Switch Pokemon Legends Z-A

[Millky95]

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A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon. Please look forward to seeing it for yourself.

Releasing in 2025.

So instead of a Johto revisit or a Gen 5 remake we get a new game based entirely in the biggest Gen 6 city.

EDIT: 28/02/2025 new trailer

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

A somewhat sad realisation that I'm way more hyped for this than I would be a new mainline game.

So keen. Intrigued to see how they make a game solely set in the city work.

 

[Supersuns]

Gamefreak maybe realising that Black and White where perfect and they couldn't nailed a remake of them. Another legends game should be good, be interesting to see how they make it work.

 

[kangle4]

Legends Arceus was great so looking forward to this.

Megas coming back will please a lot of people.

 

[Millky95]

Gamefreak maybe realising that Black and White where perfect and they couldn't nailed a remake of them. Another legends game should be good, be interesting to see how they make it work.

Hot take: Gen 5 is the worst gen

 

[Supersuns]

Hot take: Gen 5 is the worst gen

I respect you opinion Milkman but I've never disagreeded with something more. Gen 6 is comfortably the worst gen while I see gen 5 as the peak.

 

[Millky95]

I respect you opinion Milkman but I've never disagreeded with something more. Gen 6 is comfortably the worst gen while I see gen 5 as the peak.

I can forgive Gen 6 being the first full game into 3D (sans consoles at the time) and I really liked Megas. Yes, Kalos was a bit empty but I was hoping it would be rectified in Z that never game. ORAS on the other hand is easily one of the 3 best pairs of games which came out as part of Gen 6. Hoping Legends Z-A can give us some Gen 6 love. The Kalos Pokemon also had some fun designs.

Gen 5 on the other hand was ugly attempt at a soft reboot of the franchise. Designs were ugly, world was ugly, N was not interesting and neither was Plasma. Had nothing going for it. White 2 is the first Pokemon game I started, got to the 3rd or so gym and just gave up on it. Other being UltraMoon but that's for different reasons.

All in my opinion and I know I am in the minority about disliking Gen 5

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

It's hard for me to dislike Gen 6 given how well they pulled off some of the story beats.

 

[Bianconeri]

A somewhat sad realisation that I'm way more hyped for this than I would be a new mainline game.

So keen. Intrigued to see how they make a game solely set in the city work.

I’d be happy if they never released another new mainline game and just kept cycling through remakes of Gen 1-5.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

Sorry, posted this in the Scarlett thread, reposting now

The confusing part to me was the juxtaposition of the teaser. We start with a 'restoration' of Lumiose city with sketches and parchment tying into the 'Legends' style of being set in the path, but then those sketches transition into these Tron like, futristic, neon line drawings where we see a built up Lumiose City with a big modern looking tower in the middle, with neon line drawings of the Kalos Pokemon (Pyroar, Aegislah, Sylveon, Talonflame etc) dominating the video. The later part doesn't really fit with the 'Legends' historical style and definitely implies something futuristic. Is this going to be the opposite to Legends Arceus where we are going to be going from the past into the future maybe? Interesting.

Regardless, with Megas back I will be playing. I never played Legends Arceus so may have to pick that up and give it a go to familiarise myself with the battle mechanics and the catching mechanics.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

I never played Legends Arceus so may have to pick that up and give it a go to familiarise myself with the battle mechanics and the catching mechanics.

There wasn't a huge amount of battling in Arceus, catching was definitely the big drawcard and they did it exceptionally well.

I wonder if battling will be more of a focus in this, given it's set "entirely" in the city. I'd love to see them massively expand the Safari Zone concept to still get some of that open world catching going.

 

[Millky95]

The confusing part to me was the juxtaposition of the teaser. We start with a 'restoration' of Lumiose city with sketches and parchment tying into the 'Legends' style of being set in the path, but then those sketches transition into these Tron like, futristic, neon line drawings where we see a built up Lumiose City with a big modern looking tower in the middle, with neon line drawings of the Kalos Pokemon (Pyroar, Aegislah, Sylveon, Talonflame etc) dominating the video. The later part doesn't really fit with the 'Legends' historical style and definitely implies something futuristic. Is this going to be the opposite to Legends Arceus where we are going to be going from the past into the future maybe? Interesting.

The 2 current "theories" I've read have either been it being set after the war when the Ultimate Weapon is fired and rebuilding the city or super into the future. With the Paris catacombs being an explorable area.

I never played Legends Arceus so may have to pick that up and give it a go to familiarise myself with the battle mechanics and the catching mechanics.

The game is much more about catching. You get some forced NPC fights but basically all wild Pokemon can be caught without having to enter a battle. It's a fun game and I do recommend it.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

I can forgive Gen 6 being the first full game into 3D (sans consoles at the time) and I really liked Megas. Yes, Kalos was a bit empty but I was hoping it would be rectified in Z that never game. ORAS on the other hand is easily one of the 3 best pairs of games which came out as part of Gen 6. Hoping Legends Z-A can give us some Gen 6 love. The Kalos Pokemon also had some fun designs.

Gen 5 on the other hand was ugly attempt at a soft reboot of the franchise. Designs were ugly, world was ugly, N was not interesting and neither was Plasma. Had nothing going for it. White 2 is the first Pokemon game I started, got to the 3rd or so gym and just gave up on it. Other being UltraMoon but that's for different reasons.

All in my opinion and I know I am in the minority about disliking Gen 5

Gen 5 has improved in estimation over time due to an overall detailed storyline that felt like it was coming from a number of angles plus, importantly, the fact that there are a number of really good Gen 5 Pokemon (Excadrill, Conkeldurr, Seismitoad, Krookodile, Darmanitan, Cofagrigus, Zoroark, Reuniclus, Amoongus, Ferrothorn, Glavnatula, Chandelure, Bisharp, Braviary, Mandibuzz, Hyrdreigon and Volcaron and the minor legendaries and mythicals are cool, the box legendaries are a bit lame though). Those two factors made replays really strong, because you knew where the cool pokemon were and had a good story line to play through.

On a first play through however, you have to wade through a bunch of crap, the starters weren't very good, knock off Meowth and knock off Sentrets early, lame elemental monkeys, knock off Muks and Golems, Zubats and Chanseys, a worse version of Hitmonchan and Hitmontop this all made the game feel very old on first play through. Not to mention your classic - Vanillite really an ice cream and Klinklang a bunch of gears, i dunno. This made it hard going until you familiarised yourself with the game after a couple of play throughs.

The other factor of Gen 5's increased estimation of course is that it was a number of peoples first game. 20 years olds now probably played Gen 5 for the first time when they were 5 or 6 and they wouldn't have known about Golem or Chansey or Zubat so they didn't have that repetitive feel that came with a 'soft reboot'. They've spent 5 years online telling everyone how underrated Gen 5 is and its made people like me look back and be like yeah, maybe it isn't that bad.

I thought Gen 5 was the absolute worst for a long time, but playing Smogon heavily in Gen 6 made me realise how aesome Excadrill, Chandelure, Volc and Ferrothorn especially where and i have gone back and appreciate Gen 5 much more over time. Gen 7 and 8 really cemented that fact as well because those games were just awful making me appreciate that Gen 5 was not so bad afterall.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

There wasn't a huge amount of battling in Arceus, catching was definitely the big drawcard and they did it exceptionally well.

I wonder if battling will be more of a focus in this, given it's set "entirely" in the city. I'd love to see them massively expand the Safari Zone concept to still get some of that open world catching going.

Really, very interesting I don't know much about it at all other than there being like 'captain' pokemon or something. I'll have to give it a go. What's the point of having pokemon if you don't battle them?

 

[FlowersByIrene]

The 2 current "theories" I've read have either been it being set after the war when the Ultimate Weapon is fired and rebuilding the city or super into the future. With the Paris catacombs being an explorable area.

This was my vibe from the trailer and what i'm going for. Also, i think a futuristic setting makes sense for a number of reasons - 1 in the context of Scarlet/Violet past and future, with one Legends game set in the past it makes sense for the other to be set more in the future and 2 being that I think they'll want to introduce Megas for the Kalos pokemon. It doesn't make sense for there to be Mega Evolutions for Kalos pokemon in the past because why weren't there megas for them in the X & Y games?

Mega Aegislash, yes please. Mega Talonflame with full strength Gale Wings back yes please.

 

[Millky95]

It doesn't make sense for there to be Mega Evolutions for Kalos pokemon in the past because why weren't there megas for them in the X & Y games?

No one could find their Mega Stones/Mega Stones were too rare/Mega Stones got destroyed/that Pokemon was removed from Kalos completely before the events of XY

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Really, very interesting I don't know much about it at all other than there being like 'captain' pokemon or something. I'll have to give it a go. What's the point of having pokemon if you don't battle them?

It's a much more traditional "catch 'em all" concept - that's your goal here, not becoming the Champion etc. I can't remember the details, but you're a researcher and get points for catching particular Pokemon. Of course, that sounds incredibly boring if you're thinking of the usual game mechanics, but Arceus flips it on its head - you throw Pokeballs in the overworld, and different Pokemon behave differently requiring different strategies.

You can and do still battle/train, but it's a much smaller part of the game.

 

[Millky95]

It's a much more traditional "catch 'em all" concept - that's your goal here, not becoming the Champion etc. I can't remember the details, but you're a researcher and get points for catching particular Pokemon. Of course, that sounds incredibly boring if you're thinking of the usual game mechanics, but Arceus flips it on its head - you throw Pokeballs in the overworld, and different Pokemon behave differently requiring different strategies.

You can and do still battle/train, but it's a much smaller part of the game.

Yeah some Mons will try to kill you if they so much as smell you in the area

 

[Millky95]

 

[eDPS]

Gamefreak should pass off doing 3D games to another studio, they have clearly struggled to adjust graphics and scope wise to make a nice looking game.

The Lets Go games are the nicest looking Pokémon games on the Switch which says alot, HD-2D is the way they should go if Gamefreak want to keep making Pokemon Games. Would rather see a nice looking 2D Pokemon game over a boring and ugly looking 3D game especially when you have the likes of Zelda/Xenoblade games looking so much better and playing better.

 

[mighty_sainters]

Really wanting Let’s Go Gold/Silver still.

 

[Quivorir]

Everything just looks so fake and shiny. They really treat this IP like shit.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

Gamefreak should pass off doing 3D games to another studio, they have clearly struggled to adjust graphics and scope wise to make a nice looking game.

The Lets Go games are the nicest looking Pokémon games on the Switch which says alot, HD-2D is the way they should go if Gamefreak want to keep making Pokemon Games. Would rather see a nice looking 2D Pokemon game over a boring and ugly looking 3D game especially when you have the likes of Zelda/Xenoblade games looking so much better and playing better.

HD-2D is also just a better aesthetic for a JRPG like Pokemon. Bring it back. They never will now, but still.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

It's so hard to get excited for when it looks like that. Even moreso now that we're locked in a town for the whole game.

I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now because the first Legends was fantastic, and I like the look of the new battle mechanics. Something seriously has to give with the visuals, though.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

Some (apparently) pretty reliable leaks have come out hinting at 27 new Mega Evolutions for Legends ZA.

Some seemingly confirmed megas include:

Spoiler

Victreebell, Starmie, Excadrill, Chandelure, Hydreigon, Elektross, Falinks , Dragonite, Clefable, Skarmory, Froslass, Scollipede, Pyroar, Malamar, Dragalgae, Hawlucha, Floette, Barbaracle, Drampa, Scrafty and then the starters, Meganium, Feraligatr, EMboar, Chesnaught, Delphox, Greninja and Zygarde