Topic: Pokémon Legends Z-A

The voiceless lip-synced cutscenes in S/V drove me nuts. They really need to insert some sort of noise when a character is talking.

@JaxonH

"I regret the fact theres no longer gyro aiming for throwing the Pokeballs like in Arceus"

nooooo~

I loved the motion aiming in PLA.

I understand why they changed it — aiming with gyro while also moving around and also keeping track of the annoying timers is maybe just a lot of controls at once. Having aiming be automatic simplifies things.

Even though the change is understandable, I am also sad they removed the gyro capture aiming. I don't usually even like motion controls that much in Switch games, but I thought it was quite fun in Arceus.

@FishyS @Ralizah
I guess that makes sense, about moving and throwing, but it worked in Arceus. I still think having an option to toggle in the menu if you choose to use it would be optimal.

But admittedly the lock-on also works. Im just glad they dont force you to aim with right stick without gyro or lock-on. That would be a nightmare.

They also don't utilize HD Rumble when catching a Pokemon. Granted, they didnt in Arceus either, but ever since Let's Go I fell in love with how it rumbled with the Pokeball bouncing around. It was so cool! And then they never did it again after that.

Seems to be a theme. Every time they introduce something amazing I love, they abandon it for all future entries. The incredible rumble of Pokeballs catching Pokemon in Let's Go should have become a series staple, but nope. Never did it again afterward. Gyro aiming throwing Pokeballs in Arceus should have become a series staple (at least for Legends games), but nope. Refused to implement it afterward.

It's like there's no continuity of vision with the development team. And perhaps that's a result of the issues we heard about, with that one guy being removed and then the next guy also no longer making Pokemon games. All that change in management is probably why games aren't carrying good ideas forward. It's such a shame.

I know these are small complaints, but they're the sort of icing on the cake that really makes the games that much more memorable.

Just finished catching alpha Pokemon for the rest of my team and I'm super satisfied. Only the starter is not Alpha but that's okay.

My team is pretty much: Meganium, Pupitar, Froslass, Dragonair, Excadrill, and Scolipede

All alpha female except for Meganium (male non alpha lol) and it's so much fun seeing how big they are lmao.

So nice to see joggers. I love being in this city.

Good grief. I have virtually no followers and only ever post on X to share various thoughts on games. But this blew up in less than 48 hours, garnering 700,000+ views already! Sheesh! I typically dont even get a response, its usually like talking into the void

Clearly this opinion struck a nerve with a LOT of people lol

I ended up biting on this one and finally my gut instinct was wrong; I'm loving it. I'm so glad they experimented like this and didn't do an Arceus 2, actually. I get it now. Sure presentation is a bit of a mixed bag, but the atmosphere and vibes are there and it feels great to play. Combat is a lot of fun; practically what the anime made it look like way back when I watched that as a kid.

It also looks and runs so smooth on Switch 2 in handheld.

@OmnitronVariant
Ya, I was skeptical myself, particularly with regard to it all taking place in one city. And while I wouldn't want the next game to do the same, I'm actually ok with it for this one game. It provides a different feel, a fresher experience. And it's a LOT more fun than it looked watching gameplay. Actually playing it just grabs you in a way watching gameplay doesnt.

@JaxonH My Twitter feed is a mix of people enjoying the game, and people who have never played the game, who have never had intention of playing the game, latching onto every vague criticism to break into some massive tirade about how trash the game is. Just kinda exhausting honestly. Feels like no game can come out these days without some massive social media hate campaign by people who were never playing the game anyway.

I feel like this image captures the experience, me trying to enjoy my coffee and I look the side of the table and I see...

I was worried about this game too, but I am also really enjoying the vibe and atmosphere a lot more than I expected. I didn't think it would be so fun to explore a city. For me personally I'm not a big fan of the new combat system, but so far it doesn't detract much from the game and I am quite enjoying things overall.

I'm not sure if I would have gotten the game if I hadn't had an expiring voucher but I'm glad I did.

So many little touches just make it an interesting experience. Even forcing you to find which room is yours in the hotel 😆 I am glad I'm playing on Switch 2 though - there are a million loading screens but they are all almost instant. If those are slow on Switch 1 I imagine it is a worse experience.

Damn, you guys are making me want to play.
My physical copy hasn't arrived in the mail yet.
Speaking of which, has anyone here managed to reach Rank K in online battles?

I bought it for 30€, for some reason it's 20% cheaper on switch 2 in Germany, in general, and I had some gift card credit for MM so I decided to bite.

The City is small as hell, objectively, but the game manages to not feel cramped or same-y so far. I actually really like the battle system, enough so to have reached rank G in pvp atm. Not as deep as doubles formats but it has its own flavor of strategizing and what makes a pokemon good for the mode, which is neat.
Warming up a little to the megas I didn't like when looking through leaks, except for the Feraligatr one which still is just ugly and stupid.

Love my player character, customization is great and they have a bit more personality than the other protagonists. Also kind of digging the "rivals" /friend group. Story is a whole lot of nothing but the gameplay keeps me engaged enough.

But... I still think the graphics are a sad affair. Nowhere near as awful as previews and pre release material made me think, there's soem genuinely nice looking spots, but it's still not on the level it should be, given the series' status and what switch 2 - and let's be real, switch 1, too - is capable of.

Level curve feels odd. Started kind of natural, then suddenly my opponents are lv30 before they revert back to 18 and 19.
And there's something that happens fairly early on that makes me feel like the whole "fight your way through the ranks" shtick is STUPID tacked on/a marketing thing because...well, if you know you know but in retrospect that setup around the tournament feels incredibly pointless.

Ironically, the big boss fights against megas are probably the weakest part of the gameplay loop. Just feels...lame as hell so far.

@Rodolfo6493 yeah, takes about half an hour if you know your type matchups and bring at least one pokemon with good coverage online.

There's a mandatory trade early into the story, with that pokemon alone I managed to get to k before I even got a glimpse of mega evolutions in the story.

I know there is a bunch of controversy online around the rank skip thing but I am sorry without this the game would have gotten so boring, and you would have been so burned out.

I'm like Conan O'Brian Clueless Gamer when it comes to type match ups. No idea how people memorize all these weaknesses, effective and super effective and not very effective... I just guess and use whatever, and hope for the best!

@JaxonH It's a heck of a lot easier in turn based where you have a second to think if you want.

In this one it does show what"s effective and not effective luckily

@FishyS It doesn't help that fights feel all over the place in this, you can have like a 20 level variance in what the enemy team levels will be, and it can go up and down randomly. It almost feels like missions should have a scaling difficulty marker based on your average team level, cause I can go from getting my doors absolutely blown off and then wander down the street to the next mission and faceroll an entire team with one Pokemon using the same move over and over, which means I never have any grasp on if I really even like this combat system or if I am getting any better at it.

Really enjoying it so far!

Not a Pokémon person by any means, but hey, I’m old and had Blue on my Gameboy back in the day lol

I love the action combat and snappy summary messages afterwards. I like the simple nature of capturing. Feels like a nice compromise on a lot of things for a person like me who just wants to keep things moving at a quick pace.

The graphics are… not complicated, but also not offensive and it runs like butter on my Switch 2.

@JaxonH if you look closely at the attack menu it'll show you what's effective.

Cross - enemy is immune (normal VS ghost, for example)
Triangle - enemy resists/not very effective
Circle - neutral
Circle with dot in the center - enemy is weak to/very effective

Makes it a little easier to learn, I think. There's also..like, table for it but as someone who DOES know all the interactions between types those always confused me haha