Pokémon Reborn Recap

[Anstane]

I have noticed a lot of people returning after a hiatus and wanting a recap. While there are plenty of videos and let's plays out there, not everyone has the time to sit through many hours of videos to catch up to where they are. So, I'm going to try to write a simple recap of everything that has happened from the very beginning of the game all the way to the end of Episode 15. This is mostly going to be plot things, skipping over most of the non-plot-related battles.

NOTE: I am going to separate the recap into sections, separated by badges, meaning there will be 2 parts of the recap that are 2 episodes long.

 

Also, there are two path splits that affect things. For the sake of keeping things simpler, I am going to assume that all the police officers were found before the Taka/ZEL battle and that we lost the battle against Solaris on Pyrous Mountain.

 

Part 1.

 

Spoiler

Our adventure begins as our train proceeds to arrive into Reborn City. En route there, we are greeted by Ame, who tells us about some basic details and how Reborn City is...not the best place to be. Such a claim is then reinforced as, after we introduced ourselves, the train we were in, as well as the entire station, gets destroyed by a terrorist attack. We survive, naturally. As Ame makes sure we are alright and examines the wreckage of the station, we get a visit from Julia. Her explosive personality is only matched by her peppiness. However, she is not the one guilty of the attack. Ame leaves to the Grand Hall to take care of business while Julia asks us if we are here to challenge the league. Of course, that's what we are here for and the Cheer Captain happily informs us that she is the Electric Gym Leader, the very first leader of the league to be challenged.

 

We move on towards the Grand Hall, passing by a number of people, both shocked and sad at the events that have transpired. As we approach the entrance, we are greeted by Victoria. After some words, we are led to the administration desk where, after finding out the perpetrator of the attack on the train station had already been caught, we are led to choose our starter. After doing so, Victoria is led to do the same, while we are introduced to Cain. He proceeds to challenge us to our first battle, after which we move on to heal our Pokémon. After that, Victoria and Ame return and, as the Pretty Boy is taken away, we are challenged by Victoria. After this battle, we are given some basic equipment, most notably our Pokédex and we are sent out into Reborn City.

 

As we explore Peridot Ward, the only part of the city currently available to us, we start to assemble a team from the few Pokémon we can find. Eventually our search leads us to the Blacksteam Factory where we encounter what would be the third and final rival, Fern. After some words are said, mostly him assuming we're there to cramp his style, he challenges us to a battle. After defeating him, he storms off towards the other factory in Peridot Ward. At this point we head on towards the Power Station which is also the Electric-type Gym, just as Julia exits it. We are invited to help take down the factory, as it is where the terrorists are planning on attacking the power station and cutting off all power in Reborn City.

As we arrive, we are greeted by not just Julia, but Fern and Florinia. After blasting the entrance open, we enter and proceed to make our way to the control room, teaming up with Fern as we fight off a number of members of Team Meteor. Eventually we reach a gate and, as Florinia tries to hack into the systems, Julia gives us a simpler plan: Use the bombs that are to be used on the power station to blast open the gate. A few more grunts later, and we return to Julia with the explosives. However, just before she can detonate them, Florinia opens the gate, allowing us to pass. Inside, we are greeted by an unusually-dressed man who proceeds to take on both Julia and Florinia by himself while leaving us and Fern to two of his grunts, Aster and Eclipse. In the end, though, the duo are defeated and the Team Meteor admin is forced to retreat, but not before taunting us that it is too late, as they deleted all the information they needed to delete. Julia then proceeds to blow up the factory and, after Fern and Florinia walk off to attend to their own businesses, we are invited to take on Julia as our first Gym Leader battle.

As we enter the gym and make our way past the trainers, we eventually reach a supercharged arena where Julia awaits, ready to defend her badge. After a fierce and explosive battle, however, her team falls, not even her Electrode Ace being able to withstand the pressure, and we win our first badge. As we exit the gym, we are greeted by Victoria and are told of carnage happening in Obsidia Ward and are asked to see if we can help out.

 

Part 2.

 

Spoiler

We approach Obsidia Ward which is gated off due to a massive outbreak of giant plants which are wreaking havoc all around the ward. Florinia is standing next to the guards and, after some brief words and deliberation, decides to allow us to enter the ward to help her out with the situation. However, as we try to make our way to Obsidia Park which is the source of the trouble, our path is blocked, forcing us to take a roundabout way through the Obsidia Slums. As we approach them, however, Victoria stops up and battles us to make sure we are ready to pass through. After claiming victory, we proceed to enter the slums.

 

As we move forward, something unusual appears: A mysterious box keeps moving, something the inhabitants keep talking about. Eventually we make it to the end of the slums where we find out the truth: It's a pair of Scraggy, led by a Scrafty, who proceed to engage us in battle. After fighting them off, they unlock the gate and allow us to pass through to the other side of Obsidia. From here, we are able to make our way to the Coral Ward where we encounter Amaria, trying to reach and rescue an Oshawott trapped by the lighthouse. Cain arrives and rescues the water-type before breaking it in with a battle against us. Bad idea...after we win, Amaria remembers that Florinia is waiting for her in Obsidia Park and beckons us over. We then arrive in Obsidia Park where we are greeted by Florinia and Amaria. We are then given the Cut HM and are told to use it to cut down a tree blocking our way forward. We do so, and, after the two Gym Leaders get caught and bound by the vines, encounter the core of the problem: A giant Tangrowth, connected to a weird machine. In front of it stood another Meteor operative. Or...operatives? They introduce themselves as Lumi, Eve and Zero, collectively known as ZEL. They unleash the power of the PULSE Tangrowth upon us, but, eventually, it falls, and the rampaging vines proceed to subside. The Meteor Admin is forced to retreat with the PULSE machine, Amaria heads off to search for the source of the pollution in Azurine Lake while Florinia returns to the Onyx Ward school to await our challenge.

 

As we arrive, though, we are met by Fern who has decided that we are not worthy of battling his sister. He blocks our way forward with a gate, then sets a number of students to stop our progress. We, of course, fight past each and every single of them before reaching the Swag Jockey himself. After besting him in combat, he decides that, if we are able to participate in the Reborn League, we should be able to as well and would have a much easier time than us, seeing how he's so much more competent then us despite his 0-2 record against us. He leaves and we move on the battle the Head Instructor herself. Her battle strategy, using the desert field, was fierce, but was eventually bested, granting us the second badge. As we leave, however, she has one request for us: To check out what is happening in the Jasper and Beryl wards and to see if we can fix the trouble there, as, just like in Obsidia, those wards are being ravaged by giant vines, except for longer.

 

Part 3.

 

Spoiler

We enter Jasper Ward and immediately see just how bad of a state it is in, with buildings literally being sliced in two, the streets themselves having vines sprouting out of them. We enter the Police Station and are told that the police force is stretched thin, with more and more officers going missing. We are then asked to find and rescue as many police officers as we can. We proceed to make our way through the ruined Jasper Ward, passing by a few desperate trainers and Meteor Grunts as well as finding and rescuing one of the police officers from a Meteor Grunt. Eventually we make our way to the Malchous Forest, on the west end of Jasper Ward. After cutting down some small trees, passing a number of squirming vines and more Meteor Grunts, we find a second PULSE Tangrowth, guarded by a different Meteor Admin. His name is Taka and, unlike the other admins we encountered, he is friendly to us, explaining some things before engaging us in battle. In the end, neither the PULSE nor his Chatot were able to slow us down, though, and the machine is taken out of commission. Before leaving, though, Taka informs us that there is another PULSE Tangrowth in the Beryl Ward where it was able to do even more damge. As we try to leave, we are confronted by a young girl named Heather with a Salamence who is complaining that she was unable to play hero before warning us not to get in her way as she flies off to the Beryl Ward.

 

We make our way back through the still ruined, but no longer plant-infested Jasper Ward and, after rescuing another police officer, make our way to the Beryl Ward. The streets are even more ravaged, but not impassable, as we make our way through to the Rhodochrine Jungle. We proceed to fall for The Most Obvious Trap In The World and get captured and placed into a wicker cage by a bunch of Nuzleaf. Despite us potentially having both Bug and Fire-types by this point, we are forced to wait until Fern wanders up and, after a brief moment so he can avoid bursting out into laughter, gives us an ultimatum: Either we get on our knees and beg or he leaves us there to rot. After we tell him to get bent (Or actually complying, which leads to us being freed immediately, albeit severely humiliated), we wait for a little longer before something unusual appears and rescues us: A Chatot with the instruction to help us.

 

We proceed to make our way through the forest, rescuing another police officer who, similarly, was captured by wild Nuzleaf before making our way to a mansion. Inside we got a small break and found another Police Officer...or, rather, his corpse and Growlithe companion who leaves for the police station. Eventually we set out again and, after a few more Meteor Grunts and locating and rescuing the fifth and final Police Officer, make our way to the third and final PULSE Tangrowth, guarded by Taka, ZEL and a third hooded agent. Heather proceeds to arrive at the same time and, after the unknown man scoffs at our fancy dreams of heroism, takes on the girl, leaving Taka and ZEL to deal with us. Despite being outnumbered two-to-one and both of them using their full teams, eventually, the duo falls, the last PULSE Tangrowth being defeated. The hooded man tried to leave, but is stopped by the police force and, ultimately unmasked...as Corey, the Beryl Ward Gym Leader and Heather's father. The latter, at learning this, flies away as the Poison-type leader proceeds to escape towards his gym, the police officers following close behind.

 

We enter the gym only to find the police force has been affected by mind-altering gas. After snapping them out of their stupors, we find Corey's living space. After some words being exchanged, he orders us to follow him to the arena which he proceeds to flood with corrosive and poisonous mist. By this point, he has lost everything, and blames everything on us, for rescuing the police force, thus unmasking him in front of his daughter who will never look at him the same way again. Despite his anger and the mist seeping into our team and us, we are able to last long enough to best the agent. At this point, he knows that we won't try to kill him, simply give him up to the police. He instead demands us to follow him to Beryl Bridge. We do so...

 

...and we find out his story: He had a happy life. He bought a beautiful ruby ring as an engagement ring for his fiance, who died during childbirth, giving birth to Heather. During the procedure, the ring was stolen and, in his desperation, joined Team Meteor in order to be let to keep the ring. And then, we arrived and ruined everything. With that, after releasing his entire team and demanding they leave, he proceeds to jump off of Beryl Bridge, committing suicide. This somber and painful moment is then ruined by none other then Fern, who proceeds to call Corey a loser for committing suicide, doubly so considering he never gave us his badge. After pointing out where his body fell (Lapis Ward), a huge explosion rocked the city, the source of which comes from the Grand Staircase.
 

We make our way to North Obsidia Ward and see the aftermath of the bomb exploding, revealing caverns beneath the Grand Staircase. However, there is nothing we can do here, so we move on to Lapis Ward and, eventually, to the gym where, right next to it, Corey's splattered corpse lay. Victoria and Shelly, the Lapis Ward Gym Leader, were among those who look at the corpse, the latter recognizing it. As the two are shocked and stunned at the sight, Aster and Eclipse arrive along the rooftops and inform Team Meteor that "Agent Beryl confirmed deceased" before speaking out a little too much, informing our trio about what lies beneath the Grand Staircase. As the discussion is happening, though, a strange Entity appears above Corey's corpse. Once the meteor agents leave, we notice him and Shelly recognizes him as Shade. He takes Corey's corpse and disappears, just as mysteriously as he appeared. After taking the Bug-type leader back to her room, she, still shell-shocked, just sits there, worried for Heather. Victoria and us, meanwhile decide to check out just what lay beneath the Grand Staircase.

 

As we arrive, though, we are greeted by Aster and Eclipse, who have captured Victoria and take her away into the depths. We, of course, follow and encounter yet another new face affiliated with Team Meteor. He proceeds to show us a mysterious door as well as explaining a few things about the city before allowing us to pass forward and engage Aster and Eclipse, with Victoria's help, in battle. We win, naturally, and make our way back to Shelly's gym where she is still shocked at the events that transpired. Desperately seeking help, we make our way to the nearby orphanage and, after witnessing a woman leaving it, enter it ourselves. Inside, we encounter an...eccentric group of characters. First is Anna, who proceeds to claim that she can sense our "Glowiness", alongside being able to communicate with her Jirachi doll named Nostra. We are also introduced to Noel and his Clefable doll Nomos, and Charlotte who, as Anna claims, is covered in scars, even if they are not visible. Eventually, though, the head of the orphanage arrives to greet us: Dr. Sigmund Connal. A quick cover story is made, that we are here to challenge some of the Gym LEaders here. Sigmund decides to test us out first, pitting us against Orderly John. After our victory, he informs us that we are unable to have a battle with any of the children as of right now and are thus forced to leave, but not before being given a message by Anna to Shelly.

 

Once we return to Shelly with our message, she peps up and allows us to challenge her to a Gym Battle. As we approach the main area, however, Victoria once again tries to stop us with a battle. Gee, thanks for the gratitude for rescuing you...anyway, after our victory, she tells us that we much win now. That is the plan from the beginning, so, after a brief puzzle involving bookcases, we make it to, and engage the Bookworm in battle. Despite her bug-types putting up a strong resistance, they are unable to fight our team off and we claim the third badge. As we turn to leave, Shelly asks us to inform Ame about what happened to Corey, to get the replacement Poison-type Leader ready for action.

 

Part 4.

 

Spoiler

We arrive back in the Grand Hall only to encounter Fern, who is one step ahead of us and has just informed Ame about what happened. He proceeds to explain to us that the new Gym Leader is located in a place called the Byxbyxion Wasteland whcih requires a key to access, one that he has and we don't. He proceeds to challenge us, saying that if we win, he'll tell us where he got the key from. We win, again, and he tells us that he got it from Cain. We leave and, eventually, locate Cain in the Beryl Graveyard. The Poison-type rival is hesitant to give us the key, and challenges us to another battle for it. After yet another victory, he is about to do so...before he notices Heather watching over them. After some words are exchanged, she flies off to the Lapis Ward where her friend awaits.

 

We arrive back into Shelly's gym where Heather has gone to and is acting...less then friendly, eventually storming off after Shelly tells her that she would like it if Heather acted friendlier. Alas, as she makes her way out, she is confronted by Sigmund and his orderlies. During this, Shelly lets slip that Heather lost her only living relative. Sigmund uses this and forces her to join the orphanage, threatening legal action on us three if we interfere. As evening falls, though, we can hear screams of agony coming from the orphanage, caused by Heather being forced to go through some...electric therapy, to say the least. We decide that we can't leave her inside and we are going to raid the orphanage. However, our progress is immediately blocked by the most insidious of obstacles: A locked door. As we start to despair, suddenly, the door is unlocked, by Anna, as it turns out. She noticed our glowiness as well as noting the many strings of friendship Shelly has, even though she claims to not have any real friends. Some orderlies then arrive to try and force us out, but they are summarily forced back themselves.
 

The raid continues and, eventually, we manage to rescue Heather. Sigmund then casually informs us that the legal authorities were called and will arrive any minute. We are forced to make a break for it as we run to the Underground Railnet. As Sigmund observes our escape, he is greeted by the first Meteor Admin we saw, named Sirius. Meanwhile, Cain, Shelly, Anna, Noel, Heather, Charlotte and us continue to run through the Railnet, smashing some rocks with the Rock Smash HM we acquired before encountering an unpowered gate. One that is connected to the old Yureyu Power Plant, currently Shade's gym. We are told to go there, claim the badge and activate the power.

 

We soon arrive in the power plant. As we progress through it, we see four horrific and prophetic sights. Corey, jumping off a bridge. Amaria, either jumping off something or being pushed off something by a red-haired woman. A woman being sliced into by a Garchomp. A woman who, after some flashes, literally crumbles into pieces. Eventually we make it to Shade. No words needed to be exchanged as the battle commenced. In the end, despite some real scares, our nerves held and we triumphed, claiming another badge and convincing shade to activate the power...which proves to be a mistake, as we witness, from a screen, all the children being kidnapped by Meteor Grunts. Cain himself only escapes capture by having his Nidoking use Earthquake, cutting the route off and causing a whole bunch of trouble later down the line.

 

Part 5.

 

Spoiler

We rush back to the Railnet where Victoria is waiting. She tells us that we need the Strength HM from the Gym Leader in Apophyll Academy to get past the rocks that are now in the way, and we need the badge from the Poison-type Gym Leader for us to use the HM. We rush to the Coral Ward who proceeds to sail off to Apophyll by himself. Cursing our luck, we are left wondering what to do when, lo and behold, Amaria exits from one of the warehouses and offers us a deal: She will let us use her boat to get to Apophyll if we help her shut down Blacksteam Factory which is the source of pretty much all the pollution still being pumped into Azurine Lake. Naturally, we agree and, after meeting her in front of the factory, we proceed to attack the factory. Eventually we make our way to the heart of the problem: A PULSE Muk. Inside, Solaris, the leader of Team Meteor, was waiting, alongside ZEL. After Solaris' attempt to kill us outright via Garchomp failed, ZEL tried to fight us off, but ultimately failed, the PULSE being destroyed. Right before retreating, though, Solaris had his Tyranitar use a Superpower attack on Amaria. After this, she gave us the key to her boat as she slowly limped her way out and towards her home.

 

Upon arriving in Apophyll, we made our way to the academy where we eventually found it's Sensei, Kiki. Victoria arrives at almost the same time as we do and we both ask for the same thing: The Strength HM. Only problem: Kiki does not want to give it away because it's only supposed to be given away to those who graduate from her academy. Ultimately we're given a special deal, though: We are to ascend Pyrous Mountain and defeat one of her students there. If we can defeat him, we can then challenge Kiki to a battle and, if we win that one, we shall be given the Strength HM as well as her badge. We agree to it, only to be stopped by Victoria and told some more details, such as his name being Cal, pretty much revealing that Victoria has a crush on him.

 

We quickly make our way up to the top of Pyrous and come face to face with the red-head trainer. He explains how he has come here to find peace before accepting our challenge. He and his fire-types were strong, further benefiting from a naturally fiery environment, but his resolve eventually falters and he falls. We then return to Apophyll and find out something about Kiki: She is dying of unspecified reasons, likely a disease, and Victoria is to take over as Sensei. Not wanting for her to exert herself, Victoria, AGAIN, battles us. Again, we defeat her and move on to challenge Kiki. The sensei and her team were powerful, but not powerful enough. Before we could be granted her badge and HM, though, she stumbles and falls, her glass facade shattering in front of everyone. Thus, we don't get either, at least for now. Victoria then brings up a good point: Where is Cain? He set off well ahead of us and yet hasn't arrived. We are told to explore the only place he could have gone to: Azurine Islands.

 

We arrive in Azurine Islands and, after some searching, find the observation center that has, of course, been taken over by Team Meteor. After yet another scuffle against Aster and Eclipse, with the latter's unwitting advice, we are able to find a secret passage where Taka is preparing a Camerupt for use with a PULSE machine on Pyrous to cause an eruption and destroy Apophyll. Cain is also imprisoned there, and Taka tries to imprison us as well, to no success. The Meteor Admin blatantly admits that he'll see us on Pyrous before they run off and we rescue Cain. We quickly make our way back to the academy and explain the situation. Cain and us rush off to the top of the volcano with Victoria joining partway through. By the time we got to the top, the PULSE Camerupt was charging up an Eruption and Cain had already been defeated. Victoria takes on Taka while Solaris boasts how he'll only need one Pokémon to defeat us. Turns out his boast was well-founded, as his Garchomp was powerful enough to decimate our entire team.

 

As we stand there, defeated, Kiki has managed to drag herself to the top of the mountain and orders her Medicham to destroy the PULSE. Then comes a big moment: Cal works for Team Meteor and he stops the Medicham from attacking. Solaris then orders the fighting-type to be thrown into the volcano, whcih Cal at first refuses, but eventually the deed is done. Both Kiki and Victoria stand there, stunned by such a betrayal as Solaris orders his Garchomp to strike. It charges and executes...Kiki. Cal is absolutely horrified at what happened to the point where he says that he is done and pretty much defects from Team Meteor on the spot, ordering his Magmortar to destroy the PULSE Camerupt. Solaris is unamused, claiming that Cal is useless, like his brother Blake claimed. The mission a failure, Taka and Solaris retreat, with Cal being forced away by Victoria not long after. Once the trio return to Apophyll, Victoria gives us the Strength HM and says that she has to stay back to take over Kiki's duties. She also informs us that Kiki's badge has been invalidated because of her recent demise, hence why we don't get it. Cain and us then return to Reborn City.

 

We meet at the gates to Byxbyxion where, after one more battle, he finally relents and unlocks the door before returning to the Railnet. We then head into the waste where, eventually, we make our way to the Gym Leader, Aya, who has just been defeated by Fern. Right after us, another gym leader, Hardy, arrives and the two of them exchange some...less then pleasant words before Fern challenges us - AGAIN - to a battle which he loses - AGAIN. Finally, Aya returns from healing her team up and, with Hardy refereeing the battle and Fern observing it, the battle begins which we are able to succeed in despite some difficulties. With that, the badge is ours, the ability to use the Strength HM is ours and we start to run back towards the Railnet.

 

Part 6.

 

Spoiler

We make our way back to the Railnet and, with help from the Strength HM, are able to finally make it to the gate. We emerge in the old Yureyu building which seems to have been taken over by Team Meteor. With Cain's help, we ascend and see the children being held hostage. Thankfully, with help from Charlotte, we are able to rescue most of them, with both Sigmund and Sirius awaiting us at the top levels. A choice on whether to battle Sirius or Sigmund appears. After battling one of them and otherwise dealing with the other, we eventually manage to rescue all the children, but not before Sirius steals Anna's Amethyst Pendant, the only memoir left from her father. After that, we, eventually, make it to the Chrysolia region, outside Reborn City itself. As soon as we emerge, Heather immediately flies off and Cain follows. Meanwhile, the rest of us move to Tanzan Mountain, a hidden cove inside where Charlotte has family and a place to hole up in: The Belrose Mansion. Inside, we find the woman we encountered as we tried to enter the orphanage the first time: Laura.

 

By this point, Anna started to feel ill because of the Amethyst Pendant. She claims that Nostra is the one feeling ill, though. Either way, we are sent to Spinel Town to get some medicine. After crossing Chrysolia Forest where the trees seem to be mysteriously teleporting around, we make it to town where all hell is breaking loose with everything teleporting for seemingly no reason. Even the Pokémart itself gets teleported onto the roof of the Voclain Estate. As we approach it, we are greeted by it's inhabitants, Lepidopterist Bennett and Beauty Queen Serra, the latter being the Ice-type Gym Leader. We learn that, one day, a girl named Luna appeared in their home and claimed that Serra was her mother. Serra decided to play along and took her in until, one day, the girl mysteriously ran away again. At this point we get a visit from a preacher named Elias who has come seeking said girl, named Luna. Alas, no one knows the truth, although Bennett might know more then he lets on...

 

Either way, we are in the area, so we move on with challenging Serra. After making our way past some trainers and Bennett himself, we arrive in the arena where Serra awaits. A fierce reflective battle ensued, but, in the end, the beauty queen was unable to withstand our assault, granting us yet another badge. As we turn to leave, the Pokémart gets teleported away again, Bennett reveals where Luna has walked off to in exchange for Elias promising to help Bennett reach the Elite Four, and Serra merely contemplates her own lot in life.

 

Part 7.

 

Spoiler

We make our way back through the chaotic forest and eventually find the Pokémart having teleported on the other side of the forest from Spinel Town. We buy some medicine for Anna and bring it to her, which she proceeds to pour onto the Jirachi doll. Somehow, that causes Anna to get better. How that works...I dunno. Anyway, Anna suggests for us to have another Gym Leader battle. Charlotte refuses, claiming we're still out of her league, but Noel accepts. We head outside but, right before the battle itself, someone else arrives: Saphira. She arrives and informs us that Team Meteor has arrived and is coming to reclaim the children, with Sigmund leading a group around the lake while Team Meteor sails along the water's surface. Saphira decides to blast some boats to bits while Laura and us set up defensive positions inside the manor.

 

The battling was fierce, first against Sigmund and his Orderlies, then against Sirius. In the end, though, we are left between a rock and a hard place and someone gets kidnapped. Laura or Saphira decide it's time to take matters into their own hands and, with our help, we attack the Tanzan Mountain base of Team Meteor. We fight our way through, find the kidnapees and eventually make it to the back room of the base, where we find the source of all the trouble in the region: A PULSE Abra. Sirius, Sigmund and ZEL are also in the room. Alas, before we can do anything, we get teleported away...

 

We awake in a deep and dark area deep inside Tanzan Mountain. The earthquakes that seem to plague this part of the region are getting more and more intense. Eventually, we find the source of them: A giant Steelix, enraged by all the waste being dumped by Team Meteor's operations. Needless to say, it assumes we're here to cause more trouble and we are forced to fight and defeat it. Our rescue partner proceeds to take full advantage of the Steelix, busting ourselves out right next to the entrance to the base while they move to attack from a different direction to free the kidnappees. While that is happening, we make our way to the room with the PULSE Abra where, after some silly shenanigans, both Sigmund and ZEL pretty much allow us to defeat the poor Psychic-type. Once the deed is done, Sirius arrives back in the room. More worryingly, we are told that the true leader of Team Meteor, Lin, is arriving as well. Somewhat panicking, he demands that we pretend that we are a member of Team Meteor, for both of our sakes.

 

A few moments later, a green-haired woman arrives. Lin. A woman of few words, she immediately demands a progress report, calling the cancellation of the project "incompetent." Then she inquires about us. Sirius lies about our part in the organization, something she picks up on after a whopping 0.1 seconds. Then the giant Steelix attacks the base itself and Lin decides to show just why she is so feared, striking the Steelix with one attack from her Hydreigon. Sirius, seeing an opportunity, demands that we get out and run from the base. We do so and make our way back to Tanzan Cove. Upon returning, we discuss the real possibility of our rescue partner for this operation potentially having died, but Anna demands that we don't consider such a possibility before reminding us of our and Noel's duel. This time, the battle goes through as planned and ends with us standing triumphant. We claim another badge. Afterwards, we head back inside and Noel wants to talk to us in private. He tells us that we should check out and discover the truth of what happened to the "pilot" of the Giant Steelix.

 

Part 8.

 

Spoiler

We head back into Tanzan Mountain and, eventually, are located by our rescue partner who proceeds to hand us both Anna's pendant and Heather's ring before ordering us to move forward while the children find their way to Calcenon. We move forward and, eventually, reach the Aventurine region. Through the forests and Tauros/Bouffalant/Miltank-filled plains we go, from a nature center all the way to Vanhanen Castle, the latter being our main objective. Before that, though, we get one more encounter with Fern. After defeating him yet again, we move on and, eventually, arrive in the castle and are immediately greeted by a maid, who's name is Luna. She leads us further inside before we get greeted by two more inhabitants of the castle: The Psychic leader Radomus and his special Gardevoir, known as Gossip Gardevoir, the latter of whom proceeds to rattle off everything we have done since we arrived - including our little escapade in the Orphanage. Right afterwards, another visitor arrives, and as both Luna and G.Gardevoir leaves, Radomus explains to us the deal with Luna, that she is not actually his daughter, but when life gets lonely, plus how enthusiastic she has been, he is not going to just reject him.

 

Luna returns with the guest: Cain, who has since found Heather and given her to the care of a man named...Blake. Yes, the same one as Solaris mentioned to Cal. He decided that he's been slacking off on challenging gyms and wants to start catching up. One brief battle later to determine who will be the first to challenge Radomus, and we come out victorious. Only...G.Gardevoir seems to have disappeared. Furthermore, there is a note left behind which basically reads: "Give back Luna or you will never see your Gardevoir again. -El"

Upon this, Cain and us immediately move to set off, but Radomus tries to stop us, using cryptic lines and seemingly does not want to go save his own Pokémon, casting suspicions upon him. Eventually he does concede to Luna's requests, though, and the three head off towards the Grand Gate, on the southwestern part of the Aventurine Region. We notice and follow Elias down a side tunnel and, eventually, down more caverns beneath the city, eventually leading to a grand structure, Citae Arc-d'Astrae. Along with that, we find an individual named Adrienn and what seems like G.Gardevoir. Except...she seems to resent Radomus, something Adrienn takes great offense to towards the leader, cleaiming that anyone who would cause their Pokémon to resent them like that does not deserve to be with Pokémon before stealing the Amethyst Pendant from us. They try to take the Ruby Ring, but we refuse, continuing the journey upwards. En route there, Adrienn starts to have doubts to the legitimacy of El's claims and decides to go with the main group to find out the truth.

 

Eventually the group makes it to the roof of the structure, in front of a grand door. A heated argument breaks out between everyone, questioning Radomus' loyalty to his Pokémon. Cain and us are forced to pick a side. However, the outcome ends up the same: Radomus reveals the truth, the Gardevoir in front of them is merely a fake. A Ditto. Then Elias reveals the truth of the place: Behind the very door they are standing, supposedly, the meteorite that Arceus originally arrived to our world lies enshrined, radiating power. The preacher then has his ditto use some of the power and transform into Arceus itself. An imitation, yes, but a powerful one nontheless. However, merely being an imitation, it is unable to withstand our onslaught and falls. At this point, Radomus springs a trap he had prepared: G.Gardevoir teleports in and uses Hypnosis on Elias, putting him to sleep. The large group then exit the caverns and something unusual happens: The Grand Gates open, for the first time in years. We all step through...and Adrienn is shocked. Why? Because, appearantly, xe was trapped in time for multiple years, even though, for xym, it only felt like mere hours. Upon seeing what happened to xys gym, xe resolved to fix the city, one stone at a time.

 

As xe moved to prepare for Reborn's grand reconstruction, the rest of us return to Vanhanen Castle where our showdown with the Grandmaster awaits. Elias is seemingly brainwashed to be a butler for Radomus, something that seems to cause Luna some stress. After some chess puzzles, we make it to the arena where Gransmaster Radomus engaed us in battle. The battle was rough, with chess pieces flying to and fro, but, in the end, only one of us got to claim checkmate on the other. With his defeat, we claim another badge, and got an offer to battle Luna, also a Gym Leader, right after...until the lights went dark and we start to walk out of the castle.

 

Part 9.

 

Spoiler

As we made our way outside, right before making it out, we got ambushed by Elias. Turns out his hypnosis was merely a fakery, and, our team still weak from battle, he is about to strike us down with help from some Meteor grunts...before Cain smashes through them and challenges Elias to battle while we escape outside. As it turns out, Elias is part of an elite, most likely the Elite Four.

 

We escape back into the Vanhanen Labyrinth which is now crawling with Meteor Grunts. However, with Radomus' help, we are able to escape and make it back to Reborn City where we are told to search for a place called "7'th Street". With some help from...less than legal groups, namely either the Aqua or Magma gangs, we are able to gain access to 7'th Street. Inside, we do some searching before we find Bennett, dressed in cultist robes. He, on Elias' orders, lets us into the Subseven Sanctum where we get an ambush sprung on us and are tossed into a cell. However, we are able to escape with help from another prisoner named Randall and his Klefki. After some stealth and some battles with cultists, we make it to the ritual room where Luna is chained down to an altar.

 

Elias is displeased with what happened but allows us to observe if we do nothing more, with Cain's life, whom was captured and now has a knife next to his neck from Bennett, on the line. The ritual commences, one that would "Bring Luna back to the light and purge her mind of the swine Radomus" (paraphrased). It did not come to fruition, though, as, again, Radomus and G.Gardevoir proceed to ruin Elias' plans. G.Gardevoir and Bennett share some...less than pleasant words among each other and Elias, seeing he's in a losing battle, rips the Emerald Brooch from Luna before our group is teleported out. G.Gardevoir and Radomus make themselves scarce while Luna hands up a Crystal Plug, to be used to reach her in Iolia Valley.

 

A lengthy journey begins, thorugh Vanhanen Labyrinth and through the caves of Iolia, with Bennett following us, demanding that we do not get in his way. Eventually we make it to Luna where Bennett barges in and tries to confess his love to her. Luna merely reacts with confusion and surprise before telling us to come...after dealing with Bennett. We do so and he leaves, swearing that one day, everyone will be sorry as he stands among the ranks of the Elite Four. Finally, we reach Luna where we engage her team in battle. The Dark Dreamer fights fiercely, but in the end, the darkness is not powerful enough. We claim yet another badge and set out towards the entrance to Agate City, where Cain is waiting.

 

Part 10.

 

Spoiler

We arrive at the entrance to Agate City where the guards seem to be asleep. With some help from Cain and his Nidoking, we are able to get past the checkpoint, though. Once in the city, we quickly notice something unusual: Aya and Hardy, asleep on the street. There really was something unusual about the place, something sleep-inducing and the two of us were about to fall asleep on the spot as well...

 

...at least, until Terra appeared.

 

Long story short, she launched Aya and Hardy off towards Agate Circus and Route 2 with her mallet because of the sleeping spell on Agate City, before we quickly arrived in Agate Circus ourselves. We find the Ringmaster who points us to the circus' strongman, Samson. He leads us into the backroom of the main circus tent where Aya is lying, recovering from getting hit by a giant mallet. Cain is brought in as well, and they have a...moment, to say the least. We are then sent off to search for Hardy in Route 2, for Aya's sake.

 

We eventually make it to the Fiore Mansion where Amaria lives with Titania, another gym leader. We tell them that we're here searching for Hardy and Titania leads us to a room where he is sleeping. Several Wake-Up Slaps later, he is back on his feet, though, and, not wanting to be with Titania (The two are siblings, by the way), leaves for the circus where Aya is waiting. As we make our way out, though, we hear a news report that there is basically open war in Calcenon and Labradorra Cities, the latter of which having been occupied by Team Meteor. Amaria wants to join the battle, but Titania will not let her. As it turns out, when she took that superpower attack, it did leave her wounded with cracked ribs. Anyway, we want to go help, but we need Surf, and Titania won't give us Surf until we have the necessary badge. She gives us a battle pass so we can claim it, though.

 

We make our way back to Agate Circus and find out that the signal that is putting everyone in Agate City to sleep is coming from Ametrine City. At least, that's what Terra claims. We then  challenge Samson. The battle was quite a spectacle to behold. In the end, we emerged victorious, claiming our badge and our right to Surf. With that, we head out towards Fiore Mansion while Hardy, Aya and Cain make their way towards Ametrine City.

 

Part 11.

 

Spoiler

We arrive back in Fiore Mansion. Amaria seems to have left for a walk while Titania is scribbling something. We show her our badge and she heads to the backroom to grab the Surf HM. Because we are protagonists, we, of course, cannot resist and take a look at twhat Titania was doing, which was writing a diary. Needless to say, we do not win any points with Titania that day, and things get even worse when Amaria shows up and learns of the diaries' contents, namely, how Titania seems to be living in a forced fantasy, being someone she is not, and how Titania does not truly love Amaria, at least in the romantic sense. Amaria is left heartbroken and, after a tragic moment, she jumps off the Celestinine Cascade, with Titania following behind her and demanding that we get the Waterfall HM to make sure we can rescue her and Amaria afterwards.

 

We proceed to surf into Ametrine Mountain and start ascending up it. Eventually we make our way to Cain, Hardy and Aya next to a giant block of solid ice, blocking passage to Ametrine City. Even Hardy's Gigalith is unable to so much as dent the ice. Eventually we give up and decide it's for the best if we got to Calcenon City first, to get some help there, if possible. We do so, but end up in the middle of a literal warzone, as Calcenon City is being besieged by a PULSE Clawitzer from afar. Saphira is doing her best to keep the shells from hitting the city itself, which is causing all sorts of collateral damage. The direct way, the stairs, are destroyed and the straight bridges are being broken, seperating Cain and Hardy from Aya and ourselves. The blasts are forcing us to take a roundabout way through the caves. Eventually we start encountering Meteor resistance and, in the end, we reach the LCCC where Aster and Eclipse, freshly promoted, are ready to defend the PULSE machines. After a tough battle, Aya and us manage to claim victory over Aster and Eclipse, the latter of whom proceeds to quit Team Meteor, even shutting off the PULSE Clawitzer while she is at it. However, before she is able to do much else, like divulging some critical information, Sirius arrives and uses his Chandelure to burn Eclipse's very soul to a crisp, basically killing her.

 

Then he turns to us, sending Chandelure at us. Aya pushes us out of the way, but gets captured by Sirius in the process. Aster, still dumbstruck, carries Eclipse's body off while we are left standing there. Eventually we start moving again and, eventually, make it to Calcenon City. Hardy is waiting for us at the entrance and, after we tell him what happened to Aya, he stormed off to the barrier that is keeping Calcenon and Labradorra cities seperated. Us, however, pay a visit to one of the houses where Anna, Noel, Shelly and Cain are in. We explain what happened, in particular the situation with Ametrine City and Heather, who is still there. Anna has an idea: Go under the block of ice, using Dive. However, that requires yet another badge, specifically, Charlotte's, Calcenon city's Gym Leader's. While here, we also find out that Fern has officially defected to Team Meteor and that Charlotte would rather that you not acquiesce to any Meteor demands, no matter what.

 

Finally, it is time for the battle with Charlotte. The fiery flames of fury fiercely flamed, but we are able to extinguish her flames, claiming yet another badge and the ability to use Dive. We then head out, back towards Ametrine Mountain.

 

Part 12.

 

Spoiler

We dive around Ametrine Mountain and find our way inside the giant block of ice that is keeping Ametrine City isolated. The cause of it is a PULSE Avalugg, clearly in agony. We put it down, destroying the ice block and clearing the way to Ametrine City. Some more ascending later, we, alongside Shelly, reach the mountainous city. In it, we find that there is a mysterious "Guardian Angel" who was distributing food to everyone during this time of crisis. Everyone has agreed not to tell the mystery individual's identity, though. While exploring, we find an old run-down building with a diary inside. Feeling...kind of awkward, we turn around as Shelly starts reading from it. Turns out the building is where Eve and Lumi lived before being fused into ZEL.

 

At this point, a blue-haired and blue-dressed man enters the house and asks what are we doing here. We tell hin that we are here searching for Heather who simply says that he never heard of him. Then we ask of his identity, and he claims it's "Nunya B. Snes" before telling us to leave. A little more searching, however, and we discover that said guy's name is actually Blake, the same one who is supposedly looking over Heather. Once confronted, he admits to being part of Team Meteor before giving us a deal: Heather's Ruby Ring for a clue as to her location and the Waterfall HM. Regardless of how the deal goes, he gets the ring and we need to start searching the apartment for a secret passage which we find and, eventually, find Heather. Then it came time to attack Blake and reclaim the Ruby Ring.

 

At this point or a little earlier, Cal makes a reappearance, except slightly different. Namely, his hair is now blue AKA his natural color, and he now wants to redeem himself for his involvement with Team Meteor. He has a desire to stop Blake as well, and we begin the assault on Ametrine Mountain, all while Meteor Aces fly in to try and impede our progress. In the end, it is all for naught for Meteor, as we catch up to, and defeat, Blake. He tries to get away, but Cal and Heather double-team him and reclaim the Ruby Ring. Then Cal informs us that, chances are, we got duped with the whole Ametrine deal. Then we mention that it was Terra who told us that this is where the signal came, and he identifies Terra as a member of Team Meteor.

 

We return to Agate Circus with this information and tell Samson and Ciel. While, at first, we are told off for it, eventually Terra confirms the information herself before...escaping into the computer. Seriously. A bit of a chase through the inside of the computer ensues and, in the end, we corner Terra. After a battle with her, we defeat her and claim another badge as well as the ability to use WaterRAWRfall outside of battle. She then tries to escape but Samson moves in and unplugs the computer. What that did to Terra, no one knows yet. After that, it was off to Celestinine Cascade, as we have a waterfall to descend.

 

Part 13.

 

Spoiler

Upon descending the Celestinine Cascade, we immediately run into Titania who has been waiting down here for...some time. She demonstrates that she handled the first group of Meteor Grunts...reasonably (read: Butchered them with Aegislash). Almost coincidentally, once we arrive, a new commanding officer arrives who lets us into the Waste Treatment Plant. Turns out the new CO is Taka whose actions, while they look to be hindrances, in fact help us make progress. Titania notices this and calls Taka out on it, who reveals that he is the last descendant of a line that has enshrined the Meteor of Arceus and are the protectors of it. However, Taka does not want to do anything with it, but feels forced into it by blood. Titania tells him that that's nonsense and pretty much demands him to quit. En route to the main control room, we have to defeat a PULSE Swalot which is preventing the treatment plant from operating. Eventually Titania and us make it to where Amaria is held. Turns out Taka made sure her injuries were treated (By those who Titania had slain), and then proceeds to give up the Sapphire Bracelets before casually informing us that Team Meteor is arriving via helicopter to reclaim the bracelets. He then begs us to defeat him in battle, something we can choose to either comply with or refuse, the latter being Titania's option.

 

As we approach the exit to the Treatment Plant, Shade suddenly appears and gives us some cryptic words before disappearing. We make our way back up and head towards Fiore Mansion, but en route there, we are caught and intercepted by a pair of old friends, Julia and Florinia. We inform them of what happen and they give us the HM for Fly. They also tell us that Reborn City has...well, truly been reborn with Adrienn's help. Then we notice helicopters approaching Fiore Mansion. The three of us run inside and inform Titania about what is about to happen and take up defensive positions and are given an ultimatum: We either give them the Sapphire Bracelets and are left in peace, or they take the bracelets by force. Needless to say, we tell Team Meteor to get bent. And thus, the siege begins. First a pair of grunts, then Blake and Fern join the battle before Solaris and Orderly John themselves enter the fray. And yet not one of them are able to break our line.

 

Thus, Solaris has to resort to...extreme measures and orders Sirius to release Chandelure. By this point, Titania is sick of waiting and notices what is happening and, before it could go that far, has her Excadrill fissure up the giant pool of water behind us, flooding the lower half of Fiore Mansion. Team Meteor has been defeated and are forced to retreat. Then Amaria wakes up...and shows that she has Amnesia. Specifically, she has forgotten everything ever since the debacle in Obsidia Ward. Titania, who had hoped that she would be free of the life he was forced to live, is not thrust straight back into it, which devastated her. She takes the Sapphire Bracelets and flies off into Tourmaline Desert.

 

As for us, we return to Agate Circus and challenge Ciel for the right to be able to use the Fly HM. After a...brief debacle (We did not actually have her Battle Pass, so Ciel slipped one into our pockets), the show was on, with us triumphing in the end, even in the face of a Mega Altaria. With that, we claimed yet another badge and claimed the right to fly back to Reborn, finally free of the Agate City border.

 

Please forgive me if this is not a good recap or if I missed some important things. I am mostly going off of memory, so I might have missed some things. This might be a little long for a recap, but I wanted to get everything I can without it being completely dry and boring. This is the first time I had to write a recap of any sort, so please bear with me.

 

Edited January 14, 2017 by Anstane
Fixed some details that were pointed out by Ama.

[ZEL]

Read through it, and I think you did a great job! This is gonna be super helpful to link back to when people have plot questions, or when they get stuck somewhere forgetting what happened and where they were told to go next.
Have my upvote~

 

If there's some small suggestions I could make, maybe:
 

Spoiler

 

- " Inside, Solaris, the leader of Team Meteor, was waiting, alongside ZEL. After an attempt to kill us outright via Garchomp failed, ZEL tried to fight us off, but ultimately failed, the PULSE being destroyed." <- At this point we don't know yet that Garchomp belongs to Solaris, so the phrasing makes it sound a bit like ZEL are the ones who try to kill you with 'chompy. Could benefit from a slight rephrasing^^

- " Cain is also imprisoned there, and Taka tries to do the same, to no success." <- tries to do the same as what? There's nothing in the text that this leads to, so it sounds like Taka is trying to get imprisoned as well.

- At the part where Victoria gives us the Strength TMX, it could be useful to mention that she explains we won't get Kiki's badge. You briefly mentioned "we don't get either, for now" after the Kiki battle, so it'd make sense to note that we end up only getting Strength, not a badge.

 

- " ascend upwards" <- in the Yureyu text. Just something small, but ascending already implies you're going upwards^^

 

- Maybe you could expand the Yureyu text a bit to explain the part about Anna's pendant being taken before mentioning her falling ill? It'd be useful to bring up that Sirius/Sigmund battles are a choice between one or the other. It's also missing mention that we team up with Cain for all this.

 

- In the Spinel town text, maybe mention that Luna isn't really adopted and that Serra tells you she just showed up one day? I'd replace the part about learning that she had an adopted daughter completely with an explanation on the actual situation (Luna showed up, claimed Serra was her mom, started living there).

 

- At Tanzan base, during the part where we get tepelorted away, maybe mention real quick who is in the room with us? You later mention Sirius "arriving back", so maybe just bring up real quick that we encounter Sirius, Sigmund and ZEL struggling to control the Abra?

 

- " pretty much allow us to defeat the poor Psychic-type" <- "pretty much allow" is a cute way to say that Zero is yelling at us to stop the thing :'D

 

- at the Citae part you flip-flop between the pronouns for Adrienn a bit, alternating between they and xe. (I also believe it's "xyr gym" but I admittedly am rusty with this specific set)

 

- in part 11 at the diary scene you're kind of leaving out the really important part of Tania's lie: she doesn't actually love Amy (well, romantically, at least).

 

- part 12: " blue-mohawked man" <- I don't think Blake actually has a mohawk? Not in either of his sprites, at least.

 

- " At this point or a little earlier, Cal makes a reappearance, except slightly different. Namely, his hair is now blue, rather then red " <- this information seems rather random if you don't follow it up explaining that Cal uses the opportunity to tell us he's going to try and redeem himself. If you don't want to mention that, it'd be better to just say that a blue-haired man walks up to us, and turns out to be Cal, now with his natural hair.

 

- part 13: "descending down" <- just like with ascending, there's only one way to go here
 

- " Taka who's actions" *whose

 

- " However, Taka does not want to do with it " <- seems there's an "anything" missing after want?

 

 

...That's all I noticed for now. Honestly, you did well. I can't think of anything that's outright missing. 

Edited January 13, 2017 by ZEL

[OraCLesofFire]

thankkkk yooooooo

[Anstane]

Thank you, Ama, for the observations. Most of the plot-related ones are mostly me just overlooking them. The deal in Voclain Manor, I admit, I simply forgot because it's just forgettable.

 

The deal with Adrienn's pronouns, I...did not see any parts where I might have been flip-flopping. The only one where there might be confusion is where Adrienn and Ditto!Gardevoir steal the Amethyst Pendant. There, I used "They" explicitly to refer to both of them and not just Adrienn.

 

Titania's Diary...the last 2 times I literally just mashed the Z button to skip it as fast as possible, so I did not remember specific details. I did fix it, though.

 

Cal...I said it the way I did because...I have no excuses except that I never said "Yes" to Blake, so I don't know exactly how things go if you agree to Blake's deal.

 

Overall, I'm glad to hear that this should be helpful.

[ZEL]

8 hours ago, Anstane said:

The deal with Adrienn's pronouns, I...did not see any parts where I might have been flip-flopping. The only one where there might be confusion is where Adrienn and Ditto!Gardevoir steal the Amethyst Pendant. There, I used "They" explicitly to refer to both of them and not just Adrienn.

Ah, then I'm the one who misread it, whoops. I thought "they" referred solely to Adrienn in this. Apologies!

 

8 hours ago, Anstane said:

Cal...I said it the way I did because...I have no excuses except that I never said "Yes" to Blake, so I don't know exactly how things go if you agree to Blake's deal.

I'm a bit unsure how you mean this. I mostly just pointed the Cal thing out because I feel like informing us of the fact that he has blue hair now is only relevant if you actually explain why that's the case. Cal tells the player and Shelly why he decided to stop using red dye, but unless you'd want to elaborate on this, there's not really a reason to bring it up - we'd just need to know that Cal makes an appearance.
I'm confused what it would have to do with the choice to say yes to Blake. I've never actually said "yes" to him, either, so there should be no correlation here^^

[Anstane]

1 minute ago, ZEL said:

I'm a bit unsure how you mean this. I mostly just pointed the Cal thing out because I feel like informing us of the fact that he has blue hair now is only relevant if you actually explain why that's the case. Cal tells the player and Shelly why he decided to stop using red dye, but unless you'd want to elaborate on this, there's not really a reason to bring it up - we'd just need to know that Cal makes an appearance.

I'm confused what it would have to do with the choice to say yes to Blake. I've never actually said "yes" to him, either, so there should be no correlation here^^

 

Was referring to the "At this point or a little earlier" part, as I don't know exactly when Cal shows up if you do agree to Blake's deal. And yeah, maybe I could have explained that part a little better overall. I hope it's better now, though.

[ZEL]

Ahh, I see^^

IIRC Cal appears after Blake escapes from his room. You and Shelly leave the apartment complex, then Cal turns up, gives his dialogue, and suggests you go back to the room and search it for clues (which then lets you find the hidden passage). Or at least that's what my memory tells me about it, so I hope it's not wrong, haha.

 

Sounds fine to me now, though! Hope you didn't mind the nitpick, I do think you did a great job~

 

Edit:

Spoiler

Snagged this screenshot from DerogatoryTrainer's Nuzlocke topic real quick.

Edited January 14, 2017 by ZEL

[LordWallace]

This is a pretty good recap but I do think it's a bit long and contains a lot to take in. 

This is pretty much down to every detail of each event and sequence in the game and I feel like most people who are confused about the plot of the game after a long wait for each episode really don't need most of that but rather just need to be reminded about stuff concerning the big concepts.

What is Team Meteor trying to accomplish? How does it tie in with the downfall of Reborn? Why are they after the 4 keys? Who even has them right now? What exactly is under Reborn city? What roles do Sigmund and El have to play in all of this? Explaining character relationships (Laura, Charlotte, and Saphira being sisters, Titania and Amaria being former lovers, Florinia and Titania, Blake and Cal, the mystery of Lin, etc.).

I mean to most active forum members this all sounds fairly basic and obvious but it's a lot to remember for the average player and with even a few of the basic pieces missing it's easy to get confused and frustrated with the plot so far in.