Pokemon Legends: Arceus General Discussion

[Dorothy]

I have played pokemon sword for 790 hours, pokemon lets go pikachu for 250 hours. Other pokemon games:

Pokemon Sun: 650 hours
Pokemon ultra Sun: around 200 hours
Pokemon Alpha Saphire: 690 hours
Pokemon X: 660 hours
Pokemon White 2: 490 hours
Pokemon Black: over 700 hours
Pokemon Soul Silver: 290 hours
Pokemon platinum: over 200 hours
Pokemon Diamond: 790 hours
Pokemon Esmerald: 990 hours
Pokemon Saphire: 999 hours.

This kind of depends on what you like to do (competitive battling, shiny hunting, battle facilities, etc.) I tend to mostly play the storyline and then explore in the postgame until I get bored, so my playtimes tend to be shorter. I've only broken 100 hours on a single save file once.

 

[Greninjaman]

DLC speculation time:

-Will take place on the postgame northeastern island. Sub-areas are the western jungle & eastern desert/Stark Mountain

I thought Firespit Island was the Battle Frontier/Stark Mountain Island?

 

[Oriden]

I thought Firespit Island was the Battle Frontier/Stark Mountain Island?

Pretty sure that it is, yeah.

 

[Daren]

Firespit feels way too small to be the Battle zone island and is differently shaped, but considering a certain issue and the fact the map shapes feels a bit different in general (there is a hundred or two years between them) that might be the intention.

 

[Oriden]

Firespit feels way too small to be the Battle zone island and is differently shaped, but considering a certain issue and the fact the map shapes feels a bit different in general (there is a hundred or two years between them) that might be the intention.

Yeah, being an active volcano is probably what expanded the island by a considerable amount over the years.

 

[Cute Charm]

Firespit feels way too small to be the Battle zone island and is differently shaped, but considering a certain issue and the fact the map shapes feels a bit different in general (there is a hundred or two years between them) that might be the intention.

Not many things add up to modern Sinnoh. But most if not all of it could be written off as "a volcano did it."

I mean the whole Colbalt Coastlands area itself is completely diffrent than what it looks like in modern times. The only explanation can be Firespit/Stark Mountain erupted sometime between the mid/late 1800s and the mid 2000s. It was probably during an earthquake that also caused a tsunami that pretty much destroyed that side of the map.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Spoiler: Post-release trailer

Includes new official artwork.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Not many things add up to modern Sinnoh. But most if not all of it could be written off as "a volcano did it."

I mean the whole Colbalt Coastlands area itself is completely diffrent than what it looks like in modern times. The only explanation can be Firespit/Stark Mountain erupted sometime between the mid/late 1800s and the mid 2000s. It was probably during an earthquake that also caused a tsunami that pretty much destroyed that side of the map.

There are still some glaring differences that an eruption can't entirely explain. Most notably, Turnback Cave is in a completely different spot in LA than it is in DPPtBDSP, for example. In Modern Sinnoh, it's nestled in that bay area, it'd be about where Gingko Landing is in LA. In LA, it's north of Veilstone Cape (which is presumably where Veilstone City is in the future). An eruption wouldn't cause an entire cave to move south. The only in game explanation that would make sense for that is a spatial distortion.

I think the more likely explanation might be that some combination of Dialga/Palkia/Giratina/Arceus probably affected Hisui in some way, possibly because of Volo's meddling causing the space/time distortions. Perhaps it happened some time in between the events of this game and when Hisui/Sinnoh was finally settled, when less people would've noticed the difference.

 

[Dorothy]

I thought Firespit Island was the Battle Frontier/Stark Mountain Island?

I interpreted it as the island where the Pokemon League will eventually reside, after a few hundred years of cooling and volcanic dormancy.

The Battle Zone is based on Sakhalin, and is not part of the Sinnoh/Hisui region.

 

[Dorothy]

I wonder if there'll be anything about the Kuril Islands/Chishima Islands. I think it'd be too political, with them being claimed by both Japan and Russia, but during the time they were Ainu-inhabited islands.

Very unlikely given the political implications. The Battle Zone/Sakhalin is more likely; the Ainu are also indigenous to the southern portion of Sakhalin, upon which the Battle Zone is based.

 

[Cute Charm]

There are still some glaring differences that an eruption can't entirely explain. Most notably, Turnback Cave is in a completely different spot in LA than it is in DPPtBDSP, for example. In Modern Sinnoh, it's nestled in that bay area, it'd be about where Gingko Landing is in LA. In LA, it's north of Veilstone Cape (which is presumably where Veilstone City is in the future). An eruption wouldn't cause an entire cave to move south. The only in game explanation that would make sense for that is a spatial distortion.

I think the more likely explanation might be that some combination of Dialga/Palkia/Giratina/Arceus probably affected Hisui in some way, possibly because of Volo's meddling causing the space/time distortions. Perhaps it happened some time in between the events of this game and when Hisui/Sinnoh was finally settled, when less people would've noticed the difference.

Time and space distortions are an option. But it's also possible that they just borrowed the names for other things. Like the Clans could have called it Veilstone Cape, but the Construction Corps borrowed the name for Veilstone City.

I mean it's possible that a lot of the modern cities are in the out of bounds areas. Especially Veilstone and Hearthome since like...the Amity Square mud hut ruins are nowhere to be seen.

 

[Oriden]

Not many things add up to modern Sinnoh. But most if not all of it could be written off as "a volcano did it."

I mean the whole Colbalt Coastlands area itself is completely diffrent than what it looks like in modern times. The only explanation can be Firespit/Stark Mountain erupted sometime between the mid/late 1800s and the mid 2000s. It was probably during an earthquake that also caused a tsunami that pretty much destroyed that side of the map.

Coasts can also change over time as sand gets washed away and such! So at least the changes in the coasts can be explained. Also a lot of the placement of things can be due to human involvement in the future. So... yeah, there's reasonable explanations for most of it not being an exact match.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Time and space distortions are an option. But it's also possible that they just borrowed the names for other things. Like the Clans could have called it Veilstone Cape, but the Construction Corps borrowed the name for Veilstone City.

I mean it's possible that a lot of the modern cities are in the out of bounds areas. Especially Veilstone since like...the Amity Square mud hut ruins are nowhere to be seen.

Even if Veilstone City is in a different location from Veilstone Cape, that still doesn't mean that Turnback Cave's location is consistent between games. The discrepancy lies in relation to a major part of Hisui/Sinnoh's natural geography, namely its location relative to that bay on its East Coast. It's right inside that bay in the present day but north of it in the past. There's no explanation as to why that would naturally occur in lore (design wise it's pretty obvious why they would do that, because it would be too easy to find in the open area design and they wanted to hide it ), especially only over the course of ~100 years (if it were thousands of years, you might be able to use plate tectonics as an excuse but the gap is far too short for that to come into play), which is why I think the only rational explanation would be a spatial anomaly of some kind.

 

[Oriden]

Welp, we've got official artwork for Decidueye, Typhlosion, Samurott, Palkia and Dialga now-

Pokémon Legends: Arceus | Pokémon | Official Website | Pokémon

First Partner, Legendary, Regional, and Newly discovered Pokémon of Pokémon Legends: Arceus

legends.pokemon.com

Art did not improve any of them. The ones that looked bad still look bad.


Also something seems off in Hiphlosion and Hisuian Zoroark's artwork... like they got a new artist doing them. Something is just not as good about those two.

 

[Cute Charm]

Even if Veilstone City is in a different location from Veilstone Cape, that still doesn't mean that Turnback Cave's location is consistent between games. The discrepancy lies in relation to a major part of Hisui/Sinnoh's natural geography, namely its location relative to that bay on its East Coast. It's right inside that bay in the present day but north of it in the past. There's no explanation as to why that would naturally occur in lore (design wise it's pretty obvious why they would do that, because it would be too easy to find in the open area design and they wanted to hide it ), especially only over the course of ~100 years (if it were thousands of years, you might be able to use plate tectonics as an excuse but the gap is far too short for that to come into play), which is why I think the only rational explanation would be a spatial anomaly of some kind.

I mean...for all we know this could also be some other alternate universe separate from the main universe (Gen 1 - Now) and the Original Remake universe (FRLG - ORAS, give or take LGPE) and the protagonist is from the future of one of those universes. It would give new meaning to the "this world seems strange to you" line past the obvious "your being transported to the past. Hope you aced history class. 'Kay bye."

Also time anomoly or not, where are the mud hut ruins? The Lost Tower could have easily been built within 100 something years. But those mud huts have to be from before the clans.

Also something seems off in Hiphlosion and Hisuian Zoroark's artwork... like they got a new artist doing them. Something is just not as good about those two.

They still looks like Sugimori art to me. The line breaks and the shading at least, just slightly stylized compared to the other pokemon. It doesn't look like Ohmura's art.

 

[Bolt Strike]

BTW guys, I created a thread to discuss the topic of how Hisui matches up to present day Sinnoh:

Hisui in Relation to Present Day Sinnoh (Spoilers for Location Names)

Disclaimer: This thread details the locations of various areas in Legends Arceus, so if you have not fully explored the region in game and want to find these areas for yourself read no further. So there was a conversation in the general discussion thread about how Cobalt Coastlands matches up...

forums.bulbagarden.net

I was actually thinking of making this thread for a while because I thought there was some very interesting debates and you guys discussing the topic here confirmed that for me, so I thought I may as well go into this a bit deeper with a separate topic.

 

[Oriden]

They still looks like Sugimori art to me. The line breaks and the shading at least, just slightly stylized compared to the other pokemon. It doesn't look like Ohmura's art.

Sugimori's style is pretty easily imitated, though. But there's just something very flat about the artwork for those two compared to other pokemon. Could just be an art style change, but it bugs me on those two in particular.

 

[Cute Charm]

Sugimori's style is pretty easily imitated, though. But there's just something very flat about the artwork for those two compared to other pokemon. Could just be an art style change, but it bugs me on those two in particular.

I haven't seen his newer style imitated very well. Sure the first couple gen's hand drawn water colored art is easy to imitate. But every time they try to imitate anything after Gen 3, it's just easier to tell even if the diffrences are as subtle as the lines being too straight or too thin or using the wrong type of brush.

Spoiler: Zoom in of Typhlosion

Spoiler: Zoom in of Sugimori's 2021 New Years drawing

Spoiler: Zoom in of Pokémon Cardinal fakemon

 

[silurica]

I still can't get over how H-Typh's flame looks like hair in the official art. I get that it's supposed to be spooky yokai flame, but there gotta be better way of executing it than... this. The flowiness fits the depiction of mystical flame and is a good contrast against J-Typh, but the overall look feels wrong with the combination of the highlight (why does flame have such highlight...) and how there are outlines defining each ball of flame when imo it would've looked better if they looked more blurred together. (While typing this, I realized it also reminds me of A-Vulpix and A-Ninetales' tails -- things that decidedly aren't flame.)

Kind of disappointed since I was hoping the 2D artwork would improve my opinion on the execution of the idea, but oh well, I guess fanworks are there for me to see instead.

Everyone else is fine; they don't improve my opinion nor make me feel disappointed.

 

[Alola]

I Haven't seen anyone share the images here yet, so here's the artwork for the Hisuian Starters! I'm baffled because I had literally just checked the website yesterday for them only to learn later tonight they were released earlier this morning (the rest of the Wardens were also released too)...

After reading their additional flavor text, I love how all three have the potential to be...quite violent That aside, their artwork is lovely! I feel like they were all done much justice. I can't wait for the rest, especially Goodra's.