Pokémon Legends: Arceus is good enough to turn newcomers into fans

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is practiced plenty to turn newcomers into fans

(Paradigm credit: Nintendo)

Pokémon Legends: Arceus isn't the best open-world RPG I've ever played, just it is the only Pokémon game that'south ever held my attention. While the turn-based battles in the games don't typically excite me, Legends: Arceus is the perfect Pokémon title for newcomers. In fact, it'southward inverse my mind about the franchise as a whole.

I've long defended my disinterest in the Pokémon franchise. As a kid, the cards felt silly; as an adult, the turn-based gameplay felt restrictive and, honestly, ho-hum. I've tried several times to fall in love with the nostalgic titles that my friends and partner have played repeatedly over the years. But Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the first game in the franchise to go on me invested.

With tons of Pokémon to find, an activity-packed boxing system and a story that hints at a larger world to notice, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was plenty to plough this newcomer into a complete fangirl.

I got the game for my Pokémon Legends: Arceus review, which highlights many of the things I didn't similar about the game. Ever since then, though, I haven't stopped talking about the new Pokémon I've caught, the new mechanics I've discovered or the touching storyline I've experienced. I haven't but enjoyed playing information technology; the game actively makes me want to revisit older series titles that came out when I was a kid.

Setting up for thwarting

Every bit silly as information technology may audio, the folks who accept wanted Pokémon Legends: Arceus for years may have been setting themselves upwards for disappointment. It'southward true that the graphics are not upwardly to snuff, especially considering that the similar The Fable of Zelda: Breath of the Wild looked so much ameliorate — and information technology came out five years before Arceus. But if you get into the game expecting that the Pokémon will exist the stars of the evidence, it delivers every time.

I can empathize that longtime players wanted more than, and to be off-white, the trees in Pokémon Legends: Arceus (among other landscape features) are really unacceptable in 2022. The water looks similar a single square copied and pasted hundreds of times, and the lag on certain Pokémon animations is definitely a detriment.

But as someone who was simply excited to observe some new fiddling creatures to befriend, Pokémon Legends: Arceus offers plenty to detect, and the animations of the Pokémon themselves are incredible. It seems like all the animation manpower went toward giving (almost) every motion an awesome animation, and making sure the Pokémon themselves looked great. Information technology doesn't seem as though equally much endeavour went into tweaking the harsh lighting, or designing some meliorate scenery.

The reason why so many folks seem disappointed in this release is because the world doesn't have enough natural things to find. Compare and contrast to the Koroks from Breath of the Wild, or side quests from about every other RPG. But if you consider the Pokémon equally a part of the globe, there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of things to explore.

Another role of Arceus' gameplay that makes it feel and then wondrous for a newcomer is simply that I don't know what's going on. Again, this might seem airheaded. Merely discovering that Pokémon didn't ever live harmoniously with humans, and weighing the ethics of catching and battling Pokémon excited me while I was playing. It was absurd to experience like I was going dorsum to the roots of the franchise, equally Arceus is prepare further back in time than any previous Pokémon game or evidence.

I paid close attention to each cutscene, and they revealed a cute-but-complex tale nearly the creation of a society. As the leaders of the Diamond and Pearl clans fought throughout the story, I found myself actually reflecting on the game's themes and how they apply in existent life.

Battling Pokémon is wrong

One affair that consistently bugged me about the previous Pokémon games was the total anthropocentrism that left the poor animals to be battled repeatedly until they fainted. Part of my enjoyment of Arceus came from accepting that I just don't agree with the do of battling Pokémon.

Patently, this is a game. Just in real life, I would never advocate for catching and battling animals, and it makes me a piddling uncomfortable to do it digitally. (For some reason, I have no problem running over innocent bystanders in GTA, but that'due south a question for therapy.) But once I accepted that I don't like that part of the franchise, I was able to bask the game a lot more.

At that place are endless op-eds and fan theories about why the basis of the Pokémon games is or isn't ethical, and then I won't delve into that. Instead, I'll highlight what was important for my experience: I accepted that I'm a benevolent Galaxy Team member.

Luckily for me, this dovetails perfectly with the game'south self-sensation. Unlike other Pokémon games, Arceus allows you lot to release your Pokémon into the wild and get rewards for doing so. As such, I've made it my practice non to concur onto whatsoever Pokémon that I don't actively demand. I'll go on pretending that I'g but a field researcher doing my job.

Despite literally decades of avoiding information technology, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the game that finally turned me into a Pokémon fangirl. I have a favorite Pokémon (Luxray), I'one thousand extremely strategic in battle, and I love reading all about potential benefits earlier making upgrades. I'm a 2000s child anew, merely this time, I'1000 approaching the franchise with an open mind. As I get back and play the nostalgic titles released throughout my childhood, I can't expect to run into all my favorites rendered in different blitheness styles. Aye, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has its issues. Merely for a consummate newcomer, it was a delightful game that left me with a new fandom to explore.