Donuts? Byeah.
You know. Generally when I write about games, I aim to be positive. So many game reviewers (god is that what I am now?) I find go too hard on the dunking aspect, and I'm just generally pretty sick of it. But this is a difficult stance to take when I encounter something that... I'm generally more unhappy with than I am happy. But it's a challenge I'm willing to take, and I want to make sure I don't just 100% reflect negativity. There's too much of that in life.
Now, with that preamble said: Pokémon. DLC. Clearly uh... I'm not too happy with it. It IS Pokémon, and it's DLC of a game that was enjoyable, which is why I was able to finish it and I'm still playing it; cause Pokémon baseline has a good formula and also I'm working on a living dex so I need what I can get - but it's kinda lucky that it has that.
Right, so. It's not "dogshit" or "complete garbage" or "the worst product I've ever laid eyes on". I've seen those words so much in regards to so many things recently and I have some serious fatigue. So to combat that, I share the things I like!
The story, for the most part, is fine. But I have to give them credit: I found enjoyment with some of the new character stuff, and I did quite enjoy the finale of the story/the post-game story. just real quick let me have my favorite section of these posts
It was these things that gave me joy in the story. Ansha's goal, the effect of Rogue Mega Evolution on Darkrai, tying in Hoenn's Mega Evolution back into Kalos; these were nice! Oh also, special shoutouts to Hoopa. They're just fun, but didn't really hit me in the same way Darkrai did with its short spotlight.
I also liked the new megas. Golurk and Golisopod especially, both being Pokémon I really like (and Golisopod got to be my favorite type!), but even beyond them they're just fun designs. Heatran becomes a big melty frog, Scovillain has that full on delinquent vibe, I actually understand Baxcalibur's motif now; I just think they did well.
I think the BEST thing I got from this DLC was new big fights. I really liked the Rogue Mega battles in the main game, and the ones here hit just as hard. I also really liked how Darkrai, Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza got a first, normal form phase. It felt like the next step up from Giratina in Legends Arceus, and is a design concept I hope they keep up with and expand on for future legendary boss fights.
Now.
Z-A was a grind. Fill up the meter, get your ticket, move on. Do it infinitely when you beat the game.
Now what if we had that, but we also added a system on top of it that makes you have to create an item just to enter the system, and also it's all timed? I really don't like it.
I, arguably, hate the donut system. I think it does nothing but add extra, more irritating steps, on top of gameplay that was already a grind. Having to gather berries into items that are super inconsistent with what benefits they give you, CONSTANTLY having to feed into the system, and then when you're actually in hyperspace, it's timed! You only have some limited time to do the same grindy tasks you do over and over and over again, that you might not even be able to reap all the rewards of, thus wasting the materials you put into this one mission.
Hyperspace is just, not interesting enough to be a whole $30 DLC. I think about Side Order in Splatoon 3; it gave a whole new zone, a whole new form of gameplay. Mega Dimension did not give a new zone, as the bits of Hyperspace you go into are literally chunks of Lumiose with scaffolding shifted around (though I did like the fucked up holovators I'll give them that one), with the exact same gameplay you're already working with.
Next from there, the RNG of it all. It adds a bunch of Pokémon to catch, with new mega forms like I mentioned before, but you're not even guaranteed to see them! It took me literally scumming benches to find the two megas I actively wanted to use, and I'm still working on the Pokédex by scumming those same benches and HOPING I see a guy I need. I know RNG is not anything new to Pokémon, but I really don't like this implementation of it. Drives me bonky.
The story too, even considering the parts I like of it, feels like a repetitive grind. Fill meter. Fill meter. Fill meter. Fill meter. The main game was enough of this, and you want me to do more? Brother. Even the sidequests were killing me at a certain point, cause you're just fighting the same cast of characters you've already fought several times again and again and again and again, but this time sometimes they need a bonus item to allow you to fight them. I love Z-A's cast, but this DLC really would have benefitted from more than 2 new characters (one of them is old, sure, but wording). With the amount of times I had to fight different combinations of everyone, I think I would have just felt so much more satisfied if it was a new character or a returning character. Yeah, I have to do another double battle, but I'd just be a tiny more engaged if I got to see someone return again.
The worst part about all of those fights? I didn't even get to hear the good music! They just kept using the strong trainer theme. Just give my ADHD ass literally any kind of novelty to hang onto if you're gonna throw me into the grind washing machine.
Man. I don't think a game in a while has made me like, passionately irritated about its flaws like Mega Dimension has. For $30, it should have been so much more; and I can see things that it does right that shows it COULD have been so much more. The Rogue Mega battles/the big Legendary fights were huge for me. Like, they redid Sky Pillar and Groudon/Kyogre's caves. That's so cool. They did Newmoon/Fullmoon Island! That's really cool! If I got to look at more interesting locales, it would have made the quite honestly terrible grind more bearable.
But, unfortunately, like I said, Pokémon has a perfect baseline formula, and my brain has latched onto it. The DLC is giving me mythicals and other guys I don't have access to, and it DOES technically have more of a catching Pokémon focus which IS what I like, so it has enough legs to stand on, mechanically.
I think if you're someone like me, it's not a complete waste of money. But if you're not like, latched to Pokémon like I am, or if you don't have a stake in the greater experience of the collecting of the series, it's not worth the money. The story isn't THAT good. There's not a bunch of amazing new songs (cause they keep reusing old ones (I did like Ansha's theme with Diantha's motif and the two final Mega battles)). It's not this drastic different take on Z-A's gameplay. It's just more of the same, and more bothersome.
4/10. Further grind from the base game, with extra irritating systems on top of it, and not enough novelty to cover for its shortcomings.