SomeRedDude Pokemon Legends: Z-A Review

Finished the game and caught the legendaries. Wanna preface this by saying I think Legends Arceus is the best pokemon game to date. It's wasn't perfect but it had a solid foundation that they SHOULD have used for Z-A to build on. Z-A completely throws that foundation out the window. Instead Z-A is built on shallow filler and padding. The only thing these games have in common is the Legends subtitle and an experimental direction. Z-A is pretty much everything I hate about modern pokemon and worse. The story and characters are not only terrible but are constant interruptions. Every shallow story segment is padded with constant filler clearly made to extend the game's playtime and nothing more. The city is not only unmemorable but graphically GC-era tier. And that's an understatement. It's incredibly boring to explore. The only traversal tools you unlock is a crappy double jump that only works when you're falling. Compare that to all the different mount options you get in Arceus and how each time you unlocked something you could go to previous areas and find new places to explore. Catching and sneaking feels much worse too. They took out all the skill needed for catching and sneaking doesn't even work most of the time. Having to scroll through all your pokeballs in the heat of the moment is terrible game design (should've at least pause time when you're doing it). Arceus removed the terrible IV/EV system and replaced it with something much better. Z-A regressed by using the same old system. Arceus removed the need for trade evos while Z-A opted to use them again. Z-A's combat could have been good if they simply let you take control of the pokemon. For how important positioning is, it's a baffling decision to not have done this. Trying to position your pokemon in this game is so bad that it's not even worth the trouble and makes the game devolve into just spamming super effective/mega moves. No skill or thinking involved. Now with this garbage battle system you're constantly forced into filler battles every step of the story. And that's not including the challenger ticket battles you have to do at night. The whole gameplay loop with the annoying day/night interruptions doesn't feel good to play at all. Arceus was a low budget game made with passion. Z-A is a low budget game made to nickle and dime you. I wouldn't even consider this game worth $20, let alone the 70+30+20 they're asking for. P.S They even had the gal to lock the freaking KALOS STARTER MEGA STONES behind the Nintendo Switch Online paywall scam. DO NOT BUY THIS GARBAGE.