(Photo by David Wyngard)
Pokémon Legends Arceus has been out for around a week now, and in that time, I have managed to explore a little bit of the Hisui region, getting to grips with this completely different experience compared to what Pokémon games typically tend to offer. You must bear in mind I am perhaps around 6/7 hours into my journey, so I haven’t explored every single nook and cranny, and there are still some gameplay surprises set to come my way I am certain. However, in those 6/7 hours I can tell you that this is one of the most refreshing and unique experiences I have played in a long while. A deviation away from the tried and tested formula of a look down perspective, walking around in tall grass waiting for random encounters and beating the gyms of the region to become the champion. Some of my favourite memories of the Pokémon franchise have come through these side games, such as the brilliant story telling of the Mystery Dungeon series, the fast-paced gameplay of the Ranger series, and the awe of the Colosseum/Stadium series. This game makes these normally friendly and cute Pokémon turn into truly dangerous threats and turns a standard RPG into a survival action adventure. Sneaking around in the background trying not to get these behemoths to notice you so you can spring a surprise capture on them, it is so satisfying when you get it right. I am going to talk today about my experience with the game, what I like and what I don’t like as much. Also, you don’t have to worry about spoilers as I am not that far into the game myself.
I found myself falling out of love with the main Pokémon series in recent times, with Sword and Shield being laughably easy to the point where most people could probably beat the game blindfolded. As well as the rather underwhelming in my opinion remakes of Diamond and Pearl, which is evident as I still haven’t gotten around to finishing it yet as my interest for it seems to have fizzled out. The game I was most excited for was this one, Pokémon Legends Arceus. A completely new and refreshing experience within the Pokémon Universe, a game where you are encouraged to sneak around and capture these beasts as stealthily and efficiently as you can as you help to create one of the first Pokedex’s. We saw aspects of this within Sword and Shield’s Wild Area, where the Pokémon are visible in the overworld and if you want to avoid encounters with them, you simply can just walk away. A cool concept that was expanded upon with bigger and broader environments in the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC expansion. This has now turned into a full-on core gameplay mechanic in Legends Arceus, and I have not felt this level of challenge and strategy in a Pokémon game in a long time. At absolutely no time am I catching all these Pokémon and defeating them with ease, there are always challenges for those who are playing normally, as well as those trying to 100% complete it. Every Pokémon in the Pokedex is catchable on your copy of the game, meaning no mandatory trading with other people or having to buy multiple copies in order to complete the game fully which is such a breath of fresh air. One new addition which almost changes the genre of the game to an outright horror game is the inclusion of Alpha Pokémon, these are much bigger and stronger than their normal counterparts and are a right challenge to take down and add to your team, but when you do it is some of the most satisfying gameplay that I can recall playing. Imagine a massive Snorlax with red eyes chasing after you at full speed as you try helplessly to pelt Pokeballs at it. Truly terrifying. But when I caught it, I was overjoyed.
This change of gameplay came as a welcome surprise upon its initial reveal trailer, a chance to see how truly impressive and fearsome these creatures can be in their natural habitats with minimal human contact. In a truly revolutionary change, it is now us as the trainers lurking in the grass waiting to pop out surprisingly to initiate conflict, with different balls and tools being used to spring the trap and capture these creatures to complete your Pokedex. Something that I have come to hate with the recent instalments is the amount of handholding the game puts you through during your adventure. How easy the games are and how the developers have implemented tools on how to make the games even easier (somehow), with the forced use of the EXP All which levels up all your Pokémon at once being one of the most unpopular examples of this. I am very happy to report that in this game there is minimal to almost no handholding I have experienced thus far. Apart from the initial tutorials of these new mechanics, the game lets you wander wherever you want to within these specific areas. If you want to go and challenge the huge Rapidash with glowing red eyes that is 30 levels above your level, then go crazy, but expect serious repercussions from it (unless you are a true pro like me of course). If you want to try and fill up as much of your Pokedex as possible in your first trip outside the walls of Jubilife Village, then go for it. Levelling up allows you access to more crafting recipes, items, and the ability to tame Pokémon at an increased level which is essential if you want to try and add every Pokémon in the Hisui region to your Pokedex. There have been times where my entire party has been nearly wiped out by a seemingly inconspicuous threat, and I haven’t had that sort of challenge in a long time. Times where I have been absolutely praying that this next Pokeball is the one to capture the beast, otherwise I would be in immense trouble, which is met with overwhelming joy when I am successful. I hope this challenge continues throughout my playthrough, and with bigger bosses on the horizon, I feel this is going to be the case.
I wanted to go into this game as blind as possible, without knowing anything about the story, the characters, or the new Pokémon and forms introduced to the Hisui region. From what I have seen so far, the new forms of Pokémon are very impressive in how they not only make some Pokémon actually usable and interesting, but how they fit in with the lore of the story and the region. New typing and evolutions to match their specific environments that completely transform how they match up against their opponents. I can’t wait to discover more of these forms and see how they interact with the land around them and how they perform in the battle. Battling is another mechanic that has been altered in this game, with your character having to move around to avoid the attacks of Pokémon, as well as sending your Pokémon out into instant battle should you need it without any loading screens or battle intro in the exact spot they occur. No generic battle background. Whilst abilities and held items have been removed to streamline the mechanic, there is a new inclusion of how your moves can be used against your opponents, with Strong and Agile style moves being unlocked when a Pokemon masters a move. These allow you to sacrifice either speed or power respectively in order to try and change the battle for whatever you need. Do you try and get that instant knockout at the risk of possibly delaying your next move? Or do you try and get a second action off after a weaker hit to try and capture or heal someone? A new mechanic that doesn’t revolutionise the battle style but allows a tiny bit more strategy in your actions.
One thing I find incredibly charming is the various nods and references towards the current Sinnoh characters in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. With these new characters you meet having very similar characteristics and looks to some of the gym leaders, Team Galactic members, and even the champion of the region. It is always quite nice to go ‘hey I recognise that guy!’ It is something incredibly minor that adds a lot of charm to the region and these characters are very strongly written with unique desires and aspirations that doesn’t necessarily sit with the views of you as the protagonist. With characters that you think would be friendly being hostile and vice versa. I look forward to seeing more of these characters and seeing how their relationship with you changes over the course of the game.
Now this game isn’t perfect. Hardly any game is. But I am happy to report that the negatives don’t completely ruin the experience for me, but I still think they are worth discussing nonetheless. The first thing that people love to point out in criticising this game is the graphics. I wasn’t expecting ultra 4K graphics on the Nintendo Switch but apparently quite a lot of people were, and they are distraught at the fact that this looks like a PlayStation 2 game. This doesn’t make the game any less interesting or fun for me, but I have experienced a couple of frame rate drops that have been met with a resounding ‘eww’ as my character lags across the screen. Along with these graphical issues, there are a few issues I have found with the overall landscapes and environments in the game. Whilst they are teeming with wild Pokémon a lot of the time, there is very little else that they have to offer, meaning a lot of the time is spent wandering aimlessly around until you get to your objective or pinpoint. There is the occasional tree or rock that a Pokémon can pop out of, but no other noticeable things in the overworld. Only a few times is there the occasional change of scenery such as a cave or ruin, but these are just darker and blander versions of the overworld.
It was revealed just before the game was released that there would be no online play apart from the standard trading that is to be expected from these sorts of games. No online battling, no exploring these lands together. In terms of online battling, I am glad that this hasn’t been included online, as the battling in general is a much more stripped back and basic version of the main series games anyway, with no held items or abilities. However, I feel like this game would have been great with a raid mechanic of sorts as we have seen used in Pokémon Go and Pokémon Sword and Shield, allowing people to team up to defeat incredibly powerful monsters and add them to their teams. Or even a mode where you had to see who could capture the most Pokémon without being seen or within a time limit. Something easy to add in that would have added a whole lot more.
But my absolutely biggest gripe is the bloody satchel space. Oh lord the satchel space. Picking up items in the overworld is a big part of the game with the crafting mechanic, and I am always worried about getting rid of things in case I need them to craft something important later on, leading to me having to pick and choose what to save and what to drop. There is a way to expand your satchel to have more space, but this seems to have done absolutely nothing in my struggle to gather items. I don’t even think this is due to poor item management on my part, as most of these things are important in crafting healing items, lures, and Pokeballs, all which are essential on the field. I am not currently sure what the maximum expansion of the satchel space is, but I can assure you already it isn’t enough.
These are all either nit-picks or very minor issues I and other people seem to have with the game, which is rather refreshing to say of a Pokémon game as the last few releases have more flaws than I would care to count.
Overall, if you are a Pokémon fan, I think you will thoroughly enjoy this game. Whenever I have started playing, I have struggled to put it down and have been pleasantly surprised with the amount of challenge and strategy that is required to progress. I can already tell I will be completing this game 100% as soon as those final credits roll. I can only imagine what challenges are still to come, as well as the fact that if you have save data from Sword and Shield and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, two new missions appear so that you can capture the mythical Pokémon Darkrai and Shaymin, which I am very intrigued to see how these will tie into the story and lore of the Hisui region. I would say that this is a very good purchase for any Switch owners, Pokémon fans or not, as there is plenty of exciting and challenging gameplay as well as interesting characters with a completely new perspective of a series that we love so dearly.
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