The new The Indigo Disk DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet adds a whole new map to the game, but it can be difficult to figure out just how big that area is without playing through the whole experience. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet took the series to an open-world design for the first time in history, and the expansions for the games are continuing down that path with new environments that highlight exploration. In many ways, this makes sense as the perfect evolution of Pokémon’s longstanding sense of discovery, even if some bugs and graphical limitations can make the execution feel a bit underwhelming.
The Indigo Disk is the second half of a two-part DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet called The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, following the release of The Teal Mask in September 2023. The Teal Mask was a generally engaging addition to the games, but it was also a fairly slight experience overall, leaving fans anticipating The Indigo Disk as a way to hopefully deliver on all the expansion’s promise. It delivers on these expectations in some obvious ways, like offering stronger trainers and more challenging fights than anything in The Teal Mask, but an increase in scale is also necessary to really bring things home.
After The Teal Mask left Paldea behind for Kitakami, The Indigo Disk DLC bounces over to Unova to explore the new location of Blueberry Academy. This unique school features an underwater campus, home to the impressively large Terarium that houses four different biomes to explore, along with some general academic facilities. Although this facility is man-made, it seems to outstrip the size of The Teal Mask’s map overall, making for a generally substantial new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC area.
That being said, the Terarium isn’t necessarily a vastly larger space than Kitakami. Screen Rant’s reviewer for The Indigo Disk estimates the Terarium to be roughly 25% larger than Kitakami based on their time with the game, comprising a substantial evolution that isn’t necessarily transformative. Within that space, however, The Indigo Disk does pack in more content overall. It’s easy to spend several more hours completing the main story of The Indigo Disk than in The Teal Mask, and a more extensive post-game can bump those numbers up quite a bit for dedicated trainers.
One thing that can cut down on the overall time and effort of moving around the Terarium is the flight introduced in The Indigo Disk DLC. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet only had a form of gliding for aerial travel, but The Indigo Disk introduces a proper flying mechanic, complete with the typical fly-through-hoops challenges to test a trainer’s skill. Grinding requirements can slow things down a bit in terms of overall rate of progress, which can be a bit frustrating depending on individual tolerance for racking up points through basic tasks.
2023-12-16 21:00:04
Link from screenrant.com
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