record of completed games

pokemon arceus legends review
by sam a age 21
----------------------------
gameplay
----------------------------
interesting enough, feels like a foundation for a game rather than a full game. The gameplay loop had me interested for longer than I thought it
would prior to release, but wasn't able to make post game feel good. The movement is extremely limited, switching between ride pokemon
is awkward at times and the bear adds nothing. going to a new area was intering enough to see what was there, beyond the two clans'
homes there is no other city or towns in the areas. I think the main town and it's people where interesting enough to make me do
a large amount of side quests and the interaction of people living with pokemon for the first time is a nice thing to explore.
completing the pokedex was complete ass, really sours the whole experience.
story
----------------------------
The story went in a different direction that I thought, I would have preferred a straight historical setting over an isekai but it still works.
Anything that seems out of place in ye olde japan can be explained away with time distortion so that works in it's favor.
The main game's story is in vain of most pokemon games, but with bosses instead of gym leaders.
As a whole, I don't think the game goes hard on any of it's story points, the only thing that hits home is the late game twist and being
able to choose between the clans. It would really benefit from having a somewhat harsher tone.
The first ending is fine, but it's not really an ending, that doesn't get wrapped up until post game where they explain the time-rift's cause.
and in the post game... they don't wrap up the main character's at all. Every game or story where the protag is taken away from their world
ends with them return or choosing to stay, this game does nothing. There could be room for dlc or updates but that doesn't distract from the
fact of the story the game leaves you with.
characters
----------------------------
This isn't game freak's worst set of characters, I find them about as charming as sword and shield. I think it's some of their best design
works, mainly due to them revisiting a lot of the designs. They lack depth as almost all pokemon characters do, but I find their
dialogue charming. Standout characters are the clan leaders, in both design and text they bring the most to the table. Another extremely
interesting character is ingo, who is from gen 5's battle subway. Ripping someone else from the future really helps you be more aware of
the player's situation. I wish they dwelled more on his, or anyone's story. The bandits are barely characters, they touch on their backstory
of being clan and galaxy rejects, and I think their designs are really cute, but ultimately they aren't anything beyond an obstacle.
also they made an attractive old lady so
graphics
----------------------------
this is one of the worst looking games on switch. I think gamefreak can make good looking cityscapes, all the buildings and structures look
fine here in the game. But the overworld and effects look so bad. Textures are constantly pixelated with no smoothing and shadows can make
models look awful. The pokemon and the people are in the middle. From some angle's they'll look allright and others terrible.
Honestly it's the first game that I've played on release and though "this needs a remake", as if I was playing a ps2 game that wasn't stylized
sounds
----------------------------
The music in this is alright, mostly re-renditions of gen 4's music but I like it. Sadly you don't hear a lot of it throughout the game, it feels
like it's a background element like botw's music.
battles
----------------------------
Basically non-existant minus one fight, if they were going for a game that played completely different than mainline pokemon, they should
have had something more interesting in place to make up for what is lost. Hopefully they either find a way to make what little battles
there are interesting, or blend it more with mainline games
bosses
----------------------------
bosses are alright. The dodge/throw balms cycle is a little interesting. Feels more about timing than anything else, just pressing y and waiting
for when you can throw, getting punished if you get too greedy. The arceus fight is pretty cool.
post-game
----------------------------
The direct stuff of getting the legendaries and giratina is interesting enough, it's really the conclusion of the of main story. Completing
the pokedex is a joke, mainly for getting the shiny charm and catching arceus, both of which are underwhelming. The last arceus fight is
kind of cool? or rather one attack of it is. Sort of wished I stopped playing after catching giratina, but the story pushes you onward.
If they had connected the part inbetween catching giratina and getting arceus with an actual plot it would've have been a lot better.
new forms of pokemon
----------------------------
Best one is the fish, rest are alright. bear looks bad, quilfish was eh. The starters were all good, I think they aren't different enough.
Alot of people disliked typhlosion's varient but I liked it,
overall
----------------------------
this game is very much hindered by it's end of post game, the lack of anything concrete to give you a satisfying conclusion to what it presents
holds it back. I wish that I had kept the feeling I got during the last part of the main story.
6/10 for final, had times where it felt like a 8/10 but couldn't leave me with that feeling.