Pokemon ZA wasn't that bad afterall
I I just finished Pokémon Legends: Z-A and honestly… it was nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be.
The battling style was probably my favourite part of the game. I genuinely liked this more action-based, interactive combat system compared to the older turn-based pacing. The wild zones felt alive, movement during battles actually mattered, and some of the Mega Evolution fights were genuinely intense. They weren’t “hardcore difficult”, but definitely more engaging than most recent Pokémon games I’ve played — even more than XY in some ways.
And speaking of Mega Evolutions… I actually think they handled them pretty well here. Not perfect, but way better than I expected. The boosted moves, aggressive battle pacing, and the way some Mega Pokémon completely changed the flow of fights made battles feel exciting again. Some of the rogue Mega encounters genuinely took me multiple tries and that added a lot to the experience.
What surprised me most though was Lumiose City itself.
At first I thought having the entire game take place in one city would feel restrictive, but it actually made me more attached to the world. Instead of constantly moving from town to town like a random traveller, I actually started recognising districts, NPCs, and recurring characters. By the end, it genuinely felt like my city and my mission to protect it. That emotional connection is something I honestly haven’t felt in Pokémon for a long time.
I also loved the smaller quality-of-life additions. The parkour/jumping movement added a lot to exploration and made traversal feel smoother and more interactive. Team Flare being incorporated into the story again was a really nice touch too.
Now obviously the game has flaws.
The flat wall textures, stiff building animations, and not being able to enter most buildings was disappointing. That’s something I really miss from the older Pokémon games because entering random houses and discovering weird NPC dialogue gave those worlds charm.
But despite all that, this game actually tried something fresh. And I’d rather Pokémon experiment like this than keep giving us the exact same formula every generation.
Haven’t played the DLC yet, so maybe my opinion changes later, but overall I genuinely had a great time with this game and think the hate around it was overblown.