When Pokemon Legends: Arceus arrived, it broke the mold compared to your standard main series Pokemon game. So, when a second Legends game was announced, fans wanted to know… what is a Pokemon Legends game, exactly? Now that I’ve had a chance to spend some time with Legends: Z-A, I can see how it’s similar enough to share the name. Like Legends: Arceus, this Legends game breaks the mold from your typical series of gym battles across a wide region. But even if the games are similar enough to share the Legends name, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is certainly not just Legends: Arceus 2.0.
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While the two games share the fact that they mix up the Pokemon formula, there are some pretty big differences between them. Legends: Arceus feels different from playing your standard Pokemon Red and Blue, and Legends: Z-A feels yet again like something else entirely. To help fans prepare for what to expect when this new Pokemon Legends game arrives on October 16th, I’m breaking down the three biggest differences between Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
3. A Contemporary Setting Offers New Ways to Explore
Pokemon Legends: Arceus took players into the past. We got to see old versions of Poke Balls and even craft our own. One of the primary drivers of the game was studying Pokemon and starting to put together an early Pokedex. By contrast, Legends: Z-A has a far more modern setting. That’s obvious enough from trailers, but actually stepping into Lumiose City really drove this point home for me. It doesn’t just look different, but feels like a whole new way to get around.
The way we move through Lumiose City feels modern. There’s a sleek, technological feel to the lifts that help you change levels and the glowing lights that mark off Wild Zones and Battle Zones. Compared to the old school feel of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, this game feels sleek and modern. Wandering around Lumiose City really does feel like walking around a futuristic Pokemon city, one that never sleeps thanks to the nightly Battle Royale.
2. Real-Time Battles Mix Up the Formula Even More
One thing that divided players on Pokemon Legends: Arceus was the way it played around with battles. The game introduced a system where you can choose whether to use moves in an Agile or Strong style, adding another layer of strategy to Pokemon battles. You also could catch Pokemon by just chucking Poke Balls at them, no battle required. And then, there were the slight real-time elements added in the Noble Pokemon battles, where you sometimes had to run and dodge as the trainer, not just the Pokemon.
Legends: Z-A does bring back some of these mechanics. You can sneak up Pokemon and catch them without a battle, for instance. But the Strong and Agile move styles are gone, replaced instead by full-on real-time battle action. These battles feel nothing like the ones in Legends: Arceus, and indeed nothing like any Pokemon battle I’ve ever done in a main series game. You use your environment to block moves and stay out of range, moving as a trainer and letting your Pokemon follow. The flow of battle is entirely different here, and it’s something to behold.
1. Battles Are the Focus, Not an Afterthought
Fans of a good battle often poke fun at Legends: Arceus for its lack of trainer battles. You more or less battle one guy a handful of times, and otherwise, your focus is catching and battling wild Pokemon. By contrast, most of what I’ve seen in Legends: Z-A so far makes battling the focus. If you thought there were a lot of battles on your journey to the Elite Four, get ready for the Battle Royale.
To me, this is the biggest difference between these two Legends games. Battling wasn’t really emphasized in Legends: Arceus, making it a nice change of pace for those of us who’d rather wander around catching Pokemon than contend with human trainers. By contrast, it feels like there will be a lot of battles in Legends: Z-A. Not only that, but because of the new real-time battles, they’ll be a test of reflexes and quick thinking. In that way, playing this game is going to feel almost nothing like playing Arceus, except in that it’s something new and different for the Pokemon franchise.
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