Topic: Pokemon Legends Arceus

I've now played a fair bit of PLA. The gameplay is fine and I could easily accomodate to the controls. And its cool to see that the protagonist comes from the present to justify the "Arc" phone.
My biggest issue is the graphics. I thought that I could bear them, but I find them distracting and inconsistent instead. The characters look fine and decently detailed. So are the houses and buildings. But the terrain... OMG! Last time I saw terrain and trees like that was when playing Conker on the 64. Even the Witcher 3 and Skyrim on Switch are more massive and their environments look way better than that. And pop ins galore!

GF should definitely switch engines for their next Pokemon game... or hire artists with more HD modeling experience, or both.

@Monkeido for sure. It stinks but hopefully it doesn't get worse as the game goes on

Just discovered obtaining certain legendary Pokémon requires having save data from other switch games. You need to catch every Pokémon to get Arceus, right? Can you seriously not get Arceus unless you either already own both SWSH and BDSP, or somehow mange to find somebody willing to trade unique legendaries?

@Munchlax since the dawn of time, you need to have multiple pokemon games to complete a certain game's pokedex. Though, to my knowledge, you don't need to catch every super exclusive mythical pokemon to mark the pokedex as "completed"

@Munchlax You need those games to get Darkrai and Shaymin I believe. Neither of them actually counts toward the pokedex, so you can still get Arceus.

So I just beat the second Noble and certainly felt more positive about this battle than the first one. If each Noble battle adds increasing levels of mechanical complexity, then I'll be really turned around on these by the end if they do them the right way.

I think it helped that I have two good fire type monsters (both from side quests), so it felt like an actual partnership between me and my Mons working together to bring this powerful monster down. This is what I wanted from the Kleavor fight, but that fight was just me luring it into the tree and throwing the grenades with my Pokemon having no role or involvement in that battle at all.

Also someone mentioned in here about taking lots of damage and like... right? I can't tell whether someone just sorta slipped when inputting the data values or whether this is an intentional design decision to appease the "Pokemon is too easy" crowds, but it does make for some rough going at times. Pokemon levels seem almost meaningless here, every Pokemon seems to have the capability to take down every other Pokemon in one hit, regardless of using super effective or Strong Style moves. Almost every other battle with a Pokemon is a trip back to camp to rest up, as half of my team have gone down.

S/S was very much a game where if you had type advantages you could absolutely blow someone out, but if you were both neutral, fights could be tight, competitive and fun. Arceus sorta feels like every attack is a super effective move and it is just a race to see who lands the first hit. I personally really don't like this change, but if it makes the game more challenging for people in a way they enjoy, then I am glad.

My personal experience has been that I really only get destroyed by the Alpha Pokémon, I haven’t had too much of an issue with battling your average garden variety Poke in order to catch it, so I’m kind of confused/intrigued by others having such a different experience.

Even then, my assumption would be that they made Pokémon hit harder when battling in order to encourage the player to engage with the new outside-of-battle catching mechanics (like trying to catch a Pokémon that wipes your party so you distract it with a berry to get a back shot with the ball, etc.), I would imagine they were probably worried people would fall back on battling too much (which is understandable since that’s been the only way to do it for the last 30 odd years).

@Pizzamorg I so do hope we can catch them after the game ends, they look so cool!

I wonder if its just for now, to make up for less trainer battles, but its kinda odd because they one shot, but maybe as your pokemon level up, they will be less of an issue.

I only get ruined if I start just running into a gang of pokemon, I almost got messed up by three skunky, and a onix, oh and the alpha pokemon.

@Monkeido I do sorta agree with you, I can't remember what pokemon, but it was level 3 I think, it one shot my at least level 11 pikachu, but then again, pikachu's defense is ass.

I am just going through my quest log and cleared that three Skunky quest. Graveler came in super clutch there.

I don't really understand, why can I be ganged up on by three Pokemon but I can't just throw two more Pokemon out to balance it?

Right? I want them all on my team. Same with the mounts, they are cool to ride on but I want them on my team too!

And yeah, the damage hasn't like ruined the experience or whatever so far because the game doesn't just end when your Pokemon faint like in other games, but it just doesn't make for a particularly fun battle experience.

@Pizzamorg Thats the thing, the first time I got ganged up on, I was like, ok I will just throw out another pokemon, nope, I kinda understand why? but still, I hope we can do it later down the line.

@Pokester99 Funnily enough, you don't need these mythicals to complete the pokedex.

Its official, I'm hooked on the catching gameplay.

@Snatcher Tell me about it! I haven't played a game this much since maybe GTA V!

@MrMeowPuss Its amazing, It gives you reward for catching pokemon, normally, you see a pokemon you like, battle it, catch it, but in legends, fined a pokemon you like, you catc hit, get more dex entry's about it.

and not only that, it makes me want to catch pokemon, I would never catch, just because of how cool, or fun it was to try an catch it, and don't even get me started on how cool it is when you find a shiny.

@Snatcher Exactly, I’m about 15 hours in and I’m very behind on the story since I’ve been so focused on catching Pokémon! I love how when battling 2 or 3 Pokémon at once you can still catch each one during the battle unlike ever before.

It feels so much more natural and as if you were an actual Pokémon trainer with the way things work now. The next main series game with gyms will be crazy if they keep this (which they should!)

I'm about 10 hours in now, onto the third area and in the hunt for my third mount. I'm still not really sure where I am at with this. On the one hand, the core loop is very addictive but on the other it is bare bones and repetitive. Right now at least the game is introducing new locations and Pokemon at a regular enough clip that the game never slows down enough for it to become boring but I still do have some concerns long term that I'll just end up so fatigued by this I bounce off.

@MrMeowPuss Couldn't agree with you more.

@Pizzamorg Thats true, but I think alot of games have that issue, where its the loop that holds the game up for the most part, But I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said this wasn't a concern of mine as well.

but from what other people have said, the end game is amazing as well.

I've been addicted to PLA for the last 2 days and have played up until the Cobalt Coastlands. All I can say is this:
Ursaluna and Hisuian Qwilfish are so damn cool.

@Fizza Nice to know you like it! (: I actually wasn't going to get it day one, but the reviews, It really wasn't like anything I thought would come from them, and people were saying this game could be the best pokemon game in the last ten years, I'm so glad I got it.

Also had my first death, it was the 3rd frenzied, I got ruined LOL.