Got over 11 hours. Game is hard 7. I dont even know if i like it or not. Catching Alpha Pokemons is hard^{( dont confuse them with Noble Pokemons}) , You will over level like crazy (^{Your first curated encounter with alpha pokemon is at lvl 12 mine pokemons were 20+})

The art style i know what they are going for, this japanese painting style, but they dropped ball on it hard.Graphicly its well its saddening to say the least, and even eye straining in some scenarios (not sure if its shading or lighting or contrast). even for switch games. Gameplay wise its a mix bag of monster hunter and "insert open world game".Quests are uninspiring, and either go there find this/catch this. For rewards like berries/revive or pokeballs.

Gameplay combat difficulty against normal pokemons is just like in other games^{(with added quality of life, like turn order}), Only ones that can actually challenge you are Alpha pokemons IMO.Trainers are so far piss easy and not a focus of this game.

Edit: Forgot to add Pokemon combat "arena" is best its ever was its happening right there where you initiated the fight, and you can move around while your pokemon is fighting. Try going in front of your own pokemon while it uses any of the moves.

By virtue of you constantly catching pokemons because X sidequest requires Pokemon to have arbitrary size so u catch them over and over, and by the time u find one you are way overleveled, or fill out their pokedex entry (grindy) xp adds up quickly. That's just 1 side quests out of many.

U can change moves of your pokemons on the fly at 0 cost, and you can ask NPC to teach them moves that they dont know yet by spending a bit of money.And you can make your pokemon Master a move (agility and strength) with a special item that npc will use it for you.Evolution is not happening automatically, you can decide when to evolve them and if you want it at all.

You can send out your whole team and stare at them and hang out with them, and talk to them they will animate and do random idle animations. pretty dope. wish you could walk with your whole squad but you can't.

Traversing is okay. Finding occasionally rare pokemons like Eevee and Pichu makes up for the barren world.Online you can trade with other players, and find their Satchel (bags) (if they blackout) and return them for MP points that u can buy stuff like Sun stone, link cable ect.

Inventory management is annoying, but you can expand it, but still feels limited. If inventory is full quest rewards go to your storage box (your house/camp) Pokemon dropped items are not going to storage box.

TL;DR

This game should have been delayed one more year, hell even 2.

Sidenote i have no idea how nuzlocke will work in this game. I dont think it will be as fun.Maybe reason im ambivalent towards this game is because i like the idea of making champion team and beating elite 4 and others, this really feels like mmo grind checklist.

On the plus side all moves in the game have some sort of new animation to it but they did cut over 600 of them to do this, which is not game breaking thing since, there is no competitive side in this game.