Yeah, not being able to directly control where you want your pokemon to go is one of the biggest flaws of the combat system. I was hoping it would be like Astral Chain, where you could move the positioning cursor independently from the player character. It wouldn't even really mess with the control scheme too much since the right stick is only used in battle to switch your target, something that they could've just assigned to the shoulder buttons instead.
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Pokémon Legends: Z-A General Discussion
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
The shoulder buttons are for the ball throw.
Nice try Macron, I am NOT going to use the anti-homeless benches, fix your goddamn city
Given what's going on in Lumiose in ZA, I could see why the don't want the homeless trying to sleep on the benches. They'd get eaten by lions.
Just want to point out that the recent lion problems could explain why there's suddenly tons of those benches when there weren't any 5 years ago. (Back in XY) I'm not saying it's the most likely explanation, but it's the one I'm going with!
Grinding out ranked battles so I can get Greninjite and I genuinely hate that it's Rank K.
Even with how "lenient" the point system is, this is too many battles. I should have gotten at rank S at most.
I genuinely may not even bother with Delphox & Chesnaught. The battle system is not nearly novel enough. This isn't just salt from losing, I outright won most of the amtches.
Even with how "lenient" the point system is, this is too many battles. I should have gotten at rank S at most.
I genuinely may not even bother with Delphox & Chesnaught. The battle system is not nearly novel enough. This isn't just salt from losing, I outright won most of the amtches.
Flip-flopping between thinking that having to grind out 15 Z-A Royales in the post-game to get Eternal Floette and the “true” ending is a clever way to “make up” for the 15 skipped ranks in the main game, versus thinking it’s just tedious and a strong argument for why those ranks were skipped in the first place. And I like Z-A Royales! But accumulating 50,000 points every night is kind of a pain.
It may have changed a bit as more people have completed the game, but I was able to do it a few days ago with Lv30s. You definitely want access to Mega Evolution though, because there’s a category of points that are awarded for KOing opponents with a Mega-Evolved Pokémon and that’s one easy way to cushion yourself against some lost points.
It may have changed a bit as more people have completed the game, but I was able to do it a few days ago with Lv30s. You definitely want access to Mega Evolution though, because there’s a category of points that are awarded for KOing opponents with a Mega-Evolved Pokémon and that’s one easy way to cushion yourself against some lost points.
Backtracking from the titles it looks like it took 9. There were a few where I just barely scrapped out in the positive and one where I lost a few points.
Objectively, for how many ranks there were it could have been much worse. But at this point I was already seeing late game megas and the majority of opponents were fully evolved and already adapted to the "hey you only have your early game cruft" meta with things like garchomp, gyarados, salamence, etc.
The problem is when you don't enjoy how something feels to play, even when you do well, it just feel like 45 minutes of tedium (+ the time menuing). And when you don't do well, every thing you dislike about the game just sticks into you. The speed it takes to move, the speed it takes the Pokemon to do anything, the positioning, etc.
I can deal with it in the main game because it's mostly just one on ones and there's stuff to break it up and constantly things I want to do.
Hey Chikorita users, did the Pokémon finally redeem itself as a good starter? Legit curious.
Also, something funny I noticed is that Mega Meganium's stat spread is super similar to Mega Venusaur's. Trades some bulk and Attack to pump up Special Attack more, but same basic idea as a mixed defenses tank with usable Attack. inb4 Mega Meganium also gets Thick Fat lol.
Also, something funny I noticed is that Mega Meganium's stat spread is super similar to Mega Venusaur's. Trades some bulk and Attack to pump up Special Attack more, but same basic idea as a mixed defenses tank with usable Attack. inb4 Mega Meganium also gets Thick Fat lol.
It's good against everything except Skarmory and Talonflame. But Giga Drain is close to the best PvE move and Dazzling Gleam/Earth Power complete the set nicely.
Grass/Fairy is especially good against Ground/Dragon opponents but I won't do spoilers
I feel like for most of the time I only use it when I need a grass move
It's like, fine. If I wasn't also using Gardevoir (& Ampharos, for that matter) maybe I'd use it more.
I think it has merit as a drain/healing tank. Especially if its Ability increases healing received from moves
Eh, kinda?
In this game specifically, having access to a mega that has a stab recovery move, huge spatk to go with it, and otherwise solid type, is very nice.
But, this is a game with its own combat system where you're rewarded a lot for having recovery and bulk over just raw damage.
And most importantly, you have access to "unlimited megas" where it matters.
Currently it and Gardevoir are my preferred megas to use (if I don't need a specific element) just cause of the stab offensive recovery off dumb high spatk.
The fact it is a mega is the biggest problem it faces when it'll come to mainline series (both casual and competitive). Unless it actually gets a very strong ability, it'll be hard to justify using it over stronger explosive megas other than "because you like it" / in lower tiers.
(Also I wouldn't ever bet to see it in VGC. Doesn't have anything that strikes me as "yes this will see play". Generic bulky grass fairy doesnt really do anything over the stronger powerhouses)
Ok I beat the game and have done some of the postgame content so here are my updated thoughts:
-Still love the game. I think it's great overall.
-Battle Zones might be the best part of the game. They're fun and dynamic. They also encourage you to swap out team members with your boxes.
-Online PvP is by far the most fun I've had playing Pokemon online....possibly ever. Getting to Rank K took me about 30 minutes and I had plenty of time to use Mega Greninja on my team in the main story.
-While the Wild Zones are very small, I think they kinda make up for it in gameplay. I like navigating the rooftops in particular. I think they make good use of the small spaces with wild mon placement.
-Story and plot were solid. Feels like they basically took X and Y's story beats and did them better.
-I don't really mind the game only being in Lumiose. The game makes good use of its location, but I can see why people don't like it aesthetically. A cooler movement system would've gone a long way in making the city setting more attractive. Not sure if that'd work with the other gameplay mechanics and that might be why they didn't do it.
-Sidequests are good. I've seen someone refer to them as this game's "secret weapon" and yeah, I'd say so.
-Rogue Megas are very fun and satisfying battles. I think there are a little too many but I enjoyed them. Tyranitar was by far the hardest.
-I like all the characters, love most of them.
-The catching feels a bit neutered compared to PLA, but it also feels a little smoother too. It's weird.
-OST slaps. I like PLA's better but it's still great.
My biggest criticisms of the game so far are the building textures and forcing you to trade for a couple Pokémon. AFAIK it's just Aromatisse, Slurpuff, and Scizor, but I feel like they should've just been made wild mons. The tutorial section leashes you too tightly but once you're done with it, it's done forever. Not sure whether I prefer PLA or this game yet, gonna need to reflect on that.
-Still love the game. I think it's great overall.
-Battle Zones might be the best part of the game. They're fun and dynamic. They also encourage you to swap out team members with your boxes.
-Online PvP is by far the most fun I've had playing Pokemon online....possibly ever. Getting to Rank K took me about 30 minutes and I had plenty of time to use Mega Greninja on my team in the main story.
-While the Wild Zones are very small, I think they kinda make up for it in gameplay. I like navigating the rooftops in particular. I think they make good use of the small spaces with wild mon placement.
-Story and plot were solid. Feels like they basically took X and Y's story beats and did them better.
-I don't really mind the game only being in Lumiose. The game makes good use of its location, but I can see why people don't like it aesthetically. A cooler movement system would've gone a long way in making the city setting more attractive. Not sure if that'd work with the other gameplay mechanics and that might be why they didn't do it.
-Sidequests are good. I've seen someone refer to them as this game's "secret weapon" and yeah, I'd say so.
-Rogue Megas are very fun and satisfying battles. I think there are a little too many but I enjoyed them. Tyranitar was by far the hardest.
-I like all the characters, love most of them.
-The catching feels a bit neutered compared to PLA, but it also feels a little smoother too. It's weird.
-OST slaps. I like PLA's better but it's still great.
My biggest criticisms of the game so far are the building textures and forcing you to trade for a couple Pokémon. AFAIK it's just Aromatisse, Slurpuff, and Scizor, but I feel like they should've just been made wild mons. The tutorial section leashes you too tightly but once you're done with it, it's done forever. Not sure whether I prefer PLA or this game yet, gonna need to reflect on that.
I feel like the roller skates from XY would be perfect this game, or at least, a version of this game that had enough time to accommodate them into the overall map design. I do love the Racine Construction obstacle courses, but imagine the possibilities if we could also do stuff like rail grinding or jumping.
I agree with this to a point. A lot of the side missions are great, but a fair number of them also boil down to just “I’m bored, let’s have a battle.” But I guess that’s just the way it goes with side quests; with so many, you’re bound to have a mix of creative and/or intricate ones as well as mundane list-filler ones. Arceus didn’t escape that, USUM didn’t escape that; hell, even outside the scope of Pokémon, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom didn’t escape that.
To be fair, I do think some of the battle side missions are fun, but a lot of them are just there to demonstrate a certain battle mechanic like status effects or Perish Song.
Yeah, I agree with this too. I think the lack of weight classes for the different Poké Balls and there being less of an emphasis on aiming and free-hand throwing the ball (in Z-A, you’re going to be using the lock-on feature a lot more than in Arceus) makes it feel simultaneously more streamlined but also more brainless. I also feel like sneaking up in order to score a backstrike is harder to pull off in Z-A, and not being able to “trap” a target into a battle of it starts to run away means that trying to catch, say, Fennekin or Froakie or something else that’s very skittish, basically just becomes a game of “Hide, wait for it to respawn, throw ball, hope it works, and if it doesn’t, wait for it to respawn again and repeat.”
I found that, but my problem is that the roof seemed too far away or not the right elevation. I guess I'll take another look around, maybe I misjudged the distance. The rotom glide is really finnicky
I mean like c’mon 9 battles is grinding it out too much? (it took me 8 neener neener) Like that seems pretty generous I was assuming Rank A and it’d be much more difficult.
As you say, the ranking system is very forgiving (one match where I came 4th I still managed to gain points), like being able to unlock the exclusive item in ~10 matches at literally the point you unlock Mega Evolution (at least that’s when I did it) seems extremely reasonable to me.