Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 29: The Core Enforcers

So yeah, here comes the climax of the game. And it's structured as a gauntlet throughout Lumiose City, with destroyed scaffolding and rubble blocking roads and forcing me to run around town and get to my allies while I make my way towards Zygarde.

And it is fun. It's honestly a bit of a shame that parts of the main story did feel a bit more bloated than it should, because this climax was really good. First up are Ivor and Gwynn, who's facing off a trio of Mega Pidgeot, Mega Kangaskhan and a motherfucking Mega Garchomp. Ivor and Gwynn are there to help me out, and Ivor in particular seems to be quite excited. Three megas against three, and the three of us unleash our own trio of Mega Chandelure, Mega Falinks, and (a bit delayed on my part) Mega Meganium. It's a bit interesting that my own mega energy doesn't recharge in-between battles, but it also makes the 'endurance run' a bit more realistic. Mega Garchomp, as expected, is the big pain in this fight, going around and rampaging and taking down both of my allies' megas, and damn well knocked down my own Meganium. Thanks to speed working a bit differently in this game, Mega Garchomp's stat distribution apparently made him quite a bit more threatening than he was in the mainline games. 

Ivor celebrates our victory... when three more Megas show up. A Mega Scizor leading two Mega Sharpedos. Ivor is ecstatic about being able to continue fighting, but Gwynn decides to make a last stand there. She asks me to 'bump her', which is the code for a a little fist-bump. Or rather, she pokes my fist with her index finger. I like Gwynn! 

Gwynn does the Fists of Justice pose, but instead of fighting... goads the rogue megas and runs off into the distance. I mean, okay, that was not what I was expected, but I suppose against two Mega Sharpedo her ace is kind of weak to both of them. 

I run with Ivor towards a river segment of Lumiose City, where it has been really covered up with a ton of rubble. Ivor looks at the river and claims that he could 'leap across the water with [his] finely-honed muscles', but that's no help to me. I mean, you could... carry me? 

But of course, Ivor ends up realizing that the best solution is to punch something. He picks a particularly tall chunk of rubble, summons Mega Falinks, and the two of them do a combo punch to knock down the giant chunk of rubble to give me a platforming bridge to run across. Neat. 

Gwynn arrives, apparently having shaken off the rogue mega evolutions. There's a bit where Ivor is very glad to see his sister 'alive', which is obvious was going to happen, but I suppose Ivor is the kind of dude that's prone to overacting, especially after Gwynn went missing once. Anyway, with the first combo down, I run across the streets to get to my next allies. 

This time, it's Canari, Tarragon... and an army of muscular construction workers. A Mega Steelix and a Mega Blastoise bar our path, and Canari and I decide to calm down the rogues, while Tarragon leads the army of construction workers to fix a path for me. The two of them grew up in Lumiose City and are very much invested in wanting to protect their hometown. Also making a cameo is the super-fan Mani, who Tarragon wrangles into also helping out. That's a bit funny, actually. 

Canari summons her Mega Eelektross, which is good against the Mega Blastoise... and a lot less good against the Mega Steelix. I don't have mega energy ready so I was running around with Meganium spamming Giga Drains and Solar Beams, but it is quite hard to chip away at rogue mega evolution health without mega evolving myself. 

Canari boasts about being the 'most improved', after watching a lot of 'battle streams'. That is true considering the levels that she started off as. Tarragon has built a massive, uh... gigantic scaffolding little puzzle with multiple levels. Tarragon boasts about how impressive this whole thing is. And it is, technically. As Canari points out, however, it is wholly unnecessary. "NOBODY NEEDS A CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW!"

I do appreciate the Tarragon joke, to be fair, but compared to the other parts of the charge towards Zygarde, I would admit that this part is quite a momentum killer. The puzzle run isn't that difficult, but it does take a bit away from the tension of the climax. I do like the random spotlights that Tarragon's crew put up while I run and climb up the platforming segment, for sure. I fist-bump Tarragon, and then do the little platforming puzzle. Tarragon interestingly mentions that 'we can't repair lives that are lost', implying that some lives are lost... but I don't think anyone actually died in this incident, at least not via the dialogue we see. 

As I run past the obstacle course, a Mega Lopunny and two Mega Beedrills appear behind Tarragon and Canari, forcing them to stand back and fight. Which... probably should be doing this with your mega evolution instead of building a scaffolding puzzle, huh, Tarragon? The grandpa-and-grandchild combo prepare to fight in a 'any percent speedrun mode', as I continue to charge on. 

Next up is Lebanne and holo-Jacinthe. Jacinthe explains that she can't be there in person, because someone as elite as her needs to liaise with the (still unseen) mayor and 'mobilizing the forces needed to defend our city'. The former, I kind of get. The latter sounds like an excuse. I'd rather battle with Lebanne than Jacinthe anyway, so we fight a Mega Salamence and a Mega Aggron. Lebanne is briefly irritated at being told to 'not be a hindrance', but then gets hyped up as she unleashes her own Mega Dragalge to help me fight the two rogues.  

I use my own Mega Slowbro because I respect the hell out of Mega Salamence, and just kept spamming Ice Beam towards the monstrous thing. Lebanne actually does a great job tanking with her defensive Mega Dragalge before we take down the Mega Salamence, and Mega Aggron... well, it's tanky, but it's not as tanky as Mega Slowbro.

Lebanne is happy and briefly talks about being happy to not be fighting next to 'someone so uptight'... and, of course, as she's (rightfully) shit-talking Jacinthe, she appears behind Lebanne in the flesh. Which is probably the funniest that Jacinthe has been. Lebanne freaks out and tries to play it off, but of course Jacinthe has heard everything, says that they'll "discuss" this choice of dialogue and attitude later, while the two of them stand back to fight off a trio of Mega Houndooms and two Mega Abomasnow. The Abomasnow would really screw up Jacinthe's team, actually!

The two SBC representatives lead me to an alley before the two of them unleash their secret weapon as they hold a pose... and activate the Jacinthe Zone, summoning the pink force field that locks Jacinthe and Lebanne in with the five rogue megas. Which... it is cool and all, it's a Watchmen-style "you're locked in here with me", but I feel like there are way more better uses for the Jacinthe Zone forcefields. You could, like, lock in every Rogue Mega in place, I would assume, other than the fliers, and the trainers can focus their job on that. An extra line saying that the Rogue Megas can still break through Jacinthe Zone forcefields if not pacified would've, I think, helped to make this scene make a bit more sense. 

But then I suppose Jacinthe's kind of a loony, so there's that. They summon their respective aces and prepare to fight. 

Next up is a mall, where Corbeau is coordinating Rust Syndicate forces with his Rotom-Phone, talking to Phillippe over the phone. He's talking about how the yakuza needs to show their worth in times of crisis like this. At this point, two 'knightly' mega evolution -- a Mega Gardevoir and a Mega Gallade -- show up. Fuck yeah, we're the villains fighting against the crazy good guys. Of course, we've got two Mega Scolipede facing off against the two final evolutions of the Ralts line. Which, by the way... very poor choice. Both of them are Psychic-type and deal super-effective damage towards Scolipede's poison side. I do have STAB super-effective moves -- Poison-type Gunk Shot towards Gardevoir's fairy, and Bug-type Megahorn towards both of them, but this one is admittedly a bit of a challenge in no small part due to me really wanting to beat them with a pair of Scolipede. 

Corbeau leads me out of the mall to where Phillippe and the grunts are supposed to be putting up a ladder... but no ladder are in sight. Corbeau pulls off his regular 'bad boss' routine. "You are supposed to put up a ladder here. So tell me: why don't I see one? Am I just an idiot who can't spot a big old ladder?" Corbeau gets angry that their 'trying' doesn't have anything to show. Apparently, the Rogue Mega Pokemon kept destroying the ladder and the grunts, understandably, can't keep up to mega evolutions. 

Corbeau then demands the Rust Syndicate goons show their mettle...

...which results in...

...a human ladder. With Phillippe at the bottom, and around 10 grunts stacked on top of each other. It is a ridiculous sight, and Corbeau boasts that this is an expression of the bonds between the members of the Rust Syndicate. Unfortunately, the members there are just one person short (heh, short) to reach the top, leading Corbeau to climb up and be the last link in the human ladder. He delivers a badass little speech about how he's not breaking his bond, and he stands up and barely grips on to the edge of the top of the building. 

Corbeau says that this is their 'highest calling, literally'... and tells us not to hesitate and climb up. It's not him being heroic or selfless or whatever, they literally don't know how long they can last. And you literally climb up the grunts as they go 'ow', 'guh' and the like.

And at the top, as we look down at Corbeau clinging on to the edge of the building, he lets go and drops backwards with his arms stretched wide, as if he's sacrificing himself all Gandalf-like...

...but if you peek over the edge, all the Rust Syndicate members are arranged neatly on the ground, with nothing bad having happened. Right. Rotom Phone parachutes. Fucking Corbaeu, you glorious hammy diva, you. This bit was really fun. I giggled the whole way through. 

I start running across rooftops, then, with rubble covering huge chunks of rooftops and giant vines crisscrossing through the city. At some point, however, my way is blocked by another rogue mega pseudo-legendary... Mega Metagross; flanked by a Mega Aerodactyl and a Mega Alakazam. 

This time, it's Grisham and Griselle who show up, having missed the original briefing right after Ange's transformation. They make some jokes about serving late-night customers, but quickly summon their own Pokemon to fight. Griselle's Mega Pyroar goes down like a total bitch, but Grisham's Mega Charizard X actually survives for quite a bit. This one is quite interesting and hectic because Alakazam and Aerodactyl hit quite hard but are relatively fragile, while the Metagross is just a monstrous tank in the middle of it all. Pretty fun fight, and I actually got a couple of my Pokemon knocked out by the heavy psychic attacks. 

After the fight, Grisham and Griselle heal my party with a little coffee break. Grisham finally gets a bit more of a resolution, noting that he can never outrun his connection with Team Flare, he can't make people forgive Team Flare's actions five years ago, but what he can control is what he can do next. Yep! That's, uh... that's good that you reached that conclusion without committing acts of terror, actually. I approve. Grisham and Griselle resolve to protect the city.

And as Zygarde shows up, Grisham tells me that the doggie has deemed me worthy to battle alongside it. A horde of six Mega Pinsirs show up, however, which is quite impressive, and Grisham and Griselle do a triple-fist-bump before running off and distracting the Mega Pinsirs for me. 

And in the final stretch of the mission, Zygarde leads me across the rooftops until we reach one that overlooks the mutated Prism Tower. Lysandre, or "L", rather, shows up and tells me that he has gathered 99 Zygarde Cells... and only one cell remains. Lysandre talks about how he used to be someone who 'takes' instead of 'gives', but that is no way to save the world and I have to find that solution where I 'give'... in particular, giving Zygarde what it needs. 

And we get a cutscene as Zygarde hops on top of a roof and starts summoning the Z-cells to him... and out of my bag pops out my own little Zygarde Cell from the hotel, which of course is the 100th Zygarde Cell. Which... I must say, I am a bit disappointed with how they handled 'squishy' here. It's just been watching me eat curry all game long, and any of my heroics has been witnessed by the main, dog-like Zygarde body instead of this one cell that could've represented my bond to Zygarde or whatever. I felt like it was just a missed opportunity, since we don't even bond with this thing. 

But hey, Zygarde 100% finally shows up properly in a Pokemon game, debuting in a pose with its tails arranged like a superhero cape, pulling off a badass little pose as it takes on its full Ultraman/Gundam glory. After a decade of being an afterthought gimmick in an unrelated game, after not having any justice given to it outside of the anime, this is finally the game debut of Zygarde Complete.

Hyperrogue Ange Floette begins to react, with the strange metal-architecture-caged flower 'mouth' roaring and summoning two giant versions of the Eternal Flower on the ground...  Zygarde Complete flies up and starts launching little energy missiles that erupt on the side of the Prism Tower... and it's time for the final battle!

Next time, because this one ended up pretty long! 

Random Notes:

• A nice nod to the continuity of the game, Gwynn notes that she held up the phone for Ivor during the previous holo-meeting, due to Ivor's propensity to crush poor Rotom Phones in his fingers.
• As I run towards Canari, there's a bit of a holo-conversation across the phone of Taunie getting Canari's name wrong again, and Naveen being frustrated about it. In the Japanese script, it's Naveen insisting that they call her with an honorific, but this is a case where I think the localization joke is funnier. 
  
• Taunie, by the way, actually does have commentary across these 'calls' throughout the whole climax, giving us updates from her birds-eye-view on top of the mutated Floette-Ange. Which just writhes in the background all the while, a very cool little detail. 
• In-between giving orders to Phillippe, Corbeau actually tells Rust Syndicate members to get something ready to help cheer people up, like a cookout. I assume this is where the rest of the Rust Syndicate members went to, because there's a lot less people on the human ladder than what we would see in the Rust Syndicate base. 
• "We've already fallen off the straight and narrow, and at this rate, we're gonna fall short here, too!" God, that one last grunt on top of the human ladder is spitting fire.
• The 'Human Centipede/Scolipede' joke writes itself, doesn't it. 
• I didn't even think to try it, but you can jump off the side of the building after the Rust Syndicate thing, and Corbeau would be pissed before forming the human ladder again, and you can do it up to three times with Corbeau getting increasingly more irritated until at some point you just can't jump off as the game puts up an invisible wall.
• This whole thing could've been avoided if Phillippe and Corbeau remember they have either long, serpentine Pokemon, or flying Pokemon. But it wouldn't be as funny.