdoes. Second, it doesn’t have to deal with the same rendering limitations inSVthat are most apparent through its feature of gliding onMiraidon/Koraidon; after a certain point, the player is forced to descend, meaning they can’t traverse the full length of Paldea’s region in one go. WhileXC3’s exploration is a bit slower, its area segmentation and compelling terrain means that players can take their time with traversal without feeling like the journey is a slog.
Envisioninga futurePokemongamethat builds upon this structure might make it more conducive to fleshed out world-building. Separating its region into distinct areas could allow it to better emphasize its environment without having to worry as much about performance issues. It also gives the game a better chance to vary its terrain through compelling points of interest. One can imagine a future region’s sea similar toXC3’s Cadensia region, where islands house not just palm trees and sand, but Pokemon dwelling in secret hot springs and NPCs fishing along remote villages.
Of course, whateverreal-life country the nextPokemongeneration takes inspiration fromwill affect the topography at the game’s disposal, but following this structure could prove advantageous for making its world feel more lively. WhilePokemon: Scarlet and Violetwas a good attempt at the open world experience, hopefully the series' next iteration goes a bit more smoothly.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violetare available now for Nintendo Switch.
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