Pokémon Legends: Arceus has made Shiny hunting easy with new mechanics, but it could affect the playability of the upcoming Scarlet and Violet.
While catching Shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is less difficult than in past games, the changes to mechanics could ruin Shiny hunting in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. To help fill the massive, open-world-inspired maps of Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Hisui region, Pokémon species can be found in the overworld, both as normal and Shiny versions of every available variety. However, the spawn mechanics, mixed with new Shiny hunting boosts, makes the hunt too easy, and these mechanics could impact future games.
Shiny hunting has become a staple of the Pokémon series in the past decade. What had once been a late-game challenge or random surprise has become one of the primary reasons many fans play the games (or at least stick with them for the long term). Because of this, each new Pokémon game has featured Shiny mechanics more heavily, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus has taken the inclusion of Shiny hunting to new heights. Players can almost immediately begin improving Shiny encounter odds after starting the game, and certain mechanics make bumping into a Shiny almost inevitable, instead of requiring players to engage in a difficult challenge to find them.
To boost Shiny odds in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, players can fill out Pokédex entries, obtain a Shiny Charm, or simply visit Mass Outbreaks that appear randomly throughout the Hisui region. Mass Outbreaks have the best Shiny odds in the game, offering players a potential 1 in 158 chance without any additional items or boosts. With a Shiny Charm and a Research Level 10 Pokédex entry, these odds can be as low as a potential 1 in 128. While the increased Shiny spawn rates in Pokémon Legends: Arceus might be good news for fans not wanting to grind for an alternately colored favorite species, it could also create problems for the upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet gameplay, taking away challenges that could boost an open-world experience.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which were announced on Pokémon Day 2022, will lead the franchise into Generation Nine of the Pokémon series. The reveal for the new games, which will be released late in 2022, also included confirmation that they will be a true open-world, with players able to freely explore a vast landscape filled with Pokémon species. Because the announcement came so soon after the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it is likely several of the mechanics seen in Hisui will make their way into the new region. This could potentially be bad news for Shiny hunting in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Because Shiny hunting is meant to be an end-game challenge, using it as a key feature in any Pokémon game can quickly become boring and repetitive. The Shiny fatigue impacting Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an example of how the Shiny mechanics can negatively affect long-term playability, and take away from the development of other crucial mechanics for an open-world game. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Shiny hunting seems to be more important than the side quests that have been added to the game, and even it can even overshadow the main plot. Because of this, many aspects that could have made Pokémon Legends: Arceus a groundbreaking title for the series have fallen short, leaving the end-game empty and lacking in long-term playability.
If Pokémon Scarlet and Violet keep the same type of focus on Shiny hunting, players will likely be able to start improving Shiny odds right from the start of the game. It is also possible new easy-to-access Shiny hunting methods will also be added, making Shiny hunting more of a mini-game than a special challenge. This could take away from the development of a deeper plot needed to flesh out a true open world, or even potentially stunt the narrative style of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and its new NPCs. While Shiny hunting is fun, the opportunity to add to the Pokémon series with new mechanics needs to come first in order to ensure the upcoming games are interesting and engaging for players.
However, Pokémon Violet and Scarlet can avoid many Shiny hunting issues found in Pokémon Legends: Arceus by bringing back past classic Pokémon mechanics. In titles like Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Shiny hunting is done through Chaining. This process requires players to encounter and knock out the same Pokémon in succession. Running from the Pokémon, or leaving an area, will break the Chain, forcing the player to start over. The more encounters players successfully Chain, the better the Shiny odds they have for that specific species, increasing the chances of finding the Shiny they are looking for.
Chaining incentivizes players to finish the Pokédex for the Shiny Charm, which significantly boosts base Shiny odds, and makes the process much shorter. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet could also mix Chaining with the base encounter number boost seen in Pokémon Sword and Shield, where players get a Shiny boost for battling a certain number of the same species in a row. By stacking Chaining, Pokémon's Shiny Charm, and the number of total encounters engaged in, the odds would improve even further, but not without dedicated work from the player.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet should also avoid adding a "free" Shiny through quests or tutorials when explaining Shiny mechanics in the new game. Pokémon Legends: Arceus guarantees a Shiny Ponyta encounter for players when they embark on the early quest "A Peculiar Ponyta". Doing so highlights Shiny hunting as a key mechanic in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, instead of letting fans puzzle out the mechanics on their own time. Discovering and unraveling the secrets of Shiny hunting in each new Pokémon title was once part of the challenge Shiny hunters took on when looking for a certain Pokémon. Giving an explanation may be beneficial for those who want a clear-cut understanding of the mechanic, but it removes a large portion of the difficulty that should come with the Shiny hunting process.
While casually hunting Pokémon Legends: Arceus' most powerful Shiny Pokémon can be enjoyable, hopefully Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will bring back some of the challenges from past titles. Additionally, it would benefit Generation 9 to begin steering away from a focus on Shiny hunting as a whole, allowing new and interesting open-world mechanics to take the stage instead. This will help Pokémon Scarlet and Violet stand out among previous titles, and create a fun and engaging atmosphere for players to explore.
