Pokemon Legends: Arceusis available now, and it’s no understatement to say it has revolutionizedPokemongames. Arceus’ approach is almost exactly what modern games should look like, and it’s what many hoped for fromPokemon SwordandShieldas the first majorPokemongame on Switch. That’s not to say it’s perfect, as many have issues with some elements likePokemon Legends: Arceus' graphics, but overall—it has brought in strong reviews and deserves it.
One major problem is surfacing as more and more players reachPokemon Legends: Arceus’ endgame, though, and it’s a major head-scratcher. This problem only means investing more artificial time and difficulty intoPokemon Legends: Arceus, and hopefully, it’s something that is fixed sooner rather than later.MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR POKEMON LEGENDS: ARCEUS.
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Space-Time Distortions are a new, unique mechanic added inPokemon Legends: Arceus, working off of Palkia and Dialga’s lore. These will appear on maps, take about a minute or so to “activate,” and will allow players to battle and catch rare Pokemon. Sometimes, these are just rare Alpha Pokemon, but there are some Pokemon that are exclusive to these Space-Time Distortions, such as Porygon, Rampardos, and Cranidos. They are also theeasiest way to find Eevee’s evolutions, outside of the time-consuming satchel farming or constantly breaking colored rocks in the world to find stones that can evolve Eevee.
How to Spawn Space-Time Distortions in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
The problem is this question: there is no reliable way to spawn or force-spawn Space-Time Distortions. There is conflicting information about this, all over the internet. Some say they are tied to activity in an area, as well as the completion ofPokemon Legends: Arceus’research tasks. Some say they spawn better if players catch 40+ Pokemon. Others say going inactive will speed up their spawns, but none of this is reliably true. It seems, at the end of the day, Space-Time Distortions spawns are entirely RNG and have no reliable way of spawning, and this is problematic for game completion when someone can get 4 in 4 hours or none in 12.
Seemingly, the best method discovered so far seems to be to simply leavePokemon Legends: Arceusup in one’s background, waiting and listening for the notification in-game, while doing or playing something else. Once again, this may be the best, but it’s not reliable and just continues to add hours to the playthrough—with no actual “playthrough.” If it were a legitimate grind, that’s one thing, but waiting around is not an enjoyable grind.
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Why Space-Time Distortions Are a Problem for Pokemon Legends: Arceus’ Final Quest
After quelling the lords andcatching Palkia and Dialga,Pokemon Legends: Arceusis far from over. Players will catch legendaries in endgame content, eventually find all the plates to meet Arceus, learn the truth of how the big rip in the sky appeared, and all of that. But the very final quest after all of this is simply the message from the start of the game: “Seek out all Pokemon.”
Rare Pokemon are one thing, butlimiting some Pokemon to Space-Time Distortionsthat may or may not appear means that players will invest hours more than needed into the game. This layer of artificial difficulty doesn’t help the game; it only hurts it. It would be better if Space-Time Distortions appeared more often, even if their selection of Pokemon wasn’t every single one that could spawn, which is reportedly the case anyway.
The truth is this: Space-Time Distortions added artificial amounts of time and difficulty to the final quest, so players should always take advantage of them when they spawn…except for thehigh-level Pokemonthat make this incredibly difficult at lower levels. Endgame makes handling them much easier, but that’s if they appear.
Space-Time Distortions May Have a Simple Fix, if Nintendo Acts On It
This doesn’t sound like a big problem forPokemon Legends: Arceusto fix, unless it just doesn’t. The problem is in the question: “Can You Spawn Space-Time Distortions?” The answer is no, but why shouldn’t it be yes? As a form of endgame request or reward, why can’t players find an item that increases their spawn rate—just like completion of thePokedex gives an item that increases shiny Pokemon rates inPokemon: Legends Arceus.
Players will still need to find a couple to get all of theirmissing Pokemon inPokemon Legends: Arceus, especially when they are fighting off three high-level Pokemon at once anyway, but all the waiting around and hoping for one is gone or, at least, diminished. RNG is always a thing, but the RNG for these Space-Time Distortions can go too far.
