Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 2: Hotel on the Corner of A and Z

 

And welcome, again, to part two of me playing through Pokemon Legends Z-A. We're still in the tutorial segments and I can't believe the first part of the let's play series took so long... but it's also essentially a brand-new way to play Pokemon. I have to talk quite a bit about it, don't I? 

Last we left off, we made a base for ourselves in Hotel Z, with a lot of enigmatic hints from AZ that there is a larger plot going on instead of just me moving into Poke-Paris and participating in this strange Yu-Gi-Oh Battle City style tournament that happens every night in the city. I do really like this bit; a nice bit of raising some mystery and stakes which some Pokemon games that are hyping up their setting gimmick (most notably the sports cups and school life of the last two mainline generations) are a bit guilty of. 

We then have our first rival battle, and again... the fact that Legends Z-A is a real-time combat game is still amazing to me. Moves with cooldowns instead of PP! And Pear the Chikorita actually has moves that trigger from different distances -- Tackle has her run right in front of the enemy, but she needs to run a bit away to do either Leafage or Tail Whip. It's okay sweetie, just point-blank shoot that giant ball of leaves at the enemy. I totally understand! And these 'wasted' animation time is interesting, because in addition to the PPs preventing me from spamming the same 'best' move over and over again, it also means that... I might have to think of rotations that optimize how Chikorita runs around? Rotations, in my Pokemon game? 

The rival battle against Taunie has her attack me with Totodile, which... brings back Cherrygrove City memories. But in what I think might be the first subversion of a trope throughout the franchise's history, Taunie then reveals that she has a second Pokemon... Tepig! Normally these rival battles happen with just a 1v1 fight, but this is an interesting one! And it does make sense, since Taunie was established to be the owner of all three starters at the beginning of the game. 

After beating Taunie, she mentions something that's somewhat cryptic, not too dissimilar to AZ. Lumiose's future will be more secure with a trainer of my caliber. More secure from what? Taunie dodges the question and promises to answer it later, but is AZ leading like a secret Lumiose Justice League or something? 

Taunie notes that we need to get ready for the Z-A Royale, and to do that I need more Pokemon. Got to overwhelm them with numbers, or something... it does explain why Andi and Andre got screwed up so royally if Taunie's running around with 3 Pokemon while Andi at least only has the lone Pancham. At this point, Taunie explains the Map functionality on the Rotom Phone, which shows up the massive map of Lumiose. We're in the south-eastern corner of the city, and I love that the marker for Hotel Z notes just how it probably doesn't get a lot of guests because it's shoved in some random back-alley. On the map I can also see my Main Missions, as well as a currently empty tab called Side Missions (which is a more explicit 'sidequest' marker than 'Requests' were in Legends Arceus). 

As we walk out of the courtyard in front of Hotel Z, we find out that gigantic piles of Rock Smash rocks have blocked the alleyway into Hotel Z! Taunie lampshades how much this sucks since Hotel Z already doesn't get a lot of visitors. I have the option to say something smartass, that this might be some kind of art installation. Which, well... you never know with these modern art!

Taunie then leads me to a super-tall ladder next to the hotel, and apparently we're going on full Assassin's Creed. We climb up all the way to the rooftop, and straight up just jump off the side of the building two stories down to the street. My guy must have really strong knees to do that! In real life, me jumping off a ledge -- which would be like those Kanto Route 1 ledges -- would probably hurt my knee for a week. Taunie says that I've gotten a glimpse of the back ways of Lumiose... and I suppose it makes sense, parkour did originate in France as far as I know. 

Taunie first introduces me to the Pokemon Center (which in this game is one of those that's also merged with the Mart). Nurse Joy speaks to me with some French words, enchantée. I love walking around the city, talking to random NPCs in the cafes or the little newsstand selling canned drinks. Always love the Kalosian Pokemon Centers being built on the open-air ground floor of taller buildings. 

Nurse Joy tells me to install the Pokemon app on my phone, and it scans my Chikorita. I do understand that all the Pokemon games always try to mimic whatever the newest technology is, and smartphones are the cutting edge technology... but that does really make the Pokedex feel so much more mundane as compared to the high-tech supercomputer that it was presented as in the older generations.

Turns out that there's a promotion, where registering 5 different species of Pokemon into the Pokedex is going to get me a prize. That seems quite convenient as we head into the Wild Zones. Wild Zones are demarcated with green pillars and hard-light forcefields similar to the Battle Zone at night, and... it's a neat indicator and fits with the whole holo-projection technology thing, but I also feel it makes the city look rather ugly. Taunie gives me the backstory of the Wild Zones.... apparently a lot of wild Pokemon keep showing up in Lumiose City, and they've designed the Wild Areas to allow them to live inside. It doesn't seem to be the most efficient or eco-friendly way of going around things, but okay!

As Taunie, Chikorita and I enter the Wild Zone, we get a bit of a tutorial of catching Pokemon. Different Pokemon have different levels of aggression, as they were in Legends Arceus, with the tutorial going through Fletchling and Bunnelby and showing me how to crouch to catch them, how knocking them out puts them in a daze for me to catch them, and how I sometimes need to dodge. The Pokemon in this first Wild Zone is a bit weaker, but I remember the aggressive beasts of Hisui and they will knock me out! 

Wild Zone 1 is just some street, and there are taxis and random food carts inside the zone. One of the food vendors even gives me a Lumiose Galette. Are the wild pokemon just... completely okay and ignoring these humans that are selling items? But me, they attack? 

Anyway, after the tutorial, Taunie lets me go wild in the Wild Zone. In addition to Fletchlings and Bunnelbys, there's also a corner with a couple of happy Mareep, and bugs like Scatterbug and Weedle are also around. Pretty nice, if small early area. Also in the Wild Zone are these giant neon digital signposts, and if we approach the translated text pops up in front of me. Cool! 

After catching a full party, I go on ahead to the Pokemon Research Institute, formerly the base camp of Professor Sycamore in XY. It is a bit more impressive in this engine. Pretty fancy lobby, with a lot of cut little details. A Galarian Rapidash statue, and my absolute favourite painting... a Scraggy on a fancy table hugging a bottle of red wine. Okay! Okay, Scraggy, didn't know you roll like that, but no one said thugs can't enjoy the finer things in life. 

On the second floor are scientists, including a 'machine that used to show records of research conducted by individual trainers'. Was this something from XY? I can't for the life of me remember what unique machine existed in the Sycamore Lab in XY. Anyway, the researchers note that they are researching some stuff like the effects of this rapid urbanization is having on the Pokemon, which is an aspect I really like! Yes, cohabitation with Pokemon (or animals) is cool and all, but it is absolutely something that needs some care. 

Also, Professor Sycamore's photographs are on the third floor, with pictures that seem to be screenshots taken straight from the anime. The fact that this Sycamore has a Garchomp with him kind of solidifies that; game!Sycamore just fights you with Kanto starters. Love the little gag that notes that even the photographs have a hint of cologne. 

So who has replaced Professor Sycamore, you say? In this room I am greeted by a very angry voice. And then a goofy-looking visor, a somewhat familiar one, on the table. And a woman with blue hair is ranting... and this is Mable! Mable is one of the four Team Flare Admins from XY, who were honestly quite indistinguishable and had very simple and generic lines and Pokemon back in the day. Somehow Mable has became a professor in the meantime.

Mable is sitting on a gamer chair (emblazoned with the Flare logo) and is ranting about how the stupid mayor is pouring money into the urban redevelopment plan, ranting about how while she loves that there are more Pokemon, she is angry that the city is just 'tossing everything into wild zones'. Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for disaster all right. Scientists need to survey and study the Pokemon to make sure they are compatible! And you know what? I absolutely agree with her. In a show of 'power' and 'efficiency', a lot of governments and people in power did a lot of stupid things while barely understanding the science behind things. 

Mable says hi to me, and is impressed by me catching... six early route Pokemon. At least it shows my dedication or something. Mable shares her problem with us, and she summons her own... her own ROTOM I-PAD, I laughed my ass off when I saw that thing fly up from her table. It makes absolute sense; Rotom can go into any electronic device and if they go into the smartphones, of course an iPad Rotom exists. But the fact that it's even the ugly sterile white that Apple really likes to put on their products makes me laugh even harder.

Anyway, Mable gives me a mission, to be what's essentially a field researcher to help her look at the creatures in the wild zones and document them, since she's overwhelmed with the amount of data thanks to the rapid speed that Pokemon are being added into the city. After some rather... forced... convincing, I get access to a new segment in the menu, Mable's Research. These are the 'Pokedex quests' from the original Legends Arceus, although I think they're a fair bit less grindy from what I can see, just mostly involving the capture of Pokemon. 

Mable tells me that I'm going to get rewarded for these research points... with TM's! And the TM/HM move, as the Rock Smash rocks proved earlier in the game, are going to help me with progression. I see at least Surf at some point in the progression line, and I love this. I love swapping a bit of the roleplay area gatekeeping be stuck behind something our character is actively working towards. 

As I exit the research center, a Scraggy and its trainer walk up to me. This fancy gentleman with dreadlocks is Naveen, and he's apparently another member of Team MZ. He just seems kind of tired with the world, and introduces himself as the team's... fashionista? Okay, actually, I don't mind. XY was the first game to introduce player character customization, and I can't pretend that I don't like the ability to customize my character's appearance. Naveen gives me the hat -- all Pokemon protagonists need a hat -- teaches me how to change clothes, and bugger off. 

I also learn how to use the camera on the Rotom phone. I retake the selfie that Taunie took for my Z-A battle royale app, because I need to get Pear the Chikorita in it!

And after all that, I just wander around the parts of the city accessible to me. Only Bunnelby can do Rock Smash, and I love that you actually have to select the move Rock Smash and have him do it as if he's performing a move. And since the moves in Z-A are actually in real-time and can be seen in the overworld, it adds a nice other layer of immersion where it isn't just an A-button smash in front of these rocks. With rocks broken, I head back to the Hotel Z where Taunie welcomes me back with croissants-dipped-in-cafe-au-lait. 

As we enjoy our French cuisine, the Rotom-Phone zips up and tells me that I'm scheduled for a Rank Z Promotion Match against some dude called Zach. Who looks a bit punchable, I must say. Taunie explains things to me, and despite me being matched up with Zach from the app, I still have to go around collecting Challenger's Tickets during the night's Battle Zone shenanigans. It's tracked by the app, and it's quite interesting (if a bit 'big brother is watching'). And it's nearly sundown, so next time will be my debut as a member of the Z-A Battle Royale, I suppose!

Random Notes:

• Real life stuff is actually quite busy, and Legends Z-A is not entirely to blame, but it is also true that it is why I'm going to be quite slow in updating the blog with basically any other content. I do have some D&D and Elden Ring reviews that will be set to go in the next couple of weeks while I'm busy, but basically I am just going to be focusing on this game for a fair bit. 
  
• Lots of real-life stuff go around bashing the graphics of this game relative to other games and stuff, but, uh... I am not that blind to notice the difference with other games, but I also genuinely am not bothered as long as it's not visually or physics-wise glitching out the way something like Scarlet/Violet is wont to do. So I will acknowledge that, but I'll neither defend nor criticize the game for it.
• Around this point, I claim the Ralts and the trenchcoat from the preorder bonus. 
• I really must say that the remix of the Pokemon XY themes are quite great -- love the Lumiose City remix, of course, but the Pokemon Center theme hits amazingly hard and I don't know why. It's a theme that happens over and over again in so many of the games. Maybe it's because the centers in Paldea are so impersonal, I suppose. 
• Oh, we go from rank Z to A. Z-to-A. Z-A! Got it. 
• There are also some of these rocks on top of the rooftop that we climb up, though, which is... interesting. 
• One of the NPCs name-drop Hotel Richissime as a better hotel than Hotel Z. Richissime is a location from XY, and staying there raises your Pokemon's friendship and Poke-Amie metrics. 
• There is a cafe next to the Pokemon center with people sitting outside. One of them is having a really nice morning cappuccino with his Pidgey! In XY, there are a lot of these cafes and they tend to allow you to battle in them. Not sure if this is still going to be the case in Z-A, or if the cafes are just NPC gathering spots. 
• Interestingly in a world where 99.99% of the in-universe people are excited about Pokemon, there is a single NPC walking in the road grumbling that maybe some people don't want to live together with Pokemon. Silly crabby old lady, some people are not fond of Pokemon? In this world? How dare they! 
• Yes yes, just as it was in Legends Arceus, insert your own 'we are the ones ambushing the Pokemon from the tall grass' joke. 
• There are a bunch of backpackers who are also surprised how different Lumiose has became since they last showed up. A lot of advancements in gaming, er, urban development, has happened over the last decade!
• There is the 'power of science' guy in front of the Research Center, a bit later than where we traditionally find him. 
• Also, we get to see some holographic people conversing with real people, which presumably are some kind of webcam-style projections.