Topic: Pokémon Legends Z-A

@Late Omg thank you! No one on the Google results suggests to try that and so it didn't even cross my mind of doing it that way. This is amazing, now I can do a full Switch 2 replay after ZA.

@Pizzamorg Glad I could help.

After finishing ZA, it’s safe to say that man, while I know they’re newer, I’d love to see X and Y remakes/ports. They’re such fun games, and I think would definitely sell well. But at this point I’m guessing we won’t get it, especially after the mega data mine 2.0

I got the game.

I may have uh... overestimated my ability to protest Game Freak. I cannot fight that I am a Pokemon fan at heart.

@UpsideDownRowlet I know that feeling

Unfortunately, that leads to Game Freak doing the bare minimum and getting the maximum profits

Honestly other than the terrible buildings, I think it got tons of things done- like the animation for so many mons are so good

I love seeing how eelektross swim in the water it was so cool

@UpsideDownRowlet @Zuljaras the buildings and a bunch of the textures are ass but I'll give them that they seem to have put more effort into the game. There's many places in the city that genuinely look nice, nothing mind-blowing, of course, but this is a massive leap over the state Gen 9 started in. And the game itself is fun so far (feel like I may be about halfway through, I know the final fights levels and I'm roughly around the halfway point of that, at the very least)

I wish ScaVi didn't sell those stupid amounts, they certainly don't deserve it, because it'll be hard for ZA to do more and MAYBE give them the message that, you know, people appreciate better products. If Gen 9 actually bombed we might've had a chance lol

You csn backup all your Pokemon and items like Master balls (by giving them to Pokemon) to Pokemon Home and then reset your game.

It’s exactly what I did and also done threw times now with Sword/Shield over the years.

That is also an option, next to the Pokemon Home one.

@Jeronan,

"You can backup all your Pokemon and items like Master balls (by giving them to Pokemon) to Pokemon Home and then reset your game."

Bit of a correction here, items can not transfer into Pokémon HOME. If you send a Pokémon in that is holding an item, the item stays behind in the game it is from, specifically back to that save's bag. I know that because I tried doing that to send items from Shield to Violet (specifically the Rusted Shield and a few other items), and none of the items transferred with the Pokémon.

Edit: huh. I guess you can do something like transferring items from Sword to Shield but not something like transferring items from Sword to Scarlet since they are different generations. My oopsie, I guess 🤣

@Dom_31 I'm still hoping that they at least see that people like this game and its style. I think if Gen 10 is anything like this, it would sell like hot cakes

There is plenty here I hope they carry forwards. The one thing I hope they don't carry forwards is the combat system. At least not without reworking it from the ground up. I gave it a good 15 hours before I decided I just don't like it, and yeah I just don't like it.

I think the control scheme is part of the problem, but there is just a lot of jank baked into it which makes it feel worse I think. Inputs can sometimes have massive delay with nothing on screen to explain what the delay is, the need to lock on before you can use any moves is oftentimes infuriating because the lock on will sometimes just break, stuff like that etc

I think being able to move your trainer around, and position your Pokemon around (sorta) is well intentioned, but it just sorta clutters the control scheme and doesn't offer enough value in return to make it worth it (you only really need to think about this in boss battles, in regular battles it doesn't matter at all basically).

I also feel like while it may betray somewhat the reason this combat system exists, I kinda wish they'd slow it down, or at least give you the option to put it on a lower speed. Sometimes you will get your doors just absolutely blown in here and it happens at such an insane clip you don't have a single second to process what even happened.

It is funny, cause in an earlier post I praised this for being the first Pokemon that actually made me want to use debuff, and buffing skills, but I'm realising there are even less uses for these than in the turn based games. Combat is so insanely fast, there isn't time to stack some buffs and go for a big attack, or besiege the opponent with debuffs. If you are critical of the old games and finding that one OP move and just spamming it until the enemy team is defeated, this in some ways makes that even worse, as you'll find the best way to win regular battles at least during the story is finding the four lowest cooldown moves your pokemon can do and spamming those until your wrist aches. About the only thing that matters in this combat system is who gets a hit in first, which makes combat more mindless than if it was just turn based.

Experienced my first Mega-Evolution and caught every Pokémon in the first six wild zones. Just taking my time and enjoying the game.

Not all items I know, but I have transferred Pokemon holding a master ball for example. That is why I now have like 5 Master balls on my last save.

Yea, I gotta say, I would actually rank the graphics as “nice” overall on the Switch 2.

Nothing crazy, but relatively pleasant. The animations are above average for me, and some of the interiors and vistas can be pretty.

(Really trying to hedge my language lol)

Well..I just spent a couple minutes floating in mid air two stories up while a pokemon attacked me by sticking its head through the side of a building. 😆

14 hours in and that was the only major glitch I have seen but it was a kinda impressive one.

@OmnitronVariant yeah, the battle system beats the traditional turn-based battles in terms of strategizing, I think, even if it lacks the depth of team building in vgc/doubles.

I've reached the point where you can unlock the two star restaurant gauntlet and it's BRUTAL without building specific counters to certain teams and even individual pokemon if you're just overleveling and brute forcing the fights.
Those have you fight several trainers in a row (first was 3 teams, second is five, apparently it goes up to TEN) without healing during or in between battles outside of held items and moves that heal your pokemon.
It's pretty fun.

I'd argue the game in general becomes waaaay more involved after hitting rank F, they offer more mega fights in between chapters, LONGER chapters/story missions, there's actual dungeons now apparently. The game really lulls you into a sense that it's just flipped legends Arceus but the general structure/gameplay gets very engaging after that point. And then you get the really fun, more involved battle mechanics that start to open up on top.

I'll repeat what I said about the graphics but the game is really surprising me with how well designed it is and the only real downside in that regard is that I already wish Luminose was just a little bigger. I already got all regular Cannari plushies through exploring and there's not really surprises in the city itself at this point, but I also don't think I unlocked all wild zones and I feel like there's gotta be something more beyond "what you see" after reaching rank D and doing that mission.

I always thought Arceus is a bit overhyped - even though it was pretty fun overall - but ZA is legitimately a goodass videogame, imho.

@OmnitronVariant Ah good to know it slows down later on. I think I am about to fight the guy who ranks you up to D (the big muscle dude?). So I'll see if fights get better after him as right now they are just a pure mindless spam fest, zero strategy whatsoever.

@Pizzamorg I love the battle system but I do agree with you for main gens I think I would prefer standard turn based. Also if they bring the new system to main gens then there is nothing to differentiate the Legends series.

I have the exact same feeling. I also thought Legends:Arceus was overhyped. It was fun in the beginning to have these large open areas to freely roam in, with true 360 degree movement, which was still restricted in Sword/Shield at that time ( except the two later DLC areas ).
But it just turns into a gimmick real quick, since the areas were just large and boring with little surprise and interest.
So I quickly got bored and never managed to reach the end.

For me, I like the more condensed area of Lumiose City in Legends:ZA with all its verticality, hidden nooks and cranies. You also don' unlock access to everything (including two undisclosed areas as to not spoil anything) until much further into the game.

The later wild areas also get a bit bigger and more interesting with verticality. Though, some early Wild areas had also some nice veritically too.

Also, I think is a big general misconception, is that there are plenty of Wild Pokemon outside the wild areas (especially later on in the game and when you unlock more roof and "other" access) you can catch and some Pokemon cannot even be found in the wild areasm, but outside of it, like certain roof tops and "other" areas.

So all in all, for me, Legends:ZA is better and way more fun for me and I cannot wait what they will add in new content, areas and more Pokemon with the upcoming Mega Dimensions DLC.
I think, after that, they game is really going to open up.