One of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's biggest strengths are their story. The player's journey through the Paldea region is one of the most memorable in the franchise’s history. With three different routes to explore, a fourth once those have been completed, and the multitude of classes players can take, the many characters of Paldea are given more than enough time to shine.
Some of these stories are more spoiler-sensitive than others, but each has its twists and turns to keep players engaged throughout their time with Scarlet and Violet, arguably more than any Pokémon games other than perhaps Black and White. It is certainly clear that the ninth generation has taken the most novel approach to storytelling out of any mainline entries, as previous games would have included all three elements of the narrative in one linear storyline. However, with open world gameplay likely being Pokémon's future, players can now prioritize certain quest lines, a feat that admittedly would have been easier if Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had proper level scaling.
Victory Road Is A Traditional Pokémon Gym Challenge
Almost every Pokémon game has a gym challenge, or at least something that is effectively the same thing. As with every other gym quest, players are tasked with defeating the eight Gym Leaders before taking on the Elite Four, all of whom are specialized in a certain type. By defeating the Elite Four, trainers then have to take on the Champion. In this game, multiple players can be given the Champion rank, but Geeta, otherwise referred to as La Primera, serves as the final boss for this storyline the same way more traditional Champions would.
Nemona is the player’s rival and appears throughout this storyline. Unlike the annoying rivals in the last few Pokémon games, Nemona is a Champion-rank trainer who does an Ash Ketchum-esque reset to battle the player with a weaker team, giving her a canonical reason to not be the toughest opponent early on. Most of the Gym Leaders are pretty forgettable this time around, with the challenges they give players before battles being the easiest they’ve ever been. That being said, some of them are pretty fun, like playing Where’s Waldo? with Iono or snowboarding before facing Grusha.
By far, Larry is the best Gym Leader, a Normal-type expert who treats his title as a dead-end office job. Game Freak must've known he's a great character, because he returns as part of the Elite Four, with a boss-mandated Flying-type team to make things more exciting. The battles were actually challenging this time, certainly more than Sword and Shield's worst Gym Leaders. Between the Paldean Gym Leaders, BDSP’s Elite Four and the final fight against Volo in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the series might finally be getting more challenging after years of fans hoping.
Starfall Street Twists Pokémon’s Evil Team Formula On Its Head
Every Pokémon game has an evil team of some kind, though in the past few generations these teams have just been delinquents rather than organised crime syndicates that seek world domination. Team Star is no exception to this modern rule, though unlike Team Yell, Paldea’s resident hoodlums actually have personalities and motivations beyond just being vandals. These characteristics do very much add to the opinion that Pokémon's evil teams aren't really evil anymore. To begin Starfall Street, the player saves Penny from Team Star grunts. After she expresses her thanks, the player returns to school and their phone is hacked by Cassiopeia, who wants to enlist their help with Operation Starfall. Effectively, that's just bringing down the evil team. Director Clavell overhears the conversation between Cassiopeia and tells the player to not speak so loudly on the phone. And thus, the Starfall Street storyline is officially underway.
When the player arrives at their first Team Star base, they encounter a mature, pompadoured student named Clive, who bears a striking resemblance to Director Clavell. He offers to help with Operation Starfall. As each of the evil team’s type-themed squads are brought down, flashbacks show that the group are not the violent delinquents they initially appear to be, but victims of bullying. They formed Team Star to present a united front against their bullies, making them one of Pokémon's best evil teams due to how sympathetic they are. It’s clear that the school had a massive bullying problem, and this was one way of dealing with that, but whether the end justified the means is difficult to say.
Director Clavell eventually reveals himself to be the boss of Team Star, though it’s pretty obvious that he’s not behind everything, and he's covering for a student. After beating him in a battle, he admits this. A final confrontation in the schoolyard reveals that Cassiopeia was none other than Penny, who is revealed to be the boss of Team Star in the least surprising twist reveal in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. She thinks things have spiraled out of control - thus Operation Starfall - but Clavell sees their bond and asks them to turn their bases into training facilities. It’s surprisingly heartwarming to see them get a happy ending. All in all, Pokémon's Team Star are a red herring, with the real threat becoming apparent in another storyline.
Path of Legends Is Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s Best Storyline
Early into the game, the player is introduced to Arven, the Professor’s child who initially comes off as rather abrasive. He has a clear dislike for the Koraidon or Miraidon that accompanies the player, and asks for their help in beating the Titan Pokémon found around Paldea. Defeating these Pokémon allows Arven to acquire the Herba Mystica. At first, his purposes for doing this are kept from the player, but it’s revealed that he is simply trying to help his Mabosstiff recover from an injury it obtained when searching for the Professor led to a fight with a feral Pokémon in Area Zero.
Area Zero is fully unlocked in Scarlet and Violet's postgame, normally off-limits to students due to how dangerous it is. The storyline ends with Arven battling the player to see if they are ready to go to Area Zero in order to reach the Professor, who has periodically been contacting the player throughout the Path of Legends storyline. Arven himself is an interesting character with realistic thoughts and feelings in comparison to many previous Pokémon characters, with his troubled relationship with his parent being especially relatable. This makes his storyline a real standout in Scarlet and Violet.
The Way Home Is A Brilliant End To Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Once all the storylines have been completed, The Way Home is unlocked to conclude the narrative, and is primarily a continuation to Path of Legends. As part of this final storyline, the player and Arven recruit Nemona and Penny to help explore Area Zero and find the Professor. Area Zero is home to Scarlet and Violet's Paradox Pokémon, frenzied creatures from a different time. In Scarlet, they are from the past, but they’re from the future in Violet. It was one of these Paradox Pokémon that injured Arven’s Mabosstiff, and the quartet have to defeat these powerful foes. Eventually, the group reaches the bottom of Area Zero, and they find the Professor.
Except it’s not the Professor - an AI identical to the Professor now presides over the Professor's lab. The real Professor died at the hands of a Paradox Pokémon. Their research into time travel brought the Paradox Pokémon to the present, and the AI now maintains their time machine. However, it has become sentient and wishes to shut down the time machine to preserve Paldea’s diverse ecosystem from being destroyed. These twists make Scarlet and Violet's story feel mature like Digimon or Persona - almost. However, the AI's sentience is overridden when the player attempts to turn the time machine off, leading to an epic battle for the fate of the Paldea region between the player’s Koraidon and Miraidon and the Professor’s Pokémon of the same species.
Overall, the story in Scarlet and Violet is a promising step up for the series. With real stakes and some genuinely emotional moments, the bar has been raised for the next entry, or the very probable DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Hopefully, the latest games have set a new standard for the series moving forward.