Pokémon Legends: Arceus

[Sprite]

This is out!

Reviews have been sterling. It definitely looks like Game Freak learned some lessons from the reception of Sword and Shield and finally took their time making something truly new. It is like Breath of the Wild, not in a mechanical sense, but because it overhauls the formula to create something that evokes the spirit of the original games. Which is great, because Sword and Shield sold so well that they probably could have kept churning out the same game over and over to continued profits. I mean, they'll probably keep doing that, but I would be content if the focus shifted to this new direction and the old formula got farmed out to other developers for remakes.

I also find it delightful that the game which will make fussy fans go "Pokémon is back!" is very much an evolution of mechanics introduced in Pokémon Go and Pokémon Let's Go.

Anyway! I'm looking forward to digging in late tonight when I finally can.

 

[FelixSH]

This looks amazing, and I think the comparison to BoTW is pretty fitting - that game seems like what the original Zelda would have been, if the technology had existed, back than. And this does look like what Pokemon should have been from the start - well, not quite, but it feels very true to the spirit of the series. Just running around and seeing Pokemon interact with each other and their environment sounds so much like something I would have wanted since the original game.

If I had a Switch, I would buy this now. It's the first Pokemon game since, uh, Gold and Silver, I guess, that I actively want to play. Can't imagine that this will stay more than a series of sidegames, though. I mean, I haven't took note too much, so maybe I'm wrong, but I imagine the regular series will stay with Pokemon till the end of time.

I already can see the first dumb complaint here. "But in Gen 1, they only knew about the original 150."

Anyway, looks great.

 

[Mogri]

I already can see the first dumb complaint here. "But in Gen 1, they only knew about the original 150."

Only in Kanto!

(Kanto was very insular back in the day)

 

[muteKi]

I already can see the first dumb complaint here. "But in Gen 1, they only knew about the original 150."

It's a little jarring to see a Crobat given the lore of the game, I suppose, but other than that this doesn't look too different from the old Sinnoh dex, and why wouldn't it?

Honestly, "Hybrid Heaven but with Pokemon" is a really great idea and seems like a pretty obvious next step after the development of the wild area mechanics. Also reminds me of a concept I saw probably over a decade ago where you play as Oak himself trying to fill out an early manual Pokedex through repeated observation; as this was the DS era, the design called for making your own sketches of Pokemon on the touchscreen.

Probably will pick this up but I still need to get through the last game (I fucked around in the wild area and didn't do much else, then put the game aside for a while).

 

[Phantoon]

This is exactly what I wanted so far. I love Sinnoh and its pokedex, and to use that as the basis of a genuine quantum leap in the formula is superb.

 

[Bongo]

I'm still early, but this game's design is impressing me. Combat is just one of many ingredients in the salad of extracting data from hostile environments. It's rich with sub-systems and with emergent reasons to engage with them in a variety of ways, making a stark contrast to games where the main activity is to reach the exit of a maze full of enemies. The research task system imbues every monster character with a heap of micro-goals, adding a pleasing texture to the gameplay and enabling a nice steady dopamine flow. Basically, it maximizes the concept of RPGs having filler quests in much the same way that the original Pokemon games maximized the concept of RPGs having filler enemies.

This game is a naturalism RPG. As such, it finally makes good on expanding upon aspects of the Pokemon fiction which were in evidence at the brand's genesis, but which never made it into actual game mechanics (first because gen 1 and 2 were held together with duct tape and baling wire and barely managed to release at all, and subsequently because of the expectation that sequels have similar gameplay). From the beginning, the primary goal is not to become the champion, but to complete the pokedex; now, rather than studying in order to fight, you fight in order to study. This has always been a part of the lore, so it feels like a very natural departure.

I'm havin' a good time.

Still, even I must admit: high-performance technology is hardly Game Freak's strong suit.

 

[MJG]

I've played up to my first star, and am definitely digging it. I already have more interest in filling my Pokedex after the first couple of hours here than I have had in all the other games combined.

 

[Sprite]

Oof this game is dangerously addictive. The extra busywork involved with completing an entry means you spend a lot more time with each monster. It really feels like I’m researching Pokémon, even if mechanically I’m just filling out achievement lists.

Also, holy crap is it such a relief to play a Pokémon game that isn’t bogged down by eternal text boxes.

Though, yeah, the engine is… rough. I cringe when it changes camera angles and the game struggles to render everything fast enough. It’s like playing board games with a friend who keeps anxiously arranging the pieces and hoping you don’t notice how cluttered their apartment is.

 

[Troa11]

I'm up to my 3rd star now and have finished what I would consider the first "chapter" and all I'm going to say is this truly feels like an evolution for the series, not a side game or spinoff. I echo most of the positive comments upthread.

 

[ThornGhost]

My wife has been playing this all day and it looks really fun!

She says the main character is supposed to be the same main character as Diamond/Pearl but I'm not sure where she's getting that info. Any official word on this?

 

[Phantoon]

My wife has been playing this all day and it looks really fun!

She says the main character is supposed to be the same main character as Diamond/Pearl but I'm not sure where she's getting that info. Any official word on this?

I think it's like some of the other characters walking around, an ancestor. Or just a neat visual callback. I suppose it's possible that they could be the same character five years on... Would make sense why Arceus chose them then.

I got chased for about 2 miles by an angry Hippowdon, 10/10 would do again

 

[FelixSH]

It's a little jarring to see a Crobat given the lore of the game, I suppose, but other than that this doesn't look too different from the old Sinnoh dex, and why wouldn't it?

You understand that this isn't my complaint, right? Pokemon fans are weird, and complain about all kinds of nonsense, and I'm sure something like that, about the Pokedex not being perfectly fitting to whatever generation this game fits, is something someone who takes this way too seriously will complain about. They can fill this whole world up with legendaries if they want, I certainly won't care.

Also, it was partly a joke. Also, didn't realize that this wasn't the first Gen region.

 

[Octopus Prime]

This is the most divergent any main (or “main” at least) Pokemon game has been from the series while still being Clearly and Incontrovertibly Pokemon.

Previous holder of that title was Sun and Moon, which had the bold innovation of having Boss Monsters in place of gyms.

 

[Sprite]

I kind of hate the battle system? I mean, it’s good for a survival-esque single player game, but I hope they keep it far, far away from the multiplayer. Speed was already overemphasized, and creating a situation where a Pokémon can go twice in a row would be utterly toxic.

I dig that they overhauled it and simplified everything, but ugh I hate Agile Style.

 

[muteKi]

You understand that this isn't my complaint, right? Pokemon fans are weird, and complain about all kinds of nonsense, and I'm sure something like that, about the Pokedex not being perfectly fitting to whatever generation this game fits, is something someone who takes this way too seriously will complain about. They can fill this whole world up with legendaries if they want, I certainly won't care.

Also, it was partly a joke. Also, didn't realize that this wasn't the first Gen region.

Oh no I am quite aware of how Pokémon fans are. Nobody hates Pokémon games more than Pokémon fans.

Honestly the one really jarring inclusion I saw was Braviary, since I associate that mainly with the distinctly North American bald eagle.

 

[Peklo]

This game "fixes" Pokémon for me in a way unlike nothing before has. It goes from an uninteresting single-player RPG combined with a slow-burn optimization/pet-raising/competitive multiplayer metagame underbelly--aspects which I don't find compelling--and reorients itself away from all of that, as well as monster battles themselves as being the primary vector of engaging with the world, and places the emphasis on solitary exploration and observation of the creatures in their habitats where violent encounters are just brief tangents contextualizing the rest of the interactions. There's no pressure in making things "balanced" for head-to-head play when that play context isn't present; the wrinkles in the battle system are all cognizant of that spirit to expedite the characteristic plodding qualities that have defined the series traditionally to support the picked-up pace of play. The removal of distinct battle screens also benefits things from that angle, as well as highlighting the sensation of inhabiting shared space with the creatures, in turn pulling one in to invest in figuring out their behaviour and how best to find, approach, and catch them, so navigation is no longer just filling out space to get to the interactions that matter. Everything the game does feeds into reinforcing some other aspect of it through myriad loops that the segregated, stop-starty sensibilities I've associated with the series have always lacked previously. It's finally at a place where I see myself buying into the premise as it exists now when so much of it has been discarded and reinvented.

The Breath of the Wild comparisons that existed from moment one felt glib and reductive in a sense, but that influence is undeniable once you get hands on the thing; mostly I see it strongly in UI and audio design and visual rendering style, but it's really holistic about it that picking out individual comparative angles is a little redundant. It's personally funny to me, because that game made me like Zelda less on the whole, whereas here I have a feeling of being "into" Pokémon that I haven't felt since I was probably ten years old.

On the technical performance side, I understand basically any Switch game will have its discourse consumed by this aspect, but there's not much to bellyache here from my perspective. If a comparable scale and presentation is to be found in games like any Zelda on the platform, or Shin Megami Tensei V, the way Legends runs is basically a paragon of stability and responsiveness by comparison. I've barely made note of it, when the baseline on the system is not allowing one to forget the limitations at hand.

 

[demi]

I love the scoring for each area's day/night cycle. The way the meandering keyboard part slides into a sweet jazzy lick as dawn is about to break feels so good! So far there are only a few direct rearrangements: Heartwood's music of DPPt's Eterna Forest, for instance. But, during the day time is where the unique "Route" scoring happens for each area from what I can tell; they'll slip into licks and verses that are lifted from DPPt's OST and then move back into either wholly original or highly interpreted tracks that are still as jazzy-bouncy-energetic as I've come to love. Go Ichinose, Pokemon music veteran, is a lead composer on Legends: Arceus, as is - I'm so delighted to say - Hitomi Sato, whose breakout game for composition was in fact Diamond/Pearl. The original OST held close to my heart, their absence from the D/P remakes were a contributing factor to my avoidance for those games (as was a recent 200+ hour in DS's Platinum), and I am just so thrilled to see them back for this title. I pretty much bought the game without doing any investigation solely since it was taking place in Sinnoh which is a fave region so... I'm just happy lol.

The battle system moving to FFX-style turn-based is really interesting and was certainly a move to accommodate the dynamic nature of encounters since sometimes more than one Pokemon will join in on the aggression. It also contributes to an active feel instead of the stop-time that occurs in the microcosm of "the turn" in older titles, as does the minor feature of being able to run my trainer around during battle. This change to turns has a number of ramifications, such as Priority moves' effects being changed to reduced delay instead of leading a turn. A lot of moves had to be adjusted to fit into the new system, and I'm so glad that they're finding the strength to let go of the legacy mechanics. I love all the handheld entries to pieces and most everything about them - and those games will always be waiting for me whenever I want what they have to offer. But this new direction and everything with it just has me screaming "Yes yes yes" the whole way.

Also I love how "Original Partner" is used instead of "Original Trainer" for Pokemon: it is very much aligned with the game's setting and theme. The setting is the perfect reason not to have to design the game around all the global trade/battle/competition aspects and what they have instead is the most refreshing, exciting Pokemon release since I don't know when.

And, field exploration in general feels wonderful. Sneaking through tall grass, catching without battling, baiting Pokemon to turn around, getting swarmed and running for my life- it all plays like the Pokemon game my friends and I used to dream they'd make when games were moving into the third dimension. We get to aim our throws, and Pokeballs have different weight affecting their trajectory and application - throwing Wing balls at things in the sky is pretty much my favorite thing. Rediscovering landmarks such as Mossy Rock and Solaceon Ruins and the three Lakes also warms my soul.

There are things that are missing too, such as Pokemon abilities and held items. My gut says they were likely dropped due to the staggering amount of rebalancing required for the new system, but it's also very possible they weren't concerned to begin with: Battling is as prevalent as ever, but the competitive aspect which those systems best served is not a feature of the title. Breeding is also gone, but that whole concept was kind of a humans-controlling-nature system that wouldn't be fitting for the setting either. These are fun mechanics that belong in the other Pokemon games, but I can't say I've been missing them here. But, I also wouldn't be upset if they were added into future "Legends:" titles, if that is the direction that this is going.

I was pretty bummed when I learned GameFreak wasn't involved in the D/P remakes since I was fond enough of their work on Alpha Sapphire and eager to see similar treatment from them for D/P. In retrospect, however, this Legends: Arceus is the best gift they could ever have given me, and it accomplishes so so much more for Sinnoh and for Pokemon as a series.

... also I found a shiny Wurmple in the wild last night and so I'm still up in cloud nine.

 

[Vaeran]

Got this tonight and played about an hour and a half. It's cool so far! I'll have more thoughts over the weekend, but mostly I'm enjoying the fact that a 15 year old can bang a fruit and a rock together and make an infinitely durable and reuseable matter-to-energy animal capturing device

 

[Sprite]

The third area and fifth area are actually pretty nice looking and feature a bunch of landmarks that give them a sense of space which the other areas lack. Everyone is focused on the graphics looking old but the real problem is a lack of proper art direction leading to bland level design.

 

[JBear]

My SO and I played for a few hours tonight, passing the controller back and forth. So far, one thing I really like about it is that you can kind of choose to either engage with it as a mainline Pokemon game or engage with it as a console Pokemon GO and either way works? Like, when she plays she just runs around bopping 'mons on the head to catch them and largely avoiding combat, and then when I started playing she's like "why are you battling so much?", and the reward structures are flexible enough to allow either extreme or a mix of both.

(Also, she doesn't have much experience with RPG mechanics, so she kept trying to make my level 5-8 ass go pick a fight with a giant level 40 Rapidash with red eyes despite my protests that this was absolutely not going to work. >_<)

Pretty much the only bad things I have to say about it is that it's yet another fucking isekai that didn't need to be, and also, what the fuck is on that professor's head, and why is it there? It's not cold, man! It seems very temperate here!

Also, bonus points for making the very first quest in the game to go capture a Bidoof. It's all downhill from here! It's just me and Doofus versus the world (with a little help from our bowtie owl, Mr. Hoots, MD).

 

[Exposition Owl]

(with a little help from our bowtie owl, Mr. Hoots, MD)

If your Rowlet friend has an MD, wouldn’t that make him Dr. Hoots? Or is he just from Maryland originally?

 

[Phantoon]

It's Dr. Hoots, he didn't spend six years in Jubilife Medical School to be called "mister," thank you very much.

 

[JBear]

Sorry, it is in fact Dr. Hoots, MD. I wrote that post after 2AM. >_<

 

[muteKi]

Pretty much the only bad things I have to say about it is that it's yet another fucking isekai that didn't need to be

But it's the same region as in Diamond/Pearl! The game with the box legendaries that literally control space and time!!

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

The heat death of the universe will come before I capture a Buizel that is 2'9" or above. Is there a way I can check on a stored 'mon's size without coming back to town perhaps for no reason?

When do I get more haircuts or are there more towns in which there will be more haircuts?

 

[Bongo]

You can check your pastures from camp, or you can keep empty slots in your team. I think I will have no choice but to just catch an alpha of one of those guys.

More hairstyles and clothes unlock over time. Some are based on plot progress, others on requests, and I think there may be some with unstated conditions or based on research rank. Clothes are the same way.

I have heard that there is a bug (as in software defect, not insect) implicated in the quest to find a Cherrim.

 

[Sprite]

Ugh, is there really no way to induce space time distortions? I’ve been playing 20 hours and have only seen three, and given the sizable chunk of Pokémon exclusive to them that may kill my interest in the postgame and finishing the Pokédex.

It’s a shame, because they’re the most fun I’ve had with the game when they do spawn. But they just seem completely random and waaay too rare.

 

[figcube]

I’ve read that it might be tied to reserch progress when you are on the map. So complete reserch in the area you want a certain pokemon?

 

[Phantoon]

I'm trying to come up with a team of Hisuian pokémon, which I've achieved. Unfortunately they all fold like deckchairs at the first sign of a ground type move

 

[Sprite]

I’ve read that it might be tied to reserch progress when you are on the map. So complete reserch in the area you want a certain pokemon?

I don’t think anything has been confirmed with data, it might just be confirmation bias. Some people say they spawn constantly while they’re researching and others say they’ll grind research for two hours with nothing. Hopefully someone discovers something concrete.