Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Coming 2025)

[Sonictrainer]

On February 27th, 2024 (Pokémon Day/the 28th Anniversary of Red/Green in Japan), they announced that we're getting another Legends game.

At the moment, the only information we know is that it will take place in the Kalos Region and revolve around renovating Lumiose City.

Quote

A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.

 

Edited February 27 by Sonictrainer

[Sonicka]

Wait, so it's A-Z and not Z-A? That's a badly designed title graphic if so. XD

Edit - Actually, it is Z-A according to the press release. Might need to update that title ;)

Posting from the other topic:

I'm not overly surprised another in this series was announced given the popularity of the first. But this now worries me that we will have yet another split dev team working on this game (with a Gen X announcement next year, just you watch) just give these games time please Gamefreak.

I think it was also probably wise not to show off actual gameplay yet, since the original got torn to shreds back in the day and on release. In any case, I'm going to keep my expectations in check so I'm not really excited either way just yet - the original Legends was incredibly beta and felt unfinished (despite having an addictive gameplay loop), so I hope they can push for something looks and performs better than Arceus and S/V. The idea of constructing the city of Luminose is an interesting one if that's what they are going for here... I do enjoy a good town/ city development quest in my RPG's, gives a nice sense of progression and accomplishment. 

Edited February 27 by Sonicka

[Lorekitten]

4 minutes ago, Sonicka said:

Wait, so it's A-Z and not Z-A? That's a badly designed title graphic if so. XD

The Japanese trailer lists the title as Z-A, so I'm guessing it was a misread or a typo.

In all seriousness, the fact that Pokemon heard us when we said 1. we didn't want Unova remakes, 2. we wanted Pokemon Z, and 3. we wanted a gap year for the franchise gives me new hope for this franchise. It's like... who could have possibly seen this coming?

[Sonictrainer]

20 minutes ago, Sonicka said:

Wait, so it's A-Z and not Z-A? That's a badly designed title graphic if so. XD

Edit - Actually, it is Z-A according to the press release. Might need to update that title ;)

 

12 minutes ago, Lorekitten said:

The Japanese trailer lists the title as Z-A, so I'm guessing it was a misread or a typo.

Whoops

 

Now the question I have running through my head is this...

"Who will be the Starters in this game?"

I'm also curious if they secretly added a new PKMN somewhere in that trailer but I think it's mostly mons that debutted in X & Y

Edited February 27 by Sonictrainer

[Lorekitten]

1 minute ago, Sonictrainer said:

Now the question I have running through my head is this...

"Who will be the Starters in this game?"

I think there are three likely options:

1. We get the original Kalos starters, and they all get new Mega Evolutions.
2. We get a new set of starters taken from other regions, and they all get new regional forms.
3. We get a new set of starters taken from other regions, and they all get new Mega Evolutions.

And if you want to really go down the Bunnelby hole, maybe we get a new set of starters taken from other regions, they all get new regional forms, and those regional forms all get new Mega Evolutions. I doubt that'll happen, but it's fun to imagine.

[ZinogreVolt]

8 minutes ago, Sonicka said:

Wait, so it's A-Z and not Z-A? That's a badly designed title graphic if so. XD

Edit - Actually, it is Z-A according to the press release. Might need to update that title ;)

Posting from the other topic:

I'm not overly surprised another in this series was announced given the popularity of the first. But this now worries me that we will have yet another split dev team working on this game (with a Gen X announcement next year, just you watch) just give these games time please Gamefreak.

I think it was also probably wise not to show off actual gameplay yet, since the original got torn to shreds back in the day and on release. In any case, I'm going to keep my expectations in check so I'm not really excited either way just yet - the original Legends was incredibly beta and felt unfinished (despite having an addictive gameplay loop), so I hope they can push for something looks and performs better than Arceus and S/V. The idea of constructing the city of Luminose is an interesting one if that's what they are going for here... I do enjoy a good town/ city development quest in my RPG's, gives a nice sense of progression and accomplishment. 

Game Freak always has multiple teams working on different projects at once. Legends Arceus was done by the team that did Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, and Legends ZA likewise is most likely done by that same time. We didn't get a timeframe for when in 2025 it's releasing, and considering the immense backlash that SV got (that TPC actually responded to, for once) I think they're gonna hopefully give this game the time it needs. Legends Arceus itself was already remarkably complete feeling compared to the rest of the Switch gen for Pokemon.

Either way I'm really excited for it. A purely urban setting for Pokémon sounds so inviting and genuinely different. I can't believe I'm saying this about a Pokemon game, but for once I have a ton of faith here.

[Lorekitten]

12 minutes ago, ZinogreVolt said:

Legends Arceus itself was already remarkably complete feeling compared to the rest of the Switch gen for Pokemon.

Yeah. While it had its critics, it did what it did very well. I just hope Game Freak can stick the landing on the sequel, because we've waited over a decade for Pokemon Z and if they mess this up, they will never hear the end of it.

[PickleBrows]

As someone still trying to get into Pokemon, Arceus is the closest the series came to hooking me. So it's really cool to see a new Legends game coming!

Might need to give Arceus another playthrough sometime to see if it can click this time, I never did properly finish it.

[Lorekitten]

2 minutes ago, PickleBrows said:

Might need to give Arceus another playthrough sometime to see if it can click this time, I never did properly finish it.

I never made it past the first boss because I didn't realize that the dodge allowed you to avoid damage but just running away normally wouldn't. I should probably try another playthrough sometime to see if I can get past the real-time battle elements, because Legends ZA sounds really cool but I don't want to buy it if I'm not going to actually be able to play it.

Yes, I am terrible at games involving actual reflexes. And saying this on a Sonic fansite probably makes me sound like the wimp queen, but it's just a thing I have to deal with.

[Sonicka]

30 minutes ago, ZinogreVolt said:

Game Freak always has multiple teams working on different projects at once. Legends Arceus was done by the team that did Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, and Legends ZA likewise is most likely done by that same time.

We didn't get a timeframe for when in 2025 it's releasing, and considering the immense backlash that SV got (that TPC actually responded to, for once) I think they're gonna hopefully give this game the time it needs. Legends Arceus itself was already remarkably complete feeling compared to the rest of the Switch gen for Pokemon.

Oooh, I actually didn't realise this. I always figured they just developed each game and remake sequentially until Legends was released. 

I agree that the gap year is a good one - especially considering what went down with S/V. Interestingly I actually feel the opposite with legends compared to S/V (and even S/S).

For me at least, Legends Arceus felt weirdly unfinished and barren; so the world didn't feel that immersive making it almost feel like a proof of concept game experience. S/V portrayed a larger and more immersive (fully open) world that was littered with Pokemon in areas that made sense... buuut the performance and bug issues were massively increased in comparison. However, Legends did had the better gameplay / catch mechanic / battle system. 

Regardless, as a sequel there's a lot of potential for them to build on in the Legends series to make this into something truly special. 

Edited February 27 by Sonicka

[Salamander]

So, I know my memory of Pokemon definitely isn't what it used to be, and there are over a thousand now and it's easy to forget one.  But... what Pokemon is this, featured fairly prominently in the trailer?  I don't recognise it at all.  It looks like Snivy if it were a Poison-type.  (Edit: Answered below, looks like a Furfrou cut.  I was misreading it as a bipedal Pokemon with drapery on the tail.)

Spoiler

Also, tweets have since confirmed something I suspected from the trailer description, which is that the game actually takes place entirely within Lumiose City.  There's some speculation based on the trailer about a possible time-travelling, two-worlds mechanic.

Honestly, I personally am not particularly excited by the idea of either a Legends game or an entirely urban game... but what they're doing here is pretty smart.  Kalos was always the most unfinished region, and now Zygarde is actually going to get a game and Kalos Pokemon are actually going to get Mega Evolutions.  Ditching the increasingly unnecessary remakes in favour of more experimental titles showed its worth Legends: Arceus (and indeed with the widespread distaste around BDSP).  And it sounds an awful lot like GameFreak might actually be taking their time?  Unless they do an Arceus and release this and Gen X in a single year, they can use this to move to a four-year generational cycle, and they  badly need that breathing room.

Edited February 27 by Salamander

[Rabid-Coot]

2 minutes ago, Salamander said:

So, I know my memory of Pokemon definitely isn't what it used to be, and there are over a thousand now and it's easy to forget one.  But... what Pokemon is this, featured fairly prominently in the trailer?  I don't recognise it at all.  It looks like Snivy if it were a Poison-type.

I'd guess at a new Furfrou cut. https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-sm/676.shtml#

[Salamander]

1 minute ago, Rabid-Coot said:

I'd guess at a new Furfrou cut. https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-sm/676.shtml#

You're absolutely right, I see it now.  I wasn't seeing the hind legs, I thought they were just some kind of hanging decoration draped over the tail.

[Lorekitten]

27 minutes ago, Rabid-Coot said:

I'd guess at a new Furfrou cut. https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-sm/676.shtml#

It's not new, it's a Matron trim. 

[Salamander]

If ever there was a time to add new Furfrou cuts, though.

[Lorekitten]

Just now, Salamander said:

If ever there was a time to add new Furfrou cuts, though.

Agreed. Although I'll pass on new Vivillon forms, unless they become easier to come by.

[ShadowForever]

HOORAY, LOOKING FOR NEW POKÉMON AND REGIONAL FORMS! I'm a Pokémon researcher, you know.

Also I can finally get lots of Furftou and trade them for legends in HOME!

[Rabid-Coot]

13 minutes ago, Lorekitten said:

It's not new, it's a Matron trim. 

Yeah with gen 6 being one of the ones I missed I was thinking that was similar to the art but thought the art was a new variant because I was reading the hat silhouette as a dog head.

[Salamander]

I just assumed at first that I was missing all the non-Kalos Pokemon because it didn't make sense to me that Kalos would be in the spotlight.  Even when the Prism Tower showed up and they outright confirmed it was Lumiose City, I was thinking to myself, "Was there something like that in Unova?  What was the name of the main city there, again?"  Honestly the whole thing was extraordinarily funny.

The big question for me is whether we'll be getting a bunch of regional forms and outright new Pokemon like Legends: Arceus did, or if they'll confine it to the ton of new megas for Kalos Pokemon that were obviously getting held back for Z.

Edited February 27 by Salamander

[Lorekitten]

18 minutes ago, Salamander said:

The big question for me is whether we'll be getting a bunch of regional forms and outright new Pokemon like Legends: Arceus did, or if they'll confine it to the ton of new megas for Kalos Pokemon that were obviously getting held back for Z.

Honestly, I wanna make a list of all the Gen 6-9 mons I wanna see get Mega Evolutions. I was working on a list of all the Gen 6-9 mons I wanted to see get Paradox versions (since we only got those for gens 1-5), but the Mega list will likely be different because some mons lend themselves better to Megas than to Paradoxes, and vice versa.

But in all honesty, I need to take a break from the computer because I've been typing up a storm and my fingers are starting to hurt.

[ShadowXeldron]

They've put up a website.

I'm mostly ambivalent towards Legends Z-A and I'll be staying ambivalent until they show actual gameplay.

[Lorekitten]

Quote

A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon. Please look forward to seeing it for yourself.

So this probably means the game is set after XY, not before.

But if this gives us cozy game elements as we rebuild the city, I will absolutely wholeheartedly take that.

[Salamander]

3 minutes ago, Lorekitten said:

So this probably means the game is set after XY, not before.

The trailer switches back and forth between pencil drafts on paper and a more neon cyberpunk look, with slight differences between the two maps, which some people have interpreted as suggesting that the game will have a time-travel mechanic with past and future versions of Kalos.  The game can be set both before and after XY!  (Also dovetails nicely with Paldea's own past/future motifs.  The two regions are neighbours, after all!)

[Maple Syrup]

I can't wait! Like, I mean, KALOS!? I LOVE KALOS!

2 hours ago, Lorekitten said:

new Vivillon forms

I will spend all my time hunting for them.

[Lorekitten]

The thing about Vivillon forms is that when they were first introduced, you only got one available to catch in the wild and had to get ALL the other forms through trading only.

Given how they handled trade evos in Arceus by (re)introducing the Link Cable item from PMD, I sincerely doubt they're gonna use that tactic in ZA. And good riddance.