#Pokemon Review

[milkpumpkin96]

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Review

Part I: The Teal Mask

I have a lot to say about Pokémon Scarlet & Violet as a whole . . . but damn, this game is ginormous. I have recently completed "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" DLC in its entirety, but since it is absolutely stuffed with new content, I am going to divide up my review.

It is quite clear that Gen IX has . . . its flaws. But nonetheless, I adored this DLC like you cannot imagine (graphical concerns aside).

Pokémon has always been a huge part of my life and I am eager to talk about it. I think that the DLC could have been cheaper to purchase, but it is definitely worth it for Pokémon fans.

I know I am late to the party because "The Teal Mask" came out like half a year ago, but oh well!

[ MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING ]

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

For the most part, I went into the DLC blind. I did not view posts or trailers or anything about it beforehand. As such, I was in for a nice surprise!

Overall, "The Teal Mask" featured definite improvements from the base game. I consider myself lucky in that I never experienced the hoards of bizarre or game-breaking glitches that other players dealt with in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. The DLC had some slight upgrades in this regard. Slight.

That being said, the fact that performance issues remain present only highlights the indolence of Game Freak. Since, on the other hand, Nintendo has Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4 pushing the Nintendo Switch's capabilities to the max and can run fine and look stunning in its own right.

Otherwise, the soundtrack, the storyline, the characters, and the aesthetic of the DLC are phenomenal and feature some of my favorite elements compared to the main game. Also, "The Teal Mask" certainly offered quite a fresh challenge (at least for casual players).

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GAMEPLAY: 6/10

As stated, the biggest disappointment with the DLC is its failure to properly fine-tune the performance issues. Cutscenes still lag; and holy hell, the cutscene of the MC and Carmine gazing at the Crystal Pool is egregiously choppy. The game tried sooo hard to feature the sparkling beauty of the pool but to no avail. It seems that this severe lag happened to everyone, which made the already underwhelming Milotic jump scare even more underwhelming.

The game does not look awful, but still pretty bad. Game Freak totally is not a billion-dollar franchise capable of more, right?

Players still have instances of sudden FPS drops, especially when Koraidon/Miraidon tries to run and jump (this is most apparent during the Ogre Oustin' minigame).

The smallness of the map will be this DLC's savior, which I will discuss under my "setting" review category. But, in regards to the graphics, I think if the map were any larger, "The Teal Mask" and its areas would be sooo sluggish and lackluster compared to many places in the base game. This is due to the lack of NPC density and really anything going on outside of the three major locations of Kitakami.

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I still believe that Pokémon has its own charm though. At the very least, the land of Kitakami is enticing and pretty.

I did not experience any glitches in "The Teal Mask." The performance ran smoother on my own copy compared to other players, because I have heard the other people had more prominent performance errors in their DLC.

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Moving on, I will say that the difficult scaling of the DLC surprised me in a good way. This is especially true for casual players like myself!

The game is not hard, but it is not easy either. If you choose to begin part one of the DLC after beating the base game and post-game, the Pokémon in "The Teal Mask" are between levels 60s-70s. This shocked me as being a fairly difficult starting point (especially since this is only part one of the DLC, and it is kind of its own game).

I am a fully casual player. Say what you will, but by the time I completed the post-game of Pokémon Scarlet, my highest level Pokémon (my Skeledirge) was about level 71. Most of my main party were between levels 50-70, so the DLC being at this level was amazing for me. A perfect blend of enjoyment and challenge.

Even for competitive players and heedless grinders, there is still some difficulty to be had. This is particularly the case with the optional ogre clan members you can battle--which their Pokémon are level 75--and also even some battles against Kieran can come as a surprise. If your team is all maxed at level 100 . . . then of course you can blast your way through.

Personally, I lost to several ogre clan members, and nearly to Kieran as well.

Some other people might want to start from scratch and foster a brand new team in the land of Kitakami. I actually recommend doing so if you want to experiment with the new entries in the Pokedex and have a nice and fun challenge.

If you start the DLC before you finish the main game (which is possible), "The Teal Mask" will try to scale down to your own level.

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Aside from battling, there are other extra features players can engage with. At the "Festival of Masks," you can try a minigame called "Ogre Oustin,'" in which your MC rides on Koraidon/Miraidon and attempts to pop ogre-themed balloons and retrieve berries of certain colors (red, grey, green, and blue). These colorations match the masks held by Ogerpon, hence the name. Since the inhabitants of Kitakami initially view Ogerpon as unfavorable, the point of the minigame is to mimic hunting down the ogre to avenge The Loyal Three.

This minigame starts off fairly easy at first: run around and pop like four blue balloons and three green ones. Players must play "Ogre-Oustin'" at least one time due to story reasons, and stick it to Carmine who's ego is more inflated than the balloons themselves.

As you progress through the levels, it becomes alarmingly difficult. You go from popping 10 balloons in total to around 60 or 70! There are also Skwovets and Munchlaxes actively trying to steal your berries. Players can try this minigame alone or play online or local multiplayer. Trust me . . . playing the game with others is superior. I cannot get through the harder levels solo, like at all.

This minigame is weird but kind of fun. I feel a blend of anger and joy when I play . . . "Ogre Oustin'" will incite peoples' competitive streaks.

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Another side option players can do is engage with the character named Perrin, who . . . you know . . . is 100% a descendant from Hisui's famous Adaman.

She will not regard you until you have completed 150 Kitakami Pokedex entries in full. Once you begin Perrin's side mission, she asks you to assist her with capturing a photo of the "blood moon beast," who is rumored to be lurking in the woods of Kitakami. Throughout this quest, players camp with Perrin and take various photos of Pokémon at night. Perrin's strange camera device has to filter out all non-"blood moon beast" species in order to autonomously detect the location of the beast.

So, I mean, if you like Pokémon Snap or just enjoy using Scarlet & Violet's camera function, then wahoo! However, I wish all the new camera functions were available at this point in the game, as they are not accessible until part two of the DLC.

You ultimately get to battle and capture the "blood moon beast" (which is a special coloration of Ursaluna), and Perrin takes a horrifically blurry photo of it. This side quest is silly and fun, but ultimately just kind of meh. Perrin herself and Ursaluna are cool, though!

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A third side quest you can engage in is with the characters Billy and O'Nare, who are adorning sparkly outfits and can be found standing on the edges of Kitakami's apple orchard. The two are members of "The Glitterati" and are very flamboyantly wealthy.

Their side quest is kind of tedious and annoying in my opinion. After each conversation with these guys, they travel vehemently to random landmarks either in Kitakami itself or back in Paldea. It is a fetch quest where you find the same duo over and over rather than an object. The hints to their whereabouts are kind of vague, which is made worse because Paldea's map can be redundant. Billy and O'Nare are looking for a famous waterfall? There are so many damn waterfalls in Paldea!

After each find, they give you daffy advice and some items. Occasionally players must battle O'Nare, but all she has is a rather weak Persian and eventually an Arbolivia.

Once the side quest is completed, players will have enough valuable items to bulk sell for a hefty amount of money. Players should sell these items and get the 10-ish grand. If you return back to Kitakami and talk to the caretaker, he will be asking for donations to repair the disassembled statues of The Loyal Three in Loyalty Plaza. Sure, the caretaker only wants to repair them for tourism purposes, and sure, the caretaker is kind of a greedy asshole, but if you donate 100,000 to the cause, you will receive a flashy jinbei to wear!

There is a fandom debate on the identities of Billy and O'Nare, in which some fans suspect that these two may be Nemona's parents. After all, O'Nare specifically resembles Nemona in the face, and players know that Nemona grew up quite lavishly. Her parents are never home and Nemona had been primarily taken care of by housekeepers . . . and Billy and O'Nare are always recklessly on the go . . . hmmm.

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MUSIC: 8/10

Pokémon has never blown my mind with its soundtrack, but damn, these games have some bangers!

The music in "The Teal Mask" is very fitting, giving off a warm, seasonal vibe and incorporates the sounds present in traditional Japanese folk music. Overall, the DLC's soundtrack contains some of my favorite works in all of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, and I am very happy that Game Freak decided to change up the wild battle and trainer battle themes to distinguish it from the base game.

Also, wow, I am still very happy that Toby Fox contributed to the soundtracks of "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" DLC!

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The music is funky, upbeat, and irresistibly hard not to dance to. It pairs splendidly well with the visual setting, and I feel as if I am roaming rural Japan.

I am always a fan of battle themes. So, some of my favorite tracks include:

Battle! Vs Carmine

Final Battle! Vs Kieran

Battle! Vs Okidogi, Munkidori, & Fezandipiti

Battle! Vs Ogrepon

Carmine's battle theme is bouncy and light-hearted, reflecting her humorously volatile nature yet her slow-growing friendliness towards the MC. The battle theme against The Loyal Three starts off sounding intimidating but then becomes super funky and whimsical. This gives it a de-escalating feel, as in that these Pokémon are actually not that much of a threat after all.

Ogerpon's theme is awesome! It is super folky and happy-sounding, and it made the final battle feel and sound emotionally significant in a positive way. And damn, I love Kieran's battle music, particularly the final version. His theme begins as light-hearted as Carmine's but becomes more intense the worse Kieran's mental state becomes. The final battle music sounds desperate. It sounds sad. It sounds vengeful. It sounds passionate. All of these strange, edgy, teenage hormones unleashed into an awesome tune.

Evidently I love battle music, but there are several other tracks I adore as well:

Mossui Town

Kitakami Hall

Get Stronger

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STORY: 7/10

I do genuinely believe that Generation IX is pretty top-tier when it comes to writing, next to Gen V and VI. At least when it comes to mainline Pokémon game standards.

I had a great time playing through the story and was invested in each line of dialogue. The story itself is about 8 hours, and it offers a pleasing mix of silliness and emotional investment. The star of the show was the friendship/rivalry between the player and Kieran, which the latter stumbled down a childish version of the joker pipeline.

As many people say, Scarlet & Violet's companion characters are some of the best. Nemona, Arven, and Penny are packed with personality, and especially when it comes to their post-game interactions, their similarities and differences bounce off of each other well. Including the MC, they all are outcasted children (and have parental issues) to varying degrees, united by a love for Pokémon and a desire for friendship.

Then, we have the new sibling duo from Kitakami: Kieran and Carmine, who also harbor [potentially] parental issues, and host of other problems.

Carmine and Kieran are natives of Kitakami, and strangely it seems there are not too many other NPCs of their age around. They live with their grandparents Hideko and Yukito in a pale yellow home, and like other locals, are majorly disconnected from a technological standpoint. Carmine has a phone, but Kieran does not, and the only other devices (a television and a game system) are located in the community center for tourists to stay at. Kieran and Carmine are battle maniacs; apparently, according to the "caretaker" of Kitakami, the two tend to cause some disturbances around the place. I am not quite sure if he is referring to their youthful boisterousness, craving for battle, or simply their short tempers (especially Carmine).

But, I was not bothered by them in the least. I was quite entertained.

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The story begins when the MC--Julianna or Florian--alongside some other random Uva/Naranja students are "randomly" selected by Professor Jacq to take a school trip to the little local town of Kitakami. The reasoning for this seemingly obscure location is that the trip is hosted by an affiliate sister school, Blueberry Academy. Blueberry is a new Unovan school that aims to strengthen its bonds with Uva/Naranja.

Kitakami is a small village located near the Kanto and Johto regions. Of course, the MC has no choice but to agree to go on the trip!

The group boards an airplane and takes a long bus ride, eventually making it to Kitakami. The class is led by Ms. Briar, a faculty member of Blueberry: Ms. Briar states that she is a descendant of Heath, the author of the Scarlet/Violet Book. In the uncensored book she possesses, Heath vaguely describes a legendary creature named Terapagos that has some sort of connection to the terastal phenomenon. She is on the hunt for this mysterious creature and wants to ultimately gain access to Area Zero in Paldea (which apparently she has been denied many times). The primary reason why Ms. Briar is hosting this trip is because the Crystal Pool located in Kitakami possesses terastal crystals akin to Area Zero. This could help with her research.

Anyways, the kids leave the bus and one of the students becomes car sick, so Briar sends the MC to Mossui Town, the one and only little village in the area, to get some help. The player then encounters Carmine and Kieran, two locals awaiting the arrival of the Paldean students, and Carmine immediately becomes hostile and xenophobic towards you. She challenges you to your first battle while Kieran quietly watches. They are eventually shooed off by the "caretaker," who properly greets you.

You all are cared for and fed and housed in the community center, and when players wake up the next day, the "school" part of the trip begins. You all gather outside of the community center and Briar, Carmine, and Kieran officially introduce themselves. Carmine and Kieran, while born in Kitakami, actually attend Blueberry Academy (which is in the Unova region), I suppose because they are notable for their battling skills. Blueberry is known to specialize teaching the art of Pokémon battling.

As a part of a school task, the "caretaker" instructs each student to pair up and visit three signboards across Kitakami that detail its history . . . or rather historically-based folktales. Briar encourages intermingling between the Uva/Naranja kids and the Blueberry kids. The MC talks to the Kitakami siblings and Carmine asserts that her little brother has been ogling at you, much to Kieran's embarrassment. She then encourages a battle between you two, which is conducted. Depending on your play style, this fight can be kind of easy or surprisingly a struggle. The outcome of the battle regardless makes Kieran even more fascinated with Julianna/Florian.

As such, the MC ends up pairing with Kieran. Kieran is very timid so he kind of avoids actually walking with you to the signboards. First, players traverse through the apple orchards and make it to Loyalty Plaza, where the first signboard talks about the tale of The Loyal Three sacrificing their lives to protect Kitakami from the monstrous ogre. There are statues of these honored Pokémon in the plaza; and Kieran opens up a bit and claims that he finds the ogre actually pretty cool and powerful. After all, the ogre, who is a grass type, murdered three Pokémon with a type advantage. Kieran mentions that he used to go to the ogre's hiding spot as a kid at night and would be yelled at by the adult villagers.

The MC and Kieran then head towards the Festival Hall where the second signboard is. This board continues to talk about the tale, and references the ogre's four masks: the cornerstone mask, the hearthflame mask, the wellspring mask, and the teal mask. Kieran opens up to the MC even more and talks about his fascination with the ogre, and how it doesn't care about what anyone else thinks, and it can hold its ground and is strong and willful. He then invites you to come check out the "Dreaded Den" on Oni Mountain, where the ogre is said to be. The MC agrees and travels there.

Here, Kieran and the MC battle again, because Kieran hopes a display of strength will draw out the ogre. It does not . . . to their knowledge. The two go inside the den and look around the cramped area. Sunset arrives, and then Kieran invites Florian/Julianna to attend the Festival of Masks with him that begins that night.

Later, you are given a green jinbei and attend the festival alongside Kieran and Carmine. You hang with Kieran for a bit until Carmine has a little blowup episode, and while you are off on your own, you see Ogerpon walking around alone. Thinking it to be a masked child at first, the MC approaches it. Then, Carmine finds you and calls out to you. The ogre runs away, accidentally dropping and chipping its teal mask. When Kieran catches up to you guys, you lie to him and say you saw nothing. Kieran thinks you and Carmine were talking about him behind his back.

The next day, Yukito reveals to Carmine and the MC about the true story of the tale of Ogerpon and The Loyal Three. It turns out, the roles were reversed. Ogerpon has been defending itself from the three Pokémon and went on a rampage after finding all of its masks stolen and its original companion human presumably dead. The "Loyal" Three were greedy, murderous thieves all along.

Kieran overhears this conversation, after having been vehemently shooed away by Carmine. He becomes upset, especially since he is a superfan of the ogre, and his entire life he had believed Ogerpon to be the "good guy" where nobody else in Kitakami believed this to be true.

You go to the last signboard with Kieran, and the latter noticeably seems more tense and withdrawn than before. The MC battles Kieran, and Kieran loses, lamenting privately that he is too weak. The last signboard gets a little wild and says that if you encounter the ogre without a mask, it will steal your soul. Kieran asserts that there is no way that is true, and then begins talking about how his great great great great great grandfather was a mask maker (in which the mask maker is responsible for making Ogerpon's mask). The MC just says that's cool, and via body language, one can tell that Kieran is pissed by this because he subtly tried to incite the player to tell him the truth. Kieran then leaves.

Yukito tells the player that he cannot fix up the mask without a terastal crystal, so the MC and Carmine head up to the Crystal Pool to retrieve one. They are met by Ms. Briar, and Carmine angrily questions why she is there because the Crystal Pool is considered a sacred space. Briar claims that she got permission from the "caretaker" and needs to look at the pool for research purposes.

The duo then tries to give Yukito the crystal, but the grandpa says that Kieran ran off with the teal mask. Carmine wonders how in the hell Kieran figured out the truth, so you two chase after him to Loyalty Plaza. Kieran is violently upset, challenges the MC to a battle, loses, and then edgily punches the statue of The Loyal Three while holding the teal mask. He begrudgingly returns the teal mask to you and runs away. Carmine wonders if he is becoming hormonal or something.

Then, suddenly, the statue of The Loyal Three explodes into a purple fume . . . and The Loyal Three are found standing on top of the wreckage, alive. It is theorized that Kieran may have accidentally revived those fools because he touched the monument holding the teal mask, which according to the signboards, is said to have revival/restorative properties. The three thieves run off and you follow them to the Festival Hall. There, the "caretaker" and other townspeople admit that they were fascinated with their return, and thus fed the Pokémon nutritional mochi (perhaps with herba mystical or something) and had returned their stolen masks to them. Carmine becomes outraged and dubs them The "Lousy" Three. She tells the MC to go rescue Ogerpon from their clutches while she quickly goes to retrieve the fixed teal mask from Yukito.

The player finds Ogerpon surrounded and defenseless without its masks and fights Munkidori. Carmine and Kieran show up eventually, scaring the Pokémon away. Kieran apologizes to the player. He expresses that he wants to return the teal mask to Ogerpon himself. However, the ogre gets flustered around unfamiliar people and does not accept it. The MC then tries and Ogerpon happily receives the mask . . . much to Kieran's annoyance.

The three "friends" then develop a little mask retrieval squad, which they will seek out each of The Loyal Three, defeat them, and return each mask to Ogerpon. The ogre begins to follow the MC around, and eventually Kieran backs out of the task force, mysteriously saying that he has something else to do.

After Carmine and Florian/Julianna defeat the titan-ized Loyal Three, Kieran request them to return to Mossui with Ogerpon. Everyone feels reluctant, since the townspeople believe Ogerpon to be a violent gremlin, but Kieran assures them that it is going to be okay. The quartet returns to Mossui, and much to Carmine and the MC's surprise, the townsfolk welcome Ogerpon with sorrow and joy. They apologize to the ogre, expressing that they had misunderstood history, not even realizing that any of the tales were actually true in the first place. I guess it helps that the inaccurate story of Ogerpon is so many generations old, that the people of Kitakami lacked extreme emotional connections to it. The townsfolk just like to celebrate and wear masks.

Yukito says that Kieran shouted at everyone about the true story of The "Lousy Three," breaking out of his socially anxious character temporarily. Kieran had good intentions to help Ogerpon, but ultimately he avoided any chance to actually bond with her as she roamed around with Florian/Julianna.

Carmine, Kieran, and the MC set off back to the "Dreaded Den" to return the ogre to her home. However, as Ogerpon approaches the den, she turns around and runs up to the player, expressing the desire to tag along with him/her. Ogerpon had been seeking a companion like she did so long ago, and I suppose the MC fit the bill. Kieran, at this point, undergoes a tantrum and tells that player that they should battle to see who gets Ogerpon. Carmine tells him that it is not his choice, and the ogre can make her own choices. Kieran does not give a shit (well, he kind of does, but he is having a mental breakdown), and the two of you battle. Kieran fights for his life but is no match against the MC's determination (and ability to terastalize). He falls to the ground, punches the soil, and dies on the inside.

Then, the MC fights Ogerpon, because he/she has to prove their strength to the ogre. Ultimately you succeed and proceed to catch Ogerpon in a pokeball. Carmine cheers, and Kieran brokenly tries to congratulate you, before he runs away crying.

The next day, another class meeting is held in front of the community center. Everyone is there except Kieran, who "does not feel well." Each pair had finished seeing all the signboards, and then Ms. Briar expressed that a sudden development occurred in Area Zero, and she must leave--which means taking Carmine and Kieran back with her. The kids wave them all goodbye, and Carmine tells everyone that she is super sorry about her initial xenophobia, and that she had so much fun with the MC and wishes to see him/her again in the future.

The Blueberry goers then leave. Before "The Teal Mask" concludes, there is a brief scene of Kieran losing his shit in his bedroom. He is shaking his head, grabbing his hair, talking about a deep desire to grow stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger. He creepily smiles, and then a "to be continued" screen appears.

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The story is full of positives for the most part. Though, I find it disappointing and strange that the other Paldean students are full-on nobodies. These kids do not even have proper names or anything remarkably unique about them. It just felt unusually random. I have heard complaints/questions wondering why the other students could have not just been characters we already know and love, like Arven and Nemona? Why could they not have tagged along? In fact, our Paldea friends are entirely absent from "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" DLC (which is especially weird because Arven is so connected with the terastal case).

While this is kind of sad, it is actually very much understandable. "The Teal Mask" is Kieran's story if anything. The plot was high-key focused on the relationship between Kieran and you; a wicked plot progression as Kieran goes from a sweet, shy, timid child who is absolutely fascinated with the MC, to a jealous, egotistical, confused, edgy asshole who wants to destroy you.

This plot highlighted something that most Pokémon games fail to emphasize: you have it all. Kieran can try so hard and give everything he has, but will never be the main character. Florian/Julianna is the MC. Kieran is programmed, story-wise, into having to lose to you. Every time. Kieran's reactions to his failures are quite realistic--he's bitter, jealous, and upset with himself. It is not "oh ha ha you win AGAIN wow you are so cool!" Well, it began that way, up until the MC repeatedly batted him down.

So, I think that having our character's old happy-go-lucky friends would very much get in the way of the development of this dynamic. Kieran and Carmine needed their time to shine. Plus, who knows how it works chronologically? You can activate the DLC almost at any point. So . . . what if the MC met Kieran before he met Penny or became friends with Arven?

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I appreciate the length of "The Teal Mask." It is about eight hours story-wise, but I invested significantly more than that doing everything. I thought the plot would end earlier . . . I did not expect Kieran's mental breakdown.

The game is not too deep nor dramatic, but highly enjoyable. As mentioned, there are great fleshed-out characters like Carmine and Kieran, and then the story of Ogerpon herself is fascinating.

The folklore is based off of Momotarō, or "Peach Boy," a popular Japanese folktale. This allusion becomes more apparent with the mythical prologue story available after beating the entire DLC.

Ogerpon's tale has some dark elements to it. She killed The Loyal Three (and tried to kill Pecharunt) to avenge her deceased companion and get her masks back. I adore the way in which the story was animated too: in the game, Yukito talks about the true historical events and there are little wood-block-like clips that demonstrate these events. On YouTube, Pokémon uploaded an epic video about Pecharunt's story, and I find the animation to be super enticing with a storybook aesthetic.

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Having such intriguing folklore for the legendary Pokémon is such a huge plus. I also liked the toned-down plotline of "The Teal Mask":

No, the end of the world was not happening (yet). It was simply a story of some teenagers having drama and miscommunication . . . . but with flare. All the characters are actually interesting, and it is cool to see how a foreign, "city" boy/girl interacts with two emotionally volatile rural kids, one of which is obsessed with the "bad guy" of a folktale.

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SETTING: 7/10

If you can look beyond the janky graphics, I find that the land of Kitakami to be quite pretty. To my knowledge, it may be based on a place of the same name in the Iwate prefecture of Japan. This is further evidenced by the way the townspeople speak, particularly Kieran. He harbors a bit of a Tōhoku dialect which is considered the "typical" rural Japanese accent.

And poor Kieran. In "The Indigo Disk" following the epilogue, Kieran can be found in the BB clubroom stating that he used to be embarrassed by the way he spoke. You can kind of tell that he attempted to ditch his dialect in part 2 of the DLC, but it would surface during his shy or geeky moments. I am not sure as to why Carmine's Tōhoku dialect is not very prominent.

---------- Some players might have wanted a larger DLC map, but I believe that Kitakami is a perfect size. It is actually kind of big, hosting only one town of Mossui and several other staple areas like Oni Mountain, Loyalty Plaza, and the Festival Hall. There are several other locations that players can travel to and catch or battle Pokémon and trainers there. This includes the Mossfell Confluence, Paradise Barren, and Wistful Fields, among others. Some of these places do have signboards that are a part of the main plot, and other areas--like the Timeless Woods--are where Perrin and the "blood moon beast" side quest occurs.

There are very few shops here: Peachy's, located in Mossui Town, sells pretty much anything you need as well as brand new glove and sock options. The stands at the Festival Hall allow players to purchase a variety of masks (e.g., Pikachu, Eevee, Ogerpon, and each of The Loyal Three) as well as food options, like candied apples.

I say the size of the map is good because, for one, I think that an overly massive Pokémon DLC would be very time-consuming and overwhelming. Paldea is big enough as is. Secondly, as can be seen with the performance issues, I am not sure if the Nintendo Switch could handle that much more. The Crystal Pool, as small as it is, lags horrifically. Thirdly, which is probably one of the biggest critiques I have with then main game as well, is that too many areas are otherwise kind of . . . lifeless.

In the Paldea map, there is a surplus of areas of just nothing. The open world is novel at first, but there are a host of spots that lack NPC density and any remarkable geological or architectural standout points. Paldea is too open for its own good. Game Freak has yet to master this.

Lucky for Kitakami, it is just small enough so that the pockets of barrenness are not too noticeable. Sure, there is an unnecessary amount of mini cave entrances and completely pointless islets, but most of the significant locations are memorable enough. The lack of NPCs is not too bad either because Kitakami is supposed to be an incredibly small village. It helps that there are ogre clan members scattered throughout the map so you can find and challenge these lunatics.

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The Festival Hall would be my favorite location. Sure, it was kind of sparse with the vendors, but this is rural Kanto/Johto. The hall has its charm: the music, the colors, the twinkling night sky, and the masks adorned by all the villagers . . . it really appealed to me.

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My only other complaint is that players still cannot enter people's houses. I know it is culturally rude, but you were able to do so in older Pokémon games!

This was a major disappointment for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet as a whole; and another indicator that the open-world system was to big for Game Freak to handle. In the base game, you could enter the MC's own house as well as Nemona's (and kind of Arven's), but in the DLC you cannot go into Kieran and Carmine's home, even though Kieran invites you there!

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COMBAT: 8/10

As mentioned, the difficulty of the game was a wonderful surprise in my humble opinion. The battle system is not any different from the main game of course. Players still conduct single battles, but alas in Kitakami, nobody is going to terastalize. That gimmick is absent in battling despite the presence of terastal crystals--in that case you as the player can still terastalize your Pokémon.

Though . . . how? Terastalization is majorly a Paldean thing, and despite the presence terastal crystals, only Ogerpon terastalizes. Why does some "land in the east" have the same phenomenon happening in theory?

The details are vague and unexplained. You would think these story elements could be solved in "The Indigo Disk." Here is a link that suggests some theories:

You know, with Pokémon, each generation is going to have a gimmick that is abandoned. At least there is some degree of lore behind terastalization in Scarlet & Violet.

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The hardest battles of the DLC are the seven ogre clan members. The ogre clan leader, who is standing in front of the Festival Hall, will give you riddles and clues on their whereabouts. These trainers fight at level 75, and I found them to be quite challenging and satisfying to win.

Carmine's battles are easy, especially the first fight in which she sends out Poochyena. Seriously! Her Sinistcha (which is a new Pokémon introduced in "The Teal Mask") however can be a tough one with that "matcha gotcha" move. Though, I would say Carmine's Sinistcha works better as a support Pokémon during double battles.

Kieran on the other hand . . . players may struggle with him, especially if you beginning the DLC with a fresh and new team or are at the same level as these trainers. The more you battle Kieran, the tougher he gets, especially in the final fight where Kieran goes psycho mode. Although, poor buddy cannot terastalize like you can.

I appreciate how the Kitakami siblings are not stagnant with their lineup, and despite the hefty amount of battles you have to do with them, the party and dynamics change every time. Kieran's Yanma, Nuzleaf, and Sentret all evolve, and he catches a Gliscor and Probopass eventually. His ace is his Dipplin (another new Pokémon), which looks cool and cute but fights mediocre. Kieran also attempts to use items in battle, like focus sashes and berries, in desperate attempts to beat the MC. So yes, Kieran is pulling out the strats, and has a degree of intelligent/predictive AI. Some might find this challenging in a positive way, or rather annoying.

----------

The battles with the DLC's new legendary Pokémon were pretty great. Not necessarily hard, but still fun.

Battling against The Loyal Three for the first time demonstrates the consequences of the naive townsfolk nourishing them back to health with all of their best mochi. Munkidori, Okidogi, and Fezandipiti all become titan Pokémon that you and Carmine must face against (minus Kieran who abandoned the squad). Holy hell, these guys are huge! When I saw the titanic Munkidori for the first time, I wanted to cringe and laugh and cry. His big head made him appear rather funny-looking.

The purpose of the double battles against the titan Pokémon are perhaps there to give you a taste on what is to come in part two of the DLC (which takes place in Unova, where everyone engages in double battles only).

----------

The final battle against Ogerpon herself was a wonderful experience. However, she is shiny-locked (bummer) and has a 100% catch rate, so it eliminates some tediousness.

Ogerpon will go through four stages of battle, and is the only Pokémon to terastalize in "The Teal Mask." Players fight all four masks, which changes Ogerpon's type from pure grass to grass and rock, fire, or water type. Ogerpon terastalizes all four times which showcases the immense power of Ogerpon, and how each mask themselves are the ones that terastalize (the ogre is just chilling behind it). This fight feels incredibly rewarding. The fight is also tough to get through with the changing types, combined with the overpowered cudgel move.

I am certain the most players sent out that friend ball to catch the ogre, right?

----------

I do not have many complaints when it comes to the combat, but I would have not minded an even greater challenge. I am sure that players with all level 100 Pokémon would agree!

The lag also made some of the battles (and the buildup to them) a bit more cringe. The Milotic fight . . . I don't even understand it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ENJOYMENT: 8/10

In all, I had a wonderful time playing through "The Teal Mask." Scarlet & Violet has its ups and downs, but there is no denying that Kieran and Carmine are wonderfully complex and amusing characters, and that the writing and music are exemplary.

Part one of the DLC offers a nice challenge to even more competitive players, and I can appreciate the bonus introductions of new minigames, side quests, and even new Pokémon in the Kitakami dex. Is it worth over $30 (which includes "The Indigo Disk")? I am unsure about that . . . but you know, Pokémon fans do torture themselves.

The lack of an attempt to fix the FPS and other graphical issues is not excusable, however. I am not always too concerned about these topics, and I do not think that these issues fully detracted from the actual enjoyment of the game, but it is certainly embarrassing for Game Freak.

But yeah. So I guess what I'm trying to say is . . . I had fun!

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 20 hours (an estimate. I am slow af)

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

PLATFORM USED: Nintendo Switch

DATE OF COMPLETION: April 2024

[keresacheron]

Polished Crystal Review and First Playthrough

I did a catch'em all first playthrought. It was great!

Despite being still in development, this Romhack is great. Is Pokemon Crystal with so many quality of life enhancements it's not funny. There is tons of bonus content, later series game mechanics, anime cameos and enhanced difficulty boss battles.

There loads of bonus areas and extra trainers, largely solving the level curve problems of crystal at the expense of making the game slightly more linear. The spritework is incredible, with the new areas looking great and the in-team sprites and future generation move animations looking both great and like they belong. There are even custom shinies.

This is HGSS+ using the Crystal game engine, and it's great. I have unlocked the new game plus, and I intend to use it sometime.

Kyoko, my trust Sturdy Donphan who I meet as a level 2 Phanphy on Route 46. Sturdy works as a focus band, and with rollout and defense curl she was great early on and several early gyms need her help as my Chikorita starter was still even with the changes. Sturdy was great, as being able to ensure a knock off or earthquake was the key to several battles. She enabled me to beat the surprise level 80 Giovanni Mewtwo by heal spamming until it ran out of PP. I always wanted to use a Donphan in a playthrough of gen 2, and now I have.

Meet Sayaka, a Guts Ursaring and Sayakas partner, caught in dark cave as a level 2 Tediursa. She too was great early game, hitting hard with strong physical type moves and doing great damage. After falling behind she evolved and spent the entire game hitting hard for massive damage. While sadly a bit slow and rarely getting in multiple attacks, when she hit she hit hard. Flame Orb is an item you get prior to E4 in game, and while she only got Facade in Kanto her friendship powered return hit hard. Ursaring was another Gen 2 pokemon I wanted to use in a playthrough, and she did fine.

Originally Pearlshine, the egg Togepi with Serene Grace whose sing proved invaluable in catching mons and stunning bosses. After becoming the Johto Champion, I battled Cynthia and got a Shiny Togepi egg with Superluck, Aeroblast and Moonblast. Since regular Togekiss can't get Moonblast in this game, I swapped them and trained up Evanescence with an exp share. Both of them were great team mates, with Pearlshine being very bulky early on while Evanescence was far more offensive.

Hatched from daycare couple egg, was Pikablue the shiny blue Pichu who soon evolved into a blue Pikachu. Equipped with a Light Ball, I decided to evolve Pikablue into an Alolan Riachu as beating gen two with an Alolan Riachu seemed sweet. This took till after beating the elite four to find the item, but it was worth it. Rename Pancake, now with Motor Drive as the hidden ability and holding a focus sash, Pancakes was my fastest team member and could on rare occasion gets off a nasty plot to do massive damage.

Mastema, the Snow Cloak Glaceon was the Eevee I got from Bill. Needing to level up in Ice Path he spent a long time unevolved and doing poorly in my team. Upon evolving though he crushed Team Rocket and became a strong special attacker who spammed high power special moves. Using a Glaceon in Johto was fun, and with a choice band to actually outspeed late game opponents he was great.

Last, but certainly not least is Suicune, a pokemon I always wanted to use in a playthrought and my originally planned team member. She originally held an assault vest which worked well with Pressure, and was an extremely specially bulky team member whose final move was mirror coat. And then I beat Sabrina, got Calm Mind and she became my Ace Mon whose ability to set calm minds sweep is the only reason I was able to beat Red and Green, and was a key part of my rematch with Lance.

[vixivulpixel]

Review of Roaring Moon!

[radleysgamereviews]

Honest Review of Teal Mask DLC 3/10

I know I might get some hate for this but... underwhelming would be an understatement for The Teal Mask DLC.

Yes, there were a few new variant Pokémon and even a few new Pokémon that were introduced during the storyline of the DLC but that can't make up for the lack of storyline. To start on your new adventure, you head to the school where you meet the new professor, Briar, and are paired with three random NPCs to go off to a new region called Kitikami. Those NPCs you maybe see a handful of times, but they have no real purpose other than to be the randomly selected few to go on a new adventure. When you arrive, you meet the siblings Kieran and Carmine, and are immediately faced with a Pokémon battle with barely any time to explore or set up a proper team for this new region. That should have been my first clue that this DLC was going to lack content.

After the battles and some talking you finally get to set off on your new adventure and have one main storyline quest to follow. Without spoiling anything you are basically set free to explore the region with no clear direction on how to get to your first quest other than a pinpoint location on your map. I spent most of my time rock climbing to find these locations because pathways were very unclear. Continuing on the storyline you find out about the history of the region and about the Pokémon Ogerpon which is the main Pokémon of the DLC. Honestly the backstory of Ogerpon was the one and only interesting part of the storyline. While finding out about this history you battle the same two NPCs over and over again until the final battle where you get to catch Ogerpon and then you battle those NPCs some more. I was so bored of battling the NPCs that my team was made up of my highest level Pokémon so I could get through the battles as quickly as possible. Once you have Ogerpon the main story line of the DLC ends and you can either head back home or stay longer to complete Kitikami pokedex and receive a few more side quests to complete. In the end I chose to shiny hunt where I actually ended up finding a shiny Morpeko but the shiny hunting quickly ended because I was extremely frustrated with continuously running into small Pokémon because you couldn't see them over the tall grass.

So would I recommend the DLC… no. I think I wasted my money on it for only receiving a few new pairs of clothes, a few new Pokémon, and a crap storyline. Hopefully Part 2 of the DLC can redeem Part 1: The Teal Mask because so far, I give this DLC a 3/10.

[lunzoic]

After finally beating the game...

Big spoilers for Scalet/Violet ending!...

I think I'm echoing a lot of other people's sentiments when I say 'Huh, so that's where half the budget went'. I don't even mean that in a salty way, I'm just kind of baffled that there's such a strong contrast between the effort that went into this final area and the rest of the game. I seriously underestimated how much there was going to be too since the Pokemon tradition is that post Elite-Four content is kinda lacking, and the only hint that Area Zero was not 'postgame' was that credits had not rolled yet. I was really expecting Area Zero to just be an afterthought, similar to the usual optional postgame dungeons. Or like Ultraspace, in which: you go there, leave after having one big fight, and optionally come back later to find more ultrabeasts. And instead we got a fairly expansive dungeon that both contains the really cool paradox pokemon as well as like, the game's entire narrative weight, interesting character interactions, a big fight I was definitely not expecting, and all the actual intriguing plot elements in one ultra-concentrated dose. I actually prefer a fantastic ending to mediocre game rather than the other way around, it's just very surprising to see it happen when the opposite is so common. And yeah some of that perception is filtered by the bar of expectations being set so low by the rest of the game, and of course it was by no means a perfect ending. The jank still allows you to accidentally skip if you jump off certain cliffs, the scripted encounters with paradox Pokemon are just ok, and navigating Area Zero without Ko/Miraidon can be a pain if you take a wrong turn. But the pacing, the dialogue, the way the characters play off each other, the gradual reveals, and the whole final fight was actually incredibly well done. And it makes me feel a little sad to see that the dev team was clearly capable of making great story-driven game segments, but that it was only at the very ending of the game that they really got to flex those creative muscles. I feel like it's also created a weird dichotomy of people who could not abide the jank and put the game down or decided not to buy it in the first place/refunded it and the people who stuck it out to the end and got an unexpectedly quality finish. Good for us I guess? I definitely would have lost interest a lot sooner had friends who finished the game not given clues that they really enjoyed the ending...

More specific ending spoilers and commentary: Having an AI character being aware of having their own will being overridden was equal parts fucked up, heartbreaking, terrifying, and really effective. The way they're clearly fighting against it even as they taunt you, their whole speech about freedom and treasure, that moment when they seem to intentionally succumb to the programmed will in order to sincerely tell Arven that the original professor loved him (oh my FUCKING god)... Now THAT'S how you break the mold in terms of creating a different narrative hook than the usual formula! For me it really did retroactively change the feeling of the entire game, knowing that the 'professor' who started you on your whole journey was actually patiently waiting for you to become strong enough to venture into area zero and do what but their programming did not allow them to do. That they were vicariously enjoying every step of your adventure along the way, because their very nature as an area zero anomaly meant they could never leave themselves. Their final decision to send themselves to the past/future in order to disable the time machine, while kind of cheesy and nonsensical, was something that they willed with their own heart and wholly defied the original professor's wishes. That in their vast intellect they decided to stake the future on a bunch of teenagers is still pretty goofy but hey, it's Pokemon. Like a lot of people I did suspect that there would be some sort twist with the professor, but I did not expect THIS, nor did I expect a Pokemon game to handle a sympathetic AI character in a really emotional and interesting way. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given that Pokemon as a franchise has had various created/artificial beings who are treated sympathetically? But it does also kind of highlight once again that the game feels kind of hodge-podge in regards to what audience it's catering to, due to the entire game feeling hand-holdy and kid-friendly in its appeal and then... that entire ending happens. I can imagine some kids not even being able to finish the game, not even due to difficulty spike but because of finding the Arven and robo professor story too scary and sad. On the other hand, Pokemon at its roots has always some pretty damn heavy themes, so I guess this could also just be considered a return to form? Pokemon themselves being fully sentient creatures forced to serve their masters no matter what, the entire arc of Mewtwo being created and then destroying its own lab... I remember finding those too sad to contemplate as a kid so I kind of just. Didn't. But those aspects were never really explored to the depth they could have been within the main game's stories (I do know the movies/anime/comics have darker storylines, but those are all 'extended lore' as far as the games are concerned). So this is the first time where elements like the death of a main character and having the villain be a human (in appearance) ally with explicitly programmed loss of will who doesn't want to turn against you are THIS front and center in the story of a main series game. And it was actually done pretty emotionally and effectively, so I do applaud the decision to take a risk and make a more mature storyline happen at all.

And yes, it is not lost on me that both a reluctant final boss and the subtle use of the menu interface in the finale are reminiscent of ah... a certain other game? I might be seeing stronger connections than I should due the killer music contribution by Toby, and I don't really care if it was intentional or not, but I'm just really happy to see any game make use of those tropes to great effect.

[retardeddyke]

shiny hunting pokemon with various randos on Reddit is so fun especially since this game is so buggy its hilarious.

One guy placed a pickle when we were making a sandwich together and it somehow made the physics engine freak out and fling the other ingredients everywhere so I had to reset so I didn't waste anything.

For some reason no matter who hosted or how many times we tried changing things none of us could see each other in the area we were shiny hunting in (area zero.) At some point I did actually appear for one person for a few seconds and he excitedly DMd me this picture

(I'm on the miriadon)

But I couldn't see any of the other people I played with and none of them saw me at any other point.

I caught two shiny Pokemon and then the game crashed completely and for some reason unlike with every other online service there's no automated failsafe so it completely erased them (rip hawlucha and slither wing no. 1)

I spent like three hours shiny hunting and ended with only one Slither Wing since every other shiny I found I let the people I was playing with catch.

It was a lot of fun but half of it felt like it was fun in spite of the game rather than because of it.

[thefcguy]

Pokemon: Journeys – Review of the Saga

Inspired by @natedogx15 ‘s reviews, I decided to make this review.

Many of you might not you, but I really like Pokemon! I love the franchise, specially the anime.

For a long time, though, I stopped watching it for some complicated reasons. However, I returned watching it in Journeys! I haven’t watched all of the chapters yet, but I have seen reviews and scenes of future chapters, so, I know basically everything that happened on it.

Since I am such a big fan, I decided to give my review and PERSONAL opinion on it (it’s just my opinion, don’t judge).

(There are some spoilers below, but I don’t think they are that big)

 1- The Structure:

 The pokemon anime from gen 1 to 6 had the same formula. Ash with a group of friends would travel through a new region so that they could achieve their dreams.

Ash would fight the gyms, catch at least six pokemons, and help a lot of people along the way, usually having a rival that would be his opposite in some way.

His teammates would usually be gym leaders, monotype trainers, a coordinator/performer, and sometimes a little sibling.

They would usually have less pokemon than Ash, and arcs that would be solved in the saga they were a part of, returning on the next one showing how much they had grown after solving their issues.

This formula was pretty good and interesting, because it allowed us to get attached to the region and show us many different places with detail.

Besides, the camping scenes would usually give the pokemons time to interact with one another and have their own arcs.

However, Alola… broke this whole formula. Ash started going to school, had lots of companions, there were no gyms to challenge because Alola has the kahunas and trials systems, and there were no contests or showcases.

It was not bad, but it didn’t interest me that much back in the day. Nowadays, if I could, I would probably try to rewatch it, but, there is no easy way to doing it in my country, so… I know my judgement of Alola probably isn’t fair.

Now, on Journeys, I will be honest, there probably wouldn’t be an easy way to go back to the old formula, and there was no school in Galar so that they could use the same formula as in Sun and Moon.

So, that’s why I think that the idea of making Ash and Goh the assistants of Professor Cerise was a good solution, and I understand why they did that.

We need to remember that the original formula was created in 1997, and, back in the day, when kids stayed less time at home and actually went out to play more, the idea of Ash travelling with friends world-wide was more relatable than nowadays.

Nowadays, with technology, kids leave their houses less, and play mostly on smartphones.

To appeal to the new public, this idea of sporadic travels and always returning to the institute and the ending of the day probably makes things more relatable.

This was also probably the reason they changed how the friendships are shown here

I will be honest, I am not from the generation of those who started watching from gen 1, because I am not that old (I started on BW and then watched all the old seasons), but narratively speaking, the original formula was better at showing and presenting new regions.

Reason why Galar is the region with the most wasted potential (BW didn’t show Unova that well, but, at least we saw all of the Gym Leaders and Ash battled them all).  

As for the World Championship thing… I think it was a pretty good idea actually. It was an interesting way of finishing Ash’s arc… and a quicker one than making him rechallenge all of the past leagues and defeating the champions.

I will talk more about Ash on his section.

 The new formula isn’t perfect, but had it’s good points, and allowed us to see a lot of past characters. So… I give it 3,5 points out of 5.  

 2- Characters

 2,1- Ash Ketchum:

Before anything, I have to say, I feel bad for the writers that had to develop the new Ash for journeys, because it was a hard job. You guys probably didn’t understand what I meant, so, allow me to elaborate.

This Ash we accompany nowadays isn’t the same of when the show started. No, this isn’t one of those creepy theories. He is the same boy, but not the same character.

Gens 1 to 4 had the same Ash from beginning to end. The Ash that started as a childish and slightly arrogant boy, that became more and more mature until the point of entering the Sinnoh league with many strong pokemons. An Ash that had fun and silly moments, but also had experience and cared for those around him.

Then, we have Gen 5 Ash, who was… softly rebooted, lets be honest. I don’t hate BW like many, but I recognize that this Ash doesn’t feel the same as Sinnoh Ash (my personal favorite).

When Gen 6 came, they tried to bring Sinnoh Ash back… but they made him a bit too mature. He is not a bad character, but he is a 10 year-old that act like he is 15. He is not bad, but needed a more mature context of Ash growing up to reach its highest potential.

The writers noticed that, and tried to make him more childish in Gen 7… but they were a bit too extreme, and the character lose most of his seriousness. Again, he is not bad, but he was clearly reseted.

So, the writers in Gen 8 definitely had a hard time deciding on the new Ash.

He could be the continuation of Gen 1-4 Ash, but, it has been so long, that they probably wouldn’t know how to write for him anymore.

Making him a continuation of Gen 5 would be an awful idea, considering how much he was hated.

Gen 6 Ash wouldn’t fit in the new context, and Gen 7 Ash also wasn’t that beloved.

That’s why they combined what worked from each Ash, and made Journey!Ash.

And, I have to say, the result was pretty good too. He is not that great like Sinnoh!Ash, but he has Ash’s silly side and he remembers his experiences.

He also has lots of good moments, like his bond and story with Riolu, the fact that he remembered the pokemons in the lab, and all of the support he gave his friends.

He also had lots of interesting battles during the World Championship.

The biggest issue with Ash this season were his new pokemon and the lack of screen time.

The fact that the old formula is gone, and that they don’t camp anymore, made that Ash’s pokemon didn’t have much of an arc this saga, and not much individuality or personality.

They aren’t bad but could be better.

As for the lack of screen time, this is a result of the writers not being able of balancing the attention on Ash and Goh.

Goh’s captures had a lot more of focus than Ash’s battles and arcs.

In the end, I give Journey’s Ash 4 stars. He is not perfect, but I am happy with what we got.

2,2- Goh:

What I am going to say about Goh might seen contradictory, but it makes sense. I like Goh’s personality, arc, and concept… but I hate his role.

I really like characters like Goh, characters that are smart, always had few to no friends, and through a new friend, they learn to open up and be more confident.

It’s also really nice how he is so smart and so interested in researching pokemon, basically being a better version of Tracey.

Even his goal is interesting: Catching Mew!

The problem is how he manages to achieve his goal. As I said before, the pokemons of the trainers are also characters.

That’s why they need focus, arcs, stories, specific personalities and moments on the spotlight!

The fact Goh captures so many pokemons makes harder for them all to have great arcs or be interesting, which, combined with the new form, make them all more forgettable than the rest of Ash’s companion’s pokemons.

I think that if they made Goh be more like a trainer that wanted to be a researcher/professor in the future, it would have been better.

Like, instead of capturing every pokemon, Goh would travel to places, study their behavior, draw them, make notes, and them verify if the info on the pokedex is right about them. Perhaps, he could even discover new things!

And, during his travels, he could catch pokemon that he developed a bond with, or that would be useful in future research!

Or, I don’t know, he could have been a coordinator. A male protagonist being a coordinator would have been a nice addition, considering it never happened before.

Anyway, I just think they could have done more with Goh and his arc. I know that he was just advertisement of Pokemon Go, but he could have been better.

In the end, I also give him 3,75 stars. He is great but could have done more.

 2,3 – Chloe Cerise:

 This character is the definition of wasted potential.

Chloe could have been so much more than she ended up being.

First, her personality is kind of unique compared to the other girls. She is not overly girly (like Serena and even Dawn) nor a hot headed tomboy (like Misty and Iris).

She is a kind, shy person, but not defenseless. She is smart and sassy.

Besides, her whole plot with Eevee and wanting to understand what she wants to become is really good.

Sadly, she got just a few chapters to shine, and just two pokemon to use (and Yamper wasn’t even technically hers).

I think that if she joined Ash and Goh earlier on their adventures, she could have had a better development.

Maybe catching some more Pokemon that also feel confused like her. Like Oddish, Poliwhril, Slowpoke or Kirlia!

And the end of her character being that she still doesn’t know what to do, but continues researching, would be great, showing how there is no hurry to find your dream!

I just think that they could have shown her more and keeping her ending the same.

Her interactions with the pokegirls were also great, and I wish we could have seen more of that too. Maybe Misty or Iris could have helped (sadly, I know May couldn’t appear).

In the end, I give Chloe 4 stars, because of what she could have been.

 3- The Interactions and Character Dynamics:

This was definitely the best part of journeys. Goh, Ash, and Chloe had such good chemistry with each other!

Remember when I said about the new formula being more relatable for kids nowadays! Well, I say the same about the friendships.

Ash and Goh’s friendship of supporting each other, teasing each other and arguing with each other was a lot alike real friendships we see in our day to day lives!

Like the scene on the train where ethey compare their drawings.

They care about each other and talk to each other about how they feel.

And Chloe being so done at the two, but keeping on hanging out with them, is also a great example of friendship.

Friendship isn’t this magical perfect thing were we never get annoyed at someone, there are times there are arguments, and differences, but we all solve that in the end.

I feel like the friendship that the three have is a lot closer to real friendships nowadays than those in the past sagas.

And I also like how there was no forced shipping between Chloe and the boys. The three were friends and nothing more than that (but I don’t judge the shippers though, everyone is free to have their opinions. So, if you guys like AshxGoh, AshxChloe or GohxChloe, don’t worry, because I don’t judge).

So, for the interactions, I give it 5 stars! The three have amazing interactions with one another.

 4- Team Rocket:

 Okay… this is probably the weakest part of the season.

Team Rocket in this season was… terrible.

Usually, Team Rocket had great comedic moments, and good episodes were they bond with their pokemon.

But the biggest issue this season is that they don’t have pokemon of their own, and neither an arc.

Their highest moment this saga was the radio episode, which, to be fair, was good, but… it was just that.

There is so little to talk about them, that their section is just that.

In the end, I give them… 2 stars. Not entirely bad, cause they are Team Rocket, but this is probably the worse they have ever been.

 5- The Cameos:

Other good thing that they did this season was showing us lots of characters from the past sagas.

Not all of their returns were perfect, but they still were really good at its majority.

I really like the return of Alola’s gang episode. Now, you are probably wondering why, because I haven’t watched Sun and Moon. I just really like the idea of introvert guy becomes best friend with extrovert guy, and now he needs to handle all of the thousands of friends that his bestfriend has.

Iris’s return made her character a lot better. Again, even if I don’t hate BW, I know that it has problems. And it was great to see that they made Iris less annoying, made her more mature, and actually have powerful Dragon Types! They also made her the champion which is also great!

It's amazing to see what they have done with the character.

Dawn’s return, though, it’s complicated for me. I always say that DP is my favorite saga, and that Dawn is my favorite companion. But… I don’t think Journeys gave her all that she deserved.

I loved her interactions with Chloe and how her friendship with Ash is recognized by the writers, but the fact that they gave her no new pokemon, and didn’t update her outfit, makes it seems like she didn’t have much development.

The episodes she appears are far from bad, some being really good, but I think she deserved more, considering how great she was in DP.

Serena’s return for me was both good and bad. I loved how they made her more mature and confident on herself, her new design, how supportive she is of Chloe, and how she became more than “The girl who openly likes Ash”.

The bad thing about the chapter is how they made Contests so boring. Contests on gens 3 and 4 were amazing! The appeal stage being limited to one or two pokemons at a time gave them the chance to shine.

And the battle stage was amazing! The combinations, the strategies, the tensions, the unpredictability, and a lot more!

Now… Contests are basically Showcases 2.0. Not bad, but I really prefer how they were before.

Lillie’s return and the ending of her story was done flawlessly. I really liked Lillie’s character on the games, and it was great seeing her finally achieving happiness.

Clemont and Bonnie’s return was also good. They weren’t amazingly great characters on the XY saga, and their episode followed the same pattern. I like Clemont, Bonnie, and their return, but it was not that special.

Gary’s return was also fun, honestly. I always though him to be annoying, but enjoyed what happened to him in DP. And it was great seeing Gary motivating Goh to be better, like he did with Ash. It was great seeing him finally return.

Paul’s return was also fantastic! Seeing Paul and Ash battling was nostalgic. This time, though, he is less villainous than he used to be, but it’s great to see him as this weird source of advice. He is also a Gym Leader now, which is cool.

Cyntia’s return was also amazing, and I loved that she and Ash finally had an official battle.

It’s sad Cilan didn’t have an official return, because that could have been a way to redeem his character, like they did with Iris, but, considering how much he is hated, maybe it was for the best he didn’t return.

I already talked about the May situation, so, I won’t repeat.

And Tracey… well, no one cares that much about him, so, it’s not worth it to talk about him.

In the end, I give 4,5 stars out of 5 for the cameos. It was almost flawless.

 6- The Pokemons:

I will be quick on this one, since I already talked too much.

The good part is that they gave Ash a lot of pokemon that he should have had back in Kanto, like Dragonite and Gengar.

The bad part is the whole thing of pokemon not having that deep character arcs because of the new formula.

But, Chloe’s Eevee was good, Gengar’s backstory was sad but also interesting, and the episode of Goh and his Floette was pretty emotional.

I also like Sirfetched.

So, I guess I am going to give… 3 stars out of five. Not bad, but not that good.

 7- Conclusion:

Pokemon Journeys wasn’t perfect. In its majority, it was pretty good, but some problems ended up appearing, and it didn’t reach its highest potential.

In the end, I give Journey on its entirely… 3.85 stars out of 5. It was a good saga, but not one of my favorites.

[basilquesadilla]

My Thoughts on Pokemon Sword/Shield

Hi everyone! Thought I'd do something a bit fun out of boredom and just give a very casual review of Sword and Shield(mainly Shield since that's the one I played). I was gifted it by a friend who didn't want her copy. She didn't have the DLC(nor did I feel like dropping extra money for it) so that'll be excluded from this. Thought I'd go ahead and do this in a "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" type format.

The Good:

Quality of Life Improvements/:

When I say quality of life, I mean two things. Firstly...FINALLY WILD POKEMON ARE IN THE OVERWORLD!!! Listen, is there a single person out there that enjoys random enemy encounters in RPGs? If you do like those, pls seek help/j

Ok but seriously, these were so nice. Never felt the need to stock up on repels, and finding a lot of the Pokemon I wanted to catch was easy. I did kinda dislike the mystery mons that would appear too(especially since some mons only spawned from those, like Applin). But that was a minor flaw. Overall I'm happy to see this, and if they ever go back to random encounters I will be fighting them.

The other is in how the tutorial section of this game feels. After Sun and Moon's tutorial feeling like it was never ending, I feel like this one was actually quite nice. Telling Hop "Yes I know what a Pokemon Center is," and having him actually go "Oh ok, then I won't explain anything" was very nice. I overall didn't feel like the game was aggressively destroying the pace with tutorials, and I appreciate that. Considering the fact that Sun and Moon's first island is something that holds me back from wanting to replay it lol.

The New Pokemon Designs + The Soundtrack:

Gonna group these as they both have to do with presentation. This generation definitely has added some designs that I really enjoy. Appletun, CorviKnight, and Obstagoon are just a few of my favorites. That's all I can really say to be honest. It's wild that Pokemon was on it's 8th generation at this point and it's still churning out fun designs. While Dynamax/Gigantimax(as we'll see later) isn't my favorite gimmick, the Gigantimax designs were super fun and epic to see in-battle. Overall, Pokemon once again succeeded at creating a good cast of new mons, that's all there really is to say.

The soundtrack was also great to hear, as expected from Pokemon. I enjoyed most of the tunes that played throughout the game, not much to say about it. Some of my faves were the gym battle music and the pre-Leon fight music(iykyk). The latter was super epic and fun to listen to while doing the penultimate boss of the game.

The Gym Challenges(kinda):

This is an aspect that lean into being both good and bad. Listen, in CONCEPT, gym challenges are great. It's really fun to have some type of mini challenge to do before facing the gym leader. And it's nice to deviate from the typical "go through gym, fight trainers on a linear path" system of past gens. That was one of the best things about Alola's island trials. I think SwSh wanted to find a way to mimic that with...mixed success

Milo and Kabu's gyms(I'm not googling their names sorry lol) are examples of where I think they succeeded. Was the herding Wooloo one particularly challenging or anything? No, but that's ok cause it's only the first gym. They probably could've added some other obstacles/yampers to make it harder, but eh, it was fine, and trainer fights being optional was great. It made me expect to see other unique minigames in the other gyms. The fire gym's challenge did a great job at putting a twist on gym trainers. There goal is to stop you from catching the wild mons to earn points, not to take you out in a 1v1, and that was neat! Overall the gym challenges were a neat concept and had some good executions, but as we'll see later some of the other gyms were horrible at it.

Quick note btw, I really enjoyed the gym battles themselves as well as the final cup. Felt like the gym leaders were actually trying to win, and Leon in particular gave me a bit of challenge. With all of the major positives out of the way, it's time for:

The Bad:

Gym Challenges:

Alright yeah let's get this out of the way. For the most part the gym challenges felt....rather uncreative/like things you'd see in another game. Nessa's gym straight up felt like any ordinary gym from another mainline game. Raihan's was just....double battles. Seriously? That was such a disappointing and boring as a concept, they could've done something more creative than "but what if the battles were all doubles and focused on weather?" I feel like there were gyms in previous games that tried to do a similar concept to what gym challenges were doing, with similar or more success. Examples would be Fantina's dimly lit gym focused on making your way through a maze with the flashlight, or Clay's gym in BW2 also being a bit of a maze. Yeah, there really isn't much to say about the gym challenges other than "They thought they did something unique, but all they did was give Pokemon Gym layouts a new name."

City/Route Design:

Oh boy. These towns/cities have got to be some of the most boring things EVER. Listen, previous games have definitely had some "meh" towns. But jeez....not as bad as this. Spikemuth is literally just a hallway. A HALLWAY. REALLY?!? So many of the towns had me running around to find things to do, but I just couldn't find NPCs saying anything interesting or fun. After a while I just gave up on doing that. Ballonlea is the biggest offender here. Visually the town is GORGEOUS, probably the prettiest location a gym has ever been in in a Pokemon game. But there's like...nothing to do. Nothing to do other than take on the gym, that's how most of Galar's cities can be described. This will play a role later when we disucss the....*shudders* writing of the story in the game. But yeah, they suck

The routes aren't much better off either. Many of them are very linear paths without much to do than battle trainers. Which btw, is it me or did it feel like trainers were sparse in some area. Don't get me wrong, I hate when they crowd areas with trainers, and I like that many of the ones here are avoidable but....I felt like I wasn't doing much battling(though luckily the shared exp, something I didn't mind at all, was good at keeping me up in levels). Routes felt like they had no little secrets to find, and I never felt an urge to backtrack. I probably coulda gone back with the water bike, but route were so short I doubt I would've found much.

The Wild Area:

Based on what I've seen of Scarlet/Violet, this feels like it was basically there way of testing how something more open world in a mainline game would be liked by Pokemon fans. And well, it was....ok I guess. It wasn't horrible to go through, and I liked that the Areas had differing weather that changed spawn rates. But the whole thing just felt like a tech demo than anything fleshed out. I would've rather just had more routes throughout the region to make it feel like we weren't speeding it through the gym challenge at mach speeds. It's not as bad as the plain cities/routes since you're not FORCED to go through it much, but it definitely feels like there was wasted potential here. The amount of options it made for teambuilding early on was probably it's biggest strength.

The Ugly:

Dynamaxing:

Ok listen. It's not as horrible as the other thing I'll discuss below. But it's just SOOO BORING. This has got to be my least favorite generational gimmick. Megas were really badass, and Z-moves might've been plain, but the fun animations made it cool at least. I haven't played SV so I can't speak for the terra stuff there. But you wanna know what was cool about gen 6 and 7's gimmicks? THEY COULD BE DONE ANYWHERE, NOT JUST SELECT BOSS BATTLES. I know that the game does have you doing gym battles pretty often as a big part of its narrative, but jeez. Restricting the gimmick like that just feels bad. And it doesn't really feel like dynamaxing is anything strategic anyways. You know any given opponent Gigantimaxes their last team member, so you may as well just save your Dynamax till then so you can easily last out the 3 turns or KO it with your own superpowered moves. The Gigantimax forms at least had unique designs, which is the only plus I'll give this system. Otherwise I'd say the gimmick insanely boring.

The God Awful Writing:

Putting extra emphasis here cause dear lord....THIS IS THE WORST WRITTEN GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED! I'm gonna break this down into just the narrative itself and then get into characterization.

First off, the plot. Or more so, the lack of one. Throughout the game everyone is telling you "just keep doing the gym challenge, just keep doing the gym challenge, just keep doing the gym challenge." Even when an emergency happens and whatnot, they tell you to not get involved, and thus there's nothing breaking up the gyms. This leads to the gym challenge feeling insanely fast-paced. When Milo, Nessa, and Kabu talk to you and Hop, I feel like it should feel like something, because completing the first 3 gyms is considered canonically impressive. But the game makes you go through these so quickly that I felt nothing. The pace is just too fast. The only mild breaks you get are talking to Sonia about the ancient legends, but all of the info is just things you randomly stumble on or have spoonfed to you. They want it to feel like some kind of mystery you're unraveling, but it doesn't feel like it. Going through some ancient ruins or locations to investigate in between gyms with her would've been a good way to space out the gyms more.

Now, you know what typically handles pacing issues like this? The presence of an evil team. Unfortunately our villain team here is team skull. Except they're not even an evil team. They're just a bunch of losers who are aggressively excited about cheering on Marnie. Marnie, btw, is a big old nothingburger. She has a neat design, but her personality feels like nothing, and she didn't feel like a good rival at all. Her writing puts her on par with the XY rivals cast imo. As such, since all Team Yell does is occasionally battle you for dumb reasons, they don't break up the plot much. The game instead decides it wants to make Chairman Rose. be a "twist" villain, which only happens during the championship matches. Which means the game only gets most of its proper story development AT THE VERY END! And now, let's consider this. An "evil team" that isn't even really trying to do anything that insanely evil, and a twist villain from the region's main corporation....

Yep. That's right folks. They wanted to replicate Team Skull and Lusamine. Except they failed. Cause Team Skull was a group of actual misfits, not just some cringe fans of some trainer they idolized. They had a badass theme, and Po Town solos Spikemuth. And Lusamine was written much better. We're shown immediately that the Aether Foundation is sus, and they did well writing her to just be someone who's truly obsessed with her research and the Ultra Beasts. Overall, the pacing here just sucks. The game is 90% gym challenge, 10% other story. They could've easily fixed this via the suggestion I had for Sonia earlier, as well as by allowing us to help Leon alongside Hop with the dynamax disasters happening. But nope, they didn't want us to. At least I can say that the big raid fight alongside the box art legendaries was cool and had a fun theme.

Lastly, I just want to discuss the writing of Hop and Bede. Now personally, I love these two. I love their personalities and mannerisms, and I enjoyed getting to see them...but their arcs definitely needed work. The fast pace of going through the gym challenges makes it feel like we've barely even seen Bede before he's kicked out of the gym challenge and later taken by Opal as her successor. Hop meanwhile highlights why I think Pokemon should have some forced losses. If they had made Hop an unwinnable fight the first 2-3 times(by simply making his Wooloo/other mons he's used better) it would've showed how he's entering the challenge with more experience than us. Then as we(and Bede) defeat him, that starts him down a spiral. Which btw, they were kinda bad at highlighting his inferiority complex. It's wild to say this, but this is a game that NEEDED padding. It needed that extra story stuff between gyms, cause the aggressive way the game railroads you down the gym challenge just makes the pacing and characterization suffer greatly

Conclusion/Overall Thoughts:

Despite all of my complaints there, I did at least like playing this game. It was some good old Pokemon fun, and the QoL improvements made it so I could at least had good stretches of doing my own thing(though those stretches were probably too long). I think I'd give it a solid 3/5, maybe a 2.75/5. Do I think it's worth the $60 price tag? Fuck no, definitely get it from someone else or try to find it used. But I definitely don't think it's AS bad as people made it out to be. An overall ok game, but definitely one on the lower end when it comes to Pokemon's mainline games.

EDIT: Actually upon reflection this is more of a 2 or 2.5 out of 5 lol. Sorry to SwSh fans, maybe if I get the DLC one day it'll rise up a bit. But for now I'm just not feeling it.

[mahamid110]

Review With MAH

[t4tz3lwurm]

TatzTalks

063, 064, 065: Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam

In my very first post, I would like to highlight the often overlooked or even unnoticed aspects of the Abra family. To keep things interesting, I will skip the obvious stuff, such as spoons or the symbol on Kadabra's forehead.

To begin with, the Abra family can be interpreted as a representation of magical animals; Abra resembles a cat because it is constantly sleeping, Kadabra comes across as a fox with it's short mustache and bushy tail, and Alakazam appears to be a goat with it's horns.

For me, the loss of the tail and claws when going from Kadabra to Alakazam seems to symbolize a sort of "leaving behind the animalistic part" as it becomes smarter and it's brain evolves. Also, the shape of the head resembles a pentagram, which is a nice nod to mysticism that also helps to elevate the design.

While I previously compared the Abra family to mammals, I must point out their insect-like, exoskeletal parts. These suggest that the Pokémon are fragile and need external protection. It also feeds into the physically weak nerd/brainiac archetype, which adds even more personality to this family.

As a kid, the Abra family used to disgust me due to its weird design and frightening debut in anime. It wasn't until recently that I took a closer look at it, thanks to which I finally began to appreciate it. :)

[milkpumpkin96]

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Review

Part II: The Indigo Disk

It took me a while, but I have finally completed the entirety of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC. This post is a continuation of my previous review regarding "The Teal Mask."

It is pleasing to say that I enjoyed part II just as much, if not more, than part I of the DLC. Despite all the flaws that remained unresolved, I had an enjoyable experience playing through "The Indigo Disk!"

As a longtime Pokémon fan, I have quite a lot to say (bear with it), which is why I have broken up this review into two parts, with this post being part two.

[MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING]

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

As stated previously, I went into this DLC completely blind. I had not watched teasers, trailers, playthroughs, or promotional art. I had no clue about the existence of the new characters or what the story would entail!

When it comes to the content and character building of "The Indigo Disk" . . . wowzers. Stepping foot onto the grounds of Blueberry Academy for the first time was quite a treat--I am not sure as to what I was expecting, but it certainly was not a huge techy school floating in the middle of the ocean, where all the classrooms and dorms are under the water. How beautifully frightening! The academy also unleashed a fresh wave of Unovan nostalgia, for those fans of Generation V.

I was overall pleased with my playthrough. The DLC was longer and more jam-packed than I had thought, almost as if I were playing an entirely new game. "The Indigo Disk" had a hefty amount of new entries to the Pokédex and the battles were quite difficult (in a challenging yet manageable way).

However, I must talk about this again . . . "The Indigo Disk" features no performance upgrades. The DLC ran no smoother and no less buggy than the main game. There was atrocious lagging at times which bogged down the awe of the exploration and the impact of some cutscenes. I myself was lucky enough to not encounter any glitches, but other players were no so fortunate.

Part II of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero encapsulates some of the best components of Scarlet and Violet for sure, yet it fails to solve all the qualms Pokémon fans have had since the beginning.

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GAMEPLAY: 6/10

Once again, Game Freak has failed to solve the biggest issues plaguing the mainline games for years. Once again, fans must witness the same poor graphical output while Nintendo is still able to offer beauties like Super Mario Wonder and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Pokémon Scarlet came out in November of 2022. "The Indigo Disk" rolled around just over a year later, and despite complaints of bugginess and a struggling FPS, it seems that the creators of Pokémon don't give a shit.

It is cool to see, at the very least, that Game Freak is experimenting with creative ideas when it comes to character development and dialogue/writing. But it is saddening to have this experimentation--which has been a high point for the series in recent years--to be undermined by its biggest problem . . . especially when there are so many graphically capable modern games in comparison.

Listen, I am a Nintendo fan, and as such my preferences for visuals are not too particular. I do not always want pristine or realistic graphics. I like the occasional retro throwback or cartoony charm or good, old cell-shading. But, seriously . . . Pokémon Scarlet and Violet look pretty bad. This is especially true knowing that Game Freak has the funds and capabilities to bring about so much more. Even Legends of Arceus was a big step up, and this achievement had to be diminished with the chibified Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

The performance issues become greatly apparent traveling through Blueberry Academy's biomes. Riding Koraidon/Miraidon is still too much for the game to handle apparently. The worst frame rate drop I had ever seen was in the Savannah Biome: anytime I was anywhere near pluff mud, it was as if the world was ending. My screen would freeze.

I am not trying to defend Game Freak at all when I say this, but in theory, the locations are charming. I was blown away by the concept and visual presentation of Blueberry Academy itself. It is a vibrant terrarium under the sea, the inverse of an aquarium above land. The school is in the middle of Unovan waters and it is colored a specific white and blueberry blue, giving off advanced techy vibes.

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My absolute favorite aspect about the DLC has to be the difficulty surge. Hooray for Pokémon fans, we finally have a challenging game again!

Of course, some people will continue to complain that it is not hard enough, particularly players with a full-level 90-100 party. I mean, sure. I do not think that there will ever be a mainline game where the difficulty is extraordinarily high, due to balancing the wants and capabilities of actual children, casual players, competitive players, adult fans, and insane people. For us casual fans and even some competitive players, however, "The Indigo Disk" offered a unique challenge.

In "The Teal Mask," if players had beaten the main story in Scarlet and Violet, the battling levels were in the 50s-70s. In "The Indigo Disk," there is now a jump to levels 70s-80s. This DLC has some of the highest-leveled trainers to be seen in mainline Pokémon games. I personally had many moments of struggle due to the fact I play casually, and my main team was within the level 75-85 range.

What makes the DLC even harder is the fact that the battle system was an homage to old Unova practices: double battling! If you as a player had already been comfortable with your set-in-stone team, you may have to change some Pokémon around or switch up strategy in order to survive these double onslaughts. Of course, wild battles are still in singles, but trainers will be sending out duos.

Blueberry Academy even offers its own student-led Elite Four and champion ranking. Unlike typical Pokémon plot progression, players do not have to grind through eight gym leaders in order to get to the elites. Through personalized recommendations from Elite Four members themselves, the MC is ranked up quite highly and can skip straight on to tackling the Elite Four in any order. But . . . you still may want to wait. Players should catch some new Pokémon within the terrarium and level up their team. The Elite Four are HARD. I cannot recall the last time I failed one of these matches in recent generations . . . but in "The Indigo Disk," I admittedly lost both Crispin and Amarys. My team was not ready for the flint and steel.

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So yes, there is Crispin, the first-year student who loves spicy foods and Pokémon battling. He is a fire-type specialist who doesn't care for petty drama. Then, there is the second-year student Lacey, the daughter of gym leader Clay, who is cute, resourceful, and loves fairy types. Next is Amarys who is cold on the outside but soft on the inside. She wields steel type and is seemingly concerned about time management. Finally, there is Elite Four member Drayton who specializes in dragon types. He is the grandson of Unova gym leader Draydon, and presents himself as cool yet slothful. You can battle these students in any order, and all of their Pokémon are within levels 76 to 80. Get ready.

Like "The Teal Mask," another beautiful aspect of battling is that the trainers are smarter; in that they understand a bit of strategic thinking and item usage. You'll get sick of the constant use of focus sashes! It makes it feel almost as if you are fighting a real person on the other side.

There is another great feat of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero: sorry, Cynthia, but a new, powerful trainer is in town.

The champion of Blueberry Academy is the strongest champion to ever appear in the Pokémon series. He plays competitively. He is busting out an Incineroar of all things . . . and to Pokémon fans, you know how that goes. Having a remarkably leveled 83-85 team, good old Kieran from Kitakami has earned the title as champion in vain of the MC's bitchery.

Kieran's VGC-inspired strats make for an incredibly dynamic and fun battle. He whips out Hydrapple, a new evolution to Dipplin, and unleashes fury with the move "fickle beam" that can absolutely destroy you if Hydrapple randomly desires to go "all out."

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"The Indigo Disk" provides a nice amount of new bonus features to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Some are more impressive than others, but I did enjoy my time with them.

I think that the coolest addition is being able to unlock the ability to fly with Koraidon/Miraidon (not just glide). Players can fly anywhere and everywhere, in both the DLC maps and the Paldea map too. This makes travel much quicker and easier, though it would be nice if Koraidon/Miraidon could fly just a tad faster.

The downside to this ability is that you cannot unlock it until after you beat the main storyline of "The Indigo Disk." In post-game, Amarys will give your legendary lizard a supplement that will give it the permanent ability to fly. By the time this happens players will have probably done most of what they needed to do, aside from catching paradox and legendary Pokémon.

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Also, yes . . . Perrin has returned! Why though, why is Perrin inside of a Unovan high school? I am unsure about that.

Once players register 200 or more Pokémon in their Pokédex, Perrin will then have a request for you. A bit cheeky for someone who was buddied with you back in Kitakami, but oh well.

She reports these legends of paradox Pokémon that look kind of like pre-existing legendaries, but certainly more strange. Perrin shows players two vague photos and asks you to go find and catch them. These paradox creatures are located within Area Zero of Paldea.

The paradox Pokémon include Raiku and Entei or Cobalion and Terrakian, and depending on whether you have Pokémon Scarlet or Violet, they will look either more prehistoric or futuristic respectively. They will be named Raging Bolt and Gouging Fire [Scarlet] or Iron Crown and Iron Boulder [Violet]. Once both are caught, Perrin will give you a sport ball. Not too rewarding on her part but at least you will have cool, new Pokémon.

I am unsure as to why Walking Wake (a.k.a. Suicune) and Iron Leaves (a.k.a. Virizion) are not a part of this quest, but players can catch these as well.

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One of the most important mechanics of "The Indigo Disk" is the "blueberry points" system, or BP. These points are crucial and work as in-game currency, displacing other means of payment. You can use BP to purchase items, challenge the BB Elite Four, as well as to access a bunch of new additional items and upgrades in the BB League clubroom.

With these points, players can buy a myriad of things: new Pokéball throwing styles, new camera functions, changes to the aesthetic of the BB League room, more additional Pokémon to catch (i.e., adding starter Pokémon to the biomes), among other things. In the post-game, BP can be used to call in special couches for you to battle and trade with.

However, some of the new functions are horribly expensive. It costs BP to change your throwing style or the look of the clubroom each and every single time you decide to do so. While it is not difficult to obtain BP per se, it can be a very tedious grind.

How do players get BP? Players have to complete "BBQs." There are several different tasks that will show up on the right side of the screen, ranging from quests to catch a certain type of Pokémon, taking a picture of a Pokémon in motion, walking a certain amount of steps, preparing a certain flavor of sandwich, et cetera. These quests will reward you with varying amounts of points, normally 20 or 30 BP at a time. After every 10 BBQs completed, players will receive a special quest that may be worth over 100 BP.

This can be an annoying process. I would spend hours grinding for BP just to afford anything, especially when trying to spend 200 BP per special coach recruitment.

Accruing BP can move along much faster when using the Union Circle. Playing with friends or strangers will allow you to grind for BP much more efficiently, and group-specific quests can award you loads of points. Group BBQs can be as simple as taking a group picture while wearing Kitakami masks, or as challenging as finding a certain number of hidden Ditto blocks. The most frustrating part of the Union Circle is that, like Ogre Oustin', you cannot randomly play with people online. Players must enter a group code. This is really only possible by going on a subreddit or something, hoping that other players are in the mood to grind for BP. While this is not a difficult process at the moment, it could be problematic for those who want to play the DLC in the future.

But yeah, I overall appreciate the ability to customize. I have my BB League clubroom in the "gorgeous" style at the moment. The DLC also allows players even more hairstyles to choose from, and offers a plethora of new outfits: seasonal BB uniforms and a track outfit, as well as Drayton's getup. They are much more fashionable than Uva/Naranja's school uniforms.

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A strange but seemingly anticipated feature that "The Indigo Disk" implements is called "Pokémon Synchronization." Wowzers!

In the center of Blueberry Academy's terrarium is the plaza, where players can encounter a scientist named Synclaire. She asks you to test out the Synchro Machine, which will allow you to metaphysically synchronize with your leading Pokémon.

Once activated with the L and R-buttons, you become your Pokémon. Like, if you have Ogerpon on hand, you become the ogre. Essentially, players walk around as normal but through the eyes and body of the Pokémon. You can still pick up items and battle in the method of an auto-battle.

It is quite cute and silly . . . but sort of pointless? You can only access the synchro machine inside of the terrarium and nowhere else. The mechanic is also rather slow, meaning that your Pokémon is usually slower than the speed of the MC (especially on Koraidon/Miraidon). However it is just a cute extra gimmick, and it is really cool when players synchronize with Gholdengo because the game essentially transforms into a Tony Hawk title.

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A final addition I will mention is the post-story content.

For one thing, players can now catch almost every single legendary Pokémon imaginable! They are located sporadically around Paldea, but can only be accessed after The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero storyline is fully completed. In the post-game, a weird man named Snackworth will want to talk to you outside of Blueberry Academy. After completing certain amounts of solo quests and group quests, Sanckworth will tell the MC old tales of his childhood where he seems to . . . have met with . . . 25 different legendary Pokémon!?

Snackworth will give vague hints on their whereabouts. In order to have access to all the legendaries, players will need to have completed 130 solo quests and 12 group quests. This side adventure may be sluggish sometimes but it is a high reward. Solo quests are abundant and easy to do but group quests may be harder to access.

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Aside from this, in the post-game, players also unlock the ability to call in special couches to the BB League clubroom. These coaches include Paldean gym leaders, Paldean teachers, and Paldean Elite Four members! The BB Elite Four will be in the clubroom automatically, rotating every now and then (there can only be 3 BB students at a time). The special coaches are expensive as hell, requiring 200 BP per call.

The coaches will have unique dialogue and may even interact with one another. Riku will converse with Tulip, and Hassel has a conversation with Drayton. This may be fanservice-y to some degree, but is in all honesty really cool and interesting. The characters are one of the biggest highlights for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet anyways.

Players can battle the coaches at Blueberry Academy. If you win, you receive special reward items, including a pair of Rhyme's shoes and Clavell's "Clive" wig. If players lose a battle, they are unable to rematch the coach until you call them in with 200 BP again. After recruiting a coach three times, you unlock the ability to trade Pokémon with them! This can also be done with Lacey, Amarys, Drayton, and Crispin.

After doing the epilogue/mythical event called "Mochi Madness," Kieran and Carmine will show up to the BB League room for free. Nemona, Arven, and Penny will also be unlocked as special coaches!

This mechanic is adorable, interesting, and kind of addicting. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the different dialogues with characters you may not expect to mingle with, like the heartwarming interaction between Nemona and Kieran.

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MUSIC: 10/10

I admit that I am a bit easy to please, but I love Pokémon's music. Scarlet and Violet does not miss, especially here in the DLC! "The Indigo Disk" also features the surprising return of Toby Fox's musical talent.

What Game Freak lacks in visuals they make up for in sound. Well . . . not quite literally but you get what I mean.

The DLC soundtrack is a homage to Pokémon Black and White. For fans of Generation V, and people with good taste, the nostalgia and fun will please the senses. It is different enough to be its own soundtrack but includes remixes and renditions of old Unovan beats. For example, the coastal biome's track has a Driftveil City leitmotif. The terrarium wild battle and trainer battle music purely resembles Black and White's soundtrack.

We may not be getting remakes of Generation V now . . . but at least Pokémon fans got a little taste here in the DLC.

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Again, I am a major fan of battle music. Some of my favorite tracks are battle-related, including:

Battle! BB League Elite Four

Battle! Terrarium Wild Pokémon (v.2)

Battle! BB League Champion Kieran

I generally enjoy all of the terrarium music. Black and White are personally my favorite Pokémon games, on the basis of pure nostalgic, love for its Pokémon designs, and continued enjoyment of its story arc.

The battle theme against Kieran, who is now the BB League champion, is a remix of his final battle music from "The Teal Mask." The music adds electric guitars and heavy percussion--it goes hard. The track still captures Kieran's inner turmoil and desperation but combines it with sudden intensity and feelings of megalomania. Players get the sense that Kieran has achieved where he wanted to be in theory, but still lacks fulfillment. He is trying hard, wants to take you down, and he's freaking mental.

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In the second half of the DLC, when traversing deeper into Area Zero, more new music is played. These tracks are cool as well, giving off a mystical yet ominous vibe for the secrets of the Area Zero depths. The Depths music incorporates this demonically angelic chorus that emits this tone suggesting that you are roaming this unexplored, potentially dangerous area.

My favorite entry in the soundtrack is the Battle! Terapagos theme. The ascending and descending piano scale; the sense of dread and awe; the Toby Fox-style insertion of previous leitmotifs; it truly felt like a final boss fight. Even though the battle itself was questionable, I could not help but feel the music. It made the emotional impact of Terapagos' destruction and Kieran's heel-face turn much more powerful.

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The only thing I have to say is, well, in the beautiful words of Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku,

"The real Treasure of Area Zero is this f*cking Ed Sheeran song showing up again."

Yeah . . . uh . . . the end credits theme was a jump scare. I am sorry to Ed Sheeran fans, but not even Toby Fox could save this one.

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STORY: 6/10

"The Indigo Disk" had so much potential.

Pokémon fans had a goldmine of questions because the base game brought about so much intrigue. What exactly is this terastal phenomenon? Was there even more to the story and research of Professor Sada/Turo? Why is there a giant crater in Paldea?

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero initially presented itself as a key to these questions, delving deeper into why the hell a large ominous hole is in the middle of the continent. Why are Ms. Briar and her ancestor so interested in Terapagos and the Indigo Disk?

Unfortunately. . ."The Indigo Disk" left us with even MORE questions than answers. Leave it to Game Freak to circumvent their own ideas.

Obviously, the main focus for the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero seems to be the character building and interactions, especially regarding Florian/Julianna and his/her relations to the antiheroes Carmine and Kieran. More specifically, the DLC was truly about Kieran and his meta-awareness that he is indeed not the protagonist of the game. Kieran has this slow descend into a power craze and crazy obsessiveness over the MC.

This is fine. I love Carmine and Kieran and I am glad to see that Game Freak handled them well and gave them three-dimensionality. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's greatest strength is the writing and characters alone, and in this regard, Generation IX is one of the top ranks for this category.

Unfortunately, as it has been said, Game Freak has NO IDEA or just puts in zero effort to fix preexisting weaknesses. There are clear performance struggles, but another issue with the base game and the DLC is that the story is too big for its britches. The terastal phenomenon is a gimmick but had hints to great plot depth. You would think that the DLC, being named The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, would resolve this. But, no. I truly, honestly wanted to give the storyline a higher rating, especially since the first half of "The Indigo Disk' was super enjoyable. The plot unfortunately fell off in the second half, when it should have taken off.

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The story begins some time later after the events of "The Teal Mask." Director Cyrano of Unova's Blueberry Academy--sister school of Uva/Naranja--comes to Paldea with the given goal of enrolling the MC as an exchange student. Apparently, Carmine has put in a recommendation for Florian/Julianna.

I personally think that it is a bit odd that only the MC will be an exchange student. Are no other Paldean students in the running for the exchange program?

By the encouragement of Cyrano and Clavell, the MC travels to Unova and arrives at the academy, which is in the middle of Unovan waters. Cyrano gives you a brief tour alongside Lacey, a second-year student and the daughter of famous gym leader Clay. They introduce you to the terrarium, and at the top of the school rests a "terastal core" which was set up by Ms. Briar. She combined the soils and waters from Paldea and Kitakami's crystal pool to grant Pokémon within the terrarium the ability to terastalize. It seems that Ms. Briar is rather vague about her methods and explanations, and Director Cyrano doesn't seem to know what the hell is going on in the school.

Players get a small taste of Blueberry's class algorithm by attending a course in the coastal biome alongside Lacey. The MC then wanders to the central plaza and meets up with their old friend Carmine, who seems a bit more languish than usual. You battle her, and then she asks you if you've seen Kieran. She acts strangely regarding this topic.

Not too much later, Kieran does appear but not to which he can visibly see you or Carmine. You watch Kieran berate and belittle a random BB League member for "not training hard enough." The younger Kitakami sibling seems suddenly abashedly rude and vicious, with his leg vibrating violently (perhaps from anxiety), and he's sporting a new look with a tank top and hair bun. He tries to look intimidating and tall with his chin tilted up, but the little butthole still looks 90 lbs.

After witnessing that kerfuffle, a student named Drayton approaches you and asks if you're friends with Kieran. He then invites you to the BB League clubroom, stating that school will suck if you don't find a club to join. Drayton shows you how to use the room's computer and spend "blueberry points," and convinces you to join the BB League much to Carmine's bewilderment. Drayton is low-key kinda flirty, but in a platonic way, and then asks you out on a lunch date to talk further.

When Drayton leaves the room, Carmine takes you to your new dorm room and talks to you about Kieran and Drayton. She is worried about her brother: after the events of Kitakami, Kieran has grown aloof, mean, and power-hungry. He hardly eats and sleeps and overworks himself. Kieran triumphed through the ranks and became both the champion and the president of the BB League, acting as a huge debbie downer and enforcing super strict club rules. Drayton, who Carmine claims to despise, is potentially brewing up a scheme. She tells you not to trust him and she welcomes the MC to punch him.

Later, Florian/Julianna goes on their lunch date with Drayton, and at this point you can mostly ascertain as to why he wants you to join the league so badly. Drayton views Kieran as this little asshole who should be knocked down a few pegs. Drayton is the former champion, and I do not think that the man is particularly jealous or obsessed with such status, rather, Drayton seems concerned about Kieran's mental health yet he probably also harbors some ill feelings over Kieran's disgusting attitude.

Other club members enter the cafeteria, and Kieran finally spots the MC. Apparently Kieran had no idea that Florian/Julianna was coming as an exchange student. All the members vote on whether or not to let this random ass Paldean join the BB League (as it is against the rules). Amarys and Lacey reject you, but Drayton, Crispin, and Kieran allow you in as the majority. The boys got your back.

You are taken to be enrolled in the BB League, and due to the recommendations of the Elite Four and more importantly Kieran himself, the MC gets to bypass the lower rankings and is allowed to challenge the Elite Four directly. Even though Kieran gave you the go-ahead. . . I mean, damn. He worked so hard to get to his champion rank, and he insists that Florian/Julianna "shouldn't go losing" because HE has to be the one to kick your ass. That is so Zuko core. Perhaps it is more-so an inversion of Nemona's obsession with the MC.

The MC proceeds to get wrapped into the BB League drama and take on all Elite Four members. Both Drayton and Kieran keep an eye on you closely for different reasons. Once you defeat the Elite Four, Julianna/Florian can proceed to battle Champion Kieran. Kieran asserts that he is "no longer the little kid from Kitakami" and begins laying it on thick. Players can send out Ogerpon during the battle and Kieran will flip his shit.

Of course, Julianna/Florian must win because they are the MC, and once successful, Kieran has the ultimate mental breakdown and just stands there unable to speak or move correctly for a long time. Drayton immediately refers to him as "ex-Champion."

Before anyone can process the de-throning, both you, Kieran, Carmine, and Drayton are abruptly called to Ms. Briar's office. Quite bad timing. Lacey grows concerned because, since you are a temporary exchange student, you will eventually have to abandon your champion title. If Kieran is demoted to an Elite Four member, Crispin is pushed out of the ranks. But there is no time to solve this now.

You all go to Ms. Briar and she brings up the fact that Kieran is a big, fat loser. She gathered you all specifically because this quartet are the "strongest" trainers the academy has to offer. She informs you that she has been officially granted permission (after all these years) to delve into the depths of Area Zero. The room is then joined by the Paldean Champion Geeta and Elite Four member Riku, who talk more about the situation and adamantly pressure you into going with Ms. Briar. I mean, yeah, the MC has been there before, and you are considered "champion-ranked." Geeta expresses that all other Paldea league members are inadequate and inferior, so these four children must go instead . . . okay.

So, the MC will go, and Carmine wants to go, and Kieran agrees to join because he suddenly became unhealthily interested in catching Terapagos as means for a last-ditch power grab. Drayton volunteers to stay behind, because he is lazy as hell. Before departure, Geeta gives the player the indigo disk because she is unsure of its purpose despite research efforts. Alright Geeta, entrust a 14 year-old with this powerful unknown object.

The gang flies to Paldea and enters Area Zero once again. Carmine and Kieran are mesmerized . . . but I can infer that the MC must be quaking in their shoes (after what happened with Professor Sada/Turo). You descend down back into the laboratory and Briar finds all these private journal entries. You all get into the elevator after plopping the indigo disk drive into this machine, and the elevator redirects to deeper depths floors.

You exit the elevator and are greeted by these crystalline caves. The team finds even more entries from previous researchers and Professor Sada/Turo themself, talking about the whereabouts of Terapagos (aka the "key to/hidden treasure of Area Zero") and the existence of the "stellar tera type." Nobody had known that any human made it down this far into the depths. As you traverse onwards, the group frequently encounters these powerful Pokémon of the stellar tera type, which has not been seen outside of Area Zero.

After several Pokémon battles and slight bickering with Kieran, you eventually reach an ominous, open room with huge crystals. There is a little green gemstone lodged inside one of the bigger crystals, and Kieran rushes over to attempt to pull it out with his bone-thin arms. He ruminates and expresses frustration and grief over Florian/Julianna and their ability to ravel easily, ability to make friends quickly, their effortless strength, and their ownership of Ogerpon (and multiple legendaries at that). This is a pure expulsion of envy, loneliness, and desperation. Meanwhile, the socially unaware Carmine and MC finally understand what Kieran is so damn mad about. Ms. Briar, on the other hand, ignores this teenage display of angst and continues to obtusely egg Kieran on with his poor behavioral choices.

In a rage, Kieran successfully frees the gem. The gemstone levitates and out pops an adorable, babyish turtle Pokémon. Due to the direction it was facing when it popped out, Terapagos immediately imprinted on the MC due to him/her being in its line of vision. It cheerfully waddles towards the MC, but Kieran notices this immediately and becomes pissed and afraid. He cannot let another chance of bonding with a legendary slip out of his hands, so he whips out a master ball and catches Terapagos. Carmine is shocked and concerned, but Briar applauds him. Now that it is in captivity, Terapagos can be immediately researched upon.

With his new power, Kieran challenges the player to a battle. Kieran only uses Terapagos, which changes form during the fight. Briar encourages him to explore all of its capabilities.

The fight is not difficult at all, and Kieran becomes confused and depressed. He questions as to whether or not this Pokémon is actually the "treasure" of Area Zero. What's wrong with it?

Briar detects that Terapagos' terastal output is far too low. She tells Kieran to terastalize it so it can recognize its full potential. Naive Briar is commanding a mentally ill teenager to behave recklessly, yippee. So, Kieran terastalizes Terapagos . . . but it gets out of hand quickly. Terapagos absorbs so much terastal energy to that it becomes dangerous and uncontrollable. Terastal beams shoot everywhere creating a danger zone. Kieran tries to recall the Pokémon but the master ball freaking breaks. He is almost fatally struck in the head, but Koraidon/Miraidon shields him.

You and Carmine attempt to get Terapagos under control, to hardly any avail. The legendary keeps absorbing both trainers' terastal output. Briar's cowardly ass is over at the sidelines, and Kieran has another nervous breakdown and begins dissociating.

Carmine's Poltchageist quickly faints and the MC is left battling alone for a while. After multiple attempts at encouragement from you and Carmine, Kieran finally snaps back into reality and tries to help the situation. He realizes that he is kind of at fault and that he is not half bad at Pokémon battling. Eventually, you both tame Terapagos, and the MC catches/contains it in a ball.

Once things cool down, Kieran apologizes and bursts into sobs, followed by Carmine. Carmine also rips Briar a new one--Ms. Briar literally recruited mentally unstable children to descend into the most unknown, dangerous place in Paldea.

The gang returns to Unova where Kieran decides to fully apologize, and ask Florian/Julianna if they could start over and craft a friendship on a blank slate. The MC agrees, and the sky grows a romantic pink.

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As mentioned, the first half of the plot is pretty great. It is more surface level but still offers an entertaining depiction of [Pokémon] high school drama. The MC has returned to Kieran's surprise after having departed on a bitter note. While Florian/Julianna presumably carried on with their lives, Kieran has festered in envy and despair over the events of "The Teal Mask," devoting himself solely to getting stronger. You can even see the bags under Kieran's eyes, from the fact he has grown to be an insomniac.

The introductions of Lacey, Amarys, Crispin, and Drayton are executed wonderfully. They add a fun and unique flair to the plot that was largely absent in "The Teal Mask," and their interactions with each other are intriguing and charming. Sure, perhaps it crossed the lines of being "shippy" and dramatic at times . . . but these are all like 14 to 16-year-olds. Pokémon has never really dealt with shipping so upfront, but here you go. Though there is Drayton, who has been held back like three times, so he must be like 19 or 20 or something?

The rivalry between Drayton and the Kitakami siblings is quite amusing. It comes from a place of genuine concern on Drayton's side but it does not negate his cockiness (though to be fair, Kieran was presumably an asshole sore loser to him).

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I would say that the Blueberry Academy part of the game takes up most of players' time, due to the need to explore, catch new Pokémon, and complete trials and challenges. It is a chill adventure with a childishly dramatic story, which serves as an excellent buildup. Briar in the first portion of "The Indigo Disk" seems like a potential villain with more-than-meets-the-eye traits due to her vague explanations and questionable motive. Kieran's rampant self-destruction and callousness towards the League is worth a playthrough . . . players will want to kick his ass for sure.

However, following the defeat of Champion Kieran and the transition into the actual Area Zero parts of the story . . . oh boy, did it sure disappoint. For one thing, Geeta--knowing that her coworkers (like the gym leaders) do not seem to like her--remains weirdly auspicious yet does not seem willing to disclose key information to the people who are actually venturing down into the depths. Is Geeta hiding something? Does she know more about Terapgos and the indigo disk than she leads on? How did she obtain a Glimmora if they are only found in Area Zero? Why is she allowing mostly non-Paldean children over her fellow league members to go inside Area Zero? Game Freak will give zero answers to these questions.

The characterization of Briar became a big mess as well. Her presence in the story is mostly muted . . she could have been so much more. She served as more of a naive nuisance than an actual villain. Briar is a reckless, immature adult absorbed in her own world. She puts three kids in danger due to her erratic thirst for knowledge. She egged on a mentally unstable high schooler to do her own bidding. She was not a more-than-meets-the-eye villain, only an accidental enabler.

And why did Briar not get arrested? Why was she ever granted permission into Area Zero? Did she notice anything wrong with Carmine and Kieran? I feel like child endangerment charges should be filed. Of course, yet again, Game Freak will not answer nor solve any of these questions. In the post-game, Ms. Briar gives the player a book on the retelling of the Area Zero Depths event written by herself. She gives you a bloody book as an apology.

The saddest part about "The Indigo Disk" was how short it was. I had a playtime of 20 hours, in which maybe only two or three of those hours were actually in Area Zero. The depths were a cool concept that failed to actualize. As stated, the game left us with more questions than answers. What is Terapagos doing down there lying dormant in the depths? How is this Pokémon connected to terastalization? Still . . . why is there a huge crater in Paldea? Why does a random eastern town like Kitakami have terastal crystals in the water?

Ogerpon is much more fascinating lore-wise than Terapagos, and is also signifcantly better in combat than Terapagos' stellar tera type.

I mean, Terapagos being a turtle is neat, and so many religions in Asia and the Indigenous Americas focus on some sort of "world turtle" being the grounds for land and life itself. Why was this concept not explored in the Pokémon universe?

I don't know . . . the DLC was just much too short, and the depts were underwhelming. Game Freak could have dug even deeper. The final battle was exhilarating though, and I adored Kieran and Carmine's come-to . . . but still. It is also strange to note that Arven had nothing to do with these events. The old Paldea gang remains absent in both "The Teal Mask" and now "The Indigo Disk." As stated in my last review, these characters were pushed aside to allow the Kitakami siblings to shine. Though I think Area Zero is still really important for Arven . . . unless he is still grieving and traumatized, I do not know.

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SETTING: 8/10

"The Indigo Disk" takes place in two major locations: Blueberry Academy and its terrarium, and the depths of Area Zero.

Graphics aside, the settings are quite stellar. My jaw dropped at the first encounter with the academy and its expansiveness. The layout is circular like a Pokéball, with a plaza in the center and four biomes all around. It is a nice size for a DLC I think; not too overwhelming in scale but full of varied geography. The good thing about a smaller-sized map is that there are significantly fewer instances of boring, barren stretches of land that could be found in the Paldea map. Most anywhere in the terrarium you can find at least something.

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The biomes include the polar, coastal, canyon, and savannah areas. I had the worst performance issues in the savannah biome, and the landscape is probably the most lackluster in my opinion. I mean, savannahs are flat grasslands in reality . . . so I cannot fully blame it in that regard.

I really liked the music and appearance of the coastal biome, and I appreciated the ruggedness of the canyon biome with its huge cave complex you can enter.

The strangest pieces of architecture are the rainbow blocks that loosely resemble structures. The small gazebo-like classrooms and the main central plaza are composed of these blocks. It is very ugly, but I suppose the coloration and brightness make it very visible.

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Inside the academy is neat. You can go to the cafeteria, your dorm room, and the school store, which all mostly looked like Naranja/Uva's interiror but alternately colored. Like in the base game, you can see some of the MC's friend's dorm rooms, like Carmine's and Kieran's (the latter is only accessed after the epilogue is completed). Carmine's room is neat but a bit weird, full of family portraits and Pokémon dolls. Kieran has a total depression room with loose candy wrappers and a dead plant.

The belle of the ball is the BB League clubroom, which can look different depending upon the player's will. With the computer, you can spend BP for the art club's services of remodeling the room. You have the options to make it look normal (wooden walls and a blue carpet), natural (green and full of plants), monochrome (greyscale, hexagonal), fancy (pink dollhouse-like), dark (like a vampire's dining room), classic (darker wood and cabin-like), futuristic (like a kid's rocket-inspired bedroom), and gorgeous (golden, east-Asian inspired). If players get sick of one look, BP can be spent to remodel it again. All the designs are quite charming with my favorites being natural and gorgeous.

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The look of the Depths is alright. It doesn't look radically different from before, but it certainly feels unusual. It looks more humid, cramped, and sparkly, with a foreboding vibe. I am not a fan with the strict linearity of the path from the Depths' start to finish, but at least it moves players along quickly.

The area with the big, crystallized tree surrounded by rainbow-ish water is beautiful. This scene was featured in the trailer. However, I am not quite sure of the significance of this location. Players engage in a stellar terastal battle here, but not much is noted about the tree itself. Stunning for Pokémon standards, but rather unimportant . . .

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COMBAT: 9/10

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is definitely a step in the right direction for Pokémon, and "The Indigo Disk" itself is a step up from "The Teal Mask." The DLC is hard.

You are going to need Pokémon above level 75 to suffice through part two of the DLC. Players will also face the highest leveled champion of all time, Kieran, who has a team of level 85 Pokémon.

"The Indigo Disk" features callbacks to Unova, in which Blueberry Academy specializes in double battling. Aside from wild encounters, ALL trainer battles will be doubles. This makes challenging the Elite Four and champion even more difficult. Players are going to need to strategize a bit. Even Pokémon that do not appear to be threats can unabashedly use helping hand and other supporting moves for their partner to your demise.

Champion Kieran's team is notably different from who he battled with back in Kitakami. He has come equipped with the most notorious VGC Pokémon of all time, Incineroar, and also has powerhouses like Dragonite and Grimmsnarl, and Pokémon with powerful attacks like Porygon-Z's hyperbeam and Hydrapple's fickle beam. It is evident that Kieran has been studying up and wants to harness only his most capable team members (bye bye little Furret). Kieran, like other trainers, also have a better understanding of how to use berries and focus sashes . . . so watch out. The struggle may annoy some people but appeal to others' competitive edge. It kind of feels as if I am battling another actual person sometimes.

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Fighting and catching some of the new Pokémon in the terrarium's Pokédex is hard. The starter Pokémon in particular, which can be accessed after spending 3,000 BP per biome, are a tough catch. I spent countless Pokéballs to no success for a freaking Froakie or Cyndaquil.

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Instead of any gym challenges, the Blueberry Academy featured league challengers per Elite Four member. These varied in difficulty.

Lacey's trial was a mere Pokemon quiz, and Amarys' challenge was a timed flying trial for Koraidon/Miraidon. These trials were not too hard at all nor too long in length. Players may slip up on certain quiz questions (e.g., what body part does Venonat see out of) or if your flying controls are inverted, it may be tougher.

Crispin's trial required bargaining trainers for spicy ingredients to make a super spicy sandwich. Some of these trainers the player has to battle. It is kind of silly and fun, but certainly longer than Amarys' and Lacey's tests. Drayton has a very unique challenge. You battle three trainers but ONLY with Pokémon you caught in the terrarium itself. This may be simple for some but hard for others, particularly players who had gotten by with their carry-over party from Paldea or Kitakami. I appreciate the little challenge that forces you to actually explore the biomes and attempt to change up the player's team.

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The second half of the DLC has more inconsistent difficulty scaling. There is an addition to the terastalizing gimmick: the stellar tera type. Pokémon usually terastalize into one specific type that may or may not be unusual for the species, but the "stellar" type is like a combination of all types. Honestly, the stellar type is weird and kind of useless . . .

I am unsure as to why this type was added to the game. It seems cool and powerful in name but not in practice. The "stellar" tera type appears for certain Pokémon within the depths of Area Zero, but I had a ridiculously easy time destroying the onslaught of them.

Stellar terastlization is supposed to boost Pokémon moves of all types, but only once per type. The Pokémon will gain the abilities:

Become super effective against other Pokémon that are terastallized.

Keeps the base typing's defensive stats and properties.

Will have no weaknesses nor immunities.

So . . . yeah, kind of strange. Would players rather have a permanent boost on a specific tera type? Probably yes. Essentially, the stellar tera type does nothing for a Pokémon offensively, just defensively.

This made the newly revealed legendary Pokémon Terapagosmrather underwhelming. He is a stellar tera type, and while he looks cool, so what? The animation for Terapagos to terastalize is also awfully laggy and time-consuming. There is virtually no point in terastalizing him.

The boss battle against Terapagos however is unholy broken. It is a difficult fight . . . until it is not. The fight is impossible to get through if your Pokémon is not terastalized, in which Terapagos will be constantly absorbing the player's terastal energy for its own benefit, particularly after every third chunk of HP lost. Non-terastaslized Pokémon do insanely minimal damage.

The battle is actually story-guided. Despite the intensity and the epic soundtrack, the flow of the fight is hardly in the player's control. Carmine's only Pokémon will faint within the first third of the battle, and the MC will be left to his/her own devices in the middle third of the fight. In the final stretch, Kieran, regardless of anything, will come to his senses and help you out to defeat Terapagos.

Admittedly, I did die several times in this fight. Other people probably had no struggle at all. While Terapagos technically changes type every once in a while during the battle, it was hard to notice since it was so plot-oriented. The scariest part of the battle, which killed me, was the vehement spamming of the move "tera star storm."

So, the introduction of the stellar type is kind of a downside. It is simply irrelevant. It does not make too much sense for the player to actually use this mechanic. Once the story is completed, wild Pokémon may randomly develop the stellar tera type. It is not really worth the catch in my opinion; it is a gimmick pure and simple, unable to live up to its epic name.

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ENJOYMENT: 8/10

Overall, I enjoyed my experience with The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC. It has its serious flaws, and perhaps I am too content of a Pokémon fan, but I think my greatest attraction to this game was simply the characters and their development. The writing is humorous, emotional, and thoughtful, and Kieran and Carmine's arcs were refreshing and nicely done. It is great to have poorly adjusted, mentally ill rivals for a change, rather than the classic friendly competitor.

"The Indigo Disk" provided a fun challenge with its double battle system and high-leveled Pokémon, and I never got bored of fighting. I only was bogged down by the grinding for BP, but give or take it is an optional mechanic. I was thriving in my childhood memories of roaming around Pokémon Black and White, jamming out to the soundtrack reminiscent of Generation V.

Scarlet and Violet once again introduced visually and personality-appealing characters and Pokémon designs. Hydrapple has been a huge hit it seems, and I see some fans calling Applin the "new Eevee."

Of course, Game Freak must get itself together. There are no excuses for bugs, glitches, FPS drops, and graphical issues in 2022 onwards. Game Freak also needs to stop shying away from its own story questions they propose; the company is full of interesting ideas, they just need to figure out how to adequately implement them through and through. Yet, I just know the next mainline games are going to abandon and forget the concept of terastalization and all the power it holds in the Pokémon lore.

Regardless, I think that Pokémon fans will have a great time with this DLC and a gang of characters to remember and cherish.

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 40ish hours

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

PLATFORM USED: Nintendo Switch

DATE OF COMPLETION: May 2024

[good-pokemon-center-reviews]

[vixivulpixel]

Review of Chi-Yu!

[moonpiesanctuaryupdates]

Childlike Wonder Relived Through Pokémon Brilliant Diamond | Thoughts, Theories, & Ramblings

Having played the original Pokémon Diamond during my childhood, I had high hopes for the remakes!

Read my initial thoughts after playing through the game.

[myfavouritepokemoncentre]

He sit, He stare... he derp. BEHOLD Drilbur!

Ngl just found the reviews for him funny

[wiptw]

Pokémon Stadium Series

Nintendo 64 - Nintendo - 2000 to 2001

You as a Pokémon fan are absolutely fucking spoiled these days. Aside from the mainline games you have spinoffs and fangames offering different experiences, you have entire websites dedicated to documenting everything down to the internal maths of the series, there's no end to the free content you can access with an internet connection between emulators and battle sites like 'Showdown!', and it's now socially acceptable in most circles to be older than 13 and have something with Pikachu's face plastered on it (especially if you're female presenting, especially if your friend group is also infected with the Pokémon hype). Back in my day™ you had almost none of this. You had the anime on Saturday mornings, you had the early run Pokémon licensed merch which WOULD get you called a baby if you continued buying past 10-12, and you had the games. Those sweet, sweet games that indoctrinated a generation of young people into being gamers and awoke a horde of JRPG addicts.

Literally Me

So remember this when I tell you that Pokémon Stadium, both one and two, aren't great games because they do something back then that you can't get today; they're great for what they did back then. So Pokemon Stadium 1&2 were a duology of games from 2000 and 2001 respectively that allowed players to battle Pokemon in 3D, with the addition of some side content such as minigames included to prevent the game from being 100% Pokemon battles. Because otherwise, the game is in fact navigating a series of menus and completing Pokémon battles with 3D models.

Whether it's taking on the gym gauntlets, the marathon of battles in the Pokémon cups, or just free battles with friends and loved ones, 98% of the experience is either selecting Pokémon from a roster of pre-built 'rentals' or transferring them from a saved game using the Transfer Pak, then fighting them in a series of 3D environments. An experience which you can definitely do today using web apps but as I said earlier, we didn't have that.

The peak of Pokémon battles in 2000

So if you're buying Pokémon Stadium (either version really) you're already probably a Pokémon fan right? So that means you have Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal, so why not just play that game and get the full experience? The fun of exploring, talking to NPCs, discovering new and exotic locations? Simple, because in those games battles looked like this

While in Stadium, battles looked like this

If you grew up watching the anime while playing the Gameboy games, there was this special kind of dissonance where you might find yourself saying "Yeah, (for the time) these graphics are RADICAL but I wish I had something closer to these cool Pokémon Battles they had in the anime." As you hide under the covers with your Gameboy Color worm light, nestled in your Ash Ketchum pajamas while you attempt for the 100th time to capture a ditto. Pokémon Stadium was the answer to this dissonance, providing you with vibrant 3D graphics unlike anything you'd ever seen before; bringing Pokémon to life in a way that would be unmatched until Colosseum came out during the Gamecube era.

So, to actual mechanics, you play both games pretty similarly; by building a team of Pokémon (either on your handheld or by using the rental mons the game provides) and take part in a series of battles to become the ultimate battle master. To use your own Pokémon, you'd need to use the aforementioned 'Transfer Pak' to plug in a copy of Red/Blue/Yellow (for 1) or Gold/Silver/Crystal (for 2) with a game saved to the cartridge; otherwise the rental Pokémon covered all released Pokémon (except for some hidden ones) allowing you to build your dream team, sans a few caveats here and there.

Evolved Pokémon have better stats but worse moves, while weaker Pokémon tend to have better moves to compensate

In terms of WHERE you can battle, there's two choices: Either in the Gym Leader Castle, or the Tournaments held in the center of the map on either game. Either way, the game will then have you battle through a series of 3v3 matches versus a set number of trainers who will also select 3 random mons from their full team of six.

A bit bare bones, but there's some spice to how things are run. For one, the rental system was a huge thing for us younger players back in the day. Even if you had the games some Pokémon were hard to catch, had evolution requirements some players couldn't complete (like the trade-mons), or were locked to a version you didn't have. The rental mons give you a list of every Pokémon (some exceptions, but not many) and then lets you build your dream team. Sure, you can't set their moves, EVs, IVs, and it's the era before abilities and natures but I CAN HAVE A MEOWTH/PERSIAN ON MY TEAM. Do you know what I had to do as a child to have this Pokémon outside of Stadium? I had to find someone in the American South who also enjoyed Pokémon, hoped they had Blue instead of Red, hoped they had a link cable, then get them to agree to a trade despite both of us being children (and therefore, objectively terrible) which likely meant giving away a rare Pokémon in exchange for what amounted to common garbage in their game because it was Version fucking Exclusivity™ and everyone seemed to know that meant you'd do anything to get that one fucking Pokémon you wanted.

In the handheld games, if you wanted to build your dream team then likely you'd have to put in some more effort than other games of the time would've required of you. With Stadium, your dreams come true, and if you already have that dream team you can just import them to fight in glorious 3D. Circumventing the fact that rental Pokémon are kinda terrible overall.

Don't feel like building? The challenge cup mode that gives you randomized team comps that has it's own charm (for masochists)

Not to say all of them were bad but construct a normal distribution of 'Good' to 'Bad' picks then that graph is gonna skew left so hard you'd be forgiven for thinking it was just a straight line. To keep every choice 'viable' Pokémon rentals were balanced around stats and moves. More powerful evolved Pokémon and Pokémon with high Base Stat Totals (BST) were given weaker moves and first form and low BST Pokémon were given generally better moves. Charizard might have better stats than Charmeleon and Charmander but his only fire type move is going to be something like Fire Spin. Conversely, Charmander might have Fire Blast but his stats are gonna make him an easy target for the computer's pokemon, which are not bound to the same builds as the rental mons you're using.

Once your team is assembled, then you're off to battle trainer after trainer after trainer with beautifully scored (for the Nintendo 64) soundtracks giving you an unearned sense of importance every step of the way. Battles themselves are conducted with a weird, but functional control layout where A and B access sub menus you then check with the R button before finalizing with the c-buttons, which on original hardware or a USB N64 controller is fine but on emulation with a more modern controller like Logitech, can be a little nerve wracking as you worry about whether your 'up' input on the control stick was up enough for the game or if you accidentally drifted right or left using an unintended move.

fun fact: the name of imported Pokémon affects their coloration in Stadium

Battles are also largely regulated by (at the time) tournament standard rules. Little and Pokecup have level restrictions, and all three non-random cups include clauses for sleep, held items, and repeat Pokémon. Additionally, in any cup if you win the round with all 3 Pokémon still in tact, you're granted a continue; meaning you can retry the battle if you lose. Additionally, there is no 'draw' outcome in these games. Use a move like Explosion or Selfdestruct and the game will register it as your loss on your final Pokémon, regardless of whether you took down the opposing fighter with you or not.

You'll be doing a LOT of back-to-back fights here against trainers with varied team comps, but even with over 246 Pokémon in the available potential lineup you'll get tired fast of fighting. This is, however, slightly mitigated by the 3v3 nature of the matches but even so be ready to here the same Pokémon noises, watch the same effects play out, and wait for the same health bars to tick down over and over as you claw your way to the spot of Pokémon Master.

The art style of non-battle scenes like the main map and minigame plaza have that nice, 90's charm to them as well.

If you do get tired of battling it out, then Stadium 1 and 2 both offer minigames for players to partake in. Either in a tournament format or by using the free-play browser, players are able to take part in a multitude of different Mario Party-esque (without the hand burning) minigames featuring the Pokémon as stars. Minigames consist of stick twirling, button mashing, and point collecting all while controlling fan favorite Pokémon such as Togepi, Eevee, Scyther, and Pichu with no real rhyme or reason behind why these game exist aside from a amusement park theming the minigame zones have for their icons and menus.

You won't get a real explanation as to why you're racing Donphans, cutting logs as Scythers and Pinsirs, or playing Simon Says with a bunch of Clefairy, but you don't really need that either. The games are fun, the models are charming, and watching Clefairy get smacked in the head for each wrong input brings me a level of joy I should probably talk about with my therapist. You won't likely spend hours in this mode, but it's a nice breather from the onslaught of battles otherwise.

fun fact: I still won't talk to some people because of the outcomes to Rampage Rollout over two decades ago. You know who you are.

Additionally there's a quiz minigame separate from the main selection of minigames with easy/normal/hard difficulty selections. Players compete to see who can be the first to get a number of questions correct before anyone else based on facts about the Pokémon (typing, size, silhouette, etc) or facts about the game (where you can find things in the game, names of routes and towns, names of figures in the game).

It's not the most challenging on easy or normal, but playing on hard the game will try to screw you with trick questions so playing with others becomes a balance of "do I let the question play out, or attempt to steal it before someone else can answer correctly?"

Sometimes even playing the game won't prepare you for how out of pocket the questions can get

The real advantage of 2 over 1 is that, in addition to minigames, the game has the trainer academy; a kind of in-depth battle tutorial to teach players not only the basics of Pokémon fighting, but also some secrets as well

You can learn about held items, a feature new to the second generation, as well as participate in mock battles to demonstrate the materials you've been reading and quizzed on. Some of this information for the time too was obscure or hidden knowledge, like the fact that using Defense Curl before using Rollout would boost the damage significantly or that using Stomp on an opponent who used minimize would double the damage.

Some type matchups just make sense, like Ground v Electric.

Overall though what really makes this game is the presentation. The soundtrack does a great job selling the feeling Nintendo wants you to experience, climbing the ladder in a tournament or the Gym Leaders Castle makes you feel powerful, and the little details on top of it all just tie it together in a nice package.

The fights, for example, are also narrated by "The Announcer". A bombastic voice shouting over every detail of a fight. When you score a crit, when you apply a status effect, even using certain moves will get the announcer loudly narrating each detail like a Pokémon prize fight. Seeing the ground rip apart when you use Earthquake is only half the charm, the other half comes from that man yelling in your ears "A DEVESTATING EARTHQUAKE ATTACK!". Clearing gyms or clearing opponents in one of the cups grants you gym badges, a dream for any child growing up on the handheld classics or watching the anime who wished they too could earn shiny bits of metal that gave them an inflated sense of importance.

I would literally kill everyone I came across if it'd get me a real life Zephyr Badge.

Stadium 1 and 2 aren't evergreen classics. They're stuck in Gens 1 and 2 respectively, the roster of Pokémon while impressive is largely useless and makes collecting trophies way harder than it has to be, and the games were made before things like abilities and double battles were introduced, leading to the Pokémon battling game missing out on the generation of Pokémon that made battling more fun (Revolution doesn't count, Revolution is dead to me and disappoints me more than I disappoint myself.)

But for the time especially, it gave fans an opportunity to experience a form of Pokémon more advanced than what the handhelds could output. It was a window into a world of potential that wouldn't be truly fulfilled until arguably the 3DS era of Pokémon released, and gave fans a fun little romp handcrafted for them at every twist and turn. Whether you were a gamer or you enjoyed the anime, there was something here for you.

Overall: 7/10 Sound: 8/10 (for the time) Graphics: 9/10 (for the time) Memorable Moments: Stadium 1: Hearing about Mewtwo, thinking he was an urban legend, then finding out he wasn't Stadium 2: Finally beating the elite 4 using only rental mons.