Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Difference between revisions

''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon'' as a whole is notable from the main series for two reasons, one being that it's the first entries in the entire Pokémon franchise to place special emphasis on [[Character Development]] and a compelling [[Story Arc]] (as opposed to the series's usual quest [[To Be a Master]] and to [[Gotta Catch Them All|catch 'em all]]), typically involving a human who [[Fish Out of Temporal Water|awakens in the Pokémon's world]] to discover that they've somehow been transformed into a Pokémon themselves. They become best friends with another Pokémon, form an adventure team, and go on a [[Quest for Identity]] over the course of many adventures, as clues about their [[Mysterious Past]] reveal that their ultimate destiny is nothing less than [[Saving the World]] from an imminent destruction.

 

 

The gameplay is what you would expect from a [[Roguelike]], except with battle mechanics loosely resembling those of the main Pokémon series: All 400-plus individual species (which you can "recruit" to become members of your team), all [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|17 elemental types]], moves, abilities, and [[Standard Status Effects]] from the main series show up in a manner better suited to the different nature of gameplay. The Pokémon themselves are represented faithfully with 8-directional walking and attacking sprites and dialogue portraits (an impressive feat in and of itself!).

* [[Ambidextrous Sprite]]: Averted; Pokémon with asymmetrical designs have different sprites for all eight directions.

* [[The Anime of the Game]]: In the form of a few one-off specials - ''Go-Getters out of the Gate!'', ''Explorers of Time and Darkness'', and ''Explorers of Sky: Beyond Time and Darkness''.

** On the other hand, if you stay on a floor for too long (to fight the never-ending supply of Pokémon), an unseen force will kick you out of the dungeon, counting as a loss.

* [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]: Four, sometimes less depending on exactly who's on the active team.

* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: And how!

* [[Brutal Bonus Level]]: A surprisingly high number of them for the games' length.

** In ''Red/Blue'', there is at least one point where the player's only options are (literally) [[Visible Silence]].

** Near the end of ''Explorers of Sky'', while trying to explain that something feels wrong about the mysterious dreams, you're given a choice between "Something seems strange..." and "Something seems weird..."

** In ''Sky'', the penalty was lessened to ''half'' of your money on hand, although losing half of your items still applies.

* [[Contractual Boss Immunity]]: Orb items explicitly cannot be used in boss battles due to "a strange power", though Seeds and [[Standard Status Effects]] still generally can.

* [[Crap Saccharine World]]: Sure the world looks pretty and colorful but what about the natural disasters/distortions time that are [[Hate Plague|turning mons against each other]] or what about {{spoiler|the embodiment of nightmares who puts children into everlasting nightmares for his own amusement and is attempting to turn the world into a world of darkness?}}

* [[Critical Existence Failure]]: The end of both ''Red/Blue'' and ''Explorers''.

* [[Escort Mission]]: A frequent form other missions can take, not helped in any way by the client's [[Glass Cannon|low level]] or the inability to give them tactical commands in case they get separated.

* [[Fake Difficulty]]: In the first game, after a certain point the enemies in the dungeons just won't be able to damage your characters enough (since you can raise your stats with gummies very fast), so the game fills the dungeons with traps and present enemies that instead of going for direct damage, will try to use OHKO moves or poison you so you'll have to rush to the stairs.

* [[Fantasy World Map]]

* [[Fire-Breathing Diner]]: Blast Seeds, if eaten. They can alternatively be thrown, causing them to explode on impact.

* [[Guide Dang It]]: 99% of the items are found randomly in the dungeons, so it's kinda hard to figure out where you can get what as the item might just not spawn whatsoever. For instance, a certain evolutionary item is found only in a certain dungeon, and ONLY in a Kecleon Shop, wich might or might not appear in the dungeon. And even then, the Kecleon Shop may not have the item.

** The games' introductory quiz assigns the player a specific starter based on whichever personality type it declares as a result. If you want your player to be a ''specific'' Pokémon, the fastest way is to consult a guide for how each question affects your quiz results, and pick answers accordingly. (On the other hand, you can pick your partner's species directly.)

* [[Hate Plague]]: According to the characters it is the natural disasters/distortions in time that are turning mons hostile.

* [[Heal Thyself]]: Oran Berries, available from the start of the game, heal the user by 100 HP, despite healing by only 10 HP in the main series. Or'''e'''n Berries, on the other hand, cause you to [[Poison Mushroom|lose 10 HP]].

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: In '''Time/Darkness/Sky'', the main plot is to {{spoiler|find the time gears before the [[Bad Future]] arrives and the world is put into hell}}. In ''Adventure Squad'', the main plot is finding some cookies in a dungeon so your town will stop fighting over a piece of chocolate.

* [[The Load]]: Almost any Pokémon in an escort mission. They're typically underleveled (escorts in ''Rescue Team'' especially are always Level 1, even if they want to explore a high-level dungeon), with bad stats and moves, suicidally aggressive AI, and won't hesitate to waste every single one of your Reviver Seeds if given the chance. It's probably the number one reason many players AVOID escort missions entirely.

* [[Made of Iron]]: Aside from the [[Bloodless Carnage]], every single character seems capable of [[Taking the Bullet]] with little more than short-term unconsciousness as a result.

* [[Marathon Level]]: The 50- and 99- floor dungeons.

* [[Species Surname]]: Most NPCs are named after their respective Pokémon species (only the player and partner, plus recruited Mons, are assigned actual names).

* [[Standard Status Effects]]: In addition to the ones from the main series (poison, burn, paralysis, sleep, freeze, confusion, etc.), there is also "fear" (Pokémon flees battle), "petrify" (full paralysis until struck by an enemy attack), "slow", "cringe" (lose one turn), and so on.

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: Rumored about Kecleon, one of the merchants: "He wouldn't get free items in dungeons and sell them at a higher price..."

* [[Suspicious Videogame Generosity]]: If you see more than one or two items in the same room, it's likely to be either a Kecleon Shop (good) or a Monster House (very bad).