Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 8: Back Streets of Lumiose

I basically spend a fair amount of time exploring the city in-between the Lida and Zygarde events of the previous episode, but felt like these episodes are better written when I split apart the side-quests and the main story quests. 

So yeah. I did a lot of parkouring, a lot of collection, and a lot of exploration. One thing that I perhaps don't quite like as much is how... smaller the Wild Zones feel compared to Hisui. Hisui's four or five expanses are quite large, and in those zones there are a lot of Pokemon in varying parts of nature. I get that Z-A is more of an urban feel, but seeing that each Wild Zone is just like, 6-8 Pokemon does make the world feel small. I get that it's a conscious choice,  and I get that wild Pokemon also appear in regular, non-Wild-Zone Lumiose City, but I'm not sure if we couldn't have expeditions to a couple of wider maps even if we don't get the whole of Kalos. 

The first short sidequest I did was to show off the three elemental monkeys to a cafe owner. The cafe owner uses the three monkeys to make a 'Pantrio' blend, because a Pansearsagepour blend doesn't sound catchy. I... the idea that the water and leaves for these tea comes from the goober monkeys isn't really appetizing to me, but... sure. 

Another quest has me uncover a holovator blocked by a mound of earth. That mound is actually a Diggersby, which we defeat quite handily... but the local lady also notes that the Diggersby might have burrowed down from a Wild Zone, since the forcefields don't actually cover the underground. That is a very serious design flaw, Quasartico Inc! How many Pokemon know Dig? What happens when it's the Onixes going through the ground instead of a Diggersby?

Mable calls me to her lab, which... has her give me a choice of the three Kanto starters. Apparently her predecessor (she's still not name-dropping Sycamore!) left them behind for any trainers that show potential. This also happened in Pokemon XY, and at that time it was something novel of seeing the original starters back. With the Kanto-heavy nostalgia baiting the franchise has been, I don't think too many people are super-excited about them. I am, though. I don't think I'll use Bulbasaur for this playthrough, but I always have time for Bulby and his two friends. 

One of the restaurants has probably one of my favourite short sidequests, in that it involves Trubbish. And yes, the Trubbish is disturbing the restaurant because they're really friendly, but the restaurant owner realizes that the Trubbish just really likes the taste of the restaurant leftovers. The quest is an interesting escort mission as I carry a bag of tasty trash (not animated, unfortunately) leading three Trubbish like the pied piper down to some trash cans. The conclusion that it ends with is that Trubbish is actually crucial, still, to the ecosystem. And they're cute and they just want to eat and be happy! But some distance and pre-planning is still needed. I think that might be one of the most important themes I've seen come from Pokemon in a while, and I always love it when the more 'disgusting' aspects of nature or concepts that Pokemon draw from is actually appreciated. 

A Budew sidequest is also quite... interesting? It feels like one of the many filler episodes in the anime. A gentleman called Jardin waxes lyrical about Budew, and brings me to a fountain where there is a Budew championship where he and two other judges wax lyrical about each and every Budew. I did have to pay a stupid amount of money as a participation fee, but I am guaranteed to win and the payout is double the fee. 

There are four Budew in the competition, and of course the protagonist's Budew (who, by the way, I caught literally off the streets) is the best of all... but it is adorable to see the judges go so over-the-top about discussing the cries, the vibrancy of the leaves,  the colour, the size... And honestly, only the size is really different between the four Budews. I assume this quest might have a different dialogue if you bring in a Shiny or an Alpha? It is quite simple, but the effort put into the dialogue is nice. "The luster on this one's bud really gives new meaning to the word lustrous! Quite superb." "Yes, but its body language isn't sparking anything in me. In that sense, it fails to impress..."

There is also a short Litleo-themed sidequest... but a very straightforward and boring one where a chef just wants to challenge me to a battle to invigorate his Litleo to start shooting more powerful flames for his kitchen. Dude, just go out to the wild areas and catch two or three more Litleo. Or use your Numel to help out in the kitchen!

Another short sidequest is a lady called Hea whose Audino kept fussing and touching her with feelers. Phrasing, ma'am! She actually knows that Audinos does that to diagnose the sick, but keeps insisting that she's okay. She challenges me to a battle, which... okay! Audinos give large amounts of experience points, so why not! After beating the Audino, she agrees with Audino, and realizes she's burnt out at work. Not my chosen form of therapy, but okay, whatever works for her. 

I also explore one of the newly-converted Wild Zones, which is Wild Zone 7, the area that used to be Magenta Plaza. The Pokemon here are a lot more aggressive, and a gigantic Alpha Fletchinder flies down from the top of the obelisk, intent on making me join the names immortalized in the memorial. 

Hippopotas also wander this park, and their Sand Tomb attack actually is quite annoying for the trainer as they are quite aggressively targeting me until they are hit by an attack. Other flower-y Pokemon like Roselia and Floette also hang out here. And interestingly Vanillite? They seem to hover around what used to be a bunch of dessert carts? Cute little ice cream friends. 

Wild Zone 8 is what was previously Jaune Plaza,  and I like this one! It's filled with dirt and sand, which encompasses the outer layer of the circular plaza. The inner side isn't anything to write home about, just some Machop and Numel... but something is moving through the sand, making circles around the park. It's like the sand worms from dune, except this is no worm! It's an Alpha Krokorok! And as it swims through the dunes, sometimes Sandiles pop up and say hi in its wake! I love this. Another underrated Black/White Pokemon, I feel. And even if they ever do the 'burrow through sand' gimmick, I've only seen it done with Sandile. 

There are also mounds of dirt that most of the time just contain Drillbur, but if you take a notice at the part of a Pokemon that peeks through the dirt, sometimes there are Gibles hanging around! Mega Garchomp is a thing in this game, but I am trying my best not to use pseudo-evolutions. But it's always nice to see Gible. I love the giant shark-mouth baby.

I also find the construction workers' HQ, and they let me trade the colourful screws for Canari dolls, which are all items that increase different passive stats. The human's HP, the amount of Poke-Euros dropped, the amount of Mega Shards collected, exp points, and catch rate. The office of the Goron-looking Tarragon is just filled with Canari merch and posters. It feels a bit creepy until I see a picture that shows Tarragon with a young Canari, so Tarragon's like her dad or grandfather or something. Okay!!! Wholesome now. 

Going up on the rooftops, I end up finding an Alpha Hawlucha... and of course it's a bit too high level for me to fight, even with my Mega Absol. So I jump off the building to run away... except the Alpha Hawlucha, not restricted by the boundaries of a Wild Zone, swoops down and chases me like the goddamn Batman, gliding down all the way to street level to deliver a mighty attack. 

You know what? If I'm going to black out in this game, I'm glad it's a giant Hawlucha doing a liger bomb on me. That sounds about right.

Anyway, I realize that the construction around Prism Tower has also raised up a bit. Interesting! Some ominous construction is going on! I've also been exploring around a fair bit, and have met a couple of older locations. Stone Emporium is still there with a bunch of evolutionary stones I'll start handing out to random Pokemon in my box, and Boutique Couture is still there, with its posh, 'we won't sell to peasants' mentality. 

Random Notes:

• I got a Diancite from an online event which went live a couple of days back! It will come with its own side mission, apparently, but I have to beat the game to do it. 
• Yes, reviews for the new Mega Evolutions will come... but not until they release the official Sugimori-style artwork for all the new forms. Which I assume might happen after they do everything for the DLC as well. 
• Some other stuff I did while exploring: Staryu appear at night in Wild Zone 2 (the Magikarp bridge park), a group of Ralts that spawn in a secluded area, a giant Alpha Garbodor that chases me around, catching an Emolga on the rooftop,  and finding an Eevee near a river. 
• Atop the rooftops are sometimes little lines of spiderweb that is wrapped up, and you need to launch a ranged attack (or one done by a flying Pokemon) to hit it, turning it into a web-bridge. An... interesting mechanic. I also sometimes see some leaf vine bridges as well. 
• Speaking of flight, it is quite important to know that flying Pokemon have an interesting advantage. And I don't mean capital-letter Flying the type, but just anything that can float or fly, like Heracross! It opens up its beetle wings and flies around, chasing down the Fletchlings or Swirlixes that fly away from me. Bayleef, bless her, tries to do that but she just drops off the roofsides.
• More random funny dialogue from NPCs:
• "Have you ever taken a relaxing sip of hot coffee... and then spat it out becuase it's too hot?"
• "Some things are the right thing to do, even if they're not normal." ... really depends on the thing, sir. 
• "In a city this big, I bet I could find a doppelganger of myself." Lampshading, of course, NPC model removal. 
• "*sigh* Another day without being reincarnated as a Pokemon..." Pokemon actually did Mystery Dungeon before isekai was cool! 
• "For Water-type moves, do you think Pokemon use their sweat? Or other bodily fluids?"
• "Maybe it's time you start looking to the future instead of staying stuck in the past?" Fuck you, Nintendo, give my National Dex. 
• The best line in the game: "I forget what we learned in school, but I remember Pokemon's names!"
• Another nod to XY is a NPC that wonders whatever happened to the news anchor lady Malva. Who, of course, turned out to be a Team Flare member and an Elite Four member.  
• Apparently Goomy only appears when it's raining, and it doesn't rain all that often. So I must be quite lucky to find the Goomy that I did!