Let me preface what I’m about to say with this: I realize I’m probably not Pokémon’s target audience anymore, but man, Legends Z-A feels really rough.
I also need to say that I’m only in the introductory stages of the game, so I know it will likely improve and become more fun over time, but I am so bummed out by the game’s boring setting of Lumiose City that I’m struggling to find the will to continue.
From the beginning, Pokémon has been about starting from small beginnings and going on to explore the world and everything it has to offer including different biomes, towns, cities, and explorable areas like caves and more filled with Pokémon to catch and NPCs to meet. Lumiose City is drab, plain, and feels like the antithesis to what the world of Pokémon is and should be.
Being stuck within the city’s limits with only cordoned off areas either for wild Pokémon or battles feels really restrictive, and just plain not fun. The battles themselves are fun, at least for now, and a refreshing change of pace from turn-based fights as you need to roll to avoid damage from wild Pokémon and use the face buttons to command different moves from your partner, but everything else feels lackluster.
The lack of ability to explore combined with the seemingly never-ending baby-level tutorial entry missions really feel like a drag. I’m thankful you can at least skip some cutscenes, and I know this game is made with children and newcomers in mind, but goodness gracious, I know what a Pokémon Center is. I know what a PokéBall is. This franchise is 30 years old. Please give us boomers and elder gamers an option to get to the meat a little bit quicker.
Am I misremembering, or were the original games way less hand-holdy? As a youngster, I remember getting through the first few areas of games like Pokémon Red or Pokémon Sapphire and then being left on my own to figure stuff out by talking to NPCs and interacting with different areas of the map. Now, everything is mercilessly spelled out ad nauseum by way of: cutscene, dialogue, complete menial task, more dialogue, another cutscene, rinse, repeat for hours. It is so painfully slow and mundane that I’m having a hard time getting through to the other side and potentially fun gameplay.
I really don’t buy games as often as I used to, mainly since my free time is usually consumed with whatever game I’m tasked with reviewing for Destructoid, but I spent my own money on this game and I am feeling very let down thus far. I hope things turn around, and I hope that I’m able to get through the early stages of the game to see if it does turn around at all.
I don’t feel like I’m being overly reactionary, either. After speaking with friends and co-workers who are further along than I am, they’ve mostly echoed my sentiments about the game’s setting and sluggish first few hours.
Maybe I’m just too old for this stuff, but Pokémon should be a timeless, ageless experience, and it doesn’t quite feel like it lately.
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The post Pokémon Legends Z-A’s boring setting and painfully slow tutorial killed all of my nostalgia-fueled hype in just a few hours appeared first on Destructoid.
