Pokémon Legends: Arceus - US Version

TLDR: The Game is really good. The systems work great and its a world you can get lost in and play for a very long time. It's the Pokémon game I have been hoping for.This review is going to be a bit long so hold on.1. Open world! Pokémon has been in need on an open world type game for a very long time. The areas feel alive and fun to explore as you go walk around. If you are anything like me exploring has always been a large part of the Pokémon games and this game lets you explore and find fun things and Pokémon wherever you go. It is broken up into several main areas. I understand that they did this to help streamline the story better but, I think they could have gotten away with just letting the player have one big open world. That might just might be my preference though. The Pokémon all around make the world feel alive and exciting. Plus, lots of things to pick up for crafting and using in the open world. Plus plenty of secrets to find lying around. Including Unown and weird will-o'-wisps hiding is various places.2. Mechanics! We have some brand new mechanics.- The core mechanic in the game is throwing things. You throw things to catch Pokémon, you throw things to battle Pokémon, you throw things to lure/distract Pokémon. Lots of throwing. But, it is interesting and complex enough that it feels good. Lots of things that you need to do can all be wrapped up nicely into one mechanic so it's not too complicated to learn how to play.- Lots of the mechanics that got in your face in old games have become a lot less intrusive. For example the whole game doesn't pause when you catch a new Pokémon to ask you if you want to give it a nickname or when one of you Pokémon are ready to evolve. This means that you get to focus on what you are doing in the open world. The downside of this is that you have to go into the menu to give nicknames or evolve your Pokémon.- Locomotion is great and varied. To put it simple, it's fun to move around in the game. Even if you aren't doing anything else walking or swimming or flying across the map is fun. Personally the sneaking is really slow but its not annoying enough to be bad.- Pokémon battles are cool and more complex than previous game titles. I won't get too much into it, but I think the battle mechanics are really well thought out, fun and interesting. My biggest complaint of the game is that there aren't any random trainers wandering around the open world map that want to challenge you!- Nobel Pokémon. The bosses of the game are cool. They also use the core throwing mechanic as a way to make the boss fights different from regular battles. I think they are cool parts of the game that do well to make each battle memorable and fun. They are not my favorite part of the games though.-New online mechanics. When you black out in this game you drop items that other players can pick up in their game to return them to you.3. Story. I don't want to give a big breakdown of the story here as I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I think it is one of the best stories Pokémon has had in a long time. It's not a masterpiece, but it is better than what is expected for Pokémon most of the time.4. Graphics. I think it's a good thing that I have mostly seen people compare this game's graphics to Breath of the Wild instead of other Pokémon games. It means that the games are moving forward. The graphics are just okay when compared to other games, but they are the best graphics I have seen in a Pokémon Game. So, progress!5. Sound Design. Personally, I love the sound design for this game. It feels great. I don't have the expertise to give it a full analysis but it feels great and the music sounds good!6. Side quests! There are so many side quests and most of them feel pretty good. Lots of fetch quests though. Overall they are a good addition to the game and help make the world feel alive.7. Things that could be improved. Now, remember that even if you love a piece of media you can always find things that you don't like.- Trainers. So, as I said earlier. I would love to see trainers that challenge you to battles just hanging out in the wild.- Gyms + elite four. While the Nobel Pokémon were a cool thing to replace gyms as Boss fights I would have loved to see Gyms still in the game. Same with the elite four. I just want more reason to have battles in this game.- Why is the save menu in the bag? I think online and save functions would make more sense with the Map in the "Phone" menu. I keep pressing the wrong menu to save.- This game is for slightly older kids. This is not really a bad thing, but it could be for some people. It will be hard for younger kids to play compared to older Pokémon games. (Although my young kid still loves it.)

The pokemon series has been stagnant with the same formula since 1996 with one new mechanic here and there, which has been consistently fun, but left you wanting more. Arceus is not a perfect evolution of the traditional formula, but it is a step in the right direction.Arceus rips alot from Breath of the Wild, and potentially could've ripped even more (you'll understand when you are attempting to climb up a tiny curb of a hill) to be even more fun in terms of traversal. As you progress, you will find more tools to help your movement, but I found myself imagining a pokemon world with even more personal choices of character movement or interaction with the world.Supplies are plentiful and easy to aquire, and funds for more gear are increasingly plentiful as the game rewards you for completing research on pokemon.Battling is incredibly streamlined and the scaling of levels and damage has been changed so the risks (and the tension is higher). If you are seen by multiple aggressive pokemon, you can run a risk of being overrun if you aren't careful. It isn't perfect and later that risk becomes more obsolete, but it is a good step. One regret I have is that in the simplification of the battling, alot of strategic value is lost. Pokemon do not have abilities anymore like levitate, etc as well as item holding. I imagined what it would be like to have that aspect with the new scaling of damage and level differences as well and I hope they revisit it in the future.One thing I do really like is the scrapping of the IV system with grit dust. For casual players, IV and EVs are just additional flavoring to make every pokemon different, but more hardcore players well spend ages grinding in the same area or breeding pokemon for perfect stats (back in the day when I played pokemon silver, I literally taped my Gameboy control button down at a gym with a panel that slid you back so I could "walk" and hatch pokemon eggs for better stats) Rather then grind for 85 hours for a single one of your favorite pokemon with perfect IVs or EVs then painstakingly train them on a specific type of pokemon that raises one specific point of EV, which, by the by, almost none of that information you can see or keep track of easily except for a bare minimum web chart and some numbers by your stats. I know there's alot of bragging rights for "legit" perfect statted shiny pokemon, but it always bothered me because you are essentially gambling and wasting time for the chance of finding one. There is no real skill involved, just a test of your will and patience to endure.. Also, plenty of hackers in the newer games make all that effort obsolete.Instead just take your favorite pokemon and invest in them instead. Got a shiny and it's junk? No worries, you can raise their stats instead while you're out exploring. Your starter is no longer a footrung to better pokemon to grind for later, it is a partner you can invest in. It is all much more clear and concise. In a purely sentimental note, I also feel it fits pokemons theme much better of its more about what pokemon you like and put the effort into, rather then just a team filled with the current metas of the strongest that are all relatively the same. My bidoof maybe can't take on a perfect statted Arceus, but it can probably give it a run for its money now.Arceus's biggest weakness is its plot and its characters. The tutorial is two hours too long with way too much talking and no way to skip. The story is so boring and convoluted, with no buildup or genuine emotional beats at all. You have a cellphone from essentially God. They stole bits of plot from Breath of wild and made it kiddie version including a "calamity" and literal rips in space and time that no one seems overly concerned for and somehow know quite a bit about. I know this is a game marketed for children, but aside from the fact that pokemon is multi generational now as well, there are plenty of examples of children's media with excellent stories and character development.All in all, between Sword/Shield and Arceus there have been many steps in the right directions to bring more innovation into the series. I hope Nintendo continues development of more open world pokemon games. I would love to have more interactions with my pokemon directly, have more trainers (and other players) to fight, watch the interactions of even more pokemon in the wild, and feel even more like the wandering trainer that as a kid I wanted to be.

I have 530 hours invested in this game and I can say with confidence this is one of the better pokemon games made in a long time. The gameplay is fun, decent story, challenging battles, and great for shiny hunting if you like to collect special pokemon at the end of the game. Highly recommend it for both new and old pokemon fans

Great game, came packaged well and unopened :)

Good game ( :

My kids love this game! We got it for the switch so my oldest son could play it, but they all three like it.

I've heard how great this game is so I'm excited to play it! Last pokemon games I played were pokemon yellow when I was a kid up to ruby and that's it.

Bought this for my son and he loves it. But then again he loves all things pokemon.