Well, I run around Meteor Falls and realize I can now actually go up the falls to find vast new areas, but they’re full of dragon trainers and have the feel of an optional bonus area, so I guess I’ll go talk to Steven. In the process, I get lost and wander in circles a while.
Steven’s waiting for me outside the Devon Corp (Slogan: Definitely Not Stealing Industry Secrets From Silph! Who’s Silph? Never Heard Of Them!)
Lucki… I’m sorry about summoning you so suddenly. It’s well known how often my intuition turns out to be right.
That sure was a jump there.
But I never imagined we would be meeting again this soon! I’m sorry to say it is not happy news that brings us together. Sigh. This isn’t something we should discuss in public. Let’s continue this inside.
He opens the automatic doors, then backs up. After you. Slightly weird, Steven.
Then he’s ahead of Lucki when the next part of the cutscene begins. Dad… he says. Lucki is here.
Well, welcome, welcome. It’s been quite a while…hasn’t it? Ho ho ho… I suppose I’m just getting old. Recently I seem to forget details just as soon as I learn them… Ho ho ho ho…
…Dad? says Steven, because what the hell was that.
Ahem! Oh, I know. I know what you want to say. My, what a hasty, impatient one you are! What are we to do with such an impatient one for our Pokemon League Champion?
Uh…
…Hm? Oh, is that so? So you’re the new Champion, Lucki?
Huh. Well, yeah, that’d follow from the fact I just beat the elite four and champion, wouldn’t it, but we seem to be getting emphasis on the job actually having requirements and I don’t see the game trying to make me fulfill them, although wouldn’t it be more interesting to grind experience by going to the pokemon league and having trainers with random high level teams be sent in?
Then I guess we’ll never break you of that impatience after all, Steven!
But really this whole conversation has the feel of something that really has nothing to do with Lucki, so, why is she stuck here making me awkwardly listen to it?
Ho ho ho ho!
Dad! howls Steven in spikybox.
Bah! I know… I know… Can’t you take a joke… Now then, Lucki. I’m afraid I’m planning to start in on a rather long and quite heavy topic.
FINALLY.
Are you sure that you’re ready to take all of it in?
And you actually get a choice. Well, I am already sick of typing from all this, so I’d rather not do something way longer on top of it.
Hmph. Well, if you’re not ready, then I guess that’s that. When you do start to feel ready, come to talk to me again.
And the cutscene ends and I’m just standing there in front of his desk.
Okay. Okay, let’s do this.
Are you sure that you’re ready to take all of it in?
No, but I’ll say I guess so because I’ve got to get through it sometime.
Hmm… Then I suppose I should begin. Let me first take us back 3,000 years, to the days when this story began…
There was a great war at that time, in a region far from here. That war was finally brought to an end by a weapon created by one man. And what energy source could power such a dreadful weapon?
Genocide, we know this already.
Do you know? You see… It ran on the life energy of Pokemon. The energy that could be gained by the sacrifice of so many Pokemon… There are surely many people who would call it reprehensible.
Well that’s some terrifying weasel wording, isn’t it.
But my grandfather, the president of Devon before me, said this… “Couldn’t we use the energy to improve the lives of people and Pokemon?”
What the fuck even.
And so he developed our greatest creation here at the Devon Corporation: Infinity Energy.
Powered by dead pikachu!
Thanks to Infinity Energy, Devon was able to become one of the top industries in Hoenn and developed into the giant you see today.
So Devon is basically the lovechild of Nazi labor camps and animal testing.
You may be surprised to learn that the Devon Parts you once recovered for us were in fact parts of a motor that would make it possible to power a submarine using Infinity Energy.
So that was packed full of genocide. Ew, Lucki, you touched that with your bare hands!
It was not long before we began to expand our attempts to further human development. Next, we moved into exploring space. The rockets launched from the Mossdeep Space Center using our Infinity Energy…
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP LISTING OFF THINGS THAT RUN ON GENOCIDE IT’S NOT HELPING
They are the true results of our dreams, our passion, and our technology. But never did we imagine they could end up as the best hope for saving our world. My preamble has been quite long, but we arrive at last at the real issue.
That you’re way, way eviler than me?
That is the overwhelming catastrophe which now approaches us. A huge asteroid, more than six miles in diameter, is currently on track to collide with our planet.
We have been working together with the Mossdeep Space Center, which was first to recognize this danger. We are devising countermeasures that would use our rockets, but… In order for these plans to succeed, though, we need a Meteorite Shard.
Hell and no. Last game I was fighting the nutjob who wanted to turn on the genocide-powered blast! Why would I give you any help when your plan runs on pikachu fuel?
So that’s it… says Steven, who is apparently totally okay with genocide. You want her to go and get that shard for you.
Hah! That’s my boy, all right! I knew you’d understand at once.
I’m not seeing what’s so complex about this.
It was hardly a deduction worthy of praise… Yes, thank you Steven. If only you weren’t in favor of using genocide to solve everything, you’d be a pretty great character.
His dad continues, I want you to make your way to the Granite Cave near Dewford. According to our surveys, you should be able to find the kind of METEORITE SHARDS that we need there.
I get it game.
And you, Steven…
“Man the pikachu furnaces!”
I want you, Son, to head for the Space Center at once to start the preparations, using that Link Cable that I gave you.
Huh, so yeah, he’s actually being sent off to man the pikachu furnaces.
The Link Cable? So it is to be a warp system… Yes, I understand. But Granite Cave… Ah. I see. The floor where we first met– the floor with the ANCIENT WALL PAINTINGS. It is true that there were many shards of meteorite scattered about there.
Well, then that’s no good, we don’t need shards of meteorite, we need Meteorite Shards. Which is obviously a totally distinct thing because it’s capitalized differently in a way that certainly isn’t just a game convention for the exact name of an item or anything. Guess your genocide beam plan won’t work and we’ll have to not murder all pokemon in the world. Drat! As great at that sounded I’ll just have to save the world some other way. Bye now.
It looks as though it’s decided then, Lucki. I will head for the Space Center in Mossdeep. If I learn anything, I will contact you at once.
Okay but like, can I contact the police and say that Devon’s secret is pikachu furnaces? That’s got to be illegal.
Though it will end up as another one-sided message like the one I sent you, I’m afraid. Good luck.
Steven, really. As if Lucki needs luck.
He starts to leave and his dad calls out, …Steven? You be careful.
Steven nods and leaves.
Then…I will be counting on the two of you to take care of this for me. If you forget just what it is you need to do, come talk to me again… Assuming I remember as well! Ho ho…
So faking it in fear of prosecution when this gets out, maybe?
Okay.
So, my current task is to find something they need to for their genocide-powered rockets to work. I don’t think that’s a good idea.
On the other hand, maybe they’re at a steady rate of genociding and the Meteorite Shard/shards of meteorite needed are for aiming purposes or something, in which case they’re already murdering the puppies and not waiting for me to deliver the final piece.
Hm. I guess Lucki would probably be okay with genocide as long as it’s by the right sort of people and not directly impacting her, so murdering almost everybody else to stop the meteor from killing her is something she’d help with.
I feel like just accepting this as Plan A is pretty awful even for her, though. And if I help Devon and they’re hailed as saviors, their “Infinite Energy” thing will become legitiatized further, won’t it?
Can’t I go back to chasing around people stealing mega bracelets? Whatever that plan was didn’t seem like it involved any genocide.
Sorry to tell ya, but Zinnia’s plan involved summoning Groudon which almost destroyed the region. Steven and Zinnia’s plans are equally homicidal.
“Sorry to tell ya”. Yeah, that’s not condescending at all.
And also (SPOILERIFIC STUFF AHEAD) no, Zinnia’s plans are less genocidal by comparison. They’re not great (Groudon would, as you rightfully point out, have caused lots of destruction and death but the redirection plan (sorry, more spoilers, please don’t read unless you already know the plot or are ok with them) involves launching the meteor at another inhabited world instead and sacrificing “them” to save “us” while Zinnia’s goal is to spare both the world the player is in and anywhere else as well.
Though even she doesn’t point out the ick factor of infinity energy if I remember correctly. wtf game?
1. Where does Farla say that Zinnia’s plan is superior? Why do you keep reading “I don’t like what the male character does/the way this male character is written” as “ALL FEMALE CHARACTERS RULE, ALL MALE CHARACTERS DROOL!” regardless of context?
2. Zinnia’s Groudon plan was unnecessarily risky, but if it had gone exactly how she wanted it to, no one would have died. Whereas Mr. Stone’s plan appears to RELY upon pokémon dying. It’s really not the same thing at all.
This bit of plot is just so fucked up, I can’t fathom someone actually thinking it was a good idea. What happened to pokemon being about friendship and harmony??
To be fair, it’s much easier to achieve harmony after genocide. Corpses are not known for being disruptive.
Pokemon world has ghosts, that so that may not be true, as matter of fact it may be worse, at least until the next batch of trainers catch them in their balls.
That’s assuming ghosts can’t be farmed for energy, too. And melted into soulsteel while we are on it.
WTF is this plot. Who approved this?? Are we being punk’d here or…??
Yeah, this was when I couldn’t believe what I had just read, turned off my 3DS, and backed away slowly. I have other games to play. Ones that don’t casually include mind-boggling evil without acknowledging the mind-boggling evil.
“Have you ever heard a story about genocide and thought ‘how can I use this to become a multi-billionaire?’ Some might say that’s utterly vile and beyond wrong, but my grandfather did just that. Great guy. So yeah, every convenient technological thing you use runs on painful death, little girl. Now help us save this scummy world. Huh? You want to talk more about the dead pokemon? Ahahaha, no. Go fetch quest.”
I can’t even words how weird and inappropriate this is. And I used to like Steven.
It’s not that a corporation would be evil enough to think this is a good idea that bugged me about this plot, it’s that no one – not characters the game wants you to consider heroes or even the ones they want you to think of as villains – ever addresses the fucked up nature of Devon being 100% OK with using Pokemon life as energy.
It’d feel icky enough if they phrased it as “my grandfather, in his corporate greed, thought this was a good idea but as soon as I took over the company I ceased all infinity energy projects and thought that was the end of that, except with the end of the world approaching it now becomes about weighing the lives of the entire world against the lives of the few and if we had alternatives we’d try for those first but we just don’t have any other plans.” Still icky, but not as bad as what we have, where they freely admit to using genocide power for pretty much everyday use and no one objects to it.
Who approved of this plot?
I agree. The way everyone went about their businesslike “seems legit” just baffled me. Like… did nobody else just hear that guy go on about how his Stuff is soul-powered? And then you as the protagonist just go along with it…
Is infinite energy ting actually genocide powered or does it just take in power from things dyeing around it, because if they added one to power a submarine where would they house the Pokémon needed to power it? Also, did you pick up that Steven has to help set up a Link Cable, as in what old school Pokémon games used to trade. Hints?
If you read the journals at Sea Mauville, there’s some really shady shit there too.
I think the overall tone is supposed to be ‘industry is corrupt’ in these games.
The game never explicitly says either way. It somehow tapping into the energy of naturally occurring deaths is a much preferable way of thinking about it and allows for a more charitable reading of why everyone’s on board with even using this in the first place, but the fact that it doesn’t say whether that’s the case or if they’re actually sacrificing live pokemon to power their devices just makes this plot so iffy. (though the sea mauville area has some disturbing implications, thanks to Mystery Man for reminding me of that).
The hilarious thing is this plot was approved of not just by whoever came up with it in the first place, but also by whoever worked on the game and the people who translated it and no where in that chain of people did someone stop and say “maybe we shouldn’t have a good guy like Steven being chill about the implication that his father is killing pokemon for energy.” Or “hey remember when we went out of our way to say Team Plasma was wrong for saying humans on the whole mistreat pokemon? Yeah, I think maybe this plot is kinda sorta proving N was right and humans should not be trusted with pokemon lives ever.”
The whole thing feels like it’s missing a line, like somewhere Pappy Stone should have said, “…and we figured out how to power it without killing Pokemon!”
Pretty much what I thought while playing this, to be honest. A quick one sentence line like that would have helped so very much.
(also at nahte, I’m not saying it’s just as creepy to use natural deaths as to do the killing themselves, I’m saying it’s bizarre that the game never says they’re not actively sacrificing pokemon especially after having a region’s plot centered on the “happy friendship and rainbows” side of pokemon and I worry now that I was unclear in what I said. Responding here so as not to take up two posts trying to explain my poor wording.)
I do think there is a difference, if it’s out right killing for power there really no way to argue it’s evil and wrong.
However if he somehow found a way to use natural deaths than he could argue that everything dies anyways, let’s at least make there deaths mean something, even if it’s just a comforting light at night. Still messed up but you can argue he’s being more of a misguided realist than an out and out evil bastard genocide would make him.
And team plasma is a lot like saying some kids are abused so lets take every child, even the happy ones, away from there parents into schools from birth, preferable for the abused kids sure, but what about the innocent parents and kids who just love each other? Neither side is really 100% right, but neither is really 100% wrong either.
Huh. I was kinda justifying Steven’s actions with the thinking that maybe he was so busy with being the champion that he didn’t know what Devon was up to, or that maybe he wasn’t on good terms with his dad (since the president has you deliver a letter to the guy rather than just calling him or something) and so he’d been left out of the Devon development loop. But apparently not.
I can’t imagine the devs deliberately putting in something like this, but how else are you supposed to take that scene? Actually, I’d be interested in seeing the Japanese text for this scene, if anyone’s got it, to see if it’s a developer or translator issue. Maybe a line got missed or mistranslated? Can only hope, at any rate.
Yeah, I’d really like to know what the JP version is like. Unfortunately I can’t read Japanese, or I’d look it up myself.
Okay, so I looked up a video of that scene in Japanese and I’ve transcribed the president’s speech as best I can from “Do you know?”:
Sore wa ne pokemon no seitai enerugii dattan da yo. Pokemon-tachi no gisei ni yotte erareru enerugii— sonna mo no tonde mo nai to iu hitobito mo ooi darou.
Demo ne sendai no shachou de aru washi no jii-san wa kou omotta, “Kono enerugii wo katsuyou shite hitobito ya pokemon no kurashi wo yutaka ni dekinai monoka” …to.
Soshite kaihatsu shitano ga waga Devon Corporation no hokoru 8 [actually an infinity symbol] (mugendai) enerugii dene.
8 enerugii no okage de Devon wa Hoenn no toppu kigyou tonari ima no kibo ni made seichou shitan dayo.
…Chinami ni izen kimi ga mamori nuite kureta Devon no nimotsu, are wa 8 enerugii wo riyoushita sensuitei you motor dattan da
…Soushite wareware wa saranaru jinrui no hatten no tame
uchuu kaihatsu jigyou ni shinshutsu shita
8 enerugii wo nenryou to suru Tokusane Uchuu Sentaa no roketto…
Are wa wareware no yume to jyounetsu to kijyutsu wo kesshyuu shita seika nanda.
…Masaka sore ga sekai wo sukuu kibou to naru to wa imotte inakatta ga ne.
Maeoki ga nagaku natte shimatta ga koko kara ga hondai da. Ima wareware ni semaru attouteki na kyoui— chokkei 10-kiromeetoru wo koeru kyodai inseki ga kono hoshi ni shoutotsu shiyou to shiteiru…!
Sono kiki wo ichihayaku kyacchi shita Tokusane Uchuu Sentaa to wareware wa kyouryokushi.
Roketto wo mochiita sakusen wo keikaku shiteurun daga…
Sono keikaku no tame ni inseki no kakera ga hitsuyou ni natte ne.
I’m not fluent, but I’m pretty sure the English translation is just about word-for-word the same as the original Japanese, so this is definitely a dev issue.
(Incidentally, with the exception of the words in blue, there’s no Japanese equivalent to the rogue Meteorite Shard capitalisation. It’s not even in katakana or anything.)
(Incidentally, with the exception of the words in blue, there’s no
Japanese equivalent to the rogue Meteorite Shard capitalisation. It’s
not even in katakana or anything.)
Well, clearly the devs intended to capitalize Meteorite Shard, given how it’s a species’ name, but the lack of capitalization in Japanese language sadly prevented them from doing so. The issue was fixed in the English translation, which restored the original intent of the devs corrupted by the linguistic flaws, so you all should follow it.