GAMEFREAK WHY DID YOU KILL AZ HE WAS PRECIOUS I LOVED HIM WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Like seriously, at the beginning of the entire final act, just after you finish your final rival fight in the main story and get the call from the boy, I just say "Is someone gonna die? Nah, this is pokemon, they wouldn't do that" and BOY was I wrong on that one, holy hell.

Main Story Finale and giant f*cking plant tower god aside (yes that is what happens in the end, it's a whole thing), I loved Z-A so much. Like genuinely. All of the Wild Zones only having a few Pokémon, the designs of each wild zone feeling unique, and the overall feeling of life in Lumiose was simply a joy to go through. I originally didn't like how it was all just the same buildings over and over, but I came to like the simple look.

All of the characters were well written, and if anyone dares hurt Gwynn, I will be using the Ultimate Weapon. She is precious, she uses Chandelure and I will protect her. All the other characters are great too! Ivor is a doofus, Corbeau is actually just a kinda nice guy and Jacinthe is annoying. I dunno, just find her constant interruptions in the story a pain.

Emma's back too! I like her design! Really leans into a modernised Detective design. And hey, even some EX team flare members make an appearance which was surprising, theres obviously Mable, the professor, but there's two grunts who you fight near the end who run a cafe business, and even my new favourite Team Leader turned chill dude makes a return, Lysandre. Dude got amnesia and an eye scar, he's awesome.

New Megas are a mixed bag. On one hand, we have incredible designs for some obscure Pokémon like Scrafty, Eelektross and Dragalge getting some love, my personal favorites of their respective gens Barbaracle and Chandelure got some love and then we have the... meh designs of Starmie and Pyroar. Not saying their awful, but they kinda suck.

Overall, if you're mixed on getting this game just from the trailers, then take this lil' mini review into consideration. Whilst it's not a perfect game, I think it would've been nice to get the Link Cable so you didn't have to trade for some Pokémon (although that number is surprisingly low, the only REQUIRED ONES are Scizor, Aromatisse and Slurpuff, the rest can be found in the Postgame Wild Zone 20 as Alphas, or in the Xerneas Post Game Questline for Steelix. Only one chance so best hope you catch it!), and maybe some more unique Shiny Hunting Methods. I don't hate the ones we have now, but resetting an area over and over does get slightly repetitive.

And now my biggest gripe with the game that isn't really a gripe and is more so just the Community's issue with the game, the Battles. Not the mechanics, no no, that's pretty good. It's the number you need to do for Mable. You get research tasks from her, with the battles pretty much being required. You need to do 1000 BATTLES. Now, I didn't mind the grind, you get the Shiny Charm at the end which is pretty cool. But it would've been easier to just have the mega dex give like 1000 points or something instead of the 500 points it gives.

Anywhomst, that's my review. A solid 8.5 outta 10 game that I heavily recommend if you're a Pokémon fan. Gives a lot of the Pre-Gen 8 grind where your team isn't majorly over levelled unless you're doing like a Professor Oak Challenge.