FOR Too Much To Hate It

I will write the introduction of this review in the style of a Pokemon Legends: ZA prologue. The Legends format was an interesting concept as Legends: Arceus took us back in time (HEY ARE YOU READING THIS ON YOUR PHONE?) where there was far less technology to capture and learn about Pokemon than we are used to in regular games. (TOUCH THE SCREEN WITH YOUR THUMB AND GENTLE PRESS UP TO SCROLL!) Legends: ZA doesn't follow this trend, instead taking us vaguely into the future but mostly leaving us in the here and now.

That means it's instantly less unique and unfortunately (YOU CAN SCROLL YOUR FINGER TOO!) less interesting. There are still more dynamic real-time battles, as well as the ability to hide in tall grass and (SOME WORDS ARE CLICKABLE TO TAKE YOU TO OTHER PAGES!) catch Pokemon without engaging them in battle to weaken them. The more you play ZA, the more you feel that the historical setting was an important part of making this transition feel realistic and accessible.

ZA takes away some of the most identifiable features of Legends: Arceus (PUT TWO FINGERS ON THE SCREEN AND REMOVE THEM TO ENLARGE!) and replaces them with a new focus on trainer battles – something already heavily present in the main games – and Mega Evolutions. Pokemon has tried a lot of gimmicks over the last decade (YOUR PHONE CAN ALSO SEND TEXT MESSAGES!) and most fans agree that Megas are the best, so it makes sense to go back to them here. (DON'T FORGET TO CHARGE YOUR PHONE!) In the end, though, it seems like too much of a good thing when not enough of the rest of the game is pulling his weight.

Pokemon typing continues to be a weak point without voice acting

Pokemon Legends ZA are the main four characters around the table.

Instead of catching Pokemon in the wild, the act is now limited to wild zones. These are dedicated areas where you can catch Pokemon, more of which unlock as you progress through the game, with zero narrative justification beyond the fact that you're playing a video game and you've leveled up. The divisive nature of these zones – one of which is an actively used graveyard – is an initial plot point that is soon dropped and never touched on again.

Pokemon can still be caught outside of these zones, making their existence even more questionable. This divisive attitude towards Pokémon also seems false. About half way through the side quests (which are way too many considering how repetitive they are) there's a guy who says, “Hi! I live in a Pokemon world, but I hate and/or don't understand Pokemon! Fight these Pokemon with your Pokemon because I don't have any Pokemon for some reason!”

There's a short scene at the end of these side quests where one of the defeated Pokemon cuddles up to the quest giver and they say something like “What's that? You helped me and/or love me and/or fear me? I like Pokemon now and I'm going to keep you as a pet! Take this reward, it's the Candy you give them and the Pokemon, even though I have it in my pocket like before.” is!”

At least that's better than the main story conversations, which tend to go something like, “I swore a solemn oath to never give anyone the key to this door! I'll only give it to you if you beat me in a pokemon battle where my team is a level 27 Sableye and a level 26 Pidgeotto!”

And these conversations in the main story go on too long, especially with the persistent lack of voice acting. If Pokemon was committed to being a goofy comedy game, some of the characters might land, but you'll find all of them irritating when you're forced to constantly click through tired conversations that border on insulting. In one pivotal scene, a woman in a purple prom dress sits next to you and your annoying friends in a well-lit room, oblivious to her. That's the joke, except it doesn't play like one.

Pokemon Legends: ZA makes Megas even more mega

Fighting Rogue Mega Camerupt in Pokemon Legends ZA.

There are two underlying threads to the main story, both of which have potential and neither of which live up to it. The first is in the title. You start at position Z and have to climb to position A in Lumiose ZA Royale. However, you do jump a few ranks from X to F. That makes sense to keep the game from being a boring and drawn out affair, but you're the one who told me to go from Z to A in the first place. You're just breaking your own rules. There's also no significant increase in difficulty or change to the overworld with this jump, so it's hard to believe that this rating system means anything at all.

In order to get promoted, you have to beat regular trainers and get a promo match against an equally ranked opponent. Or rather you should. It works well, pre-skip, even if you are always the one hunting your opponent, but in the big league everything is a chore. Instead of just having a match you've earned, you have to buy an e-girl who is actually her own grandfather a burnt pastry, or find a sister trapped in a ghost-filled well, or compete in a tournament with people you've already beaten.

The other thread is Rogue Megas, Pokemon that mega evolve themselves through the roofs of Lumiose. Many of them involve searching for ladders for too long, but the encounters themselves feel appropriately epic. It's a shame that they all take place in the purple void of nothingness instead of using the city (Lumiose, much like the game, never reaches its true potential), but there are clearly meant to be boss battles and they fit into that atmosphere.

However, this causes another inconvenience – these Rogue Megas mainly target you. Every time I lost, it wasn't because my team got wiped, but because a huge Pokémon hit me with an unstoppable energy beam. On the one hand, dodging as your trainer is part of the game, but on the other, why? It just makes it harder to fight with already unwieldy controls, and if they can attack me, why can't I kick them in return? Better yet, why not leave me a baseball bat?

The game is also too greedy with this mechanic in the finale, making Rogue Megas feel like chaotic nuisances instead of the mighty titans the rest of the game successfully sold them as.

Well, Pokemon is still a good Pokemon

Amaura and her trainer in Pokemon Legends ZA.

I didn't care much about how the game played, mainly because it's Pokemon. You know it, and if you've been a hostage to this series for as long as I have, you love it. There are many flaws in how Legends ZA represents the Pokemon formula, but it remains the Pokemon formula we know and love/tolerate. I've played a lot of catch 'em all over the years and even the weaker pokemon are head and shoulders above the vast majority of them.

The Legends format allows you to explore the battlefield more, switch out Pokemon more freely, and use both attack distance and speed to make battles more dynamic. Pokemon's turn-based battles are pretty tame by modern RPG standards, and this more action-packed approach retains the charm of that simplicity, but offers more creativity and opportunities for clutch moments.

The variable moves, the Pokemon designs, the array of Poke Balls, even the animations (the one area that best hits the series with ZA) all remind you that there's a solid video game underneath these irritations. It's not so much that Pokemon refuse to evolve. All of the recent Pokemon games have at least something new to their credit. But so far nothing has really caught on. Legends: Arceus seemed like a solid foundation, but most of his great ideas were scrapped in favor of something else.

It's more like the Pokemon games have one particular mon in your party for too long for no logical reason other than affection. Obviously, there's a lot about Legends: ZA that I didn't really enjoy, but I still enjoyed it enough because it's hard to go wrong with Pokemon. Legends: ZA isn't the series at its best, nor is it the best advertisement for what a Legends game can be, but it's a fun time with cute creatures that breathe fire and spit lightning at each other. Sometimes that's enough.