Six years ago, the birth of "Pokémon GO" was like a bombshell dropped in the game industry, injecting a batch of new blood into the super old IP of Pokémon, which has lasted for more than 20 years, from gameplay to player groups, and can almost be collected into the poké ball, so how to squeeze the surplus value of these new players... Cough, I mean how to retain this new batch of players, is the biggest problem That Game Freak has faced in recent years: the launch of Pokémon Let's GO, the change from Dark Thunder to Bright Thunder, and the simplification of the combat system are all attempts. The latest work in the series, "Legend of Pokémon: Arzeus", can be said to be the culmination of many previous experiments.
The transformation of Pokémon Legends: Al zeus is not only to allow players to finally get through the addiction of The Incredible Arm, but also the visualization of the ecosystem, the expansion of the trainer's operability space, and the ensuing changes in the nature of the game, this time let's talk about Game Freak's ambition to be named Creator God.
The first time you open the game, you are greeted by a ball of light that can talk, shouting for you to meet all the Pokémon, and then inexplicably throwing you back to the ancient times, and robbing your mobile phone, and putting it on will be made into a weird mobile phone case that will be sold around the surrounding area.
The story of Pokémon Legends: Arzeus takes place in the ancient Shin'ao region, also known as Washy, in this era when humans did not yet understand Pokémon and regarded them as beasts with mysterious powers, and the player's task is to complete the first book in Pokémon history in such a primitive environment.
So why would Arzeus throw us back into antiquity? I think that in addition to the simple story setting, this is also a kind of narrative inevitability caused by changes in the core of the game. In the past, Pokémon games were not so much pet breeding as they were trading card games with pet breeding gimmicks, essentially collecting cards (Pokémon) and engaging in turn-based battles; for Pokémon bonds, their story background and ecological settings were handed over to part of the game text, as well as the creation of anime and manga outside the game to complete. We don't actually have any real interaction with Pokémon in the game, and getting, upgrading, and using it is almost everything we can do.
However, witnessing the ecology of Pokémon and interacting directly with Pokémon has always been the dream of many Pokémon-loving trainers, and it is one of the reasons why this series of IP can be so enduring, in order to achieve this purpose, the transformation of 3D and Minglei is imperative, and it is precisely because of this that there has been a series of evolutions since Pokémon GO.
This also means that the story template of the past, "Playing dojo becomes a champion", will no longer apply, and the core of the game experience must be changed from the past "battle" to a more emphasis on the "interaction" with pokémon, that is, observation, capture, and cultivation. At this time, the problem of the modern background arises: in today's era when Pokémon have been domesticated, dojos are lined up, and there are more trainers than college students, it is almost difficult to reduce the proportion of battles, and the environment in which towns are scattered and everywhere is developed will become extremely difficult for building the ecology of wild Pokémon.
At this time, "ancient" as the optimal solution of the plan is about to come out, the completion of the first book in history fully gives the player the purpose and sense of mission of collecting Pokémon, and the new subject system also gives the players a sense of reality that they are making a picture book, unlike in the past, after catching the Pokémon, the picture book is automatically completed.
In order to reduce the complexity of the battle, the game will cut out features, weather, and even online battles. In terms of game content, although we can't become league champions this time, we can become super pitchers in Major League Wash, or baby hunters in the mysterious continent, rolling, sneaking, sprinkling smoke screens, throwing bait, and then throwing baby balls with their own hands. Timid curly ears will run around when they find the player, belligerent kittens will attack the player, and the kind happy egg will even come around to cheer us up when it finds the injured player. You can throw poké balls to try to subdue them, or you can choose to throw the Pokémon you're carrying into battle; in Arzeus, the trainers finally get their wish and participate in the Pokémon experience "before they are subdued".
But unfortunately, the interactive design of "Alzeus" in "after acceptance" is slightly thin, in addition to throwing out the battle to pick up materials, we put Pokémon out, we can only "chat" with them in the same place, there is no other interaction choice, can not let them follow the movement. Even if it is a mount, it can only use a few plot-specific ones, and it cannot be set freely. The restriction of post-acceptance interaction also indirectly leads to the impoverishment of the map: the inability to interact more with Pokémon means that we cannot expand our exploration experience and puzzle-solving activities through Pokémon.
This makes it possible for players to find Pokémon and catch Pokémon in this huge open space. There are no hidden items, texts, maps, or mazes, and the drive for exploration is only supported by the collection of Pokémon, and we don't even need to run special maps to collect resources, because you can get paid for completing the map book, and the reward is enough to buy all the items you need. This is a pity for a large open map.
Of course, such complaints are also unfair to Game Freak, more than two hundred Pokémon, even if some of the actions can be used at the same time, but its workload is bound to be quite huge, and the Pokémon sign does not allow them to delete the number of Pokémon at will. In order to maintain the capture experience, they can't design Pokémon according to the Pattern of Monster Hunter; and the huge Pokémon variety also makes it impossible for them to plan the map maze as freely as Breath of the Wild, whether to go back to the old road, complicate the battle to make up for the thin interaction after submission, or simply stick to the end and transform the Pokémon series into an adventure game that focuses on exploration and interactive experience, which will be the biggest problem that Game Freak will face in the future.
We may be looking forward to expanding the fun of map exploration through various interactions with Pokémon in the near future, or doing Breath of the Wild labyrinth puzzles, such as using fire skills to ignite lights, calling out Thunder Pokémon to provide power to traps, or using superpowers to move treasure chests, etc., or for veteran Pokémon players, they are more looking forward to the return of battle complexity: characteristics, weather, effort points, and the incubation system to cultivate all of this.
But for a pioneer of change like Arzeus, I think it's already performing well.