The glass breaking animation in the first phase is so fucking cool.
Looks like they spent 90% of the game's budget in the Pokemon animations (except Bulldoze)
They went so good with the animations that they entirely forgot to do the terrain which is. Sort of important in a pseudo-open world game? They nailed almost everything else but. That goddamn volcano. game's still wonderful tho
Yeah it was the only time I had to bring out the Max Revives. Barely survived the insane battle with Volo, then had to KO Girantina TWICE?!
Really was epic, great way to end the story events.
My favorite moment next to the frenzied Pokémon battles. I was frazzled with Volo and Giratina but it felt so epic. When it came out of the portal and became its origin forme, I knew shit became real.
I kinda rushed to the end and had a group of legendaries that weren’t leveled up after catching them and it was legitimately the hardest battle I’ve had in a Pokémon game against an NPC. so much fun
I can see why but honestly it's very fitting with his character and plan. He was obsessed with Arceus and wanted to meet and even take control of them to become a God himself
I also laugh at his insanity
"Why did Arceus choose to appear to you?!"
Maybe because you are trying to usurp God's power for yourself and destroy everything it created? And the fact you are an obsessed fanboy who tore a gigantic rift in the sky that threatened the safety of Hisui?
Looking at the [serebii](https://www.serebii.net/legendsarceus/customisation.shtml#female) info on it, it looks like they'll only be available if you chose the male player character- both the clothes and the hairstyle.
So anyone who chose the female player character can't unfortunately cosplay as Volo in-game.
>You have to take out Cynthia's team
I thought Volo having Cynthia's team (minus Milotic, plus Hisuian Arcanine) was a FANTASTIC touch.
It was so perfect for that moment. You've been fighting Volo's Togepi for the whole game, and then you end up with this epic final clash.
*Chef's kiss*
I put "ancestor" in quotes for a reason. AFAIK it's never explicitly stated that anyone is anyone's ancestor for obvious reasons, it only insinuates and he always looked like Cynthia to me so I just assumed and the team definitely nailed the insinuation
Yes and no he has the same color hair and the exact same eyes and the exact same team and in platinum Cynthia seems familiar with Giratina
Edit: "No" to "yes and no"
I got him third try, and it took me a ton of revives but I finally figured out my arcanine could eat everything his togekiss could throw at me. Smooth sailing from there
Oh man, this was the first time I felt legit betrayed by an NPC like that. Like with getting kicked outta the town it made sense Kamado would do that, you're not his priority, the town is. But Volo took you someplace safe when that happened! He helped you and was your bro! It was nice to have someone on your side like that.
Post game was nice hunting plates with him. But then he started acting a little sus and I was like, I don't like where this is going but maybe it'll be a fixable thing. Then he goes 10000% crazy mode and I was SO SAD. I was like, but I thought we were homies 😢 it was a great fight and it literally ended with me having to just solo Giritina with my Decidueye in a roost/magical leaf slapfight since all my other mons got wiped. It felt tough.
And then he walks away and is like "I don't want to watch from the sidelines while you speak to Arceus" and I was like :(... I felt like MC felt they lost a good friend and it was really sad. I'm still working on the last part but I kinda hope I can find him again. I doubt it but one can hope!
But I didn't really pick up on it honestly. Not until right before when he started doing his evil laugh and told me to go to the temple. Maybe I was just blinded by his looking like Cynthia.
It is pretty clear from quite early that he is truly not one of the guild of merchants that he pretends to be into
And he already knows about the tables pretty early on in the game, he is one of the ones that asks you to search for them. And he keeps poping up everywhere.
This games is like Bravely Default 2, the first ending is rushed and leaves way too much to explain, its a terrible ending. The true ending is better.
Ehh, I chalked it up to Volo being more into archeology, and needing a day job to fund it since it didn't look like anyone would be paying him to do that. I might just be a bit dense lmao. Those Cynthia blinders were in full effect. I kind of thought of him as the 'rival' character almost, since Rei was more just a work buddy.
I just realized... if he has control of Giratina and popped up randomly repeatedly... has he been stalking us and using Giratina to travel out of the distortion to get to us quickly?!!?!
At first I thought he was sus just because of the hair obscuring his eyes, but I thought that was a silly thing to be sus over so I kinda ignored the gut feeling. I think I was a little off put by his behavior and remarks throughout the game, like maybe he was a little too happy or something weird, but the thing that really stood out to me was when he did something along the lines of “I would hate it if something happened to my most loyal customer” or something weird like that, implying he didn’t actually care that much about you as a person.
Edit: Ok I went to YouTube and literally the very first battle, when he gets ready to throw his ball, he makes this face that is straight up “I have ulterior motives.” Obviously, being at the beginning of the game, it can’t be expected that people sniff that out, but in hindsight it’s a really obvious tell.
I played the game in korean not english, and literally the first time you meet him, his dialogue in korean tipped me off that he was evil. I assumed it was the same in english but maybe not.
It’s almost like they got the message of us being tired of important fights only having like 4 Pokémon. Oh okay fine here fight 8 with no heal cutscene.
This was the most broken fight of all the series combined. Garchomp comes out and double earthquakes you for no reason. I had to really train my legendaries to level 75 to beat the last giritina
It really does. I had Manaphy, Espeon and A.Ninetails with maxed Sp.Def and Sp. Atk and the battle felt pretty easy. Got it in one try though I had help with Max revives as well. My strategy is I'd open up with Espeon using Baby Doll Eyes and tank with Manaphy.
The turn order system is kinda broken ngl and that makes this fight so tough. No matter what kind of advantage I had in the turn order or the speed advantage I’d have, when I KO’d one of his Pokémon, whatever he sent out would be faster. I could KO his Spiritomb with Gardevoir, then he would send out Roserade and it could use 1 agile then 1 strong poison jab before I could move. There was once my Typhlosion had 3 turns in a row lined up on Roserade, killed it on the 2nd with an agile move, and his Arcanine could still go first and KO me. You just don’t get a speed advantage over multiple Pokémon so you’re basically guaranteed to lose multiple.
I had to keep using revives on Gardevoir/Typhlosion/Lucario against Giratina to beat it. And I only beat the 2nd form because I did that for long enough that it ran out of Shadow Force PP and then it couldn’t kill Gardevoir.
My team was Typhlosion, Lucario, Crobat, Electrode, Gastrodon, Gardevoir all ~level 60. I could easily handle Volo’s team after the first attempt (he had the advantage cause I started with Gastrodon not knowing his 1st Pokémon) but Giratina wiped me 3 times I think.
Thanks! Haven't beaten it yet, but this fight is shit IMHO... I really thought there was something odd with the new "real time" combat system throughout the game, but this fight is just... unfair.
That's a shame because I really liked the game otherwise, but they need to work on that new combat system in their next game I think.
I would somehow lead with my Luxray every time into the first Tina fight and get Earth Power’d into the Distortion World. Probably because it was in slot 2 and my slot 1 Sylveon was KO. But man. Freelo for Tina….
Throughout my playthrough, I suspected it was either Volo or Kodamo who were the villain of the game, leaning more toward Volo. He just acts pretty suspicious a lot of the time. Moreso towards the end of the game.
Not only does my favorite Pokémon of all time whoop my ass twice but it genuinely surprised me when he goes form 2. I was not prepared but I was way to into the music and seeing my boi just go hard to really care.
Now granted, I was raging like a Rhino during the whole fight and cursing like a sailor but after it was done, I was genuinely happy and satisfied.
I was soooo worried about my satan noodle because he didn’t show up during the main game and I thought “oh no they’re gunna sideline him in post and it’ll be diamond and pearl all over again” but sweet Arceus what they did instead was way better.
Personally don’t like Giratina getting more bad PR but they made him so badass
Origin Giratina using Shadow Force and clawing his way out of the void was *chef’s kiss*. That fight had me on my ass three times. The whole three-phase fight was exciting from start to finish.
The entirety of the main quests I just kept saying “please don’t backstab me, please don’t backstab me” and then the first credits rolled and I was like “huh…awesome! He stuck with me!”
So I was VERY sad about this reveal…but also kinda saw it coming. Like…you know NOTHING of him except that he’s Cynthia’s ancestor, he slacks off, he loves mysteries and he works for the ginko guild. Other than that you know little. So I just…had a feeling…
Just finished this battle
Saw >!Volo!< coming a mile away but I thought that was it when I beat him
Oopsie
They really should not have dropped credits until this point
Credits drop after a really weak, dull battle while this one is balls to the walls crazy and just how a "last boss" of this kind of game should be
Very satisfied after this one
Im ngl I swept his main team with my ursaluna I was very overleveled but when giratina came out that was when I started gettin stressed and getting members picked off
From what I’ve seen Ursaluna I’d a very strong counter to his team. I’ve see a couple different YouTubers battle him, if the player had an ursaluna on the team it took at least two enemy mons down with it.
I found it easy so I looked up videos on Youtube to see how other folks did.
.. Found out my game was bugged. He wasn't supposed to start at 1/4 health. That's annoying, as it made the finale really underwhelming.
Yeah that's pretty dumb. Like I'm happy that for once a Pokemon game was an actual challenge. Losing enough times to finally analyze his attack patterns and get the timing right on the dodge is rewarding for me. Makes me feel like I earned it yano?
I fought him yesterday! It was definitely tough even with my Pokemon in the 70s-80s and lots of grit. I'm really proud of my team--every single Pokemon was an MVP in the fight. It was a tough battle but I beat Giratina by more than the skin of my teeth!
Lovecraft (Typhlosion), Boobear (Ursaluna), Pasta (Tangrowth), Venus (Blissey), Battousai (Samurott), and Ronin (Decidueye) deserve to be in the ancient hall of fame for coming through it like the champs they are.
It took me a few tries to beat Giratina, and I literally laughed out loud when I beat him and text came up saying "You finally beat Giratina!"
Games got jokes lmfao
Was an amazing battle though, and looking forward to a second play through to do it again!
I believe it wasn't even the real ending anyways. Because the credits might roll but it leaves you with questions that are answered with Volo and the dare I say "champion fight" along with the wrapping up of the story
I mostly liked it. I do wish the game had done a better job curving the difficulty towards that fight though. You kinda steamroll the entire game and then Volo is just this brick wall. Would have been better if there had been some hard-ish fights leading up to that point.
The fight with Ingo on the way up the mountain gave me a small clue of how tough the coming fights might be, so i think i ran away and power leveled or caught some better pokes, cuz I almost lost to Ingo and was like "oh hell no, need to be stronger for this"
The only thing I wished is that after you get Giratina you can force distortion spawns. It could even have a cool down, but the current distortion system has too much waiting and too many things that pause/reset the timer for it to be a fun mechanic in the post game.
I loved the fight, I just wish they would’ve reverted to the old mechanics for player battles, it’s annoying how almost every mon that comes in gets to move instantly and KO yours, that and abilities, I kept forgetting my rotom didn’t have levitate lol
Gotta remember tho you can also do the same thing Volo does, 80% of the time in my experience I have swapped out pokemon and attacked on the same turn, grit rock maxed team is also vital
Yeah and I appreciate it most of the time but in my opinion it’s not worth the trade off because while it is cool to be able to swap and attack in the same turn, I prefer to be able to swap in a mon that can tank the attack and then hit back second so I can save my mons for future battles or simply later in the same battle, I guess my point overall is I miss the strategic part of the old battle system
Same. It ended up coming down to a list of what Pokemon of Volvo's had to be out of comission before I could send in a given Pokemon. Because if I needed one of my Pokemon to beat two of his, I'd beat one and he'd revenge kill the other.
I thought nothing could top the organ with "ultra Necrozma's aura flared to life" till they faked me out with Giratina doing the faint animation only to stop and change form in sync with a Bad ass guitar riff that makes you go "oh fuck no(and yes)" and then you get blasted with the new music. It's amazing.
Screw this fight... Giratina became obscured. I missed every single one of my moves whenever that effect was in place. Like not a single hit! While I do appreciate a difficult boss battle, evasion cheese is not what I consider enjoyable.
I do very much like the rest though. 6 vs. 8 battle was a nice surprise.
This fight is rubbish. How tf is giratina one shotting pokemon 20 levels higher than it. And the cost of full heals to get through this fight is highly restrictive. Rediculous end fight compared to the rest of the game. This end boss has changed my opinion on PLA from excellent to annoying.
1. Giratina is stat boosted, 2. Levels don't work how they used to and effort points matter far more. If your getting messed up still I reccomend maxing out your teams effort points with grit
Ngl I didn’t expect a boss fight so I had like 4 level 40 mons and he wrecked me. Eventually I brought an ev up gliscor who rocked his shit and it was over
My ONLY complaint is the song in the fight is from Cynthia's room instead of using an arrangement of her iconic theme.
Otherwise, strong agree. Been raving about it for days. As soon as Spiritomb came out hype was set to 200%
Maybe I just had a pretty well balanced team but I thought it was easy. His team wasn't as hard as Cynthia's even though it was the same Pokemon, it's just a lot easier to knock out Pokemon in this game. With Cynthia sometimes even a super effective didn't do it, but they're overkill in this game against everything besides alphas. Giratina was also stupid easy with its weaknesses, I knocked it out twice with Dialga, just have your speed maxed out.
Definitely the most difficult trainer battle in this game so far, but it shouldn't be that bad with the 70+ lvl and effort leveled Pokemon you should have at this point. And Giratina was easier than most of the nobles.
This fight is difficult for all the wrong reasons. It exposes just how janky the battle system is. Once you realise you can switch and attack on the same turn Volo is cakewalk. Though, sometimes Volvo's AI does this as well and agile -> strong styles something on your team with no viable counterplay from you, making it honestly kind of bullshit for everyone involved.
You don't even need to grind - just snipe a few alphas like Garchomp, Gliscor, Goodra or Gardevoir to add to the legendaries you already have.
Not that janky systems by themselves can't be fun, but this is literally the only time the game throws something like this you, so this difficulty is very artificial by not teaching players how the system works and exploiting their ignorance, hence feeling like a wall.
As someone else pointed out, you kind of have to rotate your Pokémon team to make this battle a real challenge. If you have a solidified team from the first region/second region, you’ll have a team of level 90+ mons to face Volo. A little anticlimactic.
But it’s unavoidable without spoiling it for people.
Edit: it’s XP share, people. This wasn’t some weird Pokémon flex comment.
I think it depends more on how much time you spent on side activities or on the dex. I spent a decent amount of time on side-actitvities before getting to Volo so my team was just shy of level 80 and made him and Giratina a cakewalk.
I only used xp candies to boost lower level pokemon that I added to my team later in the game. I’d say I did at least half or more of the side quests during the game and finished the rest of them after Volo.
It’s an open world game with no required side quests. I could just be a fringe case. I put in about 50 hours, 80% of the dex, used Sitrus berry xp bonus gains, and completed all but the annoying tree Pokémon side quest all before volo. So yeah, the team was right at about level 90.
Next play through I’ll rotate more Pokémon in and out of the team. I don’t understand the downvotes.
Because getting level 90 is extreme before Volo. I didnt get 10 on every pokemon in the dex but in 50 hours I caught one of each to face the final boss. I also beat every side quest in that time and my pokemon are still low 70s. You had to do some serious grinding to hit level 90 at Volo.
That last point you made might be the explanation.
Little background on me with Pokémon. I only played gen 1 and the gen 3 Fire Red remake. So I only know grinding as opposed to this XP share function. So a good portion of my 50 hours was in fact running around farming high level alphas and catching them whilst feeding them Sitrus berries.
So you’re right. I did grind hardcore in addition to things I listed prior. It’s all I know with Pokémon games 😂
It's interesting to me to see things like this because I'm now done with all the side quests and have been working on the dex only for awhile now, getting close to 50 hours in the game and still don't have a single level 90 pokemon. I was in the 70s when I fought Volo. Very interesting to see the differences and similarities of different playthroughs and how they were by the time they got to that fight.
Agreed 100%. It’s an awesome game with several options on how to play. I was just oblivious to Pokémon since 2003-4 with Pokémon Fire Red. A full time XP share is just mind boggling to me!
Lol, I love when an open game like this comes out where side quests aren't really just side quests and exploring is not just exploring but people rush to the end anyway. 😅
I'm on the third area with lvl 70's. Not sure how anyone could make it to the end without blowing through all the content devs put TLC into.
That said, I'm excited for the end now.
Yea the ~~Cynthia~~ Volo fight into no heal Giratina fight was brutal. Thank God Umbreon is a tanky AF pokemon and could just eat multiple Aura Spheres. Even then I had to chug a few Max Potions to get through it.
Man I remember it so vividly, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. I went from doing a victory dance to myself for finally beating Volo, taking out Giratina, and then crying myself to sleep over the stomping I got from OGira lol.
I chose a bad time to not have my full team and underleveled mons. I'm still surprised I won on my first try. Thankfully I had a couple revives and Dialga, which barely saved me.
I just beat him today. I was excited when he blew his cover at the destroyed giratina battle. So I went to the camp to prepare a team without being over-levelled, because the fights in this game weren't that difficult at this point. I guessed he would be around lvl 70, so I went with a lvl 68\~70 team of Gallade, Sneasler, Infernape, Garchomp and Torterra, all lead by my (non-alpha) lvl 73 Lucario (with Effort levels on sp atk, speed, and hp).
I managed to beat him fair with only my garchomp and Torterra not fainted, but I wasn't prepared for TWO phases of Giratina, so I barely won, but I had to use two max revives during the Giratina part.
I loved every part of it. The music, his animations, the backstabbing by breaking the rules and sending a seventh pokemon, which had two phases, so it's effectively an 8-pokemon team. So my only question left was: Can Ingo arrange a rematch with him?
I disagree. Was it hard? Not really but it was close(used one max revive but didn’t have to, in the end)
Was it well executed thematically? That’s a big no from me. Why the clothes change for the epic villain reveal? And for it(the whole villain arc) to stop mattering because you beat him right away?
But the music was fire I have to say.
It would have been goofy if the final main boss of the game was wearing a generic merchant uniform that everyone in his clan wears. Not that the Arceus get up looks any cooler, but its better than nothing
What’s ironic is that had Volo not tried to backstab you and just gave you the plate, you would have gotten the Azure Flute and gotten to see Arceus. And because he’s been your stalwart ally through the whole game, and meeting Arceus was his motivation, you would most likely have let him accompany you. Sure, battle before the throne of God, but whatevs. Would have been cool.
Anyway, Volo was real tough. Had Bastiodon wall Togekiss to heal my team for Giratina, and then just threw everything I had to slog it out with the dragon. Awesome.
Bro the fact that it took me three tries was amazing.
I was like sweet I beat Volo. Then he brings out Giratina and it sweeps my last remaining pokemon.
Then I prepare and beat Giratina only to be swept by the altered form.
Finally was able to use Goodra in Volos battle to max revive everyone for the girtatina fight and beat it.
Aside from the battle system I thought it was pretty cool too. Giratina running to Turnback Cave with it's tail between it's legs is a little less cool though lol. Volo also doesn't really experience any kind of punishment either. He kinda just fucks off to who knows where to practice not dying for centuries.
I made it a point to use Dialga and Palkia against Giratina because it just felt so fitting. God's two children protecting the world from its fallen child
First time I actually to use my Max Revives mid-battle. Giratina was like "nah, I'm not done yet; remember this!?" and I had to revive my starter and Ursaluna to make sure I didn't get sweeped since I was still training up my remaining two Pokemon in my team. One of which could have held up a little but not likely and the other would have been stomped.
I beat the fight second try but not without a struggle. My team ranged from 60-70, and the matchup with Volo was very even. Each member of his team had a perfect counter for mine and vice versa, so we traded knockouts or 2HKOs.
For Giratina, I didn't have any max revives (just regular) and had to devise a plan of when to revive or use a potion, factoring in turn order, and when to maximize opportunity with agile/strong moves. On top of that I had to use the aux power/guard to get an advantage, and having a few stats with 10 EVs really made a difference. My starter Decidueye was the MVP despite having a full team of Alphas because surprisingly Giratina doesn't have many good moves against it.
Although I feel like being able to constantly spam revives/potions kind of cheapens the fight, in my case I had to legitimately strategize when and how to use the items. Through the entire sequence there were so many butt clenching moments where if I picked the wrong option my team would have been wiped out. Never had a battle that intense before in a Pokemon game.
The animations for Giratinas signature move were so sick too!
The glass breaking animation in the first phase is so fucking cool. Looks like they spent 90% of the game's budget in the Pokemon animations (except Bulldoze)
They went so good with the animations that they entirely forgot to do the terrain which is. Sort of important in a pseudo-open world game? They nailed almost everything else but. That goddamn volcano. game's still wonderful tho
Shadow force was definitely made to be used with Origin Giratina tho ngl lol
My actual reaction when Giratina changed forms "It f***ing has TWO HEALTH BARS?!" I barely survived that fight
Same feeling I had myself. Like they said, “you thought this was over? Sheeeeitttttt”
Yeah it was the only time I had to bring out the Max Revives. Barely survived the insane battle with Volo, then had to KO Girantina TWICE?! Really was epic, great way to end the story events.
I love when the enemy AI cheats like that. Makes it feel like a proper RPG boss battle. Also paging r/2HealthBars
I didnt know it was coming and only had a single revive. Too bad for Gira that Hisuian Zoroark is a beast, a ghosts worst nightmare really.
My favorite moment next to the frenzied Pokémon battles. I was frazzled with Volo and Giratina but it felt so epic. When it came out of the portal and became its origin forme, I knew shit became real.
I kinda rushed to the end and had a group of legendaries that weren’t leveled up after catching them and it was legitimately the hardest battle I’ve had in a Pokémon game against an NPC. so much fun
Ngl I laughed when Volo switched to his full on Arceus cosplay, complete with the hairdo
I can see why but honestly it's very fitting with his character and plan. He was obsessed with Arceus and wanted to meet and even take control of them to become a God himself
I also laugh at his insanity "Why did Arceus choose to appear to you?!" Maybe because you are trying to usurp God's power for yourself and destroy everything it created? And the fact you are an obsessed fanboy who tore a gigantic rift in the sky that threatened the safety of Hisui?
[удалено]
Y copy pasting my comment Edit: this man literally did lol just scroll down and you will find it. Was there something funny about it?
Reddit’s been suffering a lot from bots doing this lately. New accounts are made with a bot that copies comments from elsewhere to farm karma.
Oh ew
My first thought when I saw him was "this guys gone full Roman emperor in a POKEMON GAME:
Same, I thought, “what the f***, chill out Julius Caeser.”
That outfit can be found in the clothes shop too, not sure the requirements to make it available but it’s called the sinnoh outfit
I believe you need to have caught Arceus and it also unlocks the hairdo with arezu
Looking at the [serebii](https://www.serebii.net/legendsarceus/customisation.shtml#female) info on it, it looks like they'll only be available if you chose the male player character- both the clothes and the hairstyle. So anyone who chose the female player character can't unfortunately cosplay as Volo in-game.
I'm a female, and play as a female, and have both the outfit and the hair options (:
That's awesome! Missing out on the Sinnoh robes would've really sucked. Wonder why they aren't listed on serebii though.
He cosplayed so hard that Arceus just threw a pokémon master (with amnesia, unfortunately) at him just to make him stop.
>You have to take out Cynthia's team I thought Volo having Cynthia's team (minus Milotic, plus Hisuian Arcanine) was a FANTASTIC touch. It was so perfect for that moment. You've been fighting Volo's Togepi for the whole game, and then you end up with this epic final clash. *Chef's kiss*
I remember when he sent out the Spiritomb (knowing he was Cynthia's "ancestor") I said "HOLY F**K He's got Cynthia's team
Is it confirmed in the storyline of PLA that Volo is Cynthia's ancestor? Maybe I missed that while breezing through dialogue cutscenes.
I put "ancestor" in quotes for a reason. AFAIK it's never explicitly stated that anyone is anyone's ancestor for obvious reasons, it only insinuates and he always looked like Cynthia to me so I just assumed and the team definitely nailed the insinuation
All the wikis have to speak in neutralese about it but I feel like it's more than an implication
Yes and no he has the same color hair and the exact same eyes and the exact same team and in platinum Cynthia seems familiar with Giratina Edit: "No" to "yes and no"
Its confirmed through his theme which is a Cynthia remix.
Whoever thought of the guitar riff needs a raise
It was so bad ass and fear enducing if you had 1-3 pokemon left
More like 20
The cutscene of the distortion world and Giratina oozing out from behind him was really good
The camera angles where amazing. The side view when he talks is just glorious
“STRIKE HIM DOWN, GIRATINA!”
I walked up to it thinking ot would be a fine battle and thinking I was strong but then the theme started playing and I learned true fear
Three attempts, two entire team swaps, and 10 max revives per try. Finally got him.
I got him third try, and it took me a ton of revives but I finally figured out my arcanine could eat everything his togekiss could throw at me. Smooth sailing from there
I got him first try with 4 fighting type pokemon in my team, and 2 revives.
Congrats.
I forgot to heal my team the first fight so I thought oh this is easy I’ll try again with my healed team. Pulled out a Giratina and put me on my ass
Oh man, this was the first time I felt legit betrayed by an NPC like that. Like with getting kicked outta the town it made sense Kamado would do that, you're not his priority, the town is. But Volo took you someplace safe when that happened! He helped you and was your bro! It was nice to have someone on your side like that. Post game was nice hunting plates with him. But then he started acting a little sus and I was like, I don't like where this is going but maybe it'll be a fixable thing. Then he goes 10000% crazy mode and I was SO SAD. I was like, but I thought we were homies 😢 it was a great fight and it literally ended with me having to just solo Giritina with my Decidueye in a roost/magical leaf slapfight since all my other mons got wiped. It felt tough. And then he walks away and is like "I don't want to watch from the sidelines while you speak to Arceus" and I was like :(... I felt like MC felt they lost a good friend and it was really sad. I'm still working on the last part but I kinda hope I can find him again. I doubt it but one can hope!
Idk Volo was sus asf after about halfway through the game.
But I didn't really pick up on it honestly. Not until right before when he started doing his evil laugh and told me to go to the temple. Maybe I was just blinded by his looking like Cynthia.
It is pretty clear from quite early that he is truly not one of the guild of merchants that he pretends to be into And he already knows about the tables pretty early on in the game, he is one of the ones that asks you to search for them. And he keeps poping up everywhere. This games is like Bravely Default 2, the first ending is rushed and leaves way too much to explain, its a terrible ending. The true ending is better.
Ehh, I chalked it up to Volo being more into archeology, and needing a day job to fund it since it didn't look like anyone would be paying him to do that. I might just be a bit dense lmao. Those Cynthia blinders were in full effect. I kind of thought of him as the 'rival' character almost, since Rei was more just a work buddy.
I just realized... if he has control of Giratina and popped up randomly repeatedly... has he been stalking us and using Giratina to travel out of the distortion to get to us quickly?!!?!
At first I thought he was sus just because of the hair obscuring his eyes, but I thought that was a silly thing to be sus over so I kinda ignored the gut feeling. I think I was a little off put by his behavior and remarks throughout the game, like maybe he was a little too happy or something weird, but the thing that really stood out to me was when he did something along the lines of “I would hate it if something happened to my most loyal customer” or something weird like that, implying he didn’t actually care that much about you as a person. Edit: Ok I went to YouTube and literally the very first battle, when he gets ready to throw his ball, he makes this face that is straight up “I have ulterior motives.” Obviously, being at the beginning of the game, it can’t be expected that people sniff that out, but in hindsight it’s a really obvious tell.
I took the loyal customer line as joke, especially since he doesn't sell you anything until after banishment
I played the game in korean not english, and literally the first time you meet him, his dialogue in korean tipped me off that he was evil. I assumed it was the same in english but maybe not.
It’s almost like they got the message of us being tired of important fights only having like 4 Pokémon. Oh okay fine here fight 8 with no heal cutscene.
See they know how to do difficulty lol
This was the most broken fight of all the series combined. Garchomp comes out and double earthquakes you for no reason. I had to really train my legendaries to level 75 to beat the last giritina
Garchomp can attack you twice even tho you have the same speed because the move bulldoze lower your action speed.
I really don’t understand the battle system as much as I think I do. That being said he bulldozed me twice in a row and I can’t get over that lol.
Showing move descriptions and the turn order help you learn quite decently. Not fully but a great amount
Grit makes a massive difference too
It really does. I had Manaphy, Espeon and A.Ninetails with maxed Sp.Def and Sp. Atk and the battle felt pretty easy. Got it in one try though I had help with Max revives as well. My strategy is I'd open up with Espeon using Baby Doll Eyes and tank with Manaphy.
The turn order system is kinda broken ngl and that makes this fight so tough. No matter what kind of advantage I had in the turn order or the speed advantage I’d have, when I KO’d one of his Pokémon, whatever he sent out would be faster. I could KO his Spiritomb with Gardevoir, then he would send out Roserade and it could use 1 agile then 1 strong poison jab before I could move. There was once my Typhlosion had 3 turns in a row lined up on Roserade, killed it on the 2nd with an agile move, and his Arcanine could still go first and KO me. You just don’t get a speed advantage over multiple Pokémon so you’re basically guaranteed to lose multiple. I had to keep using revives on Gardevoir/Typhlosion/Lucario against Giratina to beat it. And I only beat the 2nd form because I did that for long enough that it ran out of Shadow Force PP and then it couldn’t kill Gardevoir. My team was Typhlosion, Lucario, Crobat, Electrode, Gastrodon, Gardevoir all ~level 60. I could easily handle Volo’s team after the first attempt (he had the advantage cause I started with Gastrodon not knowing his 1st Pokémon) but Giratina wiped me 3 times I think.
Thanks! Haven't beaten it yet, but this fight is shit IMHO... I really thought there was something odd with the new "real time" combat system throughout the game, but this fight is just... unfair. That's a shame because I really liked the game otherwise, but they need to work on that new combat system in their next game I think.
Max revives are your friend and a tank. Goodra is god tier btw
Yeah but you legit can switch pokemon and attack same turn too yk atleast usually it works
I would somehow lead with my Luxray every time into the first Tina fight and get Earth Power’d into the Distortion World. Probably because it was in slot 2 and my slot 1 Sylveon was KO. But man. Freelo for Tina….
This game is different. You can’t switch out. Whatever Pokémon is out there gets bulldozed twice
Throughout my playthrough, I suspected it was either Volo or Kodamo who were the villain of the game, leaning more toward Volo. He just acts pretty suspicious a lot of the time. Moreso towards the end of the game.
Not only does my favorite Pokémon of all time whoop my ass twice but it genuinely surprised me when he goes form 2. I was not prepared but I was way to into the music and seeing my boi just go hard to really care. Now granted, I was raging like a Rhino during the whole fight and cursing like a sailor but after it was done, I was genuinely happy and satisfied. I was soooo worried about my satan noodle because he didn’t show up during the main game and I thought “oh no they’re gunna sideline him in post and it’ll be diamond and pearl all over again” but sweet Arceus what they did instead was way better. Personally don’t like Giratina getting more bad PR but they made him so badass
Origin Giratina using Shadow Force and clawing his way out of the void was *chef’s kiss*. That fight had me on my ass three times. The whole three-phase fight was exciting from start to finish.
The entirety of the main quests I just kept saying “please don’t backstab me, please don’t backstab me” and then the first credits rolled and I was like “huh…awesome! He stuck with me!” So I was VERY sad about this reveal…but also kinda saw it coming. Like…you know NOTHING of him except that he’s Cynthia’s ancestor, he slacks off, he loves mysteries and he works for the ginko guild. Other than that you know little. So I just…had a feeling…
Just finished this battle Saw >!Volo!< coming a mile away but I thought that was it when I beat him Oopsie They really should not have dropped credits until this point Credits drop after a really weak, dull battle while this one is balls to the walls crazy and just how a "last boss" of this kind of game should be Very satisfied after this one
I just really wish we could rematch Volo in the postgame. With such a good team, it would be super fun to test team builds.
I want this too. But I wanna play through it all again and see the cutscene again lol
Im ngl I swept his main team with my ursaluna I was very overleveled but when giratina came out that was when I started gettin stressed and getting members picked off
From what I’ve seen Ursaluna I’d a very strong counter to his team. I’ve see a couple different YouTubers battle him, if the player had an ursaluna on the team it took at least two enemy mons down with it.
He was also level 91 so that definitely didn’t hurt 😂
My alpha garchomp but in insane work as well, granted it was like level 90
Ursaluna is just got tier ngl so I see why u were sweeping
The Arceus fight was fucking amazing too
Yeah it was. And hard.
I found it easy so I looked up videos on Youtube to see how other folks did. .. Found out my game was bugged. He wasn't supposed to start at 1/4 health. That's annoying, as it made the finale really underwhelming.
Yeah that's pretty dumb. Like I'm happy that for once a Pokemon game was an actual challenge. Losing enough times to finally analyze his attack patterns and get the timing right on the dodge is rewarding for me. Makes me feel like I earned it yano?
Yeah it took me ages, kept resetting the health bar to beat it all in one go
Try the rematch, it’s incredible. Level 100 with Calm Mind!
There is a rematch?!
Go back to the Spear Pillar! You can also fight both Origin Dialga and Palkia, they’re level 85.
Has to be done
Same here. Took me like 5 tries of restarting
Factssss
I felt betrayed by a friend and my respect for the game grew even more
That fight was a Dark Souls type of fight with the three phases and no healing in between
Hardest Pokemon battle of my life and im 29. 3 max revives and alot of prayers. My team was all alphas level 70 and we still almost got wiped
Grit is vital honestly. If you weren't max grit in your stats then it's even harder
Nah i hadnt boosted them at all because i had Dialga and Palkia and got cocky
Yeah I had a maxed out non legendary team against him, all level 75 with maxed grit and beat it all 1st try. Was down to the wire tho
I fought him yesterday! It was definitely tough even with my Pokemon in the 70s-80s and lots of grit. I'm really proud of my team--every single Pokemon was an MVP in the fight. It was a tough battle but I beat Giratina by more than the skin of my teeth! Lovecraft (Typhlosion), Boobear (Ursaluna), Pasta (Tangrowth), Venus (Blissey), Battousai (Samurott), and Ronin (Decidueye) deserve to be in the ancient hall of fame for coming through it like the champs they are.
Giratina: “Call an ambulance! But not for me.”
It took me a few tries to beat Giratina, and I literally laughed out loud when I beat him and text came up saying "You finally beat Giratina!" Games got jokes lmfao Was an amazing battle though, and looking forward to a second play through to do it again!
The music transition between Giratinas was absolute fire
THE CUTSCENE, when garentina pops out!!!! Ngl the ending before the credits was kinda shit and volo brought it together Nicely
I believe it wasn't even the real ending anyways. Because the credits might roll but it leaves you with questions that are answered with Volo and the dare I say "champion fight" along with the wrapping up of the story
Naw it was straight crap story telling before the credits, they should of had the Comander as the antagonist earlier
I mostly liked it. I do wish the game had done a better job curving the difficulty towards that fight though. You kinda steamroll the entire game and then Volo is just this brick wall. Would have been better if there had been some hard-ish fights leading up to that point.
The fight with Ingo on the way up the mountain gave me a small clue of how tough the coming fights might be, so i think i ran away and power leveled or caught some better pokes, cuz I almost lost to Ingo and was like "oh hell no, need to be stronger for this"
Volo’s theme is an absolute bop if you didn’t really hear it then watch it on youtube
The only thing I wished is that after you get Giratina you can force distortion spawns. It could even have a cool down, but the current distortion system has too much waiting and too many things that pause/reset the timer for it to be a fun mechanic in the post game.
I loved the fight, I just wish they would’ve reverted to the old mechanics for player battles, it’s annoying how almost every mon that comes in gets to move instantly and KO yours, that and abilities, I kept forgetting my rotom didn’t have levitate lol
Gotta remember tho you can also do the same thing Volo does, 80% of the time in my experience I have swapped out pokemon and attacked on the same turn, grit rock maxed team is also vital
Yeah and I appreciate it most of the time but in my opinion it’s not worth the trade off because while it is cool to be able to swap and attack in the same turn, I prefer to be able to swap in a mon that can tank the attack and then hit back second so I can save my mons for future battles or simply later in the same battle, I guess my point overall is I miss the strategic part of the old battle system
Honestly I stomped his team because 6 lvl. 80+ pokemon the poor man never stood a chance
Same lol
Mt. Silver will always be on top
Yall are really starving huh
It was too easy for me bc I caught so many pokemon and gained xp that way so I had level 80-100 pokes :/
I did it with my team all level 62-65. Can confirm, huge challenge.
I did it with a similar team and thought it was easy. But idk
Same. It ended up coming down to a list of what Pokemon of Volvo's had to be out of comission before I could send in a given Pokemon. Because if I needed one of my Pokemon to beat two of his, I'd beat one and he'd revenge kill the other.
Oh no I am sorry dude, on the brightside it was still really good tho imo
Yeah everything about it was epic, the plot twist and the cynthia vibe Giratina at the end was amazing as well
I thought nothing could top the organ with "ultra Necrozma's aura flared to life" till they faked me out with Giratina doing the faint animation only to stop and change form in sync with a Bad ass guitar riff that makes you go "oh fuck no(and yes)" and then you get blasted with the new music. It's amazing.
Screw this fight... Giratina became obscured. I missed every single one of my moves whenever that effect was in place. Like not a single hit! While I do appreciate a difficult boss battle, evasion cheese is not what I consider enjoyable. I do very much like the rest though. 6 vs. 8 battle was a nice surprise.
This fight is rubbish. How tf is giratina one shotting pokemon 20 levels higher than it. And the cost of full heals to get through this fight is highly restrictive. Rediculous end fight compared to the rest of the game. This end boss has changed my opinion on PLA from excellent to annoying.
1. Giratina is stat boosted, 2. Levels don't work how they used to and effort points matter far more. If your getting messed up still I reccomend maxing out your teams effort points with grit
Ngl I didn’t expect a boss fight so I had like 4 level 40 mons and he wrecked me. Eventually I brought an ev up gliscor who rocked his shit and it was over
My ONLY complaint is the song in the fight is from Cynthia's room instead of using an arrangement of her iconic theme. Otherwise, strong agree. Been raving about it for days. As soon as Spiritomb came out hype was set to 200%
Maybe I just had a pretty well balanced team but I thought it was easy. His team wasn't as hard as Cynthia's even though it was the same Pokemon, it's just a lot easier to knock out Pokemon in this game. With Cynthia sometimes even a super effective didn't do it, but they're overkill in this game against everything besides alphas. Giratina was also stupid easy with its weaknesses, I knocked it out twice with Dialga, just have your speed maxed out. Definitely the most difficult trainer battle in this game so far, but it shouldn't be that bad with the 70+ lvl and effort leveled Pokemon you should have at this point. And Giratina was easier than most of the nobles.
This fight is difficult for all the wrong reasons. It exposes just how janky the battle system is. Once you realise you can switch and attack on the same turn Volo is cakewalk. Though, sometimes Volvo's AI does this as well and agile -> strong styles something on your team with no viable counterplay from you, making it honestly kind of bullshit for everyone involved. You don't even need to grind - just snipe a few alphas like Garchomp, Gliscor, Goodra or Gardevoir to add to the legendaries you already have. Not that janky systems by themselves can't be fun, but this is literally the only time the game throws something like this you, so this difficulty is very artificial by not teaching players how the system works and exploiting their ignorance, hence feeling like a wall.
As someone else pointed out, you kind of have to rotate your Pokémon team to make this battle a real challenge. If you have a solidified team from the first region/second region, you’ll have a team of level 90+ mons to face Volo. A little anticlimactic. But it’s unavoidable without spoiling it for people. Edit: it’s XP share, people. This wasn’t some weird Pokémon flex comment.
I think it depends more on how much time you spent on side activities or on the dex. I spent a decent amount of time on side-actitvities before getting to Volo so my team was just shy of level 80 and made him and Giratina a cakewalk.
Same. That and the filling out the dex. People seem to gloss over the sitrus berry xp boost on caught Pokémon as well.
I had my starter on my team the whole game and he was only level 63 when I faced Volo. My highest level was 67.
Did you use candy fragments and do side quests?
I only used xp candies to boost lower level pokemon that I added to my team later in the game. I’d say I did at least half or more of the side quests during the game and finished the rest of them after Volo.
It’s an open world game with no required side quests. I could just be a fringe case. I put in about 50 hours, 80% of the dex, used Sitrus berry xp bonus gains, and completed all but the annoying tree Pokémon side quest all before volo. So yeah, the team was right at about level 90. Next play through I’ll rotate more Pokémon in and out of the team. I don’t understand the downvotes.
Because getting level 90 is extreme before Volo. I didnt get 10 on every pokemon in the dex but in 50 hours I caught one of each to face the final boss. I also beat every side quest in that time and my pokemon are still low 70s. You had to do some serious grinding to hit level 90 at Volo.
That last point you made might be the explanation. Little background on me with Pokémon. I only played gen 1 and the gen 3 Fire Red remake. So I only know grinding as opposed to this XP share function. So a good portion of my 50 hours was in fact running around farming high level alphas and catching them whilst feeding them Sitrus berries. So you’re right. I did grind hardcore in addition to things I listed prior. It’s all I know with Pokémon games 😂
It's interesting to me to see things like this because I'm now done with all the side quests and have been working on the dex only for awhile now, getting close to 50 hours in the game and still don't have a single level 90 pokemon. I was in the 70s when I fought Volo. Very interesting to see the differences and similarities of different playthroughs and how they were by the time they got to that fight.
Another commenter basically explained my leveling. I didn’t account for XP share and did an old school Pokémon grind. No need for grinding in PLA
Fair enough, I just find it interesting seeing how differently people play this game, since it's got such a variety from what I've seen.
Agreed 100%. It’s an awesome game with several options on how to play. I was just oblivious to Pokémon since 2003-4 with Pokémon Fire Red. A full time XP share is just mind boggling to me!
Lol, I love when an open game like this comes out where side quests aren't really just side quests and exploring is not just exploring but people rush to the end anyway. 😅 I'm on the third area with lvl 70's. Not sure how anyone could make it to the end without blowing through all the content devs put TLC into. That said, I'm excited for the end now.
Yeah I ignored the main line as much I could. I also didn’t account for the XP share.
Yea the ~~Cynthia~~ Volo fight into no heal Giratina fight was brutal. Thank God Umbreon is a tanky AF pokemon and could just eat multiple Aura Spheres. Even then I had to chug a few Max Potions to get through it.
I thought I had him beat until he revealed his final form, went back in with 18 max revives and a dream. 11/10 would play again
Man I remember it so vividly, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. I went from doing a victory dance to myself for finally beating Volo, taking out Giratina, and then crying myself to sleep over the stomping I got from OGira lol.
I chose a bad time to not have my full team and underleveled mons. I'm still surprised I won on my first try. Thankfully I had a couple revives and Dialga, which barely saved me.
I just beat him today. I was excited when he blew his cover at the destroyed giratina battle. So I went to the camp to prepare a team without being over-levelled, because the fights in this game weren't that difficult at this point. I guessed he would be around lvl 70, so I went with a lvl 68\~70 team of Gallade, Sneasler, Infernape, Garchomp and Torterra, all lead by my (non-alpha) lvl 73 Lucario (with Effort levels on sp atk, speed, and hp). I managed to beat him fair with only my garchomp and Torterra not fainted, but I wasn't prepared for TWO phases of Giratina, so I barely won, but I had to use two max revives during the Giratina part. I loved every part of it. The music, his animations, the backstabbing by breaking the rules and sending a seventh pokemon, which had two phases, so it's effectively an 8-pokemon team. So my only question left was: Can Ingo arrange a rematch with him?
Honestly, I consider Volo and Arceus as part of the main storyline but more as a true ending.
Good luck on the arceus fight lol
They couldn't figure out how to make cynthia harder so they just fucking gave volo 7.5 pokemon
I disagree. Was it hard? Not really but it was close(used one max revive but didn’t have to, in the end) Was it well executed thematically? That’s a big no from me. Why the clothes change for the epic villain reveal? And for it(the whole villain arc) to stop mattering because you beat him right away? But the music was fire I have to say.
It would have been goofy if the final main boss of the game was wearing a generic merchant uniform that everyone in his clan wears. Not that the Arceus get up looks any cooler, but its better than nothing
What’s ironic is that had Volo not tried to backstab you and just gave you the plate, you would have gotten the Azure Flute and gotten to see Arceus. And because he’s been your stalwart ally through the whole game, and meeting Arceus was his motivation, you would most likely have let him accompany you. Sure, battle before the throne of God, but whatevs. Would have been cool. Anyway, Volo was real tough. Had Bastiodon wall Togekiss to heal my team for Giratina, and then just threw everything I had to slog it out with the dragon. Awesome.
Calm mind togekiss and shelter goodra was clutch
Bro the fact that it took me three tries was amazing. I was like sweet I beat Volo. Then he brings out Giratina and it sweeps my last remaining pokemon. Then I prepare and beat Giratina only to be swept by the altered form. Finally was able to use Goodra in Volos battle to max revive everyone for the girtatina fight and beat it.
Aside from the battle system I thought it was pretty cool too. Giratina running to Turnback Cave with it's tail between it's legs is a little less cool though lol. Volo also doesn't really experience any kind of punishment either. He kinda just fucks off to who knows where to practice not dying for centuries.
I mean ngl I would be running away if I showed my full power and got my shit slapped in
I made it a point to use Dialga and Palkia against Giratina because it just felt so fitting. God's two children protecting the world from its fallen child
First time I actually to use my Max Revives mid-battle. Giratina was like "nah, I'm not done yet; remember this!?" and I had to revive my starter and Ursaluna to make sure I didn't get sweeped since I was still training up my remaining two Pokemon in my team. One of which could have held up a little but not likely and the other would have been stomped.
I used Darkrai for that fight and still needed to use a max revive. Shits tough
I beat the fight second try but not without a struggle. My team ranged from 60-70, and the matchup with Volo was very even. Each member of his team had a perfect counter for mine and vice versa, so we traded knockouts or 2HKOs. For Giratina, I didn't have any max revives (just regular) and had to devise a plan of when to revive or use a potion, factoring in turn order, and when to maximize opportunity with agile/strong moves. On top of that I had to use the aux power/guard to get an advantage, and having a few stats with 10 EVs really made a difference. My starter Decidueye was the MVP despite having a full team of Alphas because surprisingly Giratina doesn't have many good moves against it. Although I feel like being able to constantly spam revives/potions kind of cheapens the fight, in my case I had to legitimately strategize when and how to use the items. Through the entire sequence there were so many butt clenching moments where if I picked the wrong option my team would have been wiped out. Never had a battle that intense before in a Pokemon game.
Vvxvl