Pokemon Legends of Arceus is not a perfect game, but I would be absolutely lying if I said I didn't have fun with it. As it stands, besides from MAYBE the remake of 2002’s Pokemon Ruby, this is the most fun I’ve had with pokemon in the last decade. While not fully realized to its own potential and a game that is still littered with flaws, this is something that was only before just the Pokemon game of my childhood’s dreams.
You can sense Gamefreak really focused on the aspect of seamlessness with Legends and I’m awestruck that they actually did it pretty well. I can switch from flying off a mountain to riding the back of a Wyrdeer and then hop in some water and swim around on a Basculegion all in a matter of mere seconds. I can start and finish a wild battle in this game almost as fast as they could load in Diamond and Pearl. Despite what trailers and render distances would show, I found myself running into pokemon damn near every few steps. Unlike before in the series, I can simply run away if I don't wish to engage in a battle. In fact, I don’t believe there is a single pokemon that can initiate battle. The core battle system only starts when you want it to. Though in the late game, I found myself at near-death and forced to engage in a battle simply to buy myself a few seconds of life. Even the story was handled smoother, the game lets you explore and ignore the main quests until you want to progress to the next location. Besides the grueling handholding at the start of the game, I never found the story to be an obnoxious chore of button-mashing through stale dialogue that always pestered the entire playtime. Most main missions for each location after the first boss felt pretty short and simple. Everything in this game felt put into place to ensure the player was able to embrace the open world instead of spending too much time with the story or being halted every second by an unwanted wild battle.
I’ve seen a lot of remarks about the world being “too empty.” The statement both feels correct and wrong, but in the end, I do believe the world could’ve used a little more even if it never hurt my enjoyment. Materials and collectibles like the whisps and Unknown sprinkled around the map always did a good job keeping my attention at bay. They always had me stopping my expedition to go collect and obtain. Whisps and Unknowns especially reminded me of the low-tier moons from Mario Odyssey, they were tucked away in hidden or hard-to-reach locations. Not to mention that each pokemon has a specific spawn spot, and each pokemon has an individual “Alpha” that are also all scattered around the maps. Every few seconds I’d run into a patch of pokemon that I’ve never seen before or maybe just needed to fill out some of their dex info. Every minute or two I’d run into an alpha that would immediately agro me. Not even just alpha’s either, in every moment of the game I was chased and charged by pokemon that had much higher levels than my team. These aspects provided a somewhat real sense of challenge, I was getting half a team wiped out by just one pokemon. I found it so easy to get off-topic, just like how I was while I was writing this review. Constantly and consistently immersed into each location, I consumed hours of just hunting pokemon. Immersion that was also built by pokemon spawn correlating to their specific location extremely well and in a very logical manner, unlike SwSh’s wild area. I only wish that there could have had a few more distinct locations. Each map felt different from the last but there were a few stretches of just fields with a few minor details like lakes of mud and big mountains. I still feel like I could recognize most places off just a screenshot, but a little more detail can always go a long way. If catching, battling, and information collecting does not interest you, then it is very likely you'll feel the world is empty. A lot of the critiques on this game are very valid, and they’re aspects to keep in mind because they may end up making you dislike this game. However, this is my review and at the end of the day they never truly impeded my enjoyment to a significant degree. Some legitimate critiques I do have is that the game didn’t utilize the battle system well. Barely any trainer battles, or battles with more than 4 Pokémon. This game managed to have probably my favorite trainer battle in the entire series, I wish they could have done that more than just once. It’s especially annoying when this might be the most I’ve enjoyed battling in Pokémon possibly EVER. Also the graphics and render distance are both balls, let's NOT deny that.
Enjoyment is never truly and completely universal. I could never expect everyone to like and enjoy this game as much as I did and, unfortunately, I believe that most will not enjoy this as much as I did. But that is truly irrelevant, this score and review are an assessment of how much fun I had with this game. And as I said before, I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it. It was a blast, and it had reinvigorated so much hope and love for the series that I had lost over the last few years. I feel a little shaky on the score, I think it's possible for my opinion to change as time goes on. There are flaws, some more overlookable than others, but only a couple of them ever affected my enjoyment that tremendously. As of now, it is sitting at a very humble 7. So easily the switch’s best installment of the series.
You can sense Gamefreak really focused on the aspect of seamlessness with Legends and I’m awestruck that they actually did it pretty well. I can switch from flying off a mountain to riding the back of a Wyrdeer and then hop in some water and swim around on a Basculegion all in a matter of mere seconds. I can start and finish a wild battle in this game almost as fast as they could load in Diamond and Pearl. Despite what trailers and render distances would show, I found myself running into pokemon damn near every few steps. Unlike before in the series, I can simply run away if I don't wish to engage in a battle. In fact, I don’t believe there is a single pokemon that can initiate battle. The core battle system only starts when you want it to. Though in the late game, I found myself at near-death and forced to engage in a battle simply to buy myself a few seconds of life. Even the story was handled smoother, the game lets you explore and ignore the main quests until you want to progress to the next location. Besides the grueling handholding at the start of the game, I never found the story to be an obnoxious chore of button-mashing through stale dialogue that always pestered the entire playtime. Most main missions for each location after the first boss felt pretty short and simple. Everything in this game felt put into place to ensure the player was able to embrace the open world instead of spending too much time with the story or being halted every second by an unwanted wild battle.
I’ve seen a lot of remarks about the world being “too empty.” The statement both feels correct and wrong, but in the end, I do believe the world could’ve used a little more even if it never hurt my enjoyment. Materials and collectibles like the whisps and Unknown sprinkled around the map always did a good job keeping my attention at bay. They always had me stopping my expedition to go collect and obtain. Whisps and Unknowns especially reminded me of the low-tier moons from Mario Odyssey, they were tucked away in hidden or hard-to-reach locations. Not to mention that each pokemon has a specific spawn spot, and each pokemon has an individual “Alpha” that are also all scattered around the maps. Every few seconds I’d run into a patch of pokemon that I’ve never seen before or maybe just needed to fill out some of their dex info. Every minute or two I’d run into an alpha that would immediately agro me. Not even just alpha’s either, in every moment of the game I was chased and charged by pokemon that had much higher levels than my team. These aspects provided a somewhat real sense of challenge, I was getting half a team wiped out by just one pokemon. I found it so easy to get off-topic, just like how I was while I was writing this review. Constantly and consistently immersed into each location, I consumed hours of just hunting pokemon. Immersion that was also built by pokemon spawn correlating to their specific location extremely well and in a very logical manner, unlike SwSh’s wild area. I only wish that there could have had a few more distinct locations. Each map felt different from the last but there were a few stretches of just fields with a few minor details like lakes of mud and big mountains. I still feel like I could recognize most places off just a screenshot, but a little more detail can always go a long way. If catching, battling, and information collecting does not interest you, then it is very likely you'll feel the world is empty. A lot of the critiques on this game are very valid, and they’re aspects to keep in mind because they may end up making you dislike this game. However, this is my review and at the end of the day they never truly impeded my enjoyment to a significant degree. Some legitimate critiques I do have is that the game didn’t utilize the battle system well. Barely any trainer battles, or battles with more than 4 Pokémon. This game managed to have probably my favorite trainer battle in the entire series, I wish they could have done that more than just once. It’s especially annoying when this might be the most I’ve enjoyed battling in Pokémon possibly EVER. Also the graphics and render distance are both balls, let's NOT deny that.
Enjoyment is never truly and completely universal. I could never expect everyone to like and enjoy this game as much as I did and, unfortunately, I believe that most will not enjoy this as much as I did. But that is truly irrelevant, this score and review are an assessment of how much fun I had with this game. And as I said before, I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it. It was a blast, and it had reinvigorated so much hope and love for the series that I had lost over the last few years. I feel a little shaky on the score, I think it's possible for my opinion to change as time goes on. There are flaws, some more overlookable than others, but only a couple of them ever affected my enjoyment that tremendously. As of now, it is sitting at a very humble 7. So easily the switch’s best installment of the series.
AJ_Umbra
2 years ago