Pokémon Legends: Arceus (28th January 2022)

[Julius]

Bah, I have no idea how I forgot to mention this in my earlier post! After nearly twenty years of playing Pokémon I finally caught a shiny Pokémon out in the wild (and not in a Mass Outbreak), and what do you know, it's one of my Hoenn favourites:

Kind of feels like cheating compared to the days of random encounters, but regardless: Spheals rule. 

On 06/02/2022 at 3:07 PM, Glen-i said:

Funny thing is, I thought it was tweaked to guarantee you get the Pokémon you're looking for during that quest, because I got it on my first attempt.

I guess it makes up for the 30+ Buizels I had to catch at the start.

Oh man, well that's the nature of RNG I guess funnily enough I had the exact opposite issue with the Buizel quest to you too, as there was a real chonker of a Buizel that I actually initially thought was a Floatzel from a distance, and I ran into him on my first run in the Obsidian Fieldlands after receiving the quest. 

I feel like how you fare with the game overall is really down to personal preference, but Requests is one of the things in the game for me where I think it can almost universally be agreed that it needs tightening up. I won't be checking out any of the reviews until after I've completed the game, so I really hope it's been brought up by enough reviewers for Game Freak to realise, but I'm a bit concerned as always with reviews for a game like this that the totally fair criticisms of the game get lost in the tsunami of praise for doing something different.  

On 06/02/2022 at 3:44 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

Is anyone else seeing a beard on this kid?

I won't lie, the ways the shadow interact when she's bobbing her head around in excitement freaked me out, it looked like a Gastly was possessing her 

Probably my second favourite kid NPC in the game so far, right behind this guy...

Look at that power pose. The square to his shoulders. The exhaustion of dealing with a cruel and unjust world written all over his face. The aura of attitude emanating from him, not even giving his own mother a second glance. 

Kid has all the makings of a Yakuza antagonist, that's for sure 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

21 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

What's peoples' practices when doing the dex? Currently (just settled 2nd frenzied mon, 3 star) and trying to move away from the loyal members staying in my squad, rotating out to get missions done (Quilava exception) 

I'm trying to get multiple missions done simultaneously, for example my last shafting was using my Barboach to use Mud ball (or something) on Shinx's to take them out, do so with a ground move and using that move a number of times. But the thing that's dampening my flow is that I'm standing by the pastures, seeing in the den what move I'd like to use multiple times, then going into the pastures menu and seeing if that 'mon has that move, rinse and repeat.

(Currently pimpsmacking Drifloons with Gastly's Astonish)

I started the game by getting perfects in the first area on most of the Pokemon around there but I figured if I kept doing that I would burn out pretty fast. After that, I would do what I could during my journey and then save the rest for post game. The further along you get in the game, the easier it is to get around the various areas. It makes catching, battling and completing the Pokedex much simpler/quicker.

[Glen-i]

10 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

What's peoples' practices when doing the dex?

I prioritise getting to 10 research points for every new Pokémon I get ASAP. Because if I leave it, I'll only regret it later.

So basically, I'm playing through the game with 5 pieces of chaff and 1 good emergency Pokémon in case I need to quickly win a fight.

The emergency Pokémon is one of 6 Pokémon I would've otherwise had as part of a proper team. 5 of them are new Pokémon introduced in this game (Kleavor, etc), which means I've now ditched Typhlosion. I always aim to use nothing but newcomers with a new game, and regional variants don't cut it. Although I do have one variant at the moment.

Spoiler

I like me some alliteration nicknames. Except Overqwil, which is such a good name for Qwilfish's (much needed) evolution, that I kept it as is.

If I get another new Pokémon, Goodra's getting ditched.

It's finally paid off though, I've not even finished the 3rd area, and I have 156 Pokémon with complete Dex entries and am currently Ninth Star Rank. Even better, I've run out of Pokémon that don't have a complete Dex to work on (Except Unown, for obvious reasons). Which means I can finally bring in all six of my good Pokémon and have a proper team. This has had the side effect of having them around the level 50-58 mark at this point, so I'm way overleveled.

From now on, if I catch a new Pokémon, I'll simply box my highest level member, complete the Dex, evolve if necessary, and when that's done, bring the good Pokémon back.

[Mandalore]

I've been trying to complete all of the Balloon Races, as far as I can tell there are just 3 unless I'm missing some. The Alabaster Icelands was by far the most challenging, mainly because you have to wrestle with the camera in some places. Just in case it's considered a spoiler:

Spoiler

 

 

[Ashley]

Started playing this just now and i have a question about the lore. Pokeballs are fairly new inventions and presumably that's how they learnt Pokémon can make themselves small so why were they already called pocket monsters before this? Or have they only recently been called this and if so what were they called before?

[Glen-i]

20 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Started playing this just now and i have a question about the lore. Pokeballs are fairly new inventions and presumably that's how they learnt Pokémon can make themselves small so why were they already called pocket monsters before this? Or have they only recently been called this and if so what were they called before?

As far as the English localisation is concerned, they've never been called Pocket Monsters. In fact, no character in the games actually makes the reference to how that portmanteau comes about.

This kinda gets reinforced in the PMD series, it's set in a parallel universe where humans aren't a thing, which means that Poké Balls aren't a thing either, yet every Pokémon refers to themselves as a Pokémon, despite that.

So the likely answer is that they've always been called Pokémon for some reason. Whatever the reason, it's probably not because they can fit in a pocket in-universe.

Worth noting that Gen 4 specifically puts forward the theory that even humans were Pokémon at some point. It's never actually confirmed nor denied though.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Glen-i

[darksnowman]

33 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Started playing this just now and i have a question about the lore. Pokeballs are fairly new inventions and presumably that's how they learnt Pokémon can make themselves small so why were they already called pocket monsters before this? Or have they only recently been called this and if so what were they called before?

What came first: the pocket monster or the pocket?

[Glen-i]

1 minute ago, darksnowman said:

What came first: the pocket monster or the pocket?

The pocket monster. Evidenced by the numerous fossil Pokémon (Aerodactyl, and so on) that the games constantly mention lived in prehistoric times.

[Ashley]

Yeah but how do you explain Japan when they're actually called pocket monsters?

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

Yeah but how do you explain Japan when they're actually called pocket monsters?

No idea, can't read Japanese. They might have an explanation for that for all I know.

Because the games are localised incredibly well these days, it's impossible for me to tell if the original intent is altered when the English script comes out.

The only person I can think of who could possibly know something on that subject is @Serebii himself.

[bob]

Can anyone explain Japan?

[Mokong]

Encountered my first Shiny!!!! And it was a shiny Growlithe

Been stuck at Mission quest 11 (by stuck I mean side tracked with sode quests and getting distracted that I've not been doing story missions.

Had a few outbreaks happen, was getting no shinies from them. Then as I was about yo continue story noticed a Growlithe outbreak started. Hoped over, started clearing them and then a tiny runt of the litter Shiny appeared

Now to evolve or not evolve that is the question

I have changed his name to "MadraLonrach", Irish for "Shiny Dog"

 

[Glen-i]

Yeah, outbreaks make shinies appear stupidly easy. Got a Shiny Happiny from one and I only looked for a minute.

[Mokong]

Ticking off side quests and got Manaphy and Phione (I may have googled what to do as I couldn't find any clues within the quest details unless I missed something entirely )

 

Also swapped out my Alakazam for an Alpha Alakazam.

 

[BowserBasher]

Maybe I'm not far enough for those outbreaks yet so hopefully my shines will come soon. I've not seen one yet, I am. only just heading to the second of the Frenzied Pokemon though.

[Julius]

15 minutes ago, Mokong said:

I may have googled what to do as I couldn't find any clues within the quest details unless I missed something entirely

Yeah, I don't think there's anything in-game which provides hints for what you were supposed to do. The only reason anyone knew how to complete the task is because we went in considering that something must be going on in Legends: Arceus, what with...

Spoiler

...the change made in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl to add a whole new story to the Canalave Library not present in the original games, which is what gives you the clues to completing the quest. 

 

[killthenet]

 

Spoiler

Sneasler is the fucking best!

 

[Ashley]

Okay help a newbie out. 

When looking at the Dex there's the first column where some have double chevrons. What's that about? Then the name and then numbers, then little pills for how many times you've done whatever. 

That first column of numbers is for...? I was thinking it indicated the score for that Pokémon but then on one of them it totals 15 and I thought 10 was enough to count as fully researched?

Edit

Oh wait okay that's the total for all the corresponding pills. It's there a way of knowing how far through you are until it's fully researched?

[Glen-i]

Spoilers, @killthenet. Some people prefer to discover new Pokémon themselves.

@Ashley. The double Chevrons indicate that you get 2 research points for each milestone in that specific task.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Glen-i

[killthenet]

Oops, sorry @Glen-i, thanks for putting it in spoiler tags for me!

Really loving the game, i'm pretty deep into it so I assume I'm nearing the end of the story but I'm enjoying exploring and looking for secrets so much that I'll undoubtedly play on for a good while after wrapping up the narrative

[MindFreak]

I wish the story revolved more around that ancient civilasation there are traces of. It would have deepened the lore in the games and would be way more interesting than what was ultimately offered. Plus it wouldn't have to include time travel. It would also have been a natural way to include some puzzles and interaction with the world which I kind of miss a bit. 

The story and the universe are messy in the game. Some people just arrived two years prior, and you arrive being able to catch three Pokémon and is declared a prodigy and a master. Yet later on, you meet and battle people with more Pokémon than three, and who are clearly very capable. 

What happened to the Hisuian variations when the world turned into Sinnoh? Would have been nice with some explanation. 

How do they know the names of the Pokémon when you catch them if they haven't got any data on them in the first place? And who decided their number in the Pokedex? 

So yeah, credits rolled yesterday, and I then evolved a few Pokémon I had caught just to get them registered. I'll see if I can get a full catch Dex as that doesn't seem too time consuming and trivial. But what a journey, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and look forward to the post game content. 

I think I'll try to sum up my thoughts about what I want to carry over to the main games later on. I do not need a direct sequel for this game as I don't think that would work too well. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by MindFreak

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

Oh wait okay that's the total for all the corresponding pills. It's there a way of knowing how far through you are until it's fully researched?

Take the number underneath Research Level and add the number of unreported tasks (These are coloured green). If any of these unreported tasks are on the same row as a task with a double chevron, add 2 instead of 1.

If the total is 10 or more, then it's completed and all you need to do is show the professor to get the full Dex entry.

[Glen-i]

51 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

The story and the universe are messy in the game. Some people just arrived two years prior, and you arrive being able to catch three Pokémon and is declared a prodigy and a master. Yet later on, you meet and battle people with more Pokémon than three, and who are clearly very capable.

Yeah, this bugs me as well. It doesn't make much sense.

The thing is, no matter how you slice it, wild Pokémon don't apply any sort of strategy, they just pick moves at random. And it's easy to win because you'll likely have 6 Pokemon. The trainer battles in this game are purely there to check if the player is ready to go to whatever place they're going to next so they don't get battered.

56 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

What happened to the Hisuian variations when the world turned into Sinnoh? Would have been nice with some explanation.

Maybe they migrated? That would also be an explanation as to why no Pokémon from the Unova games onward show up in Diamond/Pearl.

58 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

How do they know the names of the Pokémon when you catch them if they haven't got any data on them in the first place? And who decided their number in the Pokedex?

Now, this is just me spitballing, because nothing in the game supports this as far as I'm aware, but maybe the main character, who is likely the playable trainer from Gen 4, simply told the professor the names of Pokémon? Because they would know already. It's kind of a paradox though.

I've just started the fourth area (Why is it so effing massive!?) and a character from there supports this a bit.

Spoiler

Ingo is clearly from modern day Unova. Specifically, he worked in the Battle Subway before getting flung to Hisui for some reason. He's amnesiac though, so I doubt we're getting confirmation on that. But I'm certain that's the case.

It's kinda similar to how a character from the GBA Gen 3 Hoenn got somehow transplanted to Alola, which is part of the Mega Evolution universe.

 

[MindFreak]

4 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

 

  Fourth Area Spoilers (Hide contents)

Ingo is clearly from modern day Unova. Specifically, he worked in the Battle Subway before getting flung to Hisui for some reason. He's amnesiac though, so I doubt we're getting confirmation on that. But I'm certain that's the case.

It's kinda similar to how a character from the GBA Gen 3 Hoenn got somehow transplanted to Alola, which is part of the Mega Evolution universe.

 

That character was a very interesting one - it's funny how he wasn't introduced earlier in the game. And there is no real resolution to his story (unless that happens in the post game content...). 

You'll soon meet my favorite person to hate in this game. Warden of the fourth lord. Terrible person, great comedy.

[Ike]

1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

The story and the universe are messy in the game. Some people just arrived two years prior, and you arrive being able to catch three Pokémon and is declared a prodigy and a master. Yet later on, you meet and battle people with more Pokémon than three, and who are clearly very capable. 

How do they know the names of the Pokémon when you catch them if they haven't got any data on them in the first place? And who decided their number in the Pokedex? 

Funny how an NPC tells you that you can only carry 6 Pokémon, but no one has ever caught that many before. How do they know, who or what is enforcing the rule?