Pokémon Legends: Arceus is shaping up to be a bold new game for the mega-franchise, and its research tasks will be a large part of it. There is expected to be a more openly explorable world in Legends: Arceus, and while much of the familiar Pokémon formula appears to be present in some way, the Pokédex will be more important in Legends: Arceus than ever, making players engage in a process that is usually a more passive objective.
An ever-present narrative force in the mainline Pokémon games is being recruited by each game's Pokémon Professor to help complete the region's Pokédex. Capturing a Pokémon adds its information to the Pokédex, more or less making it a passive quest, or even one that's often secondary to collecting all eight gym badges and becoming the Pokémon Champion. On top of all of this, there is usually another mystery unfolding which involves each game's antagonistic organization, such as Diamond and Pearl's Team Galactic, which might be linked to Legends: Arceus' Galaxy Expedition Team.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes place long ago when Sinnoh was known as the Hisui region, and players will be recruited for development of the first Hisuian Pokédex. Because this task is so monumental - a watershed moment in Hisuian/Sinnohan history - Legends: Arceus is putting a major gameplay emphasis on it. Completing the Pokédex will be a much more involved process, an interesting change for the series when completing it is usually a backseat process.
Legends: Arceus Will Have Players Do Unprecedented Research
The way the Pokédex has worked thus far in Pokémon games, it's basically a census, with the player collecting a record of which Pokémon can be caught in the region. Capturing a Pokémon will record its sex, height, weight, footprints, and a blurb of general information about the creature in the Pokédex. Legends: Arceus is making all of this taxonomical data one of the player's primary responsibilities. Instead of just ticking that Pokémon off of a list since it's been caught, completing the Pokédex will require players to finish research tasks. Completing more research will in turn grant players access to more areas in the Hisui region, making it a prime directive.
The way the Pokédex appears to work in Legends: Arceus presents an interesting dichotomy. There is at once an advancement of game mechanics, giving players objectives like observing different species' weaknesses or witnessing a Pokémon use a specific move, while simultaneously being a regression in Pokémon lore. The Hisuian era is so old that players will use steam-powered Poké Balls in Legends: Arceus, and it would appear that knowledge about Pokémon themselves is equally rudimentary. Taking a practically automatic gameplay process and bringing it to the forefront is a fascinating use of the setting in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, bringing a major change to the series without compromising its core components.