Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 1: Bienvenue à Lumiose

I have been waiting for this for a while.

I was extremely impressed by Legends Arceus, and I genuinely thought that it was one of the biggest and most innovative games we've had in Pokemon for a while. And honestly I might have liked Legends Arceus a fair bit more than both of the 'main series' games that has been released on the Switch. 

And so when they announced a Legends game for Kalos, I was quite excited. The fact that it was framed as a sequel to XY, and not a distant-in-the-past prequel, is actually a huge surprise that I did not know until literally a week before the game came out. Which means that finally, after more than a decade after its quiet assumed cancellation, 'Pokemon Z' is finally a thing. 

This let's play is going to be a bit longer because of my own unfortunate busy schedule in the following months, but I think you guys can indulge me a bit as I speak about Kalos. Objectively, Generation VI might have one of the most unmemorable stories, and it didn't quite have the excuse that the older generations had of hardware limitations. Being sandwiched by V and VII and their extensive stories didn't help, and having a lot of unanswered questions and aborted legendaries due to saving them for the non-existent 'Pokemon Z' also hurt it in the long run. 

But Generation VI still holds a special place in my heart, because... I took a long, long hiatus between III and VI. High school and the early years of university happened, and I kind of 'outgrew' Pokemon. Or at least, I forced myself to. You know high school kids, so worried about what the rest of the age group thinks of us. When you reach young adulthood, though, no one really cared anymore and... and the buildup to Generation VI was massive. A brand-new console, and a fully 3D experience? Generation VI was particularly special to me because just as I was consuming day-to-day news about the brand-new game coming out, I was also catching up and reading a lot of dex entries, manga chapters and speedrunning through of two entire generations that I've missed. It was wild. New Pokemon! Speculating on starter evolutions? And Generation VI also introduced Mega Evolutions and a brand-new type! How was that legal? How are we getting so much content in a single generation? This catch-up to so much Pokemon content in one go was huge to me, in a way that I don't think I've ever felt -- or will ever feel -- since when I discovered the first 150 Pokemon in the first generation. 

And so, when Pokemon Z was quietly swept under the rug and we went straight to Generation VII... and that would be the generation when I started talking a lot with people online about Pokemon, learning just how wide the fandom truly is. VII would also be when I started reviewing Pokemon on this blog, incidentally. 

But as much as I loved VII, there was always a sense that the story of Kalos was incomplete. Now the anime had one of its best seasons in Kalos, giving the legendary Pokemon Zygarde a cool storyline. But as far as the game is concerned, poor Zygarde just got shunted as a collection sidequest in the subsequent game, and never quite got the gravitas that it deserves. 

Until now!

Pokemon Legends Z-A, not just the next installment in the Legends sub-franchise, but also a sequel to Kalos!

I am very excited.

Anyway, after selecting the my player character's appearance and name, we start off with a prequel cutscene, showing Lumiose Tower in all its more HD glory. The shape still looks rather silly compared to the real-life Eiffel Tower, but it does look a lot more impressive particularly with how much more detailed the buildings around the tower is. 

We seem to be following the viewpoint of... someone blinking? A pair of shadowed people talk about something being wrong at the Prism Tower, and to tell 'the company' to send a team to investigate. Ominous! I know absolutely nothing about the new characters or the plot, and I have been so busy anyway IRL that I didn't keep up with the promotional material, so I'm quite happy to be completely unspoiled for this game. But the mysterious humans talk about how they can't allow disturbances in Lumiose City under their watch.

And then the Prism Tower glows bright pink or purple! My first thought was that it doesn't really seem to be too odd for Poke-Paris. It's like, a fireworks show or something! But while the two shadowed people look on, a very strange but familiar Floette shows up. Followed by an abnormally long leg and a stick. Yes, this is AZ and his Eternal Flower Floette, who were reunited after the events of Pokemon Xy. They're shadowed here, and... well, we don't know who's speaking the dialogue, but either AZ or one of the two talk about how 'the strongest Mega Evolution user must be found'. 

Okay! And then we smash cut to our protagonist, who is sitting in a train swiping reels on his Rotom-phone. I'm sitting on a train next to a large and unzipped bag... and the camera follows something as it zips into the bag. Creepy creepy! 

The train drops me off at a station, Gare de Lumiose, where I learn how to walk around, with some really nice scenery for an area I'm only visiting once. They really do want to make a good impression, huh? Some Kalosian Pokemon are also prominently featured among the people lurking around the platform. Helioptile, Furfrou, Fletchling... people there talk about landing after a long flight, so presumably the train took us from the airport to Lumiose. But I think there's just something tongue-in-cheek about how a bunch of the NPCs just talk about how 'finally, Lumiose City!' One of the children even mentions how Lumiose City has changed a lot in the past couple of years, which is absolutely a sneaky nod to how different Z-A's Lumiose is going to be compared to XY's Lumiose. 

I then walk past the station gates into the bright white light door... and the title comes across the screen. Pokemon Legends: Z-A. With some creepy back-light shadows. Oooh!

And we get a nice establishing shot of Lumiose City. A lot of the details are similar to the 3DS Lumiose, but scaled up to realistic building proportions with a lot more detail. The shape of the Pokemon Centers, the layout of the streets, the cafes, the taxis on the streets... and of course, the music, a glorious remix of the original Lumiose City theme. We get to see a bunch of Pokemon walk and fly around. Fletchlings fly across the city, a woman walks her trimmed-up Furfrou, and we've got a bunch of Pokemon that originally debuted in Kalos. Vivillon, Litleo, Skiddo, Dedenne, Carbink, Spritzee, Espurr, Meowstic... love it. '

We then cut to a woman talking to three Pokemon -- Chikorita, Totodile, and... Tepig? 

One of these starters is not like the others. This is all because Cyndaquil showed up in Legends Arceus, didn't he? Damn, Cyndaquil got isekai'd, and the Johto gang replaced him with a pig. I was wondering why they picked both of the remaining Johto starters, then, but I suppose the idea was to make sure that the most neglected starters got some power-up. Again, I haven't looked at the leaks too much, but I do know that Mega Evolutions come back in this generation, and it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that the starters in this game are going to receive Mega Evolutions. 

The girl is Taunie, which isn't a very French name, and she's talking to her three partners that they will spread the word about how great Hotel Z is, and she wants to recruit guests to her cause... and she wants a tourist that looks the part. Said tourist, of course, is me. Thankfully, Taunie isn't a scammer in a tourist-heavy city, or at least not a particularly malicious one. She runs up to me and immediately and correctly assumes that I'm a tourist. What gave it away, lady? My very simple and unflattering t-shirt, or is it my very unfashionable bag? Too ugly for the city of beauty, hmm?

Taunie wants to film me saying "Hotel Z is a hidden gem of Lumiose City". She's trying to get endorsements on Instagram and Tiktok! Even if I don't stay in the hotel. okay! Taunie then summons her little Rotom-Phone, which is blue... but we get interrupted by a massive advertisement on the massive screen in the town square! 

And we zoom in to the news announcement, as an older lady in a fancy dress introduces does the 'welcome to the world of Pokemon' speech as like, a city promotional speech. She introduces herself as Jett, the CEO of 'Quasartico Inc'. She lets out a Skiddo from her Pokeball, which is the same one shown off in Pokemon XY's prologue, so that's a nice little callback. Jett proudly promotes Lumiose City as a place where Pokemon and humans live together, and they have even set up wild zones where Pokemon can live alongside humans. 

So yeah, apparently the game only takes place within the borders of the supermassive Lumiose City, but with parks and areas where Pokemon can be encountered. I can't say that I'm not a bit disappointed, but at the same time cities are huge in real life and Pokemon cities honestly never felt that big. So it's nice that we can get that for at least one game. This, too, came as a surprise to me today as I started playing this game. 

Anyway, Jett talks about fostering the bond between people and Pokemon by an urban redevelopment plan, via a combination of construction and 'patented holo-tech'. I am assuming the construction will be the 'time-gates' that stop me from exploring the whole city at once, but I am curious about the holo-tech. there is a nice, impressive graphic of Lumiose City with wireframes, which was our very first trailer for Legends Z-A, and still the only trailer I've seen. Jett pronounces that this is the future of Lumiose, a city far more beautiful than before. This is the 'Mega Evolution of Lumiose City'. All right!

And as Taunie is about to film me... my ugly huge bag next to me is gone! Mon dieu, two minutes in Paris and already I am pickpocketed!

A mischievous little Pancham jumps in place a short distance away with my bag on top of it, before rushing off. Taunie, bless her, thought that I hired a Pokemon to carry my bag for me, but it's nor a porter! It's a thief!

So this is a nice little introduction to the exploration in this city. Having Pokemon follow you around in the overworld isn't exactly new, but it's still awesome to see among the huge alleyways of the city. The three Pokemon, Taunie and I pursue the naughty punk panda down the alleyways, where it drops the bag next to a lady with a massive backpack, and a heavyset dude. Turns out that the Pancham has a trainer! Unlike my initial guess, however, the Pancham isn't stealing items on behalf of its criminal trainers, but it's just naughty. 

Taunie is prepared to throw hands, though. It's at this point that she introduces herself, and straight up walks up and confronts the two trainers. The two trainers, by the way, are a bit confused and surprised that the Pancham showed up with a 'tacky' bag. The French have high standards for fashion! 

The two trainers are livid at seeing Taunie, yelling out loud and being angry that Taunie forgot about them despite beating them in the 'Z-A Royale'. Of course there's some kind of huge challenge going on. Taunie beat the two of them without much of a sweat the night before. Andi and Andre aren't criminals, but they have a grudge against Taunie, and demands a battle in these backstreets. 

Taunie doesn't want to battle two-on one, so she lets me fight alongside her with one of her Pokemon, of course. It's time to pick my starter Pokemon! And... again, I didn't actually know who the starters were for this game until I saw the cover as I brought my physical copy home. I sure know that I don't like the Tepig evolutionary line so it's not going to be him... so which of the two Johto starters will I take? It is quite funny that my go-to Johto starter, Cyndaquil, isn't in this game!

But I've always liked Chikorita as well. The fact that Chikorita's line spent the better part of more than two decades having the reputation of the 'most useless starter' probably helped to endear the already cute design to me. So yeah, Chikorita!

(You can actually run up to Andi's Pancham and select it, leading to a dialogue where Andi refuses to let you pick Pancham as your starter). 

And now it's time to battle...

And the battle system has changed! Even more drastically than Legends Arceus, which still operated in kind of an 'auto-battle' version of the traditional turn-based combat. Legends Z-A actually has Chikorita's moves on the right D-pad, allowing me to click and use the skills, and I even have to lock on to the enemy with ZL. And I can move and actually dodge Pancham's attacks! This is quite surprising, and not at all what I expected from this game. I just thought we're going to port over Legends Arceus's battle system with minimal changes. A very, very unexpected but pleasant change!

Instead of taking turns, the attacks are on a cooldown, which means I actually do have to spam Tail Whip a bit. That's neat! And again, I can dodge attacks by running away from them, because Chikorita follows where I go. After 30+ years of that damn anime having the characters yell "DODGE IT!", it's finally something you can do in a main-line game!

Anyway, despite my unfamiliarity with the battle mechanics, Chikorita tackles Pancham to defeat, and Andi is upset and disappointed at herself at losing to a newbie. Off-screen, Taunie defeats Andre. Andi and Andre do a little discussion about how they are good friends because they even lose together. The two of them are quite a bit traumatized by their defeat, yelling that they'll avoid Taunie even if they run to her in the Battle Royale. 

After the battle, I get my travel bag, and Taunie tells me that I should keep Chikorita. Yay! Chikorita is a cute pear. I will name him Pear. Taunie forces me to do a fist-bump with her, and then I do another fist-to-headbutt with Chikorita. 

But suddenly, the time becomes night, and an announcement comes up saying 'Battle Zone: Activated'. This is some Hunger Games or Battle Royale type shit, apparently. Red forcefields and gates appear all around the alleyways and buildings. So this is the holo-projector program that Jett was talking about? As implied by Taunie's conversation with the two trainers, this is apparently something that happens at night. At night, Lumiose turns into Battle Zones, where anyone who finds you in these locations will immediately battle you on the spot. I don't know if this is based on anything in real-life Paris, but okay! Apparently they just have a competition every night! I love this. 

Taunie send Tepig and Totodile off with my big bag, but notes that the two Pokemon can squeeze through holes and climb stuff, but we humans need to run. Before we can manage to get too far, though, a very smartly-dressed waitress appears behind me, disregards Taunie, and immediately challenges me to battle. Again, it's another simple battle, although Chikorita has three moves now: Tackle, Leafage and Tail Whip. Thanks to the cooldowns, it ends up with a bit of a rotation of Tail Whip, followed by Leafage and Tackle. Rotations in a Pokemon game. You love to see it. 

The waitress fights me with an adorable Cleffa, followed by a Bunnelby. Pretty simple affair, and Chikorita takes them down, but this was also the battle when I realize that positioning and movement actually matters since going too far away from the enemy means Chikorita takes a bit longer to run towards the opponents to tackle them. 

The waitress gets super angry when she realized that she wasted her time -- and her Pokemon's hit points -- in fighting a useless opponent. Hey, Taunie tried to tell her! We run towards the gateway to the exit -- which are holographic pillars with the 'pixel Rhydon' from the gyms on top of them. But we're blocked by three trainers, and their Pokemon: a Honedge, a Pansear, and... a Heracross. Yeah, that Heracross is going to be trouble. Love the look of the trainers, too. The karate kid among them yells that anyone who steps into the Battle Zone is a trainer, regardless of whether they want to or not. Taunie prepares to step in (does she have other Pokemon?) but suddenly, from the sky descends... AZ's blue Eternal Flower Floette?

You got to love Floette, yeah? That adorable smile on that adorable tiny body. And then she points her weird-looking flower at the trainers. Only a last-minute yell from Taunie causes Floette to point and angle her flower slightly upwards... at which point a massive pink beam erupts from the flower. It's insane, and the effects make it quite impressive, like a kamehameha or something. We get a great angle from far away, too, showing the pink beam lancing through the sky.

It misses the three bullies, but spooks them so much that they run away. Taunie identifies the move as the attack Light of Ruin. Okay! And here I thought Floette was just shooting like a Hyper Beam or something. Light of Ruin is a move programmed into Generation VI that's supposed to be AZ's Floette's signature move, but AZ's Floette was never obtainable in the games. 

I do love the little lore drops related to XY, with Taunie casually saying that this Floette is actually 3000 years old. God, that's where that meme came from, didn't it? "It's been 3000 years!"

Anyway, Taunie brings me out of the Battle Zone, and we go through some nice alleyways to Hotel Z. Hotel Z is a nice, rusting place in a rather tucked-away part of the city... and Taunie very none-too-subtly notes that they don't have many guests. This is where she'd offer great service for their guests... if they had any! 

Taunie lets us into the lobby (and great job at the designers who modelled the 3D environments) where we meet... AZ in his full glory. God damn, he looks dapper and goofy at the same time. AZ has traded his 'eternal wanderer' garb for a fancy suit with a glorious green bowtie, and he looks... you know what? After 3000 years of wandering around in the desert, you deserve to look a bit fancier. AZ's immense height is glorious, too, a nice contrast next to Taunie and me. Taunie gives AZ a bit of a recap, and AZ notes that the arrival of the strange bag without Taunie was why he sent Floette out to look for her. 

Taunie also casually drops the fact that AZ often claims to also be 3000 years, with the implication that she doesn't believe it. I love these little crumbs to Pokemon XY but without a proper recap, being framed as just quirky things that the supporting cast does. 

Also, seen by only AZ and neither myself or Taunie, is a tiny little green blob hopping out of my ugly bag. That's the thing that snuck in on the train, and it's a Zygarde Cell. Yay! A proper Zygarde arc in a game!

AZ also goes into a bit of a speech about how the trust between a Pokemon and a Pokemon Trainer is very important, and ends his little speech with 'never betray that faith'. It's just a generic speech... if you don't know AZ's backstory where he caused great tragedy and sacrificed a ton of Pokemon to activate a superweapon and caused even more death just to resurrect his dead partner, who became so disgusted with him that she left for 3000 years until he atoned himself. Yep, AZ's got some backstory and perspective!

AZ gives us the key to Room 202, which is going to be our base. I'm going to assume that the other rooms (which are locked at this point in time) might be filled by other NPCs, and that we'd recruit and make this base a bit more lively? I love that kind of game progression. The room looks nice! Again, I don't want to describe everything, but kudos to the environment designers. Before the night is over, Taunie pops out and pulls me up to the rooftop, showing off the stunning panorama of the Lumiose City. Ignore, uh, the cheap-looking pillows and sofas, clearly all of AZ's budget went to the rooms and the lobby. 

Taunie then wants to make a deal with me, for AZ's sake. The two of us make a fist-bump... and from the rooftop, the Zygarde cell watches us. In the lobby, AZ and Floette discuss matters. AZ seems to believe a fair bit in 'fate', and wonders what it means for 'Lumiose' to bring a boy accompanied by a Zygarde cell. Ominous! 

The next day, I wake up to Taunie giving an introduction to the Z-A Royale. It's a battle tournament organized by Lumiose City. Taunie says that she wants to become the strongest trainer through the tournament so she can 'protect Lumiose'... from what, Taunie? Actually, since she's doing this on AZ's behalf, from what, AZ? 

Taunie recruits me for the Z-A Tournament, just in time for an email to come on my Rotom Phone. The mail tells me that those at 'Rank A' can get a wish granted, presumably by the leaders of the city. And if I wanted to take part, I can just register by installing the Z-A Royale App on the device. Okay, then! Apps! Taunie helps to set up the app, and apparently she also got a similar message after randomly battling in Lumiose. 

Taunie then tells me that I am officially part of 'Team MZ'. No idea what MZ stands for, but okay. I get a black and neon-green jacket, making me look a lot like a proper protagonist in an anime video game instead of the super-simple shirt I had before. I also get a satchel, so I can leave the bulky mysterious bag in my room. AZ walks up again, telling me about how Lumiose might bustle with Pokemon and people, but 'beneath the surface lurks a terrible grief'. Ominous, ominous! And apparently AZ wants our group to win, so that we can free Lumiose. 

Right after this, Taunie teaches me to roll. What in the name of Dark Souls, in the name of the Elden Ring, in the name of Miyazaki Hidetaka??? It's even meant to be done to avoid wild Pokemon attacking me? God, I love the Legends games. 

As we roll, a black-haired girl in an oversized blue hoodie walks up, complaining about the noise. She gets super-confused, and apparently she's another member of Team MZ. She introduces herself as Lida, and she's a dancer that wants to go pro. She's about to tell us about her big brother before she gets interrupted... but I'm pretty sure that Lida's related to one of the 'lesser' rivals from Pokemon XY, Tierno! He also really likes to dance!

But the very excited Taunie interrupts all of this, before telling me to go out because my debut as a proper fighter in the Z-A Royale is about to begin. 

So yeah, that's one hell of a beginning to this game. Again, I am very excited about the setup and everything, and just having a story set in Kalos as a follow-up to Generation VI in general. We have barely scratched the surface and this writeup might be a bit long thanks to me over-explaining some of the mechanics, but I feel like this is a special and different enough of a Pokemon game for me to do this! My schedule's not the best in the next couple of weeks, so it's likely that this let's play is not going to be timely at all... but that doesn't matter, does it? It's the journey, not the destination, and all that? 

Random Notes:

• "It has been 3000 12 years..."
• As you can probably see from the posting date and time, I played Legends Z-A as it came out on day one. I did pre-order the game and got a bunch of goodies like a code for a Ralts with a Gardevoirite and a trenchcoat cosmetic item. 
• I remembered so much speculation when Legends Z-A was announced that it was going to take place in the past, during the time of the war (or slightly after that)  and have a similar 'frontier' vibe to Hisui. I actually thought that would be cool, and AZ being immortal would allow for him showing up as well, but I like a sequel much, much better. 
  
• If you pick the female protagonist, instead of Taunie, your rival/friend is Urbain instead, who's a dude version of Taunie with super-baggy pants. 
• It's a blink-and-miss-it moment, but I think Iono made a cameo in the prologue as our protagonist is swiping through his Rotom phone? It was pretty fast, though. 
• It's not lost on me that the protagonist has Professor Sycamore's hair. It's especially prominent on the boy.
• Really love the posters you see all around town, too. There's a lot of nice artwork there, but my favourite is probably a Machop promoting a Miltank-brand milk. I also love the changing ads on the big screen in the middle of town, and I like the Romeo and Juliet replaced with a Gardevoir and Gallade. 
• I also love the rustic paintings in AZ's hotel, particularly the ones featuring Phantump and Pumpkaboo. 
• I don't want to say Jett gives me villain vibes, but this wouldn't be the first, or second, or third or fourth time that the Pokemon games had shown off a benevolent big corporation that turns out to be a front for being the biggest villains of the game. (Jett also feels like a rather odd name to give an older lady)
• While I support having the game take place in Lumiose, I will be sad that once more, we are denied answers for that mysterious power plant in XY. I would also really love some locales in XY like the haunted forest or the Laverre nature trail be rendered in HD.