Now I can see why The Teal Mask was so barebones; all the content was backloaded to this wave.
It's definitely no Crown Tundra, but it's still pretty good; a huge step up from The Teal Mask (although, that's...not exactly a high bar to clear). The campaign is unexpectedly short––shorter than The Teal Mask's, even––but I suppose that's actually a big saving grace of it. The short length lets you get right to the stuff you bought this DLC for in the first place in a very timely manner: the extra endgame content. This actually feels like paid DLC, which I can't believe I'm saying, because that's how low the bar is after the previous wave was just slightly more of the base game: there's a bunch of new, really OP shit (like a new Tera type, for instance, that seems like it's really stupid), new Pokémon, and a truckload of new stuff to do; most of it involving grinding BP in the Terarium to unlock stuff. No, not that BP; Blueberry Points, the new special currency you get from doing little live-service-daily-quest adjacent quests in the Terarium. They probably thought they were real clever for that one. With BP, you can unlock the following, but not limited to: alternate throwing styles, a returning feature from the Sun and Moon games; the ability to catch all non-Paldea starters in the wild for the first time ever; redecorating the League Club room, which is neat, I guess; and the Item Printer, this game's version of the Cram-O-Matic from Isle of Armor, netting you all kinds of useful and even stronger items than its predecessor. The Terarium itself is really meaty; way bigger than Kitakami, and, woah, there's actually stuff to do in it?! Hidden locations to explore?! A sense of discovery?! That's pretty neat. I like that. They should do that more. There's quite a lot of Unova nostalgia in this as well, so if that's your thing, go wild. (Oh, so when it's Unova they dedicate an entire DLC patch of fanservice to, it's considered a "love letter" and epic and based, but when they give a bunch of alternate forms to popular Kanto Pokémon, it's considered "nostalgia pandering" and cringe and bad. Got it.)
Something I actually really liked was everything surrounding the BB Elite Four, from their character and storylines to their challenges and battles; I found them all to be an absolute delight. Crispin and Drayton's challenges I especially liked. Crispin's is basically a thought puzzle; you have to make the spiciest possible sandwich you can, using only the ingredients you get in the challenge, and the way you get ingredients is by battling, trading, and answering questions from the other trainers participating. Think of it like a souped-up version of Larry's Gym Challenge. Drayton's challenge is by far and away the coolest challenge in the entire game: it's just a set of double battles, but in these battles, you can only use Pokémon that you caught in the Terarium. You have to formulate and build an entirely new team from scratch; these battles are pretty tough, so you have to put a lot of thought into your team composition, encouraging you to explore every inch of the place to find the Pokémon you want. It's such a simple concept, but it's brimming with possibility and freedom; it's the definition of restrictions breeding creativity, and I really loved it.
It's not perfect, though; there are two key things missing from this. One: there is still no proper battle facility. These are a necessity for testing competitive teams before taking them online, and the lack of one, in an academy focused on battling, no less, is a really weird omission. Two: while not technically a "missing feature" in the traditional sense, it's still a weird decision to make: All of the returning legendaries are shiny locked. All of them. So, if you were looking forward to finally being able to get a shiny Urshifu, sucks to suck, I guess. Weirdly enough, not every legendary even came back in the first place, like in Crown Tundra; the X and Y legendary trio and the Sword and Shield legendary duo, for instance, are mysteriously absent; the two horses from Crown Tundra are present, but no Calyrex; none of the Tapus or Ultra Beasts are here; it's really odd.
All in all, pretty solid DLC, but it's not as game-changing as I was hoping it would be. Crown Tundra still remains the king of Pokémon DLC expansions (pun fully intended), and at the rate we're going, it doesn't seem like it's gonna be losing that crown anytime soon. This game's been a pretty wild ride; can't begin to imagine what they're gonna do next. I guess I'll see you all on Pokémon Day 2024 in 2 months?
It's definitely no Crown Tundra, but it's still pretty good; a huge step up from The Teal Mask (although, that's...not exactly a high bar to clear). The campaign is unexpectedly short––shorter than The Teal Mask's, even––but I suppose that's actually a big saving grace of it. The short length lets you get right to the stuff you bought this DLC for in the first place in a very timely manner: the extra endgame content. This actually feels like paid DLC, which I can't believe I'm saying, because that's how low the bar is after the previous wave was just slightly more of the base game: there's a bunch of new, really OP shit (like a new Tera type, for instance, that seems like it's really stupid), new Pokémon, and a truckload of new stuff to do; most of it involving grinding BP in the Terarium to unlock stuff. No, not that BP; Blueberry Points, the new special currency you get from doing little live-service-daily-quest adjacent quests in the Terarium. They probably thought they were real clever for that one. With BP, you can unlock the following, but not limited to: alternate throwing styles, a returning feature from the Sun and Moon games; the ability to catch all non-Paldea starters in the wild for the first time ever; redecorating the League Club room, which is neat, I guess; and the Item Printer, this game's version of the Cram-O-Matic from Isle of Armor, netting you all kinds of useful and even stronger items than its predecessor. The Terarium itself is really meaty; way bigger than Kitakami, and, woah, there's actually stuff to do in it?! Hidden locations to explore?! A sense of discovery?! That's pretty neat. I like that. They should do that more. There's quite a lot of Unova nostalgia in this as well, so if that's your thing, go wild. (Oh, so when it's Unova they dedicate an entire DLC patch of fanservice to, it's considered a "love letter" and epic and based, but when they give a bunch of alternate forms to popular Kanto Pokémon, it's considered "nostalgia pandering" and cringe and bad. Got it.)
Something I actually really liked was everything surrounding the BB Elite Four, from their character and storylines to their challenges and battles; I found them all to be an absolute delight. Crispin and Drayton's challenges I especially liked. Crispin's is basically a thought puzzle; you have to make the spiciest possible sandwich you can, using only the ingredients you get in the challenge, and the way you get ingredients is by battling, trading, and answering questions from the other trainers participating. Think of it like a souped-up version of Larry's Gym Challenge. Drayton's challenge is by far and away the coolest challenge in the entire game: it's just a set of double battles, but in these battles, you can only use Pokémon that you caught in the Terarium. You have to formulate and build an entirely new team from scratch; these battles are pretty tough, so you have to put a lot of thought into your team composition, encouraging you to explore every inch of the place to find the Pokémon you want. It's such a simple concept, but it's brimming with possibility and freedom; it's the definition of restrictions breeding creativity, and I really loved it.
It's not perfect, though; there are two key things missing from this. One: there is still no proper battle facility. These are a necessity for testing competitive teams before taking them online, and the lack of one, in an academy focused on battling, no less, is a really weird omission. Two: while not technically a "missing feature" in the traditional sense, it's still a weird decision to make: All of the returning legendaries are shiny locked. All of them. So, if you were looking forward to finally being able to get a shiny Urshifu, sucks to suck, I guess. Weirdly enough, not every legendary even came back in the first place, like in Crown Tundra; the X and Y legendary trio and the Sword and Shield legendary duo, for instance, are mysteriously absent; the two horses from Crown Tundra are present, but no Calyrex; none of the Tapus or Ultra Beasts are here; it's really odd.
All in all, pretty solid DLC, but it's not as game-changing as I was hoping it would be. Crown Tundra still remains the king of Pokémon DLC expansions (pun fully intended), and at the rate we're going, it doesn't seem like it's gonna be losing that crown anytime soon. This game's been a pretty wild ride; can't begin to imagine what they're gonna do next. I guess I'll see you all on Pokémon Day 2024 in 2 months?