5 Lessons Gen 9 of Pokémon Can Learn from Legends

Pokémon Legends: Arceus brought with it its fair share of criticisms and a handful of successful ideas. It was a brand new open-world Pokémon adventure that fans have only thought of in their wildest imaginings. It contains anatomically correct Pokémon roaming around the world all expressing lore accurate behavior, the ability to capture Pokémon without the need for tedious grinding and battling, and above all a return to form for the classic turn-based combat. Legends brought to the table some great ideas that can surely influence the newly announced Pokémon Scarlet and Violet games.

5: A more lived-in World.

Out of all of Legends’ shortcomings, I would say that the dull and lifeless open world is my personal biggest issue with the game. Walking from mission to mission with little to look at or interact with killed any momentum I was having and cut my play sessions short. If Game Freak added some incentives for players who explored every nook and cranny that Scarlet and Violet have to offer, then maybe fans may be a bit more forgiving.

When I wandered around the world of Hisui and stumbled upon a cave I was greeted with Zubats and the feeling of deflation and summarized that Game Freak would rather have players stay on the main path instead of blazing new trails and having exciting moments which aren’t delegated to the main story.

4:Keep the Crafting

Pokémon Legends: Arceus introduced a crafting element that kept players’ pockets full of cash and also kept us from just running through the empty environments. I would love to see Scarlet and Violet keep the crafting system in place but see some slight improvements. Adding a Monster Hunter type element where defeating different Pokemon can drop certain items would be a good option. For example, you are fighting a Farfetch’d and when knocked out it drops its celery stalk. Players could use this item to craft stews or other foods that could keep Pokemon’s stats up and improve the player bonding with their chosen companions.

3: Deeper Side quests

Side quests are no stranger to Pokemon games. However, I always found them to be kind of vague and frustrating to experience since there are no “traditional” side quests presented to the players. Each mainline game contains one maybe two interesting scenarios but none stood out. Legends added a more traditional style of side quest but as for the content of the quests themselves.. well let’s say most amount to a little more than fetch quests.

As I have completed around 15 or so side quests in Legends it got me thinking of all the stories Game Freak could be giving us. I would love to see a quest that revolved around Pokémon’s natures and personalities as hinted at with a quest revolving around Diftloom’s admittedly creepy Pokedex entries. I would be happy to see questlines like that added to flesh out Pokémon’s rich lore and storytelling potential.

2: Deeper Story Telling

Tying into side quests, the story of the main Pokémon games has always been serviceable at best. A few games like Black and White could get philosophical at times and would lead to some interesting moments. Sadly, each story is just as forgettable as the last and would all hit the same story beats. This lead to a majority of the games all dealing with the same themes, with only the visuals changing.

Legends sought to tell a darker story about life before Pokémon and humans were allies, and for the most part, it worked. Now Legends is nothing groundbreaking or tear-jerking and you won’t fall in love with any of its characters, though this shows that Game Freak has the potential to tell a solid story in the Pokémon universe.

1: No more Gimmicks

With every mainline iteration of Pokémon, there is always bound to be a gimmick or two that when introduced with mini-games usually are never a big deal. It was when Game Freak started implementing mega evolutions, Z-moves, and other battle mechanics that things got in the way of my enjoyment of the franchise. Legends kept it simple with the strong and agile style of combat.

This style felt like a good natural step while still including the turn-based combat and without being too complex or annoying to deal with. Implementing a style like Legends into Generation 9 could be a step in the right direction to bring back old fans who may have lost their passion for the monster-catching phenomenon.