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Pokémon Legends: Z-A General Discussion
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
Personally I logged a little over 60 hours, having done just about everything there is to do, including building a Living Form Dex, but excluding the 1,000 battles task and buying all of the clothes (a personal tradition of mine). I’ll take care of those two things when the DLC comes out.
For me, 60 hours is definitely on the shorter end for a Pokémon game, but I don’t necessarily mind that. I have a few other Pokémon projects I’m working on that can occupy my time, and my wife wanted to play Z-A too but we didn’t want to buy a second copy, so me wrapping it up quickly allowed me to send the virtual card over to her Switch.
For me, 60 hours is definitely on the shorter end for a Pokémon game, but I don’t necessarily mind that. I have a few other Pokémon projects I’m working on that can occupy my time, and my wife wanted to play Z-A too but we didn’t want to buy a second copy, so me wrapping it up quickly allowed me to send the virtual card over to her Switch.
I’ll be honest, I randomly stopped properly playing the game after unlocking Roto-Glide so I could find all the screws because I was sure otherwise I wouldn’t be able to remember which ones I’d previously found.
You'll also get Dream Balls if you hit Rank E by the end.
Feel bad for anyone that cares about Balls but already caught their Xerneas & Yveltal
Also kind of funny you can already use those two in this. Guess Season 3 will have Zygarde. Although I'd hope by then Diancie or Mewtwo are released, so maybe they'll be legal then then save Zygarde for later.
Feel bad for anyone that cares about Balls but already caught their Xerneas & Yveltal
Also kind of funny you can already use those two in this. Guess Season 3 will have Zygarde. Although I'd hope by then Diancie or Mewtwo are released, so maybe they'll be legal then then save Zygarde for later.
Yeah I think the only ones I haven’t got are the Galarian Slowbro and Slowking, since we only got the one Slowpoke. Even got all four Pumpkaboos and Gourgeist. Bit over 60 hours for me, which is fine. I will say I do prefer the tera raid system which felt more enticing to bring me back to the game.
But got the living dex now, so should get whatever Shiny they release on Home, went back and did that for Arceus too. Might restart BD and start working towards that one too.
Ah good, glad they didn’t change the rank for Delphox and Chestnaught which I was afraid they might.
On this topic...
I assume that Home will only give one reward for completing both the Lumiose Dex and the Hyperspace Lumiose Dex. It's how it worked with SWSH & SV. Which is unfortunate, it'd be nice to get two of them....
I figure it would have to be Shiny Hoopa, surely? Like the three Gen 6 mythics are the prime candidates but Hoopa is the headliner and presumably the one you are guaranteed to get + it's not had the shiny released. Diancie's shiny has already been out (if hard to actually get) and Volcanion just gets to sit in the corner and look sad i guess.
Interestingly enough, they may have actually shadow updated it but for the better.
https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-...nds-z-a-ranked-battles-season-2-november-2025
The Pokemon.com article now claims Delphoxite will be available at Rank S and Greninjite is at Y (practically free at that point for participating).
I do appreciate this change to be more like an early access reward rather than not knowing when it'll rerun again and/or having to wait for multiple seasons to cycle through if you pick the game up late.
so at this rate from the 26th onward you'll be able to get all 3 kalos starter megas ingame by just quickly going onto ranked for an hour. that's nice.
I really wanted to have Mega Chesnaught and it sucks I couldn't mega it at all at any time during my first playthru, so I still don't like they make you wait but oh well.
Praise be, thank you gamefreak.
Jacinthe avatar on Pokémon Showdown please.
Ok, this is already much more fair. Still contingent on the pvp scene for this game remaining reasonably active but I think that shouldn't be an immense problem given Pokemon game sales and this one specifically having elements that will keep its scene unique relative to other releases (namely the combination of Megas and the combat system)
Having done the two legend quests
It's nice to have gotten a little extra Flare-centric backstory (Malva name drop!!) and I really liked Yveltal fighting us "grounded" and in a pretty cool area of the city, but it is a shame that they're still just footnotes in their own region.
I suppose an extensive subplot would have been a bit much for the scope of the game but...still, you know? Maybe could've given just a smidge extra somehow? Ah well, at least Zygarde got the good stuff in his own game. He deserves it.
Though it is very funny to imagine Cocoon Yveltal wrecking Team Flare's strongest troops.
I suppose an extensive subplot would have been a bit much for the scope of the game but...still, you know? Maybe could've given just a smidge extra somehow? Ah well, at least Zygarde got the good stuff in his own game. He deserves it.
Though it is very funny to imagine Cocoon Yveltal wrecking Team Flare's strongest troops.
https://plza-news.pokemon-home.com/en/page/9.html
A patch is scheduled for November for these issues.
A patch is scheduled for November for these issues.
they should also fix the issue where if you try to open your party menu during the absol rogue fight the game crashes.
Furfrou league side quest is very funny, though would have been a nightmare if Zone 20 didn't hand me 2 level 62 Alpha Furfrou at once to bolster my ranks.
Doing it right alongside the spritzee berry quest though was...another in a line of "hey remember this thing from XY? OK well that thing is gone. Enjoy the lingering resentment you now possess for thing you didn't care about 10 years ago" for me. "The furfrou styler closed down 5 years ago" "The juice shop closed down 5 years ago" "The newspress closed and the workers are working in a cafe" "Remember roller blades? What a fad that was" "I bet super training would be HUGE if they brought it back" "Sycmore retired."
Feel like if the game bothered talking about the stuff around Kalos that wasn't in Lumiose it'd be like "Ah man this reminds me of the Battle Chataeu, which closed by the way."
Like I think the point is, you know, we still want to acknowledge those things since they were in XY. But also we didn't want to put them in, either because they no longer have a point, wouldn't fit or we have something else that does it (the furfrou salon -> the sidequest girl). Also it's been 5 years and that'll probably shwo the length of time that's passed, and something being gone is a good way to induce nostalgia. Perhaps, if charitable, it can lean into the themes of the game. But it gets a bit...grating? Grating might be too strong a word. I don't think it's the feeling they want out of me.
Doing it right alongside the spritzee berry quest though was...another in a line of "hey remember this thing from XY? OK well that thing is gone. Enjoy the lingering resentment you now possess for thing you didn't care about 10 years ago" for me. "The furfrou styler closed down 5 years ago" "The juice shop closed down 5 years ago" "The newspress closed and the workers are working in a cafe" "Remember roller blades? What a fad that was" "I bet super training would be HUGE if they brought it back" "Sycmore retired."
Feel like if the game bothered talking about the stuff around Kalos that wasn't in Lumiose it'd be like "Ah man this reminds me of the Battle Chataeu, which closed by the way."
Like I think the point is, you know, we still want to acknowledge those things since they were in XY. But also we didn't want to put them in, either because they no longer have a point, wouldn't fit or we have something else that does it (the furfrou salon -> the sidequest girl). Also it's been 5 years and that'll probably shwo the length of time that's passed, and something being gone is a good way to induce nostalgia. Perhaps, if charitable, it can lean into the themes of the game. But it gets a bit...grating? Grating might be too strong a word. I don't think it's the feeling they want out of me.
Those Alpha Houndooms and their flamethrower roasted coffees are RUINING the city !
Correct, there's only a few allusions to her through hex maniac dialog.
You know… sometimes a break from the Internet is just what the doctor ordered. I did end up picking up this game two weeks ago and now that I’ve had some time away and I’ve had a chance to play through the earlygame, here are my actual, official thoughts on the game, split up into categories.
Story & Characters: These are among the most divisive areas of this game from what I can tell, but they heavily rely on each other so I’m going to merge them together for this section. I’ve heard people say online that this game has one of the best, if not the best story in recent memory, but I feel like a lot of what we see in this game has been done before with a different coat of paint. The game’s climax sticks out to me as a sore spot even though I haven’t reached it yet, not just in the similarities to Legends Arceus’s climax of its main story but in the dialogue and actions of the characters leading up to this point. As for the individual characters, none of them immediately stick out to me and I especially dislike Canari, but aside from her I can’t say any of the new additions are completely terrible either. Just unimpressive compared to the rest of the Pokémon multimedia catalog.
Gameplay: I have to admit this game operates noticeably better than expected. Though, I do think some of this is carried by the fact that I got a Switch 2 and, subsequently, the Switch 2 version of this game. The improved performance ironically makes Sword & Shield and Legends Arceus feel slower by comparison. This version specifically is probably the most optimized game we’ve gotten since Let’s Go, but the gameplay loop itself, while repetitive in the midgame, is also pretty solid. I found myself misclicking buttons during the earlygame as I tried to get used to the new battle mechanics, but once I did get used to it and made it through the mandatory tutorials, navigating the overworld and locating objectives and certain Pokémon has usually been pretty simple. My biggest complaint is not about the size of Lumiose City, but rather the lack of a faster movement option akin to the Roller Skates in X & Y, but this is really a nitpick. My biggest point of praise is that side quests are much more convenient to complete this time since you don’t have to go anywhere specific to access your Pokémon storage this time.
Presentation: This game intentionally sports a very different aesthetic from both Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet, and it works well for what a modern take on Kalos is going for even if I slightly prefer the “Breath of the Wild” style aesthetic of Hisui overall. The music and sound design of the game world is decent, but most of the appeal will only really be felt if you’re already a very large Kalos fan. The Shiny sparkles from Legends Arceus make a return as does another sidequest with a guaranteed Shiny in it, which is nice for the sake of accessibility. My only real gripe here is a fairly large one, though, as the infamous lack of voice acting is probably at its most egregious here and even if there was voice acting, there aren’t that many cutscenes in this game, I feel like, and the cutscenes we do get are at the very beginning and the very end like some kind of reverse Cutscene Oreo. It’s a similar issue I had with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s “World of Light” campaign, though slightly different in the sense that Smash included voice acting in the opening scene.
Story & Characters: These are among the most divisive areas of this game from what I can tell, but they heavily rely on each other so I’m going to merge them together for this section. I’ve heard people say online that this game has one of the best, if not the best story in recent memory, but I feel like a lot of what we see in this game has been done before with a different coat of paint. The game’s climax sticks out to me as a sore spot even though I haven’t reached it yet, not just in the similarities to Legends Arceus’s climax of its main story but in the dialogue and actions of the characters leading up to this point. As for the individual characters, none of them immediately stick out to me and I especially dislike Canari, but aside from her I can’t say any of the new additions are completely terrible either. Just unimpressive compared to the rest of the Pokémon multimedia catalog.
Gameplay: I have to admit this game operates noticeably better than expected. Though, I do think some of this is carried by the fact that I got a Switch 2 and, subsequently, the Switch 2 version of this game. The improved performance ironically makes Sword & Shield and Legends Arceus feel slower by comparison. This version specifically is probably the most optimized game we’ve gotten since Let’s Go, but the gameplay loop itself, while repetitive in the midgame, is also pretty solid. I found myself misclicking buttons during the earlygame as I tried to get used to the new battle mechanics, but once I did get used to it and made it through the mandatory tutorials, navigating the overworld and locating objectives and certain Pokémon has usually been pretty simple. My biggest complaint is not about the size of Lumiose City, but rather the lack of a faster movement option akin to the Roller Skates in X & Y, but this is really a nitpick. My biggest point of praise is that side quests are much more convenient to complete this time since you don’t have to go anywhere specific to access your Pokémon storage this time.
Presentation: This game intentionally sports a very different aesthetic from both Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet, and it works well for what a modern take on Kalos is going for even if I slightly prefer the “Breath of the Wild” style aesthetic of Hisui overall. The music and sound design of the game world is decent, but most of the appeal will only really be felt if you’re already a very large Kalos fan. The Shiny sparkles from Legends Arceus make a return as does another sidequest with a guaranteed Shiny in it, which is nice for the sake of accessibility. My only real gripe here is a fairly large one, though, as the infamous lack of voice acting is probably at its most egregious here and even if there was voice acting, there aren’t that many cutscenes in this game, I feel like, and the cutscenes we do get are at the very beginning and the very end like some kind of reverse Cutscene Oreo. It’s a similar issue I had with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s “World of Light” campaign, though slightly different in the sense that Smash included voice acting in the opening scene.
XY: Ghost girl introduced, plot is never solved
ZA: Gengar disappears, you go through the side mission with no success, mission is concluded, everyone is sad, but then you go back to Gänger and his Gengar pal returned
I will never badmouth Zygarde again
ZA: Gengar disappears, you go through the side mission with no success, mission is concluded, everyone is sad, but then you go back to Gänger and his Gengar pal returned
I will never badmouth Zygarde again