Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 35: Mega Dimension, Mega Donuts [DLC]

So, it's time for the DLC! 'Mega Dimensions' is the DLC for Pokemon Legends ZA, and it takes place right after the main story has ended. I return back to the Hotel MZ, where the quest marker sends me to the rooftop. A little girl with a brain that impossibly circles around like a donut is sitting on top of the roof, and I have the option to ask the little child why she's sitting on the roof. 

This child is Ansha, who declines to explain where she comes from under the justification of 'an air of mystery', but then the mythical/legendary Pokemon Hoopa appears floating next to her. So yeah, just like some other mythical Pokemon in previous remakes (most notably Deoxys in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, Keldeo in Sword/Shield and every Sinnoh mythical in Legends Arceus) we're getting another mythical Pokemon being spotlighted in a main game. That's nice! 

Ansha has arrived on my rooftop with a particular request... and her request is the rather ridiculous 'help me make a delicious donut that will fill Hoopa with power'. It's a neat nod to the Hoopa anime movie, where Hoopa has a bit of a sweet tooth for donuts in that movie due to donuts also being shaped like rings. 

We get a bit of a scene with Taunie, Lida and Naveen gathering together and lampshading what a weird request this is, and how strange that she needed to come all the way to a hotel with strong battlers to request for a donut mission, and Lida briefly questions why she doesn't just ask her parents. But Taunie, in her mentality of always helping people, will always honour any request.

Ansha apparently lives in a different hotel before, noting that Hotel Z is a bit different from the hotel she's used to living in, and it feels a bit calmer. Taunie offers the kitchen and the front desk for her to use. However, as we set up the ingredients for Ansha to bake her donuts, we realize that we're out of butter! Crucial, crucial butter! 

Taunie leads me to a shop that sells Lumiosian Butter, and... there's only one pack of butter left. Really? The only pack of butter in all of Paris -- okay? I guess I shouldn't complain, we've had cups of tea shared between four guards of Saffron City as a plot device before. Taunie shares that this baker is someone she had helped out in a jam before, and now they're nice to her.

However, our butter quest is interrupted by an unlikely pair... Grisham... and Tarragon! So after the events of the climax, the multiple pairings throughout the game's story have seemingly been mixing together and making friends. Tarragon explains why this unlikely duo is working together. He wants to make a brand-new merchandise called Canari Bread for Canari and her fans, and Grisham has agreed to teach him bread-making and take him as an apprentice. Despite Tarragon's joy, Grisham deadpans that he "never agreed to an apprenticeship, but [he] mustn't extinguish the passion of a budding baker." That line got me giggling a bit. 

And so, we're fighting for butter. Because that's how this DLC storyline goes. With absolutely no seriousness. I appreciate it. 

We get a proper 'double battle' between two sets of trainers, and in the DLC, the opponents' Pokemon have a ring under them. I guess people were complaining that the multi-battles in the climax were a bit too confusing with four to six Pokemon, only half of which are your allies, running around and doing animations? Grisham and Tarragon have basically the same Pokemon they use, and they mega evolve both their Excadrill and Charizard at the earliest opportunity. 

After taking them down, Tarragon bemoans "so long, Canari bread..." and Grisham notes that their teamwork is lacking because they don't fully understand each other... particularly highlighting the fact that Tarragon doesn't drink coffee. I... sure, Grisham. If you say so. I didn't expect you going from a cold emo guy into the funniest deadpan straight-man, but here we are. 

Anyway, we get the butter, but of course Taunie shares just a bit of the butter to Tarragon so he and Grisham can make the Canari bread. Because, yes, apparently this is the only block of butter in all of Lumiose City, and Tarragon is going to need this super-duper avant-garde butter for his amateur attempts at breadmaking, and this butter is going to last Ansha for all of her butter requirements. Okay. Maybe the specialness of Lumiosian Butter is how long it can apparently last, because I go through butter faster than that. Tarragon is ecstatic, while Grisham initially grumbles that he hasn't agreed to take an apprentice... but if he's going to teach, he's going to expect only the finest of breads. Okay!

As I return to the hotel, Ansha has changed into the most adorable little chef-baker's outfit, and Naveen has made a couple of custom shop stands for her. One with an adorable donut logo shop-stand, and another being a menu. They've also strung up some of those party chains around AZ's old desk. It's actually a bit adorable, and the game devoting several unique models to these props really does mean that Ansha's little donut store is going to be a permanent addition to the hotel. Naveen makes a bit of a gag about this, noting that it's a bit much if Ansha's just going to bake a single donut once... but then gets shot down by Lida, who lampshades that Naveen was the one who made the artful decoration for the child. Aww, Naveen! 

Anyway, Ansha has claimed the counter, I give her the butter, and Ansha asks me to choose a donut for her to make, since her donuts are made-to-order. Again, I just kind of play along. She asks me to pick three berries, and she'll make the donuts from that choice. It's a nice little way to utilize all the berries I have been gathering throughout the game (which hasn't really been useful other than the occasional Sitrus Berry usage). Every game since Generation III always has a little minigame involving berries, either for contests or to create food for Pokemon-Amie friendship or whatever, and it appears donuts are going to be the little berry gimmick for this game. 

I toss in some of the more common status berries (and Lida gives me a bunch of Pecha and Oran Berries in case I somehow don't have any) and we get a brief little cutscene of Hoopa and Ansha doing some Cooking Mama animations to make a donut. There is a 'level boost', a flavour profile and some points, and Ansha says that Hoopa now has a donut to eat. Ansha then heads off, and we follow her strange request that Hoopa's going to eat the donut somewhere else. That donut's going to give Hoopa a huge surge of power, apparently, and we're going to consume that donut near the Saison Canal, near the Justice Dojo. 

Lida continues to note that at no point throughout all of this process has Ansha explained anything. And Ansha continues to insist that she just wants to feed Hoopa the donut. Finally, in the canal, Ansha reveals her goal... 'to catch a fine legendary Pokemon for her dear mama'. Okay? A good child? But that Hoopa is legendary? Naveen's answer is a hilarious "I have some concerns." and this leads to Ansha deciding to demonstrate. She points out the brick wall... and then suddenly a weird warpy distortion (it's 'squirmy', according to Lida) appears on the wall. 

Hoopa then eats her donut, and then pulls out the rings on her ears and tosses one towards the squirmy distortion, which expands into the same Hoopa portal-hole we see in Hoopa's appearances in the anime, manga and the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire games. Ansha explains that the donuts give Hoopa a great surge in power, and this allows us to travel through the 'Distortion'. Team MZ is just shocked... and even more shocked when Ansha and Hoopa just jump into the strange warpy unexplained portal. 

Taunie and Lida start yelling at the terrifying and dangerous sight of a little child jumping into a portal. Naveen yells: "I have MANY concerns!"

And so, to rescue the child, Team MZ jumps into the portal... and we get a nice cutscene of me falling through the portal, and we get a Digimon Adventure style showcase of the 'regular' Lumiose City appearing in the sky above as I fall down the dark abyss. It's quite neat-looking, actually. 

And I end up in... a strange, bleached, off-colour version of Lumiose City in the void of darkness. The world around the strange fake Lumiose is just the darkness of the abyss, while the regular Lumiose City hangs upside-down in the sky surrounded by Hoopa's portal. Oh, and parts of this strange false city just cuts off and trails into the darkness, like a video game environment that wasn't fully rendered. Team MZ is horrified, confused, but quickly decide to pair up. Despite the game seemingly giving me a choice on who to pair up with, the game pairs me up with Lida and Taunie goes off with Naveen. The two teams go in different directions, and apparently Rotom-Phone signal still work because we could still keep in contact with each other. 

As I wander around the strange, empty reflection of Lumiose City with a distorted music... Lida yells at the appearance of a strange Pokemon... MANKEY! ...okay, that's not very weird, we've seen Mankey since 1996. Except Mankey isn't supposed to appear in Lumiose City! The National Pokedex is still banned! Lida is concerned that despite the place's resemblance to Lumiose City, the Pokemon population is different enough. 

Mankey being Mankey, it looks at us and immediately screeches in hostility, summoning four more friends from on top of the building. They jump down (crotch-first, as the camera shows) and it appears to be a simple horde battle... until the game pans away from the cutscene and shows that these Mankey are LEVEL 115.

Excuse me??? I wasn't spoiled on this, and in fact I'm spoiled on nothing for the DLC other than the existence of an alternate dimension, so I was not prepared at all at the game so casually and randomly debuting Pokemon above the level of 100. My party is around the level of mid-70's, with a mixture of legendaries and my main party, and it's quite bizarre to see these Mankey use Leer and Low Kick while outleveling my Diancie. And actually managing to gang up enough to knock my poor rock princess out. They're still just Mankey so it's not a threat, but the fact that they're beyond level 100 is a bit of a surprise.

Team MZ reconvenes, being even more worried about Ansha's safety. We chase down Ansha, but she's just extremely calm. I suppose she does have a mythical Pokemon of her own. Ansha notes in disappointment that the 'fine legendary Pokemon' she's looking isn't here. Creepy child Ansha isn't worried about the strange dimension we're in, nor the potential danger, but acknowledges that there's no point for her to be sticking around if her 'fine legendary Pokemon' isn't there. We get a cutscene of us ascending through the while Hoopa hole, and we return to regular Lumiose City.

Team MZ discusses what to do next, planning to tell Vinnie... but then Ansha gasps... and we see an expanding large distortion above the remnants of Prism Tower. And as it does so, (rather goofily) the title of the DLC appears from inside the portal. 

And... and I think this is where we'll leave off for now. It's a bit of a strange beginning to the DLC, and the pacing is really a bit slow and weird with the whole butter quest. But here we are with the Mega Dimensions DLC, and while I do know that it's nowhere as good as the main game, I am still excited to play through it! 

Random Notes:

• Peeling back the curtain a bit, I got the DLC when it released, but obviously wasn't able to play it until I finished the main story. I did part of the opening quests for the DLC shortly after beating the game, but then got distracted by Xerneas/Yveltal/Lysandre shenanigans after doing the initial part of teh DLC. Part of this article (and some of the side-quests) were originally written alongside the Yveltal sidequest until I realized I really should separate the DLC and the base game. And... there is actually a bit of a real-time break I took in-between doing the original post-game versus finally going to the full story of the DLC. And here we are!
  
• I would like to take the opportunity to say that... I still don't like the idea of Pokemon games having DLCs, but it feels almost honest compared to the nonsense they're pulling with the Mega Stones tied behind some bullshit time-gated multiplayer. It's not even 'tied behind multiplayer' the way Palafin or Spiritomb used to be, but the time-gating of the stones is just moronic and utterly nonsensical. I loathe that with every fiber of my being, and I really didn't bother to chase that bit of completionism even if it's permanently missable or whatever. Paying for the DLC is one thing, being forced to encourage both paying for the 'right' to play online and to chase the mega stones for some of the more popular Pokemon... yeah, no.
• Naveen: "Donuts have to be fried in oil that's at least 350 degrees Fahrenheit. She'll need supervision." and also, "Donuts are dangerous business. The oil gets scalding hot." Didn't expect Naveen to join in the silliness and leave Lida as the straight-man comedian, but here we go. 
• 'Pii hya hya' isn't exactly how I would think Hoopa would sound like, but okay. 
• The Lumiosian Butter has the rather fun description of "if you know, you know." What do I know, man? What do I know???

Movie Review - Joker: Folie a Deux

Joker: Folie a Deux (2024)

In the midst of the change in public attitude towards superhero movies -- and the extremely valid point of a 'superhero movie fatigue', various TV shows and movies that attempt to swap the formulaic action movies of the media juggernauts that are DC and Marvel have shown up a lot. And a lot of them were received well for bending the genre in new and surprising ways. We've got actual deconstructions like Invincible or The Boys, we've got attempts at genre fiction like Werewolf By Night or Runaways... and most famously, Joker. The original Joker, while deviating significantly from its source material, was still at heart a Batman/Joker story. It was focused more on the character's transformation and the mindscape of a mentally-unwell man oppressed by the system and society around it, a character-performance-driven show that still, at its core, worked as a superhero movie. 

Joker: Folie a Deux is not. It's an insane mess of a movie, where it can't really decide what it wants to be. It's most famously derided for being a musical, yes. But as a fan of the musical genre, I'd argue that it doesn't even work as a musical, since the songs in a musical would actually progress the plot and show something. In Folie a Deux, none of the musical numbers really add much that they don't immediately repeat in spoken form, or even matter to the progression of the story. 

A good chunk of the movie is divided into Joker being stuck in Arkham Asylum in the first half, and a courtroom drama trying to string Joker up for the events of Joker, but neither of them work particularly well. The courtroom drama was overtly long and was too referential to events from the first movie that the movie makes no real effort to remind us about. While the prison part is just... depressing, and went on for too long without anything to really move any plot or characterization forwards. There is some surface-level attempt to try to follow up on the fact that the Joker is now an idea, a figurehead for a movement, but it's really not followed up particularly well and feels more like an eye-rolling 'meta-commentary' on how well-received the first movie is, and how the fans want the next Joker movie to be like this or like that... which would be fine if there was any more substance to Folie a Deux, but there isn't. Not really. 

The side-cast, by the way, is extremely bland. Joker/Arthur's lawyer Maryanne Stewart is flat and I don't really know why she's even motivated to defend the Joker other than the script demands for a character to show up. Harvey Dent (hey, Two-Face!) barely exists, and so are the rest of the cast in the courtroom. The prison guards are nasty and assholish. And the second name on the poster, Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn... is Harley Quinn in name only. And, right, because this is one of those movies, she's called "Lee" almost exclusively. She's a rich girl who buys into the 'Joker movement', and gets Arthur to fall in love with her and the idea of becoming the Joker as the public envisions it. Which as I type it out, by the way, sounds like an amazing story hook! The execution... isn't. Lee's character is flat and confusing, and literally reduced to a cipher to just kick Arthur down even more. 

With the drabness of this movie, we also get a heavily-implied prison gang-rape done on Arthur which 'broke' him so much that he essentially breaks character in the courtroom, which loses him the support of Lee and his other 'groupies'. It really is eye-rollingly shoehorned in, and there's only really the shock value of 'wow, that was the source of the big emotional change'? to carry it forwards. The movie essentially ends with a very confusing message that "being the Joker sucks", and leads to Arthur being shanked by one of his disappointed groupies in prison.

Again, there is perhaps something cool and interesting that might've been done if the movie wasn't trying too hard to be pulled in all directions and ending up with a whole load of nothing over an almost three-hour runtime. I tend to try and see some merit in even the worst superhero movies, but all this movie does is to ruin the legacy of the otherwise excellent first one.