Topic: Pokémon Legends Z-A

@Buizel Honestly, I kind of like how they're beginning to connect all the regions together. It makes the Pokemon world feel more like a cohesive existence rather than isolated places that just have small references or callbacks that don't make that much sense in the grand scheme. Instead of getting things like NPCs alluding to Blue visiting Kalos- we get stuff like details on the relationship between regions like Kalos and Galar, or Paldea. I feel like they can keep a unique vibe for each region while also connecting it to the larger world. Like- each game still has a specific feature that only that region has. Hoenn has Diving and Soaring, Unova has Dreams and the Entralink, Alola has the island trials, Totem Pokemon, Ultra Beasts, and Mantine surfing, Kalos has holographic technology, sitting on any chair you can find, and Pokemon Amie.

Aloha everyone! What's your favorite character in Pokémon Legends: Z-A?

My favorite is Corbeau because the reality is he's a very good guy and more, this shows that appearances are deceptive.

Yeah, I'm also a big fan of Corbeau. That whole chapter of the story is pretty hilarious---getting indebted to the Lumiose Mafia over Taunie/Urbain's TikTok ads, and then being forced to perform charitable acts of public service is such a fun twist on typical Mafia tropes.

And more, his Scolipede's actually the kindest of all those of his species.

The reality is that Corbeau isn't a Mafioso but a businessman.

Finally managed to snag a copy of Z-A (I was waiting to get it for under $40, that's why I'm only just getting it now) and just started it, just got to Rank W.

The real time battling is okay, I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet and I'm still kind of going on my instincts from traditional turn based battling and only barely scraping by some battles. My biggest issue is that I'm taking way too much damage and not doing as much damage as I want because of the cooldown timer. I'd really like to dodge/heal more but the controls don't really make this easy because all of the attacks are mapped to the face buttons and you apparently have to disengage the lock-on to do the kinds of actions I'd want to do.

Overworld wise, yeah it's not great, but not as bad as I thought. The beginning phases of the game (up until your first trip to the Looker Bureau where they teach you about Side Missions) are super scripted and the game really railroads the hell out of you. After that though, Lumiose City really opens up. It's definitely not as large as I'd like it to be and way smaller than Paldea (really it's closer to Kitakami or the Terarium) but it's... fine. The amount of side streets, alleyways, and rooftops make it satisfying enough to explore for a full game. I'm pleasantly surprised to see some Pokemon spawns outside of Wild Zones, that really gets me interested in exploring every nook and cranny.

Anyway, far from the best Pokemon game on Switch but it could be worse and once again I find the hate overblown. Yeah when you put a microscope to the graphics they look terrible but in the actual experience of playing the game I don't really notice the issues. Content wise it could be better but it feels more satisfying to play than I expected.

@Bolt_Strike Nice that you got it for under $40. To not take so much damage during battles, you should time blocking/evading moves (e.g. Protect, Detect, Double Team, Teleport, etc.) to have your Pokemon get hit less often. I find that moves like these make the real-time combat a lot more fun as it often requires careful timing to evade damage. Have fun with the game!

@Bolt_Strike I felt about the same. I don't really get the extreme reactions although I admit I originally thought I would like the game less than I did. The graphics are fine, exploring is surprisingly fun and although you eventually definitely run out there is more to do than you think early on. The combat was ok and comparable to some other jrpgs, although I liked it significantly less than the turn-based Pokemon combat. I would love if they tweaked the traditional combat a little like in Arceus, but the change in Z-A was a little too much and not very polished. But also not terrible. It will be interesting to see what gen 10 does.

Overall still quite decent game. It's nowhere near the top of my ranking for recent-ish Pokemon games but also not at the very bottom.

@UpsideDownRowlet Oh, so THAT'S the issue, I'm not really using them that much. I have used a bit more buffing/debuffing moves thanks to the cooldown timer, that's helped a bit, but I haven't really made use of blocking/evading moves. I do sort of like that aspect of the battle mechanics, because of the cooldown timer you're not just spamming your strongest moves all of the time like you would in the turn based battling, you have to make use of other moves in between. Anyway, I'll definitely take a look at those moves. Luckily most of them are TMs and I already have some of them, so it should be easy to add them.

As far as the cost, I tried unsuccessfully for a while, auctions on Ebay were generally ending in the $50-$60 range. This one I got lucky at got it for $38. Shipping was expensive and that may be a factor in why I won that one, I unfortunately did not pay attention to the shipping when I bid on that copy and it was $12. So I arguably kind of didn't get it cheap, but it's still $5-10+ cheaper than what previous auctions were going for.

@Bolt_Strike You can definitely easily beat the game by just spamming a couple moves although because of the timers, it's not necessarily the same moves which would be in turn based. Also, you don't run out of a move (no PP) so you don't have to be quite as strategic in a hard battle.

I would say all the subtleties matter more in multiplayer but.. multiplayer is a bit of a chaotic mess. There is definitely strategy there, but a very different type of strategy because of the free-for-all nature.

Gamestop has 20 bucks off Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 for members right now. I think it's only for the Switch 2 versions, though.

Side note, the Night themes in this game freaking slap (primarily the main Lumiose theme and the Battle Zone theme). Lots of smooth jazz. Also reminds me a lot of the night themes in Sonic Unleashed if anyone's familiar with that game, particularly Rooftop Run (which makes a ton of sense because Rooftop Run is very Western European inspired).

I felt exactly the same.

The music in this game is pretty decent, it’s just a shame they end up using a small pool of tracks so often.

Okay the decision to map crouching to pressing in the L stick was a terribad control decision. I am constantly crouching by accident frantically trying to dodge for my life from these Rogue Mega's attacks.

I feel like the small pool of music for Z-A is one of the weaknesses of the game. I feel like they should've leaned in a bit more on remixing music from all over the region- sort of like how they handled PLA.

Completely agree. In my opinion, XY had one of the most underrated soundtracks in the series, and I was disappointed that so few tracks were redone for Z-A. I especially liked the bicycle theme from those games---it's so delightful and adventurous. Frankly, I wish there was a bike in the game for that song alone. For the rest of the original XY soundtrack, I think Game Freak could have leaned into the urban setting and implemented some sort of "Radio Kalos" which mostly plays chill remixes of various town and character themes from the original Kalos games. That would have made for a far more varied soundtrack which pays due respect to the masterful OST heard in XY.

@UpsideDownRowlet The one thing I hate is that Z-A doesn't have a place that plays the Pokeball factory/Power Plant theme from the original X and Y. The best dungeon song in the series and it got 0 representation. Could've easily had the power plant area have a dungeon inside of it or something as well.

This game is really feeling formulaic once you unlock Mega Evolution. It's like they lost the second half of the script and just decided "screw it, let's pad out the rest of the game with tons of Rogue Mega battles" and it feels so phoned in and repetitive.

NSO icons are now available for the game! I'm going to be getting every single one, of course ☺️.

Just dipped back in to do season 6. The multiplayer in this game is so silly.