Pokémon Omega Ruby and the Delta Episode

Reviews, Video games Add comments Tagged with: omega ruby/alpha sapphire, pokemon, rpg

Mar 172017

I intended to skip Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

The third generation of Pokémon was my least favorite, and I didn’t enjoy the OR/AS demo, either.

Then, I heard people talking about the Delta Episode, a new post-game story segment added for the remakes. Many fans praised the Delta Episode as being some of the greatest writing in the Pokémon games so far, next to Black/White and Looker’s side quest in X/Y.

Pokémon Black and White are among my favorites for their storytelling, and I enjoyed the Looker quest more than the entire main game of X and Y. Plus the Delta Episode has an oddly Kingdom Hearts-like battle theme, which I love.

So I made up my mind: I would get Pokémon Omega Ruby, rush through the main game (as much as I ever rush), and play the Delta Episode.

I also decided to give my entire Pokémon team Kingdom Hearts names, and since I thought I might do that for Sun/Moon, I’d restrict myself to only prequel names!

After about 20 hours, I made it to the end of the main game with Lea, Isa, Eraqus, Vinewinder (I was trying for the Unversed “Glidewinder”), Bll (my hand slipped), and Groudon (I never name Legendaries).

Pokémon Omega Ruby still isn’t one of my favorites. I liked some of the changes, like the additional character development for Wally and Maxie, but the story still felt bland to me overall.

Then it was time for the Delta Episode!

The Delta Episode was interesting. I’m happy I played it. It’s much more story-driven than Pokémon usually is, which I like, and I hope Pokémon continues to go in a more plot-focused direction.

It wasn’t perfect. There was a lot of running back and forth between locations, without the pacing to make it feel better. I swear at one point they had me go from Point A to Point B only to immediately send me back to Point A.

Nevertheless, it was enjoyable, and it even had a bit more moral complexity than the series usually has.

Click for Delta Episode spoilers

A giant meteoroid is hurtling toward the world, and so the scientists and Steven decide to use Infinity Energy to warp it somewhere else.

Infinity Energy. If you’ve played Pokémon X and Y, you know where that comes from, and yes, it’s the same here.

And where will the meteoroid go? They don’t care, as long as it isn’t here.

Zinnia stops them and says they could send the meteoroid on a path toward an alternate world that lacks the technology to stop it, and then she destroys the equipment necessary to their plan without explaining her alternate plan.

Oh, and Zinnia is the one who stirred up Team Magma and Team Aqua in the hopes that the rampaging Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre would summon Rayquaza.

So on one hand, the scientists are willing to use Infinity Energy and risk sending the meteoroid toward another world (there’s no proof the other world exists, but they don’t care where the meteoroid goes), and on the other hand, Zinnia is willing to endanger the world and sees no need to explain herself.

Both are trying to do the right thing, but neither is entirely that. That sort of morally gray situation doesn’t come up often in Pokémon.

It also introduced the possibility of a Pokémon multiverse, with the suggestion that the original games still exist in an alternate universe.

The Delta Episode’s connections to Kalos even made me realize I didn’t dislike all of Pokémon X/Y’s story. I actually enjoyed its backstory. It was the main story, and especially Team Flare, that disappointed me.

In short, while the Hoenn games will never be my favorites, I’m happy I played Pokémon Omega Ruby and the Delta Episode, and I look forward to seeing where Pokémon’s storytelling goes from here.

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