When I was little, I used to imagine myself in the world of Pokémon. I would imagine having a partner Pokémon and we would go on these grand adventures all around my apartment and the playground across the street. My plastic Pokéball toys and my Pokémon plushies would be stand-ins for the “real” things. I would even do my best to make myself feel like I’m living within the Pokémon games I played on my Nintendo consoles. It wasn’t just the turn-based strategy gameplay, but more like the anime in which people were capturing and battling Pokémon in real-time. I still try to do that today with the more recent Pokémon games. But, it’s GameFreak’s newest game to the franchise, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, that finally brought this imaginary world to life.
When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild became a massive success back in 2017, it became the starting ground for Nintendo to experiment with new kinds of Open-World-style games. Open World games were not new to the gaming industry; there were many games out there in this genre already. Name any Dark Souls game and that’s Open World; a game where the player could go anywhere in the game and play the game however they wanted to including ignoring the main story entirely until they completed all the sidequests. The thing is, Nintendo didn’t really venture into this genre until BoTW was released. Sandbox games were a thing (games where the world was more open yet still linear in how it could be played) going as far back as Super Mario 64, but Open World games seemed to be cautious territory for them. Not because they couldn’t do it (though software limitations before the Nintendo Switch were probably a factor), but I think it was because they weren’t entirely ready to dive into that genre yet. So, in a way, BoTW was an experimental game to them. It allowed Nintendo to test the waters and see if they can really create a game where players were free to do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Fortunately for them, it became a wildly successful game, won Game of The Year in 2017, and it is still beloved and well-received by people 5 years after its release.
Breath of The Wild helped open the floodgates to new kinds of games at Nintendo. It inspired them to go back to the sandbox format in Super Mario Odyssey which then influenced the upcoming Kirby and The Forgotten Land game coming out in late March as I’m typing this. But the game it seemed to have influenced the most is Pokémon Legends: Arceus; the Pokémon franchise’s first-ever open-world game. Beforehand, Pokémon games have traditionally been linear turn-based RPGs for the most part. There would be a starting point, the main story to follow, an antagonist to beat, and an ending to finish at. Players were free to roam around each game’s respective region, but the linear structure stayed the same as did the turn-based gameplay. While those elements still live within Legends, it deviates from them by allowing the players to truly feel like they’re a Pokémon Trainer in the Pokémon world.
This new world, the Hisui region (the former Sinnoh region), is one where players observe, capture, and battle Pokémon in real time. For example, trainers can actually aim their Pokéball to either capture a Pokémon from behind or to send in their own Pokémon to initiate a Pokémon battle. There’s always a chance the Pokémon will run away if you’re not sneaky enough. Sometimes, you’re able to watch Pokémon play with their environment or each other in their natural habitats. There are even Pokémon who are extremely aggressive and will chase you down and attack you on sight if you disturb them even a bit (I’m looking at you, Paras). You can actually faint if you are attacked one too many times or if you accidentally fall off a cliff. It really is like living in the world of Pokémon.; experiencing the wonders and dangers of this mystical world. It's every Pokémon fan’s dream come true!
There really are no restrictions when exploring this ancient world. Though it is the Sinnoh region of old, Hisui feels fresh enough to be a new region all on its own. Exploring the grasslands of the Outlands, climbing the fringed lands of Mount Coronet, and so much more are exciting. There’s always something new to discover on the horizon be it a new regional variant of Pokémon or just a new area in general. For example, in the frozen north of the Hisui region, there is a small area where a hot spring lies. A few Pokémon like bathing there for a while, so as long as you stay quiet, you can watch them enjoy a nice, relaxing bath! Also, for example, if you get injured near a Blissey (a Pokémon known to heal others), it will walk over to you as if to heal you up a bit. That’s Blissey’s nature! And it’s such a good detail to have in a Pokémon game! Pokémon aren’t these static pixels standing there on a screen anymore. GameFreak took the lore and personality behind each of them and made them feel real. They made the Hisui region feel alive.
Another neat thing that Legends does is that it gives the Pokémon series more lore. Longtime fans of the series will notice that some characters look similar to characters in the modern-time Pokémon games. Since Legends takes place a few (presumedly) hundred years back, some characters in this game are actually ancestors of well-known supporting characters, rivals, and antagonists of characters in the main series. There is an ancestor or Team Galactic’s leader, Cyrus, and an ancestor of the Sinnoh League’s Champion, Cynthia in this game as well as potential ancestors of the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl playable protagonists, Dawn and Lucus. Look at their hair and you'll get a hint. There are many more, but saying who would go into spoiler territory, so it’s best if I let you experience it yourself. Regardless, it really adds to the characters and region we already knew and loved, which also opens up new possibilities for future Legends games and mainline Pokémon games in general.
Speaking of longtime fans (as one myself), I remember when I first watched the trailer for Legends and being in complete awe of it. Based on the videos I watched on YouTube, everyone else was too. This was a brand-new experience for all of us veterans. I, for one, had a grand time while playing it! My experience was as exciting as I described before. Capturing and battling Pokémon in the land of Hisui was a lot of fun and so was the story and the various sidequest I completed as well. The main story basically revolved around completing the ancient Pokédex by doing various tasks (it isn’t just capturing the Pokémon and you get its Dex entry this time) up until you have to discover the origins of the region itself. Still a fun experience, albite rough at times. The side quests are all fun and charming, though some are more tedious than others. I found a certain story of a Chimecho wanting to be friends with an old villager heartwarming as well as capturing a Wurmple for a guard who wants to see it evolve into a Beautifly being very endearing. The classic Pokémon battles are here too, though be careful, as these Pokémon are much stronger than they were in the main games.
Any flaws aside, I really enjoyed playing this game! It was a new experience for veteran players of the Pokémon franchise and welcome addition to the series as a whole. Fans have been asking GameFreak for a game like this for a VERY long time and it’s great to not only see it come to life but to also see it as successful as it became. I’ve scrolled around social media to see how other people received Pokémon Legends: Arceus and it was overwhelmingly positive. The Pokémon fandom is a rough one to please, so imagine my surprise when pretty much everyone loved this game from beginning to end. I can’t think of the last time a Pokémon game was THIS universally loved. And I wholeheartedly agree with them! I had a blast with this game and I’m still not done yet. There’s the final, FINAL boss I still need to beat and it is a doozy. I am having serious trouble with it so much that I need to legitimately grind my team for the first time in a while. Compared to Brilliant Diamond and Shinning Pearl where I was over-leveled by the end (I haven’t had time to finish the post-game content yet; one day…). I also still have some Pokémon to capture, so my adventure is far from over. I really hope this is only the beginning of the Legends series of Pokémon. Based on how the next mainline games in the series, Generation 9’s Pokémon Scarlett and Pokémon Violet, are open-world games as well, that seems to be the case. In fact, this new open-world that Legends has helped crafted may be the new norm for the Pokémon franchise from here on out. This feels like a new era of Pokémon after 26 years of what started to feel repetitive for many fans. This is an era of Pokémon I will happily follow for years to come.
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