The Psychology behind Volo and Giratina, Pokémon's Coolest Final Battle // [Game Designer Explains] 

Technically both are correct. In japanese it's pronounsed Aruseusu so it should be primary way to pronounce it, but english dub pronounce it differently which still is equally correct

you forgot "arkoos" /j

@@joonas394 It's most likely because they want to avoid phonetic similarities to "arse" in voice-acted material, though I tend to just say it like "Arsius" anyway.

​@@topazlight1586Because the name can come from several origins, like Arceus can come from Arch, Arkhé, Deus, Zeus, Archeus and Chaos. Because in japanese R and L are basically same, the "Ar" can come from "Arufa" meanin Alpha.

Since you seem to be going through a lot of Pokemon's most memorable boss fights recently, I'd be curious to hear what you think about Ultra Necrozma. Seeing as it's a 1v6 fight, it definitely has a different vibe from the challenging trainer battles of the series.

It is an honor to be visited by the legendary universal commenter of the Team Fortress 2 community

Holy crap it's him

And then Giratina pulls a "Man literally too angry to die."

For real...

Honestly the flatline sound effect during transformation of giratina makes this comment better

And Volo will carry on that legacy to a new generation of Pokemon Trainers. It's beautiful in a sense. Terrifying, but beautiful.

@@Kylesico912x in that sense Volo is both an ancestor and a successor. Iconic.

As someone who was a kid when DP came out and beat them back then I still think most everyone else in that time frame just sucked at Pokemon lol

​@@GameGodZEROodd that you think "I beat it as a kid" means the team isn't anything special. a good deal of people beat her and recognize her leading with an (at the time) pokemon with no weakness you'd otherwise have never seen without doing wireless communication is a wild way to start off her highly offensive team. every single pokemon she has can kill if you make a mistake, and I'm confident you made at least one mistake on that fight. Unless you're talking about people not knowing about revive spam, then maybe you have a point

@@Kylesico912x Her bloodline really said "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

Imagine pulling a Yugioh Abridged reference. Player: "Wait a minute, did you just technically summon 8 Pokemon in one Battle?" Volo: "Yeah, so?" Player: "That's against the rules, isn't it?" Volo: "Screw the rules! I have Satan!"

*piano intensifies*

Same goes for me, except I got spoiled. Though I was always dividing my teams in "Pokédex Grind" and "Fight me, if you dare". I still got pretty close to losing, though.

I had a Darkrai and Hisuian Zoroark Absolutely hit Giratina like a train

@@bfbfan2005 not all people were carrying those mons

Same

I love the way Origin Giratina uses its wings to rip the portal open. That's far more terrifying than Altered Giratina's technique of simply smashing through. Altered Giratina is a hulking brute, powerful but lacking in finesse. Origin Giratina is lethally efficient and uses every part of its body as a weapon. Giratina's just playing with you at first but as soon as it transforms, it stops messing around and has every intention of ripping you and your unfortunate Pokemon to shreds.

Honestly, that would work since Arceus doesn't even let you meet it anyway until you have met every single Pokémon, so it seems like just owning the Plates isn't enough. (Although perhaps Giratina could use its powers to overcome that restriction) Having 2 possible story progression options would have made that sequence even more unique and make 1st try blind victories feel valuable.

Nothing happens cuz it essentially just resets time to right before the battle. the devs are simply saving you the trouble of restarting and sitting through a cutscene

It would have been cool to see volo steal the plates from you, only for you to return and battle him again to get them all back.

@@morphstarchangeling8024 I wish stealing the plates was not only canon but would trigger some kind of extra section. It could give us some kind of countdown to reach Volo before he reaches Arceus (bonus point if in doing so the world starts to shatter around us).

babe wake up new challenge run just dropped

If it helps, this isn't really your "fault". The game is designed to incentivize and reward you for carrying around 6 random Pokemon to complete the Dex faster. So many players spend the whole game with constantly changing teams of random Pokemon instead of building a conventional team like in the other main series games

@@GoldenOwl_RU-vidI think you just explained why I like this game much.

@@GoldenOwl_RU-vid Oh nah dw i won

Honestly, if I had to pick an unevolved mon to have a team of six of, Shellos would be pretty high on the list. The ROM hack Radical Red gives Dialga a Primal form and puts it in Hardcore Mode Lance's party (which, after playing PMD2, seems *very* reckless of him) running a stupidly bulky set, and yet in one challenge run, I had a Shellos PP-stall it down.

There were also some similar vibes to the Dusknoir in the Mystery Dungeons games; which set off all the alarm bells. Tho nothing really tops the Walking Red Flag of Lysandre in XY! xD

You could use the exact same logic to say that Cyllene was suspicious because of the Abra she has in her office, or the professor was suspicious because of the THREE Pokemon he has in his lab that he's researching, or the many other trainers who you battle throughout the game, some of which use more than one Pokemon. But no, instead you chose to point the finger at Volo after his first battle with you and say that he's suspicious because he uses a single, low-level Pokemon that's a literal baby still inside its shell and how fearless he is for using such a terrifying Pokemon. I don't buy it. The only thing from that encounter that hints at his skill as a trainer is after you defeat him where he says that the world of Pokemon battling will open up to you once you understand abilities and items, but this could easily be chalked up to him being a Merchant wanting you to buy stuff from his guild, as well as his guild travelling around a lot and presumably seeing a lot of Pokemon, including those used by the Wardens (who seem much more comfortable with Pokemon than the people of Jubilife Village do), which would explain how he'd know a bit about raising Pokemon.

@@jacobwansleeben3364 what do you want me to say? That I made it up? I might not have had the best logic (because I didn't know everything about the World of the game yet) but I was still distrustful of Volo. Again, his attitude felt like a modern trainer, like Hop being excited to battle you after you got your starter, not like someone using Pokémon to protect themselves. He's not even in the Security Corps, he's a merchant.

Same. When I first met Volo, my instincts told me not to trust him and by the time he literally started to sympathize with the devil (Giratina) was when I went: “Oh, so you ARE the villain, huh?” and left to collect as many Pokémon as I could. By the time I decided to meet him at the peak, I had a full team of max grit legendary Pokémon. Safe to say the Edge-Lord and his Stand wasn’t much of a threat at that point.

​@jacobwansleeben3364 i mean there are other pokemon around the village and in the servey corp hq It stands to reason the group whose main purpose is to study pokemon to lessen the fear towards them would have some around, especially the professor leading the pokedex project. And the "trainers" are all mostly diamond and pearl clan members who actually live with pokemon so ofc they aren't gonna be bothered by them, they also dont use pokeballs Volo isnt part of either of these groups, so op's viewpoint isnt terribly misplaced, though certainly not a lot to base suspicion on without knowing the story

Yea like in a way it was right in your face togepi is literally the exact opposite typing of garchomp but because she has one and gives you one it’s not expected instantly

@@aidenharris5296Garchomp is honorable, while Togekiss is a flinchlocking rat bastard.

​@@tysondennis1016 appropriate for a fairy

I didn't really get suspicious of him until the post game, but yeah, Volo being a cynthia-esque opponent I guessed, but Giratina showing up at the end of the fight completely caught me off guard and wrecked me.

I didn't initially make the Volo = Cynthia connection, to me it rang a bell but I couldn't put my finger on it at the time. I tried to make connections with his name, like with the other familiar faces, but nada. But I also thought he was kinda sus from the start. In a way, a lot of people who actively seek out battle in a world/era where hardly anyone even trusts Pokemon to be reliable and safe, that screamed sus so much. And it's not too uncommon for someone to help the player character along with a goal or progress only for them to try and reap the rewards.

LOL I found him a little sussy from the beginning but I honestly never really thought he would do exactly what he did, when he did it. It was pretty epic at the time. Anyways, I have not beaten that guy yet still so uh, I need to work on my Legends Arceus team now

@@eglol Best of luck! It'll be worth it when you got him :D

And just like John Cena, you didnt couldnt see this coming...

To me this was the hardest Pokemon boss since Necrozma in Ultra Sun

Really? It's not like Arceus himself tells you to gather all Pokemon literally second 1 of the entire game so you know the ending with Dialga and Palkia is just a fake out. Not to mention the huge importance Volo gives to the plates you collected from the noble Pokemon. Before you even finish with the first main plot you know you have to face Arceus at some point and the whole Volo Twist is already visible.

@@diegomedina9637They just said they thought it would just be catching legendaries and a friendly fight against Volo. The credits already rolled and there wasn't an obvious new story title like the Delta or Team RR Episodes to show that there's more actual story to do. It makes a lot of sense to assume you've beaten the main antagonist in Kamado and the actual story is over and it's just catching legendaries and finishing a few things to find Arceus.

Yep, they hid Volo's true nature expertly, but once you get the context, you understood every hint.

I also thought of Greevil as well, though I think it still has some sort of internal checkpoint. Especially if you catch Lugia.

If the GameCube games are side games, then so are the let's go games

@@cyberrb25 At least, unlike with Ghetsis, you don't get a heal for Greevil

The other big difference with XD's final boss is you can effectively turn it into a 6v6 again by just using a Master Ball on any of the hard to catch Legendaries. Doing this with Shadow Lugia even lets you use it to tank basically every attack he throws at it while you mindlessly chuck pokeballs at the other 6 shadow mons. It's not much of a fight if he can only do Not Very Effective damage. With Volo, you just straight up do not have any options to even the odds or cheese the fight. You are going to demonstrate your mastery of PLA's battle system or you will *suffer*.

Definitely my favorite battle. He's, so wicked all his pokémon are corrupted. You can easily beat it with the masterball glitch, so that's fun. Fighting him you have many options.

It had been, but it was a good suprise since he used his ace at the end twice. I fill it's also nice since 7 is a number for perfection in christianity.

To be fair, you just throw a master ball to the first one (still, 3 legends and a team full of Super effective hits against you)

​@@mavi3147Yeah but Gen 3 Lugia is tanky as hell.

@@diegomedina9637 you fought Lugia? I just caught it right away with the master ball

@@mavi3147 Yeah that's what I said. You catch it and then you use it afterwards because he's so tanky

Yes. As a matter of fact, I've made a video on the subject of UI and UX within Persona 5: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uhIZMrO3PdQ.htmlsi=XvO9ldpoTIHqRIYc I've considered a few other potential topics too, such as how items are used in Mario Kart or the game design of detective game protagonists, but it seems that much of the audience is here for Pokemon for the time being

Additionally, Volo’s a villain- They Do Not. Play. Fair. -Which, based on this video, is something we may probably be expecting in future games and DLC when we end up having a rematch after contributing to a certain person’s Canon Event.

Yeah, it wasn’t surprising that Volo turned out to be evil. One of the game’s morals was arguably that a person’s relative doesn’t reflect what kind of person they are.

Interestingly, keeping HMs forced players to have a balanced team The lack of HMs hurts this game 😂

This topic is even more interesting given that we are almost at the release of the 2nd DLC which will have that announced feature of syncing with your pokemon to control it. Why is this relevant? Because for a while Game Freak has been testing future major mechanics/plots in a minor way in the previous games and if this controlling pokemon thing is a future mechanic, one possible thing they might be thinking is bringing back the traditional HM to adapt to this new way of playing. I mean, after we thought HMs were a thing of the past, they gave us ride pokemon that can run, surf, climb and glide (fly) tied to the progression of the Titans storyline in which we get a new perk after consuming a HM. This time its Herba Mystica instead of Hidden Machine, but I doubt A LOT the name of this new perk granting mechanic that allows our Pokemon to do stuff and interact differently with the overworld has the same initials as the previous similar mechanic just by accident.

@@pn2294a balanced team or one dedicated HM slave 😂

Herba Mystica, HM, kinda nice little in joke.

I got spoiled that Volo was an antagonist and was connected to Giratina, but thankfully didn't know about the whole 3-phase fight. Also waited a long time after before playing so once the credits rolled and there was no twist, I thought I might've been mistaken or dream it or something lol

Just a mild degree of tomfoolery. I am pleased that my thumbnails are apparently improving at being funny.

It becomes harder when you have a "no legendaries" rule

@@Richtofen-gy9cj I didn't use legendaries lol

Narratively speaking, It kinda makes sense you would have a hard time with it, funnily enough. Of course you won't be able to grasp such a foreign and/or archaic battle system in... What, a couple months, tops?

Eh, I mean it's a post-game battle. At that point, I'm inclined to call it a skill issue if you don't get the battle system.

I did the boss second try am I better at games then I thought? (I died to Giratina second phase cuz unexpected)

By the time you fight Volo, you should have at least some semblance of understanding how to manipulate the turn order in your advantage using the fighting styles and the fact status moves have a beneficial impact on your turn order

Something that's a big flaw with the battle system in LA is that despite the turn order actually being shown, it doesn't account for your opponent choosing a Rapid-style move (or whatever it's called blame them making Urshifu and announcing LA within a year of each other) so basically the only thing that matters turn order wise is can you add an extra move or not. Also I hated the prompt whenever you lost to Volo, as not only is it a hard fight, but it then says "go get stronger Pokemon and try again" (or something like that) and basically calls my Pokemon weak AF and I hate that. Ended up using a team of 5 legendaries and my starter Samurott. Wish I didn't have to tho

A prospective DigiPen student perhaps? I regret to hurt your enthusiasm somewhat, but I must caution you heavily in choosing to become a Game Designer. While the bachelor course is interesting (albeit infamously difficult), the issue is that career prospects are quite poor. At least, they are in Singapore. Presumably things are better in the USA. I've had many friends and peers leave the industry and seek jobs elsewhere (e.g. government jobs, UI designers, graphic designers, etc) because Singapore's game industry job prospects are so poor and unstable. My previous company outright laid off 70% of its development staff several months ago. Even those who do manage to find jobs tend to struggle badly with long hours, heavy workloads, and poor pay. And even then, many people don't get to really create or design as freely as they'd like - many decisions are forced by management even if they result in a potentially worse game experience. Many are just forced into data grunt work, working to upkeep live service mobile games. Ubisoft Singapore in particular is infamous for crushing the souls of many bright-eyed developers over the years and leaving them for dead. I call this video series "Game Designer Explains" because I was trained as and worked as a game designer for several years, and even worked on some commercial game projects in that time, so I make use of my work experience and knowledge to form my analyses. But in truth, as much as I love game design, I myself had to leave design and study business & management because there's no other way to achieve a feasible long-term career with meaningful job progression in any videogame related capacity. I'm not saying this to discourage you from being excited about game design - it's a genuinely fascinating field and I still never regret younger-me deciding to study it and spending countless hours pouring over labwork in school. But the job market you'll encounter after graduating will be harsh and painful, and can crush the spirits of even the most brilliant designer from my cohort. Again, this is largely specific to Singapore. If you are fortunate enough to be taking your major in the USA or elsewhere, the job market will likely be very different, especially since some years will have passed between now and your graduation. Hopefully, it will be far more welcoming. I sincerely wish you all the best in your studies. Game design is a fascinating, but hard path to walk. And anyone who commits to chasing their dreams is always worthy of respect in my eyes.

@@GoldenOwl_RU-vid oh, thanks for that answer! To be honest, I'm quite doomed. For the time being, the only things that feels right to me is writing, making up worlds and stories and to invite people to dive in and let off the reality for a short but enjoyable time. I know for a long time I want to become a writer, so I'm already aware of some issues with it (even though I'll only understand what I mean when I'll live them). Artistics jobs are "hopeless" to reach, they require so much time, so much patience and so much passion to not give up. Since I'm not so confident in my abilities to write, I've started a brand new bachelor in Belgium, which is about videogames. I was mostly curious about the narrative design part (and I'm doomed again, without versatility, I'll get a hard finding a first job in a new indie company), but I already opened the box of the wonders of Game Design to take a peek at, and I just feel like there's so much going on that is exciting. I still have couple of years to get my diploma, so that might let the time to switch a bit the mentality of the industries. I don't have much hope, but heh... There's Larian, and it's in my country! Still, this is alot to think about for me, and I'll have the opportunity to switch up my mind countless time before finally getting to "What's after my studies", but I'm glad you share your experience and worries with me! ^-^

Volo is the complete opposite of Cynthia. The only thing they have in common is their interest in mythology. Cynthia wants to meet Pokemon like Arceus but she's not going to try and force it. Volo will summon Satan himself just to get a crack as Arceus. It's also cool that their ace Pokemon are total opposites. Togekiss is treated as Volo's signature Pokemon, even being the very first Pokemon you ever battle in the game while it's a Togepi, and it's a Flying and Fairy type. You couldn't get a more polar opposite to Garchomp's Dragon and Ground typing if you tried. And Garchomp and Togekiss' natures, at least from what people expect from their respective species, are totally different too. Garchomp is vicious while Togekiss is gentle which, ironically, arguably makes Togekiss better suited to being Cynthia's ace and Garchomp better suited to being Volo's ace. And yet nobody would ever think that Garchomp isn't Cynthia's signature Pokemon. Pokemon Masters tried to change that with Kommo'o but Garchomp is simply too firmly established.

it's making me want to start a new playthrough with an alternate profile lol