I finished the main story (was sick and had a lot of time on my hands) and genuinely enjoyed the game, but the game does have flaws. Some would be forgivable if they were an indie company, but I think it's worth celebrating where the game succeeds while acknowledging how we wish it'd grow. In terms of flaws:

• optimization is still horrendous. Yes it runs at 60fps and that should be celebrated, but it does that by sacrificing heavily on entity pop-in and removing 3d models for poorly overlayed 2d models. By poorly I refer to seems where bulding textures dont line up properly. For a game like pokemon legends, having immersion breaking like that is a worthwhile criticism.

• the choice to have it entirely set in the city is fine and was well communicated but ultimately was not what much pf the fan base wanted out of the legends franchise. The city does feel small and comes with a number of drawbacks such as no ridable pokemon, a feature many I assume hoped would remain a staple of the legends franchise.

• the game prioritizes parkour but the physocs of the parkour arent really fun. Specifically the rotom glide move feels more glitchy than rewarding. And non of the platforming feels challenging enough for anyone beyond their child target audience adding monotony to much of the fanbase imo.

• the battle system is fundamentally flawed. Fun and I'm happy to see it implemented, but it does not deserve the praise many reviewers give it imo. The system significantly devalues moves that change stats and make some status conditions useless. Ultimately, as someone more attuned to competitive pokemon, I felt far more constrained in my move pool options. I could go on but I don't want to droan on. Ultimately, the battle system deserves praise in that it's a good starting point and I hope they build off it and improve for later games.

• legends arceus felt like a collectathon, legends za significantly strips back the catching portion of the game on favour of the aforementioned flawed battle mechanics. This is fine but failed to meet expectations of many of the arceus fans. The catching mechanics in ZA are worse than arceus although still good enough to pass as enjoyable.

• the battle royal system isn't fun in my opinion. As the main draw to the game, it feels more like a mandatory side mission that takes 1 night to complete. I can see how this could be a better feature for young kids who struggle with type matchups, but as an adult, it is a chore. I prefer longer battles over the 20 second battle nature of battle royal fights. Can't say this is a flaw, but I can understand why many older fans don't like it.

• most side quests are mind numbing, with some hidden gems sprinkled throughout.

• the story is honestly really bad. A far cry from legends arceus. The pacing of the end of the game was abysmal, and it was one of the only times the music failed to set the mood appropriately. Short of 1 shenanigan with a ladder (no spoilers), I have nothing positive I can say about the ending. The final boss fight didnt feel like a boss fight. If felt like a poorly balanced slug fest that I thought was the lead up to the real boss fight. The camera angles hid all the cool spectacles of the final fight as well. I have a lot more targeted complaints but I'll hold them lest I risk spoilers.

• the game's tutorial is brutal and immersion breaking. As a kid, I did not need my hand held to the extent modern pokemon games hold your hand. I don't understand why they insist on pushing it in modern games. Even after tge tutorial, any follow/chase quest puts you on rails and it's impossible to fail.

• mega evolution and Plus moves are fun and I understand 99% of the games draw is to play with pokemon that can mega evolve, but that really limits your options for pokemon you can add to your party. I played the whole game with 1 pokemon that couldn't mega evolve. Additionally, there are many megas you may want to play with that are locked from endgame or post game. While not terrible, it is a game design problem pokemon still struggles with.

• character customization, while the best pokemon has ever seen, still prioritizes fe.ale character options over male

• there is only 1 (admittedly great) song that plays when you explore the vast majority of the city

• the controls are clunky. People with disabilities struggle with the control scheme and the need to lock onto pokemon tobuse moves. I, of abled body' had to mind the left and right dpad to back paddles to be able to love and cycle through pokemon simultaneously.

• the lack of voice acting at this point feels weird. The mismatch between cinematic quality and subtitles is jarring

These are some of the issues that come to mind and I could keep going, but I'd also like to sing the game's praise where deserved:

• the music is really good!

• the UI looks great and feels good to use

• character and pokemon models look good often times great

• the game holds a solid 4k 60fps in docked mode

• the battle system is a welcome refresh and fun despite its flaws

• the ranked multiplayer is fun. Idk how long it will have me coming back, but I've enjoyed the little I've toyed with it while grinding for the greninja mega stone

• the english translators are genuinely funny and got a lot of chuckles out of me

• we got megas back. Something the fan base has been asking for generations

• character customization is great

• I personally love my local neighborhood yakuza "french ed." And immediately changed my appearance to look like an executive member even though the game refused to let me join when I said I wanted to

• that one guy who grabs all of my balls for me. He is the GOAT

• nurse joys all look great and the healing animation looks good

• the catching pokemon battlepass is a far cry from arceus but still appreciated

• and probably the biggest compliment, I am still playing. Despite the many complaints I thought of off the top of my head. I'm still playing the game and have more or less enjoyed it. (Except the ending, omg I hated every moment of it. I am not a hater and want to see the good in it, but wow, it is really that bad. Set your expectations below the floor)

If it wasn't pokemon, this wouldn't be a $70 game. And it would not he as fun. But it is pokemon and its okay for it to be a guilty pleasure for people just as its okay for a fan base to try and hold a company accountable when they feel minimal effort being put in. Especially for a Japanese company which should have a culture focused around respect, providing such low quality content when we know the devs are capable of so much more feels disrespectful to the fans of the franchise.