Pokemon Legends: Arceus stepped away from the familiar, repetitive formula of the mainline Pokemon series and brought several major changes to core mechanics. Everything from how catching worked to how Pokemon moves were handled in battle saw some update to fit into this new, innovative take on a Pokemon title. One feature in particular stood out as an interesting and worthwhile change: the Pokedex.
In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the player is tasked with completing the first Pokedex in history. Every entry in the book is blank, and players must catch Pokemon multiple times while observing their specific behaviors to fully complete each entry. While Pokedex entries are typically completed when a monster is captured for the first time in the mainline series, Pokemon Legends: Arceus requires significantly more work. This one change made the Pokedex seem more worthwhile, and it felt like a major accomplishment to complete it. This change should be one of the features that is passed along to the mainline games, like the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
A True Challenging Pokedex
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While Pokedex entries can be completed mainly through catching and defeating a Pokemon in battle, to perfect an entry, players must see the Pokemon use specific moves, or watch it do certain styles of attacks while exploring the vast Hisui Region. This format for the Pokedex truly feels like studying wild Pokemon, not just catching one and immediately forgetting about it in the PC box.
These Pokedex objectives added character to every Pokemon, and made it so players had to spend time with each individual monster. While some objectives are naturally completed as players progress through the game, such as seeing moves or battling the Pokemon multiple times, others serve to guide a player in the right direction for figuring out a Pokemon's unique evolution mechanic - such as evolving Stantler into Wyrdeer.
Stantler's Pokedex challenges include seeing Stantler use Psyshield Bash a number of times, as well as seeing Stantler use Agile Style moves. If a player happens to be working on those two challenges simultaneously, they may accidentally unlock the evolution for Stantler. This not only made unlocking each entry fulfilling, but it could even lead to accidental discoveries that players may not have found on their own.
The Pokedex in Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a challenge to complete, through it does feature two different "stages" of completion. Players only need to complete a portion of the challenges in each entry to complete the Pokedex, which rewards players with some nice benefits after defeating the final challenging fight against Volo. "Mastering" the Pokedex by completing all challenges does not net a new reward beyond a sense of satisfaction.
Modifying Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Pokedex for Future Games
In the mainline Pokemon games, completing the Pokedex is typically seen as a secondary objective, with the primary objective being to complete the region's Gym challenge and defeat the Champion. However, putting a bigger emphasis on the Pokedex in future games, and shifting the design to be more like Pokemon Legends: Arceus, could be a fantastic adjustment. The first change would be to dial back some grindy steps for the Pokedex. The concept of completing challenges and catching a Pokemon multiple times is great in theory, but Pokemon Legends: Arceus takes it a step too far. Catching upwards of 15-to-25 of nearly every Pokemon is excessive, as five or so of every Pokemon accompanied by the other observations would be a good amount - especially if completing the Pokedex in Scarlet and Violet is as rewarding as Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
Being the start of a generation, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will likely feature plenty of new Pokemon in addition to the starters that have already been shown off. Having players study each Pokemon more in-depth would be a great way to introduce new monsters into the franchise. Not only would players slowly piece together the Pokedex entries and details about the Pokemon, but perhaps they would learn more about the new Pokemon's specific behaviors in the wild.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have an opportunity to really take the advances Pokemon Legends: Arceus made to the next level, specifically when it comes to Pokemon in the overworld. One way to do this would be to have Pokemon interact with each other more, along the lines of something seen in Pokemon Snap. A great example is interactions between Zangoose and Seviper, two Pokemon who are known to have a rivalry. While only Seviper was shown in the Scarlet and Violet announcement trailer, these two Pokemon usually come in a pair. Instead of having filler Pokedex challenges, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could have challenges where players battle Zangoose with Seviper or vice versa, or observe these Pokemon interacting in the overworld.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus set the stage for what could be one of the best changes to the series. As Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are open world, they have the opportunity to improve upon Pokemon Legends: Arceus' overworld Pokemon. This leads to a perfect opportunity to adapt Pokemon Legends: Arceus' challenge-based Pokedex by filling it with ideas that pertain to observing Pokemon in the wild. If the new games lower the grind just a bit and create more unique challenges, while still having the Pokedex be more difficult than previous mainline games, it could very well be the best take on the Pokedex yet.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are scheduled to release for Nintendo Switch in late 2022.