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Pokémon Legends: Arceus | 13 Minutes Gameplay Preview

GeekyDad

Member
Can't believe this comes out in two weeks. Wonder what the consensus will be with this game. Everyone seemed to hate the Diamond/Pearl remakes.
:messenger_open_mouth: Diamond (original) is my favorite Pokemon still.

Anyway, this game looks very...interesting. Looks like they perhaps used the latest Zelda tech to create this game. But honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about it. It doesn't quite feel like a mainline Pokemon game. I'm not sure if it's an evolution or a departure. Looks good, though, whatever it is. Just gotta work out in my own head how to approach it, as the Pokemon series is beloved to me.
 

bajouras

Member
The gameplay so far looks interesting, but I have several problems with the the visuals.
It's not the polygons here, is the artstyle choices. I do understand that these depend on tastes but still...
I mean, I think is fair to compare this game to something like BOTW, since it looks like it's trying to mimic it with some stuff (either this or Genshin), but it downright has some disadvantages.

Important word before my complaints is, I do understand that the images I used below are not representative of the entire product, but I used them purely to represent what I felt when I saw the trailers. (I do know that there are instances that might contradict what I said).

Let's start with trees, one of the most beautifull parts of botw (even if some of them look like they came straight out of a 10 year old game). In botw we can see the trees looking prettier up close, they are found in denser groups and more importantly, they looks like they can keep the shadows even in the far distance more often that in pokemon.
Rhmqa5n.jpg

This helps the overall look of the vistas, and leads me into the second problem, the separation of the broader shapes.
In botw I feel like it's easier to separate the various layers of the world, Foreground, Middleground and Background. We can argue that this is a design choice, but I can also argue that this leads to an overall muddier look in pokemon that some people are complaining about. Also, the lack of plane variation, makes pokemon's world feel bland in comparison to botw. It lacks nooks, crannies, steep hills and overall points of interest.

JJEBXi1.jpg

Last but not least, can we talk about the ground? First of all there is the grass... I mean, look at it... sure there are parts of zelda that don't have grass aswell, but pokemon could use a bit more variation in the asset, positioning and number (this also applies to pebbles). I know I've seen some footage of some cool grasslands on pokemon, but I can't keep my mind out of the worst scenes. And the most annoying part for me is, what's wrong with the wierd glossy texture on some of the rocks and dirt? Was it raining? And why can we see all that glossiness all the way to the rocks far in the distance, making it look like everythingis made of plastic or something.

KfB7Fjp.png


I'm sure the gameplay will be cool, and I'll probably forget about all this stuff while I'm playing it, but for now, I really can't overlook all of these.
 
S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
And the most annoying part for me is, what's wrong with the wierd glossy texture on some of the rocks and dirt? Was it raining? And why can we see all that glossiness all the way to the rocks far in the distance, making it look like everythingis made of plastic or something.

KfB7Fjp.png
<img src="" data-url="https://i.imgur.com/KfB7Fjp.png" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="" title="" width="" height="" />

yeah totally, the game would look already much better without that weird gloss texture everywhere.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Im really hoping the gameplay of this is fun and this is just a "proof of concept" game to get the higher ups at Gamefreak to move the main series in this direction and give it the funding and staff needed to be a great thing...


but then I remember this is GameFreak, the most incompetent studio on the planet. If its successful they'll just iterate on it for the next 20 years with very little improvement. If it bombs, they'll blame it on changing the formula and go back to what they've been doing for the last 25+ years.
 
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Im really hoping the gameplay of this is fun and this is just a "proof of concept" game to get the higher ups at Gamefreak to move the main series in this direction and give it the funding and staff needed to be a great thing...


but then I remember this is GameFreak, the most incompetent studio on the planet. If its successful they'll just iterate on it for the next 20 years with very little improvement. If it bombs, they'll blame it on changing the formula and go back to what they've been doing for the last 25+ years.
I don't see how it can't be more fun than what we currently have. But those could be my famous last words.
 
Off topic rant but can I just say that tweaked DQ11 on PC looked better than Zelda BOTW?

The Switch is terrible. I just can't handle pop in anymore.
 
I genuinely don't understand how one of the most successful, best-selling franchises of all time, which is currently worth around 100 billion dollars, can consistently produce such low-effort, downright hideous looking games.

I get that a franchise like this doesn't need to use a top of the line graphics engine with fancy features like ray-tracing, but man they could at least act like they give a damn? You would expect a franchise like this to strive for quality, instead of... well, this?
 

Saber

Gold Member
I genuinely don't understand how one of the most successful, best-selling franchises of all time, which is currently worth around 100 billion dollars, can consistently produce such low-effort, downright hideous looking games.

I get that a franchise like this doesn't need to use a top of the line graphics engine with fancy features like ray-tracing, but man they could at least act like they give a damn? You would expect a franchise like this to strive for quality, instead of... well, this?

Because there are people who pre-order 3 copies of the same game and goes in the internet saying "choo choo" like a real chad(as if buying the game for mockery erases the concern about visuals, quality, etc).

Really, theres no real mystery here.
 
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Inanilmaz

Member
I genuinely don't understand how one of the most successful, best-selling franchises of all time, which is currently worth around 100 billion dollars, can consistently produce such low-effort, downright hideous looking games.

I get that a franchise like this doesn't need to use a top of the line graphics engine with fancy features like ray-tracing, but man they could at least act like they give a damn? You would expect a franchise like this to strive for quality, instead of... well, this?
I hope Microsoft buys this franchise
 
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