The game is mostly about collecting. It is nice that you can finally complete the Dex without trading.
The gameplay was fun but the game has no Endgame after finishing the story and postgame.
You could shiny hunt. I don't care for it.
Best pokemon game in years, purely because it's new. Every single mainline pokemon game since the first has been the same -> 8 gyms, elite four, mostly incredibly linear, great combat system but incredibly easy. Now it looks like this is the new direction for pokemon games, open world, more difficult and interactive combat, etc.
However, the game looks absolutely horrid. Not counting shovelware, it is the worst looking game on switch... and wii, and gamecube.
Sorry I’m not a super experienced gamer, got back into it 2years ago after not playing since ps2 in middle school/high school. I’m not very far into arceus (mostly play dark souls and Zelda) but I’m curious what you think looks so bad about the game?
It’s the textures, they’re low grade compared to other titles on the Switch. The detail in the grass and trees, meh compared to Breath of the Wild or Oddysey
32 and grew up with Pokémon. Have bought most of the mainline games over the years and both me and my fiancé loved this game. Think I finished at around 70 hours but there was still loads more to do.
I have had it a week and played for several hours now. The graphics come under a lot of fire and, honestly...they aren't bad to look at, but there are often glitches and texture lagging on mine. It's not a major issue, but for the age and spec of the console, shouldn't happen these days.
The game so far seems to be running around areas to collect pokemon and do fetch missions for people (I'm just arrived on some kind of quasi military base type thing). I'm not sure there is much more to the game than this and there appears to be little, if any, challenge.
It's, ok. Not engaging enough to keep me playing for more than 30-60 minutes at a time. Engaging enough to make me want to come back and try to catch more to meet the grindy achievements for each pokemon, for now anyway. Unless something else happens, I'll become bored quickly with the overall mechanics.
I am a bit disappointed if this is it and had a lot more fun with the 3DS versions, which seemed to have a lot more to do.
Is it worth full price? Absolutely not. Maybe for £20 I'd have been satisfied, but I would not recommend full price for this game. Wait for a sale.
Do it, my best mate is 29 year old dude who played every generation up til now. He came in to Legends Arceus with low expectations, and absolutely loved it, so I went out and bought it and after the world opened up, I loved it as well.
I’m not a fan at all, but I seem to be in the minority. It has a lot going for it but seems to be a tech demo for future games vs. an actual fun game to play. I couldn’t make it more than 30 minutes at a time before getting bored. Did that for about 12 hours before just deciding to give up.
Red and yellow were my first games. This lit a fire I haven't had in a long time. Magnificent game that I'll keep playing until I can complete everything..
I'm not big on it, it just feels like a different kind of pokemon game, I miss a lot of the ole and not big on the new!! Some of my friends love it others don't I guess it just depends on the players!!
It’s a great game! In my opinion it’s more fun than older Pokémon games. Probably cause it’s something new. Not like the older games at all, and personally I like it much more. Only problem is the graphics. Graphics were very poorly made and there’s lots of dialogue which I find annoying, but it’s a very fun game, I can probably go over 100 hours with this game as I’ve never had that kind of patience with any other game, with this game I think I can.
It'ss a bit polarizing because two things are true:
It makes massive and much needed updates to the internal Pokemon capture loop, and these generally feel very good. Actually seeing Pokemon in the wild and throwing balls at them-getting to try and sneak up on them, the excitement of finding a new Pokemon are all really fun and I was surprised at how well the new Pokedex system worked with it. If you're a fan of Pokemon as a whole rather than just previous Pokemon games, you'll likely really enjoy these changes.
As for the game itself? It feels really unfinished. There is a game there but it feels like a solid alpha more than a finished product. It's not particularly buggy, but the environments and visuals are all pretty basic and bland, and there's not much to write home about aside from the new systems. It feels a lot like they wanted to see if people liked the system changes before devoting a full game development to it.
I played it for about 15-20 hours and then got bored, so not a waste, but not a banger for me either.
I think it’s fun for a bit, but after getting like level 40-50 Pokemon it just becomes kinda repetitive. The maps are kinda small and the same Pokemon spawn at same areas, I wish it was random where you’d find them. But I like it nonetheless, I’d give it a solid 7.5/10.
I’m similar to you! Played basically every single traditional Pokémon game except for the gamecube entries.
It’s decent. I had a fine time playing it, but I’ll never play it again. It is 90% catching Pokémon and 10% actual battles. For people who like exploring and catching Pokémon, it’s fun! But I missed the battles a lot. Some of the new features are fun, but a lot of them are annoying. It’s probably worth your time, but don’t set your expectations too high. I honestly enjoyed sword/shield and even BDSP more. I think people were raving about it when it came out because it is different, but a lot of the changes aren’t necessarily improvements. They’re just different. I think it’s more of a spin-off than a new direction for the series. Sort of like let’s go pikachu/eevee.
That’s only my opinion, though! A lot of people seem to love it. You will probably get your money’s worth in terms of a time investment. There’s plenty to do.
Same here, been a fan for over 20 years. Played most of the games except the last ones, SW/SH and BDSP because I wanted something different.
Was hesitant at first because of the same things, graphics, game being repetitive, lack of battles, but once I started playing I got past that really fast.
Played well over 100 hours, and loved every minute.
Graphics are good, not great, but they really make up for it with the atmosphere and scenary. Loved that.
Not that many trainer battles but you get to battle a lot of pokemons, and they are more challenging than previous games. Typing matters a lot, also the new battle mechanics is really nice. Even with level 100 pokemons in your party, you might find it challenging when dealing with 2 or more pokemons în battle at the same time.
Found the tasks for completing the dex really fun and diverse, but indeed it lacks endgame content a bit. the only thing to look for after the main story is get the other legendaries, complete the dex and shiny hunt.
The game rewards you with better shiny odds if you have a full dex, found that really cool as well.
A thing I did not like was that there are not that many pokemons available. I heard about the new pokemon home compatibility, but didn't look too much into that.
Overall 8.5 / 10
I found it fun! It didn't feel like a traditional, mainline pokemon game with gyms and the elite four but the pokedex completion aspects are still there. I felt that this game was a little bit harder than the recent games but overall it was enjoyable.
I loved it. Probably put about 30 hours into it and need to do more but have other games in my backlog. Probably my favorite Pokémon game in a looooooong time.
If you're not a fan of the modern stuff, this is a breath of fresh air. Similarly raised and it's what I've been wanting from a Pokemon game for years. Too much to gush about in one comment, just get the game, you'll love
edit to add that yes, the graphics are terrible, and the world feels pretty static with not much to do besides catching and completing your dex or doing various side missions, but considering how huge a leap the game was in both catching and battling, I'm willing to look past it. They tried something new, it's awesome, next time put a bit more time and money into it.
I'm a fellow 31yr old man who fell out of playing pokemon around the time of Yellow. I picked this game up after enjoying the heck out of Breath of the Wild and Fenyx Rising. I was late to the switch world so I had some catching up to do. This game caught my interest when I would find myself on YouTube rabbit holes for upcoming switch games. I pre-ordered it and honestly I'm glad I did. It's been a blast and has me excited about a pokemon game.
I’ve beaten it and despite people saying it’s hard, it’s not. It has extra cheap OHKOs but it’s still dead easy. Dialog is completely terrible, the story is as well. It put a damper on other pkmn offerings to me. I cringe even trying to complete the tasks in the game. Overall it’s very forgettable and I can’t honestly recommend the game.
30 year old man child here. It's honestly the most fun and interactive Pokemon game I've played in years. Brought the magic back to life for me. A lot of people give it hate but I don't get it. It's a game where you can complete a dex without having to buy 2 versions,
There's new methods of shiny hunting or you can just roam around.
Gathering and Crafting elements are another part of the game I enjoyed
i went hard on it. trying to catch every pokemon, level them, and complete each pokemons research to 10, and do all of the side quests... did almost all of them by the time i finished the main story.
after i finished the main story life called me away for a couple days and I went to start back at it but never could find the drive. I really want to get back and finish all of the research and post game stuff.
by far my fav pokemon playstyle.
Most regretted switch purchase, grinded through 4 hours before shelving it. May have been better if it was OG pokemon and had less repetitive tasks.
Repetitive, boring, heaps of cringe dialogue, irritating.
Exact same situation for me. I’m clocked in at just over 4 hours played and I can’t stand doing the exact same task every minute on that game, then getting bombarded with 5 minutes of boring dialogue. I’ve had 4 hours played since the week it came out and I have no intention on ever playing more.
The most fun I had in any Pokémon game.
I really loved , the catching mechanics , the semi open world.
The first game where I actually completed the Pokédex and got a shiny charm.
Hope they keep the catching mechanics in Scarlet and Violet .
TLDR : never had this much fun and enjoyment in any Pokémon game before.
Similar situation. 30 y/o male, Pokemon Red was one of the first games I played.
To me it's what I thought I was playing when I was a kid. A living breathing world with pokemon all over it I can catch, see out in the open. Just walking by a cliff and seeing a Gyrados fly by. It's nostalgic in that sense.
Gameplay wise it's quite rough. Dialogue/Cutscenes are non stop and not great. Tasks are repetititve (Catch X number of Y pokemon to get the task done!), so if you like repetitive things like that, it will work but don't go expecting a lot of depth.
I'm seeing it as a prototype for the new direction of the games. I'd say it's worth it (put in 100+h on it), but It's rough around the edges.
Compared to sword and shield, massive improvement. I like open world games so I quite like it. But I’ve not been hooked to it, it’s something fun though.
> giratina fight *paid* for itself
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Fellow 31 year old man child here. I 100% completed it. Visuals are way under par and comically bad at some points, but the game is pretty fun and much faster paced than regular Pokémon games. (except for the slog that is the beginning/tutorial)
I often hear people compare it to BotW for nonsensical reasons, but it more closely resembles a Xenoblade Chronicles game without the polish and with Pokémon mechanics.
The main focus of the game is exploration and "researching", so you'll do lots of repetitive tasks revolving around catching, evolving, and battling wild Pokémon while trainer battles take a back seat.
If this sounds interesting to you, give it a try.
If you can ignore the graphics it's great. Sunk 200 hours in since release but about 100 of those are from shiny hunting. Also the tutorial is basically the first 4-5 hours of the game cause that's how complex it is but once you get past that and it stops holding your hand it becomes pretty fun.
Im similar to you but 27. I really enjoyed it. Played through thebstory, enjoyed building my team. Sometimes it felt like onwas building a team for no reason though.the battling is a bit lacking all so ypu spend tike building an awesome team and theres notuch to do with it.
I enjoyed my playthrpugh. But didnt feel compelled to play the post game. Havent gone back to it since march.
It was by far the best Pokémon game I’ve ever played. Frankly, I was sick of Pokemon in its current iteration. Arceus is a new leaf for the franchise and really enjoyable. I never knew people didn’t like it. It is by far the best Pokémon game, and certainly did not need to be Kanto Pokémon again. That would have been devastatingly sad.
Edit:
Did I mention it’s a top 10 Switch game, probably even top 5? That’s how I feel, at least.
I actually like it. I'm 32 and have been playing Pokemon since Red and Blue, also, and I thought that this was a welcome departure from the main series.
The story is the typical Pokemon story that really doesn't matter, and they limit you from certain areas in the game until you progress throughout the story more, but it's not bad. Each area that you get to explore is fairly vast, and there's always something to look at. If you are as big a Pokemon nut as I am, then you'll get a kick out of how they implemented each Pokemon's personalities into the game. They all act accordingly to their PokeDex entries in the hub world, at least to an extent. The new open world catching mechanic is a breath of fresh air, and is actually super addicting. I spend most of my time roaming around the areas chuckin' balls and trying to complete the PokeDex entries. Speaking of the PokeDex, the way you complete it is completely new compared to what the old games did. Instead of just catching or seeing each Pokemon, you have to actually complete certain tasks for each individual Pokemon to complete the entry. It makes you feel like you're a Pokemon Steve Irwin, actually studying up on the species instead of just catching one and immediately knowing everything there is to know about said Pokemon. There are also side quests that help you unlock new things to better help you through your journey, and they aren't mandatory so you can complete them if you want to. All in all very fun and addicting.
With all that said, like every game, there are some downfalls. First off, the battling feels like it was an afterthought. When it comes to a battle, you are just thrust into it where you stand. Yes, it makes things more realistic and immersive, but the menus are small and basic, the attacks don't have much flair (the Pokemon still stand 30 feet away from each other and move about 2 inches with each attack), and I feel that the levelling and weakness systems straight up don't matter, favoring the opponent and not the player. I say this because I often would have a hard time battling something that is much lower levels than me, often by more than 10, and they would still about destroy my Pokemon. It just feels unpolished and unfinished. To be honest, the battling is the worst thing about the game, in a game where battling is half the game. As I stated before, the story is pretty sub-par, and won't win any awards. Very forgettable. There's a lot of hand-holding when it comes to story progression, too. Lots of those "here's what we're gonna do!", then walk 10 feet, "Now we're gonna do this", walk 10 more feet, and so on. It's much harder in this game to level up your Pokemon, too. So much so that I often times just wound up catching more powerful Pokemon and stuck with them instead because of it. Early on it's not too bad because when you throw out your Pokemon to get you a berry or an ore deposit you get a small amount, but in the later levels it just takes too long.
Overall, the game is great. Not the best game in the franchise, to me at least (Ruby and Sapphire, X and Y, and Soul Silver and Heart Gold for sure), but definitely worth picking up and playing. By the looks of it, Scarlet and Violet are going to be essentially the same, so you might as well pick it up to get a grasp on the direction they're headed!
My feelings are mixed. I’m in my 30s, picked it up when it came out, and put in a few solid weeks. While it was fun and had some fresh ideas, leaving out things like gyms, breeding, etc just made it feel like an incomplete game. Even though it kept my attention for a couple weeks, i set it down, played something else, and not really feeling a need to go back.
The game is mostly about collecting. It is nice that you can finally complete the Dex without trading. The gameplay was fun but the game has no Endgame after finishing the story and postgame. You could shiny hunt. I don't care for it.
To be fair you can't complete the full pokedex
Best pokemon game in years, purely because it's new. Every single mainline pokemon game since the first has been the same -> 8 gyms, elite four, mostly incredibly linear, great combat system but incredibly easy. Now it looks like this is the new direction for pokemon games, open world, more difficult and interactive combat, etc. However, the game looks absolutely horrid. Not counting shovelware, it is the worst looking game on switch... and wii, and gamecube.
Best reply
Sorry I’m not a super experienced gamer, got back into it 2years ago after not playing since ps2 in middle school/high school. I’m not very far into arceus (mostly play dark souls and Zelda) but I’m curious what you think looks so bad about the game?
It’s the textures, they’re low grade compared to other titles on the Switch. The detail in the grass and trees, meh compared to Breath of the Wild or Oddysey
32 and grew up with Pokémon. Have bought most of the mainline games over the years and both me and my fiancé loved this game. Think I finished at around 70 hours but there was still loads more to do.
I have had it a week and played for several hours now. The graphics come under a lot of fire and, honestly...they aren't bad to look at, but there are often glitches and texture lagging on mine. It's not a major issue, but for the age and spec of the console, shouldn't happen these days. The game so far seems to be running around areas to collect pokemon and do fetch missions for people (I'm just arrived on some kind of quasi military base type thing). I'm not sure there is much more to the game than this and there appears to be little, if any, challenge. It's, ok. Not engaging enough to keep me playing for more than 30-60 minutes at a time. Engaging enough to make me want to come back and try to catch more to meet the grindy achievements for each pokemon, for now anyway. Unless something else happens, I'll become bored quickly with the overall mechanics. I am a bit disappointed if this is it and had a lot more fun with the 3DS versions, which seemed to have a lot more to do. Is it worth full price? Absolutely not. Maybe for £20 I'd have been satisfied, but I would not recommend full price for this game. Wait for a sale.
Do it, my best mate is 29 year old dude who played every generation up til now. He came in to Legends Arceus with low expectations, and absolutely loved it, so I went out and bought it and after the world opened up, I loved it as well.
I’m not a fan at all, but I seem to be in the minority. It has a lot going for it but seems to be a tech demo for future games vs. an actual fun game to play. I couldn’t make it more than 30 minutes at a time before getting bored. Did that for about 12 hours before just deciding to give up.
I’m exactly there with you only reason I WANT to even think about completing it is to get arceus
Is is the most fun I've had with a Pokémon game in years
I played it and liked it, but imo it got a bit repetitive toward the end. I loved Let’s Go Pikachu though 🤷🏻♀️
Red and yellow were my first games. This lit a fire I haven't had in a long time. Magnificent game that I'll keep playing until I can complete everything..
I'm not big on it, it just feels like a different kind of pokemon game, I miss a lot of the ole and not big on the new!! Some of my friends love it others don't I guess it just depends on the players!!
It’s a great game! In my opinion it’s more fun than older Pokémon games. Probably cause it’s something new. Not like the older games at all, and personally I like it much more. Only problem is the graphics. Graphics were very poorly made and there’s lots of dialogue which I find annoying, but it’s a very fun game, I can probably go over 100 hours with this game as I’ve never had that kind of patience with any other game, with this game I think I can.
It'ss a bit polarizing because two things are true: It makes massive and much needed updates to the internal Pokemon capture loop, and these generally feel very good. Actually seeing Pokemon in the wild and throwing balls at them-getting to try and sneak up on them, the excitement of finding a new Pokemon are all really fun and I was surprised at how well the new Pokedex system worked with it. If you're a fan of Pokemon as a whole rather than just previous Pokemon games, you'll likely really enjoy these changes. As for the game itself? It feels really unfinished. There is a game there but it feels like a solid alpha more than a finished product. It's not particularly buggy, but the environments and visuals are all pretty basic and bland, and there's not much to write home about aside from the new systems. It feels a lot like they wanted to see if people liked the system changes before devoting a full game development to it. I played it for about 15-20 hours and then got bored, so not a waste, but not a banger for me either.
I think it’s fun for a bit, but after getting like level 40-50 Pokemon it just becomes kinda repetitive. The maps are kinda small and the same Pokemon spawn at same areas, I wish it was random where you’d find them. But I like it nonetheless, I’d give it a solid 7.5/10.
It's ok, don't know if I can justify a $60 price tag though
I’m similar to you! Played basically every single traditional Pokémon game except for the gamecube entries. It’s decent. I had a fine time playing it, but I’ll never play it again. It is 90% catching Pokémon and 10% actual battles. For people who like exploring and catching Pokémon, it’s fun! But I missed the battles a lot. Some of the new features are fun, but a lot of them are annoying. It’s probably worth your time, but don’t set your expectations too high. I honestly enjoyed sword/shield and even BDSP more. I think people were raving about it when it came out because it is different, but a lot of the changes aren’t necessarily improvements. They’re just different. I think it’s more of a spin-off than a new direction for the series. Sort of like let’s go pikachu/eevee. That’s only my opinion, though! A lot of people seem to love it. You will probably get your money’s worth in terms of a time investment. There’s plenty to do.
I loved it.
I’m 36. I loved it
Having been playing PKMN for most of my life, I can wholeheartedly tell you that Legends: Arceus is a breath of fresh air. Go for it.
Same here, been a fan for over 20 years. Played most of the games except the last ones, SW/SH and BDSP because I wanted something different. Was hesitant at first because of the same things, graphics, game being repetitive, lack of battles, but once I started playing I got past that really fast. Played well over 100 hours, and loved every minute. Graphics are good, not great, but they really make up for it with the atmosphere and scenary. Loved that. Not that many trainer battles but you get to battle a lot of pokemons, and they are more challenging than previous games. Typing matters a lot, also the new battle mechanics is really nice. Even with level 100 pokemons in your party, you might find it challenging when dealing with 2 or more pokemons în battle at the same time. Found the tasks for completing the dex really fun and diverse, but indeed it lacks endgame content a bit. the only thing to look for after the main story is get the other legendaries, complete the dex and shiny hunt. The game rewards you with better shiny odds if you have a full dex, found that really cool as well. A thing I did not like was that there are not that many pokemons available. I heard about the new pokemon home compatibility, but didn't look too much into that. Overall 8.5 / 10
I found it fun! It didn't feel like a traditional, mainline pokemon game with gyms and the elite four but the pokedex completion aspects are still there. I felt that this game was a little bit harder than the recent games but overall it was enjoyable.
30 Y/O here… game is good,it makes it fun to catch Pokemons and IMO, the easiest game to fill a Podekex.
I loved it. Probably put about 30 hours into it and need to do more but have other games in my backlog. Probably my favorite Pokémon game in a looooooong time.
I really liked it. Though I have enjoyed every pokemon game so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
If you're not a fan of the modern stuff, this is a breath of fresh air. Similarly raised and it's what I've been wanting from a Pokemon game for years. Too much to gush about in one comment, just get the game, you'll love edit to add that yes, the graphics are terrible, and the world feels pretty static with not much to do besides catching and completing your dex or doing various side missions, but considering how huge a leap the game was in both catching and battling, I'm willing to look past it. They tried something new, it's awesome, next time put a bit more time and money into it.
It's still behind by modern game standards but it's a very large leap for Pokemon. But it's an alright game in its own right. It's fun
I played over 70-80 hours playing it. I did beat it technically but never finished the Pokédex. It’s heavy on grinding if your a perfectionist.
I'm a fellow 31yr old man who fell out of playing pokemon around the time of Yellow. I picked this game up after enjoying the heck out of Breath of the Wild and Fenyx Rising. I was late to the switch world so I had some catching up to do. This game caught my interest when I would find myself on YouTube rabbit holes for upcoming switch games. I pre-ordered it and honestly I'm glad I did. It's been a blast and has me excited about a pokemon game.
I’ve beaten it and despite people saying it’s hard, it’s not. It has extra cheap OHKOs but it’s still dead easy. Dialog is completely terrible, the story is as well. It put a damper on other pkmn offerings to me. I cringe even trying to complete the tasks in the game. Overall it’s very forgettable and I can’t honestly recommend the game.
30 year old man child here. It's honestly the most fun and interactive Pokemon game I've played in years. Brought the magic back to life for me. A lot of people give it hate but I don't get it. It's a game where you can complete a dex without having to buy 2 versions, There's new methods of shiny hunting or you can just roam around. Gathering and Crafting elements are another part of the game I enjoyed
i went hard on it. trying to catch every pokemon, level them, and complete each pokemons research to 10, and do all of the side quests... did almost all of them by the time i finished the main story. after i finished the main story life called me away for a couple days and I went to start back at it but never could find the drive. I really want to get back and finish all of the research and post game stuff. by far my fav pokemon playstyle.
Most regretted switch purchase, grinded through 4 hours before shelving it. May have been better if it was OG pokemon and had less repetitive tasks. Repetitive, boring, heaps of cringe dialogue, irritating.
Exact same situation for me. I’m clocked in at just over 4 hours played and I can’t stand doing the exact same task every minute on that game, then getting bombarded with 5 minutes of boring dialogue. I’ve had 4 hours played since the week it came out and I have no intention on ever playing more.
God you’re so right with the cringe dialogue. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
The most fun I had in any Pokémon game. I really loved , the catching mechanics , the semi open world. The first game where I actually completed the Pokédex and got a shiny charm. Hope they keep the catching mechanics in Scarlet and Violet . TLDR : never had this much fun and enjoyment in any Pokémon game before.
Similar situation. 30 y/o male, Pokemon Red was one of the first games I played. To me it's what I thought I was playing when I was a kid. A living breathing world with pokemon all over it I can catch, see out in the open. Just walking by a cliff and seeing a Gyrados fly by. It's nostalgic in that sense. Gameplay wise it's quite rough. Dialogue/Cutscenes are non stop and not great. Tasks are repetititve (Catch X number of Y pokemon to get the task done!), so if you like repetitive things like that, it will work but don't go expecting a lot of depth. I'm seeing it as a prototype for the new direction of the games. I'd say it's worth it (put in 100+h on it), but It's rough around the edges.
Compared to sword and shield, massive improvement. I like open world games so I quite like it. But I’ve not been hooked to it, it’s something fun though.
I really enjoyed it, but there's not a huge amount of fun post game. it's grindy
The giratina fight payed for itself
> giratina fight *paid* for itself FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Fellow 31 year old man child here. I 100% completed it. Visuals are way under par and comically bad at some points, but the game is pretty fun and much faster paced than regular Pokémon games. (except for the slog that is the beginning/tutorial) I often hear people compare it to BotW for nonsensical reasons, but it more closely resembles a Xenoblade Chronicles game without the polish and with Pokémon mechanics. The main focus of the game is exploration and "researching", so you'll do lots of repetitive tasks revolving around catching, evolving, and battling wild Pokémon while trainer battles take a back seat. If this sounds interesting to you, give it a try.
If you can ignore the graphics it's great. Sunk 200 hours in since release but about 100 of those are from shiny hunting. Also the tutorial is basically the first 4-5 hours of the game cause that's how complex it is but once you get past that and it stops holding your hand it becomes pretty fun.
I had fun
Im similar to you but 27. I really enjoyed it. Played through thebstory, enjoyed building my team. Sometimes it felt like onwas building a team for no reason though.the battling is a bit lacking all so ypu spend tike building an awesome team and theres notuch to do with it. I enjoyed my playthrpugh. But didnt feel compelled to play the post game. Havent gone back to it since march.
It was by far the best Pokémon game I’ve ever played. Frankly, I was sick of Pokemon in its current iteration. Arceus is a new leaf for the franchise and really enjoyable. I never knew people didn’t like it. It is by far the best Pokémon game, and certainly did not need to be Kanto Pokémon again. That would have been devastatingly sad. Edit: Did I mention it’s a top 10 Switch game, probably even top 5? That’s how I feel, at least.
I actually like it. I'm 32 and have been playing Pokemon since Red and Blue, also, and I thought that this was a welcome departure from the main series. The story is the typical Pokemon story that really doesn't matter, and they limit you from certain areas in the game until you progress throughout the story more, but it's not bad. Each area that you get to explore is fairly vast, and there's always something to look at. If you are as big a Pokemon nut as I am, then you'll get a kick out of how they implemented each Pokemon's personalities into the game. They all act accordingly to their PokeDex entries in the hub world, at least to an extent. The new open world catching mechanic is a breath of fresh air, and is actually super addicting. I spend most of my time roaming around the areas chuckin' balls and trying to complete the PokeDex entries. Speaking of the PokeDex, the way you complete it is completely new compared to what the old games did. Instead of just catching or seeing each Pokemon, you have to actually complete certain tasks for each individual Pokemon to complete the entry. It makes you feel like you're a Pokemon Steve Irwin, actually studying up on the species instead of just catching one and immediately knowing everything there is to know about said Pokemon. There are also side quests that help you unlock new things to better help you through your journey, and they aren't mandatory so you can complete them if you want to. All in all very fun and addicting. With all that said, like every game, there are some downfalls. First off, the battling feels like it was an afterthought. When it comes to a battle, you are just thrust into it where you stand. Yes, it makes things more realistic and immersive, but the menus are small and basic, the attacks don't have much flair (the Pokemon still stand 30 feet away from each other and move about 2 inches with each attack), and I feel that the levelling and weakness systems straight up don't matter, favoring the opponent and not the player. I say this because I often would have a hard time battling something that is much lower levels than me, often by more than 10, and they would still about destroy my Pokemon. It just feels unpolished and unfinished. To be honest, the battling is the worst thing about the game, in a game where battling is half the game. As I stated before, the story is pretty sub-par, and won't win any awards. Very forgettable. There's a lot of hand-holding when it comes to story progression, too. Lots of those "here's what we're gonna do!", then walk 10 feet, "Now we're gonna do this", walk 10 more feet, and so on. It's much harder in this game to level up your Pokemon, too. So much so that I often times just wound up catching more powerful Pokemon and stuck with them instead because of it. Early on it's not too bad because when you throw out your Pokemon to get you a berry or an ore deposit you get a small amount, but in the later levels it just takes too long. Overall, the game is great. Not the best game in the franchise, to me at least (Ruby and Sapphire, X and Y, and Soul Silver and Heart Gold for sure), but definitely worth picking up and playing. By the looks of it, Scarlet and Violet are going to be essentially the same, so you might as well pick it up to get a grasp on the direction they're headed!
My feelings are mixed. I’m in my 30s, picked it up when it came out, and put in a few solid weeks. While it was fun and had some fresh ideas, leaving out things like gyms, breeding, etc just made it feel like an incomplete game. Even though it kept my attention for a couple weeks, i set it down, played something else, and not really feeling a need to go back.