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I'm not sure precisely when the custom began, however I consistently call all my Pokémon trainers Glitch.

Be it a main series title or a spinoff like Pokkén Tournament DX along with Pokémon Go — the moniker always stays the same. Glitch alternates from male to female avatars, featuring black and purple hair. Sometimes their style is flawless, as seen in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the latest addition in the long-running series (and one of the most style-conscious releases). Other times they're confined to the various academic attire designs from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Yet they remain Malfunction.

The Constantly Changing Realm of Pokemon Games

Much like my characters, the Pokemon titles have transformed across installments, some superficial, others significant. But at their heart, they remain identical; they're consistently Pokémon to the core. Game Freak uncovered an almost flawless mechanics system some three decades back, and just recently truly attempted to innovate upon it with entries such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus (new era, your avatar is now in danger). Across every iteration, the fundamental gameplay loop of catching and battling alongside charming creatures has stayed steady for almost the same duration as I've been alive.

Shaking the Mold with Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Similar to Arceus before it, featuring lack of arenas and focus on compiling a creature catalog, Pokémon Legends: Z-A brings multiple changes to that framework. It takes place completely in a single location, the French capital-inspired Lumiose City from Pokémon X and Y, ditching the expansive adventures of earlier games. Pokemon are meant to live together with humans, battlers and civilians, in manners we have merely seen glimpses of previously.

Far more drastic than that Z-A's real-time combat mechanics. It's here the franchise's almost ideal gameplay loop undergoes its biggest transformation to date, swapping methodical sequential bouts with more frenetic action. And it's immensely fun, despite I find myself ready for a new traditional entry. Although these alterations to the traditional Pokémon formula seem like they create a completely new experience, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is as familiar as any other Pokémon title.

The Core of the Adventure: The Z-A Royale

When initially reaching in Lumiose City, any intentions your created character planned as a visitor get abandoned; you're promptly recruited by Taunie (if playing as a male character; Urbain if female) to join her team of trainers. You receive a creature from them as your starter and are sent to participate in the Z-A Championship.

The Championship serves as the centerpiece of Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It's similar to the traditional "gym badges to Elite Four" progression of past games. But here, you fight several opponents to earn the opportunity to compete in a promotion match. Win and you will be promoted to a higher tier, with the final objective of reaching the top rank.

Real-Time Battles: An Innovative Approach

Trainer battles take place during nighttime, while sneaking around the designated combat areas is quite enjoyable. I'm always trying to get a jump on an opponent and unleash a free attack, since everything happens instantaneously. Attacks function with cooldown timers, indicating both combatants may occasionally attack each other at the same time (and knock each other out at once). It's much to get used to initially. Despite gaming for almost 30 hours, I still feel like there's much to master in terms of employing my creatures' attacks in ways that work together synergistically. Placement also factors as a significant part during combat as your Pokémon will trail behind you or go to specific locations to perform attacks (some are long-range, while others must be up close and personal).

The live combat causes fights go so fast that I often sometimes cycling through moves in the same order, even when this results in a less effective approach. There's no time to pause during Z-A, and plenty of opportunities to get overwhelmed. Creature fights depend on feedback after using an attack, and that information is still present on the display within Z-A, but flashes past rapidly. Occasionally, you can't even read it since diverting attention from your adversary will spell immediate defeat.

Exploring Lumiose City

Away from combat, you'll explore Lumiose Metropolis. It's relatively small, although tightly filled. Far into the adventure, I continue to find unseen stores and elevated areas to visit. It's also full of charm, and perfectly captures the concept of Pokémon and people coexisting. Pidgey populate its sidewalks, flying away as you approach similar to actual city birds getting in my way when walking through NYC. The monkey trio gleefully hang from lampposts, and bug-Pokémon like Kakuna attach themselves to trees.

An emphasis on city living represents a fresh approach for the franchise, and a welcome one. Nonetheless, exploring Lumiose grows repetitive eventually. You might discover an alley you never visited, but you wouldn't know it. The building design is devoid of personality, and most rooftops and underground routes offer little variety. While I haven't been to Paris, the model behind Lumiose, I reside in New York for nearly a decade. It's a metropolis where no two blocks are the same, and they're all alive with uniqueness that provide character. Lumiose Metropolis lacks that quality. It features beige structures topped with colored roofs and flatly rendered terraces.

Where Lumiose City Really Excels

In which the city really shines, oddly enough, is inside buildings. I loved the way creature fights within Sword & Shield occur in arena-like venues, providing them genuine significance and importance. Conversely, battles in Scarlet and Violet happen in a field with few spectators watching. It's a total letdown. Z-A strikes a middle ground between the two. You will fight in restaurants with patrons watching as they dine. An elite combat club will invite you to a competition, and you'll battle in its rooftop arena with a chandelier (not the Pokemon) suspended overhead. My favorite location is the elegantly decorated headquarters of a certain faction with atmospheric illumination and purple partitions. Various individual battle locales overflow with personality that's absent from the overall metropolis in general.

The Comfort of Repetition

Throughout the Royale, along with subduing wild Mega Evolved Pokémon and completing the creature index, there's an inescapable sense that, {"I