I waited over a decade for my favourite Pokémon to get a Mega Evolution, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A lastly gave it to me. I dove headlong into the RPG upon launch, spending each spare second I may in Lumiose City, however now that I’m almost executed with every part the sport has to supply, I’m beginning to really feel my working and leaping by way of the streets of its Paris-inspired setting shift to a light-weight jog. As I catch the previous few monsters within the growth’s dex and cross off the remaining sidequests, my steps gradual as I await my Mega Raichu, flying behind me like he’s Superman, to catch up, savoring a couple of extra seconds along with his golden, two-tailed, superpowered type.
A good friend of mine who additionally occurs to be one of many largest Dragon Age followers I’ve ever recognized was visiting me in New York Metropolis a couple of months again, and I used to be stunned to study that she hadn’t completed 2024’s The Veilguard, regardless of being optimistic on it. She defined that, particularly after every part that’s occurred to BioWare previously yr, she felt like seeing the credit roll on this newest entry would imply the top of a “moment” of her life, as Dragon Age’s future seems murky at greatest. I sort of understood, however a part of me can also be of the thoughts that seeing one thing by way of to the top is barely half the expertise. Sitting with it and inspecting its complexities is simply as vital. However ultimately, you exhaust your self of all that reflection and transfer on to one thing else. My reluctance to place Z-A within the rearview mirror helps me perceive the place she was coming from, and why individuals usually choose to not end video games they deeply admire and luxuriate in. It’s comforting figuring out that you simply haven’t hit that endpoint but, even when it means you’re depriving your self of one thing you like.
I’ve been writing about Legends: Z-A for months right here at Kotaku, and I can really feel that a part of me that likes to critically analyze and interact with these video games getting ready to maneuver on as subsequent month’s inevitable Era X announcement on Pokémon Day approaches. This recreation has been a very compelling experiment , letting Recreation Freak mess around with real-time battles and a single-city setting, and I really want the studio would launch one other main DLC growth or one thing to maintain it going. However I additionally acknowledge it’s executed what it wanted to do. I don’t want extra for extra’s sake. The truth is, with most online game franchises, I choose issues to go away eternally after they’ve run their course.
Pokémon is a bizarre outlier for me on that entrance as I’m at all times right down to discover a brand new place on this universe, and since Recreation Freak took a yr with no new recreation or DLC pack in 2024, the hole between Scarlet and Violet’s expansions and Legends Z-A felt painfully lengthy. So even when Mega Dimension hadn’t given Raichu two a lot wanted Mega Evolutions, I might have been squeezing each drop of Pokéjuice out of this recreation. However on high of that, my superhero rat simply received right here, and I might be stunned if Mega Evolution confirmed up within the subsequent pair of RPGs we’re most likely getting our first glimpse of subsequent month.
I put over 120 hours into Legends Z-A and its DLC. I had Mega Raichu by my facet for about 60 of these hours, and that also doesn’t really feel like sufficient. Raichu and I’ll inevitably meet up once more within the subsequent recreation, nevertheless it certain hurts figuring out I waited all this time to have him Mega Evolve only for it to solely final a few months earlier than we transfer on. Lumiose Metropolis might not be fairly to take a look at, however I nonetheless love hanging out with its bizarre residents who say odd shit and love this metropolis with all their coronary heart. I’m not able to say goodbye simply but.
So now, to make it final just a bit bit longer, all I can do is bide my time. I’m booting up my Change 2 much less usually. I’m doing menial duties and wandering in locations I’ve already seen dozens of instances. So long as there’s an incomplete quest or a Pokémon I haven’t added to my Pokédex, I’ve a motive to return again. The data that it’s not over is one way or the other extra comforting than having one much less recreation on my backlog record.
