10 things to know before starting Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Pokémon Scarlet and VioletThis is the original mainline, open-world game of the series. It brings tons of new features to the table and plenty of magic! Pokémon Legends: Arceus while keeping the original formula that makes Pokémon games so fun.

As you take down the many challenges in Paldea — the tough trainers of Victory Road, the massive Pokémon of Path of Legends, and the antagonistic faction of Starfall Street — you’ll explore the gigantic world alongside your companion legendary Pokémon, Koraidon or Miraidon. There’s a lot to do in the game, but we’re here to help.

We have listed some of the tips that we wish we had known before we started playing.

Lock your map so it doesn’t rotate by using the right stick

Map in Pokémon Scarlet Violet It is cluttered with numerous icons. You can lock the map by pressing the R key, but the minimap cannot be locked.

Making sure the map always has north at the top helps navigate Paldea a ton — and will also make you less dizzy.

You can’t jump, but your mount can

In this case, you capture Miraidon and Koraidon. Scarlet Violet respectively) very early on, and the legendary Pokémon offer a huge boon: Unlike previous mainline Pokémon games, you can actually jump up cliffs and ledges with the help of your mount.

You can jump up to grab items that are high above the cliff. Of course, you won’t be able to reach every ledge you see — you’ll need to feed your mount some special sandwiches (with Herba Mystica, obtained from defeating Titan Pokémon) to leap to some of the higher places.

You can catch everything and get rewards

Of course you should try to catch every new Pokémon you see, but as you do, make sure to claim rewards, like Exp. Candy or specialized Poké Balls in the Pokédex for doing so. You can do this by pressing X while on the Pokédex book screen. You access more rewards the more unique Pokémon you catch.

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

For easy rewards, take classes at school

It’s easy to dash out into Paldea right away, but if you revisit your school and take some classes (by talking to the receptionist at the front desk), you’ll be rewarded. You’ll recieve EXP Candy of various sizes from completing midterms and finals in each subject.

Check the wild Pokémon’s levels when you get to a new area

You should first get to know the terrain around you, before jumping into gym and trainer battles. The gyms and areas do not appear in order, so you may find yourself stumbling into a level 50 area while you’re still level 20! We recommend battling a wild Pokémon to see what the level range is like, as you can just run from the battle if you’re outleveled.

You can defeat every trainer.

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

Defeating trainers is important to keep your Pokémon at the right level, but there are also characters wearing suits near Pokémon Centers who will reward you for battling all the trainers in the area. They’ll tell you how many trainers you have to beat when you talk to them.

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

Keep your Pokémon out in Let’s Go mode

New to this game, you can throw your Pokémon out of their ball using the R button and they will auto battle against nearby Pokémon. If your Pokémon has a type-advantage, they’ll make quick work of whatever they’re auto battling against. If they don’t, they’ll take damage. They’ll even retreat to you in fear if the battle goes south.

You can earn crafting and EXP by participating in these battles. Pokémon that walk around with you will even pick up items on the floor, which makes exploring much easier.

Some Pokémon, like Pawmo (Pawmi’s evolution), need to be walked a certain number of steps in order to evolve.

Many tools can be accessed from menus rather than NPCs.

It is now gone that NPCs such as the move tutor or the name rater have been removed from the game. Like in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, you can rename your Pokémon and teach them old moves all from their summary screens.

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

You can climb these towers if you are able to see them, for faster travel points

You can climb large towers made of stone with ladders. These watchtowers serve as fast travel points that you’ll be able to fly back to.

Also, Chest Form Gimmighoul — a ghost-type Pokémon — are typically waiting at the top of these towers. You can catch or defeat these for 50 Gimmighoul Coins, which you’re going to want a lot of (to evolve Gimmighoul).

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

Doormats are allowed in buildings, but you cannot enter them without.

Every building with a doormat in front of it is a shop. If the building doesn’t have a doormat, it’s not a real building and it’s just decoration. (Don’t waste your time trying to enter every shop the way we did, please.)