Pokemon Legends: Z-A Needs a New Use for Lumiose City's…

Pokemon Legends Z-A is thrusting Lumiose City back into the spotlight of the series, but something needs to change. With different gameplay mechanics being used, Pokemon Legends Z-A needs to reinvent an important part of the city’s skyline.

When Pokemon X and Y were released, fans were introduced to Lumiose City, the largest of the hub cities in the series up to that point. Legends Z-A is also set to take place in the Kalos region; more specifically, Legends Z-A will take place entirely within Lumiose City. The game will center on the city’s redevelopment, so it’s a safe bet that the large area will become even more expansive to shoulder the weight of an entire game. Given the focus on changing the city and the different type of gameplay the Legends series has introduced, Lumiose Tower, the Pokemon world’s version of the Eiffel Tower, will need some heavy changes.

What Does Pokemon Legends Z-A Hold For Lumiose Tower?

With the Kalos region representing Pokemon's version of France, the game needed to represent the country’s most iconic landmark. Lumiose City is Kalos’ hub and capitol, and so it featured Lumiose Tower, a near-replica of the real world Eiffel Tower. While many landmarks in Lumiose City should return in Legends Z-A, Lumiose Tower is the most important. Being such an important staple of the region, Game Freak knew that Lumiose Tower had to play a central role in the game, so it was chosen to house the city’s gym. While that makes perfect sense in the main Pokemon games, the Legends series has a very different focus, and notably hasn’t featured gyms. With such an important monument, Legends Z-A has to give Lumiose Tower an equally important function.

How Lumiose Tower Could Change

Much is still unknown about Pokemon Legends Z-A, but the story will revolve around the redevelopment of Lumiose City. With Lumiose Tower being the largest building in the region and a literal hub in the middle of the circular city, it might make the perfect base of operations for the player and their colleagues as they redesign and rediscover the location. Pokemon Legends Arceus gave players a home base in Jubilife Village and Galaxy Hall, places they would often return to in order to report their findings to the Galaxy Expedition Team and receive permission to explore new areas of the Hisui Region. Lumiose Tower would make the perfect equivalent of this location in Legends Z-A, preserving the gameplay loop established in Legends Arceus.

Lumiose Tower should be one of the most important parts of Legends Z-A, and forcing players to return there would make it feel like a home to them. In the expansive and evolving city around them, a safe haven would provide them with a comfortable location to rest between missions. This would likely be the location where Pokemon will be housed, and the redevelopment team will be living. All of this would make Lumiose Tower the perfect target for whatever villainous team or Pokemon the player will face off against. Legends Arceus saw its final boss battle at Mt. Coronet, the Hisui Region’s defining landmark, so placing Legends Z-A’s final battle at Lumiose Tower could achieve the same goal of a climactic battle.

No matter what Game Freak decides to use Lumiose Tower for in Pokemon Legends Z-A, it can’t remain the same as it was in Pokemon X and Y. Such an imposing landmark needs to be important to the gameplay, and in a game with no gyms, leaving the location as one leaves players without a reason to go there. With Lumiose City at the heart of the game, the issue of how to use Lumiose Tower could make or break the experience. Legends Arceus provided plenty of mechanics and story beats to set up the Legends series, so Game Freak may look to its past to influence the future. Whatever the case, expect Lumiose Tower to be both important and unfamiliar in Pokemon Legends Z-A.

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