Summary
- Former Nintendo Minute hosts Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have waded into the Legends Z-A discourse.
- They argue that the game “doesn’t look great” and that it’s outclassed by the ten-year-old Wii U title Xenoblade Chronicles X.
- While some hope that a Switch 2 version will be released down the line, improving the visuals, Yang thinks that’s “wishful thinking”.
Game Freak has come under fire year after year for the lackluster visuals in nearly every Pokémon game it has developed, from the more experimental Arceus to mainline entries like Scarlet & Violet. Legends Z-A is no different, but this time, even two former Nintendo marketing leads have waded into the discourse.
“It doesn’t look great,” former director of social media marketing and original content Kit Ellis said (via GamesRadar). “It’s not high-end, pushing the performance of the Switch, and people have pointed out we’re getting a game this month — Xenoblade Chronicles X — that looks incredible. And guess what? That’s actually a ten-year-old game that was on Wii U, so it makes the comparison even more jarring.”
However, the two are more interested in gameplay than graphics.
“It looks pretty rough. Environments look pretty rough,” former senior manager of creator relations and original content Krysta Yang added.
I understand what people are saying when they’re frustrated with this game because it looks very flat. There’s not a lot of detail — Ellis.
But the pair disagree about how dated Legends Z-A’s graphics are. Ellis pointed out that some people have compared it to titles of the GameCube and PS2 era, but Yang argued that’s “going a little too far” and is “overly dramatic”. Ellis, however, contended that, while HD wasn’t possible back then, there were still some “really nice-looking games” that Legends Z-A could rank among.
“It Is Possible For The Switch To Do More If You Work On It”
It’s worth considering that the Switch is far more limited than its cohorts, with tech outclassed by last-gen hardware. However, the pair also noted that there are several games which are gorgeous even within the rigid limitations of the hybrid handheld, such as the aforementioned Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which seamlessly juggled an overworld, sky environment, and expansive underground.
To pull this off, Ellis argues that “You need a team that has the right talent, you need the time, you need the know-how.” Unfortunately, he believes that Game Freak is lacking “so many” of these key aspects.
[Game Freak] is a highly capable studio that has a lot of resources and are very connected to Nintendo. Hey, call them up, ‘Can you help us?’ — Yang.
Granted, we’re still a few months out from launch, and Game Freak will no doubt refine what we saw from the last trailer. Some have even speculated that it might get a Switch 2 version down the line, improving the graphics further, but Yang thinks that’s “wishful thinking”, and Ellis isn’t all too optimistic that what we saw will be improved upon; “This is the company that has yet to fix Scarlet & Violet. So, I think pretty much what we’re seeing is mostly what we’re going to get”.
