#''truly bad pokemon dont exist anywhere'' theme better because he meant well at first but he got carried away

[perenlop]

I think the darkrai arc could've worked better if it was straight up a separate event like all the other post-game events? like maybe the world was still trying to recover from near paralysis and darkrai took that opportunity to try and take over... he'll probably still be a generic bad guy but at least the main story wouldn't be dumbed down

YEAH that's honestly one of two main thoughts i usually have about how this whole arc could've been better. like i get they wanted to tie in palkia somehow, because it'd be weird to only address one half of the diamond and pearl lore, but it really could've either been separate from the darkrai drama or tied in more naturally. like they could go with your idea and he's taking advantage of the destruction already there, it's got the same vibe as the other postgame events like manaphy and blizzard island, so it works!

my personal idea in that vein is like, maybe darkrai is giving pokemon nightmares or flourishing off of existing nightmares from the world's near end, and somehow this is messing with space like it does in the game, and palkia decides to try and take him on, but darkrai puts him in a nightmare and then the final battle with darkrai is in palkia's nightmare and you battle him in there with drowzee and cresselia's help while those two are trying to get rid of the nightmare? and because he's in his element, and palkia is a legendary pokemon that can warp space (so i’m sure his dreams are like more powerful?), darkrai goes ultra necrozma style and has all his stats boosted, he's got a crazy amount of HP, he can mess around with hero and partner's minds and have his moves be supereffective against them inherently? idk that's a brainstorm, i'd love to see the nightmare aspect just be messed with because there's a lottt more than just the suibaiting darkrai could mess around with (like a certain grovyle i'm sure hero and partner harbor a ton of guilt over).

tbh, i don't quiiiite mind if he's a generic baddie? i mean, it's definitely a missed opportunity because it goes against the lore for darkrai, but i think it's fine in games like pokepark 2 and shadows of almia for their own reasons. but if you're gonna make him a baddie, then make him a fun one, yknow? because the one we got isn't fun imo.