Pokemon Scarlet and Violet previews are coming in today, and multiple sources have confirmed that Gen 9 breaks two major traditions when it comes to tall grass and trainer battles, giving up the former and removing the iconic line-of-sight mechanic for the latter. Tall grass has been the only way to initiate encounters with wild Pokemon throughout the series for a long time, and later was accompanied by overworld encounters, meaning that walking into a critter in the wild will initiate a battle there and then.

Tall grass encounters were always random, and the only ways to manipulate the outcome were things like weather conditions, time of day, or some held items. On the other hand, another long-standing staple of the franchise is the fact that AI-controlled trainers would always initiate a battle with Pokemon players when they entered their line of sight for whatever reason, forcing a confrontation on the spot. Typically, these trainer battles would occur while traveling on the routes between Gyms or major locations, and they retained their line-of-sight mechanic in Gen 8 too.

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According to the previews for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Gen 9 will no longer feature tall grass anywhere, meaning that players will only encounter wild Pokemon in the overworld. Pokemon Legends: Arceus contradicted this tall grass rule already, to the point that Pokemon didn't hide there for trainers to randomly encounter them, but players could even use it to sneak up on Pokemon. This mechanic won't be present in Gen 9 games, but tall grass will be gone all the same.

Furthermore, previews also confirm that players can still battle enemy trainers, but they can do so at their own pace. In fact, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's trainer battles won't be initiated by the AI when players cross their line of sight, but rather each trainer in the overworld will have a symbol on their head showing that they are up for a battle. This is likely intended as a way to not disrupt the players' exploration of the open world of Gen 9, leaving it up to them if they want to start a battle and when to do it.

Despite the fact that these changes were likely implemented in order to make the overall experience smoother, both tall grass encounters and AI trainers starting battles when spotting the player were iconic features of mainline Pokemon games. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's free exploration is where a good chunk of the effort seems to go in, as these are the first games to have a fully open world, whereas Gen 8 and Pokemon Legends: Arceus only came with free roam areas.

It should be noted that not challenging those AI-governed trainers right away could result in players missing some of these battles along the way unless there's a way to see pending encounters on the map. Still, even if Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are getting rid of old features, the games are seemingly packed with new and exciting things to try, such as the co-op mode and Tera Raid Battles.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are set to release on November 18, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.

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Source: Serebii.net