#Legends: Z-A

[csolarstorm]

Legends Z-A: Lumiose City Life Simulator

I'm really ambivalent about the new Z-A trailer. The quality looks great and I love the new characters and it hints at a good story but on the other hand...that's it. I can't wait to play it, definitely. But as a trailer...it certainly was a choice to leave out any new Pokemon, megas, or any hint about what the conflict might be.

Or, should I say, any dramatic hint. There's no stinger about a brewing conflict. We already know the story is about Quasartico's Redevelopment Plan. (Love the name Quasartico, btw. It sounds Spanish!) And Jett and Vinny are clearly either antagonists or red herrings. There are no innocent CEOs in the Pokemon world. Just like real life!

But I love Jett and her cosmic aesthetic. I hope there's a new regional Pokemon form that goes with her aesthetic, otherwise I'd think Rayquaza, especially since she's the CEO of Quasartico, but she doesn't seem like a dragon lady, and Rayquaza's kind of busy with Pokemon Horizons.

Oh, wait, Purugly actually would work well! One of the Purugly design elements is their moon-shaped head. I could see her with a big fluffy cat.

I suspect that if the main character does clash with Quasartico, it'll be a more nuanced clash of perspectives like in Legends: Arceus, and also Scarlet and Violet. It'll probably be you and Zygarde vs Quasartico for some reason, though I'm not sure why welcoming wild Pokemon into the city would anger Zygarde. Or maybe Quasartico are the good guys, and we're fighting another faction that doesn't want wild Pokemon disrupting city life.

Or, maybe Quasartico is gathering Pokemon into the city in order to drain Pokemon of their life energy!

Anyway.

What does a guy do with himself after finally earning forgiveness for his atrocities after roaming the earth for 3,000 years? Live in a human zoo? No, I'm not talking about Simon Petrikov!

The thing to do is open a hotel, of course!

It's bizarrely perfect. AZ is like an unsettling cryptid bellhop crossed with a nice old grandpa that could tell you the most epic stories about his life. And I'm sure some of those stories will play a role in the game! AZ and Eternal Flower Floette even look like they should run an aging, gothic hotel. I can imagine a bouquet of Eternal Flowers in a painting in the lobby.

Another reason this fits is because X and Y were filled with Hotels, even though you couldn't do a lot with them. I think in development they were originally they were supposed to take the place of Pokemon Centers, but when that didn't happen they just kept them anyway. But don't quote me on that.

Z-A is not at all what I expected. I was expecting Haussmann's renovation of France, not "AZ and Eternal Flower Floette are friendly characters here to help you at your home base".

Beyond that, there's not much else to say. Taunie-Urbaine is cute. They remind me of someone, but I can't put my finger on it. Wait, are they maybe related to Viola?

I really want to be more excited about Pokemon Champions, but without the National Dex (at least on Day 1, it might happen eventually) I just don't see a point in getting excited over a battle simulator, even if you can use all the various gimmicks against each other.

Although, I admit it would be cool to use my Pokemon from Switch for battles on my phone. It's ironic because the big advantage of battle simulators used to be that you could use your GBA/DS Pokemon on TV, and now that Pokemon games are on TV, here's a game that will let you battle with your TV Pokemon on your phone.

You know, the other weird thing about the trailer was that it didn't even feature Zygarde that much. (Yes, parts of it were briefly in the trailer.) The website at least says that Zygarde has "taken an interest in you". Such a tiny hint. Does Hotel Z and its new owner have more to do with the title than Zygarde itself?

Look at the Super Mario Odyssey style city parkour, lol.

I'm nervous that the game doesn't have Ride Pokemon. Otherwise, why would they show the player character teleporting up buildings or double-jumping buildings with their Rotom Phones? It would be an odd choice for the region that introduced Ride Pokemon! Gogoat was basically made for that gimmick, solely in Lumiose City not to mention!

I hope we can at least ride %10 Zygarde or Gogoat down the street!

All in all, this game feels like Pokemon Legends meets Detective Pikachu. Not a comparison I thought I'd make. We'll see how it compares to Legends: Arceus when Z-A comes out later this year, but for now, I'm just looking forward to that comfy Parisian city life and the parkour that comes with it!

[numahachi]

LOL whos tye saultry little binch on the bottom lsft????

[snowyy133]

Came out of my tumblr hibernation to draw this

[iluvluvnutella]

Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, dies at 68. Absolutely tragic. Rest in peace Legend.

[adobe-outdesign]

Chikorita and Totodile: Yay we get to be in Legends Z-A!!!

Cyndaquil, stuck in 1800s Japan:

[grovylelover]

Walked into the local marriott and guess who was behind the front desk. yuuuuuuup. the immortal king of legend who vaporized so many people it permanently fucked up the timeline.

[girly-sidetails]

[sotiredmostnights]

gamefreak has the chance to do something incredibly funny actually

[thearsonistofarland]

I’ll show lumiose a real ultimate weapon

[beastkonohaworld]

About today's PLZ-A trailer, I hope we will continue the tradition of confused local train muppets

[melonthesprigatito]

“Johto and Unova are fighting it out to see who gets the next game…wait…what’s this?!?! BY GAWD IT’S KALOS WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!!”

[sweetapplecurry]

I know they’re in different eras/time periods, but could you imagine if they weren’t?

Based off this (x)

[falcyhedgehog]

[cereallox]

We're so back

[galaxyferret]

So that Direct huh

[ankle-beez]

Its funny that they've been teasing unova for the past year and then they were like "actually fuck you we're going back to kalos"