Watch this week's Zero Punctuation episode on Not For Broadcast - www.escapistmagazine.com/not-for-broadcast-zero-punctuation/ - Watch it early on TH-cam via TH-cam Memberships. Note: Elden Ring review is next week (on the site and for members) and Forbidden West will be the week after before you ask!
@@patchmoulton5438 It's still an Isekai. Doesn't matter if the "other world" is an actual alternate dimension or just a different time period. Futurama is also an Isekai
@@joemorgan2390 It should be noted that the word "isekai (異世界)" means "different world," so I don't think it really applies to time-travel stories because it's the same world.
You know considering how Yahtzee's last foray into Pokemon went, I'm surprised at how much Arceus got away with a really gentle paddling by Yahtzee standards. I guess that's the power of God and the ability to just leg it to avoid standard JRPG battling mechanics for ya.
Having played it, I’d say it’s because 1) it’s not a bad game by any stretch and 2) it’s actually a different game by Pokémon standards. While a very reductionist argument, the mainline Pokémon games have a very similar core mechanics where if you played one, the skills you learned carry over to the next.
@@NathanCassidy721 Oh yeah, I really liked the game for the same reasons. But given the freshness factor would be a bigger plus for long time fans of the series like me, I wasn't expecting it to have similar impacts on Yahtzee.
He didn’t sound angry, but calling a game baby-easy and so ugly it’s made him question his “good graphics are killing games” idea isn’t really a commendation.
@@nawf4372 That and they flip their gameplay style regularly. Hell, the one that's been in development hell for years now is basically visual novel/danganronpa meets final fantasy tactics
@@OsnosisBones Technically, but SMT spent some time as a non-mon series before Pokemon came along. The standard of how SMT plays didn't really come about until after Pokemon's success. Actually, SMT started as a book first.
@@nawf4372 While that book aspect is true, I don't believe the book was written or owned by atlus and they simply alluded to it whenever able, much like how parasite eve was based on a movie. The first real instance of demon recruitment in the series was also the 'third' game, which is the first in the now mainline series. It came out in 1992, which predates pokemon. In fact, a less complex version of this where up to 7 demons could aid you existed even in the 1987 games. So the 'mon taming' wasn't something made in SMT from pokemon popularity, and is something I believe predated even SMT.
"What are you gonna do, buy Sega's rival version of Pokemon, where all the characters have angry eyebrows?" Why yes Yahtzee, I do rather enjoy the Shin Megami Tensei series more than I do Pokemon.
To capitalize on that, there's probably a good reason why we're seeing indie games like Pokémon. And not just because some people want to see more games like it. Thing is, inspiration doesn't just come from things that impress us. They can also come from things that disappoint us. For instance, Lily Arciniega on TH-cam was disappointed that she couldn't find an instrumental version of "Overdrive" from the Battle Tendency soundtrack. So you know what she did? She made her own. And it's actually pretty damn good.
What used to be "Watch out player, there's wild Pokémon in the tall grass" is now "Watch out Pokémon there's wild players in the tall grass". I fuckin' LOST IT THERE!!! 😂😂😂😂
We're entering a Zero punctuation nostalgia wave lately: First Pokémon review in 10 years, the "What happened to mobile gaming?" video as a sort of update to the video Yahtzee made eons ago and now and the FNAF: Security Breach review that's less review and more vehicle for Yahtzee to comment on the state of video gaming like his old Webcomics video.
The sad thing about the graphics is that, when you just stand at certain spots and look out, the game is capable of looking fantastic despite the primitive textures and horrible pop-in, as there does seem to be a coherent art style this time around. It honestly makes me wonder how this game would've looked with better graphics.
Indeed, the problem is the texture tiling and the occasional anti-aliasing screwup. It really wouldn't take much to fix it. It wouldn't be great, but it would be good enough that we wouldn't have any complaints
You know, it's weird I can say nearly the same thing for Oblivion. Not sure if that's props for an old Bethesda game or craping on Nintendo... Possibly both.
1:30 That comparison is very apt, as the game's plot takes inspiration from the -colonization- settlement of Hokkaido. For example, the Diamond and Pearl clans in the game are inspired by the Ainu that originally inhabited Hokkaido.
@@srbrant5391 Indeed. Incidentally, I first found out about the Ainu when doing a bit of research about Hokkaido after learning that this game's region was based on Meiji-era Hokkaido. I ended up finding out about the anime _Golden Kamuy_ as a result of that, so, credit where credit is due, this game indirectly led to me finding a really good show.
@@RabbiHerschel How is it stupid? Encourages what? Them to have basic freedom? Aboriginals doesn't even make sense. That....isn't what happened though at all, there was no primitive society complaining.
Yahtzee is positive in the sense he kinda just accepted pokemon and nintendo for what it is. He sounds like that tired exasperated uncle who shoots sarcasms like its a whole language.
@@Pranaynaynay Personally, I find it pathetic that the "freshest Pokémon's ever been" is basically copy pasted Xenoblade Chronicles with catching mechanics. I mean, it's an excellent formula (and I might have liked that spin on it if contained even an ounce of challenge) but that's Game Freak at their best ? Plagiarizing what worked with 15 years of jetlag ? And also somehow it looks and runs worse than said 15 years old game ?
@@aquamarinerose5405 Seamless battle transitions, the fights happening on the overworld rather than in a separate arena, 'end of fight' results happening in the background (XP gained and the like), the ability to swap learned moves at will from a pool... Tons of things the LPA gets praised for already being done there. It's on a Nintendo console and the oldest example I can think of there too.
@@gryffehondor4236 Well, when you get your fans to lower your expectations enough, you can unfortunately get away with that sort of thing. It's honestly the reason I went off Pokémon as a whole; well, that, and the fact that other mons games tend to have to go all out to try and survive, yet drown in the spittle of "uh but its not pokemon so it sucks various phallic objects". That's not to say the mons genre is even filled with great games, it's just that for the longest time, whenever a new mons game came out, it was mercilessly compared to Pokémon above being judged as a game. Seriously, look at any other genre, and competition is seen as a good thing - imagine roguelikes stagnating as much as mons games, and you realise we wouldn't have games like Hades and Rogue Legacy - then look back at mons and how people think and talk about it. It's childish in comparison.
"But where you can achieve 100% completion largely by just plopping yourself in the world and bumbling around for several hours" This is one of my favorite things about the game. For the first time, since literally the first pokemon games, you can actually "catch 'em all" without worrying about trading, limited time/location events, or figuring out how to transfer pokemon from prior games. Everything is already in the game, you just gotta find it. There are two pokemon that are locked behind a paywall of "having a save file from a previous pokemon title on your switch", but those pokemon also don't count towards 100% completion (I don't think they even show up as a ? in your pokedex, they are hidden until you see/catch them). Other than that, every single other pokemon that is capturable in the game exists in the game. You can either catch it in the world or evolve it from a lower evolution you captured.
Well, we don’t entirely know that yet. There is a new director in charge of the games (swsh dlc and legends arceus), and people have liked her stuff so far, so there’s no real incentive to return to normality yet.
Yeah this review seemed spot on. You bumble around the world, subduing and catching Pokémon for awhile. Not a whole lot of challenge, but if you’re into catching and befriending Pokémon, then this is the game for you.
This game has a pretty zen gameplay loop. It looks like crap, the item management is tedious and the tutorials are once again extremely long and overbearing, but the base gameplay loop is enjoyable enough to carry the game for me.
It's gets pretty challenging by the final boos and the post game battles. It's not the most difficult battles, but it's probably the hardest battles in any Pokemon game.
@@BenjaminRodriguezReyes I think it's a similar principle to how Animal Crossing does so well. The core gameplay loop is banal and pointless, but the routine is so charming and inoffensive for most you can casually sink in and not really get upset and some people are really into it. And yeah, it really did work for me, I routinely got distracted from the mission critical path a lot and really did enjoy the simple pleasures the game had to offer.
Also, it’s a game made by Nintendo. It’s only challenging if you’re a little kid who is the main target audience for Nintendo. You have to be actively trying not to beat the game to not finish it, assuming you don’t get bored.
@@NathanCassidy721 I was gonna come t something like "tell that to game X" but then I thought about it for a second and the only truly challenging Nintendo published games are third parties (like Bayonetta, xenoblade and shin megami tensei) and some parts of Mario and Zelda
All the difficulty got put into 4 encounters, Landorus, Thundurus, Tornadus and Enamorus. They run very fast if they see you and they launch aoe attacks at you, even if your flying. To catch them you got stun them with a hit from behind then throw a ball to catch them or a pokemon to fight them.
It looks like a step in the right direction but I feel like what I really want to play is a hypothetical sequel with a bigger budget, y'know? Though with our luck we'd get marginal improvements on this game rereleased at full price for 10 years
I don't think the budget is the issue. Gamefreak are one of the biggest earners in all gaming history. It's more a competency issue, In which Gamefreak are notoriously incompetent.
@randomguy8196 Laziness, cheapness and incompetence? That's quite the trifecta. I wish I could be so shit and still be super rich. I guess If I could shit in a bag name it pikachu and have millions buy it I'd stop trying too.
I honestly didn't question it for a _second_ when _Pokémon Legends_ went full _isekai_ right out of the gate. If anything, I'm a little surprised they didn't do it _sooner._ (Arguably with _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon,_ but that's left largely unstated.)
The Let's Go games also come dangerously close to Isekai with their intros (Pikachu/Eevee pop out of your TV and then take you with them back into it), but it's never really touched on in-game.
@@dlarsh Those games don't really treat you like the amazing foreigner like Legends and Mystery Dungeon do, tho. Isekai requires an outsider that is basically being praised for saving the universe.
@@dlarsh The games also made an attempt to get the player to care for the titular Pokémon of those two games like one would a family pet, considering 'take the 'mon for a walk' is one of the gameplay features -- I always read the intro as kind of a weak-tea nod to that focus. Personally, I don't think it counts as _isekai_ unless the intro has at least one of three things: a graphic death and subsequent rebirth in the other world (the Isekai Moving Van trope); a bodily crash-landing after no-clipping through reality (the approach _Legends_ seems to have taken); or a deliberate and frequently anachronistic callback to the 'real' world (see also: _In Another World With My Smartphone,_ which I suspect has fans in Game Freak).
No fighting for badges, no Team Rocket knock offs, and a story that isn't just about being a good trainer or nice to nature. I know it's not much but like Mystery Dungeon they are trying something new.
There was technically a team rocket knock off. The three sisters who were bandits. But it also made sense, because this was during a "wild west/edo" period where there were fewer people and almost no laws. They were not organized into an official "evil organization" yet because they only had 3 people (or maybe 2-3% of the population depending on how you look at it). Still, it was a refreshing change to the traditional formula.
@@Gilhelmi To be more precise, the game's setting was based on Meiji-era (1868 - 1912) Hokkaido (Hokkaido being the northernmost major island of Japan). This can be seen from how stuff like how cold the region is and the Diamond and Pearl clans being based on the Ainu (the indigenous population of Hokkaido). Incidentally, the anime _Golden Kamuy_ takes place in Meiji-era Hokkaido, so there are a few jokes about this game being Pokémon Golden Kamuy.
I mean, it’s not like Pokémon really changes the core formula to their games. It’s not to say they make no changes, but let’s be honest, if you’ve played the Game Boy games you can play the Switch games. It’s not that hard.
@@NathanCassidy721 normally I would agree with you but this game just FEELS different than any other Pokemon game. If you haven't played it yet and you have ever enjoyed the games this is a must play.
@@richardlee3679 I'm sorry you can't enjoy it. I don't compare games to each other and only care if I'm having fun or not. So far I'm having a blast playing a game I've wanted since I was 10 lol.
0:44 Wrong. It goes back at LEAST to 1320, with The Divine Comedy as written by Dante Alighieri. Which is also the first recorded self-insert fanfiction.
I'm honestly surprised Yahtzee didn't make a Jiminy Cockthroat joke considering Pokemon Legends: Arceus checks off a lot of the boxes. Stealth action, open world, survival (kinda), with crafting. Only thing I don't think it has is collectables. Unless you count the Pokemon themselves as collectables.
107 wisp request is straight out of the Jiminy Cockthroat starter kit, and a few others get close (one in the fifth area, for example). Still not nearly as obnoxious as they could be though
It has a bunch of collectibles, what are you talking about? 107 wisps, 28 unown, some number of “Old Verses” (poems you dig up from the ground with the bear mount), the type plates (technically speaking, as those are given to you more or less), the constantly respawning lost satchels of other players... and that’s not even counting the Pokémon and their various fetch quests for specific forms.
I've heard it was ARSE-eus originally but it commonly gets referred to as ARK-eus by many even official translation to basically avoid the same ass joke yahtzee made all video lol
@@Gilhelmi I tend to as well, but I've also paid enough attention to the franchise to know that the Pokémon Silvally, an artificial copy of Arceus intended to mirror its type-changing power, has an ability called the RKS System, 'RKS' being a gramogram of 'Arceus' pronounced with a hard C. (Willing to bet folks didn't know the term for replacing a word with letters that sound the same as the word, so now those folks can say they learned something today!) I think the confusion has to do with the way Cs are phonetically translated. From what I know of the language, Japanese doesn't use hard and soft Cs, instead using Ks for the former and Ss for the latter when Romanizing the pronunciation -- so the correct pronunciation's a bit of a grey area. I've heard _both_ pronunciations from different people directly connected to the franchise, both in official _Pokémon_ media and in the press material Nintendo sent out to talk about _Legends,_ so I genuinely couldn't say which is right.
@@jimwest873 It's also a portmanteau of 'arch' (pronounced with a hard C) and 'deus' -- Arceus is the highest god of the _Pokémon_ universe, after all. And the artificial method to replicate its powers was called the RKS System, which is an obvious gramogram. But at the same time, I've heard characters in the _Pokémon_ universe use the soft-C pronunciation like Yahtzee did.
The absolute fucking irony of this review for me is that I am a massive MH fan and yes it did play a big part as to why I enjoyed Legends Arceus. Even more ironic is that MH Stories is regarded as an improved version of mainline Pokémon games. Honestly I do hope the next “Legends” game gets closer to the MH formula with more boss battles, even more exploration, even better story with relatable characters, and graphics that wouldn’t embarrass my graphing calculator.
As someone who really struggled getting into Monster Hunter, this game definitely like it's inadvertently working as a gateway into those. Using it as a "Baby's First MH" rather than straight comparison is also a much more straightforward comparison of the two imo
@@jackbutler6606 if you want a babies first MH then rise or world are the best to get into. I'd say rise over world but that's my favourite out of the 2
Wow, I never expected Yatzee to touch a Pokemon game with the long end of a stick a robot is holding who is remote controlled by another person, again!
@@GUKingOfHeart have you tried the pikachu/evee one that is a remake of pokemon yellow? its quite a bit like this one i think and was probably my favorite since ruby/sapphire (my fav gen)
Hearing Yahtzee say that Legends is Pokemon isekai like it's the first time as a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fan feels like how Doki Doki Literature Club fans must've felt when he dismissed it as a typical visual novel.
What's funny about that comparison is that Twain was way more self-aware and cynical about that kind of story than most modern writers are today. The book's isekai'd Connecticut Yankee ends up disastrously fucking up King Arthur's Court and killing thousands of people--his "I'll fix everything for these primitive types with my modern American know-how" attitude eventually backfires, and he inadvertently kicks off a miniature World War 1 in 5th-century England.
@@boiboi7717 there's a range, between the furthest you can throw a PokeBall, and where assets start popping in, where most Pokemon models are down ressed and about 10 fps. There are also some times when exploring where your frames start dropping like browns at a pool.
@@boiboi7717 Yeah, the frame rate drops are bullshit. Only really distant pokes have lower frame rates, and the graphics are decent enough for you to still enjoy the game. I'm not gonna say they're majestic, but the pokes and characters look amazing and the environment doesn't make them look like they are too real either. It's a nice balance where your imagination fills in the gaps.
Having completed the “main story” last night, here’s my two cents: It’s the biggest shake-up to the formula that I’ve seen to the main games without losing focus on what makes the games fun. Although I’m a bit hesitant on seeing this game become the standard going forward. There are parts that I like like sneaking up on the Pokémon and catching them without battling, the Noble Pokémon boss fights are pretty awesome, and I did like the pre-industrial world that’s set-up here. What I didn’t like was the rather arbitrary checklist you get to fully “register” a Pokémon, the guy who charges exponentially more money to expand your inventory who reminded me of the annoying tree man in Breath of the Wild, and the fact that they removed features from previous Pokémon games. Features like breeding, mega evolutions, abilities, and a-moves. And while I agree not every feature is perfect, you just know they are gonna put it back in as a new feature for cheap praise. Overall, it was a nice surprise going in knowing nothing about it and I do recommend it despite his Yahtzee’s jokes about it.
Here's the weird thing, it's not that they removed abilities, it's that they disabled it for all but two Pokemon in this game. Cherrim's form shift ability is still in and actually carries even more tangible benefits and Regigigas retains Slow Start. Mega Evolutions and Z-moves not being there is admittedly a pisser, but that's been removed since Sw/Sh so it's just something you have to live with until Game Freak arbitrarily brings them back (still salty about no battle frontier since ORAS myself). The only feature that doesn't exist that I'm somewhat understanding of is the no breeding thing. I mean, it'd be hard to maintain an area for breeding when this society barely knows the first thing about Pokemon to begin with.
As an unabashed Pokemon fan I loved Legends: Arceus, but I agree that it has vast room for improvement. If this was Nintendo's proof of concept to see if there was a market for a second line of main series games with a slightly different focus, I'd say by all means, please proceed. But there is a lot to do for the next one if that's the case. As you mentioned, more interesting research goals would have been nice. I would expand the list of removed features to include two-thirds of battling, though. Battles were boiled down to the most simple of mechanics and are won so quickly they're almost not even worth mentioning. Anything beyond a handful of stat altering moves (also boiled down to very simple offense/defense up/down, with only one stage of adjustment either way) and a few status inflicting moves (again almost not worth using the fights are over so quick) is gone, so there's not even an option of tactical choice in battle. I definitely don't want to see this game become the standard, as you mentioned, but if elements of Legends and the generational main series bled together, there could be potential there for something very entertaining.
Perhaps this was lower quality because it was lower budget test game? Like xcom chimera squad, now that they see how well it was received they will make another one in a few years that has much better quality and polish. Make it enormous with like half the total pokemon invented.
@@nintendoentersoft hell, in the "modern-day" pokemon games, they still haven't figured out how Pokemon lay eggs and the second generation had a Professor dedicated to understanding pokemon breeding. Since Brandon and Crystal met Red only a few months after Red became champion and gave up the title to train on Mt. Silver, and as of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Red is on a vacation with Blue and they look visibly older (like in their late 20s early 30s), it's been nearly 20 years since Professor Elm began researching pokemon breeding. However daycare attendees still as of Sword and Shield, don't know how pokemon create eggs. (Even if your "too young" they can just say "[pokemon 1] and [pokemon 2] had an egg! Congratulations!").
@@Birthday1313 to paraphrase an AwkwardZombie comic, the parents can be a glob of goo and a psychic robot, both of which are either near-sentient or *outright* sentient and might have Strong Opinions about not being perved on by scientists, answering "how do you not know where eggs come from" with a "do you?!" is perfectly valid.
I’m a huge fan of pokemon, and really enjoyed a lot of the new ideas they tried for the genre. It might not be for everyone, but i like the graphics and gameplay. (Being able to see shiny pokemon in the overworld is amazing)
Michael - the graphics could very much use improvement (at the very least get rid of the purple sheen, pls), but it’s not as bad as some people online are hellbent on making it seem.
@@giorgiomezzanzanica3693 i don’t play Pokemon for the graphics. I play it for the gameplay. As long as the gameplay is fun, i’ll be happy no matter what
I quite like the dual point made that graphical arms races have dragged a chunk of the industry to hell by losing the focus on making actually good games, BUT pokemon is drowning in so much money that they really don't have any good excuse not to bother even a little
Am I really the only person on the planet who is generally satisfied by the way this game looks? I mean, it's a little scruffy in places but the overall art style and lighting gives it an anime vibe that I really like.
Paul Porada - I’ve never had dropped frames, but I always play docked mode (because my one joycon is literally shorted and dead). Did you see this in handheld mode, out of curiosity?
@OP - I also have the same opinion. The graphics are perfectly fine, just not mind blowing. I wish they made the textures less obviously tile across large open stretches, and they get rid of the weird purple sheen on everything during sunrise, but everything else is good and fits well with the art style.
Legends Arceus is probably the best of the more recent Pokemon entries, to be fair. Arceus is probably the first Pokemon game I've actually really enjoyed since Black and White.
Funny thing about the "Otherworld Journey" story, or _Isekai_ as weebs call it, is that it's almost as ubiquitous as The Hero's Journey. The story of Bonny Janet and Tam Lin, Urashima-Taro, The Divine Comedy, every Greek Hero going to pay Hades a friendly visit, when Pwyll of Dyved went to Arawn, Avalon, the Mark Twain novel you just mentioned; it's weird that humans dreamed of visiting the land of crazy fantasy shit for so long amd with so many cultures. Speaking as a Weeb, Isekai does tend to be my favorite genre for how fertile the ground is for storytelling. Problem being that you got a 20% shot of hitting a good Isekai, and that's only if you're one of those weebs that knows where to dig. The rest are basically so dull that double as background noise and can be useful for making your friends think you're a fortune teller from how cliché they become. And some are so egregiously bad that they could turn a weeb off from anime. And thanks to Sword Art Online, some even have a need to add in half-assed game mechanics... in non-gaming media.
I personally don't count time travel as isekai. Isekai literally means "another world", and the past isn't another world, just a foreign country. Imagine an "isekai" where instead of being sent to a video game world, the useless knob end is reborn in Northumberland.
If you time travelled back to medieval times it might as well be another world to you, just without the fantasy magic. But other than that it's basically Isekai
He is totally right about the exclusivity. Pokemon basically has 0 competition, so they never have to go all out and make the absolute best game possible. They can just shrug their shoulders and half ass it.
@@ArmorFrogEntertainment it’s still in Early Access but it’s come a long way since launch, once it gets a switch release it might make some noise again
@@Suika_Ibuki_The_Drunk_Oni it’s sold over a million copies during it’s EA so I do think once it hits all platforms it’ll definitely be the biggest competition Pokémon has had (at least in western markets), in saying that you’re right. I definitely don’t think it’ll really challenge Pokémon’s top spot but it’s definitely a nice alternative.
I find it funny that the girl on the pillow at 0:33 is either Chihaya fro Rent-a-Girlfriend (fun in a trainwreck kinda way) or Hori from Horimiya (great show) isn't even from an isekai, she's from a slice of life, which is basically just real life, in anime. I found this detail amusing
One small correction Alice in wonderland would arguably be the first Isekai story as it was written good 30 years before Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Ugh, tell me about it. And it's not as easy to farm money in this game as it is in the "regular" games, so when you get to the point where he's charging you upwards of 20K for a single extra slot... it makes me just want to start throwing all my items at him.
It's fun watching the conflict between Yahtzee's disdain for weeb culture fight it out with his enjoyment of some jRPGs and anime. Face it. You're a halfbreed weeb, now. It's ok. Just embrace it.
He is becoming a "day walker" trying to walk in both worlds. But this will get him down the dark path, one filled with Anime protagonist and body pillows. But we have cookies, and everyone will submit to cookies!
I never realized that "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court" - jesus. I remember really loving that book and it being kinda popular back in the early 90's.
As a first day pokemon player I have to say I love what they did with arseceus. Yeah graphics are clearly outdated but it finaly feels like you're actually hunting pokemons and not stomping acres of grass waiting for them to smash you in the head. Btw I just loved the "whatch out there is player in tall grass" because that's exactly how I spend most of my time lurking in the bushes XD
my biggest problem with Monster Hunter: World was how my brain kept whispering _Japanese whaling industry_ in the back of my head when I was playing it so I imagine this might be more agreeable
1:13 Not really, -Subway Boss- Warden Ingo is from the present too yet only has a machoke, tangela and glisor (none of which he used on the Battle Subway even in B2W2, closest is the conkledurr) when you first battle him and there's a few people in the game who formed bonds with pokemon _without_ the need to "bean them in the skull". If Natural "N" Gropius knew about that... Hooo boy
Oh man - a Mr Kipling's French Fancy! I bet you miss those Yahtz - like Lucozade, Monster Munch, Frazzles and Pot Noodles too. Hope you can get them over there in California. Fun review - i especially liked the part about 'surveying' and the animal abuse, since that's basically what pokemon is, behind the cutesy sheen!
Had much more fun with Monster Hunter Stories 2 than I did with Arceus. Somehow, it was much less tedious and the character interactions were overall better
I rather liked Legends: Arceus just because it finally was a mainline pokemon game that decided to actually do something different from the same song and dance it's been doing, and it feels like one of those games that despite the world being seemingly kinda hostile it's actually pretty calm overall... but in a good way instead of Sword and Shield being the "Bored to tears" kind of calm. Also yea, I REALLY wish that Nintendo would finally just take Pokemon back from Game Freak and give it the graphical love and attention that it deserves, because really the blame for every problem pokemon has can be placed on the fact that Gamefreak is a company whose best work is on the DS and they haven't really gotten the whole "3rd dimension" thing down pat in a way that doesn't look ugly.
I would love if we actually got a new Digimon game. Even if it's a remake. Cybersleuth is already on the Switch, so why not more? Oh and a new Digimon Rumble Arena as well. Look at me, being hopeful with no basis.
I agree, though I think that the game would have been even better if the graphics were slightly better. I have noticed a couple times where the graphics did get in the way of gameplay.
nobody is saying pokemon games need 4k and 60fps, it's tiring to see the fallacy that pokemon fans make on how the pokemon games looks on the switch. The fact that Okami a decade old game looks 10x better than PLA is saying something about the abysmal art direction of the game
Its fun you mention the olden days. Watching footage of the barren landscapes in the game makes me think of early N64 environments minus the N64 fog. Then again the appeal of a pokemon game isnt necessarily about beautiful vistas.
Yeah, but it's also not unfair after seeing what the Switch can do in terms of rendering scenery by the core IPs to expect a similar touch to proceedings here. There's not even voice acting so the bad lip animations can't have the excuse of "Oh it was animated for an entirely different language" that XC2 at least could somewhat have.
He jokes, but there actually was a Pokemon Isekai game series called Mystery Dungeon Which was a semi-roguelike dungeon crawler where you play as someone turned into a pokemon.
*Zero Punctuation metal album of the week:* *Furiously Trampled Into Bonehead Butter* by the *Battling Ability Assessors* (tracks include *Lost A Fight With A Cenobite* )
Given Sega's own version is Megaten, which is the all-encompasing term for SMT, Catherine, Persona, Devil Summoner, Devil Survivor and any further offshoots, I believe answering "yes" to that last question isn't so unbelievable.
I’m honestly shocked that Yahtzee didn’t use the words “Jiminy Cockthroat” a single time in this review, considering that’s exactly what it is. (That doesn’t mean it’s bad.)
I think the calm demeanor undersells the actual review. He basically said the game is piss-easy collectathon with shitty graphics. That’s pretty damning to the bland pile if you ask me.
Sega version of Pokemon? A Sonic the Hedgehog prequel where you play Robotnik in the very initial stages of his takeover, gradually capturing the carefree forest folk who've not yet learned to fear him and analysing them to design the organic batteries for his badniks sounds like a credible game. As you progress, the Scrap Brain Zone begins to grow and grow until you dominate South Island - and then a certain blue hedgehog appears...
The idea of a monster hunter/pokemon hybrid scares me because I don’t like the idea of cleaning the guts of a pikachu off my great sword while staring at the small army of cute and cuddly animals staked to the wall with arrows as long as a man is tall.
the sad thing is that there are other games like pokemon that are probably as fun but pokemon fans for some weird reason don't like to even try them like they are somehow cheating on the franchise which is even more odd considering the rest of us in video game land have no problem trying different games in the same genre
...so, if the protagonist is sent back in time and introduces the primitive locals to the joys of pokemon battling, does this mean that it's canonical now that you, the player, are responsible for the entire culture of the pokemon world revolving around animal blood sports?
"Lost a fight with a cenobyte" may have caused a few scared patrons of Red Robin to shift nervously away from the oddball laughing a little too loudly at his phone. So thanks for that.
I made that same "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" being the first isekai joke. I'm sure other people have as well but I feel validated nonetheless.
Watch this week's Zero Punctuation episode on Not For Broadcast - www.escapistmagazine.com/not-for-broadcast-zero-punctuation/ - Watch it early on TH-cam via TH-cam Memberships.
Note: Elden Ring review is next week (on the site and for members) and Forbidden West will be the week after before you ask!
Zero punctuation does a smash or pass of all 900 Pokemon when?
Why do you only do five minutes videos? Is it because the fast speaking and metaphors get repetitive?
@@alex.g7317 Even 5 minutes is a ton of work for a weekly basis (on top of actually playing the games)
@@samwritesmusic5402 Tru… I wonder how h plays the long ones in time for the deadline. Like with Hollow Knight, which is hundreds of hours long.
You were actually pretty close with "Arse-ius", the Japanese gives me Ar-say-us.
Funniest part about this is that Legends Arceus wasn’t even the *first* Pokémon Isekai. That honor goes to Mystery Dungeon.
Can this really be consider isekai though? I thought the PC in Legends Arceus was from the future, not a different world.
@@patchmoulton5438 It's still an Isekai. Doesn't matter if the "other world" is an actual alternate dimension or just a different time period. Futurama is also an Isekai
@@joemorgan2390 no u
dam all these new Isekai bring back the original... WIZARD OF OZ!
@@joemorgan2390 It should be noted that the word "isekai (異世界)" means "different world," so I don't think it really applies to time-travel stories because it's the same world.
You know considering how Yahtzee's last foray into Pokemon went, I'm surprised at how much Arceus got away with a really gentle paddling by Yahtzee standards. I guess that's the power of God and the ability to just leg it to avoid standard JRPG battling mechanics for ya.
Yeah, it was really tame
Having played it, I’d say it’s because 1) it’s not a bad game by any stretch and 2) it’s actually a different game by Pokémon standards.
While a very reductionist argument, the mainline Pokémon games have a very similar core mechanics where if you played one, the skills you learned carry over to the next.
@@NathanCassidy721 Oh yeah, I really liked the game for the same reasons. But given the freshness factor would be a bigger plus for long time fans of the series like me, I wasn't expecting it to have similar impacts on Yahtzee.
Probably because every other critic has raked it across the coals
Or he respects the attempt to do something different
He didn’t sound angry, but calling a game baby-easy and so ugly it’s made him question his “good graphics are killing games” idea isn’t really a commendation.
You know, I think this is the nicest he’s been to the franchise…
I had the exact same thought.
It's the first time they've done something new. It's nice
UT feels like nicest hees been in zero punctuation to any jrpg/rpg game.
@@drewcipher896 there's Pokémon Snap, but that's about it
Probably because Yahtzee doesn't have to ride a ferris wheel with a massive twat every time he loses against said twat
Hearing Yahtzee explain Isekai was a treat
Hi Geoff great to see you here!
He nailed it
Army of Darkness review when?
You know, I think if Mark Twain was alive today, he probably * would * be a giant weeb.
Hello funny anime man
"What are you going to do, buy SEGA's rival version where all the characters have angry eyebrows?"
So, Shin Megami Tensei then.
I'd say Digimon comes closer to that even though they're not owned by SEGA.
I feel that'd actually be the inverse since SMT is older than pokemon.
@@nawf4372
That and they flip their gameplay style regularly. Hell, the one that's been in development hell for years now is basically visual novel/danganronpa meets final fantasy tactics
@@OsnosisBones Technically, but SMT spent some time as a non-mon series before Pokemon came along. The standard of how SMT plays didn't really come about until after Pokemon's success.
Actually, SMT started as a book first.
@@nawf4372
While that book aspect is true, I don't believe the book was written or owned by atlus and they simply alluded to it whenever able, much like how parasite eve was based on a movie.
The first real instance of demon recruitment in the series was also the 'third' game, which is the first in the now mainline series. It came out in 1992, which predates pokemon. In fact, a less complex version of this where up to 7 demons could aid you existed even in the 1987 games.
So the 'mon taming' wasn't something made in SMT from pokemon popularity, and is something I believe predated even SMT.
"What are you gonna do, buy Sega's rival version of Pokemon, where all the characters have angry eyebrows?" Why yes Yahtzee, I do rather enjoy the Shin Megami Tensei series more than I do Pokemon.
I was just thinking that lmao
To capitalize on that, there's probably a good reason why we're seeing indie games like Pokémon. And not just because some people want to see more games like it.
Thing is, inspiration doesn't just come from things that impress us. They can also come from things that disappoint us. For instance, Lily Arciniega on TH-cam was disappointed that she couldn't find an instrumental version of "Overdrive" from the Battle Tendency soundtrack. So you know what she did? She made her own. And it's actually pretty damn good.
I mean when someone says Shin Megami Tensei no one thinks "Sega", they think "Atlus"
@@Kuraerisu It's not really all that different from how Gamefreak develops Pokemon while it's a Nintendo franchise.
TIL Sega owns Atlus.
For some reason, seeing the plushies of various Pokémon throughout this review makes it 20% funnier.
What used to be "Watch out player, there's wild Pokémon in the tall grass" is now "Watch out Pokémon there's wild players in the tall grass". I fuckin' LOST IT THERE!!! 😂😂😂😂
We're entering a Zero punctuation nostalgia wave lately: First Pokémon review in 10 years, the "What happened to mobile gaming?" video as a sort of update to the video Yahtzee made eons ago and now and the FNAF: Security Breach review that's less review and more vehicle for Yahtzee to comment on the state of video gaming like his old Webcomics video.
The webcomic vid was so good
"What are you gonna do, buy Segas version of pokemon?"
>looks at smt
"I mean...yeah?"
T r u e
Didn't even come across my mind that Shin Megami Tensei is Segas Pokemon, but shit, you're right! lol
It's an Atlus game not sega
atlus is a subsidiary of sega
@@atre5763 Atlus is a direct subsidiary of Sega
The sad thing about the graphics is that, when you just stand at certain spots and look out, the game is capable of looking fantastic despite the primitive textures and horrible pop-in, as there does seem to be a coherent art style this time around. It honestly makes me wonder how this game would've looked with better graphics.
Indeed, the problem is the texture tiling and the occasional anti-aliasing screwup. It really wouldn't take much to fix it. It wouldn't be great, but it would be good enough that we wouldn't have any complaints
You know, it's weird I can say nearly the same thing for Oblivion. Not sure if that's props for an old Bethesda game or craping on Nintendo... Possibly both.
The art style is supposed to be like Japanese art or something ( like Okami)at least that I heard
@@creator-link Cel-shaded textures. It's very similar to what Wind Waker uses
@@creator-link That is what they were going for, yes.
1:30 That comparison is very apt, as the game's plot takes inspiration from the -colonization- settlement of Hokkaido.
For example, the Diamond and Pearl clans in the game are inspired by the Ainu that originally inhabited Hokkaido.
2008 was also the year that the Japanese government actually recognized the Ainu as an _indigenous people._
@@srbrant5391 Indeed.
Incidentally, I first found out about the Ainu when doing a bit of research about Hokkaido after learning that this game's region was based on Meiji-era Hokkaido. I ended up finding out about the anime _Golden Kamuy_ as a result of that, so, credit where credit is due, this game indirectly led to me finding a really good show.
@@RabbiHerschel yikes what the fuck dude
@@RabbiHerschel How is it stupid? Encourages what? Them to have basic freedom? Aboriginals doesn't even make sense. That....isn't what happened though at all, there was no primitive society complaining.
Yahtzee is positive in the sense he kinda just accepted pokemon and nintendo for what it is. He sounds like that tired exasperated uncle who shoots sarcasms like its a whole language.
tbf, from what I've heard this is the freshest pokemon game in terms of gameplay they've ever made so that probably makes it more palatable
@@Pranaynaynay Personally, I find it pathetic that the "freshest Pokémon's ever been" is basically copy pasted Xenoblade Chronicles with catching mechanics.
I mean, it's an excellent formula (and I might have liked that spin on it if contained even an ounce of challenge) but that's Game Freak at their best ? Plagiarizing what worked with 15 years of jetlag ? And also somehow it looks and runs worse than said 15 years old game ?
@@gryffehondor4236 Not quite sure why Xenoblade is the game you made the comparison to there, but I get your point to an extent.
@@aquamarinerose5405 Seamless battle transitions, the fights happening on the overworld rather than in a separate arena, 'end of fight' results happening in the background (XP gained and the like), the ability to swap learned moves at will from a pool... Tons of things the LPA gets praised for already being done there.
It's on a Nintendo console and the oldest example I can think of there too.
@@gryffehondor4236 Well, when you get your fans to lower your expectations enough, you can unfortunately get away with that sort of thing. It's honestly the reason I went off Pokémon as a whole; well, that, and the fact that other mons games tend to have to go all out to try and survive, yet drown in the spittle of "uh but its not pokemon so it sucks various phallic objects".
That's not to say the mons genre is even filled with great games, it's just that for the longest time, whenever a new mons game came out, it was mercilessly compared to Pokémon above being judged as a game. Seriously, look at any other genre, and competition is seen as a good thing - imagine roguelikes stagnating as much as mons games, and you realise we wouldn't have games like Hades and Rogue Legacy - then look back at mons and how people think and talk about it. It's childish in comparison.
"But where you can achieve 100% completion largely by just plopping yourself in the world and bumbling around for several hours"
This is one of my favorite things about the game. For the first time, since literally the first pokemon games, you can actually "catch 'em all" without worrying about trading, limited time/location events, or figuring out how to transfer pokemon from prior games. Everything is already in the game, you just gotta find it.
There are two pokemon that are locked behind a paywall of "having a save file from a previous pokemon title on your switch", but those pokemon also don't count towards 100% completion (I don't think they even show up as a ? in your pokedex, they are hidden until you see/catch them). Other than that, every single other pokemon that is capturable in the game exists in the game. You can either catch it in the world or evolve it from a lower evolution you captured.
You had to trade to complete the PokéDex in the first games. There were version exclusive Pokémon.
Unfortunately, Gen 9 is going back to the "two versions" nonsense.
Well, we don’t entirely know that yet. There is a new director in charge of the games (swsh dlc and legends arceus), and people have liked her stuff so far, so there’s no real incentive to return to normality yet.
@@Mushboom37 Why would you think they wouldn't go back to two versions? Arceus is clearly the exception.
@@Mushboom37 What I meant is that Gen 9 has been revealed, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. Two versions.
Yeah this review seemed spot on. You bumble around the world, subduing and catching Pokémon for awhile. Not a whole lot of challenge, but if you’re into catching and befriending Pokémon, then this is the game for you.
This game has a pretty zen gameplay loop. It looks like crap, the item management is tedious and the tutorials are once again extremely long and overbearing, but the base gameplay loop is enjoyable enough to carry the game for me.
It's gets pretty challenging by the final boos and the post game battles. It's not the most difficult battles, but it's probably the hardest battles in any Pokemon game.
@@BenjaminRodriguezReyes I think it's a similar principle to how Animal Crossing does so well. The core gameplay loop is banal and pointless, but the routine is so charming and inoffensive for most you can casually sink in and not really get upset and some people are really into it. And yeah, it really did work for me, I routinely got distracted from the mission critical path a lot and really did enjoy the simple pleasures the game had to offer.
Also, it’s a game made by Nintendo.
It’s only challenging if you’re a little kid who is the main target audience for Nintendo. You have to be actively trying not to beat the game to not finish it, assuming you don’t get bored.
@@NathanCassidy721 I was gonna come t something like "tell that to game X" but then I thought about it for a second and the only truly challenging Nintendo published games are third parties (like Bayonetta, xenoblade and shin megami tensei) and some parts of Mario and Zelda
Palworld: "No competition for Pokemon you say?"
All the difficulty got put into 4 encounters, Landorus, Thundurus, Tornadus and Enamorus. They run very fast if they see you and they launch aoe attacks at you, even if your flying. To catch them you got stun them with a hit from behind then throw a ball to catch them or a pokemon to fight them.
I think there’s one more encounter with a certain ancestor in the post game to be added to that list
A certain ancestor that cheats as well mhm
It looks like a step in the right direction but I feel like what I really want to play is a hypothetical sequel with a bigger budget, y'know? Though with our luck we'd get marginal improvements on this game rereleased at full price for 10 years
I don't think the budget is the issue. Gamefreak are one of the biggest earners in all gaming history. It's more a competency issue, In which Gamefreak are notoriously incompetent.
What are your thoughts on gen 9?
@randomguy8196 Laziness, cheapness and incompetence? That's quite the trifecta. I wish I could be so shit and still be super rich. I guess If I could shit in a bag name it pikachu and have millions buy it I'd stop trying too.
Oh, they’ll be doing that. This was a proof of concept.
I honestly didn't question it for a _second_ when _Pokémon Legends_ went full _isekai_ right out of the gate. If anything, I'm a little surprised they didn't do it _sooner._
(Arguably with _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon,_ but that's left largely unstated.)
The Let's Go games also come dangerously close to Isekai with their intros (Pikachu/Eevee pop out of your TV and then take you with them back into it), but it's never really touched on in-game.
@@dlarsh Those games don't really treat you like the amazing foreigner like Legends and Mystery Dungeon do, tho. Isekai requires an outsider that is basically being praised for saving the universe.
@@dlarsh The games also made an attempt to get the player to care for the titular Pokémon of those two games like one would a family pet, considering 'take the 'mon for a walk' is one of the gameplay features -- I always read the intro as kind of a weak-tea nod to that focus.
Personally, I don't think it counts as _isekai_ unless the intro has at least one of three things: a graphic death and subsequent rebirth in the other world (the Isekai Moving Van trope); a bodily crash-landing after no-clipping through reality (the approach _Legends_ seems to have taken); or a deliberate and frequently anachronistic callback to the 'real' world (see also: _In Another World With My Smartphone,_ which I suspect has fans in Game Freak).
No fighting for badges, no Team Rocket knock offs, and a story that isn't just about being a good trainer or nice to nature.
I know it's not much but like Mystery Dungeon they are trying something new.
There was technically a team rocket knock off. The three sisters who were bandits.
But it also made sense, because this was during a "wild west/edo" period where there were fewer people and almost no laws. They were not organized into an official "evil organization" yet because they only had 3 people (or maybe 2-3% of the population depending on how you look at it).
Still, it was a refreshing change to the traditional formula.
The player character is working for a pre-Diamond/Pearl iteration of Galaxy team, so I guess YOU are the Team Rocket knockoff.
Basics for good pokemon story include:
-Isekai
-Pokemon
New doesn't always equal better.
@@Gilhelmi To be more precise, the game's setting was based on Meiji-era (1868 - 1912) Hokkaido (Hokkaido being the northernmost major island of Japan). This can be seen from how stuff like how cold the region is and the Diamond and Pearl clans being based on the Ainu (the indigenous population of Hokkaido).
Incidentally, the anime _Golden Kamuy_ takes place in Meiji-era Hokkaido, so there are a few jokes about this game being Pokémon Golden Kamuy.
Yahtzee, if you think this is a Pokémon isekai, wait until you get a load of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series.
Mystery dungeon has been doing it for decades now.
Everyone forgets that this isn't even the first isekai Pokémon game, Mystery Dungeon is the first.
"What are you gonna do, buy SEGA's rival version of Pokémon, with angrier eyebrows?"
If i wanted that, I'd just get Digimon.
Wow by Yahtzees standards this was a very positive review.
I didn’t even think we would ever see Pokémon on ZP again.
I mean, it’s not like Pokémon really changes the core formula to their games.
It’s not to say they make no changes, but let’s be honest, if you’ve played the Game Boy games you can play the Switch games. It’s not that hard.
@@NathanCassidy721 normally I would agree with you but this game just FEELS different than any other Pokemon game. If you haven't played it yet and you have ever enjoyed the games this is a must play.
@@richardlee3679 I'm sorry you can't enjoy it. I don't compare games to each other and only care if I'm having fun or not. So far I'm having a blast playing a game I've wanted since I was 10 lol.
@@L337P1R4735 see you in the next 10 years when they release pokemon legends 9 with ps2 graphics with almost zero improviment on gameplay
0:44 Wrong. It goes back at LEAST to 1320, with The Divine Comedy as written by Dante Alighieri. Which is also the first recorded self-insert fanfiction.
I'm honestly surprised Yahtzee didn't make a Jiminy Cockthroat joke considering Pokemon Legends: Arceus checks off a lot of the boxes.
Stealth action, open world, survival (kinda), with crafting. Only thing I don't think it has is collectables. Unless you count the Pokemon themselves as collectables.
107 wisp request is straight out of the Jiminy Cockthroat starter kit, and a few others get close (one in the fifth area, for example). Still not nearly as obnoxious as they could be though
It has a bunch of collectibles, what are you talking about? 107 wisps, 28 unown, some number of “Old Verses” (poems you dig up from the ground with the bear mount), the type plates (technically speaking, as those are given to you more or less), the constantly respawning lost satchels of other players... and that’s not even counting the Pokémon and their various fetch quests for specific forms.
@@Tustin2121 Then this game certainly IS a Jiminy Cockthroat!
There isn't any survival element though? It's just an open world collectathon where stealth and crafting makes collecting easier
@@Dr.Death8520 That's why I said kinda. Because there is a sort of survival aspect in the whole "don't get your shit pushed in by angry wild Pokemon"
"I imagine it's actually pronounced 'ARK-eus' but I was committed to the bit."
I've heard it both ways, honestly. I think it depends on who you ask.
I've heard it was ARSE-eus originally but it commonly gets referred to as ARK-eus by many even official translation to basically avoid the same ass joke yahtzee made all video lol
I always said Ar-see-us, because the "c" is clearly placed in a way as to start a new syllable.
its pronounced in many different ways in the ofificial games / films
@@Gilhelmi I tend to as well, but I've also paid enough attention to the franchise to know that the Pokémon Silvally, an artificial copy of Arceus intended to mirror its type-changing power, has an ability called the RKS System, 'RKS' being a gramogram of 'Arceus' pronounced with a hard C. (Willing to bet folks didn't know the term for replacing a word with letters that sound the same as the word, so now those folks can say they learned something today!)
I think the confusion has to do with the way Cs are phonetically translated. From what I know of the language, Japanese doesn't use hard and soft Cs, instead using Ks for the former and Ss for the latter when Romanizing the pronunciation -- so the correct pronunciation's a bit of a grey area. I've heard _both_ pronunciations from different people directly connected to the franchise, both in official _Pokémon_ media and in the press material Nintendo sent out to talk about _Legends,_ so I genuinely couldn't say which is right.
@@jimwest873 It's also a portmanteau of 'arch' (pronounced with a hard C) and 'deus' -- Arceus is the highest god of the _Pokémon_ universe, after all. And the artificial method to replicate its powers was called the RKS System, which is an obvious gramogram. But at the same time, I've heard characters in the _Pokémon_ universe use the soft-C pronunciation like Yahtzee did.
The absolute fucking irony of this review for me is that I am a massive MH fan and yes it did play a big part as to why I enjoyed Legends Arceus. Even more ironic is that MH Stories is regarded as an improved version of mainline Pokémon games.
Honestly I do hope the next “Legends” game gets closer to the MH formula with more boss battles, even more exploration, even better story with relatable characters, and graphics that wouldn’t embarrass my graphing calculator.
As someone who really struggled getting into Monster Hunter, this game definitely like it's inadvertently working as a gateway into those. Using it as a "Baby's First MH" rather than straight comparison is also a much more straightforward comparison of the two imo
None of what you said is in any way ironic
@@jackbutler6606 if you want a babies first MH then rise or world are the best to get into. I'd say rise over world but that's my favourite out of the 2
Now imagine Monster Hunter styled game but with Pokemon
Wow, I never expected Yatzee to touch a Pokemon game with the long end of a stick a robot is holding who is remote controlled by another person, again!
04:13 "A Missingno of mis-matched elments" -*Yahtzee*
He really nailed the jokes in this one, can’t remember laughing this much in an episode of ZP in some time
Dozens of zingers in this one
I don't think I've ever paused/skipped back so much in one ZP video, this instalment was packed to the gills 👌🏻
"Where everyone looked like they lost a fight with a Cenobyte" killed me
100% agree, I even had to screenshot two separate bits to make sort of "memes" to send to my buddy, who also loves ZP.
All these years of watching Yatzhee paid off. I knew what he would praise and what he would piss on.
Trust me, as someone who’s been following Pokémon for years? This is honestly the best “mainline” game we’ve gotten since black and white
Doesn't that just say it all about how lame the Pokémon series is?
The best Pokémon quality of life wise is still OR/AS
@@kidkangaroo5213 OR/AS are the best overall, but the best non-remakes would be B/W for me.
it's really disappointing... they should've been doing this *years* ago. still a step in the right direction i guess.
@@GUKingOfHeart have you tried the pikachu/evee one that is a remake of pokemon yellow? its quite a bit like this one i think and was probably my favorite since ruby/sapphire (my fav gen)
@@GUKingOfHeart how can you think gen 2 and 3 wasn't an improvement from gen 1? 4 and on, sure,but 2 and 3 are fantastic refinements to the formula
I Was Not Expecting Him To Be This Positive
Hearing Yahtzee say that Legends is Pokemon isekai like it's the first time as a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fan feels like how Doki Doki Literature Club fans must've felt when he dismissed it as a typical visual novel.
The plushies Yahtzee used to represent Pokémon in this video are adorable and I want all of them.
"Run around give pokemon concussions, jobs done"
TIL: Mark Twain was a massive weeb.
Colossal i would say
They should be sure to include that historical fact whenever he becomes a Fate/Grand Order character.
What's funny about that comparison is that Twain was way more self-aware and cynical about that kind of story than most modern writers are today. The book's isekai'd Connecticut Yankee ends up disastrously fucking up King Arthur's Court and killing thousands of people--his "I'll fix everything for these primitive types with my modern American know-how" attitude eventually backfires, and he inadvertently kicks off a miniature World War 1 in 5th-century England.
@@EwoktheMoid Gotta love Mark Twain and his sadistic sense of humor. True American artist.
Yahtzee must’ve pumped custom hardware into his switch, I was sure he’d mention the frame rate over the graphics
dang, is it not good either?
@@boiboi7717 there's a range, between the furthest you can throw a PokeBall, and where assets start popping in, where most Pokemon models are down ressed and about 10 fps. There are also some times when exploring where your frames start dropping like browns at a pool.
@@boiboi7717 been playing for over 60hours and have had no frame drops. Don't listen to these guys they are full of shit
@@MrPsyren99 yeah but the graphics tho :(
@@boiboi7717 Yeah, the frame rate drops are bullshit. Only really distant pokes have lower frame rates, and the graphics are decent enough for you to still enjoy the game. I'm not gonna say they're majestic, but the pokes and characters look amazing and the environment doesn't make them look like they are too real either. It's a nice balance where your imagination fills in the gaps.
Having completed the “main story” last night, here’s my two cents:
It’s the biggest shake-up to the formula that I’ve seen to the main games without losing focus on what makes the games fun. Although I’m a bit hesitant on seeing this game become the standard going forward.
There are parts that I like like sneaking up on the Pokémon and catching them without battling, the Noble Pokémon boss fights are pretty awesome, and I did like the pre-industrial world that’s set-up here.
What I didn’t like was the rather arbitrary checklist you get to fully “register” a Pokémon, the guy who charges exponentially more money to expand your inventory who reminded me of the annoying tree man in Breath of the Wild, and the fact that they removed features from previous Pokémon games. Features like breeding, mega evolutions, abilities, and a-moves. And while I agree not every feature is perfect, you just know they are gonna put it back in as a new feature for cheap praise.
Overall, it was a nice surprise going in knowing nothing about it and I do recommend it despite his Yahtzee’s jokes about it.
Here's the weird thing, it's not that they removed abilities, it's that they disabled it for all but two Pokemon in this game. Cherrim's form shift ability is still in and actually carries even more tangible benefits and Regigigas retains Slow Start.
Mega Evolutions and Z-moves not being there is admittedly a pisser, but that's been removed since Sw/Sh so it's just something you have to live with until Game Freak arbitrarily brings them back (still salty about no battle frontier since ORAS myself).
The only feature that doesn't exist that I'm somewhat understanding of is the no breeding thing. I mean, it'd be hard to maintain an area for breeding when this society barely knows the first thing about Pokemon to begin with.
As an unabashed Pokemon fan I loved Legends: Arceus, but I agree that it has vast room for improvement. If this was Nintendo's proof of concept to see if there was a market for a second line of main series games with a slightly different focus, I'd say by all means, please proceed. But there is a lot to do for the next one if that's the case. As you mentioned, more interesting research goals would have been nice. I would expand the list of removed features to include two-thirds of battling, though. Battles were boiled down to the most simple of mechanics and are won so quickly they're almost not even worth mentioning. Anything beyond a handful of stat altering moves (also boiled down to very simple offense/defense up/down, with only one stage of adjustment either way) and a few status inflicting moves (again almost not worth using the fights are over so quick) is gone, so there's not even an option of tactical choice in battle.
I definitely don't want to see this game become the standard, as you mentioned, but if elements of Legends and the generational main series bled together, there could be potential there for something very entertaining.
Perhaps this was lower quality because it was lower budget test game? Like xcom chimera squad, now that they see how well it was received they will make another one in a few years that has much better quality and polish. Make it enormous with like half the total pokemon invented.
@@nintendoentersoft hell, in the "modern-day" pokemon games, they still haven't figured out how Pokemon lay eggs and the second generation had a Professor dedicated to understanding pokemon breeding. Since Brandon and Crystal met Red only a few months after Red became champion and gave up the title to train on Mt. Silver, and as of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Red is on a vacation with Blue and they look visibly older (like in their late 20s early 30s), it's been nearly 20 years since Professor Elm began researching pokemon breeding. However daycare attendees still as of Sword and Shield, don't know how pokemon create eggs. (Even if your "too young" they can just say "[pokemon 1] and [pokemon 2] had an egg! Congratulations!").
@@Birthday1313 to paraphrase an AwkwardZombie comic, the parents can be a glob of goo and a psychic robot, both of which are either near-sentient or *outright* sentient and might have Strong Opinions about not being perved on by scientists, answering "how do you not know where eggs come from" with a "do you?!" is perfectly valid.
2:13 why is this so funny LOOK AT THE PLUSH SCORPION!
"Anime Thomas The Tank Engine character"
Was that a jab at Ingo?
I’m a huge fan of pokemon, and really enjoyed a lot of the new ideas they tried for the genre. It might not be for everyone, but i like the graphics and gameplay. (Being able to see shiny pokemon in the overworld is amazing)
"i like the graphics" I suppose there are people who like scat porn, so we have to agree it's "subjective"
Michael - the graphics could very much use improvement (at the very least get rid of the purple sheen, pls), but it’s not as bad as some people online are hellbent on making it seem.
The graphics are really bad, but it has a cohesive and pretty decent esthetic
@@giorgiomezzanzanica3693 i don’t play Pokemon for the graphics. I play it for the gameplay. As long as the gameplay is fun, i’ll be happy no matter what
The intro/outro music sounds crusty in this one. Reminds me of watching it on dial up back in the early days.
0:37 actually no,the genre goes back to the b.c times in ancient greece in the story of of "odyssey".
Sega owns Atlus, Atlus makes SMT/Persona, that means they're Sega's rival Pokemon franchise and Yahtzee actually likes 'em.
I quite like the dual point made that graphical arms races have dragged a chunk of the industry to hell by losing the focus on making actually good games, BUT pokemon is drowning in so much money that they really don't have any good excuse not to bother even a little
Am I really the only person on the planet who is generally satisfied by the way this game looks? I mean, it's a little scruffy in places but the overall art style and lighting gives it an anime vibe that I really like.
I like the art style, but the occasional clipping and frame drops made me wish Game Freak spent another year buffing things out a bit.
Paul Porada - I’ve never had dropped frames, but I always play docked mode (because my one joycon is literally shorted and dead). Did you see this in handheld mode, out of curiosity?
@OP - I also have the same opinion. The graphics are perfectly fine, just not mind blowing. I wish they made the textures less obviously tile across large open stretches, and they get rid of the weird purple sheen on everything during sunrise, but everything else is good and fits well with the art style.
@@Tustin2121 mostly in handheld, yes.
Legends Arceus is probably the best of the more recent Pokemon entries, to be fair. Arceus is probably the first Pokemon game I've actually really enjoyed since Black and White.
Strangely enough, this is the most accurate review I've seen about this game!
4:23 "Paper, Scissors, Stone?"
*"PAPER, SCISSORS, STONE?"*
Funny thing about the "Otherworld Journey" story, or _Isekai_ as weebs call it, is that it's almost as ubiquitous as The Hero's Journey. The story of Bonny Janet and Tam Lin, Urashima-Taro, The Divine Comedy, every Greek Hero going to pay Hades a friendly visit, when Pwyll of Dyved went to Arawn, Avalon, the Mark Twain novel you just mentioned; it's weird that humans dreamed of visiting the land of crazy fantasy shit for so long amd with so many cultures.
Speaking as a Weeb, Isekai does tend to be my favorite genre for how fertile the ground is for storytelling. Problem being that you got a 20% shot of hitting a good Isekai, and that's only if you're one of those weebs that knows where to dig. The rest are basically so dull that double as background noise and can be useful for making your friends think you're a fortune teller from how cliché they become. And some are so egregiously bad that they could turn a weeb off from anime. And thanks to Sword Art Online, some even have a need to add in half-assed game mechanics... in non-gaming media.
I personally don't count time travel as isekai. Isekai literally means "another world", and the past isn't another world, just a foreign country. Imagine an "isekai" where instead of being sent to a video game world, the useless knob end is reborn in Northumberland.
If you time travelled back to medieval times it might as well be another world to you, just without the fantasy magic. But other than that it's basically Isekai
Is that Pinhead vs. Pikachu in the end credits gag? I think a lot of people would pay to see that match.
He is totally right about the exclusivity. Pokemon basically has 0 competition, so they never have to go all out and make the absolute best game possible. They can just shrug their shoulders and half ass it.
There's Temtem
@@alan62036 Oh, right. Temtem. I remember when that came out and was a small blip on the radar. Haven't thought about it much since.
@@ArmorFrogEntertainment it’s still in Early Access but it’s come a long way since launch, once it gets a switch release it might make some noise again
@@psyhki2005 while your faith in them is impressive, i dont it will ever be legimitate competition that would actually push nintendo to improve.
@@Suika_Ibuki_The_Drunk_Oni it’s sold over a million copies during it’s EA so I do think once it hits all platforms it’ll definitely be the biggest competition Pokémon has had (at least in western markets), in saying that you’re right. I definitely don’t think it’ll really challenge Pokémon’s top spot but it’s definitely a nice alternative.
Bringing out the Cenobite at the end was the best part of this one!
The image of Sonic being tortured by a cenobite will make me laugh for years to come.
*Zero Punctuation prog rock album of the week:*
*The Pursuit Of Ever Higher Definitions* by *Ballistic Sandwich Consumption*
It’s kinda funny that one of the most difficult Pokémon to complete survey ended up being…Cherri. A tiny adorable flower.
I find it funny that the girl on the pillow at 0:33 is either Chihaya fro Rent-a-Girlfriend (fun in a trainwreck kinda way) or Hori from Horimiya (great show) isn't even from an isekai, she's from a slice of life, which is basically just real life, in anime. I found this detail amusing
Man I love your voice. Makes this video more sublime than it would've been if I, as an American, voiced it.
One small correction Alice in wonderland would arguably be the first Isekai story as it was written good 30 years before Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
3:26 Not to mention his prices are literal highway robbery, minus the highway because Hisui doesn't have those.
Ugh, tell me about it. And it's not as easy to farm money in this game as it is in the "regular" games, so when you get to the point where he's charging you upwards of 20K for a single extra slot... it makes me just want to start throwing all my items at him.
@@UrpleSquirrel Not sure how much use throwing smoke bombs or ballistic rice cakes at him would be though lol.
It's fun watching the conflict between Yahtzee's disdain for weeb culture fight it out with his enjoyment of some jRPGs and anime. Face it. You're a halfbreed weeb, now. It's ok. Just embrace it.
He is becoming a "day walker" trying to walk in both worlds.
But this will get him down the dark path, one filled with Anime protagonist and body pillows. But we have cookies, and everyone will submit to cookies!
_We accept him one of us! We accept him one of us!_
@@srbrant5391 Gooble gobble, one of us!
I never realized that "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court" - jesus. I remember really loving that book and it being kinda popular back in the early 90's.
As a first day pokemon player I have to say I love what they did with arseceus. Yeah graphics are clearly outdated but it finaly feels like you're actually hunting pokemons and not stomping acres of grass waiting for them to smash you in the head.
Btw I just loved the "whatch out there is player in tall grass" because that's exactly how I spend most of my time lurking in the bushes XD
my biggest problem with Monster Hunter: World was how my brain kept whispering _Japanese whaling industry_ in the back of my head when I was playing it so I imagine this might be more agreeable
I suppose glorifying cockfighting _is_ an improvement, albeit a small one...
1:13 Not really, -Subway Boss- Warden Ingo is from the present too yet only has a machoke, tangela and glisor (none of which he used on the Battle Subway even in B2W2, closest is the conkledurr) when you first battle him and there's a few people in the game who formed bonds with pokemon _without_ the need to "bean them in the skull". If Natural "N" Gropius knew about that... Hooo boy
5:15 - Ah, I can see Yahtzee made Pikachu look like Son--
_Ohhh nooo...._
Oh man - a Mr Kipling's French Fancy! I bet you miss those Yahtz - like Lucozade, Monster Munch, Frazzles and Pot Noodles too. Hope you can get them over there in California.
Fun review - i especially liked the part about 'surveying' and the animal abuse, since that's basically what pokemon is, behind the cutesy sheen!
I can't get the idea of Mark Twain writing isekai.
You think that's surprising, try this truth bomb:
Alice in Wonderland.
Had much more fun with Monster Hunter Stories 2 than I did with Arceus. Somehow, it was much less tedious and the character interactions were overall better
I rather liked Legends: Arceus just because it finally was a mainline pokemon game that decided to actually do something different from the same song and dance it's been doing, and it feels like one of those games that despite the world being seemingly kinda hostile it's actually pretty calm overall... but in a good way instead of Sword and Shield being the "Bored to tears" kind of calm.
Also yea, I REALLY wish that Nintendo would finally just take Pokemon back from Game Freak and give it the graphical love and attention that it deserves, because really the blame for every problem pokemon has can be placed on the fact that Gamefreak is a company whose best work is on the DS and they haven't really gotten the whole "3rd dimension" thing down pat in a way that doesn't look ugly.
i bet he forgot digimon existed at the end joke there.
To be fair, most people have forgotten about Digimon.
Which is quite sad really.
I would love if we actually got a new Digimon game. Even if it's a remake. Cybersleuth is already on the Switch, so why not more?
Oh and a new Digimon Rumble Arena as well.
Look at me, being hopeful with no basis.
@@Tribdinosaur Survive is around the corner.
When I get a Nintendo game I don’t expect 4K HDR 60fps, I expect fun and longevity and boy does Pokémon Arceus deliver.
I agree, though I think that the game would have been even better if the graphics were slightly better.
I have noticed a couple times where the graphics did get in the way of gameplay.
nobody is saying pokemon games need 4k and 60fps, it's tiring to see the fallacy that pokemon fans make on how the pokemon games looks on the switch.
The fact that Okami a decade old game looks 10x better than PLA is saying something about the abysmal art direction of the game
So, Sega's pokemon. This should be where you play as Dr Robotnik, capturing all the woodland animals and putting them in robot bodies
now i want to know if yahtzee will review MHR: Sunbreak, because idk it would be cool
Its fun you mention the olden days. Watching footage of the barren landscapes in the game makes me think of early N64 environments minus the N64 fog. Then again the appeal of a pokemon game isnt necessarily about beautiful vistas.
Yeah, but it's also not unfair after seeing what the Switch can do in terms of rendering scenery by the core IPs to expect a similar touch to proceedings here. There's not even voice acting so the bad lip animations can't have the excuse of "Oh it was animated for an entirely different language" that XC2 at least could somewhat have.
He jokes, but there actually was a Pokemon Isekai game series called Mystery Dungeon
Which was a semi-roguelike dungeon crawler where you play as someone turned into a pokemon.
*Zero Punctuation metal album of the week:*
*Furiously Trampled Into Bonehead Butter* by the *Battling Ability Assessors* (tracks include *Lost A Fight With A Cenobite* )
We're truly living in the upside down. Yahtzee actually liking a Pokemon game? Absolute insanity.
I very nearly spat out my drink at "You know, the same way Columbus "surveyed" the Americas" 🤣
"Watch out, Wild Pokemon, there's Player in the tall grass."
😂😂😂😂😂
Given Sega's own version is Megaten, which is the all-encompasing term for SMT, Catherine, Persona, Devil Summoner, Devil Survivor and any further offshoots, I believe answering "yes" to that last question isn't so unbelievable.
I’m honestly shocked that Yahtzee didn’t use the words “Jiminy Cockthroat” a single time in this review, considering that’s exactly what it is. (That doesn’t mean it’s bad.)
Awesome review, man. Thanks for your hard work.
I think the calm demeanor undersells the actual review. He basically said the game is piss-easy collectathon with shitty graphics.
That’s pretty damning to the bland pile if you ask me.
Sega version of Pokemon?
A Sonic the Hedgehog prequel where you play Robotnik in the very initial stages of his takeover, gradually capturing the carefree forest folk who've not yet learned to fear him and analysing them to design the organic batteries for his badniks sounds like a credible game. As you progress, the Scrap Brain Zone begins to grow and grow until you dominate South Island - and then a certain blue hedgehog appears...
The idea of a monster hunter/pokemon hybrid scares me because I don’t like the idea of cleaning the guts of a pikachu off my great sword while staring at the small army of cute and cuddly animals staked to the wall with arrows as long as a man is tall.
Ah yes, Pokémon, the COD of RPG series
the sad thing is that there are other games like pokemon that are probably as fun but pokemon fans for some weird reason don't like to even try them like they are somehow cheating on the franchise which is even more odd considering the rest of us in video game land have no problem trying different games in the same genre
Turns out yes, I am the type to enjoy this type of game, which I think made this episode all the more hilarious
Yahtzee saying isekai is surreal
Best line: watch out wild Pokemon, there's player in the tall grass
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an isekai? No wonder I loved it so much
...so, if the protagonist is sent back in time and introduces the primitive locals to the joys of pokemon battling, does this mean that it's canonical now that you, the player, are responsible for the entire culture of the pokemon world revolving around animal blood sports?
Not exactly; all you're really doing is accelerating what was going to happen anyway.
"Lost a fight with a cenobyte" may have caused a few scared patrons of Red Robin to shift nervously away from the oddball laughing a little too loudly at his phone. So thanks for that.
I made that same "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" being the first isekai joke. I'm sure other people have as well but I feel validated nonetheless.
Yahtzee calling Mark Twain a massive weeb is probably in his top 10 funniest jokes.