Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are interesting games to examine. They’re flawed, noticeably bug ridden, and the game’s performance can take extreme dips. The open world of the game is fun to explore at times, but at others it felt like the environment was lacking. There’s a whole section of the map that you cannot access, and has no reason to even be there. And even though the game is this severely flawed, I’d still say that I enjoyed playing through the game. The story is one of the best that Pokemon has to offer, and being able to freely explore the world and do things in any order you wish is amazing. It’s interesting in this regard, if it wasn’t for all of the issues that Scarlet and Violet have, these games probably would’ve been the best Pokemon titles on the Switch.
And then they got DLC. I thought the first DLC expansion, the Teal Mask, was charming, but it left me desiring more. Kitakami as a region was rather small, I believe a good half of the region was empty space. The new characters were fun, and I really like the Ogerpon storyline, but there was very little afterwards that kept me wanting to explore this new region. On top of this all, this DLC suffered from the exact same performance issues that the original Scarlet and Violet did, which didn’t really help in its favor.
This large preamble leads me into what the actual topic of this review is about, the (presumably) final DLC for Scarlet and Violet, the Indigo Disk. This DLC may be the best that Scarlet and Violet will ever be. But with saying that, I think the performance issues in the Indigo Disk may be worse than in base game. When I explored Blueberry Academy, specifically the Savannah Biome, the game did more than just drop frames, it actively froze for a second or two. This though I would say is probably the biggest criticism I have for this DLC, especially as it has been an issue that persisted since the game’s original release. But yet again, there’s so much better here than in any other part of Scarlet and Violet that I just appreciate.
First, and most noticeably, is the difficulty in this DLC. As this is meant to be after the main story of Scarlet and Violet, the levels of wild and trainer Pokemon are extremely high. It was rare to see a wild Pokemon below level 60, and some Pokemon I caught were all the way to level 75. And nearly every important battle in the DLC have Pokemon above level 80. It was honestly the first time in the entire game that I felt challenged at all, especially since outside of this DLC, the game is ridiculously easy. Not only that, but every major battle in this DLC is also a double battle, which innately just makes them harder than single battles. One of the particular fun challenges I put myself to was creating a team with Pokemon caught exclusively in the DLC, which was absolutely fun to do, especially since I tried to devise strategies when using them as well. It felt super refreshing to feel challenged again in a Pokemon game, especially since most modern Pokemon games just aren’t difficult in the slightest.
And I’ll say as well, the Blueberry Academy environment is probably the best in the game as well. Of course it’s split into 4 different thematic environments, but because it is, it’s able to fill that space with enough things to feel really alive. Both Paldea and Kitakami had a good number of flat area, either grasslands, or deserts, with just nothing in them. But something about Blueberry Academy just makes it so much better. The Polar Biome especially is so much better than the snow area in Paldea itself, as it’s more than just a mountain, it also features glaciers and water areas too. This all doesn’t even mention that Blueberry Academy also has the best cave system in the entire game as well, I was in awe just seeing how massive it was, and it’s something that I was hoping for for so long.
Another aspect of the Indigo Disk DLC are the Blueberry Quests, also known as BBQs. When it comes to them, in moderation they’re fun. They’re simple little tasks you can do as you explore Blueberry Academy, and allow you to accumulate BP which can be used to improve aspects of the area, or just buy things. Why I say in moderation though is because depending on how you go about things, you may spend hours grinding exclusively for BP. Most single-player Blueberry Quests grant between 20-40 BP, and the special Blueberry Quests typically range between 100-200 BP. One of the upgrades you can get through spending BP are biodiversity upgrades, which allow starter Pokemon to spawn in specific biomes. Each biodiversity upgrades costs 3000 BP, which means to get all of them, you need to obtain 12000 BP total. Now, I chose to get them all at once, which honestly was not a good decision on my part, but I needed to do it at some point. I really think they shouldn’t be this expensive, most upgrades you can buy are 300 BP or under typically, so I feel like 1000 BP for a single biodiversity upgrade feels more reasonable.
And speaking of unlocking the starters and grinding BP, where I’m most conflicted on this DLC comes from the additional side missions that you can get in the game. The side missions themselves are fine, but the requirements to get them are just extremely tedious I feel. The more noticeable one is Perrin’s side mission, which you can only do if you register 200 Pokemon in the Blueberry Pokedex. Now that doesn’t sound too bad, but that’s until you realize that excluding Pokémon obtainable only through biodiversity upgrades, the maximum total of Pokémon you can have for the Blueberry Pokedex is 169 (this number accounts the Sinnoh starter you get in The Teal Mask, and the raid event exclusive Paradox Pokemon). That’s still a total of 31 Pokémon you would need to obtain, which then necessitates that you get at minimum, 2 biodiversity upgrades, which requires 6000 BP. And once you do, and once you get the 200 Pokemon registered, you don’t really get all that much. You basically get told “hey there’s new Pokémon in area zero, go catch them”, and that’s really it. In The Teal Mask, there was fun sequence that you did with Perrin that lead to you catching Bloodmoon Ursaluna, but nothing of the sort is here. And because of that, it just doesn’t feel as worth it as it did in The Teal Mask. And in a similar situation (though particularly my fault on this), there’s a small storyline after the events of the Indigo Disk where you can tutor the Team Star Admins. But to get this, you have to do all of the classes at Paldea’s Academy, rematch all of the gym leaders, do the Academy Ace Tournament, and then lastly interact with Penny enough to be invited into her dorm room. All this work just to get to what is ultimately a cute little segment that looks at the Team Star Admins after the events of the main story, alongside getting Team Star outfits. And while it is my fault that I just haven’t done the main game’s postgame yet, it didn’t feel worth it, and I feel like it would’ve been a lot nicer just to only require beating the game in order to see this small moment.
But yet again one aspect of the entirety of Scarlet and Violet that I always thought was strong was the game’s story. And the Indigo Disk is no exception to the matter. It was great to see the characters from the Teal Mask return, and the new role Kieran plays in the Indigo Disk story is really interesting to see. He sort of feels like that jerk-ish rival that I wish Pokemon brought back a bit more often. The new characters, particularly the Elite 4 of Blueberry Academy are also really fun characters to interact with. And I really love the ending sequence that occurs after beating the Blueberry Academy section of the DLC, when you finally get to see the depths of Area Zero for the first time.
And really its odd. While I enjoyed a lot of what Scarlet and Violet did, I’ve also found myself extremely critical to it. Because of the work environment placed onto Game Freak by The Pokemon Company, Pokemon as a series isn’t as able to be as good as it should be. Yearly releases have been extremely detrimental, and we’ve seen that for the entirety of Pokemon lifetime on the Switch. But with all this in mind, there’s an odd sense of closure having beaten this DLC. It’s an odd warm feeling in me that’s happy to see this game through to the end. It’s definitely been a rough journey for sure, but it’s one that I can’t help but appreciate. Yet again, I feel like The Indigo Disk is probably the best that Pokemon Scarlet will ever be. It still doesn’t fix the issues that pervade this game since the beginning, but it has the best explorable world, with also the most fun challenges the game has to offer. And, I don’t know, I just feel happy about this DLC. But regardless of that, if trends continue, I’ll be reviewing another new Pokémon November of 2024, so see you then if that’s the case.
And then they got DLC. I thought the first DLC expansion, the Teal Mask, was charming, but it left me desiring more. Kitakami as a region was rather small, I believe a good half of the region was empty space. The new characters were fun, and I really like the Ogerpon storyline, but there was very little afterwards that kept me wanting to explore this new region. On top of this all, this DLC suffered from the exact same performance issues that the original Scarlet and Violet did, which didn’t really help in its favor.
This large preamble leads me into what the actual topic of this review is about, the (presumably) final DLC for Scarlet and Violet, the Indigo Disk. This DLC may be the best that Scarlet and Violet will ever be. But with saying that, I think the performance issues in the Indigo Disk may be worse than in base game. When I explored Blueberry Academy, specifically the Savannah Biome, the game did more than just drop frames, it actively froze for a second or two. This though I would say is probably the biggest criticism I have for this DLC, especially as it has been an issue that persisted since the game’s original release. But yet again, there’s so much better here than in any other part of Scarlet and Violet that I just appreciate.
First, and most noticeably, is the difficulty in this DLC. As this is meant to be after the main story of Scarlet and Violet, the levels of wild and trainer Pokemon are extremely high. It was rare to see a wild Pokemon below level 60, and some Pokemon I caught were all the way to level 75. And nearly every important battle in the DLC have Pokemon above level 80. It was honestly the first time in the entire game that I felt challenged at all, especially since outside of this DLC, the game is ridiculously easy. Not only that, but every major battle in this DLC is also a double battle, which innately just makes them harder than single battles. One of the particular fun challenges I put myself to was creating a team with Pokemon caught exclusively in the DLC, which was absolutely fun to do, especially since I tried to devise strategies when using them as well. It felt super refreshing to feel challenged again in a Pokemon game, especially since most modern Pokemon games just aren’t difficult in the slightest.
And I’ll say as well, the Blueberry Academy environment is probably the best in the game as well. Of course it’s split into 4 different thematic environments, but because it is, it’s able to fill that space with enough things to feel really alive. Both Paldea and Kitakami had a good number of flat area, either grasslands, or deserts, with just nothing in them. But something about Blueberry Academy just makes it so much better. The Polar Biome especially is so much better than the snow area in Paldea itself, as it’s more than just a mountain, it also features glaciers and water areas too. This all doesn’t even mention that Blueberry Academy also has the best cave system in the entire game as well, I was in awe just seeing how massive it was, and it’s something that I was hoping for for so long.
Another aspect of the Indigo Disk DLC are the Blueberry Quests, also known as BBQs. When it comes to them, in moderation they’re fun. They’re simple little tasks you can do as you explore Blueberry Academy, and allow you to accumulate BP which can be used to improve aspects of the area, or just buy things. Why I say in moderation though is because depending on how you go about things, you may spend hours grinding exclusively for BP. Most single-player Blueberry Quests grant between 20-40 BP, and the special Blueberry Quests typically range between 100-200 BP. One of the upgrades you can get through spending BP are biodiversity upgrades, which allow starter Pokemon to spawn in specific biomes. Each biodiversity upgrades costs 3000 BP, which means to get all of them, you need to obtain 12000 BP total. Now, I chose to get them all at once, which honestly was not a good decision on my part, but I needed to do it at some point. I really think they shouldn’t be this expensive, most upgrades you can buy are 300 BP or under typically, so I feel like 1000 BP for a single biodiversity upgrade feels more reasonable.
And speaking of unlocking the starters and grinding BP, where I’m most conflicted on this DLC comes from the additional side missions that you can get in the game. The side missions themselves are fine, but the requirements to get them are just extremely tedious I feel. The more noticeable one is Perrin’s side mission, which you can only do if you register 200 Pokemon in the Blueberry Pokedex. Now that doesn’t sound too bad, but that’s until you realize that excluding Pokémon obtainable only through biodiversity upgrades, the maximum total of Pokémon you can have for the Blueberry Pokedex is 169 (this number accounts the Sinnoh starter you get in The Teal Mask, and the raid event exclusive Paradox Pokemon). That’s still a total of 31 Pokémon you would need to obtain, which then necessitates that you get at minimum, 2 biodiversity upgrades, which requires 6000 BP. And once you do, and once you get the 200 Pokemon registered, you don’t really get all that much. You basically get told “hey there’s new Pokémon in area zero, go catch them”, and that’s really it. In The Teal Mask, there was fun sequence that you did with Perrin that lead to you catching Bloodmoon Ursaluna, but nothing of the sort is here. And because of that, it just doesn’t feel as worth it as it did in The Teal Mask. And in a similar situation (though particularly my fault on this), there’s a small storyline after the events of the Indigo Disk where you can tutor the Team Star Admins. But to get this, you have to do all of the classes at Paldea’s Academy, rematch all of the gym leaders, do the Academy Ace Tournament, and then lastly interact with Penny enough to be invited into her dorm room. All this work just to get to what is ultimately a cute little segment that looks at the Team Star Admins after the events of the main story, alongside getting Team Star outfits. And while it is my fault that I just haven’t done the main game’s postgame yet, it didn’t feel worth it, and I feel like it would’ve been a lot nicer just to only require beating the game in order to see this small moment.
But yet again one aspect of the entirety of Scarlet and Violet that I always thought was strong was the game’s story. And the Indigo Disk is no exception to the matter. It was great to see the characters from the Teal Mask return, and the new role Kieran plays in the Indigo Disk story is really interesting to see. He sort of feels like that jerk-ish rival that I wish Pokemon brought back a bit more often. The new characters, particularly the Elite 4 of Blueberry Academy are also really fun characters to interact with. And I really love the ending sequence that occurs after beating the Blueberry Academy section of the DLC, when you finally get to see the depths of Area Zero for the first time.
And really its odd. While I enjoyed a lot of what Scarlet and Violet did, I’ve also found myself extremely critical to it. Because of the work environment placed onto Game Freak by The Pokemon Company, Pokemon as a series isn’t as able to be as good as it should be. Yearly releases have been extremely detrimental, and we’ve seen that for the entirety of Pokemon lifetime on the Switch. But with all this in mind, there’s an odd sense of closure having beaten this DLC. It’s an odd warm feeling in me that’s happy to see this game through to the end. It’s definitely been a rough journey for sure, but it’s one that I can’t help but appreciate. Yet again, I feel like The Indigo Disk is probably the best that Pokemon Scarlet will ever be. It still doesn’t fix the issues that pervade this game since the beginning, but it has the best explorable world, with also the most fun challenges the game has to offer. And, I don’t know, I just feel happy about this DLC. But regardless of that, if trends continue, I’ll be reviewing another new Pokémon November of 2024, so see you then if that’s the case.