The school section is awesome. I wish more Pokémon games were willing to do things like that and weren't in a rush to get to the "good" stuff.

That's actually one of my major criticisms with newer Pokemon games and latter Mystery Dungeon games, the beginning areas feel far too hand-holding. Sometimes it's better to drop oneself into the world unadvised. But I do find this take very unique and it was a great argument in the video essay.

@@Axecon1 I occasionally do video addendums to my essays, basically shorter videos where I talk about a topic tangentially related to the essay at hand, and the one next week is exactly about why I love these kinds of long, hand-holdy intros. Maybe I'll convince you :)

@@AurumAlex64 I'm sorry, I'm really enjoying the video, but this is the worst take possible. These intros can exist, and they have merit in existing, but being unskippable and mandatory are objectively awful design decisions and are things that every mod/rom hack and quality of life update makes away with on their first opportunity, and they do so for a reason.

@@AzureTheSky Oh, to be clear, when I talk about hand-holdy intros, I'm not talking about unskippable cutscenes or forced tutorials. I'm moreso talking about games which hold back central mechanics or have an extremely heavy story-focused intro. One of the examples I don't directly bring up but show in the video is Dragon Quest VII, where it takes about 3 hours to get to any real combat (and it takes 20 hours to unlock the main mechanic of jobs). The focus of those first 3 hours isn't overlong tutorials, it's setting up the world and story, at the almost complete expense of the gameplay. And I think that choice is ultimately a net positive for the game. I should also mention that my perspective is mostly from the story angle. I think when these intros are done well, they have a tremendous impact on the narrative of the game that games which rush through the beginning often lack. So I like when games give that extra time, even if they aren't that much "fun" to play in the moment.

Same here.

There's no way I can take this video serious if they didn't even finish the main story of Explorers.

@@king_eziel This was one of the few times I was so glad I came down to the comments in the middle of the video. I'm leaning towards that sentiment. Having played Super myself, it was ok, definitely not bad, but Explorers is still peak.

To be fair, hearing that he dropped the game 2h in, he might have gotten stuck at Mt. Bristle and I wouldn't blame him. No chance to train before it so you are at quite a low level, huge chance of losing your starting items which are fairly powerful and useful (scarfs), stab quick attacks everywhere from 2 spaces far and you faint in 2 hits at that level meaning if you approach them you might die... It can feel rng-heavy for such an early point in the game.

@@VilasNil It's difficult, but not drop-the-game difficult; children with minimal strategic skill have beaten the game. If you can't get past that, then idk how you can review a series you cannot keep up with.

​@@awastedcow Okay so I rarely comment on.....really anything online and I definitely don't make long comments like this, but I cannot count the number of times I've booted up my DS Lite Explorers and played the Explorers games from beginning to end over the years. I'm in my late 20's and Generation 4 was my childhood. Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky are all I need in regards to the PMD series (and yes, I've got all 3 games). Never really sat down and got through the 1st PMD (idk why though, I've tried in the past a couple of times but I just couldn't get into it, despite knowing how great of a game it is). Gates to Infinity I heard was okay, but as for Super Mystery Dungeon, I've heard horror stories about it (and witnessed them too). Both my best mate from Highschool and my Fiancé have SMD and it infuriated my Fiancé and just flat out made my best mate rage quit multiple times. Their biggest complaints were how unnecessarily difficult it was. You can only recruit ONE of each Pokémon in the game, Everyone's HP Stat was cut in half (Ex: in PMD Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky. My partner is Empoleon who's Above level 70 and has over 200HP. Meanwhile my Fiancé's Empoleon had barely above 100 HP, maybe 110 or so, and her Empoleon was almost the same level as mine, maybe 5 levels off or so.), while you explore a dungeon, wild Pokémon can KO each other and EVOLVE, and some other things that have faded from my memory. The only good/cool thing I can think of from this game was the twist ending where you don't dissapear, but your PARTNER dissapears and you have to now go on a quest to bring him back. The worst part of it all, the story just wasn't good. By itself it's......alright, but compared to Gen 2 PMD, it's just........bad..............like REALLY BAD. The final boss was a complete let down too (It was just some weird shadowy sphere thing that was obnoxious to beat, just flat out forgettable). When I first beat Explorers of Time nearly 20 years ago, I literally cried. PMD2 as a whole is one of the very few games to exist that come close to pure perfection. The characters, gameplay, story, visuals, and that AMAZING SOUNDTRACK, ALL OF IT I LOVE!!! The only other game that I hold in such high regard is Terraria. Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon came out right as Game Freak and the Pokémon Company as a whole started putting less effort into the games. Heck, you could see the signs as early as Generation 6. Gen 6 was fine, until you got to the end of the game and found out that the Elite Four AND the League Champion's entire Pokémon teams were 10 Levels lower than your team or more, even if you didn't do any grinding or go out of your way to fight every single trainer. Mega Evolutions were an awesome idea and I, like many others, were excited to see what new Mega Evolutions would come from Gen 7. Instead we got "Alolan Forms" and Z moves. Then when the train which is properly known as Sword and Shied came out, you had Dynamax and Gigantamax which were just a half baked fusion of Mega Evolutions and Z moves. The overall difficulty of the games have dropped significantly over the years as well. I seriously don't understand why Game Freak doesn't give us a Difficulty Toggle like nearly every other game does, or even let us make multiple save fines instead of just ONE!!! Like I said, I'm in my late 20's and I started out with Generation 4 (both the main line games along with the side games and spin offs) and I went backward and played the earlier generations and loved them. Generation 1 - 5 is peak Pokémon. Gen 6 is alright, but after that, it all started going down hill very fast and I hate to see that happen to a franchise I held near and dear to my heart. Last year I got Cassette Beasts on Steam close to the holidays and for almost 2 months I could not put the game down. It reminded me of what I loved about the Monster Taming genre so much and added new things that made it fresh, fun, but fairly challenging. Hell, it's one of the extremely few games that I went out of my way to do a 100% run, including all of the Steam Achievements. I'm not gonna judge this dude or talk smack about him for making a video of his favorite game. If the dude enjoys it, then at the end of the day, that's all that matters. I grew up with Mega Man X Command Mission and replayed the living heck out of it over the years, and that game is not even close to being the best RPG ever (the game sold roughly 0.3 millions copies world wide, that's how much of a flop it was). But despite all of it's flaws, I still love the characters, music, and gameplay to death. So if this guy loves Super Mystery Dungeon then that's A-OK. Also if AurumAlex, if ya happen to read this, PLEASE go back and play PMD2 from the very beginning all the was to the end of post game (preferably Explorers of Sky since it has all the content from Time and Darkness plus a lot of extras) if you haven't already. I guarantee that you will love it dude.

Yeah, the technological divide is kind of strange, even in the Mystery Dungeon series. Like, on the one hand, the connection orb seems to be this wireless device that can instantly connect with people across the globe, but then the most sophisticated technology in Serene Village seems to be houses made out of wood planks. I think it works, though, I like the aesthetic of the world overall. I also think the franchise has become increasingly more sci-fi since around Gen 6 as well, what with Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire introducing alternative universes and Gen 7 having the Ultra Beasts. It's funny, because I don't think most people see Pokémon as a sci-fi franchise, but I would say it absolutely is.

​@AurumAlex64 I've always had the headcanon that PMD world basically has magic and the Pokemon just uses item like orbs and wands as magiteck devices (what witht the Connection Orb like you said, plus looplets that use emera in dungeons, etc).

That would make sense, considering things like the barrier of the spring water definitely gives off "magiteck" vibes

I think the pokemon human world is like that cuz of pokemon legends. Objects like rotom appliances get sent back in time with space time distortions + they have electric pokemon, so people end up reverse engineering technology rather than building it from scratch

Pokemon is definitely sci-fi. Maybe not in the vein that people tend to think of sci-fi, certainly leaning more towards the science fantasy angle, but I would definitely class it as sci-fi.

I like this reading between the two games. I think my issue is that I don't feel Super does a great job getting across why Dark Matter has risen again until the literal last second. The Partner claims that we weren't able to beat Dark Matter the first time because they didn't understand they needed to accept it rather than just beat it up. That makes sense, but I think this should be reflected throughout the game. Like, we never see a character who tries to ignore all their negative emotions so they don't have to deal with it, only for that plan to end up backfiring on them because, well... you can't just bottle up your problems like that. They get sort of close with Krookodile, but he's shuffled off right at the final third. If there were an ongoing storyline of this sort throughout the game, it would build a clear thematic parallel to what Super is trying to do, and the difference is I think Gates does do this. I would also argue Gates does kind of get at the sort of "mundane" negativity as well. Kyurem has his great speech where he says: "The shadow of hopelessness and despair that darkens their view of the future.... The negativity of each and every one of those Pokémon stagnated and spiraled.... While no one paid any heed, it swelled greater and greater until at last.... The Bittercold was born." Kyurem makes clear that the Bittercold didn't come about because of nefarious intentions, but because people simply didn't care. They didn't care about their friends, they didn't care about their neighbors, they didn't care about making the world a better place. I feel like Gates is suggesting the Bittercold was born from apathy rather than malice.

@@AurumAlex64 I'd say Super deliberately didn't want to show the "evil" building up because it really was bit by bit over a long time (likely thousands of years as they refer to Mew's era as ancient), extremely minor things adding up but as in Dark Matter forming, not pokémon's relationships growing worse over time like in Gates. All of this because, in my interpretation, Dark Matter was about our INNER struggles with our own flaws (which most of us deal with alone and tend to hide, maybe could be a reason why the story doesn't show it), while the Bittercold was about the distrust BETWEEN Pokémon and loss of hope caused by acts like the deceiving done by Gurdurr and Pawniard. It's a bit tough writing down all my thoughts here, specially with english not being my 1st language and me having way too many thoughts on these two silly games lol And to clarify, most of what I said really is just my interpretation on what we were given and not some sort of canon I created in my head, I'm kinda just trying to fill in some gaps as both games fail to state things 100% clear, more so Super but Gates also fails a bit, which might be good, it lets you fill the holes it leaves, could be why I enjoy these two stories more than Sky's

@@lucasferro6050 Ah, that difference of "inner" vs. "between" makes a lot more sense! I think that sums up the differences between the two games pretty well.

I was going to say that Dark Matter formed out of the negativity of ancient Pokémon, while Bittercold is more recent and thus represents current negative feelings more, but your point is actually much better. Well thought out!

As someone who has thought more about the difference between the Bittercold and Dark Matter than they probably should, I really like this interpretation. Dark Matter being much more sentient than the Bittercold always threw me off when trying to think of them as sharing a universe (which was probably not the way they thought when making Super). I ended up coming to the explaination that Bittercold is much more composed of feelings like apathy and the lack of empathy, with the need for change not being acknowledged causing its physical form to be solid and cold. Meanwhile Dark Matter was built from so many different societies and situations that its form ended up being less clear, only having a solid form when in the world it pulls you into to fight. Dark Matter creating a hard shell could also be symbolic for how it was segragated and locked away from everything else. Their cores are also very simmilar, so I think that them being formed from a simmilar process is plausible. So basically the Bittercold was formed from who and what we see in Gates, while Dark Matter was formed from millenia of emotional racism.

Don't Ever Forget? Memories Returned? In the Morning Sun?

don't forget about the bonus episodes you get for getting farther into the main story

EoS is so _good._ I thought it might've been a little overrated since some people can get a little obnoxious over liking it. I've seen people praise it while trashing PSMD. I started playing it a while ago and it became my favorite game, beating out Xenoblade X.

My first MD was explorers of darkness when i was a kid. I finished it in the span of a year just cause I didn't want to end. I still had to finish it but man was it a Rollercoaster. It's now in my top 5 among persona and xenoblade

The fact that several songs come into my head with the scenes/emotions attached to them truly shows how wonderful this game and its soundtrack really is. The beach scene with the bubbles, crossing the ocean on lapras, seeing your first time gear, let alone some of the more spoilery scenes, these are all ingrained in me

Oh, I hadn't noticed that before. That's actually really neat.

Yeah, it is a pretty neat twist, it got me good my first playthrough

That's the point of the twist, and I love it I'd gotten so used to leaving at the end that I was in absolute denial. The fact that the partner didn't come back until after a few dungeons too was brutal (though I think it was a bit empty in terms of plot, as I got through that part of the postgame in only an hour of a few solo dungeons. The random memory loss plus timeskip at the end of it was jarring too, took me a while to understand what was happening.)

Or rather, just as you have struggles, they have struggles too. Part of friendship is understanding that your life isn't more important than theirs.

Did you choose riolu as character and Fennekin as partner? Me too! this duality of a physical attacker and a special attacker is very good :)

some people complain about the pacing being slow in that portion, but I'd have been happy if the entire game was that pace, I never felt I cared as much for the expedition guild (even ampharos who shows up a bit earlier) because by that point it's like a railroad into chaos real fast. It'd have been better if there were more episodic adventures with the world getting increasingly empty and desolate before the abyssal badlands arc.

It made sense for me to go to school. It makes sense you learn about dungeon mechanics there. Plus all the reasons you said.

The school aspect was one of my favourite parts of Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Almia. I actually cared about my classmates and who they were as people. Guardian signs quickly lost me.

What a rarity for Regigigas. Amazing.

I've legit used Regigigas in PSMD because of how insane it is. Unless you get criminally bad luck and spawn in a monster house, you can just take like 5 steps or go to a wonder tile, and even if you spawn in a monster house, more likely than not, you'll have other party members to take care of it for the first few turns.

Arceus is the only Pokémon in the game whom I haven't recruited, because I don't feel I have the patience for it.

@wikiuser92 It's not hard. Get a Loopet that allows you to avoid traps. And get Good Emeras that boost powers and stats. Only bring one teammate. And make sure to hoard at least 80 stairway wands. Regigigas is great.

I really, really like Gates as well. When I was collecting footage of Gates for this video, I just started sitting there and watching the scenes play out longer than I needed to, and I said to myself, "Wow. The character work in this game was pretty great." It also doesn't get enough credit for being a 3D Pokémon game on a handheld before X and Y (though I'm pretty sure Rumble Blast also came out before Gates).

There was a stylistic choice from gates onwards that I just couldn’t reconcile. I mean this is a world in which all pokemon are fully sapient, and capable of speaking perfect English, forming diverse communities and constructing towns and even cities…. So why do they say their own species name every other sentence?

Gates doesn’t deserve any more love than it already gets. Game is the worst one in the series

Yess!

I hadn't replayed the game since it released, and it held up so well. It's got such a good sense of humor too. I think I've convinced myself this in my top 10 games of all time.

@@AurumAlex64honestly psmd is one of three games tied for all-time favorite for me One of the biggest things that makes me like a game is its soundtrack, so I’m only slightly disappointed that you didn’t mention how incredible psmd’s is

@@myriad3569 Agreed. I listen to PSMD's music on the regular.

Its the second best mystery dungeon behind explorers

I agree with you!

I played the Rescue Team DX and still don't get the appeal. I didn't have the nostalgia factor either but felt the gameplay was still a too bit clunky.

I feel like it gets hit by what i like to call “sticker star syndrom” where people who have never played the game just lump it in with gates to infinity (I dont hate gates as much as most people do mind you but i do think its the worst entry in the series)

@@diamondmasterandwillytheca2642it is the best mystery dungeon game in front of explorers

Fire Island Volcano is an instant playlist addition. I love Ancient Barrow as well

​​@@AurumAlex64This game has so many good songs. Fire Island Volcano like you both say, Lush Forest, Noe Town (best town theme out of the extra continents for me), both of the Tree of Life theme, Final Boss - Phase 1 and 2; especially 2, etc. I could go on and on, btw, I always loved the jukebox in this game and Explorers, it's so cute. Wish we can get them back someday. Bonus: throw in the Partnet's Theme as well because of course you do that.

Yes, I really love the Partner in this game. I also really like their relationship with Carracosta too. Like the scene where the Partner can't bear to see their dad turned to stone was great, and it's the kind of scene only Super could do.

This game essentially turns the partner into the main character with a destiny they must fulfill, while you are the partner. And I like that. Nothing really encapsulates this better than the climax with the Dark Matter battle and them trying to reach a flying tree with hardcore parkour.

I really hope we get a new Mystery Dungeon some day. Eight years is a long time!

PSMD clicked with me immediately. I played it when I was about the same age as you, so it's interesting in the difference in our reactions. I think there was something just kooky enough about the idea of Pokémon going to health class every morning that made me want to see it through. It helps that the dialogue is also pretty witty for a Pokémon game. I think there's just something deeply adorable about this game that I can't quite put my finger on, but it makes PSMD very inviting to revisit.

It has been a disgustingly long time, I'd be really interested in seeing what they could do with a new game. We have 3 entire generations worth of new material to work with!

Amen to this. Explorers is not bad, but I'm sick and tired of people gushing about it all the time without giving Super as much as a chance.

@@wikiuser92 Yeah, I love EoS, but it's honestly a bit tedious to get through nowadays. I appreciate some of the more modern features Super has.

Yep, I also like that in Gates we had to literally find someone to get our house built. That's a fun early-game conflict to have.

I personally prefer Super, but seeing someone respect both is still something I can very much respect back.

As someone who played explorers as a kid and it stuck with them, I can say you should really experience super for yourself. Or should have. I played super for the first time 15 years after explorers and it hit the same notes. If anything the perspective of leaving childhood and innocence makes super hit harder as an adult.

Glad you like the video! I've always had a soft spot for this game. It's too bad it gets criticism for being after Gates, especially because Gates... isn't bad? I've really never understood the dislike for either entry, to be honest.

Truly well said and I agree 100%!

Thank you for the kind words! And yes, I wish I had mentioned the music too, because it's really great stuff.

Super is such a good time. Replaying it for this video desperately makes me want another with Gen 7+ stuff.

Yeah, there are so many possibilities for a new PMD. I'm sure we'll get another one eventually, but I don't think it'll be any time soon, unfortunately.

Thanks! Looking forward to playing through Sky for the first time!

Dang, I wish my school gave us Christmas presents. That was very nice of your teacher, though!

Agreed with everything here. For some reason, I find Pokémon being very competent and considerate at their jobs to be adorable, it's difficult to explain.

Thanks! You definitely should!

I think an expanded Expedition Society would be better as well. I do like the school stuff, so I'd probably prefer to just make the main story a little longer (maybe take some time away from the postgame) to give the Society that extra stuff.

Thanks! I really do recommend trying them, even if there can be a bit of a learning curve. And I didn't mention in it in the video, but the soundtracks for these games are really fantastic, so even if you don't end up playing them, definitely at least give them a listen.

I think Nintendo also cooks with their comedy too. Bowser's Inside Story is genuinely hilarious, and (maybe controversially), I think Color Splash is almost just as good in that regard

Glad I was able to verbalize some of your feelings about the game! Super's in my top 10 video games as well.

Super is also my favorite PMD game, and you hit the nail on the head. I've been trying to include it in some PMD-centric stories I craft for that reason-it really is just peak. Also, I'm a big fan of your music. Keep up the great work!

@@mythicalmew6054 Omg, thank you so much!! ^^

Yep, though I liked all the mystery dungeons I've played, I suspect Super will be the only one I 100% exactly because of the recruitment method. And the OST does indeed slap.

Sky being my second fav

The older I get, the more important the smaller stuff is to me. I ran into a subreddit once that was a bunch of people recounting stories as if they were staff working in a Pokémon Center. So one story would be like, "a trainer yelled at me after I suggested they polish their steel type," or something like that. I just thought that was a really neat idea, and it's the kind of low-view perspective the series seems totally bereft of on occasion.

Agreed, some of the later dungeons were a bit of a struggle

Yeah. It felt so rewarding conquering so many dungeons, but some were still beyond me. To this day, I've yet to even attempt to reach Arceus to complete my Connection Orb.

It's a really fantastic game. I hope we eventually get a new PMD with gen 7+ Pokémon, but that's gonna be a while it looks like.

@@AurumAlex64 Yeah, every single year Pokémon day rolls around I hope that we get that new gen 7+ PMD announcement, but in the meantime, I’m more than glad to play Super.

Yes, I've heard PokéPark (especially 2) are very good games in that regard. I'm not sure why I've never played them before, but I should get around to it at some point.

Ha, while I will admit to not personally loving Age of Calamity, I was moreso trying to point out that the critical reception seems inconsistent; if you're gonna dock points for mystery dungeon being repetitive, I think there's a lot of games that should also have much lower critic scores. It could've been a lot of games really, Age of Calamity is for some reason the first one that came into my head

​@@AurumAlex64To add my 2 cents on this point as well, I'd argue that it's not the repetitiveness that is the problem, plenty of games are really repetitive with the gameplay loop afterall. It's what you do with it during the gameplay loop that decides whether it's the fun kind of the repetitive, or the boring kind. Afterall, Left 4 Dead 1/2 are incredibly repetitive when you look at it. You start in a group 4 going from point A to point B, and you shoot zombies along the way, rinse and repeat until the finale where usually you have to hold down the fort for a bit 'til rescue comes. Yet, that game gets praised to hell and back because of the what happens in the journey from A and B. We can derive that from Super too. What sets Super gameplay apart from the other games in the PMD series to me is how they implemented more gameplay to the traditional dungeom crawl all its predecessors did. Super changes a lot what didn't work in the previous games while also adding lots of little things that just makes dungeoneering fun and engaging (i.e. the looplet and emera system is a great way to keep you engaged, the fact that you can assume direct control of your party, albeit limited compared to DX, is a godsend. Plus you can push Pokemon around, great for dealing with Monster Houses).

I like this interpretation, and that it differentiates itself from what Gates was doing. I think what would make it work better for me is if there was some major character in the game who bottled up their negative emotions only for it blow up on them later. It would help make a thematic through-line to the game that I feel isn't as strong as it could be.

@@AurumAlex64 Yeah exactly. I feel like the ONLY moment we got that showed any of this AT ALL was the partner's break down. Through that usual positive demeanor of there's was an isolation that ate away at them. Which was ALSO the only moment dark matter was foreshadowed.

@@djroscurro9859 Krookodile was a character I thought they could've easily done this with. If you visit him before leaving missions in Lively Town, he's always grumbling about how much he hates the world. Which is really interesting, but they don't really go into details, then he gets turned to stone and we don't hear anything from him again.

@@AurumAlex64 I really wish they elaborated on Krookodile more in the post game at least, if they really weren't able to in the main story.

@@djroscurro9859 There is actually a cute story of him cleaning up his act, getting a job delivering, and getting a crush with his employer (a Miltank), so that's pretty neat. I still think he could've been utilized better in the main game.

Honestly, I would take any new PMD related stuff at this point. It's been too long.

Thanks! I wish I'd remembered to mention the music as well, because it is also one of the reasons I love this game so much. PSMD is always in my VGM music to listen to.

In hindsight, it does feel like they might've known this was their last hurrah, at least for a while. But I'm hopeful that one day....

I agree completely and that’s quite an upset :(

Yeah, that's what I've heard as well, but I'll still hold out hope for one day....

It's a neat final twist. Funnily enough, though, this most recent playthrough, I actually found the scene leaving Serene Village to be much more emotional. I'm not entirely sure why. But it is a really good scene regardless.

Gates and Super are both great, so I'd definitely recommend trying Super if you liked the other!

I think what helps the school section not feel overly belittling is that Super feels like a pretty self-aware game. The game feels like it genuinely understands how children might react in a school situation. There's one scene where Watchdog tries to play make-believe with the kids to help their learning, and the children play along not because they buy his performance, but because they don't want to bruise Watchdog's ego. Or the way the various characters react to the Partner's overwhelmingly positive attitude, like I mentioned in the video. I think it's pretty good comedy all around.

The school section is the whole reason I wanted to make this video, so I'm glad I was able to do it justice!

I actually think Super is my favorite exactly because of its slow start, but yes, I really do need to get back around to Explorers of Sky.