Gen IV | Gen V | PL:A | OT's Notes
DATE CLEARED: 10th Feb 2022
POST-GAME CLEARED: 29th Apr 2022
CURRENT TEAM: 
+ SNEASLER
OTHERS: 
CURRENT GOALS:
Complete the Living Dex View here!
Reach perfect Pokedex entry status on all 242 Pokemon
I picked up PLA again recently, after listening to the OST and rewatching some TTar playthroughs. Though I've completed everything - except Ingo's trials, I love you Ingo but I'm not doing that shit - I've decided to torture myself by giving myself the long-term goal of perfecting every single Pokedex entry. I believe the only one I have perfected is Arceus. All others are at level 10, apart from Cherubi and Munchlax.
It also turns out I hadn't completed everything, as both Adaman and Irida want to fight Origin Forme Dialga and Palkia respectivly!
I also switched up my team - I added Froslass, Roserade, Sneasler, and Mismagius. Froslass is an Alpha, so her and her ice-type Alpha friend Glaceon have a great time bursting my eardrums every time I use them.
I went through all my pastures and released a shit load of Pokemon, before realsiing I should've kept lots of them to grind evolution for perfecting the dex! STUPID
I picked up PLA on release day, and I got the very beautiful Steelbook and small Arceus figure with it. It matched the Palkia figure I got from Shining Pearl.
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My starter was Oshawott and I chose to play as Akari. I had so much fun running around the region. The mechanics took me a while to pick up but I loved the change so much. When being chased down by a Pokemon, or approaching an Alpha, the game does such a brilliant job of making you feel in danger. I didn't enjoy the Noble battles at all but it was fun to experience something completely different!
At some point, during the mission with the Karen ancestor and the Pichu in her room, I became convinced that the game had some kind of Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney storyline going on where it was all a weird Truman Show setup. This is because behind a screen, the words along the lines of "behind here is some odd clothing" appeared. Why would there be 'odd' clothing?? Obviously I realised this was dumb very quickly.
I had avoided the maority of the trailers so I was shocked to discover Cyllene was a woman. I also hadn't seen any of the new Pokemon so this was very exciting for me. Growlithe's new forme was so cute, and I loved the Hisuian formes of the starters final evolutions. I fell in love with Sneasler and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Ingo, because it was really Ingo!.
Throughout my playthrough, I was just enthralled by all the attention to detail when it came to the plot, characters, music, and locations. It was truly such a joy to play through as a Pokemon fan, and lover of Gen IV and 5 - the references to Gen V in this game are a lot! It might not be the prettiest game in the world especially on the big screen, but it certainly has its moments. I loved crouching in places, having Aipom run around me as I watch the sun set and litening to the incredible overworld music...
Origin Forme Palkia and Dialga really impressed me too. I wouldn't have expected anything like this...this game did such a good job of making these Pokemon and Arceus really feel like legends.
I cleared the game after a couple of weeks, and went to the Temple of Sinnoh with Volo. Though I defeated his team, I was left only with Gallade to face what came next...I decided to spend the next few months grinding, finding unowns, wisps, and old verses, and completeing the Living Dex.
On the 29th April, I completed all of these tasks - you can view the living dex here - and finally cleared the post-game. Since then, I was very focussed on my Gen V games, but I always think about the characters and plot and as I mentioned before, all the links to Gen V. I really think theres so much potential for expansion here...
Also, here are some fun pictures I took with my favourite characters Ingo and Cyllene. I wish I had one with Volo!
Though I'm not much of a Pokemon battler, this game really taught me to appreciate what goes into it.
I also wanted to upload this really silly compilation video of some glitchy moments I captured during my playthrough. The Giratina ones are my favourite - I noticed in the training grounds, if Giratina is in Origin Forme and uses Shadow Force, you get pushed to the ground and you can spin around in a circle while you get up.