Editor’s notice: Because the headline suggests, this text discusses late-game spoilers for Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Ask me what my favorite factor about Pokémon Legends: Arceus is, and I may give you a non-exhaustive listing. With the ability to catch Pokémon with out partaking them in battle. Having precise, correct sidequests with rewards. Shiny looking is definitely enjoyable and comparatively straightforward! And oh gosh, assist, I’m being chased by a hulking nice Steelix 40 ranges larger than my group and there’s nothing I can do besides run.
That final level might be the most important purpose I really like Legends: Arceus a lot; there’s all the time an imminent sense of hazard and journey lurking round each nook. Hisui is just not meant to be a secure and cosy house like different Pokémon settings, and that feeling carries proper via your entire sport, even to its gauntlet of ultimate bosses.
Whereas your aim is to doc the Pokémon of Hisui, calm the Noble Pokémon of the area, and fill out the Pokédex, you’re additionally serving to individuals perceive what Pokémon are. All of which means you’ll need to courageous and battle the hardest Pokémon on the market. And whereas the credit may roll after you tame all of the Nobles and catch Dialga and Palkia, this isn’t the tip of the sport. Look, it’s referred to as Legends: Arceus not Legends: Palkia.
One vital buddy you make alongside the way in which is Volo, a service provider from the Ginkgo Guild who loves nothing greater than historical past. And he’s the impetus to fixing a number of the world’s largest mysteries. He scours ruins and follows you all through the sport, deeply eager about your actions and the assorted Plates you find yourself accumulating. And, after the credit roll, you and Volo group as much as collect the remainder of the Plates, historic tablets with historic writings which, crucially, are linked to Arceus.
It’s right here that Volo reveals he’s completely been utilizing you. He’s already summoned Giratina, and it’s the rationale all of the Noble Pokémon have been going loopy and why you’re stranded right here. And with Giratina, he desires to attract out Arceus and recreate the world. Hmmm, I’ve not heard that from any JRPG villain earlier than.
That is the set-up for what is among the sequence’ hardest battles, and every part challenges your mastery of Legends: Arceus’ many instruments. Have you ever been sustaining your group’s ranges all through the sport? Have you ever mastered their strikes utilizing Mastery Seeds so you need to use Sturdy and Agile Type assaults? Have you ever been giving your Pokémon Grit to spice up their Effort Ranges and, in flip, completely increase their stats? And, while you get to the very, very ultimate stage (which you’ll need to work for), how good at dodging and throwing are you?
Volo isn’t any pushover, and his group displays that. His resemblance to Cynthia, the Sinnoh area’s champion, isn’t a coincidence. His group is basically composed of the identical ‘mons Cynthia makes use of in Pokémon Platinum’s post-game: Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss, Lucario, Garchomp, and (rather than Milotic, lacking from this sport) Hisuian Arcanine, every at degree 68.
The battle was actually only a battle of attrition…Convey your greatest strikes out, swap, heal if it’s good to, and strike when you may.
It’s a particularly stable lineup, masking all sorts of weaknesses, and that is probably the primary group of six you’ve needed to face all sport.
I checked out my very own group because the battle began and Spiritomb sat reverse, taunting me. At the least, not like my child self, I may use a Fairy-type transfer. However with Decidueye out, I didn’t have any weaknesses Spiritomb may probably exploit, so I caught it out. Then got here Togekiss, a Pokémon with extraordinarily excessive well being and an Air Slash that one-shotted my starter. Ouch.
The battle was actually only a battle of attrition, as many Pokémon battles are. Convey your greatest strikes out, swap, heal if it’s good to, and strike when you may. And fortuitously, I had counters to principally all the things – solely Garchomp, after my Mamoswine was KO-d, was a gentle menace. However Braviary’s immunity to Floor-type helped there.
Finally, the battle of beliefs – of studying to reside with the world and with the Pokémon as they’re now, versus the need to alter and remake all the things – wasn’t over but. Volo had a seventh Pokémon up his sleeve: Giratina.
With two Pokémon unconscious and a 3rd beneath half well being, I used to be thrust into one other battle with out time to heal. Is one Legendary Pokémon simpler to cope with than a group of six? Oh, you already know the reply to that: No.
I needed to a minimum of carry Decidueye again to full well being, however I’d forgotten to pack my Max Revives, so I needed to accept sacrificing Braviary as I acquired my Starter Pokémon again to half well being with a Revive and a few Potions. Happily, Shadow Power is just decently highly effective, with its principal profit growing the possibility your group received’t hit Giratina.
Utilizing that to my benefit, I chipped away on the Legendary’s well being as I introduced Decidueye as much as full well being, and unleashed some Agile and Sturdy Type Leaf Blades and Psycho Cuts. It in all probability helped that Giratina needed to make use of Earth Energy quite a bit, which is completely ineffective towards Decidueye.
So I managed to wrangle my manner via in decent-ish style, earlier than one other part kicked in. This was extra of the identical, however because the cherry on high of a wonderful iced cake of endurance, it was a much-needed victory lap. Was this the tip of the sport, although? After all not. As brutal, tiring, and rewarding as that battle was, there was nonetheless yet another impediment ready for us: Arceus.
I had the Azure Flute and I proved to Volo I used to be worthy, however I’d fully forgotten that I needed to full the Pokédex. So cue me scrambling across the areas, checking my ‘dex, speaking to Laventon, and forcing my Pokémon to like me so I may fill in all of the gaps simply so I may stroll up the sparkly staircase and face the final word problem.
Now I may show myself to the Poké God, the Alpha Pokémon, within the final “Noble” battle. Bear in mind what I mentioned about dodging? You want that right here. And it’s good to be near-perfect at it.
Arceus is irritating and difficult but additionally extremely rewarding to tackle. I don’t love the Noble fights, which contain dodging giant Pokémon by rolling and operating, then throwing balms to calm them down. They’re a bit of clunky and the digicam is just not my greatest buddy. And with Arceus, each of these issues bit me on the arse a number of occasions.
However you’re combating ‘God’, for goodness’ sake. You’re combating the Pokémon which all different Pokémon come from. You’re proving your self after documenting each Pokémon within the Hisui area. You bought this far – absolutely you may overcome this?
Legends: Arceus is all about overcoming challenges, about documenting a brand new world, taking up belongings you’ve by no means seen earlier than, and fascinating in new mechanics. It’s additionally about proving that folks and Pokémon can reside in concord, which culminates in you beating the one who desires to remake the world in his picture and the very Pokémon that created mentioned world. It’s the most JRPG Pokémon has ever been, and even with its wrinkles, the sport is so a lot better for leaning into the mysteries, hazard, and hope that an unfamiliar world brings. And now I’ve the Alpha Pokémon at my facet (learn: In my Pastures).
Legends: Z-A has a fairly tall activity to match that marriage in gameplay and themes, although it does preserve a type of throughlines – the try at individuals and Pokémon dwelling collectively. I don’t suppose I’ll get to battle ‘God’ once more, and I don’t suppose the problem of Arceus will likely be matched, however I do suppose I’ll be capable of construct a world the place concord exists, simply as I paved the way in which with Arceus.
What do you consider Legends: Arceus’ ultimate gauntlet? Have you ever accomplished the Pokédex and caught the titular ‘mon?
