#also thts supposed to be a mirror and the reflection is supposed to be distorted but. it just looks like he starting punching the wall 😭

[bloodswag]

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[takemybodynotmysoul]

plotttttt

You and Berry go to the lake in order to try to catch the legendary Pokémon. You meet Prof. and Dawn, and just like in Diamond, they leave their case.

Then, Cyrus appears out of there. Saves you from some wild Pokémon and choose a starter. His attire his much more science-like, and the team is not called Team Galactic, but Galaxy Corporation. 

Then, we get a cutscene of going back to your house to tell your mother about what happened, and Giratina is seen on the reflection on the lake. 

You get to Sandgem Town, and notify Dawn/Lucas and Rowan about everything. You get the starter you received, and then get to name it

Side note: Rowan has been tweaked slightly, and he is written as a much more grumpy character, and Dawn/Lucas is his grandchild, who is unsure about what they want to with their lives. They will be your secondary rival.

By the way, there are three Pokédex entries for each Pokémon in The New Pokémon Platinum. You will be able to unlock them if you catch a certain amount of Pokémon, and for the first time in the series, completing the Pokédex has actual consequences. As you complete it, you will find brand new Pokémon habitats in both Snadgem and Twinleaf town, that the Professor was able to construct thanks to the data you collected.

So, you start your journey. By the way, THERE IS NO MANDATORY CATCHING TUTORIAL. A slide will pop on the screen, and if you are interested in the catching tutorial, it will indicate you to talk to Lucas/Dawn.

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There are no changes in the camera angle when encountering important characters, only normal angle (from behind) and full-on cutscenes.

In Jubilife City, you will be acquainted with Looker. It’s not as tedious as the originals, the dialogue is quick and you are only warned of shady people. You are given the VS. Recorder by Dawn, and then you can have your battle with Barry by the school. The clown-clock situation is completely optional, and will fuction by popping on the right side of the screen.

On the route on your way to Orebough City, you will find a static Shroomish that is there to start the Mew event that will be distributed in the game’s release.

Once upon arrival, a kid will point to the gym, but not force you to get there. You are still supposed to find Roark by the mine, and once you get there you will see that it has been expanded. After getting the badge, the new ways TM’s work will be explained: one needs a rock type Pokémon that knows a rock type move to break down the boulders, and once you break them, they will STAY broken.

After getting the badge, you will be explained (by Dawn/Lucas, after a battle) how the side-missions go. They are little missions you can take part in, and after completing them, you will either be given an Egg of a Pokémon that cannot be found in the wild, or that are from another region. There are, at the very least, five of them to do in every town. They are not big, but they will 100% expand on the region and offer some extra events with the Galactic corporation.

When leaving Jubilife to get to Eterna City, there is an event with some scientists like from the GC (Galaxy Corporation) get confronted because they are exploiting a Magnemite on the street. This event helps begin to explain how they work, much more differently than they did in the OG’s.

Basically, they are a scientific corporation that works in the region and has, overall, a pretty bad reputation: they tend to overwork their employees, as well as receive complaints because they bother the wild Pokémon. Cyrus is their leader, and his fascination with Giratina and the others is tweaked to seem much more believable and much less end-of-the-world type of ordeal. 

Giratina senses Cyrus is one fascinated with Myth, and tries too hard to find out the truth behind everything. His passion for history is borderline insane, and he has, like previously mentioned, a pretty nasty reputation. He will put anything at risk if it means getting the data he needs, his research is more important to him than anything else.

Giratina, as we all know, was banished to the DW by Arceus, and it begins to sense that Cyrus is its way out. What better way to get out of the DW than have a clearly unstable man try to break you out of it? Therefore, it starts to show itself on mirrors or reflective surfaces, which greatly affects Cyrus’ mental health, making him believe he is either insane or chosen.

His ultimate goal is to get the legendaries, Palkia and Dialga, to open the world and let him be the one to explore the Distorsion World. So, he must find a way to get the Red Chain. Therefore, he starts to hunt the Lake Trio.

He is, however, not written to be completely insane. He is manipulated by the brand new antagonist of the game (inspired by the anime) Hunter J. She’s a merciless hunter that sells Pokémon to an association that hides in the Battle Frontier. In the encounters with officer Jenny, she’ll mention how they have been suspecting her for a while, but her status as a Frontier Brain is too powerful, plus, they do not have any substantial leads.

She is aware of how twisted Cyrus’ plans are, and she is the one to push him over the edge:

After you save the old man’s Clefairy from the Eterna building, she will convince Cyrus that the only way to get what he wants is to go after it. From that moment on, the GC work together with her and they start to become more of a criminal organization, as they are escorted out of their numerous headquarters, but not arrested.

Obviously, J isn’t stupid, she’s just using Cyrus to find legendary Pokémon and then sell them. She is far mroe antagonistic, and meets her demise at the DW, when she her trusty Salamance gets tired of her and lets her falls into the deep end.

She is the one to move the plot along, alongside the commanders. She is the one to set off bombs on two of the lakes, and you fight her several times.

Some important information that will be expande upon later on is tht, after Gardenia’s badge, you can go anywhere you want to in Sinnoh except for Canalave City and Snowpoint (including the brand new cities of Alamos, Hillwater, Greenstation and Senders Town). The only roadblocks are ones you can get rid of with TM’s no ‘YOU CAN’T PASS’ nonsense. The only one that is kind of like that is, actually, not annoying at all. You are unable to get to Celestic Town before badge number 6 so, after you do, to make sure that you do not skip the event with Cynthia’s grandmother, they add Whirlpools before Canalave. To get the ‘TM’ you must deliver the Charm to her.

How it works:

REGARDING GYMS

They are scaled, and depending on which one you decid to tackle first, the leader will ahve one or other Pokémon at certain levels. Also, you are obligated to use only as many Pokémon as the Gym leader uses. This is not an issue, because after the fourth badge, they all get 6 Pokémon.

Volkner is now no longer the last gym leader, that honor is Candace’s. He is instead, the sixth. After defeating Fantina, Wake, and Maylene at the order you please, you will be able to use STRENGHT. This will let you go on a little extra quest where you have to find Volker (he’s at the Jilted Park). After defeating him, you finally get the ability to Surf, and can go to the expanded Canalave City. After that, you will be given the ability to Waterfall, and be able to go on your Snowpoint journey.  

REGARDING PLOT

You will have some optional encounters with the (now fugitives) GC, and they will be on some of the routes between Alamos City, Hearthome Parish, and Veilstone (there is also a small event here), and have to be driven off because they are abusing the wild Pokémon.

However, after you finally get the 5th badge, the explosion on the Great Marsh goes off. You fight Junter J, and she flies away. Then, can go on to your next badge.

After defeating Volkner, there is an issue with them violating some rules regarding the energy of the city, but the next big event is after you get your seventh badge. The explosions on all of the three lakes go off. Instead of being sent there to fix it (insanity), Rowan simply encourages you because the cities nearby are in need of volunteers to help them with the damage. When you get to Valor and Verity, the reason you fight the grunts and commanders is because you catch them trying to escape. Then, you are still encouraged to go to Snowpoint because Lake Acuity’s wildlife has been threatened by the bomb, and they need help from as many trainers as they can get.

After getting there and getting your eight gym badge, you are able to access the Lily of the Vally conference, and go to the Lake to give help. There you find out that ANOTHER bomb was just inmediatly set off, and that they now have, succesfully, caught the guardians.

You get to infiltrate the Veilstone HQ next. There, you find that they have turned it into some sort of nightmarish base, and they are keeping the guardians. Berry actually goes alongside you here, as it benefits his story arc, which I will touch on later. After busting their operation, they manage to get away thanks to Hunter J, and go off to Moun Coronet. 

Then, Cynthia reveals (and Palmer of all trainers) join and send a message to the region, encouraging all of the trainers to head to Mount Coronet in order to fight Cyrus. Once again, there is no end-of-the-world nonsense, she just encourages trainers to help the Lake Trio, some legendary Pokémon that have helped humans and trainers since the beggining of humanity. It’s much more engaging this way, and MUCH less preachy.

On your way up the mountain, you run into some of the stat trainers you have been meeting before, and it is quite moving to see how everybody is trying to help the Lake Trio.

Once you get up, after fighting a 12 on 12 battle with Mars and Jupiter, and Cyrus uses The Lake Trio, Dialga and Palkia to open the portal, Giratina swallows you, Cynthia, Hunter J and Cyrus into the Distortion World. 

There (it’s all in a fish-eye camera, very much atmospheric), you solve the puzzles and get to fight Cyrus who, after some dialogue with Cynthia and J, gets a redemption.

After J’s falling, you fight Giratina (are unable to catch it yet though) to let you all out of there. Once you emerge at the Sendoff Spring, you get the conclusion with the last Giratina-reflection-sighting in the fourth lake, but instead of menacingly looking at Cyrus, it looks at you.

Then, you get to Lily of the Valley island, go through Treebove Path, and fight in the Lily of the Valley conference. You fight the stat trainers, and Lucas/Dawn in the finale, and are finally able to go through the Victory Road and challenge the League.

After the Barry fight and the Elite 4, you fight Cynthia by the ocean. After you win, the credits roll. Overall, with the expanded routes, brand new locations, revamped plot, and new rivals, the story is the most complete of any of the games, and is, without a dubt, the longest main campaign of the Pokémon games. Will continue with the side-missions and non-Calaxy plot, and post-game later.