It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that my favorite Pokémon is Gardevoir. As a gen three kid with a love of fairy and psychic types, Gardevoir ticks all the boxes, and it even has a powerful Mega Evolution form. So, I already knew that my Pokémon Legends: Z-A team would feature a Gardevoir, but Nintendo and Game Freak’s choice of pre-order bonus gave me an even better idea: what if I used the mystery gift Ralts as my starter Pokémon?
Normally, I follow a very similar formula with every Pokémon game that I play: I choose the fire Pokémon as my partner, and I never box my starters. That was until Pokémon Legends: Z-A launched. I was already struggling to choose a starter Pokémon for this game as, although I’m a fire-type trainer through and through, I’m not a huge fan of Tepig, so I was leaning towards Chikorita. As soon as I decided to use Ralts as my starter, the decision ultimately became meaningless, but I chose the grass Pokémon anyway, because I think Chikorita is severely underrated.
As much as I love the little guy, I’ll be the first to admit that, in earlier Pokémon generations, Ralts is pretty weak. Prior to Pokémon X and Y, it was only a psychic type and had a pretty abysmal early learnset. Combine that with the lack of exp share and exp candies, and training up a Gardevoir became a labor of love. This Ralts, however, that you get as a Pokémon ZA mystery gift for pre-ordering the game, is a fantastic early-game team member.
Read the full story on Pocket Tactics: Pokémon Legends: Z-A's secret fourth starter is carrying me through Lumiose
