Days passed, and finally, the official launch day of Legend of Pokémon: Breath of the Wild arrived.
As soon as the game servers went live, countless players who had pre-downloaded the game eagerly logged in, ready to dive into Picca Games' new open-world experience.
In Texas, despite the recent spike in electricity costs due to a snowstorm, Joseph decided to splurge a little just to play this latest Pokémon game.
"Brr, it's still so cold," Joseph muttered as he wrapped himself in a blanket. He glanced at the fireplace, saw that there was still some wood burning, and decided to leave it be. Instead, he excitedly registered his account and launched the game.
"In the mountains, beyond the seas, there's a world of Pokémon…"
"They're lively and smart, mischievous and quick…"
"They live freely in a beautiful world…"
"And as Pokémon thrive, humans in that world gradually developed a profession—Pokémon Trainers."
"When they reach a certain age, they set out on a journey to find their partners…"
Against a backdrop of a starry night sky, this narration played out, accompanied by soothing background music and subtitles. Then, the familiar pink mascot of Picca Games flashed on the screen.
Taking advantage of this moment, Joseph pulled out his phone and snapped a picture to share in his chat group.
Not that anyone responded. The usually active group chat was eerily quiet, almost as if it were dead.
But Joseph wasn't surprised. He knew that everyone else was probably doing the same thing as him—sitting in front of their computers, eagerly waiting to enter the Pokémon world of Legend of Pokémon: Breath of the Wild.
Of course, some might have opted out because they didn't want to rack up high electricity bills.
After a few seconds, the screen gradually brightened, signaling the start of the game's tutorial.
After a brief introduction, Joseph learned that the player character, who he controlled, was a young boy about to embark on his Pokémon journey. However, he had overslept and missed the chance to pick up his starter Pokémon, and the Professor had already left for fieldwork.
Following directions from various NPCs, Joseph guided his character into the wild.
Soon enough, he found the Professor cornered by a group of Caterpie. Hearing the Professor's cries for help, Joseph dug through the Professor's bag and found a Poké Ball. Inside was none other than the iconic Pikachu!
With a "Go, Pikachu!" the Poké Ball was thrown, and Joseph's perspective switched from controlling the boy to controlling Pikachu.
This was one of the many differences between this game and the original Pokémon games. In this world, Ren had changed the traditional turn-based combat into a more dynamic system, similar to games like Genshin Impact or Honkai Impact.
On the left was a joystick to control movement.
On the right was the main attack button, surrounded by smaller buttons for dodging, jumping, and the familiar four-move system.
As in the original games, you could replace one of your four moves with a new one upon leveling up.
In the top right corner was a button to switch Pokémon. It showed your other five Pokémon, and you could switch them in by tapping their portraits.
In the top left was the bag button. If you wanted to use an item, you could access your bag from there.
It didn't take long for Joseph to get the hang of controlling Pikachu.
"I don't know about the rest of the game, but the graphics and combat are amazing!"
Joseph had played many open-world games before, but few had truly captivated him.
He wasn't sure if Legend of Pokémon: Breath of the Wild would be one of those rare few, but the opening scenes certainly had his attention.
The top-notch visuals, the footprints left in the grass as the character walked, and the sound effects of Pokémon attacks and their impacts made for a fantastic experience.
The story continued, and after rescuing the Professor, he gifted the player character the Pikachu they had just used.
The journey began, and soon enough, Joseph encountered a wild Spearow. At this point, three options appeared on the screen: Battle, Feed, and Throw.
For now, Joseph couldn't choose anything but "Throw," as indicated by a glowing hand icon. Following the tutorial, he selected a Poké Ball from his bag and tossed it, only to be attacked by the Spearow.
"This is still part of the tutorial, huh? Not weakening the wild Pokémon before throwing a Poké Ball will likely lead to failure or, in this case, provoke them…"
After being chased by a flock of Spearow, the character managed to escape to the edge of a forest, where he encountered a Caterpie.
The same three options appeared: Battle, Feed, and Throw.
This time, the tutorial had Joseph choose "Feed" before using a Poké Ball, allowing him to successfully catch the Caterpie.
After completing the series of tutorial tasks, Joseph found himself back in the starting town—Pallet Town!
Seeing the familiar avatars of other players with their silly usernames floating above their heads, Joseph finally felt the sense of freedom he had been craving.
No restrictions, just wandering around a vast map, doing whatever he wanted.
It was perfect.
Joseph still wasn't sure what Legend of Pokémon: Breath of the Wild would fully entail—he hadn't even ventured into the true wilderness yet, having just completed the tutorial.
But he didn't care. All he wanted was to find a big, strong Pokémon to ride, just like in the promotional videos, and maybe catch some rare wild Pokémon along the way.
After exploring Pallet Town and not finding anything of note, Joseph headed out into the wild.
After all, that's the main draw of Legend of Pokémon: Breath of the Wild—venturing into the open world, capturing Pokémon.
"I wonder what Pokémon I'll run into first. Hopefully, I find a shiny one right off the bat!" Joseph muttered to himself as he ventured into the wild.
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