History VideoGame / PokemonLegendsArceus

* ActionizedSequel: Or in this case, actionized prequel, as the game moves from the traditional TurnBasedCombat of previous entries to a form of CombatantCooldownSystem. In addition, for the first time in the series, the human player character is capable of being directly injured during Pokémon battles and can even have their expedition crippled if they take too much damage, and the action before a player's Pokémon is sent out is played in real time rather than in a cutscene.
* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: An NPC named Bagin in the Galaxy Team's HQ can expand your inventory by one space for a starting price of 100 Pokédollars. You can keep talking to him to buy more inventory spaces, but every time you do so, Bagin ups the ante by another 100, up until he asks you for 1,000 on your sixth extra space. ''Then'', the price starts to increase by 500, then eventually by 1,000, and by further-rising exponents up until he demands a mind-boggling '''1,000,000 Pokédollars''' for the final upgrade.

** The Pokémon both the Diamond and Pearl clans worship do exist, but they think their respective Legendary Pokemon is the Almighty Sinnoh.

* 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 our own when it comes to technology (along with the series in general being rather vague on just ''how'' the existence of Pokémon affected the development of technology itself) leaving 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 united thousands of years in the past, and 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.

* {{Antepiece}}: Poké Ball and item throwing plus dodging aggressive Pokémon attacks are core mechanics in catching and fighting Pokémon, but they also serve as important player training for the increasingly difficult boss fights against the Noble Pokémon, which are built primarily on the throwing and dodging mechanics.

** Since Shaymin and Darkrai are only accessible via OldSaveBonus, they are the only Pokémon that do not need to be caught to fight against Arceus.

** You can freely change a Pokémon's name and moveset at any time, without the need of an NPC as in previous games. A Move Tutor in Jubilife Village will also teach it moves for a fee, and this simply adds the moves you select to that Pokémon's possible moveset options. Additionally, using said Move Tutor is far more convenient than its predecessors due to taking money instead of items like colored shards or Heart Scales as payment.
** You can manually trigger when an evolution occurs for every Pokémon, not just the ones that require evolution stones, in case you want to work on research tasks that involve it using certain moves. Additionally, if a Pokémon you've just caught already meets the conditions for evolution, you can evolve it immediately instead of having to raise it to the next level (or using a Rare Candy if it's already at Level 100).
** Unlike previous games with the ability to fight multiple Pokémon at once, you can throw a ball at and attempt to catch them whenever you want instead of having to wait until you've fainted all but one.
** You don't have to beat a frenzied Noble Pokémon all in one go if you're having trouble with it. If you black out, there's an option to restart with progress (meaning that the frenzy bar will retain the damage you've done to it) except you and your Pokémon will be returned to full health.
*** In addition to this, blacking out against a Noble Pokémon does not incur the item loss penalty that blacking out anywhere else in the game does.

*** Laventon mentions that all Pokémon possess the ability to shrink in size. In an old Japanese-only lorebook it's mentioned that Poké Balls were first invented when a Primeape suffering from a drug overdose curled up into Professor Westwood's glasses case, and in ''Diamond and Pearl'' Lucian mentions that Poké Balls were first invented to take advantage of a Pokémon's natural tendency to curl up tightly in a ball when injured.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory:
** It's easy to forget that ''Pokémon Legends: Arceus'' doesn't ''exactly'' have the same battle system as ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' or the other mainline games. To note:
*** The biggest difference comes in the shift from a pure TurnBasedCombat system to a CombatantCooldownSystem; you may find yourself shouting "Why did they get two turns in a row!?" until it sinks in. You might also get thrown off by the changes to status conditions (Sleep and Frozen no longer lock the victim out of combat entirely), the lack of abilities (you can effectively hit the Gastly family with Ground-type attacks since they no longer have Levitate) and other subtle changes to the behavior of moves (Stealth Rock is a DamageOverTime attack rather than an entry hazard, for instance).
*** 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, Abilities are not implemented, with only a very small number of exceptions. It can be a stark realization when, for example, you go from smirking at an opponent using a Ground-type move against your Rotom or Haunter, expecting their "Levitate" ability to cancel it out, then to shock when they are instead taken down in a single super-effective hit.
*** In the [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Wild Area]], battles with overworld Pokémon were initiated by running into them. In ''Legends: Arceus'', you do so by throwing one of your own Pokémon at them. At best, running into an overworld Pokémon will do nothing. At worst, it'll damage you and anger the Pokémon.
** In terms of controls, there are also some significant differences. To note:
*** The B button has different functions depending on whether or not you're mounted; while on a Ride Pokémon it can speed them up, but if you're on foot you'll slow down and sneak. This can trip you up if you don't keep in mind the different functionality, as well as if you've played earlier ''Pokémon'' games where B was for running and kept holding that button out of habit.
*** In previous games, the menu would be assigned to the Start Button, with later ones assigning it to the X Button. Neither of them bring up the main menu in this game. Instead, D-Pad Up brings up the menu; the Start/+ Button activates one of your mounts (which you switch between with D-Pad Left and Right), while the X button switches between the on-screen menus for throwable items and your Pokémon team. Best case scenario, you will hit the X Button and accidentally switch between these menus, forcing you to tap it again lest you forget and accidentally throw a Poké Ball when you need a Pokémon (or vice versa) a few minutes later. Worst case scenario, you immediately break stealth in front of the Alpha or skittish Pokémon you were sneaking up on because you hit the + Button and summoned a mount. At least ''Sword and Shield'' [[DownplayedTrope assigned the Rotom Bike to +]], so if you played that game, you will already have begun thinking of + as the "ride something" button.
*** 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 that wasn't a thing. Fortunately, you later get some mounts that allow you to do these, though be prepared to fruitlessly panic-mash the X button while climbing up a cliff away from a rampaging Luxray.

** Once again, Alolans are [[UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} Hawaiians]], with an Alolan immigrant named [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Keaka Keaka]] (a common Hawaiian name) referring to Alolan Vulpix as [[https://wehewehe.org/gsdl2.85/cgi-bin/hdict?e=q-11000-00---off-0hdict--00-1----0-10-0---0---0direct-10-ED--4--textpukuielbert%2ctextmamaka-----0-1l--11-en-Zz-1---Zz-1-home-keokeo--00-3-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-00-2utfZz-8-00&a=d&d=D7767#hero-bottom-banner Keokeo]], meaning "white" or "clear".
* FatalFlaw: Commander Kamado's is paranoia. After losing his home village and most of his friends to a wild Pokémon attack, he's very averse to trusting people outside his inner circle. So when the protagonist literally falls out of the sky through a spacial rift, he's naturally suspicious of them, and despite the protagonist succeeding in all their assignments, the circumstances of their arrival in Hisui continues to bother Kamado and keeps relations between them tense at best. This tension reaches a boiling point once a ''massive'' space rift, the same type of rift the protagonist fell from, appears over Mount Coronet, ultimately resulting in him ''expelling'' the player from the village.
* FellAsleepStandingUp: If a Pokémon hits you with Hypnosis in the overworld, your movement speed will be slowed for a few seconds before this happens. Notably, this forces you on your feet if you were crouching when it kicked in, leaving you vulnerable to attacks until you wake up (which thankfully doesn't take long).

** A borderline literal example from the post-game: if you're pursuing the quest to catch Cresselia at the Moonview Arena, '''for the love of Arceus, talk to Melli first'''. As many players found out the hard way, catching Cresselia before talking to him will ''not'' flag the quest as complete, leaving the quest- which is necessary to unlock the final battle with Volo and Giratina- ''permanently inaccessible'', leaving the player with no recourse other than to delete their save data and start potentially dozens or hundreds of hours of progress over again. Fortunately, this was patched in the Daybreak update.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZIIqSI0NJ8 Another, rather creepy one was discovered as well]]--if you drown right as a battle is ending, you'll return to the overworld becoming a ghost town. No Pokémon, no [=NPCs=], your own Pokémon doing battle are stuck in place, you can't send out any others and you can't even ''save''. You ''can'' still access ride Pokémon, but that's about it.

** 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, but 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 even made a goal of an early quest to draw attention to this aspect.

* GiantMook: Alpha Pokémon are larger than other members of their species, in fact the values for their height are maxed out. In addition to this, regular Pokémon can come in different sizes as well. It turns out that some specimens can be [[https://preview.redd.it/nvv4pax1p3d81.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e68cf4a0532e20c28edd5f08ed2299c1c641fe17 absolutely]] [[https://preview.redd.it/zwu23p42p3d81.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=32e2ab1fc3d0af571f9b621428dc3621fc78c05c gigantic]].

** The Request "The Sea's Legend" leaves you with virtually no clues to solve the mystery aside from a book called "The Sea's Legend" which you can't find ingame despite the hint that it exists. Where can you find this book? The Canalave Library in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl]]''. So without a guide, you essentially have to jump between games to learn what you need to do. Thankfully, the book in question is rather straightforward with the answer given the context.

** The Unown sidequest [[DownplayedTrope does a bit better]], since the game does give you hints on where to find each one (albeit ones 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 one 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 these Unown, W, is located on the eye of one of the Magikarp statues on the Galaxy Team Headquaters, The tricky part is actually reaching the spot to easily capture it. Turns out that There is a door that leads to a balcony in Kamado's office. The game doesn't mention it at all and there's no other incentive to visit that spot outside of progressing the story. This has led to many people trying to get this Unown by throwing balls from the outside from the ground level, which actually can work.
** A minor example. Throughout the game there are large cracked rocks you occasionally come across that block paths, caves, and tunnels. Most longtime players would instantly link these rocks with the old HM Rock Smash, and expect that these are road blocks you're intended to get past with the help of a mount you receive later in the game. If you didn't go through the game eventually forgetting about them, since you're almost never required to interact with the rocks (there is a wisp needed for a quest hidden in a cave blocked by a rock) and they're easily circumvented for regular exploring, you most likely discovered either by accident or by trying it on a whim that ''any'' Pokémon can break them with ease for a nice bundle of EXP. At least this feature ''was'' shown off in gameplay trailers.
** Ursaring's new evolution requires using a Peat Block under a full moon. It specifically must be under a full moon; no other time will do. Though the family does have a lunar theme, and the player is alerted to Ursaluna's existence due to the existence of the one you can ride, the evolution method isn't explained in-game and isn't immediately obvious.
** Basculin's new evolution requires it to take a cumulative total of ''294 HP'' of recoil damage specifically without fainting. While it does learn a couple self-damaging attacks by level-up, so do a lot of Pokémon, so good luck.
** The fact that the credits roll after catching the Primal Legendary Pokémon led some players to mistakenly assume the story was finished, leaving behind a lot of unanswered questions that are resolved in the game's ''true'' climax.

* InsigniaRipOffRitual: A subtle example--your trainer card disappears after you're banished from Jubilife Village, with the implication being that Commander Kamado took it from you before kicking you out. Naturally, you get it back after proving your innocence.

* MeaningfulName:
** Hisui can mean "arcane", in keeping with its future name Sinnoh meaning "mysterious".
** A number of characters also have names pertaining to their personalities, occupations or actions:
*** Beauregard (a name meaning 'beautiful gaze/view') really wants a partner Beautifly (a butterfly-like Pokémon known for its loveliness).
*** Radisa is into picking vegetables, with radishes being a popular one during Hisui's time. She will provide you with a recipe for Twice-Pickled Radishes after completely fulfilling her Request.
*** Dagero, a photographer, is named after either the daguerreotype, an early variety of photograph, or Louis Daguerre, its inventor.
*** Vessa sounds similar to "vessel," fitting considering her association with Spiritomb, a vessel of 108 souls, as well as the fact that she is the 108th soul.
*** A series of Requests from someone named Zeke have you look for someone named Wanda, who has NoSenseOfDirection and gets lost easily. Their names sound like "seek" and "wander," respectively.
*** Anvin is Jubilife's resident smith, and his name is one letter removed from "anvil."
*** Leif, Duna, and Tarush all disagree on what Burmy looks like. Fittingly, Leif thinks Plant Cloak Burmy is the real one, while Duna believes it's the Sandy Cloak and Tarush the Trash Cloak.
*** Morel's name is a type of mushroom. He is associated with Parasect, a mushroom-themed Pokémon, and Swinub, which looks for truffles underground.
*** Belamy stands outside the pastures and can tell you how friendly your Pokémon are to you. The name Bel(l)amy means 'fine/handsome friend'.
*** Adaman is named after "adamant," a property of diamonds, fitting as the leader of the Diamond Clan. Likewise, Irida, the leader of the Pearl Clan, is named after "iridescent," a property of Pearls.
*** Volo is Latin for "I wish." He is a character who wishes to study the myths and legends about Hisui and summon Giratina into Hisui to tear the region down as a consequence of his mad desire to meet Arceus.
*** Cogita is Latin for "I learn." She is the most knowledgeable character in Hisui's history and legends.
* MeaningfulRename: [[ImpliedTrope Implied.]] During the postgame, Kamado muses that, given the mythologies of the Diamond and Pearl Clans, it might be more fitting to call Hisui the Sinnoh Region. [[ForegoneConclusion It apparently caught on.]]

* PowerUpMount: The game has five new Pokémon that can be ridden to travel through the untamed wilderness of the Hisui region (which would later be known as Sinnoh in the future). There's Stantler's evolution, Wyrdeer, which is ridden over land, Hisuian Braviary, which allows the player to fly (working more like a hang-glider than as a teleport to another town) and Basculegion, the evolved form of Basculin which can be ridden on water. Additionally, there's Ursaring's evolution, Ursaluna, which functions as the Dowsing Machine, and Sneasler, the evolved form of Hisuian Sneasel, which can be used to scale cliffs and rock walls.

* PrecursorHeroes: A legendary hero who saved the Hisui region some thousand years ago, along with their team of ten Pokémon allies. The Ride Pokémon and the Nobles are the descendants of these Pokémon.

** Magikarp's Path of Solitude requires pitting your Magikarp against a Level 55 Hisuian Electrode. Given that this is a Magikarp, who, in this game, cannot learn any other moves and are left with Splash, you have no way of actually fighting it normally, so you must instead coerce the opposing Electrode to Self-Destruct itself until it faints from recoil damage. This, however, requires ForcedLevelGrinding, since Magikarp must actually ''survive'' the onslaught and needs the HP and Defense to do so.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Volo wants to meet Arceus to hold the creator god to account for the indignities of the world and the past trauma they have suffered, ultimately seeking to use Arceus' power to create a better world, similarly to Cyrus in ''Diamond and Pearl''. Additionally, while we don't hear it from the horse's mouth, Volo implies Giratina aided in this because it wanted to get revenge on Arceus for imprisoning it in the Distortion World.
* RandomEncounters: Notably averted, as this mainstay mechanic has been outright discarded. There are no Pokémon that can go undetected by the player and no random spots where a battle starts when the player walks over them. While hidden Pokémon do force a battle, the player will always know when there's a Pokémon hiding in the object they're interacting with due to easily visible shaking animations.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: To the extent that the Noble Pokémon are a team to begin with, two of them are identified as female: Lilligant and Sneasler. Notably, 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.
* UndergroundMonkey: Once again, new variants of older Pokémon as well as new evolutions have been introduced via the trailers and at release.
** First, let's go through the regional variants.
*** Hisuian Growlithe and Hisuian Arcanine, who go from Fire-type to Fire/Rock-type.
*** Hisuian Zorua and Hisuian Zoroark, who go from Dark-type to Normal/Ghost-type.
*** Hisuian Voltorb and Hisuian Electrode, who go from Electric-type to Electric/Grass-type.
*** Hisuian Qwilfish, who goes from Water/Poison-type to Dark/Poison-type.
*** Hisuian Sneasel, who goes from Dark/Ice-type to Fighting/Poison-type.
*** Hisuian Braviary, who goes from Normal/Flying-type to Psychic/Flying-type. Rufflet stays the same.
*** Hisuian Sliggoo and Hisuian Goodra, who go from Dragon-type to Steel/Dragon-type. Goomy stays the same.
*** Hisuian Lilligant, who goes from Grass-type to Grass/Fighting-type. Petilil stays the same.
*** Hisuian Avalugg, who goes from Ice-type to Ice/Rock-type. Bergmite stays the same.
*** Hisuian Decidueye, who goes from Grass/Ghost-type to Grass/Fighting-type. Rowlet and Dartrix stay the same.
*** Hisuian Typhlosion, who goes from Fire-Type to Fire/Ghost-type. Cyndaquil and Quilava stay the same.
*** Hisuian Samurott, who goes from Water-Type to Water/Dark-type. Oshawott and Dewott stay the same.
*** Technically, White-Stripe Basculin is considered by Professor Laventon to be a regional variant, since its mellowed-out behavior is contrary to regular Basculin's violent behavior.
** Next, let's go through the new evolutions.
*** Wyrdeer, a Normal/Psychic-type evolution of Stantler.
*** Basculegion, a Water/Ghost-type evolution of White-Stripe Basculin.
*** Kleavor, a Bug/Rock-type evolution of Scyther.
*** Ursaluna, a Ground/Normal-type evolution of Ursaring.
*** Sneasler, a Fighting/Poison-type evolution of Hisuian Sneasel.
*** Overqwil, a Dark/Poison-type evolution of Hisuian Qwilfish.

** The Trading Post in Jubilife Village sells an item called a Linking Cord, which you can use to evolve Pokémon that only evolve when you trade them, like Machoke, Haunter, or Kadabra. Furthermore, trade-evolving Pokémon that evolve by being traded with a designated item are now simply evolved by having the item used on them without trading them, said items also being sold at the Trading Post.
** All of the items at the Trading Post can also be found else where in the game as random drops you can gain from exploring Space-Time Distortions, breaking stones, digging with Ursaluna, or purchasing from Ginter, meaning you don't necessarily have to grind for Merit Points. NPC satchels are also periodically scattered around the overworld, so you can still collect them and obtain Merit Points even when playing offline.
** You can freely change a Pokémon's name and moveset at any time, without the need of an NPC as in previous games. A Move Tutor in Jubilife Village will also teach it moves for a fee, and this simply adds the moves you select to that Pokémon's possible moveset options. Plus, using money instead of, say, colored shards or Heart Scales means this Move Tutor is by far the most convenient in the series.
** You can manually trigger when an evolution occurs for every Pokémon, not just the ones that require evolution stones, in case you want to work on research tasks that involve it using certain moves. Additionally, if a Pokémon you've just caught already meets the conditions for evolution, you can evolve it immediately instead of having to raise it to the next level or (if it's at Level 100 already) use a rare candy (at level 100) like in previous entries.
** If you are fighting multiple wild Pokémon at once, you can throw a ball whenever you want and catch whichever Pokémon you want instead of having to faint all but one, in contrast to the Horde Battles from ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' and the infamous S.O.S. system from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon''.

** Primarily to prevent Pokémon contained in Heavy Balls from being a liability or inconvenience in the field, Heavy Balls and Feather Balls that contain Pokémon will instead behave like standard Poké Balls when thrown -- as in, the Heavy Ball will travel further than the few feet in front of you it usually travels when trying to catch a Pokémon with it.

** 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 particularly convoluted GuideDangIt.
** As of the "Daybreak" update, Massive Mass Outbreaks, which have the potential to spawn several rare Pokémon in one go, making it much easier and faster to complete various research tasks such as "Number Captured" and "Number Defeated" for those going for OneHundredPercentCompletion.
** All Alpha Pokémon have a roar that forcibly dismounts the player from their Ride Pokémon, and as a form of mercy, this does not apply to Basculegion and Braviary, which would probably dump the player into the water or cause them to fall from a damaging height if they did.
** In Release Multiple mode while looking through your pastures, to avoid accidentally marking any Legendaries, Mythicals or Shiny variants and subsequently releasing them, the game will bring a confirmation screen up asking if you really want to do this.
** 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 now possible to catch and/or evolve certain Pokemon without losing sleep nor mess 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.
** If you are Shiny hunting, Shiny Pokémon will have an audio and visual cue pop up while you're in the field, so it makes it easier to catch them. This also helps during massive breakouts if you are hunting for a shiny rare Pokémon.

** Since Shaymin and Darkrai are only accessible via OldSaveBonus, they are the only Pokémon (aside from the similarly Mythical Manaphy and Phione, who, while not requiring an OldSaveBonus, still require information you're intended to get from owning ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl]]'') that do not need to be caught to fight against Arceus.
** If you accidentally knock out a Legendary Pokémon, they will immediately respawn to full health just so you don't have to reset the game to try catching them again.
** Once you enter battle with a Wild Pokémon, their attacks will knock you on your ass but stop dealing damage to you. [[FriendlyFireproof The same applies to your own Pokémon.]] You can't heal during battle, but you can exploit the combatants being more or less stuck in place to get a head start on your escape by simply walking away until you automatically recall your Pokémon.

** Most of the research tasks require specific Pokémon to perform specific moves in battle. Fortunately, the game only requires you to just ''see'' a Pokémon use the move and not actually have to defeat opposing Pokémon. Moreover, seeing ''enemy'' Pokémon perform certain moves as well will count towards the research task as well. The same logic also applies to strong[=/=]agile style moves.

** This is the first mainline pokemon game that [[spoiler:features a battle where the player must (technically) fight ''eight'' pokemon, as in addition to Volo's team, they must defeat Giritina both in its Altered and Origin Formes.]]

** Whenever you're asked about your background, [[MultipleChoicePast your responses allow you to imply]] anything from being a standard Faller (Pokemon's term for amnesiac dimension hoppers) with only faint memories where you're from, having warped in from the modern day of the Pokemon world with your memories intact, or ''all the way up to being from the real world itself''.
** 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'' but still often treated as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but other new arrivals 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.

** 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 [[spoiler: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'' but still often treated as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but other new arrivals 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.

In February 2024, a new ''Legends'' game was announced, ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsZA'', this time taking place in the Kalos region that ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' were set in, thus making this a start of a subseries.

In February 2024, a new ''Legends'' game was announced, ''Pokemon Legends ZA'', this time taking place in the Kalos region that VideoGame/PokemonXAndY were set in, thus making this a start of a subseries.

** 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 useless on Pokemon and hearing a heavily-injured man being treated after getting mauled by a Pokémon in the intro, and [[spoiler: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'' but still often treated as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but other new arrivals 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.

** 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 a heavily-injured man being treated after getting mauled by a Pokémon in the intro, but Professor Laventon's presence throws a wrench into things, with dialogue implying Pokémon are better understood in most other regions and treated closer to how they are in the "modern" day of the series, ''or'' but still often treated as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but other new arrivals 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.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Throughout the game, the protagonist helps develop the base [=PokéDex=] which would be used by future generations, 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.

** 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 several villagers stating that they tried using human weapons on Pokémon to no avail and even a heavily-injured man being treated after getting mauled by a Pokémon in the intro, but Professor Laventon's presence throws a wrench into things, with dialogue implying Pokémon are either better understood in all other regions and treated like they are in the "modern" day of the series, ''or'' they're treated as just as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but other new arrivals 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 comortable 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.

* AbortedArc: After the initial premise of the Time Rift bringing over the protagonist and Ingo, both of whom are repeatedly mentioned by the other characters and themselves to must be very scared, missing their love ones and wanting to return to their current time, the narrative never brings up how they will 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.

** 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 several villagers stating that they tried using human weapons on Pokémon to no avail and even a heavily-injured man being treated after getting mauled by a Pokémon in the intro, but Professor Laventon's presence throws a wrench into things, with dialogue implying Pokémon are either better understood in all other regions and treated like they are in the "modern" day of the series, ''or'' they're treated as just as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but other new arrivals 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 comortable with Pokémon at this point--though it's ambiguous as to how far along the other regions are.

** 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 several villagers stating that they tried using human weapons on Pokémon to no avail and even a heavily-injured man being treated after getting mauled by a Pokémon in the intro, but Professor Laventon's presence throws a wrench into things, with dialogue implying Pokémon are either better understood in all other regions and treated like they are in the "modern" day of the series, ''or'' they're treated as just as mysterious and deadly. Several immigrants to Hisui also bring along their Pokémon, but other new arrivals are just as fearful as the Hisuians.

** Kricketune actually has "De-le-le woooooop!" appear in a text box when you approach this. Its cry has been subject to MemeticMutation, with this widely being the accepted spelling among fans.

** Once Volo challenges you to a battle, you hear the memetically ominous piano from [[AmbiguouslyRelated Cynthia's]] encounter theme, cluing you in that [[BestBossEver the battle you're in for]] ''will'' be [[ThatOneBoss the fight of your life]].

** Near the beginning of the Lord Avalugg quest, both Laventon and Gaeric express apprehension at quelling Avalugg's frenzy. They both point out that Avalugg has managed to not harm anybody and seems better at controlling itself than the previous Lords. Laventon even contemplates leaving it alone. Sure enough, right after you quell its frenzy, the RedSkyTakeWarning threatens to [[ApocalypseHow destroy everything]] and you're exiled.

** Spiritomb only spawns after completing the longest sidequest in the game, which requires the player to collect 107 wisps hidden throughout the areas (20 in each land and 7 in Jubilife Village). There aren't any hints as to where they are, though they're visible from further away at night.

** The Azure Flute has never been officially seen in previous Pokémon games as it was DummiedOut. It was still in the game code though, and the hacked event in Generation Four is identically to it being done legitimately here.

** 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]]Pokemon 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]]

** 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.

** All of the items at the Trading Post can also be found else where in the game as random drops you can gain from exploring Space-Time Distortions, breaking stones, digging with Ursaluna, or purchasing from Ginter, meaning you don't necessarily have to grind for Merit Points. Speaking of, NPC satchels are periodically scattered around the overworld, so you can still collect them and obtain Merit Points even when playing offline.

** Speaking of Trainer battles, once you defeat Charm on Firespit Island, Clover will announce that she has revived her and Coin's Pokémon and they can now [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall battle until they run out of potions,]] which is something the player might do. Thankfully, Charm says ScrewThisImOuttaHere!

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Volo rants about how it seems the player character had gotten spat out of the space-time rift just to stand in their way, they [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou look up to stare at the camera rather than the player character]].

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Volo rants about how it seems the player character had gotten spat out of the space-time rift just to stand in their way, they look up to stare at the camera rather than the player character.

** Speaking of Trainer battles, once you defeat Charm on Firespit Island, Clover will announce that she has revived her and Coin's Pokémon and they can now [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall battle until they run out of potions,]] which is something the player might do. Thankfully, Charm says ScrewThisImOuttaHere

** Speaking of Kamado, when you have your long-awaited boss fight with him, he only uses 4 Pokémon. Even if this were your first core series Pokémon game, you'd know by now that the maximum party size is 6. This gives away that the true final boss of the story is yet to be revealed. Overlaps with InterfaceSpoiler.