Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Lowell laments the Scarvi DLC, but finds a diamond in its rough. The following article contains story spoilers for The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk...
Pokémon stories suck. For a world with so much creativity packed into it, Game Freak regularly fails to include a provocative narrative to go along with its colorful monsters. No one – including myself – expects a Pokémon game to win a Nebula Award for Best Game Writing, but that doesn’t exempt them from producing something halfway intriguing, even if the series remains aimed at children. Fun characters, like smokeshow Professor Kukui from Pokémon Sun and Moon or fan-favorite goth girl Marnie from Pokémon Sword and Shield, certainly bring some life to each game, but for about a decade now the Pokémon tales have either been incredibly rushed or downright insulting to both children and adult fans alike.
Pokémon Black and White is the closest the series has gotten to telling a profound tale. That is, until Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s DLC.
I say Pokémon regularly fails to include a provocative narrative and not always because Pokémon Black and White manages to tell an intriguing tale by challenging the core concept of Pokémon: Are humans actively making Pokémon lives worse by capturing and battling with them? While the game never answers this quandary clearly, when compared to Pokémon X and Y’s 3000-year-old war and Sword and Shield’s darkest day, it’s the closest the series has gotten to telling a profound tale.
That is, until Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s DLC. Personally, I firmly believe that the Paldea adventure and its DLC are the worst in Pokémon history, from both a technical and gameplay perspective. Not only does it still run worse than a paralyzed Slowpoke even after multiple patches, the bland open world saps any sense of discovery that is so integral to the series. However, the base game does offer three branching narratives that tell pretty decent yarns: Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends.
While the first is your typical romp to collect badges, the latter two consist of rebellious students standing up against bullying and a young man desperately trying to save his pet Pokédog. Groundbreaking? No. Worth braving 12 frames-per-second and pre-GameCube era environments to see through? As a lifelong Poké Fan, I’d say so.
It isn’t until the two DLC expansions, The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk, that Game Freak flirts with narrative brilliance by introducing Kieran and his older sister Carmine. As your character is an infallible Pokémon savant who sees success after success, and everyone wants to be your supportive best friend, Kieran is in awe of you when you first meet on a field trip to his home region of Kitakami – but it isn’t long before he resents you.
I can’t blame him. Obsessed with a supposedly villainous Legendary Pokémon called Ogerpon from childhood, Kieran feels betrayed when you and Carmine meet Ogerpon and try to keep that chance encounter a secret from him. It isn’t long before Kieran awakens the true villains of The Teal Mask – the so-called ‘Loyal Three’ – in a fit of anger. With his sister in tow, you battle them to clean up Kieran’s mess. Once done, you escort the redeemed Ogerpon back to its lair, and here Kieran challenges you for the right to become Ogerpon’s partner. Kieran, the child that grew up obsessed with Ogerpon, against you, who only learned about Ogerpon shortly before the battle. To finish the DLC, you must defeat Kieran in a difficult bout and then capture Ogerpon, taking a part of his childhood along with your return to Paldea.
Kieran is understandably distraught over this foreign exchange student who comes to his hometown and gains the adoration of his sister and the locals faster than a Rapidash can run, before capturing the Pokémon he grew up listening to his grandfather tell stories about. It’s a captivating hook; even though you’re the strongest and most popular trainer Paldea has ever known, not everyone likes you or appreciates your actions – nor do they have to. It’s almost a deconstruction of the player’s role in a Pokémon adventure, and despite how little I enjoyed The Teal Mask (and despised Ogre Oustin’), I was keen on playing The Indigo Disk to see how Game Freak resolved Kieran’s hate.
Unfortunately, not only did The Indigo Disk drop the PokéBall when it came wrapping up Scarlet and Violet’s overarching narrative around Area Zero – don’t get me started on the titular Indigo Disk and the last hour of the game – it failed to bring Kieran’s story to a satisfying and thought-provoking conclusion, though the journey to get there did have its moments.
Game Freak flirts with narrative brilliance by introducing Kieran and his older sister Carmine
Through a frightening obsession to become stronger and prove to everyone he’s better than you, Kieran becomes the top trainer at his school until, once again, you stroll in and trounce everyone before challenging him to a rematch. You can even battle with Ogerpon for a Double Slap to his face. Following this, Kieran moves the goalposts: he’ll find the treasure of Area Zero, an ultra-rare Pokémon, catch it, and use it to beat you once and for all. Kieran inevitably fails – you’re an infallible Pokémon-battling wrecking ball, after all – and snaps out of his obsession just in time to help you save the day. And, of course, catch the Legendary Pokémon for your own.
Here, Game Freak fumbles the PokéBall again: Kieran begs for your forgiveness and wants to be your best bud like everyone else. Lame.
Kieran should have resented you for barging into his life and ruining his childhood dreams while still realizing he became much stronger from the rivalry in the process. He doesn’t have to like you – in fact, he can still hate you – but must move on from his destructive obsession to forge his own path. An ending like this would’ve invoked more pensive feelings afterward about your dominating role in a Pokémon world. But I don’t work for Game Freak.
Even despite this fumble, Kieran’s character arc made my time with The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk worthwhile. More importantly, it gives me hope that Game Freak will put more emphasis on crafting thought-provoking narratives to go along with the Pokémon catching we’ve been doing for nearly three decades now. That, more than expanded open worlds and new battle mechanics, would have me excited for Generation XI. Along with consistently great Pokémon designs and music that hits as hard as a Swords-Danced Garchomp, I have a little bit of hope that what comes next will be an all-around improvement — even if I have no hope that Game Freak will sort out its technical ineptitude.