"Pokémon: The Treasure of Zone Zero": Between frustration and boredom
19.12.2023
Translation: machine translated
The "Pokémon" expansion "The Treasure of Zone Zero" offers a bland and sometimes frustrating experience. The game is only for die-hard fans.
A few months after the disastrous launch of "Pokémon Crimson & Purple", developer studio Game Freak announced a two-part expansion for the open-world game: "The Treasure of Zone Zero". The first chapter of the expansion pack, "The Turquoise Green Mask", was released in September. The second part, "The Indigo Blue Disc", will follow in December.
I'm taking another trip into the world of pocket monsters to see if the DLC can iron out the massive problems of the main game a year later.
The story is annoying
The DLC takes me to two new regions. In the first part, I go on a school trip to the Kitakami region - a completely new game world inspired by the mountainous regions of northern Japan. In the second part, I visit the Blueberry Academy as an exchange student - an elite school that has built a huge underwater terrarium full of wild Pokémon for research purposes.
In the course of the story, I learn more about the legendary "Zone Zero" and the mysterious phenomenon of "teracrystallisation", which transforms Pokémon into living gemstones. I also make the acquaintance of five new legendary Pokémon. If you enjoyed the background story of the main game and like the fairytale-like stories about legendary Pokémon, you will also like the story in the DLC. Provided you can get used to the tough narrative style.
Source: Nintendo
The story "The Turquoise Green Mask" in particular suffers from some of the most annoying characters I've ever met in a video game. The story centres on brother and sister Hana and Jo. On my school trip to Kitakana, I have to join them to investigate the legend of an evil Pokémon that terrorised the villagers in the area years ago. However, this proves to be very difficult because the two of them are constantly arguing with each other or with me. The dialogue is hilarious and the characters' motivations and actions make no sense. I don't want to have anything to do with these annoying teenagers. That's a shame, because the background story of the legendary, seemingly evil Terror Pokémon is quite interesting.
Source: Nintendo
Luckily, during my exchange semester at the Blueberry Academy, I don't have to hang out with the two annoying screamers as often. For the most part, I can concentrate on a classic "I want to be the very best" story. It's only at the end that I'm forced to interact more with the two bastards again. After all, the countless hours at the end of the second expansion are rewarded with a few cool moments and unexpected twists.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
The open-world design is still sad and empty
One of the biggest criticisms of "Pokémon Crimson & Purple" for me was the soulless open world. On the one hand, I enjoyed the great freedom that the huge game world gave me. On the other hand, it was very... empty. It only served as a lifeless backdrop for the gameplay, which I could traverse with my flying Pokémon without any challenges. Unfortunately, this hasn't changed with the two new regions either.
The Kitakami region from "Turquoise Mask" is particularly disappointing. It is basically just a miniature version of Paldea. The map doesn't stand out visually or in terms of gameplay from the main game and bored me after the first hour of play. The fact that there is only one village in the whole of Kitakami, consisting of a few houses, is particularly dreary.
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The concept of the underwater terrarium from the "Indigo Blue Disc" is a little more exciting. The artificial landscape of the Blueberry Academy is divided into four biomes, which are separated by white walls. The artificial separation of the climate zones has no playful effects - but at least it looks more exciting than the dreary mountain region in Kitakami.
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Just like the huge map of the main game, the new, smaller regions don't motivate me to explore the game world. Apart from wild Pokémon, trainers and countless items, there is nothing to discover. Kitakami and the underwater terrarium are the antithesis of the outstanding open-world design of a game like "Tears of the Kingdom". While in the latter I am rewarded for my curiosity and exploration, in "Pokémon" I am almost penalised for it. Every time I stray from my mission to explore an exciting-looking cave, I'm disappointed. Most of the time, the game just dumps me off with some piddly items (yay, a super potion) or random Pokémon. Boring.
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Tiresome to-do list
As if the unspectacular open-world design wasn't enough, "The Indigo Blue Disc" also frustrates me with a tedious task system. This forces me to repeat repetitive tasks in the empty game world. For each completed task, I receive BP - the central currency with which I can unlock items. "Collect ten items", "catch a Pokémon of the ground type" or "take a photo of a swimming Pokémon" are the tasks. As soon as I have completed one, the next one follows immediately. An infinite loop.
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The boring tasks illustrate how few exciting activities there are to complete in the game world. By the fifth repetition of "make a TM" at the latest, I'm no longer interested in the system. That's a shame, because BP points can be used to unlock essential upgrades.
For example, I can gradually increase the biodiversity in the four biomes. With the upgrades, I can catch all (!) starter Pokémon from previous generations in the terrarium. Legendary Pokémon from the old games can also be unlocked in this way. Very cool, actually. But until I've collected enough points for this, countless boring and frustrating hours of play go by. It's also particularly annoying that I can only unlock some of the pocket monsters if I play online with other trainers.
Graphics and performance are still unacceptable
Graphically, not much has changed in the main region of Paldea. Kitakami and the underwater terrarium are also on the same level as the main game. So somewhere between PS2 and PS3 graphics. I'm not exaggerating.
The game environment is characterised by muddy and obviously tiled textures.
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The absurd thing is that the game sometimes forces me to look at these drab textures. The camera often can't be optimally positioned during the frequent 2vs2 battles. So I have to look at the desolate ground and the unsightly grass instead of the Pokémon battles.
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Everywhere there are corners and edges. Cliffs and mountains don't look like real objects.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
In terms of performance, there is also nothing positive to report. The two new maps sometimes run even worse than the main game. Especially in the underwater terrarium, I have to struggle with massive frame rate drops. Sometimes I move through the map in slow motion for several seconds. The game also still has problems with objects in the distance. Many Pokémon only pop up a few centimetres in front of my virtual nose. And characters and moving objects are animated at a visibly lower frame rate even at short distances.
Even the popular online raids are still technically unacceptable. If I want to take part in a raid, I have to be prepared for countless error messages and disconnections. Once I've made it into a raid, I'm confronted with jerky combat and noticeable lag. That's no fun.
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Is everything so bad and annoying?
Of course not. The core of the expansion pack, like the main game, consists of the familiar "Pokémon" gameplay loop. Collecting, battling and levelling up the cute pocket monsters is still fun. The fact that "The Indigo Blue Disc" in particular is quite difficult is also commendable. Most of the Pokémon duels in the underwater terrarium are fought in 2vs2 battles. This forces me to reorganise my team and devise new strategies. Otherwise I don't stand a chance against the sometimes damn clever arena masters.
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I would also like to praise the game's music in particular. During boss battles, the soundtrack delivers epic goosebump moments and while exploring the game world, the background music dynamically adapts to the current environment.
The game also comes up trumps with some surprising moments that bring variety to the trainer's everyday life. For example, I can use a new item to gain control of my Pokémon and run, fly or swim with them through the open game world. A fun and cute, albeit completely pointless, bonus.
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Conclusion: Only interesting for hardcore fans
"The Treasure of Zone Zero" disappoints with an annoyingly narrated story, empty game worlds, repetitive gameplay mechanics and technical difficulties. Not much has changed compared to the main game. This is a shame, because underneath all the problems lies the still fun "Pokémon" gameplay loop, which would fit perfectly into an open game world.
If you enjoyed your time in "Pokémon Crimson & Purple" despite the problems and are looking for more of the same, you'll have fun with the expansion. Everyone else should give the DLC a wide berth and hope for the imminent release of a new and hopefully better quality "Pokémon" generation.
"The Treasure of Zone Zero" is available for the Nintendo Switch. The expansion was provided to me by Nintendo for testing purposes.
Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
