Pokémon Legends ZA: How can the next addition to the “Legends” series build on Legends Arceus?

Pokémon Legends ZA seems to be some ways away from being released, but this could be a good thing for the next iteration of the “Legends” series. While Pokémon Legends Arceus was a very successful addition to the Pokémon franchise in terms of exploring the idea of open-world Pokémon games, this experiment in open-world gameplay still left much to be desired in terms of making the world it depicted feel alive, as one would expect from a universe filled with super-powered capsule creatures.

Rectify the static nature of NPCs:

This brings me to my first hope for Legends ZA, and that is that Game Freak decides to fix the static nature of NPCs that we saw in Legends Arceus. The non-moving nature of NPCs in Jubilife Village made the main hub of the game feel dead and almost eerie to visit at times. In previous Pokémon main-line games, NPCs were often seen wandering towns, and these towns were often far more lively than Jubilife, even in their 2D iterations.

The interesting thing about such a simple change being implemented is that the mechanics were already clearly in the game to have this occur, as wild Pokémon would wander the wild areas all the time. It still strikes me as strange that this was not implemented in the main hub-city to make it feel more alive.

Improve interaction between Pokémon and trainer:

One thing that Pokémon’s competition Palworld has gotten right that Game Freak should take note of is the fluid interaction between a trainer and their capsule creatures. In Legends Arceus, and even later in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, the interaction between Pokémon and their trainers is limited in a way one wouldn’t expect in an open-world format. In Arceus in particular, the trainer's Pokémon isn’t even really able to walk beside them. This is rectified in Scarlet & Violet with the ability to have a Pokémon follow you around and interact with the world more fluidly.

What Arceus did well was having Pokémon perform tasks like collecting nodes and materials from which you could craft certain items. It would be wonderful to see Legends ZA build on this process and make a trainer's Pokémon partners a direct component of the crafting process, for example having a fire type heat up a furnace or cauldron to make certain recipes.

Additionally, both Arceus and Scarlet & Violet pre-determined what Pokémon would be used for certain forms of travel, without giving the player an option as to what mount they use to get around the environments players are presented with. Giving the players a choice as to what Pokémon they use as a mount or get around the world Game Freak is presenting would allow for a more personal touch in terms of play through and allow players to have that additional interaction with their in-game partners.

The return of features like fishing and breeding:

The breeding system and old fishing system in Pokémon, while perhaps not missed by everyone, is something that I found quite lacking in Legends Arceus. Arceus completely did away with breeding, but I would suggest that implementing a similar system to the one we saw in Scarlet & Violet would be an easy way to rectify the situation.

In previous posts I’ve argued that even being able to set up a nursery of one’s own could be a cool way to utilize the open space provided in a game like Arceus, but considering ZA is supposed to mainly take place in an urban environment, players would likely not be afforded such space for such a feature to be implemented. With the system implemented in Scarlet & Violet, players could have the option to breed their own partners and additionally have a further option in terms of shiny hunting, which Arceus only had one readily available method for players it pursue.

As for fishing, it’s a feature I simply miss. As someone who pins substantial importance on immersion, it would be yet another way for the player to interact with their environment. Fishing could also link to crafting, with players creating a variety of lures with different effects to catch a variety of Pokémon.

While the requests in this piece may be very simplistic and seem like minor details, it is often the minor details in games that either bring a world to life or make it feel extremely empty, no matter how vast. The simplicity of these ideas is also meant to suggest that a game like Arceus is not very far away from being a more complete and fulfilling experience for fans of the Pokémon franchise, which lends itself to the idea that while they are taking their time, Game Freak is in fact closer and closer or breaking the code for this open world direction they’re taking Pokémon in.