Pokemon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension Review
On one hand, I'm more than glad I already have an excuse to return to Lumiose and Pokemon Legends: Z-A, but on the other - I'm utterly conflicted about the game's new Mega Dimension DLC release. Part of what I felt made the basegame so special was a level of restraint employed by the developers, and I can't say that those same feelings apply here - but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.
Just over two months ago, I reviewed Pokemon Legends: Z-A - and I loved it. I praised it for its bold take on the Pokemon formula, and for helping realize some of the potential that Pokemon Generation VI had, but I'd felt was never really tapped into in any serious capacity - much like the elements of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, even if the two games truly couldn't be anymore different. Unlike Arceus, however, Z-A's story wasn't done and dusted with the game's release - as before the game even hit store shelves, we were made aware that the game would be expanded upon with DLC. Adding new Mega Evolutions, new gameplay systems, and an entirely new endgame loop.
I literally just wrote about Pokemon Legends: Z-A a few weeks back, so I won't reiterate the main game or its gameplay loop; the original review is linked above, and chances are if you're interested in this DLC, you're already familiar with what the game is. So, what does Mega Dimension bring to the table? What's returning, and what's new?
The core of Mega Dimension revolves around Ansha, a child who has befriended Hoopa and wishes to empower it with donuts in order to explore a mysterious "Hyperspace" version of Lumiose, where rare and powerful Pokemon appear, as if out of thin air. Before long, however, this new dimension poses a threat to a Lumiose still reeling from the events of the basegame - and it's up to you and team MZ alongside their allies to investigate these anomalies before things spiral out of control.
The story of the expansion is fine, and it's neat to see a direct continuation of the events from the basegame. Fan favorites like Corbeau play a key role in the events of the DLC, and seeing characters being given a chance to reflect on some of the impacts of the original games' ending is deeply appreciated - even if the gravity might be lessened by the proximity to my original playthrough a tad.
Exploring Hyperspace Lumiose revolves around one key gameplay loop; throughout Lumiose players can find portals to somewhat randomly-generated pocket dimensions, relating to key areas of Lumiose. These can include Pokemon that don't appear in Lumiose normally, battle zones with "Hyperspace" trainers, bespoke sidequests that can either follow-up on sidequests from the basegame or tie into new Mega Evolution Pokemon, and more.
To access these portals, players require to borrow Hoopa's assistance - which involves specially crafted donuts. These donuts are dependent on the berries you include as ingredients, which can impact the amount of time players will have in order to explore Hyperspace, a level modifier to increase your Pokemon's power, and additional modifiers relating to Shiny Pokemon appearance rate, capture rate, and more.
On paper, this is all well and good - except the berries you'll want to use for these donuts are "Hyperspace" berries that you can find within these anomalies. Stronger donuts require the exploration of anomalies with a higher star rating; which in turn also require stronger donuts in order to buff your Pokemon so that they can contend with the challenges within. At first it's not a major issue - but as you progress through the story you'll gain access to the ability to add more and more berries to the mix, which will be required for the higher level donuts. To make matters worse, creating donuts only ever makes one donut at a time - and you're only able to do so back Hotel Z.
Now, this wouldn't be so bad if not for a few quirks; back in the basegame, progression was tied to your Z-A Royale rank, which required you to complete quick challenges in Battle Zones. You could hold up to 3 at once, but there was no hard limit for how many challenges you could finish each night. In Mega Dimension, you need to gather a certain amount of research points in order to unlock new Rogue Mega Evolution battles, but unlike the basegame each anomaly can only offer 3 challenges at once. Even worse, you can't tell what challenges await you in an anomaly until you've already spent a donut and entered.
In concept it's not a massive difference from the gameplay loop in the basegame - yet I was already getting a little tired of that loop, and the DLC exacerbates those feelings. It's exhausting constantly going back and forth from Hotel Z just to make donuts, one at a time, and only being able to find 1 or 2 new Pokemon in each rift - all to progress further in the story. Things only get worse once the credits roll, and the already bad grind turns from bad to worse.
There's plenty of fun to be had with Mega Dimension; the new sidequests are neat, the new Mega Evolutions are fun to play with, and even if I didn't gel with the story as much as the basegame I still had a good time with it. Yet, if you were already feeling burnt out by the time the original credits rolled - or are even just unsure if you're ready for more of the same - I can't exactly say if this DLC is worth the price of admission.