Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Makes a Huge Change to Trainer Battles

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has made a massive change to trainer battles, which could change the way many players engage with the game. Earlier this week, several websites released previews for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, having played a development build of the game for one hour. The previews revealed several new pieces of information about the upcoming Pokemon games, including a massive change to trainer battles in the wild. In every previous Pokemon game, trainer battles were automatically triggered when players came into the line of sight of the NPC. However, trainer battles are now optional, as players will have to engage with a trainer by speaking to them to trigger a battle. 

The optional trainer battles help to emphasize the open world style of the new Pokemon games by emphasizing player choice. However, the mandatory trainer battles have been a hallmark of the series since the first Pokemon games, and players may be disappointed how the new trainer battles impact certain kinds of runs, such as the Nuzlocke style of playing Pokemon games. This also means that players will no longer have to deal with gauntlets of trainer battles when entering a new area.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be set in the brand new Paldea region, which is based on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe. The new games are the first open-world Pokemon games, with players able to explore the region without any set routes to follow. The games will also feature the Terastal phenomenon, a new battle gimmick that crystallizes Pokemon and boosts their attack power related to one specific type of attack. While most Pokemon will have a "Tera Type" that matches one of their two Pokemon types, some Pokemon will have alternate types, which opens up a world of possibility in battles.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be released on November 18th.