Don't get me wrong, at first I did love it. I really, really did. And I still think it's a relatively good game. Pokemon has never been so fun and immersive. But then, I noticed what I feared would be the case:
The game mechanics are severely unpolished.
There are lots of Pokemon wandering around aimlessly, but they're all one of three types for me- smack it with a pokeball, throw 20 poke balls in rapid succession while it runs away, or throw a poke ball from just far enough away that you don't start a battle. Battles are actually so unenjoyably simple I avoid them, something I never did. When aiming a poke ball, it will often bonk on the pokemons head rather than capturing it, despite the x not showing above their head. A reason is never given for this. Furthermore, the alpha pokemon- once escaping a pokeball- will bob their heads in a very comical way, never again being available for capture. They just bob their heads indefinitely until you leave or enter their line of sight. Pokedex tasks are ultimately unfun and simplistic, and I don't feel I could be acquiring the data I am from the tasks I'm doing. Some Pokemon also seem far too easy to complete dex entries on, while others feel impossibly tedious.
This isn't my only issue, either. Buckle in.
I don't want to speak on the graphics- as many before me already have- but I feel its important to address them. They aren't good. At all. People who say this is better than SWSH need their eyes checked. This is at least as atrocious. The textures are washed out, the models have no shading, and there's a terrible gray hue over everything. I believe they were trying to mimic Breath of the Wild, but it looks terrible.
The post-game is empty and barren, with only tedious and repetitive research tasks to keep you busy. Your reward? An increased shiny chance on a game with already the easiest shiny hunting in the franchise's history.
The game lacks online functionality aside from trade, and a pointless satchel collection system (as the items purchased with Merit Points can more easily be farmed in space-time distortions) meaning you can never interact with your friends via battling, join a surprise trade, etc.
Crafting is more tedious than anything, which was one of my fears. The satchel is far too expensive to expand, meaning you either will always have a full satchel with a bunch of crap you'll never use, or an empty one because you hate collecting resources- just to dump them in a trunk every ten minutes. On this topic, I found myself never using any crafting recipes aside from balls and healing items, as the others are largely useless and unimportant.
The music is something I've not seen talked about at all, and it's one of my biggest gripes. Pokemon always has superb music, but this time around I'm hard pressed to find a theme I love. Most are just rehashed diamond and pearl songs, and they're a lesser version of them. The unique music that does exist, for example, the trailer music that plays in the overworked, feels strange and out of place.
The majority of landscapes are, as I feared, uninteresting. There are no unique landmarks, and the textures aren't good enough to make up for that. As some people before me have said, the game's overworld looks so bad and empty that when a new area's introduction cutscene pans around to show how beautiful an area is, I laugh.
Finally, the aspect of releasing every Pokemon together is wonderful. But then, they don't do anything. They don't have interesting interactions with each other aside from a few select cries and poses, and even more disappointingly, they don't follow you. In a game where half of the overworld Pokemon chase you, the algorithm for a Pokemon to pathfind based on your location is clearly already implemented- and it works well. Why didn't they do this? They know fans want it.
Luis Gutierrez
>when reddit doesnt upvote your blog
Luke Smith
>People who say this is better than SWSH need their eyes checked
I can appreciate that this is an incredible step forward for Pokemon, but I feel I'm the only fan who sees this as what it is- if you look past the hype and the initial excitement around the game, it really has next to no content. Everything about this game screams, "lazy and rushed." It might be a step in the right direction, but a step isn't worth much when we're still miles from our destination.
>a game with already the easiest shiny hunting in the franchise's history LGPE EXISTS FAGGOOOOOOOOT
Joshua Adams
okay
Ryan Price
Not gonna lie, former PLA supporter here. This is fucking hilarious watching PLA crash and burn. But in all seriousness we can't let this game be used as base for future Gens.
Joshua Ramirez
tl:dr lmao
PLA is the best Pokemon game in 10 years SwShit are the worst Pokemon games kek
>we can't improve over a game in the next wtf did user mean by this just give the usual shit like gyms and PvP (standard battle system or a new one because PLA's wouldn't work without Agile/Strong) to Gen9, and there you go you have a better Pokémon game than PLA, that used PLA as a base
Cameron Jackson
>This isn't my only issue, either. Buckle in Stopped reading here, however >When aiming a poke ball, it will often bonk on the pokemons head rather than capturing it, despite the x not showing above their head. A reason is never given for this. Furthermore, the alpha pokemon- once escaping a pokeball- will bob their heads in a very comical way, never again being available for capture. They just bob their heads indefinitely until you leave or enter their line of sight This never once happened to me, sounds like you're just bad at throwing. You're either not close enough which is why you're not hitting them accurately (or just had aim), and the alpha thing is probably because you're too close or not hiding, try throwing food when they break free.
Colton Hughes
how new are you?
Luke Powell
>People who say this is better than SWSH need their eyes checked. People who say otherwise are delusional. SWSH makes PLA look like a AAA game.
Owen Harris
Yeah an AAA game for Game Cube.
Noah Cruz
I think the music is great, I stopped in the middle of playing just to hear this track once. youtu.be/xT2VjYVs9NM
Jonathan Martin
>Battles are actually so unenjoyably simple I avoid them, something I never did. Now you just bullshiting. Because it’s just undeniable fact what battling in PLA feels better than ever before.
Jace Carter
Based
Ayden Richardson
Correct. Which is why PLA is the better game for having not just better graphics, but gameplay as well.
