While Pokémon Legends: Arceus has added many new ways to explore and catch Pokémon, Pokémon Sword and Shied's longterm success and maintained popularity in comparison to Pokémon Legends: Arceus may indicate the new game has gone in the wrong direction. Pokémon games have remained popular over the past two and a half decades for their endearing storylines, satisfying gameplay, and addictive catch mechanics. However, as gameplay outside of the Pokémon series has changed and evolved, popular mechanics and gimmicks have been added to new Pokémon games. While these changes can draw in new audiences and create a better experience, Pokémon Legends: Arceus' questionable open-world-inspired gameplay and shaky narrative may raise questions about future Pokémon games.
Despite the Pokémon series seeing many changes over the past several decades, many primary parts of gameplay have stayed the same through Generation Eight. A young player begins a journey to travel a region and raise a team of Pokémon, battling increasingly difficult Gym Leaders, Rivals, and antagonist teams with the goal to become the region's Champion. The linear game progression is fleshed out with side stories, puzzles, and interesting characters that add depth and intrigue to the many towns players pass through. However, Pokémon Legends: Arceus' gameplay throws most of this formula away, stripping back mechanics and elements many players have found consistently enjoyable.
The changes to the Pokémon formula began with Sword and Shield, which was released in the fall of 2019. While the story progression for the game remained linear, mechanics like the Wild Area and Raid Dens offered players areas to explore that was larger than past routes. The Raid Den battles also introduced a new type of multiplayer gameplay that hadn't been seen in previous Pokémon entries, allowing players new ways to share their adventures. Additionally, Sword and Shield altered the Gym Battle challenges to a Championship Cup, with the Elite Four replaced by a battle showdown at the end of the game. This plus the Crown Tundra DLC for Sword and Shield that added two new large maps and storylines helped keep the game both engaging and exciting, giving players a chance to explore the Galar region in a completely different way than previous generations.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus Big Maps Lack Narrative Direction
However, while Pokémon Sword and Shield offered a deep and complex narrative with interesting and developed characters, Pokémon Legends: Arceus' storyline falls frustratingly short. The majority of a player's time in the game is spent in the many locations of the Hisui region, with the ability to return to Jubilife Village as a home base. They also solve a short narrative surrounding frenzied Lord Pokémon and the breaking of time and space caused by the Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia. Despite this, the plot feels scattered, and most of the characters are flat compared to the complex cast of NPCs from Sword and Shield.
It is possible that in focusing on making large, open spaces for players to explore, Game Freak wasn't able to put as much time or thought into the NPCs and overarching storyline. Because of this, many narrative points aren't ever concluded, making progression through Pokémon Legends: Arceus boring compared to many other games. Storylines surrounding the appearance of Unova's Ingo, as well as the protagonist's trip back in time, are never concluded in the main storyline or postgame, leaving the resolution open-ended. Additionally, characters like Pokémon Legends: Arceus' clan leaders Adaman and Irida never receive closure after the course of the main events, leaving players to wonder what may have happened to the Diamond and Pearl clans once they were no longer at odds.
While open-world-inspired exploration and modernized catch mechanics are good choices for the Pokémon series, the lack of balance between the narrative and the general gameplay updates isn't enjoyable. Pokémon Legends: Arceus misses out on the emotional satisfaction found in previous Pokémon journeys because of the inconsistent plot and empty character stories, which may impact many from wanting to restart the game in the future, or continue playing once the main story has been completed.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus Strips Away Important Mechanics & Options
Additionally, while Sword and Shield added a wide variety of new ways to enjoy past Pokémon mechanics, Pokémon Legends: Arceus slims down options. While Shiny hunting in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is robust, with numerous ways to improve Shiny odds, the game has a surprisingly limited Pokédex. Additionally, while Sword and Shield's Wild Area received a wide number of new Pokémon appearing in post-game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus' vast maps do not gain new species for players to catch.
The new battle system in Pokémon Legends: Arceus also takes a hit due to its simplicity, streamlining things a bit too hard by removing many strategy elements found in previous games like Sword and Shield. The new battle system has been altered to have an attack order queue that changes based on Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Strong and Agile attack types, but the constantly moving order can create a confusing and unclear battle experience for players. This is compounded by the removal of Hidden Abilities, classic status effects, and the previous IV system that many players have relied on for the past eight generations of the Pokémon series.
However, one of the biggest issues found in Pokémon Legends: Arceus that indicates the game may have gone in the wrong direction is the primary mechanic - catching Pokémon. In past games like Pokémon Sword and Shield, players carefully select their team of six personal companions. While Sword and Shield's updated storage system allows players to have better access to their caught Pokémon, this actually offers players the chance to bond to more than just the six species they first caught, making strategies more accessible and variety part of the narrative progression. Pokémon Legends: Arceus does away with the updated storage function and has catch mechanics similar to Pokémon GO, with the players active party of Pokémon holding very little weight in the actual goals of the storyline.
Instead of raising a team to battle rivals and Gym Leaders in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, players can simply catch much stronger Pokémon in each area they unlock to plow through battle challenges. Additionally, a strong team of Pokémon isn't needed to calm frenzied Noble Pokémon, as players simply throw balms at them until their health gauge is depleted. Because of this, players may never form a strong bond with any of their Pokémon companions, including the starter Pokémon partner they receive from Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Professor Laventon at the start of the story. This makes the primary goal of bonding and raising a team of Pokémon obsolete, and effectively slashes one of the most endearing qualities of the series from the game's goals. While the progress to modernize the Pokémon series can be seen in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it is clear the changes will need more work in upcoming titles to prevent further loss of what was originally enjoyable about the series.