[Meta Thread] Pokerole Mystery Dungeon: Primal Shadows

[Lord Windos]

I am...SO late here, mostly since I got busy with household-and-work-stuff and caught sort of a cold on top of that (air conditioning is both a curse and a blessing, change my mind), but oh boi, a big Snek ahead! Frankly a G-Maxed Mon is the least I'd expect to encounter, so I'm pleasantly suprised! Even if the decision of fighting or not fighting is almost made already - Kee in-chara would go for a fight, but I would kinda...prefer to move onwards and press on towards Landorus. Fighting them and saving freeing them from shadow-y energy is more important with the Beeg Snek being optimal at best, and somehowI cannot shake off the feeling that there is or will be a reason to why we (player characters) can opt out of that battle and move onwards while the NPCs handle it.

On the other hand, we have alot of resource in Items and various strong NPC-help, meaning I'm mildly positive that we CAN handle the fight in one way or the other. Plus, a massive boost in XP if we win.

So blatantly if everyone is up to battle Sandaconda and opts to go for it, I'll okay with that. Personally, I would rather not though if we can opt out without a risk of having to battle anyway.

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One big reason to do the Big Snek fight aside from getting the XP and whatever else it offers is that if we sneak off we don't get Team Raiders to tackle the Lando fight with off the bat. Considering how that sand dinji has been hyped up as a super threat grossly eclipsing all the other elemental genies we might actually end up using more resources holding out against it/learning it's various mechanics until Roserade and Rhyperior come to the resuce (if they come at all). Sure, we could also end up defeating it and he might end up relatively easier on us than trying to do back-to-back Boss Fights, but I just want to point out that their is some significant downsides to leaving Raiders behind to deal with the snek.

On that note, dealing with the snek will likely cause Raiders to lose more resources for themselves and increase the odds of them getting screwed without backup, which means they'd have less goodies to help us deal with Lando later (again, if they come in time). They already said that they were running low on Revivers and other stuff at the very start of the dungeon while taking the Mass Monster Houses, so I'm almost certain they're going to be strung out Item-wise if we leave them alone. Of course some of their Items might end up being used on our weak butts if we do spectacularly poorly against Big Snek, but in that case we at least get some XP and IC Experienced dealing with Dynamax + Raid Boss mechanics to go along with that (when the alt is making the Lando fight harder with only a resource uptik for the PC parties and Team Raiders having to eat more difficulty solo against the Snek). Plus sticking out and helping Raiders will certainly earn a bit more favor with them down the line - or at least I hope so!

The largest elephant in the room is the abscense of Gallade, and their is even odds of them being embroiled in a battle somewhere , being KOed/imprisoned, or them getting hit with the Shadow stick like with every almost every major encounter the teams dealt with. Rushing off without Raiders could net us Gallade for the fight potentially, but it's just as likely to result in nothing given the mystery surrounding his disappearance. 

Really, the Decision to Avoid the Big Snek/Fight the Big Snek comes down to the following conditions:
- Avoid Big Snek: Save more Items and not having an OP Team micromanage us until Lando, but lose out on XP , there immediate assistance against Lando (at the very least), making the Lando fight potentially more intense, and putting more strain on our allies. There is also the rep we lose out on by taking the Sneak Option, though Roserade might be pleased with it considering it was their idea to begin with.
- Fight Big Snek: More XP and Interactions, experience gained from fighting a whole new kind of Boss (Raid + Dynamax), and keeping the entire group together thorough the MD (remember when Ven split from the party from under Mt. Sentry? Ah, good times....) , but almost certainly putting more Item scarcity on our PC Teams and taking on a considering challenge that very much could leave the PC Teams completely unprepared to be anything but supports for Team Raiders against Lando. The rep we could gain by being brave is there too!

Whichever we decide, we got to prioritize what we deem the most important to us first. For me, it's the potential XP and the reassurance of having Team Raiders with us at all times thoroughout this MD. What do you think, mates? Phantom dear?