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Pokemon fans from around the world are having a blast with the latetst mainline entry, Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Many are saying how they're loving the game's new battle system, the redeveloped version of Lumiose City, and other inclusions and innovations, and I'm happy they are enjoying their experience.
However, just because Pokemon Legends: Z-A is doing several things right, it shouldn't excuse it from any of its shortcomings. The game fails to deliver in certain aspects and even poses huge concerns, and these should be pointed out by fans rather than accepted or even defended.
A very noticeable one is the lack of voice acting, which is a persistent issue in Pokemon games. Given that Pokemon Legends: Z-A is part of the 9th generation of mainline entries, it's justified to expect to finally hear whatever dialogue is being spoken by the characters. Instead, fans are still only seeing moving lips with no sounds coming out of them, which shouldn't be the case with a modern day title from hugely successful franchise.
This falls in line what another reocurring Pokemon game problem that should have been solved in Pokemon Legends: Z-A: the lack of animations. The game has numerous cutscenes, and a decent amount of them have sequences that involve characters perfroming laborous actions, such as someone healing the player's team or a Pokemon carrying the main character from one location to another.
However, instead of seeing stuff like that happen, the game decides to fade to white or black as a transition, and then tells the player what happened rather than showing it. There is the possibility that it is the result of Game Freak's attempt at cutting corners to speed up the development process, but no matter what the reason, it feels incredibly lazy.
Since Pokemon Legends: Z-A has been worked on for over three years, given that it likely started around 2022 after Pokemon Legends: Arceus, there was more than enough time to provide it with quality animations and voice acting. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, and that needs to be changed in future.
In regards to what the next mainline entries should or shouldn't have, Pokemon Legends: Z-A introduces a gigantic flaw that falls under the latter: locking the potential of a gimmick behind a paywall. Mega Evolution is a big selling point of the game, and requiring people to pay for a Nintendo Online subscription to enjoy it to its fullest is just wrong. Even worse is that players must participate in online battles and win to get them, which basically means those who have no interest in the multiplayer are forced to participate or miss out on the benefit.
By accepting what Pokemon Legends: Z-A is currently doing to Mega Evolutions, it's basically a way of saying that we don't mind having it happen to future gimmicks as well. As someone who loves the series, that is the last thing I want to see happen, as fans shouldn't be expected to pay for what they should be able to enjoy fully from the start.
Again, Pokemon Legends: Z-A can still provide players a great experience, but we shouldn't have to accept its shortcomings. Hopefully, more fans realize this and voice them out, and if enough do, then perhaps future Pokemon games will finally be at a quality that matches the success of the franchise.
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