One alternative worth considering is the God Eater trilogy. If you’re a fan of Monster Hunter and looking for other games to scratch that hunting and crafting itch, look no further! This success has led to an explosion of hunting genre games that offer a similar experience. Between approaching classic regions in exciting new ways and a proven catching-focused gameplay loop, Pokémon Legends deserves more than becoming the franchise's latest one-off gimmick.Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise has become a global sensation in recent years, with its two most recent releases, Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise, selling over 30 million copies combined. This style of mainline game offers a treasure trove of creative opportunities across the Pokémon franchise's many beloved installments. However, pursuing the Legends foundation is a worthy compromise. RELATED: Ursaluna is Redefining the Current Pokémon Meta - Here's Howĭespite the sheer size of the Pokémon IP in the gaming industry, it doesn't appear that Game Freak is yet equipped to tackle large, seamless open worlds like Paldea. And given the woeful performance and technical problems Scarlet and Violet suffer from even today, it also seems like Legends: Arceus might be the studio's upper limit. Looking from the outside in, it's also impossible to pinpoint where these decisions come from, but The Pokémon Company likely has a hand in the relentless timetables that Game Freak has to work with. Third-party studios occasionally explore the world of Pokémon in exciting new ways to relieve the burden on Game Freak's mainline-centric projects, but it's impossible to deny the daunting volume of new releases with so little time in between them. The transition to 3D was plenty on its own, but the prequel setting opened the doors for the Hisui region to play like a whole new sandbox. Legends: Arceus succeeded in making the old feel new again simply by tackling the Sinnoh region from a different angle. It's all that Game Freak needs to jumpstart a premise for potential titles, but it also has refreshing elements to offer gameplay. That means that hypothetical Johto- or Unova-themed Legends games wouldn't have to concern themselves with contradicting decade-plus-old stories.Ĭreatively speaking, expanding on popular or niche lore pieces alike is convenient enough to justify similar prequels, like Johto's Celebii being known as the "Time Travel Pokémon" or the mystery surrounding Unova's "original dragon" to Black and White's legendary trio. Legends: Arceus focused heavily on catching Pokémon as is, but the whole series could be characterized by putting story and canonicity in the backseat compared to gameplay. Prequel stories to established mainline ones aren't a novel concept, but they provide a wealth of opportunity to other past generations of this franchise. The 2022 title was effectively a prequel to Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum on the Nintendo DS-and, by extension, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearlfor the Switch-which is not something typical of Game Freak's catalog. RELATED: Pokémon's Forgotten Masterpiece Shows Why the Franchise Should Tackle Serious Topics More Often On top of likely being smoother on the development side of things, Legends games could allow Game Freak to be more creatively focused, with each biome feeling lived-in, suitably diverse, and packed with substantive gameplay content. RELATED: How Mew Was Secretly Programmed Into Pokémon Red and Blueīut the Monster Hunter blueprint of having a main hub city that operates as the player's base of operations-buying resources, crafting items, interacting with NPCs, taking on quests, etc.-makes its case for being the most creatively sustainable model even for Pokémon. Even otherwise solid games like 343's Halo Infiniteand Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Odysseydemonstrate how open worlds are, sometimes, used as marketing tactics that ultimately suffer from barren spaces or overwhelming bloat. However, the way the deservedly acclaimed action RPG popularized open-world gaming also paved the way for an uninspired trend of titles attempting to replicate the depth it offered. Admittedly, it's one of the several reasons why games like Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is so entertaining even after nearly 12 years. That design choice alone is enough to justify the Legends approach becoming a bit more of a benchmark for the mainline games going forward, as the open-world template has debatably proven to be among the industry's biggest double-edged swords.
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