[Legends: Arceus] Double Hit Is a Status Move Now?!

[Adam Levine]

Legends: Arceus has changed a lot about Pokémon gameplay, including how catching works, how Pokémon's stats are calculated (seriously, a Level 3 Pokémon in PL:A is jacked compared to Level 3 Pokémon in the other games), and of course, the battles. Many moves were adjusted for the game's new battling mechanics: physical and special stats are boosted at the same time when using moves like Calm Mind and Swords Dance, some moves affect turn order, Stealth Rock and Spikes are now damaging moves instead of entry hazards, many moves were given lower base power or worse accuracy, Double Hit is now a status move (which took me by surprise), a bunch of moves were removed, and so on and so forth.

So, let's talk about them! What do you think about the moves in PL:A, how they were implemented, which of the new moves you like, whether you'd like these moves to act the same way in future games, etc.?

One of the more interesting changes in this game is to Hidden Power. In traditional Pokémon games, Hidden Power's type is based on your Pokémon's IVs. Because IVs aren't really a thing in PL:A, Hidden Power works differently: it always does super effective damage to the target. Now, you'd think this is broken, but as far as I know, Unown is the only Pokémon in this game that can learn Hidden Power, so only it gets overpowered coverage (considering Hidden Power is its only move, this is a welcome change), so while Unown still doesn't seem attractive due to its one move, the fact that this move is uniquely powerful makes it much more interesting and gives it a better identity than "boring letter-shaped collectible" (well, until you get Arceus). If Hidden Power returned in future games, it'd be cool if this quirk carried over, but if any Pokémon other than Unown used it, the move would fail.

 

[Sheep]

I am still surprised to see Double Hit as a buff move now! It's one of the ones I'm still getting used to. @_@ Overall the move changes are positive to me, one of the better ones being Stealth Rock because hooray for damage. I tend to like status moves a little bit more too - don't get me wrong, the way they were done in mainline games was also good (imo), but things like freeze inflicting frostbite rather than outright freezing a target solid seems more realistic to me.

Buffing both stats rather than one for moves like Swords Dance is also a win in my book. Some Pokémon have pretty good physical and special attack stats, so I don't have to worry as much now about making sure the moves fit the buff. Though I admit I tend to go for the full-on offensive in battles, so these changes tend to make it harder for me to win than anything lol. Still, it makes for a welcome challenge!

 

[Corveone]

I think that the Freezing status in the main series is a poor mechanic and should have been modified long ago, because it's literally just a 10% chance of potentially stopping an opponent from attacking for the rest of the battle. It doesn't add any strategy, it's dumb RNG that just "can happen" and neither the user nor the opponent has any control over it.

So yeah, I'm fine with this and some other moves/effects changes.

 

[giradialkia]

Legends Arceus made such strange changes to the battle system; it was simplified considerably, but doesn't feel like it lost much, if anything.

It's cool to see existing moves like Stealth Rock and Spikes have been changed to actually do damage now, whereas Double Hit is more of a Focus Energy type thing. It's like, similar moves were all just combined and their effects met somewhere in the middle.

It actually makes sense to have Nasty Plot or Calm Mind on my Infernape now; I always use Infernape as a Physical mon, and now those moves will boost its physical attack as well.

On the whole, it's made for battles to be more fast and furious whilst still retaining a level of strategy like the older games. I'm all for it!