Back on the Pokemon Z-A grind
...well, it's not much of a grind. I've started playing Z-A again, this time to finish the "Mega Dimension" DLC.
The DLC introduces a kind of weird, instanced, dungeon-run style experience to the game. The game spawns a bunch of randomized, timed challenges all over the map. You spend a resource to enter each challenge; the value of the resource you spend determines how long you have - in minutes and seconds! - to complete the challenge inside the map. There's a smallish number of total maps, but they randomize enemy Pokemon and completable challenges to keep them feeling a bit diverse.
I never in a million years would have guessed that this was where the DLC would go. It feels almost like a half-attempt at making a roguelike experience inside Z-A. It's really strange! I don't hate it yet!
One of the other major things that Z-A adds is a variety of new "mega evolution" forms. These superpowered character forms have since appeared in other products, like Pokemon Go, where they contribute to the infinite treadmill of content which Pokemon needs to constantly generate in order to stay relevant. In fact, two of these forms - Mega Raichu X and Mega Raichu Y - first appeared in Pokemon Go yesterday, as part of a "Super Mega Raid Day" event meant to require in-person gameplay meetups in the real world. "Super Mega" events in Pokemon Go over the last year have largely focused on characters newly introduced in Z-A.
I am a Pokemon sicko, and that's partially because I find their IP-level coordination and content exploitation pretty fascinating. Pokemon Go spun up a whole new battle mode - not that different from other battle modes, but still - in order to require more in-person meetups, and they used the Z-A characters - and DLC characters! - to pack that battle mode with content. I've heard that The Pokemon Company sometimes plans these cross-product coordinations years in advance. (The constellation of companies managing the Pokemon IP is crazy and I do recommend reading up on it!)
I think it's pretty interesting - and instructive - that they do these mechanical and character-based crossovers, but they allow the plots of the games to frequently take place in alternate universes or timelines where they do not affect one another. I strongly believe that if you are going to do big transmedia projects like Pokemon, you need a kind of cooperation "steam release valve," like alternate plotlines, to prevent complete collaborative gridlock across years of product scheduling. Z-A strictly aligns to Pokemon X and Y, for example, but does not strictly align to Pokopia, or to the TV show - despite sharing some characters. Audiences are smart enough to understand this!
Anyway, I'm having fun playing this too. I don't just sit around thinking about corporate gridlock when I'm playing a Pokemon game. But it's fun to think about that, too!!