I do not think I have been this split on a game in a very long time. My opinion on the mainline Pokémon series is already questionable as the games continue to be rushed out and never stray from their nearly 40 year old formula. Now there is Legends arceus, a completely different take on the series, and one that, after some contemplation, I am unsure of what I truly think.
The game is based around the generation 4 games, diamond, pearl, and platinum, but only really through primary story elements and the main characters. The game pulls from every generation to some degree with characters acting as ancestors of characters from almost every generation, due to the fact the game is set in ancient times. It is rather refreshing to see designs like this and be able to point at them and know exactly who they are based on. However the namesake of the series, the Pokémon, do not have as many of these designs to reference here. Game freak has done the same thing they usually do and treat an awesome selling point for the creatures we collect and see everywhere as a sideshow. There are less than 20 "hisuian" evolution lines, and some of them are not even entirely tied to this game and are just unique evolved forms of the completely standard Pokémon. I would have loved to see nearly every one have some sort of unique look to them, to really show off how ancient and harsh the environment is now, but alas, while I love these forms they probably only exist to tack on a phrase to the back of a game case.
The gameplay itself though finally fixed one of the most boring and ironically enough forgettable aspects of the series... The catching of Pokémon. Catching them in the mainline game becomes an afterthought once you have played enough of the games, eventually you only start to catch the handful of Pokémon you plan to keep for the entire game or at least have the ones currently in your team be easily replaceable. This game finally made catching Pokémon have a proper purpose beyond team building, made it rewarding beyond a pointless encyclopedia most people don't bother completing, and most importantly just made it pure fun.
Due to the games setting revolving around most people being too scared to catch Pokémon, let alone use them, there are hardly any trainer battles which used to be your main way of grinding for money and levels, but now this is tied to catching Pokémon. Every expedition you go on will keep track of new species you catch, how they were caught, how many were caught, and if an entry in the pokedex was completed, and reward you money while actually catching them gives you great exp gain. You are encouraged to catch many of the same Pokémon too, as doing so completes their entry in the pokedex, which ties to a rank that allows you to catch/use higher level Pokémon and gain new recipes for higher tier items, and as an extra bonus, 100% completing their entry gets you an insane shiny odd boost if you care about that.
These rewards would not be worth it if the actual process of catching Pokémon were not fun, but this is the most enjoyable and interactive it has been basically ever. You could do it the old fashioned way of battling the wild Pokémon, weakening them or inflicting a status, and then hoping they stay in the ball you throw, but this is finally no longer your only option. You can just huck a ball at them in the overworld, no battling necessary, or you can hide in grass to get better odds without them knowing you are there. on top of this if you can strike their back your odds of catching them skyrocket, and that's without mentioning the games berries. The berries have a much better purpose in this game instead of one-time use battle gimmicks or strictly healing as they can all be used as bait to get a Pokémon to turn away so you can get the previously mentioned better odds, but that is not all. Berries have their own unique effects like boosting the amount of exp you gain from a successful catch, or simply making the catch rate higher, but berries aren't even the only kind of item like this. You have rotten berries that can stun a Pokémon letting you hit their back for free or battle them with weakened stats, or specific kinds of throwables that act as a Pokémon's favorite food and have enhanced effects. It really is a lot of fun stringing together so many hidden catches back to back, it is the reason to buy this game I would say.
While this is amazing, it definitely came at a cost when it comes to the battling system and its 2 big flaws. The first one is tied to the reworked turn order, instead of it always going player to enemy with the first turn being decided by speed, it is now a set turn order for the entire battle with some minor ways to influence it. This is incredibly annoying because it makes revenge kills from the enemy basically guaranteed, you cannot even rely on your natural speed stat because of this turn order. The other major flaw is due to the new battle mechanics in the form of Strong Style and Agile Style. Strong style is basically a win button but makes it so the enemy is more likely to get back-to-back turns, and agile style is the opposite, weakens your moves but moves the turn order in a way that might give you back-to-back turns. Strong style is a win button, mainly for your enemy because of the aforementioned unavoidable revenge kills, while agile style lacks impact in both power and with how it ironically is too slow at giving you that extra turn. Once I messed with this new system I think I had realized that unlike catching there was never anything particularly wrong with this series' battle mechanics.
Though I feel the more controversial thing to the general public when it came to this games release was its graphics and its performance, it was a big joke about how it was a breath of the wild clone and how Pokémon that were 10feet away literally moved at 2 frames per second. Now, with the "Nintendo switch" that I played this on I can say that there was at least no frame drops or slow load times, if I were feeling generous I would say the graphics ring of a game that was optimized for running fine on the switch. While the frame rate of Pokémon that are far away is laughable and the games graphics look pathetic at times it does at least have a decent render distance, which was a major flaw in the other switch entries for this series so far. However, these graphics do not at all feel like they are trying to be used for something more stylistic, the Pokémon and characters stick out so much in these environments.
The characters, while their designs are appealing, do not have the same impact when it comes to how the story plays out. The premise of a world where catching Pokémon is completely taboo and they are feared seems interesting, but the main cast consists of people who are basically your typical gym leaders. There are 2 rival clans, alluding to how gen 4 had the whole split release thing, and as you progress, they do start to intermingle and become friendly, but there is no build up or ceremony to this as it is out of your hands and just happens because you conveniently happen to need the help of both at the same time. There is a choice at the end of the game that would let you choose one, but it is treated as a trade off of dialogue rather than one having greater importance or story involvement, and also just acts as a way to decide which legendary form you get.
There are boss battles but honestly there is not much to say about them due to how generous the dodging is, you are invincible for so long and travel so far that the only times I died to a boss were from poorly explained mechanics. Once you get through the overworld one-on-one phase it basically becomes a Pokémon with multiple health bars. Funnily enough the worst offender might be the final boss because you do not have the option of battling it with your Pokémon to speed up the process, making it super slow.
In the end, this game is an incredibly hard sell because it still struggles from so many modern Pokémon-isms, but has some incredible mechanics within it that are incredibly fun, in depth, and addicting. I feel like no matter what I rate it, it will always feel like I am underselling or overselling it.
also adaman is the best leader
The game is based around the generation 4 games, diamond, pearl, and platinum, but only really through primary story elements and the main characters. The game pulls from every generation to some degree with characters acting as ancestors of characters from almost every generation, due to the fact the game is set in ancient times. It is rather refreshing to see designs like this and be able to point at them and know exactly who they are based on. However the namesake of the series, the Pokémon, do not have as many of these designs to reference here. Game freak has done the same thing they usually do and treat an awesome selling point for the creatures we collect and see everywhere as a sideshow. There are less than 20 "hisuian" evolution lines, and some of them are not even entirely tied to this game and are just unique evolved forms of the completely standard Pokémon. I would have loved to see nearly every one have some sort of unique look to them, to really show off how ancient and harsh the environment is now, but alas, while I love these forms they probably only exist to tack on a phrase to the back of a game case.
The gameplay itself though finally fixed one of the most boring and ironically enough forgettable aspects of the series... The catching of Pokémon. Catching them in the mainline game becomes an afterthought once you have played enough of the games, eventually you only start to catch the handful of Pokémon you plan to keep for the entire game or at least have the ones currently in your team be easily replaceable. This game finally made catching Pokémon have a proper purpose beyond team building, made it rewarding beyond a pointless encyclopedia most people don't bother completing, and most importantly just made it pure fun.
Due to the games setting revolving around most people being too scared to catch Pokémon, let alone use them, there are hardly any trainer battles which used to be your main way of grinding for money and levels, but now this is tied to catching Pokémon. Every expedition you go on will keep track of new species you catch, how they were caught, how many were caught, and if an entry in the pokedex was completed, and reward you money while actually catching them gives you great exp gain. You are encouraged to catch many of the same Pokémon too, as doing so completes their entry in the pokedex, which ties to a rank that allows you to catch/use higher level Pokémon and gain new recipes for higher tier items, and as an extra bonus, 100% completing their entry gets you an insane shiny odd boost if you care about that.
These rewards would not be worth it if the actual process of catching Pokémon were not fun, but this is the most enjoyable and interactive it has been basically ever. You could do it the old fashioned way of battling the wild Pokémon, weakening them or inflicting a status, and then hoping they stay in the ball you throw, but this is finally no longer your only option. You can just huck a ball at them in the overworld, no battling necessary, or you can hide in grass to get better odds without them knowing you are there. on top of this if you can strike their back your odds of catching them skyrocket, and that's without mentioning the games berries. The berries have a much better purpose in this game instead of one-time use battle gimmicks or strictly healing as they can all be used as bait to get a Pokémon to turn away so you can get the previously mentioned better odds, but that is not all. Berries have their own unique effects like boosting the amount of exp you gain from a successful catch, or simply making the catch rate higher, but berries aren't even the only kind of item like this. You have rotten berries that can stun a Pokémon letting you hit their back for free or battle them with weakened stats, or specific kinds of throwables that act as a Pokémon's favorite food and have enhanced effects. It really is a lot of fun stringing together so many hidden catches back to back, it is the reason to buy this game I would say.
While this is amazing, it definitely came at a cost when it comes to the battling system and its 2 big flaws. The first one is tied to the reworked turn order, instead of it always going player to enemy with the first turn being decided by speed, it is now a set turn order for the entire battle with some minor ways to influence it. This is incredibly annoying because it makes revenge kills from the enemy basically guaranteed, you cannot even rely on your natural speed stat because of this turn order. The other major flaw is due to the new battle mechanics in the form of Strong Style and Agile Style. Strong style is basically a win button but makes it so the enemy is more likely to get back-to-back turns, and agile style is the opposite, weakens your moves but moves the turn order in a way that might give you back-to-back turns. Strong style is a win button, mainly for your enemy because of the aforementioned unavoidable revenge kills, while agile style lacks impact in both power and with how it ironically is too slow at giving you that extra turn. Once I messed with this new system I think I had realized that unlike catching there was never anything particularly wrong with this series' battle mechanics.
Though I feel the more controversial thing to the general public when it came to this games release was its graphics and its performance, it was a big joke about how it was a breath of the wild clone and how Pokémon that were 10feet away literally moved at 2 frames per second. Now, with the "Nintendo switch" that I played this on I can say that there was at least no frame drops or slow load times, if I were feeling generous I would say the graphics ring of a game that was optimized for running fine on the switch. While the frame rate of Pokémon that are far away is laughable and the games graphics look pathetic at times it does at least have a decent render distance, which was a major flaw in the other switch entries for this series so far. However, these graphics do not at all feel like they are trying to be used for something more stylistic, the Pokémon and characters stick out so much in these environments.
The characters, while their designs are appealing, do not have the same impact when it comes to how the story plays out. The premise of a world where catching Pokémon is completely taboo and they are feared seems interesting, but the main cast consists of people who are basically your typical gym leaders. There are 2 rival clans, alluding to how gen 4 had the whole split release thing, and as you progress, they do start to intermingle and become friendly, but there is no build up or ceremony to this as it is out of your hands and just happens because you conveniently happen to need the help of both at the same time. There is a choice at the end of the game that would let you choose one, but it is treated as a trade off of dialogue rather than one having greater importance or story involvement, and also just acts as a way to decide which legendary form you get.
There are boss battles but honestly there is not much to say about them due to how generous the dodging is, you are invincible for so long and travel so far that the only times I died to a boss were from poorly explained mechanics. Once you get through the overworld one-on-one phase it basically becomes a Pokémon with multiple health bars. Funnily enough the worst offender might be the final boss because you do not have the option of battling it with your Pokémon to speed up the process, making it super slow.
In the end, this game is an incredibly hard sell because it still struggles from so many modern Pokémon-isms, but has some incredible mechanics within it that are incredibly fun, in depth, and addicting. I feel like no matter what I rate it, it will always feel like I am underselling or overselling it.
also adaman is the best leader