Exploring the Enhancements of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s DLC: A New Perspective on Paldea

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the latest installment in the beloved Pokémon franchise, arrived with a mix of excitement and disappointment for players. The game was plagued with numerous technical issues, including frame rate drops, crashes, and glitches. However, the promise of new DLC content gave many hope that the games would receive the much-needed polish in due time.

The first DLC drop, The Hidden Treasures of Area Zero: The Teal Mask, delivered on that promise to a certain extent. The streamlined story and slightly different approach to presenting new locations in the larger Pokémon world made the games feel closer to the finished product that Nintendo and Game Freak probably intended.

The second chapter of The Hidden Treasures of Zero, The Indigo Disk, took things a step further. It established connections between Paldea and Pokémon Black and White’s Unova Region, making the games as a whole feel more cohesive and engaging.

Both halves of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s DLC made significant strides in addressing some of the fundamental issues with this generation of core Pokémon titles. However, they did not fully deliver on fixing what felt broken about the games. The same goes for the newly released epilogue, Mochi Mayhem.

The Pokémon franchise has always placed a strong emphasis on education, with schools playing a key role in one’s path to becoming a true Champion. In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the schools, Naranja and Uva Academies, were meant to be massive places where students could meet new friends and monsters as part of a nontraditional educational experience. However, the schools ended up feeling lifeless and unevenly integrated into the core story.

The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk narrowed their scope and kept their stories focused on specific adventures, allowing players to experience the games in a more compelling way. The Teal Mask introduced the Terastallization mechanic, which made it possible for pokémon to change their types mid-battle, and the return of double battles. The Indigo Disk featured a new Elite Four and a gacha mechanic that put the franchise’s old Game Corner slot machines to shame.

Despite some buzzed-about updates, like the Stellar Tera type, being geared towards hardcore competitive players, the DLC’s smaller features, such as multiple Master Balls and new clothing options, made the games feel more like places where people might want to hang out.

The Indigo Disk being set in Unova also suggested that Nintendo might be eyeing Black and White remakes for the Switch or its successor. While the words “Pokémon remake” have not always sparked joy in recent years, the surprisingly delightful Pokémon Legends: Arceus and the way Scarlet and Violet featured pokémon from the ancient past and distant future made it easy to imagine Nintendo taking a more inspired approach to the way it revisits elements from older games.

The DLC’s focus on battle strategy, vibing with pokémon in nature, and gambling, along with the legendary pokémon and mythical creature featured in The Teal Mask and Mochi Mayhem, respectively, made for a more interesting piece of lore than the treasure-specific myths from Scarlet and Violet’s core game.

Mochi Mayhem attempted to neatly wrap up Scarlet and Violet’s many narrative threads with a story that brought your pals from Naranja / Uva and Blueberry Academy together for the very first time. However, it did not come with any fixes to the games’ persistent technical issues. Instead, it sent players back to The Teal Mask’s Kitakami region for a goofy and creepy mini-adventure that was less about catching rare monsters and more about illustrating how much of a social butterfly your character had become.

The tidiness of The Teal Mask, The Indigo Disk, and Mochi Mayhem feeding into one another and giving players the sense that their character had been out having the kinds of adventures that change the way they see the world and how people see them was admirable. However, it also made the games feel unfinished in a way that was distinct from their technical issues.

It was nice to imagine that maybe, just maybe, Nintendo might come through in the end with a bunch of fixes that would transform Scarlet and Violet into the expansive, exciting open worlds that fans have always wanted to dive into. Mochi Mayhem was not the answer to those prayers, and that’s just going to have to be okay.

In conclusion, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s DLC, The Hidden Treasures of Area Zero, provided a satisfying conclusion to the parts of the game that worked best. The Indigo Disk established connections between Paldea and the Unova Region, making the games as a whole feel more cohesive and engaging. However, neither The Teal Mask nor The Indigo Disk fully delivered on fixing the fundamental issues with this generation of core Pokémon titles. Mochi Mayhem, the epilogue, did not come with any fixes to the games’ technical issues but instead offered a goofy and creepy mini-adventure that brought your pals from Naranja / Uva and Blueberry Academy together for the very first time. The DLC’s focus on battle strategy, vibing with pokémon in nature, and gambling, along with the legendary pokémon and mythical creature featured in The Teal Mask and Mochi Mayhem, respectively, made for a more interesting piece of lore than the treasure-specific myths from Scarlet and Violet’s core game. While the games still feel unfinished in some ways, the DLC provided a new perspective on Paldea that made the journey worth taking.