I am a Pokemon fan, and this is the type of Pokemon game I have wanted for ages. GameFreak made a bold move here, shaking up their yearly, and predictable equation for something new, and as with most innovations, there are some rough parts.
Let's start with the good, then go to the not so good.
-Putting catching Pokemon, and the Pokedex at the center of the gameplay is brilliant. Pokemon used to be about "Gotta Catch them All," which gave it's end game (completing the pokedex) meaning, and extra layers. As the number of 'mons has increased, this has become impossible and been removed as a core tenant. But in Arceus, catching (not battling) is at the root of the game play.
Unlike past games, you aren't catching one of each Pokemon and calling it done, you will be catching multiple of each type, sometimes even catching types for completed Pokedex entries, so that you get the biggest reward at the end of a run.
This meant that I was constantly engaged exploring, scoping out what 'mons were around, and catching. It was refreshing and fun.
-Change of pacing is huge to making this game work. The initial 5-10 hours I wasn't entirely certain what the flow was, and I enjoyed discovering how I would play thru the game. I haven't been uncertain about how a Pokemon game will play for years!
-"Boss" and Alpha Types were tough, this is a big change of pace for the franchise, which often becomes a cake walk after a few hours. I found myself losing the Noble Pokemon fights a few times, before I learned their attack patterns.
In the wild, finding an Alpha type, particularly for tough Pokemon, never loses its excitement. They ca knock out your team, even when they are lower level, and they often have unexpected moves, making predicting how to survive their attacks tough. But catching and then getting to use them is hugely rewarding.
-Time Rifts are a feature in the game which basically is "hard mode for rare pokemon". This works amazing, because no matter how tough your team is, when in a rift you have to stay very guarded, as three pokemon will lightning in suddenly and can knock out your team really fast. Even better, since these are often rare Pokemon, because you are trying not to knock them out, your team is even more vulnerable. These portals were tough and engaging everytime I entered one.
Final positive was the difficulty, this isn't a hard game, but for a Pokemon game it is quite hard. There are easy parts, but I ever felt like I was just mashing A with over leveled Pokemon to steam roll thru the game.
Right, so onto the rough stuff, and there are a few things.
First, the mini quests, after a few of these, I just began ignoring mini quests. They are slow, provide next to know lore reward, and the item rewards aren't great. They almost all feel like fetch quests, and they break up the pacing a lot. By hour 6 of the game, I just stopped doing these entirely.
Second, the opening of the game is very exposition heavy, it takes literally about 2 hours to really get to play and explore the game. There is a LOT of set up, and each time you complete a main quest, the pacing comes to a grinding halt. Pokemon Legends is trying, at times successfully, but usually not, to deliver a more mature and intricate story. The problem is, that the dialogue is still too cheesy and campy to take seriously, and even worse there is WAY too much of it. The core story isn't bad, but its SOOOOO padded out that I found myself not caring about many of the NPCs.
Finally, the battling of the game is a bit rough. The game tries to remove some of the extra layers the franchise has spent decades building up, and get to the root of making Pokemon battles flow and fun, however, I think they removed too much. The battles aren't bad here, but no Pokemon abilities is a big mistake. The way the game flows, generally you want to play tanky Pokemon, because most tough battles will be facing off against 2-3 'Mons. None of the moves hit multiple enemies, meaning that quick glass canons just cannot survive. The battling isn't terrible, but it isn't great.
There are also a few mediocre things. The graphics have caught a lot of flak, I think they are fine but not great. The content in the open world, particularly in the first region, is a little basic, but gets better. It isn't amazing, and I wish Pokemon had more variety in their behaviors, but its still ok.
Overall, I really enjoyed Pokemon Legends. It tries a number of innovations to the franchise that made this game very fun and exciting. There are some misses, and some rough points, but I think any Pokemon fan should give this a try.
Pokemon Legends Arceus feels like a huge step forward for Pokemon but still pretty behind compared to any other over the shoulder adventure game.
