Let's Play Legends Arceus, Part 2: Pokemon Are Terrifying Creatures

Last we left off, I got my starter, and I am going off to Obsidian Fieldlands to undergo my trial so that I can be accepted into Jubilife Village and not be left out to die. But before I can make my first foray into the semi open-world of Hisui, I get accosted by some dude called Volo -- he's got a large backpack and a hairstyle that covers one of his eye. I had to check online to know if he's a 'he' or a 'she'. Volo introduces himself as a member of the Ginkgo Guild, a merchant guild -- I love this. I love this random bit of worldbuilding. 

And then Volo challenges me to battle with a Togepi! Normally the first 'rival' battle or whatever is never all too interesting, but... but it's 3-D... and I can move around in the battlefield! I can actually run around while my Rowlet stares down Volo's Togepi! Rowlet's Gust attack immediately strikes the enemy Togepi, sure, but when the Togepi uses a Tackle attack, it actually bowls over my trainer!

I absolutely love this. I don't know if I have a 'HP' meter for my human character, but a lot of the themes in Legends Arceus so far focus on how the Pokemon are terrifying creatures that aren't domesticated, and even if it's just there as a little cosmetic thing, I do love that your trainer could get 'injured', so to speak, in battle. Even if I find it hilarious that a full-grown young adult could get knocked down on his ass by an egg-baby Togepi. 

After Volo leaves, I, Akari and Professor Laventon go to Obsidian Fieldlands. The travel is by selecting a map, so it's not a 'true' open world but I just jump from one large map to the next, but I'm fine with that. 

And... it's... it's a pretty typical 'Route 1', I suppose. And all the wild Pokemon I'm supposed to catch is still a bit hand-held for me... but I do like that Akari basically goes through different aspects of this game's mechanics. Bidoof is dumb unafraid of humans so it just sticks around like a goober. Starly is a bit more skittish, so I have to sneak and crouch on the grass to toss my ball at him. And the Shinx acts as kind of a boss of this little mini-tutorial, since it's hostile and I have to send out my Rowlet to fight it -- at which point it basically goes back to the regular Pokemon battle system, other than the little wrinkle that I have to aim and throw my ball to catch it. 

Can I love how glorious it is that it's subverted now? That I'm crouching in the tall grass to ambush the Pokemon instead of the other way around?

I also like the little explanation of how a Pokemon would be too distracted in the battle, making it easier to aim the Pokeball -- something that the gameplay does demonstrate pretty well. 

Also also, thank god there's still battle against wild Pokemon. That aspect is easily the worst part of the otherwise pretty decent Let's Go games, where the pretty cool mechanic of Pokemon spawning in the overworld is marred by the fact that every single encounter is reduced to a Pokeball throwing minigame. This one has you chase them, sneak around them, and there's a potential of battle, too -- good show, Legends Arceus team!

Akari is impressed, and Laventon takes a photograph of me with... with a camera? Do cameras exist in Meiji-era Japan? I genuinely don't know. It is kind of interesting that everyone talks about how my Pokemon-cathing expertise would be crucial for the survival of the city... man, if catching a Bidoof, Shinx and Starly is something super-duper awesome, these guys are down pretty bad.

In a very cool aspect, too, I can actually let some or all of my Pokemon out of their balls in Jubilife City! That's so cool! There's also a brief bit where I can chuck my Rowlet at a berry tree and have it help harvest the Oran Berries there. It's pretty cool -- Let's Go and the DLC parts of Sword/Shield have this feature to some degree, and I am happy that they're starting to realize that Pokemon following you around is pretty damn important for the vibe of this franchise in general. 

Cyllene welcomes me to the Survey Corps, and gives me my uniform -- I can finally junk my isekai modern day T-shirt and pants, and dress up in... in a winter ninja outfit? There's something missing, though, and Cyllene drops in to give me that Diamond/Pearl protagonist cap. Now I look cool!

Cyllene sends me off to talk to Commander Kamado on the top floor... and Commander Kamado isn't actually a Demon Slayer with green-and-black kimono. No. It's Professor Rowan! Or, rather, Rowan's ancestor, with a fancy kimono and a jacket that he drapes around his shoulder like a goddamn One Piece admiral. He immediately asks me to try and attack him physically, but he knocks me around with a Judo toss -- something that's sadly not animated. 

After being given a bunch of other stuff like a generic kimono and formally receiving a house, I get my next mission -- Pokeball crafting! Not much to say here, but I think this replaces traditional shops?

Okay, so we have ancient Rowan, ancient Cyrus, ancient Dawn... is Volo meant to be ancient Cynthia? He's got nowhere as much coolness and fashion swagger as Cynthia does; unlike Cyllene and Kamado. Time will tell. 

I walk out of the Team Galaxy building and Anthe, one of the obvious merchants lining the street in front of the Galaxy Building, gives me a bunch of plain kimonos... which are super plain. But I guess just like Generation VI onwards, we'll be collecting clothes too! 

A bit more of the overall gameplay is unlocked at this point, with Akari and Laventon heading off to Obsidian Fieldlands, and giving me a bit of an introduction to the Pokedex. It's... it's a book, which, okay, sure, they don't have digital devices at the time. But it's kind of interesting that every single entry has little side-missions like 'see Shinx use Quick Attack X times' or something along those lines, and I thought that is actually pretty damn cool! A lot more challenging and less repetitive than Let's Go's "catch 20 Pidgey" or whatever, and it even kind of fits the lore since this is one of the earliest Pokedexes we're compiling here. 

We also get a couple random side-quests, recorded pretty neatly like a more traditional RPG. A guard wants me to catch a Wurmple, another lady wants a full Starly Pokedex, another dude wants to see the ears of a Shinx -- that last bit, I completed instantly for a couple of potions. Then it's off to the Obsidian Fieldlands again, upon which Akari impresses upon me the importance of the 'flowing bit of gymnastics' known as a dodge. Because wild Pokemon will attack me, it seems... and they do! They fucking attack me. Especially those bastard Buizels and Shinxes! So far it seems like I can tank quite a bit of 'damage', so to speak, and from the little pop-up guides, I'm going to assume that I pass out/black out like a regular trainer battle in a mainline Pokemon game if they beat me up too much. 

And... and it's just great exploring, y'know? Running around, collecting medicinal herbs and Apricorns and those little greeble rocks that I send my Rowlet to break; running back to the camp to heal up and craft more Pokeballs; sneaking up on those damn Starlies who just refuse to battle...

Ultimately, I return to Professor Laventon and it's interesting that I don't need to do all of the Pokedex 'quests' in order to unlock the entry -- I just need to get a point value of ten, and there are a lot of fun little objectives I can do. Defeating them, capturing them, capturing different forms or weights, seeing them use certain moves, use the 'back strike' on them... very cool!

There are obviously some roadblocks in this area since it's a starter area, but it does feel like Sinnoh. The most prominent Pokemon are still Bidoof, Starly, Shinx and Buizel, though there are also some Wurmple around an area... and a single Eevee that I very nearly missed! I went on overdrive mode and chucked like 10 Pokeballs on the Eevee.

After the expedition and registering some of the early-route Pokemon, we return to Jubilife City and Cyllene promotes me to 'First Star', which I think is this game's equivalent of badges. Or at least in terms of progressing the game and increasing the obedience level cap goes. I also get from one of the NPC's a portable crafting item, which... is nice. I didn't think they'd do it, especially not so early, but I do appreciate them not trying to stretch out the gameplay because some features in the game are meant to force you to run back and forth. 

Akari, Laventon and I dine a bit more in the potato mochi shop, and then... I kind of have free rein of the game! Of course Akari directs me to the next storyline and the plotline, apparently involving her wanting to del with a request from Mai from the Diamond Clan or something... but you know what? I'm just having too much fun exploring and doing side-quests.

And... yeah, some of the side-quests I do are pretty simple. Some dude wants a Wurmple, and that guard is really excited to evolve that Wurmple into a Beautifly, even giving me an option to help him name his Wurmple one of three nicknames beginning with Beau-, and... and the joke just writes itself, yeah? That Wurmple will evolve into an (equally beautiful) Dustox. I like Dustox.

Speaking of Wurmples, the one I have been carrying in my party has reached the requisite level to evolve, and... and it's interesting that I actually have to go to the party and manually click on the X-button to evolve it. Not sure how I feel about this, though I guess to some people it is quality-of-life? The evolution animation, at least the first half, is pertty fucking badass, though -- we get anime smoke and lightning swirling around our Pokemon like some kind of insane Super Saiyan transformation. Way too epic for my Wurmple to evolve into Cascoon, but... okay, sure!

The Pokemon box here is instead a ranch (wasn't this the Ruby/Sapphire tie-in game for the X-Box?), and I can go to the ranch lady to swap out my party. Pretty neat, and it makes sense that I don't have the instant-party-swap technology since Bill or whatever hasn't been around to invent computer systems yet.

Another side-quest doesn't even involve capturing Pokemon or whatever, but I just have to bring my own Bidoof to trick three Bidoof that broke into Jubilife City. I got this one from a 'commissions blackboard' in the Galaxy building, which... is always been a trope of J-RPG games I really love for no real discernible reason. It took me longer than I care to admit to hunt that one last Bidoof down, let me put it that way. At the end of that quest, we meet another unique-model NPC, Sanqua, who is the head of the Construction Corps and ends up putting the Bidoof to work in the city. Sanqua looks like Karen, specifically the Karen from HeartGold/ SoulSilver. I assume it's going to be a running gag for every single NPC? It's interesting that we get a non-Sinnoh NPC as the basis, for sure!

I spent a while just running around picking up side-quests in the city as well as inside the Team Galaxy HQ. One of the guards talks about a Drifloon that apparently has been seen playing with kids in the village!! Oh noes!!!1!

I also went to the fashion store (ran by a woman that seems to share a hairstyle with Platinum's Darach) and she gave me a bunch of gifts that I think are DLC? I'm never going to wear the Pikachu or Eevee festival masks, or the Shaymin kimono, but the thought's nice. I did use the money I got from my expedition to buy better sandals, as well as that cool ronin straw hat -- it looks so much more appropriate in feudal-era Hisui compared to that little modern-day cap I have in my default outfit

Akari then challenges me to a bit of a battle against her partner, which is, of course, a Pikachu. A disobedient Pikachu, mind you, and one who's apparently the cause of her being thundershock'd by a Shinx. Really do like the battle theme here -- though Pikachu really isn't a threat. This does serve as a bit of a tutorial because the leader of the training grounds, Zisu, shows up and gives me a bit of a tutorial on the "Agile Style" and "Strong Style". Apparently this game runs a bit on something that's not exactly turn-based. I did notice how some Pokemon seem to be able to do Quick Attack in quick succession, but it's not a bug. It's a feature! Agile Style deals less damage but you can potentially attack twice in a turn, while Strong Style deals more damage but you have the potential to skip a turn. Or something. 

What matters, though, is that we get a cool-ass samurai movie black-and-white screen with "STRONG STYLE" superimposed on it. Rowlet looks like such a dorky badass with his angry cute baby owl face when he does it!

Zisu also gives move tutor services, which is a godsend for anyone who wants Shinx as one of their primary Pokemon since he learns the elemental fangs. Shinx is very useful in this early game with its pretty powerful Bite and Thundershocks; as is Buizel's Aqua Jets. Really do appreciate how the dex does want me to witness certain Pokemon doing specific moves, too!

Anyway, back to the Obsidian Fieldlands, and after a brief tutorial on the back-strike moves from Volo,  we meet Mai... who's a goth chick! Or, rather, she's the ancestor of Marley, the goth chick from Diamond/Pearl. Not having an actual goth dress does make her a lot less obvious compared to some of the other NPC's, though! Mai gives some exposition about "Alpha Pokemon", which I assume are going to be bosses similar to the Totem Pokemon in Alola. I mean, shit, we already have that giant space-time rift... I bet the Pokemon theorists are already tying this in to the Ultra Wormholes!

Mai is from the Diamond Clan, and both Mai and Akari give me some backstory about how the Diamond and Pearl Clans have arrived from outside of Hisui. I'm pretty sure this is meant to be a parallel to some event in real life, but I haven't researched enough to know which part of Japan's history this is meant to reference. Again, to establish how early this is in the Pokemon world's timeline, Mai even mentions how her clan doesn't need Pokeballs to domesticate Pokemon -- her partner Munchlax was raised alongside her! Love this. I get such a strong Colosseum/Ranger vibes from this, where we get to see a different but equally valid part of the world of Pokemon.

My Arc Phone also casually beeps, because nothing says 'isekai protagonist' more than god himself calling you to give you a GPS trace on the quest objective. 

Mai also talks about "Almighty Sinnoh", which is identified by her as a great creator deity of sorts that created the land. Presumably this is Arceus, or Dialga (since Mai talks about Sinnoh "steering time") and later on, in modern day, the name of the deity they worshipped became the name of the land? It is so unreal to have actual lore that I'm trying to piece together in a freaking Pokemon game of all things!

I'm supposed to meet Akari and Mai further on in the Fieldlands, specifically at the end of Deertrack Path (gee, I wonder what the Alpha Pokemon I'm going to face? Some sort of deer Pokemon I assume?) but instead I just wander around. Interestingly at this point there's a day-night cycle that happens... and at night, the Drifloon come out to play.

Drifloon! I have a special place in my heart for this mischievous, child-kidnapping balloon monster, and I forgot it's actually tied to the Sinnoh region! Drifloons are another Pokemon species that's pretty aggressive, and I think they're more aggressive than Shinx or Buizel. They will actually launch Confusion (or is that Hypnosis) at my character, all the while teleporing and making boo-boo spooky balloon ghost sounds. It's delightfully charming!

Kricketots also populate this part of the aera -- I was wondering where Sinnoh's early bugs are at! One of the NPC quest-givers actually says the "de-le-le-le-whooop" meme when describing the noises made by Kricketune! I will try my best to raise a Kricketune, though I know they're not the strongest Pokemon out there, and I'm still planning to use a lot of the newer species. [My current party: Rowlet, Shinx, Buizel, Drifloon, Kricketot, Dustox]

I did try to run all the way to the East of Aspiration Hill, where I meet a fieldlands filled with a bunch of Ponyta... before a big fuck-off level 40 Rapidash with glowing red eyes chargs at me, curb-stomps my poor Buizel, and sends me running away. Yep, Alpha Pokemon are scary! I didn't expect Rapidash, good ol' fire-horsey, to be the Lynels of this game, but okay!

Anyway, that's about how far I went in these couple of sessions. I had way too much fun running around, doing side-quests, talking to everyone, trying everything... this gave me a feeling I haven't experienced since... since XY? Man, I guess all of those people saying that Pokemon games are 'samey' do have a point, huh!