I played Pokmon Legends Z-A at Gamescom 2025, and its semi-real-time battle system is giving vintage Final Fantasy

Date:
Fri, 05 Sep 2025 02:00:00 +0000

Description:
After a rough patch, Pokmon Legends Z-A might genuinely be the tonic the franchise needs.

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Pokmon Legends Z-A surprised me. I had the chance to play a couple of demos of the upcoming game at Gamescom 2025, each showcasing core segments thatll make up much of its playtime. The first was a preview of the Z-A Royale
battle zone, in which you fight a series of trainers in order to rank up. The second, then, was a more climactic battle against a single Mega Evolved Pokmon, which felt pretty much like a boss encounter.

While I wasnt afforded the chance to explore the setting of Lumiose City proper, I was pleasantly surprised by how well Pokmon Legends Z-As new real-time battle system works. In fact, it reminded me a ton of the Active Time Battle (ATB) system from classic Final Fantasy titles. More on that later.

Another highlight was the overall performance. I played the games Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and it felt well-optimized for the new platform, holding a solid 60 frames per second (fps) with no noticeable dips. Granted, my
playtime took place in smaller, controlled environments, but it did mean that battles felt smooth and responsive overall. The royale we (Image credit: The Pokmon Company)

So lets get into it. As you might already know, Pokmon Legends Z-A is
shifting away from the series tried and true turn-based battles to something
a bit more free-flowing. What we have here is something of a real-time/turn-based hybrid. Youre free to control your trainer with the left stick, while issuing battle commands is assigned to the four face buttons.

Being able to reposition your trainer isnt just for show either; they can be harmed by the opponent Pokmons moves as much as your own pocket monsters, so thats something else youll need to be keenly aware of during battle. You also have access to a dodge roll for quick emergency maneuvers.

Choosing your Pokmons moves feels a lot more deliberate here. Instead of picking them from a list, youll instead hit one of the face buttons to immediately issue the command. Doing so places that move on a short cooldown, so youll need to wait a little before youre able to use it again.

Another thing that grants a sense of immediacy to battles is the act of swapping out Pokmon. There were a number of occasions where I was able to avoid a fatal blow from the opponent by swapping my own out for another mon. This seemed to completely evade the attack, and prepped my new Pokmon for their own turn.

While not a direct one-to-one, the fast-paced nature of battles reminded me quite a bit of the aforementioned ATB system from games like Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. In those Squaresoft classics, you had to wait for a bar
to fill before you were able to take a turn. Enemies were also governed by
the same rules to an extent, often making for an intense back-and-forth where youd pray your own turn would come before your foes.

Instead of one universal bar, Pokmon Legends Z-A applies cooldowns to your Pokmon's abilities. You cant just spam Water Gun or Ember to quickly finish off the opponent; youll need to mix things up by throwing in a defense-dropping Tail Whip or a move nullifying Protect, for example.

Ultimately, its a system that seems to work great. Its a refreshing change from the stricter turn-based style of previous Pokmon entries. But at this point, its difficult to get a grasp on the depth of battling in Z-A. The trainers I fought against were fairly easy, so Im hoping that battles later
on in the game will focus on strategy and the careful timing of attacks and abilities. Mega job (Image credit: The Pokmon Company)

My first demo section focused on an introduction to the Z-A Royale. In execution, this felt quite similar to Gyms in previous games. Youre locked into an area of the map and must progress through while taking on trainers en route to the end.

You do have a chance to get a pre-emptive strike on trainers before battle, too. You can crouch and make use of the environment to hide from and sneak up on trainers, catching them off guard before they can act. Its in your best interest to do so as well, as opponent trainers can very much pull your trousers down if you just wander directly at them. Not literally, of course.

But after clearing the final trainer, your Z-A rank will go up. From Z, all the way to A, as the games title suggests. So thats probably going to be 26 Z-A Royale instances in total, unless theres some form of post-game progression that were not aware of yet. Hopefully, there will be.

The second demo then moved on to a battle with a Mega-evolved Absol. Were given a Lucario, which is also capable of Mega Evolution. However, its not quite as straightforward as a straight-up Mega vs Mega encounter. Our Pokmon starts this battle in its normal form, and its here where Absols attacks are the most dangerous; Lucario cant take many hits from this powerful creature.

I first had to whittle away at Absol with attacks, which made it drop collectable orbs that gradually fill Lucarios Mega Evolution gauge. When
full, thats when Lucario can undergo the transformation and really take the fight to Absol.

The fight felt impressively cinematic and really sold the power of Mega Evolved Pokmon. It wasnt just my Pokmon that was at risk of attack, as Absol wasnt shy to send some attacks towards the trainer. So not only do you have
to send commands to your own Pokmon, youll need to look out for your own well-being, too.

Defeating Absol brought the second demo to a close, as well as my time with Pokmon Legends Z-A at Gamescom 2025. In short, Im a lot more optimistic about the game now than I was previously, and Im looking forward to diving into the full thing when it launches on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 16, 2025. You might also like... I spent three hours exploring Silent Hill fs eerie world and only yelped once okay, twice Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the perfect example of a superhero game done right Ive played Kirby Air Riders and, dont tell anyone, I think I like it more than Mario Kart World



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/pokemon-legends-za-preview-gamescom-2025


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