Jeronan

@Dr_Lugae What people (and this article) also don't get is that the vast majority of these so called static NPC's are static for a reason. There are like 150 side quests in this game, so that means at least 150 static NPCs.
So there is no way around this, as people will struggle to engage with a moving NPC.
Literally all RPG games with quest/mission systems are designed like this and still are today.

Combine this with a fairly small and condense map and you get what you see. A city filled with static NPC's.
But they did try to add a handful roaming NPCs in the city, like I described in detail in my earlier posts that got nuked.

From all the Pokemon games, Legends:Z-A actually has the most roaming NPCs in the game. So you can at least call that an improvement.
Could they have added more? Of course! Sure! But I feel like they either ran out of time or it's just the Switch 1 that is holding them back at this point. Or both.

@OmnitronVariant Yes this is just ridiculous.

If they can't handle criticism, fine...at least just remove that single sentence then in my post and leave the rest intact.

It's just disheartening they just nuke my posts entirely. I took time to try write a lenghty (in my opion constructive) post with counter arguments and then its insulting and unprofessional to just outright delete them! That is just censuring people and not good.

@Jedrus_Lilac Well this site is now devolving in sensoring people and has removed all my posts. So take that for what you will.

I guess this post will be removed too in short time.

Deeply disappointed in this, as we should be allowed to call them out for posting articles that skew the truth.

@Retrograde I don't know what more to tell you. You are stubborn as heck and have your mind made up it seems.

CP2077 has cross-save. I didn't buy it to play docked on TV. I bought it for handheld on the go and then its incredible the way it looks and runs on the Switch 2.
On TV I play it via my PS5, but people that don't have a PS5 or XBOX Series X, then the Switch 2 version will still be a great experience for them.

A solid stable 30 fps is perfectly fine. Its literally the same framerate you get on the PS5 in Quality mode + Ray tracing.
Which is the mode I have been playing in for years WITHOUT issues!
So I literally get the same framerate on my Switch 2 as I get playing on my PS5!

So again. Bullocks! There is NO defending Atlus here. And for the record, the Persona games have their roots on handheld (PSP and PSVita).

Both Persona 5 Royal and Persona 3 Reloaded are great games, but they are literally loading screen simulators with tiny zones. ( clearly developed on their same old toolsets and game assets as the old handheld games ).
There is absolutely no reason for these games to be that demanding that they can't run a solid 60 fps on the Switch 2. Especially when they can use assist features like DLSS!

@Retrograde I have it on the PS5 and believe it or not, Graphics wise the game looks neigh on 99% identical on the Switch 2 docked on my 4K OLED TV.
It's an incredible achievement and shows what a bunch of competent and highly motivated devs can achieve.

The compromises they have done are mostly a reduction in roaming NPCs and cars. That's it.
They make full use of NVidia's DLSS suite to achieve this miracle on the Switch 2.
Which shouldn't come as a surprise, as CP2077 has been constantly updated over the years, to support all the latest NVidia tech. That is why CP2077 continues to be an NVidia showcase game.

So believe it or not. The Switch 2 actually has an edge over the XBOX Series X and PS5 (which use an AMD SoC), by running an NVidia SoC that supports DLSS.
Hence, why this Switch 2 port of CP2077 is so good.

So no, this is nothing like the subpar, horrible blurry port of Witcher 3 on the Switch 1. Even though that was also a miracle they manage to get it to run on the Switch 1.

@SpaceboyScreams This game doesn't need mods

I have replayed it over 4 times now since originally release 5+ years ago and all without mods.

I am not dissing on mods mind you, but honestly. This game is absolutely fantastic without it.

Now...Bethesda games on the other hand....yeah that's a different matter lol.

@Retrograde That is bullocks. All it takes is competence and Atlus is now showing all but that!

In the meantime. CD Project Red will want to have a word with you.
If they manage to get friggin' Cyberpunk 2077 to run on the Switch 2 and fit the entire game + Phantom Liberty expansion on a switch 2 cart, then Atlus are really exposing themselves as incredibly incompetent and lazy, if they can't even get a Loading screen simulator game to run at a stable 30 fps on the Switch 2 lol.

@iLikeUrAttitude I agree. Their games are literally loading screen simulators. So they shouldn't be anywhere near that demanding.

That a game like this can't run 60fps on the Switch2 really exposes Atlus as incompetent developers.

Why do we also still not have a frame rate / resolution unlock patch for Persona 5 Royal?

@CielloArc That is interesting and didn’t know they were in charge of that specifically.

@horizonisland I am sure we get a greatly expanded Pokedex (and thus more Pokemon) with the upcoming Mega Dimensions DLC.

Both Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet added a lot of new Pokemon with their DLC´s, so I count on it will be the same here with the Mega Dimensions DLC.

@horizonisland Its just legal mumbo jumbo.

Creature Inc., Gamefreak and Nintendo have an equal IP split. 33%.

In reality though, everyone knows Creature Inc. is nothing and is basically owned by Gamefreak and Nintendo.

So in reality, The Pokemon Company is a 50/50 split between Gamefreak and Nintendo. So Nintendo management has a 50% say in whats going on at TPC.

@horizonisland I definitely agree with you that they could have done more with the Switch 2 version, graphically wise.

Its clear as night and day, that this game was primarily developed for the Switch 1 and all we got with the Switch 2 version is higher resolution and frame rates. This also explains why the game size is so smal and pretty much identical between Switch 1 and 2.

That is definitely a shame, but it is what it is. I really hope next year with the next Main line games, they are allowed to focus more on the Switch 2 version.

@horizonisland Experienced Pokemon players might hate the long tutorial, but I (as poke-vet) found it quite ok to be honest and didn't mind.
They introduce a lot of new stuff, like the new combat system, etc that they felt like needed to be explained well.
If you rush through the dialog, you can finish it within half an hour and with dialog in about an hour. Fine with me.

This game's story is actually quite good for a Pokemon game and so far thoroughly enjoy it and after 30+ hours I just barely reached Rank C.
This with a combination of story, exploring, doing wild areas and only a handful of side missions. And then there are still several areas in the City that are locked out for me.

What is also cool is, that when you start out in the game, you barely see any Pokemon outside the first few Wild areas that opened, but the further you progress into the Story and more wild areas get added... also more and more wild Pokemon show up outside these designated Wild areas too. Which is actually part of the story and quite a cool way to slowly increase the amount of Wild Pokemon you see outside the Wild areas.

I think this sadly needs to be spoiled/said, as it currently creates this misconception of Lumiose City being empty and pokemon just stuck in few wild areas. Which, yes is the case in the first hours of the game, when you only have 5 wild areas and barely see any wild Pokemon in the city (yet). I think this is what causes this general misconception that is being spread online!

Gamefreak should at least get some credit for that too. It makes the game a lot more interesting and gives you incentives to keep exploring the city, its roofs, lower underground sections, etc. Especially in Post-game.

@Reprise If you have only played a few hours, you barely got out of the tutorial phase and still very low rank and only unlocked few Wild areas and not able to access a lot of the roof and lower areas.

You unlock more and more Wild areas as you progress through the story and the final Wild area(s) you don't unlock after you complete the story and credits have rolled. So is actually part of post-game content.
Two "other areas" (which I will not spoil) only open up much further into the story. Just to give a non-spoil hint. I have over 30 hours in the game now and barely reached rank C. I still have not unlocked this second "other" area.

So yes, after a couple hours you barely scratched the surface and not even experienced the first mega evolution.

@eltomo That is the problem with many reviewers. They either just rush through the game, finish the story and ignore most of the rest or worse, only play part of the game, just to be able to drop a review on Day 1 of release.

With this game, after having played over 30 hours now (and just barely reached rank C), there are a lot of side missions that can be easily missed that open up access to new areas or unlock new "stuff" (won't go into detail to not spoil anything).
So, I can bet, most these reviewers most likely missed most of these and so never explored and experienced everything this game has to offer.

This game has plenty of content. I have followed some streamers on the side and from what I have seen, you can easily get 25-30 hours out of this game just doing the Story.

That is if you not interested in any side missions, completing the Pokedex or reaching max rank in research to get the Shiny Charm or other post-game content. Which can easily add a minimum of 50 hours to the game.

So this so called "small" map of Lumiose City packs a hell a punch and has lot of content and things to do.

So again, people need to stop being so fixated on map size!

I rather have a smaller game map, that is dense, is interesting, has plenty of surprises and verticality with a ton of different things to do.... than a vast open flat map with some trees and hills and a small cave here and there, with some roaming Pokemon, which was Legends:Arceus.

@Reprise Pokemon are not limited to these Wild areas. There are plenty of Pokemon to be found outside too. There are some unique Pokemon I only found on roof tops for example.

I think its a bit of a misconception that people read reports about tiny wild areas and then assume thats the only place to explore and find wild Pokemon.

Also, some Wild areas you unlock much later on in the game are actually quite a bit larger and more interesting due to the verticality.
It's also nicely tied into the Story and why you start with few wild areas and how it becomes more and more, including why you also find Pokemon outside the wild areas. Again I won't explain it here to not spoil anything.

So again, much like the old mainline games, you don't unlock all areas right from the start. You cannot access all roof tops nor other areas (won't explain in detail as to not spoil anything) until you progress much further into the game.

Sure, game area size wise, its not as big as Legends:Arceus or the latest mainline games, but size isn't everything.
In Scarlet/Violet the Paldea area was just a big boring empty space with towns, gyms, etc dumped on the map and pokemon just spawning all over the place. You spend a lot of time just traveling from point A to point B in a boring landscape.
I liked the confined area of Area Zero and later the Biome in DLC2 much more interesting.

In this case with Lumiose City, the map is a lot more interesting due to all the verticality with lots of hidden nooks and cranies.
I like that a lot better than just having a huge open empty space with some trees here and there, with some roaming Pokemons like Legends:Arceus.
I find that getting boring much faster than I do with Legends:ZA.

So for me, I have a lot more fun in Legends:ZA than I had with Legends:Arceus, which I was never able to finish, as I just got bored pretty quick.
Its a common problem with many of these large Open World games. Only very few manage to do it really well, like most notably CD Project Red with Cyberpunk 2077.

You have to understand they have to offer unique rewards or why would anyone bother in competitive play? If they can just get it far easier in the game.
Its human nature to follow the path of least resistance.

It sucks, as I don´t play competitive myself...yet alone be able to reach rank A in competitive, but I understand why they doing it.

Its happening a lot in MMOs too that offer Competitive/Ranked PVP, like World of Warcraft for example... with PVP seasons for 15+ years already. So again, its nothing new sadly.

@MetalGear_Yoshi The problem is that it was made originally for the Switch 1 and this game needs to run on the Switch 1.

The art style was unique in Legends:Arceus, giving it a more atmospheric vibe. But all the NPCs were stationary there too.

Legends:ZA is just similar in very clean art style as Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet. Most likely developed on these same assets. Since Legends:Arceus is a historical game without modern buildings, etc.

Its a shame they removed a lot of extra details, decorations, etc (according to the hack leaks) to probably make it run acceptable enough on the Switch 1, while they could have kept those in place for the Switch 2 version. Sounds like typical time crunch and laziness to me, par de course with The Pokemon Company.

@SViper It doesnt seem to auto save constantly, but every few mins or so.

So you can still save scum.

What was not clear from the review, are you able to catch wandering Pokemon outside these wild areas in Lumiose City?

Or are they just decoration and catching is strictly confined to these tiny wild areas only?

If Pokemon spawn in the rest of the city too, outside the wild areas and you able to catch those too…. then that’s great and Im a little less fuzzed about the small wild areas.

But if you are only allowed to catch pokemon in these small wild areas, then it really sucks and would be a huge disappointment! As then I really hope this gets addressed in the upcoming DLC and more expansive wild areas get added.

@NickOfTime90 I could be wrong, but I don´t think it works that way.
If your Switch is set to Netherlands, Europe region, then it will still unlock at midnight our time today.
Unless your Switch is set to Japanese region and timezone, but I thought Nintendo had taken measures with people changing time zones in other regions to circumvent release unlock times.

@Notsoavid I scratched my Violet save and restarted Violet on my Switch 2 and it was a so much better experience. What it should have been from the start.
It is now one of my favorite Pokemon games, especially with the two DLCs. This game is so huge with so much content and explorable areas. So many pokemon can be caught now, especially if you manage to upgrade the Terrarium biomes.

I am looking forward to Legends:ZA and I am pretty sure the Dimensions DLC in February will greatly expand the game and will open up new explorable areas.
So if you are concerned about the game being too small for you now at launch, then just wait till February.

@TheWokesterGamer Thats what a multi billion dollar franchise becomes. Arrogant and lazy.
Why spend more time and money on a game, when millions keep buying their games regardless.

Also remember. The video games and anime are not their primary business. The Pokemon company makes way more money on the Trading Card game and physical merchandise.

@MARl0 The problem is the amount of different languages the game supports.
If they start doing voice overs for one language, they have to do it for all supported languages.

Lets hope the DLC in a couple months will greatly open up the game, introducing more and larger wild / catching areas.

In the same way the DLCs did for Sword/Shield. As the base game also only one a single long stretched and quite constricted Wild area. It wasn´t until the DLCs that it became a truly great game.

@LazyDaisy Because the game was made for the Switch 1 and needs to run on the Switch 1. Thats why.

You will get the exact same game on Switch 2 as the Switch 1, just with a higher resolution and framerates.
Its a shame they didn't make a separate build for the Switch 2 that has these more detailed environments.

Its disappointing (and laziness) yes, but lets hope that next years new mainline Pokemon games are made solely for the Switch 2, so they can go all out and not being held back by the Switch 1 hardware anymore.

@Member_the_game Exactly.

It was exactly what we wanted. A more powerful Switch 1, with improved Joy-con attachments and full backwards compatibility with existing Switch 1 games.

Nintendo pretty much delivered on all those.

@LofiPie27 I do! I really enjoyed the Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet story lines.

@Kroko I would not sacrifice performance over box art.

The Switch 2 cartridge is significantly faster than the Switch 1 cartridge.

Thats why I am going digital with most new games now, to get best performance with onboard m.2 NVMe storage.

But if I would go physical I would not buy a SW1 version with slow cart performance.

@Pillowpants Sure, but people are unreasonable to expect Legends:Z/A to be the same gameplay as the traditional Mainline titles.

Which it isnt. It follows up on the different gameplay formula that was introduced with Legends:Arceus (which in turn is a follow up/evolution from Lets Go Pikachu/Eevee games). Games which I wasn't a huge fan of myself.
(though I must admit I enjoyed the Lets Go games a lot more than Legends:Arceus, which I got bored of fairly quickly)

I really dont mind that they try something different with the Legends games and that they become a series in itself with different style gameplay.

People that want the traditional Pokemon gameplay (like myself), just have to wait till next year when inevitably the next generation mainline games will launch that follow up on Scarlet/Violet.

Pokemon Legends Z/A is a Legends game, so we already knew what we were getting in terms of gameplay.

It wouldn't have been called a Legends game if it had the traditional turn based combat and mechanics of the Mainline games.

So I don´t understand why people are shocked, disappointed and upset?
Next year we probably get new Traditional Mainline games that follow up on Scarlet/Violet.

So you just have to wait for those next year, while people who enjoyed Legends:Arceus will continue to enjoy Legends:Z/A.

@SuppressorSteve Highly dependent on Region. Here in the Nordics in Europe we paid 110 euro for Mario Kart World, even with the bundle.
They made sure only the bundle was available for sale at launch!

@nukatha I am pretty sure the Switch 2 doesn't support frame generation, as the SoC isn't powerful enough.
Its only the latest generation RTX cards that natively support it (though that is done on purpose as the latest cards arent any better than previous gen cards without frame generation).

@PinderSchloss They don´t use real people anymore.

Everything is AI generated these days. . Why pay real people when you can create images super cheap with a simple prompt.

@IronMan30 That doesn´t help when the whole game has been dumbed down and all vehicle customization options and unlocks (which made MK8 so much fun and replayable for me) have been removed from Mario Kart World.
All we have now is character roster unlocks, which I could care less about. I much preferred the vehicle and parts unlocks that allowed for Kart customization and unique driving characteristics. All this is gone now. Hence why I was bored with Mario Kart World so quickly and haven´t touched the game in months.

This is sadly a new and wrong direction Nintendo has taken yet another game, by dumbing down and streamlining everything.

These missing/removed features will never come back into Mario Kart World and at most we just get new Tracks DLC´s like with Mario Kart 8.

@Simu001 Not only that, but Nintendo is ridiculously slow with approving game updates on the Switch 2.

I can no longer play No Mans Sky on the Switch 2, as cross-saves are no longer working due to the Switch version being several builds behind!
Update 6.0.0 took over 3 weeks to approve and now we are waiting over 3 weeks again for a patch that was submitted!

Nintendo needs to get their fingers out of their behind! As this is completely unacceptable, when all other platforms can approve updates and patches within a few days!

Yeah so nice for us here in Europe without a Gamestop store anymore (since it went bankrupt and closed down in Europe years ago) !

@msvt Hopefully we get the new Mainline Pokemon games (Scarlet/Violet follow-up) for Switch 2 next year.

@Stegiand Nope. Several builds behind.

We had to wait weeks for a 6.0.0 release on the Switch, while other platforms are several builds ahead.

@Ulysses Pokemon ZA is essentially a Pokemon XY spin-off.
Its not a new generational game. That will be next year (hopefully).

Like others already said. Pokemon ZA apparently adds a new language region, that is not available in the other Pokemon games and Pokemon Home.

The question should be, why Pokemon Home isnt ready for it by the time Pokemon ZA releases? Its developed and maintained by a different company. Surely they dont need to wait until ZA releases, before they are allowed to start working on a new Pokemon Home update.

@BuhBuhBuhBanned Magic the Gathering released back in 1993.

But the origins of RPG mechanics like these go way back to the 1970s when Gary Gygax designed and released the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

That is why this is pure Evil and pettiness by Nintendo. They have lost all common sense and their own roots!
Their own most succesful IP´s and any other RPG game in existence wouldn't have existed as we know it, if it weren't for Gary Gygax.

@Simu001 The problem with Warframe is, as new player, that the early planets and early Tier level challenges are quite easy and doable solo.
But eventually you get at higher Tier planets and its impossible to find other players in mission queues. So your progress just halts.
Unless you lucky to find a very active clan with a bunch of helpful players that are online at the same time as you... you will be out of luck.

That is why you have a ton of activity and new players on the first 2-3 planets or so and then they often just check out. The rest of the playerbase is at the end.

This is actually a typical MMO problem and why in many MMOs like World of Warcraft, EverQuest 2, Lord of the Rings, etc they have significantly nerfed and/or speed up the leveling experience to try keep new players onboard.

The worst in all of this, is that its going to set a terrible precedent!

If this continues and gets approved, it won´t be long until the big patent trolls get a sense of this, jump on it and start patenting a ton of game mechanic patents and then go after every single gaming studio out there! Especially smaller / indie gaming studios will bite the dust!

It would literally be the end of game development as we know it.
Especially small game studios will not be able to develop a single game anymore, without getting sued by a patent troll!

@Mando44646 If Gary Gygax was still alive ( May he rest in Peace ). He should have sued Nintendo for this!

He is turning in his grave right now, for Nintendo perversing his legacy and trying to patent mechanics he originally invented back in the 1970´s.

@Orpheus79V and even they didn't invent it.

All RPG game mechanics stem from the creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax! RPG mechanics he invented with the first D&D edition back in the 1970´s!

@Markatron84 It is indeed a knee jerk reaction to the success of Palworld.

But that aside, this whole patent is so ridiculous and I really don´t like what Nintendo is becoming as a company... I am reaching a point now where I start to deeply regret buying the Switch 2.
As I don´t want to support a company like this!

This whole patent shouldn't exist. Yet alone been granted!
Every single RPG game out there with a summoner / pet class will be affected by this patent.
It doesn't just go back to Digimon since 1997 doing the same thing.... It goes way back before that with Gary Gygax designing the first Dungeons & Dragons edition back in the 1970´s.
He is literally the grandfather of RPG game mechanics! The very same mechanics from which Nintendo now tries to patent one!
Its a slap in the face to Gary and outright evil and just plain theft and pettiness by Nintendo!

@Ryu_Niiyama What contract terms? They were never an official licensed partner with Nintendo.

Like many other accessory makers, they need to either wait to get the actual product/schematics or get it via "less" legal means, before making accessories for it.
This is how it works for the vast majority of these companies.
Genki got clearly hold of an early production unit of a Switch 2 or schematics via illegal means, to make those accurate mockups they showed on CES 2025.

Nintendo has actually very few licensed partners, which are allowed to use Nintendo branding on the packaging (basically being a sub-contractors for Nintendo). These few companies are under strict NDA and not going to risk their company´s future, reputation and their relationship with Nintendo.