longer.blue

Getting to the end of Pokemon Legends Z-A. Game is good but it's not pulling me in like Arceus had. It feels too much like Arceus and doesn't really do enough to improve on the elements in that game. The story in particular is just middling until you get towards the last third when a new group is introduced. That's when you start seeing the elements of AZ really start to shine a bit more. At the same time, there are a lot of questions being asked but not enough teasing out of why characters are in the position that they are in. There's also a lot of muddy ideas about Pokemon and how they can coexist in the city without needing a trainer. The city feels like it's a good size but also feels kinda sparse. Playing on Switch 1, so I imagine techniques to save on frames and whatnot aren't helping things but I also imagine that it's not THAT much better on Switch 2. There are mechanics that feels wishe-washy in the way I don't expect main mechanics to function. This is mostly about the parkour and traversal mechanics but also the little things that persist still from the DS/3DS games like the Pokemon box system sending things to the last box you looked at vs where you actually want them sent. The way some parts of the terrain are meant to be jumped on automatically vs not is inconsistent. Near the tutorial part of the map, there are boxes that the player are meant to run up, since they are lacking the singular traversal mechanic, but similar boxes in other parts of the game absolutely DO NOT allow you to run up them in anyway. There are also a lot of planks to run across that constantly try to push you off the side if you're not perfectly center, and that can be frustrating early on. I WISH you can do more without summoning pokemon. That was the CORE LOOP that I loved so dearly from Arceus. During pokemon boss battles, I would NEVER pull out my pokemon to try to capture or calm pokemon. And the mechanics of trying to dodge attacks while keeping space was a joy to experience. In Z-A, it's that but you know of the loose mechanics of trying to position your pokemon, send out attack, loose lock on because you're player character can still get hit since they are the focus instead of your pokemon, struggling to get lock-on again because the rogue pokemon isn't QUITE in the right view of the camera for the reticle to activate, have to dodge out of the way of stuff again, finally get the lock on to send a pokemon attack and IMMEDIATELY have to dodge again because the player character is pulling the aggro, not the pokemon. It's a lot of handle and the mechanics aren't fast enough to keep up. And if you have a large Alpha Pokemon, it can get worse since the ridicule also doesn't work if there is terrain or an object between the camera and the enemy Pokemon, so that means you own Pokemon can block you're lock-on. I don't remember that ever being a problem in Arceus. Music is so good and moody in a way that feels like Phantasy Star Online and that's ALWAYS a good thing to be compared to. I love that the city is filled with weirdo and freaks but it never goes past their quirks. So the side quests get pretty boring as a result. There is a few side quests that lead into each other but that don't amount to much for anything outside of "haha, this is silly". Too many side quests are also battle tutorial mechanics to teach the player "hey, this is how status moves work" or "held items can help pokemon in battle". A lot of these quests also don't become available until pretty late into the game so why do I need to learn that pokemon can self destruct themselves before the final arc of the story? The game loves to ask questions about people and pokemon and how they can live together without causing major rifts and conflicts, like a lot of these games always do, but then doesn't really investigate what the conflicts are and who determines what the problems are in the first place. Pokemon are magical forces of nature but also you can ask their opinion of stuff and they understand the humans but not the other way around? You can use Pokemon in battles and that's okay because they love that shit but war is a no-no? What do the Pokemon think about when it comes to massive scaled conflicts? I don't know, but they'll fight in it anyways. There are also questions about redemption and how much does a person have to walk down that path to finally be redeemed but it doesn't really ever grapple with it, since you don't ever see from the characters pov. The main protag focus pulls away from so many more interesting story beats. The final arc is a LOT of spectacle and a lot of a city coming together but only from the named NPCs (that basically amount to being Gym Leaders) and not much from the general population. You do get some opinions here and there from stray dialog but you still don't get a good feel for what everyone actually FEELS in their chest. Everything is still "oh I hope it works out, that'd be cool". Battles suffer from some of the stuff I mentioned before but also is never challenging enough to push the player to try to improve their understanding of the mechanics and improve the team. Leveling up, as usual, is mostly the key to advancing and the game throws SO MUCH exp at the player that I never felt like I lacked in levels. Game was too easy. Some minor gripes, WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE PIN FOR THE MAP? How am I suppose to keep track of what I collected, where certain pokemon are, multiple locations I want to potentially check out but don't want to forget later, etc etc. Wish there was an item like in BotW to put a spot where the player character is standing so that, if I fall down, I can just teleport to that spot and not have to deal with trying to climb up the dumb scaffolding all over again. Not unexpected on the Switch 1, but as I progressed in the game I started noticing WEIRD load-in issues. Used to load in with distance objects but NPCs that I'm right on top of, terrain doing much of the same of not being there and suddenly appearing right next to the player, dusk not being gradual and just POPPING IN like a flash. I like the idea of being able to catch ALL the pokemon in the dex like in Acreus. Missing out on trade pokemon kinda sucks when I'm so close to finishing it (only need 3 more mons). Why are some of the trade evolution pokemon allowed to be Alpha's and catchable but not all of them? Why is there a 999 cap on the mega crystal shards when they are soooo easily collected and, thus, quick to get to the cap? It's REALLY easy to get to the cap especially after you get that one plushie upgrade to max. The Pokedex isn't as interesting as it was in Arceus since there's no attempts to see pokemon do different things this time. It would be nice to see the levels of Wild Zones so you can easily know where to take lower level people to battle train (even though it's probably faster to just use candies at this point). Cool that there are more "areas" than just the city after you do them once, there's nothing there. Discovery is kinda lacking outside of collecting colorful screws. Speaking of Colorful Screws, could I get an item that makes a noise when I'm near one? I have a pokemon cellphone thing, why can't it just make a ring noise? Photo mode needs to let the camera be a bit more divorced from the player's location. Need more ability to shift the x/y axis to get better shots of pokemon and trainer. Pokemon terrain AI is kind jank. Bigger Pokemon get caught up on stuff too easily, when the mechanic to have them teleport is flaky, don't like how much bigger Pokemon can block your view of stuff. Started noticing more and more that if the angle is right, your pokemon can't hit the broad side of a barn. Overall, I think this game is okay. It's a bit of a regression from Arceus's tone and gameplay shake ups, and I'm feeling like I'm going through the Pokemon motions again. I want the Legends series to be more radical than what it has been, even though I LOVED Acreus. Pokemon is starting to feel like slop again, even though it's so so CLEAR how much time and attention and human involvement there has been. The Legends series shouldn't make me feel like I'm going through the motions two games in already. Happy I played on Switch 1 cause I would be more annoyed if I had to pay extra just for small performance gains. Game is okay, it's decent, I've had an okay time. From the franchise that has been the most successful in human history. **shrug**