Line #204 Headscratchers/PokemonMysteryDungeon


1	* Lets go back to basics. If almost everyone is happy and friendly in the Pokémon towns, why are they so eager to beat each other up in the Mystery Dungeons? You are often helping other pokémon, catching outlaws or even SavingTheWorld. Why does everyone stand in the way? There isn't even a Pokémon League in this world.
2	** Well, at least in ''Rescue Team'' and ''Explorers'', it's explained that the nature/time distortions cause not only mystery dungeons to exist, but can also cause Pokémon to get more aggressive. Combine that with the fact that outlaws and thieves even exist in the first place in these verses, and it's clear that not ''all'' Pokémon are as nice as the ones in towns.
3	* Magnezone, I know you can't be everywhere at once, but for Arceus' sake, you're gifted with deadlier electrical powers than ''Zapdos'', can't you at least do more of the jobs yourself rather than constantly asking someone else's help?
4	** He may actually ''be'' doing other work off screen, but can't handle all the work himself or delegate to his officers. Posting jobs at the Guild helps with the workload because there's all sorts of exploration teams out there, of all different types -- perfect for when he's ill-equipped to handle a villain himself due to bad type matching.
5	** He is probably doing administrative tasks. Not to mention his other officers are probably guarding the prisons so the inmates don't riot or break out.
6	** Considering he's also around level 11-16, it would also explain why he needs help so much.
7	*** One must wonder how he got appointed as the Police Chief in the first place when he's so weak, The Kecleon bros are more qualified then him since they're lv 99 and have an endless amount of backup.
8	*** His low level may just be GameplayAndStorySegregation, since it would be too easy otherwise.
9	*** Storywise, the Kecleon Brothers would rather run a store, and they'd probably make poor officers anyway, since if shoppers in dungeons confuse "No" with "I'm not done shopping yet", Kecleon immediately pursues them. And Magnezone has those flashy police lights!
10	*** ..."flashy police lights"?
11	*** whenever you turn in an outlaw, the red and blue tips of Magnezone's magnets flash much like police lights.
12	* And another thing, who here keeps claiming that Primal Dialga is {{Satan}}? He's completely lost his marbles, and that's the thing - he's acting purely out of self-preservation, not any malicious intent. If anything, the MD world's equivalent of the Devil is Darkrai, and even then, just that particular one.
13	** I think it may have stemmed from how some people see the BadFuture as Hell, which admittedly isn't very hard.
14	* In Mystery Dungeon, why do so many bosses [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose get up right after you defeat them and KO you]]? I got such pleasure out of pwning Grovyle and then he just got up and took my entire team down in one hit. WTF?!!! If they all have a one-hit-kills-the-whole-team move, why don't they just ''use that in the first place''?
15	** If you were in a mystery dungeon filled with hostile pokés, would you use your strongest attack every time a hostile poké appeared before you?
16	** GameplayAndStorySegregation. Don't worry...it pissed me off too.
17	** At least they don't force you to start over from the dungeon should you lose the fight.
18	*** At least they don't force you to ''[[{{Roguelike}} restart the entire game]]'' should you lose the fight.
19	** I like to believe that he didn't think we'd be enough of a threat to use all of his power on. He attacks us without using more energy than he thinks he needs to, then is surprised as we beat the shit out of him. He then brings out whatever attack it was that managed to beat both of his assailants as a last resort.
20	** And, of course, there's the more basic answer that, if he could just one-hit-kill in the actual fight, then you wouldn't be able to get experience points off him. But that's more GameplayAndStorySegregation, I guess.
21	** I can't speak for all of them, but it seems like [[{{FridgeBrilliance}} their fight-or-flight system is kicking in after the fight.]]
22	** Canonically, the player loses to Grovyle. It just so happens that most players win against him.
23	* One of the central concepts of ''Pokemon Mystery Dungeon'' is that there are no humans in this world. It says as much in each game's opening. The protagonist would be an exception if not for the initial transformation. But this raises two questions. First, how can this be the case in the sequel, considering that [[spoiler:in the future, you were a human living in that world?]] And second, why doesn't anyone ever say "A human? What's that?" in response to an attempted reveal? How do they know what a human is? Did the humans die out ages ago or something?
24	** Just like every other animal species seem to have died, too -- or it wouldn't be understandable how Pokémon are classified as "dog" or "cat" or "worm", it's not too far fetched to imagine humans have gone the same way round.
25	** Alternate universe where Pokemon souls live alongside the actual Pokemon. This explains Gardevoir and Ninetales.
26	** You also got teleported out of your own world into the PMD world, and got teleported back at the end, in case you hadn't noticed. That or AllJustADream are the possibilities.
27	** As someone mentioned in response to the question below... It's always possible that humans exist there but are just very, very rare. Otherwise, the partner Pokémon probably ''would'' have no idea what a human is.
28	** FridgeBrilliance: In the main series games. Backstory legends say that at one point Pokemon and Humans were one and the same, while half remained Pokemon, the others over time evolved into humans. Now think of PMD, perhaps it's not a "parallel universe" but in fact, is canon with the main series, but takes place in the far far far far past. If not for the "Abandoned Laboratory" in the first game. This theory could really work. Heck, Pokemon villages still exist in the main series.
29	* Also, the second televised special has the transformed Piplup react in surprise to Chimchar's speech. This isn't mentioned in the game, but [[spoiler:would this mean that in his pre-transformation days, he never understood a word Grovyle, Celebi, Dusknoir or the others said? That's a fairly bleak conclusion, but not impossible.]]
30	** Surely yes. Actually, it does seem that no human can actually understand Pokémon in any way better than "Bowowowow!" "What, Lassie? Timmy fell in the well?" stuff.
31	*** I don't know. It takes something out of [[spoiler:the epic scenes of Grovyle and human meeting Celebi to go back in time, all the while hounded by Dusknoir and ultimately thwarted by Darkrai]], if it's done in Pokéspeech. [[spoiler:"Grovyle! Grovyle!" "'''Duuusk...'''"]]
32	*** No, no, no, no. Think of it as this: the player can understand Pokémon; the player character, as a human, cannot. It's just a matter of TranslatorMicrobes... or whatever.
33	*** Wait! Counter evidence has been discovered! [[spoiler:Grovyle and the human shared conversations regarding the Groudon statue and the time travel mishap!]] The human ''had'' to have been able to understand!
34	*** Could be another effect of your hero's [[spoiler:Dimensional Scream]], if it's not just another case of this world being different from other games' canon. Remember, at the very start of Time/Darkness, your hero doesn't seem surprised to hear a Pokemon talking to them...
35	*** I was under the impression that the hero in Time/Darkness/Sky was psychic, albeit a limited one, considering A) It's not unheard of for humans to be psychic (as the main series proved with a whole collection of them plus Sabrina) B) The Time/Dark/Sky hero doesn't seem ''as'' phased of having Pokémon talk to them [[spoiler:And like the above points mentioned, they hinted that the hero and Grovyle had conversations they could understand prior to the hero's transformation, even talking to each other (on-screen) in the intro]] whereas the Red/Blue hero was a lot more utterly freaked (the same with the anime short). They either had an ability to understand them outright, could read their minds/thoughts or both (maybe also implanting their own thoughts into their partner and few other exceptions since every other non-plot-important Pokémon only hears "...")C) The above point of [[spoiler:how the Time/Dark/Sky character revealed they have the Dimensional Scream ability, which they had before they traveled to the past]], meanwhile the red/blue hero [[spoiler: only had the vaguest psychic ability to communicate with Gardevoir through their dreams and in visions, but that could've easily been Gardevoir's doing, not the hero's]]. Although point A and B could be poked at with a stick of how [[spoiler:the intro could've been a one-sided conversation between the hero and Grovyle and that Grovyle didn't outright talk]], the red/blue hero ''also'' sort of "implants their thoughts into their partner" and ''also'' has the problem where they never speak up to other Pokémon you use as new leaders to talk with them, there's still a lot more Time/Dark/Sky hero can do that red/blue hero can't to warrant Time/Dark/Sky hero's abilities being because they were a human (once).
36	*** This troper always thought that this was an area where Pokemon were able to talk, you know, humanspeak. Like Meowth from the anime, for example, except it is natural here. It's valid for the games, at least, where I don't think the player reacts in surprise to talking Pokemon. But as for the anime....
37	*** It's also possible that the hero simply has a good understanding of Grovyle. I don't recall their conversation regarding the Groudon Statue to have the hero specifically respond to Grovyle's speech.
38	*** In the first set of games, the player is surprised by talking Pokemon because [[spoiler: he comes from a world of humans where Pokémon cannot talk]]. In this game, he is not surprised because he has heard them before, perhaps due to his psychic abilities, or maybe because this universe just operates differently.
39	*** I strongly suspect that the real question here is "why did the anime reuse that surprised reaction from the first special when it didn't appear in the second game and in fact directly contradicts its plot?"
40	*** This troper always assumed that since the [[spoiler: the hero can't remember the future, he can't remember that he can talk to Pokémon. Perhaps because of the dimensional scream, he was able to talk to Grovyle unlike any other humans could.]] As far as he knows, he shouldn't be able to understand them.
41	*** Well... [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite N]] could understand Pokémon, right? So the human had N-like powers... [[WildMassGuessing or maybe was N...]]
42	*** The anime actually had a few people who could understand Pokemon Speech, like this one guy as a kid was shown talking to pidgeys and rattatas, and there is one woman in Anistar city in X and Y who can tell what people are thinking from their auras. And in Pokemon Conquest [[spoiler: Arceus actually talks to you at the end, though being God he's probably an exception]]
43	* WTF is with the Rescue Team badges? You hold it up, the Pokemon gets a magical power and escapes. What kind of power are we talking, how long does it last, and what exactly are those badges that give out powers?
44	** We're talking a game setting where a badge gives you the power to breath underwater with the right HM and Pokemon. It's best to not think about it.
45	** Even worse is how the badges allow you to escape the dungeon without issue if you complete a task, but if you just want to "quit" the mission and leave, activating it causes half your items to be left behind.
46	*** That could be explained by Mission Control being {{Jerkass}}es. They tell you to do something, if you give up, they make you tag/seal/send them half the items in your backpack before letting you retract the Escape Orb.
47	* Pokemon eat Gummis and Apples. And ''nothing else''? How can one live on nothing but sweets and apples?
48	** According to the literal text, the player character only spends a few days in the wild at a time, and usually only one day per excursion. The Apples and Gummis may well only be the equivalent of snacks, and more varied versions of food available at the base. Alternatively, it might just be rule of saving cartridge space.
49	** They also eat berries and seeds. Also, in [=PMD2=], there is a very delicious dinner they eat every night at the guild. (Though it looks like fruit to me)
50	*** One of the pictures shown in the top menu shows this dinner as mainly apples and oran berries
51	** Part of the [[EpilepticTrees uplift process]]. Sapient Pokemon don't need to eat meat if they don't want to.
52	** You're forgetting Team Tasty, who reveal that Swellow are at least known to eat Wurmple.
53	*** Uh, Swellow WASN'T intending to eat Wurmple; Wurmple, the leader of this team, THOUGHT that Swellow wanted to. Why would you eat your best friend?
54	*** Yeah, but if Swellow weren't known to eat Wurmple, he would've had no reason to believe that.
55	** ''At least'' they eat. In any other Pokemon game from Red to Black, your pokémon could feed on air if you chose not to use any consumable items on it.
56	* Most of the 3 star rarity trade items and equipped items are articles of clothing. I can deal with the equipped items as they are simply things like scarves, caps and ribbons but the trade items ''really'' bug me. I mean, the trade items are things like rings, brooches, tiaras, torcs, armlets, veils and even ''capes'' and ''robes''. Does anybody find that a bit odd? Pokemon wearing clothes? And say nothing of the legendaries's items. Let's just say that [[FridgeLogic some rather]] [[HilarityEnsues funny]] images of the legendaries came into my head.
57	** Giratina's unique item is the Nether Veil. Giratina is a giant ghost dragon. It would just look silly wearing a veil.
58	** Palkia's unique item is the Air Blade. Why the hell would it need a sword?
59	*** [[RuleOfCool Why the hell not?]]
60	** Dialga's unique item is the Time Shield. It is a giant steel dragon, why does it need a suit of armor? Its body ''is'' armor.
61	** Cresselia is the only legendary who actually looks okay with her unique item. I can see her wearing a veil.
62	** Latias's unique item is the Heart Brooch. One problem, she is totally naked. Just ''where'' would she pin it?
63	*** ''Every'' Pokemon is naked. She could just be holding it.
64	*** You wanted to picture an anthro Latias naked? And one other thing, Latias's brother gets to wear a veil!
65	*** I dunno, when Latias takes the form of a human using her illusion powers, there's just something attractive about that. Not the actual Pokemon, but the human she bases her illusion off of (Bianca or whoever she was).
66	*** ...dude, you have weird taste.
67	* The hero in all the games so far is an amnesiac who is fully aware they were human and have been turned into a pokémon. Like all other pokémon in their level range (5), they share the same moves their species would/could know by that level. The hero is also fully capable of ''using'' those moves without fail (not including if they miss). Again, the hero was/is a ''human''. How is it that they know how to use their moves (especially their soon-to-be-learned elemental ones) the instant you gain control of them? How is it that they know how not to sneeze/fart out an accidental flamethrower/ember, constantly shock ''everyone within 50 feet of them'' or themselves without knowing how to control a thundershock or Static ability, or how to actually ''use a water gun'' and not just spit a huge loogie at their target?
68	** You ''are'' instructed on how to use your abilities, albeit only through the game's "HeKnowsAboutTimedHits" translation. Unless your randomly found friend knows what the forward+ B or start button is, it's not unreasonable to presume that they are getting at least basic in-world instructions at that time. Given the universe's history, teaching amnesiacs dangerous abilities is probably part of the grade school curriculum.
69	*** It all makes perfect sense to ''the player'' (and can turn what could've been a half an hour's worth of a tutorial into a few bearable minutes), but what about ''the main character''? The main character is an amnesiac human that turned into a random pokémon based on their personality and gender (and this is assuming that they don't lie on the interview), so it can't be that they predicted which pokémon they would be and worked into the moves. The partner also probably can't teach them because they will never be the same species or type as the main character and probably have little clue themselves about how the main character's elements work (unless the player cheats). Even if they did, they are whisked away into a dungeon not too long after they meet and it isn't until after they went through the dungeon (and the main character could've used their moves) that the partner could have the time to teach the main character (which is too late). Every other pokémon in the area either are mooks that want nothing more than to see the main character/the partner [[strike:killed]] knocked out, or are more focused on getting help than stopping for a few minutes to teach newbies, so it can't be them either. The mechanics that the tutorial teaches to the player also are directed at a lot of the controls the main character shouldn't have a clue of what they are or where he/she could trigger them ([[VideoGame/MetalGear unless their human self had been a member of Foxhound, that is]]), and besides this the thing that stands between them and that tutorial is the fourth wall. Even though it covers everything for ''the player'', and the main character usually ''is'' the player, in times they are ''not'', [[http://coshi-dragonite.deviantart.com/art/Pokemon-Dungeon-Newbie-Grass-39359216 well...]] [[http://coshi-dragonite.deviantart.com/art/Pokemon-Dungeon-Newbie-Water-38954204 Hmm...]]
70	*** It's sort of explained even then in the anime. Squirtle is in the same situation as the main character in the games, only this time there is no unseen narrator to explain everything about the game and no unseen player to learn it all for Squirtle behind the fourth wall. He tries to teach himself how to use his water type moves and succeeds [[strike: somewhat, even though he used bubble when he meant to use water gun]], which may imply it's not as hard as it seems.
71	*** There's also the fact that you've become that pokemon, and so probably have all the natural instincts that come with it.
72	** In the first PMD game, you're a human in your home world - but nobody said that this world was inhabited by humans only. The player could've been a trainer for all we know, so he/she knew what moves the pokemon of his chosen species could use. In the second PMD game, you more or less ''is'' a trainer in the future, seeing as Grovyle was your partner. So chances are you saw other pokemon of your species around, and likewise saw them use moves. Besides, you start out as a low level, who usually know simple physical moves - surely Growl or Tackle isn't too hard to figure out? As you battle and level-up, you gradually learn how to use your more advanced pokemon attacks, or so I think.
73	** This troper thinks that player character ''has'' such accidents, but they are too violent to show, and the moves are actually known since Level 1, but to make them 100% safe, you need to reach the required level.
74	* When it comes to going to Friend Areas, how does it take you so little time - in fact, how do you even get to places like Final Island/Enclosed Island/Southern Island/Serene Sea/Stratos Lookout if your player character doesn't have wings and isn't a Water type?
75	** Presumably there's a Flying-type air service or Water-type ferry service, simply falling under the conservation of detail.
76	*** In which case, why is HM Fly required to access Sky Tower again? (Although if you have access to Stratos Lookout you recruited Rayquaza for which you needed to access Sky Tower, so you could just be using HM Fly.)
77	** Alternatively, [[WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged Muffin Button]]
78	* Also, when hero and partner finally evolve, instead of sleeping animations, they walk in their beds. That's right. Instead of sleeping, they walk.
79	** Sleep-exploring?
80	** This one's interesting. The starters all have tons of special sprite animations, including sleeping and rising from bed (different from the sleep status effect every pokémon has), eating food in the mess hall, and the "cheer at the camera" pose. (You might notice they also do a similar "walk" animation when winning sentry duty after evolving). They also get about 8 different mood avatars. As you can imagine, that is a ''lot'' of artwork for just one pokémon. So naturally, they didn't want to have to draw all this art for the two evolved stages of each starter as well. This is also the reason you cannot evolve until the very end of the game when you're done using all these animations, since there are no more story scripts.
81	** And ''Sky'' added Eevee, with all of ''those'' potential final forms.
82	** Still kinda lazy, if you ask me. They could have at least had stuff for the final forms, given that nobody is going to be in the middle form for long.
83	** Its more along the laziness on the programmers' part, as every single pokémon in the game has a sleeping animation. I don't see why they couldn't have used that. Yeah, there is a special "yawning" animation, but them using their in-dungeon sleeping sprites would have been fine, it's what the original game did.
84	* In one of the earlier missions on the first game you have to save Diglett from a high ledge after taking care of Skarmory. However, the only way Diglett could be saved was for the two magnemites you helped earlier to come and airlift Diglett from the ledge, ideally lowering him down either toward you and your partner, to home or to at least the bottom of the mountain. Afterwards Diglett makes a comment that caused everyone around him to wonder if digletts really have feet. In the main series, digletts were very egnimatic where only their heads were ever seen, and that's probably what they're getting at, but if the magnemites had to lift Diglett to get him to safety, they would've had to [[FridgeLogic lift his entire body from the ground]], wouldn't they? (Unless they wanted to tear him in half, which is pretty obvious they didn't.) If that's the case, how is it [[LaserGuidedAmnesia nobody seems to remember seeing a naked diglett hovering between two magnemites across one high ledge of a mountain to another flat surface?]]
85	** Perhaps Diglett kept his dirt around him when they were flying him? It's cold when you're up high, and for all we know there's a taboo among Diglett/Dugtrio's species about letting other Pokemon see your feet.
86	** Eh, I always just thought they did it for RuleOfFunny.
87	** Could be that Diglett and Dugtrio look like a hot dog with eyes and a nose, but they've got tiny feet, and the gang had a hard time believing that there were any to be seen that they missed.
88	*** That's a good explanation for a lot of the entries on this page. Sometimes you shouldn't analyze these things so hard.
89	*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy0RQLfo0pc Alternatively...]]
90	* Delivery quests. So a pokémon's gone to the post office to post a request, then to some insane floor in a dungeon (e.g., I'm on level 23 of Magma Cavern which several rescue teams couldn't get close to) and wait for you at which point they ''return to the freaking post office''. Why not just meet them there?!
91	** They're sending for a rescue from the dungeon itself, they don't go to the post office (like through maybe a special call using an explorer badge). The player can do something similar by sending out a rescue request that another player can take and go rescue you (like someone else with a GBA or DS). I don't think they're posting "please rescue me" and then going and getting themselves in trouble on purpose. And in some cases, the request for help is posted by a different Pokemon, like the ones that say "please rescue my friend Houndoom" or something.
92	*** But we're not talking rescue missions, here, we're talking delivery missions. You know, the "I can't live without blue gummis please bring me one" missions. There's no mention of the pokémon being stuck on that floor; just that they want you to find the item and deliver it. The question is why do they need to have it delivered ''there'' when they're going straight back to the post office with you?
93	** Also, the "take me to my love, we agreed to meet" {{Escort Mission}}s. I mean, I can kind of understand why the Pokemon wants to come along when the mission is a rescue mission, but seriously, Nidorino, the Magma Cavern is not a good date spot. Really. You know what's a good date spot? ''Pretty much anywhere that is not a high-level dungeon.'' Take Nidorina out to the cape or to a nice friend area or something. Don't ask me to take you deep into the earth's crust.
94	*** Because she wanted excitement and thought that going to the cape or a friend area is boring?
95	* Anyone else find it odd that Wigglytuff and Magnezone seem to be on good terms despite the events of ''Igglybuff the Prodigy''?
96	** In fact, that special episode in general was an unsettling example of an OutOfCharacterMoment. Magnezone was always shown as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, and to see him act like such an uncaring jerk...
97	** Uncaring jerk? He was just doing his job, and was only harsh when he thought it was a HostageSituation. It's not like he went full-on PoliceBrutality while making the arrest or anything. [[spoiler: Armaldo went along willingly in the end, remember? It's not like he beat him into submission and dragged his body away from a screaming Igglybuff...]] Not to mention how at the end, Wigglytuff states clearly that "I don't believe there's any such thing as a truly bad Pokémon". It'd be a tad hypocritical for him to say that while still holding a grudge towards somebody who was, again, ''just doing his job''.
98	*** "Just doing his job" does not exempt someone from being a jerk. The Police Force of some tyrannical regime is also "just doing its job".
99	*** There's a big difference from "tyrannical regime" and "arresting a wanted criminal who is also a nice guy." Yeah, Armaldo wasn't an evil Pokemon by any means but he still committed a crime and he still had to serve the time. You don't get to choose the method of your atonement in the law system.
100	** Maybe it was a different Magnezone. Same speech patterns but the Magne-line all sound fairly robotic and similar in the PMD games. Heck, our Officer Magnazone may have appeared as one of the Magnemite mooks back in ''Igglybuff the Prodigy''
101	** That's actually a pretty cool theory.
102	* Why didn't the protagonists get to fight all of Team Skull, in the previous games those protagonists mopped the floor Team Meanies a third into the game and Gengar is still a thorn in their sides for most of the story. Seeing them flattened after trying to pick a fight with the Guildmaster was funny but they came back and continued to impede and mock the protagonists; they then steal the relic fragment at the worst possible time.
103	** Part of the problem could be that Skunktank tend to ''explode'' when you beat them. Just picture going through a tough fight, dealing the final blow... and having that {{Gasshole}} blow up in your face for [[TakingYouWithMe a mutual KO]]? Factor in a potential HeadsIWinTailsYouLose, like they pulled with certain ''other'' battles... Not getting to kick that SmugSnake is frustrating, but what can you do?
104	*** Had him come back late in the game when you were stronger and then easily whupped his ass without fear of explosions?
105	* When Dusknoir first visits the Guild, they make a big fuss about Diglett not being able to identify his footprint. But... he's a Dusknoir. Dusknoir don't ''have'' footprints. (And for that matter, how do they identify Pokemon who don't have footprints, like Ghosts and such?)
106	** Maybe by silhouette from the bottom?
107	** That might also explain why they couldn't explain who Dusknoir was, they thought his silhouette ''was'' his footprint.
108	* Also, was it ever explained why they had trouble identifying your footprints?
109	** Whatever species the player character is doesn't come to the area much.
110	** I always thought it was partly due to the player character being a polymorph, so some of the physical aspects may have been a tad different.
111	** How does the footprint identification work anyway? Okay, so you stand on the grate and Diglett down the tunnel looks up and examines what your footprints look like... only that he can as well see what ''you'' look like, since the grate isn't too dense. That rends the footprints system pretty much pointless.
112	* Why aren't any of the other Pokemon named? I mean, no one thinks it's weird that you or your partner have names, or the Pokemon you recruit, but Bidoof calls himself Bidoof and Chatot's name is Chatot. How hard is it to give the really important characters a name?
113	** Taken from the WMG page... either using your real name is taboo in public, or they ''do'' have names, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation it's just that the player isn't privy to them.]] But, yeah, this bugs me, too.
114	** Pokemon call you and your partner by your real names around the guild and in public...for instance, before Dusknoir pulls you with him into the future, so he calls you by name and asks you to come up. He's still pretending to be good to catch you off guard, so why would he knowingly break a public taboo? Second reason: Read the WMG. In the real pokemon games, every trainer you fight has a name, but are they important? Not usually. If they name every trainer in the pokemon games, why not name the pokemon you hang out with in the Guild and pokemon square?
115	** Nicknames? They seem pretty commonplace since you can nickname anyone who joins your team, so it isn't impossible that your partner's "name" is really just a nickname and everybody else thinks your real name is one. As for the rest of the characters, there's only one Bidoof around, only one Chatot around, etc. so nicknames aren't necessary and therefore pretty uncommon.
116	*** What about Ursaring and Ursaring?
117	** Maybe it's a culture thing. Adults are formally addressed by their species name, but you and your partner, who are just kids and on friendly terms with pretty much everyone, get called by their first names.
118	* So how did Koffing and Zubat steal the partner's artifact when ''neither of them have hands''?
119	** Well, they would have treasure bags right? Zubat or koffing might have grabbed the artifact in his mouth and then stuffed it in the other's bag? But yeah, it is kind of weird when you point it out...
120	*** What about those spiky leg things that Zubat's got? He could have used those... maybe. Come to think of it, I have no idea what those things even are.
121	*** Those appear to be undeveloped or very atrophied legs.
122	*** [[https://i.gyazo.com/1f8f2582004194ccce2c6292c052ea80.png Ahem.]]
123	* How exactly did Team Raider "rescue" Dugtrio from the sea? Did they pull him out of the ground and plop him down on the beach? Furthermore, how did Dugtrio get stuck in the sea in the first place? Couldn't he just burrow underground and tunnel his way back?
124	** He was just splashing in the shallows, its possible all they did was calm him down. (And he was too panicked to dig.)
125	* Why is my partner so damn ignorant, especially in the future chapter? You're told that Grovyle is a hero, and that Dusknoir is TRYING TO KILL YOU. Naturally, you, the player, manage to get the pieces together immediately. The partner, however, has the attention span of a gnat. He even wants to go back to Dusknoir and ask him (which would just result in all 3 of us getting killed), and even when you're told that the Time Gears need to be moved to Temporal Tower, which would be a temporary thing, my partner's SHOCKED that Grovyle took a Time Gear from a forest, DESPITE HIM SAYING THAT TIME ALREADY STOPPED, SO IT WOULDN'T MATTER IF IT WAS THERE OR NOT!
126	** In the first case, it could be a combination of denial and being severely shaken by everything happening all at once. Their entire world's been ripped asunder, they're desperate for answers, and still aren't entirely certain that Grovyle is a good guy. (The fact Grovyle was willing to [[ShootTheDog kill them]] when they stood between him and the last Time Gear likely influences their trouble trusting him; even as the evidence mounts that they should be on the same side, they still remember that moment where Dusknoir saved them from a brutal death at Grovyle's hands...)
127	*** When was it stated that Grovyle was trying to kill you? If you're talking about Crystal Cave, yes, he was severely ticked off at you, and Dusknoir did swoop in to save you, but when Grovyle went to get the other Time Gears, he was perfectly content with KO'ing Mesprit and Uxie, with nothing indicating that he was actually trying to kill them. Given how much stuff they managed to sneak into this game, if Grovyle ''was'' trying to kill you, you'd think it would be a bit more obvious.
128	** This just bugged me, too... I can buy the partner not trusting Grovyle immediately during the future segment... But trying to go back to Dusknoir (who had ''explicitly'' just set you up to be executed, as opposed to Grovyle ''possibly'' almost killing you ''on accident''), and complaining about Grovyle taking a Time Gear ''when he had agreed to go along with you and Grovyle'' really has no explanation.
129	** The explanation is in your partner's character. They're young and naive, they've just had their whole world shattered, and like most people they struggle to cope with the fact that things the previously knew as absolute truth (Time Gears, Grovyle, Dusknoir) are all lies. It's easier for the player to come to terms with the plot, because they're not of the old world and have a more open mind, but your partner doesn't have that. Throughout most of your time in the dark future your partner is in a state of complete shock, and thus not thinking too clearly. Hence, when told that Dusknoir wants them all dead their first reaction is "No, that can't be true, there must be some other explanation." You know, like anyone would if told that someone they trusted and looked up to had betrayed them. And, of course, after being betrayed once in such a fashion it's hard for them to trust someone who has a rather dubious history. As for the Time Gears scenario, it's not hard to grasp. Your partner has had it hammered into them their entire life that Time Gears are utterly sacred and disturbing them is the worst thing you can do. Superficially they might understand that they need to be taken, but it's one thing to accept it and another to actually witness someone stealing one (especially when you recall the last time they witnessed a Time Gear being removed).
130	* I can understand why this wasn't included gameplay-wise, but why does your team only send out one exploration team at a time? Later on, you can have tons of Pokemon back at base. Even then, you can only send one team consisting of a maximum of four members at a time. Why can't they organize multiple groups to go out at once? It would be tons more efficient. I mean, what do all those other members DO all day?
131	** Maybe they're doing other jobs on their own? The jobs on the boards change every time, even if you personally don't take them all, meaning that someone else is taking on the jobs you didn't do. Maybe some of those Pokemon are the ones in your group who aren't as controlled by the Guild as you? (or the other Guild members) At first I was a little bothered that I couldn't go back to do jobs I wasn't able to take before because of the "only 8 slots at a time" limit (like that they would stay on the board until you took them or deleted them), but then I just realized that the in-game reason the jobs disappear unless you take them is because other Pokemon are probably doing them instead!
132	*** So by that logic, the other members are doing jobs in the meantime, but not giving any of the profits to the team (i.e., me). Wow, my team is full of assholes.
133	*** They're also not taking any money or items from you. Whatever they earn is probably going to fund further expeditions.
134	*** As a possibility, that may be how the Guild system works. That it's more a loose cooperative arrangement rather than a business (each affiliated member collects rewards and handles equipment independently, but their guild affiliation stipulates collaboration if requested).
135	* The Amp Plains incident. Why did Dusknoir arrive to save the hero and partner? Why not simply let them die? Everyone respects the great Dusknoir. He could have easily watched them get killed from the shadows, and returned to town with a sob story of how he "tried to get there as fast as he could, but [he] was too late" or some nonsense like that. Since people respect him so much and aren't wise to the fact that he's deceiving them, Dusknoir could have gotten away with it scott free. He could have avoided ALL trouble and got rid of them just like that.
136	** Dusknoir didn't know who the Player was at that time. It wasn't until ''after'' he rescued them and they told him about the Player's power (and name) that he put two and two together.
137	*** Which means he didn't even know that anyone was relevant to his mission, but helped out because it was the right thing to do, both for the potential victims and his reputation. This goes a long way toward his ''Sky'' sidestory's outcome, doesn't it?
138	* Your default name is your species.. That could be passed as amnesia but it's really your name so.. A human kid named "Pikachu"?
139	** MY PARENTS WERE DRUNK, OKAY!
140	** It could be that, due to your amnesia you don't remember what your real name is, so the default is that you tell your partner something that they would believe (what species you are)
141	*** Except, shortly after Amp Plains, the fact that you remember your real name becomes a minor plot point.
142	* Dugtrio is one Pokemon, right? One dad. But he refers to himself as if he's a trio and behaves like one..SplitPersonality?
143	** Could be one dad and two uncles raising a son.
144	*** I like to think of it as the Dad being all three of the male leads for ''Series/FullHouse''. Diglett is now both a girl and voiced by Ashley Olsen. Fill in the rest of the guild as the cast as you please.
145	** If that's the case, then what will happen to Diglett once ''he'' evolves? Will he get split personalities too?
146	** He'll become Dugduo and star in a lot of passable-to-mediocre tween movies.
147	** Think of it like Dodrio: one body, one Pokémon, but three heads. Each of the heads is part of the same person, but they retain individuality; in other words, they're one person and three people at the same time. It's a lofty concept.
148	* Why do people keep claiming that the human in Explorers was a FutureBadass? The title of TheTeamNormal would have been more appropriate considering he is a meager human (with a power that doesn't work in the time period they're in) up against creatures with razor sharp claws and other superpowered creatures.
149	** Did you see the frozen future world? The human ''survived'', that's what makes them a badass. They survived even before they presumably met up with Grovyle and Celebi, and even after that, Grovyle and Celebi can't be around to protect the human all that time. They are still alive, and in the future, that is a major win.
150	*** The future was dark and bleak, but didn't seem too much more dangerous than usual, aside from the occasional Spiritomb. Areas resembled the usual mystery dungeons, and the main concern our party has is escaping Dusknoir and his minions... who only chase them after they piss off Primal Dialga by meddling with history. In addition, one conversation in the relevant Sky sidequest suggests that the population was asked if they would accept history being changed. Doesn't that imply that there's still a population, and one that still cares about the opinions of others?
151	*** Probably GameplayAndStorySegregation--it was implied by Grovyle that just about everyone in the blackened future had gone completely insane, and the human would have had to defend himself against lunatic pokémon, and maybe crazy humans as well. The game doesn't say how, but for all we know, he could have also been a very skilled fighter as a human, and perhaps even used weapons, but this is venturing into WMG territory.
152	*** Yeah, Grovyle even mentioned a research team that was working on restoring the future. This, to me, suggests that there are scattered colonies of sane Pokémon (and possibly humans) while the wild is teaming with AxCrazy Pokémon (and again, possibly humans).
153	** The "but a human in a world of Pokémon can't possibly be a badass fighter!" argument is what doesn't make sense here. A normal human being able to fight off Pokémon isn't all that unrealistic, if you go into the situation looking at what's actually shown rather than the exaggerated claims made in half of the Pokédex entries; how much power Pokémon actually have is often VASTLY overestimated. In Gold/Silver/Crystal of the main series, Lance's Dragonite (note, this is a high-level trained Pokémon used by the League Champion here! One of the strongest things around, not just some random wild Pokémon out of nowhere!) smacks a Team Rocket grunt with a Hyper Beam at point-blank range, and though the guy does get slammed into a wall and can't move afterward (only leaving sometime later when you clear out the Rocket base and all of the grunts vanish), he's still alive and even conscious. There're also numerous Black Belt-types who talk about sparring with their Pokémon (and Chuck who lifts a giant boulder and then just hauls off and smashes the thing), and the story in Diamond/Pearl about how a human in the past was able to go around slaughtering Pokémon, apparently with little difficulty, just because he had a sword. Also remember that there are humans in the Pokémon world who have developed psychic powers, meaning that a fighter wouldn't necessarily be limited to just punches/kicks or using weapons like a real-life human would. A human that's actually a trained fighter (not like the ordinary 10-year-olds we see in most of the games) should be fully capable of going up against Pokémon and winning, especially if they're not high-end fully-evolved Pokémon (or legendaries.)
154	* Why couldn't Celebi go to the past with Grovyle? She could've certainly helped in terms of Public Relations so that he wouldn't have come off as an outlaw.
155	* So the main two characters managed to fix Temporal Tower and prevent the planet's paralysis, to the point where the future never occurred the way it did and only intervention allows the future cast to remain in existence unchanged. In that case, how does Darkrai remember the whole thing, including interfering with the time travel attempt? Is he somehow immune to time paradoxes? Did offscreen Arceus let him be an additional survivor?
156	** AWizardDidIt.
157	** Everyone else remembers. The RippleEffectProofMemory explicitly applies here.
158	** Well, it's never stated which time period Darkrai originated from. Given how everyone from the past has RippleEffectProofMemory... It's likely he's from the past, which would also simplify the fact that that's ''when'' Temporal Tower collapsed. If he's from the future, then although ''that'' would have made it easier for him to find out when the hero and Grovyle time travelled without having to do a bunch of time travel himself, he most likely would not be hanging around in the past for the post-credits plot, whether he remembers it or not.
159	** Clearing this up: THIS IS NOT {{RET GONE}}, THIS IS SIMPLE DISAPPEARANCE. Okay, now that we're done discussing the ending...
160	* Just ''what'' happened to Team Skull, after you beat them in Brine Cave? I've been hearing rumors about them being killed at one point, but I haven't picked up Sky in a long time and simply can't be bothered to play it anymore (that's another story). So what happened to them?
161	** We don't know. The fact that they're never seen again after that moment made quite a few people suspicious they died offscreen, though.
162	** Another hint toward this fate is that after the protagonists take the relic fragment and leave, it's revealed that none of Team Skull's members can even ''move''.
163	*** I like to think of it as that they recovered, then left for another place to rob, knowing damn well anyplace is better than the Wigglytuff Guild.
164	*** This is supported by their appearance in Super Mystery Dungeon
165	* Why would Darkrai want to destroy the world in the first place? Did he just do it ForTheEvulz?
166	** I haven't listened to his speech lately, but I got less of an impression that he wanted to destroy the world and more that he wanted to plunge it into darkness. He probably likes darkness.
167	** Also, stop replacing his name with underscores.
168	** Not sure about sabotaging Temporal Tower, but the post-game implies that he could reign supreme with everyone trapped in a nightmare, since nightmares are his turf.
169	* Okay, so at Amp Plains, you and your partner encounter Luxray (or Manectric, depending). In Darkness/Time, at least, Luxray can see you and your partner from ''anywhere'', making hiding pointless. So...''how'' the heck did Team Skull hide from him?! And how is it that Dusknoir found them when Luxray/Manectric, who ''sees through walls'', didn't?
170	** I always figured that Luxray/Manectric might have seen Team Skull, but then Team Skull used their gas combo thing as cover to get far enough away so that they could be just out of Luxray/Manectric's range. No idea why Dusknoir managed to see them, though...
171	*** He's a ghost! Ghost can go through things. Like Floors. He could probably come up from the floor. Alternatively, Ghosts can turn invisible. Although I'm not sure if Dusknoirs can turn invisible...
172	*** Ghosts can go through walls, but they cannot simply rise up through floors. Of course, passing through walls makes them hungry much quicker than normal so this could be why.
173	*** Yes, that explains how he got there, but not how he managed to see Team Skull when Luxray/Manectric didn't.
174	* Not so much a complaint with the plot itself, but why do people assume that [[spoiler:the Darkrai that you can recruit is the same one as the BigBad one]]? It's shown that there are at least two different Celebi in the PMD-verse, so it's possible that there are at least two [[spoiler:different Darkrai]] as well. And you'd think that [[spoiler:the hero and partner would have some kind of reaction to seeing the same Darkrai again]]. More importantly, though, [[spoiler:why would Darkrai set up the time portal to take him ''to the same era he was currently in''? You'd think that, since he was trying to escape and all, he'd go somewhere else (most likely at least slightly backwards in time) in order to keep the heroes from finding him]].
175	** To the first point, I think it's because it makes sense. [[spoiler:Darkrai]] is kind of a lone Pokemon and it's been shown there are loads of different Celebi.
176	** They are indeed one and the same. He traveled back in time (in an attempt to prevent the partner from existing) then wandered the world for hundreds of years after he lost his memory.
177	*** Except that, as mentioned earlier up on the page, ''Sky'''s fifth episode implies that a few hours in the past take place at the same time as a few hours in the future. Shouldn't this apply in reverse as well and dictate that Darkrai wouldn't be able to "[[TheSlowPath catch up]]" to the present? Maybe I'm just [[MST3KMantra thinking too hard]], but...
178	** When you [[spoiler:recruit Darkrai]] he's at the same level and has roughly the same moveset as he did when you fought him. People just connected the dots.
179	** [[spoiler:Darkrai]] also stated that he has no idea when or where the portal will lead him, only that he can escape through it.
180	** Darkrai has lost all memory of their past actions, but that doesn't explain how easily the player character simply recruits them after all that they have done.
181	*** The player is told by Palkia that Darkrai has amnesia, so when they find Darkrai roaming in some random dungeon and Darkrai asks if they can join the player's team, the player probably takes a page out of Dusknoir's book and get a powerful and otherwise dangerous foe on their side.
182	* Another one related to assumptions with [[spoiler:Darkrai]]: why do some people think he moved the Time Gears around? Wouldn't there have been more reports in-game of time stopping in those places? And if he thought that ''moving'' the gears would [[spoiler:contribute to his plans]], wouldn't it make more sense for him to try to ''break'' the gears?
183	** ...I'm going to ignore the fact that you guys WANT the villains to win. Maybe the Gears are indestructible.
184	** You've got the theory right, just not all of the facts. They think that the Time Gears were in Temporal Tower and then stolen. Personally, I believe they were placed where they were placed with Temporal Tower's creation, intending to repair the Tower in case it was in danger of collapsing and [[spoiler:Darkrai]] just didn't know about the Time Gears' existence.
185	* At Azelf's lake, why did Dusknoir interrupt Grovyle from finishing off the hero and partner? I would have thought it would be pretty cruel to have Dusknoir watch Grovyle kill off Azelf and the two heroes, and THEN come out and tell Grovyle that he just killed his old partner. That would be demoralizing for Grovyle, too, plus the hero is done for in that scenario.
186	** I'm pretty sure that would have been too easy. Besides, how would you like it if your player and partner were KilledOffForReal?
187	*** That would suck in-game, sure, but story-wise, that would have made sense...
188	*** Maybe Dusknoir wanted them alive so he could kill them at once later on. Two birds, one stone?
189	*** Considering that this outright happens in the future, later in the game...
190	** Dusknoir may have thought that he could still manipulate you into helping him, or that this was his best opportunity to capture Grovyle. Grovyle may have not been trying to kill you either, only knock you unconscious.
191	* Do the police ''only'' employ members of the Magnemite family? I'm not counting taking jobs from the police, I mean full-time members.
192	** It looks like it, since this is all we see not only in the main game but in Wigglytuff's special episode as well.
193	* Reason why Rescue Team has Porygon as exclusive mon while Blue has [=Porygon2=]? That makes it worse, since you can get the "exclusive" in Red via evolving Porygon (though you can recruit evo in wild should you use WM, it's one of the few exceptions to "cannot recruit fully evolved mons" rule). You can't do that reverse way.
194	** [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Porygon_(Pok%C3%A9mon)#In_side_games You can enter a WonderMail code in the main menu to get one though in Blue.]]
195	* In the first two games, what was the point of having Team Meanie say they want world domination. It never comes back, and it's all but dropped for the whole revenge against the player plot. Putting aside the fact that Team Meanie couldn't take over the world to save their lives, if the game was just going to drop it for different bad guy motives, why not just give them something simple as a motive, like that they're only in it for the money (which is kind of true already, just leave out the world domination stuff). It just seems like the team was saying,
196	--->"How can we show that these are the bad guys?"
197	--->"Have them act mean, be selfish, and care for no one but themselves?"
198	--->"Oh, the kid'll never catch on. I know! They'll want world domination! Every villain wants to take over the world!"
199	--->"But with all the rest of the plot we have written out, won't that be... confusing?"
200	--->"Ah, it's a kid's game, who cares?"
201	** Or they decided world domination would be too hard, and with other stronger Pokémon out their to whup their butts to the curb...
202	** I'm guessing they lost interest in the whole "taking over the world" plot. After all, Medicham and Ekans didn't discuss wishing for world domination before going into Wish Cave.
203	** My assumption was that they were just trying to scare the Player and Partner (who I assume, like subsequent games, were younger and thus didn't think too hard about it at first) and weren't being 100% serious about it.
204	* Ok, so Grovyle went back to the past to make things right and, in a way, succeeds. So if the future is fixed, then Grovyle never had a reason to go back to the past to fix everything, so there would be no Grovyle in the past to begin with, thus creating a paradox. Am I missing something or am I the only one who notices this?
205	** It's... difficult to explain. The BadFuture has a few traits of [[AlternateTimeline a forked timeline]], as seen in the final special episode (Because it can be kept, and because it's not immediately modified), but then, restoring Dialga's sanity in the present affects it.
206	* In ''Super,'' it appears that the future crew from ''Explorers'' exists contemporaneously with the Wigglytuff Guild. However, if Grovyle and co. were afraid of ceasing to exist upon time being altered, and had never seen a sunrise in their time, that implies they were born while time was frozen in the future. How come the Shiny Celebi we find in ''Super'' is clearly the one from ''Explorers''? Simply saying the timelines merged doesn't make sense since they weren't parallel, so...? Admittedly, there is no definite indication of how long it's been between each game, so ''Super'' may well take place at the time when the ''Explorers'' present reached where the bad future was, but I feel like it can't have been more than a couple years, given that many characters from previous games are still the same species they were (like Corphish, who is definitely the same, given the catchphrase), or are even just alive at all (like Whiscash, whom I feel is implied to be old). Granted, this is the Pokémon world, where you could recruit newborns into your exploration team, so they could all be very young and evolved quickly, fitting the short timeskips. At the same time, we're shown that young Pokémon have to learn about the world just like we do, and go to school to do so. Given how mature and intelligent the future crew is, I doubt they're very young. As well, I acknowledge that Shiny Celebi could've done something to send them back, or even maybe Dialga, but I somehow doubt this. I mean, wouldn't they want to stay and help their world as it finally moves once more after years of standing still? Especially after fighting for it so hard? Or did time somehow jump back to where it stopped when things began to move again, and everyone/-thing that was born/made since it stopped ([[ProtagonistCenteredMorality or at least the characters we care about]]) appears to sort of pop into existence to the people of the past when they reach the point time had stopped (presumably relatively shortly after the credits or defeating Darkrai)?
207	** You said it yourself; time travel is probably involved. Even if they didn't ask Dialga to send them back, Celebi always could've done it herself. [[WildMassGuessing Maybe they wanted to go back and visit Grovyle's partner]] and just got lost on the way or something?
208	* Before trying to go to Mount Kilionea, if you talk to Roggenrola, he says he was born there and that he has family living there. There are two Gigalith among Munna's squad, and you first find them in Mount Kilionea...
209	** What exactly is the headscratcher here? This kind of implies that Roggenrola is related to Munna's Gigalith, yes. As to why he's not with them... maybe he just moved away or just doesn't feel ''as'' hopeless as they do?
210	* How do Pokémon's names work? All Pokémon are [[ADogNamedDog named like their species]]. Red Rescue Team had three Mankeys who lived together named Mankey, Mankey, and Mankey. All the Pelipper in the post office are named Pelipper. How do they stop from mixing up their paychecks?
211	** Come to think of it, how do they deliver mail addressed to "Mankey"?.

Context Headscratchers / PokemonMysteryDungeon