Topic: Pokémon Legends Z-A

I just rolled credits. Man, this game really went to some places by the end. Really enjoyed this overall.

Battle system never quite clicked for me fully, but it clicked enough. You could get battles that felt right out of the anime, and when you have the advantage fights are very brief (in a good way), but I still found too often fights descended into a spammy mess, and the mixture of the controls and the weird input delay on everything just added so much needless frustration. While they aren't setting the world alight in terms of rich, boundary pushing mechanics, my favourite battles in this were deffo the Megas. I thought the new combat system shines the brightest there, I feel like they really forced online every part of the system and made it meaningful.

I really hope this isn't the future for the series (without some serious reworking anyway), but it is deffo a huge step up from Arceus, and I'd absolutely take more of those Mega battles in a future games. Just please rework the controls entirely.

With that in mind you would think I would be quite negative about this given how much of the game involves you battling but I dunno, even while being mixed on the battle mechanics, something still worked overall for me about this. It's kinda like SV, the game had so many problems at launch, but maybe it's just nostalgia but there's just something so playable about these games. Just such a strong, addicting, core loop. Catch, level, battle and repeat.

I have a lot less patience as an adult for big bloated open world titles. Feels like every game these days is 12 hours of content and 30 hours of filler. But there is just no real fat to this, the whole experience of this just felt so... frictionless. It never felt rushed, but it never dragged, you were always onto the next thing. Sometimes I may only have half an hour to sit down and play and I felt like I could always achieve something in the time I had, which for a lot of games these days that just isn't true.

And maybe like that is a weird reason to be positive about a game, but honestly being incredibly playable has sorta weirdly become an underrated aspect of what makes a game good these days.

Oh, I also love dress up and loved the strong focus on fashion and player expression, too.

Also looks like there is a bunch of post credits stuff, so I am eager to dive into that.

@Pizzamorg I’ve just finished as well. Loved the game from beginning to end - probably the most fun I’ve had with a new Pokemon game since XY.

Totally agree about the game just being highly playable. By AAA standards nothing here is objectively exceptional…but the game is just extremely fun and always has me wanting more. I’m honestly surprised how low the critics reviewed the game tbh.

Interesting your thoughts on the battle system though - I loved it in its current form. Sure the “casting” times could get a little annoying and I still don’t quite understand them…but yeah, the battles generally were exciting and felt like something from the anime. Interesting you say about the mega fights as these were far and away my least favourite part of the game (I really didn’t like the boss fights in Legends Arceus either).

@Buizel I think the idea is ranged attacks have long wind up while close range stuff could be cast quicker but required your Pokémon go close the gap. It's fine on paper, but oftentimes there'd be no visual indication I'm in a wind up, so I'm desperately trying to switch my Pokémon or use a potion and I'm just locked out and it feels awful. Same with how advantages are tuned, it's a one tap race and of you're the one with the disadvantage forget about it.

I also didn't like the Arceus battles, but I felt like the Megas here were what the battles were meant to be. Things like positioning your trainer, cycling your cool downs, thinking about what moves to prioritise and chain. These battles were the only place I felt like the combat had any strategy. Regular battles it's a high noon fast draw off first to spam the button wins.

@Pizzamorg agree that the wind ups could do with a visual indication. I also didn’t like how the game would seemingly arbitrarily stop me from opening the menu during battles.

As for mega fights being more strategic than regular battles…I honestly had the exact opposite experience. For me the megas were simply getting a Pokemon with super effective moves and spamming those for a few minutes. At least with trainer battles I had to think about which Pokemon to use when they send something out, which moves to use and when, etc…

What do people feel about the ranked battle season? To me, kinda feels like a bit of a chaotic mess with everyone in a small area and the biggest rewards going to those who slip in and steal other people's kills. I can understand people getting very good at it but I dislike it for a lot of the same reasons I dislike online multiplayer shooters.

For me, the mega battles weren't all that different than the Arceus boss battles — just run in circles and dodge everything and kill the boss at your liesure.

For the trainer battles... I feel like in theory they could be massively strategic. But I'm not great at real time strategy so instead I just spam and am far less strategic than I am in a normal Pokemon game. Most of game my Talonflame just destroyed everything in its path 😆

Because I played far less strategically I also grew and optimized pokemon a lot less than usual. I had fun in the main game most of the time and I really enjoyed the exploration aspect and some of the side quests, but I was a bit mixed overall.

I'd say it's fun but not something I can do for very long before losing interest. I definitely wish the online battling was just 1v1 battles as with story battles, or at least have it as an option.

It's good that they reduced the rank requirements for Season 2 to get the Mega Stones, Rank Y gives you Greninjite and Rank S gives you Delphoxite.

I'd imagine it'll be a similar setup for Chesnaughtite when Season 3 begins on November 27th.

@Buizel I just found regular trainer battles they rarely lasted more than two hits, it was just too fast for me to think about strategy, positioning etc. I just learnt the fastest, hardest hitting, move on each Pokemon and spammed that. I think because the Mega battles lasted a few rounds, it actually had time for the battle system to slow down and allow you to make use of your kit.

I really enjoy the ranked pvp battles, but they completely fumbled the reason to continue playing once you max rank, and you do that without even trying. It's a shame because it's where the battle system shines the most, but it's such a barebones feature. It's a good game overall, but it simultaneously feels extremely undercooked in what it does with its combat system.

Saw the DLC trailer, it looks neat and I think there's some roguelikey going on. So I'm buying it lmao, a bit steep but I love what I see

Really..? It looks so barebones compared to what we got for Scarlet and Violet. Doesn't even look fun, and they're asking how much? I enjoyed the game, but this is a hard pass.

@OmnitronVariant the possible roguelite stuff with hoopa looks like will be hyper hooking (for me anyway) so I'm jumping in. Also the insane level boost seems wild too (seeing those level 170 pokemons going around...)

Does Nintendo just add a roguelike to all DLC now?? Splatoon, Donkey Kong... If Pokemon gets one too that is bizarre.

@FishyS I mean I'm not 100% sure it's roguelike, just that it seems like that? You give donuts to decide the how long Hoopa's hyper dimension thing will open, and then there's some mission to fulfill

There's also story though at least.

Forbidden knowledge says they're adding 150+ returning pokemon and have a fair chunk of new megas in the dlc, definitely seems meaty in that regard. I feel like this might be additional wild zones /battle zones, which is.. Uh, something. Definitely curious to read Player feedback before I hop onto that stuff but I probably will eventually get it.

I think ZA is quickly becoming my favorite style of Pokémon. Battles are fast and snappy, with the boss fights that aren't megas being pretty engaging, pvp follows suit there - though I agree with @OmnitronVariant that it's a bummer they don't offer additional rewards beyond rank A. But my shiny Blastoise looks snazzy in its sport ball, at least...lol - and I ended up enjoying exploring the town a lot more. Wasn't aware of the platforming elements but as rudimentary as they are, they definitely elevate the level design a lot. I reached a couple rooftops in the game long before I had the elevators or the rotom glide to properly "unlock" some of them which is both fun and good game design, imho.
The glitches you can do to duplicate spawns are kind of rad and make shiny hunting a bit more engaging. It's still mindless as hell, for the most part, but those methods streamline the hunt in a way that doesn't make me wanna pull my hair out. Uhm, somehow. Again, it's not like they're THAT much more engaging but it feels more rewarding to me.

Definitely a marked improvement over Arceus, which got incredibly dull by the time I reached the beach area there and was borderline torture by the time I rolled credits with how little you actually, actively did in that game besides mindless grinding. I appreciate the ability to catch everything 100% on your own in Arceus but it's the absolute worst pokedex completion process to me since Gen 3.

Anyway... The dlc girl is cute as hell. Hope she's as fun of a character as everyone else in the game. Well, except for Jett. But who cares, she's not doing anything within the story anyway, she's literally only in the game to give Urbain's arc SOME meat.

Feel the same way. I really don't understand why they had to rush this DLC release. Everyone had already interpreted a February 2026 release date for the DLC.
Then they would have had more time to work on this DLC.

Now it just looks like a rushed mess of a DLC, just to get it out of the door to increase the Holiday profit margins before end of the year.

The whole Mega dimension looks boring as hell. Its just the same Lumious City, just stripped of all NPCs, heavily desaturate the colors and add a rainbow shine to it. Then drop some roaming Pokemons in it for you to battle and catch. That's it. The whole donut mechanic is just to make it even more grindy.

Compared to the two DLCs we got with Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet... this Mega dimension DLC is really bare minimum effort and just a huge rip-off, when its being sold at almost the same price!

Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are really trying to push the limits with their new pricing, since the launch of the Switch 2.

@Jeronan Agreed. And whether it's true or not, it feels like cut content. The endgame of Z-A is very, very anaemic already. So this dropping less than two months out means that it feels like cut content, and a very sneaky way to increase the price of the Switch 2 edition from a $80 game (in my currency, at least) to an $115 one (it's $35 in my currency). But doing it this way means I can't say "the game cost $115" because technically it didn't. But to get what feels like the full experience, yes it does.

I don't want to discuss whether it's technically cut content or not, we can't know unless the developers decide to tell us explicitly. But it feels that way due to the proximity to the launch of the game and the way the game's endgame content is structured. And what really irks me is that I want more things to do in Lumiose, I had a lot of fun. But this leaves such a bad taste in my mouth it's soured the entire thing for me...

I'm not getting the DLC, but I do have a question:

I beat the game a few days ago and was thinking about it and realized I never wrapped up that plot point in my mind.

@rallydefault While we never properly meet the character, the thread gets more or less resolved after reaching 15 promotion match wins in the Infinite Z-A Royale.

@UpsideDownRowlet
Ah, ok. I only did one of the infinite matches.