#idek i thought this quest was kinda neat

[maareyas]

finished Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeons' postgame arc so it's time to write down my thoughts on the game I guess!!

Overall opinion: Gameplay was pretty good, story made me feel.......eh.

Playing this after finishing Gates was both a good and bad thing.

okok I'll start with the positives. The improved balancing is welcome after GTI's mess, even if it is still difficult (Super seems to be the most difficult game in the series?). Even the maps have improved, and it's much less tedious to explore dungeons ✨ That being said, I felt/was underleveled throughout the whole thing. It reached the point that I used an infinite health cheat from Submerged Cave onward, because I just didn't have enough motivation to struggle through the endgame just to finish the main story.

The emera and looplet mechanic is fun though! idek if I would want them in future games, or be something unique to Super, but yeah I like the extra support it gives. The "limited number of steps to get them" was kind of like a tiny puzzle ✨ Wands, I'm feeling a bit mixed on since they feel redundant next to orbs, but they're alright.

Other misc. features:

Connection Orb! - I'll be real, I did not understand how this mechanic worked for most of the game. It feels like a roundabout way for recruiting and job requests. Conceptually, I think it's interesting, but in practice it feels clunky. Especially if you want to take on multiple jobs in the same dungeon.

Cafe Connection - I can't help but feel like it makes finishing jobs less personal, but I do get that it's to streamline getting the rewards.

The callbacks!!! - One of my favorite minor details about the game is the returning NPCs all the way from even Rescue Team!! Team ACT, the Persian from Felicity Bank, Makuhita Dojo, Whiscash, The Wigglytuff guild members, Future Trio (though I haven't done their quest yet), Team Charm, Armaldo, Swanna, Munna and co.,-- I could go on and on XD It's very sweet esp as a long time fan of this series. Makes me wonder how the protags of the previous games are doing too.

Now onto what is my main gripe. The story.

This is the part where playing GTI beforehand was actually detrimental to my opinion of Super lmao. To be honest, Super's story feels like the weakest of the series. It's not terrible, but like. it didn't have the same impact. Hell, I wasn't even in a rush to finish the post-game arc about getting your partner back.

I wouldn't be so ":/" about the plot if the ultimate boss, Dark Matter, wasn't the manifestation of all the negative feelings of all pokemon,

when we already went through fighting the Bittercold, which is very similar in concept.

It just,,,, after that it just felt like Super was trying to reuse the story ideas from GTI. And I can't even blame them, because I don't think that many people played through Gates bc of it's issues. But whenever someone says Super's plot is better than Gates I go "hngggggg >:I". The build up to the Bittercold was handled SO much better than Super with Dark Matter. I can write a whole post just about this topic in particular.

I will say though. Nuzleaf's betrayal was nice and gave me a reason to say "Dad sent us to hell :^(" while explaining which part of the plot I was at to my friend lmaooooo

The ending is........hm. Theoretically, the last plot twist should've destroyed me. But it didn't. I was a bit sad yeah, but my interest in the plot kinda dwindled at that point. The weight of it didn't really settle in until after you meet Mew in the post-game. The characterization for the Player poke is very nice 👌

Partner's revival was very kingdom hearts-esque also--not a judgement of quality, I just thought it was neat.

In summary: I am salty about this game's story. It's fun to play though.

#rey rambles #im using words #pmd #me: I love all the PMD Partners equally #also me: I don't care for Super's partner #going to make a separate post about my feelings on Bittercold vs Dark Matter after I go eat #because I NEED to externalize them otherwise I'll explode