Having the Graveyard as a Wild Area in Pokemon Legends: ZA is Tragic

In Pokemon Legends: ZA, set in Lumiose City, wild 'mon' have begun appearing in various areas of various neighborhoods. As a means to curb this surge, city leaders have implemented restricted access zones called Wild Zones.

However, while trainers can still enter these Wild Zones to fight and catch Pokémon, this means that the general public cannot access them unless they want to risk being attacked by wild creatures.

I find this disappointing as far as local parks and some streets go. The park itself is a natural part of a crowded city, so blocking it can be quite demoralizing for the public.

Picking a street blocked off as a wild zone is even stranger. Because this obviously means that people living on those streets will have to brave wild Pokémon to get home from work.

Let's not even get into the Battle Zone, which opens at night and effectively turns Lumiose City into The Purge.

But there was one particular Wild Zone that caught my eye. Wild Zone 4, Dormez Bien Cemetery. How was this approved?

Pokemon has the most realistic government.

A fierce fight against Tepig in the Pokemon Legends ZA Graveyard.

I live in the UK so I'm used to local councils ignoring the problems that really need to be addressed. But instead of relocating wild Pokémon, you block access to the local graveyard? It feels like a particularly new low. This isn't just another park with a few new Pikachus and Fiji residents, so you're out of luck and have to find a new tree to sit under. This is where you go to bury the dead and pay respects to your deceased loved ones.

Your first time entering this Wild Zone will be as part of one of Emma's side quests, Sableye in the Cemetery. If you talk to Moire, the old lady standing in front of the cemetery gate, she will tell you that she was visiting the grave of a loved one when a wild Pokémon suddenly appeared. She fell and injured her back, dropped the ring and quickly left the scene.

She was clearly frustrated that the graveyard had turned into a Wild Zone and was too scared to go back to look for the ring. She may be too scared to return to the cemetery after this happens, and it is safe to assume that this means she will no longer be able to visit the graves of her loved ones. Is that fair? Of course not.

But put your worries aside, Moire, because this is video game logic! We needed a place for ghost-type Pokémon to hang out. There are creepy crawlies on the walls and too many hostile Gastly Pokémon. I can't imagine civilians will want to enter the grounds anytime soon, as I've been attacked by at least a dozen people just looking for this ring.

Thanks to the wonderful Lumiose government turning a precious place into a sport, there was more training for me as a newbie with no personal connection to this cemetery. I know people say tourists are unbearable, but imagine people coming to your hometown for a tournament and spending their days chasing bugs and dangerous ghouls from the graves of every grandparent they once knew.

Sorry, Moire, I know you're visiting someone you love, but now a Gastly Pokemon owns the place. And I was able to use them to reach the next ZA Royale level.