A step in the right direction but clearly shows its ugliness as a poorly looking tech demo. Filling dex entries became TEDIOUS as hell and the battle system is straight up inferior to the main series.

The gameplay loop in this game was hypnotic for the first few areas. And when you got access to Basculegion, Sneasler, and Braviary, it felt great to find all of the new stuff in older areas. I remember the excitement I felt the first time I found the alpha Infernape on the island in the first area. But that excitement wanes incredibly quickly the more you progress. I soon wasn't getting the same rush after encountering a new species, alpha, or even shiny pokemon. My only goal left was to finish filling in the entries - and that sucks! It's boring as hell and made me drop the game after I beat Volo. I never even got to catch Arceus. The new battle system is not sustainable enough on its own to keep me playing. Pokemon Legends: Arceus lost its luster. Its replay value is way less prominent because team building is not nearly as important as in the main series games. It had high highs but I don't see myself coming back for a very long time. I am excited to see this formula be adapted for Scarlet and Violet, as I think they will fare much better. I said the same thing with Let's Go that I'll say here: there is no reason to remove abilities from the game. The only upside was that I used Rotom-Fan on my team without feeling guilty!