Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Pokémon Legends: Z-A Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

Go to http://shadyrays.com and use code FUNNY to get 35% off polarized sunglasses. Thank you for the support! Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - Topic of the Show: Pokemon Legends Z-A REVIEW - Greg’s thoughts! - Tim’s thoughts - Ads - Superchat questions - How battling feels - Performance issues? - Superchats Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello gamers, welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for October 14th, 2025. I'm the Nitro Rifle, Andres Cortez. And I'm joined by Greg the Ground and Ghost Gamer. Oh, hey, Andy, how are you? And Tim, the Coolman Taylor. Yay! There's an energy going into this episode, Andy. Where are you at?

Sorry, I got on to the rest. I had to do the rest of the dock. And I was looking up adverbs and like, and nouns and stuff for your thing. but I just couldn't like think of anything because there are no types that start with the T okay I like that oh so Greg Grounding Go I thought you knew something I know something no no

because the ghost the ghost makes sense for me being the 36 year old Pokemon trainer slash master that I am depending on the US they call him he's not the new generation of Pokemon fan like me exactly all right exactly it is it is funny to me and I guess this does clearly put me in the trainer side of things

like I people always ask always always right always ask me would be your ghost or who would be your gym leader? Like, what are you? As a gym leader? I don't know. I don't have an answer. I'm quite frankly embarrassed by that. You wear ice on your neck. Yeah. Even though I appreciate that. Yeah. But, uh, baby blue. Light blue. Yeah. Yeah. I don't really. These are blue. The ice type Pokemon,

there's cool ones. But I'm just like, yeah. Oh, cool ones. I see. I see. Yeah, we'll have to figure this out, everybody. Yeah. Also, at some point, I wanted to find my team of six. I've learned over many generations of these games. There's the, the ones that I always gravitate towards obviously and duh most of them are like the ones we all do because the games kind of feed you in a way every generation but I need to lock in and define it at some point. Pokemon champions

might be the thing but we're not talking about that. We're not talking about everybody today we're talking about Pokemon ZA review not Z to A. No, Pokemon Legends ZA this is the kind of funny games cast each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews previews and topics of video games live

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For a chance to be part of the show, submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube Super Chats. Let us know what our gyms would be and what types we would be. Even if it's a little combination of stuff. Yeah, you know. Even the homie cyberbones, Dylan,

says that I look like that one electric cat with the blue and the, like, spike- Oh, yeah, I know that guy. Manetric, I don't know how to say it. Yeah, probably that one, probably that. Housekeeping, we're in 11. I've always leaned psychic, though.

The purple's cool, psychic, the psychic Pokemon are cool. Oh, okay. So that out there. Okay. Housekeeping, we're an 11-person business, all about live talk shows. Kind of funny games daily.

It was all about sucker punch talking about the next game after Yote, and after this is the kind of funny podcast. And friends of the show, Joey Esposito, and Pesito. and Panda Musk have launched a Kickstarter for Madam, their new original horror graphic novel titled,

Madam, quote, What if Mary Poppins practice black magic and child from family to family, searching for human sacrifices to extend her immortality? If you want to know about it, go to kind of funny.com slash madam. Oh, we love them. Very, very cool.

They've worked on us a long time. It's exciting to see it get to this point where you can actually see some stuff and get on it. Shout to Pandemust is always being the goat. happy Z to A week or sorry I already screwed that up Happy ZA week Not Z2A

It's not your fault It's that one PR person And Pokemon worlds That said it to me And then I came back and told you all Then Midler corrected us Then you heard it as well And then something

That person had to go in front of the The whole room and go I was wrong Oh okay You want to talk about one of the worst mistakes A human being could have been Say something in front of Greg Miller To the loudest guy

Who's going to say it over and over again. Happy Z-A week. Our new Poka Smiley Kru-Nex are now available in two colorways, perfect for catching Monde as the weather gets colder. Grab the Now at kind of funny.com slash store. That's not the one I was looking for. Kevin,

when he's talking about the sweatshirt. The Pokemon from three conversations. That's not the Pokemon I was looking for, by the way. Oh, you were looking for Luxray. Yeah, that's the one. That's the one. Kind of funny.com forward slash store. I got the white on white one. I want to get the red on a white one.

Right on white. Thank you. There's a version that's just this white one. The Premier Ball version. Yeah, and then there's the one over there. That's a... Oh, heads up. We got the last four of Kevin's credit card.

This is big. Oh, nice. Here we go. Here we go. Switches back to the Pokemon. If you are a kind of funny member, today's Greg Way is 20 minutes about Pokemon Legends Z-A review day

and parentheses Patrick hanging out with Ben. Congrats to Patrick Clepick and his bears. Yeah, finally. Yeah, he's posted a reaction image of himself getting super, stoked about that winning field goal Monday night. Stupid Dallas Cowboys.

Man. Just. Can't give them. Dack Prescott is just doing all he can. Greg. It's just so disappointing. The defensive is awful. Sorry, this is happening to you. It's always. Thank you to our Patreon producers. Carl, every month. Every year. Every year. Every year. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster, and Delaney the Somme twining. Today, we're brought to you by Shady Rays, but we'll tell you

about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show. The topic of the show is Pokemon Z-A review. And just looking back, Pokemon Legends Arceus was a game that came out many years ago. The first version of this legend sort of line that they've been working on, and that was an 83 on Open Critic. Right now, Pokemon Legends ZA is sitting at an 82 on Open Critic. I want to go through a couple of just round-up review stuff, and then we'll get to you all thoughts.

Really quickly, Catherine Lewis from Games Radar, gave it four out of five stars and says Pokemon Legend Zia offers a true slice of life Pokemon experience thanks to its anime style real-time combat system and wholesome world-building elements while its single city setting

can sometimes feel a bit samie Lumios is densely packed with things to do and discover this is a world worth getting lost in. We have Chris Tapsel from Eurogamer with a three out of five says Lumio City could do with work but Pokemon Legend Zia is much more tightly focused

and delightfully goofy return to better form, at least by modern Pokemon standards. And we have five out of five from Jordan Midler at BGC, who says Pokemon Legend ZA is a grand adventure, that once again proves the legend series is home to the most interesting ideas game-free Kaz. It is a game that understands its audience and feels like a love letter to both players who grew up with X and Y

and those who have been here a whole long time. Sorry, the whole time. This morning I saw the tweet kind of like round up Right. Just the discussion stuff. And because it's pulling from Metacritic, the top one that said VGC, 10 out of 10. And I, like, spit out my water. And I didn't even have water in my mouth.

I was like, what? And then it's like, oh, wait, no, VGC does five out of five. And I'm like, for some reason, that's totally different to me. That's totally 100%. And it is. I mean, we understand. That's such a different thing. He then goes on to say, I hope the Pokemon Legends series is here to stay.

Who do I want to start with? Do I want to start with the veteran who's a veteran who's, been there since day one or do I want to start with the brand new comer to the Pokemon franchise. I'm going to start with Greg Miller. Hi Andy, how are you? That was like you're choosing your starting poker. Yeah, it was

a little rotating. Greg Miller, I want to start with you. How long did you play Pokemon Legend Z-A-4? What did you think of it? Did you beat it enough or did you play enough to put it on a little score for our review? Sure, sure, sure. Can I just zag all immediately? What I'd like

to do is start with, and this is very, very, rare for me. A round of applause for Tim Getty's. All right. A round of applause for Big Tim Getty. Okay. Where's this going? As you've gone through this and seen all these review roundups, this is serious. This is real. This is real. IGN's got a review in progress, right? Rebs very

clear. Like, hey, we didn't even get a week with this game. This game got to kind of funny on Thursday. The review embargo's first thing on Tuesday morning. That's a ridiculous turnaround time. And as I say in my Greg way, that's no shade to Nintendo or game freak. Make your game as good as possible. You don't know what reviewers anything make it's great for people. But at the rate we

needed to play this game and put our lives on hold, Andy, I didn't roll credits. Tim did roll credits. And so I want to make sure he gets a lot of applause, Midler. If you have a video game reviewer out there that rolled credits and put up a review today, shout out to them for putting their life on hold. I appreciate that. I will, we'll have a little bit of shade towards how it all went down just because it's like, guys, it's not like you didn't know this was happening. I do think that for a franchise as big as Pokemon, you should have your heads wrapped around that. I know a lot of things happen, but like, all right, cool. I think that's going to affect the conversation about the reviews and all that.

Of course. It's not going to affect mine. We'll get to that later. So to answer your question, then, Andy, to dive right in. I've played 21 hours of Pokemon Legends Z.A. Of course, as you know, the whole point of this game is climbing the ranks from Z to A, right, to be the best Pokemon trainer in Lumio City. I'm rank B right now.

So I'm knocking on the door of it being done, right? But I could have used a day or two because, of course, we got the code. I went on assignment on Friday to Seattle. I went to a wedding and family vacation on Saturday. I'm lucky I got as much as I have, but I think it speaks to how much I love this game, Andy. This is my Pokemon game. Like, I think that's the easiest way to put it. I think I, you know, as you've seen and heard my stories here on kind of funny of, okay, cool, I played let's go.

You know, I played the DS1 back in the day A little bit with the pedometer. Never stuck for me, yada yada yada. Then, of course, Ben falling in love with Pokemon, me watching the cartoon, coming back to Violet, something I had started and stopped. I poured so many hours into Violet. We did a review recently right of the game,

all the DLC, the, you know, level 100 characters I have in that game and how much I really enjoy that. But even Violet was a game I was playing and enjoying, but I would get to a point of just like, oh, man, like, I should really stop playing this right now. Like, I'm just running around doing the same thing and what, like, the environments, yes, there's a lot of Pokemon in them, but I feel like they're pretty empty. And I don't feel like I'm not wrapped up in this world. That is not the case with ZA.

With ZA, I am so in on this world. I never felt like I was just doing something to do it. I felt like I was contributing. I love the characters. I love the supporting cast. I love my team of Pokemon. I love the side missions. I love Lumio City.

like I think there's so much to thoroughly enjoy in this game and then a big point of for me you know as a contention with Violent Scarlet was the fashion and how there was none and it was just school uniforms. Right. The amount, when I first got the game and you first get out into the world,

just the grinding I was doing for money to then go buy new glasses, a new outfit, a new, like I have all the stuff that I'm rotating and having so much fun playing dress up with my character. I really love this game. and this many hours in this close to what would be the credits of it and the finish of it. And again, there's this part of me that like, of course I'm bummed that we didn't get more time with it so I could have completely finished it and be good to go. But there's also now this part of me that's so relieved that I get to go enjoy it at my own pace because I've been ignoring side missions.

I haven't been doing certain things because I've just been trying to see how far I can get in the story. Right now I would say that I'm an 8.5 on this game. I think this game is that great. I think it's just shy of amazing. I don't know if I was ever really amazed playing it with mechanics and this and that. Animations, you know, as always, no VO. Stuff we all get into as we go deeper into this. But right now, 8.5, I can't see that going down.

I also don't really see it going up. I don't think there's going to be, for me, you know, there's twists and turns in the story. What they're setting up, I have to Google and stuff like, you know, I don't know what the hell's going on. But I'm enjoying, even as a newcomer, I understand what's happening. I'm enjoying myself. I think it's a great game. Awesome. Tim Geddies.

I just want to say I very much love hearing you. say all of that and I'm extra excited for you because yesterday when I left you yeah I was in a similar spot to where you were in the game and I locked in yesterday I put it in I think like 10 hours yesterday very cool and um I I just want to let you know all the things you love about it you have the best is yet to come like I think that all the things that you just said in terms of side characters and all and stuff it's like the game really really really starts to like deliver all that stuff uh in a way that I am I was very happy with and I think you will be too in a way that it, don't worry about having to Google and all that stuff.

It's not the thing. It's just, it delivers on the character. We're not going to get into spoilers. We can talk about them. No spoilers. Exactly. There's all, I mean,

because there's a lot to spoil this game, and we will not be spoiling things in this review. We will be very vague about every. A lot of things, yes. Yes, but very excited for you. So for me, it's interesting, right?

Being a day one Pokemon guy, that means I have the baggage of playing all of them and having thoughts on all of them. And sometimes when you play, every single thing, it can feel a little bit iterative here and there. This is an example of that in some ways, but in so many others, it's like, oh, there's a beautiful future ahead of us. And I feel, I felt that a little bit with RCS. You see it in Scarlet and Violet and you see it even more here.

It's like, there's a momentum going that I'm very, very, very excited about. Like, in so many ways, this is what I want Pokemon games to be. Okay. This is an experiment, though. It is not a full-on accomplishment. It is a very successful experiments, though. The skeletons here, it's very good. Everything's there.

It's just a tad unremarkable. And I wrote a lot of this down because I want to make sure that I'm very accurate with what I'm saying here. But this is the most important part of this. My takeaway is very positive on this game. This is the bones to the best cartoon accurate combat system, a Pokemon game is ever going to be. I do think it's going to get a lot better gameplay-wise, mechanic-wise, control-wise. but in terms of what the combat system we've dreamed of is, it is this. It's here, and I can't really believe that, watching the show for so long and imagining

watching Pokemon Stadium and thinking it felt that way, even though I know it didn't. It kind of does now, and that's very, very cool. This is more similar to Final Fantasy 7 remake than I could have ever imagined in terms of its battle system and how it works. instead of switching between people actively, you were running around and directing your Pokemon to do it from attacking it, and you can switch them out on the fly. And it does very much feel like that very frenetic,

you cannot put the controller down. You cannot pause for a second. It is so, so, so fast-paced, which I really love. But the game starts off very slow with that battle system, and I think it takes way too long to really get interesting at all. Once it gets interesting, though, it's very good, a very solid system. and I was looking forward to many battles,

and I want it clear last night. I played 10 hours, and I want it incredibly clear. This was not a, oh, man, Tim's experience of this was changed because he had to beat it for a review. I did,

but I wanted to. Nothing would have stopped me last night. I was like, I'm locked in, and I was happy that I had a reason and an excuse to tell G, I'm staying up until 3 a.m. To do this,

because I was all in, and a lot of that had to do with the battle mechanics, really finally singing. The controls, of the battle though, I feel, I know a lot of the game are not intuitive. I think there's just a lot to have to control. I don't envy them for having to figure out how to make this all work.

But I think a lot of the challenge they present us, both kind of like parkour-based, I guess, and battle-based in the mega evolution battles or just even the normal battles. I feel like there are way too many things that are just that buttons that shouldn't be where they are or like your hands crabbing in a way that's just like there has to be a better way to do this. This story-wise is a direct sequel to X and Y, which I was very happy to see. This is something I've always wanted from Pokemon. Take the core games,

follow up in the story threads and characters from them in a slightly more adult way. And the game delivers on that. So I really want to give them props for doing what I've asked for so long there in opposition to Arceus, which was taking place in the past. So maybe it would have references to characters or something, but this has so much, like, every couple of minutes,

something's happening. And I'm like, oh, well, Like, I vaguely remember that from playing X and Y over 10 years ago. But it was nice, and I think that they did a really good job with that. It's a very sweet story about communities living in a city in the fallout of terrorist attacks, rebuilding the best way they know how, and despite their differences, bonding over the city they love. And if that's not a season of Pokemon, I don't know what is. And I feel like they really achieved that Pokemon anime feeling, not just in gameplay,

but in story and side characters and the Pokemon themselves as well. and I want to commend them for that because I think that this is the best job at that they have ever done and they've been building towards that recently with the end game of Scarlet and Violet, everything having to do with Area Zero and then definitely with the two DLC packs

or the Teal Mask and Indigo Disc, the characters in that, the way that they set them up and had them kind of be the entire through line of your adventure and the battles and payoff of all that stuff. I'm like, they are doing something here and they understand that,

We need to care about them and not just have just cool looking people we're fighting. You know, it's like I actually care about me beating them mean something or them beating me even means something, all of that. And I think this game very much continues that. And the way it does that is through very well directed camera and animations. Like throughout so many of the more important story beat battles, it's like we're getting those very interesting anime-esque like zoom-ins and like lines of dialogue in the middle of a battle that I'm like, Yeah, dude, this is what I'm looking for. Awesome character designs throughout mannerisms, animations, the character themselves, like the way that they talk.

Everybody you know who is who in a way that I think was the best realized we've seen in a very long time with unique music themes. Like, again, checklist of like a lot of the things that I've been wanting from these Pokemon games. But all of it's presented in a way that just feels stiff and awkward because it doesn't have voice acting. And I know this sounds. like a complaint that half the people are going to hear and just be like, get over it.

And half the people are just going to roll their eyes because it's like, Tim, we heard this before. They're never going to do anything about it. I think it's becoming more and more of a problem because we're at that. I think we've crossed the line in the last game or two where the presentation is so clearly going for hype and not having the VO. And I'm not just saying read to me. I'm saying act to me.

I'm saying I want announcers in stadium battles like hauling things out where you hear. it like ringing through or just like when you see the character pop-ins and they say something about like where they're at like we're getting fired up or whatever I know it's going to be corny but it's going to add and they're clearly going for it and it feels off and there's so much more of it in this game that it just feels more off than ever and it is a legit criticism that I think makes this game demonstrably worse throughout the entire experience specifically towards the late game stuff where I'm looking at stuff and I'm like this is kind of hype and I should be like, let's fucking go.

And you clearly know what's missing. It's nothing besides the voice acting and a couple gameplay decisions of like, ah, you should have let me play that instead of just show me. Or let me play in a more interesting way than you did. It's a cool piece of dialogue and it's just somebody with their idle animation. It's like, ah, yeah.

Why? But even that, I don't want to talk too much about the idol animations because I do think the animations are a major step up. It's not perfect. But I was very impressed with how varied they were and how when I would expect them to just kind of be standing there awkwardly, they were doing something of like, let's go, you know, like bigger, bigger motions. Voice talent, it costs a lot of money, Tim. They're just not right there right now financially. Yeah, they don't want to.

Yeah. And these economic headwinds, they don't want to go ahead and drop that coin. Yeah. So it's like they're clearly. But haven't heard about AI. They're going for personality and hype. And there's an uncanny valley there that I think is. something that has to be addressed and

I think that critically I need to look at and take into consideration. But it's Pokemon and I think it's Pokemon at its best in the sense of having the loop of like you're going through the motion and you're like oh I don't have one of those guys and then you just are sidetracked

to go get one of those guys right? And then the more important thing because that's every Pokemon game but I think the difference between a good Pokemon game and a forgettable Pokemon game is did I bond with my team? And throughout this game, I really didn't think I was bonding with them because of how the experience works and just because of the gameplay of this one compared to the other games. Is that because you weren't going on a little camping trips where you would play, throw a beach ball at your little Pokemon?

No, it's not that stuff. It's more just like it ironically feels a little bit more numbers go up than Pokemon normally does just because of how active it all is and how often you're getting experience and your whole team's getting. You're just seeing the numbers go up and up and up. And it's like, it doesn't feel like you're working on one of them. Just from the, from now type perspective, it seems less of a familial. I am going to, you know, form and form friendships with my squad. With the whole Z to A ranking, it feels more like you, you are a manager of a football team. And it's just like, hey, we got to cut you, man.

Like, no hard feelings. This isn't personal. Like, it just, it feels less like, like, it feels more like, you know, the really, really rough end of like, this is business man. Zita, I gotta get to A. It's interesting. We'll talk a lot more

about the details of that dynamic there in terms of I was very fascinated gameplay wise of how much changing your move set feels like more of an important factor than it has in previous games in comparison to changing out your team.

That is still important. But I had multiple, by the end of it, I loved my team. And they felt like a team. And when I had to cut people because I needed a type advantage or something,

it kind of hurt. And I was like, oh shit, they got me. Like, that's it. They got me. And I was going to say,

I mean, I want to, right now, I'm trying to let you get through. I'm almost there. I'm almost there. Just the one, the one story I have,

though, that I think that this is kind of, to me, the, like, thing about, like, where I'm at at this game is I was feeling that way about not bonding with them

or not caring. And there was one guy on my team, I'm not going to say his name for Nintendo, but, um, he was a little dude, and I really like him.

Oh, Pokemon. Yes. Okay. And I wanted him, I wanted him to grow up and be in my final team, but he just really wasn't pulling his weight. But I just kept him there and he was just like the six and like, I need, it would have made my gameplay better to get rid of him and put somebody else there, but I left him there and I let him just keep rocking with me. And we get towards one of the like later fights. And he clutched up in the middle of a fight and he kind of just went in and acted as a transition point for me to like just get my wits about me to get the rest of the team in the place they needed to be to win and we pulled it off and it really felt like a three episode arc of the cartoon of like all of a sudden we had this moment of like hey I knew you had something special. Wow.

Then the next battle he clutches up and finishes the fight for me right after that fight evolves and evolves not just from leveling. He's one of the ones that evolves from friendship level. Oh wow. semi-hidden thing. And I'm like, well, this feels like the most special moment of all time. That's awesome. And then by the end of the game, I have him, and I won't say what happens after that. But it's like, he's doing things.

And I'm like, this literally feels like the cartoon. Oh, yeah. And I'm living it. And that is spectacular. And so much of what I could ask for from this experience. Greg, it's like it's Steve Kerr when Michael Jordan punched him. Things weren't going great. Remember that?

And then he's got some big shots in the finals, man. So with Pokemon Legend Z-A, switch two's launch here continues to just continuously feed me with fun every couple weeks. I've been very, very satisfied with it, not ever blown away entirely necessarily, but very satisfied with just how much stuff is spoken to me. So Pokemon Legend ZA, I am giving a 7.5. Very good. Very good. Very, very good. I can't wait to hear more about Pokemon Legends. ZA. including a bit more details, but that's going to be really hard because of embargoed stuff. But we'll get to all that after a word from our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Shady Rays.

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who says, without spoiling, how do you all feel about the new mega evolutions? I like it. I don't think it's amazing. I can never remember. Terracizing terraces. The rest of the life whatever the fuck they call them. I think it makes more sense than that did

in Scarlet Violet, which where I was a lot like, I'm just doing this because you're doing it. This one, it is like, all right, cool, you're doing it and I'm using the super effective type. So I'm going to switch Jim, I think they do a good job of adding it where, you know, even if you're not the fully mega evolved,

you can use the power for it. And like they, it's a nice addition to the repertoire to get you up against powerful foes. I like it more than last time. I again, I'm not like, whoa, like, to add on to the super chat from Munchard Wolf.

They also ask any, all-timer designs, Tim? Okay, well, first I'm just addressing the mega-evolution stuff. Oh, well, this is like to go along with the mega-evolution. Oh, um, all-timer design, in some ways, yes, I'll say that. Okay, cool. I like it a lot.

Character designs, I think there are some alt-timers. Uh, some of the mega-evolutions. Alt-timers for maybe the wrong reasons, they're funny. Okay. You know what I mean? Uh, but I do like them overall. But mega-evolution has always been my favorite gimmick. Like, there, so far has been four different gimmicks.

I guess, where in Mega Evolution was the first one where they introduced to in X and Y. Sun and Moon, they had damn, I'm blanking on the name now, but Z moves, that's what it was. And then Galler, the Stone Shield had Gigantamax and Diamond Axe

where they get giant. And then Scarlin Violet had terrestrializing. And I think that Mega Evolution, by far, is my favorite, and always has been. And I think that that's kind of a popular opinion among everybody, because it's cool from a perspective of, oh, my god the Pokemon we love are getting a new form but it's also temporary it's more digimon like

i think all that stuff is so cool it allows great story moments and lore of getting the stones and all of that like i think it's just a win across the board and it makes sense it like all just feels like oh yeah i understand this if you understand Pokemon it makes sense i think some of the other ones have cool things about them like i think storywise specifically the z moves are very cool i hated the Terra stuff. Like that definitely is for more like hardcore BGC players, but for it to permeate the core game is that much, I was like, I don't like this, you know? And Dynamax, I think, is cool, but also a little gimmicky in a way that's not

enhancing the game, even though it is functionally very similar to Meg evolution. All that's to be said, I think Megavolution should stay. I think it should be a standard going forward for all Pokemon. I don't think it's going to be. But having it being so heavily featured here is an absolute pro to this game. Very, very cool. I see kebabs with a super chat saying, has ZA learned any lessons from RCS and Violet? I mean, yeah, right? I think it's definitely an evolution of all that. I think, you know, it's hard to say what they'd specifically be before I venture into what I like about it or my criticisms of older games, right? even the setting and the time period and the speed at which it all goes like I feel like there's there

and I think again to bring a little bit of that question in and a little bit of Tim's criticism in right like I felt the active battling and being able to swap your guys on the fly and bring them into world puzzles of things to do just around the world that for me built relationships faster than any other Pokemon game. You were talking about not feeling connected towards the end from the early on point of, you know, obviously my starter. What up, Tota Dile? You know what I mean? Jumping in there, running with him, like,

breaking him out. But then it was adding in other Pokemon where it was. All right, well, I need a fire type. All right, well, I need this. Flying sure, get in here. And then finding those things of like, oh, man, I can't get to that. Oh, wait a second. Bring in the flying Pokemon, knock the thing out. Okay, cool. And then keeping them around. It's a weird one again for me being the new

generation of Pokemon fan, which means I know nothing. thing versus Tim. I have my little printout chart. That's what I was laughing at earlier. I printed out my little... I've had a big magazine chart and I have it on my phone, but now I do this with the app

that Ignacio Rojas made me by that has all the Pokemon in it. So like when somebody new pops up, I type it in. That's nice. I fucking love this fucking game. But anyways, like being that involved

in having them in and learning... Like now I'm impressed myself, Andy, when a dude pops up. And I'm like, you're dragging, hold on. You know, I mean? I know I'm eating. And it's like, oh, I remember fighting. you earlier and I use my bird. So I'm bringing

my bird back in. You know what I mean? We're going to go this way. Like I'm very into it and I feel like I do have these relationships with him. And it also helps that for most of my team, at least the ones I'm especially using now, they didn't get ugly. You know what I mean? We're not going to bring up quackers, all right? We're not going to talk about how horrible he looked by the end, right? We fucking hate it. But everybody here looking dope looking good. Even there are teen years.

They're awkward teen years. I was like, I still vibe with it. I'm vibing with. I don't vibe with crock and I never have, never will. I understand. We're in the awkward teen years and then we get somewhere good again. Let's see. I have a super chat here from Octavio Armenta, who says, Tim, would you recommend this as your first Pokemon? Yeah, I would. I think that there's so much here that just to go back to Kabob's has learned from the last two games. Like, clearly, it's funny because the legend series is it's spinoff, but more it's mainline, just different. Like, I don't think it's a spin-off.

Pokemon sees it as mainline. fans get very up in arms about how you phrase all of this. But clearly these games are being made in tandem and working off of each other. Like when you play RCS and then you see Scala and Violet, it's like, all right, cool. These are all adding to each other. So I'm very interested in where Gen 10 is going to go battle system-wise of how active it's going to be versus how classic it's going to be. Like I wonder if champions coming out is kind of the crown on the top of that battle style. And like the turn based is going to be.

there and going forward, this is a bit more like the direction they're going, wouldn't be surprised. I know that upset a lot of people, but they clearly are seeing something here. And again, the bones are there. The experiment worked. But I do, I got lost a bit. What was the actual question? Oh, just asking if you recommend this as being your first Pokemon. Yeah, yeah.

I think that there's this. Again, it's first Pokemon. If you have seen the cartoon, I imagine you imagine that that's what Pokemon games are like. Yeah, this is the one. I think it might be a bit overwhelming in some cases and I think that there is just a lot of busy work that like isn't fun but you're just doing it so I'm not necessarily thinking if it's your first game

that you're going to love it. I want to shout out Gamer HDH for a first time subscription with Prime. Remember if you have Amazon Prime, you have Twitch Prime. Don't let that subscription go to waste. Use it on your favorite creators. Tim, I wanted to dive more into gameplay because you mentioned during your thoughts of how you felt about the video game that Pokemon Legend ZA

feels like the closest it can get to what the anime what battles in the anime could look like or look like and I wonder what would need it

to kind of cross that finish line what aspects of the combat would make you go oh shit this is like a one for one this is how I feel watching the show

there's a lot to break down there that's complicated to explain because so much of it is knowledge of Pokemon, just how it works. And I think that when you look at the moves that they have,

when a Pokemon uses Dig, you know what that's supposed to look like. You know what it does. It goes under the next turn, it pops up. You use fly, same idea, but it flies up and goes down. When you use hypnosis, it puts a Pokemon to sleep, right? Like there's all these things that when it's turn-based, it can kind of, you don't really need to deal with it. But when it is action-packed, it's like there has to be an actual

representation and understanding of what the different moves are doing. And I think the biggest faults of this game is there is no way with one controller, you can control a character moving around, six different Pokemon, four different moves that have 20 different variations of what those moves are doing. It's not just close range, long range, right? It's like there's so many more different types of things. and they're all presented in ways that, to Greg's point, you kind of need a phone and a chart next to you

to be able to figure things out, or just kind of throughout the game, memorize things. I feel like, if they could, they would want to explain a lot more on the screen in the combat than they do, like the last couple of games have done, Scarlett, when you're fighting a Pokemon that you fought before, its types will pop up.

And I think that... And it'll say effective. Exactly. And I know a lot of people are, I don't want that, whatever, But it's like, I do think that that was a really good thing to add for kids learning the new Pokemon and just for Greg learning to the new Pokemon of like understanding that a bit more. And this is we're just, this is a fun tangent or whatever. See, the thing is though, I think that worked against me where I didn't have to learn the Pokemon.

I fought this guy before. Oh, that's super effective. I can go to, I can go into my, my team and be like, who's got it? You've got it. Come over. Where I didn't, like, this is again, a different experience. You kind of forced yourself to learn. I'm like, drag and all right, do this.

Okay. wait, no, this, you're going to use ice, wait. What did I, oh, like, I have to play a bit of memory, so I'm actually memorizing and learning the characters in a way I haven't before in a Pokemon. Yeah, I just wonder if that's going to stick with you. And I'm just saying, it's like, I feel like that's just adding an extra layer that I know Nintendo doesn't want because clearly the other games they've made, they don't do that.

And I feel like there's been a couple steps back in terms of the design of what they're, they're putting out there. And there's so many, like, bars and so many things kind of like, you have to wait, like cool down and stuff. but I actually think the game needs more cool down meters. I think it needs more visual tells of when you can do certain things again. Because oftentimes you're not button mashing. You know exactly what you're trying to do.

But you are kind of hitting the button like, I feel like I should be able to do this already. When can I get to my satchel? Why can't I get to my satchel? I just won this fight in a multi-fight battle. Let me go to my satchel. I'd have to wait for the other guy to show up to do it. And your item, like little loading bar, whatever it is, cool down meter only pops up after you've used.

used an item and then it goes away and they do that because the screen's already very cluttered and there's a lot going on. So a lot of my stuff is just, it's controlling UI based of like I get the intentions. I get what they're doing. But there's just a lot of like little tiny things that make it very clunky and cumbersome. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact, too, that like, I don't think that this might be a hot take for people playing the game. I don't think you need to be controlling the human character. I think that adds an element that gets in the way of the game. And I think that if you took that out of it, maybe just lessen its importance. Like, there could be still big attacks coming at you that you might need the dodger else that causes problems. But that is

such a core part of the game. And it never feels good. It's like this game often turns into an action RPG a la Kingdom Hearts or is asking you to do some like platforming sections. But the game's not built for that. And it feels that way. And it's not the worst thing in the world. But it's not good. And I do, yeah, and there's a lot of it. And I think the platform is delightfully clunky. Yeah, sure. I really like doing it where I see it and I'm like, oh, let's go. And like early on, I was like, I know I'm going to get some kind of thing here. Why don't I, and then hours later, you get it. And I was like, all right, cool. Like, yes, it is not good platforming. But it's like, I don't know. It works so well in the world and the way Pokemon controls where I was like,

I like, I mean, yeah, but I think that that's, that's the problem. It needs to control. better than that. And it reminds me of the Allison Wonderland world in Kingdom Hearts One. And if you know, you know. And the whole game is that. And it's like, including the battle systems. And I think that that's kind of a big problem where it's like there, I just think they could have went a different direction with it. Again, I understand why they did that part. But I think that it turned into just too much like, man, this is so cool, but it could be actually great. And instead, it's delightfully clunky and that's true but i really really think that they're so close to more than that it feels like your thoughts about the combat not quite being as one for one kind of feel like your same feelings about

they're not being voice acting where it's like these things that this is looking better and better as it has over several decades and there's still no voice to it and that kind of throws you off and when you're seeing these Pokemon in a much more active non-turn based combat and when somebody does dig and it's just like the character just kind of like jiggles a little bit you're like oh but they look so good right there no no that's not it so check this out at it and this is actually I think

a very important point to make it's actually they're completely opposite problems and to be clear dig it looks the way you think it should okay it does it's just uh they go under they dig they dig they they buggy over and they pop out like I am blown away at the animations

in this game and how hard they went how hydro pump looks compared to water gun. Okay. Not just from an animation perspective, but from a move perspective of what it does to the arena you're in. Like, it's fucking cool. It's just in terms of subsex of understanding this type of move versus this type of move,

I really just think there needs to be, I keep saying UI. That might not even be the right thing, but like some way to look, some denotation, something of like, not just short range, long range move, but like understanding your move sets and what they are going to be compared to others. Like it just kind of just feels like, yeah, just try things and then you're just going to memorize that this button does that. But like, Pokemon games need to be a little bit deeper than that

because that's the secret sauce to the battles and especially postgame and all of that stuff. The difference, though, with the presentation stuff is that the gameplay is what it is, whereas the presentation, they are nailing it. It's just missing one key ingredient. It's like watching when the mummy trailer came out from with Tom Cruise and it was like missing certain sound effects.

Yeah. It's like, oh no, this is right, but it's awfully wrong. Right, right, right. And that's the difference there where it's like, no, I really think that the, they do such a good job with so much of the battle system. It's just I think the implementation overall is not quite there. And I notice that every single time. But it's still very, very good.

And I am thrilled that we got this close even because I think that getting this close means we'll get there. if I'm understanding your argument correctly, I would push back on it, but I might be missing the point. So stop me if I am. Back to the ownership in knowing these Pokemon, right? Like I really, for the first time, you know, I think I went into TM's once in Violet, where it was like I was up against somebody who was just kicking my ass. And I'm like, all right, well, I'm not going to power level whoever. I'm just going to get a TM and apply to whoever I can to make it work.

This one, again, having that team, having the ownership, how easy it is to swap in and out your moves and learning what all the moves did, it was like, okay, cool, like, well, I have a water type, but I'm going to put an ice on there. I unlock this TM. That sounds going in and looking in really, not minxing, but really getting into the minutia of what my Pokemon could do in battle, I hadn't done before in any three of the Pokemon games I had played. So I felt like this one, there was an ownership of it.

And even though it was, I actually went in and I read what the moves could do. And then I would go and watch them do what it was. So I understood the difference between a move A and move B. I start using things here, but I don't want to get it. exactly Bargoed stuff. Yeah, I think it worked for me

again of making me feel more into this game, more understanding of what the hell it was trying to do. Yeah, and like I was saying, I do think that I agree with you. Like I've changed moves

in this game way more than I ever have in the past and that is a core part of this game that I found very satisfying. But I also think that it, it should have went further. I think that it is at like a seven implementation when I really would like it to be at a nine,

you know, like a 10 doll. But like I do think that like there's, I can see the ways that this. could be really fleshed out. And I also think this is clearly a side project in the sense of its scale. Like it all being in one city, it all being as focused as this game is.

It's like and how the Pokemon that you were finding and even the movesets you're getting from the team in comparison to other games. It is not the full experience. And I think that. And how do you feel about that? And I'm pivoting. You're in the middle. Yeah. But I would love your take on that again.

because for me, Violet, the open world, I love open world games, and I love the idea of that, but I felt like there was so many, you always talk about, like, you know, when Todd Howard and Bethesda showed Skyrim the first time, right? And I'm gonna screw it up,

but I forget, they're like, something interesting should happen every 30 seconds, every minute or whatever when you're running in an open world, where in Violet, granted, you're seeing other Pokemon, you're running out and chasing,

you're trying to catch them all, but I still felt like it was just giant stretches of like, okay, it's a grassy hill, and then over this, and then there's a while. Like, I didn't feel like they made the most, of that open world.

It's somebody who loves open worlds. So Lumio City, I think being a character unto itself made this experience so much better for me. Not necessarily the contained portion, but the narrative, here's why we have wild zones. Here's why we have battle zones. Here's why this isn't working and now it is and da-da-da-da. And then like you were talking about the terrorism and people and all these things. Like there's like, oh, this is really cool.

It made me feel so connected to that world in a way in violent maybe the town. where my school was, I felt a little bit. Yeah, it's, it's rough to answer that because this just goes back to the baggage. If you play the game, then you play the next one, you look back on the other one, and it's like you focus on the things you like, and you kind of make excuses for the things you don't.

And then years later, when you're playing the next one, you're like, well, oh, man, I'm focusing on things I like, and the last one had all these things. I don't. They solved that. It kind of feels like they keep solving a problem and causing others. And I think that we're just constantly in that cycle. And we're never going to get out of that

with the way that Pokemon treats, these games and that in my opinion sucks but I get it they're making money and enough people are happy and they're buying the game so that is what it is but yeah I mean everything you said I'm with you about Scarlet and Violet like there's so much bullshit I think there's a lot more fat in Scarlet Violet that I don't want to do than there is in this game having said that what you were talking about like the wild areas and the zones and stuff so much of it I understand why they're doing it from a gameplay perspective I hate it like I think the city just just let it be open just like don't wait I don't make me have to wait till nighttime to do a certain thing and also

make it incredibly easy to get to night time. It feels like busy work. It's like, just let me do the things when I want to do the things. Like, let me just go to have these areas be, I'm speaking very vaguely because I don't want to get in trouble here. Like have the, the wild area or the this area or that area just available at all times because I don't really understand why not? Like it doesn't really like, why, why not? Period.

Right? Like, just like the whole city's kind of open to you from the start. And I understand why because the whole city is the exact same thing. And like, we've, you've seen the trailers. You have seen the game. You know what this is. And that's, I'm with you that, like, the city is a character to itself. And I'm very fond of it.

I think that the music, I think that the, the French culture, the stuff they got going on, the fashion. It's like, yeah, like they leaned in. And it reminds me a lot of the Kitakami expansion in, I keep forgetting the name of it, the Teal Mask, which I really loved. I think it had so much character and personality because the place it was in. And they took that seriously. and they very much do here. I think that they pull it off, but I can't for a second act like it's not the worst,

like area in a Pokemon game. Wow. All right. And it's like it's bustling. There's things to do. So many side quests. Like all that stuff's great. It all looks identical.

More monotonous than Arceus? I mean, it's the city version. Yeah. It looks at the, it's way sharper. Oh, of course. We didn't talk about performance. This game runs.

yeah like it really does and i get it's sharp i didn't have any problems i was going to say do you have bugs his handful red valentine i heard they talk about falling through eh yeah for me it was i didn't i didn't fall through the world or anything like reb i was breezy i was getting ready this morning when i read i'll go back for a full read my bug was occasionally in battles buttons would just stop working where i would like try oh i can't i'd have to hit the home button go by home screen come back in and then my buttons would work yeah i Honestly, it's not even enough to, like, bring up as a point. But there were a couple times where the same thing happened to me where something will happen in, like, a bridge essentially forms across rooftops, like, somehow.

And I would get caught in the bridge. And, like, I, yeah, exactly. There's just no way for me to get. And that happened, like, three times in different places. And part of that's just because I probably ran too soon, but, like, that still shouldn't happen. Easy enough to get out of. you can, you have fast travel like from the jump of this game, which again makes exploring the city just feel like I am just going place to place to place. And when they all look identical,

like you're, you're calling the different districts like blue and red in French. I don't know how to say. And all this stuff. But it's like nothing about the areas is that color or anything. And like I just feel like even it being one city, it's like I, I've been in cities. I literally was in Paris a couple weeks ago. And it's like, there's a lot more variation than this. It's like when I started seeing areas that I can't name, that I'm like, oh, that's cool, they have this. And then I saw 10 more of that. I'm like, okay.

Makes it a little less special. Yeah, and it's like, again, I am a fan of this city. Like, I think that there's gameplay wise. They do great. The characters and all that stuff is great. It's just like, it is incredibly boring. And I'm very surprised at how it looks the way it looks in the trailer the entire game. I have a question, Andy, for me.

So I'm just running around doing everything. I'd fast travel, sure. But then I come out of the street after, oh, man. Let's just talk about two fucking violent. All right. Everywhere I go, I got these three stalls jammed together. I got to heal my Pokemon at it. This is a boring experience.

Now I get to go into these little Pokemon shops. And they put my little guys in the little oven. What do I'm like, yeah, they give them back. I run out. She's saying, bonjour. And then I'll be like, yeah, I'll fast travel to the main things. But then there are plenty of times like, you know what, I'm going to walk it. I want to pick up all these things with my Pokemon.

I want to see what side quest is happening. How quickly did you take off the stupid hat? They literally are like, here's a hat. I'm like, fuck, no. No. Take it back. Again, I ran out and started buying stuff immediately, and there's so many shops in this game with outfits and good outfits in this game.

Best fashionista. So stoked. Best outfits I've ever seen in a Pokemon game. Very, very, very low bar. But that's not a dig at this game. I'm impressed with this game. One of the things I want to make sure I call out, because it's a throwaway bullet point.

But especially early on, I was playing it. I'm like, man, this is giving me the Animal Crossing vibes I've been missing. I just here's a great little track on repeat. I'm running through a lovely town. Everyone's nice to me. We're doing dumb little things. They're giving me shit for no reason. I'm like, yeah, I want to live here.

People just give me gifts left. I love this. When the music's good, the music's so good in this. It's just unfortunately, and this is another thing where I'm like, Pokemon Company and Game Freak, like fuck you guys, you have the money. Like, so much of it, not so much. A lot of it is beautifully performed. And then so much of it is just

cheap little middy shit. I'm like, what are we doing? Like, and the juxtaposition back and forth is, I think, like, brutal. And I'll be general with this. When you get to some of the bigger battles, the boss battles that you have multiple times than this game or whatever, they play this really offensive sound song that I had to start turning it off. Like it's not offensive, like, they're saying slurs. But I mean, it was just like, the, you know, like things are, things are askew, right? And so, like, the, the music starts getting like weird and like out of time. I'm like, ah, this, I don't like this. I don't, we'll have to talk with it.

It's supposed to make me feel uneasy or whatever. I have a super chat here from Street Shadow. $5 Super Chat. Thanks for your support. Says Quacksley's final evolution in Scarlin Violet was the biggest betrayal in Pokemon evolution history. I almost walked away from the series forever. And then put in parentheses partial sarcasm of it that says it was the first

time I dropped my Ochi starter. Who are you? I don't know you. Real quick, before we get to the next super chat, something I just want to tell you great that I think is cool and it's not a defense or like propping up anything. Tell me why my story's wrong, go for. No, it's about the Pokemon Center,

which I do want to give them props in the last couple generations, where I really feel like this started with Generation 8, which was the Sword and Shield, right? Each game has not just been in a different place, but kind of had a different theme. So that one, Sword and Shield, it had that, like, the football soccer theme, right? Where it was way more like arena-based, England and all that.

Yeah. All of it was so cool. Yeah. And so it's like the Pokemon. voice in a game. People chanting. The Pokemon centers were where you like heal your Pokemon and they had all the shops and stuff.

It felt like you're going to like the Chase Center, like an arena, like a sports arena. And I thought that was like so cool and fit the vibe of that. And then getting to Scarlet and Violet, like it being school, it is kind of going on the trip. And these are like kiosks, right?

Like where they're heading out Monster Energy drink or whatever. And then yeah, this being in France, it being more vacation vibes for your main character. Like just going to the little local cafes. Like I really love the commitment to the world that they're building here within Pokemon. And I, I, I, they're, they're building something, man. And it's just like every, it's two steps back, three steps forward.

It's like every direction is being all mixed around. But like, we're getting somewhere, y'all. Super chat from Magnamus with a $3 super chat asks, do Pokemon have their abilities? No abilities in this game. I'm pretty sure. Super chat from Yang fan. says switch one performance shiny Pokemon PPs and items a lot of that stuff is embargoed yeah well yeah

we only got switched two codes yeah Ken Jr with a $5 super chat thank you Ken Jr. asks how does auto save work can it be turned off oh I don't works really well I don't know does it yeah I mean I would still I was still I don't remember even seeing an auto save icon ever so I was scared about it okay yeah because I I was very like nervous about saving so I saved a whole bunch. It's easy to save, though. Yeah, I don't know if you can turn off. I don't know. Look into it, I guess.

for you. Super chat from Mr. Hocx, $5.00 Super Chat. As, ORA, says, physical media guy, Tim, can you please give us a 10-minute rant on how awful the Switch 2 box art is for this and every other cross-gen game is? I mean, you've heard that 10-minute rant,

10 different times on shows. You're right. I hate it. It's abysmal. Yeah. I'll tell you what I got coming soon on Switch 1, physical. Absalom. You got to play an absolute. salooned him. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Dude, the, the song with

Mick Gordon on it, is crazy. Like, it's so damn good. Absolume is very, very good. It doesn't look like you can turn it off easily in the settings. There's no settings in this game. Yeah. Oh, of course. Classic. I'm not surprised by that. I'm not surprised by that. Less than ever, I think. John Van Pelt with a Scott Van Pelt's son.

I don't know if you knew that. Said, with a $2 super chat says, this might be embargoed, but is Torchic here again? We can't talk about Pokemon, yeah. Yeah. No, not a whole lot. lot of discussions to be had about Pokemon and kebabs

where they two dollars super chat says Andy is definitely a flaming hot fire gym leader I just don't feel like obviously I love flaming hot snacks

I've always identified with ice or electric yeah even though I love the color purple I've just I'm not a psychic or a yeah I don't freak your mind

like that you know I feel like I tend I prioritize electric on my team so I do think I lean electric to an extent he asked about a

Pokemon because you talk about it I already forgot who that is. I don't care, but it reminded me, and I went and cross-reference. Let's just give a round of applause to Trubbish, all right? I'd never heard of this name, but I love him. And I don't mean, I don't use them, but I just say,

he's everywhere. Hell yeah, what I'm Trubbish, my dude. Yeah, that is a good point. I do think that the, and thank God this is the case, but this is the most integrated Pokemon have been into a world so far. Like, again, what they started with sword and shield, with their wild air,

and how bad that was, but the cities and towns were so great in that. And then you get to RCS and you get in the little villages and they'd kind of be popped around living their lives, doing things. And then those areas ran so smoothly, though. Coming back off of that, and back to the question, you did it, but I never said too much. I really liked the wild areas and I did like the battle zones. And I think I like it just because of the narrative in what they're, why they're explaining that they're there.

I understand your criticism was of them for sure. But I was always always stoked when there'd be a wild area go in there who's in this. I don't know what it is. Start filling on my polka decks that thing. And even the battle zones, it would be like, why are they doing this? It feels like busy work. You can get tonight easier. I would actually try to use the day. Like, I'm doing all stuff. And then they'd be like, all right, night's coming on. Oh, shit, fuck.

I got to try to finish off this thing or that whatever I'm working on being vague, being vague before I could go do it. Yeah, this is definitely one of those. Like, I don't want to get into it to all the people have played, like more in terms of like what I really have problems with, with a lot of the stuff. But I will say that from a gamebook perspective, like I explained, I just feel like it was

a hindrance. Give me the option at the very least to like not do that stuff but I also think like from a story perspective like they made some choices and I'm like man like you really didn't take some core elements of this game seriously and I was a little let down by that

Lucius Augustus with the final super chat says when you compare this game to any other $70 product does it hold up I find people compare Pokemon games to other Pokemon games I mean yeah to any other yeah like to every no

It's like, look, this is always not Final Fantasy 7 remake. And that does bum me the fuck out. Because like my dream, Andy, literally my dream in video games would be to just get a Pokemon at the level of seven remade or seven rebirth specifically. Like, just we don't need a thousand Pokemon. Just choose the 150. It doesn't have to be the 150. But like do something.

Tell a story. Like have it be epic. Have voice acting. Have the gameplay. Like all that stuff. I understand. not what this is and probably we're never going to get that. This is a step that way though and I think that it does a lot of great stuff.

But yeah, I think giving this a 7.5, that's why I give it a 7.5. Yeah. I think obviously your money is your money and what you define as a $70 game is what you define as a $70 game. I think this is worth $70 for sure. I'm looking back and I put, you know, on the switch to whatever, 55 hours into Violet, right? I imagine, I'm far from done.

Even if I was done, even if I had rolled credits. I still have side missions. I'm going to want to go do. I still want to fill out my polka decks. I'm going to want to keep playing. There's DLC eventually coming. Like, I'm, this, again, is my Pokemon game where I'm going to be like, Jones seem to get back.

I feel all the time. I just want to run around. Have a bad get. Have a little bag of got, I guess. Thank you, Brady, one, who also asked the same question with a $10 super chat earlier. Appreciate you, Brady, one. Any final thoughts on Pokemon Legends, Z.A. I'm so happy with it.

I think it's one of those games where I did the demo at one. world and it was like okay like you know you're dropped in this battle zone you're dropped into a mega mega fight or whatever and it was like I don't this is how does this all connect and how it work and will the connective tissue be there and I'm shocked the connect connect connective tissue is there we didn't talk too much about characters uh in one of the presentations I think in the Pokemon direct we did they did a whole thing where they were like talking about the cast of characters for that are like your tani and urbane urbane and all them yeah and it was very much like I remember during the president be like I don't why are you doing this who's gonna care

And I'm like, goddamn, by the end of this, I like these people. I like their little deal. They got a monster squad situation going on here. You know what I mean? And I was like, yeah. So I'm quite enamored with this game and very excited to play more. Jumping off of that real quick, just because I do think it's another example for me of the presentation of it all mattering is it's like, yeah, love them, love the characters, love the side characters. I've been loving the side characters the last couple of games.

I think they've really stepped up, I mean, ironically, even from X and Y, which is I think where I started dropping off of being like, I hate it. your friends here. Like they are getting in the way of all of this. So for it to be back in Calos here is like fun to see a team that I actually really care about them and care about their story.

I'm not going to remember them in a couple years. And it's because they're not voice active. If there was personality and something that I can latch on to, I would remember if they're saying their names and all that stuff, it would go so much further.

But there's not a chance. I remember them. They're going to blend with the last three games. And I liked all of them. I like these characters. But it's just, I think that that that matters. That really matters.

And so, yeah, my final thoughts on this, this is a very good game. This is a very good Pokemon game. I want to see them continue to iterate on this formula because they got something there. And I think people are going to enjoy this one quite a bit. One final question. In Pokemon, I guess it was Scarlet and Violet,

there were a couple of story moments that had me going like, whoa, I wasn't expecting to give a shit about anything happening in this story. was there anything on that level that just made you go oh damn all right cool thank you for doing this this made my experience even better instead of just story fodder because I just like collecting Pokemon really the best way I can say this

and I've said it in like 10 different ways but like I do think the last like three games have really started to hone in on the side stories and characters around you all adding up and mattering and I think that they very much do in this and because they're all in one city characters are able to like come in and out of the story

in a way that feels a bit more realistic than some of the other games like with the Game of Thrones season 6 fast travel type of stuff right even though they can fly that's a joke but like it just feels a bit more and again the fact that these characters love the city they're in and that's kind of the story I think yes Andy there are a there are multiple

moments that really really made me go like that was nice nice even not even having you know the history yeah I agreed hell yeah everybody this has been the kind of funny games cast each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews, and topics that video games live on YouTube, Twitch, and podcast services around the globe. And if you love what we do, please support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad-free. Watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show.

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