>>48884754I don't mind non-pokemon entities being the antagonist. In fact, I kind of preferred it to your usual pokemon since those are already known factors. My biggest issue with Dark Matter is that it doesn't make sense with the story's vibe. A negativity entity doesn't make sense when the main cast are probably the most chipper out of all four games (I don't think we see even a single pokemon doing anything evil of their own free will). At least in Gates, being miserable was a running theme, so the Bittercold sort of made sense in its own way.
My biggest problem with the story was the characters and how the were used. The school kids were nice enough, but they vanish entirely from the story after the third way point and get replaced with a bunch of dullards (Ampharos aside). The school part was 'comfy' I guess, but had almost zero plot, which would have been fine if the kids remained as important characters, since it'd be time to grow attached to them which would make the later half hit harder with drama stuff. As a result, the entire first third feels like a waste, and the story could have started from the partner leaving the village and bumping into you en route. Feels even worse when the last third's pacing was far too quick.
Speaking of the partner, fuck him. Annoying and groan inducing from start to finish. I think the writers felt as though they struck gold with him, but if I can't envision befriending him, then it kind of falls apart when the "main" character is a stand in for you. Also, the "main" character feels really superfluous in this game compared to the other PMDs. As a result, it's of all on the partner, and if I don't like essentially the only main character, then the entire story falls apart.
Gameplay was easily the best out of the PMDs though. Emeras, motivation and break systems helped the post game feel far less monotonous, which was always the biggest problem with the non-story stuff in PMD. Might be my favourite PMD despite the story.
