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Did the final product satisfy your expectations?

Battista

Battista

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When all we had was that initial trailer and Legends: Arceus to work with, I remember all the speculation we did on this game. We thought we’d be going to some time in the past just like Legends: Arceus. We were positive that Snivy and Piplup were going to be starters because of their French connections. We were wrong on both counts lol.

It’s always hard to speculate on things like these because even precedents we thought existed can be broken. But overall, how do you feel about the final product vs. your initial assumptions of what the game “should be”?
 
I haven't played the DLC yet, but for the base content I have to say a big, fat YES.

Kalos is my favorite region, and as you may guess Mega Evolution has always been my favorite battle gimmick. Despite the lack of an upper version of Kalos games, a revisit to fix all the problems the XY versions had, and another focus on the Mega Evolution (except executed properly this time!) was something the region's lore needed a lot.

It may be surprising today to look back and remember that we only had about 5 or 6 Mega Evolutions available before the post game, and only 3 Mega Evolution battles if I remember correctly. Such cool feature was locked behind very limited oppurtunities. This time around, the gimmick was properly inserted in the playthrough, and it wasn't "a cool feature with no cost" this time around.

Part of my satisfactory comes from the fact that I played the first time fully spoiler-free. I don't think I was ever this excited to discover something new while playing Pokémon, like how the new megas were revealed through the game as you battle rivals and opponents, and they Mega evolve their last standing Pokémon. I had reactions such as "No way they gave a mega form to Scolipede!!" or "Shut up, Mega Scrafty is so sick!" which I wouldn't be able to feel that excited if I had spoiled myself with the mega evolutions before I started playing.

There are of course some of the things that I'd think of improving which would enrichen the gameplay greatly, but that doesn't take away all the fun that I had for those days that I only played this game and stood away from all the spoiler content.
 
Looking back on it, I think PLZA surpassed my expectations. The gameplay loop is wonderful, I loveee running around the city. I was really worried about the real-time battle system but I think I might have a really hard time going back to the turn based system because its so much fun. I got everything and more out of PLZA. :bulbaLove:
 
For the most part, an astounding yes! Hell, they probably lapped them a couple times

I also consider gen 6 my single favorite Gen and XY my favorite game (well, up to that point), so just the announcement of a kalos got me perked up on my seat. Though with the context of being a Legends game I kept my expectations realistic irt it fitting the groundworks LA set up. Basically, I was expecting another game with Arceus' general game structure, set in either the past or future of Lumiose, with a focus on Megas. While my secret ideal vision was a direct sequel to XY and a game with at least a different main objective beyond catching, and well... guess what we got? Honestly I feel very lucky with this game, as even some unrealstic hopes beyond the definition of expectations were met, like getting returning XY characters, returning themes and lemotifs, and even the white whale of my single favorite mon getting a mega evolution

On the topic of megas, that's another thing i wasn't sure about irt initial expectations. With how tacked on megas were in XY/ORAS + how little Pokémon has access to them, I was concerned how natural they'd fit here. Cut to reality, they brought em in to the fold pretty seamlessly with all the rogues and every character using one as an ace. And then counting the base game + Mega Dimension, they practically doubled the current total number of mega evolutions (including filling massive holes for gens 5 onwards, and Kalos in particular), meaning there's now a good chance everybody has at least one or two mon they appreciate that has one, making it even easier for people to wanna use em. As somebody who once considered megas sorta overhyped, this game got me to really like them.


I think there were really only two things that didn't really meet my expectations. First the DLC structure. It sorta fell off by the post-credits stuff with how grindy it was an d requiring very particular berries for recipes. At the end of the day though, the DLC was probaly more an excuse to squeeze as many more new Megas as possible, and in that regard, I say it was worth it for that alone. Though we definitely could've achieved this with less grind ahaha

Second, the pushed aside treatment of Xerneas and Yveltal. I was hoping after LA did fantastic work expanding on the entire creation trio, Xerneas and Yveltal would at least get like a substantial boss fight or whatever, but they definitely felt like an afterthought. Ah well, a lot of my other fav mon got crazy amounts of spotlight here, so I can't be too particular on this.


At the end of the day, yes, as far as the initially announced Legends Kalos game, my expectations where very much met and then some. And honestly, as time goes on, I feel easier saying it's one of my new favorites in the entire series. This has genuinely been like a dream game. Being able to re-explore my favorite Pokemon city with my favorite regional dex in a modern game that runs and plays great with an egaging real-time spin on the battles has been pure bliss.
 
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Very mixed, but going to give it a yes for the most part. Battle system felt nice for the most part because I can just jump in and vibe instead of having to math everything out and do 20+sim fights on a sim to test things for once, cast was pretty enjoyable to watch and interact with, we have actual build options on Mega Evolutions, and they really did get a lot out of a map that was confined to a single city. The reason my feelings are mixed is that a lot of the DLC's design choices with RNG (hi, special raid dens stalling out my dex completion progress for nearly two whole weeks) left a very sour impression on me, but I don't think I want to write out that in detail, especially since its a common enough feeling in some places. This game really felt like the closure Kalos needed, although hoping the next time its featured we can go through the region as a whole. Cheers
 
Meh.
It gave Zygarde and Eternal Flower Floette some nice spotlight and I like the new mega evolutions.

But otherwise it cut a lot of features that were in XY (Pokémon Amie, Trainer PR videos, Gogoat ride, Roller skates, bike, some shops), some mega stones are locked behind a paywall, the Pokédex is very small, the wild zones are samey, the DLC's gameplay is boring and annoying, Xerneas,Yveltal & Volcanion were poorly handled and they only brought back 5 characters.
The biggest disappointement is that you can't enter most of the buildings. And when you can, they're incomplete (Hotel Richissime, Lumiose City Museum).
There are some missing informations here and there also (e.g. it's stated that the Kalos league has heavily changed but we don't know anything about the new members. The game states that Tierno became a famous dancer and Trevor became a Pokémon researcher but it doesn't give any information about what happened to Shauna. Nothing about the mysterious message in the original Lumiose Train Station either.)

That's not how you do a sequel.
 
Not really. I expected the "Legends" series to be as similar as possible to Legends Arceus, with deep stories that took place in different times and exploration systems where exploring the overworld and gathering materials from it was key. What we got instead was a main series game that takes place in present day in one city and it doesn't take advantage of it for the most part. As a Pokemon game, it's good and fun, the battle format is nice and the story and mechanics have pros and cons like any other, but ever since the first trailer I sighed "ouch, what could have been...".
 
The minute the game was announced in 2024, it was obvious to me that it was a Legends game in name only. Sure, it is not faithful to the traditional formula, but that doesn't make it similar to PLA in any substantial way. Overworld catching is back, but I've heard that it's worse now. Alphas? They're mostly just big and easier to train, a far cry from Shadow Pokemon. An abudance of side missions, I guess? I'd say that less is more in that case.

Anyway, I never asked for a game set in a single city, focus on Megas or more Kalos lore (which is really just more of the same). Real-time battles are a nice change, but that is not enough for me. So I didn't buy the game, which would be fine were it not for the 4-year gap between the Indigo Disk and WiWa.
 
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I am beyond satisfied with Legends Z-A. It is hands down my new favriote Pokemon Game. I wouldnt call it the most challenging game, but it was SO Much fun. Not to hate on Legends Arceus but it is such a slog to get through the Ranks... Thats why I havent beaten the game yet. In Z-A we have the Z-A Royale, which is still sorta boring, but its far better than ranking up in Arceus. It links to X/Y well, with direct concequenses of Lysander firing the Ultimate Weapon. While it probably would of been better if it was set farther into the future, its fine where it is. I absolutely love all the new characters, and actively had me excited out loud when they showed up. I got to use Pokemon I dont normally use on a playthrough. Using all the Mega Evolutions was fun, The Rouge Mega's were challenging enough (With Mega Barbaracle being the hardest thing since Max Raid Zygarde) and the ending made me cry... which was something only Pokemon Violet did.

Overall, I had TONS of fun with this game. I have more to do, such as all the post game missions and the DLC.
 
Eh, it was okay. The free-roaming battle aspect wasn't particularly engaging when most of the fields were too small to do anything. Unless I was using very fast moves, a lot of my time in battle was spent staying in place and patiently waiting to attack again. It's a good idea, and I love sneak attacks in battles, but the whole battle system didn't feel as responsive or immersive as it could have been.

I loved the Royale gimmick. Conceptually, it was very cool. In practice, it was super fun sneaking around, grabbing cards, picking trainers off from a distance, and jumping off roofs to avoid battles. The Royale was of the best story additions to the franchise in years.

The friends were pretty cool. Some of the supporting characters were cool, but I felt that they were all very one-note and some of them just got on my nerves.

Aaaand most of the Megas were pretty ugly, which was disappointing because a lot of my faves got screwed over because of it. That said, I liked how pretty much all of them got to appear in the gaem and provide some challenge.

Side-missions were standard fare and I only did them to get money or stuff, not because I enjoyed them. It got me to explore Lumiose, but a lot of Lumiose is just same-y and not fun to explore. I was fine being confined to the city, but I thought they could have done more to make the world feel more unique and fun beyond Wild Zones.

It's one of the better Switch-era games, and better than most of the 3DS games. But overall I feel like it's let down by Game Freak's usual limitations and design choices.
 
I mean if my expectations for the game were low already then I guess it met my expectations...? I complained openly on social media about how being trapped in a single city seemed lame and how much I dreaded the minimal exploration aspect of the game, and that's exactly what I had to deal with. Also a few other things ended up annoying me more than I thought, such as the fact that the time of day changes every few minutes and that annoying Battle Royale cutscene that always plays and can't be turned off or skipped.

I assume the DLC added some new areas to explore (?) though I didn't actually buy it because I was so over the game by the time the main storyline was done, and I haven't touched the game since last year and have no plans to play it again. It's in the same box as LGPE, which up until Z-A had been my least favorite mainline Pokemon games...
 
Its been a while since I've played it last and I feel like my thoughts have settled on it... I loooooved ZA's main campaign, and the real time battling is okay. I prefer turn-based, but it's a nice change of pace! i'm glad they're trying new stuff. the battle system feels a little underbaked, but that's fine honestly.

characters are wonderful, music is.. fine? i wish there was more variety in overworld music during normal events, since the lumiose music gets old quick even when it changes with the time of day. i liked the royale a lot more than i thought i would and had a very fun time filling out a living dex.

the dlc is really, really disappointing. i loved the story but the grind gets absolutely ridiculous, and there's too much RNG involved to make the grind feel meaningful. i got rayquaza and kind of gave up after that. im really upset because i don't have the dex completed in the DLC yet, but im just so bored. i'll probably finish it at some point - it took me a while to finally finish Rainbow Rocket in USUM, even though i loved those games to death lmao - but. ughhhhhhhh.
 
Battista said:
When all we had was that initial trailer and Legends: Arceus to work with, I remember all the speculation we did on this game. We thought we’d be going to some time in the past just like Legends: Arceus. We were positive that Snivy and Piplup were going to be starters because of their French connections. We were wrong on both counts lol.

It’s always hard to speculate on things like these because even precedents we thought existed can be broken. But overall, how do you feel about the final product vs. your initial assumptions of what the game “should be”?
Click to expand...
I want more games with this Xenobladesque battle system.
 
base game is fine and enjoyable and i'd even go as far as to say refreshing and better than legends: arceus. the plot is more interesting, the battles mechanics are better, and even the characters and dialogue is an improvement if we're really directly comparing the two.

the dlc is where my opinion falters of the product as a whole. that's not to say it's bad, and i even defended the grindiness for a time because i'm so used to it from years of playing other jrpgs, but it gets to a point where it's tiring and not fun, so i'll add my own voice to the disappointment, there. it's odd, because, again, the character interactions are great, the ideas (at least, in a vacuum, because a donut system is cute) are nice on paper, but i think the execution leaves much to be desired. to this day, i really haven't finished a pokemon switch dlc because none of them have been much to my liking, so part of it may also just be a me thing.
 
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