#like in sword i found a steelix just out in the wild

[nijiiropokemame]

ok just reset my p:la save data so wanna do a quick impressions post while it’s still fresh-est in my head

I really liked this game!!

last night I started writing out a much longer review bcs when I’m sleep-deprived I always seem to write more, but I’ll keep that in drafts right now and try to be more concise now.

Pokemon Ultra Moon is my favorite video game second only to Breath of the Wild, so I have a lot of love for the pokemon franchise but also didn’t expect anything to match that experience for me, at least not for a long time. That said, Legends Arceus is probably now my second favorite pokemon game.

I was just playing Brilliant Diamond last night since I never got more than an hour into it last time I picked it up, and that really brought some of the good innovations to the forefront:

While I like 2D graphics for something like Fire Emblem, I think I’ve gotten more out of true 3D in Pokemon, which like Zelda is at its best when it lets you explore. It’s fun to discover things, the mount/ride system works pretty well, and it’s so great to turn a corner and see a 20-ft-tall Steelix glaring you down with murder in its eyes and have to turn and sprint in the other direction.

There’s been every possible joke made about the role-reversal of tall grass in this game, but boy howdy, I think it was a god-tier move. The Youtube channel Design Doc has a good video about how and why random encounters are falling out of favor, but basically, they played an important role in early gaming, but we can do better now. Playing Diamond, I found myself skipping trainer battles and cutting through grass as efficiently as possible, only to discover there was actually a pokemon I wanted in that grass by looking at a guide; I guess just being able to see what you’re about to fight and knowing you can nope at any time are enough to take that layer of frustration off the grind.

I LOVE the implementation of the agile/strong options for moves. I found myself instinctively trying to use it when I went back to Diamond. I guess it turns it into more of a puzzle than with just the 4 moves. Also love that you can now equip any move that your pokemon has ever learned. I think they already had ways to re-learn old moves in the other games, but it was like…going to a guy in one area of the map. There might be some value in trying to make the decision of what moves to keep knowing you won’t be able to change them later, but I think being able to decide which moves you want before every big battle is also a fun process.

OK quickly things I didn’t like:

The button mapping is baffling to me. Dodge should be B, inventory should be X, swapping between items and pokemon should be arrows, there are times when they use triggers when I think it should be arrows and vice versa, why do you use the right trigger to throw a ball AND the right joystick to aim???

…as a direct result of the frustrating aiming controls, the boss fights that involve aiming & throwing are just no fun at all. I do like the idea of getting the trainer involved; that’s not something I thought they’d attempt so soon, and I’m glad if that’s the direction it’s going. It helps with the role playing! But it needs better controls.

…so yeah! I ended up writing a lot anyway, huh. Well, I think the fact that I felt compelled to start over was really telling. I guess I did play through Shield after I played Sword, but those games really dropped off my radar pretty quick. We’ll see what happens with this one. But overall I both enjoyed it on its own, and really like the direction it’s taking.

Also if they release a Legends game set in Alola I will lose my freaking mind. I want one with this exact premise, including ancestors of the Sun/Moon cast.

#catfishchat #originally posted a few days ago