How Masters Approaches the Role the Player Characters Have

Written By NatAttack862 .

With Pokémon Masters Ex bringing in a number of characters across every generation as well as creating a few of their own, each character will have their own story. This includes every player characters from every region, excluding Julianna and Florien who have yet to debut as of this post. Several player characters also have multiple units based on certain events, if the character has a lodge unit, and/or a general additional unit. The only exceptions currently being Chase and Elaine (Let’s Go) and the aforementioned Paldea player characters.

That said, while their units are accessible to the player, none of them are the avatar for the player. Rather, that honor goes to Scottie/Bett, one of the few Pasio exclusive characters. Because of that, new players and people who don’t play the games, may wonder how they implement the player characters.

That’s where this little breakdown comes in. In this post I will quickly go over a few things that the game does with the player characters. This will include which player character is the designated main character for the game and how that effects a few of the player characters’ relationships with the professor. And though they may connect with characters from their region, there are instances where they will have interactions with characters outside of it.

The Designated Main Character

Since players have to pick which character they play as in the main games (excluding Red/Green/Blue/Yellow and Gold/Silver), Pokémon Masters EX had to choose which would act as the “main character” of their respected games. While the other option would either play the rival role like they did in the games and/or are friends with the main character. There are some exceptions since not every unpicked

A couple examples of player characters who are the designated player characters include Ethan (Gold/Silver/Crystal and HeartGold/SoulSilver), Brendan (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire), Dawn (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl), and Gloria (Sword and Shield). Red is the defacto Kanto main character, while also keeping his role in Johto and I believe his time in Alola.He also keeps the trend of not speaking much, only having one or two instances of actual dialogue in Masters EX.

Because of this, it also means that Brendan is Norman’s son, like he would if he’s the one you picked. Gloria would be the one to go through the Championship Cup with Hop, Bede, and Marnie. All the while Rei would be the one that was sent back to Hisui. These are not the only times relationships and roles are set based on who’s the designated main character. Just a few examples.

Roles and Relationships

Due to the nature of the role the player has and what the unpicked player character has, that does mean that their role and relationships with the player and the world will be set based on that. I already mention a few examples for the designated main characters, but what about the unpicked player character?

As previously stated, a few of the unpicked players become rivals. So each unused player character that’s used as a rival, will keep that rivalry. This includes May/Brendan, Calem/Serena, and to a lesser extent, Dawn/Lucas (you primarily battle with Lucas during the main game). As for the rest, for instance Hilda/Hilbert and Gloria/Victor, they are essentially a friend/rival to their game’s designated protagonist. While it doesn’t mean much in the grander scheme, there are two characters who will have a dynamic with the professor regardless of who you chose. Those being the characters from the Hoenn and Sinnoh games.

In Hoenn, whichever character you don’t pick will, not only be your rival, but be the son/daughter of Professor Birch as well. I’ll admit it’s a detail I forget for the games, especially since I lost my copy of Sapphire years before I got Alpha Sapphire. So whatever dialogue stated as much in the original Sapphire would have been forgotten. If you haven’t read the manga, this would be the case there as well. However, I doubt that Dena would have went the manga route when deciding the Hoenn protagonist. If I had to guess, it could be because Brendan looks more like Norman than May does.

In the Sinnoh games, whoever you don’t choose will be Rowan’s assistant and is the son of one of the scientists that works with Rowan. In Masters’ case, it’s Lucas. Once again, I’m not exactly sure why Dawn is Sinnoh’s protagonist for Masters. If I had to guess, it would be because Dawn is more recognizable and/or popular. Which isn’t hurt by the fact that Dawn was one of Ash’s companions in the anime. Though I have my doubts that that’s the case since the same could be said for May, who isn’t the Hoenn protagonist in Masters.

Hopping over to Hisui, a.k.a. Sinnoh before it was named Sinnoh, Rei (Lucas’ Legends Arceus counterpart) is the designated protagonist. Meanwhile Akari (Dawn’s Legends Arceus counterpart) is the unused player character and is an established Survey Corps member who helps Rei and Professor Laventon during the game. This was probably done so they wouldn’t essentially be giving it to Dawn twice. So Lucas kind of gets designated protagonist privileges by proxy.

These are the only major examples where it’ll determine whether the unused player is either related to or works with the professor. Serena/Calem are the only other player characters who shows up as a rival and friend. However, it’s Tierno who’s working alongside the professor and gives players their starter. So, in this case, Serena/Calem are the only unused player characters who act strictly as a friendly rival and aren’t tied to the professor in any way.

How do They Interact With Other Characters?

Regardless of whether or not they’re the designated protagonist, all of the player characters are generally friendly towards each other and their respected rivals. As well as all of them being friendly with the rest of the main characters and rivals. They’ll also have interactions with characters from their specific region. Maybe not every character, but a number of them.

Some characters will be closer to to others, like Red and Blue (Green) Oak, but generally speaking they all get along. The two are tied to several events together like the main story and the Kanto Neo Champion arc. Blue (and Leaf) understand Red, who keeps his “vow of silence”, and the two are on generally good terms as rivals (and friends).

That said, friendships and rivalries between the player characters aren’t exclusive to their debut game. Sometimes them form with characters outside of their region. One example is Hilda (Black/White) and Nemona (Scarlet/Violet). During Nemona’s debut event, she ends up forming a fast friendship with Hilda since both of them share a love for battling.

Sometimes the player characters will have interactions with characters outside of the rest of the player characters, characters from their region, and their rivals. For instance, Red is known and respected by several champions. One such example being Leon, who will say, “Red! I’ve been looking forward to this!” whenever he and Red are used together. This is most likely due to the fact that Red is the only player character who’s a confirmed champion in Pokémon Masters’ canon.

So it will depend on the character themselves and the events they have a role in in Masters’ story and events.

In Summary

Since Pokémon Masters utilizes all of the player characters from the games, alongside their own, a few things had to be done to make each player their own. This includes things like deciding which player character will be the designated protagonist of the area, which player characters will act as rival and/or friend when applicable, and how they interact with each other and other characters. It’s a really fun way to go about it since the player characters act as a blank space for players more often than not in the games. Giving them their own character and story was key when making the game. Especially since they weren’t going to play the role as the player’s avatar this time around.

I hope this helped explain how they went about approaching the characters if you haven’t played the game or are just getting into it.

Further Reading

NatAttack862 .