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My Review of Pokémon Legends: Z-A
6 days ago
(This review was written under the assumption that you’ve either completed the main story or don’t care about getting spoiled over its contents. With that out of the way, I am a Pokémon themed account at the end of the day, so, why not share my thoughts on its most recent release?)
To get a good grasp of the perspective that formed my thoughts on Z-A’s gameplay, and given it’s the closest thing to a Pokemon themed action game, one needs to know why the mechanics of such games, be it Astral Chain, Lost Judgment, or the Bayonetta series, make it among my favorite genres. Said reasons can be summarized in two terms:
Dynamism: Constant change, the kind that can force adaptation to the point of improvisation, is why my cherishing of action games will never change. That one must frequently flip between offense and defense on a dime, that one must adjust their spacing and selected movesets in a split second amidst fast-paced and multi-phase fights where your foes can move and strike all the faster, it’s ultimately the multitude of moment to moment decisions that make for many moments of fun. This is precisely why the pairing of the next point is so important, and that’s, well…
Precision: Beyond having to make many decisions from moment to moment, having to make each one at the right moment for optimal play, such as attacking during the tight window between an enemy’s windup and striking animations so you can segue into a perfectly timed parry, is what makes those high execution tests of reflexes and recognition so rewarding for me to play.
So, did Z-A succeed in scratching such itches? To some extent, yes. Rogue Mega Evos such as Bannette, Mawile, and Starmie are certainly shifty enough to force frequent adjustments to your positioning, and there are several moves and mechanics that make precision and improvisation possible, be it Spiky Shield effectively functioning as a snappy parry, Heat Crash having its jumping animation function as a dodge, or well timed Pokemon switching or Mega Evolution allowing you to either completely avoid damage or have a Pokemon with a type advantage resist the move being reacted to. As for the extent it failed in these regards, however, Pokemon switching makes the summoned one completely inactive for several seconds, the trainer AI aren’t complex enough to make their Pokemon use their mobility for reasons beyond moving into attack range, glitches can occasionally cause Pokemon to get stuck in the floor while they’re fighting, and the final boss of all things has a limited moveset that doesn’t have any phase shifts barring the lone addition of the easy to dodge Light of Ruin, creating a combat system that, while solid enough, sometimes breaks its own flow for no good reason and isn’t as dynamic as it could be. But, what really embodies the gameplay’s squandered potential is the battle zones. They’re presented as these places in which no holds are barred for those who battle at night, in which pockets of Lumiose become these Hunger Games-esque areas where opportunistic trainers can and will get the jump on you, but how they’re executed in-game fails to reflect that narrative you’re given. Rather than being these frenzied free-for-alls that should prompt you to be paranoid over the prospect of opposing Pokemon attacking yours out of nowhere, battle zones end up being nothing but a slow paced showcase of Z-A’s subpar stealth mechanics as opponents and their Pokemon either stand completely still or stroll around with no sense of urgency.
If only battle zones were the only instance of Z-A not utilizing the ideas its own narrative introduces, because, boy, going through this game’s story was rough, and I mean really really rough. By far my biggest gripe with the game’s writing is the fact there’s next to no character work. Not even bad attempts at character work, just straight up no attempts at character arcs or in-depth character exploration for any of the new cast:
-Nothing is done with Lida’s desire to be a dancer or how she was left behind by the roommate who found success in said profession.
-Nothing is done with the fact Naveen’s family disapproves of his creative passions nor does the game bother to detail why he adores Canari, a character explicitly written as an unlikable asshole who looks down on her own fans and sees them as nothing but sources of self-satisfaction.
-Taunie/Urbaine, despite having a conflict that in itself communicates that there’s such a thing as being overzealous in one’s desire to help people, that good intentions can cause people to make promises they can’t keep, doesn’t undergo any character development once their loan debt is settled.
-Corbeau provides a genuinely clever subversion of expectations that prompts you to question why he feels like he has to make people do good deeds under duress, why he does shady loan shark stuff in pursuit of public service, but of course, you don’t get any notable attempts of such questions getting answered.
-Ivor’s basis behind Pokemon being deserving of the same freedoms as humans isn’t elaborated on and he just spends most of the game being the meathead joke character who gets made fun of for being stupid.
-Jacinthe’s enslavement of another person is another elephant in the room that Z-A creates but doesn’t care to address, nor is it explained why she believes an ideal society is one where people prioritize proficiency in Pokemon battles.
This lack of character work goes on to make the climax where all of these characters come together and fight alongside you far less impactful; it’s supposed to be this really cool moment showing all these people with widely different perspectives coming together, showing that despite their differences they all love Lumiose the same, but the story can’t sell that idea when it doesn’t elaborate on what makes these characters so different from each other. Then there’s the ending that so unceremoniously concludes AZ’s character arc, something fans waited twelve years for. AZ himself, alongside other characters, constantly talks about his need to atone for the sins of his past, but he doesn’t get to do that in a meaningful way. Rather than, say, sacrificing himself and the last of his life force to help you finish off the final boss or at least having a cutscene dedicated to his final moments, he simply dies off-screen and you only know he died in a post credits scene where his grave is shown.
As if all of that doesn’t make for a really sloppy story, what soils the storytelling experience all the more is that Z-A can’t even tell a bad story in a timely manner. I was 19 hours into my 25 hour playthrough before it felt like the plot was taking significant steps forward, and what contributed to that issue both before and after said 19 hour mark is the several battles that had no narrative weight and felt incredibly contrived. For example, right before you’re about to fight Mega Starmie, Philippe shows up first, saying that he’s also here to help the city against said Mega Evo threat. Are the two of you gonna help fight the Mega Starmie together? Nah, that’d be too logical. Instead he says ”I want to be the one who fights Mega Starmie. You’re gonna have to battle me if you want to get involved.” You beat him and then he fucks off. Cool. That was incredibly pointless. This happens again when you’re trying to get info on Grisham, when you’re about to get said info from Emma until she suddenly decides she won’t actually give it to you unless you battle her despite you being one of Lumiose’s strongest trainers by that point in the story. Worst of all, this issue shows up right before the fights leading to the finale; it’s initially assumed that you will be the one who uses AZ’s Floette to save the city because you’ve earned that Pokémon’s trust as a top-ranked trainer, but then Taunie/Urbaine is like ”Well, I’m a top-ranked trainer too and I want to be the one who uses Floette to save the day. Battle me so we can decide who Lumiose’s strongest trainer is”. What? Why? Why does it matter who gets to do the honors? What makes this even dumber is that said character gets to be the one who uses Floette anyways while you have to fight the remaining rogue Mega Evo Pokemon before the final boss. It’s supposed to be the equivalent of a champion battle but it just ends up feeling like a chore with how forced it feels. The cynic in me thinks the devs padded the game out with said pointless battles alongside having to fight 10+ Mega Evo Pokemon before the finale because you’d question why you paid 60-70 bucks if you could breeze through the story; it’s like Game Freak themselves knew the plot lacked substance and couldn’t carry the game on its own, so they had to keep preventing plot from happening to make the game longer.
TL:DR Z-A is a game whose combat is fine, but not good enough to stop its writing from leaving a super sour taste in my mouth, creating an overall below average experience.
For those who like number ratings, I give Pokemon Legends: Z-A a 4.5/10
To get a good grasp of the perspective that formed my thoughts on Z-A’s gameplay, and given it’s the closest thing to a Pokemon themed action game, one needs to know why the mechanics of such games, be it Astral Chain, Lost Judgment, or the Bayonetta series, make it among my favorite genres. Said reasons can be summarized in two terms:
Dynamism: Constant change, the kind that can force adaptation to the point of improvisation, is why my cherishing of action games will never change. That one must frequently flip between offense and defense on a dime, that one must adjust their spacing and selected movesets in a split second amidst fast-paced and multi-phase fights where your foes can move and strike all the faster, it’s ultimately the multitude of moment to moment decisions that make for many moments of fun. This is precisely why the pairing of the next point is so important, and that’s, well…
Precision: Beyond having to make many decisions from moment to moment, having to make each one at the right moment for optimal play, such as attacking during the tight window between an enemy’s windup and striking animations so you can segue into a perfectly timed parry, is what makes those high execution tests of reflexes and recognition so rewarding for me to play.
So, did Z-A succeed in scratching such itches? To some extent, yes. Rogue Mega Evos such as Bannette, Mawile, and Starmie are certainly shifty enough to force frequent adjustments to your positioning, and there are several moves and mechanics that make precision and improvisation possible, be it Spiky Shield effectively functioning as a snappy parry, Heat Crash having its jumping animation function as a dodge, or well timed Pokemon switching or Mega Evolution allowing you to either completely avoid damage or have a Pokemon with a type advantage resist the move being reacted to. As for the extent it failed in these regards, however, Pokemon switching makes the summoned one completely inactive for several seconds, the trainer AI aren’t complex enough to make their Pokemon use their mobility for reasons beyond moving into attack range, glitches can occasionally cause Pokemon to get stuck in the floor while they’re fighting, and the final boss of all things has a limited moveset that doesn’t have any phase shifts barring the lone addition of the easy to dodge Light of Ruin, creating a combat system that, while solid enough, sometimes breaks its own flow for no good reason and isn’t as dynamic as it could be. But, what really embodies the gameplay’s squandered potential is the battle zones. They’re presented as these places in which no holds are barred for those who battle at night, in which pockets of Lumiose become these Hunger Games-esque areas where opportunistic trainers can and will get the jump on you, but how they’re executed in-game fails to reflect that narrative you’re given. Rather than being these frenzied free-for-alls that should prompt you to be paranoid over the prospect of opposing Pokemon attacking yours out of nowhere, battle zones end up being nothing but a slow paced showcase of Z-A’s subpar stealth mechanics as opponents and their Pokemon either stand completely still or stroll around with no sense of urgency.
If only battle zones were the only instance of Z-A not utilizing the ideas its own narrative introduces, because, boy, going through this game’s story was rough, and I mean really really rough. By far my biggest gripe with the game’s writing is the fact there’s next to no character work. Not even bad attempts at character work, just straight up no attempts at character arcs or in-depth character exploration for any of the new cast:
-Nothing is done with Lida’s desire to be a dancer or how she was left behind by the roommate who found success in said profession.
-Nothing is done with the fact Naveen’s family disapproves of his creative passions nor does the game bother to detail why he adores Canari, a character explicitly written as an unlikable asshole who looks down on her own fans and sees them as nothing but sources of self-satisfaction.
-Taunie/Urbaine, despite having a conflict that in itself communicates that there’s such a thing as being overzealous in one’s desire to help people, that good intentions can cause people to make promises they can’t keep, doesn’t undergo any character development once their loan debt is settled.
-Corbeau provides a genuinely clever subversion of expectations that prompts you to question why he feels like he has to make people do good deeds under duress, why he does shady loan shark stuff in pursuit of public service, but of course, you don’t get any notable attempts of such questions getting answered.
-Ivor’s basis behind Pokemon being deserving of the same freedoms as humans isn’t elaborated on and he just spends most of the game being the meathead joke character who gets made fun of for being stupid.
-Jacinthe’s enslavement of another person is another elephant in the room that Z-A creates but doesn’t care to address, nor is it explained why she believes an ideal society is one where people prioritize proficiency in Pokemon battles.
This lack of character work goes on to make the climax where all of these characters come together and fight alongside you far less impactful; it’s supposed to be this really cool moment showing all these people with widely different perspectives coming together, showing that despite their differences they all love Lumiose the same, but the story can’t sell that idea when it doesn’t elaborate on what makes these characters so different from each other. Then there’s the ending that so unceremoniously concludes AZ’s character arc, something fans waited twelve years for. AZ himself, alongside other characters, constantly talks about his need to atone for the sins of his past, but he doesn’t get to do that in a meaningful way. Rather than, say, sacrificing himself and the last of his life force to help you finish off the final boss or at least having a cutscene dedicated to his final moments, he simply dies off-screen and you only know he died in a post credits scene where his grave is shown.
As if all of that doesn’t make for a really sloppy story, what soils the storytelling experience all the more is that Z-A can’t even tell a bad story in a timely manner. I was 19 hours into my 25 hour playthrough before it felt like the plot was taking significant steps forward, and what contributed to that issue both before and after said 19 hour mark is the several battles that had no narrative weight and felt incredibly contrived. For example, right before you’re about to fight Mega Starmie, Philippe shows up first, saying that he’s also here to help the city against said Mega Evo threat. Are the two of you gonna help fight the Mega Starmie together? Nah, that’d be too logical. Instead he says ”I want to be the one who fights Mega Starmie. You’re gonna have to battle me if you want to get involved.” You beat him and then he fucks off. Cool. That was incredibly pointless. This happens again when you’re trying to get info on Grisham, when you’re about to get said info from Emma until she suddenly decides she won’t actually give it to you unless you battle her despite you being one of Lumiose’s strongest trainers by that point in the story. Worst of all, this issue shows up right before the fights leading to the finale; it’s initially assumed that you will be the one who uses AZ’s Floette to save the city because you’ve earned that Pokémon’s trust as a top-ranked trainer, but then Taunie/Urbaine is like ”Well, I’m a top-ranked trainer too and I want to be the one who uses Floette to save the day. Battle me so we can decide who Lumiose’s strongest trainer is”. What? Why? Why does it matter who gets to do the honors? What makes this even dumber is that said character gets to be the one who uses Floette anyways while you have to fight the remaining rogue Mega Evo Pokemon before the final boss. It’s supposed to be the equivalent of a champion battle but it just ends up feeling like a chore with how forced it feels. The cynic in me thinks the devs padded the game out with said pointless battles alongside having to fight 10+ Mega Evo Pokemon before the finale because you’d question why you paid 60-70 bucks if you could breeze through the story; it’s like Game Freak themselves knew the plot lacked substance and couldn’t carry the game on its own, so they had to keep preventing plot from happening to make the game longer.
TL:DR Z-A is a game whose combat is fine, but not good enough to stop its writing from leaving a super sour taste in my mouth, creating an overall below average experience.
For those who like number ratings, I give Pokemon Legends: Z-A a 4.5/10
