SPOILERS! Legends: Arceus Playthrough Discussion

DHR-107

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
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Orange Islands
Hi All!

As release day is upon us, I thought we should have a thread talking about your teams and any discoveries you may have had while playing the games!

You could also ask each other for help with any information from people! Let's see those teams and those Pokedex's be filled!
 
Floaro Gardens, which is the area immediately to the right at the start of the Obsidian Fieldlands, is a great place for quick EXP gains during the early-game. Beautifly are very common here, and not only are they relatively easy to catch, they come at level 18-20, giving large amounts of EXP per catch. It's how I got my Umbreon so fast.
 
I got pretty lucky and nearly very unlucky already: in my first 2 hours of playing I happened to stumble across a shiny alpha kricketune (while I was mucking around not going to the scripted first alpha encounter). It was level 30 while my mons were only ~17s, so I did a little bit of damage and then started hucking balls and hoping I could catch it before it wiped me out. Very relieved that I managed to catch it without having to reset!

The first hour of the game or so felt pretty slow, but things are starting to pick up. Still getting used to the buttons too. I instinctively want B to be dash instead of crouch; I might consider changing them.

Having fun so far, want to play more but it's time to work :(
 
I havent played much of it since backlog huge but I wanted to at least get a feel of how it actually works but I'll just say...

1) The amount of pokeballs i've thrown on accident is going to soon reach 3 digits
2) The fact the Crouch button is what in most other games would be the Jump or Dash button is tilting me to no end :)
 
Honestly, the game just begun to be fun after the first mini boss. Till that, it looked like a huge tutorial. But now I'm enjoying it completely. Great game already.

I've been using the sneak tactic most of the time and already got a lvl 42 alpha Stantler.

And if you walk away too much from the main quest, things can be TRULY dangerous. I've got myself on a really messy situation against 3 Luxrays.
 
I almost get a gameover vs a random Staravia before meeting Wyrdeer and after meeting him i underestimated a giant Parasect who almost killed me.
This is a lot of fun.
 
I wonder how many people got murdered by the Alpha Rapidash in the very first area. I knew of the Alphas so i avoided it but I'm pretty sure someone playing blind would have faceplanted into it with a lvl 7 starter...
 
Worldie said:
I wonder how many people got murdered by the Alpha Rapidash in the very first area. I knew of the Alphas so i avoided it but I'm pretty sure someone playing blind would have faceplanted into it with a lvl 7 starter...
Click to expand...

I saw the flame over the hill and went over to investigate, saw it was an alpha, vaguely remembered seeing a video of an alpha rapidash obliterating someone's Cyndaquil, and just backed away...
KaenSoul said:
I almost get a gameover vs a random Staravia before meeting Wyrdeer and after meeting him i underestimated a giant Parasect who almost killed me.
This is a lot of fun.
Click to expand...

While wandering around after the aforementioned Rapidash retreat, I came across the alpha Parasect and decided to save scum to see what level it was at. The battle did not go well. (It didn't help that when I engaged it had a buddy paras jump in to help it out.)
 
Couple Early Impressions:
Worldie said:
I wonder how many people got murdered by the Alpha Rapidash in the very first area. I knew of the Alphas so i avoided it but I'm pretty sure someone playing blind would have faceplanted into it with a lvl 7 starter...
Click to expand...
A bit of helpful trivia: You don’t actually have to fight the Alpha Pokémon to catch them. If you throw a Pokeball from behind, there is a chance you can catch them. In Rapidash’s case, there’s a patch of grass next to its domain, so you can crouch and wait for the perfect opportunity before catching them. I tried this on Alpha Rapidash, successfully throwing the ball, but failing to catch it.

Anyway, surprised people found the first half of the game boring. I remember when I went into Obsidian fields for the first time and was allowed to explore it freely, I fell enamored by the space and how much liberty we were given. Obsidian Fields is everything the Wild Area should gave been. I’m also really loving the new research task system and trying to create the Pokédex, I spent so much time trying to complete tasks grab actually progress the story.
 
DreamPrince said:
Anyway, surprised people found the first half of the game boring. I remember when I went into Obsidian fields for the first time and was allowed to explore it freely, I fell enamored by the space and how much liberty we were given. Obsidian Fields is everything the Wild Area should gave been. I’m also really loving the new research task system and trying to create the Pokédex, I spent so much time trying to complete tasks grab actually progress the story.
Click to expand...
mhhh i think the issue with the very first part (aka the obsidian field) is that until you get 1st star, you have only a few mundane tasks to do and not exactly a big variety of pokemon available. Once you actually get 1 star and the game opens up more, it picks up, just getting there can be a slog.

Honestly it's one of the parts where the lack of voice acting REALLY hurts. These cutscenes where you just have to... mash through text basically, really lack charm without it :\
I've seen a several people that halfway through the introductions of the Galaxy chars just went spamming buttons cause reading through text boxes just isn't "fun", and I definitely can see where they are coming from.
 
I just did the first mandatory alpha fight, some stray thoughts:

-god i wish this game had voice acting
-man this game is just kind of ugly
-The ui is nice & snappy
-the sneak mechanic is nice but kind of hard to really use. Pokemon sights are prety varied and you still have to get close & out of cover to actually aim, and then throw, the ball...and sometimes the areas are set up such that you're kinda rolling the dice.
-the whole research aspect, and the specific loop of captures, is novel but i kinda feel it's going to wear thin.
-that said its nice to get a "complete" entry you dont actually need to fill out the full things
-i mean i porbably will because i have those brain worms but its nice
-i am havingaa real hard time gauging how much damage anything is going to do at any given time, even before having styles enter the picture
-roll out is a terrifying thing to deal with in the early game.
-i had a battle with a zubat where the drowsy effect trigged 6 times in a row and that sucked.
-evolution being gated for ??? amount of time is dumb
-the characters are nice
-the intro cutscene is hilarious
-i love all the : ( faces the mc makes
-i love all the sideeye akari gives over everything
-p o t a t o m o c h i
 
R_N said:
-that said its nice to get a "complete" entry you dont actually need to fill out the full things
Click to expand...
Honestly while this is weird i'm also glad it's a thing.

The tasks you have to do are pretty varied and give you multiple options based on play style, including catching, defeating, watching a move used (works even if YOU use it), sneak attacks, catch/defeat in a specific way, etc etc, so say if you enjoy the stealthing and can't be arsed of fighting 10 wurmples you have options.

R_N said:
i love all the : ( faces the mc makes
Click to expand...
Something that struck me very hard was how usually pokemon games are all :) EVERYONE FRIENDS EVERYONE HAPPY and then this game goes like "I'm sad all the time" and "YOU WILL DIE ALONE IN THE WILD" O_O
 
Worldie said:
Honestly while this is weird i'm also glad it's a thing.

The tasks you have to do are pretty varied and give you multiple options based on play style, including catching, defeating, watching a move used (works even if YOU use it), sneak attacks, catch/defeat in a specific way, etc etc, so say if you enjoy the stealthing and can't be arsed of fighting 10 wurmples you have options.


Something that struck me very hard was how usually pokemon games are all :) EVERYONE FRIENDS EVERYONE HAPPY and then this game goes like "I'm sad all the time" and "YOU WILL DIE ALONE IN THE WILD" O_O
Click to expand...
It is incredibly funny how everyone is like:
-who tf are you, you weirdo
-side eye
-steal your pepsi and call you a bitch
-Cylenne: you might die out there
-Cylenne, again: Well, good work, guess we dont have to send you to your death
-Cylenne, also: Ehhh 15's about ready for labor. That's pre-child labor laws for you!

Except Laventon whose just out here having a great time
 
So, heres my two cents so far....

In most pokemon games, one of the most loathed part is the beginning, the tutorials, everyone is fighting through unskippable cutscenes to get to the meat of everything.

Ive been playing for well over 12 hours still exploring the first zone, not out of necessity, but curiosity. Can i actually take down these alphas? Maybe i should mark down these items. Oh? I need to fight a few mons to evolve? Damn is that nes crafting materials?

If i can get this entrenched in the *tutorial section* i cant wait to see what the rest of the game has in store.
 
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Is kind of surprising this game doesnt have a level limit on what you can catch like SWSH, after getting my ass kicked by Alpha Stantler i went back and catched her with my lv22 Dewott and a lv17 Paras.
Now i have a lv42 Stantler that is bigger than Wyrdeer, but won't listen to me so is not like you can easly break the game like this, and got 2hko by a Toxicroak in the next area anyway.
And yes its been like 5 hours since my last post and i didnt progress much because i HAD to fill my dex as much as possible before leaving the first area (and complete the sidequests), i never had this much fun filling the dex before.
 
KaenSoul said:
Is kind of surprising this game doesnt have a level limit on what you can catch like SWSH, after getting my ass kicked by Alpha Stantler i went back and catched her with my lv22 Dewott and a lv17 Paras.
Now i have a lv42 Stantler that is bigger than Wyrdeer, but won't listen to me so is not like you can easly break the game like this, and got 2hko by a Toxicroak in the next area anyway.
Click to expand...
The reason for no "level limit to catch" is likely due to the obedience mechanic.

In regular games, pokemon caught by you will obey you no matter by the level, so they wanted a way in SwSh to prevent you from just catching a random op wild area mon and stomp the game (too bad the speedrun still does that with the dens in Tundra KEKW)
In this one however they opted for pokemon not listening which... to be fair... I like it more. Rather than telling you "no you can't", it's "you can but it's kinda pointless".

Both work "in lore" since Pokemon are meant to only accept you as master if they respect your strenght (or something like that), I guess.
 
Worldie said:
I wonder how many people got murdered by the Alpha Rapidash in the very first area. I knew of the Alphas so i avoided it but I'm pretty sure someone playing blind would have faceplanted into it with a lvl 7 starter...
Click to expand...


Didn't Monolith Soft help with this game? If so, Legends Arceus might have gotten that idea from the "unique monsters" in Xenoblade.
 
Worldie said:
The reason for no "level limit to catch" is likely due to the obedience mechanic.

In regular games, pokemon caught by you will obey you no matter by the level, so they wanted a way in SwSh to prevent you from just catching a random op wild area mon and stomp the game (too bad the speedrun still does that with the dens in Tundra KEKW)
In this one however they opted for pokemon not listening which... to be fair... I like it more. Rather than telling you "no you can't", it's "you can but it's kinda pointless".

Both work "in lore" since Pokemon are meant to only accept you as master if they respect your strenght (or something like that), I guess.
Click to expand...
It's funny to me that it took this long for the thing every one thought badges did (make it so your own pokemon would obey you past level X) to something it actually did

Bull Of Heaven said:
Arceus' monologue at the beginning says something about taking you to a strange world full of creatures called Pokemon. Makes me think that what they're going for isn't just "time travel" or "literally Lucas/Dawn," but rather "the player is pulled into the game".
Click to expand...
That wording did catch my eye but we're explicitly someone who knows how to throw pokeballs like super good and we're wearing kalos (Rei)/alola (akari) clothing at the start. It definitely seems like someone who is from the modern Pokemon world as an explanation for their familiarity and not someone from an approximation of "our" world.
 
The opening section of this game is atrocious. Why they feel the need to vomit two dozen characters on us in the span of 10 minutes is beyond me. Could the leader of the whole galaxy thing and mom cyrus really not be condensed into the same character? I would be fine if any of these opening characters felt consequential and interesting, but they don’t. It really only needs to be diamond person, Pearl person, galaxy person, professor, the other playable character, and I guess twink Cynthia salesperson. Even then that’s still a lot!

Also, as others have stated, it feels very weirdly stilted and cheap going back and forth between all these conversations and the only sound effect being the noise of your A button press. I have never really felt a need for Pokémon to have VA stuff in the games before, but something about this adventure makes me feel like it’s missing. Like, I don’t even want full voice acting, just some sort of simple noise or a “hey!” when you talk to someone.

HOWEVER the moment you get across that bridge and mostly exit that one hour button mashing fest, the game really takes off. You get to be alone and explore as you like and… wow this gameplay loop feels really fun! I love sneaking around and chucking heavy balls at Pokémon like I’m a spy doing backstabs. I love challenging alpha Pokémon and getting my keister handed to me by wild shit like icy wind bibarel. There’s a really great sense of discovery to this game and it has me hooked. I didn’t want to go to bed, I just wanted to keep playing.

Also: I think the Wrydeer mount is totally broken lol. You can scale most slanted walls that look far more intended for the climbing mount by just dismounting Wrydeer mid jump, getting cozy on your human feet, remounting, and jumping. I think I accidentally sequence broke areas that way and got really confused why the Kricketunes in the swamp were level 44 while the Volo trainer battle was level 20. I then proceeded to do it far more intentionally and ended up scaling up an area filled with level 45 luxray and staraptor. Now I’m off to whatever part of the bog that bibarel lady wanted me in with a team of level 45 Pokémon.

Very much enjoying it so far!
 
Worldie said:
I havent played much of it since backlog huge but I wanted to at least get a feel of how it actually works but I'll just say...

1) The amount of pokeballs i've thrown on accident is going to soon reach 3 digits
2) The fact the Crouch button is what in most other games would be the Jump or Dash button is tilting me to no end :)
Click to expand...

The number of balls I've thrown at trees instead of Pokemon is getting pretty high. I guess I must hit the X button somehow to swap the stuff around by accident or some other mechanic in my brain from another game. The sprinting is fun, but not having some sort of stamina bar is annoying as you don't know how long your sprint is...

Worldie said:
I wonder how many people got murdered by the Alpha Rapidash in the very first area. I knew of the Alphas so i avoided it but I'm pretty sure someone playing blind would have faceplanted into it with a lvl 7 starter...
Click to expand...

This is like the third time I've seen this Rapidash mentioned and I'm yet to even see Ponyta at ALL. I went to the Horshoe Place (which should have horses?), absolutely diddly there apart from Bidoofs. No idea. Alpha's are genuinely scary though and I haven't fought many. Towards the southern area of the first area north of the river theres a Snorlax guarding the narrows.

DreamPrince said:
Anyway, surprised people found the first half of the game boring. I remember when I went into Obsidian fields for the first time and was allowed to explore it freely, I fell enamored by the space and how much liberty we were given. Obsidian Fields is everything the Wild Area should gave been. I’m also really loving the new research task system and trying to create the Pokédex, I spent so much time trying to complete tasks grab actually progress the story.
Click to expand...

Definitely agree. It feels a lot more natural than SwSh did with its wild area. It just seems to work and the areas are actually gloriously large. I full on expected each zone to be kinda small, but honestly they are nice chunky places to go.

I'm about 6 hours in and only just beat Kleavor and my party is around level 20. Been swapping and changing things around a bit, but its nice to use things I haven't before (I had Starly/Luxray for a while but swapped Starly for Drifblim). I think I'm about to go into the second large "Zone" area, and I'm a 3 star recruit so far. I'm enjoying it.

Also Agree with R_N that you might as well just guess for damage rolls. Nothing makes sense.
 
Something up with the damage formula or something? All my pokemon take tons of damage from weak moves from other pokemon multiple levels below them in the early game. Just regular moves, not even strong style.
 
DragonMasterX34 said:
Something up with the damage formula or something? All my pokemon take tons of damage from weak moves from other pokemon multiple levels below them in the early game. Just regular moves, not even strong style.
Click to expand...
Its not just you; veterans and casuals alike are taking damage way outside the standard formulas. I was debating nuzlocking this game, but when a level 3 bidoof killd my level 14 rowlett at near max health, I knew all my prior knowledge was going out the wondow, and itd be wiser till we get concrete data to make a gameplan.
 
Count Bleck said:
Its not just you; veterans and casuals alike are taking damage way outside the standard formulas. I was debating nuzlocking this game, but when a level 3 bidoof killd my level 14 rowlett at near max health, I knew all my prior knowledge was going out the wondow, and itd be wiser till we get concrete data to make a gameplan.
Click to expand...
me when volo's equal level togepi uses tackle to take out half of cyndaquil's health: hold up

me facing a rando buizel 5 levels lower does 2/3rds of my health with a quick attack and i've already rationalized the trainers as just having good stats: NOW I SAID HOLD UP
 
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