[Meta thread] Lord Windos' PokeRole Adventure : Celadon City Vandels

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

One question @Dragonstrike : The NFR mission would not be in the next day in game after this one? I still need buy a few medic items like revive, potions and maybe a few pokeballs in case we meet a Tandorian Pokemon for trade with Nellygator.

Saturday is the last day of the campaign, so yes?  I thought it was clear enough that doing it after Encounter 2 on Saturday was the plan.  That's why Riza would be falling behind if she went looking for a Bug/Steel type again.

Technically speaking, Sunday is sorta the 'Choose Your Own End Game' in my eyes, with the following choices on the table as of now (That I can remember)

I'm Bad to the Bone!: Reiner's original MO - become a Executive, further solidify his ties to Team Rocket and its upper ecolons, and proceed to do whatever he wants within the confines of his position. Game ends right there, and the only thing left to worry about is tying off loose ends within Celadon and making sure the 'Closing Scenes' are suitably dramatic.


One of the 'best' ends in terms of essentially waving a lot of Reiner's troubles away besides TR politics, the problem with it is...well, TR itself and that Reiner either looses a lot of agency and is forced into being Gio's coveted Chosen One (with an admittedly long leash), or try to play double agent (or triple, depending on which sides he aligns with, and in what order) and see how that goes. The former more or less guts any chance of being remotely heroic as he'll have to betray Blackthorn City, and the later puts him on VERY thin Ice that could fail on him at any moment. In the beginning, Reiner might not have minded so much being Gio's lapdog if he felt he got a good deal from it, but now.....eh, probably not.

Fuck this Shit, I'm OUT!: Reiner ever present fallback plan - when the going gets tough, GTFO. For most of the story, the two ways he could have done this were to either attempt escape on his own, or take up the Merchant's offer and be spirited away by them into their service, both of which had their pros and cons. Now, with Taylor's potentially pulling a rescue op and then disappearing both of them. Most likely their is going to be some escape sequence or a final boss/confrontation if you go along those routes, though which ones crop up will vary on your choices, obviously.

Surpringly, these options are not altogether terrible ideas, as escaping that tangled web of BS that is Celadon and TR/Nation Guard would be a great burden off Reiner's shoulder, and the fact he gets to keep most of the swag he obtained on his 'Missions' is also nice! Problems with these options are obvious, though : TR would be VERY keen to get back their Chosen One unless he faked his death, the Wild Hunt would be able to get at him without a buffer or sanctuary to defend himself with. Even if he faked his death or went to ground entirely until everything cooled down like his mum pleaded, theirs's more than a good chance that TR would set bounties on Reiner's head or the Elders would be forever paranoid and keep Hunter out looking for him. Still, being free from obligations seems like something Reiner would be into, so its not totally a non-options.

Protect and Serve!: Reiner either joins the Nation Guard, The Police, or Erika's Gym (Yes, this is an option...more so than even with the G.F.), and from their either disappears or draw them to go plan a raid on TR. Optionally (and more difficulty) , he could just attempt to betray TR all on his own, and reap the consequences of those actions. Since Reiner is intimately familiar with the place, it wouldn't be too much of dungeon, so I'd have to resort to other tactics to make that a challenging path, but the rewards could be worth it. Obviously, Gio would be the BBEG of this Choice, so yeah...good luck fighting someone on par with CLAIR and has less scruples and more Poke/Resources to draw upon than anyone shy of the Elite Four or the Rich Elites/OTHER BBEG.

I'll be blunt here: this is the hardest Choice by a longshot. I never really intended for it to BE a proper option to fight TR (after all, the whole point of my campaign was originally to BECOME A BIGGER PLAYER IN IT), but as the plot developed and Reiner/Arial grew as characters.....well, things changed, to be blunt. Failure is BAD TIMES FOREVERMORE for Reiner and co, SUCCESS, YUS! is not necessarily such a rosy thing either, and anything in between is ripe with the potential to cause shenanigans. More over, depending on which organization you sided with binds you to their whims/rulings, which, as I put it is 'trading one master for another' , and going in alone make you an awful big target for others to take shots at. This not to mention teh Wild Hunt, or whatever else the region does in response to such a paradigm shift. Still, the rewards and fallout are EPIC in this choice, so go for it if your are brace!

Gorgeous Ghostly Goddess' Grace : Reiner essentially cashes in on Giratina's affections/crushes and basically become her boyfriend/choosen mate in exchange for protection, power, and freedom from most anyone else. This would pretty much pan out like the first choice in terms of end game content, as the only thing that could possibly oppose that would be THEM, and I doubt even they would be willing to compromise his friendship with the Rebellious Goddess. All problem that Reiner has pretty much will cease to exist at his inclination, and Blackthorn would be more inclined to worship the ground he walks on if/when announced he's the Anti Matter Goddess' 'Chosen One' and force a swift reversal of public/Elder opinion.

Problem: .....Well, Reiner becomes her boy toy, basically, and is therefore trapped with her being his 'girlfriend/wife' . He wouldn't be 'bound' to her like her Priestess or Future!Clair, but he'd be hard pressed to find a way to squirm out of her loving, cuddly grasp beyond minor things /The Quest for the Cursed Arms . It wouldn't be quite a glided cage for the poor man, but it probably feel like it to him. Of course, this could be said to be his eventual fate no matter what happens, so....

If you can't beat them, BECOME THEM: Reiner uses the Gender Fluidizer to perfectly impersonate Clair (Either with Amensia due to some excuse or pulling some info from Lindworm/his onw past) and march right in to take her place in BC. Most likely being an escape sequence involving TR or the like, if things go bad, or slipping out undetected if things go swell. This is notably the only option thus far that allows Reiner to actually RETURN HOME WITHOUT ALARM, and be reunited with his family (albeit in a different form/under false assumptions)

Problem: Reiner pretty much has to ditch his old identity, friends, and old Pokémon in order to properly BE Clair, and taking up the Gym Leader lifestyle comes with its own burdens besides 'I'm pretending to be my half sister while literally BEING her'. That, and going this Route puts you right in the firing line of TR AND ruins any chance of Taylor coming to visit 'her' , and the Elders (are all big morons that can't keep themselves out of trouble if it turned tail and ranaaa0 that want to try and 'FORCE YOU INTO poor discussions. That, and keeping up an act like THAT for so long could have....its own problem. 

Those are the End Game Choices I could come up with, so look them over carefully if you could!

As for the whole 'NRF getting raided Saturday....well, that came to a shock you didn't know that Spiritmon! Oh well, better learn now than later, eh? Between everyone the Dungeon shouldn't be TOTALLY impossible with all the prep that has gone into it, but....I could be wrong.

Wowzer, that's a pretty lot of choices. I just hope I get the chance to buy some items before we head to our final mission. Just to curiosity what is the possible endings for Arial too? Also even when Celadon City end, is there any possibility of a sequel?