In a rare case on continuity, we're following on from the previous DLC's characters, heading to an undersea training facility just outside fan favourite region, Unova.

The music and Pokemon available are a love letter to Generation 5, but as a standalone I think the story does a great job of wrapping up the character arcs from before, despite stumbling with the teased "secret"... as it's not really that much of a secret when we saw it in all the promotional material. It's not a bad story, it just could have been a lot more.

The Blueberry Academy is a massive undersea dome home to 4 different artificially tempered environments. This leads to an interesting, dense world to travel in, though overall the map design is pretty meh, very big and open but lacking in memorable landmarks outside of a Lion King reference.

The final dungeon is easily one of the best in any Pokemon game, actually allowing you to use your ride Pokemon to explore and discover secret areas and items.

The main reason I enjoyed this DLC was the battles as they actually made this really tough. Every battle is 2 vs 2, which forces you to strategise and pick Pokemon that can co-operate. If you don't, the game will wipe the floor with you, often. But I found it so satisfying growing my team and thinking of combos, it took me back to my youth when I was still figuring all the basics out,

I had a lot of fun with this, it still runs like dog, but if you got this far, I'm sure you've accepted that - 7/10

The follow-up second DLC part is thankfully a much-improved experience from The Teal Mask in just about every way. Well, every way except performance, but I've already harped endlessly about that so best not to dwell on it too long again for this review as I have a lot to say about...everything.

I think an unsung element that this DLC provides is one that the base game had been sorely lacking: post-game content. While, yes, not having much of any post-game content in the base game and forcing you to pay money to get what was missing is pretty scummy, the amount of stuff to do with this expansion is ABSURD. Like, forget all the new Pokémon to catch, that all kind of comes with the territory (though I am delighted that my homie Rowlett and by extension, Decidueye got in): you can customize your Pokeball throwing style, the style of the club room you're in, you have a variety of new emotes to equip, Miraidon can fly around freely now instead of being restricted with that heavy glide, you can craft an absurd amount of any Pokeball you want, you have loads of rematches with nearly every important character from the main story, you have tons of Legendary Pokémon to hunt, and there’s even this hilarious sync feature which allows you to control the Pokémon you have in your possession. I don’t fully understand how it works, and I don’t care. I got to be a Dudunsparce for a little while. It’s all I ever really wanted. It’s not even just fully relegated to Blueberry Academy either: there are a lot of side missions that open up back on Paldea; whether it’s becoming a makeshift tutor for Team Star bosses or being able to access the dorm rooms of your best buddies!! Again, I don’t appreciate all this good bonus post-game content being put in the DLC of all places, but I guess I’m glad it’s here at all.

As for the main portion of the DLC itself, it was pretty enjoyable! Blueberry Academy is a much bigger area than Kitakami which is a plus. It’s also a pretty interesting locale aesthetic-wise with the whole area submerged underwater and the different biomes segmented by colorful futuristic blocks. The main gimmick here is that every battle you have with trainers or the elite 4 are double battles now. Speaking of the Elite 4, GEEZ LOUISE. I’m glad I just ended up sticking with my regular story team because these are by far the most challenging battles in the entirety of Violet. All of their Pokémon are in the low to mid 80s and they’re all a fully fleshed-out competitive team, complete with ability and moveset synergy with each other and every one of them holds a competitive-focused item like assault vest or life orb. Admittedly Kieran is still a bit of a pushover compared to everyone else but it was still a lot of fun having to THINK about my strategy during battles for a change.

As I ended up hoping, the story of Kieran and Carmine wrapped up pretty nicely, with Kieran especially getting a nice character arc. Part 1 kind of left on a sour note but Part 2 does help to tie everything back together. I still don’t think either of them is anywhere near as strong as your friend group back on Paldea, but I still ended up liking the events of the story for what they were. I also liked the new characters introduced and the Elite 4. Amarys was the weakest of the group but I still ended up liking her anyway. Going back to Area Zero was a treat as I expected and the new music that accompanies this area was sublime. I didn’t care that much about the new Tera type even if it was pretty and flashy, but the Terapagos boss fight was very cool.

But in reality, what managed to bring a huge smile to my face was the epilogue Mochi Mayhem, the side story featuring the new mythical Pokémon Pecharunt. Before I delve into my inevitable rambling, I was quite surprised to find out how lengthy this mythical event turned out to be. Previously, mythical story events would barely last over a few minutes or so, maybe consisting of one or two battles at most during it. This beefy event is over an hour long, and while it isn’t difficult per se, I was just so incredibly happy I got to hang out with my buddies again. Right when Arven asked if he could hang out at your place, and then you go over to see that Nemona and Penny tagged along anyway, everything just felt right. I went on and on about how much I adored the friend group in this game, how they all clashed yet bounced off of each other in believable ways, and how each of them formed a different connection to you for various reasons. This mythical event genuinely makes it feel like they never actually went anywhere. I especially loved how when Kieran sent a letter to my character, Arven ended up getting humorously jealous that she made a new best friend (and thankfully this jealousy doesn’t drag on and isn’t serious either way). But that’s just it though: these characters are just so well-written and are so incredibly likable. I haven’t made this big of an attachment to many other characters of this caliber in a long long time, and jumping the gun a bit but once they inevitably move on to Gen 10 and stop making content for this game, I’ll be incredibly sad.

Not JUST sad because we won’t be seeing these characters again (at least in the context of what this game has to offer), but also because it sucks that no matter how much the game has going for it, Pokémon Violet will only be remembered for what it currently is: a blatantly unfinished, buggy, disaster of a game. Every good element the game has is buried under the mountains of problems it has that still TO THIS DAY never once got addressed. It isn’t a Switch issue, and it certainly isn’t remotely in an acceptable state: it’s entirely the fault of TPC for rushing this game out to market to coincide with all the merchandise and card games and toys and everything else. Maybe someday it will get a remaster or will be patched to look and run better on the Switch 2 or whatever. I genuinely want more people to give this game another chance. Yes, it’s inexcusable that it was released in this state, but this game, problems and all has offered me one of the most unforgettable experiences I’ve ever had playing a game. I even went out of my way to fully complete the original Paldea Pokedex. Even now I made 3 more new save files on different Switch user profiles (with the same character design I made in my original save file, she’s cute lmao), to relive that same feeling I had playing again. Meeting these characters again, experiencing the story again, and becoming best friends again. I don’t know what the next generation holds, but while they may not be able to recreate lightning in a bottle with the story and characters, if they can come within even swinging distance while taking their freaking time on letting the game remain in the oven, I think I’ll be more than satisfied.

As it turns out, even the greatest treasures are full of rust.

With the final piece of DLC out and another Legends game on the horizon, I feel compelled to do a retrospective on the whole project of ScarVi alongside Indigo Disk.

Engaging with this set of games has been a little weird, because I keep kind of wondering if I'm giving the game too much slack because I love Pokemon and if I'm being a corporate shill or something. Honestly, the analysis of video games as works of art is kind of weird when you get into something that's as much of a corporate merch machine as Pokemon, because there are definitely concessions being made in service of said merch machine. The games have had the same gaps between releases since the beginning, even though the games have gotten bigger and more complicated--and they were kinda held together with duct tape and chewing gum to begin with way back in Gen 1.

On the other hand, despite all the technical issues that have marred the game for a lot of people, I still feel like there's a lot of passion in these games! The corporation is hungry for money, but man, the devs care a whole lot about the things that I, personally, care about when it comes to Pokemon. I like the vibes! I like the direction the writing has taken within the past couple gens, even with SwSh being kind of unsatisfying! I like the new Pokemon and the fun concepts they've been doing inspired by real zoology!

And I'm gonna be honest here, Indigo Disk is probably peak Pokemon endgame for me. I have my criticisms that I'll get into, but this is probably the first time I've gotten multiple Pokemon to 100 through mostly battling since I was a wee baby with too much time on my hands back in Gold. I think a lot of the Battle Frontier type stuff has been kind of a miss for me because they... don't make number go up? I like it when number go up, and Battle Frontier encourages you to have number go up to the max, but the options to make number go up are limited. Like, I guess you're just supposed to keep fighting the E4 and gym leader rematches over and over when that's an option? But I don't... particularly like that. I like a little variety.

Between Teal Mask and Indigo Disk, there's a ton of high level content that will get you there, and Indigo Disk is really fun on the gameplay end. I think it's always been kind of a shame that for a game series aimed at kids, it doesn't actually bother teaching said kids how to engage with the official big competitive content. Not here, baby! Enjoy your double battles and examples of tactics you can use! The Blueberry Elite Four are fun characters and they provide fun challenges! I actually lost multiple times to characters in a Pokemon game and had to come back with better strategies! It was truly excellent. If I have any criticism about the battle end of things, it's that I kind of wish that Drayton's challenge had been a little more in-depth, because I really liked the concept of that one. I also do wish all the gym leader rematches you unlock through the club room were double battles, but it was nice to see Geeta actually use proper singles strategy by putting Glimmora first and sticking Supreme Overlord Kingambit last instead of doing whatever the fuck she did in the main game's story.

I also really enjoyed the Terarium! It was a really fun location to explore, even if I had a very specific problem with it that I'll get into later. I'm gonna be honest, I think I mentioned in my review of the Teal Mask that I preferred Area Zero and Kitakami's smaller but more dense maps to the big open world of Paldea, and the Terarium really drives home the feeling that I'd prefer a bunch of smaller (but still reasonably large), more detailed locations over an actual open world. I don't know, it's just more fun to explore, you know? I remember grinning in delight when I found fucking Pride Rock in the Savanna Biome and there was a male Pyroar standing at the top of it. There were cool locations in Paldea, but there was a lot of empty space between the stuff I actually liked, which is a shame.

Speaking of Area Zero, I really liked the actual character work going on in the story, but one of the things I wasn't... super big on in the DLC was the actual plot. I think it's kind of let down by the legendary, honestly. There's a lot of things about Terapagos I like (it's turtles all the way down!), but it feels like... a step above a mythical Pokemon in gen 6 or 7 where mythicals felt barely relevant to the games and were basically there to advertise the yearly movie. Like, it would have been fine in those, but these games have done such a good job making me care about all the other legendaries based on the stories surrounding them and the fact that they're so packed with personality that Terapagos really can't measure up to me. The epilogue makes this particularly stark, because after you catch the turtle that's just kind of cute I guess you get all the fun, crazy stuff that goes down with Pecharunt. (Also Archaludon is eh, Hydrapple Fucking Rules and is the Best Dragon-Type, and the new Paradoxes are great. I think I like the Paradox Musketeers better as weird robots than organic beings?)

The other big problem I have is... I actually kind of like BP, but I don't like how it was implemented. I think only being able to do the quests in the Terarium kind of sucked, especially given how much stuff you unlock back in Paldea. I wanted to try and get all the League Club Room character interactions and trades, but man, it made me end up feeling kind of bored of an area I otherwise really like and I kind of gave up after I managed to hunt down all the trainers in the Terarium. If I could have gotten BP in Paldea while tracking down legendaries and buying All The Clothes, I probably could've gone the whole way.

So I think... I'm actually kind of feeling positive on the future of the gaming end of the franchise? BDSP and the technical issues in ScarVi made me pretty concerned, but between Legends Arceus being a cool, experimental entry in the franchise and ScarVi really delivering on the aspects of the franchise I care the most about, I'm feeling... optimistic? It helps that the next game is another Legends game that seems like it has the potential to do something cool and different based on the little information we know. It also helps that it's getting more time in the oven instead of, like, coming out in November and being a little raw in the middle. Here's hoping!

For some time, Pokemon has had an issue with post-game. They still haven't brought back the Battle Tower (damn you, Game Freak), and while they've done a lot of quality of life fixes like Hyper Training and Nature Mints, there has been a distinct lack of content.
Indigo Disk definitely helps to ease the pain. Blueberry Academy feels lively and full of interesting things to do, including the ability to catch nearly EVERY start Pokemon from previous generations, which is... a very big deal, especially for shiny hunters. Every trainer battle within the DLC is a double battle, which is the current competitive format in Pokemon, further allowing newcomers to sink their teeth into the competitive scene easier. It introduces a system to catch most legendaries as well, and more interactions with characters from the main game. There's even a GACHA MACHINE.
It's truly jam-packed with stuff to do, and while the story is a little longer than Teal Mask, and the map is a little bigger, there doesn't feel like there's a whole lot to do in the main story for it. The post-game however, feels good. Finally, there is longevity to my Pokemon game. It's made me play consistently again, something I haven't done for some time!
Add on top of that another fantastic legendary design, the Stellar tera type, the Synchro mechanic, and the resolution to a certain character's crisis that was set up in Teal Mask, and Indigo Disk is up there as maybe one of my favorite DLC for any video game, not just a Pokemon game. Honestly just a blast front to back, and it made me realize how much I like using my Switch again.

Uma boa Dlc q encerra a jornada dessa geração no qual eu me diverti bastante a muito tempo dessa franquia
A historia é meio boba e sem muita criatividade mas compensa com um bom mapa e bastante conteudo, tem um sistema de missoes q dão pontos q foi o q eu mais gostei e odiei ao mesmo tempo, pois sozinho tu consegue muito pouco ponto e enjoa demais ficar farmando em contrapartida as recompensas são bem legais e até mexem na gameplay
Me despeço dessa geração com um indicio q vem melhorias no próximo grande titulo da franquia.

Hearing that wild battle music based on Unova really got me good and transported me. Gameplay wise this is definitely a step up from the last DLC. The biomes were fun and so was the elite 4 plus champion of blueberry academy especially since it was double battles os it felt different enough from the base game. I think where this DLC is weak is the story. Its about Kieran's redemption but truly he is just annoying because in the last DLC he does this 180 flip of nowhere to become obnoxious and it still didn't work for me here. Especially by the end when we were going to explore Area Zero again I was just getting annoyed

I mean, it’s better than the first half?

Pros:
BB E4 battles are probably the best in the series with the switch to doubles and actually semi solid competitive teams, was actually very surprised by these

Gen 5 remix themes slap

Big Pokédex

Cons:

Game somehow runs fucking worse than ever, had to have dropped to like 5fps at multiple points

Kieran is still a little bitch

Post game content is there but all locked behind huge amounts of grinding

For a dlc with this name, there’s basically no attempt to do anything with the plot threads from SV base. The whole last Area Zero portion of this felt like they went “oh shit” at the last minute and put together the most low effort thing they could. They built the whole base game story around your box legendary, the whole first DLC story around Ogerpon, and here where it should be the most interesting it’s just “here’s a neopets turtle”. sick