What's so Special About Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky?

[@ScubaLuigi]

I respect the accomplishment here of having a point to make about the game, and presenting a compelling video WITHOUT doing a synopsis of the entire story. There are so many hour+ long videos that spend the majority of their runtime just boringly retelling a game's story. You kept it down to the essentials and the video is all the better for it.

[@MaMarszalek]

So true! I havent seen many video essays about PMD quite like this one, so I really enjoyed this one a lot

[@cweeps7428]

Exactly you said it

[@PydraxAlpta]

> The game wants to argue, ultimately, that if a credible enough > source were to tell the Partner to jump off a bridge, he might seriously consider doing it. > In the postgame, a credible enough source tells the Partner to jump off a bridge, and he seriously > considers doing it. This made me laugh out loud that was well done

[@PydraxAlpta]

Watching the rest, I'm glad you covered darkrai! I did think that part was weirdly so off put against the whole message of the game about there being no bad people, especially given that it doesn't have any interest in exploring why darkrai would become like this. It feels kind of the reason why the rest of the series doesn't do a pokemon as the final villain but some sort of abstract beings instead, so that there would be no truly evil pokemon.

[@mettatonex7221]

Leet's be fair here; Palkia has the same problem. The god of space invades the home of two children, kidnaps said children and brings them to his home, and attempts to take their lives all because a pretty girl came to him in a dream and told him to. Not because he bothered looking into the actual cause of the spacial distortions.

[@ZowiChan]

Excellent video! Something that I love about Sharpedo Bluff is that it’s there from the beginning of the game. What the player took from granted as a part of the landscape becomes your home when you access it way later. I often visited the top of Sharpedo Bluff even though there was nothing to do there (except the occasional talking to Dugtrio) because I just liked listening to the calming sound of the waves. The reveal that there was a secret entry all along is one of my favourite moments in PMD, it felt much more impactful and unexpected than some other twists in the game’s story.

[@blackosprey2219]

Most obvious twist? Speak for yourself, my 8yo self who had never encountered a plot twist before in any story was completely blown away by Dusknoir's betrayal. It's a huge part of why the game stuck with me.

[@abyssalundyne2803]

YEAH like we have to remember that these are kids games and this will be many a child's first plot twist and it'll knock their socks off. Meanwhile I thought it was gonna be like a Double Fakeout because I felt it was "too obvious" that the scary ghost type would betray me, and that he'd ACTUALLY be a good guy lol.

[@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8]

⁠@@abyssalundyne2803 when subversion has gone so far that the obvious and foreshadowed is a pleasant surprise: This postmodern world is real funny innit?

[@Yamartim]

As much as the flashbacks are clearly terrible I can't help but feel that I wouldn't like this game as much as I did as a kid without them, as someone who didn't know English when I played the game originally as it's my second language seeing visual reminders of what the characters were talking about helped me a lot in understanding the story at the time

[@AurumAlex64]

I think what makes the flashbacks even more egregious to me is that they'll often just explain what you saw in the flashback anyways. You can always tell when it's about to happen because the dialogue is structured similarly: Partner: Hey, do you remember when X happened to Y? Player: (Hmm... when X happened to Y....) - Flashback to when X happened to Y - Player: (That's right! X happened to Y because of Z!) So the flashback is totally unnecessary at that point, because they've just relayed the information we already knew 3 times over, excluding the actual flashback itself.

[@silkstar4206]

@@AurumAlex64 While I absolutely agree with you, I think that Yamartim is saying that their experience was actually improved by the *visual* reminder of what was happening, as just seeing the words may not have been enough of a reminder since they may not have had as well as a grasp on the language yet, so seeing the scene the characters were talking about helped them. I'd go as far to argue that, despite the narrative being very compelling and quite mature (for a Pokémon game at least) that the flashbacks are a good inclusion for children with memory that isn't as developed as an adult's would be. Maybe I was just a stupid kid, but having those flashbacks actually helped me out a lot (English is my first language). Obviously I can't say in good faith that they are a wholistically good inclusion- absolutely not they are terrible, but for children maybe they do help in being able to appreciate a slightly more complex narrative at a very young age.

[@phailupe2941]

@@AurumAlex64TEARS OF THE KINGDOM MENTIONED!!!!! WTF IS GOOD STORYTELLING?!??!??!

[@skyhighlander6447]

I also learned english through this game, so seeing somebody else have this kind of experience is kind of special.

[@AwesomeMooseSmile]

I like to consider the flashbacks as foreshadowing for memories returned

[@silentpartner9957]

The part about Darkrai that's especially egregious is that if you check its Pokedex entries, it paints the Pokemon as surprisingly sympathetic. The reason it causes nightmares isn't to cause direct harm, but to protect itself and its territory. I don't think it would've been that hard to paint this Pokemon as something other than cartoonishly evil when, in the mainline games, they do just that (also I'm a big Darkrai fan so having it be portrayed so negatively just kinda makes me sad). Either way, loved the video. This game was a critical text for me as a child and you gave me a lot to think about.

[@kirbogames9664]

yeah always felt weird to have the underlying reason for all of the crazy events in the game to be a seemingly completely random dude whos just evil for the sake of it, they couldve just never explained why time started going haywire and it wouldve been equally acceptable

[@AurumAlex64]

It is definitely strange that Darkrai is positioned as some kind of key plot point, but his presence really doesn't explain much in the grand scheme of things. Like, how does one sabotage Temporal Tower in the first place? It would actually make complete sense to me if, say, Darkrai removing the Time Gears from the tower was what caused it to start crumbling in the first place, but since everyone acts as if it's perfectly normal for the Gears to be hanging out across various regions in the world, that can't be the explanation.

[@MrNovascar]

In my headcanon, dark matter from PSMD just fits to be behind every evil in the series. Gravity manipulation to pull a meteor, corrupting Pokemon (especially dark types) and the similarities between bitter cold and dark matter are obvious. Sadly it also supports the theory that Super is the series ultimate finale and its last installment.

[@Nick-yl4qp]

There can be multiple Darkrais and they can have different personalities. Most pokemon aren't just animals. I think Darkrai was a great fit

[@blackosprey2219]

Yeah, especially coming off of the anime's Darkrai movie, it's a little jarring. I'd like to think this particular Darkrai had gone full doomer after a lot of bad experiences. You can recruit him later, after his memory was wiped, and his personality is friendly and extremely loyal. Makes me think the "evil" was created, not inborn.

[@sprigtherecluse6741]

3:22 im so glad someone finally also recognizes how interesting the worldbuilding of the pmd games is-ive been kinda obsessed with it for a while now-because it really goes out of its way to distinguish each game’s world while still establishing many aesthetic and thematic similarities in them. the worlds of the games, to me, really feel like worlds of disparate tales and legends that you get to explore, with each game having its own basic mythology that it explores, and (at least before super) felt disconnected from each other both physically and chronologically, as if they were different times of the same world and culture, or many different cultures’ mythologies.

[@Fabbbio1001]

I just got back to this game thanks to a Pokemon-focused italian streamer that had never played Explorer of the Sky, and I have to say that this game was AGES ahead of many modern games. Spike Chunsoft really went deep into Pokemon descriptions to give everything an actual sense, yet still managed to create amazing characters, a catching story and even really good plot-twists and emotional moments that anyone could hardly expect from a Pokemon game. And thinking that it's supposed to be a "kids game" there are many subject matters (like morality and even death) that are treated such lightheartedly that even when seen as adults can be material for deep discussions. Truly a masterpiece.

[@VoloPlush]

Balletto del godo

[@Fabbbio1001]

@@VoloPlush AHAHAHA, non mi aspettavo di trovare dei sommelier anche qui

[@Filloax]

@@Fabbbio1001 Palle?

[@Fabbbio1001]

@@Filloax palle indeed

[@SkywardFuture24]

Wow, you really did just sum up in 36 minutes something that I haven't been able to put my finger on for like 15 years. Amazingly well thought-out video and points well argued, I'm not exaggerating when I say this will probably impact and even enhance my experience in future playthroughs. Thanks for this!

[@evannewman3997]

21:55 I think this development also pays off at the end of the mission to dark crater, when you see your partner join up with darkrai, and then immediately realize your partner has grown enough that they wouldn't ever do this. You break out of the illusion and deck darkrai. You've learned to trust your partner, and it shows!

[@autumnwolverton4154]

Something very interesting about Darkrai's role in these games' story is the fact that a bunch of other Pokemon material around the same time also featured Darkrai as an antagonistic force - and that almost all of those stories gave him a much more sympathetic portrayal than he got in PMD. Most striking is the Rise of Darkrai movie, where Darkrai is a straight-up misunderstood hero, only briefly being mistrusted just for being darkness-themed when they were actually doing everything in their power to protect Alamos Town the whole time. In Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Darkrai is the guardian of the Shadow Crystal, a big rock that the villain team is using to do their evil plans... But its opposition to you seems to be based more on instinct than any actual malice, and it seems to be completely cured of all destructive urges once you turn the Shadow Crystal into the Luminous Crystal. A few years later we got Pokepark 2: Wonders Beyond, where Darkrai is the main antagonist and does a lot of evil stuff - but he's motivated almost entirely by loneliness, wanting to kidnap Pokemon to Wish Park so that he won't be alone there forever, and ends up sacrificing himself to save both Pokepark and Wish Park once he realizes how much suffering his actions have caused. Now, back when I was a pre-teen experiencing all this Pokemon media, I didn't really have the concept that the main series games, the spinoffs, and the TV show were all made by different teams and are part of different canons. At the same time, I was under the impression that Legendaries/Mythicals were all unique individuals, and thus that all four of these very different portrayals of Darkrai were all supposed to be the same guy. And so I interpreted all of them, including PMD Darkrai, through the lens of the extensive backstory given to Darkrai by Shadows of Almia. Shadows of Almia's backstory revolves around the king who once ruled the Almia region and his three kids. Initially they were a happy family, but then there was some sort of falling-out between the older and younger generations, and two of the kids were banished. Breaking off his loving relationship with his family caused the king to grow bitter and callous, and we're then told that the darkness in his heart attracted all the darkness and negativity in the rest of the world... And then the storyteller forgets the rest, leaving the exact implications of this ill-defined. In the game's present day, though, we have the Shadow Crystal guarded by Darkrai, which is made of pure negativity and has a habit of turning people and Pokemon evil (kinda like Dark Matter and the Bittercold?). There's also other gemstones called "Tears of Princes" that have the power to dispel the negativity within the Shadow Crystal and turn it into the light-themed Luminous Crystal, and these gemstones also have their own Pokemon guardians, one of whom is Cresselia. Based on the incomplete version of the backstory we get, it's possible that the king became the Shadow Crystal itself while the kids became their respective Tear gems, and the Pokemon guarding them just decided to do that on their own. But when I first played, I always interpreted it as the royals merely creating the gems, but instead being transformed into the guardian Pokemon themselves. Meaning that this is Darkrai's origin story - an initially well-meaning father who lost the people who mattered most to him, was corrupted and transformed by a supernatural force of negativity preying on the darkness in his heart (hey, didn't that happen to Nuzleaf too?), only to eventually be brought back from the moral event horizon by the unconditional love of his kids. And applying that lens to all these other portrayals of Darkrai had some very interesting results for how I read his character. My headcanon Darkrai is someone who is intimately familiar with the darkness corrupting him, and who wants to be better, but doesn't always succeed. After Shadows of Almia, Darkrai has full control of his faculties for the first time in a long time, but recognizes that the corrupting influence of negativity still resides within him, and so goes into self-imposed exile in what would later become Wish Park in an effort to protect the world from himself. He keeps it up for a long time, but the loneliness eventually becomes unbearable, and after meeting and befriending Gothitelle, he decides to try bringing others into his world - but in a manner subtly influenced by his corruption, and thus one that only brings suffering to everyone involved, and almost gets everyone eaten by a black hole. Pokepark 2's postgame has you bringing Darkrai back from the void that he sacrificed himself to, and seemingly on a path to bettering himself - but also the end of his self-imposed exile. So then after a few more centuries, the corruption is able to more fully take control of him, and turn him loose against the Pokemon world - which is where we see him in PMD. And then that chapter of his story ends with his memory being erased, and him once again ruled by his better nature, thanks in part to his daughter Cresselia's intervention. It's inevitable that he'll eventually succumb to the darkness once more - and just as inevitable that he'll overcome it again and again. Of course, none of this is an intended reading of any of these texts, just a silly fanfic I wrote in my head. But I do think it's interesting just how all of these different iterations of the Pokemon world handled portraying its most villain-coded monster, from PMD's pure evil to Rise of Darkrai's misunderstood heroism to Pokepark 2's well-intentioned tyranny to Shadows of Almia's metaphor for the redemptive power of familial love. And once again, highly ironic that the game that interpreted him as pure evil for seemingly no reason is the one that also wants to convince you that truly bad Pokemon don't exist.

[@aquadragondavanin6745]

that is remarkable

[@ArdynSol]

Your vocabulary is extensive, you make your points without too much exposition, this video is amazing. Definitely deserves more subs.

[@paperwatt]

Every time I see a video analysis of Sky, something new comes to perspective. I had no idea how Partner, Grovyle, and Wigglytuff all follow that lesson to think for oneself. Even the post game plot leans into it. Awesome!

[@ODISeth]

Absolutely phenomenal video essay, but I think we might have had a different interpretation of Darkrai’s story. Darkrai was sent shattered traveling through time, losing his memory in the process. Just like the player at the beginning of the game. I thought that was alluding to the possibility that the human, who partnered with Grovyle prior, was formerly Darkrai, meaning YOU were formerly Darkrai. I feel like that’s what they intended, to show that anyone, no matter how bad, can wipe their slate clean and be a better person, especially if provided a loving partner to help them grow.

[@AurumAlex64]

Thanks! In terms of Darkrai, he does say in the Dark Crater that he himself is the one who caused the time travel accident to happen to the player in the first place, "transform[ing you] from a human into a Pokemon." It seems like the game is implying that when we were traveling with Grovyle in the future, we actually looked like a human being. And if the game is paralleling Darkrai and the Player character thematically, I'd buy that a lot more if we had any explanation of why Darkrai is the way he is (or what the Player was like before Grovyle met us), but as it stands now, I don't think the game does nearly enough work with Darkrai to make anything concrete stick.

[@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8]

So fun thing here, there is a fangame about a very similar topic where the player is darkrai. It is awesome.

[@dynamics7094]

Great video, the section about the partner really got me to think differently about it and appreciate how effective this games plot is. There is one thing i think you should have mentioned and i don't blame you for missing it since its so optional and out of the way but its very in line with the no bad mon segment. Once Darkrai has been defeated and memory erased you can recruit him to join your team. In the cafe he mentions how the darkness sleeps in him and how he can feel it. The implication being that darkrai is a pokemon who's base nature is to act out and hurt people. Despite this however with the players guidance he's able to join the exploration team and go out and help people and become a better person. This shows that with the right chance Darkrai too is just another pokemon who can do good and go against his base instinct with a little help and support, much like the partner's instinct of letting fear and indecision rule over him. He's still underdeveloped and more definitely could have been done with him but this small addition to the game shows that the game isn't going against the themes of redemption it set out.

[@AurumAlex64]

Someone else in the comments section pointed out that a Pokedex entry states Darkrai creates nightmares to protect itself and its territory, which is perfectly in line with motivations like the Manectric tribe in this game. I think I'd prefer if the game stuck with that explanation of things over the idea that Darkrai has some intrinsic desire to hurt people. And I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the whole memory wiping business.

[@epicness877]

Thank you for finally putting together thoughtful and encompassing insight on the themes and narrative in these games rather than saying "the nostalgia! The emotions! I cant explain it!" For the umpteenth time. It really bugs me that there hasnt been a more compelling encapsulation of this until now, but I'm enamored by your effort

[@AnakhaSilver]

Okay. So. My feelings on Darkrai are... The game kinda expects you to know your Pokemon lore. Darkrai makes sense when you recognize that he inherently causes nightmares. But even a nightmare becomes comfortable if it's all you have. So then what is arguably the loneliest, most unwanted Pokemon in the world becomes less lonely. Because the terror and despair becomes normal, mundane, even COMFORTABLE. It doesn't care what happens to the world, it cares that it drags everyone else into a world it experiences at all times. My partner pointed out another thing: in the mainline games Darkrai has any plot in, it's treated as a DEATH SENTENCE. That once you're infected by it, you WILL inevitably die unless you track down a Lunar Wing somehow. A world of stillness, with frozen time, is the only world Darkrai can exist in reasonably without potentially killing everyone you get close to. It's cartoonishly evil because it's a broken creature--well past the point of being able to return, and therefore a tragedy.

[@AurumAlex64]

This explanation would be great, but I wish it was actual text in the game. We get to hear about why Dusknoir and Dialga are the way they are, so Darkrai should be given the same courtesy, especially since he's positioned as the final big bad. As it is now though, I can't help but feel it's under baked.

[@jaspernemo1825]

​ @AurumAlex64 If pokemon are not inherently evil, but are a result of their environment. Doesn't that make Darkrai the perfect villain? Darkrai is a villain directly created by its own uncontrollable ability to cause nightmares. Which likely left it isolated, never known friendship and seeing only the worst in others. I couldn't think of a worse environment. Besides that, I also really like that we got some mastermind behind everything, instead of bad things just happening because of some inanimate object (especially the last two games). Maybe they should have set him up more as a tragic villian, but I don't think he could be redeemed in the same way as the other villians were.

[@AurumAlex64]

@@jaspernemo1825 The problem is that you're doing more work than the game is. Explorers doesn't tell us _anything_ about Darkrai, who he is, what was his life like, whether he was isolated or not, things like that. It's impossible to say that Darkrai had a bad environment because that's not in the text of the game. And to be honest, I don't really think Darkrai works as a big bad either, because his presence explains virtually nothing about the overarching plot. He says he sabotaged Temporal Tower, but how exactly? And if Darkrai is the one behind everything, is that related to why we were sent to the Pokémon world in the first place, or is that just pure coincidence? And why is it that the Dimensional Scream works differently in present and future? They are many questions left unanswered in Explorers that Darkrai doesn't even begin to broach. You could remove Darkrai from the story altogether and little would change.

[@jaspernemo1825]

​@@AurumAlex64 Sorry, that not what I meant. I do agree that Darkrai wasn't written that well. Of course, this is a bit of a stretch. But pokemon have certain characterizations just by the pokemon that they are. Most pokemon have certain expections of their character and the series have made well use of this. I just think that as a pokemon, Darkrai fits the role, perfectly. According to the theme of the story, the only pokemon that could truly be evil, due to its own ability.

[@SkyBlueFox1]

Also I know I’m double-commenting but one thing regarding the Partner that I think also gets overlooked a lot: if memory serves, they outright state that Sharpedo Bluff was where they lived before joining the Guild. And, of course, when you first bunker down there, there’s nobody else living there, nobody waiting to welcome the Partner home. It’s empty. In other words, before the game, the Partner was living in Sharpedo Bluff… alone. But… why? The game never treats you or the player as explicitly children, so them having their own home isn’t odd in-and-of itself. But why alone? They clearly have a good rapport with the Treasure Townies, nobody dislikes them or anything. But they seemingly aren’t friendly enough with them to be living with anyone else, either. Why were they living alone? Why don’t they have any full-on friends in town? Why are they so anxious about trying to join the Guild? Why is their self-confidence so shaky? And… what happened to them, to make them feel and behave this way? Obviously, the writers (probably) didn’t mean to write them this way… but intentional or not, the Partner shows a lot of signs of having a troubled life or trauma, in some form or fashion. Their nervousness, their lack of confidence, their unexplained living situation pre-game… they aren’t dysfunctional or desperate for validation, but they’re certainly stuck, and struggling with self-worth. They’re friendly with Treasure Town, but not friendly enough for anyone there to reach out to them. They want to chase their dream of being an explorer, but anytime they try, their anxiety wins out. And then they see someone washed up unconscious on the beach, and without a second thought, they rush to help that someone out. Then they get mugged, they get paralyzed with self-doubt - and then they ask you for help. Again, the chance of this being intentional is less than zero, it is absolutely Not That Deep and the writers would never explore those themes so deeply. But people don’t act the way the Partner does for no reason. The story is already pretty psychological/existential in its theming, and trauma is a recurring element among some of the major characters (even little old Igglybuff). It’s extremely compelling, at least to me… and most impressively, you can extrapolate those themes from the characters' actual in-game behavior and dialogue, despite being mostly unintended. Granted, I know I’m basically pulling a Zelda; seeing so much depth in a game/story that isn’t nearly as complex as some people say. But the older I get, the more I appreciate that kind of player-driven depth. (It’s part of why I’ve grown to appreciate Gates a lot more than I did back in the day, too. I still prefer Explorers by a county mile, but Gates still carries that torch admirably-well.)

[@AurumAlex64]

Yep, I talk a little bit about that at 13:08. I try not to concern myself too much with developer intention, especially since we rarely know what that is. I have no idea if the developers thought of the Partner lacking a concrete sense of self when the game calls him a coward. But if a reading of a character can be supported with specific examples from the text, then I don't really think it matters much. I view analyzing stories like like trying to find the line of best fit given a set of data: which interpretation best explains all of the evidence on hand? Incidentally, I recall liking Gates' story quite a lot, and replaying the intro again for this video was very enlightening. That's going to be a fun one to talk about.

[@SkyBlueFox1]

@@AurumAlex64 Honestly, I feel like coward may be... not a mistranslation exactly, but not quite accurate, either. Weak-willed, or maybe learned helplessness, might be a better fit. Even in early-game, there's moments where they push themself to be brave and face their fears (Waterfall Cave, Groudon) or wordlessly take on a leadership role (Craggy Coast/Mt. Horn). It's more vulnerability than anything else - someone friendly and kindhearted, but isolated, and carrying trauma that can't be healed without a little support. Noelle from Deltarune comes to mind. Really, trauma/isolation and healing are recurring themes throughout PMD - Gengar and Gardevoir in Rescue, several Explorers characters, the villagers in Gates. It's the kind of thing I'd love to write my own essay/blogpost/video maybe?/etc on at some point (as if my four giant-ass comments didn't make that obvious, lmao :U )

[@SkyBlueFox1]

...I realize I'm hogging the comment section yet again (pls forgiv), but I had one more thought that was too important not to add onto this -- because when you bring up the Partner's willingness to trust "Cresselia's" story, I think that's actually the clearest instance of the whole 'trauma' interpretation. When you get right down to it, "Cresselia" is basically saying, "You are a problem, your existence is making things worse, and the world would be better off with you gone". No matter how much one dresses it up, that's textbook emotional-abuse... but, for some uncomfortable reason, it still hits close enough to home for the Partner to genuinely ruminate on the idea. Alone. In the middle of the night. (Never trust how you feel about your life after 9PM, indeed!) Like, by that point in the game, the Partner's got a pretty great life. They achieved their exploration dreams, they found out what their personal treasure was, and they're currently living with their best friend, the most important figure that ever walked into their life. But despite all that, when they're confronted with that emotionally-toxic notion, it causes them to temporarily relapse. When you go out on the cliff, the first words out of their mouth are "can't we be allowed to stay?", and after you both talk things through and the sun comes up, they're ashamed that they were even considering it. "Depression" is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but as someone studying to be a counselor, the Partner shows pretty much all the signs. Feelings of worthlessness, feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, anxiety spikes, isolation. Every failure weighs on them, even when it was out of their control. Their initial attachment to the Relic Fragment could be seen as a comfort-object sorta deal. And again, people don't act that way for no reason. Something, or maybe someone, had to happen to make the Partner feel these things pre-game -- which is why "Cresselia" triggers that backslide. The Partner act extra-cheerful the morning-of, and the player realizes later that they didn't want to drag your mood down. And after escaping Azu's nightmare and explaining what happened, they straight-up lie to the guild, their support-base, about that one little detail ("no, they didn't say anything about how to fix it"). I get the sense that they didn't want to be a burden, which is a common symptom of dips-during-recovery. Of course, the game isn't aiming to explore these ideas super-deeply or anything, so it's not a 100%-perfect perspective or anything. But it's definitely the most compelling to me, and I feel like it's a big part of why the game resonated/resonates with so many people, then and now. Plus, we got N and Ghetsis in the main series just a few years later, so it wasn't an isolated instance, that's for sure! :Y

[@xakioh]

This video made me realize where I developed an obsession with World Building and creating worlds that feel alive from the many details scattered throughout. Despite its flaws, I don't think i'm alone when I say this game basically shaped who I am. As a side note, this was an amazing video and it is a crime that it has so little views at the time of me writing this comment

[@YesIAmTheFiend]

thank you for this. A serious analysis and deconstruction of my favorite game without a needlessly long plot synopsis is just what I wanted. It feels like you took the thoughts right out of my brain and out them into words

[@JinlongTheGoldenDragon]

Sharpedo Bluff is your anchor. Literally. It's the first thing you see when the game begins, it marks the beginning of your journey, and then the end, and it symbolizes your bond with your most precious companion. It gave you shelter in times of trouble, and it intimidated you when you were lost and confused on a beach on a stormy night. I found your channel recently and have been replaying a lot of games I used to from this DS/Wii era. It feels different. And not even just because of nostalgia. I find myself wondering if I would have liked any of these games had I played them today. 2006-2010 was a slower time. Things were quieter. Time passed much slower when I was 9 years old and videogames took much longer to beat, and I had all the time in the world to figure out how to get through obstacles without rage quitting and never touching them again. I've tried plenty of time to give friends or even younger relatives some of my old games to play because I loved them when I was their age, and I was sure they would too. I was fairly unsuccessful. It just feels like many of these games we love were also only so successful as products of their time. To have been made in an age where there was contemplative time to appreciate them, and not much knowledge on how videogames worked their magic, compared to today's fast faced and hyper digitally informed world. Picking up Professor Layton or Explorers of Sky brings me back to when this was all I needed. And this slow pace would never bore me, but take me on an escape along with it and enjoy the journey and the difficulties it would bring. I don't know. It really feels like there is something distinctive about the nintendo games of 2006-2012 that feels simple, intuitive, and vastly profoundly full of passion and impact that is just not present in many games I grew to love later. I love modern games too. Just all of them, in a different way. Never quite the same as I used to when I was a child. So in a way this is also part of what's so special about Explorers. It came out in a time where we had all the time in the world to deeply contemplate it, savor it, take it with us on vacation, play it at night under our covers praying the light of our DS screens wouldn't give us away. And you can play it today too, and it will impact you. But I don't think it ever will like it would, if you played it back then. Not in the exact same way.

[@AurumAlex64]

I think it's also worth pointing out that many of these series we used to play... simply stopped. Professor Layton ended its main series in 2013, and basically ceased altogether after 2017. The Ace Attorney series (of which I was also a huge fan of) hasn't seen a new game since 2016. PMD hasn't gotten a new game in almost 9 years. Mario RPGs either stopped completely (M&L) or were subject to heavy restriction (Paper Mario); even 3D Mario hasn't seen a ton of action, with SMG2 and Odyssey being the only two 3D Mario's in 15 years. So a lot of the pillars at least I used to have as a child are really no longer present in my life.

[@chrisgreen2899]

That was lovely. The only thing missing was about celibi how grovile was her rock Giving some light in the dark world (obvious crush or not.) Alot like the player being the partners rock giving some stability to their wisy washy attitude till they can find their conviction (granted you covered that perfectly but parallels).

[@AurumAlex64]

I wish the game had given us more of Celebi, to be honest. Outside of the special episode, she's really only important for like a scene or two in the main game, which feels like a missed opportunity. I'm not even sure Grovyle mentions her outside of the future section.

[@GentlemanJaggi]

Really great video, your take on the partner's reliance on outside direction is something I really haven't seen discussed before, despite how much the PMD fandom tends to focus on Explorers in particular. Regarding the "no bad Pokemon" vs Darkrai matter: I do think he still fits into the idea, specifically because he's the only anatgonist to challenge this ideology the whole way through. In the game itself the idea that "there are no truly bad Pokémon" isn't presented as an absolute truth, but rather as something Wigglytuff personally believes in. To any person with such an ideology Darkrai presents the ultimate challenge of their belief - his actions seem to be driven entirely just by him being evil. He never shows any positive qualities and there are no indications that he might have a sympathetic backstory. We know nothing about him other than his plans, therefore if we want to believe in Wigglytuff's ideology of there being no truly bad Pokémon we would have to take him entirely in good faith. Wide-reaching blanket statements inevitably will and *should* run into an insurmountable challenge, because every person is different and you can never truly know everyone. At the same time he also indirectly does prove Wigglytuff's ideology right - if the theories are correct at least. After Darkrai's Dimensional Hole is shattered by Palkia it's stated that he will likely be stranded inwith no memories just as the protanoginist was at the start of the game. After this it's possible to encounter and recruit Darkrai on specific floors in some dungeons - it's never explicitly stated that this is the same Darkrai but given the timing and the fact the series laregely sticks to the "one Legendary each" approach it's pretty clear we're suppoed to theorise on this Darkrai's identity. This (maybe) post-amnesia evil Darkrai turns out to be a perfectly pleasant person, willing to join some Pokemon he takes an interest in and go on rescue mission with them. Removed from the context of his previous life Darkrai shows no evil inclinations whatsoever, supporting Wigglytuff's ideology by showing that Darkrai's evil was not inherent and, perhaps, that some people are simply too "damaged" by life to be able to break out of it.

[@artetomate]

What a great analysis! I really liked the dissection of what makes the pmd worlds so charming, I think a lot of my enjoyment from playing both blue rescue team and explores of sky so far came from seeing the landmarks of the world itself: it’s a beautiful way to get inmmersed in these worlds. This also made me understand a lot better why I felt the postgame ending as a really unnatural and awkward way to close everything up when everything else felt more coherent than that? I wish Darkrai was expanded upon more or simply felt like a natural thread of the narrative Explorers built throughout its entire runtime haha

[@Andy-Wobblytable]

7:24 Holy shit, you just made me realize why I loved bootcamp so much. I grew up playing mystery dungeons red/blue and explorers of time/sky. I wanted to be in something like the wigglytuff guild so bad growing up.

[@centisaur]

I can't believe such a quality video exists on KZbin!!! And about one of my favorite games no less.

[@blainetruth2134]

Such a fire video re-sparked my love for the explorers franchise and made me remember why I loved this game so much as a kid fr

[@Ikcatcher]

The one thing I really liked about Explorers and maybe Super was the implication that ancient civilizations existed before you arrived, giving the MYSTERY part of Mystery Dungeon credence. Someone had to have created all the ancient structures and monoliths in the Hidden Land, someone clearly existed in the Voidlands of Super to warn others about Dark Matter. But they're all gone none now, their stories long past, but they left behind just enough that you are able to forge your own story. Anyway, I really like your videos of Mystery Dungeon, they talk about more niche topics beyond just the usual "Story was emotional" other videos always revert back to

[@ratherbean2996]

The first thing I thought of when the story revealed that sharpedo bluff is actually the partner's home was, "think of the real estate value on this place. You could totally capitalize on this piece of property." That impression has persisted still when I think of the bluff.

[@rosanishelios]

You're a wonderful speaker. Just started watching this after the 9 sols video... subscribed!!

[@AurumAlex64]

Thank you!

[@rosanishelios]

@AurumAlex64 yw, I'm already at the super video, and it's honestly such a refreshingly fun take on what super does well 🤩😍

[@jonaw.2153]

It's so weird... I have (or, rather, had... I can't find it anymore) a cartridge of Explorers of Sky that I know I finished. I've reached the post-game, at least, and I vividly remember fighting Dialga... But I can't for the life of me remember how and when I managed to do that. I know for a fact I've seen this story, but your summary of it still something new to me. It's almost as if my memories of the story have been wiped. Fitting, really.

[@lennard9331]

Darkrai is a weird issue for Explorers. His story is told very poorly, which contributes to him feeling hollow and just evil. In the general Pokémon lore, Darkrai's existence is kind of a sad one. There's no inherent evil to his existence. He's the yang to Cresselia's yin. They balance each other out. Pleasant dreams have no value if there's nothing diametrically opposed to them, and Darkrai is given the sad task of being a natural harbringer of nightmares, pain and misery with his mere existence. In a way, he exists because all of the beauty of the world would have no meaning if he wasn't around to act as a reminder of what you're taking for granted, which is the point of that scene at Sharpedo bluff. Also, Darkrai is unironically who gives birth to the main character in a sense. He sabotages Temporal Tower by carving out the time gears from the altar at the top, thus creating the timeline where the protagonist is born, and that's kind of his purpose. Even with the one track mind objective of plunging the world in darkness, beauty is born out of his misguided act, which leads to his downfall. That being said, there's absolutely no rhyme or reason as to how he can travel through time as if he were some sort of cheat code Celebi or how exactly he manages to distort space as much as he does (his time travels imply that he does it the same way the player and the partner does, but that's supposed to be minimal). Overall, interesting character, but like most of the Mystery Dungeon series, the story isn't as developed as it should be and suffers from oversimplification in an attempt at making it appeal to 7 year olds, whereas most of the themes are more suited to teenagers or young adults.

[@lennard9331]

I don't like the story of Explorers of Sky too much myself. I like the themes evoked, especially in the side episodes of Wigglytuff and Grovyle, and if I wasn't a massive fan of the artistic direction, music and the main man, Grovyle himself, it wouldn't hold any replay value for me. The soundtrack, just like every other Mystery Dungeon game, is absolutely sublime, by the way. I think Super outdoes it in the overworld category and Rescue Team has much better dungeon themes, but Explorers still has an amazing soundtrack.

[@bewill5121]

hey, great video! It reminded me that i need to get back to work on my own video about this game, haha. I've never been much of a writer, but this game means so much to me, and I've always wanted a good analysis of it beyond a plot summary, so I was super excited to see this in my sub box. I really do appreciate how much weight this game places on the beauty of nature in particular, and how it helps us keep going. I think it's an underrated theme of the game, one everyone (this video included) touches on when talking about the sunrise scene with the partner and grovyle, but I think it's all over the game. Many story beats are punctuated with the player and partner in bed staring out the window at the moon, and reflecting on the events that have transpired. while the top-screen image of the moon is relatively plain compared to many other similar scenes in the game, I think there's still a beauty in it. It seems that just like the sunrise did for Grovyle, the moon provides the partner with the strength and optimism to keep going. Even after disappointments, the partner regularly finds things that they cherish in these reflections. When they're disappointed that they were assigned a fetch quest in Drenched Bluff as their first exploration, and disappointed with how they lost most of the share of the reward, they still find Spoink's gratitude to be enough of a reward. When they find out they didn't actually discover anything in waterfall cave, that was a huge letdown, but they can still appreciate how much they enjoyed it and how much they learned in the process. It can feel like retreading the same story, but it definitely ingrained a similar mindset in me, i feel. Then in the dark future, neither the sun nor the moon come out, and your partner is back to being a total idiot who practically can't tell up from down, and the player is the only thing left to ground them. Even on the mundane days where you just do jobs or sentry duty, the game still makes sure you sit in bed for a little bit with the goodnight theme (genuinely one of my favorite songs in the game) as if to say, take some time to think about what you've done recently, in the game and your life. It's a little thing that none of the other titles in the series do, and I definitely think it's part of why this game lives so rent free in my head, and shaped so much of my view of the world.

[@sonic5560]

19:44 this part had me dying 😂

[@ailingstar8856]

Same! It was absolutely brilliant.

[@benjaws5263]

Immediately subbed because of your analysis of one of my favourite games. Really makes you think "why is darkrai so comically evil?" Like surely there's a deeper reason that they left out why he is like that

[@Kinarashi37]

I was going to say something similar to @Yamartim about the flashbacks. They were really helpful as a child; I played this game in early elementary school. It is more difficult for children to utilize their working memory (especially regarding reading comprehension) than adults. Now I totally feel the drag of the flashbacks, but then they helped me engage with the story like I would a tv show. Loved the video though! Keep up the great work !!!

[@AurumAlex64]

Yeah, if anything, this makes me think more games should have a kind of "Previously On..." feature, that starts when booting up the game, or some kind of tab in the menu that summarizes key scenes to get caught up quickly after completing a chapter. That way they could still offer tools to give people reminders without bogging down scenes with exposition and repetition.

[@SMCwasTaken]

One of the composers for this game is working for Mario and Luigi Brothership Awesome

[@wakeupandsmellit]

Great video. You really dissected the narrative in a meaningful way.

[@LegendosaurVA]

Now that I think about it, it IS really funny that the voice in DPPt talking about Darkrai says it doesn't do what it does intentionally, but rather as a defense mechanism. Then PMD's Darkrai is mischievously twirling its mustache at your doorstep, declaring its single minded attempt to collect your taxes at all costs.

[@mijumaru2186]

Regarding Darkrai, I would like to ask: Why does one need the game to tell us why Darkrai is worthy of redemption? If the game challenges the notion of making decisions and opinions solely because someone perceived as credible tells us so, would it not make sense to eventually challenge the player themselves? Although the dialog could have been done better, I believe the game intended to push us to make our own opinions of Darkrai, even when we don't know the full picture. Do we really need the game to tell us everything we should feel about Darkrai or should we think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions? Do we even need to agree with the notion that "no pokemon is truly evil" just because the game tells us so? Just as the partner needed to eventually make their own convictions, the player needs to as well. With that in mind, what better way to push the player than to challenge them to come to their own conclusions on Darkrai?

[@AurumAlex64]

I think the problem with this idea is that the game does not provide us with enough evidence to go one way or the other with Darkrai. When Explorers says there's no such thing as a bad Pokémon, we _don't_ have to take the game at its word to believe this, because Explorers spends nearly its entire runtime supplying us with a mountain of evidence in support of this claim, as I show in the video. But when the game turns around and says "Well, Darkrai's alright too, I guess," I can _only_ take the game at its word, because there's not much indicating that based on what the game has shown us. If Explorers wants us to make our own conclusions about Darkrai, then that is a nuance that needs to be made clear within the text of the game. But since he really only has 2 scenes, the character just feels underwhelming and underthought.

[@AgeAgeAge]

Awesome video! Great analysis of the storytelling and I love the attention paid to the worldbuilding.

[@ViewtifulBeau]

Actually, now that i think about it, i think it'd be interesting to have your Partner be the villain. That would be crazy man.

[@nathanlamberth7631]

Thank you for making this.

[@FrozenOver0]

Fair point about Darkrai kinda flying in the face of the game's main themes.

[@SamLabbato]

there's nothing like getting away from the rabble of the city to settle down the sound of waves crashing against cliff. no music, just waves

[@Nryan-ks5tz]

i always enjoy videos about this game and sometimes you describe things so planely, and i think to myself; yeah, drowzee did kidnap children for manual labour

[@fishsticxz]

really good video, i need to go replay explorers of sky right now

[@ltlcollectibles]

Possibly the GOAT Pokémon game

[@trailblazer1748]

Yay more mystery dungeon content. My boyfriend is about to play this game for the first time, I absolutely can’t wait…

[@billielith]

Lovely video, lovely game. My only wish is that we could choose any pokemon as our main. Those few starters are great, but I'd definitely choose some others.

[@dh-ck2om]

I always liked the idea of anarchy in video games but never thought of it about this one

[@RednekGamurz]

Glad you brought up the flashbacks and Darkrai. Seriously, I love this game, but it feels like those issues get ignored or overlooked when discussion about this game comes up. Another thing that bugs me is how often other characters will say your name, to the point of being redundant sometimes ("So 'Player', what do you think, 'Player'?"). Still, this video does a good job explaining the appeal of this game and the series in general.

[@blackosprey2219]

I adore this game, but the dozens of playthroughs have highlighted my biggest gripes: - everything you mentioned - the Dimensional Scream having absolutely no elaboration besides "weird power triggered by trusted pokemon partner" and no appearances whatsoever after Mystifying Forest - Time Gears really don't make much sense. I can only headcanon that their relation to Temporal Tower was lost history, and everyone assumed they were the only things keeping time in check and a few took up guardianship positions for them. But that doesn't really explain why they relate to the tower, or how they were separated. If it was Darkrai's sabotage, it's unlikely that it had been long enough for legends to build up around em. - Guild acts shocked and scared at seeing Grovyle in Brine Cave despite already knowing the plot twist - Xatu's appraisal taking as long as it does - Aegis Cave. Honestly though, saying it all out loud makes it sound like nitpicks. Plus, I can give the flashbacks a little grace since they probably made this game with adhd 7yos in mind. Which was exactly what I was! Haha

[@RednekGamurz]

@@blackosprey2219 Honestly the Dimensional Scream not being explained never bothered me. I think stories don't have to explain every detail and leave some things up to the audiences' imagination. Plus, this is a world where the animals have powers that are usually unexplained, so the Dimensional Scream doesn't feel too out of the ordinary. The thing I do take a bit of an issue with is where the hell did you come from? The player comes from the future, but this world doesn't have humans. All of the other games establish that this world is humanless, but even if you want to just look at Explorers as it's own thing, you never once see or hear about other humans existing in this world. Hell, the personality test even has the line "This is the portal that leads to the world inhabited only by Pokemon", so what gives?

[@blackosprey2219]

@RednekGamurz I assume the whole "portal to the world of pokemon" thing was a framing device left over from PMD1, where you specifically were isekai'd from the "human" world into the PMD world. Either that, or a weird translation. Either way I don't know if a lot of thought was in that part. As for humans' place in the world, Pokemon seem pretty aware of what humans are at least. You may correct me, but in all the PMDs I played, everyone's reaction to the "I'm human" thing is "huh no you aren't" rather than "what's a human???" I know for sure that this is true in PMD2 specifically. PMD1 in particular has implications that humans used to live on the continent, with an abandoned lab and power plant. The games give us very little to go on, but I'd guess "only pokemon" is a bit of an exaggeration. Either there was some human-specific apocalypse, or this is an alt universe where humans never became a dominant species, or they just live on another continent and haven't ventured out much. In any case, they were present enough to leave behind artificial structures and a general understanding of what they are amongst most Pokemon. I just assume pmd2's PC was one of these few humans that still existed in PMD's world. It wouldn't make much sense if they were isekai'd into the future, since changing the future would erase them like all other future entities.

[@RednekGamurz]

@@blackosprey2219 Yeah the first game implies that humans existed at one point but don't anymore. I know in Super when you try to tell your classmates, Pancham says humans only exist in fairy tales, so either humans have been gone for so long that most Pokemon don't believe they ever existed, or they never did, but considering Super runs with the idea that all the PMD games happened in the same canon, it's likely the former. Either way, I have an easier time buying the Dimensional Scream being unexplained than a human still being around, not just in this world, but in this world's doomed future.

[@thomashanson9173]

Sometimes I feel like PMD is like the Wild West even down to Rescue Teams being almost like vigilantes or sheriffs in a way. Theres not really a central infrastructure but each village sort of its own self suffiecient community. For better (more freedom) or worse (Explorers Guild can potentially be abusive with no or minimal government regulation). Granted all these theories could be explained by they just didn't mention the nation you're part of. But if we take only what we see, then yeah I can see what you mean.

[@SingingSealRiana]

My favorite thing about the sharpedo cliff is, that it has terrible defense just like the pokemon 😂

[@mettatonex7221]

I do want to push back on Darkrai simply being an evil Pokemon. He's presented as such during the beats of the story that involve him, but following the ending to the story, it's possible to hunt down and recruit Darkrai, being the second most difficult Pokemon in the game to do so, and once he's on your team, he's carrying a different attitude than before. Since Palkia destroyed the wormhole that Darkrai was using thus causing Darkrai to lose his memories, whatever was driving Darkrai to do his evil deeds no longer does so, and he finds himself willing to commit himself to a better cause. I wish the game would explain whatever that driving force is, but for as devious as he's capable of being, he is capable of doing right by others too.

[@EIianoMECFS]

I will always love this game and what it did to me. This game is so beautiful written.

[@RiverOfTheHeart]

Great analysis, never really thought about the theme of convictions being so prevalent in explorers story probably cause it's been over half a decade since I last finished the main story. I'm aware I have somewhat of a lack of conviction myself except when it really counts or when I'm really passionate about something so the themes spoke to me. (Spoiler warning for start of post-game Explorers here in case someone reading this comment doesn't know) Perhaps because I've started over with so many new save files with different pokemon compositions, I've only reached the main story ending once or twice and haven't yet been able to defeat the guild fight right at the start of the postgame that gates off all the other post game content. A friend who was playing the game for retro achievements recently showed me some of the scenes I missed for the first time, and while I've still after all these years not unlocked the Grovyle and Dusknoir story I don't mind them being talked about, it was necessary. What I do take issue to is that this is the second time now I've been spoiled on important plot beats in the 3ds games but at least in the super mystery dungeon video I expected this. I did not expect it at all from the video disguised as being about the sharpedo bluff. The heartfelt expression you gave when describing Super's narrative in that video is what inspired me to pick up both games I had bounced off from so long ago, after having mulled over for several years maybe playing them again eventually but not doing it because I thought I'd dislike them. I'm actually playing Gates to Infinity from the start again now and I'm liking it a lot so far! Your videos are fun but I could really have used some kind of spoiler warning since the title and thumbnail was rather innocuous. I really thought this video was just gonna be about impressive land masses and structures or moments related to the cliff directly, which this video does feature but uses as a vehicle to explore the game's overarching themes. I really think you could have made your point without mentioning the twists of other games. Anyway keep making good content. ❤

[@SquezzledfoxGalactic]

Video mentions the time portal in explorers right when I'm getting to it

[@grantsheep2774]

rly cool vod

[@andrewcabral3541]

This game is perfection

[@esteban8471]

Because of fanart and fanfiction, I've developed a headcanon that the reason Darkrai is so evil is because of backstory that we never got to see. When you recruit Darkrai, he seems to have amnesia, and is more docile because of it. This implies that maybe Darkrai wasn't always like this, and was pushed so far down to villainy that he didn't care anymore. Now this is ultimately just a theory (a game theory), but I do think it backs up the core message that no Pokémon is genuinely bad a little better. It would also line up with other interpretations of Darkrai where it's painted in a far more sympathetic light.

[@SkyBlueFox1]

Others have made mention of the flashbacks as well, but to throw out my two cents: Explorers is my favorite/most important game of all time, but one of my other top contenders is Solatorobo, a game that’s also a little heavy-handed with flashbacks or repeating information. In Solatorobo’s case, however, we actually have an explanation for this… and it’s that the primary testing-audience was elementary-school children. (Which is a little wild when I consider how messed-up Solatorobo can get!) Whether we like it or not, that same range of younger children is still one of Pokémon’s biggest demographics, and it was especially so at the time of Explorers’ release. Gen 4 was still part of that era where a lot of middle- and high-schoolers were poo-pooing Pokemon for being “kiddy”; it wasn’t until Gens 5 and 6 (and the increase in social media prevalence) that older fans became more and more prominent. Granted, I’m not saying you should actually like the flashbacks, but it’s simply a matter of when it was produced/who it was produced for. It’s a lot easier for me to forgive repeating information when the story is so well-written and well-paced, as well as when I know it’s to help kids who would easily forget or miss things otherwise. It’s a lot easier to tolerate being treated like a kid when it’s the narrator doing so (so to speak), and not, say, the actual characters treating your character like a kid. (Semi-related aside: When I was just 7 or 8, I didn’t realize the island in Link’s Awakening DX was gonna disappear until the moment it did. My dumb ass simply did not register what the Face Shrine twist was trying to tell me, and if I’d been given a flashback of any sort, it would’ve spared me some very long crying sessions back in the day :y )

[@AurumAlex64]

I guess I'm just not entirely sold on the idea that kids need flashbacks like this. I think it's okay, good even, to let a young audience get confused about a text. I know I read/watched a ton of things that flew over my head when I was little, but that's really only made me appreciate them more now. Plus, I'm not convinced EoS is complex enough (at least on a plot level) to warrant the flashbacks to the extent it does (especially when the flashback to things that happen literally less than a minute prior); plenty of media enjoyed by younger audiences are able to convey their story without the constant narrative hand-holding. I mean, Kingdom Hearts was one of my favorite series growing up, and those games had a lot of moving parts. So even compared to its contemporaries, I think EoS is being a little too paternalistic.

[@SkyBlueFox1]

@@AurumAlex64 That’s fair! And I do agree that EoS (and Solatorobo, for that matter) doesn’t necessarily *need* all those flashbacks, in a general sense. I just don’t find it objectionable enough to fault the devs for doing it that way. It was clearly a conscious choice, and to me, it never felt like the flashbacks were thrown in for the sake of extending the cutscenes. Compare, say, Golden Sun, which - much as I love it - also has a problem with repeating info you’ve already learned. The problem is that it’s not *showing* you flashbacks, it’s *telling* you information over and over again, with no characterization, substance, or conscious reason for doing so. It isn’t written that way to benefit the player at all, so the resulting dialogue-bloat is much more tiresome (and probably *harder* for kids to follow, for that matter!).

[@nebbynetwork2089]

This game was fantastic We need a remake in the switch or the next console

[@TheAdventuretrainerRuby]

Yay, more explorers of sky reviews🤩🤩

[@HunchoMacs]

Answer: everything

[@SuperAceFuture]

First off, younger me would beg to differ about the most obvious twist 😂 secondly I had treeko as my partner and for a while I was convinced grovyle was the future version of treeko

[@sugasnaps]

amazing video 💜

[@SharkWitchMeruna]

Someone show him the In a Dark Past romhack, I wanna be schooled on it

[@Bracketmeister]

It's a little off topic, but I have never seen the map of the future before at 5:44! I always have my team on the top screen. All these years and the hours I've put into these games, I've just... never seen that...

[@shadedusk7831]

There's a theory out there that Darkrai reincarnated as the player as a human and was sent back in time where he became partners with Grovyle, later turning into the player pokemon, in a sort of time loop and that we (as the player) are redeeming ourselves by defeating our past sins.... We are Darkrai. The whole plot is about Darkrai's redemption. The ending loops back to the beginning. This whole game is about time and time loops and timelines so it makes sense. I'd argue that the Darkrai you can recruit in game is just for gameplay reasons though.

[@TheGuyWhoSaidHi2]

This is the first time someone has been able to make a compelling case to me of why this game deserves the praise it gets. (I especially like the shift of interpretation of: "Partner is a coward" to "Partner has no internal identity and is too quick to blindly follow based on reputation") I just wish I could have enjoyed this game the way everyone else seems to, but like how you mentioned the flashbacks make you roll your eyes and take you out of the immersion, just about everything with the writing in Explorers does the same thing to me. Did you feel like the writing was super formal and stiff, or was that just me?

[@AurumAlex64]

Yes, the script is very awkward in general, and really would've benefitted from another polishing pass. The dialogue in the 3DS games are much smoother and more natural sounding. But I think Explorers' story still works in spite of it.

[@Toon.Hamstreak_658]

No taxes, you say?? Chatot nabs NINETY PERCENT of ALL OF MY PROFITS just to bankroll that fat Wigglytuff's crippling perfect apple addiction.

[@lucideirune1635]

I think Darkrai himself wasn’t completely evil. What happened is he was being controlled by the malice from Dark Matter. For example, Nuzleaf wasn’t nearly as evil until dark matter started controlling him. In the titles before super mystery dungeon, you are dealing with disasters, because the malice that came from dark matter raining down on the earth and possibly the asteroids caused them to be controlled by dark matter. When Mew (your partner) and the human (you) realized they failed, they reincarnated several times to stop this malice. This is why the player and the partner could be any Pokemon since Mew can be any Pokemon. Team Skull unalived from their wounds after giving the player back the relic fragment. Since you never see them again, it is obvious. A fun fact is the voidlands is in fact Heck (censorship for the actual word). In Japan, they are actually called the hecklands.

[@diamondmasterandwillythecat]

I see pmd2 in my reccomended, I click! Best game of all time

[@BenjaminOwenSlattery]

What do you think would most improve Darkrai as the final boss? Would it be better if it showed that Darkrai wasn’t actually cartoonishly evil and support the main thesis, or to make him a better counter-example that challenges the protagonists’ beliefs?

[@AurumAlex64]

I would prefer the game to do the former rather than the latter. Making Darkrai a counterexample is certainly possible, but it would require a lot more work to get right. And that would be because it implies that all of the other characters somehow came to the wrong conclusion about the nature of Pokémon. That when Wigglytuff says there is no such thing as a bad Pokémon, he used some kind of faulty reasoning to get there, and then game would _also_ have to give an account for what that faulty reasoning was and why so many of the characters were led to believe it over time. Which would be pretty challenging to do, in my opinion.

[@BenjaminOwenSlattery]

@@AurumAlex64 Yes you're right, that's a great point. What if the game did a bait and switch by trying to push really hard that it's the latter, but in the end it turns out to be the former to maximize the catharsis of the inversion and prove that the game's thesis extends even to the most extreme cases?

[@AurumAlex64]

@@BenjaminOwenSlattery Yes, I think that would probably be the ideal scenario

[@typemasters2871]

I always saw Darkrai as an interesting villain Why does wiping his memory stops him from being evil? If he has a tendency towards villainy then wouldn’t he just end back to being a villain? Or is the game suggesting that something happened to Darkrai that made him decide that paralysing the planet was a better alternative than not paralysing the planet?

[@seanscudder5428]

this is why I changed Darkrai's story to be him being used By Mewtwo is whos doing to to stick it to Arceus Makes since the human made Pokemon would have beef with God Mewtwo in my opinion is the real antagonist of mysterdungeon. It's after explorers that Mewtwo becomes more anti hero and we forshadow Necrozma and Enterntus as the real villians

[@JBMVoid]

i wish normal pokemon was deep of story

[@d_drarky]

The first point about the world building feels a bit... weak, I guess if I have to put it in a way. The way PMD creates its environment isn't built upon a very complex line of thinking that consolidates everything perfectly, but rather it's build under the premise of understanding that for the story it wants to present you don't need the detailed pieces that the real world has, which is something that applies to basically any game with a decent enough world, including mainline Pokemon. I don't think this series does anything particularly impressive here. On the other hand, to this day, something that is unfortunately lost from PMD fans that haven't touched the rest of the MD subgenre is just how incredibly smart the world is in utilizing its genre's traits. The concept of "rescuing" is something that defined the genre from your usual roguelites of the sort,. There was always a sense of unity that exists where other people can lend you a hand if you were in trouble, and with every entry in the PMD series, they took that element and made its premise to be the literal thing that the world is centered around, with each game having its own unique direction as to how it is implemented in the world. They created multiple worlds around a premise that only existed as a gameplay feature in the subgenre it lives in, and I think that is something that is a lot more commendable than a basic understand of which elements to use for your environment. Great video. This is one of the few video that addresses the theme of "there's not such thing as an evil Pokemon" in Explorers, and how Darkrai plays completely backwards to what the rest of the game is trying to tell you, and I appreciate it for that.

[@AurumAlex64]

Well, as I say in the end of the video, the part about PMD's worldbuilding that's appealing is how it differentiates itself from the mainline games. Mainline games also never go into the specific authorities which govern the world, but there's a strong intuition that they exist, and the games largely seem unable to think beyond some specific institutions (like Gyms and Leagues). On the other hand, were I to expand and flesh out PMD's world, I would almost certainly not want to include such governing authorities, or the concept of nation states, because I think the games heavily benefit from this less rigid worldbuilding, and it certainly fits the idea that world revolves around exploring mysterious and unknown locations. There's the sense that the PMD games are less beholden to a specific formula, even if they do end up following one. It's why I personally prefer the worldbuilding of the 3DS PMD games, where Rescue/Exploration Teams are very much _not_ what the world is centered around. In fact, playing the intro to Gates again for this video, I was struck by how the characters spoke about Mystery Dungeons like tiresome inconveniences, rather than something to be fearful of or an opportunity for exploration.

[@ViewtifulBeau]

Yessssssssss thank you

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

Somehow the main thing that comes to mind when I see this place is Manaphy

[@homegrowngamer3411]

Now play the modded version of this game, explorors of spirit, And you'll have a hell of a lot more feelings bout the rock, Lol

[@Toon.Hamstreak_658]

Why is your voice like that?

[@polocatfan]

oh... it's a hate video... cmon man

[@AurumAlex64]

This is definitely not a hate video. My only critiques of the game start, like, 30 minutes in

[@blackosprey2219]

Homie did you even watch the video