I already know that people will complain about how Arceus is pronounced regardless of which pronunciation I go with. Therefore, I have elected to use ALL of them. That's this Cynthia-Volo duology complete. Now to go and think about what game / topic's design element to explore next. Feel free to leave suggestions if you want.
Technically both are correct. In japanese it's pronounsed Aruseusu so it should be primary way to pronounce it, but english dub pronounce it differently which still is equally correct
@@joonas394 It's most likely because they want to avoid phonetic similarities to "arse" in voice-acted material, though I tend to just say it like "Arsius" anyway.
@@topazlight1586Because the name can come from several origins, like Arceus can come from Arch, Arkhé, Deus, Zeus, Archeus and Chaos. Because in japanese R and L are basically same, the "Ar" can come from "Arufa" meanin Alpha.
Since you seem to be going through a lot of Pokemon's most memorable boss fights recently, I'd be curious to hear what you think about Ultra Necrozma. Seeing as it's a 1v6 fight, it definitely has a different vibe from the challenging trainer battles of the series.
The way Cynthia basically Pavlov Dog'd an entire generation of Pokemon trainers to feel dread at the sheer sound of a piano speaks volumes about her position on the community's zeitgeist
@@GameGodZEROodd that you think "I beat it as a kid" means the team isn't anything special. a good deal of people beat her and recognize her leading with an (at the time) pokemon with no weakness you'd otherwise have never seen without doing wireless communication is a wild way to start off her highly offensive team. every single pokemon she has can kill if you make a mistake, and I'm confident you made at least one mistake on that fight. Unless you're talking about people not knowing about revive spam, then maybe you have a point
Imagine pulling a Yugioh Abridged reference. Player: "Wait a minute, did you just technically summon 8 Pokemon in one Battle?" Volo: "Yeah, so?" Player: "That's against the rules, isn't it?" Volo: "Screw the rules! I have Satan!"
What's funny is I didn't just have random Pokemon on my party, I treated it like any other Pokemon game and had my party of my best Pokemon... Even still, Volo WRECKED me three times over.
Same goes for me, except I got spoiled. Though I was always dividing my teams in "Pokédex Grind" and "Fight me, if you dare". I still got pretty close to losing, though.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Giratina’s Shadow Force after it transformed into its Origin form. Instead of charging at you from a crack in space-time, Giratina literally *tears open a portal* to get at you. Sure, the increased evasion caused me to wipe the following turn, but I didn’t mind. Losing never felt so cool.
I love the way Origin Giratina uses its wings to rip the portal open. That's far more terrifying than Altered Giratina's technique of simply smashing through. Altered Giratina is a hulking brute, powerful but lacking in finesse. Origin Giratina is lethally efficient and uses every part of its body as a weapon. Giratina's just playing with you at first but as soon as it transforms, it stops messing around and has every intention of ripping you and your unfortunate Pokemon to shreds.
The fact that Volo feels like he was intentionally designed to wipe the floor with a player who doesn't know what's coming leaves me even more baffled that nothing special happens when you do lose. Like you lose to him and he just stands there waiting for you to come back (even though in-universe there's literally zero reason to come back now that you know the truth). I feel like they should've treated his battle as if it was an unwinnable one with the assumption that most players won't beat him first try, and had him successfully steal the plates from you just like he said he would.
Honestly, that would work since Arceus doesn't even let you meet it anyway until you have met every single Pokémon, so it seems like just owning the Plates isn't enough. (Although perhaps Giratina could use its powers to overcome that restriction) Having 2 possible story progression options would have made that sequence even more unique and make 1st try blind victories feel valuable.
Nothing happens cuz it essentially just resets time to right before the battle. the devs are simply saving you the trouble of restarting and sitting through a cutscene
@@morphstarchangeling8024 I wish stealing the plates was not only canon but would trigger some kind of extra section. It could give us some kind of countdown to reach Volo before he reaches Arceus (bonus point if in doing so the world starts to shatter around us).
When I first battled Volo the Togepi reminded me of my beloved friend that Cynthia gave me, so I was expecting him to gift the player a rare pokemon later in the game or have a fun sidequest, maybe an optional fight. I was NOT expecting him to be an edgelord that wanted to fight God since childhood
Yea like in a way it was right in your face togepi is literally the exact opposite typing of garchomp but because she has one and gives you one it’s not expected instantly
If it helps, this isn't really your "fault". The game is designed to incentivize and reward you for carrying around 6 random Pokemon to complete the Dex faster. So many players spend the whole game with constantly changing teams of random Pokemon instead of building a conventional team like in the other main series games
Honestly, if I had to pick an unevolved mon to have a team of six of, Shellos would be pretty high on the list. The ROM hack Radical Red gives Dialga a Primal form and puts it in Hardcore Mode Lance's party (which, after playing PMD2, seems *very* reckless of him) running a stupidly bulky set, and yet in one challenge run, I had a Shellos PP-stall it down.
I always said “IDK how, but this guy will betray me” when I first saw him. I also called him being a Cynthia type…HOWEVER…Giratina caught me WAY off guard. Origin mode: *cries*. That was my “OH SHIT” moment. Volo being bad? Nah. Volo being Cynthia? Ob-vi-ous. Giratina? *John Cena Theme* Origin Mode: GIRATINA WITH A STEE CHAIR!
I didn't really get suspicious of him until the post game, but yeah, Volo being a cynthia-esque opponent I guessed, but Giratina showing up at the end of the fight completely caught me off guard and wrecked me.
I didn't initially make the Volo = Cynthia connection, to me it rang a bell but I couldn't put my finger on it at the time. I tried to make connections with his name, like with the other familiar faces, but nada. But I also thought he was kinda sus from the start. In a way, a lot of people who actively seek out battle in a world/era where hardly anyone even trusts Pokemon to be reliable and safe, that screamed sus so much. And it's not too uncommon for someone to help the player character along with a goal or progress only for them to try and reap the rewards.
LOL I found him a little sussy from the beginning but I honestly never really thought he would do exactly what he did, when he did it. It was pretty epic at the time. Anyways, I have not beaten that guy yet still so uh, I need to work on my Legends Arceus team now
My first completion of the game had me questioning why the game ended at the legendary capture. Something felt wrong, unresolved even. The things happening in the rift felt diliberate to me so when everybody brushed off the rift after it closed I was like "so are we just going to ignore all that!?" and then Volo asked me for help collecting the plates that the dedicated follower pokemon of Arceus were giving me and the gears began to turn in this little cranium of mine.
Same! If you pay attention to Volo's face, you can spot a very smug smile slip through the cracks on occasion too. There are hints very early on that he's not as friendly as he seems. I never quite saw the level of bloodlust coming though!
I disagree with the lack of expectations. When you first meet Volo it's after being told multiple times that people fear Pokémon and your pal in the Survey Corps telling you they suck at Pokémon battles and can't control their partner. BUT THEN! Here's this go lucky merchant guy who sashay up to you and goes "Hey pal! Want to battle my egg? It'll be fun! :)". This guy has no fear of Pokémon and has the same attitude as a modern day trainer towards Pokémon battles? Yeah, nah, he was suspicious from DAY 1 to me.
There were also some similar vibes to the Dusknoir in the Mystery Dungeons games; which set off all the alarm bells. Tho nothing really tops the Walking Red Flag of Lysandre in XY! xD
You could use the exact same logic to say that Cyllene was suspicious because of the Abra she has in her office, or the professor was suspicious because of the THREE Pokemon he has in his lab that he's researching, or the many other trainers who you battle throughout the game, some of which use more than one Pokemon. But no, instead you chose to point the finger at Volo after his first battle with you and say that he's suspicious because he uses a single, low-level Pokemon that's a literal baby still inside its shell and how fearless he is for using such a terrifying Pokemon. I don't buy it. The only thing from that encounter that hints at his skill as a trainer is after you defeat him where he says that the world of Pokemon battling will open up to you once you understand abilities and items, but this could easily be chalked up to him being a Merchant wanting you to buy stuff from his guild, as well as his guild travelling around a lot and presumably seeing a lot of Pokemon, including those used by the Wardens (who seem much more comfortable with Pokemon than the people of Jubilife Village do), which would explain how he'd know a bit about raising Pokemon.
@@jacobwansleeben3364 what do you want me to say? That I made it up? I might not have had the best logic (because I didn't know everything about the World of the game yet) but I was still distrustful of Volo. Again, his attitude felt like a modern trainer, like Hop being excited to battle you after you got your starter, not like someone using Pokémon to protect themselves. He's not even in the Security Corps, he's a merchant.
Same. When I first met Volo, my instincts told me not to trust him and by the time he literally started to sympathize with the devil (Giratina) was when I went: “Oh, so you ARE the villain, huh?” and left to collect as many Pokémon as I could. By the time I decided to meet him at the peak, I had a full team of max grit legendary Pokémon. Safe to say the Edge-Lord and his Stand wasn’t much of a threat at that point.
@jacobwansleeben3364 i mean there are other pokemon around the village and in the servey corp hq It stands to reason the group whose main purpose is to study pokemon to lessen the fear towards them would have some around, especially the professor leading the pokedex project. And the "trainers" are all mostly diamond and pearl clan members who actually live with pokemon so ofc they aren't gonna be bothered by them, they also dont use pokeballs Volo isnt part of either of these groups, so op's viewpoint isnt terribly misplaced, though certainly not a lot to base suspicion on without knowing the story
When I first saw Volo, I was super hyped to see Cynthia's ancestor early in the game. He's a merchant, so he travels a lot and his outgoing and curious personality was a good explanation for his lack of fear for Pokémon and him owning one. His first battle with Togepi is pretty low-level and he acts pretty casual about it, does a sales pitch... it did not feel out of the ordinary or like foreshadowing at that time in game. Also, him being Cynthia's ancestor, it felt right for Volo to be curious of Pokémon and having one of his own, and the interest in battling appeared as the birth of a generational tradition of battling and caring for Pokémon. Similarly, the interest of Volo for Hisuian mythology made sense as it echoed Cynthia's own love for it, and from DPP we know her family has a long tradition of learning, researching and keeping the old tales alive (Cynthia's first meeting, her Grandma, her hometown...). Additionally, being a friendly merchant, Volo travels a lot and it's easy to imagine that his activity justifies his knowlege of the region's mythology: go to a settlement/ town, sympathise with locals, chat about folk tales, sell them your stuff, buy some of their local resource/product to sell to the next town, sympathise some more and hit the road. Repeat the process and you get a successful merchant activity with mythology knowledge. Repeated encounters placing him in a favourable light, the similarities with Cynthia, *an ally*, and the focal point of the story being the space-time rift, were all pointing to Volo being an allied side character. Moreover, the lack of dangerous and threatening antagonists or rivals in the franchise since XY only reinforced the impression of building friendship with an ally.
What I love about Volo/Cynthia is that they actually feel like final bosses. Cynthia is a difficult battle since she has a really balanced team but Volo not only has a balanced team as well a legendary that has a first and second phase during the fight which is probably a first in the series. I know Pokémon is for kids but it’s feels more rewarding knowing you defeated a foe by master the basics the game as to offer.
Shadow Grandmaster Greevil from Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is the only fight i can remember that was kind of like this. He battles you with Shadow Lugia first and then fights you with a full team of shadow pokemon, including shadow versions of the legendary bird trio. I think the difference here is that Volo was a huge curve ball, Greevil was from a side game that many fans have not played, and Volo's fight was more memorable. I dont hear people talking about Greevil's battle the same way they talk about Volo, that's for sure, lol.
The other big difference with XD's final boss is you can effectively turn it into a 6v6 again by just using a Master Ball on any of the hard to catch Legendaries. Doing this with Shadow Lugia even lets you use it to tank basically every attack he throws at it while you mindlessly chuck pokeballs at the other 6 shadow mons. It's not much of a fight if he can only do Not Very Effective damage. With Volo, you just straight up do not have any options to even the odds or cheese the fight. You are going to demonstrate your mastery of PLA's battle system or you will *suffer*.
Definitely my favorite battle. He's, so wicked all his pokémon are corrupted. You can easily beat it with the masterball glitch, so that's fun. Fighting him you have many options.
The reasons you outlined were exactly why Volo was such a surprising and effective twist villain for me. Like sure everyone online was predicting he would be evil but for me, defeating origin Palkia and seeing the credits roll my thought was “huh, guess the internet’s wrong”. The story wrapped up and there was already a (temporary) human antagonist in Kamado so I had absolutely no reason to suspect him and I genuinely thought the postgame would just be another typical legendary catching gauntlet with the final fight just being a friendly superboss battle against Volo where he uses Cynthia’s team. That surprise factor as well as his battle makes him my favourite antagonist and his battle is my favourite in the entire series.
Really? It's not like Arceus himself tells you to gather all Pokemon literally second 1 of the entire game so you know the ending with Dialga and Palkia is just a fake out. Not to mention the huge importance Volo gives to the plates you collected from the noble Pokemon. Before you even finish with the first main plot you know you have to face Arceus at some point and the whole Volo Twist is already visible.
@@diegomedina9637They just said they thought it would just be catching legendaries and a friendly fight against Volo. The credits already rolled and there wasn't an obvious new story title like the Delta or Team RR Episodes to show that there's more actual story to do. It makes a lot of sense to assume you've beaten the main antagonist in Kamado and the actual story is over and it's just catching legendaries and finishing a few things to find Arceus.
I actually foresaw a confrontation against him, but I never expected his team to be... THAT. It somehow still managed to surprise me even though I saw it coming.
I think something worth mentioning in the section about how the game incentivizes you to run around with a non-competitive team (battle wise) is the trainer classes themselves. Your rival is introduced as Survey Corp's "enter name here" so it is reasonable to assume you would be the same. You are effectively a researcher, a scout and a collector, NOT a trainer. Others mentioned are Clan Leader, Warden, Security Corps and Bandit to name a few. None of these scream at me as exceptional battlers, that is, until you get to Volo. Pokémon Weilder Volo. This is something that stood out to me as soon as those piano cords hit and any idea that I might be able to win the battle with my team of under levelled shinnies went straight out the window. Volo is potentially the first TRUE Pokémon Trainer that we know of. A predecessor for all others to come and (if rumors spread of the damage he caused) potentially the reason for a need in the profession, to battle fire with fire.
I went into Volo's battle with a full team of my best Pokemon- A team I had built throughout the game, just because I like Team building. I always leave Pokedex research for after the game ends completely. But had no idea how it was gonna go or how difficult it was going to be other than hearing that 'It's the hardest battle ever'. This team I had was full of Level 80s, which was 12 levels over his mons. I won first try due to the fact that I hadn't use any healing items the entire game and did so now. But still had most of my ass handed to me. When Giratina came out, it was just- MAX REVIVE SPAM AAAAA. I panicked. I won first try and all, but JEEBUS no battle ever stressed me out this much. Nor had I ever used so many healing items.
Something that really helped the Volo surprise was Cogita because both look like Cynthia which could lower the chance of believing the idea of a final fight against Volo. So for past players it could throw them off the idea that Volo would be the final villian.
The only hints during the first half of the game to volo being evil is that he teaches you the backstab... i mean "backstrike" - mechanic. Also he knows too much for a merchant, but that's something that can immediately be disregarded as he's the cynthia ancestor - so of course he knows a lot about mythology & ruins. BUT these are minor hints and subtle enough for you to only get on a replay, which is great.
Volo's fight isn't the first to climax with a battle against a legendary Pokemon. N's fight in B/W, Ghetsis & Kyurem in B2/W2. Hell, Greevil from Pokemon XD had you fight 7 Pokemon back in 2005, 18 years ago. The order of Pokemon was new with Volo; in the battles mentioned above, you expect to fight these legendaries and then a powerful team of 6. With Volo, you had no idea that you would be fighting Giratina after his 6v6, as that had never been done before.
It had been, but it was a good suprise since he used his ace at the end twice. I fill it's also nice since 7 is a number for perfection in christianity.
16:08 I actually never realized that. Watched multiple play throughs of the fight, never thought about how the “Battle Decided” text never shows up. Such a subtle, but great way to forebode that the fight isn’t over.
Excellent video! Personally haven't yet gotten to Volo, but watching blind streamers' reactions to the three phases is always hilarious! Also props for getting SO much mileage from the pronunciation joke. Had me smiling throughout. By the way, I've watched most of your videos at this point. Thank you for making such excellent breakdowns. I'll be eagerly following all your stuff, since its all been so well explained from a mechanical standpoint while somehow also maintaining a great semse of humor. Any thoughts on covering non-pokemon topics? Your insight would be welcome!
Yes. As a matter of fact, I've made a video on the subject of UI and UX within Persona 5: ua-cam.com/video/uhIZMrO3PdQ/v-deo.htmlsi=XvO9ldpoTIHqRIYc I've considered a few other potential topics too, such as how items are used in Mario Kart or the game design of detective game protagonists, but it seems that much of the audience is here for Pokemon for the time being
What makes Volo work is that the story plays with our meta knowledge about Cybthia and uses it against us. Because he is Cynthia's ancestor we unintentionally place Cynthias qualites onto him which lowers our gaurd. He's interested in the ancient lore and legendary pokemon? Of course he is because Cynthia is. He wants to find anient tablets? Of course he does because Cynthia would want to do that. He seems strangly aloof and doesnt tell us the full story. A little weird but Cynthia was the same way. And she always had the best intentions at heart. Of course we can trust him. So when we see his true intentions it catches us off guard. He isnt Cynthia. He is an Anti-Cybthia. And that is terrifying. Because Cynthia is easily one of the strongest, smartest, and most competant characters in Pokemon. She would be unstoppable. Volo is what she would be if she was the villain.
The Alpharad reaction is so good. I love how his attitude did a 180° from "oh my god what a plottwist" with the classic overreacting/over the top energy of a streamer to a "oh fuck" with what sounded like real terror/concern after hearing the version of Cynthia's piano. Also love how delayed was his reactions towards Spiritomb LMAO. Amazing video btw!
Personally, this game (PLA) had something I call: Role Reversal- amongst several of its characters in term of being antagonists towards the player. You fought the ‘bad guys’ in BDSP, and you ended up teaming up with them and fighting the ‘good guys’ in PLA. It was a blast playing both games in succession (which I think was what Pokémon intended with how close the games were released from each other).
Additionally, Volo’s a villain- They Do Not. Play. Fair. -Which, based on this video, is something we may probably be expecting in future games and DLC when we end up having a rematch after contributing to a certain person’s Canon Event.
Yeah, it wasn’t surprising that Volo turned out to be evil. One of the game’s morals was arguably that a person’s relative doesn’t reflect what kind of person they are.
The funny thing is, when the game was first announced, I did my hardest to avoid any leaks or spoilers, and yet I could just tell Volo was an antagonist early on when I first played when it released. I couldn't realize why, until way after beating the game. His pattern of appearances is reminiscent of previous antagonists, Lysandre, Maxie, Archie, and even Chairman Ross. Each antagonist would make small guest appearances right before the big battle, and Volo was no different. It also helped that Volo went on a small ego trip after the battle against Dialga/Palkia, saying how much he helped the protagonist, despite appearing so little in the story.
An interesting video topic could be the concept of HMs and how they were implemented in the games, and how they eventually evolved and changed as the series progressed. Great video as always! Keep up the awesome content!
This topic is even more interesting given that we are almost at the release of the 2nd DLC which will have that announced feature of syncing with your pokemon to control it. Why is this relevant? Because for a while Game Freak has been testing future major mechanics/plots in a minor way in the previous games and if this controlling pokemon thing is a future mechanic, one possible thing they might be thinking is bringing back the traditional HM to adapt to this new way of playing. I mean, after we thought HMs were a thing of the past, they gave us ride pokemon that can run, surf, climb and glide (fly) tied to the progression of the Titans storyline in which we get a new perk after consuming a HM. This time its Herba Mystica instead of Hidden Machine, but I doubt A LOT the name of this new perk granting mechanic that allows our Pokemon to do stuff and interact differently with the overworld has the same initials as the previous similar mechanic just by accident.
21:00 one precedent to a seven Pokemon battle in previous games was Greevil in Gale or Darkness. Lugia up front followed by six team of shadow Pokemon including the three legendary birds. I can’t remember if you heal after lugia though. I always saved the masterball for it though.
I just remember thinking he was evil right off the bat. But then they freaking got me by having him help when we're kicked out of the city. So him actually being the villain still got me because they psyched me out.
I figured Volo would betray you, but I was expecting corruption. Through power or possession. What I didn't expect was Giratina, crawling forward and fighting right out of the gate. Given its story, being freshly banished and all, it makes sense why it was so pissed off.
As hype as Volo was, I feel like I'm in the rare subsect of people who wasn't scared when I realized he was about to use Cynthia's team; I was downright COCKY. I saw that spiritomb, heard that piano, and suddenly I felt like I had perfect knowledge. I knew exactly who I needed to keep in reserve, what pokemon I was fine risking, and the only trip up I felt was when that arcanine came out while I was mentally preparing for milotic. Still an incredible battle, and phase 2 hit me like a truck, but dang if finally getting revenge on Cynthia after she's kicked my butt for almost two decades felt good.
Talking about set expectations for Volo is extremely true and I'm quickly realizing that Pokemon deciding to break through the monotony of Pokemon's well established structure are the moments that I love the most, especially something as well crafted as Legends Arceus. I love this fight. It's somewhere in my highest pantheon but I don't know where yet, there's plenty other fights that can make one of those spots... but Volo is special. And I'm glad to see that Pokemon is still capable of kicking some butt too - when the games become even more accessible than they always were, I'm left wanting for something to keep me on my toes. I like that examples like Volo show "nah we still have it in us, let's try something *new* this time..." and characters like Nemona in Scarlet/Violet show at the very least their *awareness* of fans like me.
I still remember fighting volo for the first time. It turned into a battle where each Pokemon used one super effective move on the other, killing their opponent in one go, then having the same thing happen to them when the next Pokemon came out. Yes, this extended to Giratina and yes I had to use Creselia because I really hadn't caught any other good fairy types throughout the game. It felt really refreshing to have such a hard fight in an otherwise quite easy (but still very fun)game!
This was your best video. Not only did you recount my exact experience rolling in with my "fun" team rather than an Alpha squad, but your analysis was superb. As one IB kid to another, I give this video essay a perfect 7.
I got spoiled about the Volo twist thanks to a UA-cam thumbnail... however the difficulty + Giratina phase of the fight thankfully was not spoiled for me, so I was still surprised and lost several times! Legends Arceus was an amazing experience. In my opinion Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet have exceeded my expectations and have been the most fun I've had with the franchise since Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. I'm excited to see where the franchise goes from here. Excellent pair of video essays you've made, thank you!
I got spoiled that Volo was an antagonist and was connected to Giratina, but thankfully didn't know about the whole 3-phase fight. Also waited a long time after before playing so once the credits rolled and there was no twist, I thought I might've been mistaken or dream it or something lol
I think another major thing that goes well with Volos betrayal is that hes the only character that really stays by your side throughout the whole game. Ive noticed people were suspicious of him at the start but felt very apologetic when your character gets banished and Volo is the only character who actively stays by your side compared to some who only help out a little bit. It makes the betrayal hit that much harder.
You know how powerful Cynthia’s reputation is when I (a non-Gen-4 player and thus, a non-Cynthia beater) knew exactly what they were doing with Volo when the battle started.
Golden Owl: Tell me dear viewer, did you expect the twist where Volo was the villian? Me, somebody who heard about Volo for the first time 8 minutes ago upon starting this video: oh
20:30 You forgot to mention with player vs npc in terms of fairness, the player can freely switch pokemon after defeating one and the player can also use unlimited healing items
Volo made me feel uneasy whenever he was there, it felt like something was up with him, just the way he moves and acts are odd to me. So I wasn't that surprised by him doing something villainous at some point, but him using Giratina, yeah that was a surprise. The theme made me feel very intimidated though
In the italian version of the game, when Volo ask you about the Pokemon-human relationship you give two answers "It do" or "I don't know", if you choose the second one, he says to you " Well, hopefully I would find you suffering and afflicted" while in spanish he says "Well, then someday you will know my suffering"
I NEED more curveballs like this, I wasn't mad I lost 3 times, I was HAPPY to get a good fight for once! I view Arceus showdown more as him having fun with his chosen one, I can't imagine he gets much chance to use ANY of his power against anyone or any Pokémon, so I feel it was his way of testing HIS power for a change.
24:26 "The fun of games doesn't come from them being difficult, but instead them being challenging." THIS. I am not a person who enjoys games that thrive on difficulty, but rather, games that CAN be difficult, but only when it needs to be. Volo is a perfect case for this, being in a game that is naturally not super hard while also being someone who can and *will* wreck your shit even if you know what you're doing. That's why I loved Cynthia's battle, and it's also the reason why I enjoyed Volo's battle even more. And I love it when Pokemon, heck any game functions like this. Games are meant to test your learning, not your patience. And maybe that's not a good viewpoint to have in the eyes of some people who play games religiously, but in my opinion, the best games out there are the ones that are meant to challenge your learning of certain mechanics and abilities at a healthy pace. Maybe throw in a curveball or two to trip you up like Volo did. I'm glad I chose to stick around for these videos that dive into why certain things in games are the way they are. They've allowed me to learn so much more about game development than I ever would have imagined. Keep at it mate 👊
Yup, after the rest of the game had been so unchallenging, I felt no pressure to in any way *prepare* for the fight against Volo. I finished off the last member of his team of six with just one Pokémon remaining. A satisfying fight! Then Giratina appeared and immediately one-shot my last Pokémon before I could take a turn. Knowing what was coming, I cleared the full battle without too much difficulty on my second attempt. The first was a pretty unforgettable experience, though!
This channel is a bless for me. I'm starting a bachelor in Game Design and these vids are so valuable for me: it's so interesting and deep into the analysis that it assures me I wanna dive into the job! Thank you so much for your content!
A prospective DigiPen student perhaps? I regret to hurt your enthusiasm somewhat, but I must caution you heavily in choosing to become a Game Designer. While the bachelor course is interesting (albeit infamously difficult), the issue is that career prospects are quite poor. At least, they are in Singapore. Presumably things are better in the USA. I've had many friends and peers leave the industry and seek jobs elsewhere (e.g. government jobs, UI designers, graphic designers, etc) because Singapore's game industry job prospects are so poor and unstable. My previous company outright laid off 70% of its development staff several months ago. Even those who do manage to find jobs tend to struggle badly with long hours, heavy workloads, and poor pay. And even then, many people don't get to really create or design as freely as they'd like - many decisions are forced by management even if they result in a potentially worse game experience. Many are just forced into data grunt work, working to upkeep live service mobile games. Ubisoft Singapore in particular is infamous for crushing the souls of many bright-eyed developers over the years and leaving them for dead. I call this video series "Game Designer Explains" because I was trained as and worked as a game designer for several years, and even worked on some commercial game projects in that time, so I make use of my work experience and knowledge to form my analyses. But in truth, as much as I love game design, I myself had to leave design and study business & management because there's no other way to achieve a feasible long-term career with meaningful job progression in any videogame related capacity. I'm not saying this to discourage you from being excited about game design - it's a genuinely fascinating field and I still never regret younger-me deciding to study it and spending countless hours pouring over labwork in school. But the job market you'll encounter after graduating will be harsh and painful, and can crush the spirits of even the most brilliant designer from my cohort. Again, this is largely specific to Singapore. If you are fortunate enough to be taking your major in the USA or elsewhere, the job market will likely be very different, especially since some years will have passed between now and your graduation. Hopefully, it will be far more welcoming. I sincerely wish you all the best in your studies. Game design is a fascinating, but hard path to walk. And anyone who commits to chasing their dreams is always worthy of respect in my eyes.
@@GoldenOwl_Game oh, thanks for that answer! To be honest, I'm quite doomed. For the time being, the only things that feels right to me is writing, making up worlds and stories and to invite people to dive in and let off the reality for a short but enjoyable time. I know for a long time I want to become a writer, so I'm already aware of some issues with it (even though I'll only understand what I mean when I'll live them). Artistics jobs are "hopeless" to reach, they require so much time, so much patience and so much passion to not give up. Since I'm not so confident in my abilities to write, I've started a brand new bachelor in Belgium, which is about videogames. I was mostly curious about the narrative design part (and I'm doomed again, without versatility, I'll get a hard finding a first job in a new indie company), but I already opened the box of the wonders of Game Design to take a peek at, and I just feel like there's so much going on that is exciting. I still have couple of years to get my diploma, so that might let the time to switch a bit the mentality of the industries. I don't have much hope, but heh... There's Larian, and it's in my country! Still, this is alot to think about for me, and I'll have the opportunity to switch up my mind countless time before finally getting to "What's after my studies", but I'm glad you share your experience and worries with me! ^-^
8:08 I Wish it did. But the 'PLA secret boss Volo & Giratina' was spoiled to me. Before the game was even released here. I just opened youtube, normal stuff, I've not looked up any PLA plot stuff. And bam. There, right at the top, the first video suggested to me, is one from a person I don't know/follow and it's a screenshot of the game with that title I hadn't even gotten my hands on the game yet And it was spoiled for me Anyway I like this man. He has that kinda snarky mischievous energy - though he tries to hide it behind the friendly & relaxed surface. He's one of the first people to challenge you to a battle - many other people don't battle. He has a pokemon of his own in the first place - most people don't. This makes him quite significant from the get go, and you keep meeting him here and there. He's curious and helps you push forward on your journey. But you know one of the first things he teaches you? Backstabb- I mean he teaches you that you can strike a pokemon from behind to take them by surprise. What a nice dude Anyway, I shall continue watching the video lol (Also heck yeah, JJBA & Pokemon, good stuff)
I just want to flex that I instantly knew Volo was going to the final villain. (before i even met him, I was like 'I bet Cynthias ancestor is going to be evil.')
I think the craziest thing about Volo is his name. "Volo" in Latin means "I want" The very moment his name is on screen we already know he wants something from us (the player character), but we don't know exactly what that "thing" he wants is. What exactly do you want Volo? Power? Control? What exactly is it you want? Anyways it just shows how deep the names of the player characters can go in pokemon games, especially for a villian like Volo.
I’m little bit disappointed that I didn’t get to experience this like everyone else, volo didn’t fail to pass the trauma for first timers like me 😂😂, since legends arceus is my first pokemon game. What made it worse is my play through was peaceful and cozy, if there were any hurdles I would just level up and win… well until volo and the 2 phase giratina of course 😅 Even though it was traumatising, that fight was AN EXPERIENCE, with that plot twist and THAT THEME!!…truly unforgettable and amazing experience.
I found Volo to be an extremely refreshing fight design-wise and challenge-wise, felt like Game Freak really went back to their roots of building up a big fight via subversion and then really executing on it. Definitely one of my favorite fights in the whole franchise!
Im so glad i stuck with a standard team of 6. I was barely able to endure the onslaught. I refused to use items in battle. My umbreon had to repeatedly set up and spam rest. A very narrow victory. This was so cool!
8:10 not at all. He didn't properly do his job, often giving away free items, was happy to see people using pokemon to battle with Pokeballs, he had Pokemon Cynthia would use while looking like a rule 63 version of her, he rapidly improved and was one of teh few reoccuring trainers. Like we had the bandit trio, and as optional fights everyone at the battle court, mostly Ingo (my beloved), as he started to collect the plates he began to be really sus, with him becoming more deranged with every few plates. After looking at the statues before climbing mount cornet I started to prep my team for a fight.
Speaking of unfairness, this specific game feels so different in terms of battle system to old pokemon fans, and the game kinda fails(whether intentionally or not) to make us understand the full system and thus we can't just fight optimally. I think that's one of the major reasons why we find Volo fight so freaking hard. That lack of intuitiveness, is a part of 'unfairness' you mentioned and ironically build solid gameplay experience.
Narratively speaking, It kinda makes sense you would have a hard time with it, funnily enough. Of course you won't be able to grasp such a foreign and/or archaic battle system in... What, a couple months, tops?
By the time you fight Volo, you should have at least some semblance of understanding how to manipulate the turn order in your advantage using the fighting styles and the fact status moves have a beneficial impact on your turn order
Something that's a big flaw with the battle system in LA is that despite the turn order actually being shown, it doesn't account for your opponent choosing a Rapid-style move (or whatever it's called blame them making Urshifu and announcing LA within a year of each other) so basically the only thing that matters turn order wise is can you add an extra move or not. Also I hated the prompt whenever you lost to Volo, as not only is it a hard fight, but it then says "go get stronger Pokemon and try again" (or something like that) and basically calls my Pokemon weak AF and I hate that. Ended up using a team of 5 legendaries and my starter Samurott. Wish I didn't have to tho
subversion of expectations is always such a powerful story tool to create memorable stories and moments for the reader, player or viewer. im really glad that pokemon decided to utilize it for volo, definitely one of my top favorite moments of the games
I remember some people say they expect him to bertray players (I was spoiled so it doesn't really count for me) but most of them doesn't expect that giratina will revive after we beat him for the 1st time
I love this analysis for how it covers every detail about the Volo battle, and why it's so good. Nothing is missed. The entire game setting up the expectation of there not being a boss, Volo's team and theme invoking fear in veteran players from one of the series' most infamous battles, the rule breaking by having more than six Pokémon, and the subversion of expectation by doing it AGAIN, now with glowing red meme eyes. Volo was designed to terrify, and it was executed perfectly.
When you spoke of the player and ai using different rules the first thing I thought of was the ganondorf fight in tears of the kingdom. Zelda is a series where it’s expected that the enemies play by different rules than the player and that’s why the ganondorf fight catches people off guard when he decides to play by your rules (or at least pretends to) by flurry rushing your attack, something that only the player should be able to do.
I'm a newer player so I had no idea how hard a Cynthia fight could be. It took me around 5 tries to beat Volo, another 5 to beat Giratina, and then 5 more times to beat Origin Form Giratina. I literally brought over my level 100 6IV Sylveon from Sword to finish it
As soon as that piano started playing after the big reveal, it was instantaneous goosebumps. I even had tears forming in my eyes I won't lie 😂🥲 Everything about Cynthia was truly terrifying as an eight year old, and seeing that the ancestral line is just stacked with demon trainers and teams... I was overjoyed to fight
What i love the most about this is that nothing seems like an asspull. Cynthia‘s team, the Pokemon Giratina and even the 2. Giratina form and his Music are all things that are well etsablished in the series. It‘s things that you don‘t think about, but yet get reminded AND suprised with.
I managed my first try, but only because my Bibarel had shadowball. That riff when Giratina changes really gives you a "You're fucked now" feeling. Easily one of my most favorite moments in the series.
The fun part for me, was I was doing a Cynthia character run on my first and only play-through in honor of my favorite generation. I had the exact same team, except instead of the Arcanine, I was using my starter. Which was Typlosion. So typewise we were still very similar and other than that we were the same. The fight for me was not only a shock, but for me personally, I was fangirling as it was like the past meeting the present in two ways.
I felt like commenting, just because of my own experience with Volo. I was watching my gf play Legends Arceus, and I went in with almost ZERO knowledge. I knew he was Cynthia's ancestor, I knew you had a fight with him, and I knew about his team, but nothing about his role in the story. In other words, the nature of the Volo fight wasn't spoiled for me. So, I was imagining a friendly (albeit challenging) battle between friends before everything was concluded and you were sent home, or something similar. Maybe a final fight before you went to encounter Arceus. Instead, I got a brutal betrayal from someone I genuinely trusted. And then, when he was defeated... Giratina. Unfortunately, the fight against Giratina wasn't that much of a surprise, since I had watched my gf play Platinum, and so with Volo being revealed as a betrayer, I suspected Giratina to appear. That said, I wasn't expecting the second phase. I was blown away. Especially with the music. The whole experience was... Insane. Genuinely mind-blowing.
It was a tough fight for me but I still beat it first try My ADHD came in clutch and with how easily I got distracted from the main quest line, I ended up getting a lot of extra levels
Great video! Great channel! Thanks for making me learn so much. I love to find deeper analysis on films, books, games (I wish there were more contents like that). When it comes to my game experience with Volo... well, I'm not a Pokémon gamer. I've always enjoyed watching and reading stuff about the games but I was never willing to play them. My 'player' experiences with this franchise are: * defeating Blue at the beginning of Yellow * defeating Blue at the end of Yellow (using Mewtwo) * choosing my starter in Gold * choosing my starter and catching one more Pokémon in Sapphire * playing those minigames in Stadium 1 and 2 * playing Legends Arceus I don't know exactly why I felt so eager to play PLA but this game is definitely my cup of tea. I enjoyed every moment and I really felt I was living that journey. As I mentioned before, I'm keen on Pokémon games universe so I knew about Cynthia's reputation and even about Volo and the whole plot twist involving his intentions, his team and the two Giratina's forms. Furthermore, before facing Volo I had done more than everything that must be done to meet Arceus and can be done before this battle so I was too prepared, of course. I wouldn't say the battle was easy but I knew I was going to win (2 Pokémon remaining most of times and I must be awful because there was just one remaining once). And you know what? Even being overleveled and full of spoilers it was still very fun, epic and memorable. I love the atmosphere and the cutscenes and Volo is such a fascinating character. I love learning about how he is related to Cynthia and I love being under the impression I still don't know who he truly is, which gives room to theories. Oh, and I'm addicted to his battle theme. It's perfect. Fun fact: I beat Giratina with my level 100 Rowlet (yeah, that was my plan since the very beginning). It was my starter, it's one of my favourite Pokémon, I kept it in my team the whole time, it's too cute to evolve and the way you use it in your videos is adorable (please, never change it). 🥰
i watched both vids and this made me smile so hard. The first time facing Volo, all i heard was piano and sadness, my only words being "NO, no, no, no, i'm not ready, my team is not ready. Arceus why did you bring this back." And then he summons the fallen one, and well. incoherent screaming followed, and then when i finally beat that and got a face full of origin form, my only response was ...."You son of a bitch i fucking hate you." then i missed a roar of time, and well cried cause i knew what was coming.
My first time experiencing Volo's battle was watching while my wife battled him. I had been spoiled a little bit, by having already heard the theme for the Origin Forme Giratina stage of the fight, but until then had never heard where in the game it was used. So I went into this battle with the SUSPICION Giratina could be involved somehow, and it was so exciting to see that it actually was true!
You know how in this video and the cinthya video youn talk about reacting to the music, well, it just happenned when the kekkai sensen music started playing. Not as in a "traumatic" reaction but just pure joy of hearing it. Nice vid btw
The first time I played Legends Arceus, I actually knew about the Volo fight from watching a friend's playthrough. As a result, I actually had a high level team who I'd been using for nearly the entire game, who had helped me out in every major battle. I went in knowing it was a difficult battle, with strong, fully evolved Pokemon It still took me 3-4 tries to win. Even if you think you're prepared, Volo can be quite a challenge!
I swept through most of Legends Arceus in about a week, then it took me a day or two to beat Volo and I was so relieved when I finally did only to have to face fucking Giratina.
How lucky of me. Found the cynthia video just now, and the volo video is already out. Thx youtube, for once recommendations took the right time to show up
When I first played Pokémon Legends Arceus, I wasn't surprised by the plot-twist of Volo being the main antagonist (since unfortunately was one of the first things I was spoiled when this game released), but the fight on other hand... I thought I was overleveled, but he still gave me a real challenge! I beat him on my first try since I had a bunch of revives and potions on the bag, but I confess I panicked when I saw Giratina changing its form.
I had a full level 70+ team with multiple legendaries and Volo still beat me twice. Him being a Villain was no surprise for me. It was obvious that he would become important at some point just because he is your first trainer battle (which is usually the Rival), has Arceus hair and is Cynthia's ancestor. Also the Rifts origin still wasn't known. So when he got a Postgame questline i expected this. And it gets pretty obvious near the end of this Postgame questline because of behavior that's pretty common for evil people in games. Also i kinda ruined the Giratina surprise by noticing the missing Ghost Plate before the dialog at the broken Giratina statue so there i expected him having Giratina in his team, but not as 7th Pokémon. But Volo was still an amazing experience. He is my favorite Pokémon battle of official Pokémon games.
Writer here! I think it's important to note that Volo isn't completely out of left field. There are hints throughout the game that he doesn't fit in with the rest of the cast, which is important because he wouldn't work as a final boss if there were absolutely no hints of what was to come. I've heard it described as the "Ah, but of course moment," where we're surprised, but we can see the breadcrumbs in hindsight. It's super super important to writing plot twists, and Volo executes it really well where he's subtle enough that the player doesn't initially know something's up, but it's easy to see when you're in the know.
Volo broke me. I had a full hisuian team strong Pokémon all around lvl 80. I had goodra, arkenine, zoroark, cleavor, Electrode and I think the water starter (don’t remember the English name) I’d say all except maybe electrode are fairly strong and I still got obliterated. I barely made it out the volo fight and then there was giratina. After a couple of tries I could beat it just to discover a second stage. This moment broke me. Especially since almost all other trainer fights where so easy and barelywortj mentioning. I had a strickt no healing rule wich I almost broke after some tries. In the end I had my starter and a second Pokémon at lvl 100 and I finally could beat volo and that dragon
I love Legends Arceus, and even tho I got obliterated many times over to the point where I was brought to tears cuz I went up to that mountain to finish the game that night and I was planning on sleeping soon after beating the game, not get my ass handed to me so many times 😅 but when I finally beat him, and obviously time passed, I love that that fight exists and hope they do stuff like that in the future! Great video! I agree with basically everything you said!
While correct that part of my team when going into this was to complete the dex missions, I only had 1 slot dedicated to that at the time since my main story team also largely was incomplete on their dex pages too. I ended up beating him first try thanks largely to the Hisuian Samurott I got as my starter, the Alpha Garchomp I had on the team that needed to spam moves, Hisuian Electrode being way too good in the speed determined turn based combat system and my shiny Dustox I got as my first ever shiny of the game via a random Wurmple.
I always tend to run a Cynthia team so it ended up as a mirror match but Gastrodon rather than Arcanine. But I had just figured out the Grit items and spent a bunch of time grinding Alpha Pokémon to supe up my guys. I ended up overleveling and mostly curbstomping him. The encounter was undone because of how fun the gameplay loop is.
I like the comment that said "cynthia end up doing majority of the legwork." Its so cool pokemon built a story from legacy alone. Especially since majority of its player base are older fans. They probably have battled against Cynthia. It's like a nod to the audience
One thing I particularly like is that the twist doesn't come out of nowhere; Volo drops a couple hints that he's more than he says here and there, between him conveniently showing up when you needed him, him teaching you how to back strike wild Mon before going on to, well, backstab you, and his mentions of Giratina in a time when there were practically no records of it showing he knows a LOT more than a simple merchant should. These tells are few and far between, and the only one that'd really have you raising eyebrows at him comes almost right before he turns coat and basically tries to mug you for the plates, so it doesn't come out of nowhere yet still has enough ambiguity to really shock a good chunk of people and blindside them something fierce. And hey, if that doesn't shock the player, Giratina showing up to make it a 6v7 and then a 6vHECKING EIGHT when he gets back up for round two ABSOLUTELY WILL shock people. Maybe they expected Giratina to show up, but they absolutely weren't expecting it to bounce back after one defeat, which 100% would shock an unprepared player. And it works PERFECTLY. The fact that the music in both Volo's fight and Giratina's second phase is akin to a jumpscare only helps. Especially ESPECIALLY since Giratina in phase 2 seemingly always starts off with Shadow Force as long as it can hit with it. Which perfectly syncs with the music. It's just SO GOOD.
around 26:15 the captions completely break and loop back around to the captions at the start of the video for some reason 😅 they dont ever match the spoken words past that point, instead repeating the opening dialogue onwards?
I pretty much beat Volo on my first try. Didn't really think much about Volo til postgame. He just showed up whenever. Then he did the laugh and then I immediately got the bad vibes. My team was in the 80s and I did bring Dialga and Palkia in case I needed them to activate an event for some reason. I didn't even bring any revives cause I didn't like carrying them in my bag and taking up space and I was like "Im never gonna use these." I did beat Volo's team with my entire team still alive. When Giratina showed up, I got suspicious because they weren't playing his theme song. Just the regular Gen 4 legendary theme. So I was just confused and suspicious the whole time til he went into his second form. My Hisuian Samurott pretty much did all the work so he eventually went down and I finished Giratina off with Dialga and Palkia. All in all, it was a pretty epic fight and Im happy that I got to listen to Giratina's theme at the end. c:
![The Psychology behind how Cynthia Traumatized a Generation [Game Designer Explains]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lxS6T0yJE9M/mqdefault.jpg)
![Designing a Superboss, feat. Red from Pokémon [Game Designer Explains]](/img/n.gif)
I already know that people will complain about how Arceus is pronounced regardless of which pronunciation I go with. Therefore, I have elected to use ALL of them.
That's this Cynthia-Volo duology complete. Now to go and think about what game / topic's design element to explore next. Feel free to leave suggestions if you want.
Technically both are correct. In japanese it's pronounsed Aruseusu so it should be primary way to pronounce it, but english dub pronounce it differently which still is equally correct
you forgot "arkoos" /j
@@joonas394 It's most likely because they want to avoid phonetic similarities to "arse" in voice-acted material, though I tend to just say it like "Arsius" anyway.
@@topazlight1586Because the name can come from several origins, like Arceus can come from Arch, Arkhé, Deus, Zeus, Archeus and Chaos. Because in japanese R and L are basically same, the "Ar" can come from "Arufa" meanin Alpha.
Since you seem to be going through a lot of Pokemon's most memorable boss fights recently, I'd be curious to hear what you think about Ultra Necrozma. Seeing as it's a 1v6 fight, it definitely has a different vibe from the challenging trainer battles of the series.
Volo is the ultimate version of _"Call an ambulance... but not for me!"_
It is an honor to be visited by the legendary universal commenter of the Team Fortress 2 community
Holy crap it's him
And then Giratina pulls a "Man literally too angry to die."
For real...
Honestly the flatline sound effect during transformation of giratina makes this comment better
The way Cynthia basically Pavlov Dog'd an entire generation of Pokemon trainers to feel dread at the sheer sound of a piano speaks volumes about her position on the community's zeitgeist
And Volo will carry on that legacy to a new generation of Pokemon Trainers. It's beautiful in a sense. Terrifying, but beautiful.
@@Kylesico912x in that sense Volo is both an ancestor and a successor. Iconic.
As someone who was a kid when DP came out and beat them back then
I still think most everyone else in that time frame just sucked at Pokemon lol
@@GameGodZEROodd that you think "I beat it as a kid" means the team isn't anything special. a good deal of people beat her and recognize her leading with an (at the time) pokemon with no weakness you'd otherwise have never seen without doing wireless communication is a wild way to start off her highly offensive team. every single pokemon she has can kill if you make a mistake, and I'm confident you made at least one mistake on that fight.
Unless you're talking about people not knowing about revive spam, then maybe you have a point
@@Kylesico912x Her bloodline really said "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
Congrats to volos for summoning both the player's PTSD and satan itself in single battle.
Imagine pulling a Yugioh Abridged reference.
Player: "Wait a minute, did you just technically summon 8 Pokemon in one Battle?"
Volo: "Yeah, so?"
Player: "That's against the rules, isn't it?"
Volo: "Screw the rules! I have Satan!"
@@tlst94now i want it
@@tlst94 Honestly... Yeah, fair enough.
*Unlimited Piano Works*
What's funny is I didn't just have random Pokemon on my party, I treated it like any other Pokemon game and had my party of my best Pokemon... Even still, Volo WRECKED me three times over.
*piano intensifies*
Same goes for me, except I got spoiled.
Though I was always dividing my teams in "Pokédex Grind" and "Fight me, if you dare".
I still got pretty close to losing, though.
I had a Darkrai and Hisuian Zoroark
Absolutely hit Giratina like a train
@@Cephalosparkle not all people were carrying those mons
Same
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Giratina’s Shadow Force after it transformed into its Origin form. Instead of charging at you from a crack in space-time, Giratina literally *tears open a portal* to get at you. Sure, the increased evasion caused me to wipe the following turn, but I didn’t mind. Losing never felt so cool.
I love the way Origin Giratina uses its wings to rip the portal open. That's far more terrifying than Altered Giratina's technique of simply smashing through. Altered Giratina is a hulking brute, powerful but lacking in finesse. Origin Giratina is lethally efficient and uses every part of its body as a weapon. Giratina's just playing with you at first but as soon as it transforms, it stops messing around and has every intention of ripping you and your unfortunate Pokemon to shreds.
The fact that Volo feels like he was intentionally designed to wipe the floor with a player who doesn't know what's coming leaves me even more baffled that nothing special happens when you do lose. Like you lose to him and he just stands there waiting for you to come back (even though in-universe there's literally zero reason to come back now that you know the truth).
I feel like they should've treated his battle as if it was an unwinnable one with the assumption that most players won't beat him first try, and had him successfully steal the plates from you just like he said he would.
Honestly, that would work since Arceus doesn't even let you meet it anyway until you have met every single Pokémon, so it seems like just owning the Plates isn't enough. (Although perhaps Giratina could use its powers to overcome that restriction)
Having 2 possible story progression options would have made that sequence even more unique and make 1st try blind victories feel valuable.
Nothing happens cuz it essentially just resets time to right before the battle. the devs are simply saving you the trouble of restarting and sitting through a cutscene
It would have been cool to see volo steal the plates from you, only for you to return and battle him again to get them all back.
@@morphstarchangeling8024 I wish stealing the plates was not only canon but would trigger some kind of extra section. It could give us some kind of countdown to reach Volo before he reaches Arceus (bonus point if in doing so the world starts to shatter around us).
Well makes sense, I always knew what his team was, and I easily defeated him
When I first battled Volo the Togepi reminded me of my beloved friend that Cynthia gave me, so I was expecting him to gift the player a rare pokemon later in the game or have a fun sidequest, maybe an optional fight. I was NOT expecting him to be an edgelord that wanted to fight God since childhood
Yea like in a way it was right in your face togepi is literally the exact opposite typing of garchomp but because she has one and gives you one it’s not expected instantly
@@FinalslashesGarchomp is honorable, while Togekiss is a flinchlocking rat bastard.
@@tysondennis1016 appropriate for a fairy
I remember when I had a team of 6 shellos during my first battle with Volo,,, that was,,,,, fun.
babe wake up new challenge run just dropped
If it helps, this isn't really your "fault". The game is designed to incentivize and reward you for carrying around 6 random Pokemon to complete the Dex faster.
So many players spend the whole game with constantly changing teams of random Pokemon instead of building a conventional team like in the other main series games
@@GoldenOwl_GameI think you just explained why I like this game much.
@@GoldenOwl_Game Oh nah dw i won
Honestly, if I had to pick an unevolved mon to have a team of six of, Shellos would be pretty high on the list.
The ROM hack Radical Red gives Dialga a Primal form and puts it in Hardcore Mode Lance's party (which, after playing PMD2, seems *very* reckless of him) running a stupidly bulky set, and yet in one challenge run, I had a Shellos PP-stall it down.
I always said “IDK how, but this guy will betray me” when I first saw him. I also called him being a Cynthia type…HOWEVER…Giratina caught me WAY off guard. Origin mode: *cries*. That was my “OH SHIT” moment.
Volo being bad? Nah. Volo being Cynthia? Ob-vi-ous. Giratina? *John Cena Theme* Origin Mode: GIRATINA WITH A STEE CHAIR!
I didn't really get suspicious of him until the post game, but yeah, Volo being a cynthia-esque opponent I guessed, but Giratina showing up at the end of the fight completely caught me off guard and wrecked me.
I didn't initially make the Volo = Cynthia connection, to me it rang a bell but I couldn't put my finger on it at the time. I tried to make connections with his name, like with the other familiar faces, but nada.
But I also thought he was kinda sus from the start. In a way, a lot of people who actively seek out battle in a world/era where hardly anyone even trusts Pokemon to be reliable and safe, that screamed sus so much. And it's not too uncommon for someone to help the player character along with a goal or progress only for them to try and reap the rewards.
LOL I found him a little sussy from the beginning but I honestly never really thought he would do exactly what he did, when he did it.
It was pretty epic at the time.
Anyways, I have not beaten that guy yet still so uh, I need to work on my Legends Arceus team now
@@eglol Best of luck! It'll be worth it when you got him :D
And just like John Cena, you didnt couldnt see this coming...
My first completion of the game had me questioning why the game ended at the legendary capture. Something felt wrong, unresolved even. The things happening in the rift felt diliberate to me so when everybody brushed off the rift after it closed I was like "so are we just going to ignore all that!?" and then Volo asked me for help collecting the plates that the dedicated follower pokemon of Arceus were giving me and the gears began to turn in this little cranium of mine.
Same! If you pay attention to Volo's face, you can spot a very smug smile slip through the cracks on occasion too. There are hints very early on that he's not as friendly as he seems. I never quite saw the level of bloodlust coming though!
I disagree with the lack of expectations. When you first meet Volo it's after being told multiple times that people fear Pokémon and your pal in the Survey Corps telling you they suck at Pokémon battles and can't control their partner.
BUT THEN! Here's this go lucky merchant guy who sashay up to you and goes "Hey pal! Want to battle my egg? It'll be fun! :)". This guy has no fear of Pokémon and has the same attitude as a modern day trainer towards Pokémon battles? Yeah, nah, he was suspicious from DAY 1 to me.
There were also some similar vibes to the Dusknoir in the Mystery Dungeons games; which set off all the alarm bells.
Tho nothing really tops the Walking Red Flag of Lysandre in XY! xD
You could use the exact same logic to say that Cyllene was suspicious because of the Abra she has in her office, or the professor was suspicious because of the THREE Pokemon he has in his lab that he's researching, or the many other trainers who you battle throughout the game, some of which use more than one Pokemon. But no, instead you chose to point the finger at Volo after his first battle with you and say that he's suspicious because he uses a single, low-level Pokemon that's a literal baby still inside its shell and how fearless he is for using such a terrifying Pokemon. I don't buy it.
The only thing from that encounter that hints at his skill as a trainer is after you defeat him where he says that the world of Pokemon battling will open up to you once you understand abilities and items, but this could easily be chalked up to him being a Merchant wanting you to buy stuff from his guild, as well as his guild travelling around a lot and presumably seeing a lot of Pokemon, including those used by the Wardens (who seem much more comfortable with Pokemon than the people of Jubilife Village do), which would explain how he'd know a bit about raising Pokemon.
@@jacobwansleeben3364 what do you want me to say? That I made it up? I might not have had the best logic (because I didn't know everything about the World of the game yet) but I was still distrustful of Volo. Again, his attitude felt like a modern trainer, like Hop being excited to battle you after you got your starter, not like someone using Pokémon to protect themselves. He's not even in the Security Corps, he's a merchant.
Same. When I first met Volo, my instincts told me not to trust him and by the time he literally started to sympathize with the devil (Giratina) was when I went: “Oh, so you ARE the villain, huh?” and left to collect as many Pokémon as I could.
By the time I decided to meet him at the peak, I had a full team of max grit legendary Pokémon. Safe to say the Edge-Lord and his Stand wasn’t much of a threat at that point.
@jacobwansleeben3364 i mean there are other pokemon around the village and in the servey corp hq
It stands to reason the group whose main purpose is to study pokemon to lessen the fear towards them would have some around, especially the professor leading the pokedex project.
And the "trainers" are all mostly diamond and pearl clan members who actually live with pokemon so ofc they aren't gonna be bothered by them, they also dont use pokeballs
Volo isnt part of either of these groups, so op's viewpoint isnt terribly misplaced, though certainly not a lot to base suspicion on without knowing the story
When I first saw Volo, I was super hyped to see Cynthia's ancestor early in the game. He's a merchant, so he travels a lot and his outgoing and curious personality was a good explanation for his lack of fear for Pokémon and him owning one. His first battle with Togepi is pretty low-level and he acts pretty casual about it, does a sales pitch... it did not feel out of the ordinary or like foreshadowing at that time in game.
Also, him being Cynthia's ancestor, it felt right for Volo to be curious of Pokémon and having one of his own, and the interest in battling appeared as the birth of a generational tradition of battling and caring for Pokémon.
Similarly, the interest of Volo for Hisuian mythology made sense as it echoed Cynthia's own love for it, and from DPP we know her family has a long tradition of learning, researching and keeping the old tales alive (Cynthia's first meeting, her Grandma, her hometown...).
Additionally, being a friendly merchant, Volo travels a lot and it's easy to imagine that his activity justifies his knowlege of the region's mythology: go to a settlement/ town, sympathise with locals, chat about folk tales, sell them your stuff, buy some of their local resource/product to sell to the next town, sympathise some more and hit the road. Repeat the process and you get a successful merchant activity with mythology knowledge.
Repeated encounters placing him in a favourable light, the similarities with Cynthia, *an ally*, and the focal point of the story being the space-time rift, were all pointing to Volo being an allied side character. Moreover, the lack of dangerous and threatening antagonists or rivals in the franchise since XY only reinforced the impression of building friendship with an ally.
What I love about Volo/Cynthia is that they actually feel like final bosses. Cynthia is a difficult battle since she has a really balanced team but Volo not only has a balanced team as well a legendary that has a first and second phase during the fight which is probably a first in the series. I know Pokémon is for kids but it’s feels more rewarding knowing you defeated a foe by master the basics the game as to offer.
To me this was the hardest Pokemon boss since Necrozma in Ultra Sun
@@revolvingworld2676 I heard that both that battle and the volo battle were designed by the same person
Shadow Grandmaster Greevil from Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is the only fight i can remember that was kind of like this. He battles you with Shadow Lugia first and then fights you with a full team of shadow pokemon, including shadow versions of the legendary bird trio. I think the difference here is that Volo was a huge curve ball, Greevil was from a side game that many fans have not played, and Volo's fight was more memorable. I dont hear people talking about Greevil's battle the same way they talk about Volo, that's for sure, lol.
I also thought of Greevil as well, though I think it still has some sort of internal checkpoint. Especially if you catch Lugia.
If the GameCube games are side games, then so are the let's go games
@@cyberrb25 At least, unlike with Ghetsis, you don't get a heal for Greevil
The other big difference with XD's final boss is you can effectively turn it into a 6v6 again by just using a Master Ball on any of the hard to catch Legendaries. Doing this with Shadow Lugia even lets you use it to tank basically every attack he throws at it while you mindlessly chuck pokeballs at the other 6 shadow mons. It's not much of a fight if he can only do Not Very Effective damage.
With Volo, you just straight up do not have any options to even the odds or cheese the fight. You are going to demonstrate your mastery of PLA's battle system or you will *suffer*.
Definitely my favorite battle. He's, so wicked all his pokémon are corrupted. You can easily beat it with the masterball glitch, so that's fun. Fighting him you have many options.
The reasons you outlined were exactly why Volo was such a surprising and effective twist villain for me. Like sure everyone online was predicting he would be evil but for me, defeating origin Palkia and seeing the credits roll my thought was “huh, guess the internet’s wrong”. The story wrapped up and there was already a (temporary) human antagonist in Kamado so I had absolutely no reason to suspect him and I genuinely thought the postgame would just be another typical legendary catching gauntlet with the final fight just being a friendly superboss battle against Volo where he uses Cynthia’s team.
That surprise factor as well as his battle makes him my favourite antagonist and his battle is my favourite in the entire series.
Really? It's not like Arceus himself tells you to gather all Pokemon literally second 1 of the entire game so you know the ending with Dialga and Palkia is just a fake out. Not to mention the huge importance Volo gives to the plates you collected from the noble Pokemon. Before you even finish with the first main plot you know you have to face Arceus at some point and the whole Volo Twist is already visible.
@@diegomedina9637They just said they thought it would just be catching legendaries and a friendly fight against Volo. The credits already rolled and there wasn't an obvious new story title like the Delta or Team RR Episodes to show that there's more actual story to do. It makes a lot of sense to assume you've beaten the main antagonist in Kamado and the actual story is over and it's just catching legendaries and finishing a few things to find Arceus.
I actually foresaw a confrontation against him, but I never expected his team to be... THAT. It somehow still managed to surprise me even though I saw it coming.
I think something worth mentioning in the section about how the game incentivizes you to run around with a non-competitive team (battle wise) is the trainer classes themselves. Your rival is introduced as Survey Corp's "enter name here" so it is reasonable to assume you would be the same. You are effectively a researcher, a scout and a collector, NOT a trainer. Others mentioned are Clan Leader, Warden, Security Corps and Bandit to name a few. None of these scream at me as exceptional battlers, that is, until you get to Volo.
Pokémon Weilder Volo. This is something that stood out to me as soon as those piano cords hit and any idea that I might be able to win the battle with my team of under levelled shinnies went straight out the window. Volo is potentially the first TRUE Pokémon Trainer that we know of. A predecessor for all others to come and (if rumors spread of the damage he caused) potentially the reason for a need in the profession, to battle fire with fire.
I went into Volo's battle with a full team of my best Pokemon- A team I had built throughout the game, just because I like Team building. I always leave Pokedex research for after the game ends completely. But had no idea how it was gonna go or how difficult it was going to be other than hearing that 'It's the hardest battle ever'. This team I had was full of Level 80s, which was 12 levels over his mons. I won first try due to the fact that I hadn't use any healing items the entire game and did so now. But still had most of my ass handed to me. When Giratina came out, it was just- MAX REVIVE SPAM AAAAA. I panicked. I won first try and all, but JEEBUS no battle ever stressed me out this much. Nor had I ever used so many healing items.
Something that really helped the Volo surprise was Cogita because both look like Cynthia which could lower the chance of believing the idea of a final fight against Volo. So for past players it could throw them off the idea that Volo would be the final villian.
The only hints during the first half of the game to volo being evil is that he teaches you the backstab... i mean "backstrike" - mechanic.
Also he knows too much for a merchant, but that's something that can immediately be disregarded as he's the cynthia ancestor - so of course he knows a lot about mythology & ruins.
BUT these are minor hints and subtle enough for you to only get on a replay, which is great.
Yep, they hid Volo's true nature expertly, but once you get the context, you understood every hint.
Volo's fight isn't the first to climax with a battle against a legendary Pokemon. N's fight in B/W, Ghetsis & Kyurem in B2/W2. Hell, Greevil from Pokemon XD had you fight 7 Pokemon back in 2005, 18 years ago. The order of Pokemon was new with Volo; in the battles mentioned above, you expect to fight these legendaries and then a powerful team of 6. With Volo, you had no idea that you would be fighting Giratina after his 6v6, as that had never been done before.
It had been, but it was a good suprise since he used his ace at the end twice. I fill it's also nice since 7 is a number for perfection in christianity.
To be fair, you just throw a master ball to the first one (still, 3 legends and a team full of Super effective hits against you)
@@mavi3147Yeah but Gen 3 Lugia is tanky as hell.
@@diegomedina9637 you fought Lugia? I just caught it right away with the master ball
@@mavi3147 Yeah that's what I said. You catch it and then you use it afterwards because he's so tanky
16:08 I actually never realized that. Watched multiple play throughs of the fight, never thought about how the “Battle Decided” text never shows up. Such a subtle, but great way to forebode that the fight isn’t over.
Excellent video! Personally haven't yet gotten to Volo, but watching blind streamers' reactions to the three phases is always hilarious! Also props for getting SO much mileage from the pronunciation joke. Had me smiling throughout.
By the way, I've watched most of your videos at this point. Thank you for making such excellent breakdowns. I'll be eagerly following all your stuff, since its all been so well explained from a mechanical standpoint while somehow also maintaining a great semse of humor. Any thoughts on covering non-pokemon topics? Your insight would be welcome!
Yes. As a matter of fact, I've made a video on the subject of UI and UX within Persona 5: ua-cam.com/video/uhIZMrO3PdQ/v-deo.htmlsi=XvO9ldpoTIHqRIYc
I've considered a few other potential topics too, such as how items are used in Mario Kart or the game design of detective game protagonists, but it seems that much of the audience is here for Pokemon for the time being
What makes Volo work is that the story plays with our meta knowledge about Cybthia and uses it against us. Because he is Cynthia's ancestor we unintentionally place Cynthias qualites onto him which lowers our gaurd.
He's interested in the ancient lore and legendary pokemon? Of course he is because Cynthia is.
He wants to find anient tablets? Of course he does because Cynthia would want to do that.
He seems strangly aloof and doesnt tell us the full story. A little weird but Cynthia was the same way. And she always had the best intentions at heart. Of course we can trust him.
So when we see his true intentions it catches us off guard. He isnt Cynthia. He is an Anti-Cybthia.
And that is terrifying. Because Cynthia is easily one of the strongest, smartest, and most competant characters in Pokemon.
She would be unstoppable.
Volo is what she would be if she was the villain.
The Alpharad reaction is so good.
I love how his attitude did a 180° from "oh my god what a plottwist" with the classic overreacting/over the top energy of a streamer to a "oh fuck" with what sounded like real terror/concern after hearing the version of Cynthia's piano.
Also love how delayed was his reactions towards Spiritomb LMAO.
Amazing video btw!
Personally, this game (PLA) had something I call: Role Reversal- amongst several of its characters in term of being antagonists towards the player.
You fought the ‘bad guys’ in BDSP, and you ended up teaming up with them and fighting the ‘good guys’ in PLA.
It was a blast playing both games in succession (which I think was what Pokémon intended with how close the games were released from each other).
Additionally, Volo’s a villain-
They Do Not. Play. Fair.
-Which, based on this video, is something we may probably be expecting in future games and DLC when we end up having a rematch after contributing to a certain person’s Canon Event.
Yeah, it wasn’t surprising that Volo turned out to be evil.
One of the game’s morals was arguably that a person’s relative doesn’t reflect what kind of person they are.
The funny thing is, when the game was first announced, I did my hardest to avoid any leaks or spoilers, and yet I could just tell Volo was an antagonist early on when I first played when it released. I couldn't realize why, until way after beating the game. His pattern of appearances is reminiscent of previous antagonists, Lysandre, Maxie, Archie, and even Chairman Ross. Each antagonist would make small guest appearances right before the big battle, and Volo was no different. It also helped that Volo went on a small ego trip after the battle against Dialga/Palkia, saying how much he helped the protagonist, despite appearing so little in the story.
You're right!!!
He acts like Lysandre, stalking.
With Chairman Rose's empty-calorie 'helpfulness.'
An interesting video topic could be the concept of HMs and how they were implemented in the games, and how they eventually evolved and changed as the series progressed. Great video as always! Keep up the awesome content!
Interestingly, keeping HMs forced players to have a balanced team
The lack of HMs hurts this game 😂
This topic is even more interesting given that we are almost at the release of the 2nd DLC which will have that announced feature of syncing with your pokemon to control it. Why is this relevant? Because for a while Game Freak has been testing future major mechanics/plots in a minor way in the previous games and if this controlling pokemon thing is a future mechanic, one possible thing they might be thinking is bringing back the traditional HM to adapt to this new way of playing. I mean, after we thought HMs were a thing of the past, they gave us ride pokemon that can run, surf, climb and glide (fly) tied to the progression of the Titans storyline in which we get a new perk after consuming a HM. This time its Herba Mystica instead of Hidden Machine, but I doubt A LOT the name of this new perk granting mechanic that allows our Pokemon to do stuff and interact differently with the overworld has the same initials as the previous similar mechanic just by accident.
@@pn2294a balanced team or one dedicated HM slave 😂
Herba Mystica, HM, kinda nice little in joke.
Nah, it just annoyed you by forcing you into your boxes every time you wanted to explore or progress.
Garbo mechanic, I am glad HMs are gone.
21:00 one precedent to a seven Pokemon battle in previous games was Greevil in Gale or Darkness. Lugia up front followed by six team of shadow Pokemon including the three legendary birds.
I can’t remember if you heal after lugia though. I always saved the masterball for it though.
I just remember thinking he was evil right off the bat. But then they freaking got me by having him help when we're kicked out of the city. So him actually being the villain still got me because they psyched me out.
I figured Volo would betray you, but I was expecting corruption. Through power or possession. What I didn't expect was Giratina, crawling forward and fighting right out of the gate. Given its story, being freshly banished and all, it makes sense why it was so pissed off.
I love that you pronounce Arceus differently everytime throughout the video 🦉
As hype as Volo was, I feel like I'm in the rare subsect of people who wasn't scared when I realized he was about to use Cynthia's team; I was downright COCKY. I saw that spiritomb, heard that piano, and suddenly I felt like I had perfect knowledge. I knew exactly who I needed to keep in reserve, what pokemon I was fine risking, and the only trip up I felt was when that arcanine came out while I was mentally preparing for milotic.
Still an incredible battle, and phase 2 hit me like a truck, but dang if finally getting revenge on Cynthia after she's kicked my butt for almost two decades felt good.
Talking about set expectations for Volo is extremely true and I'm quickly realizing that Pokemon deciding to break through the monotony of Pokemon's well established structure are the moments that I love the most, especially something as well crafted as Legends Arceus. I love this fight. It's somewhere in my highest pantheon but I don't know where yet, there's plenty other fights that can make one of those spots... but Volo is special. And I'm glad to see that Pokemon is still capable of kicking some butt too - when the games become even more accessible than they always were, I'm left wanting for something to keep me on my toes. I like that examples like Volo show "nah we still have it in us, let's try something *new* this time..." and characters like Nemona in Scarlet/Violet show at the very least their *awareness* of fans like me.
I still remember fighting volo for the first time. It turned into a battle where each Pokemon used one super effective move on the other, killing their opponent in one go, then having the same thing happen to them when the next Pokemon came out. Yes, this extended to Giratina and yes I had to use Creselia because I really hadn't caught any other good fairy types throughout the game. It felt really refreshing to have such a hard fight in an otherwise quite easy (but still very fun)game!
This was your best video. Not only did you recount my exact experience rolling in with my "fun" team rather than an Alpha squad, but your analysis was superb. As one IB kid to another, I give this video essay a perfect 7.
I got spoiled about the Volo twist thanks to a UA-cam thumbnail... however the difficulty + Giratina phase of the fight thankfully was not spoiled for me, so I was still surprised and lost several times! Legends Arceus was an amazing experience. In my opinion Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet have exceeded my expectations and have been the most fun I've had with the franchise since Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. I'm excited to see where the franchise goes from here. Excellent pair of video essays you've made, thank you!
I got spoiled that Volo was an antagonist and was connected to Giratina, but thankfully didn't know about the whole 3-phase fight. Also waited a long time after before playing so once the credits rolled and there was no twist, I thought I might've been mistaken or dream it or something lol
I think another major thing that goes well with Volos betrayal is that hes the only character that really stays by your side throughout the whole game. Ive noticed people were suspicious of him at the start but felt very apologetic when your character gets banished and Volo is the only character who actively stays by your side compared to some who only help out a little bit. It makes the betrayal hit that much harder.
You know how powerful Cynthia’s reputation is when I (a non-Gen-4 player and thus, a non-Cynthia beater) knew exactly what they were doing with Volo when the battle started.
I will admit, the thumbnail made me decide i needed to watch this video *right now*, not later in the night, not tomorrow, *now*. Kudos
Just a mild degree of tomfoolery. I am pleased that my thumbnails are apparently improving at being funny.
Golden Owl: Tell me dear viewer, did you expect the twist where Volo was the villian?
Me, somebody who heard about Volo for the first time 8 minutes ago upon starting this video: oh
20:30 You forgot to mention with player vs npc in terms of fairness, the player can freely switch pokemon after defeating one and the player can also use unlimited healing items
Volo made me feel uneasy whenever he was there, it felt like something was up with him, just the way he moves and acts are odd to me.
So I wasn't that surprised by him doing something villainous at some point, but him using Giratina, yeah that was a surprise. The theme made me feel very intimidated though
In the italian version of the game, when Volo ask you about the Pokemon-human relationship you give two answers "It do" or "I don't know", if you choose the second one, he says to you " Well, hopefully I would find you suffering and afflicted" while in spanish he says "Well, then someday you will know my suffering"
I NEED more curveballs like this, I wasn't mad I lost 3 times, I was HAPPY to get a good fight for once!
I view Arceus showdown more as him having fun with his chosen one, I can't imagine he gets much chance to use ANY of his power against anyone or any Pokémon, so I feel it was his way of testing HIS power for a change.
6:55 Bahahah, I love that Man vs Fate gag. Gigguk’s Fate videos were how I got into his channel back in the day.
For a while one of my favorite reaction compilations was watching people react to Giratina’s origin mode wiping their near victories.
24:26 "The fun of games doesn't come from them being difficult, but instead them being challenging."
THIS.
I am not a person who enjoys games that thrive on difficulty, but rather, games that CAN be difficult, but only when it needs to be. Volo is a perfect case for this, being in a game that is naturally not super hard while also being someone who can and *will* wreck your shit even if you know what you're doing. That's why I loved Cynthia's battle, and it's also the reason why I enjoyed Volo's battle even more. And I love it when Pokemon, heck any game functions like this. Games are meant to test your learning, not your patience. And maybe that's not a good viewpoint to have in the eyes of some people who play games religiously, but in my opinion, the best games out there are the ones that are meant to challenge your learning of certain mechanics and abilities at a healthy pace. Maybe throw in a curveball or two to trip you up like Volo did.
I'm glad I chose to stick around for these videos that dive into why certain things in games are the way they are. They've allowed me to learn so much more about game development than I ever would have imagined. Keep at it mate 👊
Yup, after the rest of the game had been so unchallenging, I felt no pressure to in any way *prepare* for the fight against Volo.
I finished off the last member of his team of six with just one Pokémon remaining. A satisfying fight!
Then Giratina appeared and immediately one-shot my last Pokémon before I could take a turn.
Knowing what was coming, I cleared the full battle without too much difficulty on my second attempt. The first was a pretty unforgettable experience, though!
This channel is a bless for me. I'm starting a bachelor in Game Design and these vids are so valuable for me: it's so interesting and deep into the analysis that it assures me I wanna dive into the job! Thank you so much for your content!
A prospective DigiPen student perhaps?
I regret to hurt your enthusiasm somewhat, but I must caution you heavily in choosing to become a Game Designer. While the bachelor course is interesting (albeit infamously difficult), the issue is that career prospects are quite poor. At least, they are in Singapore. Presumably things are better in the USA.
I've had many friends and peers leave the industry and seek jobs elsewhere (e.g. government jobs, UI designers, graphic designers, etc) because Singapore's game industry job prospects are so poor and unstable. My previous company outright laid off 70% of its development staff several months ago.
Even those who do manage to find jobs tend to struggle badly with long hours, heavy workloads, and poor pay. And even then, many people don't get to really create or design as freely as they'd like - many decisions are forced by management even if they result in a potentially worse game experience. Many are just forced into data grunt work, working to upkeep live service mobile games. Ubisoft Singapore in particular is infamous for crushing the souls of many bright-eyed developers over the years and leaving them for dead.
I call this video series "Game Designer Explains" because I was trained as and worked as a game designer for several years, and even worked on some commercial game projects in that time, so I make use of my work experience and knowledge to form my analyses. But in truth, as much as I love game design, I myself had to leave design and study business & management because there's no other way to achieve a feasible long-term career with meaningful job progression in any videogame related capacity.
I'm not saying this to discourage you from being excited about game design - it's a genuinely fascinating field and I still never regret younger-me deciding to study it and spending countless hours pouring over labwork in school. But the job market you'll encounter after graduating will be harsh and painful, and can crush the spirits of even the most brilliant designer from my cohort.
Again, this is largely specific to Singapore. If you are fortunate enough to be taking your major in the USA or elsewhere, the job market will likely be very different, especially since some years will have passed between now and your graduation. Hopefully, it will be far more welcoming.
I sincerely wish you all the best in your studies. Game design is a fascinating, but hard path to walk. And anyone who commits to chasing their dreams is always worthy of respect in my eyes.
@@GoldenOwl_Game oh, thanks for that answer!
To be honest, I'm quite doomed. For the time being, the only things that feels right to me is writing, making up worlds and stories and to invite people to dive in and let off the reality for a short but enjoyable time. I know for a long time I want to become a writer, so I'm already aware of some issues with it (even though I'll only understand what I mean when I'll live them). Artistics jobs are "hopeless" to reach, they require so much time, so much patience and so much passion to not give up.
Since I'm not so confident in my abilities to write, I've started a brand new bachelor in Belgium, which is about videogames. I was mostly curious about the narrative design part (and I'm doomed again, without versatility, I'll get a hard finding a first job in a new indie company), but I already opened the box of the wonders of Game Design to take a peek at, and I just feel like there's so much going on that is exciting.
I still have couple of years to get my diploma, so that might let the time to switch a bit the mentality of the industries. I don't have much hope, but heh... There's Larian, and it's in my country!
Still, this is alot to think about for me, and I'll have the opportunity to switch up my mind countless time before finally getting to "What's after my studies", but I'm glad you share your experience and worries with me! ^-^
8:08 I Wish it did. But the 'PLA secret boss Volo & Giratina' was spoiled to me. Before the game was even released here. I just opened youtube, normal stuff, I've not looked up any PLA plot stuff. And bam. There, right at the top, the first video suggested to me, is one from a person I don't know/follow and it's a screenshot of the game with that title
I hadn't even gotten my hands on the game yet
And it was spoiled for me
Anyway I like this man. He has that kinda snarky mischievous energy - though he tries to hide it behind the friendly & relaxed surface. He's one of the first people to challenge you to a battle - many other people don't battle. He has a pokemon of his own in the first place - most people don't. This makes him quite significant from the get go, and you keep meeting him here and there. He's curious and helps you push forward on your journey.
But you know one of the first things he teaches you? Backstabb- I mean he teaches you that you can strike a pokemon from behind to take them by surprise. What a nice dude
Anyway, I shall continue watching the video lol
(Also heck yeah, JJBA & Pokemon, good stuff)
One of the best games ever made, hopefully they Will make more of that series, such a breathe of fresh air
16:35 You get all of my respect for using a Fate UBW abridged reference lol.
I just want to flex that I instantly knew Volo was going to the final villain. (before i even met him, I was like 'I bet Cynthias ancestor is going to be evil.')
I think the craziest thing about Volo is his name. "Volo" in Latin means "I want"
The very moment his name is on screen we already know he wants something from us (the player character), but we don't know exactly what that "thing" he wants is.
What exactly do you want Volo? Power? Control? What exactly is it you want?
Anyways it just shows how deep the names of the player characters can go in pokemon games, especially for a villian like Volo.
I’m little bit disappointed that I didn’t get to experience this like everyone else, volo didn’t fail to pass the trauma for first timers like me 😂😂, since legends arceus is my first pokemon game. What made it worse is my play through was peaceful and cozy, if there were any hurdles I would just level up and win… well until volo and the 2 phase giratina of course 😅
Even though it was traumatising, that fight was AN EXPERIENCE, with that plot twist and THAT THEME!!…truly unforgettable and amazing experience.
I found Volo to be an extremely refreshing fight design-wise and challenge-wise, felt like Game Freak really went back to their roots of building up a big fight via subversion and then really executing on it. Definitely one of my favorite fights in the whole franchise!
Im so glad i stuck with a standard team of 6. I was barely able to endure the onslaught. I refused to use items in battle. My umbreon had to repeatedly set up and spam rest. A very narrow victory. This was so cool!
May I just say that this channel is a gold mine with extremely well formatted videos?
8:10 not at all. He didn't properly do his job, often giving away free items, was happy to see people using pokemon to battle with Pokeballs, he had Pokemon Cynthia would use while looking like a rule 63 version of her, he rapidly improved and was one of teh few reoccuring trainers. Like we had the bandit trio, and as optional fights everyone at the battle court, mostly Ingo (my beloved), as he started to collect the plates he began to be really sus, with him becoming more deranged with every few plates. After looking at the statues before climbing mount cornet I started to prep my team for a fight.
Speaking of unfairness, this specific game feels so different in terms of battle system to old pokemon fans, and the game kinda fails(whether intentionally or not) to make us understand the full system and thus we can't just fight optimally. I think that's one of the major reasons why we find Volo fight so freaking hard. That lack of intuitiveness, is a part of 'unfairness' you mentioned and ironically build solid gameplay experience.
Narratively speaking, It kinda makes sense you would have a hard time with it, funnily enough. Of course you won't be able to grasp such a foreign and/or archaic battle system in... What, a couple months, tops?
Eh, I mean it's a post-game battle. At that point, I'm inclined to call it a skill issue if you don't get the battle system.
I did the boss second try am I better at games then I thought? (I died to Giratina second phase cuz unexpected)
By the time you fight Volo, you should have at least some semblance of understanding how to manipulate the turn order in your advantage using the fighting styles and the fact status moves have a beneficial impact on your turn order
Something that's a big flaw with the battle system in LA is that despite the turn order actually being shown, it doesn't account for your opponent choosing a Rapid-style move (or whatever it's called blame them making Urshifu and announcing LA within a year of each other) so basically the only thing that matters turn order wise is can you add an extra move or not.
Also I hated the prompt whenever you lost to Volo, as not only is it a hard fight, but it then says "go get stronger Pokemon and try again" (or something like that) and basically calls my Pokemon weak AF and I hate that. Ended up using a team of 5 legendaries and my starter Samurott. Wish I didn't have to tho
subversion of expectations is always such a powerful story tool to create memorable stories and moments for the reader, player or viewer. im really glad that pokemon decided to utilize it for volo, definitely one of my top favorite moments of the games
I remember some people say they expect him to bertray players (I was spoiled so it doesn't really count for me) but most of them doesn't expect that giratina will revive after we beat him for the 1st time
I love this analysis for how it covers every detail about the Volo battle, and why it's so good. Nothing is missed. The entire game setting up the expectation of there not being a boss, Volo's team and theme invoking fear in veteran players from one of the series' most infamous battles, the rule breaking by having more than six Pokémon, and the subversion of expectation by doing it AGAIN, now with glowing red meme eyes. Volo was designed to terrify, and it was executed perfectly.
I just realized Volo’s outfit in the final battle mimics Arceus’ design, I’m really inattentive I guess.
When you spoke of the player and ai using different rules the first thing I thought of was the ganondorf fight in tears of the kingdom. Zelda is a series where it’s expected that the enemies play by different rules than the player and that’s why the ganondorf fight catches people off guard when he decides to play by your rules (or at least pretends to) by flurry rushing your attack, something that only the player should be able to do.
your videos are so, so good. there's so much bland pokemon content out there but your stuff shines through so well.
I'm a newer player so I had no idea how hard a Cynthia fight could be. It took me around 5 tries to beat Volo, another 5 to beat Giratina, and then 5 more times to beat Origin Form Giratina. I literally brought over my level 100 6IV Sylveon from Sword to finish it
It becomes harder when you have a "no legendaries" rule
@@Richtofen-gy9cj I didn't use legendaries lol
0:28 *A R S H E E U S*
Never have I heard a Pokemon name pronounced so wrong 💀
Yooo I got in the video.
Seriously, thanks for the cameo. I worked pretty hard on that essay, and really appreciate you taking notice.
As soon as that piano started playing after the big reveal, it was instantaneous goosebumps. I even had tears forming in my eyes I won't lie 😂🥲 Everything about Cynthia was truly terrifying as an eight year old, and seeing that the ancestral line is just stacked with demon trainers and teams... I was overjoyed to fight
What i love the most about this is that nothing seems like an asspull. Cynthia‘s team, the Pokemon Giratina and even the 2. Giratina form and his Music are all things that are well etsablished in the series. It‘s things that you don‘t think about, but yet get reminded AND suprised with.
I managed my first try, but only because my Bibarel had shadowball. That riff when Giratina changes really gives you a "You're fucked now" feeling. Easily one of my most favorite moments in the series.
The fun part for me, was I was doing a Cynthia character run on my first and only play-through in honor of my favorite generation. I had the exact same team, except instead of the Arcanine, I was using my starter. Which was Typlosion. So typewise we were still very similar and other than that we were the same.
The fight for me was not only a shock, but for me personally, I was fangirling as it was like the past meeting the present in two ways.
I felt like commenting, just because of my own experience with Volo. I was watching my gf play Legends Arceus, and I went in with almost ZERO knowledge. I knew he was Cynthia's ancestor, I knew you had a fight with him, and I knew about his team, but nothing about his role in the story. In other words, the nature of the Volo fight wasn't spoiled for me.
So, I was imagining a friendly (albeit challenging) battle between friends before everything was concluded and you were sent home, or something similar. Maybe a final fight before you went to encounter Arceus.
Instead, I got a brutal betrayal from someone I genuinely trusted. And then, when he was defeated... Giratina.
Unfortunately, the fight against Giratina wasn't that much of a surprise, since I had watched my gf play Platinum, and so with Volo being revealed as a betrayer, I suspected Giratina to appear. That said, I wasn't expecting the second phase. I was blown away. Especially with the music.
The whole experience was... Insane. Genuinely mind-blowing.
It was a tough fight for me but I still beat it first try
My ADHD came in clutch and with how easily I got distracted from the main quest line, I ended up getting a lot of extra levels
Great video! Great channel! Thanks for making me learn so much. I love to find deeper analysis on films, books, games (I wish there were more contents like that).
When it comes to my game experience with Volo... well, I'm not a Pokémon gamer. I've always enjoyed watching and reading stuff about the games but I was never willing to play them. My 'player' experiences with this franchise are:
* defeating Blue at the beginning of Yellow
* defeating Blue at the end of Yellow (using Mewtwo)
* choosing my starter in Gold
* choosing my starter and catching one more Pokémon in Sapphire
* playing those minigames in Stadium 1 and 2
* playing Legends Arceus
I don't know exactly why I felt so eager to play PLA but this game is definitely my cup of tea. I enjoyed every moment and I really felt I was living that journey. As I mentioned before, I'm keen on Pokémon games universe so I knew about Cynthia's reputation and even about Volo and the whole plot twist involving his intentions, his team and the two Giratina's forms. Furthermore, before facing Volo I had done more than everything that must be done to meet Arceus and can be done before this battle so I was too prepared, of course. I wouldn't say the battle was easy but I knew I was going to win (2 Pokémon remaining most of times and I must be awful because there was just one remaining once). And you know what? Even being overleveled and full of spoilers it was still very fun, epic and memorable. I love the atmosphere and the cutscenes and Volo is such a fascinating character. I love learning about how he is related to Cynthia and I love being under the impression I still don't know who he truly is, which gives room to theories. Oh, and I'm addicted to his battle theme. It's perfect.
Fun fact: I beat Giratina with my level 100 Rowlet (yeah, that was my plan since the very beginning). It was my starter, it's one of my favourite Pokémon, I kept it in my team the whole time, it's too cute to evolve and the way you use it in your videos is adorable (please, never change it). 🥰
I’ve watch all of your videos and you’re one of my new favorite UA-camrs keep it up man good stuff 🎉
I think a lot of people forget about this but master grevil in Pokemon Gale of darkness was the first one to break 6 Pokemon rule.
i watched both vids and this made me smile so hard. The first time facing Volo, all i heard was piano and sadness, my only words being "NO, no, no, no, i'm not ready, my team is not ready. Arceus why did you bring this back." And then he summons the fallen one, and well. incoherent screaming followed, and then when i finally beat that and got a face full of origin form, my only response was ...."You son of a bitch i fucking hate you." then i missed a roar of time, and well cried cause i knew what was coming.
My first time experiencing Volo's battle was watching while my wife battled him. I had been spoiled a little bit, by having already heard the theme for the Origin Forme Giratina stage of the fight, but until then had never heard where in the game it was used. So I went into this battle with the SUSPICION Giratina could be involved somehow, and it was so exciting to see that it actually was true!
You know how in this video and the cinthya video youn talk about reacting to the music, well, it just happenned when the kekkai sensen music started playing. Not as in a "traumatic" reaction but just pure joy of hearing it. Nice vid btw
The first time I played Legends Arceus, I actually knew about the Volo fight from watching a friend's playthrough.
As a result, I actually had a high level team who I'd been using for nearly the entire game, who had helped me out in every major battle. I went in knowing it was a difficult battle, with strong, fully evolved Pokemon
It still took me 3-4 tries to win.
Even if you think you're prepared, Volo can be quite a challenge!
I swept through most of Legends Arceus in about a week, then it took me a day or two to beat Volo and I was so relieved when I finally did only to have to face fucking Giratina.
How lucky of me. Found the cynthia video just now, and the volo video is already out. Thx youtube, for once recommendations took the right time to show up
When I first played Pokémon Legends Arceus, I wasn't surprised by the plot-twist of Volo being the main antagonist (since unfortunately was one of the first things I was spoiled when this game released), but the fight on other hand... I thought I was overleveled, but he still gave me a real challenge! I beat him on my first try since I had a bunch of revives and potions on the bag, but I confess I panicked when I saw Giratina changing its form.
I never thought i would struggle in a pokémon game, this was the first time and currently the last time i struggled
I had a full level 70+ team with multiple legendaries and Volo still beat me twice.
Him being a Villain was no surprise for me. It was obvious that he would become important at some point just because he is your first trainer battle (which is usually the Rival), has Arceus hair and is Cynthia's ancestor. Also the Rifts origin still wasn't known. So when he got a Postgame questline i expected this. And it gets pretty obvious near the end of this Postgame questline because of behavior that's pretty common for evil people in games.
Also i kinda ruined the Giratina surprise by noticing the missing Ghost Plate before the dialog at the broken Giratina statue so there i expected him having Giratina in his team, but not as 7th Pokémon.
But Volo was still an amazing experience. He is my favorite Pokémon battle of official Pokémon games.
Writer here! I think it's important to note that Volo isn't completely out of left field. There are hints throughout the game that he doesn't fit in with the rest of the cast, which is important because he wouldn't work as a final boss if there were absolutely no hints of what was to come. I've heard it described as the "Ah, but of course moment," where we're surprised, but we can see the breadcrumbs in hindsight. It's super super important to writing plot twists, and Volo executes it really well where he's subtle enough that the player doesn't initially know something's up, but it's easy to see when you're in the know.
Yep, it seems like a lot of western writers don't know the art of good plot twists anymore. Thank goodness Japan still knows how they work.
Volo broke me. I had a full hisuian team strong Pokémon all around lvl 80. I had goodra, arkenine, zoroark, cleavor, Electrode and I think the water starter (don’t remember the English name) I’d say all except maybe electrode are fairly strong and I still got obliterated. I barely made it out the volo fight and then there was giratina. After a couple of tries I could beat it just to discover a second stage. This moment broke me. Especially since almost all other trainer fights where so easy and barelywortj mentioning.
I had a strickt no healing rule wich I almost broke after some tries. In the end I had my starter and a second Pokémon at lvl 100 and I finally could beat volo and that dragon
I felt that Golden Wind clip in the beginning.
I love Legends Arceus, and even tho I got obliterated many times over to the point where I was brought to tears cuz I went up to that mountain to finish the game that night and I was planning on sleeping soon after beating the game, not get my ass handed to me so many times 😅 but when I finally beat him, and obviously time passed, I love that that fight exists and hope they do stuff like that in the future! Great video! I agree with basically everything you said!
While correct that part of my team when going into this was to complete the dex missions, I only had 1 slot dedicated to that at the time since my main story team also largely was incomplete on their dex pages too.
I ended up beating him first try thanks largely to the Hisuian Samurott I got as my starter, the Alpha Garchomp I had on the team that needed to spam moves, Hisuian Electrode being way too good in the speed determined turn based combat system and my shiny Dustox I got as my first ever shiny of the game via a random Wurmple.
I always tend to run a Cynthia team so it ended up as a mirror match but Gastrodon rather than Arcanine.
But I had just figured out the Grit items and spent a bunch of time grinding Alpha Pokémon to supe up my guys. I ended up overleveling and mostly curbstomping him.
The encounter was undone because of how fun the gameplay loop is.
I like the comment that said "cynthia end up doing majority of the legwork." Its so cool pokemon built a story from legacy alone. Especially since majority of its player base are older fans. They probably have battled against Cynthia. It's like a nod to the audience
When I first played legends Arceus, I named my character Volo without knowing so I always had a slight vendetta against him
One thing I particularly like is that the twist doesn't come out of nowhere; Volo drops a couple hints that he's more than he says here and there, between him conveniently showing up when you needed him, him teaching you how to back strike wild Mon before going on to, well, backstab you, and his mentions of Giratina in a time when there were practically no records of it showing he knows a LOT more than a simple merchant should. These tells are few and far between, and the only one that'd really have you raising eyebrows at him comes almost right before he turns coat and basically tries to mug you for the plates, so it doesn't come out of nowhere yet still has enough ambiguity to really shock a good chunk of people and blindside them something fierce. And hey, if that doesn't shock the player, Giratina showing up to make it a 6v7 and then a 6vHECKING EIGHT when he gets back up for round two ABSOLUTELY WILL shock people. Maybe they expected Giratina to show up, but they absolutely weren't expecting it to bounce back after one defeat, which 100% would shock an unprepared player. And it works PERFECTLY. The fact that the music in both Volo's fight and Giratina's second phase is akin to a jumpscare only helps. Especially ESPECIALLY since Giratina in phase 2 seemingly always starts off with Shadow Force as long as it can hit with it. Which perfectly syncs with the music. It's just SO GOOD.
around 26:15 the captions completely break and loop back around to the captions at the start of the video for some reason 😅 they dont ever match the spoken words past that point, instead repeating the opening dialogue onwards?
Thank you for notifying me. Not sure how that happened. I should have fixed it now
I pretty much beat Volo on my first try. Didn't really think much about Volo til postgame. He just showed up whenever. Then he did the laugh and then I immediately got the bad vibes. My team was in the 80s and I did bring Dialga and Palkia in case I needed them to activate an event for some reason. I didn't even bring any revives cause I didn't like carrying them in my bag and taking up space and I was like "Im never gonna use these." I did beat Volo's team with my entire team still alive. When Giratina showed up, I got suspicious because they weren't playing his theme song. Just the regular Gen 4 legendary theme. So I was just confused and suspicious the whole time til he went into his second form. My Hisuian Samurott pretty much did all the work so he eventually went down and I finished Giratina off with Dialga and Palkia. All in all, it was a pretty epic fight and Im happy that I got to listen to Giratina's theme at the end. c: