Lucifer Morningstar

But Alexandra found such a chip in the Normality Badge did she not?

(note: I'm intentionally keeping my references to the Puppet Master spoiler free) Something has been on my mind since playing Vague Clarity. One of the first events is a battle with Melia who was newly made the reserve Normal-type gym leader because as Marionette is not a registered gym leader, the badge received from her was deemed invalid. This is perfectly logical however this logic should also invalidate the trickery badge as the Puppet Master was not a registered gym leader either. In fact, that badge was actually meant to be Lavender's and the Puppet Master had taken it upon himself to substitute for her because she was in the hospital. He even states in the note he'd left with the badge that he'd taken it from her stash and redesigned it. We also had Angie and Souta who were questionable but after the Angie battle, it was Kreiss the registered ice-type gym leader who'd awarded the badge and as Souta's information had been added to Jan's files he was more or less a legal substitute if not the actual acting flying-type leader as of V13 since Talon is now referred to as the reserve flying-type gym leader. That's a little confusing to be honest but I digress. The Puppet Master has no such exception, the psychic type gym battle had been expected to be with Lavender. The reserve didn't even seem to be considered while she was in the hospital and it's possible that there isn't one for the psychic type. We know there isn't one for every type since Dark and Fairy had been unoccupied since before the beginning of the game's timeline until Alice and Allen just stepped up. So why hasn't the trickery badge been put to question? I'm sure Lavender would OK, she basically does right after we save her from the hospital when she tells us that she still wants to battle us for fun it but it should still at least have come up.

That's good to know. I caught one in Saki's gym and thought the Fire/Ghost typing was a display bug. Thanx.

That's actually a solid theory and would be pretty awesome. In that sense the MC is several deceased people inside a doll. A soul hotel as Venam put it hehe.

I have believed this as well except Marianette is not a reincarnation, she's Maria but I now feel there is room for other possibilities.

So it wasn't just me. I battled an invisible Aero as well. He did appear after the battle when he went into his meltdown and created the twister but then my Aero was converted to his alternate outfit though I haven't used it because I'm not a fan. Additionally, prior to that, during the '[player], Saki, Amber and Risa have had enough' prompt before the electro bat rampage it was Aevis's sprite standing in my position. If others are experiencing this as well than Aero's sprite clearly does have some bugs.

I thought Melia was older than Melanie before her alleged death as well. She was 15 and isn't Melanie a child? Or does she just act like one hehe.

That's what I would do. I have to put something out there that's not gonna sound pretty. Granted I'm continuing in a V12 save so haven't played the new version of the crysolia mansion arc and on YT it does look annoying, going 13 hours unable to get through not even a gym battle but a maze tells me this might not be the game for you. I don't know if this is possible for such a short distance. I had experienced a bug during the Erin arc that wouldn't allow me to slide down the rooftop outside the nursery so I tried to warp with Debug but the area or entryway I needed to reach was on the same map as the rooftop and the room it leads to was on the same map as several others. This prevented me from being able to precisely aim my warp and most of the time I was dropped out of bounds or in a cutscene version of a room. Even when I did manage to make it to the entrance and room I needed a couple of entryways would not function. I'd get stuck in the transitional black screen. I'd be able to get back out the way I came but never proceed. At one point that this happened it prevented me from progressing the story. The best I was able to manage ended up jumping me ahead a bit in the story. I could have gone along with that and just watched what I missed on YT but wasn't comfortable doing so and fortunately returning to an older save and restarting the arc somehow cleared the bug. Moral: I don't recommend trying to warp for this particular purpose even if this were a bug not just a desire to cheat I'd be wary but if you're desperate enough to jeopardize your game no one can stop you.

To be honest I can understand this change even though it sounds like a son of a bitch to deal with. For being what was it the 12th badge he did need a bit of a challenge buff. Smack Down made him such a joke in V12 that it was a bit inappropriate for his level.

Good question. Speaking of which can that quest be continued in v13?

I'm guessing that's because Aveis is the first choice listed when you choose your sprite. Interestingly, there was a minor bug during the scene in which we go on the rampage with the electro bats that turned my sprite which is Aero into Aveis during the "[Interceptor's name], Saki, Amber and Risa have had enough" text but when the event started it changed back to Aero.

I don't fully understand how Melanie is Melia's counterpart either and the age difference is one of the main reasons but I don't see how Melia acquired the Archetype in the ruined AU unless perhaps it was that Variya woman? Don't forget that she still had the special ability to guarantee shiny Pokemon since before the beginning of the game's timeline. It's come to my attention that one of the changes in V13's writing is that after Melia's alleged death in Amethyst cave Ren tells the interceptor: "You might have just met her but you two seemed to click right away as if you've known each other for years" which sounds an awful lot like a foreshadow to @Iamteehee's theory that Melia is somehow connected to the interceptor. Could Melia be like the interceptor? A soul from another world placed inside of Maria's body?

I feel a bit idiotic because I don't recall Isha's virus plan, wait was that the threat he made when he was arrested? It's been a while since I finished V12. As already suggested, I expect the vaccines were removed because since COVID hit vaccines are a sensitive topic in real life and Rejuvenation's depiction of them as more or less a government scam probably related to the Xenpurgis can be considered particularly offensive to the paranoid types. As for Isha's threat, if Jan was planning to follow through with that I doubt he is anymore and if it's still there it's probably an oversight.

Ah alright, thanx.

How do you catch Pokemon in rift dens? I've tried a couple of times and the ball just gets knocked away.

Really? Well that's disappointing and makes absolutely no sense.

In light of these hints I'm starting to agree with Melia's mantra "I am not Maria."

That's intriguing. I'm looking forward to when the v13 full game playthroughs I am watching on YT get there. If she is connected to the core like the interceptor rather than the archetype that most likely explains the Genesis Syndrome which now has me wondering if the interceptor has GS as well. The characters didn't seem to believe so but I think it's possible.

That does sound quite buffed. In v12, I made a joke of him in Normal mode with Smack Down. I used Smack Down to descend the field to the mountain (which BTW is or was Jan's suggestion) and ripped through him easily with Lyconroc which gets a boost from the mountain field, A-Ninetails (for Dragonite) and Jolteon.

I noticed inaccuracies in the listed teams for Hazuki and Saki on the wiki as well , but I assume this is due to changes made in the patches. Interestingly, the team you have listed for Valarie is the one I remember in V12 hehe.

Ah, of course. I do quite like this logic and since it has been brought to my attention I now believe her to be the best candidate with Madame X as the second considering her first line in the entire game establishes that she remembers multiple occurances of the same event (the sacrifice of Maria).

As stated, it's not clear but as of V13, it's implied that there are multiple possible endings. Your actions or inaction (i.e doing the help quests and saving characters and rift Pokemon or not) and relationships with the characters add up to Karma which essentially represents the interceptor's reputation. Right now it doesn't seem to be creating a difference other than some dialogue (i.e Melia's answer when Erin asks her if she trusts the interceptor in the library and whether Gardevoir verbally lashes out at the interceptor or laughs them off). The most significant effect is the option which has just been introduced in V13 to join Team Xen during the interceptor's nightmare realm. With this option now available (though I am under the impression that you have to be trying to be evil to unlock it), and although it goes nowhere right now, it has to be the official fork in the road that splits the plot into at least two significantly different directions, possibly three. Either there is the black and white good or bad or there's the good/true, the neutral and the bad and Karma is the GPS that navigates your path.

Agreed, I'm very interested in how the MC's nightmare realm plays out if you're playing as Ana since the Nihilego attack isn't relevant to her because she's not there. I'm leaning more towards the interceptor having no involvement in the reset as well, I'm not seeing how it lines up with the reveal of their entrance into the game's timeline. As for "that Garufan lady who keeps popping up briefly" do you mean Karen? That's an interesting theory that I don't believe is entirely out of the realm of possibility.

To each their own and I maintain that this puts the responsibility for the difficulty on you.