History VideoGame / PokemonLegendsArceus

Serving as a {{distant prequel}} to the rest of the ''Pokémon'' games, the game takes place in the Hisui Region (later to be renamed the [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Sinnoh Region]]) during a time period when humans and Pokémon were not bonded quite the way they are in modern times, and organizations such as the Pokémon League didn't yet exist. As part of the Galaxy Expedition Team, specifically a member of the Survey Corps, the player is tasked to explore the vast wilderness of this largely uninhabited region, fill out its first [=PokéDex=], and uncover the mysteries surrounding the mythical Pokémon Arceus and the space-time rifts that have opened above the region, driving Pokémon to insanity and threatening the safety of Hisui.

The game takes a break from the traditional ''Pokémon'' format, as the gameplay cycle involves you on going on expeditions around Hisui in order to meet, capture and battle the local Pokémon in order to fill out the region's first [=PokéDex=] while also taking on various missions and requests to help out the people of Jubilife Village and the people who already live in the region. The battle mechanisms have also gotten a notable overhaul; The game uses a CombatantCooldownSystem instead of TurnBasedCombat, many of the moves have changed to fit the new format and you can now power your moves with different [[StanceSystem Styles]] to help you get an edge in battle.

* OneHundredPercentCompletion: For this game, the [=PokéDex=] comes with several tasks for every species, and a research rank for how many are completed. An entry isn't considered completed until the research rank reaches level ten, which can be achieved with typical grinding tasks like capturing or defeating enough of that specific Pokémon. However, if you want a "perfect" ranking, you'll need to do all the research tasks for an entry, which requires seeing rare moves in use dozens of times, rare encounters in certain conditions and times of day, and sometimes even a sidequest or two. Though as a side benefit, perfecting an entry raises the shiny rate for that Pokémon.

** How far along are Pokémon and human relationships in this world? Hisuians are, by and large, extremely paranoid and fearful of Pokémon when you are warped in, with dialogue stating human weaponry is no match against the fangs and claws of Pokemon and hearing a heavily-injured man being treated after getting mauled by a Pokémon in the intro, and it's heavily implied Kamado's previous hometown was deliberately targeted by Pokemon, but Professor Laventon's presence throws a wrench into things. His dialogue and research can imply Pokémon are better understood in most other regions and treated closer to how they are in the "modern" day of the series, ''or'' often treated as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but others are just as fearful as the Hisuians. Alola's Ride Pokémon are brought up at one point, suggesting that Alola, at least, is much more comfortable with Pokémon at this point--though it's ambiguous as to how far along the other regions are beyond it being explicitly stated that trainers do exist in other regions (albeit they are referred to in a manner where they are treated as rare/unusual by average people in the region), and PokéDexes are already a known thing. It is also stated that the Pokémon in Hisui are overall more aggressive towards humans than in other regions, and the people immigrating there are mostly desperate people who don't have anywhere else to go, suggesting their situation is not the norm for the Pokémon world as a whole. The fact that the Diamond and Pearl Clans are comfortable enough with Pokémon for most of the Wardens to have a few of their own (albeit not in Pokéballs, aside from Ingo), though aren't quite as knowledgeable on modern-day Pokémon facts like Laventon and (possibly) the player character, further throws a wrench in things.
* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The setting and basic plot of researching and surveying the region is a reference to the Japanese explorations of Hokkaido (which Hisui and Sinnoh are based on) during the Meiji Restoration, which would place the game in the late-19th century--supporting this is a mention of a "steamship" in one of the [=PokéDex=] entries and the Galaxy Team's usage of hydro power (in the form of a pair of water wheels) and incandescent lighting in Jubilife village, indicating that there is enough understanding of electricity for at least a basic power grid equivalent to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The reason why this is a case of "ambiguous" time period is because the Pokémon universe has always been a case of TwentyMinutesInTheFuture relative to the real world related to technology (along with the series in general being rather vague on just ''how'' the existence of Pokémon affected the development of technology itself). This leaves it hard to gauge how far in the "distant past" Hisui truly is relative to the rest of the series. Spiritomb having already been sealed for at least two hundred years implies that the game can't take place more than three hundred years in the past, but nothing more specific is certain. Muddying things further is that other games state Pokémon and humans were first united thousands of years in the past but--depending on who you ask -- either the rest of the world has united with their Pokémon to the extent of what we see in the "modern" day or Hisui is simply the last to stop seeing them as violent creatures. Even in the village proper, responses range from "Pokemon are all evil" to immigrants from the rest of the world happily bringing in trained Pokémon. But even the immigrants are, with the exception of the Alolan native, varied in how integrated they are with Pokémon. Some say they're not as fearful as Hisuians are or even talk about using Pokémon more freely where they're from, while others are wary.

** You do not need to complete all the tasks in a Pokémon's [=PokéDex=] entry for it to count is as "complete"; you only need to do enough to raise its research level to 10. Completing every single task instead counts as a "perfect" entry, which makes a Shiny of that species more likely to spawn. Moreover, the game considers the [=PokéDex=] finished so long as you have caught one of every Pokémon regardless of research level, cutting down on the time needed to access the fight against [[TrueFinalBoss Arceus]].

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Throughout the game, the protagonist helps develop the base Hisui [=PokéDex=] which would be used by future generations in Sinnoh, and indirectly gives Kamado the idea to name the Hisui region as the Sinnoh region. Their quest to solve the mystery of the space-time rift also results in the wrecked appearance of Spear Pillar in the present. By letting a member of the Diamond Clan thank Shaymin for saving her life in the OldSaveBonus for ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', the player is also responsible for transforming the hill that would one day become Floaroma Town from a barren eyesore to a lush flower garden.

** Achieving Full Star rank. The last major rewards for ranking up, the crafting recipes for Jet Balls and Full Restores, come at eight stars with 20,000 research points. Nine stars requires 30,000 total points, and ten stars a staggering ''60,000'', double the amount needed to get the first nine stars. The rewards for the last two ranks are the standard expedition pay raise and plenty of experience candies and high-rank Grit items, which aren't very necessary since the player has likely beaten the entire post-game and received level 10 research on most or all of the [=PokéDex=] by then (which grants the Shiny Charm, a non-bragging rights reward). Of course, with a lot of time and patience, it's entirely possible to achieve Full Star rank before even beating the game. So, this is bit of a downplayed case.

* CassandraTruth: Unown's [=PokéDex=] entry has Professor Laventon note its resemblance to "writing from other lands" (i.e. the Latin alphabet), then add that nobody takes him seriously when he tries to point this out.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The Hisui regional [=PokéDex=] takes after Sinnoh's Dex from ''Platinum'' with the addition of new regional forms and evolutions plus a few others. However, a dozen species from Sinnoh aren't present in Hisui at all [[labelnote:List]]Goldeen line, Meditite line, Hoothoot line, Wooper line, Wingull line, Girafarig, Azurill line, Feebas line, Swablu line, Houndour line, Tropius, Absol[[/labelnote]]. The most noticeable result of the omissions is that Volo's team, which is otherwise a carbon coby of Cynthia's ''Platinum'' team, swaps out Milotic for Hisuian Arcanine. Furthermore, a few Pokémon that have been either catchable in or transferrable to every mainline game beforehand, such as Charizard, aren't even present in the code for the first time in the series.

** After returning from Solaceon Ruins, Unown will start hiding all around Hisui, and completing the Unown [=PokéDex=] entry requires you to find all 28 of them.

** Glaceon's [=PokéDex=] entry refers to the snow it creates around itself as "diamond dust", which is a special variation of snow that first appeared in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl''.
** Raichu's [=PokéDex=] entry states that it can incapacitate a Copperajah, referencing and retconning the Indian elephant from previous entries.

** Piplup can be found in the wild, and nearby is an Alpha Empoleon. Prior [=PokéDex=] entries mention that Empoleon are ''very'' protective of their chicks (and as to why you won't necessarily encounter Prinplup, that's covered by their Dex entries noting all Prinplup are loners by nature).

* DistantPrequel: The first trailer describes the plot of ''Legends'' as "a tale from when the Sinnoh region was still only a vast wilderness", placing it a long time before the events of ''Diamond and Pearl'', which features a Sinnoh with plenty of cities. The official website further describes the game as being set in Sinnoh's distant past, long before trainers as we know them or the Pokémon League were established. How long ago it takes place in more precise terms is as yet unclear, but many aspects of the setting correspond to a time in Japan's history from well over a century ago, albeit with some more modern applications; for example, hydroelectricity and electric lighting are apparently common utilities, at least for the people of Jubilife Village, and the [=PokéDex=] entry for Buizel mentions a steamship, which could place the technological level at roughly around the turn of the 20th century.

* DuelBoss: The Daybreak update adds the Path of Solitude to Ingo's options at the training grounds. It serves as a continuation of the Master Trainers from ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'', with the player picking one high-leveled Pokémon and pitting it against a specific Pokémon or team of 3 for the creation trio and Arceus) with no other assistance (unlike in ''Let's Go'', not all fights are a MirrorMatch). Winning adds a mark to the corresponding [=PokéDex=] entry, and there are rewards for winning a certain amount of times and sidequests for winning with certain Pokémon.

** It has long been a part of the lore of the Pokémon world that most Pokémon vary in size even as adults depending on the individual. In a first for the mainline games, the Pokémon of Hisui (except for Legendary and Mythical ones) are depicted as visually coming in a variety of sizes, ranging from roughly half the official Pokedex size to roughly double said size. Seeking out a certain size is made a goal of an early quest to draw attention to this aspect.

** Snorlax are [[NoSell unaffected]] by the stunning effect caused by throwing a Spoiled Apricorn at them. Several of Snorlax's [=PokéDex=] entries in other games note that Snorlax can eat moldy, rotten, or even poisoned food with no ill effects.

** In [=PokéDex=] entries, it's mentioned that some people use Nosepass as a compass because they always point north. Sure enough, unless startled and alerted to the player's presence, Nosepass found in the wild will always point north.

* TheGhost: Several Pokémon not available in Hisui are mentioned in [=PokéDex=] entries or dialogue, such as Copperajah being retconned as the Indian elephant, a Galarian Weezing is the model for the Galaxy Building's chimney, Ingo vaguely recalling his Chandelure, and the Regi trio are only referenced by the statues in Snowpoint Temple and the requirement of the Stone, Iron and Icicle Plates to meet Regigigas in person.

** The Pokedex entry for Raichu mentions that its voltage "would incapacitate a Copperajah (A Pokémon based off of an Indian Elephant) in [the player's] homeland", a reference to the infamous Pokédex entries in which their Voltage is described as being able to make an [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Indian Elephant]] faint.[[note]]''Pokémon'' used to be set in the real world and had an ambiguous relationship with real-world animals before decidedly moving everything to its own world and stating no other animals existed.[[/note]]

* TrueFinalBoss: Catching Arceus and completing the final Mission of the game ("The Deified Pokémon") requires you to complete the entire Hisui [=Pokédex=].

** During the final battle against Volo, he effectively has a team of eight Pokémon (his usual six, Giratina, Giratina's "Origin" form) while you are still limited to the usual six. It's notable as [[BreakingOldTrends the first time in the series]] a trainer uses more than six.

** The Reveal Glass can also be used to transform Enamorus between its Incarnate and Therian Formes.

** Ursaluna only evolve from Ursaring when a Peat Block is used on them, and the Peat Block can only be used on them during a full moon at night. One request requires you to observe Clefairy in the Fabled Spring during a full moon, you can reapply the Ursaluna evolution mechanic to serve as a quick full-moon indicator that's faster than searching the sky. If you carry a Peat Block and an Ursaring at the same time and sleep at a camp until nightfall, you can immediately check if the Peat Block will work on the Ursaring. This will instantly tell you if you're at the right lunar phase to complete the request and let you know if you have to keep sleeping to the next night.

* IdenticalAncestor: There are numerous characters in the game that look similar to modern-day ''Pokémon'' characters; though only one has officially had this confirmed to be the case (Kamado being Professor Rowan's ancestor), numerous others can be guessed by their appearance alone (e.g. Cyllene and Volo look like gender-flipped versions of Cyrus and Cynthia, respectively).
** This could also be applied to the NPC counterpart of Rei/Akari, depending on what gender the player chose for their character, as, due to being native to the time period, they could easily become either Lucas' or Dawn's ancestor.

** The clothing shop, in a similar fashion to ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield''. Over 80 items of clothing, from individual tops and bottoms to the outfit sets, they cost from 1,000 to over 4,000 Pokédollars for individual items, and up to ten thousand Pokédollars for a single outfit set. The benefits are purely cosmetic.

* MusicalSpoiler: Fortunately combined with FiveSecondForeshadowing. The four notes that play when Volo readies for his final battle are a dramatic version of the four piano notes that start Cynthia's encounter theme, making his [[AmbiguouslyRelated apparent relation to Cynthia clear and clueing you in for the grueling battle about to start. Indeed, once you start the battle, he starts off with the iconic Spiritomb, and a remix of Cynthia's full encounter theme starts to play.]]

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: In the end, Volo severs all ties with the protagonist out of anger that they'll meet Arceus instead of him through his violent methods. [[FaceHeelTurn If he hadn't decided to turn on them since it was apparent beforehand that he was interested in seeing Arceus that could've been chalked up to general interest, the protagonist would've likely shown him the fragment of Arceus they do end up catching in the end, meaning that he's essentially thrown away his only chance to see Arceus.]]

** Ursaluna only evolve from Ursaring when a Peat Block is used on them, and the Peat Block can only be used on them during a full moon at night. Since one request requires you to observe Clefairy in the Fabled Spring during a full moon, you can reapply the Ursaluna evolution mechanic to serve as a quick full-moon indicator that's faster than searching the sky. If you carry a Peat Block and an Ursaring at the same time and sleep at a camp until nightfall, you can immediately check if the Peat Block will work on the Ursaring. This will instantly tell you if you're at the right lunar phase to complete the request and let you know if you have to keep sleeping to the next night.

* OddNameOut: Or title, rather, Lilligant is the ''[[TheSmurfettePrinciple Lady]]'' [[TheSmurfettePrinciple of the Ridge compared to the other Lords]], which is only because [[OneGenderRace Lilligant are always female]].
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The reason you have to tell the Galaxy Team which region you're exploring is the fact that wild Pokémon can directly attack you and knock you unconscious. The Survey Corps includes a search-and-rescue team, which is the reason you respawn at a camp with only some items missing from your satchel rather than dying, which is explicitly stated to be a possibility for those who are left to fend for themselves in the wilds. The implication is that the other members of the Survey Corps somehow find your unconscious body instantly and defend it and themselves from the wild Pokémon that knocked you out (up to and including a ''Level 85 Alpha Garchomp'') long enough to drag you all the way back to a campsite, all without getting knocked out themselves.

** Sneasler has female pronouns used when talking about her while all the other Ride Pokémon use male pronouns, which implies Sneasler is the only female amongst them.

* ThatsNoMoon: When you go to battle Lord Avalugg, you're directed to his boss arena and start searching for him. As you're looking around, the ground begins to rumble, drifts of snow are thrown into the air, and the arena's floor splits open to reveal itself to be the recumbent form of the colossal Noble itself, leaving you stranded on a small jag of rock as her roars furiously at you and begins the battle.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: If the Noble Pokémon are a team to begin with, two of them are identified as female: Lilligant (which is from an AlwaysFemale species) and Sneasler. Each of these is primarily worshipped by a different clan -- Lilligant is the Diamond Clan's Noble Pokémon, while Sneasler is with the Pearl Clan -- which may give this trope some overlap with TheSmurfettePrinciple.

* UntrustingCommunity: When the PlayerCharacter first arrives in [[HubCity Jubilife Village]], the natives are suspicious of the [[TrappedInAnotherWorld stranger in odd clothing]], with the local restaurant owner outright refusing to serve you before slamming the door in your face. However, after the player demonstrates their skill as a Trainer and joins the Survey Corps the townspeople begin to warm up to them. Though some reveal they ''never'' trusted the player when they're banished under suspicion of causing the space-time rift.
** Even worse, depending on how many requests you do, it can also become a case of UngratefulTownsfolk, as they could only get Partner Pokémon and expand their businesses ''because of the player.''
* UtilityWeapon: More like Utility Mon, but your partner Pokémon can be directed to collect berries and minerals while exploring.
* VictoryFakeout: A delightfully cruel one occurs in the battle with Volo and Giratina. Once Giratina's HP is knocked down to zero, it'll stumble for a moment and cry out in pain... then its eyes flash, it stands back up and turns into its Origin Form, [[ThemeMusicPowerUp complete with remixed iconic battle theme]], regaining all its health in the process and becoming even ''more'' powerful.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Beating up weak, low-level, or even ''baby'' Pokémon can be a quick way to level up weaker Pokémon of your own as well as fill in Pokédex Research Tasks like "number defeated", "number defeated with [X-type] move", "number of times seen using [X move]", etc., without much risk. However, they are known to [[CubCuesProtectiveParent run toward their nearby evolved forms]] and alert them to you, potentially pulling you into a battle with a stronger (sometimes even Alpha) Pokémon. The post-game Massive Mass Outbreaks go even further, where their evolved forms can even randomly spawn (again, potentially as Alphas) meaning a much stronger Pokémon two or three times the level of their unevolved forms may spawn in right on top of you if near enough to the spawn point.

* AbortedArc: After the initial premise of the Time Rift bringing over the protagonist and Ingo, both of whom may wish to go home to some degree (it is unclear how much they even remember), the narrative never has them make an effort or express a desire to get back to their time period even after the confrontation with the characters who were responsible for the Time Rift, Volo and Giratina, as well as Arceus, the Pokemon that assigned the protagonist and Ingo the mission to stop them in the first place. The closest they come is Arceus telling the player character that Hisui is where they "now dwell," indicating they are to stay there indefinitely.

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: You only need Star Rank 5 to be able to access all the areas and complete the game, which comes out to 8,500 research points. The maximum Rank you can actually achieve is Rank 10, requiring a whopping ''60,000'' research points. Points themselves are capped at 99,999.

** The Rei or Akari you play as has a strong resemblance to Lucas or Dawn, and come from the present-day as well, but it's left ambiguous as to whether or not they actually are the ''Diamond and Pearl'' protagonists a few years older, or just nearly identical strangers. Perhaps the biggest notable difference is that Lucas/Dawn are left-handed in ''Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl'', but the protagonist of ''Legends'' is right-handed.

** Pokémon caught while you are exiled can still be reported to the Professor when you are reinstated in the Galaxy Team, meaning there's no reason to hold off on catching Pokémon because you will still get funds from them, just at a later point in time.
** Pokémon which require items or high happiness to evolve and don't appear in the wild can still be caught either in space-time distortions, flying around in specific locations (like Togetic or Crobat) or in the form of respawning Alphas (including the three Sinnoh Starters). The only exception are the Alphas from the lake trials, which will disappear after you catch or defeat them. The only Pokémon that you absolutely need to evolve yourself are most of the ones with Hisuian forms. Even in that case, you can find their pre-evolved forms with high levels, so you can just catch and evolve them immediately, like Zoroark. [[DownplayedTrope Unfortunately]], some new Hisuian Pokémon are locked behind [[GuideDangIt particularly convoluted evolution methods]].

** The game's day-and-night cycle is determined by an in-game clock instead of what time it is in the real world (1 minute IRL = 1 hour in-game), so it's possible to catch and/or evolve certain Pokemon without losing sleep or messing with the Switch's system settings. Additionally, taking a rest in the tent gives you the option to skip to certain time periods, so you can do your business sooner.

** Greatly downplayed with Hidden Power. The move now always deals super-effective damage, so it's gotta be awesome, right? Unfortunately, the only Pokémon who learns it in this game is the very weak [[MasterOfNone Unown.]]

** Avalugg emerges as an absolutely humongous kaiju from beneath the snow and gives the player a MightyRoar in their face.

* BrutalBonusLevel: The post-game after stopping the space-time distortions by calming Dialga/Palkia ramps up the difficulty considerably and doesn't stop until beating the TrueFinalBoss:

** If you're a Nintendo fan whose brain defaulted to ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' mechanics upon seeing the open world, it probably took several failed attempts to climb or swim away from danger before you accepted that it wasn't possible -- because it's a Pokemon game. You later get a series of mounts that allow you to traverse the areas.

* DarkestHour: Everything goes to hell the next day after you successfully quell the last Noble Pokémon Lord, Avalugg. The sky turns red, and the space-time rift expands to a much larger size. Kamado ''immediately'' pins all the blame on you, and banishes you from the village and fires you, in spite of the protests of Professor Laventon, Rei/Akari, Adaman, and Irida. On top of that, the Diamond and Pearl clans have been forced into not helping you, not even to seek refuge. At this point, you are all alone, betrayed by the village you worked so hard for, and have been left to die. That is, until Volo comes to your aid and brings you to see Cogita.

* DeathMountain: The Coronet Highlands. Their main gameplay gimmick is that they're the game's most vertical area, steadily sloping up from the base camp to Electrode's arena, and traversal here requires navigating multiple steep ascents. This is where the player gains access to Sneasler, whose sharp claws allow her to scale vertical walls, as her aid is needed to ascend the Highlands' many sheer cliffs.

** The Unown sidequest [[DownplayedTrope does a bit better]], since the game does give you hints on where to find each one (albeit hints you have to translate from Unown lettering). However, once you decipher the hint, you still have to comb through the area to find the little eyeball peeking out (and said eyeball may not be visible depending on your vantage point) and some hints are more vague than others. For example, the hint for B reads ''Turn your eyes up at the volcanic island,'' with no indication as to where on Firespit Island you have to do so. One of the most challenging, Unown, W, is located on the eye of one of the Magikarp statues on the top of the Galaxy Team Headquarters -- leading to many people trying to get this Unown by throwing balls from the outside from the ground level, which works but is hard to aim from. Turns out there's a door in Kamado's office that leads to a balcony outside on the top floor, letting you walk out side and hit it directly from close up. The game doesn't mention it at all and there's no other incentive to visit his office causally outside of progressing the story.

** This game shrinks the total move pool due to the change in scope, meaning that most Pokémon have altered, truncated learnsets and certain staple moves are missing, which can get confusing when raising an otherwise familiar Pokémon. For example, Earthquake, the signature high physical damage Ground-type move, is absent, while High Horsepower from Generation VII has been added to many learned move sets and the move tutor in place of it (Garchomp notably cannot learn it and is stuck with Bulldoze for physical Ground STAB as a result).
** While they are coded into the game (as the pokemon can be moved to Pokémon Home and thus gain them), Abilities are not implemented outside of a small number of exceptions. It can be a stark realization when an opponent using a Ground-type move against your Rotom or Haunter -- who normally have the Levitate ability[[note]]Ground-type attacks won't hit.[[/note]] -- and they're taken down in a single super-effective hit.