New features, Pokémon released for Scarlet & Violet

Ahoy! Hope you brought a lifejacket because we've got a boatload of new Scarlet & Violet info this week. Anchors away!

Latest Scarlet & Violet trailer breakdown

On September 7, the Pokémon Company released another trailer accompanied by website updates peeling back more layers on the ScarVi onion. You can see the trailer here.

Aside from new Pokémon, we got an overview of the three main quest lines of the story, including a look at the game's baddies. A few new characters made the reveal AND an intriguing new gameplay format for exploring the open world. Description from the official press site:

In Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, players are enrolled in a school that will host an independent study project themed, “A Treasure Hunt.” Three stories will be woven into the player’s adventures while traversing the sprawling Paldea region:

• Victory Road: Players will go to Gyms in different locations to achieve Champion Rank.

• Path of Legends: Upperclassmen Arven will join the player in search of rare ingredients called Herba Mystica.

• Starfall Street: Players will challenge Team Star, a group of delinquents causing trouble for the school.

Plus, check out this sweet new Scarlet & Violet-themed OLED Switch:

Introducing Auto Battles

Not only did we receive confirmation that Pokémon can follow you in the overworld, this trailer also introduce the "Let's Go" feature. This seems similar to the way you could send out Pokémon in Legends Arceus to gather resources (here it seems limited to items), with one addition: these Pokémon can auto battles nearby wild Pokémon.

From the official site: Auto Battles are a new way of battling that can be activated by using the “Let’s Go!” feature. Doing so will send out a Pokémon to battle wild Pokémon without needing orders from its Trainer. Your Pokémon can be sent into an Auto Battle against any wild Pokémon you see on the field, and it can even find Pokémon to engage in Auto Battles on its own.​

When your Pokémon is out and engaging in Auto Battles, you can do what you want—stay by its side to watch over it, or try looking for items nearby. By defeating wild Pokémon in Auto Battles, your Pokémon can also earn items and Exp. Points!

Perhaps related to this is a tantalizing clip from another part of the trailer that potentially shows a multiplayer auto battle occurring.

From this screenshot, we can see a heart floating above the enemy Houndour. A Makuhita is engaging the Houndour on the left, with an Oricorio joining on the right. See that beam of blue light? That's another trainer NOT in the screen sending out another Pokemon to join in. Based on appearances, it seems we've got a multiplayer auto battle against three wild or NPC-owned Houndours. Pretty cool!

All the shiny new Pokémans

Klawf - Ain't nobody making Krabby patties out of this boy. It's ability, Anger Shelly, a brand new one that goes into effect when Klawf's HP hits half or less. Defense and Sp. Def are lowered, but Attack, Sp. Atk and Speed are boosted.

Most interesting is that we see Klawf during the Herba Mystica questline overview. There's a GINORMOUS one that we're told is a "Titan Pokémon." We also get a show of an overworld boss battle-like HP bar. This leads me to believe Titan Pokémon are some cross between the Totem Pokémon of Sun and Moon and Alpha Pokémon of Legends Arceus. No words yet on if we'll be able to catch these mons. Our trusty sidekick, Arven, seems surprised by the size, suggesting that these Titan Pokémon are not regular occurrences.

Armarouge - People are calling this dude Magmortar improved and I have to agree. Exclusive to Scarlet, Armarouge learns a new move called Armor Cannon. From the official site:

"Armor Cannon is a Fire-type special move in which Armarouge moves both its pauldrons to its hands and puts its arms together to form a cannon, allowing it to shoot its own armor out as blazing projectiles. This is one of the more powerful moves that Armarouge can learn, but it lowers Armorouge’s Defense and Sp. Defense stats in exchange for that power."

Ceruledge - You probably guessed this, but Ceruledge is exclusive to Violet. I'm guessing both of these evolve from another Pokémon but there is no info to confirm this yet. Like Armarouge, Ceruledge learns a special move most lilely unique to it: Bitter Blade.

Bitter Blade is a Fire-type physical move that gathers the lingering regrets of the fallen into Ceruledge’s swords, allowing it to focus that bitterness into a slashing attack. The swords then absorb life energy from wounds they made, and the user’s HP is restored by up to half the damage taken by the target.

New characters

Brassius - the Gym Leader of Artazon, a town that’s alive with flowers and art. He specializes in using Grass-type Pokémon and is known as the Verdant Virtuoso.

Interesting note here is that in the trailer, Brassius uses a Sudowoodo that Terastalizes into a grass-type. I've got a feeling we'll see this approach with other gym leaders: using a Pokémon that isn't their type but Terastalizes into it.

Geeta - the chairwoman of the Pokémon League, which operates Paldea’s Pokémon Gyms. Among the region’s Champions, she reigns supreme as the most skilled Trainer of all.

Takeaway here is the plural champions. Does this mean there will be multiple champions who face off in post-game or DLC to decide who's the greatest of them all?

Mela - Mela is the boss of Team Star’s Fire crew, the Schedar Squad. As the team’s best all-rounder, Mela fixes any and every problem thrown her way, though her methods are heavy-handed. She leaves a forceful and gruff impression, but her steadfast devotion to completing anything she puts her mind to has earned her the trust of her teammates.

Based on observations of the world map, it seems Team Star has different bases all over Paldea. From the description above, I gather that each bay may focus on a different type. Remember that machine from the previous trailer? She's riding on it. Not sure it's a Pokémon anymore but there's got to be more about it than we've been told.

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,Derek "all the deets" Siddoway

Question of the Week: Have Armarouge or Ceruledge made you change your mind about which version of the game you'll get?