Let's Play Legends Arceus, Part 18: Almighty Sinnoh

Last we left off, we did the trials of the three Lake Guardians, and crafted the Red Chains, and headed off to confront Kamado! Who's assembled a whole damn 'burn the witch' army to try and burn, er, god. Or, well, more likely, the gods. 

So after a brief bit of talking with my allies, I head up the previously-sealed cave called the Stone Portal. It's a short cave that has a single arena... and standing before me is... Beni?

Okay, I kind of expected some trainer battles. Maybe against some of the NPC's from the Galactic Team. But Beni? Narratively speaking, it actually is kind of ingenious! Beni is a character that anyone who speed-runs through the story would meet multiple times as he feeds me, Akari and Laventon some potato mochi at the end of every 'chapter', but not someone that's particularly relevant. A simple but definitely always welcome and effective twist on having... well, not exactly a traitor, but having a supporting background character be an antagonist!

And boy oh boy, Beni does play the antagonist card very well. He asks me if I'm still 'alive and kicking', before talking all amiably about how sorry he is to shut off his restaurant for now, and how he's there to oversee the campaign's food supply chain. And then his facial expression gets dangerous and he goes "I suppose I'll handle you as well. Time we got rid of you once and for all."

God damn, Beni!

Beni then reveals himself as Kamado's right hand, who has been 'executing' all the 'gritty deeds' that Kamado won't do himself... how many people did you have Beni murder, Kamado? How many? Is that why all the people in Jubilife City are such yes-people to your whims? 

But damn, I'm always a sucker for a character like Beni. The 'Batman', so to speak, who's willing to get his hands dirty as the necessary evil. He will apparently "get rid of any fools that dream of getting in the way of his plans"

And then Beni talks about his smoke bombs, and proceeds to demonstrate how to use them properly... by dropping one into the ground and revealing himself to be a motherfucking ninja. 

Okay. Okay, holy hell, that's cool. So the whole potato mochi vendor thing is just an act. A Rob Lucci style alter ego while his real job is a murder-ninja. The real Beni is apparently a bit of a bloodthirsty guy, who gets excited at the knowledge that I have beaten up a bunch of nobles and that I'm a powerful warrior, and identifies me as 'one final opponent worthy of [his] great ninja techniques that have been left to molder'. 

...and his Pokemon really aren't very ninja-like. Even counting the fact that Ninjask or Accelgor aren't in the Sinnoh/Hisui dex, it is kind of bizarre that his party consists of... Mismagius, Gardevoir, Sneasler and Gallade? Of all things? I guess Sneasler is kinda ninja-esque with her claws and climbing skills. But the rest? Debatable. Gallade and Gardevoir are more 'knight'-themed than ninja-themed for sure. I guess that's the ninja part? That he's using very un-ninja-like Pokemon?

After being beaten, Beni briefly laments about his ninja arts being consigned to history, and admits defeat to a superior opponent. Yeah, all that talk about getting rid of me once and for all... can't back it up, can you, ninja boy? Beni does admit that my skill in battle is likable, but then narrows his eyes and reminds me that 'Pokemon are truly terrifying creatures', and then gives a backstory about how apparently wild Pokemon rampaged and destroyed the village that Beni and Kamado hailed from. They don't go into too much of a detail, but... well, while it doesn't excuse Kamado banishing me from the village, it does put the Team Galactic dislike of Pokemon into an interesting new light. And that's why Kamado was initially so resistant to any Pokemon entering the city. "But to achieve something truly great, you sometimes have to take extreme actions." ...I agree to an extent, but banishing the isekai protagonist, and trying to fight god really isn't extreme. Unless you mean extremely dumb. 

Beni then leaves me with the note that Kamado might lose all reason if he sees a Pokemon appear in the space-time rift, and that I might have to 'save him from himself' by force. Beni my boy, your buddy Kamado's already lost all reason. And I do intend to use force on the mustachioed jerk. But yes, sure, tell yourself I'm going to save him from himself if that makes you sleep better at night. 

Anyway, I get through the rocky tunnel, and I see a gigantic temple erected to Arceus. I think this was the original form of the Spear Pillar from Diamond, Pearl and Platinum -- the Temple of Sinnoh. It's got Arceus's real head and his golden rings decorating the top.

Volo awaits there to hawk his goods at me, Zisu's there with two other Security Corps guys, while Adaman notes that the being descending on its peak might be 'Almighty Sinnoh'. Adaman, Irida and myself walk up to confront Kamado... who's dressed himself up in a goofy-looking knight suit and a bandana. Pretty neat villainous confrontation! Kamado talks about how he's heard about how the Red Chains will bind the world, and he assumes that binding the world means that it's going to keep things as it should be... but he refuses to put his faith in fairy tales. 

And for all the talk about not wanting an escalation of Galactic-Diamond-Pearl clan fighting, when the two clan leaders confront him, Kamado continues to be a right dick about it. Kamado talks about how the entire city will blame him if he puts his faith in me and he turns out to be wrong... ignoring the fact that it's my character that's been solving all the problems in Hisui. Irida straight up calls Kamado a fool, while pointing out that Kamado's not the only one fighting for Jubilife. 

And like a child, Kamado just goes "enough!" and demands a battle, because whichever is stronger will prevail. ...is that why you hate me and my Pokemon so much, Kamado? That you can't just sumo-toss us out of the way when we refuse to listen to you? What a dipshit. 

Kamado's Pokemon are reasonably strong. But my Zoroark makes quick work of his Hisuian Braviary, and it's his tanky Snorlax that took a while to defeat because it's just pretty damn tanky. My Goodra took it out, though, and it also easily hydro pumped his Golem. And the final Pokemon is... a Clefable? Okay, Kamado. My Ursaluna made quick work of that. 

Then we get a cutscene of Kamado kneeling on the ground and prostrating himself before me. Yeah. Apologize, you entitled piece of shit. Now he apologizes for doubting me. He asks me to use my strength to help the people and Pokemon of Hisui. Yeah, you're the one escalating things, Kamado. I really like the writing for him -- I don't think I've ever had this visceral hatred for a singular Pokemon villain before!

Anyway, I'm ascending the Temple of Sinnoh.  I absolutely love that the ten guardian Pokemon of Hisui, the nobles that fought with the Ancient Hero, are decorating the temple. They didn't have to do that, those are probably unique visual assets, but they did it anyway. Wyrdeer, Kleavor, Ursaluna, Liligant, Basculegion, Arcanine, Electrode, Braviary and Avalugg are the statues that line my way as I go up the temple. Whoever sculpted Electrode's statue even included a little blast effect.

And as we go up, Irida starts hearing a voice in her head/heart, and it's Almighty Sinnoh speaking to her. Or, rather, the Pearl Clan's Almighty Sinnoh -- dragon-god and ruler of space, Palkia! Palkia wants the holder of the Red Chain to catch him for the fight to come. 

And then a distortion in the space-time portal happens, shocking all the humans present. A nice little 3D-ization of Palkia's original portal in Pearl, and the big pink godzilla dragon himself steps out of the portal. Yep, his feet still look dumb as hell in 3D, like someone painted details on a plastic toy. But hey, Palkia! From the waist up, he looks cool! And they do commit to animating Palkia properly. There's a cool cutscene as the Red Chains light up and spiral around me with the segments separated, and then they descend down upon Palkia... but then Palkia just flexes and the chain shatters and become small little gemstones. Pretty cool, pretty cool cutscene all around. 

And of course it comes to a Pokemon battle. The animation for Spatial Rend looks amazing in the graphics of this game, with the slashes and the subsequent 'the entire scenery shatters upon itself' animation being cool. But the fight itself is... a bit anticlimactic? I think this might be a plot-driven capture? Because I just did a single leaf storm from my Decidueye, before lobbing an Ultra Ball, and Palkia is captured. 

Irida is shocked that I captured Almighty Sinnoh himself. Adaman actually points out something -- the Red Chain shattered, so that whole subplot was kind of pointless? Unless, I guess, the Red Chain was what allowed Palkia to be capturable in the first place. But Palkia, speaking through Irida, tells us that 'space-time grows chaotic, the power fails, the frenzied one, it now comes to fight!'

Kamado is shocked that there's another one. What were you planning to do, fight Arceus and his three angels with your fucking Clefable? Kamado is all like "there's no way the protagonist could fight another one of these!" Uhh... no? Palkia took out maybe a third of my Decidueye's health, and he was only level 65. I have a full party! Come on, Kamado, if you're going to pussy out, at least don't force all of us to run with you.

Of course, though, Dialga descends and... again, I'm not the biggest fan of Dialga or Palkia's design, but damn, Dialga slowly being lowered and landing onto the ground? Especially with Dialga's much cooler-looking feet? That's actually impressive. I was totally immersed in the moment. Dialga's roar shakes the entire temple (which is going to get fucked, isn't it, considering how Spear Pillar looks circa D/P). The sheer aura from Dialga causes Kamado to constantly want to retreat, and I do really love the shots of Dialga just looming over Kamado with the aura. 

The "GUGYUGUBA-BAGWAAAAH" subtitled cry.... not so much. I get that there's not too many options to transcribe Dialga's in-game cry, but that one just made me giggle. 

Kamado loses all his composure, drops his fancy-talk veneer, and orders a retreat to the Summit Camp, saying that we won't be any use if we die up the mountain... you are the one who's useless, Kamado. Why are we still listening to this joker? But the plot forces us to, leaving Dialga to just... chill on top of the Temple without bothering anyone? Ooookay?

Anyway, in the Summit Camp, Irida points out the fact that the two clans worship a different Almighty Sinnoh, and both Almighty Sinnohs were actually real. So that's a bow put in the different god worshipped by the Diamond and Pearl clans, then. Kamado at least has the decency to apologize again, noting that he's the only one in that group that didn't trust in me, and his presumptions were ill-conceived. Yeah, Kamado. Keep talking shit. I would've subdued Dialga, and Giratina and Arceus when they came through that space-time rift, if you didn't drag me down the mountain. 

Adaman, Irida and Laventon are willing to just deal with the crisis and treat it as the priority, which I guess I can get behind. And Irida talks about the cryptic prophecy that Palkia gave her -- "The stone of creation's beginning, the chain of red, the vessel of humankind's invention" and we can use those to calm the chaos that disrupts the world. I thought we were going for another whole fetch-quest, but our heroes quickly surmise that we don't really have to since we already have some of the plot devices already. Laventon pulls out one of the Arceus plates, and figures out that we need something called an Origin Ore.

There's a bit of comedy when Melli comes up and kind of demands a task to be given to him. Adaman is 110% done with Melli and just tells him to fuck off and that his job is to help the others. When Lian arrives, Melli mocks his hat and the two kind of argue with each other whether the 'bumbling ball' or the 'bug' can beat each other... but Lian is the expert in rocks, and leads us to the location where Origin Ore is, at the Primeval Grotto. How convenient! 

...and that's where we'll pick up next time. I thought I could finish all the way to the end of the main story in this segment, but I guess the climax is much longer than I thought!

Current Party: Hisuian Decidueye, Kleavor, Hisuian Goodra, Ursaluna, Hisuian Zoroark, Palkia