How have you been enoying Z-A so far?

KomodoZero

I've been enjoying it a lot, it feeds the nagging ADHD goblin in my brain exceptionally well.
I will agree that it is a tad too restrictive early on, but it doesn't last as long as you'd think and you're in control more often than not. Once they do let you go of the hand rails though, they really let you go, the entire city is accessible all at once. Barring several traversal options, you can go darn near anywhere.
I do like the combat, though it has its annoyances. The fact that Pokemon always have to do their little wind up animation before they can attack is frustrating, but I guess it plays into switching tactically. The system has just enough friction to remain interesting, I feel.
The story is very much a drip feed, I'm only just a solid few ranks in and the intrigue has already kicked in, I'm actually really looking forward to how it moves forward now.

Dragonfree

The tutorial restrictiveness at the beginning was definitely a bit trying, but once it lets you go it's a good time and it's gone on with a lot of pleasant surprises from there. My favorite thing about it is your Pokémon help you get around in the overworld again - that was always the bit I missed about HMs. I've had several real delight moments, like freezing the fountain to drain the canal and enter the sewers and realizing I could clear away the sludge with Water moves without anyone giving me some specific TM to do it.

This is also the best implementation we've had of following Pokémon yet! Love to just stroll around the city with my Charizard smashing Mega Shards and seamlessly one-shotting wild Pokémon.

Also I was not actually expecting parkour but we got it. I was not expecting how a lot of the game past midgame is just "how in the world do I get up on that rooftop" but I think I'm here for it, incentivizes exploration a bit.

The story is definitely back-heavy. I'm not quite at the end yet but probably getting there; a lot of elements only start coming in at all later on. Funny pacing. I'll reserve judgement on the story as a whole until it's actually been resolved.

Darren

I've played a bit more and it does feel a lot better now that everything has opened up. I'm going to keep at it!

KomodoZero

A few more days in and I've become a sidequest fiend. I must go complete them the second I notice a new one on the map.
As a result, I've actually unlocked a lot of additional optional things, like new hair and eye colours, various battle items, and so on.

ICanSnake

It's very fun so far. The main complaint I had with PLA was that the controls were super unintuitive and when you put the game down for a while, you forget how to play. PLZA fixed the controls and it's so much easier to understand the controls in this game. Completing the Pokedex also doesn't feel like a chore or a grind like in PLA. I understand why you have to grind for the dex in PLA, but it's so much simpler just catching one of every Pokemon and it registers in your dex.

Shiny hunting is also so easy in this game. With the various methods found, you can AFK while hunting for shinies and they will stay spawned in your overworld unless you overwrite it or interact with it. I've already caught 13 shinies. It sucks that the Shiny Charm is locked to level 50 of Mable's Research and I heard it was very long and tedious to get, but you don't really need the Shiny Charm for a lot of hunts. The fossils aren't affected by the Shiny Charm chances and there's nothing else you can do to raise the shiny chance either.

The Greninjite was super easy to get. A lot of people were so mad that you had to play through ranked battles to get it, but after 4 ranked battles I already made it to rank N out of rank K and just had to do a few more to reach the goal.

I'm at rank B in the story progress, but the biggest complaint I have about the game is how you jump from rank V straight to rank F. It defeats the purpose of having a rank system. I was under the impression the game was going to be so grindy but if you only go through a few ranks in the game, then what is the point of having a rank? They explain this in the game as needing to be rank F in order to use Mega Evolution, but they should have used a different system instead of the alphabet to portray ranks.

Nick15

I'm a huge sucker for Pokémon's simplicity so I'm 100% biased. I'm still getting a hand of the battle system, which I feel is the strongest part of the game for me. Like, I never could wrap my head around previous battle systems, but this time I actually get it, and I'm loving it. It reminds me a lot of the way battles work in the anime... it only took them 29 years to figure it out! 😅

On the flipside, I feel like this game has a bit less heart to it relative to Legends Arceus... however I also get that Pokémon is a business and if they can make as much money per game regardless of how big or smal the budget is, then they're gonna skimp out on a few things.

In any case, I'm gonna wait until I finish the main campaign and get a team worth playing online with before I lock down my final opinions.

Darren

Nick15 While I have mixed feelings on the battle system, it's a huge improvement over the battle system of Legends Arceus, I hated it!

KomodoZero

The last week has been a blur. It's just completely feeding the dumb ADHD brain of mine and then some, much like most Pokemon games. The finale of the game was absolutely stellar, I can't put into words just how much they put in the back half of the game but it's all fantastic. I really liked the characters too, Canari is fun, so is Tarragon, I liked the dynamic between Ivor and Gwynn, Lebanne and Jacinthe are just so funny, Jacinthe is just so insufferable, yet enjoyably so. Corbeau too, he's a lot more than just a mob boss stereotype.
Also, Mega Froslass my beloved...

Juno

So I put off getting the game until after a trip where I wouldn't be bringing my Switch, but I finally got it yesterday and had a blast last night! ... until it started giving me motion sickness and triggered a migraine. TT_TT I probably shouldn't have played at all today because the migraine still hasn't passed, but I couldn't stay away entirely because I was having fun! Love running and climbing and exploring and buying clothes. Not so fond of battling, and while I think it's mostly the camera that makes me dizzy, I think the added stress of battling tipped it over the edge to a migraine. Really should take a break tomorrow ...

Darren

Juno Hey Juno i'm very sorry to hear about your Migraine, I hope you're feeling better today and enjoying ZA!

MissingnoMaster I'm glad to her you've been enjoying it!

MissingnoMaster

I've loved playing this. The new battle system took a little getting used to, and I do generally prefer the classic turn-based one, but I do hope this one can at least stick around in future Legends titles, it's honestly pretty fun. And there's all these little details that can affect things in ways that you don't get in the classic battle system. Like, my Stunfisk was able to avoid a powerful attack from the final boss by being so flat the attack went over it. And I've seen on someone's Let's Play, their Charizard missed a Flamethrower on a Klefki because it went for Play Rough at the right moment, basically letting it duck underneath the attack. Little things like those are actually pretty cool, and I appreciate them.

Oh, and the story and characters! I won't get into specifics, but Pokémon continues to crush it. SV gave me high expectations, and Z-A delivered IMO.

Juno

Darren Thank you, I have recovered! Saw a post saying that turning down the camera sensitivity to 1 in the settings helps with the motion sickness - it makes the camera turn around slower. And I don't know if it was just that the migraine passed on its own or if that actually helped so much, but I haven't felt dizzy since changing that at least. So these last couple of days I've had a lot more fun with the game. 🙂

Destiny-Smasher

It is the most ‘okayest’ Pokemon game I have played since Sun/Moon.
The definition of ‘filler content’ imo. Nothing egregiously bad about it like SV, nothing amazing about it, either. They “addressed” the technical issues that SV suffered from by… just removing essentially any semblance of variety or exploration? Which… IS a solution that GameFreak seems capable of managing lol

At least on Switch 2 it runs very smooth, though the higher resolution also highlights how jarringly inconsistent the art design is.

It does feel nice and addictive to seamlessly be running around, collecting random items and battling/capturing. They certainly retained that ‘flow’ factor that Legends Arceus had - aside from how breaking the crystals is less intuitive than it was in LA.

Combat has actually gotten more boring and less strategic now that I’m in the 50-60 level range. It’s all about button mashing moves out at this point, which is disappointing, since this combat system has, say it me, ‘lots of potential.’ And the game overall feels like, say it with me, ‘a step in the right direction for the franchise’ lol

At this rate GameFreak will still be ‘stepping in the right direction’ with games 10-15 years in the past for the foreseeable future. Which means maybe I’ll get to experience a 2025-feeling Pokemon game before I die.

But yeah, it’s fun if severely repetitious, and given what a rushed concept this is, they’ve at least tried to fill it out with amusing NPCs and very fast pacing by Pokemon standards, which I think that last bit alone is all most players really need.

Very relieved we decided to rent and not buy, 6.5/10 for me so far, maybe that’ll go up to a 7 by the time I'm done with it. Not great, but definitely not terrible imo

Edit: rolled credits and nothing has changed my opinion, it’s a 6.5/10 for me. Mid game is more like a 7, but the early parts and later parts are a slog imo. Not a bad game! Just not great.