[Legends: Arceus] Thoughts on the game?

[Sheep]

Legends: Arceus has been releasing in many parts of the world! Those who have been able to play, what do you think so far? Has it exceeded your expectations (or not)?

 

[Caite]

I feel like it's a whole new game you have to get used to with a bunch of new stuff to remember. Not that it's a bad thing it's just something that needs to be learned. Like throwing out your Pokémon instead of a shit ton of balls...lol.

 

[Sheep]

Like throwing out your Pokémon instead of a shit ton of balls...lol.

Oh god, this is me lol. I've probably lost like 20 balls at this point throwing them when I meant to send out my Pokémon. Probably never going to completely stop making that mistake. D:

I'm enjoying this game a whole lot. Normally I'm bad at the massive open-world exploration genre and don't enjoy Breath of the Wild/Genshin Impact type of gameplay usually, but this has been incredibly addicting.. and pretty difficult to boot.

 

[Caite]

My friend and I see it as the Pokémon version of Monster Hunter...lol. And surprisingly I haven't gotten nausea yet like I did with the expansion packs on Sword and Shield. I had a bitch of a time doing those. I could play for maybe 10 mins before I had to put it down same with my friend.

 

[Ivysaur]

Okay, so, some assorted thoughts from 2 hours in, nothing spoilerish or plot-related but I'm spoilering them because I'm naming moves and other specific things.

Spoiler:

The game feels weird. Not in a bad way, but rather because it's the first major revamp of the basic underlying gameplay for... ever, I'd say. Right off the bat, Cyndaquil has over 50 HP. On level 5. What will it have when it grows to level 100? 1000 HP? And a Blissey? 2500 HP? It's very possible that the answer will be "yes", but still, I'm amazed.

The UI is straight out of Breath of the Wild, no questions asked. And it out-Zeldas BotW on a key move: you can roll around instead of walking! I hope Nintendo fixes that for BotW2.

Manual evolutions? No held items? Wow wow wow that's weird.

I'm sad the 'boxes on the fly' system from SwSh and BDSP is gone. At least you have a guy that helps you swap mons in the camp, but... for a game that does tell you to catch everything that moves, it'd be nice to have a (slightly) more convenient way to rotate them without having to backtrack.

My Cascoon learnt Iron Defense instead of Harden. My Bidoof starts with Rollout. Nobody has used Growl or Tail Whip yet. Or, well, Pound or Scratch either. I'm still trying to process what's happening.

Battles are so downplayed and yet so very likely to feel super-key because they are now actual events rather than being 10-a-penny while walking through Route 24510.

The wild pokémon out there and the battles feel actually real rather than just programmed. Certainly it gets the 'open world' game feel right even if it's not 100% open.

Gameplay loop is very fun and engaging. Nothing to complain about here.

I'm still trying to get used to the new menus after decades of using X to open the menu. And more than once I've selected a pokémon to grab some berries from a tree, promptly forgotten I had that menu selected rather than the pokéball menu, and accidentally started a battle instead of catching the mon I sneaked behind. I still need to get used to that.

 

[Zeostar]

I think it's fantastic. I've been running around for two hours doing collection quests without advancing the story. As someone typically impatient and wanting to rush from one game to the next, it delivers and I already feel like this might be the game I accumulate the most time in.

I had no expectations either. Sometimes that makes things better. It's strange because I didn't enjoy Breath of The Wild, yet it does have many similarities.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

I haven't really been able to play too much. But there are a few things I am not a huge fan of currently and that is how we switch between pokemon and balls. They could have just made it two different buttons.

Other smalls things is having to manually go into a pokemon's info and teach them new moves. I like we can rotate moves without going to a specific place (I think) but it is annoying we have to go in and do it manually. Same thing with evolving.

I feel like I am going be be annoyed half way into the game as well with constantly throwing pokeballs though and trying to catch so many pokemon. But at least crafting is instant and not the time consuming crap we got with Animal Crossing.

 

[Caite]

One thing I'm starting to get annoyed with is how everyone points out that you're the one who fell from the sky. Yes for the millionth time I fell from the damn sky can we just get on with it now.

 

[Ghost Owl]

First Pokemon game I've enjoyed in over a decade. I have 12 hours in this game already, haven't been able to make it more than 4 hours in a Pokemon game since the original D/P.

 

[Loriania]

I'm having fun exploring Hisui.

 

[Nah]

I'm about 8.5 hours in at the moment.

There's some QoL things that the game could really use that there is no reason not to have in a game that released in 2022, like a compass, or a bag satchel that isn't on par with the Gen 1-2 bag. I'm not expecting much from the game's story, world-building/lore, or side content either.

But it's also been more fun and seems like it'll still be more fun than main series Pokemon games have been for the past several years. Some of that almost certainly has to do with the novelty of PL:A, since this is the first time in like 2 decades that there's been a main series game that isn't just a cash-grab rehash of previous ones, so we'll see how long the honeymoon phase lasts. I do also like the more serious+realistic without being edgy tone the game has.

 

[Caite]

I'm still just taking my time with this game and enjoying it. Some things are frustrating but that's with any game. One of my favorite things is getting to a high spot and enjoying the breath taking views as if I were there.

 

[Yoshi808]

May come around to liking this game in the future, but right now hate it. Just spent 40 minutes or so running left and right around a tree stump throwing balm at an electrically charged monster to calm it down. Lol.

To add: wish I had selected Oshawott as my starter (selected Rowlet). This is mainly to catch those alphas (got 3 so far). But Shinx and Buizel have been getting those alphas quite comfortably. Only got 2 stars at present and most of my pokemon just hit level 20. Floatzel would have been great against that electrically charged monster but won't listen to me as it is level 31 rn.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

I am at 2 stars now, I think I am almost at three. And while I like playing it, I am also dreading playing it at the same time. I don't know how long it is going to take me to finish it. It is still better than DPPl, but at this point, I can't wait to get back to the normal style of Pokemon Games.

The catching pokemon is just too much... it was like Pokemon Let's Go, it was good at the start, but now it has just gotten annoying. I want to progress, but I don't want to keep throwing ball after ball after ball at the pokemon. It seems like you can easily over level as well.

I hate the limit the bag... I get it.... it is to make it more realistic. but come on.... what is the point of limiting the bag... and then not even organizing the bag into categories.

 

[gunofason]

I enjoy the fact that Nintendo is finally offering a fresh breath of air and diverts a bit from their usual concept for a main series game.

However, I have big problem with some logical inconsistencies. I know, Pokemon isn't supposed to be realistic, but it's strange that high-tech devices such as Pokeballs are available - and the fact that the professor is a literal saint and gifting the player a total of 70, considering that mass production probably wouldn't exist in such times.

 

[eeveefanatic]

the frenzied nobles give me ultra necrozma vibes