10 things to know before starting Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Pokemon carmine And the Violet It is the first major open-world game in the series, bringing a lot of new features and a lot of good charm from it Pokemon Legends: Arceus While maintaining the original formula that makes Pokemon games so much fun.

As you overcome Paldea’s many challenges – powerful Trainers on the way to victory, the massive Pokémon of Path of Legends, and the hostile faction of the Street of Starfall – you’ll explore the massive world alongside your legendary companion Pokémon, Corydon or Myridon. There’s a lot to do in the game, but we’re here to help.

Below, we’re listing some tips we wish we knew when starting the game.

Lock your map so it doesn’t spin with the right stick

map in Scarlet Pokemon And the Violet Completely full of symbols. Hold the R stick to lock the large map, although unfortunately there is no way (that we know of) to lock the minimap.

Making sure North is at the top on the map always helps with Paldea navigation – and will also make you less dizzy.

You can’t jump, but your mountain can

You can catch Koraidon or Miraidon (in carmine And the Violet respectively) very early on, and Legendary Pokémon offer one big boon: unlike the previous mainline Pokémon games, you can actually jump over cliffs and ledges with the help of your mounts.

If you see things on top of a cliff, try jumping to reach them. Of course, you won’t be able to reach every ledge you see – you’ll need to feed your mountain some special sandwiches (With Herba Mystica, obtained from defeating a Titan Pokémon) to jump to some higher places.

Pick it all up (duh) and claim rewards for doing it

Of course you should try to catch every new Pokemon you see, but as you do, be sure to claim the rewards, such as Exp. Specialized Pokédex candies or Poké Balls to do this. You can do this by pressing X while on the Pokédex Book screen. You can access more rewards as you catch more unique Pokemon.

Image: Game Freak, The Pokémon Company/Nintendo via Polygon

Take lessons at school to get easy rewards

It’s easy to get out to Paldea right away, but if you go back to your school and take a few lessons (by talking to the receptionist at the front desk) you will be rewarded. You will get EXP Candy in different sizes of Complete the midterm and final semesters in each subject.

Check the levels of wild Pokemon when you reach a new area

Before you dive into trainer and gym battles, test the waters around you a bit. Gyms and areas don’t appear in order, so you might find yourself getting stuck in a level 50 area while you’re still at level 20! We recommend fighting wild Pokemon to see what the level range is like, as you can only run from battle if you’ve exceeded the level.

Fight every boss you see

If you’ve done the advice above and everything seems safe, talk to every trainer you see and fight with them. Trainers who want to fight will have speech bubbles over their heads and their Poké Balls will sparkle every now and then.

Defeating trainers is important to keep your Pokémon at the right level, but there are also characters in suits near Pokémon centers that will reward you for fighting all the trainers in the area. They will tell you how many coaches you have to beat when you talk to them.

Image: Game Freak, The Pokémon Company/Nintendo via Polygon

Keep Pokemon outside in Let’s Go mode

New to this game, you can throw your Pokémon out of the ball with the R button and they will automatically fight against nearby Pokémon. If your Pokémon have a type advantage, they will automatically make quick work of whatever they’re fighting against. If they don’t, they will suffer damage. They will even retreat to you in fear if the battle goes south.

These battles offer free experience and crafting tools! Pokemon that roam with you will pick up items on the ground, making exploration much easier.

Some Pokemon, eg Pawmo (Pawmi evolution)You need to go through a certain number of steps in order to evolve.

A lot of the tools can be accessed from the menus, not from the NPCs

NPCs like the name of the resident and the animated teacher are a thing of the past. Exactly as in Pokemon Legends: ArceusCould you Rename your Pokemon And the Teach them ancient movements All from the summary screens.

The latter is crucial, as leveling up via automatic battles will skip learning by move, so you’ll need to manually open the Pokémon summary page to teach them this move.

Climb those towers when you see them for faster travel points

If you see a large stone tower with a ladder, climb it. These watchtowers act as fast travel points to which you can return.

Also, Chest Form Gimmighoul – ghost-type Pokemon – are usually waiting at the top of these towers. You can get it or defeat it for 50 Gimmighoul coins, of which you will need a lot (for the development of Gimmighoul).

Image: Game Freak, The Pokémon Company/Nintendo via Polygon

You can enter buildings with doormats, but not buildings without them

All buildings with doormats in front of their doors are shops. If a building does not have a doormat, it is not a real building and is just decoration. (Don’t waste your time trying to get into every store the way we did, please.)