Pokémon Legends: Arceus (28th January 2022)

[Glen-i]

It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with @Serebii's ridiculous coverage of the game, would it?

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Glen-i

[Mokong]

Ack, ffs, just spent two hours, maybe more reloading my game with a Luxray outbreak trying for a Shiny and nothing.

I give up, the Shiny Growlith I got before was probably the only shiny programed into my card

Going back to side quests

[Hero-of-Time]

2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with @Serebii's ridiculous coverage of the game, would it?

This information isn't really new. It's more detailed but the method is the same. Last week, some guys over on another forum said that going AFK for rifts was the fastest way to get them to spawn and that remains true here. It's how I've been letting mine spawn all week.

1 hour ago, Mokong said:

Ack, ffs, just spent two hours, maybe more reloading my game with a Luxray outbreak trying for a Shiny and nothing.

I give up, the Shiny Growlith I got before was probably the only shiny programed into my card

Going back to side quests

Were you just reloading the same thing over and over? Unless it's changed, you have to go back to town and then go back to the map, rather than just reloading the same save. The Pokemon has already been picked at that point and only going back to town will reshuffle the numbers.

[Mokong]

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

 

Were you just reloading the same thing over and over? Unless it's changed, you have to go back to town and then go back to the map, rather than just reloading the same save. The Pokemon has already been picked at that point and only going back to town will reshuffle the numbers.

Yeah I was doing that too, back to town back to map, drop a save.

Repeat to infinity

 

Any have ticked off most of the side quests. Only 3 left to do and I think another two to find (noticed I'm missing Request 21 and I think 59)

The 3 I have left are the Big Buizel (swear he doesn't exist and the Alpha won't spawn!), The Spiritomb quest and the 100 Leeks

[Hero-of-Time]

3 minutes ago, Mokong said:

Yeah I was doing that too, back to town back to map, drop a save.

Repeat to infinity

 

Any have ticked off most of the side quests. Only 3 left to do and I think another two to find (noticed I'm missing Request 21 and I think 59)

The 3 I have left are the Big Buizel (swear he doesn't exist and the Alpha won't spawn!), The Spiritomb quest and the 100 Leeks

100 leeks you can just buy in town.

[Mokong]

8 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

100 leeks you can just buy in town.

OMG, why didn't I just think if that haha.

Here's me running around Obsidian Fieldlands collecting leeks between catching Pokemon

 

EDIT:

Big Buizel is real!!!

Finally managed to get one... In fact got two back to back, one 2'9 and one 2'8

 

Now only the Wisp side quest is left. I have managed to clear 2 areas so far, Crimson Mirelands and Cobalt Costlands. While flying over Cobalt looking for wisps I heared the Shiny sound, OMG!! There are more in my game after all. It was a Shiny Glameow. Not am outbreak either, just regular spawn. It was also near the same area where I got my Shiny Growlith... Maybe I can only get shinies from there

 

Also I really like this pic

 

 

[Julius]

Made some more headway on the Dex, only got the 13 Pokémon left to catch now. 3 of these are locked behind item evolutions (I need a Leaf Stone and two Razor Claws), though I do have around half of the Merit Points I need to buy all three already, so will see how the satchel hunt goes before I might need to dive into a Rift, to either hunt for Leaf Stones or Razor Claws, and/or to hunt for the one of the three which can be found in Rifts - Weavile. The other 10 Pokémon I need are all tied to the remaining Requests and Missions, so there really isn't much left at this point! 

Spiritomb and Cherrim Requests are both out of the way too -- if anyone gets stuck at some point on the latter, this video has a helpful guide which utilises the weather in a way I hadn't seen any of the other guides I looked at mention. 

Anyways, during my RNG hunt for Cherrim, I got lucky and heard a shimmering noise while sprinting for a tree, so I turned to my right and what do you know, there was a shiny Buneary hiding out in the grass:

I also got lucky and found probably my favourite Hisuian regional variant in shiny form during a mass outbreak, and it's easily my favourite of the shiny bunch so far:

Glorious! 

Anyways, with not too much left to do at this point, I think there's a chance that I might be done with the game soon. I was thinking before about going for max rank, but at this point it's probably going to be a whole lot of grinding out research tasks just to see certain moves, so whether or not I do that will probably depend on if I'm in the grinding mood. 

[Glen-i]

2 hours ago, Julius said:

I was thinking before about going for max rank, but at this point it's probably going to be a whole lot of grinding out research tasks just to see certain moves, so whether or not I do that will probably depend on if I'm in the grinding mood. 

@Ugh first aid completed the Dex yesterday and yet, hadn't reached the final rank. I found this very strange, because I'm at 215 catalogued, haven't finished the fifth area yet, and I'm only 3,300 points away from being there.

I assumed it would naturally happen if someone goes for Dex completion, but now that you mention a similar thing, it's dawned on me that maybe I'm the weird one.

Well, y'know, Wyrdeer then usual.

If it means I don't have to bother grinding that out, all the better. I'm starting to get sick of Hisui. Getting 10 research points was a nice way to use Pokémon I'd normally immediately box at first, but now it's just annoying busy work. That's one feature I wouldn't mind getting dropped in future games.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Glen-i

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

it's dawned on me that maybe I'm the weird one.

 

[Glen-i]

17 minutes ago, Ashley said:

 

Yep, waiting for that.

But when it comes to completing a Pokédex, it doesn't feel right that I'm the only outlier in execution. I've done it in every single game that's not Let's Go, but Legends? I dunno, it's not quite as satisfying. It feels a bit hollow. Kinda like I'm obligated to do it, because well, what else is there to do in this game?

[darksnowman]

On 11/02/2022 at 3:54 PM, Glen-i said:

I named my Kleavor Kevin.

I dunno, he just looks like a Kevin, y'know?

Almost spat out my coffee! I'm in stitches here!

Kevin's Kiln just doesn't seem as daunting!!  

[Glen-i]

7 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

Almost spat out my coffee! I'm in stitches here!

I have an instinctual habit of taking a cool/badass looking Pokémon and giving it the most humdrum or silly name that pops into my head. 9 times out of 10, alliteration will come into play.

My Hydreigon comes to mind, scary three headed dragon? I knew just what to call it!
What I didn't know is that 9 years later, it would pay off in spades, thanks to the trainer's name being added to the standard "X used X" text in Max Raids.

No, I'm not actually wearing a hat.

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Yep, waiting for that.

But when it comes to completing a Pokédex, it doesn't feel right that I'm the only outlier in execution. I've done it in every single game that's not Let's Go, but Legends? I dunno, it's not quite as satisfying. It feels a bit hollow. Kinda like I'm obligated to do it, because well, what else is there to do in this game?

I haven't completed a dex in ages exactly because it feels like an obligation (and in part the difficulty in doing so alone) but I feel more inclined to try this time. Granted it may become more annoying as I progress and the Pokémon I'm trying to complete are harder to come by but at the moment I'm enjoying just pissing around and completing entries in the process. 

[Julius]

4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Well, y'know, Wyrdeer then usual.

4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

@Ugh first aid completed the Dex yesterday and yet, hadn't reached the final rank. I found this very strange, because I'm at 215 catalogued, haven't finished the fifth area yet, and I'm only 3,300 points away from being there.

I assumed it would naturally happen if someone goes for Dex completion, but now that you mention a similar thing, it's dawned on me that maybe I'm the weird one.

Well, y'know, Wyrdeer then usual.

If it means I don't have to bother grinding that out, all the better. I'm starting to get sick of Hisui. Getting 10 research points was a nice way to use Pokémon I'd normally immediately box at first, but now it's just annoying busy work. That's one feature I wouldn't mind getting dropped in future games.

There are four tiers of completion as far as I can figure when it comes to completing the Dex. The second is as far as you need to go for what I guess can be considered the "true ending" (catching Arceus). 

The first one is, like in Diamond & Pearl with unlocking the rest of the Survival Area, you only have to see a Pokémon for it to count towards your Dex completion (i.e. register it). 

The second one is catching every Pokémon in order to unlock the "true ending" and see Arceus. This is what I'm currently doing, and what I imagine most will do. 

The third tier is completing every page to Research Level 10 to complete a Pokémon's page. Beyond completing the Dex, the only benefit I can find to this is that every tick on a page increases your shiny odds for that Pokémon, which, when coupled with what I imagine shows up as the reward for this tier (the Shiny Charm, at a guess?), it will raise your shiny hunting odds considerably. I imagine that this is probably made a much smoother process by first getting access to all of the mounts. 

The fourth tier is getting a perfect on every page. From what I gather, this will increase your shiny odds even more, but I can't seem to figure out if it a lands you a reward 

[bob]

The fourth tier is getting a perfect on every page. From what I gather, this will increase your shiny odds even more, but I can't seem to figure out if it a lands you a reward 

Probably get a certificate.

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

And there's the second response I was waiting for. That's my Sunday complete!

[Ashley]

15 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

And there's the second response I was waiting for. That's my Sunday complete!

You did it!

 

[Julius]

11 hours ago, Julius said:

3 of these are locked behind item evolutions (I need a Leaf Stone and two Razor Claws), though I do have around half of the Merit Points I need to buy all three already, so will see how the satchel hunt goes before I might need to dive into a Rift, to either hunt for Leaf Stones or Razor Claws, and/or to hunt for the one of the three which can be found in Rifts - Weavile.

You can farm Razor Claws by catching Sneasel, you know, like you can in the other games! And I forgot this because..?

It only took catching eight of them (so changing the time of day once) in the Coroner Highlands to get the two I needed -- and I actually got them one after another. Picked up the Leaf Stone with all of the Merit Points I had collected and now have the item evolutions out of the way. 

Not far to go at all now, just the 8 Pokémon left, and they're all tied to Requests and Missions, so far as I can tell.

Also nabbed a fifth (and potentially final?) shiny:

Edited February 13, 2022 by Julius

[darksnowman]

6 hours ago, Glen-i said:

I have an instinctual habit of taking a cool/badass looking Pokémon and giving it the most humdrum or silly name that pops into my head. 9 times out of 10, alliteration will come into play.

My Hydreigon comes to mind, scary three headed dragon? I knew just what to call it!
What I didn't know is that 9 years later, it would pay off in spades, thanks to the trainer's name being added to the standard "X used X" text in Max Raids.

No, I'm not actually wearing a hat.

The first thing that came to mind was hydrangea but your non-existent hat getting moves off is a good one too.  

[Julius]

Just shy of 50 hours, that's a wrap for me on Legends: Arceus. 

Damn it Game Freak, make our trainer...pages?...update with new photos please! 

I want to talk a bit about the final battles in the game. Spoiler tag containing endgame content incoming...

Spoiler

Well yeah, could've seen this coming from a mile away  love the Arceus-inspired hairstyle and get-up for Volo, and really enjoyed the battle with him. Took me a couple of attempts (at this time I can neither confirm or deny that I completely forgot to bring Max Revives along the first time, and accidentally walked straight back into the battle before being able to grab them the second time) and was a fair challenge. I scraped by Volo with three Pokémon left the first time and breathed a sigh of relief...before Giratina turned up and I realised my Pokémon weren't healed. Love to see them pushing difficulty a bit more  also love that Volo is a Pokémon Wielder rather than anything else, and also that him just having six Pokémon in Hisui makes him a clear threat when compared to everyone else you battle in the game. 

Not quite at Cynthia's level of challenge, but it was nice for the game to push back quite a bit here, especially with Giratina turning up after the initial battle with Volo's six Pokémon (which is just Cynthia's team with Milotic swapped out for Hisuian Arcanine) and then going into its Origin Form too. Really cool stuff. Also really liked the framing in the cutscenes, especially the shot above, or when Giratina's wings extended out of his portal. 

The game slowed down a little needlessly just to allow you to get the Pokémon you have remaining before challenging Arceus, which in my case was just the handful of legendary Pokémon from Requests made available after the battle with Volo. Was a bit jarring needing to grind for 5 minutes with the Weather Trio + Enamorus to complete their Dex entries too, when it wasn't necessary for every other legendary you come across. It ties in to a big complaint of mine that Game Freak have absolutely taken away what made some of these legendary Pokémon so precious to get in the first place: scarcity. 

Which brings me back around to Arceus...

Man, the Hall of Origin / Azure Flute event never leaving Japan in Gen IV just really made the imagery and majesty so, so fitting here. I also love this callback to the HeartGold & SoulSilver Sinjoh Ruins event, which unlocked by having an Arceus in the game and bringing it to the Ruins of Alph: 

Kudos to Game Freak for going all out on the fan service on this one, especially with what they managed with an already incredibly foreboding battle theme for Arceus, and man, did I love this boss fight. It is head and shoulders above every other boss fight in the game for me.

I actually lost a fair few times just treating it how I did the Noble Pokémon boss fights in the game (i.e. very sloppily), before realising I actually had to tap into playing properly, learning the patterns of attacks (the attacks coming in 6's for a Pokémon deity of creation is definitely a funny choice) and dealing with a good bit of unavoidable BS  also really loved how the battles went when you threw out your Pokémon and Arceus used a plate to make Judgment suit - and annihilate - your type, reminded me of some of my favourite enemies to face in Chrono Trigger. 

I got really close twice before my final run went right, and boy was I unlucky on these two occasions...

Accidentally rolled to the side in the first clip when I meant to go diagonally forwards (because of how long the animation takes to transition, jamming Y in that moment didn't give me a second roll to get out of that awkward spot), and then accidentally reset the camera in the second clip by tapping ZR, so rolling forwards had me going away from Arceus rather than towards. A little frustrating, but good practice for Elden Ring 

Highlight of the battle for me by some margin is this move that Arceus pulls:

The first time Arceus vanished and the music went quiet, before then having the silence shattered with the sound of shattering glass...chills. Seriously, similar vibes to Holdo's manoeuvre in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I love it to bits. 

And one last look at my final team and outfit for the game...

Spoiler

I'm going to take a bit of time to listen to the soundtrack before sharing my final thoughts, but for now to sum up my time with the game in three words: I loved it! 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

Like Julius, my Pokemon adventure is now over. After just shy of 100 hours, i'm done. I finished all the requests, captured all the Pokemon, got all of them to level 10 in the Pokedex and reached the 10th and final level in terms of rank.

I would have liked to get a perfect rank on each of the Pokedex entries but I think it's time to move on. I've got around 10-15 entries at the perfect level but to do the rest would probably take another 100 hours. I think i've put more than enough time into the game already. Hell of a game and I hope that it gets a sequel at some point.

[Glen-i]

There's only 242 Pokémon!?

What a pathetic amount, considering how unnecessarily massive the world is. Seems I was being far too optimistic with my impression of 300...

On the plus side, at least I'm less then 30 away from being done.

[Ashley]

This is a delightfully silly bug

 

 

[MindFreak]

Just got a Cherubi (two actually!) and evolved it to Cherrim. I don't expect one to actually get both forms, right?

Also got all wisps in the first three areas. The two worst are left, though. My method of just flying around at night on Braviary has worked well for me.

I'm at 221 Pokémon now but I'm playing this a lot less now.

Edited February 15, 2022 by MindFreak

[Eddage]

Started this earlier today, found a shiny Starly almost immediately