Pokémon Legends: ZA’s Open World Is So Big, Players Are Still Searching for the Fun (And Their Will to Keep Playing)

JOHANNESBURG — As players eagerly boot up Pokémon Legends: ZA, they are greeted with a breathtakingly massive, seemingly endless open world. Some would call it ambitious. Others, after wandering for six straight hours without encountering anything but an occasional Pidgey, would call it a bold experiment in anti-entertainment.

"I mean, it's big—I'll give them that," said Mark Tully, a veteran Pokémon fan who hasn't seen another living soul, human or Pokémon, since leaving the first town. "The open world is so expansive, I feel like I’m starring in my own episode of Survivor: Pokémon Edition. Except there’s no Jeff Probst, no food, and honestly, no game."

Game Freak, the developers behind the latest Pokémon installment, promised an immersive, living world filled with adventure. What they neglected to mention, however, was that much of this adventure consists of walking across vast, empty fields, contemplating one's life choices while desperately hoping something—anything—will happen.

An Open-World Masterpiece or a GPS Endurance Test?

According to early reports, Pokémon Legends: ZA boasts a map larger than any Pokémon game before it—larger even than the combined landmass of previous regions. What the game has in size, however, it appears to lack in literally anything else.

“Game Freak took all those complaints about previous Pokémon games being too linear and fixed it by giving us... nothing,” said frustrated player Jasmine Lieu, who claims she has been trekking across an open savanna for three real-time hours without encountering a single town, trainer, or even a mildly aggressive Rattata. "I just found a lone rock on the horizon, and I ran toward it for 15 minutes thinking it was an NPC. Turns out, it was just... a rock."

Some players have even reported feeling existential dread while playing. "I used to think my life lacked purpose," said one anonymous gamer. "Then I played Pokémon Legends: ZA, and now I know what true aimlessness feels like."

Side Quests So Meaningless, Players Question Their Own Purpose

Despite its vast landscapes, Pokémon Legends: ZA does feature a variety of side quests—most of which appear to have been designed to test a player's tolerance for busywork.

"The first major side quest I got was from an old man who needed help counting the number of trees in a specific area," said Tully. "I thought, ‘Surely, this will lead to something exciting, like a hidden Pokémon or an ancient artifact.’ No. He just wanted to know how many trees were there. I told him, and he gave me 10 Pokédollars. TEN. That's not even enough for a single Poké Ball. I basically worked an unpaid internship in a video game."

Other reported side quests include:

• "Find My Missing Hat" – An NPC loses their hat in the wind. You search for 45 minutes. The reward? A firm handshake.
• "Collect 40 Berries" – Because nothing screams adventure like gathering fruit for an NPC who won’t even look up from their soup.
• "Help Me Decide What to Eat for Lunch" – After extensive deliberation, the NPC just chooses a sandwich.

With side quests so uninspired, some players are considering quitting the game entirely and taking up real-life side quests, like finishing their taxes or learning how to cook.

‘True Freedom’ Means Never Finding the Main Storyline

One of Pokémon Legends: ZA’s biggest selling points was the promise that players could tackle challenges in any order, explore at their own pace, and make their own adventure. What Game Freak seemingly forgot to include was any guidance on where to actually go.

“Remember when older Pokémon games had NPCs that hinted at the next town, gym, or plot point? Yeah, Game Freak got rid of that,” said Lieu. “Now you just wander around, hoping you accidentally trigger a main quest. One guy in a town told me to head east for my first big battle, so I did—and ended up in a desert where everything was level 50. I was level five. It was like stepping into The Revenant, but instead of Leonardo DiCaprio fighting a bear, it was me getting mauled by a rogue Ursaring.”

Some players have even turned to third-party GPS apps to try to figure out if they’re heading in the right direction. Others have simply accepted that their trainer's true journey is less about catching Pokémon and more about a slow, inevitable descent into madness.

The Real Final Boss? Finding the Fun

Despite criticism, Game Freak has reassured fans that Pokémon Legends: ZA is an experience unlike any other. “We wanted to give players the ultimate sense of freedom,” said a Game Freak spokesperson. “In past games, you had to follow a structured path. In ZA, you can go anywhere, at any time.”

When asked about the frequent reports of players wandering aimlessly for hours, the spokesperson responded, “Well... that’s a form of gameplay, isn’t it?”

With Game Freak doubling down on its vision, some players have taken matters into their own hands, attempting to mod the game to include an actual plot—or at the very least, an in-game Uber service to avoid having to walk 17 in-game miles just to buy a potion.

Still, hope remains that a future update may include more engaging content, or at least a map that doesn’t require a PhD in cartography to read. Until then, trainers everywhere are left to ponder an important question: If a trainer explores a Pokémon region and nothing happens, did they really even play the game?

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