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Pokemon Legends Arceus |OT| Pocket Monster Hunter

AetherZX

Member
This type of game really needs better hardware. DF says its more of an art style issue but nah on a technical level it's so trash

The draw distance especially ruins the marvel of seeing the pokemon in the wild. Had periods of 5 - 10 minutes where i just don't see any

Yeah, this game is a dumpster fire visually. Performance at least seems to hold up compared to the 3DS games at least.

But I'd say it bodes well if I'm at the point where visuals are the biggest complaint I could give this game. Incorporate these changes into the 9th gen entries with a more cohesive visual style and it will definitely be something special.
 

AetherZX

Member
It’s not even hyperbole either. I genuinely think Gale of Darkness looks better or at least equal.
1001_video_games__pokemon_xd_gale_of_darkness_by_regulas314_db4w8f1-pre.jpg
 

Inanilmaz

Member
I don't get it. I watched playthoughs of this game and it doesn't look fun at all.

Gotta catch em all! Why? What if I don't want to run around some crappy looking world throwing pokeballs at goofy looking monsters.

Not exactly my idea of fun. Game looks dreadful.
I watched gameplay videos of this game too and this is really the only thing that the game is about with a handful of boring trainer fights here and there maybe. Really weird. People enjoy the weirdest things it seems.

I think this is a prototype for the future pokemon games maybe?
 
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kraspkibble

Permabanned.
nah, while it seems they are trying something new it's not good enough. i'll wait and see if they stick with this new formula and if they improve upon it. after Shin Megami Tensei V i can't go back to a Pokemon game so easily. Gonna need to be something drastically different even from what Arceus offers.

£34.99 on launch day lol.
 
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th4tguy

Member
Only Nintendo pal. Everything else we get screwed more than the US.
How so? It's common practice to have steep discounts day one on physical releases for pretty much every new game released. You don't see that in the States. That isn't limited to just Nintendo.
 
Yeah, sitting in the plastic wrap downstairs on my desk. Finishing work in half hour, I’ll put the kids to bed, catch up on season 2 of Mob Psycho and then I’m gonna boot up my OLED with a cup of tea and play the shit out of this game.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
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.
 

Boss Man

Member
Canceled pre-order, but back in now. I was worried about the core gameplay loop but people seem to be enjoying it.

I just hope they take these mechanics forward into a full-fledged Pokemon RPG at some point.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
Branding is weird now. "Let's Go!" would have been *the* perfect name for an open world series.
"Legends" is generic as hell. They call this one "Legends" probably because the game has boss battles instead of gyms? Are there three main lines now or is "Let's Go!" dead?
It takes place hundreds of years before present day for the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum region. Might wanna do a bit of research. 🐻🐻

Hence Legends for the region we're familiar with.
 

0neAnd0nly

Gold Member
I plan to pick up a physical copy sometime soon. I really wanted to pre-order, but with stuff happening inside my family that needs my monetary and emotional focus at the moment, I find it difficult to commit even a relatively small amount to a game purchase.

I feel like I am one of the only GAF members excited about this release. I see so many negative reactions to the graphics or polish of the visuals, which is weird for me as ... who buys a switch for that?

I remember BoTW getting similar rips after it's announcement. It's the Nintendo look. It's fine, the Switch is an excellent piece of hardware IMO without needed to compete visually with the rest.

Here nor there, I feel like most Pokemon games are pretty solid. You know what you are getting, I have not played every single one but many of the original GB releases, and most recently shield. This new addition to the series with a different focus and game play makes me cautiously optimistic. I'm pumped, and look forward to delving in soon when things normalize a bit for my situation.

Anxious to see reactions here from some of you who are diving in today!
 
It is hideous to look at with tons of pop in and seems to run at very a low res even docked (or has some post effect that makes the aliasing look worse). The frame rate drops from 30 fairly often. The environments are dire.

Definitely not your typical Switch exclusive where it looks nice despite the technical limitations.

But..

..gotta admit I'm really enjoying it so far. Not sure if I'll still be saying this in 30 hours but the gameplay loop is very addictive and the satisfying fizz when you capture a Pokémon is a real endorphin generator.
 

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
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.

The high resell value alone makes it worth buying Nintendo developed games as physical.
 

AetherZX

Member
Wow, I’ve never played a Pokémon game but I thought the popularity was due to the meta-game of collecting monsters and battling other players or something like that.
Nah, the competitive side is actually a minority in reality. These games from inception were designed around trading to collect them.

Tbh, I'd go as far as to say they do a surprising amount of QOL for the competitive side that's arguably been detrimental to the rest of the game over the past few generations. Since they seemingly forgot the rest of the main series has to actually grow along the way.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Wow, I’ve never played a Pokémon game but I thought the popularity was due to the meta-game of collecting monsters and battling other players or something like that.
Nope, few people care about that. Its about the gameplay + occasional trading. Both my wife and I play all the games, and I think we've only cared to battle like a dozen times in the last decade. But we trade all the time.


Nah, the competitive side is actually a minority in reality. These games from inception were designed around trading to collect them.

Tbh, I'd go as far as to say they do a surprising amount of QOL for the competitive side that's arguably been detrimental to the rest of the game over the past few generations. Since they seemingly forgot the rest of the main series has to actually grow along the way.

100000% agree, We'd get roasted by the hardcore community for saying that, but the popular surface level crown (which is like 95% of the fanbase) wants the games for the sense of adventure, something that the Gamefreak team has been a little too lite on supporting.

Less pokemon, better worlds, better gameplay. Thats what's making this new one exciting (for me at least), looks like they are finally giving the world and the adventure aspect more attention.

Now if we could just get them to switch to unreal engine and bring in some great programmers/graphic artist and script writers.
 
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nikos

Member

You're using a low quality, cropped screenshot. The game doesn't look anywhere near that bad, especially in handheld on an OLED Switch. As a matter of fact, it can actually look good. I say that as somebody who primarily games on a high end PC so I don't have shit standards, especially for visuals.
 

SCB3

Member
Still waiting on Amazon to deliver mine for some reason (no idea why its the day after) but allowed me to finish up Ocarina of Time, so all's good.

I am seeing some good things though like the Trade Evolution stuff being improved on
 
This type of game really needs better hardware. DF says its more of an art style issue but nah on a technical level it's so trash

The draw distance especially ruins the marvel of seeing the pokemon in the wild. Had periods of 5 - 10 minutes where i just don't see any
I mean BOTW came out almost 5 years ago and looks better in every conceivable way by a large margin and it was designed around a weaker piece of hardware in the WiiU. Not only does it look way better on the same hardware, but Acreus has way less intensive systems that draw resources from the CPU. This game doesn't have any kind of modern physics, wind simulation, fire propagation etc. Gamefreak is just being lazy with their engine

New better hardware would be nice though, no way around that.
 
You're using a low quality, cropped screenshot. The game doesn't look anywhere near that bad, especially in handheld on an OLED Switch. As a matter of fact, it can actually look good. I say that as somebody who primarily games on a high end PC so I don't have shit standards, especially for visuals.

No that's pretty much how bad it look. The visuals are wank high res or low res
 

nikos

Member
No that's pretty much how bad it look. The visuals are wank high res or low res

No, it actually isn't.

I don't know why I'm wasting my time, but here's a screenshot of the game that I just took and a photo of the same thing on a Switch OLED. The photo is shit, as most photos of displays are. The game looks better in person and in motion.

I can be as much of a nitpicking snob for visual anomalies as anybody else, but to say the game looks like that screenshot is fucking stupid.


xh128sc.jpg
e3D3iEK.jpg
 
No, it actually isn't.

I don't know why I'm wasting my time, but here's a screenshot of the game that I just took and a photo of the same thing on a Switch OLED. The photo is shit, as most photos of displays are. The game looks better in person and in motion.

I can be as much of a nitpicking snob for visual anomalies as anybody else, but to say the game looks like that screenshot is fucking stupid.


xh128sc.jpg
e3D3iEK.jpg
Ya, most switch games look a lot better in handheld mode due to the higher pixel density. Me personally, I would love for this game to look better, but I'm way more interested in the game and how it plays now due to the positive reviews and impressions. I'm definitely intrigued.
 
No, it actually isn't.

I don't know why I'm wasting my time, but here's a screenshot of the game that I just took and a photo of the same thing on a Switch OLED. The photo is shit, as most photos of displays are. The game looks better in person and in motion.

I can be as much of a nitpicking snob for visual anomalies as anybody else, but to say the game looks like that screenshot is fucking stupid.


xh128sc.jpg
e3D3iEK.jpg

Yeah, that looks wank. You don't need to bother sending screenshots. I can see how shit the game looks on my own TV
 
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Kacho

Gold Member
I find the game super engaging so far. I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it because the previews made it seem boring but it’s a lot of fun. Need to sink a few dozen hours to get a better idea but Game Freak might have a winner here.
 

nikos

Member
Ya, most switch games look a lot better in handheld mode due to the higher pixel density. Me personally, I would love for this game to look better, but I'm way more interested in the game and how it plays now due to the positive reviews and impressions. I'm definitely intrigued.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for it to look better too but it doesn't look as bad as people are saying, and somehow that has taken over the thread. It does look a lot worse on a TV. Ordered an mClassic that should be here today to see if it helps at all.

Aside from visuals, this may be my favorite Pokemon game. I don't have nostalgia for the series. I've played almost all the games but never finished one until Sword, which I loved, and this might actually end up being better. It's completely different than other Pokemon games, which is what I was hoping for.
 

Boss Man

Member
I find the game super engaging so far. I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it because the previews made it seem boring but it’s a lot of fun. Need to sink a few dozen hours to get a better idea but Game Freak might have a winner here.
Can you describe the core gameplay loop a bit? Looked boring to me too
 

Inviusx

Member
I really don't understand how this looks fun to anyone. You run around in the overworld and just throw balls at pokemon, catch them and move on.

Also, why dont your Pokemon follow you around? They already solved that in the last game and now they ripped it out again? Of all the games where it seems like your buddy should hang with you while you explore, this seems like the game where that should be a main feature.
 
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Kacho

Gold Member
Can you describe the core gameplay loop a bit? Looked boring to me too
The best way I can describe it is classic Pokémon gameplay in real-time with a lot more meat on the bone. Material gathering, crafting, quests and so on.

The main goal is to complete the Pokédex but it’s not as simple as capturing a monster and calling it a day. There are specific tasks you need to complete for each one and it seems like a huge timesink (good thing for me personally).

There’s also the alpha monsters which I’ve only scratched the surface of. They’re very powerful.

Gonna need about 3-4 days of play to fully grasp what this game has to offer. I’ve spent hours already in the starter zone.
 

Bragr

Banned
It's been among the top 3 Twitch games for 2 days now, which is rare for anything other than chatting or massive online games. It's certainly big, I suspect it's gonna hit lower than Sword and Shield in sales, but not that much lower.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Best pokemon game i played after blue/red/yellow.

This is what gamecube pokemon should have been.

For people that wonder what the gameplay is.

U basically end up on a beach and dont know where you come from, u get pushed into this village that has a 1 hour introduction so yea that's kinda rough to get through. The village has side quests npc's, and u got a main headquarters that is like a military command installation it seems like.

U need to rank up as you start without any rank, and there are something like 10-12 ranks. U do this by completing research. And each rank gives you 10 extra levels of controls over pokemon what u normally get in gyms, but gyms aren't in this game it seems like.

They tell you, u no longer buy your pokeballs in a pokecenter but u craft them with a recipe, so u gotta loot materials when hunting on the world to craft pokeballs.

So basically, when u catch a pokemon, the pokemon has research checklists on him, which u can complete such as, catch 20 of them, evolve them, get different versions of them, shoot 10x flame blast or get hit or whatever. It all yields research points, that u deliver to the professor that gives you stars to move further to next area's that open up.

So what changed in the game versus traditional pokemon games.

1) Experience is gained not only through fighting but also through capturing
2) Your character plays a far bigger combat role then old pokemons and u can do multiple fights at the same time. ( for example u can throw pokeball to catch a pokemon and while that's busy u can catch the next one next towards it.
3) Pokemons attack you the player, and u gotta dodge there attacks, throw either if they aren't aggro on you a pokeball on there ass ( there is tactic towards it ) or fight them with your pokemons and capture / fight them in there.
4) tm's and hms not longer seem to exist ( thank god ), its all gone. U see a rock, throw any pokemon against it and it gets destroyed.
5) still 6 men team, and u can switch in combat through them easily and fluently no longer this gated fight cinematic, same goes for throwing pokeballs. Far better
6) u can throw pokeballs with pokemon and get the pokemon out of your pokeball and against objects to loot items
7) Catching pokemons is a far more focus in this game and i like it a lot more over the main game where u get 3-4 good pokemons and stick with it.
8) focus on leveling pokemons is far less relevant as they keep up perfectly fine, and new pokemon are found everywhere from every generation so u shift stuff out a lot.
9) no longer move remover or learner or anything like that, your pokemons learn 4 skills then all skills after it they learn automatically but never pop up. U want your pokemons to learn the new skills, just go to the menu and change the skills on the fly of no cost anywhere u are. It's great. The most obnoxious shit is finally fixed, skill learning and delearning.
10) crafting station is a thing now, u need to farm materials to craft pokeballs, u can still buy basic pokeballs at a vendor but its expensive. The crafting station can be found in village / camps on the maps and also u have a portable one so u can craft at any moment
11) u can swap pokemons for other pokemons at a npc at a camp, which are placed eveywhere.
12) no gyms leaders found, maybe it will come later but in 16 hours and didn't saw a single gym leader so far, and i can catch 50+ pokemons at this point.
13) game has mounts now, which u unlock in maps that u unlock when u do main quests and get more stars. They are really well done and i like them a lot and super easy to use with a press of a button + swap around.
14) far less dialogue in the maps itself, its still there but way way reduced from the shield games which was just unplayable long dialogue. U are far more busy with finding new pokemons now and catch them for research points and trying to capture higher level rare pokemons in the world
15) fully evolved pokemon of super high levels are found in the world, caught a alakazam at lvl 60 in the starter area.
16) there are time bubbles in the maps that sometimes show up that have loads of different pokemons even fully evolved at low level in them that u can catch.

The gameplay loop is far more better and well worked out from the main games. I like it a a lot and it gives a bit of a breath of the wild pokemon edition idea.

Visuals are perfectly acceptable, they are not next gen level of visuals obviously. But once u get used towards it, its not longer a problem for sure.

Great game.
 
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supernova8

Banned
I have to watch more reviews/gameplay…I’m not 100% sold yet. Never was tbh.

Almost all the reviews released so far have been over-positive on what seems to be the same old unpolished turd (with a bit of open world tacked on and a confusing battle system). I decided to watch someone streaming it (to see it with my own eyes rather than sound bytes from a reviewer and it looked absolutely shit.

Probably because I've been spoiled by the glorious BOTW, but little things even at the start really pissed me off:

- the lack of any SOUND whatsoever from the player or NPCs (not even "hmm" "Ahh" "Yes" "Nu-uh" etc that would at least break up the monotony). The game is just silent, there's not even much in the way of ambient sound in jubilife other than the background music. Again, just feels like a lack of effort.
- the little "ding" sound every single time you press ahead in the dialogue. Wow that must get annoying even an hour in.
- the lack of animation in the cutscenes. It seems like all the NPCs have two animation sets: walking... and talking while hardly moving at all.
- the way that animations seem to render at half speed or worse for NPCs/Pokemon in the distance (I thought it would be removed/fixed (after seeing it in the trailer) for the final game but it's still in there)

The above things sound like aspects they could have improved, and that's without even improving the overall visuals (which are shit but hey it's done).

I haven't played but it from what I've seen so far.. I don't plan on doing so.
 
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Komatsu

Member
Game looks like complete garbage, but then again it's a Game Freak title. What surprises me is how bad the frame pacing is.
 
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