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- Seen Aug 14, 2024
Name: Pokemon Hyrja & Marna
Region: Yvirnen
Pokemon Species: Up to generation 3 (will be explained further down)
Region: Yvirnen
Pokemon Species: Up to generation 3 (will be explained further down)
Idea: Story driven game that aims for an unconventional final segment, in the same vein as Pokemon Black. Hyrja is a prequel to Marna, and the two names signify the two deities of the region, one representing origin, life and progression, and the other antithetically representing ceasing, death and regression. It's a standard Pokemon adventure, but one focusing on building character bonds to actively travel with you (of your choice) along with the standard pokemon related stuff (building a party, conquering gyms, aiming for the league and the champion). The antagonist will not be apparent from the early game, instead building up into a serious threat as you go along, but starting NOT as an antagonist.
Plot: Your name is (canonically) Irmen/Irma (depends on what gender you pick). You are a soon to be adult trainer, mainly active in your hometown of Lervington to the south as well as the neighbouring city of Cerneen. Years of training under the wing of fellow trainers and childhood friends Martha and Ben (19 and 22 respectively) as well as Cerneen's professor and family friend Catherine have prepared you for a swift journey straight to the big leagues, and something to finally show to your ailing mom, withering away in lieu of a heart rending sickness exclusive to this region.
However, as your birthday goes through in times of splendor, and you start your conquest throughout Yvirnen and its gyms with your friends, there's a breakthrough discovery. The leading scientific organisation, going by the name of Aenon, come across the first documented sightings of parasitic Pokemon, able to burrow into dead or alive Pokemon alike, resurrecting the former from the dead and reanimating them, and mutating and transforming the latter into their own. Initially the situation seems harmless, as Aenon higher ups decide to call upon a quarantine of the forest that houses this phenomenon, but as time passes, it becomes more and more apparent that these parasitic entities are far more destructive than what they initially seemed. The fauna of the forest starts withering away, sinking in what starts materialising as a brownish/purplish miasma, that begins emanating through the trees and covering the entire atmosphere. The on site researchers and other personnel begin evacuating, though their efforts soon prove to be futile as the miasma wholly engulfs them, their trail disappearing from the face of the earth.
As this is taking place to the east of the region, you are in the very center, in the town of Margon, having earned all your gym badges by this time and getting ready to enter the Pokemon League. This being a region that's been sanctioning this challenge for several decades, the format has been altered to house 8 challengers of unique typings and disciplines (one being about raw attack, another about raw defense, another about damage only through passive means like stat effects, another through using offensive items etc). You're grinding your team and honing your skills as news start breaking out about "severely ill looking pokemon coming out of Vulourna Forest", along with... Trainers, following them. The sun begins to descend and give its way to nightfall through the days as you're noticing people in black robes approach venerable trainers training their Pokemon along with you for the League and corner them, only for those same people and the trainer to vanish mere minutes after. For the first time in your journey, you begin hesitating to continue, and it doesn't help matters that it's getting harder and harder to meet up with Martha and Ben. Just yesterday you'd received a call from Martha, going over her sharing similar worries with you, while Ben, ever the headstrong kind, and according to her words, preferring to remain unfazed. Yet... None of that matters at the moment.
Despite all your concerns though, you and Martha's, you three press on. Eventually ready and the first in line to challenge the League. You eventually, after many arduous battles going down to the wire, end up in the final chamber, a long staircase up to the champion's throne. Yet... you hear something amiss. Shouting. In fact, fearful shouting. What initially seemed like you barging in to an already ongoing trainer fight quickly turns into a gutwrenching, sinking feeling, as the screams turn into growls. Not being able to hold back curiosity, you and Martha scurry up the stairs, Ben staying behind to keep guard. And what greets you once you reach the top is a sight unlike anything you'd ever expect.
Heaps of parasites. Among the walls, swathes on the floor, the ceiling, crawling about frantically stained in blood. Accompanying them; 12 Pokemon, gutted from the inside out, especially across the facial area. The champion... writhing in the corner, unable to form anything besides whimpers mixed with pained growling. You are too startled to make a single move, and there Ben asks what's going on. Before you or Martha begin to form an answer, the entire place fills up with sounds of bones cracking. The once singular pained writhing from the champion turns into 2, then 3, then 9, then 14, as what looks like a trainer steps out of what would be the entrance to the Hall of Fame, along with their party of Pokemon, looking exactly like it said on the paper, "really sick". The champion's party follow suit along with them, and they all begin closing in, tumbling closer and closer, creating a harrowing cacophony of indescribable noises.
All 3 of you scram out of there, notifying the elite eight you just beat about what's following behind. Soon you all exit the League building, to be greeted by the extent of the damage. This was not just a harmless parasite. It's now led to a crisis.
Your past contacts, the friends you met on the way here, you've no clue about their whereabouts amidst this situation, let alone those you grew up with back in Lervington or Cerneen. And what's worse, you can't exit Margon, as Aenon placed it under quarantine. There's one way out of here. One way to progress. That's the forest, to the east.
This is where your ACTUAL adventure begins. This is where the actual game begins. Through using an underground network you catch wind of from the elite eight, you're gonna have to assemble a party with those you've met, along with as your long standing comrades, to use to explore the expanse of Vulourna. And as you're pushing through the miasma ridden grottos and unending death, you'll soon begin discovering that following this, Aenon held a secret side close to its chest, one nefarious and unabiding to any sense of morality. It will be that side you'll have to face, one life changing for you and everyone involved.
Just remember. You win, and you have a chance to rend the parasite. You lose, and you become the parasite. Your goal is to uncover the trail the scientists left, leading to the criminal underbelly that Aenon houses, and bringing it out of contention to clear the miasma and restore normality. And trust me, what caused this all to unravel in the first place, is something not of this world...
Gameplay: Standard Pokemon, with the exception of the elite eight using special tactics besides significant typings. After the outbreak/unveiling of the main point of the plot, the battle system changes into something akin to what happened in Cardfight Vanguard: Link Joker (for those who've seen it), in which there was this alien force called The Reverse that would corrupt vanguard decks and players alike, if they lost to someone already corrupted by it, but would clean that someone of the corruption if it were a win.
In the context of this game, if you or one of your comrades would lose a fight with a wild pokemon or trainer who's been afflicted, they would also become afflicted, and you'd have to find them (if you weren't with them at the time), neutralise them and find a reversing serum for them, or, in the case you lose, take control of someone else who's not afflicted. If everyone is afflicted, it's game over, and loading from a previous save. Sometimes people of your party will be turned as part of the plot, but only in a few key points. If you take care to not lose anyone until those points, those will be the only times you will have to face it.
What you'll be fighting is, wild pokemon (turned), trainers (turned), your own people in case they turn, evil scientists, turned scientists, and any boss major character in between. Puzzle based quests will help make things easier by cleaning up areas of the miasma but only up to the extent you can explore in before getting stopped by areas you'll have to train to be prepared for, or face a quick game over.
This state continues until the end of the game, as the existence of what causes the transformation is only completely neutralised then.
The game will be featuring turned versions of every pokemon in the game (this is why we go up to gen 3, so we only have to do this with around 400 pokemon and not 900 pokemon), as well as turned versions of every trainer, and the main cast. Plot twists will ensue, as this underbelly mentioned in the plot is one that has very loose bounds, yet not one as objectively evil as it'd seem on the surface.
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Anyway, that's all. I came up with this literally today, and I had to share it cause it wouldn't escape my head. The reason why it came to this in the first place is cause I've been into horror themes and more particularly, the undead, since I was a kid, and this has influenced my aesthetic and most of my creative endeavours. And as I was looking into pokemon rom hacks and fan games again, I noticed this kinda thing is just not really explored, besides Snakewood that is terrible, i guess Soulstones, and then Dusk, Nightfall and Dawn that I don't really consider Pokemon games as you're not really having traditional battles and stuff. Thinking up the plot and stuff came on its own, which is why it might feel run on. I don't know if i'll do anything with this at this point, I'm mainly posting it to show it in case anyone is interested in it. If it does generate interest I'll be glad to give it more thought.