Copyright VICE

Pokémon Legends Z-A players are shocked after discovering how difficult it is to unlock the Shiny Charm in PLZA. The game’s Mable’s Research feature has a final step that many Pokémon fans are calling an unreasonable grind fest. Pokémon Legends Z-A’s Shiny Charm Requirement Is Breaking Players In most Pokémon games, players are rewarded with a Shiny Charm for completing the region’s Pokédex. The coveted item lowers the Shiny Pokémon spawn rate odds to 1/1365, which makes them appear more frequently. In Pokémon Legends Z-A, however, you have to complete Professor Mable’s Research by reaching level 50 instead. Sounds simple, right? Well, PLZA players are discovering that it’s actually really brutal. Videos by VICE This is because Pokémon Legends Z-A requires you to compete and win 1,000 Pokémon battles. Many players are only discovering this at the very end of their game, as the initial request is to defeat just 500 battles. And even that many matches takes a long time. So imagine how surprised players are when they finally complete it, only to be told they need to beat another 500 trainers to get the Shiny Charm? Yeah, it’s pretty devastating. Fans Say the Shiny Charm Grind Feels “Unreasonable” Many Pokémon Legends Z-A players took to social media to vent their frustrations over the Shiny Charm requirements. “Is it just me, or is the last goal unreasonable? Have already done everything else in the game besides side missions. This is just a boring grind against NPCs as wild battles don’t count either,” a user on Reddit wrote. Another commented, “Between this and the link trade one I guess I’m hunting without the Shiny charm.” One shocked PLZA player vented: “1000 battles???!!!! Dude I’m at 346 and it’s taking me a long time just to get to 500. I hate this. At least in Arceus you had a reason to do tasks in this one it’s just grinding a lot for no reason.” How to Unlock the Shiny Charm in Pokémon Legends Z-A One of the issues with unlocking the Shiny Charm in Pokémon Legends Z-A is that players aren’t realizing that they need to complete that many battles. It becomes a bit easier to manage if you break this task up throughout your playtime. So, for example, you spend an hour a day just grinding out the Z-A Royale during the nighttime in between main story quests. But there are a few other tasks you can do to speed this up. Here are the steps to unlock the Shiny Charm in Pokémon Legends Z-A: Step 1: Collect Colorful Screws around Lumiose City. Step 2: Fast Travel to Racine Construction and speak to the Colorful Screw Exchange NPC. Step 3: Purchase the Pink Canari Plush to increase the Mega Shards you get. This will help you complete the “Smashing Mega Crystals” request quicker in Mable’s Research. Step 4: Purchase the Blue Canari Plush to make it easier to Catch Pokémon. This will make it easier to complete your “Catch X” Pokémon research. Step 5: Purchase the Red Canari Plush to get XP quicker. You will be able to defeat battles more easily if you level up fast and are over leveled. Step 6: Use any bench to make it Nighttime. Then grind out battles in the Z-A Royale. Step 7: Use Restaurant Le Yeah to quickly compete in 5 Pokémon Trainer battles. Spam this over and over again. Unfortunately, there is no quicker method than what is listed above. But if you incorporate those steps into your playthrough of the Pokémon Legends Z-A story, you should chip away at Mable’s Research a lot more easily. That way, you aren’t having to do massive grinding all at once at the end of the PLZA campaign.