Rainbow Chara X
Impossible to gauge!
- 129
- Posts
- 8
- Years
- Shiny Hunting in Sinnoh
- Seen Apr 25, 2024
The beast still lives?! How can this be?
Pokemon Dark Rising: Order Destroyed is an interquel between Dark Rising 2 and 3. This game is supposed to deal with the aftermath of 2's ending, although I intend to stop making LPs of the Dark Rising games after Order Destroyed. No Dark Rising 3, so I will consider what happens here to be the series finale.
Since I have such a distaste towards this series and how its plots are handled, I may as well spoil it for people who just stumbled into this without context:
Basically, you fought some evil god called Darugis in the first two games and win thanks to Arceus's help... Only to be Shyamalan'd at the end because it turns out, oh no, Arceus was really HOOPA!! (Ugh.
You die, he rises to power and wins. Wonderful story, ain't it?
For those of you who have been following the let's plays, this takes place after the bad ending, aka. Chapter 14-2. It doesn't help that from what I've read on the Dark Rising weebly page for this game (where she hosts the series now), Order Destroyed is supposed to be a "survival" game...
Let's dive into Hell for the third and final time, shall we?
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #1 - Post Mortem[/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/font]
Spoiler:
Pikachu is a-okay, although I would have been surprised if the new base messed him up.
We open up with some disembodied voices.
Boy's voice: "He looks normal... He's got a Pokemon!"
Girl's voice: "Be careful, bro."
I don't know why that of all things made me giggle like a madman. Pokeball is the best character?
"Why?"
I had to snap the screenshot like this because it auto-scrolls for some reason. But... huh.
Girl's voice: "Return it, please. It might even attack us!"
Boy's voice: "Fine. I'm gonna keep it just in case."
[Mega Charizard is returned to their Pokeball]
Girl's voice: "Yellow hair, blue jacket... hmmm."
Oh shit, is that who I think it is?
Also, wow! They actually managed to remove picking a gender. It's ultimately limiting in hindsight but I'm impressed because this is some of the most elaborate coding DRG and her crew have managed to pull off yet.
... I'm terrified.
This guy is supposed to be the rival from Dark Rising 1 and 2. This is what I call him and personally, I'm actually ecstatic to play as him. He'll finally have his time to shine after being shoved aside for two games.
Boy's voice: "He's got a photo with someone. 'Best Friends'. I wonder what's his best friend's name?"
I know the sprite is Gary, but this is supposed to be... well, your player character from the other two games. I feel so bad for the protagonist of Dark Rising, honestly - they get stringed along to fight some overpowered devil wannabe and get killed off for their troubles.
It was so bad I had to make my own ending where they live... but unfortunately, this is the timeline where they're six feet under, so oh well.
Boy's voice: "Let's back up!"
[Noah begins to wake up]
This is gonna be fun, isn't it?
Gee, I would have never been able to guess. Thank you, game.
[Password]
I'll admit, the custom tilesets look very nice... but what the hell is going on here?
Stepping on this spot in particular activates the exclamation mark... but you can keep bringing it up every time you step on it.
Whoops.
Oh no, a little girl is dead!
We also turn her body towards us simply by talking. It's a feature.
"Them"? Oh no, I've seen too many zombie movies to know where this is going.
"I don't want you to get hurt!"
Green girl: "Um... okay."
Green boy: "Ready, Noibat?! Let's teach this guy a lesson!"
Oh, Noah.
Green girl: "He spoke!"
Wait, so they thought Noah was one of "Them" even though he has normal human skin? These kids have to have been fighting for a while now to stay alive, so... what's the deal?
Green boy: "I'm Zyro. This is Zyree. You seem alright... Come inside, but don't try anything fishy, got it? Things can get ugly for you real quick."
Look out, we got a badass over here.
Them leaving cleared up the corpse behind us too... Did she disintegrate or something?
And to think I was going to finally compliment this game for improving the graphics! Good fuckin god, what happened? I don't care if this is on purpose, that's just ugly. (It's also a blatant recycle of the torn apart room from the original Firered...)
But hey, there's a Pokeball and a Pokedex free of charge.
... Ah. Believe it or not, they mean it when they say it's damaged. I'll show how in just a sec.
Meanwhile, the Pokemon IS A CHARIZARD.
They finally figured to give us a mega of our own! They're the Y version of Charizard, too...
Good shit.
Oh yes, about the Pokedex. I don't know what happened, but if you try to use it...
It completely soft-locks the game. You can't exit out, so you're stuck here.
What the hell happened? Even Dark Rising 1 didn't have that problem. This also has to be terrifying in-universe because all Noah does is check the Pokedex and suddenly he turns into a vegetable.
"Me and my brother was hiding in this house when we saw you falling from the sky. We thought you were one of those Fairy Pokemon. Heh..."
Wait, Noah fell from the sky?
I couldn't resist.
... Fairy Pokemon, though? Oh this is bound to be good.
Zyree: "We was only able to find your Pokedex and one of your Pokemon... We saw other Pokeballs fall with you, but we couldn't find them..."
Son of a bitch. It would have been amazing to start off with a full team of ubers, but nooo.
Zyro: "You have no idea, do you?"
I don't quite like your tone.
Zyro: "Have you been living under a Geodude for the last few hours?"
Boy, you better watch your mouth before I teach you some manners.
Anyway... Wait, it's only been a few hours since the end of Dark Rising 2? That's not right.
... Nah.
"I think he has amnesia."
This is one of those stories now, isn't it?
Zyro: "Alright, listen up because we need to move fast. The chaos started a few hours ago. Something happened to the world. It's as if all the bad suddenly vanished. Me and Zyree were still at our home in Eden City when 'it' happened."
Oh hey, it's the two kids from the first gym town in Dark Rising 2. I think, anyway. I just remember the girl making a Spearow noise. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Zyro: "Out of nowhere, everything felt different. The world became unstable. Things were appearing where they shouldn't be. Islands, cities, split in half as if time and space was being controlled by an unknown force. People who were thought to be dead began appearing and attacking people and Pokemon for no reason at all. An outbreak..."
So... Dark Rising Girl didn't want to stop at just making a reference to Snakewood... but she straight up made it happen again IN HER OWN GODDAMN SERIES.
What am I playing and how far down the rabbit hole am I?!
It gets better, by the way. These kids? Their dad is supposed to be none other than Zygarde.
You remember the woman from Dark Rising 2 that hid herself away from the Arctic Mirage? She got so desperate for some action that she went out and screwed the Earth's protector... who is also a serpentine land dragon.
This is canon to the lore of Dark Rising itself, by the way. I wish - I wish I was making this up.
Zyro says his father died trying to protect him and his sister. Keep in mind if their dad is Zygarde and I'm not misremembering something, that's extra insulting.
They also go on to say that the zombies are appearing everywhere, so that's actually kind of horrifying.
They go on to mention how the Fairy type was restored upon Darugis's defeat. Noah himself even notes that this makes no sense, so he's a man after my own heart.
The Fairy type works like how it does in the real games - Dragons can't do jack, so Ignell's gonna have to stick to Fire moves. It also has a working physical/special split like in Dark Rising 2, so they at least improve the gameplay with the bases they chose.
[Loud groaning is heard from outside]
Zyro: "Dammit, they found us! You, we need to get your other Pokemon back. I saw another Pokeball of yours fall not too far from here. There's no time to waste!"
They're off, ladies and gentlemen. Unfortunately, this is the other big game breaking glitch - they don't... really stop you from leaving even if you didn't grab the Pokeball on the table.
I know, common sense, but there's seriously nothing stopping you from just going into battle with no Pokemon. Good game design is hard.
[Stage 1-1]
We might as well bring the Splatterhouse music in if we're going back into zombie territory.
To emphasize the "survival" aspect of the game, all of the items balls are replaced with entire bags. That's fine, I guess.
"-when a group of 'Them' tried to attack us. I think he's trapped inside of the house over there. If your Pokemon is low on health, try seeing if the Pokemon Center is safe."
Good idea. I like Zyree more than her prick of a brother if I'm going to be frank with you.
Ironic, considering we're taking it for ourselves.
Okay, you wanna know how this is a trap? Real Pokemon Centers have red roofs.
"... Nurse Joy jumps out!"
Ah, jeez.
It really is Snakewood all over again.
Christ. It doesn't help that the recolors are being done by the mistress of "no shading" this time around. Noah's backsprite looks.. alright, I guess. It could be a lot better, though.
Zombie Nurse Joy throws out... a Spritzee? I'm sorry if you expected to see zombified Pokemon in this game, but that'd require a lot more effort/imagination than I think the creators can stomach.
Ignell's Mega-evolved backsprite looks rad, though... although I'm surprised we're starting at level 20. It's more interesting that way, I suppose.
She goes down with one Wing Attack because she was a putz.
Good reaction. Can't imagine if the rest of the horde is stuck inside there. That'd be wacky.
Whatever. I'm hardened at this point - I'm practically the ultimate zombie survivor after what happened in both Dark Risings and Snakewood.
I do like how they spread the Potions around here to prep you up for the road ahead.
I hate to say it more than once, but she's dead, mate.
We also get yet another potion for our troubles. I'm starting to get worried. Every time DRG does this, something bad happens.
Oh yes, here are our moves and a random Bidoof. Roost is a good option in case we ever run out of healing items, but that's not all.
They get rid of Drought for some reason and replace it with... Tough Claws?? I'm impressed they included post Gen 3 abilities, but I think that's more of the base than anything Dark Rising Girl and her team did.
You are also unable to check your Pokemon's statuses outside of battle for some reason. You just plain can't access the "Pokemon" tab on the menu. It's asinine, but alright whatever I'm used to it at this point.
That is our fourth Potion in the span of one chapter.
You can also find a Paralyze Heal somewhere around here - I urge you to grab it because I don't think we'll be going to a Pokemart any time soon.
[The Gatehouse]
The second zombie we face and it's against a blue janitor man. If you let your guard down against this guy, there will be hell to pay.
His first Pokemon is a Dunsparce that goes down in two swipes but has the audacity to use Spite (PP reduction) on me. Given how we won't be seeing any real Pokemon Centers in a while, that's actually really devious.
His second Pokemon is a Stunfisk. I was messing around a bit to show off Roost...
Then I get zapped for it because I'm a dumbass. Oh, and to add insult to injury...
We're off to an amazing start.
His final Pokemon is a Klefki. Pretty clever given that he's a janitor, but... whatever.
I've never known Klefki to be an attacker (outside of me using Play Rough in Showdown), but spikes when there's only one Pokemon on our team? That's just... begging to be scorched to death.
Fun fact: Incinerate kills Klefki in one hit despite it raining. Mega Charizard Y is dangerous, man.
I like it.
It would have been better if they said "a crooked smile" instead.
(Oh come on, do I always have to get an oversaturated shot? I swear, it's every Pokemon game I play.)
"The man's blue face begins to chip off piece by piece, revealing dark skin."
O-oh.
[The man's body vanishes in a puddle of liquid and evaporates in the air.]
Was turning into dust too mainstream?
[The man's sprite disappears]
That was... a thing.
Oh hey, there's finally some not-dead people! Let's see what they have.
"It was my son's most trusted Pokemon. I think you'll need it."
oooooh
For those of you who don't know/remember, Umbra was an Absol I caught in Snakewood. Given how this is pretty much Snakewood 2.0 but in Dark Rising, I couldn't help but bring him back.
The old guy says Absol wants to seek revenge for their fallen trainer, but I don't think Umbra actually cares.
He does mention that the Absol learned a new move, aka. Play Rough. I can see that being handy due to how buff Mega Absol is.
This woman tries to sell us a Pokemon on her deathbed and she outright admits that she wants to die rich. Oh well, let's humor her.
Oooh, and it's a Fairy type no less! Nice.
I was kind of disappointed when I learned Carbink doesn't evolve into Diancie in this. It's totally something DRG would do, but alas.
This lady knows what her life goals are.
"Don't buy it!"
Too late, dude. Plus I need more firepower than ever due to how they're taking away my options.
("Rest in peace, I'll figure this out...")
This is the son they were talking about, by the way. I'm sorry, but your Absol's mine now.
Red-cap girl: "Katherine. He's dead, just like countless others in the last few hours."
What happened to the writing as it went on? DRG was terrified of even implying V was dead in the first game and now she goes into full genocide mode.
It's like the Akame Ga Kill of Pokemon but with less gore. (Not a compliment, by the way...)
I know some zombie apocalypses spread fast, but this is ridiculous.
Katherine: "It is. The apocalypse is upon us. Tell me exactly how much you know about everything that's going on."
"But the Pokemon are suffering just as much as the humans are. The Trainer's Curse..."
Oh jeez. Basically, the Trainer's Curse activates when you fight an undead trainer and lose. You and your Pokemon get zombified and the corpse next to us was one of the victims.
The only reason his Absol's okay is because he purposefully didn't use them... but really? You could have made zombie Pokemon sprites of your own for this and you blew it.
Katherine: "Impossible. Pokemon can no longer be caught inside Pokeballs. Can't you see? Someone or something has changed the rules of life in general."
I can accept losing permanently and having to start over from my last save, but you cannot force me to not be able to catch my own Pokemon.
You can't do that, Dark Rising. In fact, the first real chance I get, I'm breaking your rules.
Anyway, that's the end of the chapter! Next time on Order Destroyed, we storm the undead-laden wasteland! See you then.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team setup:
A
