So yeah, last we left off, Kieran stole the mask! And I think the game does a pretty decent job at showing us the slippery slope that led to Kieran's frustration and extreme measures, while also showing us in no ambiguous manner that what he's doing is a big wrong and a big no-no. We meet Kieran in the Loyalty Plaza, where he snaps and talks about how we've been keeping the secret of the Ogre being a good guy... which, fair enough.
And then he goes on a rant that's pretty nicely built up from his monologues, with Carmine and I treating him like an outcast, and we're no different than the villagers that misunderstood Ogerpon in the past. And the betrayal hurt him a bit more because he really loves the ogre, and that we were all laughing behind his back all along. As he screams at us for being liars, he then challenges me into a battle. And... yeah, it's at this point that he becomes a bit of an entitled little shit, isn't he?
Again, I do like the presentation of Kieran here. He really does feel extremely unreasonable, but because we're privy to certain scenes that only a third-person observer would be able to know, we also get to see just how much the betrayal hurt Kieran. He knew that we're hiding information from him, and the betrayal that hurt him more isn't just the secret-keeping, but the constancy of it. Mix it with his own Ogre-obsession, the projection of his own issues and his constant insistence that we're laughing at him or thinking he's weak (which were all present even before the cast met Ogerpon!) and Kieran does shape up to be a simultaneously tragic and very annoying little tit.
The battle against Kieran is not that hard, though I did a fair bit of issues fighting him because I brought three weak 'to-evolve' Pokemon. He still has his Yanmega, Dipplin and Poliwrath, but he adds a Gligar and, of all things, a Cramorant into his party. Okay? I can't really make heads and tails of Kieran's party composition, but it does keep me guessing.
And after the defeat, Kieran coughs up the mask and mumbles about telling us to 'say hi to the Ogre for [him]', before fucking off and running home. Again, I really do want to sympathize with him, but after an apology and a proverbial slap to the face, what more do you really want, Kieran? At least see this whole sequence to the end. Carmine apologizes on Kieran's behalf, and it's rather weird to see the abrasive Carmine as the much more level-headed sibling now.
Carmine is also clearly not well-equipped to deal with this, as with any teenaged elder sibling. She's confused because she 'never had teenage angst that bad', but she's also always been cocksure and confident in herself from what we've seen, and while it's not stated outright, I can really see that despite Carmine clearly being well-intentioned and caring for her brother, her more aggressive ways of dealing with Kieran probably contributed a fair bit into Kieran's own self-loathing and self-pitying spiral of nonsense.
But all of this is moot, because there's a big sound from the monument. Some rumbling, and then a big, fuck-off giant purple pillar of light explosion that reminds me of... Gigantamax, I think? Honestly it probably is meant to tie in to the Terastral phenomenon, but I honestly pay so little attention to the animation of terastralization other than the funky sound effects that I can't really tell you.
And turns out that the Loyal Three have somehow been revived, exploding out of their shrine and looking absolutely perfectly fine, in flesh-and-blood. Momotaro's dog, monkey and pheasant are here. I'm not sure what's going on. I guess there's something about the fresh crystal gem from the Crystal Lake that apparently 'has the capability to communicate with the dead'? But neither Carmine nor my character offer an concrete explanations.
It really could just be the epic battling between me and Kieran that awakened them from their slumber, or maybe they aren't really dead and are just sealed away or something. I dunno. Despite how the in-game story wants us to think, it's already patently obvious that the Loyal Three are going to come back because they are playable and captureable Pokemon... but this honestly came so out of left field that I'm not sure what to make of it, even a day after witnessing this plot development.
Very cool cutscene, though. I approve.
The Loyal Three do some whispering among themselves and run off. Throughout it all they pose a lot and say their catchphrases a lot, and Carmine is... just so 100% confused. Every other word out of her mouth is some variation of 'what is going on'. Carmine figures out eventually that the Loyal Three were laid to rest under that statue. We figure out that much, but there's still no real explanation as to why they got randomly resurrected.
We meet the villagers that are gathering with the purple-kimono caretaker. Carmine instinctively talks shit about the Loyal Three, and the caretaker admonishes Carmine for being so disrespectful. It's something that Grandpa did warn us about, and admittedly none of these villagers had any reason to suspect that the story and the legend they've been told all their lives is false. Carmine at least has the sense of mind to brush aside silly titles to ask them what's going on.
The Loyal Three apparently came to Kitakami Hall, and the villagers return 'their' masks post-haste. In addition, they also give the Loyal Three some special Kitakami mochi, which are packed full of special herbs... which normally would be a detail you brush through, but we just spent a whole one-third of the base game dealing with souped-up giant Pokemon that doped themselves up on Herba Mystica. Well, not only did the Loyal Three get those masks, they also get empowered by herbs!
Carmine is shocked, and the game does get a lot of mileage of Carmine's fists shaking in impotent rage, huh? Despite all odds, Carmine calms down, realizing that the villagers know nothing and that she can't really tell them anything about the legend. And... honestly, at this point other than 'they won't believe us', is there any real reason not to? It's not like keeping the secret is going to do anyone any good.
The caretaker further tells us that the Loyal Three has ascended Oni Mountain to finish off the Ogre in the Dreaded Den. The bastards! Carmine is shocked because Ogerpon has no masks, and she doesn't stand a chance three-against-one. Carmine then decides to... split up. What? Why! Carmine decides that it's a priority to run back to the village and get the mask repaired, while I go up and challenge three legendary herb-empowered monsters. I mean, I know I've got a box filled with Ultra Beasts and legendaries, but still, dick more, Carmine.
Anyway, I ascend the mountain to see the dickwad 'Loyal Three' beating up poor little Ogerpon, who's just lying on the ground crying. The poor little friend! There's some really cool angles of Okidogi and his monstrous man-dog body looming over poor little Ogerpon. As I arrive, we get some poke-speech from the Loyal Three. Man, it's so interesting to see them talk to each other seemingly to argue about who fights me first... again, it's so fun that Scarlet/Violet is really allowing the Pokemon to be antagonists!
Out of the three, Munkidori is the one that faces me off. He's not a 'Titan' Pokemon yet, but he's still got legendary stats. Mmmkay, mmmkay, he keeps repeating. And... I have absolutely no idea what typing this guy is. I've always kinda guessed that they're Ghost-type because they're resurrected, but their design doesn't really scream 'undead revenant'. Regardless, though, I toss out my Iron Valiant out to face off against him.
And... judging from his attacks, he's got Psychic and Sludge Wave? Huh. So Psychic/Poison, if both types are representative of Munkidori's typing? I think they are. Munkidori has an ability called "Toxic Chains" or something, which poisons Iron Valiant, and while I'm not sure what it does specifically, I can hazard a guess that since the same chains are shared across the three legendaries, so is the ability. Making their shared type not Ghost, but... Poison?
And I was fully expecting there to be a boss rush afterwards with Fezandipiti and Okidogi... but then Carmine and Kieran show up, ready to battle! Are we going to get the long-awaited, unexpected return of Triple Battles? UNOVA CONFIRMED???!?!?! No, no. No such thing. It's just disappointment, really, as the Loyal Three just... literally run off. Not even a showcase of their later Herb-empowered size, or using the power of the masks or anything. They just... run off. Yep.
Anyway, Kieran apologizes for getting mad about the mask. Carmine apparently dragged Kieran along to deal with this problem. Ogerpon doesn't seem to understand what's going on, but she's happy and she's adorable and she's just been saved by humans. Kieran is a bit excited (though not as excited as I thought he would be) at meeting the legendary Ogre at last. He tries to hand the mask to Ogerpon, but Ogerpon is confused and/or scared, just like a wild animal. Ogerpon doesn't like new people, so Kieran hands the mask over to me, and I hand it over to Ogerpon.
And Ogerpon wears the mask! The Teal Mask is an adorable mask. With one mask restored, Carmine decides that we need to steal back the other three masks from the Loyal Three and give them back to Ogerpon. Carmine also points out that the Loyal Three might be planning a second ambush to beat down Ogerpon, so like gangsters, we're going to strike first.
We return to town, and Ogerpon is very afraid of entering town for obvious reasons. Oh, and Ogerpon follows around behind us adorably, bouncing around and having the time of her life. She also has the power of instant-teleportation even if I jump off the mountain... though she is a legendary Pokemon, so I really shouldn't be surprised.
There's a nice sequence where the three humans enter the town to talk to random NPC's. I actually do like this sequence, it really does highlight just how jubilant every single person in Kitakami is about the Loyal Three's return, which fits with the whole theme about reputation and whatnot. We find out that Okidogi was sighted in the barrens, Munkidori in a pond in the southwest part of the map I haven't explored yet, and Fezandipiti's roosted on the mountains. Neat.
There's a brief, fun comedic moment where the humans gather. Kieran and I have some information we gathered, and Carmine... uh... she helps and she gives orders. That's kind of cute, and Kieran even calls Carmine out on doing nothing to help them gather information. Carmine brushes it off, but the location of the Loyal Three (or 'Lousy Three', as Carmine calls them) are placed into my phone.
And... Kieran... isn't going? Despite us having this whole plan, despite everything stemming from a misunderstanding, despite supposedly being the biggest fanboy of the Ogre, Kieran just decides to be an emo tit and run off. And while I can sympathize with his frustrations earlier right after he finds out about the alleged betrayal, now I just feel like he's being a jackass for no real reason. Even Ogerpon is confused, looking at this one human friend running off. Oh well.
Carmine, Ogerpon and I go off to beat up the Loyal Three, and... I haven't done all of it, but I do know I want to beat the shit out of that monkey. So I head off to the Wistful Fields, where Munkidori is just hanging out next to the lake. Now knowing that he's Poison/Psychic, I ended up preparing a bit better for the fight.
And as expected, Munkidori has grown into a disgustingly large size, and is treated as a Titan Pokemon I fight with Carmine and her Morpeko. He's really not that much more difficult, though. I was kind of tired so I just pulled out Skeledirge from my main party, and a couple of Shadow Balls put the monkey in the ground. One down, two more to go.
And... I could've gone after the other two, but I just ended up running around Kitakami, evolving and catching more Pokemon. I explore the ominously-named 'Timeless Forest' on the northeast of the map to capture a Phantump. There are Ducklett and, interestingly enough, Hisuian Basculin in the waters. And I managed to evolve Vikavolt, Probopass, Chimecho, Magcargo and Mienshao. But Hisuian Basculin is rather interesting! I don't find it strange that Hisuian Pokemon are in this game, but while a lot of the Hisuian forms seem to have evolutions that can be coincidentally 'lost to time', I do wonder what will be the explanation for the 'rift that connects to the spirit realm' that Basculin and Quilava needed to transform to their Hisuian final forms?
Anyway, next up we'll beat up the dog and the bird, and befriend the ogre! I think we're fast reaching the end-point of the DLC's main story, which I felt is just about the right length for one of these Pokemon DLC's, especially considering that there are also a couple of extra side-quests.
Random Notes:
- The little statue of Munkidori has an adorable little beanie on top of his head to represent the chain! That's cute.
- It is kind of funny that Okidogi and Munkidori come in with their arms folded like badasses, and Fezandipiti... just can't.
- I'm not a big fan of the 'Grrrrriffic' and 'Mmmmmkay' sounds that Okidogi and Munkidori makes. I get that every single in-game Pokemon voice tends to be a pun on something, but Fezandipiti's "yip-ip-ippy" at least feasibly sounds like a voice that an animal would make. Munkidori's mmmkay looks like 'm'kay', like how someone would mumble 'okay', and it's a bit ehhhh for me.
- I didn't realize until now that Oni Mountain is actually shaped like a giant monster skull! That was pretty cool.
- Carmine calls our team the 'Mask Retrieval Squad', which is hilariously dorky.
- When we enter the town to talk to people, Ogerpon just adorably waits patiently behind a tree just in the border of town! God, her face is adorable.
- Oh, right, so they're porting over the evolution method for Nosepass and Charjabug to using Thunder Stone, which is a change they made in Legends: Arceus. I am not a fan of this. The weird evolutionary methods might be a bit annoying sometimes, but I've always felt like evolving due to standing in a specifically charged terrain to be one of the cooler methods that just makes a lot of sense.
- God damn Vikavolt is cool.
- At some point, I find an 'Unremarkable Teacup' to evolve my Poltchageist into Sinsitcha. He's... he's an all right Grass/Ghost Pokemon. His signature move, Matcha Gotcha, is a rather impressive combination of Giga Drain and Scald.
- I tend to not care all that much about the visual lagging and whatnot in this game, but by god the Munkidori model just kind of spazzed out when I was approaching him on the lake.
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