So this segment of the game has a bit more cutscenes and exposition. We start off with the titular festival, and little Ogerpon is just hanging out in the background, watching from the outskirts of town. And... again, the plotline of the Teal Mask theme is pretty simple and obvious, but I do think it's done rather well. There's a nice little distinction between Kieran really liking the Ogre of the myths, while Carmine notes how everyone clearly likes the heroic Loyal Three more, and Kieran liking the Ogre is more of him being an angsty emo teen rather than anything particularly serious.
...Though, to Kieran's credit, who the heck cosplays as Luke Skywalker when they can cosplay as Darth Vader?
The festival itself is a lot of great, neat decorations though sadly there really isn't much to do in the festival grounds other than one minigame. All the stalls only have random buffing foodstuff. To their credit, the food are all drawn pretty well. Shaved ice, candied apples, ice cream... anyway, Kieran gives me some candy apple, and talks about there being a Pokemon that looks similar to a candy apple... which is a new Pokemon that I'll meet later in this game!
The aforementioned minigame is "Ogre Oustin", which is a rather basic 'run and gather some items and get them back to the baskets' thing. It's not challenging like the races in Legends Arceus, it's just... really annoying? Some Skwovets and Greedents come to steal the thingies from the baskets if you take too long, and you can only carry a set number of berries or whatever plot devices you have with you at a given time. The main story makes me go through it, and it's okay for a single run, but I don't see myself repeating this game at all.
Carmine is pretty competitive and is very, very happy that I can't beat her high score in Ogre Oustin'. Good for you, girl, I hope you're happy. Kieran talks to his big sister to get her to chill off, and I just wander around the festival grounds, walking up to the edge of Kitakami Hill where there's a long set of stairs leading up to the mountain.
And, of course, that's where Ogerpon is. For whatever reason, despite the clearly deformed wood-legs, I think Ogerpon is a 'mysterious child' with a mask instead of a Pokemon. I can get the 'arms' being handwaved as some sort of particularly baggy hoodie, but in a world where humanoid Pokemon like Machop and Sawk exist, it really is no excuse for me to instantly assume the silent figure is a 'child'.
Carmine also shows up and there's a fair bit of yelling as she warns the little child to not wander into the mountains at night since it's dangerous... and, of course, Ogerpon's mask falls off, revealing her face. It's adorable. Ogerpon's face is an orange :o face with star-shaped pupils! That's actually pretty adorable. I return her fallen mask to her, and she runs off into the mountains.
Weirdly, when Kieran shows up, I was ready to tell hi everything and get him into the loop, but Carmine very vehemently shuts me down. She does give me a couple of reasons -- to protect Kieran from the disappointment that we met the ogre before him, and to stop the little twerp from running and hunting down the ogre in the dead of night. She didn't have to yell at him rudely, though, and it doesn't really explain why Carmine didn't catch Kieran up to speed the next morning. The dysfunctional secret-keeping is the whole point of the story, though, and rather realistic for a bunch of characters that are technically teenagers.
The next morning, I meet up with Carmine in front of her house, to talk to Nameless Grandpa. Carmine still keeps it a secret and goes 'you haven't told him about the, you know, the thing we you know the thing yesterday'... phrasing, Carmine, phrasing. Kieran, knowing absolutely jack-all about what's going on, is excited to wake up to a brand new day and continue with the signboard exploration. Carmine yells at him and causes him to run off and cry. Grandpa is rightfully pissed off, which causes Carmine to explain everything to Grandpa.
And, plot twist... the Ogre is good all along! Dun dunnn DUNNNNN!
Apparently, the Ogre is super-nice, and the legend that was handed down in Kitakami is twisted. It's actually the other way around, and Carmine's clan has a secret story passed down by word of mouth through generations which can't be told to the rest of the village.
A long time ago, a big buff man and his Ogre companion came to Kitakami from a foreign land. But because he's a foreigner that looked different from them, racism happened and the villagers rejected them. This traveler and his ogre stayed outside of the village, living in the mountains. One mask-maker (Carmine and Kieran's ancestor) pitied them, and made masks for the Traveler and the Ogre. Four masks, which he adorned with gemstones from far away (which are 100% Area Zero gemstones). This way, the Traveler and Ogre could hide their identity, particularly during festivals. Their unique masks also made them super popular.
Until the Loyal Three arrived. Or, well, they weren't named yet, but they were a trio of greedy Pokemon that arrived in Kitakami, following the rumours of exquisite, shining masks. The fact that these three are just straight-up evil is actually surprising, and I do enjoy that they went all-in with characterizing the antagonistic legendaries as straight-up planning daylight robbery. Pokemon has always been rather careful about using most of its actual Pokemon characters as being 'uncontrollable' or 'only doing things by their natural instinct'. Even Giratina wasn't portrayed as actively malicious until Legends: Arceus! But yeah, the Loyal Three are actual bandits.
And they attacked the Ogre's cave, trying to steal the masks. The Traveler managed to hold on to one of the masks, and... we never really get his fate. But the fact that Ogerpon returned to the cave to see it ransacked, and found the mask but no mention was made of the Traveler... man, those Loyal Three probably killed him, huh? Or wounded him really badly?
In anger, Ogerpon pulled out his cudgel and charged into the village, beating the shit out of the three greedy Pokemon. The villagers, who do not have any of the context of what's going on, only saw an Ogre rampaging in their village, and thought that the Loyal Three (who are a bit more implicitly mentioned as 'giving up their lives') were protecting the village from the big scary Ogre, and ended up venerating them. The story ends with only the Ogre left, who returned to his cave alone.
And after the story is finished, Carmine is pissed off and literally shaking with anger. Her first instinct is to go off and tell the entire story to the villagers, but Grandpa stops her with a depressingly realistic reply. Everyone's been raised up with the predisposition and bias that the Ogre is evil, so no one's going to change their minds so easily if it's already rooted in their collective mind. Grandpa also reveals that their ancestor had tried to do the same thing, but he's persecuted as a heretic and no one took him seriously. So that story is passed down their family as a family secret and nothing more.
...none of you ever thought about visiting the Ogre and keep her company? These stories usually have the secret clan turning into a secret-keeping friend, y'know. Grandpa, you suck. Carmine's hot-blooded but at least she's trying to do something.
Carmine highlights just how much Kieran really really likes the ogre, to the point of obsession... and Grandpa goes straight and forbids me and Carmine from telling anyone else about the truth of the matter. And, again, I do like that there's a reason that they don't tell Kieran, which is a well-meaning but misguided attempt to 'protect' him. It's not a good reason, but at least it's there if they're going to do a 'secret keeping is bad' storyline.
We leave the Teal Mask for Grandpa to fix, because one of the gems is broken, but only the audience gets to see that Kieran is eavesdropping to the whole conversation from behind the estate gates. He walks off, his expression sour.
I meet up with Kieran in front of the shop, and he kind of brushes it off... though he does ask me about what I'm talking about to Carmine. The game doesn't actually let me be truthful to the boy and avoid what's likely to be a whole load of drama, and I can only keep a secret what I'm talking to Carmine. Again, Kieran brushes it off as we go explore the next signpost, but mutters under his breath about "why'd you lie to me..."
The third signpost is in Paradise Barrens, which is such a weird oxymoron of a name. It's on the northern side of Oni Mountain, and there's a fair amount of new Pokemon! Clefairy, Nosepass, Vullaby, Sandshrew, and Jangmo-o as the rare encounter. Kieran explains that according to the legends, the Ogre used to be seen in Paradise Barrens a lot, which is why there's a signboard there.
And Kieran challenges me to a battle again. He's got a slightly expanded party -- Yanma, Furret, Poliwrath... and Dipplin!
And I thought this was a simple convergent evolution of Applin (because, after all, the names are different), but thanks to a rather quick google search, turns out that Dipplin is... Applin's... new branched evolution? Um? I get the joke that G-Max Flapple and Appletun all just look like a big fat Applin with the worm head out, and this Dipplin is... basically an Applin with a visible worm head, and a bunch of minor details that mark it as a candy apple. But... it really just isn't impressive to me at all, sorry. Considering how fun Flapple and Appletun took the 'final stages of an apple themed worm-dragon' concept, Dipplin really did feel like they're phoning it in.
Anyway, Kieran is pissed off that he's lost, blaming himself for being weak and we get a zoom-in on him clenching his fist. He clearly has a lot of issues he has to work through, and he's just clenching his fist in anger. He talks about wanting to get the sign over with.
I really do like this third sign -- the sign talks about how if you see a shadowy figure approaching you at twilight, wear your mask. If you wear your mask, you'll pass each other as two travelers on the road, regardless of whether you are a man or a monster. If you don't have a mask... then you are doomed, because if it's a monster then your soul is forfeit. It really does feel like the kind of a folktale that would be passed down in a region, and there's a nice 'warning against danger' vibe to it that makes it feel authentic.
Of course, Kieran lambasts the parable as probably being bogus, particularly the 'soul-stealing' thing. He doesn't like this sign for vilifying the Ogre, making him sound like a bloodthirsty monster. And knowing what we do know about Ogerpon from Grandpa... the original intention of their mask-maker ancestor was probably to make it so that mask-wearing is normalized and that Ogerpon and her trainer could walk around the dark streets without being challenged, right? That is probably the original intention? At least, until they played up the villainy of the Ogre?
Perhaps more importantly to Kieran, he notes how the Ogre was probably lonely all on its own, left alone, treated like some kind of an outcast. Man, projecting your issues much? Again, I can't really blame Kieran. He's clearly only had his (not-the-nicest) big sister as his only friend before me, and right after he starts opening up, both of the people closest to him end up keeping a major secret about the topic most important to him. Someone who already has self-esteem issues being faced with so much 'betrayal' would go into a spiral of self-loathing and self-pity.
Anyway, with the third photograph and assignment done, Kieran fucks off, saying that he's got things to do. Yep, he's gone emo!
And at this point, I just... explore around. That was a lot of cutscenes, and I just spent around an hour running around and catching Pokemon. Volbeat, Grubbin, Charjabug, Mienfoo... eventually, I make my way to some of the areas, and find a random apple shack on the bottom right corner of the map. As one of the nearby trainers helpfully tells me, there's just a stand there selling Syrupy Apples without a seller, relying entirely on an honour system. O... okay?
This is where I can buy Syrupy Apple, and evolve Applin into Dipplin. And... and I'm sorry, I just can't really get super excited for this evolution. While it is neat that Applin got a new branching evolution so soon after his debut, the candied apple and the 'haha, it looks very much like regular Applin' joke just didn't feel particularly funny. Dipplin at least got a signature ability and attack, and... wait, its Pokedex entry says that it's two Pokemon in one? Two worms? One head-worm and one butt-worm? It disappoints me more, then, because I can't see any animations or any visual indication that Dipplin is supposed to be a multiple-organism-considered-as-a-single-entity thing. Other Pokemon species like Maushold recently but also Magneton, Binacle, Slowbro, Wishiwashi's schooling form and a bunch of others I'm probably not thinking of on top of my head do a decent job showcasing that they're technically multiple species Pokemon in a single creature... and Dipplin isn't that, I'm sorry.
Anyway, Grandpa sends me on a fetch quest to get minerals to fix the mask. Carmine and I are to head to Crystal Pool to get a Crystal Cluster. Kieran walks out of the house, and just as Carmine is about to shoo him away, Kieran just emo-teenagers his way through the conversation. "Yeah, whatever, sis. I got stuff to do." Pretty much what you'd expect someone like him would say, I guess... and I do really like Carmine's follow-up line. "Must be teen angst."
I apparently missed the whole Crystal Lake area on top of Oni Mountain. Carmine tells me that those 'gazing upon the water can see the spirits of those that have passed on'. It sounds like some necromantic stuff, some spirit world stuff... is this how the Loyal Three will make their comeback? Are the captureable versions actually ghosts or something? Or will we talk to the maskmaker or Ogerpon's trainer?
More importantly, the crystals in the water look like those hexagon pillars from Area Zero, and riffs from the theme of Area Zero start playing in the background of the soundtrack. This ominousness gets interrupted by Carmine's antics, who nonchalantly tells me to jump in... because she didn't want her clothes to get wet.
We don't get a diving mechanic in this DLC, though, because a boss fight happens! It's not quite a Titan Pokemon, but the fight is treated like one with an expanded HP bar and Carmine fighting alongside me in a 2-v-1 with... a Milotic of all things. After the Milotic goes down, we claim the plot device Crystal Cluster or whatever.
And then... Briar shows up. This is basically seeding for the upcoming Area Zero themed DLC. I do like that Carmine's almost immediately hostile, being pissed that this outsider showed up uninvited to what's basically a sacred site uninvited. Unlike me, because I'm Carmine's buddy. Briar did get permission from the caretaker to look at the properties of the water there, which give out the same wavelength as terastral energy. Briar wants to stabilize terastral phenomenon in other areas outside of Paldea, and this is the first evidence that she finds that it's possible.
Carmine doesn't give a shit about all this exposition that has nothing to do with her Ogre hunt, and she walks off. Talking to Briar afterwards reveals that this is just the first part of her plan to get to Terapagos... and the jury's still out on whether her goals are malicious or not. She feels like an obviously foreshadowed villain like Chairman Rose, but I do wonder if they'll do the 'calm figure of authority is secretly a sociopath' twist twice in a row.
Anyway, I return to Mossui Town to find out that... Kieran ran off with the mask! Shock and horror! There's a brief game of pass-the-blame on who spilled the news to Kieran, but clearly none of us did. It's just that he overheard everything on his own. Kieran heads off to Loyalty Plaza with the teal mask, and I'm not sure what he's about to do there except that it probably is something not good and probably involves a boss battle.
That's going to be explored next time. The character writing for Kieran and Carmine are... okay? Not the best? But I do like the themes explored here, with the legends making certain people more or less heroic over time, the reputation that someone has in a community, and all the stuff about Kieran's self-pitying and self-confidence issues. Now I do wonder how the Loyal Three are going to appear, since I do know that they're going to be captureable.
Random Notes:
- I love the joke with the ice cream stall and selling two "different" items -- ice cream in a cup, and ice cream in a cone. The description even reads "It's the same ice cream, but somehow it tastes different in a cone instead of a cup."
- I really hope there isn't a Pokemon or an evolution form locked behind that minigame... I'm just 100% done with it. I don't know, I don't even hate it or find it frustrating, but I just have absolutely no desire to play minigames at the moment.
- At this point of writing, I've been made aware that Ogerpon is an always-female legendary, so I'll be using the appropriate pronouns.
- Did a bunch of evolutions while I was running around. Shiftry, Yanmega, Mandibuzz, Poliwrath... a bunch of them. Probably have to find where the magnetic field area in Kitakami is, though. None of these places really scream 'electric terrain' to me.
- Somehow, I entirely missed that Crystal Lake exists despite already running around the mountain a couple of times!
- Did Mienfoo always hold its two hands out like a jiangshi before? I know they appeared in 3D games and in Sword and Shield specifically, but I always thought they moved like, well, like kung-fu weasels instead of like Chinese zombies.
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