[Review] Pokémon Scarlet & Violet – Part 2: The Indigo Disk

Given the popularity of the Expansion Pass released for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield and how much The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra enriched the Galar games, it should come as no surprise that Game Freak might try to repeat their previous success with the newer Paldea-based games.

The announcement of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero was a welcome one, especially since it was disclosed that the DLC would consist of two parts, both taking players to new locations and further adding to the lore of Area Zero. Of course, the fact that both DLC parts are slated to release in 2023, was even better news. 

Having experienced the likes of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero – Part 1: The Teal Mask back in September, December 2023 gave us the likes of Part 2: The Indigo Disk, and it is time to discuss all things Blueberry:

Nu School, Nu You:

Just when you thought the bell has been run and there are no more classes to sit through, the developers over at Game Freak still have plenty more to teach us, only now, class is in session in another region entirely.

With the second part of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC available now, Part 2: The Indigo Disk is here to whisk players away, taking us back to Unova, the setting of the fifth generation games but with one exception, we can return to Unova but you can’t step a single foot on the mainland.

Instead, we have to bid farewell to Paldea’s Naranja (Pokémon Scarlet) and Uva (Pokémon Violet) Academies and say “howdy” to the Blueberry Academy,  a remote location surrounded by water that hides a great “secret,” the Terarium.

Hidden beneath the water, the Terarium is an expansive area, broken up into four unique biomes, home to many different species of Pokémon for you to discover. Just don’t go expecting to be able to find them all from the outset as starter Pokémon, all of their evolutions and fossil Pokémon will need to be unlocked.

Still, it’s not just tough Pokémon that await you in the Terarium, as battle hardened students can be found all over the Terarium and they’re all too eager to show you what they’ve learned during their time at Blueberry Academy, which is plenty. Preferring the double team format and utilising held items, any trainer can soon prove to be your undoing if your team has not been properly selected. To say it simply, NPC difficulty has been greatly improved.

The real challengers, however, are the four members of the Blueberry Academy Elite Four and their Champion. Just because you’re a transfer student, it doesn’t stop you from being entered into the Blueberry League and being encouraged to work your way up the ranks, completeing four elite trials and the Eliter Four member each trial corresponds to.

Admittedly, while I did enjoy conquering another Elite Four group, it does seem a little silly that the events of Blueberry Academy are locked behind story progression, requiring you to have already beaten all Treasure Hunt paths in the main game, the post-game trip to Area Zero and complete the Kitakami questline. Your protagonist is already the Paldean Champion and victor of the Academy Ace Tournament, but now you must prove yourself better than another group of school kids. It’s great to have more trainers to battle, but progressively, it feels like the protagonist’s arc is taking a huge step backwards.

Well done Champion, you conquered Paldea. You survived Area Zero and you even bested the Loyal Three and Kitakami, but now, you can go to Unova and instead of taking on the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four that calls Unova home, you need to bully some more school kids, whilst being used as a pawn in someone else’s game to end the current Champion’s reign.

But hey, on the plus side, at least there are two new evolutions to pre-existing Pokémon to discover that, while both look incredible, you probably won’t nearly use as much as you think you would.

Paradoxical Pokédex:

As a long-time series fan that loves to catch ’em all, I love the addition of a new Pokédex and with a new location, comes a new Pokédex to fill out, but there also comes a few problems.

While the Blueberry Academy gives players a larger Pokédex to fill out, 242 slots versus Kitakami’s 200, it doesn’t change the fact that 72 of those 242 slots are taken up by starter Pokémon and all of their evolutions, from Gen 1 to Gen 8. It’s great to have them all back, especially to have all of them catchable in a single game, where it can be easier to try and shiny hunt them, but it does eat up a good portion of the Blueberry Pokédex, especially when other slots are occupied by Pokémon obtainabvle in both Paldea and Kitakami.

Still, the real Pokédex issue that I do have with Blueberry Pokédex is the inclusion of Paradox Pokédex. As long as you were able to catch Walking Wake and Iron Leaves, there is a total of 242 Pokémon that count towards the Blueberry Pokédex, but only 240 are needed to “complete it,” but here’s the problem.

For catching all 240 Pokémon in the Terarium, players can earn themselves a new diploma and the Mark Charm, but how can 240 Pokémon be caught in the Terarium, when there are only 235 discoverable species in said Terarium? With two new Paradox Pokémon exclusive to Scarlet and two Paradox Pokémon exclusive to Violet and a new legendary Pokémon added, not a single one of them are obtainable in Blueberry Academy’s Terarium.

Instead, to add them to your Pokédex, players will actually need to return to Area Zero. So, here we are, heading back to Paldea to discover the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, catching five brand-new Pokémon, who, instead of counting towards the Paldea Pokédex, they count towards the Blueberry Pokédex, instead? Confused? Me too.

I was also confused to discover a Carbink, a Pokémon that was only added to the Gen 9 games via the Land of Kitakami, in the underdepths of Area Zero and if you do catch one, it only registers to the Kitakami Pokédex, despite the fact it’s now technically discoverable in Paldea. Would it really have been too hard to simply add an sub-Pokédex dedicated to the Pokémon of Area Zero? Briar herself could have created the app as part of her research and give players access to it once her expedition is concluded.

At least something like that could be used to easily justify the likes of why the new Paradox Pokémon are covered in a Pokédex that isn’t the Paldean one, which covers the other Pokédex Pokémon previously discovered. Still, no point crying about spilt milk, not when there is an upcoming event that will enable players to return to Kitakami catch one last new Gen 9 Pokémon that poses a question worth asking? Does it count towards the Kitakami Pokédex, or the Blueberry Pokédex? We’ll find out next week.

Kieran’s Obsession:

With Kieran and Carmine easily being two of the best things about Kitakami, it’s great to see the continuation of his story and how it unfolds during the events of The Indigo Disk. The siblings are back and while one is happy enough to see you, one would love nothing more than to defeat you once and for all.

Filled with an anger that has driven him to become a greater trainer, Kieran has become the Champion of the Blueberry Elite Four and his attitude stinks worse than a Trubbish, The friendly boy we once met has left the building and his better self remains. He is the best Blueberry Academy has to offer and I enjoyed every bit of screen time he got. It’s just a shame that despite his efforts to become the best, we have to wipe the floor with him yet again and prove to him that his best just isn’t good enough.

How he reacts to such actions, I’m sure you could easily guess, but it does essentially infuriates him further, so when it is time to finally return to Area Zero and seek out Terapagos, Kieran does all that he can to avoid another Ogerpon situation. It’s an interesting scenario to play through and it goes a long way to making the Gen 9 games stand out all the more.

The one complaint I do have with his storyline, however, is while his arc plays out in a compelling way, keeping him relevant in both parts of the The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, for the fans of Carmine, she takes a huge back set during the events of The Indigo Disk. By all means develop Kieran’s story, but you didn’t have to give her a smaller role the second time around to make Kieran shine all the more.

A Different Kind of BBQ:

If the promise of more battles and more Pokémon to catch is not enough, The Indigo Disk offers a new way of keeping itself relevant and that is via its Blueberry Quests, which in some ways, feels like a continuation of an idea taken from Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Whereas Arceus tasked players with specific quests that help to complete the Hisui Pokédex, Blueberry Quests are a series of repetative quests that can earn players valuable BP, a special type of currency utilised by the students of Blueberry Academy.

From purchasing items from the school store, ordering food from the school cafeteria or heading over to the League Club Room and using its computer, BP is used for everything and how you spend it, can heavily impact your DLC experience. You will be somewhat limited at first, as the first batch of BP quests you get do not reward you as many BP as later quests do. However, you can unlock better rewarding quests by completing more of the simple ones. The majority of your BP will be spent in the post-story, when you ask Special Coaches to come visit Blueberry Academy, or when you upgrade the Biomes to add starter Pokémon.

When playing on your own can feel like a right slog, at least when playing online with friends or online strangers, at least you can complete tasks a lot quicker and rack the points in. Other than that though, it is a long necessary drag to be able to experience everything The Indigo Disk has to offer.

Legendary Encounters:

Just in case players feel that Koraidon, Miraidon, Ogerpon and Terapagos aren’t Legendary enough, Legendary Pokémon from previous generations make their long-awaited return in a most unusual way. Instead of being encounters via Ultra Wormholes or Dynamax Adventures, all previous Legendary Pokémon added to the Gen 9 games can be found in Paldea, but to make them appear, you need their corresponding snack. Legendary Pokémon need to eat too,

When all is said and done during The Indigo Disk’s post-game content, players can meet an NPC by the name of Snackworth and as long as you have been completing Blueberry Quests, he will gift you special snacks and provide you with tips as to where you can locate specific Legendary Pokémon. With the snacks to hand, its off to Paldea to hunt them down and you may as well waste no time in battling them, as all returning Legendary Pokémon are shiny-locked. So, if you were hoping to keep resetting for a shiny Lugia, you need not waste your time for no shiny will make an appearance, unless, of course, you have one you caught previosuly and have imported it via Pokémon HOME. 

Thus, since the Legendary Pokémon can not be shiny hunted, the only purpose they serve is to be something else for you to do and catch once you have completed the story events of The Indigo Disk. It’s a cheap move on Game Freak’s part to get us make us repeatedly complete BBQs and have to play online with others, if we wish to try and complete group quests, just so we can earn snacks for version exclusive Legendary Pokémon locked to the game version opposite of the one we’re playing.

Having greatly enjoyed The Teal Mask, The Indigo Disk makes for an interesting contrast. It ties together almost all remaining plot points save for one, but that’s a story to be told as part of an upcoming Prologue event. It’s a shame it’s only a taste of Unova, but at the end of the day, The Indigo Disk offers far more than previously expected and is a fantastic way of rounding out the DLC to make the whole of Gen 9 shine like the Tera Jewel it has always been. The performance is still poor and not everything has been patched, but its still a fantastic generation of games nonetheless and a step in the right direction.