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Pokemon Legends Arceus |OT| Pocket Monster Hunter

Andyliini

Member
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Welcome to the ancient past of Pokemon!

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Available: January 28th 2022
Players: 1 player
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo


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Explore a vast untamed wilderness where new discoveries await in Pokémon Legends: Arceus for Nintendo Switch. Survey, catch and research wild Pokémon in this sprawling action RPG set in a long-gone era when it was rare for people and Pokémon to live in close harmony.Your adventure is set in the expansive natural majesty of the Hisui region, in an age long ago when it was rare for people and Pokémon to live in close harmony. In time, this land of Hisui will come to be called Sinnoh—a region you may know well.
Mount Coronet rises from the center of the Hisui region, surrounded on all sides by areas with distinct environments. Each area is rich in its own natural features and plays host to different Pokémon ecosystems. One such area is the Obsidian Fieldlands, which is resplendent with gorgeous flowers and verdant vegetation—what’s more, it appears to teem with Pokémon that favor meadows and forests.

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Your adventure takes place in the expansive natural majesty of the Hisui region, where you’re tasked with researching Pokémon to help build the region’s first-ever Pokédex.

This land that would come to be known as Sinnoh in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl features natural wonders, stunning vistas, and is teeming with wild Pokémon – both new and familiar!

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Metacritic: 86
Opencritic: 85

NintendoLife - 9/10

Pokémon Legends: Arceus feels like the result of Game Freak learning lessons for 25 years, refining the formula, and finally taking the franchise in a new, incredible, exciting direction. With its emphasis on extremely rewarding exploration, addictive catching mechanics, a fine roster of Pokémon and a genuine sense of scale that’s unlike anything in the series, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is quite simply one of the greatest Pokémon games ever made.

Gameinformer - 8,75/10
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a worthwhile spin-off adventure, even if some of the concepts aren’t fully developed. With an enticing gameplay loop, fun side activities, and a story I’m glad I saw through to the end, Pokémon Legends: Arceus sets a solid foundation for what I hope is the next evolution for the series.

Eurogamer - Recommended
There's an overpowering sense of novelty to Pokémon Legends: Arceus. This is something new, and it's also Pokémon, a decades-old series, in its purest essence. Battle, trade, collect. Even then there's a fraction of the trainer battles, nothing online, an option but no more necessity to trade. Is it overzealous budget cuts or pure, minimalist design? Is it empty, or is it filled with newfound nimbleness, of the kind that inspires all that wonder and awe precisely because so much of it has been chipped away?

Either way, this is a game crafted by subtractive sculpture. And how weirdly refreshing that is, compared to our artform's current, insatiable appetite for only adding more and more. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is either this series' bare minimum, or its purest form. I think it's both at once.


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Announcement Trailer



Extended Gameplay Video



Overview Trailer
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Looking forward to this, but honestly not expecting a lot.
 

Termite

Member
I'm at what I'm assuming is the final battle and absolutely getting my butt walloped in a way that hasn't happened in a pokemon game for decades, lol. A pleasant surprise. Frustrating, but pleasantly surprising. I stacked my team with 6 lvl 70 legendaries and STILL got whacked, lol.

Anyway, if you like pokemon for reasons other than multiplayer battling/trading (which isn't in this game at all) you'll probably love this. Is it a good game by modern standards? Not really, it's miles behind other open world games in basically every way, from level design to visuals to technical performance to mission design to music to story/dialogue etc.

But is it, moment to moment, fun to play? Definitely. It pulls you in. "I'll just keep playing till I find and catch a Scyther." *catches Scyther* "Oh, I see Staravia is close to evolving. I'll just go fight an alpha for exp." *evolves Staravia* "Damn, a space rift has appeared. I'll go see if there's any rare pokemon in there." *catches two voltorb* "Oh, now I'm close to completing the Pokedex for Voltorb, I'll just try and catch another couple." And so on and so on until you've lost hours to it.

Going back to the DP remakes by comparison is laughable. This is so much more fun. But be warned - I almost always love open world games. If that's not your bag, all of the above might not apply.

EDIT: I agree a lot with the Eurogamer review that the game has gained a lot by cutting a lot of systems out. Pokemon badly needed to be streamlined of a bunch of the clutter that had built up over the years and this game feels so much more nimble and quick to play because of it. No more weather, no more abilities, no more two-turn moves - nothing that slows battles down. You fly through battles now, so quick. Just plain, basic, fun pokemon battling.
 
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Melon Husk

Member
Well I'm in. This is what "Let's Go!" should have been.

Branding is weird now. "Let's Go!" would have been *the* perfect name for an open world series.
"Legends" is generic as hell. They call this one "Legends" probably because the game has boss battles instead of gyms? Are there three main lines now or is "Let's Go!" dead?
 
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belmarduk

Member
In times past, WalMart was open 24 hours a day and GameStop would do midnight releases for AAA games like this.. it was actually a really fun social setting and a chance to meet people and exchange friend codes.

There was none of that for Arceus. Supposedly some GameStops did a midnight release but the ones I called never even answered the phone.
 

belmarduk

Member
Cancelled my steelbook and Pokeball pre-order prior to reviews. I already have BotW and Monster Hunter GU and Rise. I see no point in playing a janky looking halfway house. First Pokémon game I will ever have not owned, might get it once it’s £30.

But the reviews are overwhelmingly positive... I'm definitely not a long-term pokemon fan so I can't understand why some dislike this game so much.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
But the reviews are overwhelmingly positive... I'm definitely not a long-term pokemon fan so I can't understand why some dislike this game so much.
Pokémon Sun also had overwhelmingly positive reviews, with an 87 metacritic. I thought it was dreadful. I’m out of touch with what reviewers want in a Pokémon game. For me Silver, Emerald and the DS games are the best it’ll ever be.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
I don't get it. I watched playthoughs of this game and it doesn't look fun at all.

Gotta catch em all! Why? What if I don't want to run around some crappy looking world throwing pokeballs at goofy looking monsters.

Not exactly my idea of fun. Game looks dreadful.
 

spons

Gold Member
Going out in an hour or so to grab it. I don't live in the US though, it's afternoon here.
Can't wait to actually play this game as opposed to all the hype and hate from people who haven't.
 

Rykan

Member
But the reviews are overwhelmingly positive... I'm definitely not a long-term pokemon fan so I can't understand why some dislike this game so much.
That doesn't say anything though. Pokemon as a game franchise has been so stale that every deviation will be heralded as an amazing game, especially when you include the typical Nintendo review score bump. Surprisingly, the IGN review actually seems to be the most fair one.
 

Paasei

Member
Not into Pokémon anymore. The games still seem like little effort was made and yet it has so much potential as a proper RPG in a 3D world.
 

SCB3

Member
Amazon for whatever reason are delivering it tomorrow, I'm ok with that, wanted to finish off Zelda: Ocarina of Time first
 

Swift_Star

Banned
What annoys me in Pokémon reviews is that reviewrs hand wave the ugly graphics and art style. Were this, say, uncharted or forza, they’d crap out of the games.
 
What annoys me in Pokémon reviews is that reviewrs hand wave the ugly graphics and art style. Were this, say, uncharted or forza, they’d crap out of the games.

To be fair most reviews did point it out. But expecting a Game Freak game of all things to have anything but shit graphics is a pretty silly expectation considering they’ve always been over 10 years behind graphically, so holding them to the same standards as Naughty Dog or Playground Games would be pretty strange TBH.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Not gonna lie bro I just realized that I have been discussing this with people in the UK sorry I’m an American Idiot and we don’t have the same pricing lol. I was thinking the guy meant $30 USD
No probs mate. This is an American-centric site, so no worries :messenger_fistbump: luckily, for some reason, Nintendo don’t screw the UK price wise like every other publisher is doing, I know the prices are usually a rocksteady 60 bucks in America.
 

FrankCaron

Member
I had let the GAF anti-hype get to me and was steering totally clear, but after the most recent previews and watching a few streams, I jumped in on digital. ~5 hours in, and man, I'm glad I did. Core loop is great; welcome change of pace from the traditional Pokemon gameplay. The structure is very Monster Hunter esque, and I could see with further iteration this new formula taking over for a few generations of titles. And performance has been smooth so far; it's definitely not BOTW pretty, but it's definitely not as bad as it was made out to be.
 
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This type of game really needs better hardware. DF says its more of an art style issue but nah on a technical level it's so trash

The draw distance especially ruins the marvel of seeing the pokemon in the wild. Had periods of 5 - 10 minutes where i just don't see any
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
To be fair most reviews did point it out. But expecting a Game Freak game of all things to have anything but shit graphics is a pretty silly expectation considering they’ve always been over 10 years behind graphically, so holding them to the same standards as Naughty Dog or Playground Games would be pretty strange TBH.
No one is holding them to those standards. People just expect their game releasing in 2022 to not look worse than some PS2 games.
 
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