ZA Players Criticize Lackluster New Gameplay Mechanic

Pokemon Legends: ZA fans complain about the issue with trainer battles and how NPCs can recognize players, making these fights more annoying than they should be. There have been several criticisms Pokemon Legends: ZAgameplay loop and features since it came out with many revolving around the transition from turn-based combat to real-time battles, creating some issues with line of sight, positioning, and more. For example, many trainers have trouble hitting opponents if their pets are moving in front of obstacles like lampposts or benches, and others struggle with targeting enemy Pokémon based on their location.

This can be quite frustrating, even in Pokemon Legends: ZARated battles as trainers Mega Evolving their Pokemon will nullify your attacks and also remove the target lock you have on them. Direct view inside Pokemon has historically been a problem for a variety of reasons, from the games making it nearly impossible to skip some unwanted fights in 2D games, to trainer battles in Gen 9 being easily canceled by moving around NPCs to avoid direct line of sight. But now he is suffering from a similar problem Pokemon Legends: ZAand I couldn't agree more with those who say it's stupid.

I just started playing Pokemon Legends: ZA and I'm already disappointed

My Pokemon Legends: ZA adventure has just begun, but I'm already impressed with some aspects of the game.

If you hate Pokemon Legends: ZA's Caught Off Guard Mechanic, you're not alone

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Reddit user MoonAaliyah posted on FOR subreddit to complain about the game's mechanics being “caught off guard,” which can be pretty infuriating. User Shmullus_Jones agreed that “it's kind of stupid” because the game automatically marks some NPC battles as surprised, which gives an advantage to your opponent even if you're perfectly in line with them. This happens in both the base game Infinite ZA Royale and the Hyperspace Battle Zones DLC, making it frustrating to start battles and waste a lot of time in Hyperspace Lumiose due to how the timer runs when you're incapacitated and taking enemy attacks with no chance to do anything.

It happens too often across the board, and it happens in situations where it shouldn't. MoonAaliyah's video itself shows that this happened twice immediately after defeating an enemy Pokémon from behind, so it begs the question of how the game could even mark this battle as “caught”. This is why fellow fans agree that it's a stupid mechanic, because it doesn't always take your position into account and randomly (or seemingly) gives an NPC an advantage when it wouldn't be possible to have it.

How Pokemon Legends: ZA's Caught Off Guard Mechanic Can Kill Your DLC Runs

In fact, this can happen when you literally lock eyes with an enemy NPC, which I've documented multiple times in a single hyperspace instance. Luckily I had a pretty long timer of over 9 minutes, but it's still ridiculous to be caught off guard when you're facing an opponent – even worse when they suddenly turn and see you, interrupting your advantageous attack and losing time. It doesn't make sense, but it happens very often and is triggered by some NPC battles Pokemon Legends: ZA pretty annoying.

To be fair, the mechanic can also be used to your advantage in various ways. For example:

You can wait for NPCs to turn and then immediately attack them to gain an advantage, making battles faster and easier.
If an NPC Pokémon approaches you and sees you, but the NPC doesn't, you still have the advantage when attacking them.
IN Pokemon Legends: ZABefore the DLC added more quests to make it easy to get, you could have the NPCs in ZA Royale spot you and attack you first, or simply start the battle. This made it easier to manipulate the timer at night since it doesn't count down during ZA Royale battles.

As such, the “taken by surprise” mechanic can be both great and frustrating, depending on who is asked and how things play out. If however Pokemon Gen 10 uses Legends: ZAbattle style, should improve it.