Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'Pokémon Legends: Arceus'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Forums
    • General Nintendo
    • General Gaming
    • Power On

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


About Me


Member Title


Nintendo Switch


Nintendo 3DS


Nintendo Network


PlayStation Network


Xbox Live


Steam


Discord


Twitter

Found 1 result

  1. The Pokémon franchise has played host to countless spinoffs and side adventures that re-imagine the world of Pokémon, but one that actually changes the core mechanics of catching and battling Pokémon? That apparently took 25 years to happen, but it's arguably worth the wait. Pokémon Legends: Arceus opens up the traditional series gameplay structure into a more open-world adventure where you can walk up to wild Pokémon and simply throw a Pokéball at them. The concept has been a long time coming, but Pokémon fans will undoubtedly enjoy this new take on the Pokémon formula. A new gameplay structure apparently also demands a new story structure. Rather than starting your adventure as a child in a well-established Pokémon world, your player character is mysteriously sent through time and space to the island of Hisui, an old-fashioned version of Sinnoh from generation 4. Here Pokéballs are a brand new technology and most people still live in relative fear and uncertainty about Pokémon. With just one city (your base of operations), you quickly join the ranks of the Galaxy Expedition Team in order to gather Pokémon and discover the cause of the mysterious rift in the sky that seems to be sending powerful Pokémon into a frenzy. The style and tone of the game is still very much the same cute, friendly vibe of the mainline games, but just having a more unique setting for the adventure is a welcome change for the franchise's storytelling. In Legends: Arceus, you'll travel to different biomes to catch and study Pokémon. Within these wide open areas you can see Pokémon milling about everywhere and you can simply walk up to them and throw a Pokéball to catch them. Of course, it's rarely that simple, since Pokémon will flee if they see you so you'll need to sneak up on them or hide in tall grass to get close, but fundamentally this is an incredibly streamlined process that also makes catching Pokémon more mechanically interesting. Approaching cautiously and aiming your throw just right is surprisingly satisfying. You can also still engage in battle in order to weaken the Pokémon for a better chance at catching it, and this too is much faster and easier to dive into than the usual battle screen structure. The core catching, fighting and training structure of the game is still there, but the quick, snappy nature of Legends: Arceus is a blast, especially for players who've spent ages catching Pokémon over the years. In order to still incentivize you to fight and engage with wild Pokémon as much as possible, you need to put in a little extra effort to fill out your Pokédex. Each Pokémon has a variety of tasks to complete in order to fully fill out their Dex entry. Catching them and defeating them in battle are always there, but there are other unique tasks as well, such as catching a Pokémon without alerting it, or defeating it with its type weakness. These tasks are a simple but fantastic way of encouraging the player to fully engage with the world of Legends: Arceus. In past Pokémon games, oftentimes it feels like there's no reason to catch the same type of Pokémon over and over (unless you're shiny hunting or hardcore about catching Pokémon with different temperaments and stats), but this game gives you that little extra incentive to keep tossing Pokéballs even at basic Pokémon. Since it's so fast and easy to catch them, it's a lot of fun and awfully satisfying to just walk around catching every Pokémon you see, and with so many tasks you can keep at it for hours and hours. There's a simple joy to it that personally I haven't felt in a Pokémon game in years. The battle system has also seen a slight revamp. The basics of type strength/weakness are the same (though some Pokémon have new types in the Hisui region), but speed and turn order is now a huge factor in a Pokémon battle. Rather than the typical one turn apiece system, you can actually attack twice if you're fast enough and use certain attacks. Some abilities like Quick Attack will naturally give you a speed advantage, but you can also augment an attack with Strong Style or Agile Style (Pokémon will learn these style options over time). Strong Style boosts the power of an attack but pushes you back in the turn order while Agile Style does the opposite. For normal battles this feels like a mostly unnecessary distinction, but against bosses or other special battles the ability to attack twice makes a significant difference. It's a clever way of injecting a bit of variety into the gameplay without rewriting the battle basics that we're all used to. The downside is that the turn order provided isn't always accurate, so in terms of deep strategy and tactics it's a bit muddy, but having anything change up the usual battle system makes for a fun challenge. Speaking of which, Legends: Arceus does a decent job of making the experience accessible but with opportunities to challenge yourself. All of your active Pokémon share experience points, but if you progress through the game at a steady pace you won't find yourself too over-leveled. In addition to the usual pocket monsters you'll see around Hisui, you can also find Alpha Pokémon, stronger versions that are generally several levels higher than your own team and are harder to battle and capture. They're optional but obviously catching them can be a boon thanks to their higher stats (plus it's just cool to have a fancier Pokémon—this is what shiny hunters must feel like). Like so many open-world games these days you're free to tackle these more difficult encounters as you wish and push your Pokémon skills. You can comfortably finish the main story in around 20 to 25 hours, but since this is a Pokémon game there's a ton of optional content that can occupy your time as well as post-game content. Completely filling out the Pokédex is a time-consuming (but fun) process, plus there are plenty of side quests to take on. The side quest system is one of the few areas that the game falls flat though, simply because it is a needlessly clunky system for tracking multiple quests. You can only have one active quest at a time, including the main quest, which just makes it a hassle to keep track of. There's no reason not to have at least a few active at once, and opening up the map to access the quest menu is a small but bothersome UI issue. Legends: Arceus tries to split the difference between an open-world environment, with the scale and detail that comes with it, and the classic Pokémon art style that relies on simplicity. The resulting blend is overall fine, though far from extraordinary. You'll see some pop-in when approaching distant landmarks, sometimes wild Pokémon have a comically jittery low-frame rate animation as you get closer, and the low res textures on objects are hard to ignore, but on the other hand walking around a forest or coastline or icy tundra and seeing Pokémon in their habitat is just plain cool. Battles have more variety in animation that make the Pokémon feel a bit more alive and diverse, and the sense of scale between Pokémon is generally more accurate than it's ever been. In a franchise known for making baby steps toward new art styles this is yet another small step, but it's at least a step in the right direction. Meanwhile the soundtrack does a great job of adding to the unique ambiance of Hisui in a way that suits the freedom of exploration at play here. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the shakeup that some fans have waited decades for. The new sense of speed and freedom perfectly plays into the classic Pokémon gameplay loop and actually makes the most basic elements of the series feel fresh and compelling again. Wandering around in a Pokémon game has never been more rewarding, nor the sense of discovery more engaging. Some of the little details aren't entirely up to par with an open world game, but this may well be the most exciting evolution of the franchise yet. Rating: 9 out of 10 Pokédex Entries
×
×
  • Create New...