Pros:- Exploring the world (particularly jumping off the many waterfalls)- The world is open and you can choose where you want to go and what you want to do in what order- The Pokémon (of course) including many new ones (especially seeing them walking around as you explore and battle)- New Terastallization feature functions great and looks great too by crystallizing Pokémon and giving them type crowns- Really good story (there are multiple storylines that are all well executed, enjoyable, and have good moral lessons)- Not having to go to a Pokémon Center to access your storage boxes like in previous games so you can use different team combinations more easily- You can swap your Pokémon’s moves for any previously learned moves anytime outside of battle in your general menu- Once you log a Pokémon in your Pokédex, when you battle it again each of your team Pokémon moves will show how effective they are by type during while attacking, while switching between Pokémon, and the differences while Terastallized.- Being able to fast travel to many points once discovered to avoid backtracking (Pokémon Centers, towers, shrines, etc.)- Fast travel is available early for free- Having a storyline-based Pokémon that does actions like moving on water instead of having to use valuable Pokémon move slots- Unlimited TM crafting- Easy to find items running around since they glow- Easy not to run out of money because you can find a lot of items by just running around- You can engage in traditional battles or have your Pokémon walk with you and battle/find items quickly- All Pokémon in your party gain experience from battles even if they don’t participate so it’s easier to grow- Weather and day/night changes- You can still do raids solo because NPCs join you- Customizations for hair, eyes, face, socks, shoes, gloves, hats, etc. (although unfortunately you cannot change the eyebrows with the hair together because the latter is a shop and the former is separate in your outfit menu)- Yay good cutscenes- Larry! And Penny! (I honestly can’t recall ever liking Pokémon video game characters as much…great character development and dialogue)- The ending is 100% awesomeCons:- Lack of game balancing and scaling in difficulty levels (they didn’t get it to work well with the open world in time for release and I’d recommend having backup Pokémon to switch to if you become too overpowered for an area and it becomes too easy…not even referencing the challenger who was about level 14 outside the Elite Four)- Long load times (particularly at the school - school mechanics can be done really well in games like Persona/Fire Emblem and improve the games, but that didn’t seem to be the case here)- Far, far, far too many tests/quizzes (school, gyms, Elite Four, etc.) and I honestly didn’t like any of them even though I passed them- Sometimes the environments are repetitive and buggy (nothing like seeing the same color tree/rock for the 1000th time, the tunnel/cliff you’re by suddenly going to a blue screen, or seeing a poor Pokémon half in a wall…I don’t mind simpler graphics, but a lot felt reused and not as aesthetically pleasing as other titles)- Repetitive NPCs with bad designs particularly for battle challengers (at this point I’m convinced more elderly lookalikes attend the school than children, women can only be buff hikers or models obsessed with eyeshadow, and others…there were too few same-age students out in the world like they were supposed to be per the story but those that were there were well done with varying personalities so there should have been more of that but instead the ratios were way off)- Too many annoying characters with cliché and overly long dialogue (not those like Larry and Penny who were amazing, but others like some teachers and gym leaders made me just want to get it over with and get back out to exploring…bad characters seemed worse since some characters are just really well done so you knew the developers/writers could do better)- Lack of interactivity in cities and indoors (for example, you cannot go into buildings that lack doormats, and you cannot interact with random items as much as previous games)- The map can be unclear on path accessibility/elevation which makes it harder to use earlier in the game before you can climb- You are forced to keep wearing ugly school uniforms (shops have sections for tops/bottoms but never sell any, and items in shop windows are often never for sale)- First 2/3 of Area Zero felt repetitive and was a letdown- You select your language for the game but they still use other languages outside the language classroom which can be confusing for people who aren’t good at that- Lack of voiceovers for character dialogue- Shiny Pokémon are easy to miss- Game controls need improvements (lag when moving, lack of accuracy when targeting wild Pokémon to throw balls or attack, sometimes you start sliding/freeze while climbing for no reason, or you dive/drop while gliding which made me miss the better flying sightseeing in Arceus)This is a game that has a great foundation but severely lacked fine-tuning. I’ve played the games since the original red and blue, and I am happy I bought the game. I enjoyed it to the point that I finished the storylines to the credits relatively quickly after launch. However, it seemed like they ran out of time to finish the game (perhaps didn’t want to push the release date and miss Christmas sales). While I just ignored the glitches/laughed at them and enjoyed the game despite them, considering how big the Pokémon franchise is, they should have the budget to make polished games so it’s kind of inexcusable that they are selling an unfinished product. They’ve already released a patch but there are still issues. Maybe (hopefully) they’ll do more patches and this review will become outdated. It’s sad to see something with so many good qualities not reach it’s full potential, but I would still recommend the game because the good it does have makes it truly worth it.