Legends: Arceus Is The First Pokemon Game To Make Me Feel Something In A Very Long Time
Nothing gets the blood pumping like being chased by a massive Parasect.
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Pokemon celebrated its 25th anniversary last year – an incredible accomplishment made even more impressive when you consider how many Pokemon games that have launched during that period. The Pokemon Company discovered a formula people loved in Red & Blue and has stuck with it persistently. Give players a map, cover it in Pokemon to catch, and throw in a few gyms with badges as prizes for defeating their leaders. 25 years later, most of us still love that formula. It’s safe, it’s comfortable, but it works.
That’s exactly why Pokemon Legends: Arceus has generated so much buzz, before and since it launched. Yes, there have been countless Pokemon spin-off games over the course of the past two and a half decades, but this feels different. Like it might be the norm moving forward if people enjoy it enough. I thought the former as we approached Arceus’s arrival, and I was okay with that. I thought it would be like Snap or Stadium. A cool offshoot that occupies my time before I’m welcomed to a new region and I repeat what I’ve been doing in Pokemon games since the mid ’90s. But Legends brought something different.
I would have been entirely okay with just another spin-off. At least, I think I would. It wasn’t until I fired up Arceus for the first time and started to get acquainted with the Hisui region and those who call it home that I realized we have been missing out on something more by not letting Pokemon games evolve beyond the formula they have been using for so long. The weird nonsensical elements of a Pokemon game’s story are still there. Someone falls out of the sky and not only are they seemingly okay with that, but those who found them’s first instinct is to send him out into the wilderness to potentially die at the hands of some angry Pokemon. However, I found myself taking in elements of the game I hadn’t done before, at least not since I played Red & Blue.
Knowing I would be frequenting Jubilife Village a lot over the coming hours, I looked around. I noticed all the residents slamming what I was wearing and took offense, even though I hadn’t picked out my trainer’s look at this point. When Captain Cyllene told me I had better catch a Shinx, a Bidoof, and a Starly or die trying, I was angry, though I reckon I could take those Pokemon at a low level if I needed to, even if they decided to gang up on me.
The residents of Jubilife banging on about how afraid they are of Pokemon was equal parts intriguing and confusing to me. Here I am, some nobody who has just fallen out of the sky, catching Pokemon and even fending them off should they get a little close. I would soon be revered as a god by these people. Lord of the Pokemon. Like Dr. Dolittle but with Pikachu and Cherrim. Then it happened. I peered over a ledge and below were some Paras going about their business, with a rather sizable Parasect right in the middle of what appeared to be their home.
I hadn’t even seen a Paras in Hisui yet, much less caught one, so I decided to creep up close and toss a Poke Ball at the nearest one. That was my first mistake. I assumed Paras would be a timid creature like Bidoof, not one squaring for a fight like Shinx. I battled and caught the Paras, but now I was annoyed. Paras thinks it’s all that? Well, I’m going to stroll right in and take their precious Parasect, we’ll see how up for a fight they are after that.
I confidently tossed the Poke Ball with my Rowlet inside at the unsuspecting Parasect’s back. That’s right, I’m a Rowlet guy, but let’s not go back down that road. The massive bug Pokemon turned around, eyes glowing red and staring at me and my little owl Pokemon. I was a little intimidated but still, this is a Pokemon game, I’m the captain here. Moments later, Parasect unleashed its devastating hyper beam causing my poor Rowlet to keel over immediately. It was at this point I decided to run from the beast, saving the rest of my team from needing urgent medical attention.
The thing is, when it comes to running in Legends: Arceus, it isn’t as simple as merely leaving the battle. The Parasect wasn’t done. It proceeded to chase me, the trainer. Does it not know how this works? Fearing for my virtual life, I quickly turned around and ran as fast as I could out of the Parasect’s lair. Since this was before I had buddied up with Hisui’s resident Wyrdeer, it wasn’t a very quick escape. So slow, in fact, that when I turned around to check if I was safe, Parasect was still coming. At that point, I yelled “oh shit” and then had to explain to my mother-in-law, who was sitting alongside me, what was going on. Suffice to say, she didn’t really get why I was so afraid.
The next time I spoke to those I had befriended in the game so far and the residents of Jubilife, I was able to sympathize. Yeah, Pokemon are scary. You need help taking this Kleavor down a peg or two? I’ll help because it needs to be done, but I’m not all that happy about it. Even the side quests given to you by random NPCs and villagers. I’m eager to complete them not just because they come with a reward, but it feels like it connects to the bigger story. Sure, I’ll go check out why a Drifloon is keeping kids prisoner at the beach, although that one really feels like an issue for their parents. That’s not a feeling I can ever recall having while playing Pokemon, even Red & Blue to an extent. Legends Arceus certainly isn’t perfect, but I hope the formula it uses is one Pokemon games utilize and develop for years to come.
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