Pokemon Legends: Z-A - A Fresh Transformation While Staying Faithful to Its Roots

I'm not sure exactly how the custom began, however I always name every one of my Pokémon trainers Malfunction.

Be it a core franchise title or a spinoff such as Pokkén Tournament DX and Pokémon Go — the name never changes. Malfunction switches from male to female characters, featuring dark and violet locks. Sometimes their fashion is flawless, like in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the latest installment in this enduring franchise (and one of the more style-conscious releases). At other moments they're limited to the assorted school uniform styles of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Yet they remain Glitch.

The Constantly Changing Realm of Pokemon Titles

Much like my characters, the Pokemon titles have transformed between installments, with certain superficial, others significant. However at their core, they remain the same; they're always Pokémon through and through. Game Freak discovered an almost flawless gameplay formula some three decades back, and just recently truly attempted to innovate upon it with entries such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus (different timeline, your character is now in danger). Across every version, the fundamental gameplay loop of capturing and fighting with charming creatures has stayed steady for almost the same duration as my lifetime.

Shaking Conventions with Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Similar to Arceus previously, with its lack of arenas and focus on compiling a creature catalog, Pokémon Legends: Z-A introduces several deviations into that framework. It's set entirely in a single location, the French capital-inspired Lumiose Metropolis of Pokémon X & Y, abandoning the expansive journeys of previous games. Pokémon are intended to live together alongside people, trainers and civilians, in ways we have merely glimpsed before.

Far more drastic is Z-A's live-action combat mechanics. It's here the franchise's near-perfect gameplay loop experiences its biggest transformation to date, swapping deliberate turn-based fights with more frenetic action. And it's immensely fun, despite I feel eager for another traditional release. Though these alterations to the traditional Pokemon recipe seem like they create a completely new experience, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is as familiar as every other Pokémon title.

The Heart of the Adventure: The Z-A Championship

Upon initially reaching at Lumiose Metropolis, any intentions your custom avatar planned as a visitor are discarded; you're immediately recruited by Taunie (for male avatars; Urbain if female) to become part of her team of trainers. You're gifted a creature from them as your starter and you're dispatched to participate in the Z-A Championship.

The Championship serves as the centerpiece in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It's similar to the classic "arena symbols to final challenge" progression from earlier titles. But here, you battle a handful of opponents to gain the chance to compete in an advancement bout. Succeed and you'll be promoted to the next rank, with the final objective of reaching rank A.

Live-Action Battles: An Innovative Approach

Character fights occur during nighttime, while navigating stealthily the designated battle zones is quite entertaining. I'm always attempting to get a jump on an opponent and launch an unopposed move, because everything happens in real time. Moves function with cooldown timers, indicating you and your opponent can sometimes attack each other at the same time (and defeat each other at once). It's much to adjust to at first. Despite playing for nearly 30 hours, I continue to feel like there's plenty to learn in terms of using my Pokémon's moves in methods that complement each other. Positioning also plays a significant part during combat since your creatures will trail behind you or move to designated spots to execute moves (certain ones are distant, whereas others need to be in close proximity).

The live combat makes battles go so fast that I often sometimes cycling through moves in identical patterns, even when this amounts to a less effective approach. There isn't moment to pause during Z-A, and plenty of chances to get overwhelmed. Creature fights rely on response after using an attack, and that data remains visible on screen in Z-A, but flashes past rapidly. Occasionally, you cannot process it because diverting attention from your adversary will spell immediate defeat.

Navigating Lumiose City

Away from combat, you will traverse Lumiose Metropolis. It's relatively small, though densely packed. Far into the adventure, I continue to find unseen stores and rooftops to explore. It is also full of charm, and perfectly captures the vision of creatures and humans living together. Pidgey populate its sidewalks, flying away when you get near like the real-life city birds getting in my way when walking through NYC. The Pan Trio monkeys gleefully hang on streetlights, and insect creatures such as Kakuna cling on branches.

An emphasis on urban life represents a fresh approach for Pokémon, and a positive change. Even so, navigating the city grows repetitive eventually. You might discover an alley you never visited, but it feels identical. The architecture is devoid of personality, and most rooftops and underground routes offer little variety. Although I haven't been to the French capital, the model behind the city, I've lived in NYC for nearly a decade. It's a metropolis where every district differs, and all are alive with uniqueness that give them soul. Lumiose City doesn't have that. It has tan buildings topped with colored roofs and simply designed terraces.

Where Lumiose City Really Excels

In which Lumiose City really shines, surprisingly, is inside buildings. I loved the way creature fights in Sword and Shield take place in football-like stadiums, giving them genuine significance and meaning. On the flipside, fights within Scarlet and Violet take place in a field with few spectators observing. It's a total letdown. Z-A finds a balance between both extremes. You'll battle in restaurants with patrons watching while they eat. An elite combat club will invite you to a competition, and you'll battle in its rooftop arena under a lighting fixture (not Chandelure) suspended overhead. My favorite location is the beautifully designed headquarters of the Rust Syndicate with its moody lighting and purple partitions. Several distinct combat settings overflow with personality that's absent from the overall metropolis as a whole.

The Familiarity of Routine

During the Championship, as well as quelling rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon and filling the creature index, there is an unavoidable sense that, {"I