It’s interesting to see how far open-world games have come. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are not model examples by any means, but they have benefited from decades of innovation and Nintendo’s own prior work with open worlds. Movement on the back of Koraidon and Miraidon take full advantage of the 3D space, doing so in deliberate ways that weren’t always found in every big open-world game as recently as a decade ago. Comparing something like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet unearths a number of interesting points about both games, and highlights how the open-world RPG genre has evolved.
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In Skyrim’s Day, Travel Was Rough But Simple
Back in the day, Skyrim and Pokemon were roughly on par in terms of traversal options. Players could walk through their worlds, or they could mount a horse or bicycle, respectively, to go faster. Skyrim was released during the 5th Generation of Pokemon games, so Hidden Machines (HMs) were still in use. These allowed players to remove certain obstacles, fast travel to visited towns, and move through the water. Nothing there is unfamiliar in Skyrim, even if obstacles that must be broken down are rare.
That brings up the primary difference between Skyrim and more linear Pokemon games at the time. Skyrim has an open world, and thus the expectations of how one can move around are different. Every direction is open to the player, and there are a lot of small stops to make along the way. Horses can be purchased throughout Skyrim as early as the player can afford them, though they don’t open up any new avenues of movement beyond the well-known exploit of climbing steep cliffs. Dragonborn can employ in-universe fast travel systems in addition to their instant travel method, but they have no other methods of moving through the world besides walking or swimming. Pokemon’s environmental interactions had experimented with things like rock climbing in the Generation 4 games, and they would get more complex over time.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Supply More Options with Less Clutter
By the time Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet rolled around, trainers were looking at a suite of movement options based on various Pokemon. The usual fast movement and swimming were still available, but so were climbing up most walls, jumping higher, and even gliding. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet streamlined these options onto a single Pokemon mount, albeit one that needs to unlock its movement abilities. Once again, outside of glitches and exploits, Skyrim has no equivalent.
With the advent of gliders and grappling hooks in open-world games, it has become obvious that vertical travel is as important to consider as horizontal movement. Skyrim has no intended vertical travel to speak of, aside from a DLC Shout that lets players ride on dragons. This is notable, as The Elder Scrolls have had flight and levitation spells up until Morrowind - though in that game Icarian Flight was optional and had to be used carefully. The Elder Scrolls 6 may not make it with just standard horseback travel, and it will be interesting to see what solutions it comes up with, and if it can streamline them as well as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.
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