Editor's note: As the headline suggests, this article discusses late-game spoilers for Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Ask me what my favourite thing about Pokémon Legends: Arceus is, and I can give you a non-exhaustive list. Being able to catch Pokémon without engaging them in battle. Having actual, proper sidequests with rewards. Shiny hunting is actually fun and relatively easy! And oh gosh, help, I’m being chased by a hulking great Steelix 40 levels higher than my team and there’s nothing I can do except run.
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That last point is probably the biggest reason I love Legends: Arceus so much; there’s always an imminent sense of danger and adventure lurking around every corner. Hisui is not meant to be a safe and cosy space like other Pokémon settings, and that feeling carries right through the entire game, even to its gauntlet of final bosses.
While your goal is to document the Pokémon of Hisui, calm the Noble Pokémon of the region, and fill out the Pokédex, you’re also helping people understand what Pokémon are. All of that means you’ll have to brave and battle the toughest Pokémon out there. And while the credits might roll after you tame all the Nobles and catch Dialga and Palkia, this isn’t the end of the game. Look, it’s called Legends: Arceus not Legends: Palkia.
One significant friend you make along the way is Volo, a merchant from the Ginkgo Guild who loves nothing more than history. And he’s the impetus to solving some of the world’s biggest mysteries. He scours ruins and follows you throughout the game, deeply interested in your actions and the various Plates you end up collecting. And, after the credits roll, you and Volo team up to gather the rest of the Plates, ancient tablets with historical writings which, crucially, are linked to Arceus.
It’s here that Volo reveals he’s totally been using you. He’s already summoned Giratina, and it’s the reason all the Noble Pokémon have been going crazy and why you’re stranded here. And with Giratina, he wants to draw out Arceus and recreate the world. Hmmm, I’ve not heard that from any JRPG villain before.
This is the set-up for what is one of the series’ toughest battles, and each phase challenges your mastery of Legends: Arceus’ many tools. Have you been maintaining your team’s levels throughout the game? Have you mastered their moves using Mastery Seeds so you can use Strong and Agile Style attacks? Have you been giving your Pokémon Grit to boost their Effort Levels and, in turn, permanently boost their stats? And, when you get to the very, very final stage (which you’ll have to work for), how good at dodging and throwing are you?
Volo is no pushover, and his team reflects that. His resemblance to Cynthia, the Sinnoh region’s champion, isn’t a coincidence. His team is largely composed of the same ‘mons Cynthia uses in Pokémon Platinum’s post-game: Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss, Lucario, Garchomp, and (in place of Milotic, missing from this game) Hisuian Arcanine, each at level 68.
The fight was really just a battle of attrition...Bring your best moves out, swap, heal if you need to, and strike when you can.
It’s an extremely solid lineup, covering all types of weaknesses, and this is likely the first team of six you’ve had to face all game.
I looked at my own team as the battle started and Spiritomb sat opposite, taunting me. At least, unlike my kid self, I could use a Fairy-type move. But with Decidueye out, I didn’t have any weaknesses Spiritomb could likely exploit, so I stuck it out. Then came Togekiss, a Pokémon with extremely high health and an Air Slash that one-shotted my starter. Ouch.
The fight was really just a battle of attrition, as many Pokémon battles are. Bring your best moves out, swap, heal if you need to, and strike when you can. And luckily, I had counters to basically everything – only Garchomp, after my Mamoswine was KO-d, was a mild threat. But Braviary’s immunity to Ground-type helped there.
Eventually, the battle of ideals – of learning to live with the world and with the Pokémon as they are now, versus the desire to change and remake everything – wasn’t over yet. Volo had a seventh Pokémon up his sleeve: Giratina.
With two Pokémon unconscious and a third below half health, I was thrust into another battle without time to heal. Is one Legendary Pokémon easier to deal with than a team of six? Oh, you know the answer to that: No.
I had to at least bring Decidueye back to full health, but I’d forgotten to pack my Max Revives, so I had to settle for sacrificing Braviary as I got my Starter Pokémon back to half health with a Revive and some Potions. Fortunately, Shadow Force is only decently powerful, with its main benefit increasing the chance your team won’t hit Giratina.
Using that to my advantage, I chipped away at the Legendary’s health as I brought Decidueye up to full health, and unleashed some Agile and Strong Style Leaf Blades and Psycho Cuts. It probably helped that Giratina wanted to use Earth Power a lot, which is totally useless against Decidueye.
So I managed to wrangle my way through in decent-ish fashion, before another phase kicked in. This was more of the same, but as the cherry on top of an excellent iced cake of endurance, it was a much-needed victory lap. Was this the end of the game, though? Of course not. As brutal, tiring, and rewarding as that fight was, there was still one more obstacle waiting for us: Arceus.
I had the Azure Flute and I proved to Volo I was worthy, but I’d completely forgotten that I had to complete the Pokédex. So cue me scrambling around the regions, checking my ‘dex, talking to Laventon, and forcing my Pokémon to love me so I could fill in all the gaps just so I could walk up the sparkly staircase and face the ultimate challenge.
Now I could prove myself to the Poké God, the Alpha Pokémon, in the ultimate “Noble” battle. Remember what I said about dodging? You need that here. And you need to be near-perfect at it.
Arceus is frustrating and challenging but also incredibly rewarding to take on. I don’t love the Noble fights, which involve dodging large Pokémon by rolling and running, then throwing balms to calm them down. They’re a little clunky and the camera is not my best friend. And with Arceus, both of those things bit me on the arse multiple times.
But you’re fighting 'God', for goodness' sake. You’re fighting the Pokémon which all other Pokémon come from. You’re proving yourself after documenting every Pokémon in the Hisui region. You got this far – surely you can overcome this?
Legends: Arceus is all about overcoming challenges, about documenting a new world, taking on things you’ve never seen before, and engaging in new mechanics. It’s also about proving that people and Pokémon can live in harmony, which culminates in you beating the person who wants to remake the world in his image and the very Pokémon that created said world. It is the most JRPG Pokémon has ever been, and even with its wrinkles, the game is so much better for leaning into the mysteries, danger, and hope that an unfamiliar world brings. And now I have the Alpha Pokémon at my side (read: In my Pastures).
Legends: Z-A has a pretty tall task to match that marriage in gameplay and themes, though it does maintain one of those throughlines – the attempt at people and Pokémon living together. I don’t think I’ll get to fight 'God' again, and I don’t think the challenge of Arceus will be matched, but I do think I’ll be able to build a world where harmony exists, just as I paved the way with Arceus.
What do you think of Legends: Arceus' final gauntlet? Have you completed the Pokédex and caught the titular 'mon?