"Pokemon Legends: ZA" A Bit of an Identity Crisis for the Pokemon Legends Series

 

    After about ~50ish hours or so, I can confidently say I've done everything worth doing in Pokemon Legends: ZA (not including collecting all of the final screws or the shiny charm because frankly both are there to just waste me time). I'm going to be honest, when this game first came out, I saw quite a few people dogging on it, and so I tried my hardest to enjoy this game as much as I could when I first started out. The issue is, the haters were kind of right. I'm not saying this is a bad game, but considering it's predecessor, I would call it far from a roaring success, more like a sophomore slump from a franchise that needs to figure out what the hell they want Pokemon to be about, because there seems to be a bit of an identity crisis, let's talk about it.

    Though on a quick tangent I swore I wrote a review for Pokemon Legends: Arceus when it came out and I was going to read it again before writing this one but I can't find it so I guess not. Let me start off with the good, because I think this game actually does some things well. I enjoy the combat system, it feels much more dynamic than the old-school turn based system, and I frankly think all Pokemon games should adapt it from now on, even if they need to rework some old moves/remove them from the game. Ultimately, I think it is a step in the right direction. Even the ZA Royale was a good decision too. It's certainly not perfect. I do think it's pretty funny to watch you climb up over half the ranks in one battle(even if it's the right decision giving how leveling works) and I do think it is repetitive. I mean it doesn't help that you become hilariously over leveled too. I managed to basically level up random pokemon for the pokedex during the main story and my pokemon still felt very strong.

    Even still, after grinding out 14 more of those fights in the Infinite Royale it felt samey but wasn't so mind numbingly boring I gave up. I just think there could have been more care put into it, ways or requirements to rank up that didn't involve battling. It was the big focus of this game, but it wasn't expanded upon enough. I really loved how catching a pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Arceus wasn't the end of the pokedex entry, you had to actually perform actions with the pokemon to record it down. Honestly, the main issue with the fighting is the setting. I'm not saying a setting of a very large city couldn't work, the only issue is the city isn't very large.

    Look, I understand the two Pokemon Legends games are trying to achieve different things, but it's a very hard pill to swallow when you go from multiple very large maps, all with different sections to explore and Pokemon to see, to a very small and crammed city in which all of the Pokemon can be caught with relative ease. Completing the Pokedex in this game was very easy. I understand why the Wild Zone's work thematically, but the entire map is just too small for anything to be enjoyable. You really feel how small it is because the buildings are so flat texture wise, and it's just not very hard to explore the entire city naturally. 

    That's not to say the next Pokemon Legends game has to scrap everything and go back to making Pokemon Legends: Arceus which is in my mind one of the best pokemon games of all time (kind of low bar depending on who you ask but whatever). I'm just asking them to come back with a clearer vision on what they want these games to be about, and how they want them to feel. If this game wasn't limited to just one city, and was a whole map I wouldn't have any of these complaints. I actually kind of enjoyed them expanding on the lore from previous Pokemon games, and learning about all of the residents in Lumiose. But let's just put it this way, I literally spent double the amount of time playing Pokemon Legends: Arceus compared to Pokemon Legends: ZA, and I basically fully completed both games. There's just less to do in this one, and it's so painfully noticeable. 

    Shiny hunting isn't even fun because you aren't just flying around looking down at all the Pokemon in the wildlife, you're just running through some city that's filled with alleys, making the map feel just that much smaller. Not to mention you can hardly go into any buildings other than restaurants. I'm not angry because I think this game is bad, but because it's mediocre. At the very least it can run on my OG switch and doesn't make me want to drop it as soon as I finish it because the frame rate is so bad, but that's such a hilariously low bar to clear. 

Final Score: 60/100

    I am begging them to make exploration the major focus of these Legends Games once again. I mean it is called Pokemon Legends, it should be about exploring and expanding the myths of these legendary pokemon, I don't need it to be in some major city. Like despite battling being such a big focus this game, the final fight is so pathetic, You just fight Red and Blue flower vines basically until you do some Zygarde QTE. Even fighting rogue mega's just puts you in some generic zone, it didn't feel as creative as they could have been setting wise. I did like Zygarde's final fight with you though that actually felt somewhat difficult in terms of trying to keep both yourself and your pokemon safe.