Pokémon Legends: Z-A is not what I want from my next Pokémon game. The upcoming title launches on October 16, and for the first time ever, I’m not even sure if I want the game, despite being a huge Pokémon fan. With a lack of an interest in a new Pokémon title, you might doubt my love for the series, but just a little background, I’ve played every main series Pokémon game, except the original Red and Blue (or Green depending on your region), I’ve reviewed several of the titles for MobileSyrup, have a Pokémon tattoo, a couple of posters on my wall, and will even stay up late with my video game friends and see how long it takes us to name every Pokémon of a given type on any given day. I love Pokémon.
However, even though I love the series, Legends: Z-A is a departure from what I truly love about these titles. It’s worth noting that I haven’t touched the game yet, but I’ve based this on several previews I’ve read and watched from other publications, as well as conversations with people who’ve had the opportunity to play the title.
Lumiose City -_-
Firstly, it’s weird that the title is only in Lumiose City. This is the first time we’ve ever seen a Pokémon game do this. We’ve seen in the previews the trainer exploring the city, but it looks pretty monotonous, in the sense that the game seems to lack different biomes. In typical Pokémon entries, you’re able to explore a whole region, with snowy mountains, dark caves, annoying swamps, flowering fields, the vast blue ocean and sometimes even the open skies. In Legends: Z-A, you have the very urban Lumiose City, where you can battle in alleys, in parks and on rooftops, which I think is pretty cool (especially the rooftops), but lacks true variety as you’re stuck in this urban environment.
This may open up in the later game, but going off of previews of the map, it doesn’t seem like this is the case. Possibly different parts of the city have unique biomes, but based on the previews, this doesn’t appear to be the case.
The battling issue
Battling by controlling your trainer is a crazy idea. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, battles have you moving around your player character with your Pokémon, sort of adjusting to your character’s movements. It seems that your Pocket Monster always tries to stay at around 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock relative to the player. Further, it’s a little odd that you’re able to sneak up on unsuspecting trainers to commence battles. When you do this, your Pokémon gets a free attack and they’re always critical, which feels against the competitive spirit of the series, and is frankly a bit ill-mannered.
I respect that Game Freak is trying to change the Pokémon formula, but, at least for me, this isn’t what I want. It’s weird seeing a trainer move around when you’re battling, and watching the NPCs, they look lifeless and robotic. I don’t think I’d want to control the Pokémon either, and think that turn-based is definitely the way to go for Pokémon.
It’s also a little strange that Legends: Z-A does away with Power Points (PP), which typically dictate how many times you can use certain moves. There are even attacks and items that affect PP, such as Spite, which decreases your opponent’s PP, and the item PP Up. I’m guessing that these moves and items aren’t in this title, but it’s a strange move. Instead of PP, Pokémon battles are fought with each of the moves representing a face button, and they restore after a certain amount of time. It seems that cooldowns aren’t too long, but most people battling in these previews aren’t using moves like Hyper Beam, which may require even longer, considering it takes a turn to restore during regular turn-based battles.
I think this form of battling would be okay if it were only against wild Pokémon, but trainer battles like this seem weird. Against wild Pokémon that could injure the player character, it would actually make sense if they could move around. However, moving around during trainer battles, which is a significant focus of Legends Z-A, is unusual and a departure from any other game and the anime.
Also, why change Mega Evolution? People have wanted Mega Evolution since its introduction in Pokémon X and Y. Now, Mega Evolutions are reportedly on a timer, allowing you to Mega Evolve more than once during a battle. That definitely feels less special and strategic, and I’m not a fan.
I’m someone who enjoys the thrill of a good battle, and I often play Pokémon Showdown whenever I have a free moment. But such a departure from the regular battling system leaves me a bit disappointed. With Pokémon Champions on the way, a spin-off of the series that focuses on multiplayer battling, maybe main series Pokémon games will be less battle-focused, but if that’s the case, count me out.
What I want
Legends: Z-A isn’t what I want from my next Pokémon game. It’s unfortunate because I think Pokémon Legends: Arceus was on the right track, with the way you could move about its semi-open map with the Pokémon you caught, how you could sneak up on Pokémon and try to see them, but then would engage in regular turn-based battles. Perhaps, a combination of this real-time battling from Legends: Z-A and the regular turn-battles would be preferable. I appreciate that the Legends: Arceus mechanic of catching Pokémon without battling has been reintroduced.
It’s unfortunate that I’m so down on the setting and combat mechanics because the idea of having to rank up from Z to A with battles every night sounds pretty entertaining for someone who loves Pokémon battles. But this new style of Pokémon battle doesn’t sit right with me.
I know what I want isn’t what everyone wants, and it’s hard to please everyone. Many even want Pokémon to return to the 2D format. Or wouldn’t it be cool if Pokémon looked like Octopath Traveler? Either way, I felt that Pokémon Legends: Arceus was a step forward, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and now Legends: Z-A, are a couple of steps backward. I’m absolutely hoping that Pokémon Legends: Z-A proves me wrong and that the battling ends up appealing, and there’s more diversity to the city, but I don’t see that happening.
Pokémon Legends Z-A comes out on October 16 and is available for both the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
