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I'm not sure exactly how the custom started, but I always name every one of my Pokemon characters Glitch.

Whether it's a core franchise title or a spinoff like Pokkén Tournament DX and Pokémon Go — the name always stays the same. Glitch alternates from male to female avatars, featuring dark and violet locks. Occasionally their style is impeccable, like in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the latest addition in this enduring franchise (and one of the more style-conscious releases). Other times they're confined to the assorted school uniform styles from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Yet they remain Glitch.

The Constantly Changing Realm of Pokémon Titles

Similar to my trainers, the Pokemon titles have transformed across releases, with certain cosmetic, others substantial. However at their heart, they remain the same; they're always Pokemon through and through. Game Freak discovered a nearly perfect gameplay formula some three decades back, and just recently truly attempted to evolve on it with entries such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus (different timeline, your avatar faces peril). Across every version, the core mechanics cycle of catching and battling alongside adorable monsters has remained steady for almost as long as I've been alive.

Breaking Conventions in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Similar to Arceus before it, with its lack of arenas and emphasis on creating a creature catalog, Pokémon Legends: Z-A introduces multiple changes to that framework. It's set entirely in one place, the French capital-inspired Lumiose Metropolis from Pokémon X and Y, abandoning the region-spanning journeys of previous titles. Pokémon are meant to coexist alongside people, battlers and civilians, in ways we've only glimpsed previously.

Far more drastic than that Z-A's live-action battle system. This is where the franchise's near-perfect gameplay loop experiences its biggest transformation to date, swapping deliberate sequential fights for something more chaotic. And it's immensely fun, even as I find myself eager for a new traditional entry. Though these changes to the traditional Pokémon formula seem like they form a completely new adventure, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is as familiar as every other Pokemon game.

The Heart of the Journey: The Z-A Championship

When initially reaching in Lumiose City, any intentions your custom avatar planned as a visitor get abandoned; you're promptly recruited by the female guide (for male avatars; Urbain for female characters) to become part of her team of trainers. You're gifted one of her Pokémon as your starter and are sent to participate in the Z-A Championship.

The Championship serves as the centerpiece in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It's similar to the classic "arena symbols to final challenge" advancement from earlier titles. But here, you fight a handful of trainers to earn the chance to participate in an advancement bout. Win and you'll be elevated to a higher tier, with the ultimate goal of achieving the top rank.

Live-Action Combat: An Innovative Frontier

Trainer battles occur at night, and navigating stealthily the designated battle zones is quite entertaining. I'm always attempting to get a jump on a rival and unleash a free attack, because all actions occur in real time. Moves operate on recharge periods, meaning you and your opponent can sometimes attack each other at the same time (and knock each other out at once). It's a lot to get used to at first. Despite gaming for almost thirty hours, I continue to feel like there's much to master in terms of using my Pokémon's moves in methods that complement each other. Placement also plays a significant part during combat since your creatures will follow you around or move to designated spots to perform attacks (some are long-range, while others need to be in close proximity).

The real-time action makes battles go so fast that I often repeating sequences through moves in identical patterns, even when this amounts to a suboptimal strategy. There isn't moment to breathe during Z-A, and plenty of opportunities to become swamped. Pokémon battles rely on feedback after using an attack, and that information remains visible on the display in Z-A, but whips by rapidly. Occasionally, you cannot process it because taking your eyes off your adversary will result in certain doom.

Navigating Lumiose City

Away from combat, you'll explore Lumiose City. It's fairly compact, though tightly filled. Far into the adventure, I continue to find new shops and elevated areas to visit. It is also rich with character, and perfectly captures the vision of Pokémon and people coexisting. Common bird Pokemon populate its sidewalks, flying away when you get near like the real-life pigeons getting in my way while strolling in New York City. The monkey trio joyfully cling from lampposts, and insect creatures such as Kakuna attach themselves on branches.

A focus on urban life represents a fresh approach for the franchise, and a welcome one. Even so, navigating the city becomes rote over time. You may stumble upon a passage you never visited, but you wouldn't know it. The architecture lacks character, and many elevated areas and underground routes provide minimal diversity. Although I never visited the French capital, the model behind Lumiose, I've lived in NYC for nearly a decade. It's a city where no two blocks are the same, and all are alive with uniqueness that give them soul. Lumiose Metropolis doesn't have that. It features beige structures with blue or red roofs and simply designed terraces.

The Areas 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 meaning. On the flipside, battles in Scarlet and Violet take place in a field with two random people watching. It's very disappointing. Z-A strikes a middle ground between the two. You will fight in eateries with patrons watching while they eat. An elite combat club will invite you to a competition, and you'll battle in its rooftop arena with a chandelier (not Chandelure) suspended overhead. My favorite location is the elegantly decorated base of the Rust Syndicate with atmospheric illumination and magenta walls. Various individual combat settings overflow with personality that's absent from the larger city as a whole.

The Comfort of Repetition

During the Championship, along with quelling rogue powered-up creatures and completing the Pokédex, there's an inescapable sense that, {"I