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Pokemon Legends Arceus |OT| Pocket Monster Hunter

Pagusas

Elden Member
so the game plays great in handheld but is a horrible on the TV. but that’s ok, feels like a game that should only be played portable.


anyone else’s grass flicker/switch back and forth during battles at times? seeing a lot of weird graphic glitches.
 
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Petopia

Banned
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.
gotta hold them to that standard since theyre making money hand over fist.
 

Jsisto

Member
One thing that throws me off about this game is apparently there’s no online battling? I’m so used to playing these games with the mindset of building a team that I can later take online to battle others. I guess I’ll have to treat this one more as a traditional JRPG where you beat the game and that’s essentially it. Not saying it’s a bad thing, mind you, just a different way of thinking about Pokémon.
 

Tams

Gold Member
I'm liking it so far.

The gameplay is solid and the graphics good enough to at leas not be distracting. The character models (bar so aliasing) and most importantly the Pokémon models are great.

I'm playing in Japanese, which due to my Japanese level is quite infuriating, but I'm too deep now.

I do wish they'd gone with more Breath of the Wild landscape textures though. They aren't as bad as I'd worried, but they still aren't great. And considering they reused a load of sounds from Breath of the Wild, you'd think they could do that.
 
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Tams

Gold Member
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.
Forza looks like oversaturated shit and the gameplay is mediocre at best. The driving is far too arcadey.

There. Happy now?
 

Swift_Star

Banned
Forza looks like oversaturated shit and the gameplay is mediocre at best. The driving is far too arcadey.

There. Happy now?
Someone sure is sensitive. Listen, the graphics criticism of Pokémon is completely fair. It’s an AAA from the most profitable media franchise in the world. The game has terrible lightning, water, muddy and low resolution textures and other problems. The gameplsy loop is fun but it looks like utter trash for 2022. There’s no way around it.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
The game is fun. Totally enjoying it. Kind of a hilarious start to the story. Everyone is just calling you a prodigy and a genius because you can throw some Pokeballs. Its fun lol.

The graphics honestly don't bother me much. Looks like a super early 360 era game, like Tenchu Z or something.

The gameplay is probably the best its ever been. If you want a game to turn on in portable mode and grind checklists then this is your game. Each Pokedex entry has multiple things to get for it. If you enjoy that sort of games as work vibe then you'll enjoy the grind in this. Probably my fav Pokémon game so far but I'm not a huge fan.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member

ouch, must be hurt :messenger_crying:


FKNeOtqWYAM1MHh

A GOOD POKEMON IS A GOOD CREATURE
A pokemon that gave us laughter in his stay

Oshawott
RIP
2021-2022
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
The big Pokemon actually seem a little intimidating after having multiple party members faint from fighting small ones.
 
I'm in meetings all day, but soon as I'm done i'll be trying the game out.

Hearing people in this thread say things like "waiting on my order to ship"... like is the switch physical market an actuall thing? It seems crazy to me to buy physical games for this system given you could have everything on it, in on place, without any need to swap things in and out.
Yeah, I buy physical unless the game is on sale.

Digital in UK is £50 whereas I paid under £38 for physical. It’s a no brainier.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Just for emphasis, this won't be something for everyone. But if you're not picky about graphics and want to grind capturing and battling Pokemon, then this does it well.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Someone sure is sensitive. Listen, the graphics criticism of Pokémon is completely fair. It’s an AAA from the most profitable media franchise in the world. The game has terrible lightning, water, muddy and low resolution textures and other problems. The gameplsy loop is fun but it looks like utter trash for 2022. There’s no way around it.
In my other comment I said just that.

I'm merely giving you what you came here for.
 
I’ve played probably just the first hour and so far it seems like the sort of game I’ve been after! Graphics are fine, nothing special by any means but serviceable.

Only thing is that the tutorial drags on a bit. I got the jist after just a few minutes but the game wants to drag that shit out for as long as possible.

Still, I can’t wait to go off on my own and start exploring. Definitely better than Sword in the short amount of time I’ve played.
 

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
My impressions so far:
  • Tutorial is too long. This has been a problem ever since games stopped coming with manuals. Put this shit in a manual and let people get to the meat of the game and read the manual if they want to get informed on every little detail and feature.
  • The visuals are bad, but not as bad as I thought they'd be. There's pop in, flickering, terrible shadow quality. It's objectively worse than BotW in every way. That said, once you get into it, you kinda forget about it.
  • The traversal is weak for an open world game. Not being able to jump, climb or glide hurts. It feels like a half step towards a proper open world game.
  • Lack of voice acting is rough. Pokemon needs to grow up in this area.
  • Needs way more animations, especially in cut scenes. This is a multi-million selling series, but the cut scenes still feel like something from a low budget indie game.
  • Despite everything I said above, the Pokemon catching and battling system here is possibly the best it's ever been. Actually aiming and throwing pokeballs in an open word, where Pokemon can attack, run away, etc is what I've wanted from the beginning. This plus point manages to nearly wipe out all of the negative points.
So yeah, many negatives, but one HUGE positive. I really hope this gameplay style is the future of the series. I want immersion to reach Elder Scrolls levels in future games.

Oh, and I really want to be able to play as an adult for once. How long must we be a spunky 14 year old? Hell, even Ash would be 41 by now. Everyone who grew up on Pokemon and are still playing are adults now.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Saw the credits role so finished the main story. But still stuff to do it seems like as the main quests keep going forwards.

My conclusion so far

- Combat system is the best, frankly i think its perfect as far as i see it. It is fast / smooth and its great to play.
- tm's / hm's gone = best shit that could ever happen. That mechanic is horrible and always was, what they got now with learning etc is by far the best solution
- Loads of pokemons to be found, in different night / days / evening area's. so always something to catch or do in the world itself
- Mounts are great, good addition towards the game and feel and work well ( well mostly ).
- I like the big red eyed pokemon, they are a good challenge to catch.
- The crafting pokeballs need to stay, its great
- Didn't bother much with random side quests, first wanted to complete the game to see what its about.
- The yellow beasts in maps with dodging there attacks, is something i like. It gives the game a new dimension that they could push further on in new games
- Disappointing that they decided to remove some stuff like earthquake. Wish they would keep that in the game. however minor stuff basically so nothing to really complain about.
- Visuals are solid, nothing to complain about. Yes its not top of the line visually, but u get used towards it easily and its no longer a problem then.
- I like that pokecenters and gyms are gone with random trainer encounters. It's now all about the pokemons and catching them. It's a far better gameplay loop.
- Wish the whole island was connected with eachother in the form of botw instead of giant hubs. While its not much of a issue, and probably hardware limits that happen. Its still annoying in my view. the gating between main quest is also something that needs to go, however its not much distracting as the main things u need to do to unlock it are easy to complete.
- There are some secrets to be found in the world itself it seems like, so exploring and seeing if you can find some cool pokemon in a corner pop up is always good fun.
- small bag space is annoying, but u can expand it so not much of a issue at the end.
- grinding stars so wild pokemon will lissen at higher levels get a bit rought in the middle, i think its the 4-5 star that feels like a slog but it improves again later on.
- Lots of gen 1 pokemons in the game, however seeing a flying charlizard or venusaur would be amazing, i was sad that they aren't in this game. Missed chance.
- Side characters are what they are, no voice, stock script and no soul. However i hope they drop the side characters more and more in future pokemons and focus more on the world and pokemons + gameplay solution.

I think this game in total is a huge step up from the old pokemons that simple felt dated on gameplay mechanic. Its exactly what u would wanted out of n64 pokemon or gamecube pokemon. I hope the next installment will feature a entire island completely open with online features where ucan fight players in a pokemon tournament or something in the middle of the island. Multiplayer missing part is a huge let down for a game like this. Also its a good start for a mmo pokemon if they ever care to deliver one.

Great game and will be playing tommorow for sure.


My impressions so far:
  • Tutorial is too long. This has been a problem ever since games stopped coming with manuals. Put this shit in a manual and let people get to the meat of the game and read the manual if they want to get informed on every little detail and feature.
  • The visuals are bad, but not as bad as I thought they'd be. There's pop in, flickering, terrible shadow quality. It's objectively worse than BotW in every way. That said, once you get into it, you kinda forget about it.
  • The traversal is weak for an open world game. Not being able to jump, climb or glide hurts. It feels like a half step towards a proper open world game.
  • Lack of voice acting is rough. Pokemon needs to grow up in this area.
  • Needs way more animations, especially in cut scenes. This is a multi-million selling series, but the cut scenes still feel like something from a low budget indie game.
  • Despite everything I said above, the Pokemon catching and battling system here is possibly the best it's ever been. Actually aiming and throwing pokeballs in an open word, where Pokemon can attack, run away, etc is what I've wanted from the beginning. This plus point manages to nearly wipe out all of the negative points.
So yeah, many negatives, but one HUGE positive. I really hope this gameplay style is the future of the series. I want immersion to reach Elder Scrolls levels in future games.

Oh, and I really want to be able to play as an adult for once. How long must we be a spunky 14 year old? Hell, even Ash would be 41 by now. Everyone who grew up on Pokemon and are still playing are adults now.

About this part

  • The traversal is weak for an open world game. Not being able to jump, climb or glide hurts. It feels like a half step towards a proper open world game.

U got mounts for that, that basically fixes all those issue's. Just keep hugging the main quests and u get them pretty fast.
 

ebevan91

Member
My satchel is constantly full and it's really annoying. That's my biggest complaint so far. Inventory space. I'm either crafting stuff just to make room or I'm going back to camp to store a bunch of stuff I'll probably never use.

The upgrades get really expensive too.
 
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AetherZX

Member
My satchel is constantly full and it's really annoying. That's my biggest complaint so far. Inventory space. I'm either crafting stuff just to make room or I'm going back to camp to store a bunch of stuff I'll probably never use.

The upgrades get really expensive too.
I've found spending your money on the satchel upgrades is the best use of it pretty quickly. Now I'm rarely getting alerted that it's full unless I'm actively out trying to horde resources, especially from distortion rifts.
 
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STARSBarry

Gold Member
Well I gave it anouther couple of hours today.

I'm just not getting into it, it feels like Pokemon with extra steps.

Everything takes just that little bit longer to do, from filling in a pokedex to obtaining items, the game just wants to add an "extra step".

Outside of that what do we get in return? Not alot, essentially larger wild areas from Pokemon Sword and Sheild however outside of that they are essential identical with the new decision to either just throw an item at the pokemon or throw your own pokemon to engage in battle.

I mean I guess it "is" too much to ask for at this step, but can they try and make pokemon & zones like actual living creatures? What I mean is at least have some simple interactions rather them just popping in and walking around without interacting with the world there in at all, I'm not asking for Pokemon Snap levels, but perhaps just some of the simpler stuff. I feel like Dragon Quest enemies feel more alive than these pokemon.

Its just not clicking for me, I'm just going to drop it here, but was worth a try.
 
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Kenpachii

Member
My satchel is constantly full and it's really annoying. That's my biggest complaint so far. Inventory space. I'm either crafting stuff just to make room or I'm going back to camp to store a bunch of stuff I'll probably never use.

The upgrades get really expensive too.

What i do is, whenever u did a area and your bag is full, craft your pokeballs then depost everything u have left over in the storage. Also spend most of your money if not all the entire game on bag space inventory slots.
 

Melon Husk

Member
Day one review: It's an alright casual handheld game, once I got over the PSP-era (Monster Hunter Freedom Unite comes to mind) level design and graphics. Arceus does feel like a prototype - but - I much rather play a half finished game that brings something new to the table over re-heated leftovers (Let's Go, Brilliant/Shining). Sword/Shield were a small step in the right direction but not innovative enough.

btw I'm 100% sure this game's primary tech goal has been short loading times. That's why the graphics suck vs. BOTW.

Quick easy fixes:
#1 Depth of field blur would mask the distant ugliness.
#2 PS2 era patches of sprite grass, ten-polygon trees, and tiled water (designed by the sprite artist from the 2D era??) - Why not lift these directly from BOTW?
#3 Weird purple shine on trees and rocks, must be a texture or lightmap bug that went unnoticed

Graphics could have been better, of course. The level design of the starting area could not be more generic. I'm baffled by this insular japanese mindset where the designers at GameFreak are just now learning how to design 3D worlds. Get help, GameFreak.
 
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Just looking at videos I actually think the art direction is pretty good. I find with switch though that 3d games like this tend to look worse in person, because I can notice all the blemishes. Like Shin Migami tensei 5 for instance
 

envyzeal

Member
I'm about 10 hours in, and loving the gameplay so far, but I feel it's already getting repetitive. Graphics wise is kind of what I already expected: bad visuals by gamefreaks, some weird glitches as mentioned before (purple reflections on rocks, flickering grass...Some areas feel very generic and somewhat empty.

Played for some time on my TV and a already regretted, going back to mobile ASAP.

I think it's a great change to the formula and I hope some mechanics stick to the main series, or that it becomes the new main series. Can't stop thinking how good this game could be if they had more attention to details/hardware power/WILL TO MAKE A BETTER GAME

Sorry couldn't hold that last part.
 

meanspartan

Member
The graphics are way more acceptable for me in handheld on my OLED switch. On my TV, it looks really bad. Switch is old tech, but other games like MK8 or BotW look great anyway. This doesn't.

For whatever reason, my brain is more accepting of older graphics tech on handheld games. Maybe from a lifetime of being conditioned to accept that handhelds are at least one or more generations behind graphically, from my GBC on lol.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Some god tier tip for people that don't know:

Oke so i got to the last island now on my 100% playthrough iceland

As i complete every map with pokemons a 100% before moving on. i had 29 boxes full of pokemon and the game stated i couldn't catch anymore until i released some.

Released a few boxes of pokemon and i got loads of grit items.

23413977231a972c2e2fd687f15271d7.jpg


So what are those sacks of grits?

They basically boost stats of pokemon.

Here's level 6 stat boosted togekiss. ( 1 grit = 1 level increase in stats )

c099d70e33b88f0137c21ff6a004120a.png


Level 10 stat increased ( max )

3d11903bc3bb8d8f5768f0e5bdc708b0.png


Boosts your pokemons stats massively. So i deleted all 29 boxes of pokemon ( besides a few random ones i still need to evolve and got legions of those items to boost everything to level 10.

Also used all my rare candy's on polygon for hyper beam madness:

f27cc1cf1670e317ae139146b9860ac8.png


Still need to do the ice island, because i farm all maps 100% complete, so yea this some nasty stats.
 
I'm really liking this game. I've only recently started Pokémon games, for whatever reason. I didn't care for Let's Go Pikachu and I liked Pokémon Shield even less.

But, this is how I envisioned Pokémon should always been.

The graphics and performance are pretty unforgivable though. But, that's unlikely to ever change as it just doesn't seem to effect sales for this franchise.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


We dove into Pokémon Legends: Arceus and all the changes the game brings to the Pokémon franchise. We found a bunch of interesting quirks and revamped systems! From swapping mounts on the fly to having a Pokémon play dead for a photo op, here are 12 things you didn't know about Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Pokémon Legends: Arceus has overhauled what longtime fans of the Pokémon franchise expect from mainline games. With a revamped story and many Hisui variants of classic Pokémon, there are plenty of new quirks and hidden things the game lets you discover on your own.

We've compiled several things we've learned that both newcomers and veterans may not know in this video. From an efficient way to swap mounts on the fly, to even taking Instagram-worthy photos with your Pokémon. Here are 12 things you didn't know about Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Check out our formal video review, as well as our breakdown of 14 tips that we wish we knew when starting on our new Pokémon journey, all on our YouTube channel.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:39 - Swap Mounts On The Fly
1:29 - Spam Pokéballs
1:53 - Pokéball Steam Dictates Catch Difficulty
2:30 - Chill With Your Team
3:08 - Change The Weather
3:38 - XP Gains Aren't The Same As Before
4:14 - Status Effects Are Reworked
4:40 - Moves Have Been Reworked
6:00 - Choose Your Own Legendary
6:53 - Your WiFi is Off
7:13 - Menu Screen Will Change
7:35 - Your Pokémon Can Play Dead
8:03 - Outro
 

Kenpachii

Member
Finally done, researched everything, all quests done, all pokemons, end content done.


af24f8e5339ffec2d8aba0403329abd6.png

f6d9187cdb1c3c1c149ecb5eb619e8e2.png

9ab03219b0e30de28192de9cec5c3d13.jpg


76 hours total, probably less as i was a few times in the game for a while, not sure if it counts that.

Must say probably best pokemon game i played and frankly i never collected all pokemons, yet i did it now. It's great.

Hope they push further on it and ditch the old formula entirely.
 
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Roufianos

Member
Absolutely loving it, feels like a step towards the Pokemon game I dreamed of as a child.

Just wish they either added voice acting or let us skip all the dialogue boxes.
 

ebevan91

Member
Finally done, researched everything, all quests done, all pokemons, end content done.

76 hours total, probably less as i was a few times in the game for a while, not sure if it counts that.

Must say probably best pokemon game i played and frankly i never collected all pokemons, yet i did it now. It's great.

Hope they push further on it and ditch the old formula entirely.

I'm pretty close to finishing myself. I didn't play for 3 days after finishing the Pokedex in the first area, and started again yesterday and knocked out the 3rd area and only have 1 left in the 2nd area and that's something I just need the evolutionary item for unless I can get it in a distortion. I have most of the final area done too. Once I get Arceus I'll be done until DLC releases.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Pokémon Legends: Arceus has so much content to complete once players hit the credits. In this video we break down everything to do, from shiny hunting, to chasing down Giratina, Enamorous, and other legendary Pokémon.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus has a lot of surprises for Pokémon fans, new and old alike, but the endgame is remarkably similar to past games in the franchise. Players will aim to research their Pokedex to completion, which will require travel to all four corners of the Hisui region. Like older games, there are plenty of challenging legendary Pokémon to catch, mythical Pokémon to pursue, and shiny Pokémon to hunt.

In this video, we break down all the different objectives, and activities players can complete once they beat the main game. Some tasks are straightforward, like completing the post-campaign narrative, while others aren't explicitly stated, like finding all 28 Unowns or getting the 2 remaining starters. Be sure to check out our other endgame guide for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

Timestamps:

0:48 - Post-Game Story & Legendaries
4:03 - Grab 2 Free Starters
4:14 - Farm Space-Time Rifts
4:41 - Battle & Catch Giratina
5:08 - Unlock Enamorous
6:27 - Shaymin & Darkrai Side Quests
7:00 - Wrap Up The Side Quests
7:38 - Repeatable Noble & Trainer Battles
8:43 - Min/Max Battle Teams For Pokemon Home
9:08 - Shiny Hunting!
 
Hey guys, I glitched the game out during the post game content. FYI so the same thing doesn't happen to you.

I was thinking of going for 100% pokedex but because of this glitch + autosave I'm screwed.

Just so you don't repeat my mistake, during the quest "The Plate of Moonview Arena" I ran past the annoying npc without talking to them and captured a special pokemans called Cresselia. When I talk to them now, they ask me to go catch Cresselia even though I already did it and the post game quest sequence is frozen and can't continue.

I had my fun. It's a good pocket monster game for a guy like me who plays one every 20 years. It's a great feeling, snooping through long grass trying to catch a rare pokemanz unawares, but I don't mind dropping it here in postgame. Also, I have no choice lol.

I'll just hibernate until elden ring, I think.
 
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