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Pokémon Legends: Z-A General Discussion

Why is that a thing?! They had so much time to fix a problem this massive! Lack of time is not an excuse when the game's release was delayed for a year!


D:

I'm so sorry you had to lose a Shiny in the most insulting way. It's complete BS that this can happen.


Online trades? Is there no local trading? I don't have Nintendo Online and don't want it, so no local trading would mean being paywalled out of the Shiny Charm. I'd still be locked out of it because of not having friends, so... I'd be paywalled out of getting the Shiny Charm either way... -_-
local trade probably works? I'm not entirely sure.

I think the real requirement is just having pokemon evolve by trading so ig that counts. You just have to be the one to witness it.
 
So, during the the Urbain battle in front of Prism Tower, after I won, the barrier next to the tower glitched out and my game crashed on switch 2. Has this happened to anyone else?
 
ok please for the love of god someone tell me there's a way to get a special fire move besides fucking ember or fire spin on houndoom before level 44 please I just looked at houndoom's moveset and the fire tm locations (they're all late Mable levels) and I'm gonna go insane
 
Any tip for catching Beldum? I have max catch rate but this little b**** is always at low rate. Ive tried to catch almost 20 and Ive failed with all. Did anyone catch a Beldum?
 
"I caught a Pokemon, Batman. You want to know what Pokemon I got?"

"What Pokemon did you catch, Joker?"

My Great Capture Screenshot 2025-10-20 01-55-42.png


"I caught a Lopunny, Batman, I caught a Lopunny."

"Oh no, Joker, don't tell me."

"Yeah, you already know, Batman, you know what I'm going to do to that thing."

My Great Capture Screenshot 2025-10-20 01-56-40 1.png
 
1760941993981.png


ok so you can probably skip a lot of the other request since its 2000 points... but what the actual fuck.

100 points if you do everything else.

2000 points with the longest grind requirement.

It ain't like you can pre-plan what to skip to do this instead either (well ig now you can...)
 
Okay I've finished the game (up to like the first post-Royale) and I have some... thoughts.

Major spoilers, pls only read if you don't care about spoilers / have finished, it's also super long, v sorry

Okay so.. the game is fun, like it genuinely is fun, the battle system and the way Mega Evolution has been handled is incredibly smooth and I really hope aspects make it into the next game, the way that items proc in battle and things of that nature make it more smooth and if they are keeping the traditional system for Gen X, I would like to see those things implemented as they are good QOL changes IMO.

I'm not going to go into much detail on the graphics, for the most part I guess they're "okay". Textures are grim and SV beats it by a mile, at least SV doesn't look as if we're just sticking on a door with no depth / dynamic.

So the setting of Lumiose is somewhat interesting, I wish there was a little bit more to it and utilised more effectively, PLA took inspiration from BOTW and I can see bits of TOTK being shown here through the verticality of the game. But I wish the Sewer system was more complex and had more to it, I knew we would never get the full catacombs or anything, but the Sewers with maybe a few links to it / hidden rooms, even some areas leading to outside Lumiose (but would still be considered Lumiose, like the outskirts etc) just to add a bit more flourish to the game.

I don't think it was a total misfire, but a bit more to it would've been very beneficial. I get the DLC is seemingly adding a "new" map, but we shall see.

The characters are next, and alongside the general plot of the game, is probably my biggest issue. Legends is meant to showcase the overall world they have built, PLA set a good precedent with having obvious ancestor links and even characters from the "present" and setting up a genuine unnerving villain who is linked to probably the most beloved human character in the series. So many iconic moments to pull from and to build on and to add new life to.

PLZA did.. essentially none of that. Emma and Mable were genuinely pleasant surprises but that seems to be it? Lysandre doesn't really do anything other than act as Zygarde's translator, given how much trauma and damage he caused, there doesn't seem to be too much resolution / understanding to this. I haven't finished anything in the post-game, so this could come to fruition, but so far I am just seeing someone who was seemingly dead in XY and now he's back but is now exceedingly good?

AZ I did like, and his ending was genuinely lovely as well as a bit sad.

Team MZ were fine but so underdeveloped, why didn't we get to spend any specific time with Lida and Naveen? I think some sort of relationship mechanic could've been beneficial in this game, but eh, maybe that's my recent obsession with Clair Obscure talking. Lida is obvi a relation to Tierno, which is a nice nod, and Naveen is speculated to either be related to Grant or Cyrano but nothing of that is confirmed, Naveen's introduction on the official website states he is shrouded in mystery but we don't ever get to find out why or what he's about outside of being a streamer fanboy and into fashion.

I do not see the point in Jett.. like at all.. she appeared 3 times in the story but she was officially announced prior, which leads you to think she'd be influential across the game and she isn't? I spoiled myself on her being the rival's Grandmother due to being genuinely perplexed that I finished the game and she hadn't done anything at all. Not even a battle. Quasartico weren't really the overarching big-bad we thought they'd be either.

Team Flare Nouveau was a bit of.. nothing, again, an opportunity for further characters to return, why use the old villainous team but not have them represented through known characters? Mable being the Professor but nothing for Aliana, Bryony, Celosia or Xerosic? No returning Gym Leaders, not even Clemont / Korrina? Alexa? No Elite 4 cameos? No Diantha? Looker? Sycamore? Malva? There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't have incorporated more of Kalos' lore / characters into this game, given how dirty XY was done.

The new characters are fine, but so underbaked it's hard to get into most of them. Canari could have easily been Bonnie. Ivor could have been a relation to Korrina with her stepping in when he gets too much. Gwynn not being a relation to Shauntal was a missed opportunity too.

I personally think Volo should have been the villain and the overarching villain for the Legends series, what better testament to the strength of a well known character (Cynthia) to have their ancestor ruthlessly hunting down the legendary Pokémon and jumping through time?

The Plot / Features of the game also are very underutilised. The Plot was a bit.. nothingy.. Rogue Megas were fun (and hard at times!), but that seemed to be it? The incorporation of the ZA Royale is fun, but again in the postgame it seems like such a missed opportunity to bring in legacy characters.

The side quests are boring for the most part, there's nothing to them other than to gain items. You aren't helping out established characters with anything and learning more about them. Where were the individual side stories for Team MZ? Where are the Detective cases side stories for Emma? Given we have the Rust syndicate, Team MZ, Team Flare Nouveau, Fists of Justice etc I would've liked to have seem some sort of Faction plot too? This is a huge, huge city, of course there are going to be gangs and crime and egos and things like that.

The entire game being marketed on the "Redevelopment of Lumiose" when in reality this was simply just adding holographic barriers to already established locations. Why wasn't anything changing overtime? Why weren't we able to develop the Wild Zones to add further Pokemon, similar to SV with the biomes? The Dex is too small, having around 300-350 with DLC adding an extra 50-80 would've been nice, I get these games aren't quite full scale but still.

The game is fun, again, I just want to reiterate that, and I haven't fully completed the post-game yet, so there could be more and the DLC could also answer a lot but there is such a disappointment to the content and what the game truly could have been. People will probs disagree maybe, fair enough, but I was expecting so much more given how immersive PLA was. (Although that had similar issues)
 
You know, maybe those strangers were right harassing Taunie and Jett about the redevelopment project. Maybe a city shouldn’t have a district where you can get mauled by a pride of lions.
I was trying to catch a Skarmory in the wild zone that has the alpha Pyroar and its pride. They jumped me, and as I was blacking out, they all started using Crunch…they straight up devoured me.
 
Letting you get devoured by lions is actually the compromise to keep the place vaguely livable for humans. The original proposal for Pokemon habitats included lava, exposed high-voltage sources, imported cursed ruins, and making half the water sources salty.
 
The last few posts reminded me of one of my first impressions back when playing Legends Arceus.

Expectations: cozy pokemon game set in the past about exploration
Reality: "Who are you? We don't know this person, kick them outside and let them be devoured by wild pokemon"

Man we need more of these Legends game...
 
Any tip for catching Beldum? I have max catch rate but this little b**** is always at low rate. Ive tried to catch almost 20 and Ive failed with all. Did anyone catch a Beldum?
I caught mine with Alpha Gourgeist's help (mainly because I didn't want to train a Pokémon specifically for that, as it was already battle-ready)

Energy Ball and even Mystical Fire are weak enough to put it in the red.

Hypnosis. Four Poké Ball.

If it becomes mad, run in a corridor then come back. It will be back to full health. Try again.
 
The last few posts reminded me of one of my first impressions back when playing Legends Arceus.

Expectations: cozy pokemon game set in the past about exploration
Reality: "Who are you? We don't know this person, kick them outside and let them be devoured by wild pokemon"

Man we need more of these Legends game...
Legends Arceus' world is genuinely more habitable from a gameplay perspective because the Alphas were more scattered outside of random spawns and you had more breadth of options to escape from aggressive encounters due to the size of the zones, items, the ability to pull something into a turn based battle, braviary.

meanwhile you run into the cramped sewer see an alpha sharpedo, climb the cramped roof to see an alpha manectric, alpha arbok, two alpha watchog what are we doing here. Your options are run or spend 15 minutes pecking away at something too strong in an area where the rewards arent even worth it. Who designed this. Why does Alpha Houndoom have the entire street blocked off.
 
meanwhile you run into the cramped sewer see an alpha sharpedo, climb the cramped roof to see an alpha manectric, alpha arbok, two alpha watchog what are we doing here. Your options are run or spend 15 minutes pecking away at something too strong in an area where the rewards arent even worth it. Who designed this. Why does Alpha Houndoom have the entire street blocked off.
Well, as you implied, if the idea was to show how actually making a place full of wildlife also habitable by human is too much of a utopia..

They definitely succeeded :zonger:
 
So I beat the main quest of the game & here are my general thoughts:
  • Even after playing a while, the combat never really became easy to grasp. I think dodging moves like Draco Meteor or maybe even some of the rock type moves was pretty intuitive, but other moves like Phantom Force or psychic never felt dodgable. And the final boss was a massive difficulty spike for me even with its simplistic patterns. I think I was able to formulate a strategy on round 2 after blacking out the first time (got hit too many times lol) so I did play a more campy game using long ranged attacks. That said, there was never a point where I fully felt I was in control of the Pokemon's positioning in battle. In fairness, a lot of these more complex combat systems are difficult for me to grasp - even after all these years I still don't know what the fuck I'm doing in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for example whenever I play that game - so this may just be a skill issue on my end.
    • On this note, the lead up to the final battle have you fight multiple Pokemon with your AI Amigos and these were pretty fun since you could isolate one of the opponents and whale on them while your amigos handle the other guy. This was one of the better uses of the position based combat system.
  • Most of the later wild zones feel a bit cramped and linear - which is a shame given that the few early ones had some complexity and secret areas you couldn't access normally.
  • Lumiose city does feel like it opens up a lot after each rank up - more sidequests, more wild zones, more mega stones. This sense of progression is a bit odd, but satisfying in its own way..
  • Level scaling just never felt natural. I think this was my fualt since I was cycling through too many Pokemon by the end-game (even trained up that Galarian Slowpoke you get through a sidequest) but during most points in the game, I either felt over or underleveled.
    • A lot of the lower level trainers even later in the game still did some crazy damage with plus moves and the like letting them easily knock out mons or threaten big damage on the entire team. The initial delay after sending out a mon also let them deal potshots as well.
  • I like how many NPCs use Megas in this game. Makes it feel more integrated into the plot and gameplay than in XY, where it felt more like a background element.
  • Catching Pokemon, filling out the pokedex, breaking the megastones, collecting items off the floor, and even doing those screw challenges all feel satisfying. This game has nice game feel.
  • I like the vibe of this story feeling like a TV Show or anime where you are going through the same mundane routine of fighting rogue mega Pokemon, ranking up in the ZA royale, eating good food, and dealing with the drama of the week, whether it be becoming Canari's number 1 fan, finding Ivor's sister, joining Jacinthe's tournament arch etc.
  • I really love all the characters in the game - most of them are stylish, over the top, fun, and endearing. Exactly the type of qualities I want in a game like this that has mostly chill vibes.
  • The two dungeons you explore during the stories - Lysandere Labs and the Sewers are exactly what I wanted to see in this game & Pokemon games in general. They really remind me of N's castle and Castelia Sewers in Pokemon BW2, which are two of my favorite locations from that game. And, despite being linear, they were also fun to explore haha.
  • The climax of the game was pretty nice, but...... it did feel a bit abrupt to me since we got a lot of the lore right before it in our match to rank up to A. Still, given how much time we spent in the city, the stakes did feel high, we got a cool final monster to fight off in the lumious tower, all the characters coming together to overcome one final challenge that threatened their existance..... all while delivering witty banter and having an appropriate amount of "cool" flare. Its classic peak, plain and simple.
  • I guess the weird part for me is the protagonist's role in this story since it doesn't appear they are in lumiose city for any particular reason, they can theoretically leave any time they want, they aren't even a Pokemon trainer before they came to city, etc. For the recording, I don't really mind pandering to the player characters in games like this, but there is something about this entire setup that just strikes me as off naratively, but I can't put my finger on it.
  • AZ's death did feel abrupt, espicially since he didn't feel all that involved in the main game aside from the occasional word of wisdom and some new lore dump that he made prism tower to atone for his sins which is pretty cool. I feel we needed more 1-to-1 moments with him, but maybe that's just me.
  • Many of sidequests are just really charming and nice experiences. The task themselves are super mundane, but just seeing how the Pokemon and people live in the city is awesome. Also puts a spotlight on a lot of the individual Pokemon in this game like the elemental monkeys or Spewpa or Litwick. Just charming all around.
  • Grisham not having a new mega and just using Charizard X..... like cmon bruh. Give us Charizard Z.
Overall, flaws for sure, but this is a fun game and I had a great time playing it. I'm personally not a fan of this combat system compared to standard Pokemon fare, but for this game it is fine. I think the game's sidequest content will be remembered particularly fondly.
 
You know, maybe those strangers were right harassing Taunie and Jett about the redevelopment project. Maybe a city shouldn’t have a district where you can get mauled by a pride of lions.
I'm still progressing through the game, and they turned an apartment block into an wild area. Watchogs on every roof, an alpha too, hungry Carvanha leaping at people... They done turned it into O-Block! :trode:
 
  • I guess the weird part for me is the protagonist's role in this story since it doesn't appear they are in lumiose city for any particular reason, they can theoretically leave any time they want, they aren't even a Pokemon trainer before they came to city, etc. For the recording, I don't really mind pandering to the player characters in games like this, but there is something about this entire setup that just strikes me as off naratively, but I can't put my finger on it.

Man I still have no idea what I'm doing in this game. Why did I take the train to this hellhole of a city? Why am I getting pickpocketed by a Pancham and being forced into a hotel? Why do people get into cockfights at night? What the fuck is Zone 8? Why do I even care about Lumiose, I'm just a tourist and the Eiffel Tower is closed!
 
Man I still have no idea what I'm doing in this game. Why did I take the train to this hellhole of a city? Why am I getting pickpocketed by a Pancham and being forced into a hotel? Why do people get into cockfights at night? What the fuck is Zone 8? Why do I even care about Lumiose, I'm just a tourist and the Eiffel Tower is closed!
Congratulations. You're getting the 100% authentic Paris experience.
 
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