Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Part 2 - The Quest For Shoes

 

Previously on Pokémon Legends: Z-A...our protagonist Cataluna had to cancel her planned European Sex Tour to instead be a looker for the Looker Bureau. Apparently you gotta look pretty good to be a looker and solve detective cases. All of that said, the main mystery for me to solve in this game is finding some damn decent shoes.

Dragon Quest VII is on my desk, we're reviewing it right now, it's pretty shocking stuff.

Know who else is a real looker? Emma, with her vacuum-sealed pants.

BREAKING, as of press time: Gen 10 starters have been revealed. So, thoughts on these?

Grass starter: Looks like Rowlet 2: The Reckoning. Given that Gen 10 seems to be in a tropical region like Gen 7 (it might even be the same region), it makes some sense that they'd run Rowlet again. While this thing has a bit of a lazy Angry Birds design, I think it's probably the one I would go with of the trio. Looks like a tough little dude, and probably evolves into Grass/Flying types. I liked Rowlet a lot.

Next we have the Fire-type, some sort of weird dog. I bet this is the one everyone picks. He's a much friendlier boy than Rowlet II, I'll give him that.

Water-type is an odd gecko. "Take me to your leader" he says. Probably the least-appealing of the three for me. I bet he evolves into some sort of dragon though, and that would be cool.

Looks like Rowlet II, my choice, is the least-liked of the three. That is a little surprising, given his adorable design. Then again, he's probably the least-creative of the trio, and people love dogs. Fire has also been historically the most effective starter in the most generations. Mostly, it's cause people love dogs.

Dawn breaks on Lumiose City as Day Two begins. This lit-up tower is basically the Eiffel Tower equivalent. Kinda looking forward to seeing this place again in Pokemon X/Y at some point and seeing how they managed it in a scaled-down 2D form.

This guy looks like Narcis Prince from Super Punch-Out. He probably expects people to use the correct fork for their salad.

Next we get a shocking display of suicidal empathy as these ladies take time to PET A SNAKE.

Don't worry about the ACTUAL RATTLE on this snake, or the paralysis-causing venom. It's totally a good idea to pet it! What are you teaching kids, Nintendo? How much is Big Serpent paying you in kickbacks for this propaganda?

I spot one of the most important Pokemon on the roster, Abra, lurking on a rooftop. This is an important one, because while it starts slow / lacking, it evolves into the super-strong Kadabra. If you can trade it, it becomes the even-better Alakazam.

It usually flees immediately, so I wasted no time and just threw a ball from the get-go.

Next is a quest to find a strong, firm twig for Fennekin to gnaw on. All these shriveled, limp twigs won't do.

This is one of the more notable quests in the game because the quest requires getting into a somewhat inaccessible area. I ran around the block for like ten minutes before I figured out how to get in there. Requires going through the waterway that is in the same Wild Area, and crossing under the buildings to where the twigs spawn.

Finding a decent twig gets me Fennekin, one of the actual Generation 6 starters. Still don't understand why the Generation 6 starters weren't the overall starters for this game. Well, that's one of them, and probably the best one.

Breaking news: There's a claimable Mystery Gift for pre-ordering the game. I've got a copy from the library (one that has absolutely been checked out many times before, since this game was out months ago), but I checked the DLC section of the menu to see if there was anything downloadable under "connect to the internet". There indeed was. So either no one ever claimed this before me, or it's claimable by-system rather than by-game and it let me claim it due to starting from scratch on this system.

Either way, what is the Mystery Gift, you ask?

Ralts, which looks like a Grass-type, but it's actually a rare and powerful Psychic/Fairy dual-type that can evolve into Kirlia and then the super-strong Gardevoir (at 20 and 30, I believe). This is an "endgame party" level Pokémon right here and getting it so early is awesome.

It's level 6 so it'll need to do some catch-up to git gud, but it'll be a mainstay right next to Totodile. Very nice pack-in bonus. It starts with Confusion, so I now have a Psychic-element attack.

I figured catching up wouldn't be an issue, but it is. As tough as Ralts is, level 6 is rough at this point. So I dropped all of my Exp Candies on the psychic dynamo, boosting levels up to around the same level as everyone else (high teens). This was very helpful. Checking the research reward TMs for anything Psychic is also a good idea. Things like Ice Punch are also usable by it. I probably won't be losing any more fights for a while, now that I have this boosted ringer.

The next thing I do is lots of grinding to get EXP for my 'mons. They're all cute and everything, but ideally I get them to their second forms soon. It doesn't take long to raise levels by farming Wild Areas. Win fights, then throw a ball and capture, for a double dose of EXP. Just need everyone to be not-unconscious. Sticking to the Wild Areas that are mid-level is best; the latest one is usually higher-level and tough, while earlier ones don't give much EXP. So I tend to grind a couple Wild Areas back from whatever the most current one is.

Whoa! Totodile is evolving!

Here's his awkward teenage form. Note that you don't have to evolve anyone; this game handles evolution super well, in that once the 'mon can evolve, an icon appears on the menu and you can go evolve them from there whenever. Usually there's little reason to not evolve something outside of preserving their look for a while longer.

Also, my DLC ringer is evolving. (It isn't much of a ringer, but it is very strong, making it a perfect DLC gift that isn't unbalancing for a playthrough).

Kirlia actually IS kind of a ringer, with the ability to use a significant range of moves and things like Ice Punch. The third form, Gardevoir, will be even more of a deadly menace.

Diversifying moves is a good idea in this game. You aren't really going to have time to spam all four of the moves on any given 'mon (usually a rotation allows time for two moves, sometimes three) so it's better to have a few different types to hit rather than loading up with, say, Psychic.

Pidgeotto: "I'm also here!"

Taking a moment to stand in the rain. It's kind of hard to see, but it's there. It rains semi-frequently in this game and it's nice when it does. This is one time where I wish a game had less music, though, because the music drowns out the crackle of the rainfall. At least bring the music way down during rainstorms, like the Elder Scrolls series does, to accentuate the sounds of the weather.

Next step is to grind fights in a Purge zone until I get enough points for the next rank-up fight, which I guess are the Gym Leader equivalents in this game. I've mostly been meandering around working on my team and exploring, so from here on out I'm going to start blasting the main quest.

So this is the game loop for the first half of the game: Grind fights in the Purge (at night), catch things in Wild Areas during the day (or just sit on a bench to move time forward). Get enough Purge zone points to challenge the next major opponent, defeat them to rank up. Repeat.

These various side-objectives give a bunch of points and help with reaching the point goals faster. Especially the ones that you're doing anyway, like using supereffective moves.

After another grind sesh, I'm ready for the next boss. These Purge zone grinds are a bit tedious, but they're also the main part of the game where you actually get action and standard Pokémon gameplay. They basically fill in for the Routes between towns/gyms in the old games.

Here's a huge revelation: This guy that hangs around Pokémon Centers, it turns out, has actually been following you around collecting your thrown Pokeballs that missed or didn't result in a capture. Putting aside that he takes a long, desperate sniff of them when he first picks them up, this is a hugely useful service. It means I'm overspending on Pokeballs and have been for a while. Can refill the majority of what's being used by talking to this guy every so often.

The Quest for Shoes continues, and I'm not having much luck. These shoes are decent and have more class than the sneakers, but they don't go with this outfit. Gonna have to pass. Why is one of them 108,000?

Say bye to the adorable dynamo that is Fennekin, because it's time for our little buddy to evolve:

...as it becomes the furry abomination that is Braixen. This would look a lot better with normal ears.

I'll probably go with this 'mon if I play Gen 6 again, just because Fennekin is such a rad starter.

The next big boss / Gym Leader stand-in is a busy businessperson, who has to get back to meetings and business and clients:

"Business, business, clients, meetings" says Yvon.

Not much to say about this fight...or any of the boss fights, really. Because everything is so fast-moving, and enemies just spam one move after another, I never have time to think or strategize. Just stay out of the way with your character so you don't get knocked out by collateral damage (this never seems to happen to your opponents) and spam moves, making sure to prioritize weaknesses (aka hit the moves with a bullseye on them). There's little real strategy here, it's all just spamming. If you have a team that is good for hitting the weaknesses of the enemy lineup, then you win more handily than if you don't. That's about it.

Two rank-up bosses down, just like, 23 to go!

Haven't talked much about this game's Scooby Gang. I don't really like any of these characters (though Lida is alright). Naveen is a guy who just kinda no-sells everything and can't be bothered. I'm not sure why he's friends with these people, or how he's supposed to be an interesting character.

They do lots, and lots, of talking, and it took like an hour and a half just for the actual game to start after all the talking. Between the "dungeons" (aka Purge Nights) there is just...lots more talking with this bunch, and they don't say much.

Lida has an itch. There are creams for that.

The next boss is looming large. He's another Rank X, so defeating him will move our heroine to Rank W. It's riveting.

I finally found some decent shoes. These are elegant and pretty, though what I really wanted for this outfit was a pair of flip-flops. Turns out flip-flops are unavailable in the main game, one of the many clothing items locked to the $30 day-one DLC.

Welp.

To end on a less-depressing note, I was thinking about how I would re-order the Gen 1 gyms in a romhack of some sort. While Gen 1 was really well thought-out in most areas, the order of the gyms makes for a steep, sharp difficulty curve that quickly turns into a valley. Gym 2 and 3 are the hardest of the bunch...besides Sabrina, who can be anywhere from Gym 5 to Gym 7, but officially is probably Gym 6.

I'd move Gym 4 and 7 (Erika and Blaine) to earlier in the game and move Gym 2 and 3 back. Adjust their levels to balance, and it would probably be a better difficulty curve. Could move Koga too. So my order would be Brock - Erika - Blaine - Misty - Koga - Lt. Surge - Sabrina - Giovanni. This would balance the early game a lot better, with the 3 elements all being evenly represented after Brock teaches you to diversify elements. Instead of Charmander being weak to the first two while the others aren't, it would be evened out a bit. Erika would actually be somewhat of a formidable opponent at Gym 2 rather than 4.

Bulbasaur

Gym 1 - Strong

Gym 2 - Equal

Gym 3 - Weak

Gym 4 - Strong

Squirtle

Gym 1 - Strong

Gym 2 - Weak

Gym 3 - Strong

Gym 4 - Equal

Charmander

Gym 1 - Weak

Gym 2 - Strong

Gym 3 - Equal

Gym 4 - Weak

On a points scale where strong is 3, equal is 2, weak is 1, this puts them at 9, 9, and 7 points respectively against the first four gyms. Charmander is still an unofficial "hard mode" but only by a mild margin; by Gym 4 your lineup should be much more fleshed-out than it would be in the first couple of gyms, so weakness there doesn't matter the way it would at, say, Gym 2.

AND NOW... TIME TO RANK THE EIGHT GEN 1 GYM LEADERS IN DIFFICULTY. Your mileage may vary:

If OG Gen 1 where starter isn't Pikachu and you aren't level-grinding:
8. Erika
7. Blaine
6. Brock
5. Koga
4. Giovanni

3. Lt. Surge
2. Misty

1. Sabrina

If starter IS Pikachu ala Yellow or LGP and you are more reliant on him:
8. Erika
7. Blaine
6. Lt. Surge
5. Koga
4. Brock
3. Misty
2. Giovanni
1. Sabrina

Ah, yeah, nothing like the nostalgia for older, main-series Pokémon games. ...I should really be finally getting to Pokemon Platinum instead of playing this. Well, more later, looks like I'm plowing ahead with this game real quick.