>>48062419She is the only LGPE reference in the game, and even that's ever so slightly debatable since her sprite from Yellow uses that design too (not that it has a ton of detail). I know that certain characters like Mallow and Lusamine had known index numbers since the beginning, and that other characters like N and Steven have index numbers lower than Misty. But of the 58 soft launch characters other than the player and Misty, practically everyone is indexed before her.
You gotta wonder what the original plan for rolling out characters was. There was the first big apology letter and October was a bit of a drought because they said they were reworking things. We got Giovanni & Mewtwo in December, the first Legendary Event, but is that when they originally wanted him? People speculated that Grimsley would be released in October because he appeared in the story back in August and a Dark-type would be fitting for October. His release coincided with Giovanni because he had Snatch to counter his boosts (remember when Brycen had his one niche?) and the type advantage. And then you can see Glacia as fitting November/December as an Ice-type. How many of these characters did they have completed in advance? How far in advance was the story planned? It took over 2 years to complete, and the bulk of it was at the soft launch.
