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Pok茅mon Legends: Arceus - Before You Buy - YouTube
Channel: gameranx
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(digital jingle)
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- [Jake] Hey, and we're
back with another episode of
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"Before You Buy",
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that show where we give you
some straight up gameplay
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and our first impressions of
the latest games releasing.
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As usual, it's me, Jake.
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And today we're talking about
"Pokemon Legends: Arceus".
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It's finally here.
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It's been a long time coming.
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This is what some "Pokemon" fans
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have been looking for for a long time.
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A big shakeup and a fully 3D adventure
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in a massive open-ended world
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where you capture and battle Pokemon
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in a more fully realized way.
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While Game Freak has
dipped their toes in this
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with some previous games,
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"Arceus" kind of marks
a completely new step
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for the "Pokemon" franchise.
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Now, it's definitely not perfect,
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but we've all been playing
it here on the team
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and have absolutely been
having a ton of fun.
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The world has its issues
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and there's a bit of an emphasis on grind
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from the early hours
where it starts a bit slow
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to the end game stuff,
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but the open world
concept, the exploration,
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and the way catching and battling
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and progression with the
Pokedex building works,
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yeah, the graphics aren't great,
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but the game is really
cool and fun and fresh.
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And I think it's what the series needed.
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And just so you know,
before we go any further,
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this footage was captured
through a Switch OLED
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running docked on a TV
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and we're keeping it as
spoiler free as possible,
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but that's tricky though.
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I know some "Pokemon" fans
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are very sensitive to
seeing certain things,
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gameplay elements, anything.
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So if you're big on
spoilers, keep that in mind.
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You know, we still wanna show
different points of the game
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and various levels of progress.
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So getting into it,
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the basic step is that
you create your character
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and you end up in the Hisui region.
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You don't know how or why,
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but you quickly meet the local people
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and get drafted into their sort of
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Pokemon discovery expedition.
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As was revealed in that original
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official reveal trailer thing,
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this is a much earlier point
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in the span of "Pokemon" lore and history.
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Technology is scarce, life is simpler,
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and people frankly don't
know too much about Pokemon.
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So there's a bit of fun
that comes with all that.
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It's different.
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Your goals involve helping the
people settling in this land
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to learn to live with
and understand Pokemon.
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So it's up to you to battle and catch
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and build out a big Pokedex.
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Now, the general flow has you
going along story missions,
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but there's a lot of stuff
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to mess around with in the meantime.
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Villagers and locals will
give you side quests things
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called Requests that
usually net you some rewards
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or just help the town or
community in some way,
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but what you're mostly
doing is getting out there
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and doing the "Pokemon" thing.
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You're catching, you're leveling them up,
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you're getting stronger, and
building out the Pokedex.
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This is the main focus
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and everything requires you to really do
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a lot of what you may have already done.
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You don't catch a Pokemon
once and that's it.
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You catch them multiple times
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to complete a certain Pokedex objective.
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One in a long, long list of them.
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Like say battle a Pokemon three times.
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Catch it three times.
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Then catch it six times.
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Catch different variants,
catch a male and a female,
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catch one at night.
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So every time you catch
or defeat a Pokemon
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or a new Pokemon, it's
really still exciting
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because you're accomplishing
a bunch of things
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in your Pokedex and then
cashing in all those things,
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so you're always feeling
like you're being rewarded.
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You're always progressing
towards a new rank in your group,
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which serves kind of how
badges from gym leaders
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in previous games helped you
work with stronger Pokemon
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and stuff like that, the perks.
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Now, along with that,
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there's also a bunch of
crafting and recipes to learn
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and work on as well.
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And your Pokemon are also
rewarded with XP and stuff,
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just not only from
battling, but also catching.
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Now, this all goes hand in
hand with the open world stuff.
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You venture around and
find Pokemon in real time,
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just hanging out in the environment.
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And it's more involved
than in "Sword and Shield".
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You know, they're floating in the water,
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they're walking around,
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they're flying around, they're hiding.
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And you can hide in grass
and creep up on them
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and try to catch them or battle them,
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and battles go down in real time,
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right there in the environment.
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And it doesn't get old.
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And for me, yes, this is the "Pokemon"
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you'd always kind of been hoping to see.
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It feels much more real and cool,
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just like how you've
conjured it up in your head
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probably since you were a kid.
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Now, sometimes the
Pokemon wandering around
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in the environment seem kind
of dumb and kind of dopey.
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Not much going on in the AI
department, which is a bummer,
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but some of them can see you and run away,
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or some of them can get pissed
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and try and attack your character,
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so you can dodge out of the way
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before tossing out a pokeball
with a Pokemon to battle them.
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Now, battles themselves
are pretty straightforward.
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The newest thing is the addition
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of the ability to change how much power
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you put into your moves.
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So if your Pokemon has battled enough
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and mastered a certain move,
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you will have the ability to
add more power into an attack,
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or less than normal power into an attack.
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This is for various reasons.
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Put more behind your attack to
hopefully cause more damage,
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but you'll likely lose a turn.
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Put less power into an attack,
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maybe you're trying to catch a
Pokemon, something like that,
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and also maybe have the ability
to get a second attack in
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and a second turn.
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I'm kind of explaining it
terribly simply for time sake,
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but it can shake things
up a bit in a good way
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that isn't overly complicated,
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but lets you strategize a bit more
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and your ability to see who moves next,
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and it all makes it just
feel a bit more RPG-ish.
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Also, there's an added level of freedom
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in learning new moves and
swapping them in and out.
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It makes things a bit more
consistently interesting.
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Just go to town and learn some new moves
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and swap them in and jump
back out in the field.
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It's nice.
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But battles can be pretty challenging too.
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I've noticed the last few "Pokemon" games
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have stepped up the challenge
a bit here and there,
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and in "Arceus" we found
it pretty noticeable.
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It's not the hardest
game to cruise through,
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but still, you will be
challenged from time to time.
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Especially because you can find bigger,
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more powerful red-eyed
Pokemon out in the environment
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that can just frankly
really kick your ass.
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But it's very satisfying.
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They feel almost like little bosses.
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The Pokemon in your party
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are also just used for various things,
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like throw them at a tree
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to get them to shake some berries out,
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or smash a rock for crafting resources,
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or to a fly or ride like a mount.
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It really does a good
job of selling that whole
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"Pokemon and humans working
together on an adventure"
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type thing.
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It's really cool, and
it makes getting around
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and exploring and crafting
and grinding a bit more fun.
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Does it get a little
repetitive here and there
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with the catching and battling constantly?
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Yeah, but it always feels
like you're stumbling across
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a new Pokemon and you're getting
that little adrenaline rush
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or you're always learning something else.
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And you're always progressing,
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you're always building that deck,
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you're always gaining, so I liked it.
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Unfortunately, the world
itself is lifeless.
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You probably knew I was gonna say this
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if you've seen any gameplay of it before.
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It's really big and it's
fun to venture through
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and stumble upon the Pokemon, like I said,
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but other than some shifts in biomes,
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it's just so weird and dead.
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Part of the reason comes from the fact
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that it doesn't look that great,
especially docked to a TV.
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I feel like it's like the
"Final Fantasy VII" world map.
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I'm not talking the new
"Final Fantasy VII",
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I'm talking about the old one.
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As much as there's changes in elevation,
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it still just looks flat and weird.
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But at least the colors pop,
and credit where credit is due.
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The sky box itself is amazing
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and the colors and sunsets
and sunrise look fantastic,
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but otherwise it's just a drab landscape
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with not much going on,
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and it kind of hurts the
experience a little bit,
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especially 'cause like
there's not a lot of dungeons
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or cool hidden areas.
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There's some, but not a lot.
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And it's just rough-looking.
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I'm disappointed in Game Freak here.
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You know, you guys have
a bajillion dollars,
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you should amp this up a bit.
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Graphics aren't everything, though,
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but it's not about the graphics.
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It's about the feel and the atmosphere
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to get you engaged in the game,
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and there isn't really enough.
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For some people, I think the boring areas
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and the constant grinding
might get on your nerves
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or turn you off,
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but we found ourselves at
least consistently entertained
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despite these problems,
even being aware of them.
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We just like "Pokemon".
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The end game after you roll credits
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ends up giving you a bunch more game
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and more battles and stuff
to do, so that's good,
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but my only other issue is that
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along with the world being lifeless,
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the game just needs to
lighten up in general
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and just get a little
bit more entertaining.
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I like being able to see my Pokemon
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and ride them and take photos with them
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and engage with townspeople,
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but I just didn't really like
any of the characters too much
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aside from the Hisui clan
faction leader guy and girl.
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It's not that they don't try here,
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it's just that it didn't
click with me personally.
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The game doesn't feel
as lighthearted and fun
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and quirky as it could.
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Now, that also goes
with finding cool caves
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or spooky paths or dungeons,
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like those types of memorable moments.
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There's really not a lot of it here.
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Here and there, yeah, but it's
more about just the catching,
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and the building the dex, and
the grinding and the training.
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It's a lot more straightforward here.
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The game has a slow start overall
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and it does get better, but yeah.
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And, again, to reiterate, since
I don't have time to explain
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every single new element,
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overall, it's a really
good "Pokemon" game.
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Battles are fun.
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Catching is fun.
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And for some folks, like me
in this specific instance,
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the grind can get you hooked.
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Even if the world is
boring, exploring it is fun
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because of the interaction
with the wild Pokemon,
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and your own Pokemon helping you out.
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It feels closer to that fully
realized thing more than ever,
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and most importantly, dude, it's fresh.
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I've pretty much enjoyed
every "Pokemon" game
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up until this point,
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but I was still starting to feel
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this creeping sense of it being
kind of stale and whatever,
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and I think this is exactly
what the series needed
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straight up.
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Even with the notable substantial
flaws, it's a fresh game
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and I'm looking forward to
this being the foundation
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for "Pokemon" games
moving forward, hopefully.
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I really hope so, because the next game
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could improve the world and exploration
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and more dungeon stuff
and even more story,
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and it could be God tier.
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But if you're a "Pokemon" fan,
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this is worth experiencing,
who am I kidding?
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You're probably already
planning on trying it.
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If you've never played a "Pokemon" game,
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some people have asked me,
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I don't know if this is
the one to start with.
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Maybe start with something more casual,
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like "Pokemon: Let's Go"
or something like that,
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but "Arceus" goes outside
of its comfort zone
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and it tries something new.
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It stumbles here and there,
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but it gets a lot of points
for being fresh and interesting
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and fun to play.
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So there you have it.
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That's "Pokemon: Arceus".
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It's pretty simple,
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but I'm gonna be playing
this one for a long time.
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I think "Pokemon" fans definitely are.
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There's a lot to chew on.
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There's some compelling
stuff in the end game.
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Some of it takes a lot of work
to see it all, but it's cool,
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and I can't wait to see
where things go next.
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But that's how this goes.
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I give you guys some pros, some cons,
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and some personal opinion,
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and now I wanna hear yours.
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What do you think of this
game so far if you jumped in?
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What's your favorite
Pokemon that you've caught
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and built up in the game?
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Do you like the way the
real-time catching works?
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Do you like sneaking around?
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Let's talk about anything
"Pokemon Legends: Arceus"
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down in the comments.
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Now, if this helped you out
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and steered you one way or the other,
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or just, I don't know,
gave you some information,
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all you got to do is
click the like button.
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It really, really helps us
out and we'd appreciate it.
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But as always, thank
you guys for watching.
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I'm Jake Baldino.
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See you next time.
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(relaxed music)
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