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Sometimes, I think it's necessary to face again a saga in which you had taken distance.

In my case, with Pokemon, part of it happened during the time of the Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire remake on 3DS and the Battlefront build poster, which never came to be. Still, I gave it a chance on Switch with Sword and Let's go Eevee, but seeing part direction get lost in pursuit of trying to make a more open-ended game ended up being the reason I took a more distant stance on the saga.

This year, seeing that they were rescuing the region my first 3DS Pokemon that I put 250 hours into, Galar and Pokemon X, I decided, once again, to give the saga a chance in its transition from Switch 1 to Switch 2. I decided to give Pokemon Z/A a chance.

I think there are three main pillars when it comes to unboxing Pokemon Z/A: Luminalia City and the art direction, Z/A Games and the battle system, and lastly, my future with Pokemon. Gotta Roast 'Em All!

Tossed by the waves but sunk: Luminalia City and the art direction.

With Pokemon there is a constant conversation about recapturing the magic of the originals. This isn't magic, it's called art direction. It's wanting to tell a story also through focused environmental design (as, for example, when encountering Entei in the Burnt Tower in the second generation), discovering the richness in the different towns and cities of the region, as well as seeing the habitat of the Pokemon according to their area.

Luminalia City, despite being more of a "city" than in the 3DS original, does not stand out as such. It's not just that every building is pretty much the same, but its streets scream out for needing some personality to make exploring Luminalia more fun and unique (and more so considering the entire adventure takes place there).

It doesn't give you the feeling of being in the metropolis it's supposed to be and aside from any technical issues, it's something that happened in S/V with the little I saw. With such a strong identity that Pokemon has enjoyed since practically its inception with charismatic designs, simple but recognizable environments and, later, a fairly powerful world-building, I'm surprised to see so little love devoted to such a central piece of the entire game.

I think this is directly influenced by the lack of an exterior to the city: if we had been able to explore other areas beyond the city, this lack would perhaps have gone more unnoticed. But the inclusion of wild areas, although at first it seemed novel and interesting, ends up being a patch for that lack. It makes sense within the game, but impoverishes the overall experience (wilderness areas, before they appear, can have no relevance because of their very nature).

Fight to the top... kinda: Z/A Games and the combat system

Battling, which has moved from turns to a skill cooldown system, feels fresh and fun. Dodging enemy attacks as a trainer and determining the positioning of your pokemon's moves gives an extra point to the combat strategy.

And it's a shame they don't take advantage of it. Even in the final battle, there are times when it feels like you're just pounding the buttons from the moment they're available, as the difficulty is so low that the fights become trivial from almost the first quarter of the game.

The game also repeats the same cycle throughout the adventure: Mega Evolutions > Z/A games > Rank Up. The team meetings are amusing at various times, mind you, and there are humorous moments that I found funny. Lida, in particular, has struck me as the most charismatic character of the entire cast.

Also, many of the restrictions that previous games had (visiting a pokemon center to change pokemon, using the move-rememberer to manage attacks, etc) have been freed up to make maintaining your team of creatures more streamlined than ever.

However, and this is a matter of taste, although I understand this release (since we do not move from Luminalia City), before this made you feel more attached to your team and you created it with more intention (since you had to plan it to accompany you to the next Pokemon Center).

My future with Pokemon

Once again, it feels like a game with multiple opportunities to shine wasted: thinking about the megaluchas these Pokemon Z/A ones, it would have been spectacular if they had designed a battle environment for each type of Pokemon. Or that the Z/A Games would have climbed from the lowest to the middle in the story, and then the rest of us ascend as if it were a proto-Victory Road continuum with the bottom 4 being the "Elite Four".

Also trying to appeal to past Pokemon X/Y characters has not been effective at all. They are characters that have lost their essence, as well as an inconsequential consequence to what happens throughout the game. There's no villain per-se beyond past decisions that don't happen in real time, everyone is good and it all passes a little flat.

I think the fact that after the leaks revealed that there are between $15m in this type of installments is a determining factor in prioritizing certain things within that budget. And it is clear that creating a complete and well-designed experience is not. Yes, it fulfills minimally in fun (especially at the beginning), but it is not at all a memorable experience.

After this try, I'm going to stay away from the series once again, waiting to see a change in their games. Maybe that moment will never come, and that's okay.