Pokemon Legends ZA really stretches the definition of 'side mission'

Pokemon Legends: Arceus Not a particularly long game, but it offered plenty of ways to keep players busy, thanks to its dozens of requests. Pokemon Legends: ZA aims to do the same; Once players meet Emma at the Looker Bureau, they can start running errands around town, this time called side missions. Each completed story beat typically grants the player another handful of side missions, each of which offers generous rewards upon completion. However, I think this is one area Pokemon Legends: ZA largely fails, as it seems to choose quantity over quality in its side mission design.

tons Pokemon Legends: ZA Side missions can be sorted into one of two boxes: a battle with a trainer who favors a certain gimmick, or a battle with wild Pokemon in a peculiar situation. As a result, most of these quests are only brief diversions. Pokemon Legends: Arceus There were also many simple entries in the requests, however ZAThe side quests pale in comparison to the best Arses Had to propose.

Spoilers for the side missions ahead and some of the story inside Pokemon Legends: ZA.

Most Pokemon Legends: ZA side missions are hardly missions at all

repeatedly, Pokemon Legends: ZA Asks players to complete side missions that simply boil down to fighting trainers using a specific strategy. Examples include:

Debate over whether paralysis or poison is the better status quo
A trainer fixated on trap moves like spikes and sand tombs
Two trainers who like to use buffs and debuffs respectively
A coach who likes to find tricks
A devoted fan of the Pidgeot Evolution line

Overall, each of these missions is usually a short conversation, a fairly easy Pokemon battle, and final thoughts on the strategy of the trainers' choice. The intention here is arguably good: it's Game Freak's way of highlighting obscure or unusual combat mechanics that players may not be aware of or generally ignore. However this has ramifications for the entire side mission system. While each of these quests can be turned on and off in one-minute intervals, they aren't quests at all, as they don't ask anything of the player that differs from normal combat. These side missions can also be old-school trainer battles when a chase is found Pokemon route.

Missions that showcase a Pokémon's unusual behavior are a bit more interesting, but not by much. To name a few, players can be:

Fight a feisty Chespin three times in a row
Fight a group of Binacles at once
Rematch with Hawlucha who experienced Rogue Mega Evolution first

pokemon-legends-za-rematch-with-hawlucha-side-mission-1

These side missions have little more characters than they are snapshots of the main theme Pokemon Legends: ZA: The complications that humans and wild Pokemon are trying to live with. Still, they're short like trainer battles, so it's hard to think of them as “missions”.

Why Pokemon Legends: ZA's side missions are such a letdown

pokemon-legends-za-side-missiong-pidgeot-soaring-high

There are two main reasons I feel so strongly about these types of side missions. firstly, Pokemon Legends: ZA The beginning frames these quests as jobs that the player undertakes to help Detective Emma. These types of quests completely fail to live up to that pitch, because they're so trivial and don't involve any sleuthing or complex problem-solving that requires a detective's attention, and by extension, make for more engaging quests.

secondly, Pokemon Legends: ZA There were already many good quest blueprints to steal Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This is not to say all PLA The request was groundbreaking — many of them boiled down to “fight me” or “show me a Pokemon” — but many others broke the mold. Players can be:

Go in search of a missing person
Play the balloon popping minigame
Solve the disruptive behavior of Pokémon in the village without fighting
Work on specific entries in Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Unique Pokedex
Perhaps most memorably, collect 107 mystical wisps to unlock the Spiritomb

Such requests attempted to break the normal gameplay loop at least a little, and felt more like actual missions by demanding some critical thinking or thorough exploration by the player. They all stand in contrast to the side missions that boil down to a one-and-done battle that's functionally no different than an encounter. Pokemon Legends: ZAWild areas or war zones. They are simply more profitable.

ZA fell ArsesThere is an option to reward players for studying Pokémon through the Pokédex task mechanic, rather than researching Mable, which is overall much simpler.

Pokemon Legends: ZA side missions don't have to set the standard

Screenshot of Mega Howlucha Pokemon Legends

ZASide missions aren't a total loss. I'm fascinated by the quests to relocate a group of Trubish near a restaurant, or to find a cure for the sick Fenekin (who became a key member of my team). Unfortunately, these modest breaks in pattern are still too easy and too short, so they fail to make up for all the repetitive combat missions. I'd rather get into half as many side missions Pokemon Legends: ZA If that means they can be something more.