Pokemon Legends: Revolution of the Series (Pokemon Legends: Arceus in review)

     I'll begin this post with a little history lesson about myself. When I was a little kid, about 5 or 6 years old, I got a Game Boy Color, and Pokemon Blue Version pretty soon after. I liked the game a lot, especially growing attached to my Charizard (we are still very close, actually), but I had no idea of how popular this series would become over the next 25 years or so. I fell off the series pretty hard, so most of my childhood/ early adulthood I heard all about the different new Pokemon that the series was adding, especially since my little brother and his friend who would come over often were both obsessed with the series. I remember in Second grade, a kid was jumping up and down because he was so excited to catch Groudon, and I just had to assume that it was a cool Pokemon based on his reaction to catching it. He was shocked that I didn't know anything about it, asserting that it was the "red one on the box for Ruby," acting like it was ridiculous that I didn't know what it was. I did love Pokemon Snap on the N64, and whenever Pokemon Coliseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness came out, I played those and loved them, I've just never had a special connection to the core Pokemon titles that are named after colors, stones, etc. I have made something of a tradition of buying the newest Pokemon game for my brother's birthday because he's always happy with them, and I've been happy that he's been happy. In the last few years, however, I've taken it upon myself to play a lot of the Pokemon games that we have laying around the house. So far I've beaten Pokemon Y, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, and most recently Pokemon Shining Pearl, and I still haven't been super invested in the series, though I can see exactly why so many love this series so much. Cute or awesome-looking creatures that can breathe fire or cause earthquakes make for some pretty wacky memories and the potential for lifelong friends. I've deviated from the mainline series in the last few days however because a few weeks ago, Pokemon Legends: Arceus has come out to pretty substantial fanfare, and today I plan on adding my voice to the cacophony of praise for this game. I haven't quite finished it yet, but in my opinion, the story isn't the highlight of this game, which is pretty fair to say for the almost the entire franchise. Get your kimonos on and your throwing hands at the ready, because we're going to the Sinnoh region before it got that name!

A Time Traveling Adventure!

    This game is a weird one for sure, instantly pulling you in in a way that few Pokemon games have done in the past. In most games, it begins with the professor of that game introducing you to the concept of Pokemon in general, before asking you to enter your name, whether you're a boy or girl, and the name of your rival before starting the same introduction where you wake up in your house on the first day of your Pokemon adventure. This game begins with Arceus, the god of Pokemon, talking to you and asking the normal questions, before absorbing your smartphone and dropping you out of the sky. Quite a change up, huh? Your character awakens on a beach in the Hissui region, which you quickly find out was the original name for the Sinnoh region from the 4th generation of Pokemon games (Pokemon Diamond and Pearl). You're tasked with becoming the newest member of the Galaxy Team Survey Corps, dedicated to research . It does a good job right off the bat of showing how different this world is from the ones from other Pokemon titles. In almost every other game, people will be happily standing around with their Pokemon, just itching to battle any trainer that comes their way, but in the beginning of this game, people just live in a walled community because they're worried about Pokemon attacking them. They haven't learned how to live peacefully with Pokemon yet, and so it's up to your character (largely hinted to be from the modern Pokemon series times), to show people how helpful and loving Pokemon can be if they're given a chance. It's a cool narrative from that sense, and I won't spoil anything else, but it's a good time all around, even though the writing is really stupid from time to time. One of the biggest quests following this game is that Professor Laventon (who seems to have given himself the title despite not being the most reliable character) wants to make a Pokedex, which is a brand new concept apparently. This is a strange plot point to me because, as someone who was really only familiar with Pokemon Blue, because in that game, Professor Oak talks about a Pokedex as a new invention that he's just come up with. Understandably, that was the first game, so they wanted to start it off in a fancy new way, and since this appears to be a prequel to that, it makes sense that it would be a brand new thing here, even if it's confusing for whatever little continuity is here in the series. Oh well, enough of the story, time to touch on the real meat of this game.

A Breath of Fresh Air!

    The mainline Pokemon games have always been Turn-Based RPGs where you have to wait for everything to happen, and much of the action still happens that way in this title, but in this game, when encountering wild Pokemon, there's a chance to sneak up behind them and throw a Poke Ball and catch them without even having to battle them first. It's amazing just how much this change makes the game something completely different from what it was before. Pokemon have the potential to attack you as you're walking around in the wild, and if you get hit too many times, you get knocked out and transported to camp. You get the ability to befriend different special Pokemon along your quest which help you traverse the world much more easily, which I won't go into, since they could definitely be considered spoilers depending on how much you've avoided the trailers for the game. Just know that they're very helpful, especially if you're getting surrounded by a bunch of strong Pokemon and you need to get out of there quickly. In the months before release, there was a misconception about this game being completely open world, but the directors came out and said it would be "Open-Zone" instead, kind of like Monster Hunter, though without the time limits that you're presented with there. There are giant expanses of land to explore and capture new Pokemon in, but they aren't interconnected, there are four or five different huge areas to explore, again I won't say what they are out of respect for people wanting to see for themselves. It's always cool to see Pokemon just walking around, and there have been some moments in this game where I've gasped because of how excited I am to see a certain Pokemon walking or floating by, then the satisfaction I get from catching them is far more than I've gotten from any of the mainline titles. The tasks required for completing the Pokedex are no longer as simple as they once were, now they require you to catch many more of that Pokemon, during a certain time of day, or defeating them using a certain type of move. It's a really cool concept and makes the game even more replayable when paired with the quick turnaround of throwing Poke Balls. Even the battles in this game are more interesting than most Pokemon games, as enemy Pokemon often have some way to turn up the heat in one way or another.

    Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a wild time, and the reinvention of a formula that I really hope will return many more times instead of being a "one and done" kind of deal. If they want, they could maybe make two or three different versions at this point and rotate them out every three years if they keep going with annual releases. They could put out a normal Pokemon game in the style of the originals one year, a "Let's Go" style remake the next year, and then put out another open game like this one in the year after. I don't really consider myself a huge fan of the Pokemon franchise, though this game really excites me for the future of the franchise. I hope that the hardcore Pokemon fans like this one as much as I do. Even though the graphics and story are pretty terrible at times, the overall gameplay makes for a really enjoyable experience, and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed so far. I haven't found my old friend Charizard yet, but I'm hoping he or she will be waiting somewhere out there on the plains of Hisui, or some other area if they didn't put Charizard in this one.

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends! Have you checked out Pokemon Legends: Arceus yet? What did you think of it if you have? I sincerely hope that Game Freak will continue making more games like this, especially considering how many Pokemon fans there are in the world. They deserve better than what they've gotten sometimes, but I also hope that they are happy with what they've gotten this time! I hope you've all had a great week, and I'll talk to you again soon! I'm Jonathan, your Self-Proclaimed Pokemon wrangler, signing off!