I love Pokemon, and I’ve never kept that a secret. TheSwitchera of Pokemon games has been incredibly interesting to follow, as accusations of Game Freak not putting enough effort into each individual release began to ramp up. Some negativity was frivolous, such as the internet having a collective heart attack because one tree inSword & Shieldwasn’t in ultra-high definition, and sometimes the criticism was justified, like comments directed towards the abysmal framerate ofScarlet & Violet.
It’s been clear for some time that extra development time would solve the series' recent troubles. It’s not due to a lack of talent, as the internet loves to say. Pokemon Legends: Z-A was just announced, and baring in mind what I just said, seeing the release date was my favourite part of the trailer.
Every Pokemon We Spotted In The Pokemon Legends: Z-A Trailer
Lumiose City? Get ready for a lot of Furfrou.
Making Time For Real Legends
I’ve already dug intomy love for The Hidden Treasure Of Area Zero DLCand how that still didn’t make me forgive the frame rate, so a move away from Scarlet and Violet is prudent.Legends: Arceusis currently the highest-quality game of Pokemon’s Switch era. Sure,Let’s Go Pikachu & Eeveeare the prettiest, but Legends: Arceus addressed concerns about the evolution of the Pokemon formula. Legends has a distinct style, one I’m looking forward to re-visiting in Z-A.
The game’s technical aspects still weren’t good enough for many, and while I don’t agree with all of those concerns, it does sour the experience when the most optimised Pokemon Switch game still has graphical glitches and frame drops. It’s certainly nowhere near as bad as Scarlet and Violet but when your best effort still has problems, it’s not a good sign.
Legends: Arceus released the same year as Scarlet & Violet (January and November, respectively), which instantly answers why Scarlet/Violet is so poorly optimized. Two massive games in one year. When would Game Freak have had time to polish these games? If we go by the quality of the resulting games, it would appear they had no time at all.
But now, itisn’thappening this year, as Z-A won’t be released until 2025. This whole year can be spent developing Legends Z-A, and from the looks of it,onlyLegends:Z-A.There was no news of remakes, or anything else outside updates for the mobile titles. We aren’t going to be getting a big Pokemon release this year, and I’m so thankful for that.
I sincerely hope this ends up being the case and we don’t get a release with a brief marketing window towards the end of the year, I sincerely want the next game to be as optimised and polished as possible. Whatever you may still think about Game Freak, they listened to fans demanding more time be taken. The incredible new take on the formula will continue, and it won’t be rushed out the door this time.
10 Best Pokemon Games, Ranked
The Pokemon franchise spans many different games, movies, and TV shows. If you’re trying to find the best games out of the lot, look no further!
