Legends Arceus First Impressions and General Reviews Thread

[R1ke]

Haven't started just yet but I'm happy to see all the positivity surrounding it! The graphics don't look great but I can look past them if the gameplay's good

 

[Daren]

A few days in and I'm still impressed, and I would be incredibly interested in seeing how a battle focused game would look with the Legends mechanics.

So far I like the characters a lot more than usual; Akari feels like a friend rather than someone I occasionally fight whose following me around like the XY group, the Professor already seems to have gotten more focus than most of the previous ones, and there's a nice tension where our superior is distant and willing to turn us out as soon as we're not useful.

and sometimes in battles, a Pokemon gets to attack multiple times in a row before the other Pokemon gets a chance to do anything at all. I'm aware agile style can sometimes trigger this, but I've seen it happen without that being used. This honestly isn't fair to me. If it was just agile style, then that's one thing, but it being as random as it seems to be adds too much of a luck factor, so I'm thinking it's a bug.

It isn't a bug; Speed affects it too so a sufficently faster Pokémon can pull double turns even without Agile style, and a number of attacks are "fast" on their own without being Agile style (the reverse is also true; Hyper Beam is naturally slow for instance), like Priority moves and a bunch of the buff abilities like Calm Mind.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

A few days in and I'm still impressed, and I would be incredibly interested in seeing how a battle focused game would look with the Legends mechanics.

I’d imagine trainer battles would probably initiate the same but you’d have the addition of Agile and Hard styles to make it more interesting. Catching Wild Pokémon would likely be the same as it is in PLA.

I do hope they keep the increased difficulty though and maybe finally include difficulty levels so on harder difficulties the enemy trainers are much more aggressive and use the styles strategically.

 

[PinkIceFox]

I adore the game!! Only complaints I have so far really are like I wish that they at least had trees rendered in the far distance on places you can see. It's weird seeing bald land in the distance when I know there are at least trees there. I'd take the 2D textures always facing you cheat over nothing at all.

Well that and the fact that the eyes look like they're concave instead of convex. That is bothering me.

Also I kinda wish much lower level pokemon would stop agressing at me. LISTEN HERE, YOU FANCY BALLOON. MY LUXRAY CAN AND WILL LITERALLY EAT YOU FOR FUN. The Alpha pokemon are also less scary to me than I thought they'd be. I can outrun em easily.

Also let me do stuff with my pokemon I hate that all I can do is lean forward and watch them emote. LET ME PAT THEY HEADS AT LEAST GAMEFREAK.

I'm already a sixth star member and I only just met Ursaluna lolololol

 

[Dizzard]

My take on the graphics....

For me I kinda feel like it's not so much the strength of the graphics as it is the repetitiveness of the textures. I think the water would be fine if it didn't look so....samey. The same little waves copy pasted across a massive ocean is bound to look weird when you're zoomed out looking down at it.

I feel like Legends is at its most ugly when you're on a mountain looking down on the surrounding area, and you see how repetitive a lot of the textures are (also because when you're that far away the textures on the ground look very muddy, it kind of takes away the illusion. It kinda made me go "oh this is a 3D model of a landmass" rather than "I'm exploring the world of Pokemon".

When you're just on ground level looking at the immediate environment it can be quite nice.

A part of me wonders if it might be because they're not as used to creating textures that are going to be seen from a distance. (something that's common in more open games)

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

I'm obsessed lol.

I really enjoy the game so far and I haven't even faced Kleavor because I want to take my time

Probably a severely regurgitated talking point but the overworld could look much better. But it's a good start and I'm hoping to see this carried onto the next generation. Honestly, if Gamefreak can combine the traditional structure of mainline Pokemon games (gyms/trials with routes) with the openness of Legends, where each route could be explored like this game, I think I will have found my new favorite Pokemon game.

I love the fact that it's a longer game that you can't rush in a few hours (you probably could, but it's probably not recommended).

 

[R1ke]

Few hours in, beat the 'tutorial' section now (I think). Not bad, understandable that it's slow since it's introducing everything. I'm not a fan of the graphics still, gonna take a while to get used to it. The open world so far seems kinda barren as well, albeit that might just be the starting areas. I like the ideas so far and am keen to actually sink my teeth into the missions/exploration/battling too. It's fun being able to do your own thing. I'll try and take it slow for now but I can see myself getting hooked soon.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Just beat the game, here's my review:

Well it's not quite the open world BotW clone we all thought at first but it's an excellent game nonetheless that provides a similar experience. While not quite as big and freeform, it's still very fun to explore, the areas are big enough to be satisfying, and the opportunity to find new Pokemon and crafting materials and completing sidequests keeps you coming back. I also appreciate how they were able to reimagine Sinnoh and twist familiar locations from DPPtBDSP into completely new feeling areas that feel much more realistically designed.

The catching mechanics take a little getting used to, but they work very well and they offer a lot of flexibility and strategy in trying to catch them. Do you sneak up on them and try to catch them when they're not looking? Do you send out a Pokemon and weaken them? Or do you just charge right in and throw a Poke Ball before they attack you? You have several options on how to approach them, and different tactics work better depending on the Pokemon and its behavior. I will say I don't really like the research tasks though. They're really tedious and repetitive and just pad out the game. I really wish this game had a larger roster of Pokemon to catch instead of trying to get you to catch multiples of each species.

I also really like what they did with the battling. The Strong Style/Agile Style system, again, offers a ton of flexibility in your strategies. I could see this making faster Pokemon broken if they were to ever have a metagame for this series, but other than that it's a really nice improvement. But what I like even more is having Pokemon attack the trainer, that adds so much more action to the battling and makes them feel much more organic. The Noble battles especially emphasize this really well. They feel like something out of a 3D Mario or 3D Zelda game while at the same time still feeling like a Pokemon battle. I especially like how they taught you to roll to shield yourself from damage, essentially teaching the player about invincibility frames. I don't think I've ever seen a game intentionally use that concept in its design, and it's really clever. Having the later ones like Electrode and Avalugg force you to keep dodging also made them very challenging, regardless of how strong or weak your Pokemon are. Avalugg especially left me utterly frantic by the end, I just barely squeaked by that one after losing to it twice, that battle is close to being a bullet hell.

Storyline wise I love how everyone is suspicious of you essentially getting isekai'd into Hisui, that's much more realistic than just everyone being your friend the day you meet like other Pokemon games tend to be. And then just when you think you've earned your place in Jubilife Village, it all comes back into the forefront when Kamado kicks you out of the village and you have to prove yourself all over again.. Seeing some of the ancestors of well known characters show up in new roles from their descendants was also neat, but they're pretty typical Pokemon characters otherwise.

Overall: Great game and a wonderful evolution of the series and foundation for future Pokemon games. My main criticism is that there needs to be less research tasks and more species, fix that and keep making the games bigger and better and this formula can work for a long, long time. I really hope this game is the beginning of a series like it appears to be.

9/10

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

The Positives

• I really enjoy the new gameplay mechanics. The action RPG elements feel like a fresh new take on the Pokemon franchise.
• Something about battles feels more streamlined in a way.
• The environments feel fresh and they are nice to explore.
• Whether you're catching Pokemon, battling, searching for crafting materials, doing story missions, or doing side quests, it often feels like you have something to do.
• The story has so far been pretty nice and I do like the characters.
• QoL improvements such as how moves are handled and such feel very welcome.
• The wild Pokemon do feel as threatening as they should.
• The Pokemon models and animations actually feel like they've improved since Sword and Shield. I mean I'm seeing Pokemon actually have to go through the motions of turning instead of rotating on an axis.
• The Nobel fights feel like a welcoming addition.

The Negative
-'The graphics don't stand out as a strong point, but I'm not too bothered.
-The Alphas honestly feel overpowered when they're spamming Hyper Beam with no cooldown.
-I haven't been through all areas, though I feel like they could use a little more. Like temples or at least more small villages.
-Still not finished, but it could use more trainer battles.

So far, Legends Arceus has been a very enjoyable experience and I feel like the future of Pokemon could benefit from this game if they can apply things used here.

 

[Esiouqrut]

Having spent a lot of hours in the first area alone, I can confidently say that this is the most enjoyable Pokémon experience I've had in a while. The world, the Pokémon, the gameplay flow feels like an overall improvement the franchise needed for quite a while now. I might be in the minority here, but I'm not really bothered by the lack of trainer battle (though they could be more challenging as well).

Of course this game isn't perfect. The graphics bothers me a little more than I expected it, the tutorial is a bit lengthy and slow, and some of the features (crafting, the world in general) could be better. But, I'm more excited for the future of Pokémon now compared to a few years prior.

 

[JFrombaugh]

Haven't finished the game yet so can't fully comment, but here's a few of my intial impressions:

It took me quite awhile to get used to the controls (especially the completely manual camera combined with the aiming/switching system; many times I've sent out the wrong Pokemon, wasted a Poke Ball throw, and so on), but I'm getting the hang of it.

While it does feel grindy in parts, the traditional Pokemon games are very much this way too, if you think about all those wild Pokemon & Trainers you have to battle just to get to the next town...so in a way, I think this game is actually more interesting because of the variations in the research tasks you have to do to earn points, and the different behaviors of different species.

Compared to SwSh, I feel like GF did a MUCH better job of giving all the Wardens & Galaxy Team members their own unique personalities. Seriously, I felt like 9 out of 10 characters in Galar had pretty much the same loud, extroverted, boisterious, showboater athlete type personality (Leon, Raihan, Gordie, Mustard, Peony) and the other 10% were introverted, socially awkward emo kids (Allister, Marnie).

Oh, and the male protagonist's voice sounds EXACTLY like Link!

Overall, I'm definitely enjoying it so far despite the learning curve.

 

[GhostLucario]

I'm 10 hours in, I haven't gotten out of the first area or even faced Kleavor because I'm having so much fun. I was afraid the game would be grind-y and tedious like much of what GF usually does, but so far I've been so entertained I haven't even felt the need to progress the story.

The mechanics are well excecuted. Pokemon that you would normally laugh at in other games are a serious threat. Zubats AND Geodudes are no longer a mere bother, they are agressive beasts that will try to kill you. Paras are agressive little killers that will not hesitate to attack. Every Pokémon feels like a threat and even level 3-4 mons can kill a level 20 easily. I also like that different species act and react differently. You can't just throw a ball at some of them and be done.

The Pokedex completion thing is also not as chore-y. Thankfully it only requires some tasks to be completed to get to level 10 unless you are OCD like me and feel the need to complete them all before you do something else it's not a problem.

The resource management and crafting takes a bit to get used to but it's fine. There's plenty of materials in the world and you never feel like running out of something easily. Having limited space in the bag after years of unlimited space bothers me but it's not a deal breaker.

The music is fine I liked that they remixed and repurposed some music. The music that plays out at night is so good and the environmental sounds are incredible. Like you are out exploring and hear a pokemon cry and you're wondering "omg where is it coming from? Am I danger?"

The graphics are bad. I don't like the textures especially the water and the grass, it glitches like crazy in some parts, the rendering is meh and the popping while better than SWSH is sometimes distracting. I don't really care about graphics as long as the game is fun but even I can't deny that it doesn't look good and we know the switch is capable of so much more (like the new Kirby game looks amazing. New Pokemon snap looks better). Hell even SWSH had better graphics in some parts.

I can't speak of the story or the characters but so far I'd rate this a 8.5/10. It's not perfect, it could've used some more time in the oven but it's fun and it's entertained me for hours which is all I ask from a Pokémon game.

 

[Joker901]

I just entered Wayward Cave. God, this place is a visual mess.

 

[R1ke]

I’m ~8 hours in and progressed to the next area. Overall it’s fun but idk it hasn’t quite hit me yet. Like sometimes it doesn’t feel like there’s much to explore (like there isn’t much besides pokemon and they can have low variety), but that could just be the early game. I’m enjoying the general gameplay and atmosphere though. I also really like the revised movesets. Still getting used to the visuals tbh

 

[RexMissingno]

I'm finally finished so I'll type up my thoughts on it. This turned into a bigger review than I expected it to.

Spoiler: It's long so I'll place it in a spoiler.

Overall I genuinely enjoyed it and I'd say it feels like a cross between the main series games, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Ranger. I've got about 35 hours so far because I've found the capture mechanics and tasks to be engaging. I don't think I've had this much desire to 100% a Pokemon game since PSMD. The new battle system was another aspect I enjoyed and it made me have to consider strategy a lot more than I normally would and I'm glad to see speed having more of a use and I enjoyed crafting experimenting with different strategies.

Exploring is enjoyable too and unlike in other exploratory games I've played I barely encountered any bugs with the environment. Although I do wish that they included more secrets, it was still fun to find little details in the environments. While the graphics did look better than I expected in some places, there are some areas where there are large swaths of blank terrain which felt like they didn't expect players to go to. The water was also a little lack-luster which is a shame because I loved the water graphics in BDSP. I talked about the graphics in another thread though so I won't do that here.

I also had a lot of fun with the ability to send out my Pokemon and enjoyed watching them interact - the Pokemon respond very well to the environment and even having different flying/swimming animations I'm glad they've included. Although I would have loved a travel mechanic which I feel would have been possible given how most Pokemon have environment-responsive walking animations. Though maybe more care went into focusing on the wild Pokemon.

The music was another strong point to me. Music critique isn't my area but I did find the remixes to add a lot to the atmosphere and the fact that you're exploring a past Sinnoh. The uses of the intro of Pokemon DP and Platinum was also a really great touch. Some of the tracks for different environments or times of day were excellent for setting the mood. The sound effects were also appreciated.

I also found some of the bosses to be more challenging than any other I've encountered in a Pokemon game and I enjoyed how unique it felt to not have a battle-based boss. I also like how if you loose it allows players to choose if they want to reset the boss battle from the beginning or if they want to continue where they left of.

I enjoyed the story but I may be more biased on that front because it reminded me of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Some of the characters I felt they could have done more with - like Irida, but others I did enjoy and I appreciate how there wasn't a plot of trying to hide where the player came from and that player was regarded with some suspicion. It's exactly what I wanted too in a slightly darker Pokemon game - it still feels like Pokemon but doesn't shy away from mentioning death.

On a more spoiler note the way people were responding to the leaks, even though I hadn't seen them, made me think things would be much worse. I loved the new Hisuian starter evolutions and genuinely got excited when my Dewott evolved. I also love Typhlosion and Decidueye. With how people were reacting to the centaur forms I thought they would be much worse but I enjoyed the battle with Palkia. Though that may be because I experienced them in motion and not as a static 3D model leak.

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Around 10 to 15 hours in. Having the time of my life. Did not think I'd enjoy it this much, but here we are. It seems to prey upon my enjoyment of completing tasks/lists very well. This is not only the most fun I've had in a Pokemon game, but honestly the most fun I've had in a video game in quite some time. I typically can only play them in short bursts because I get bored quickly. Not here! I'm experiencing the same level of addiction I had to a game as I did when I was a child.

It took me quite some time to continue the main story and go defeat Kleavor because I'd get so lost in the world catching Pokemon and collecting things. In the past, I've always disliked catching Pokemon, thinking it a tedious chore. But here? Vastly improved. It's so seamless. The battle system also feels way more fun, because fighting opponents can be risky even if you overlevel them. It's not the hardest thing in the world, but when compared to previous Pokemon games, it is far more challenging. I actually feel threatened, and the need to think my decisions through.

The dialogue also feels better-written somehow. It's a bit more serious and mature, with death being mentioned, and the importance of survival emphasized. It's nice. It adds a bit of needed realism to Pokemon without going full-on gory and excess.

Facial expressions and animations have also been improved. I quite enjoy the game's art style when compared to Sw/Sh. The colors are absolutely lovely.

That said, I have several criticisms.

Spoiler

• My biggest complaint, which I have not seen mentioned yet, is NO MINI-MAP. I am someone who gets very, hopelessly lost at the drop of a hat. And whilst I could just pin something on the map, going back and forth between it and the overworld just to get my bearings is annoying. I'd like to have one that fills out as you explore, and also shows you Pokemon and items that are near you. With the ability to toggle these off as needed or turn it off entirely for those who aren't as navigationally challenged as I.
  
  
• Lack of stamina meter when dashing. I'd like to see a more clearcut indicator of when my character is exhausted.
  
  
• The controls feel kind of clunky and weird. It's hard for me to explain, but I think the best example of this is riding on Wyrdeer. It feels hard to control sometimes and isn't as precise as I'd like.
  
  
• Your character cannot climb small inclines that would easily be climbable by a human, and cannot swim across shallow rivers without drowning. It's just ridiculous and frustrating. This adds to the general feeling of clunkiness. I know it's an excuse to have ride Pokemon be useful, but they could've implemented these obstacles a lot better. In older games, it wasn't as noticeable because they weren't as focused on action or realism, but here, it becomes irritating.
  
  
• The camera could use some work. It feels a little difficult to control sometimes and I think it should be zoomed out more. One particular area I had trouble in was the fight against Kleavor, where the tree in the center of the area caused the camera to get caught on it sometimes. Overall, I had trouble with that battle because of the general clunkiness of the game.
  
  
• I am disappointed at Agile and Strong style. They just don't seem to have as much of an impact to the battle system as I was expecting. I also find that Strong-style doesn't power up the moves enough to go through the risk of giving the enemy another turn. I'd like to see them refined a bit more, but I doubt they'll be returning to the series because of multiplayer concerns. Which is a shame, because I like the whole action order thing. It has a lot potential for more strategy and fun.
  
  
• Why can't we ride our own Pokemon? There are far less in this game than usual, and they managed to do it in Let's Go. Once we unlock specific ride abilities, we should just have the ability to ride our own Wyrdeer or Rapidash or whatever else makes sense.
  
  
• Overall, I'd like more interaction with the Pokemon in general. They feel like they're just tools for battle and capture in this game, despite the NPCs insistence that Pokeballs are for humans to easily get along with them. Why not let me pat my Pokemon on the head or feed it outside of battle to increase our bond? Or have it follow me around? I realize you have to throw your ball at the enemy to initiate battle, but still, they could just have the same aiming reticle and have you press the button to command your Pokemon to initiate the encounter or collect the item or something.
  
  
• The Pokemon on the overworld don't act particularly realistic. From what I've heard, Pokemon Snap did a far better job of making them feel alive. Here, they just kind of stand around, make their default poses and cry, or sleep. I'd like to see this expanded on.

That said, a lot of my complaints are quality of life improvements which Game Freak should hopefully iron out as they gain more experience with this type of game. I just hope this isn't a one-and-done project for them and they go back to the old formula, because after this, I feel there really is no going back.

 

[Esiouqrut]

My biggest complaint, which I have not seen mentioned yet, is NO MINI-MAP.

This is so true. I have to go back and forth to the Arc Phone just to confirm I'm walking in the right direction. Also I'd like it if there's a clock, too. Some Pokémon have task related to the time of the day, so that would help a lot.

 

[Joker901]

I still don't understand why you can only throw pokeball while on Basculegion. I find it quite annoying each time to remove the mount just to farm materials. They should have allowed us to throw pokeball at least with Wyrdeer. It would have also been cool if you could use Sneasler or Ursaluna to collect minerals. I mean, they can easly destroy rocks better than a Kricketot.
Also, I wish you could see the nature of a pokemon in the preview of the pokemon, without being forced to go to its stats page.

 

[Kelleo]

It isn't a bug; Speed affects it too so a sufficently faster Pokémon can pull double turns even without Agile style, and a number of attacks are "fast" on their own without being Agile style (the reverse is also true; Hyper Beam is naturally slow for instance), like Priority moves and a bunch of the buff abilities like Calm Mind.

Then speed is an OP stat in this game. There was no need to change how it worked from previous games. It was just fine before.

 

[Kelleo]

Okay, here's another criticism about something that has really pissed me off. Placing a Pokemon that easily runs away and despawns near a buttload of Pokemon that will attack you. I can't catch a single Piplup because everything near it is attacking me, thus alerting it as well as making me black out and I don't even know what's attacking me because I look around and don't see anything except maybe a Bibarel which is minding its own business.

I've tried several times over just to catch ONE Piplup and I can't because I keep being attacked. This is terrible design and only serves to be annoying rather than fun. This is why I prefer easier games.

Also, not being able to instant-travel to an instant-travel point if a Pokemon is targeting you. Like, what is even the point other than to again be annoying?