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I waited over a decade for my favorite Pokémon to get a Mega Evolution, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A finally gave it to me. I dove headlong into the RPG upon release, spending every spare moment I could in Lumiose City, but now that I’m nearly done with everything the game has to offer, I’m starting to feel my running and jumping through the streets of its Paris-inspired setting shift to a light jog. As I catch the last few monsters in the expansion’s dex and cross off the remaining sidequests, my steps slow as I wait for my Mega Raichu, flying behind me like he’s Superman, to catch up, savoring a few more seconds with his golden, two-tailed, superpowered form.
A friend of mine who also happens to be one of the biggest Dragon Age fans I’ve ever known was visiting me in New York City a few months back, and I was surprised to learn that she hadn’t finished 2024’s The Veilguard, despite being positive on it. She explained that, especially after everything that’s happened to BioWare in the past year, she felt like seeing the credits roll on this latest entry would mean the end of a “moment” of her life, as Dragon Age’s future seems murky at best. I kind of understood, but part of me is also of the mind that seeing something through to the end is only half the experience. Sitting with it and examining its complexities is just as important. But eventually, you exhaust yourself of all that reflection and move on to something else. My reluctance to put Z-A in the rearview mirror is helping me understand where she was coming from, and why people often opt not to finish games they deeply admire and enjoy. It is comforting knowing that you haven’t hit that endpoint yet, even if it means you’re depriving yourself of something you love.
I’ve been writing about Legends: Z-A for months here at Kotaku, and I can feel that part of me that loves to critically analyze and engage with these games preparing to move on as next month’s inevitable Generation X announcement on Pokémon Day approaches. This game has been a really compelling experiment , letting Game Freak play around with real-time battles and a single-city setting, and I truly wish the studio would release another major DLC expansion or something to keep it going. But I also recognize it’s done what it needed to do. I don’t need more for more’s sake. In fact, with most video game franchises, I prefer things to go away forever after they’ve run their course.
© The Pokémon Company / KotakuPokémon is a weird outlier for me on that front as I’m always down to explore a new place in this universe, and since Game Freak took a year without a new game or DLC pack in 2024, the gap between Scarlet and Violet’s expansions and Legends Z-A felt painfully long. So even if Mega Dimension hadn’t given Raichu two much needed Mega Evolutions, I would have been squeezing every drop of Pokéjuice out of this game. But on top of that, my superhero rat just got here, and I would be surprised if Mega Evolution showed up in the next pair of RPGs we’re probably getting our first glimpse of next month.
I put over 120 hours into Legends Z-A and its DLC. I had Mega Raichu by my side for about 60 of those hours, and that still doesn’t feel like enough. Raichu and I will inevitably meet up again in the next game, but it sure hurts knowing I waited all this time to have him Mega Evolve just for it to only last a couple of months before we move on. Lumiose City may not be pretty to look at, but I still love hanging out with its weird citizens who say odd shit and love this metropolis with all their heart. I’m not ready to say goodbye just yet.
So now, to make it last just a little bit longer, all I can do is bide my time. I’m booting up my Switch 2 less often. I’m doing menial tasks and wandering in places I’ve already seen dozens of times. As long as there’s an incomplete quest or a Pokémon I haven’t added to my Pokédex, I have a reason to come back. The knowledge that it’s not over is somehow more comforting than having one less game on my backlog list.
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