(REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS) Legends Arceus had me extremely skeptical from the day it was announced. The graphics were the first red flag for me following the switch's history with its horrible rendering capabilities and inability to run advanced imagery, however what did catch my attention immediately was the idea of an Arceus origin story and the fact that this game takes place in ancient sinnoh my bias towards gen 4 helped immensely with my excitement for the game; Arceus has been a mystery within the pokemon universe since its original release especially considering its canceled event back in diamond and pearl featuring the "Azure flute". In the beginning very little details were revealed by the pokemon company itself, and most of the details were revealed by leakers, as leaks flew around TPC confirmed and denied some, the major one being this game seeming to be advertised as "open world", TPC stated that the game was not fully open world this lead to immediate disappointment by several fans, myself included, however I tried to remain optimistic with hopes held high. As months went by TPC revealed completely new pokemon the first being Wyrdeer an evolution to the gen 2 pokemon Stantler, Basculegion was revealed along side it, an evolution for the unova pokemon basculin then finally Hisuian Braviary. So here we are seeing pokemon turn back to the regional variants yet again, and personally I love new forms, any new pokemon, and any new designs, so to me this was exciting; as more weeks went by more new evolutions and regional variants were revealed, as were some important supporting characters. After these reveals, pokemon was very secretive about this game up until its release, most of the information we were hearing came from leakers, and it was rather disappointing, one big one being the lack of multiplayer battles. On top of that negative fact, there were several traditional elements of pokemon that were leaked to have been removed, and this upset me after TPC confirming that this was a main series game. As release grew closer my hopes had completely diminished, but I was still planning to buy regardless for the story aspect. As I started playing the game I was confused at first and thrown off, But I will say this game was absolutely amazing, and it far succeeded my expectations. The gameplay in this game is so fun and addicting especially with all the pokedex entries providing you with several tasks for completely entries, the story is very anticipative with every moment. This game is a completely new step for pokemon games, and while tpc advertises it as a main series, I personally believe it shouldn't be looked at as one; its a completely new style for pokemon and its the first good new game in my opinion that we have had in a while. The game is challenging due to the extreme power curve, overall you can be 50 levels higher than your opponent it honestly means nothing, as the damage scaling is calculated differently in this game, I cannot say for sure how it works, but as an experienced pokemon player I can tell for sure it is not the same as it is in traditional games. Every new main series brings a gimmick mega evolution, z moves, etc. . . This games "gimmick" was the strong style and weak style mechanic, when first introduced to you within the game they are very underwhelming but as you progress further you learn quickly how essential and important strategizing with the mechanic is. Your speed stat is especially important in this rendition of pokemon as it is not the traditional turn order system you may be used to, while speed does determine if you act first in any main series game; in this game this is also true, however your opponent can act up to 4 times before you even have a chance to move, and this is where the weak style and strong style management come into play. This can be brutal! So learn the game and strategize accordingly. Another unique feature to this pokemon game is the crafting system, like many open world games, there is usually a crafting system that is supported by the materials you find around the map in various locations. Notice how I said "open world" even though tpc stated it wouldn't be full open world? Well, that much is true, however I believe the reason they made that statement because the map is broken down into (Areas) and you can not travel into another area from any other area, each area must be traveled to separately, however I still believe this game definitely falls into the category of open world, and that minor factor can be overlooked. Some negative aspects of this game; Your ON PERSON inventory space is locked behind poke dollars, and the fee raises with each slot purchased, this may not seem like a big deal, but the massive jump between each slot starts to become rather insane. The final slot is 4 million pokedollars! You may be thinking, why bother purchasing inventory slots; well as you get further into the game inventory management becomes essential, you will either find new and rare items along your travels and be forced to discard items on you or you will have trouble decided which items to prioritize before setting off on an adventure. While the monetary rewards for pokemon research are great, they definitely do not stay on par with the inventory slot fee increase. Another negative aspect is the rendering capabilities of this game, before I dive further into this negative, I will say overall the graphics are great and are 100% a step up from sword and shield, however some of the complaints by the community in my opinion are unrealistic, this is a childrens game and it is pokemon. This game is not to be looked at like assassins creed or red dead redemption, or GTA V its a more cartoony game while it may be new, I still think the graphics expectations should not be held as high as they are; Back to the rendering, the rendering however I will say has a lot to be desired, sometimes the rendering will be so bad you would think you are playing a n64 game! I can overlook that though. Another negative aspect , and this is just a personal thing, other people may appreciate it, while I do appreciate it to an extent I think it was forced a little in some aspects and I am referring to the excessive amount of gender bender characters in this game; Now to add onto that, I think it is great referencing other characters especially do the fact is indeed just a past version of another region, and I appreciate the referenced characters are at least from the corresponding region, however Like I said it feels very forced in some ways; but I do appreciate how their roles were written, it's more a design issue. Moving on in the characters category, there are other appearances in this game that follow the same fate of your character that being the "Isekai" phenomenon and some play bigger roles than others, and in the end were written real well. The last negative I'd have overall is while the story was great, there are technically 3 segments of the story overall and to get the true ending, you have to complete the pokedex, that part isn't the issue as that is where most of this game's gameplay comes from and makes the game fun; My issue was that this game was advertised as an arceus origin story, and unfortunately I feel like I did not get what I had hoped for. Did we get more Arceus lore and overall more lore on Sinnoh itself? Yes, absolutely and that more than enough makes up for the missing gaps I had hoped fore. While this game may not have been an Arceus origin story within itself, there were still several origin stories, and wow factors within the game that made every bit of story exciting. Another positive for me were how ride pokemon were implemented. Ride pokemon being equivelant to HMs or Sun and Moon's ride pokemon, and I especially appreciate how each ride pokemon was a new evolution or Hisuian variant. It's a perfect way to introduce something new, while I appreciate new designs there was one new pokemon in particular towards the end that I feel was added just for the sake of adding something new, that being Enamorus. Enamorus feels like a last second addition as there was nothing exciting upon its arrival and to be quite frank the design feels so forced. Overall going into this game I had my expectations low, and upon completing each ending and the entire story, I must say say the story aspects I did enjoy followed by the gameplay overall, this game is highly addicting and is definitely a refreshing step for pokemon. DLC was rumored for this game. It is frustrating as a fan to hear that content will be locked behind a pay wall, But I am all for it, I want to see longevity for this game, as this game not only became one of my favorite pokemon games of all time, but an overall favorite game of all time. Even though I am finished with the story aspects there is still so much to do within the game, and that makes me excited to continue playing. I look am hoping that arceus is not the only game within the "Legends" series. With everything taken into account I rate this game an overall 9/10! On a side note, if there is another game I wonder how it will be written and where it will take place because within Legends Arceus other regions are mentioned and do not have pre civilized names Like Hisui does, so that makes me think will another legends game take place in another universe therefore introducing the multiverse theory to the pokemon franchise? Who knows but the anticipation and theorizing makes me excited all in itself!
Comments
(REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS) Legends Arceus had me extremely skeptical from the day it was announced. The graphics were the first red flag for me following the switch's history with its horrible rendering capabilities and inability to run advanced imagery, however what did catch my attention immediately was the idea of an Arceus origin story and the fact that this game takes place in ancient sinnoh my bias towards gen 4 helped immensely with my excitement for the game; Arceus has been a mystery within the pokemon universe since its original release especially considering its canceled event back in diamond and pearl featuring the "Azure flute". In the beginning very little details were revealed by the pokemon company itself, and most of the details were revealed by leakers, as leaks flew around TPC confirmed and denied some, the major one being this game seeming to be advertised as "open world", TPC stated that the game was not fully open world this lead to immediate disappointment by several fans, myself included, however I tried to remain optimistic with hopes held high. As months went by TPC revealed completely new pokemon the first being Wyrdeer an evolution to the gen 2 pokemon Stantler, Basculegion was revealed along side it, an evolution for the unova pokemon basculin then finally Hisuian Braviary. So here we are seeing pokemon turn back to the regional variants yet again, and personally I love new forms, any new pokemon, and any new designs, so to me this was exciting; as more weeks went by more new evolutions and regional variants were revealed, as were some important supporting characters. After these reveals, pokemon was very secretive about this game up until its release, most of the information we were hearing came from leakers, and it was rather disappointing, one big one being the lack of multiplayer battles. On top of that negative fact, there were several traditional elements of pokemon that were leaked to have been removed, and this upset me after TPC confirming that this was a main series game. As release grew closer my hopes had completely diminished, but I was still planning to buy regardless for the story aspect. As I started playing the game I was confused at first and thrown off, But I will say this game was absolutely amazing, and it far succeeded my expectations. The gameplay in this game is so fun and addicting especially with all the pokedex entries providing you with several tasks for completely entries, the story is very anticipative with every moment. This game is a completely new step for pokemon games, and while tpc advertises it as a main series, I personally believe it shouldn't be looked at as one; its a completely new style for pokemon and its the first good new game in my opinion that we have had in a while. The game is challenging due to the extreme power curve, overall you can be 50 levels higher than your opponent it honestly means nothing, as the damage scaling is calculated differently in this game, I cannot say for sure how it works, but as an experienced pokemon player I can tell for sure it is not the same as it is in traditional games. Every new main series brings a gimmick mega evolution, z moves, etc. . . This games "gimmick" was the strong style and weak style mechanic, when first introduced to you within the game they are very underwhelming but as you progress further you learn quickly how essential and important strategizing with the mechanic is. Your speed stat is especially important in this rendition of pokemon as it is not the traditional turn order system you may be used to, while speed does determine if you act first in any main series game; in this game this is also true, however your opponent can act up to 4 times before you even have a chance to move, and this is where the weak style and strong style management come into play. This can be brutal! So learn the game and strategize accordingly. Another unique feature to this pokemon game is the crafting system, like many open world games, there is usually a crafting system that is supported by the materials you find around the map in various locations. Notice how I said "open world" even though tpc stated it wouldn't be full open world? Well, that much is true, however I believe the reason they made that statement because the map is broken down into (Areas) and you can not travel into another area from any other area, each area must be traveled to separately, however I still believe this game definitely falls into the category of open world, and that minor factor can be overlooked. Some negative aspects of this game; Your ON PERSON inventory space is locked behind poke dollars, and the fee raises with each slot purchased, this may not seem like a big deal, but the massive jump between each slot starts to become rather insane. The final slot is 4 million pokedollars! You may be thinking, why bother purchasing inventory slots; well as you get further into the game inventory management becomes essential, you will either find new and rare items along your travels and be forced to discard items on you or you will have trouble decided which items to prioritize before setting off on an adventure. While the monetary rewards for pokemon research are great, they definitely do not stay on par with the inventory slot fee increase. Another negative aspect is the rendering capabilities of this game, before I dive further into this negative, I will say overall the graphics are great and are 100% a step up from sword and shield, however some of the complaints by the community in my opinion are unrealistic, this is a childrens game and it is pokemon. This game is not to be looked at like assassins creed or red dead redemption, or GTA V its a more cartoony game while it may be new, I still think the graphics expectations should not be held as high as they are; Back to the rendering, the rendering however I will say has a lot to be desired, sometimes the rendering will be so bad you would think you are playing a n64 game! I can overlook that though. Another negative aspect , and this is just a personal thing, other people may appreciate it, while I do appreciate it to an extent I think it was forced a little in some aspects and I am referring to the excessive amount of gender bender characters in this game; Now to add onto that, I think it is great referencing other characters especially do the fact is indeed just a past version of another region, and I appreciate the referenced characters are at least from the corresponding region, however Like I said it feels very forced in some ways; but I do appreciate how their roles were written, it's more a design issue. Moving on in the characters category, there are other appearances in this game that follow the same fate of your character that being the "Isekai" phenomenon and some play bigger roles than others, and in the end were written real well. The last negative I'd have overall is while the story was great, there are technically 3 segments of the story overall and to get the true ending, you have to complete the pokedex, that part isn't the issue as that is where most of this game's gameplay comes from and makes the game fun; My issue was that this game was advertised as an arceus origin story, and unfortunately I feel like I did not get what I had hoped for. Did we get more Arceus lore and overall more lore on Sinnoh itself? Yes, absolutely and that more than enough makes up for the missing gaps I had hoped fore. While this game may not have been an Arceus origin story within itself, there were still several origin stories, and wow factors within the game that made every bit of story exciting. Another positive for me were how ride pokemon were implemented. Ride pokemon being equivelant to HMs or Sun and Moon's ride pokemon, and I especially appreciate how each ride pokemon was a new evolution or Hisuian variant. It's a perfect way to introduce something new, while I appreciate new designs there was one new pokemon in particular towards the end that I feel was added just for the sake of adding something new, that being Enamorus. Enamorus feels like a last second addition as there was nothing exciting upon its arrival and to be quite frank the design feels so forced. Overall going into this game I had my expectations low, and upon completing each ending and the entire story, I must say say the story aspects I did enjoy followed by the gameplay overall, this game is highly addicting and is definitely a refreshing step for pokemon. DLC was rumored for this game. It is frustrating as a fan to hear that content will be locked behind a pay wall, But I am all for it, I want to see longevity for this game, as this game not only became one of my favorite pokemon games of all time, but an overall favorite game of all time. Even though I am finished with the story aspects there is still so much to do within the game, and that makes me excited to continue playing. I look am hoping that arceus is not the only game within the "Legends" series. With everything taken into account I rate this game an overall 9/10! On a side note, if there is another game I wonder how it will be written and where it will take place because within Legends Arceus other regions are mentioned and do not have pre civilized names Like Hisui does, so that makes me think will another legends game take place in another universe therefore introducing the multiverse theory to the pokemon franchise? Who knows but the anticipation and theorizing makes me excited all in itself!