The more time passes the more i deeply regret getting the za bundle i shouldve just gotten the mariokart world bundle. Now ill never get to play it bc im not spending $80 for mariokart are you crazy
really obsessed with the implication in Z-A that instead of just being a guy with a bad sense of direction, Leon is some kind of SCP that causes everyone and everything to get lost right along with him
This game sucks. No, not because of graphics or a lack of voice acting. In fact i sincerely hope pokemon never gets voice acting. And i genuinely dont care about graphics as long as the game is fun. That being said....
The game is not fun.
Starting with the battle system, its nonintuitive. Sure, i got the hang of it, but it still doesnt feel right. Or good. Or fun. You button mash. Thats it thats the full extent of the gameplay. You have no room to think ahead or strategize. A lot of moves leave your pokemon entirely vulnerable to attacks. Speed is the most important stat. If youre slow it really doesnt matter if youre bulky because youre taking multiple hits anyway. I know pla also had the speed advantage especially with the agile style stuff, but at least it was balanced by making agile moves weaker and also not even always guaranteeing that you get to move a second time. You actually had to strategize your attacks. And sometimes it doesnt matter if youre fast because some moves make your pokemon reposition itself near you even if you dont want it to, wasting time and taking hits when it couldve just attacked. It makes most moves pointless to use and only certain moves optimal for these kinds of battles, which diminshes what little variety there was. This is especially an issue in rogue mega battles. You cant force your pokemon to dodge, they just follow you around, meaning if YOU are trying to dodge moves your beloved pokemon will simply very stupidly run right up next to you, taking all the hits youre trying to avoid. And while you can recall and send them back out to focus on dodging to save yourself, sending a pokemon out makes them stay in place for a few seconds so they can do their cry and amimation, which defeats the purpose. You also cant command and dodge at the same time since focusing the mega and pressing y doesnt make you dodge, it just makes your pokemon use an attack unless you dont have a pokemon out, which as i just said is hard to manage when switching pokemon out ruins the flow and leaves you extremely vulnerable.
And on the topic of rogue mega battles. Your pokemon will take damage from moves that they are normally immune to. This of course is entirely nonintuitive. You cannot reasonably argue that theyre simply that strong when we have things like z moves and ultra necrozma and arceus itself all not bypassing immunities. Mega pokemon are Not that special. Doesnt matter if theyre a little bigger than usual.
Lumiose was not designed with battles in mind considering a majority of places you find yourself battling in dont have a lot of room for you to move around anyway, leaving you with the only real option being just defeat your opponent faster. You only have space in rogue mega battles which, again, its really hard to command your pokemon and avoid being hit at the same time. After a while it feels like youre just sending in your pokemon as cannon fodder to do chip damage so you can get the battle over with. This is especially an issue at the end of the gane where youre getting jumped by 2-3 mega pokemon at a time in extremely small spaces, and they all tend to target you specifically instead of your allies and pokemon.
The nighttime battle zones hardly have any areas to hide in and the range at which you can start targeting their pokemon is a lot smaller than the range the trainers can see you to initiate battle. Like i said, hardly any room to move around for most of these areas. They also have at most 3 pokemon. Also, the thing most advertised about this game was the za battle rank system, where you go from rank z to rank a, but due to a lack of any meaningful plot progression, you skip all the way from u to f. Ive seen many people praise this decision, saying that it wouldve been annoying or stale to have to get through each rank. But that to me shows a lack of self awareness. Maybe, just maybe, if you think the main advertised battle thing was going to be a slog to get through, then that means it wasnt a good idea to begin with.
Wild pokemon battles arent much better. In fact theyre worse. You get swarmed really quick. There is again hardly any places to hide, failing a catch attempt makes them spot you instantly. You cant sneak up on pokemon to initiate a battle with them like you could in sv or pla, since the only way to battle is to have your pokemon out already and make them attack, but for whatever reason they made it so that if you have a pokemon out, youre guaranteed to get caught by any wild pokemon in the vicinity even if you are hiding.
In legends arceus you had many methods of mitigating pokemon capturing. You had berries and other items you could use to lure pokemon depending on what they liked, you had items that could make them stop dead in their tracks to help you escape or give you a better chance at catching them. You had more places to hide and observe. Sure, you get one extra chance to catch them if you defeat them, but that doesnt really help much. You just walk in, throw some balls, and hope for the best instead of thinking about what might be useful. Theres not much strategy to it anymore and it feels mindless.
A lot of mega pokemons main appeal is their ability and there are no abilities in the game, meaning some pokemon just end up completely pointless to use over something else. For example, you may like to use mega charizard y if you prefer to set up sun and use moves that benefit from it, but without abilities theres not really any point to using it over mega charizard x. All it really does is make there be even less strategy or variety. Also locking the kalos starter megas behind online ranked was a really stupid idea. They clearly only think people are going to play the game to fight people online instead of, idk, experiencing a story? And with that being said...
The plot is lame as hell and the worldbuilding is not much better
This games plot feels a lot like it was made for people who didnt actually play xy. Or any pokemon game, for that matter. The plot is shallow. Quasartico, one of the first things thats been advertised about the game, ultimately has no presence in the game at all. Everything about that happened with the tower and how its AZs fault has absolutely no basis in anything previously established in xy. They invented lore from nothing and acted like you were supposed to enjoy it. Sure, its nice to have more lore, but the least they couldve done was expand on things that needed expanding on instead of making up new problems that didnt need to exist. If you played xy and also have basic reading comprehension skills, you would notice that every single bit of lore that kalos has does NOT take place in lumiose city. Lumiose has its own little mysteries here and there and, oddly enough, not a single one of them are explored in za. The biggest thing was the ghost girls and the train station message. All we get is an npc mentioning the ghost girl thing, like gamefreak was cheekily poking fun for making us expect anything about za to have anything to do with xy. The game feels way too self contained. We dont even get to know who taunie/urbain is looking for. For some reason everyone treats naveen like shit despite him not doing anything wrong. Corbeaus whole thing with lysandre is told rather than shown and not fully expanded upon. Team flare nouveau consists of a grand total of 2 people and is dropped on you last second and also ultimately doesnt affect a single thing in the plot except to retell you things you would already know if you played xy. The whole thing with lysandre labs felt like nostalgiafarming but for people who didnt play xy. Nothing about looker is mentioned. Anything about characters you would reasonably care about is only mentioned by random npcs, where sycamore and trevor are conveniently not in kalos at the time despite the fact that their expertise in megas couldve really helped make any of it matter at all, and theyre the only two that have direct ties to lumiose. Its not a bad thing to have new characters, but it wouldve been nice if they were based on things we got to know in xy. Theres no reason why clemont shouldnt have been involved when the main plot point is the tower and he had direct ties to the tower in xy. The museum is the most we get of the rest of the region, which like i said before is where all the regions lore is. Everyone who played xy knows that one of the biggest things people wanted to know about was the power plant, which is right outside lumiose city, and we dont get to see anything about it. A lot of tell-not-show going on, especially with the subway bosses who just kinda. Got a resolution except why should it matter if we're in kalos and not unova where it would matter. Whats with all the unova pandering without actually going back to unova these past few games anyway?
Like i said with sycamore, considering the plot kinda revolves around mega evolution, you would think the only characters in the game that are linked to the history of mega evolution would have been there to help investigate. Somehow theyre still trying to push the idea that mega evolution is only possibke through a trainers bond, despite it being blatantly untrue and disproven throughout the games events repeatedly. "Mega energy" doesnt really have much of a basis. In fact the entire concept of pokemon randomly doing the gimmick due to some weird energy in the region is a 1 to 1 rehash of galars plot where the galar particles are what allow dynamaxing, and throughout swsh we have instances where pokemon randomly dynamax (except we dont get to see or deal with it). But at least it all stems from eternatus. Mega energy kinds just. Exists. Only from the tower. Because of something az did, i guess? But ultimately it still doesnt give any good reason as to why only a select few pokemon can mega evolve. Also, none of the alola mega dex entries were expanded upon at all, all we got was that the rogue pokemon specifically are suffering. Which is crazy because even pokemon masters, a mobile gacha game, addressed the alola dex entries and how sycamore is trying to learn more because in xy it was only a theory that mega evolution was only possible with a trainers bond, but none of that matters because mega evolution as a phenomenon isnt explored at all in za. Its just a thing you can do sometimes and thats it.
Personally i dont think zygarde shouldve needed a mega stone to mega evolve, i think it shouldve been like mega rayquaza where it can just do that because its that powerful.
The final boss plays out more like a kirby boss than anything. Which wouldve been neat if commandong your pokemon was better. And if you pay attention to every game that lysandre is in, like usum and pokemon masters, it seems like they think the only personality trait that kalos has is the ultimate weapon. And this continues to be the case in za, where despite the fact that Ange had nothing at all to do with the ultimate weapon and it was built for an entirely different purpose, it decides to try and Ultimate Weapon it up anyway out of nowhere, despite no indication that this was even going to be possible at all. Its just stupid.
Theres no good reason for alpha pokemon to exist, an npc even points out that thats only a thing in ancient hisui, but this isnt really expanded upon.
Every single plot point in the game progresses through battles. Every. Single. One. All the exact same way. "Ill give you info if you beat me in battle". I know this isnt too far off from other pokemon games, but it wasnt for EVERY SINGLE PLOT POINT. I was genuinely surprised when mable DIDNT make me battle her for her to tell me something. Which btw shes all "i used to be part of team flare" as if its supposed to be a surprise when she clearly makes zero wffort to hide her ties to team flare when she has the logo on both her laptop and chair. And most of the side quests are just battles. Ive personally never been fond of endless battling (like battle tower, battlebtree, stuff like that just doesnt personally interest me) and would rather have interesting plot and lore than just battling.
It should not be the case that galar had a better plot than za. Because at least galar was really fun and involved with the gym challenge.
It feels like a slice of life without the slice of life part
One of the hugest things about kalos was that it introduced pokemon amie. With switch 2 mouse controls and both switches having touchscreen, you would think theyd let you pet your pokemon. In fact, one of the only other things advertised that wasnt just battling was being able to hang out with your pokemon. But then you play the game and there is actually no way to interact with your pokemon. You sit at the cafe and do all of nothing the entire time. None of the buttons do anything, all you can do is sit abd stare at your pokemon while they stare at you back. And you sit and stare at your screen because there is no engagement. You cant interact with your pokemon when you have them out, which both pla and sv let you do. Yoir pokemon even interact with each other in pla, sv, and swsh. Its weird with how good the animations are in the game that they removed one of the biggest things people care about, which is interacting with your team.
And more issues....
Tons of buildings, cant go into any of them, like sv. Sure, the cafes were mostly pointless in xy, but they offered personality to the region. Let you know the kinds of people who lived there. Youd think with a game that focuses on one city would make it more in depth but it somehow manages to do the opposite of that. Cafes are now just a waiter that stands outside and you order a drink and sit outside and do nothing. Apparel shops arent their own rooms much like how none of the shops in sv were anything more than a menu. No office buildings to enter means no ghost girl thing as previously mentioned. Somehow they failed to even acknowledge the heatran thing in lumiose. Not to mention since its all one place you hear the same music all the time. Doing the scaffolding obstacle course type things feels pointless and like theyre strewn about randomly just for the sake of having something there. They couldve at least given us roller skates as some region personality. It just as a whole feels shallow and empty and i feel like the only way to enjoy this game is if you hadnt played any other pokemon game before.
Im sure theyre going to cover major plot points in the dlc because of course they would lock base game content behind a paywall, the same way the sv dlc shouldve been base game stuff. Or hell they might just continue inventing new things instead of expanding on anything else. But ultimately i just really do not care about mega pokemon.
I think the game backed itself into a corner by only taking place in lumiose. Nothing really Happens in this game. And whatever does happen happens with little basis in previously established lore.
Tldr this game is not worth $60-$70 and you should just borrow it from someone else if you wanna play it
so Sycamore resigned to go to "some far-off region." assuming the npc would probably have said the region's name if we'd already been introduced to it....
I want to preface this; Iāve not played ALL of Legends: Z-A. These observations and explanations of my opinion are from about 5-6 hours of playtime, as well as secondhand knowledge from other people in my friends circle who have also played the game. Itās possible that the game becomes really awesome in the last stretch and thatās what a lot of people seek to praise, and if that is the case, so be it! But I would like to express my negative feelings about Legends: Z-A up to this point, and I think itās best to start with surface-level stuff and get deeper over time.Ā
Below the cut are spoilers.
Surface Level: Graphics and Music
I didnāt have very high hopes for the graphics in this game, especially after Scarlet/Violet and things Iāve seen spectating other people play Legends: Arceus, but I was hoping that the actual bugs and glitches presented by the game would be learned from and removed by Legends Z-A, in the very least.Ā
Instead, we get moments like these two, where trees and other features repeatedly despawn and are re-rendered depending on slight changes in the playerās perspective. If anything, this feels WORSE than Scar/Vio and Legends: Arceus. Back then, we more often saw issues with distant objects having a low framerate (Mostly in Scarlet/Violet) and shaders working improperly- Disappearing shadows and reappearing in a flickering way (Legends: Arceus). Yet somehow, things have gotten worse- Trees and bushes right in front of you can despawn if you look at them wrong-
And if youāre particularly unlucky, a feature may spawn in glitched, causing it to repeatedly unrender and re-render in a way that makes it flash- This can be particularly bad for people with epilepsy, as this CAN happen to large features, as shown in the clip below (If you have epilepsy DO NOT WATCH THIS NEXT CLIP!!!)
I somewhat expected graphics to get better with time- And the Lumiose City to look rather pretty. After all, they accomplished it very easily in Pokemon X and Y, and now they had more advanced technology, right? But it feels like things have gone backwards in so many ways- Buildings that, in X and Y, had dimension and color to them, are now flat textures on flat walls, which makes the city feel more blocky and awkward.Ā
Beyond just graphics, thereās also the issue with the music- In previous Pokemon games, music could change a lot! Every city had its own soundtrack. Routes and Caves were their own soundtracks as well, making the soundscape of the games feel diverse and helps to really immerse you in the game. While the city music for Lumiose City is certainly grabbing the vibe of the city, Iāve begun to grow tired of it being the ONLY music I hear for so long. Districts donāt seem to have their own soundtracks- And itās only different between day and night. I only get a brief respite from the Lumiose City music when Iām in a building or restaurant, and there are so few of those, not to mention I will rarely have to go into them.
This, again, feels like Iām falling backwards in terms of progress- Losing the diversity of many different kinds of music and the different feels of new areas. Lumiose City is just one big, huge, single route to me, and itās a bit boring.
Overall, I didnāt have many expectations, but it still felt worse than I thought it would be.
A Bit Deeper: Game Mechanics
Given that Legends: Z-A is made AFTER the events of Pokemon X and Y, and in the same region, I expected something at or above the level of Pokemon Amie; Being able to interact with and feed your Pokemon, as well as playing smaller minigames in order to build friendship, affection, and to develop a deeper bond with your Pokemon. Thatās what I hoped for, at least. I feel as though we got much less than that- While Pokemon can be released to wander with you in the overworld, and you can go to Cafes with them, you canāt do much else beyond that to bond with your Pokemon emotionally. I donāt get to feed them, I donāt get to pet them, and I donāt even get to talk to them when theyāre out of their Pokeballs- Walking up to them just does nothing. HG/SS did more than that- And that gameās over 15 years old! How did they not get around to giving you, the player, an opportunity to INTERACT with the Pokemon you release? It feels sad, in my opinion.Ā
Like this! At the very beginning of the game when you choose your starter, you hold out your fist to your partner and they give a fist bump back, to the best of their ability. THIS was a touching moment for me- But nothing became of it afterwards. I donāt get to fist bump again. If they programmed in an animation for the starters to fist-bump you, I donāt see why you shouldnāt be able to do it on your own, too.
The gameās new live-battle system is cool and all- Even if I liked the difficulty managing PP gave me- But itās one of the very, very few new things this game introduces to make things interesting and put a spin on the gameās experience. āResearch Levelsā feels annoying to accomplish and interact with, not to mention the interactions with Professor Mable feel stale (Will touch on that more later), and the stealth and interactive combat mechanics are all from Legends: Arceus.Ā
Despite this, thereās a lot thatās TAKEN AWAY too- Crafting from Legends: Arceus, Cooking and Raising as mentioned before, and a smooth, Day-Night cycle. Iām still very peeved about that last one- Transitioning to Night from Day in previous Pokemon games happened instantly- If you opened your DS after a few hours it would adjust the color of the game appropriately, but in Legends Z-A, thatās not the case;
Instead, you get a loading screen that transitions to the next phase of the day. Thereās minimal dusk and dawn. It's mainly just light and dark, and it can cause Shinies to despawn, battles to be cancelled, and serve to interrupt other events, as well. It can become annoying and irritating- Especially if itās a Shiny Pokemon encounter that gets interrupted.
Finally, we have the Rogue Megas. These just feel like the boss battles from Legends: Arceus again, unfortunately. They donāt have more flavor or pizzazz to them, itās just a baby bullet hell (A bullet hell-lite? The name I want to call it is a work in progress) on top of a Pokemon Battle- Not much to it.Ā
In terms of mechanics, I find myself yet again, underwhelmed, in spite of my expectations. Itās as if I was looking at a game that came before Legends: Arceus- The issue being it was after, and not only that, it costs more.
The Deepest Brief Glance: Game Experience
I donāt have much to say in this category- This is more in regards to the game as a GAME, yāknow? How it feels when played and how it makes me feel, as a player. This section will be quite subjective, so if you disagree with this part of the analysis, thatās fine. Everyone has different experiences, and this is just one of a million.
If my experience could be one word, itād be āAddled.ā I feel confused and dull to the experience as a whole- This game feels unclear to me in a lot of ways, between my lackluster objective and the feeling that I should be getting something more out of the game itself. There are clear objectives, but the side quests, research and pokedex, objectives I should be excited for, feel tiring and blurry, almost like theyāre more just distractions than anything else. There arenāt new Pokemon to discover and learn about, the Side Quests can sometimes be touching moments, but a lot of others feel repetitive and boring;
This makes it feel like there are times Iām just playing the gameā¦ wrong? Especially since itās not an enjoyable moment. Nonetheless, this may just be my nostalgia for older games poisoning my experience, and making me yearn for past times.Ā
Additionally, things feel so easy, that itās almostā¦ too easy. Losing a battle has no consequence, nor does getting hit too many times by wild Pokemon. Lack of consequence makes me feel like thereās no stakes involved when I take action- I donāt lose money, I donāt lose progress, Iām simply dropped outside the Wild Zone with all my Pokemon fully healed and no consequence to me.Ā
Even when I tried to lose ON PURPOSE, I did not lose anything, and the story simply continued on, forcing me into a situation that I honestly didnāt want-
Other elements of the gameās introduction also feel blandly delivered- The āWelcome to the World of Pokemonā speech, normally a staple and a hype-up for the game, is downplayed by the narrative around it, as Taunie/Urbain grumbles about it being an āAdā that would drown out the sound of the recording theyāre trying to do with the Protagonist. The Pokedex- Normally a device entrusted to you by the professor of the region to survey Pokemon all across the region to help gather research data- Is instead an app, given to you by a Nurse Joy, as a āPromotional Offerā to get kids to register Pokemon species. When you meet Professor Mable, she seems burnt-out and lackluster, complaining about the cityās state and how no one wants to help her with her research. Itās a bit of a drag, and it doesnāt make me feel good about the Pokedex- It just makes me feel sad and obligated to do something with it.
Overall, it feels drained of emotion and I donāt feel engaged in the game unless Iām putting energy and effort into engaging myself, which limits how long I can really enjoy the game before getting tired of it.
Depths that Explain Why I Went to AP English Class: Plot Purpose and Characterization
Letās start with the Protagonist as a character- Usually, many protagonists in Pokemon are pretty traitless to start with, since the player needs to be able to project their own emotions onto their avatar, and thatās okay! But still, in games like X/Y and B/W/B2/W2, you get a feeling that youāre supposed to OPPOSE some sort of ideology, based on how the Villain Team acts. In many games, the plot underlines how much the protagonist CARES about their Pokemon and the bond that Pokemon share with people- X and Y, the protagonist shows faith in humanity to become better- Opposing Lysandreās ideal that the world is more beautiful without humans bringing about conflict and war; In the Black and White series, opposing Team Plasma shows that the protag believes there isnāt a perfect world that could be created from one personās ideals, and that Pokemon and People can live together and love one another in happiness (N even underlines this in his dialogue describing the Protagās relationship with their team).
I show these examples because itās the method through which the Pokemon games give the protagonist some level of emotions and values- And yet, in Z-A, there is no enemy team. In fact, thereās not really an enemy ideology that the protagonist is going up against. Thereās no value that the protagonist opposes or appeals to, and as a result, you get a very weak character. On top of that, the confusing introduction leaves you with no direction as a character- You simply travelled to Lumiose City for Tourism Reasons (???) and got wrapped up in the Pokemon fighting competition by a girl who accosted you on the street to make an ad for a Hotel- That you end up staying at. You then find yourself obliged to help and thatās IT. Thatās what ties you into the whole plot of the story- An obligation to someone giving you housing, since apparently you didnāt PLAN for that when you travelled here. There arenāt values to that character or that motivation. Again it just feelsā¦ weak.
In addition to the lack of a rival team, the Protagonist also faces little opposition from the town or world around them- In Legends: Arceus, you were an outsider, and treated with caution and fear. In Legends: Z-A, however, the worst you get treated is with slight rudeness from random people in the city, and thatās it. Other people are slight pushovers, or completely friendly to you. Thereās no tension or opposition to be met and to give the player purpose and drive, no values to be tested and gleaned from experiencing the game as a whole.
Opponents you fight in Promotion Matches are also rather difficult to get emotion or purpose from, as their wishes range from eccentric and somewhat ridiculous to achievable without having to compete in a huge fighting competition. Zach wants to abolish all forms of transportation so that only taxis remain (Thatās like some goofy evil villain plan from a cartoon). Yvon wants to create a marathon for the city of Lumiose (Something that just requires some event coordination?). Rintaro wants to make his restaurant a 3-star location (You could DO that if you just committed yourself to improving the restaurant!!!!!), and we never get to hear what the PROTAGONISTāS WISH IS! What is OUR wish? What do WE want? Itās never said or elaborated on, and we donāt even get a choice for what we MIGHT wish for in the future if given the chance!
The other members of Team MZ donāt have it much better- Taunie/Urbain talk a lot about helping out AZ and the Hotel, as well as protecting Lumiose, but that seems like a second-hand dream, as they often say itās what AZ wants, and itās an obligation to help AZ, etc etc. Lida hasnāt given much in terms of wants or ideals, but seems to be sticking around Team MZ anyways. For what purpose? I have no clue. The one member Iāve witnessed having a focused goal and objective for his wish was Naveen- Who seems intent on following his dream as a fashion designer, in spite of his grandmother who is trying to get him on the straight and narrow path of a better education- But even then, him staying with Team MZ is more out of obligation than anything- Because AZ offered him a room in Hotel Z as an art studio.Ā
At the same time, there are moments when characters show that true emotion and spirit of Pokemon, when we get to see ideals and hope shine through- Some side missions talk about the bond between Trainer and Pokemon, and AZās speech about the trust Pokemon put in their trainers was one that MADE UP FOR the lackluster āWelcome to the World of Pokemonā speech at the beginning of the game (To be honest, AZās talk felt MORE like the actual introductory speech than the latter), but those have felt few and far between.Ā
Addressing the Abyss: Racism and Boundaries
I want to circle back to Naveen, because it feels necessary to address something about him, and how other people treat him.
Naveen is a black character in the game, and happens to be one of two plot-relevant black characters I have encountered so far- The other being the lady whose Pancham steals your bag at the start of the game. So really- Naveenās the main POC rep in the game. This is a bad choice on the game developersā side- Because now all the weight of representation is on this one character, and how Naveenās treated can have effects on what the audience sees in the people he represents. Thatās a lot of weight for one character to bear in the plot of a story.Ā
And the game does not handle it well at all.
After your second Promotional Match, thereās a scene where Naveen expresses irritation at being left out- Also noting that this is an issue thatās happened multiple times. Taunie and Lida quickly try to change the subject or deflect the accusations, claiming they āJust forgot,ā but even after, Naveen tries to push back, saying heād prefer it if they just admitted they forgot about him.Ā
This initial confrontation seems a bit mean, but hey, everyone has their flaws, right? Some people simply make mistakes and forget to text someone- Setting aside the fact that itās happened several times since we havenāt seen it happen, maybe Naveenās overreacting? Unfortunately, the pressure on Naveen continues the very next morning when you walk back into the lobby-
Lida asks the Protagonist a pretty meaningless question about why they joined MZ, and then turns the question on Naveen, who seems to not want to talk about it. A very clear-cut and communicated boundary: āI donāt want to talk about why I joined right now.ā Instead of listening to this, Lida tells Naveen that they should have a Pokemon battle to make Naveen talk about it. There is no input from the Protagonist to say āThis isnāt fair to Naveenā or āHe did say no,ā suggesting a level of complicitness in Lidaās suggestion. Naveen argues again- Claiming she KNOWS heās not good at battling, to which Lida just says āBut your partner wants to! So weāre gonna do it!ā Which 1. Puts words in Naveenās partnerās mouth, and 2. Completely ignores the fact that Naveen didnāt want to talk about this.
This was the battle I tried, on purpose, to fail. There were no consequences, and the game would not progress otherwise. When, inevitably, you do defeat Naveen, he compliments your battle style and considers how he can improve- Before being swiftly cut off by Lida, who again, forces things along, claiming āA promise is a promiseā when Naveen 1. Never promised anything and 2. Naveen still, clearly, didnāt want to talk about it.
Naveen ends up simply walking away from the conversation, and Lida cracks a joke about āHeās a shy one alrightā like her talking to the person they met just a few days ago about Naveenās secrets was small talk about the weather. It feels a bit like harassment, to be honest- And from what Iāve heard from friends, treatment of Naveen doesnāt get any better.
Now, some people may consider this nitpicking, but I did want to also address some smaller issues surrounding Naveen: Elements of the game that, without the underlying issue of harassing Naveen, might not necessarily point to racism as an issue, but with the problem being so blatant, make it all feel so much worse.
Naveenās a Dark-Type Trainer, whose Partner is Scraggy- Otherwise known as āThe Hoodlum Pokemonā.Ā
This is made worse if you take into account that, in the Japanese version of Pokemon games, this type is referred to as ććććæć¤ć, or āEvil Typeā. Theyāve given the one Black character the āEvil Typeā, and the āHoodlumā Pokemon.
Two more Pokemon in Naveenās team are Sableeye (Known for stealing Jewels, a common, negative POC trope), and Krookodile (Cmon. āCrookā is in the name).Ā
Naveen is generally considered superstitious, and is afraid of ghosts. This is a common stereotype surrounding people of color.Ā
Naveen blushes white- Which feels strange and uncomfortable given his skin color.
Taunie/Urbain tend to treat Naveen poorly as well- Getting on his case to stop slacking and āMake sure [Protag] doesnāt do all the work!ā
With how poorly Naveen is treated, itās hard to not feel bad for him- Especially since you, the protagonist, often become a tool through which he is treated badly. Itās hard to call it subtle racism, given how much of Naveenās screen time is devoted to mistreating him. Itās pretty overt. Itās just as bad- If not WORSE- Than making the only Black character the villain of the story, because Naveen is treated often as lesser even as your friend. I hope that he has good moments later in the game, but that feels like a very distant and improbable hope.
Overall, the gameās not good. The quality is bad, the mechanics are iffy, the feelings are drained and muddy, the characters lack personality, and then thereās justā¦ flat-out racism. If youāre unsure how to feel about the game now, well. At the very least, donāt feel good about it. Itās not worth $70, itās not even worth $5. I got it for free, and I think Iāll just trash it at this point. It makes me feel a bit sickā¦
Okay i beat the game the whole thing was very nothingburger and empty and the ending was just hype moments and aura as a kirby boss and i hate the new battle system and i hate that thats all thats left to do and im glad i didnt pay full price for this game. I am NOT buying the dlc
