Pokémon Legends Z-A Preview: On the Road to Lumoise City

I remember vividly the first time I encountered Pokémon. I was living in Georgia, it was hot as hell, and I had foolishly decided to walk to my friend Brian’s house. I nearly passed out (it was over 100 degrees, and that’s before the Georgia humidity), but I got there, soaked in sweat and about to fall over. I found my friend hunched over a Game Boy, playing a copy of Pokémon Red.

At the time, my parents were rabidly anti-video game (though they eventually caved on my repeated requests for an N64), so I didn’t know what Pokémon was. But Brian was happy to teach me. I learned by watching over his shoulder as he patiently explained what was going on and how things worked. He even let me play a bit myself, and I was very careful not to save over his file. It was probably the first guided preview of a game I ever received. Needless to say, when I got home, I begged my parents for a Game Boy Pocket and a copy of Pokémon Blue. They were… resistant. I wore them down.

I thought about that day a lot as I sat down to write this. I’m in my thirties now. Initially dismissed as a fad, Pokémon has endured for nearly thirty years. When I would tutor kids in grad school, many of them would bring their Pokémon cards or figurines to our appointments so they could show them to me and tell me about their favorites. My interest in the series has waxed and waned over the years — I remain a Gold/Silver Truther and a Ruby/Sapphire Hater —  so I haven’t played Arceus, but I have played Scarlet and Violet. Everyone tells me I should have done the opposite. But I also got to play a short demo of Pokémon Legends: Z-A at PAX West, and I really enjoyed it. So when I got the invite to play another longer demo without traveling to the West Coast, I snapped it up like an alligator being tossed a big honkin’ fillet mignon.

Legends Z-A is a Pokémon game with a twist. The entire game takes place inside Lumiose City, which is specifically designed so Pokémon and people can live, work, and play together. Remember Prof. Oak’s speech at the beginning of Red and Blue? It’s like that, except for real, citywide. That means there are wild zones for wild Pokémon to hang out in, organized trainer battles, the whole nine yards. It’s what I imagine the Platonic Idea of a Pokémon-based City Would Be – but it’s also run by a corporation. Five’ll get you ten that they’re evil somehow.

After I spent some time getting my character's look just so (there are a lot of clothes and customization options here, and you can tweak everything from style to color), I stepped into one of the wild zones, and it’s here that I got to see Legends Z-A’s other big deal: real-time combat. Be still, my heart. Gone are the turn-based battles of old. Instead, you and your Pokémon move around and attack in real-time. I dreamt of days like this. It also means different behavior for the various Pokémon you’ll run into in the wild zones. Bunnelbies are pretty docile and will walk right up to you, hoping to make friends. If a Houndour sees you, on the other hand, it’s gonna come swaggering up looking for a fight. That means that it’s probably not in your best interest to engage multiple wild ‘mons at once, but you absolutely can if you’re feeling it. 

The other neat thing about the new battle system is that, because things operate in real-time now, moves have range. If I wanted my Watchog to use Bite, he has to be right up in the other Pokémon’s face, opening him up to moves that can hit from a distance while he tries to get in Prime Biting Position. I relied mostly on a very conveniently provided Gyarados for this segment, mostly because Waterfall has a good amount of range and because moves like Whirlpool, which would hurt a Pokémon over time in the turn-based games, now put a hazard on the field. If the Pokémon you’re battling stands in it, they’ll take damage.

Setting up traps with moves like this (and the really nasty stuff, like Toxic Spikes) is a lot of fun and allows you to shape the battlefield to your advantage. But you’ll have to pick your spots, because the tradeoff for real-time battles is that moves have cooldowns now. So yeah, Thunderbolt? Still mad strong. But you’re gonna have to wait (and stay alive) between zaps if you wanna keep using it.

You’ll also run into tougher, evolved Pokémon in wild zones. You know what I said about Houndours being ready to throw down on-sight, and how it wasn’t a good idea to engage a lot of Pokémon at once? Yeah, that came from experience. Turns out I aggroed so many Houndours that I woke up their mom, a very nasty Houndoom who was not happy to see me. This made catching her kids harder. Once you deplete a Pokémon’s HP, they don’t disappear. They hang around stunned for a while, making it easier for you to pull out a Poke Ball and catch them. But they won’t stay put forever; eventually, they’re gonna faint entirely, and then you can kiss your chance of catching them goodbye.

So here I am running around, trying to keep my Pokémon alive and avoid attacks myself, catch the Houndours because “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” was playing inside my head on repeat, and avoid the wrath of Big Momma Houndoom. Thankfully, I was equipped with a lot of items, but there’s a catch here, too. Once you use an item, you’re unable to access your satchel until that cooldown lifts. I’ve never used so many items in Pokémon battles as I did during my time with this demo of Legends Z-A, but I liked how tense it was, and how much strategy was involved when I needed to use a potion or revive.

After I got used to catching some Pokémon, using my items, positioning my Pokémon (and myself) in smart places during fights, and managing cooldowns for my moves, I was whisked away to a battle zone. Battle zones pop up at night, and they’re the place where you up your battle rank from… wait for it… Z to A by proving your strength against opposing trainers. I love it when a plan comes together. The trick is that you’re on a time limit. Battle zones only last through the night, so focus is key. Yeah, there are plenty of places to explore and lots of goodies to find, but your goal here is to beat other trainers and get enough Ticket Points to earn a Challenger’s Ticket, which you can cash in for a promotion match.

The whole thing works more or less the same way as Pokémon has always worked. If another Trainer spots you, it’s on like Donkey Kong, and if they engage you, your Pokémon might be caught off guard, leaving you on the back foot. But if you can sneak up on them and attack before they notice you, it’s Advantage Good Guys. Otherwise, battles work more or less the same way they do in the wild zones, though Trainers are obviously more difficult, more engaging fights (for the most part; none of them have anything on Mama Houndoom).

But you don’t just get Ticket Points for winning; you can also snag them by picking up bonus cards scattered around the battle zone, which present special challenges like “use supereffective moves!” or “land X type of attack to start a battle.” They’re fun little bonuses and I enjoyed completing them, but the real intrigue of the battle zone was balancing my desire to explore while making sure I got enough Ticket Points to earn my promotion match. And I did, for the record. But I made a mental note of some stuff to go back for once the full game releases.

With a battle zone in the books, it was time for my promotion match against Rintaro the Waiter in an arena inside his restaurant, with people cheering us on. The match itself was flavorful, but I was most satisfied by the zestiness of the arena. Plus, I got to roll with a Staryu. Who doesn’t love a Staryu? The promotion match was a relatively short part of my demo, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to come back for seconds (or thirds).

My time with Pokémon Legends Z-A wrapped with a tag-team match against a Mega Victreebell, which is something out of a really weird Lovecraftian nightmare. See, rogue Mega Evolutions are happening in Lumiose City, and it’s causing problems when Pokémon the size of small buildings just… show up. Don’t get me wrong: the Mega Victreebell was tough. But I had a Houndoom (see how we’ve come full circle?) and Gardevoir on my team, so I had the type advantage.

Between dodging the Mega Victreebell’s pools of poison and running under Bullet Seeds, I was piling on the hurt with moves like Ember and Psybeam. Every time I landed a blow, Mega Victreebell would drop orbs of Mega Power, which I could spend to turn certain attacks into Plus Moves for more damage. If I filled up the Mega Ring, though, I could Mega Evolve my own Pokémon and make it a fair fight. Mega Victreebell is straight out of cosmic horror, sure, but you know what it’s not a match for? A Mega Gardevoir and the World’s Angriest Houndoom piloted by Yours Truly.

I was one of the last folks in my group to wrap up my demo, but I like to think that’s because I was enjoying myself. As I stepped onto the streets of a too-hot-in-September New York City, I thought about the first time I played Pokémon at my friend’s house all those years ago. I don’t think that nine-year-old kid would have ever believed he’d have a job where he’d be sent to play a Pokémon game, or that the series would evolve into what it is. But he would have thought that both those things are rad. And if Pokémon Legends Z-A can match what I saw, it will be a game he would have been very excited to play. The more things change, right?

Will Borger is a freelance games critic, as well as co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Skybox.