What do you think of PLZA compared to PLA?

[Sheep]

We have two games in the Legends series now: Z-A and Arceus. Do you think PLZA, the newest release, or generally better or worse than PLA, and why?

 

[RMVNZ]

Arceus nails the exploration aspect and has a much better plot.
Z-A nails the battling aspect and lets you interact with others online.
So each has something the other is missing.
A Legends game with both strengths would be a peak Legends game, IMO.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Both have pros and cons.

With Arceus, I hated the repetitive nature. I also didn't like the story. To me it was very very weak. Once I finished the main story, I stopped caring. I also didn't really care about the 'multiplayer' aspect. Now if we had actually been able to see each other, than that would have been great. I also didn't like the battling system. I never did speed or anything. I also picked power because that is all that mattered. However, I love how big the world was even though it was empty. I would have also enjoyed the story more if they had went into more details about Sinjoh instead of just giving us some journals that will probably never been mentioned again. Customization was also very very weak. And I didn't like we were basically Dawn or the other character from the future.

With ZA, I loved the story a lot more and loved that the characters were clearly adults talking about finding affordable rent and taking out loans. The story actually felt meaningful and some continuation of past story. While Arceus' story was just meh. I also much preferred the battling. However, I HATE the Rogue Mega Battles. If there had been 8 to 10, it would have been fine, but 16 Mega Battles was just too many. I didn't mind the Z-A Royal grind much, as it was fast and if you actually did the bonus objectives, you didn't have to put that much work into gaining points. So it didn't feel at repetitive as catching. The customization was also much better, even though the male clothing was lacking badly, as well as the hair styles. I also like that the character was brand new and not some Serena or Calem from the past. Now if we were playing a grown Calem or Serena, which would have made more sense, I wouldn't mind. ZA should have also been all of Kalos instead of just Lumiouse and old characters other than Emma, Mable, AZ, and Lysander should have returned.

I hate the boss battles in both games. It was annoying in both and ZA just had too many. I also hated that we were forced to use only Megas for Rogue Megas, which I don't think should have happened because we went from like 300 pokemon, to only truly being able to use like 20. I do however like the multiplayer a lot. The 4 Way Battles are fun. And I am one who doesn't like online battling.

Even with all of that, I still prefer ZA because it is far more replay ability and the fun of continuing to play even after the story is over.

 

[Megan]

After beating ZA I actually went back and finally beat PLA, as well. So I noticed a couple things:

1. ZA looks a lot better but PLA is a lot more stylized
2. PLA has a more expansive world and different themed areas. ZA on the other hand feels alright the first couple hours, but later feels a lot more repetitive since all the streets of Lumiose look very similar. There were some special places like the sewers and the lab. But I feel like they could have given us a bit more, and especially sooner.
3. in regards to the final mission I kinda prefer ZA over PLA
4. ZA feels a little bit easier than PLA. But the Mega Battles feel a little too dragged out and there may be a couple too much of them. PLA has quicker battles, but I really don't like the "throw stuff at the opponent and dodge out of the way of their attacks" particularly much. I like that your party is more involved in the fights in ZA.
5. I'm not sure if I prefer the "Mario throws a fireball" sound from ZA over the "Breath of the Wild" sound from PLA (you'll know what I mean when you hear it).
6. Plus moves seem a little more pointless compared to strong style and agile style moves.
7. I like that certain mechanics (held items, natures, etc.) made a comeback in ZA. But I still like that PLA gave us better ways to get trade evolutions.
8. I like that ZA has more trainer battles. The trainer fights in PLA also kinda felt a little awkward at times.

 

[TwilightBlade]

They each have pros and cons and I don't think one is necessarily the clear "better" Legends game.

Element	Winner ??:	Pokémon Legends Arceus	Pokémon Legends Z-A
Story:	PLZA	The story setup is a bit juvenile (Arceus teleports you to a distant era, on a familiar region where you show promise by catching/befriending Pokémon, so you become a lab assistant ultimately tasked with filling the Pokédex. Also, Lord Arceus will grace you with its presence if you complete the Pokédex for some reason). My favorite part of the story is where your character is basically an outcast, though.​	The story setup is a bit more organic (your character is traveling and quickly roped into the incidents happening in town). The friends you make along the way are believable. They are involved during the climax of the story.
Graphics/Environment:	Undecided	Areas are expansive and unique - I can remember the names of each area unless in Z-A. The graphics are not too impressive, but they work for the style of the game.​	Although the graphics are better, each section of Lumiose looks awfully familiar. From the cafes, shopping malls, and buildings all looking very similar, I cannot recall most of the places I've been besides the Museum, Research Lab, and Wild Zone 20.
Gameplay/Mechanics:	Undecided	It's refreshing with the catch/craft/dodge/explore mechanics. The game encourages you to explore to obtain enough materials to craft items to catch Pokémon.	It builds on the momentum of the previous Legends title. It is ambitious with real-time strategy, even though I sometimes found myself spamming 4 offensive moves. Also, often my Pokémon's AI causes it to get stuck or to use its attack when its too far away. Overall, the AI needs some further improvement.
Bosses:	PLA	This has 5 Noble Pokémon to defeat. I found it to be balanced yet challenging, despite the cutscenes/wardens to be somewhat cringey (especially Melli).	This has 16 Rouge Megas to defeat. I was practically screaming at the TV when my character needed another Strategy Team Meeting at the Hotel to "divide" the work and dump most of the fighting to the tourist. What? Also, there was no sense of urgency - you could complete sidequests at your leisure, but I am supposed to believe there's a Rogue Mega crisis?
Difficulty:	PLA	I find this one more difficult post-game because sometimes my Team of level 100 Pokémon can get overwhelmed with Alpha mass outbreaks if enemies using Strong/Agile moves. There are also the dream battles with Arceus, though I did not get too far.	There is nothing too challenging in the post-game once your Team is level 100 because most Trainers in the Royale keep their Pokémon around level 60s to 70s.
Multiplayer:	PLZA	Non-existent besides Link Code Trading.	Ranked battles can be fun, but now that legendary Pokémon such as Xerneas and Zygarde are allowed, it can dampen the enjoyment.

 

[Corveone]

Legends Arceus mainly focusses on catching and wild exploration, while Z-A mainly focusses on battles and mega evolution marketing, so it depends on which aspect each player values more, but as others have pointed out it's important to acknowledge that these two games have somewhat different goals.

Points for Arceus:

Various biomes to explore and finding Pokémon > Caged in one city for the entire game with tiny wild areas that just pop-up out of nowhere.
Adventuring through landscapes with the different Pokérides > Barebones rooftop 'parkour' with a stupid smartphone glide.
Dex completion encouraged, rewarded, and fully accessible offline > Dex that requires trading and other gimmicks like the main games.
Complete game experience in one purchase > 30 bucks DLC in your face announced before the game even came out.
Unique setting with its own items, crafting, resource management, EV training system, etc. > modern setting that just copies everything from the main games.

Points for Z-A:

A lot of trainer battles, and a fun gameplay loop if you enjoy the battle system.
Held items return.
Rogue Mega battles more interesting than their LA equivalent, even though they also get more repetitive because there's too many.
Zygarde's involvement in the plot better executed than Arceus' in LA.

I enjoyed Legends Arceus more and believe it was a more interesting experience overall for how what it offers and wants to achieve.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

I found PLA much better and PLZA doesn't even come close: first of all, PLA is actually set in a region, not just one city (which btw is not bad, but given how small the city is, that's why it's an issue), then the way the Pokémon and habitats were handled. I'd say PLZA is much more focused on battles, and the new gameplay looked and tbh is very interesting but I found it broken. PLA actually gives you some challenge at the end, and it's way more entrataining and challeging compared to PLZA thanks to the fights against the Rex Pokémon. Story and lore wise, PLZA is disappointing on many aspects, I have barely enjoyed any part of it (story and lore), while PLA thrives in lore and has a basic but cool story with the final twist with Volo. Character wise I'd say PLZA has something more.

 

[Empoleon671]

i find the world design in LA much better. i find replayability in both sort of lacking, but i was hung up on LA for a longg time. after about a monthish of ZA i think i'm done, maybe ill look into the DLC but the gameplay loop in ZA lasted far less than LA did. I'm not sure if i should more in depth when i echo many of the same points as confused piplup here

 

[FerociousFairyType]

i think i like ZA a little bit more. LA was short on the battles during the story. the only fight i actually remember was

Spoiler: spoiler

volo

i think ZA have more replayability because it focusing on battles, so you can try different teams or do monotype challanges and so on. LA once you did 100% most likely you wont do it again for a while. i mean even if you dont complete the resarch tasks you still need to catch all pokemons to battle arceus, this isnt a formula that you will want to do over and over