As of right now, my playtime in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is exactly 111:11. Over the last 100+ hours, I've experienced every part of the game (with one notable exception). I have a complete living dex, a full box of shiny Pokémon, 100% request completion, rank 10+ Pokédex progress for every species, every Galactic Team rank, and more shiny male Eevees than I know what to do with. (Namely, I have twelve. I just wanted a female shiny Eevee to name after my cat :/) I'm here to tell you all about my thoughts on the game, covering each aspect of gameplay, what I would like to see improved upon, and whether it's worth the money or not. I'll be organizing this in sections, which will be divided by quote blocks for easy navigation. Let's start out with the most defining part of the game: [quote]Exploration[/quote] The world of Pokémon Legends: Arceus is divided into five major explorable locations and a base of operations. If you've played Monster Hunter, you'll be familiar with the system. Each of the five areas is relatively large in scale, and they all have a small variety of geographic terrain within them. For example, the starting region is mostly comprised of forests, plains, and mountainous landscape. Another area contains vast fields of golden wheat, muddy marshlands, and ancient ruins. The Pokémon found in each area seem like they would actually belong there, although there is some overlap in which Pokémon can be found in each area. For example, Zubat can be found in almost all of the major areas while Porygon can only be found in one. Catching Pokémon is also amazing. You can catch them in traditional battles [i]or[/i] sneak up on them and just chuck a Pokéball at its head (or its back for a higher catch rate). If you're detected, aggressive Pokémon will attack you directly, forcing you to either dodge or risk fainting and losing your inventory items (which can be recovered by other players and returned to you). Aside from Pokémon, however, there aren't many collectables to seek out. The only major collectables are 107 "wisps" that can easily be found at night and the 28 forms of Unown (one for each letter in the English alphabet, then two more for ! and ?). There are plenty of crafting materials to gather, but I rarely needed them as I refuse to use anything other than default Poké Balls. The areas are large enough to feel daunting to explore on foot, but the game gives you Pokémon to ride as you progress through the story, allowing you to travel quickly, swim, climb, and eventually glide. The mounts make exploration much more convenient, but also take away some of the feeling of vastness that the game has when you first start. [quote]Combat[/quote] The battle system in Legends: Arceus is mostly the same as the main games, but with a few notable differences. Abilities and held items are gone, making battles more simplistic. Turns are no longer simultaneous, meaning each trainer chooses what move to use [i]after[/i] the opponent moves. The turn order is determined by "action speed," based on the Pokémons' speed stats and move effects. Pokémon can switch their set moves on the fly in the item menu, allowing you to change your moveset for whatever situation you expect to face. Pokémon can also "master" moves through levelling up or using special consumable items, allowing them to use "agile" or "strong" style moves. Agile style moves are weaker, but raise their action speed. This can allow you to get two or even three turns before your opponent can move (and they can do the same to you). Strong style moves are more powerful, but [i]lower[/i] your action speed. There are also some changes to some status effects. Sleep now functions similarly to paralysis, while freeze is replaced with "frostbite," which is a burn that lowers special attack instead of physical attack. Pokémon also automatically recover from status conditions after a few turns or at the end of a battle. Damage also seems to be WAY higher than normal. Incoming and outgoing attacks will frequently OHK, making battles faster and more lethal. Good luck running a nuzlocke here! You'll often find that after knocking out an opponent, they'll send out a Pokémon that's strong against yours and OHK you in retaliation. Enemy trainers can also have multiple Pokémon out at once against your one Pokémon, somewhat like X and Y's horde battles. You'll frequently get hit many times before you have a chance to attack. There aren't many trainer battles, though, as most people are still afraid of Pokémon in this game's setting. Most of the ones you do encounter can be cleared with ease, but the final postgame battle may make you reconsider that. There are also "Dark Souls"-esque (not really) battles where your character faces empowered Pokémon alone, dodging away from attacks and throwing items at them to reduce their HP bars. At certain times, you can send in a Pokémon to fight it, giving you an extra attack window if you win. It's honestly faster to just keep throwing balms, though. [quote]The Pokédex[/quote] The Pokédex is by far the most compelling part of the game for me. Instead of just catching each Pokémon once, you have various tasks to do to "complete" their entries. Some tasks may involve seeing them use certain moves or evolve, while others may involve feeding or defeating them. It feels like you're actually [i]studying[/i] Pokémon instead of just ticking a box on a grocery list. This is the second game I've felt compelled to complete the Pokédex in since I started playing Pokémon in [i]2001[/i]. Completing a Pokémon's dex entry increases the odds for a "shiny" (different color variant) of that species to spawn. The normal odds are around 1/4000, so they're highly sought after. There are a few ways to increase shiny rates in Legends: Arceus, and the fact that so many spawn in the overworld at a time means you're very likely to encounter one randomly while playing. I like that more players can have that "jackpot" moment, but it can also get [i]too[/i] easy to farm shinies, which greatly reduces their value in the trade economy. [quote]Music[/quote] As with almost every video game, I turned off the in-game music after a few hours to listen to instrumental metalcore instead. The music for a certain group of antagonist sisters is a certified "bop," though. [quote]Graphics[/quote] The game looks like a Gamecube game. It's not pretty. It isn't as eye-meltingly ugly as some seem to think, but it's far from modern. Textures are low resolution, characters look like they're poorly cropped into the background, the draw distance is abysmal, and Pokémon at a certain distance away have their animations reduced to like 4 FPS. Compared to a game like Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, which is a [i]beautiful[/i] game on the Switch, it's just kinda sad. Game Freak has the resources to employ a massive art team or commission a third party art studio, but they just... didn't? I don't get it. They could have made this game [i]gorgeous.[/i] I'm disappointed to say the least, but the visuals weren't so bad that they detracted from the overall experience of the game. [quote]Story[/quote] The story was pretty uninspired. I'll pin a comment with spoiler and non-spoiler sections for you to read if you don't want to experience it blind. [quote]What would I change?[/quote] You've probably heard these same takes from everyone by now, but I want them to keep this style of game for the mainline games, but with a few major changes. Let us ride [i]our[/i] Pokémon (like Pixelmon did in Minecraft) instead of a specific mount Pokémon. Bring abilities and held items back to add a little more depth to battles. Make the open world a [i]single instanced region[/i] to help keep the feeling of interconnectedness. [b]Hire a friggin' art studio.[/b] Let us choose whether we want to be a kid, teen, adult, etc. so we can actually make our characters look cool (putting a fitted suit on a child doesn't make them look any less punchable). Give us more fashion options than just a handful of colors and patterns for 5 different clothing types. GIVE GUYS DECENT HAIRCUT OPTIONS, FOR THE LOVE OF ARCEUS!!!! [quote]Is it worth the money?[/quote] If you plan on completing the Pokédex and playing [i]everything[/i], then absolutely. I payed just over 50 cents per hour of entertainment by the time I was done. Compare that to a movie (10-20 DOLLARS an hour) and it's pretty solid in terms of price to content ratio. If you [i]don't[/i] plan on completing the game, this is an easy pass. The story is weak and there isn't much to do if you're not concerned with the Pokédex. The gameplay is a fresh twist that the franchise desperately needed, but without goals, it would lose its novelty after a while. The game needs a longer, more compelling story and MUCH more to see and do in the world to support the game. The foundation is well built, but the structure is missing important support beams. [quote]Overall score[/quote] [b]2/10[/b] I would've scored it higher, but they forgot to put Absol into the game. Sh[b][/b]it game, would not recommend. Sorry, Game Freak, better luck next time.