I beat this game twice. Once on my original Switch where the performance was absolutely terrible and again on Switch 2 when I got it. The fact that I was willing to play through it twice says something about how good the core gameplay is even if everything else is a mess.
Pokémon finally went fully open world and you can tackle gyms and story paths in any order you want. No more linear routes forcing you down specific paths. You can chase sparkles on cliff faces or stumble into areas way above your level or warp between icy mountains and beaches whenever you feel like it. Riding Miraidon around Paldea feels great when the game isn’t chugging along at 15fps.
The original Switch version was borderline unplayable at times. Framerate tanked constantly and Pokémon would pop in right in front of you. NPCs moved like slideshows in the distance. It was embarrassing for a major Nintendo franchise. When I replayed on Switch 2 the free upgrade fixed the framerate issues completely which was the right move after shipping it in that state. But here’s the thing. They didn’t improve the graphics at all. Just made it run at a stable framerate.
The Switch 2 version has its own weirdness though. They increased Pokémon spawns so much that the world is absolutely packed with them now. Sounds good in theory but the game clearly wasn’t designed for this many Pokémon on screen. You literally can’t walk five feet without accidentally running into something you didn’t mean to battle. It’s annoying when you’re just trying to get somewhere.
What kept me playing through all the technical garbage was the actual gameplay and story. The three questlines work really well together. Victory Road is your standard gym challenge but with more personality. Path of Legends with Arven actually made me care about a Pokémon character for once. His whole story about his sick Mamoswine and absent parent hit harder than expected. Starfall Street made Team Star interesting instead of just evil team number whatever.
Area Zero at the end is legitimately the best storytelling Pokémon has done in years. The way all three paths converge and you descend into this prehistoric crater with your friends was incredible. The professor twist and the whole time paradox thing actually worked. The story was better than I expected from a Pokémon game even if it didn’t completely blow me away.
Tera raids are fun when they work and the type changing adds strategy to team building. Spent way too much time making sandwiches for shiny hunting which is oddly addictive.
The DLC was decent enough. The Teal Mask takes you to Kitakami which is this Japanese-inspired region with a festival going on. You meet siblings Carmine and Kieran and uncover the truth about the local legend involving Ogerpon and the Loyal Three Pokémon. Kieran’s obsession with Ogerpon and slow descent into being a jerk was interesting to watch. The Indigo Disk continues that story at Blueberry Academy which is this underwater school focused on double battles. Kieran becomes the champion there and you have to take on the BB Elite Four to face him. The battles are actually challenging with competitive strategies. Eventually you go back to Area Zero’s Underdepths and catch Terapagos. The DLC stories were okay but nothing amazing. More of the same gameplay which was fine since that’s what works.
The soundtrack is great with each area having its own theme that fits perfectly. Nemona’s battle theme is still stuck in my head. The art direction is colorful and charming even if the technical execution is awful. These games deserve so much better presentation and we keep buying them anyway. I’m part of the problem since I literally bought it twice.
80 hours across two playthroughs including finishing the Pokedex on all regions the second time. The gameplay loop is genuinely fun and addictive which makes the technical issues even more frustrating. This could have been the best Pokémon game ever if it ran properly and looked like a modern game. Instead it’s good gameplay buried under embarrassing performance even after the Switch 2 fixes.
Still had fun despite everything but Game Freak needs to do better. We shouldn’t have to wait for new hardware just to get a stable framerate.