On one hand, this a total step up from it's 1st part. It has interesting stakes, a bunch of new characters to interact with, more diverse map design, and some actual difficulty to it. Sadly, the DLC also feels rather jam-packed, directionless, and aloof. I know these are weird statements to make about one single expansion to a game, but Indigo Disk is just kinda a good mess.
100% I am glad they upped the difficulty for this DLC. Every battle feels like it could be a threat, and if you don't come in prepared it certainly feels you can lose it all to a gimmick or a lucky move. It's honestly been a long time since Pokemon has felt like it's kept me on my toes, and I really hope they will start giving more options for difficulty because Pokemon is honestly fun to strategize. They even managed to make the elite four for Blueberry both endearing, and remember-able with their tests, battles, and design. I can't express enough just how much I love both the returning and new characters they introduced for this game. It really helps make Blueberry academy feel like an actual place compared to the boondocks village we went to in part one. Even the areas you explore feel far more fleshed out, and have interesting biodiversity compared to the main game, let alone Teal Mask's map. Just in a lot of ways, Blue Berry academy feels like a proper lived in area, and felt like a proper well thought out campaign.
Indigo Disk's full campaign tho? Does not feel that thought out. The ending part of the game feels rather tacked on at the end because they simply forgot about the DLCs name sake.I really can't stress enough how you finish the main plot of Blueberry academy only to be hit with a rather clunky "I BROUGHT THE INDIGO DISK LETS GO EXPLORE AREA ZERO AGAIN". Like it just feels very out of place, and while it's nice we get to explore with the main cast of characters for the DLC, I just keep forgetting about the teacher lady. Like it feels like they had something for her, but they never endear you to her; she is just there for plot reasons. Honestly, wish this game ended at the blueberry academy stuff because all the area zero revisit is nothing, and the main legendary is pointless. It's really weird to go to a hyper focused story about a legendary pokemon to one that is just there. There just isn't any finality to Indigo Disk the same way that Pokemon Scarlet has with it's Area Zero visit. I really wish we either went back to Kitakami for some closure or just left it for the final story batch of DLC. Indigo Disk has other problems, don't get me wrong, like Blue Berry quests being tedious, the forced circled map design that feels way too cluttered, but it's name sake really is the part that dampers it all.
Indigo Disk's biggest problem is just it's sense of progression and refusal of having a linear storyline. I really liked the vast majority of this game, but it's so weird that Pokemon went from far too linear to far too open world. I certainly hope this isn't a sign of things to come because I really did like Pokemon Scarlet, and I think they mostly did a good job with Indigo Disk. Pokemon DLC still manages to impress me, while I certainly don't think this DLC is quite as good as Sword and Shield, it is at least attached to the better game.If you liked Pokemon Scarlet, absolutely worth buying the DLC for more of it, warts and all.
100% I am glad they upped the difficulty for this DLC. Every battle feels like it could be a threat, and if you don't come in prepared it certainly feels you can lose it all to a gimmick or a lucky move. It's honestly been a long time since Pokemon has felt like it's kept me on my toes, and I really hope they will start giving more options for difficulty because Pokemon is honestly fun to strategize. They even managed to make the elite four for Blueberry both endearing, and remember-able with their tests, battles, and design. I can't express enough just how much I love both the returning and new characters they introduced for this game. It really helps make Blueberry academy feel like an actual place compared to the boondocks village we went to in part one. Even the areas you explore feel far more fleshed out, and have interesting biodiversity compared to the main game, let alone Teal Mask's map. Just in a lot of ways, Blue Berry academy feels like a proper lived in area, and felt like a proper well thought out campaign.
Indigo Disk's full campaign tho? Does not feel that thought out. The ending part of the game feels rather tacked on at the end because they simply forgot about the DLCs name sake.I really can't stress enough how you finish the main plot of Blueberry academy only to be hit with a rather clunky "I BROUGHT THE INDIGO DISK LETS GO EXPLORE AREA ZERO AGAIN". Like it just feels very out of place, and while it's nice we get to explore with the main cast of characters for the DLC, I just keep forgetting about the teacher lady. Like it feels like they had something for her, but they never endear you to her; she is just there for plot reasons. Honestly, wish this game ended at the blueberry academy stuff because all the area zero revisit is nothing, and the main legendary is pointless. It's really weird to go to a hyper focused story about a legendary pokemon to one that is just there. There just isn't any finality to Indigo Disk the same way that Pokemon Scarlet has with it's Area Zero visit. I really wish we either went back to Kitakami for some closure or just left it for the final story batch of DLC. Indigo Disk has other problems, don't get me wrong, like Blue Berry quests being tedious, the forced circled map design that feels way too cluttered, but it's name sake really is the part that dampers it all.
Indigo Disk's biggest problem is just it's sense of progression and refusal of having a linear storyline. I really liked the vast majority of this game, but it's so weird that Pokemon went from far too linear to far too open world. I certainly hope this isn't a sign of things to come because I really did like Pokemon Scarlet, and I think they mostly did a good job with Indigo Disk. Pokemon DLC still manages to impress me, while I certainly don't think this DLC is quite as good as Sword and Shield, it is at least attached to the better game.If you liked Pokemon Scarlet, absolutely worth buying the DLC for more of it, warts and all.