Things Pokémon Legends Z-A Needs (Part 1)

Things Pokémon Legends Z-A Needs (Part 1)

Time Stamp: March 31, 2024 12:01 PM
Source Node: 2531439

On the Pokémon Presents on February 27, the Pokémon Company announced the development of Pokémon Legends Z-A. With Pokémon Legends Arceus being such a hit, it’s not a shock that another Legends game would be produced. However, despite being one of the best games in the Switch era, Legends Arceus is not without its issues.

This article will go into 5 things Gamefreak must include in Pokémon Legends Z-A to even build it up to be as good or better than Legends.

Multiplayer

Image from Serebii

In Legends Arceus, players went on a single-player focused adventure and experience. However, players could still trade with each other. It was necessary to fill up the Hisui dex. Unfortunately, despite having the opportunity to battle NPCs being expanded upon in Daybreak, LA did not allow PvP.

This was disappointing to fans as battling is a core facet of the Pokémon experience. It would have been a tremendously fun experience battling our closest friends using the Strong and Agile styles of play. Therefore, one way for Gamefreak to create an awesome experience for players would be to add PvP.

This way, there’s more for players to do in ZA as the game most likely only takes place in Lumiose City (though hopefully, they will change their minds about this). This will also bleed into the next item on this list.

Strong and Agile Style

An image from Serebii depicting the Strong Style

One of the highlights of Legends Arceus was the reinvented battle system. By using Strong Style, players could use any attack to deal higher damage to their opponent. This would trigger a delay before their next turn.

Agile Style allows Pokémon to use moves for smaller damage outputs. However, using the weaker mode would allow players to earn an extra turn or 2. While it would have to be refined for multiplayer, these are the driving gimmicks behind the gameplay loop for the Legends games.

Players should also note that this system engages more of the player’s strategic thinking and balances out battles by not having stat buffs last the entire battle. This itself lowers the chances for easy sweeps. Players showed disappointment when Scarlet and Violet did not keep the changes to the core gameplay that Legends introduced.

Now, it is illogical to assume that Gamefreak would ever change the system used in Legends Arceus. However, it should be emphasized that this is a style that Gamefreak should not take out of the games for any reason.

Effort Level System over Effort and Individual Value System

A Grit Rock from Legends Arceus. Image from Bulbapedia

While this is the third item on this list, it is the most important. Most fans, while they like and have mastered the process of breeding, EV training, and now bottle capping, can agree that it’s as tedious as looking for the one Munchlax tree in Gen 4.

With the Effort Level system, all players have to do us Grit earth (Grit Gravel, Grit Rocks, Grit Pebbles), to bring up the effort level of all of a certain Pokémon’s stats to make them viable. And players can do this for all Pokémon, not just certain viable Pokémon. it makes all Pokémon viable. Plus, it’s an easy system to use.

This would make the competitive process, quicker, more accessible, and more fun for more fans to get into the competitive scenes.

Conclusion

This is the first part of a list of important things that Pokémon Legends Z-A needs to have to be just as good as Legends Arceus. There will be a follow up to this piece in a part 2. Z-A is one of the most hype things to come out of the Pokémon Presents that we have to look forward to.

Hopefully, Gamefreak will make this game as great as its predecessor.

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