Again, I really would have appreciated one or two of them showing up as a random encounter in town or something, which would've been absolutely doable with the modern technology. Or even in a cutscene when we were being fugitives. But okay.
We've got a Golbat, Mr. Mime, Rhydon, Meganium, Raichu, Aipom, Scyther, Pinsir, Octillery, Blastoise, Golem and an adorable little Phanpy. They've all been gathered by Shiftry, who calls in the meeting because Team Alakazam hasn't been back yet. Everyone goes into a bit of a panicked discussion, and Shiftry notes that he's going to organize a rescue team and is asking for volunteers.
There is, of course, the question why everyone just doesn't march as an army and go deep into the underground to stop Groudon, but that's a question for the J-RPG format in general.
A day later, however, this hodgepodge team returns back to Pokemon Square, apparently being defeated before they could even see Groudon. Blastoise, Octillery and Golem are traumatized. No idea who pulled their fat out of the fire, though. I guess the just crawled back, injured? Gengar shows up with his 'kekekekekeh' and starts yelling demoralizing stuff, noting that everyone should accept what is impossible.
Gengar does a talk about how sometimes it's much better to know when to give up. Which, by the way, is not a bad advice sometimes... but not in a situation like this! Bulbasaur and Mudkip yell that they're going to do the rescuing, which surprises everyone around them. Some of the rescue team members recognize us as the ones that succeeded in the recent fugitive saga and reached the peak where Ninetales lives.
Bulbasaur gives a speech about how rescue teams are created with the idea of rescuing other Pokemon, and this is exactly a situation like that... just on a bigger scale. Everyone starts holding on to their 'pride' -- their pride as rescuers, and even Blastoise's team gets back up with a 'we've only failed once!' The tone of the conversation begins to change. Gengar and his ugegegeh is extremely angry about this, not accepting that these people would go marching to their certain defeat... but of course, he gets shot down with the crowd now being convinced of the pride of the rescue team. It's pretty neat.
All the rescue teams are apparently planning to head into the magma cavern... which is neat, but none of them are joining my team. Come on, at least lend me the Blastoise! But oh well. It's final dungeon time, and I am heading in with Mudkip, Bulbasaur and Absol -- I don't think I have a particularly good third option for those that would survive in a Ground or Fire-type dungeon.
All the shopkeepers have something to say about Bulbasaur's speech at the center of the square, being inspired and resolving to continue supporting us. How about some discounts, though, Kecleon bros? No? Bully for you.
Magma Cavern is a massive, sprawling 26-floor dungeon, which is a significant increase from the previous couple of dungeons. Mt. Freeze was a mere 20-floor dungeon, and all other dungeons before were shorter length. So yeah, I did a couple of quick runs through lower-level dungeons to stock up on Oran Berries, Max Ethers, Max Revival Seeds and Apples -- both for storage and in the inventory, and then off we go!
Oh, right before this happens, I get another Gardevoir dream, who tells me that soon, the reason why I was transported into this world will be made clear. She'll tell me all about it once I finish this dungeon or something. Okay, then, keep your mystical secrets.
Magma Cavern is filled with a lot of Ground-types and Fire-types, but, again, there's also a mixture of other Pokemon that would logically be in a cave. We've got expected ones like Magcargo, Rhydon, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Sandslash, Golem, Magmar, Onix and Steelix... but also ones that make their home in caves like Crobat, Grimer, Koffing, Mawile and Arbok. I do like that the population changes from floor to floor, with Sandshrews and Raticates only existing in the top floors, and the bottom floors has the visually impressive Onix and Steelix crawling around.
I also had the misfortunate of running into one of those ambushes, with a horde of Sandslashes, Grimers and Golems ambushing me. Magnitude, by the way, is insane in this game, hitting the whole room -- which does ruin a lot of my party members' HP, but also the enemies. Those poor, poor Grimers!
Magma Cavern also has a lot of traps, including my bane -- hunger traps. Even accounting for the length of the dungeon, I was struggling a lot with hunger and ended up leaving any fainted Pokemon on the way just to conserve my apples. For the first time, I also start using the Geo Pebbles or whatever the thrown items are called just to conserve PP. I have way more Max Ethers than Apples, but it's neat that the game is making me engage with this mechanic.
And Alakazam is just standing there, telling us that Groudon is super-strong... at which point rocks that I assume is Stone Edge or Precipice Edge starts rippling through the ground, and one slams and consumes Alakazam. We don't actually see where he goes, whether he's trapped in the rock or just tossed onto the ceiling of the cavern... but with the NPCs out of the way, Groudon bursts out of the ground with glowing eyes, and lets out a massive roar.
There is also a constant transformation of the battlefield, with magma pools that slowly encroach upon different tiles, forcing me to waste moves actually moving around. Groudon's Precipice Blades and Hammer Arm attacks can hit multiple Pokemon at once, and at one point it starts to spam Roar to knock some of my party members away. This is a bit of a problem for my mercenaries, whose attacks are pretty close-range, but it's good for my Mudkip and especially Bulbasaur, who I want to attack from afar.
As Groudon collapses onto the ground, three lightning prisons of Alakazam, Tyranitar and Charizard appear... which feels a bit weird. It made sense before when it's Zapdos kidnapping Shiftry, but I felt like effects-wise this would've worked better with Team Alakazam running in from the other chamber or something. Alakazam explains that Groudon is only rampaging because he was rudely awoken, and things should be fine now that he's, er, had a concussion or something? But also apparently Groudon's awakening isn't the main cause of the cataclysms.
We return to the city where all the assembled villagers and rescue team members are super-happy about our return. But then a telepathic voice starts speaking to everyone, and it's... it's Xatu! Xatu says that the true cataclysm is about to come, and it's... it's a giant meteor! Does this one contain a mysterious alien lifeform? I don't know, but it sure is impressively rendered compared to the more cartoony theme of the game's art style. Xatu says that the meteor's arrival is what's been causing all of the changes in nature all throughout the world, and that the only chance is to awaken the enigmatic legendary Pokemon called Rayquaza.
We return to the city where all the assembled villagers and rescue team members are super-happy about our return. But then a telepathic voice starts speaking to everyone, and it's... it's Xatu! Xatu says that the true cataclysm is about to come, and it's... it's a giant meteor! Does this one contain a mysterious alien lifeform? I don't know, but it sure is impressively rendered compared to the more cartoony theme of the game's art style. Xatu says that the meteor's arrival is what's been causing all of the changes in nature all throughout the world, and that the only chance is to awaken the enigmatic legendary Pokemon called Rayquaza.
Which... which sounds wildly and hilariously irresponsible, but also we've got characters in this town square with the ability to fly. Charizard and Golbat are there! Couldn't they scout the clouds first to see if there's at least a place for us to land?
But yeah. It seems like there's at least one more level to go through before the story is over, which is absolutely a surprise to me! My main knowledge about the Mystery Dungeon story is taken from the manga adaptation, Ginji's Rescue Team... which positions Groudon as the final battle! So I am genuinely surprised that there was an additional level after this, and that this is part of the main story as opposed to the post-game! Well, next time we're going to the sky, then!
Random Notes:
- I do like that I manage to recruit a Golem for my party, it makes me feel like the NPC Golem from Blastoise's team actually joins up to redeem himself for his past failures or something.
- At some point, I've unlocked the Mime Jr. statue as well.
- There has been a bit of a background gag of Dugtrio trying to impress his/their son Diglett, culminating with Dugtrio seemingly disappearing underground, much to the puzzlement of Diglett. I assume this will have a payoff after the sky dungeon.
- One of the unrecruitable stronger Pokemon I see as a 'boss' in the dungeons is a Lickilicky, a fourth-generation Pokemon. So I'm going to assume that some evolutions and pre-evolutions of Gen I-III Pokemon might show up here.
- I do love that among the rescue team leaders are a mixture of fully-evolved, fearsome-looking Pokemon and some more mundane-looking ones like Aipom and Phanpy!
- It really would be cool if Shiftry actually came with us as a party member, huh? He's shown up often enough -- certainly more often than Absol -- and it would make a bit of a thematic sense for him to finally shake off his cowardice.
- I do like that as Blastoise, Octillery and Golem are called up, the surrounding crowd yells out a line or two that sounds like they're from a Pokedex entry. "The jets of water it spouts from the rocket cannons on its shell can punch through thick steel"!
- Within the 23rd floor or so of Magma Cavern is a random mansion, which is a 'Mystery House' that requires an invitation to go in. I've seen these invitations in Kecleon stores, and I am actually completely not sure what would be in here. Being that going through Magma Cavern is a bit of an ordeal, I wouldn't probably go in even if I brought an invitation with me, though.
- Poor Kyogre! We're just skipping him over in the Hoenn weather trio.
- The major rescue team members (Team Alakazam and Team Blastoise) are hanging out with the rest of the town square citizens now. The dialogue is a bit altered with them all experssing hope that we can save the day, but I don't think there's anything particularly notable.
