Between Life and Death

Lol I found that video after posting that question, and literally watched it like 15 minutes ago. Thanks so much though!

Okay, so I've only seen the "Do nothing" sequence in the bad future arc. What happens in the other two scenes?

Sorry to double post, but I really want this topic to stay alive. (Setting: In the bad future, after our hero and their companions have escaped their prison on the ship. They ascend to the deck, where they find Madame X.) Madame X: I've been waiting for all of you. As you can see, I have dealt with the grunts on the top level. Let us now work together and leave this wretched place. Amber: Who is this woman? Melia: Madame X. She's...uh...our enemy in our own timeline. Uh...but she's right. We should join forces for now. Amber: Wait...what? If she's your enemy in your time, why should any of us trust her? She could betray us at any moment! Melia: Because...because we have no other choice. Working together is our only way out of this mess. Wouldn't you agree, MC? (MC pauses for a moment, then abruptly pushes Melia aside.) Melia: Hey, what the-! (MC gets into position, reaches into their bag and sends out Charizard.) Melia: Please MC, not now. We need to work together or we're all doomed! Madame X: It's okay, I can deal with this. (Sends out Yveltal.) MC: (passionately) Hello. My name is [player's name]. You killed my mother. Prepare to die. (Madame X freezes for a moment; then leaps onto her Yveltal and flies away. MC mounts Charizard and flies after her. They both disappear into the distance.) Amber: Well...I guess that answers that question. Melia: (crestfallen) Okay, what do we do now? (Scene shifts to Blacksteeple Castle, where Princess Melanie is watching everything via the security cameras.) Melanie: Well, darn. I was really looking forward to fighting those two edgy dullards.

(The main characters make it to the top of Eclysia Pyramid and find Ryland possessed by Flora) Ryland/Flora: So, you have finally arrived, children. Unfortunately for you, it is too late. I have already obtained the Jewel of Life, and will be making my way out now. MC: Flora, remind me why you need the Jewel of Life again? Flora: Ahahaha! It's all part of my evil plan to SAVE THE BADLANDS! MC: ...okay, cool. Can we have it for a bit first though? We just need it to heal a few of our friends. Flora: NO! I will not negotiate with ANYBODY! MC: Why not? It'll only take us few minutes, then you can do your thing. Aelita: Uh, MC? I think you're wasting time. We only have ten minutes left. Flora: Because I'm an evil villain, and I must crush anyone who gets in my way! MC: Flora, how have I gotten in your way? I'm literally part of Bladestar! Aelita: Please MC, just take the Jewel of Life by force. You're not going to get through to her. Flora: Ha! I just let you in to keep you quiet! You were never truly a member, and I planned to dispose of you when I no longer needed you. MC: What? Why wouldn't you want me in Bladestar? I'm a fucking legend! I've defeated Team Xen multiple times, destroying every rift I came across--including a fucking VOLCANION. I also saved Kristiline Town, which had been frozen over by some creepy ice goddess. I've easily defeated legendary mons like Kyogre, Groudon, and Giratina--you know, like the Pokemon devil itself? I've literally died and been resurrected multiple times. Oh, and who can forget the time I literally saved an alternate universe by helping overthrow its dictator princess? Aelita: Oh, fuck this. (Jumps onto Ryland, grabs the Jewel of Life, then runs and inserts it into the pillar.) Flora: You fool! You may have taken the Jewel of Life, but you still need me to activate the panel over here! Which I will never do, because I hate you! MC: You really are an asshole.

Why would that be the case?

Realization: that diary about the Yveltal in Sheridan Wetlands. It was obviously written by Madame X, and the "he" it referenced was Indriad. Madame X had to "find a way to destroy Yveltal while also preventing the impending doom" that its death would cause. Her solution? She destroyed it, but used the soul stone to keep it alive, thereby keeping the world from being destroyed. And she now has Indriad's Yveltal, or at least its ghost.

Why not? Just minor changes to keep it consistent with the changes in rejuvenation

I forgot about Oblitus town. Is the lore behind it that it was depopulated just because everyone moved to Grand Dream City? Because that's weird. It obviously didn't exist before the calamity (nothing did, except maybe for Grand Dream). And 40 years is an awfully short amount of time for a town to spring up from the ground and then be depopulated--especially when the cause of the population loss is a nearby big city that's older than the town itself.

I wanna know, will WLL get updated as well? There are obviously going to be minor changes to the towns' layout etc, so shouldn't WLL also change to reflect that?

So...let's talk about the mysterious profile from the Hospital of Hope. The 59 year old guy who didn't remember his name, but knew he was from the Sevii Islands. That's definitely not Kenneth, since we were shown his entire life. Plus, we know he's 44, since the calamity happened when he was 4 years old. It's also probably not Deagan, since he never got amnesia in the WLL. Plus, that would make him at least 15 years older than Kenneth. That leaves one possible person: Kenneth's father. We know he died before WLL, but we don't know how or where. Maybe he somehow ended up in the Hospital of Hope? And his age seems more plausible if the file was, say, 10 years old. So what happened to him? Did he get kidnapped by Freya or something? Did he travel to Aevium immediately after the calamity? And if he was released from the hospital, does that mean he's not really dead? If so, where/who is he? Edit: it's also possible that he somehow fell into the voidal chasm.

They reintroduced the Day/Night features several times though. They never disappeared for good. And field effects are just more complicated terrains.

Game Freak has put embarassingly little effort into many areas, but I don't think battle mechanics is one of them.

I don't think this terrain stuff is a one-and done mechanic. Megas and Z rings were gimmicks that had cool lore etc, but lost relevance after their debut games (and honestly I was fine with that). But terrains are being built up slowly, generation by generation. And the logic behind them will always be relevant. Getting rid of terrains would be like getting rid of weather or the day/night mechanics.

Alexandra didn't know about the obelisk, she just put two-and-two together when she heard what Nymiera had said. She was just as surprised as we were. And don't read too much into "modern-day life." The pre-storm 9 era was plenty modern.

They definitely wouldn't get to reborn level unfairness or complexity, but I could see something like sound moves being stronger in a cave or ice moves from grounded pokemon being stronger in the snow

Not sure if this belongs here or in a Reborn topic, but here goes. Anyway, the games seem to be going in that direction already. Terrains are becoming more and more salient (spoilers for the isle of armor) The next thing for Pokemon to do would be to expand the "terrains" to include natural backgrounds, such as snow or caves. And given Nature Power's continued existence, this seems plausible. Who knows, maybe by Gen 9 we'll have full-blown field effects.

Okay, I'm offended. Delphox is probably my favorite fire starter. I don't think we have any other "mage" pokemon, at least not with a wand and everything. And delphox's mage aesthetic and its fire powers work together so naturally. I just don't see how anyone can dislike it. Anyway, my five least favorite starters... 5) Samurott. It was a missed opportunity for a water/fighting starter. Instead, it had to be pure water (thanks, Emboar) and its design was so bland as a result. It deserved so much better. 4) Typhlosion. What is there to its design? It's just a badger. On fire. Or sometimes not even on fire, looking at its later models. 3) Meganium. I'm probably biased, because it's the only grass starter who isn't badass at all, and instead is a nice healer. Still, I think the design is relatively bland. Oh, you're a "cute" grass type that's benevolent and gives off a sweet scent? Get in line, so many Pokemon do that better than you. 2) Emboar. Let me preface this by saying that I get why Blaziken and Infernape were both fire/fighting, and why Incineroar was fighting type-adjacent. In general, little kids might want to know what they're getting into when they pick a starter. Many might not know what each starter will turn into, and just choose based on the type. Kids who choose the fire starter will probably want a "badass" and "aggressive" starter. Blaziken, Infernape and Incineroar all fit the bill, so I can forgive them for having similar designs. That excuse, however, doesn't apply to Emboar. Its design and dex entries don't imply that it's an aggressive fighter. It's more laid back, like Torterra and Chesnaught. Which would be fine, except why make it a bipedal fighting type? We already have two of those (three counting Incineroar), and again they actually have an excuse. Emboar could have just as easily been a quadruped fire/ground type. This would have also allowed Samurott to be water/fighting, and not be on this list. And to top it off, the Tepig evolutionary line has such dumb names. 1) Charizard. Let me preface this by saying that Charizard was once one of my favorite Pokemon. That was before Gen 6. Since then, Game Freak has just been shoving it down our throats. And every time they force that damn Pokemon in front of us, it makes me more aware of the design's flaws. Venusaur was a cool plant monster that wasn't quite flora or quite fauna. Blastoise had awesome cannons on its back. Charizard? It was just a generic western dragon. I guess it had a flame on its tail, but that's it. And it was completely monochromatic (being a Gen 1 mon is no excuse, just look at Venusaur). Please Game Freak. Stop giving Charizard the spotlight every generation, or even casual fans will start to hate it. Edit: whoa, I didn't even realize how old this thread was. No wonder there were none from Gen 7 or 8 on anyone's list

Eh, I'm sure there's some alternate universe where Kenneth and Tesla are living happily together

I wanna know more about Amber and Tesla. Are we sure they're safe? That interaction with Hazuki was really weird; it's the first time we met her in the present, and why would she of all people be concerned about Tesla's safety? I'm suspecting Hazuki was actually Cera in disguise. Because I think Cera is either a brainwashed Hazuki or a replica of her created via Garufan magic. In which case, Angie would have kidnapped Tesla and Amber.

Ooh, I didn't think about the gift. He may have gotten Giratina before he started with the vaccines. (What would be in the vaccines then? A serum somehow related to Griselda?) I agree about how he got Giratina. The doctors just say he "caught" it, which is a bit preposterous. I would have preferred if Crescent had actually caught Giratina on Valor Mountain--then Freya could have stolen it and handed it over to Isha. But maybe we have a better explanation coming our way.

Those are the exceptions that prove the rule

One thing I don't get is: why did Isha have Giratina? Like, what was the significance of that plot-wise? I had previously assumed that if you didn't release Giratina then Isha would hold onto it indefinitely. But now I've seen what happens if you don't release Giratina (thanks, Nine Icy Tails), and it just escapes after the Isha battle. So what was the significance of Isha having it in the first place? Because the whole thing felt shoehorned in, since it was completely unrelated to Isha's memory experiments. And Giratina ended up exactly where it was before Isha caught it: released and running free. So will there be any relevance to Giratina being in the Hospital of Hope, or was that just unnecessary padding?

Yeah, I wanna know this too. Reborn has a mac version that works really well, so how doable is it?

Spoiler for people who declined to watch the video Hoo boy. I was wondering when would make her return

Eh, the player might be the interceptor's "main" host, but they can temporarily inhabit a close friend's mind without them forgetting everything.