Some of the pokemon designs here are fucking excellent. The story actually displays some level of competency in terms of utilizing, get this, CHARACTERS. They're basic, but they actually have like, arcs. It tells a story. However, man, this game's open world fucking sucks. It is so boring, and so pointless. It's a waste of time. It's ugly, it runs like trash, it is genuinely not worth engaging with the open world.

This game saves its hand for Area Zero, which I think is the most interested in Pokemon I've been since Gen 5. Everything about Area Zero is fantastic--the presentation, the dialogue, the fact that you have a party, the ways its brighter below the fog barrier than it is above it, the music, and the pokemon you find there. The AI professor at the end of the game is a fantastic boss fight too. Excellent stuff all around. It's a shame you have to slog through like twenty hours of a completely meaningless open world to get to it.

30 dollars for the DLC was too much also. No fucking chance I'm playing that shit for more of this game's mid ass open world.

Barely worth playing, and only for the huge peak that is Area Zero. otherwise a dreadful experience. the battle gimmick, however, was actually pretty cool, and shows a level of design competency far greater than any of the previous gimmicks. Such a shame it makes the game run even worse.