This review contains spoilers
PLA: the best Pokémon game I’ve ever played and why I’ll (probably) never play another Pokémon game in my life
tl;dr: love the game, cried a little bit, didn't care about the flaws, Kamado is daddy, Arceus made me cry.
“Seek out all Pokémon, and thou shalt find me once more”: these are the last words you hear before you find yourself in a strange new land called Hisui. You were wakened by this curious professor, Laventon, with a questionable sense of fashion, and, alongside him, these three little creatures, who promptly runs away. And there is your first mission: recapture those little critters.
The professor notices your innate ability to catch those Pokémon, and believes you would be a valuable asset for the newfound Galaxy Expedition Team. You then talk to Captain Cyllene, who is curious about your capabilities and if you are able to survive in the wilderness, although is, righteously, mistrustful about this stranger who felled from the skies. And-- wait… survive?
Now we see the major difference from Legends Arceus from every other Pokémon game: the people are TERRIFIED of these creatures and almost all of the folk gathers in this type of settlement in hopes of staving off any chance of encountering some wild Pokémon. Or even worse, dying by the hands (or should I say paws?) of them.
And, tbh, same. It would require an enormous lack of common sense to stand before a, say, pride of lions and thinking “Imma pet them”. More so if they could breathe fire, project shards of razor-sharp rocks, or spray spores that could immobilize you (and then slice and dice you for a little banquet for their pack).
Sure, that teddiursa might be cute and all, and then it comes bulldoze-ing towards you, and you barely dodge your way, just as a drifloon self-destructs right in your face. Yikes…
So, you, just to get housing and food, have to risk your life researching Pokémon, otherwise you’ll be kicked out of the village and possibly killed by some wild Pokémon, because, again, people mistrust you, since you just felled out of the sky. Bet. Then, you get a book and go on your merry way to “seek out all Pokémon”.
But, there’s also that giant tear at the top of Mt. Coronet. “Are you sure you have nothing to do with it?”, you once again shake your head, just as confused as the rest of the Team on what you are doing here.
So, you tell that Ress fella that you are heading out, and your first stop is the Obsidian Fieldlands, a luscious green prairie with a river lazily making its way through the terrain, a few horseshoe-shaped ponds and HOLY ARCEUS WHY IS THAT RAPIDASH STARING ME WITH BLOODTHIRST EYES? You discover that that is an Alpha Pokémon, a larger and stronger monster of that pack, and also incredibly aggressive and hard to catch.
You recover from the spook, with enough knowledge of this side of the river so you are now allowed to cross the little bridge, taking you to an island with stronger Pokémon. You also happen to be present to participate in a discussion about some sort of Lord of the Pearl Clan. And that he is going rampage. And it was since that tear opened in the sky. And you also felled from the sky. And everybody looks at you. And there is also some sort of attrition between those Diamond and Pearl clans, who also mistrust the guys from Galaxy Team. I guess everybody here has some unresolved issues.
After a little back and forth and some banter, you’re tasked to quell the frenzied Lord of the Woods. By throwing his favorite food in little pouches at him. Aight.
And there is another difference from the main games: you are battling the Pokémon. Not your Poké-friends, YOU. And let me tell you, shit slaps. And it’s hard. Well, at least you’ll be knocked on your ass a few times. The Lord of Hollow surely kicked mine.
After this ordeal, some are not exactly happy with your accomplishment, but most congratulates you for being able to quell the frenzy of such powerful Pokémon. Afterall, they are not called Noble Pokémon for nothing.
So, you keep going, region by region, quelling the frenzy of the Nobles, researching the Pokémon and slowly filling the Pokédex. And when I say slowly, it’s REALLY slowly. At first, you have no entries for the Pokémon available in the game, although if you see any of them during your excursion, you can get a blank page for it.
The moment you capture a new Pokémon, a new entry is added to the Dex and you are able to see the research tasks for each of them, and there is a LOT. When you complete at least 10 tasks, the entry is considered completed. And if you complete all tasks, the entry is marked with perfected, which what I was aiming for. Afterall, you are a member of the Survey Corps of the Galaxy Expedition Team. Emphasis on that “was”, but we’ll get back to that later.
Also, along with completing the Dex, you are rewarded with a bit of cash (more or less like a salary for your job) and, with enough research as a Survey Corps member, you are able to up through the ranks in the Galaxy, which acts like the badges in the main games (like being able to access the new areas and high leveled Pokémon obeying you).
As you go researching in the marshes, coasts, mountains and tundra (the classic JRPG areas with their unique quirks), you discover new Pokémon, what they like to eat, where they live, and, when an entry is completed, a little bit of trivia by Laventon himself about that specific creature. And just as you quell the Lord of the Tundra, you are hastily summoned back to the Galaxy headquarters.
The spacetime rift in the sky is flaring and widening, the sky becoming glitched in crimson, with everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) staring at you, since you are the one who passed through it, and now you have only two options: either prove without a shadow of a doubt that you have absolutely nothing to do with the rift, or to die in the wilderness by the hands/paws of the Pokémon you so painstakingly research. And, on top of that, you are banished from Jubilife Village (now I understand why Giratina is always so pissed).
By the love of Mesprit, Commander Kamado, I’m just a little guy, simping you and your gorgeous moustache. But sucks to suck, I guess, and to the wilderness we go. At least Captain Cyllene is kind enough to escort you out of the Village (and sneak a few resources, so you can handle yourself. ILY Cyllene <3). And just out of nowhere, Volo comes to your rescue. A bit sus, if you ask me, but what can you do about your situation, huh?
He then takes you to this lovely lady, Cogita her name, who gives you hints (more like teachings of her predecessors) as to how to deal with the rift. And to that, you must seek the Lake Guardians and pass their trials (and here, friends, is part of the reason to why I wholeheartedly love gen 4).
As you show them you emotional, intellectual, and willpower resolve, they give you pieces of themselves, so you may reforge the Red Chain, an item that is, supposedly, able to bind even the Almighty Sinnoh. And, with that, try to contain the widening of the tear in the sky.
So, you climb Mt. Coronet, the highest place in all Hisui and the place closest to the heavens itself, and you go against the Almighty Sinnoh (I unexpectedly chose Dialga, because I can’t see a strong-willed man in this game without simping them). And, lo and behold, the Red Chain shatters. But you are still able to capture MOFO-ING GOD.
And they talk with their respective clan leader and warns: the other one is coming, and they are pissed. Wait, there’s TWO Almighty Sinnoh? But I guess this squabble will have to be postponed, for now you have to retreat.
With the will and knowledge of the Survey Corps, they are able to produce a single Origin Ball, crafted with the pieces of the Red Chain and the new technology of the Poké Balls. And with that, you might be able to capture the other god and quell his frenzy.
So you again climb Coronet to challenge the other Almighty Sinnoh, and O-SH!T-THE-BOSS-THEME-HAS-A-CHOIR! So here you go against god for the second time and you once again have to throw those food pouches at them with an absolute bangers of a song.
You quell their frenzy with the power of godly food, I guess, and catch them in the newly crafted Origin Ball. The rift closes. And scene.
Wait, that’s it? No, of course not, you still have to complete the Dex, after all, you’re a Survey Corps member. You already had a party for you yesterday, now it’s back to work.
As you are walking towards your next excursion, look who’s back. It’s Volo, and he is curious about those plates you have been receiving from the Nobles. He tells you that Cogita might know something or two about the missing plates and is more than happy to accompany you through your search. Weird.
Cogita then gives you both her the last bits of information she has. And once all the plates are to be found, you have to, once again, climb Mt, Coronet, this time visiting the ruins along the way. You have a quick stop at Celestica Ruins, before a broken statue, where Volo tells you about a third one, the banished Giratina, who might show up in the highest place of the region. How do you know so much, Mr. Volo?
So up you go, and, at the ruins of the Temple of Sinnoh, Volo shows you the final plate, which was in his possession all this time. And reveals his grand plan of subjugating the true Almighty Sinnoh, our one and only Arceus, the alpha Pokémon. He tells you that you WILL handle him your plates, even if he has to beat the crap out of you.
And the piano starts playing.
By the power of Arceus trusted in me, even though I had already seen the fight on YouTube, this one… This one gave me them shivers. Now, when you go against Cynthia in Pokémon DPP, there’s this upbeat music, showing you how far you’ve come and how this one is your last challenge as a Pokémon Trainer.
But against Volo… There’s this strange feeling, this somberness, the weight of the whole world resting upon your shoulders, because you CANNOT lose this fight, or else this would be the end of it all (but this is a Pokémon game, so you can rematch him as many times as you want until you are finally able to defeat him (but I did also finish him on the first try, as I was somewhat overleveled, so I can’t say for sure)).
So, you go against him, winning by just the skin of your teeth.
Then he summons Giratina to “STRIKE HER DOWN” (I played as a girl, because Akari is cute, and I want to look cute in my little ninja outfit and my little black flat cap). With your mons barely alive, you try as hard as you can, managing strong and agile moves and healing you fallen partners AND HOLY SHIT THEY CHANGED TO THE ORIGIN FORM. AND THE SONG F*KING SLAPS.
Eight. You basically go against a trainer with eight Pokémon, and with a composition that can easily and utterly destroy you. But you persevere. YOU are the chosen of Arceus, not him. He claims that he studied and worshipped them, but he did that only for himself. You studied and learned about the Pokémon for the sake of others. You are worthy. You are the chosen of Arceus.
Defeated, he handles you the last plate, and quickly sods off, as he doesn’t want to meet Arceus from the sidelines. Sore loser.
You walk into de dais in the Temple, and by the power of the plates, your Celestica Flute changes into the mysterious Azure Flute. You play it in the dais, but nothing happens. Your Arc Phone beeps: “SEEK OUT ALL POKÉMON”.
A little bummed, you climb down to keep on doing your good work. In the meantime, you solve some residual chaos of the rift, give a little slap on Irida and Adaman cheeks (and receive the most precious treasure of their respective clans), and continues learning about all Pokémon. Eventually, you collect all of them.
Now, I, for some reason, was hesitant to play the flute, maybe I already knew why I was, but I played it nonetheless. And a literal stairway to the heavens opens to you. And you stand before the Original One, the Almighty Arceus.
I remember clearly that day I was playing Pokémon Soul Silver, some 12 or so years ago. I had already done almost all of the content the game had to offer, and I noticed a little event by the end of the walkthough I was using back then, the “Sinjoh Ruins”, but you need to have an Arceus in your party.
As the proudful gamer I am, I went through the list of Action Replay codes and found the code of an event in which Arceus were distributed for those who watched the movie. So, I gave myself the Arceus and went to the Ruins. I stood in the yellowish-orange symbol in the top portion of the dais, and proceeded to watch the weirdest cutscene I’ve ever saw (at least the one I remember the most). And loved every second of that slideshow. So much so, I reseted my emulator just to replay that part (yes, I’ve only played on emulators because I’ve always been a broke f*k).
So, in the arena in the Hall of Origin, as you stepped in the symbol of creation, the music blasting though your headphones, Arceus standing on the other side of the arena. You know what is coming. And you have your cheeks absolutely clapped.
I had to retry a few times, just to understand their moveset and gauge the times of their attacks. Oh yeah, you fight him in the same way as the Nobles, but with more kickassery, and let me tell you: this single fight, the culmination of all of my experience with this game, was one the best true final boss I went against (competing only with “that one” from Hollow Knight), enough to solidify Pokémon Legends Arceus as one of the best games I’ve ever played.
Now, I understand that many people have their (righteously) reservations to this game and, although I somewhat agree with them, I could easily overlook.
The last time I played a Pokémon game was in 2012. I had finally beaten Pokémon White and promptly started Pokémon Black 2 (because I suck Zekrom). Well, almost started, as my PC back then couldn’t handle run that absolute beast of a 1GB rom. After that, the franchise went to the 3DS and then to the Switch and I never had another chance to play.
Or rather, I didn’t have any interest in playing Pokémon again. Apart from Sun/Moon (because it felt like a break from the traditional formula, at least to me) and ORAS/BDSP (for being remakes of games that I already like), I had that constant feeling that the games had stagnated: always the same structure, but with a newly implemented mechanics just to be ditched in the next gen (again, I’ve never played those games, that is just a feeling I got seeing them).
And when Pokémon Arceus got announced, I got really excited, this new format of game, in which you directly interact with the Pokémon, moreover in a reimagining of Sinnoh, my absolute favorite region and gen. Even when the time passed, the hype dying down, and people starting to notice the blatant lack of <insert thing to be complained here>, I was still interest in the game, at least cautiously so. Then, a friend of mine found a way to play on PC (again, I’m still very much broke af), and I took a shot at the game.
And, by Arceus, how I loved this game. I sank a grand total of 254 hours, a solid month, give or take, in this game, and for a solid while I thought about 101%-ing the game. Like, doing absolutely EVERYTHING the game had to offer.
But after completing every mission and request, with only the Pokédex and Paths of Solitude remaining, with a hella bunch of tedious grind ahead, I 1) gave up on doing every single Dex’s task around the 60th entry (but just the barely enough to get the shiny charm); 2) gave up on grinding money and grit, as I felt my brain would completely melt (and then I decided to cheat the items, because why not). And, tbh, I didn’t feel like sinking another 300 hours of pure brain-numbing grind.
So, with that in mind, I tackled the PoS, just because we have requests, as I was just about halfway through, and I had an alphabetically organized living Dex. And, let me tell you, if I already didn’t like Mr. Mime’s evolutionary line before, Mime Jr. gave me an absolute hatred for them. But that’s not really important for this.
There was also the Eternal Battle Reverie, but I was so tired of leveling EVs and constantly restarting the PoSs just because I didn’t put the correct moves on my mons, that I just got a “dream team” from Reddit and went ahead, just so I could finish the game for good (just a PSA, but I despised that team, I mean, three dragons in the party seems a bit excessive for me).
But I guess the exhaustion came just because I tried to fully complete the game. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this game, but love can only do so much against hours and hours of grinding. And, if I ever decide to play this game again, I’ll just go until I catch Arceus, or at least I hope so.
Apart from that, I love the interactivity you have with the Pokémon, although I would really like the mon accompanying you, like in HGSS. But you can see everyone outside their Poké Balls and have a circle-pet moment with them (they also may fall asleep while you watch them AND IT IS THE CUTEST FRICKING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE).
Graphics I don’t really care much (I mean, I played Final Fantasy I to VI in the last three years, that also got really close to plat-ing them), although I started to notice a few things after 150 hours, but it didn’t really bother me. But the mons having their moves (almost) fully animated gave that little oomph that results in the attacks felling so much more impactful, e.g., High Horsepower, where the ground under the opponent cracks and breaks, with the shards damaging them, or with Hyper Beam, being such an over-the-top attack with a ridiculous loud sound effect, obliterating your adversary and your eardrums.
Music: absolute gorgeous. Sure, it can get a little repetitive when you’re grinding your way through the PoS. But there’s three songs that stuck with me: Volo’s theme, Giratina’s theme, and Arceus’s theme (yes, I’m that predictable). Love those songs, and I’m listening them on repeat since I’ve fought Volo.
Story-wise… welp, it’s a Pokémon game, the plot is simplistic. That being said, it was one of the most interesting stories in the franchise I got to experience (btw, I don’t remember much of BW).
I mean, the reason I love gen4 so much is because it gets to explore the mythos of the Pokémon world. One of my personal interests is mythology, specifically cosmogony stories. Every so often, I have a few people asking about Japanese mythology, but I don’t really get youkais and heroes. My thing is the stories of creation.
And it is exactly this that gen4 has to offer. And it is what Legends Arceus gets to explore. About how the divinity of Dialga and Palkia influences the people of Hisui, their beliefs, and how they interact with people outside their beliefs. About how Giratina is envious of the divinity of creation. About how Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf imbued humanity with consciousness. About how Arceus created the world, and how they give you a part of themselves, just so they could see the world through your eyes. It was an oddly humbling experience that last one.
And, before we wrap things up, I just want to mention the three events that brought tears to my eyes. Curiously, all of them involves Kamado: 1) when he gives you the plate in Prelude Beach and tells you how the region should be called Sinnoh; 2) when he explains the meaning behind the name Galaxy Expedition Team and Cyllene tells us that she will pass the meaning to their descendants; and 3) when we complete the Pokédex and he decides to follow Professor Laventon’s steps, giving G.E.T. to Cyllene to command.
I don’t really know why, but seeing how you influenced Hisui’s people’s lives, how this will reverberate through time and space, and how this will, someday, culminate into the events of DPP… I got really emotional, because, again, gen4 is my favorite gen.
Well, there is another one, and that is Arceus speech when you defeat them for the first time in the Hall of Origins. I felt really big emotions that I don’t really know how to put into words, so you will just have to believe me on this one.
So, yeah, I don’t know if it is recency bias or some other thing, but I truly appreciate this game. It is not a perfect game, by any means (hell, just look at my favorite games, just to have a glimpse of my (lack) of taste), but it surely was one that I was longing to play.
And I’m glad to Arceus for providing this wonderful experience.
tl;dr: love the game, cried a little bit, didn't care about the flaws, Kamado is daddy, Arceus made me cry.
“Seek out all Pokémon, and thou shalt find me once more”: these are the last words you hear before you find yourself in a strange new land called Hisui. You were wakened by this curious professor, Laventon, with a questionable sense of fashion, and, alongside him, these three little creatures, who promptly runs away. And there is your first mission: recapture those little critters.
The professor notices your innate ability to catch those Pokémon, and believes you would be a valuable asset for the newfound Galaxy Expedition Team. You then talk to Captain Cyllene, who is curious about your capabilities and if you are able to survive in the wilderness, although is, righteously, mistrustful about this stranger who felled from the skies. And-- wait… survive?
Now we see the major difference from Legends Arceus from every other Pokémon game: the people are TERRIFIED of these creatures and almost all of the folk gathers in this type of settlement in hopes of staving off any chance of encountering some wild Pokémon. Or even worse, dying by the hands (or should I say paws?) of them.
And, tbh, same. It would require an enormous lack of common sense to stand before a, say, pride of lions and thinking “Imma pet them”. More so if they could breathe fire, project shards of razor-sharp rocks, or spray spores that could immobilize you (and then slice and dice you for a little banquet for their pack).
Sure, that teddiursa might be cute and all, and then it comes bulldoze-ing towards you, and you barely dodge your way, just as a drifloon self-destructs right in your face. Yikes…
So, you, just to get housing and food, have to risk your life researching Pokémon, otherwise you’ll be kicked out of the village and possibly killed by some wild Pokémon, because, again, people mistrust you, since you just felled out of the sky. Bet. Then, you get a book and go on your merry way to “seek out all Pokémon”.
But, there’s also that giant tear at the top of Mt. Coronet. “Are you sure you have nothing to do with it?”, you once again shake your head, just as confused as the rest of the Team on what you are doing here.
So, you tell that Ress fella that you are heading out, and your first stop is the Obsidian Fieldlands, a luscious green prairie with a river lazily making its way through the terrain, a few horseshoe-shaped ponds and HOLY ARCEUS WHY IS THAT RAPIDASH STARING ME WITH BLOODTHIRST EYES? You discover that that is an Alpha Pokémon, a larger and stronger monster of that pack, and also incredibly aggressive and hard to catch.
You recover from the spook, with enough knowledge of this side of the river so you are now allowed to cross the little bridge, taking you to an island with stronger Pokémon. You also happen to be present to participate in a discussion about some sort of Lord of the Pearl Clan. And that he is going rampage. And it was since that tear opened in the sky. And you also felled from the sky. And everybody looks at you. And there is also some sort of attrition between those Diamond and Pearl clans, who also mistrust the guys from Galaxy Team. I guess everybody here has some unresolved issues.
After a little back and forth and some banter, you’re tasked to quell the frenzied Lord of the Woods. By throwing his favorite food in little pouches at him. Aight.
And there is another difference from the main games: you are battling the Pokémon. Not your Poké-friends, YOU. And let me tell you, shit slaps. And it’s hard. Well, at least you’ll be knocked on your ass a few times. The Lord of Hollow surely kicked mine.
After this ordeal, some are not exactly happy with your accomplishment, but most congratulates you for being able to quell the frenzy of such powerful Pokémon. Afterall, they are not called Noble Pokémon for nothing.
So, you keep going, region by region, quelling the frenzy of the Nobles, researching the Pokémon and slowly filling the Pokédex. And when I say slowly, it’s REALLY slowly. At first, you have no entries for the Pokémon available in the game, although if you see any of them during your excursion, you can get a blank page for it.
The moment you capture a new Pokémon, a new entry is added to the Dex and you are able to see the research tasks for each of them, and there is a LOT. When you complete at least 10 tasks, the entry is considered completed. And if you complete all tasks, the entry is marked with perfected, which what I was aiming for. Afterall, you are a member of the Survey Corps of the Galaxy Expedition Team. Emphasis on that “was”, but we’ll get back to that later.
Also, along with completing the Dex, you are rewarded with a bit of cash (more or less like a salary for your job) and, with enough research as a Survey Corps member, you are able to up through the ranks in the Galaxy, which acts like the badges in the main games (like being able to access the new areas and high leveled Pokémon obeying you).
As you go researching in the marshes, coasts, mountains and tundra (the classic JRPG areas with their unique quirks), you discover new Pokémon, what they like to eat, where they live, and, when an entry is completed, a little bit of trivia by Laventon himself about that specific creature. And just as you quell the Lord of the Tundra, you are hastily summoned back to the Galaxy headquarters.
The spacetime rift in the sky is flaring and widening, the sky becoming glitched in crimson, with everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) staring at you, since you are the one who passed through it, and now you have only two options: either prove without a shadow of a doubt that you have absolutely nothing to do with the rift, or to die in the wilderness by the hands/paws of the Pokémon you so painstakingly research. And, on top of that, you are banished from Jubilife Village (now I understand why Giratina is always so pissed).
By the love of Mesprit, Commander Kamado, I’m just a little guy, simping you and your gorgeous moustache. But sucks to suck, I guess, and to the wilderness we go. At least Captain Cyllene is kind enough to escort you out of the Village (and sneak a few resources, so you can handle yourself. ILY Cyllene <3). And just out of nowhere, Volo comes to your rescue. A bit sus, if you ask me, but what can you do about your situation, huh?
He then takes you to this lovely lady, Cogita her name, who gives you hints (more like teachings of her predecessors) as to how to deal with the rift. And to that, you must seek the Lake Guardians and pass their trials (and here, friends, is part of the reason to why I wholeheartedly love gen 4).
As you show them you emotional, intellectual, and willpower resolve, they give you pieces of themselves, so you may reforge the Red Chain, an item that is, supposedly, able to bind even the Almighty Sinnoh. And, with that, try to contain the widening of the tear in the sky.
So, you climb Mt. Coronet, the highest place in all Hisui and the place closest to the heavens itself, and you go against the Almighty Sinnoh (I unexpectedly chose Dialga, because I can’t see a strong-willed man in this game without simping them). And, lo and behold, the Red Chain shatters. But you are still able to capture MOFO-ING GOD.
And they talk with their respective clan leader and warns: the other one is coming, and they are pissed. Wait, there’s TWO Almighty Sinnoh? But I guess this squabble will have to be postponed, for now you have to retreat.
With the will and knowledge of the Survey Corps, they are able to produce a single Origin Ball, crafted with the pieces of the Red Chain and the new technology of the Poké Balls. And with that, you might be able to capture the other god and quell his frenzy.
So you again climb Coronet to challenge the other Almighty Sinnoh, and O-SH!T-THE-BOSS-THEME-HAS-A-CHOIR! So here you go against god for the second time and you once again have to throw those food pouches at them with an absolute bangers of a song.
You quell their frenzy with the power of godly food, I guess, and catch them in the newly crafted Origin Ball. The rift closes. And scene.
Wait, that’s it? No, of course not, you still have to complete the Dex, after all, you’re a Survey Corps member. You already had a party for you yesterday, now it’s back to work.
As you are walking towards your next excursion, look who’s back. It’s Volo, and he is curious about those plates you have been receiving from the Nobles. He tells you that Cogita might know something or two about the missing plates and is more than happy to accompany you through your search. Weird.
Cogita then gives you both her the last bits of information she has. And once all the plates are to be found, you have to, once again, climb Mt, Coronet, this time visiting the ruins along the way. You have a quick stop at Celestica Ruins, before a broken statue, where Volo tells you about a third one, the banished Giratina, who might show up in the highest place of the region. How do you know so much, Mr. Volo?
So up you go, and, at the ruins of the Temple of Sinnoh, Volo shows you the final plate, which was in his possession all this time. And reveals his grand plan of subjugating the true Almighty Sinnoh, our one and only Arceus, the alpha Pokémon. He tells you that you WILL handle him your plates, even if he has to beat the crap out of you.
And the piano starts playing.
By the power of Arceus trusted in me, even though I had already seen the fight on YouTube, this one… This one gave me them shivers. Now, when you go against Cynthia in Pokémon DPP, there’s this upbeat music, showing you how far you’ve come and how this one is your last challenge as a Pokémon Trainer.
But against Volo… There’s this strange feeling, this somberness, the weight of the whole world resting upon your shoulders, because you CANNOT lose this fight, or else this would be the end of it all (but this is a Pokémon game, so you can rematch him as many times as you want until you are finally able to defeat him (but I did also finish him on the first try, as I was somewhat overleveled, so I can’t say for sure)).
So, you go against him, winning by just the skin of your teeth.
Then he summons Giratina to “STRIKE HER DOWN” (I played as a girl, because Akari is cute, and I want to look cute in my little ninja outfit and my little black flat cap). With your mons barely alive, you try as hard as you can, managing strong and agile moves and healing you fallen partners AND HOLY SHIT THEY CHANGED TO THE ORIGIN FORM. AND THE SONG F*KING SLAPS.
Eight. You basically go against a trainer with eight Pokémon, and with a composition that can easily and utterly destroy you. But you persevere. YOU are the chosen of Arceus, not him. He claims that he studied and worshipped them, but he did that only for himself. You studied and learned about the Pokémon for the sake of others. You are worthy. You are the chosen of Arceus.
Defeated, he handles you the last plate, and quickly sods off, as he doesn’t want to meet Arceus from the sidelines. Sore loser.
You walk into de dais in the Temple, and by the power of the plates, your Celestica Flute changes into the mysterious Azure Flute. You play it in the dais, but nothing happens. Your Arc Phone beeps: “SEEK OUT ALL POKÉMON”.
A little bummed, you climb down to keep on doing your good work. In the meantime, you solve some residual chaos of the rift, give a little slap on Irida and Adaman cheeks (and receive the most precious treasure of their respective clans), and continues learning about all Pokémon. Eventually, you collect all of them.
Now, I, for some reason, was hesitant to play the flute, maybe I already knew why I was, but I played it nonetheless. And a literal stairway to the heavens opens to you. And you stand before the Original One, the Almighty Arceus.
I remember clearly that day I was playing Pokémon Soul Silver, some 12 or so years ago. I had already done almost all of the content the game had to offer, and I noticed a little event by the end of the walkthough I was using back then, the “Sinjoh Ruins”, but you need to have an Arceus in your party.
As the proudful gamer I am, I went through the list of Action Replay codes and found the code of an event in which Arceus were distributed for those who watched the movie. So, I gave myself the Arceus and went to the Ruins. I stood in the yellowish-orange symbol in the top portion of the dais, and proceeded to watch the weirdest cutscene I’ve ever saw (at least the one I remember the most). And loved every second of that slideshow. So much so, I reseted my emulator just to replay that part (yes, I’ve only played on emulators because I’ve always been a broke f*k).
So, in the arena in the Hall of Origin, as you stepped in the symbol of creation, the music blasting though your headphones, Arceus standing on the other side of the arena. You know what is coming. And you have your cheeks absolutely clapped.
I had to retry a few times, just to understand their moveset and gauge the times of their attacks. Oh yeah, you fight him in the same way as the Nobles, but with more kickassery, and let me tell you: this single fight, the culmination of all of my experience with this game, was one the best true final boss I went against (competing only with “that one” from Hollow Knight), enough to solidify Pokémon Legends Arceus as one of the best games I’ve ever played.
Now, I understand that many people have their (righteously) reservations to this game and, although I somewhat agree with them, I could easily overlook.
The last time I played a Pokémon game was in 2012. I had finally beaten Pokémon White and promptly started Pokémon Black 2 (because I suck Zekrom). Well, almost started, as my PC back then couldn’t handle run that absolute beast of a 1GB rom. After that, the franchise went to the 3DS and then to the Switch and I never had another chance to play.
Or rather, I didn’t have any interest in playing Pokémon again. Apart from Sun/Moon (because it felt like a break from the traditional formula, at least to me) and ORAS/BDSP (for being remakes of games that I already like), I had that constant feeling that the games had stagnated: always the same structure, but with a newly implemented mechanics just to be ditched in the next gen (again, I’ve never played those games, that is just a feeling I got seeing them).
And when Pokémon Arceus got announced, I got really excited, this new format of game, in which you directly interact with the Pokémon, moreover in a reimagining of Sinnoh, my absolute favorite region and gen. Even when the time passed, the hype dying down, and people starting to notice the blatant lack of <insert thing to be complained here>, I was still interest in the game, at least cautiously so. Then, a friend of mine found a way to play on PC (again, I’m still very much broke af), and I took a shot at the game.
And, by Arceus, how I loved this game. I sank a grand total of 254 hours, a solid month, give or take, in this game, and for a solid while I thought about 101%-ing the game. Like, doing absolutely EVERYTHING the game had to offer.
But after completing every mission and request, with only the Pokédex and Paths of Solitude remaining, with a hella bunch of tedious grind ahead, I 1) gave up on doing every single Dex’s task around the 60th entry (but just the barely enough to get the shiny charm); 2) gave up on grinding money and grit, as I felt my brain would completely melt (and then I decided to cheat the items, because why not). And, tbh, I didn’t feel like sinking another 300 hours of pure brain-numbing grind.
So, with that in mind, I tackled the PoS, just because we have requests, as I was just about halfway through, and I had an alphabetically organized living Dex. And, let me tell you, if I already didn’t like Mr. Mime’s evolutionary line before, Mime Jr. gave me an absolute hatred for them. But that’s not really important for this.
There was also the Eternal Battle Reverie, but I was so tired of leveling EVs and constantly restarting the PoSs just because I didn’t put the correct moves on my mons, that I just got a “dream team” from Reddit and went ahead, just so I could finish the game for good (just a PSA, but I despised that team, I mean, three dragons in the party seems a bit excessive for me).
But I guess the exhaustion came just because I tried to fully complete the game. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this game, but love can only do so much against hours and hours of grinding. And, if I ever decide to play this game again, I’ll just go until I catch Arceus, or at least I hope so.
Apart from that, I love the interactivity you have with the Pokémon, although I would really like the mon accompanying you, like in HGSS. But you can see everyone outside their Poké Balls and have a circle-pet moment with them (they also may fall asleep while you watch them AND IT IS THE CUTEST FRICKING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE).
Graphics I don’t really care much (I mean, I played Final Fantasy I to VI in the last three years, that also got really close to plat-ing them), although I started to notice a few things after 150 hours, but it didn’t really bother me. But the mons having their moves (almost) fully animated gave that little oomph that results in the attacks felling so much more impactful, e.g., High Horsepower, where the ground under the opponent cracks and breaks, with the shards damaging them, or with Hyper Beam, being such an over-the-top attack with a ridiculous loud sound effect, obliterating your adversary and your eardrums.
Music: absolute gorgeous. Sure, it can get a little repetitive when you’re grinding your way through the PoS. But there’s three songs that stuck with me: Volo’s theme, Giratina’s theme, and Arceus’s theme (yes, I’m that predictable). Love those songs, and I’m listening them on repeat since I’ve fought Volo.
Story-wise… welp, it’s a Pokémon game, the plot is simplistic. That being said, it was one of the most interesting stories in the franchise I got to experience (btw, I don’t remember much of BW).
I mean, the reason I love gen4 so much is because it gets to explore the mythos of the Pokémon world. One of my personal interests is mythology, specifically cosmogony stories. Every so often, I have a few people asking about Japanese mythology, but I don’t really get youkais and heroes. My thing is the stories of creation.
And it is exactly this that gen4 has to offer. And it is what Legends Arceus gets to explore. About how the divinity of Dialga and Palkia influences the people of Hisui, their beliefs, and how they interact with people outside their beliefs. About how Giratina is envious of the divinity of creation. About how Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf imbued humanity with consciousness. About how Arceus created the world, and how they give you a part of themselves, just so they could see the world through your eyes. It was an oddly humbling experience that last one.
And, before we wrap things up, I just want to mention the three events that brought tears to my eyes. Curiously, all of them involves Kamado: 1) when he gives you the plate in Prelude Beach and tells you how the region should be called Sinnoh; 2) when he explains the meaning behind the name Galaxy Expedition Team and Cyllene tells us that she will pass the meaning to their descendants; and 3) when we complete the Pokédex and he decides to follow Professor Laventon’s steps, giving G.E.T. to Cyllene to command.
I don’t really know why, but seeing how you influenced Hisui’s people’s lives, how this will reverberate through time and space, and how this will, someday, culminate into the events of DPP… I got really emotional, because, again, gen4 is my favorite gen.
Well, there is another one, and that is Arceus speech when you defeat them for the first time in the Hall of Origins. I felt really big emotions that I don’t really know how to put into words, so you will just have to believe me on this one.
So, yeah, I don’t know if it is recency bias or some other thing, but I truly appreciate this game. It is not a perfect game, by any means (hell, just look at my favorite games, just to have a glimpse of my (lack) of taste), but it surely was one that I was longing to play.
And I’m glad to Arceus for providing this wonderful experience.