Pokemon Legends ZA really expands the definition of "side mission"

Pokemon Legends: Arceus it's not a particularly long game, but with dozens of requirements, it offers plenty of ways to keep players busy. Pokemon Legends: ZA aims to do the same; once players meet Emma at the Looker Bureau, they can start doing quests around town, this time called Side Missions. Each completed story beat typically serves the player with another handful of side missions, each offering generous rewards upon completion. However, I think this is an area where Pokemon Legends: ZA fails largely because he seems to have chosen quantity over quality in his Side Mission design.

tons Pokemon Legends: ZA Side missions can be split into one of two fields: a battle with a trainer who favors a certain trick, or a battle with a wild Pokémon in a strange situation. As a result, most of these quests are just short detours. Pokemon Legends: Arceus The requests also contained a lot of simple records, but FORThe side quests pale in comparison to the best Arceus had to offer.

Spoilers for side missions and some story news await Pokemon Legends: ZA.

Many of the Pokemon Legends: ZA Side Missions are barely missions at all

over and over again Pokemon Legends: ZA asks players to complete side missions that simply boil down to combat trainers using one particular strategy. Examples:

Debate over whether paralysis or poison is a better condition
A trainer that focuses on trap moves like Spikes and Sand Tomb
Two trainers who like to use buffs and debuffs
A trainer who loves to move Detect
Devoted fan of the Pidgeot evolution series

All in all, each of these missions generally amounts to a short conversation, a fairly easy Pokemon battle, and some final thoughts on the trainers' chosen strategy. The intent here is probably good: this is Game Freak's way of highlighting obscure or unusual battle mechanics that players may not know or generally overlook. However, this has an impact on the entire side mission system. When each of these quests can be opened and closed in the space of a minute, they aren't quests at all, as they ask the player almost nothing different from a normal battle. These side missions could just as well be the old school training battles that occur while watching a Pokemon Route.

Missions about Pokemon exhibiting unusual behavior are a bit more interesting, but not by much. To name a few, players can:

Fight the wild Chespin three times in a row
Fight a group of Binacles at once
Have a rematch with Hawlucha who experienced Rogue Mega Evolution earlier

pokemon-legends-za-rematch-with-hawlucha-side-mission-1

These side missions have a bit more character in that they are snapshots of the main theme Pokemon Legends: ZA: the complications that come from humans and wild Pokémon trying to live together. Still, they tend to be as short as the trainer battles, so it's hard to really think of them as “missions”.

Why the Pokemon Legends: ZA side missions are such a disappointment

pokemon-legends-za-side-missiong-pidgeot-soaring-high

There are two main reasons why I feel so strongly about these types of side missions. Firstly, Pokemon Legends: ZA he initially conceives of these quests as tasks that the player takes on to help Detective Emma. These kinds of quests don't quite meet this level because they're pretty trivial and don't involve any questing or complex problem-solving that requires the detective's attention, and would lead to more engaging quests.

Secondly, Pokemon Legends: ZA he already had plenty of better quest plans to steal from Pokemon Legends: Arceus. That doesn't mean everyone PLA The request was groundbreaking—a lot of them boiled down to “battle me” or “show me a Pokemon”—but many others broke the mold. Players can:

Go in search of a missing person
Play a balloon popping minigame
Solve the disruptive behavior of a Pokémon in the village without fighting it
Work on specific records in Pokemon Legends: Arceus” a unique Pokedex
Perhaps the most memorable is collecting 107 mysterious strands to unlock the Spiritomb

Quests like these tried to disrupt the usual gameplay loop at least a little and felt more like actual missions by requiring the player to do some critical thinking or deep exploration. They are in stark contrast to all the side missions that boil down to a one-and-done battle that is functionally no different from an encounter in one of Pokemon Legends: ZAWild Zones or Combat Zones. They are just more profitable.

FOR dropped ArceusThe Pokedex quest mechanic instead chose to reward players for studying Pokémon through Mable's Research, which is much easier overall.

Pokemon Legends: ZA Side missions don't have to set the standard

mega hawlucha pokemon legends for screenshot

FORThe side missions aren't a total loss. I was charmed by quests asking me to move a group of Trubbish near a restaurant or find a cure for a sick Fennekin (who became a staple member of my team). Unfortunately, these modest breaks in the format still tend to be very easy and very short, so they can't replace all the repetitive battle missions. I'd rather have half as many side missions Pokemon Legends: ZA if it meant they could be something more.