Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Punishes Fans For Being Filthy Casuals

Apparently, it’s possible to fail the Elite Four interview

A Pokemon trainer is bonding with Fuecoco.
Screenshot: NIntendo / Kotaku

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is school-themed in almost every way, including the Pokémon League challenge. Except there’s one curveball once you collect all the badges: You have to pass a job interview. I passed by answering conservatively, but tons of other players are failing the test for the most bullshit reason imaginable: They answered honestly.

Once you’ve beaten eight gym leaders and received their badges, you’ll be allowed to challenge the Pokémon League. It’s all very standard stuff all the way from the beginning of the series. Sometimes they’ll toss you a few curveballs, like letting you challenge the Elite Four in any order in Sun and Moon. Or you’ll meet a few more opponents in Sword and Shield. But in Scarlet and Violet, you have to answer some interview questions before you can battle. Sounds simple, right? Wrong.

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Players report that they could fail the Pokémon League test by telling Elite Four member Rika that they were taking the challenge for fun. Having fun battling Pokémon? How dare you. Clearly, you don’t deserve those shiny gym badges. There are so many trainers out there who wish they could be in your position, and you dare to take battling lightly? This situation would be funny if answering “incorrectly” didn’t prevent you from taking the League challenge.

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One player compared the interview to the stress of real-life job interviews. Another pointed out that the game was incentivizing players to lie about their motivations. I think the bigger issue is that games with multiple responses often don’t penalize you for choosing between multiple valid answers. You could be thinking that “Just for fun, I guess…” was a perfectly valid answer, only to be told NO FUN ALLOWED. Personally, I think Rika shouldn’t have monetized her interests.

I know better than that. Unlike Rika, I’m a fun person. I would never mix my personal interests with something that I do for a living… ha… ha.

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