Despite some technical issues, Pokémon Legends Arceus represented the most exciting and meaningful changes to the Pokémon formula. Now it’s back in a post-modern setting, and after the 20-or-so minutes we had to play of it at PAX West, there’s legitimate reason for excitement from a gameplay perspective.
I loved Pokémon Legends Arceus. I’ll even go as far as saying I envision a future where, at least for me, the Legends series replaces the flagship series as my Pokémon games of choice. Now that Pokémon Legends: Z-A exists, we’re closer to that becoming a possibility.
I’ll save plot details for when we review the game, but to give players an idea of the setting, from what we know — all the action in Legends Z-A takes place on Lumiose City, the buzzing epicenter of Pokemon X & Y. At night, the city turns into quite the battleground for Pokémon Trainers, and that’s where all the action took place in this demo.
All the action in Pokémon Legends: Z-A takes place in Lumiose City.
The demo attendant said that combat in Z-A was fully action and real-time-based. That’s not completely true, but there are definitely real-time elements and strategy to it, especially the latter. Pokémon in your party are still limited to four moves, and while attacks are no longer turn-based, they have a cooldown period. Like Legends Arceus before it, you don’t have any direct control of the movement of your Pokémon; you actually have full control of the player.
If I had to liken Z-A battles to another Pokémon game, it would be Pokémon Go. There’s no tapping at will, but it really feels that way whenever you’re just tapping away waiting for one of your abilities to light up. It also felt very Xenoblade.
Things started off with an Onix. Again, you only have control of the Trainer, so your Pokémon are essentially your weapons. Upon encountering the Onix, I busted out Chikorita and made quick work of the rock snake. I only suffered some damage, but I figured I’d be careful and go back to the beginning to heal.
Mega Evolution makes its return.
From here, we learn about stealth mechanics. You know how in every Pokémon game, if you’re in any trainer’s line of sight, it’s automatically time to fight? After more than two decades, you can finally get the jump on other trainers by sneaking up on them. Doing this allows you to startle them with a first attack, and it’s just a really nice touch. As cool as this was, my main issue was that there’s no ability to crouch or crawl, or that sort of thing—if there was, then I obviously have to pay closer attention. I’m not saying I want Pokémon to become Metal Gear, but simply running behind a garbage can to make sure nobody sees you is beyond basic.
The next battle was probably the most interesting one of the demo. It was fully optional, but you get the opportunity to go against an over-leveled Pidgeotto that would otherwise wipe your party if you didn’t know the best strategy to take it out. For the best chance, you have to start off with Weedle. Yes, a weak bug Pokémon against an over-leveled flying type, an evolved one at that! When we snuck up on it and used Poison Sting, Pidgeotto got poisoned. Then it absolutely murdered Weedle, but not before we got a small hit in.
From there, instead of using your next Pokémon, you just run around and wait until the time limit forces you to use the next one, and as you wait, the poison continues to damage Pidgeotto chunk by chunk. It won’t be enough to take it out, but if you’re aggressive with your remaining active Pokemon, you should take it out. It goes without saying I was really impressed by how this worked. It’s not going to work in a competitive battle against a human, but I really liked this out-of-box thinking in single player.
It’s morphin’ time!
The last battle showed off Mega-Evolution. You go against a Mega-Absol, and you’re given a Lucario that you can mega-evolve yourself to combat it. The fight starts off with the standard setup, but in addition to worrying about attacking when you can and keeping Lucario alive, you also have to be on the lookout for orbs on the battlefield to pick up, as grabbing enough will allow your Lucario to mega-evolve, leveling the playing field until the mega-evolution wears off. The battle isn’t too difficult, as it only took us two or three mega-evolutions to take the Absol out, but it was a nice preview of things to come.
I honestly wasn’t too high on the fact that the game really only takes place in a single city, but after getting my hands on the demo, if we knew nothing from here until its release on October 16, I’d definitely say Pokémon Legends: Z-A would be a nice day one purchase for me.
Despite some technical issues, Pokémon Legends Arceus represented the most exciting and meaningful changes to the Pokémon formula. Now it’s back in a post-modern setting, and after the 20-or-so minutes we had to play of it at PAX West, there’s…
Despite some technical issues, Pokémon Legends Arceus represented the most exciting and meaningful changes to the Pokémon formula. Now it’s back in a post-modern setting, and after the 20-or-so minutes we had to play of it at PAX West, there’s legitimate reason for excitement from a gameplay perspective.
I loved Pokémon Legends Arceus. I’ll even go as far as saying I envision a future where, at least for me, the Legends series replaces the flagship series as my Pokémon games of choice. Now that Pokémon Legends: Z-A exists, we’re closer to that becoming a possibility.
I’ll save plot details for when we review the game, but to give players an idea of the setting, from what we know — all the action in Legends Z-A takes place on Lumiose City, the buzzing epicenter of Pokemon X & Y. At night, the city turns into quite the battleground for Pokémon Trainers, and that’s where all the action took place in this demo.
All the action in Pokémon Legends: Z-A takes place in Lumiose City.
The demo attendant said that combat in Z-A was fully action and real-time-based. That’s not completely true, but there are definitely real-time elements and strategy to it, especially the latter. Pokémon in your party are still limited to four moves, and while attacks are no longer turn-based, they have a cooldown period. Like Legends Arceus before it, you don’t have any direct control of the movement of your Pokémon; you actually have full control of the player.
If I had to liken Z-A battles to another Pokémon game, it would be Pokémon Go. There’s no tapping at will, but it really feels that way whenever you’re just tapping away waiting for one of your abilities to light up. It also felt very Xenoblade.
Things started off with an Onix. Again, you only have control of the Trainer, so your Pokémon are essentially your weapons. Upon encountering the Onix, I busted out Chikorita and made quick work of the rock snake. I only suffered some damage, but I figured I’d be careful and go back to the beginning to heal.
Mega Evolution makes its return.
From here, we learn about stealth mechanics. You know how in every Pokémon game, if you’re in any trainer’s line of sight, it’s automatically time to fight? After more than two decades, you can finally get the jump on other trainers by sneaking up on them. Doing this allows you to startle them with a first attack, and it’s just a really nice touch. As cool as this was, my main issue was that there’s no ability to crouch or crawl, or that sort of thing—if there was, then I obviously have to pay closer attention. I’m not saying I want Pokémon to become Metal Gear, but simply running behind a garbage can to make sure nobody sees you is beyond basic.
The next battle was probably the most interesting one of the demo. It was fully optional, but you get the opportunity to go against an over-leveled Pidgeotto that would otherwise wipe your party if you didn’t know the best strategy to take it out. For the best chance, you have to start off with Weedle. Yes, a weak bug Pokémon against an over-leveled flying type, an evolved one at that! When we snuck up on it and used Poison Sting, Pidgeotto got poisoned. Then it absolutely murdered Weedle, but not before we got a small hit in.
From there, instead of using your next Pokémon, you just run around and wait until the time limit forces you to use the next one, and as you wait, the poison continues to damage Pidgeotto chunk by chunk. It won’t be enough to take it out, but if you’re aggressive with your remaining active Pokemon, you should take it out. It goes without saying I was really impressed by how this worked. It’s not going to work in a competitive battle against a human, but I really liked this out-of-box thinking in single player.
It’s morphin’ time!
The last battle showed off Mega-Evolution. You go against a Mega-Absol, and you’re given a Lucario that you can mega-evolve yourself to combat it. The fight starts off with the standard setup, but in addition to worrying about attacking when you can and keeping Lucario alive, you also have to be on the lookout for orbs on the battlefield to pick up, as grabbing enough will allow your Lucario to mega-evolve, leveling the playing field until the mega-evolution wears off. The battle isn’t too difficult, as it only took us two or three mega-evolutions to take the Absol out, but it was a nice preview of things to come.
I honestly wasn’t too high on the fact that the game really only takes place in a single city, but after getting my hands on the demo, if we knew nothing from here until its release on October 16, I’d definitely say Pokémon Legends: Z-A would be a nice day one purchase for me.
by Danreb Victorio
