Opal features a storyline that lasts across two regions, each with 8 gyms (or the equivalent thereof) with all Pokémon up to Gen 8 (with some Hisuian forms) included. There are also new Céfirean regional forms for Pokémon like Abomasnow or Ursaring, and a few totally unique Fakemon, such as the starters or Cefireon.
The original game in Spanish can be downloaded from Eric_Lostie's blogspot page
, and the English fan translation of the game can be downloaded here.
Tropes used in-game
- Abandoned Laboratory: Obsidian Island is one of these.
- Absurdly High Level Cap: Averted from the regular Pokemon games. This game's level curve goes all the way up to level 100 with almost no grinding required, especially if you're diligent with Exp Share use.
- Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Prices for items in this game are expensive. Super Potions, for instance, now cost what Hyper Potions go for in the main series. Revives cost nearly four times as much, at a new price of 5000 Poke. An NPC even mentions the economy is fucked. Downplayed, though, in that enemy trainers also give out much more money, and you can get the Luck Incense by the second gym - it's pretty easy by the sixth gym to hit the maximum money possible, especially if you do some of the side quests.
- Ambiguous Time Period: For the series as a whole, it's not clear when this takes place - Red's age makes it seem to be decades after the events of the original Red and Blue, Rose's appearance suggests it's not long after Sword/Shield, and due to the series' own screwy timeline it makes it difficult to determine anything else. For the game itself, it's not quite clear what the timeline is on the Great Spirit recruiting its custodians and the war between the natives and settlers. Sometimes its regarded as only a few hundred years ago, other times it could potentially be milennia.
- Americans Are Cowboys: The region takes a lot of elements from the United States, and a lot of the game is spent fighting, well, cowboys.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Several.
- There is a move relearner/Name Rater in every Pokemon Center, a la Gen 8. And just like every Gen 5 and onward game, the Pokemart is built into the Center.
- There is a Poke Vial Key Item you are given by the start of the game which functions as a singular mobile full heal that's recharged at every Pokemon Center, and later in the game you will be able to get more charges.
- In general, there are several healer NPCs littered throughout the various long stretches of the game, who only require you to beat them in an easy fight first. The gym guides as well function as healers, though you'll need to listen to their shtick on the gym first.
- After nearly every major boss fight, you'll get IV boosters. These can then be bought in postgame for 1 BP at the resident Battle Tower clone.
- There is now a dedicated Training House facility where you can buy Power items and face off against NPCs who specialize in giving out certain EVs.
- The final city in the former half of the game has a huge market that consolidates every evolution stone and 'competitive' item (barring the truly powerful stuff like Choice items/Life Orb, as those must be found in side quests) so you don't need to fly everywhere else before taking on the League.
- Both West and East Céfira have the same general services, such as an ability changer, training house, etc. with the latter being present in the second major town you'll come across in the West.
- Zigzagged with how cave encounters are handled. They're overworld encounters that move around rapidly as dust clouds. While you won't need Repels for caves anymore, you'll still often need some absurd reflexes to dodge cave encounters you don't want to fight. At the very least, the dust clouds disappear after you interact with them (even if you run) and won't reappear until you reload the map.
- Apocalyptic Log: The log of the Iberian soldier who saw the albino Wailord that sunk their ship.
- Balance Buff: It's not too frequent, but a lot of underused or commonly seen as bad Pokemon have adjusted learnsets and/or abilities to make them more useful. Sunflora gets Seed Flare, Ledian gets Huge Power and buffed Attack, and so on. A few Pokemon have even received new Mega Evolutions, and G-Max forms from Gen 8 have been converted into Mega Evolutions.
- Big Bad: Team Gatling, and more specifically their leader Derringer. In the second half of the game, there is a Big Bad Ensemble comprised of Apolo, the Great Spirit, the Hissing Clan, and Unktena.
- Bittersweet Ending: Derringer/Samuel, Adian, and Ixia are dead. Apolo is locked up, and the future of Céfira is honestly uncertain. However, the world is saved, your mother and Gala's father are restored to sanity, and you and Gala enjoy a nice, long vacation in Kalos as the credits roll by.
- Breaking Old Trends: In the regular Pokemon games, you would defeat the villain by the 7th gym or so and the Pokemon League would serve as the finale. In this game, while you do raid the villain's lair and defeat him before the 7th gym, the story continues to progress past him and well past the League, with the League serving as only the halfway point.
- But Thou Must!: Too many instances to count. Trying to turn down Apolo's offer to get all the badges, for one, will make him plead with you until you accept.
- Canon Immigrant: A much older version of Red is the grandfather of one of your rivals, Rainbow Rocket Giovanni fights you in a side quest, and Chairman Rose of Sword/Shield fame appears during a flashback.
- Cerebus Rollercoaster: Most of the game is light-hearted with plenty of humorous NPC dialogue both in-story or from random citizens, but there are dark moments (the game even opens with seeing a bombing that killed thousands of people and you being stuck at home with a deadbeat dad, before transitioning into bright and happy Pokemon adventure mode). As you progress throughout the game, it trends more and more towards dark and dramatic.
- Character Customization: You have the option of choosing skin tone along with gender of your main character.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Smoky Tear that Dalio asks for. It is of clearly great importance to the Trotador Clan, but it's not until you find out it's part of the Spirit Jewel that you realize its actual significance.
- Collection Sidequest: Other than the ever-present 'catch all the Pokemon' one, there are a few. There's a sidequest where you must collect all regional forms (which in and of itself requires completing several other sidequests) and another where you must collect all TMs. Your reward for the former is a shiny Ursaring and potion that makes your next encounter shiny, and your reward for the latter is an infinite Pokessence (raises all EVs).
- Convenient Weakness Placement: For the first few gyms. A sidequest allows you to nab Tyrogue right before the Normal first gym, the Grass/Ground regional Tangela is available before the Ground second gym, so on.
- Cosmic Horror Reveal: For the first half of the game, the closest thing to a major threat are a bunch of idiot outlaws, though there are hints there is something more going on. Come The Reveal at both the Astral Tower and Sierra Boreal, and the game firmly sits as this.
- Cutscene Incompetence: It's not too prevalent, but it happens. Most egregious is Verbana managing to get away after you beat her in the Voodoo Salon.
- Darker and Edgier: Even ignoring some of the more...offbeat NPCs and language, the game undeniably features a darker storyline than most Pokemon games. Doesn't quite delve as deep into edgy territory as other Pokemon fangames.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Played for humor if you lose to Loto. He will drag you off to hell, but the game then decides to rewind the clock a bit. It's treated as a whiteout, and thus you'll not gain back any items used/will keep experience gained.
- Eldritch Location: The Astral Plane in general.
- Elite Mook: The Peacemakers. They will usually have more Pokemon and stronger teams than the average trainer, and comprise a lot of the random NPCs in Area 151. Apolo claims that one of them could wipe the floor with an Elite Four-class trainer and would still give a hard fight to the average Champion.
- Gender Bender: If you find a Golden Apple, you can take it to a certain tree in the postgame to find two wells inside. Drinking from them allows you to change your gender. It won't make anyone who's previously familiar with you as a boy/girl surprised, though.
- Fantastic Livestock: A whole bunch of examples, from Miltank to Mareep. Expected due to all the farming towns in the region.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Céfira is this for the U.S. as a whole.
- Fan Sub: A bit of an odd example, as this is a fan translation for a fanmade game, but regardless. As of the time of writing this it's not precisely perfect (i.e. the region in the game is referred to constantly as Céfira rather than what it's likely meant to be in English, Zephyra, outside of a few lines) but it gets the job done for understanding the story.
- Forced Transformation: You get turned into a Spoink for a bit thanks to Ixia. It doesn't last, but you can walk around a town for a bit and have people call you cute. You can't even heal at the Pokemon Center until it's undone (by eating a big bowl of food, of all things).
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: This happens in the main games, but it's unintentionally hilarious that the god of all creation and Apolo when he's channeling his Super Mode on the brink of the world's destruction both give you a modest amount of cash after you beat them.
- Guide Dang It!: This game thankfully manages to avoid these for a lot of its nastier puzzles or secrets. However, there are a few cracks.
- Getting the Life Orb. So you defeat an old man who promises to show you something cool if you beat him, neat. What he shows you is a map that shows 4 bodies of water at an intersection and an item hidden in one and...have fun finding out wherever that is. It doesn't help that the town map doesn't really indicate there's a 4-way intersection anywhere, and the more savvy players who are expecting a trip to West Céfira soon might think it's somewhere there (it isn't.) It's in a small corner of the poisonous swamp near Route 10.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The gyms and League take front and center of the plot in the first half, with the villains and mysterious visions you're having as a relative sideshow. Come the second half and you'll be much more focused on fighting evil.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: While the monstrous Unktena is the Big Bad of the game, a common thread throughout the the game's villains is how they've lost faith in or come to despise humanity. It's not entirely unjustified, but it's also shown to be extremist and myopic of all the good things humanity has done, especially the mutual bond between humans and Pokemon.
- Infinity -1 Sword: Played With. Every single legend in the game is relegated to postgame, with one exception: Victini. Victini is powerful, but to obtain it you need to spend 99999 Coins at the Golden Bug Casino. Suffice to say, pseudo-legendaries like Garchomp or mega evolutions are better worth your time.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Given how frequently it's brought up and the fact that there are too many plot threads to wrap up by the time you get there, it's not really any surprise that you'll be heading to West Céfira after the Pokemon League.
- Let's Meet the Meat: Due to a translation error, this initially looks to be the case in Restaurant El Vacuno, but is subverted. You're asked if you want to choose a Miltank to eat (even though it's illegal to eat Pokemon in Céfira). After you pick one and take a seat, you get served up a load of dairy products from the Miltank.
- Lovecraft Lite: The world is about to be devoured by an ancient cosmic evil beyond the stars, and the Top God capable of maybe doing something about it doesn't actually care about humanity. That said, you whoop both of their asses and save the world.
- Metropolis Level: Austral City, being the biggest city in the game.
- Nightmare Sequence: There's a few of these, starting with one you have done in a style reminiscent to the Sinjoh Ruins Arceus scene when you take some drugs before the second gym. A more straightforward example of one happens during your meditation with Jengi.
- Noble Savage: Discussed and averted. The Hissing Clan claim the region was a utopia before settlers took over, even though Gala points out that Native clans historically went to war with each other, because everyone is flawed regardless of their culture.
- No OSHA Compliance: Austral Gym. Despite being the gym leader's workshop and a place where most of her workers assemble, it's a giant lava pit.
- Ominous Save Prompt: Once you enter West Céfira, you won't be able to return until you're more than halfway done with it. The game does warn you that if there's anything you still want to do or buy in the East, you should do it before you go.
- Optional Boss:
- Any of the outlaws you can round up for the Austral Police are this.
- As a better example, you can refight all gyms in the postgame, along with your rivals, and Red.
- Outlaw Town: Both Spectre Villa and Zonda Town count, though the former is this moreso.
- Peninsula of Power Leveling: Right before the final battle with Apolo and Unktena, you can find a patch of grass with only Blissey in it near level 100.
- Police Are Useless: The first time you come across a police station, they can't do anything about the low leveled Team Gatling crooks who slum around the city. Averted though in the Team Gatling raid on Austral City's train station.
- Power Up Mount: A Mudbray you rescue in early game will turn into this game's version of the Bicycle when it evolves to Mudsdale later on.
- Pun: The janitor at every Pokemon Center has a new one for you.
- Railroading: The game likes doing this a bit, though you will sometimes have alternate routes to approach whatever your next destination is. Taken to ludicrous levels with some later roadblocks, such as the two miners that prevent you from leaving Terral Town to the north by 'arbitrarily placing a big rock in the road that they'll arbitrarily move later'.
- Retcon: The creation lore of Poke-earth. Arceus isn't the creator, but rather a species from another dimension created it along with all other Pokemon.
- Shifting Sand Land: Several areas, but most particularly the Dusty Steppe and Condemnation Valley.
- Ship Tease: For the most part, any romantic connection between the player and anyone else (even Gala) is left implicit. By giving a certain legless NPC some Spicy Ramen, though, you can choose to kiss a Ditto who can turn into Gala, Mundanez, and even Ebano, regardless of whatever gender you are.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The whole northeast part of East Céfira, but particularly the Sierra Boreal.
- Shout-Out: We would probably be here all day if we listed the sheer amount of them present in random NPC dialogue.
- Super Mode: Early on into West Céfira, you can find a cave where you have to fight an exact clone of yourself. Winning grants you the ability to Link (or Mega Evolve), and you'll be finding a ton of Mega Stones scattered around the region.
- Even later, the player will gain the ability to access the Supreme Link with their Pokemon.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The game does not shy away from the pain and suffering caused by Generational Trauma from governmental oppression, and the Hissing Clan's response, while absurd in scope, is understandable in principle. Lampshaded by Zalea herself, who bitterly questions what the player expected after telling them her backstory and summoning Unktena.
- Take Your Time: Even after Zalea summons Unktena to the planet, it really takes its time to, well, do anything. And of course, if at any point you want to leave the final dungeon (when cities across the world are burning and Unktena's presence is causing frequent massive earthquakes) and go explore some more you're free to do so.
- Time Skip: The game skips 7 years after the bombing of the League.
- Tomato Surprise: The player's mother is absent at the start of the game, and naturally you'd think it's a normal continuation of how the regular Pokemon games have an absent parent. Then your father says she does exist, but is in another town entirely. You finally reach that town, and the player is led to believe the player's mother works at the hospital there. She's being treated in the ward and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
- Too Awesome to Use: The potion that makes your next encounter shiny. You get a very limited supply of them, so use them wisely.
- Underground Monkey: There are ~20 regional evolution lines that completely replace the regular lines. A lot of them are based on North American/native culture, such as Dugtrio being Ground/Flying and resembling a totem, or Sirfetch'd as Steel/Fighting and having its line based on American Gothic.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Area 151.
- Video Game Caring Potential:
- The most prominent example is in Abrega City. An old lady will give you a rose to give to her husband who lives secluded in a swamp. He will explain that he made a deal with Loto to cure his wife of a terminal illness in exchange for never seeing her again. After finding him an old Psyduck for a partner, Loto shows up and offers to take the Pokemon in exchange for nulling the deal, allowing the old man to happily reunite with his wife.
- One sidequest allows you to save Maple's sister Jara from an abusive marriage, and from being forced to follow a misogynistic religion. Afterwards, Maple lets her live in her mansion.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Mostly Played for Laughs.
- In early game, you can find a Charizard on a cliff - pushing it off will kill it with a blood splatter effect. You can come back and repeat this as many times as you like, made for players who dislike Charizard's Wolverine Publicity.
- In dialogue options, you can be as cruel to Mundanez as you like - he'll bounce back from it and still undergo the same character development whatever you do.
- Warm-Up Boss: Mundanez, the gym fight. He's not difficult to beat by any means, but he can be a bit tricky if you didn't find that Tyrogue. His purpose is more or less to encourage the player to speak with every NPC they can find.
- Water Source Tampering: Zalea rendered the lake of Aquilon Town a poisonous sludge pit when the natives there refused to join the Hissing Clan's cause. The one major postgame sidequest is finding and catching Suicune to try and fix it.
- The Wild West: The entire region has shades of this. Most of it is farmland, ranches, and desert, and the majority of the enemies you fight are cowboy bounty hunters, outlaws, and natives.
- Wham Episode:
- Your trip to the Astral Tower. Derringer reveals there that there is an incomprehensible cosmic evil coming to the planet very soon, and only he can stop it.
- Obsidian Island. You find out the truth about humanity and Pokemon's creation, as well as the Great Spirit's indifference toward humanity.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: It's very obvious that the game's plot has yet to resolve by the time you become the Champion.
