Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is considered the pinnacle of the spin-off Pokémon series, with a heart-wrenching storyline and visceral characters, making it a staple in many hearts. The memories of battling through the floors, stair after stair, looking for that shiny apple or even just the lost Voltbee in the middle of a coast? Wonderful. Don’t get me started on the story. Just how does it set itself up so well?
Making you care
Pokémon Mystery dungeons: Explores of Sky, creates a sense of anticipation right from the start with the opening lines of music framed by it’s logo, then dissolving right into a play on the main line series where instead of asking you a couple of questions you take a personality quiz, given no context as to what this will shape for you. The excitement of guessing how this will affect your player, the implication of many possibilities, all tied off with that neat little aura bow at the end? I wanted to replay that section to find out what answers lead to what Pokémon.
The questions spawned from the first in-game cutscene are put to the side, after a second cutscene shows you your partner Pokémon with the insight to their fears right off the bat, the choice to say yes with getting their treasure back feels natural, even without knowing anything but your name, The pure sadness and helplessness is such a relatable feeling, how is your partner Pokémon supposed to fight those bullies? They couldn’t enter the guild alone!
It’s so human
The challenge of finding out which Pokémon you can battle the quickest, which ones you need your partner’s help with, what moves do what, and what items you may or may not find in each randomized floor is exciting, seeing what you can play around with on each floor following a beautifully crafted soundtrack along with the art work is delightful Pokémon mystery dungeons exploders of sky makes everything feel real. It matters.
Seeing your teammate’s emotions range from fear to joy in their changing text portraits before and after the boss fight only further highlights how real they are. Hearing them talk about why this treasure matters to them changes everything. They want to dream. How could you not say yes? The introduction sets the pacing and story of the rest of the game very well, and the groundwork for quite the story to come!
Don't stop here
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