Pokemon Legends: Arceus General Discussion

[Rockapheller]

When Legends: Arceus was first teased, I was the most excited about this game for many reasons. The formula was very original and a completely different format than the regular core series games. The graphics and battle mechanics were just a bonus to all the package. But unfortunately the outcome is way worse than the expectations that I had.

I didn't really enjoy the gameplay. Catching gets old quickly and it is just a repeat of itself. The side quests are just tiring and not interesting or exciting. I needed to get an item to evolve my Ursaring into Ursaluna. There are a couple of ways to get it, but only one of them is not (relatively) time consuming and based on sheer luck - completing a couple of missions. You just have to go all around the other maps and find someone repeatedly. I think you have to find a girl for 5 times in different places to finally get that item. This is merely boring. Nothing gets me interested to discover the lore of the game or Hisui. I just need to walk and press A and return. That is a horrible execution of enriching the game content.

The NPCs are just weird. They don't do anything, they don't amount to anything. They just stand and stare in specific locations and no one is around outside of the Jubilife Village. It makes sense to an extend to not meet many people outside of the village, but it does not excuse the NPCs in that area to be soulless and motionless. It also doesn't quite excuse having barely any NPCs in other places. There are barely any trainer battles and it is not all that difficult to get away from wild Pokémon who are attacking you. So what is the challenge here exactly? Just catching Pokémon?

I wanted to fill my living dex with the newly added Pokémon in this game, but it has been an absolute torture to me. I was already so tired of chasing three Basculin with different genders so that I can evolve them. But I had no motivation to actually go for catching. I still need to catch Enamorus but for that I have to defeat Volo and unlock the post game, but genuinely speaking I have zero tolerence and motivation to proceed. If I purchased the game with a physical copy, I would most definitely be selling a Pokémon game for the first time.

It may be an unpopular opinion, but although I was quite disappointed with BDSP, they are still more engaging than Legends: Arceus based on my experience.

 

[Stratelier]

As an experiment with an open-map formula, I'd say Legends Arceus still tackles it with more polish and proficiency than Scarlet/Violet. I'll agree that there isn't much variety to wild Pokemon field attacks, and it's sometimes a bit too easy to simply run from wild Pokemon -- but just like the pattern started with Sword/Shield you simply do NOT have to fight every wild Pokemon you run into, you are allowed to pick & choose your battles selectively.

I also enjoy that you don't strictly have to catch a wild Pokemon to complete the Pokedex entry for it.

Similarly, I think Legends Arceus has the best design for notifying you when a Pokemon learns a new move:

• If the Pokemon has an open move slot, it learns the move automatically
• Otherwise, you are notified that the Pokemon "got the idea for" a new move, and can change it out when you see fit

Contrast to Scarlet/Violet where:

• There's a toggle setting for "new move notifications".
• If it's on, Pokemon learn moves in the same manner as previous Generations -- automatic if there's an open move slot available, or you will be notified that its movepool is full and asked if you want to replace an old move with the new one.
• If it's off, the Pokemon simply does not learn new moves upon level-up at all, even if it has an empty move slot available. You aren't notified that the new move is available, you must manually check that Pokemon's summary screen and select the option "Remember a move" to learn the new move.

(On the flipside, SV's new option to "use a TM to teach new moves" is a godsend because it brings up a list of TMs filtered to that Pokemon specifically -- no more scrolling through dozens of pages looking for which ones the Pokemon is "Able!" to learn)