PokéQuest: Age of Unbalance

PokéQuest: Age of Unbalance is an upcoming Wii U tactical-RPG game in the Pokémon series, set for a 2016 release, just weeks before the release of Pokémon Sun & Moon. The game focuses around a setting where, instead of humans, Pokémon are the primary species of the Earth, as a group of Pokémon from all around the world join together as heroes to defend the land from corrupted legendaries.

Due to it being released only weeks before Sun & Moon, the game will not feature Generation VII Pokémon on a large scale, but will rather solely include the three starters and mascot legendaries, likely to promote the game in question.

Gameplay

The game is extremely similar in aesthetics and gameplay to Fire Emblem: Awakening: the combat system, characters, setting, and general feel of the game is Pokémon based-however. On the map, the avatar character, a tactician, directs other heroic units to where they would like them to move, often in order to attack a specific enemy unit. During this time, if a heroic unit approaches an enemy unit, they can choose to being combat, during which the heroic unit can choose a move to use and attack, and eventually defeat their enemy. If the heroic unit doesn't defeat their enemy, the enemy can also attack with the default attack set. Attacking enemies will yield EXP, as will defeating them: when enough EXP is gained, the unit can level up, increasing each stat by a small amount. At some levels, the unit will also learn a new move. Some moves aren't used in combat, but rather as supportive moves: some moves will increase the stats of nearby friendly units, lower the stats of nearby enemy units, heal the user or a specific target, protect the user, and more.

There are 9 stats in this game that determine how characters play on the field: HP, ATCK, DFNS, SP-ATCK, SP-DFNS, SPD, EVSN, and LCK. Health is how many health points a character has, Attack and Special Attack affects the power behind physical and special attacks respectively. Defense and Special Defense affects how much damage a character can recieve from physical and special attacks respectively. Speed affects how many spaces a unit can move during one turn. Evasion affects the chances that a character will dodge an oncoming attack. And Luck affects the chances of critical hits. Each of these stats can be increased by 0-4 points every single time a unit levels up: they can also be increased by specific rare medicine items.

During the enemy turn, the enemy moves automatically, sometimes moving towards a heroic unit to attack. In this case, a battle will commence, and the defending heroic unit will attack back with the move they last used, or otherwise with their default attack. Attacking or defeating the advancing enemy will still yield EXP.

On the map, characters also have a chance of activating events: these are denoted by sparkling marks on the map. When a heroic unit lands on one of these, one of four things will occur: the player gains EXP, slightly increases the power of theirs default/last-used move, finds an item, or, if paired with another unit, increases the relationship value of the two paired characters. These sparkling areas disappear after being activating.

If a unit is moved onto the space where another heroic unit is activated, they can pair up with that unit: this'll have both units move the same amount of units in only one turn. In combat, when the leading character attacks, there is a chance the secondary character will attack alongside their paired character. There's also a smaller chance that the secondary character will protect their partner from an attack from an enemy. Keeping characters paired up for long and having them fight together increase the relationship value of the two, which increases the chances of side-by-side attacking and defending, as well as attack power when paired.

Each chapter and sidequest ends when either the player loses a primary character (Finnigan or the avatar), all other units fall, or when the objective is completed: though the only way of finishing the chapter or quest is the third method. Each chapter or quest has a specific objective: in most chapters, the objective is to defeat the commander, the strongest enemy unit on the map who plays a "boss" role. There are other objectives for different chapters and quests of course: "clear the enemy", which means to defeat all units; "seize the gate", which means Finnigan must be moved to a specific spot to finish; and "protect", which means to protect a friendly unit for a specific amount of turns, are among the objectives.

Sometimes, characters have a chance to recieve a status effect: these can be inflicted by specific attacks, or as a side-effect to specific attacks. There are several effects that will detriment the player if effected: Poison will slowly deteriorate the affected unit's health until they either die or are healed by an item or fellow unit; Paralysis will half the area where units can move and give units a 25% chance that they cannot attack; Burning will eat away at health for five turns and decrease Attack Power during that time; Freezing will cause players to be unable to move; Sleep will cause players to be unable to move as well; Confusion will last for 2-5 turns and will cause the affected unit to move in random directions without choice, occasionally even accidantally attacking fellow units.

The overworld is a large World Map: lines connect areas to begin or play Chapters, Side Quests, or Xenologues. If one wished to replay a mission to go back and do things they couldn't or didn't do previously, they can do so at a fee of 900 G.

Supports

When two specific characters' relationship value reaches points, they unlock Support Conversations: these conversations can take place in 1 of 3 areas (Barracks, Tent, or Spring), and the conversations can range from being comical, insightful, emotional, or anything else really. Support levels between characters start with a "C" supports and goes to "B", then "A". If the pairing is romantic, there is one more support in the form of "S". Once again, each character can only perform romantic supports with specific characters, and a character can only S-Support one character per save file. The Avatar can also support with any character in the game (outside of Porygon-Z), and S-Support with both all characters of the opposite gender and a select few characters of the same gender. If characters complete an S-Support/A-Support, their relationship value will be maxxed out, effectively making the pairing extremely powerful.

For a full list of all friendly supports, see here.
For a full list of all potential romantic supports, see here.
For a full list of all supports involving the Avatar, see here.

SideQuests

These quests can take part in the middle of chapters in a similar style to the Paralogues in Fire Emblem. These can be completed to recruit new Pokémon, obtain rare items, or just for the EXP. Each SideQuest can only be unlocked by completing a specific chapter, or by unlocking it by talking to specific NPCs on maps in different chapters.

Sidequest Name	Description	How to Unlock	Prize
Sidequest 1 The Remaining Threat	TBA	Complete Chapter 1 without a single unit falling/dying.	Oran Berry X 20, Sitrus Berry X 10, TM Energy Ball
Sidequest 2 The Type Triangle	TBA	Have the Most Valuable Warrior of Chapter 2 be a Water, Fire, or Grass type.	Vincent, Damien, Denise, Lum Berry X 10
Sidequest 3 Great Berry Festival	TBA	Complete Chapter 3 without eating a single berry to heal.	Shucks, Random Berry X 10

Playable Characters

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PokéQuest: Age of Unbalance is unique where it includes about 65 playable Pokémon scattered throughout the game, 64 if one doesn't count the avatar. As only about 36 of these Pokémon are mandatory to encounter, it gives the game a sense of variety and customization on who you decide to team up with.

Story Characters

These characters are mandatory to recruit, as they are met in the mainstory levels.

^{Note: Table is ordered from what chapter the character can be recruited.}

Character	Typing	Nature	Description	Chapter Met	Supports
Finnigan		Modest	An overly humble knight of the Grass Kingdom who, after having several unusual dreams where a Pokemon told him to find allies to fight against an oncoming threat before it's too late, comes across the tactician and teams up with them, alongside newly found allies Fiore, Afiane, and Leonardo. Finnigan uses a mixture of physical and special attacks to his advantage, boasting moves like Mach Punch and Spore upon meeting in the prologue.	Prologue	TBA
Fiore		Quirky	TBA	Chapter 1 Shattered Stability	TBA
Afiane		Impish	TBA	Chapter 1 Shattered Stability	TBA
Leonardo		Docile	TBA	Chapter 1 Shattered Stability	TBA
Hokori		Rash	TBA	Chapter 2 A New Foe	TBA
Adrien		Naughty	TBA	Chapter 2 A New Foe	TBA
Marilyn		Adamant	TBA	Chapter 3 Finding Allies	TBA
Dexter		Jolly	TBA	Chapter 3 Finding Allies	TBA
Riley		Jolly	TBA	Chapter 3 Finding Allies	TBA
Mimi		Timid	TBA	Chapter 3 Finding Allies	TBA
Tara		Brave	TBA	Chapter 3 Finding Allies	TBA
Aris		Bashful	TBA	Chapter 4 One Place to Another	TBA
Ebony		Quiet	TBA	Chapter 4 One Place to Another	TBA
Sora		Serious	TBA	Chapter 5 War of Five Armies	TBA
Blaze		Hardy	TBA	Chapter 5 War of Five Armies	TBA
Pandora		Serious	TBA	Chapter 6 The Trinity of Darkness	TBA
Dravi		Lonely	TBA	Chapter 7 Another Land	TBA
Cana		Quirky	TBA	Chapter 7 Another Land	TBA
Tilda		Naughty	TBA	Chapter 8 Corrupted Earth	TBA
Kodama		Docile	TBA	Chapter 8 Corrupted Earth	TBA
Marvolo		Adamant	TBA	Chapter 10 Hideaway	TBA
Calais		Relaxed	TBA	Chapter 11 Turning Point	TBA
Lobber		Careful	TBA	Chapter 11 Turning Point	TBA
Midas		Quiet	TBA	Chapter 12 The Summon	TBA
Flash		Hasty	TBA	Chapter 13 Rainfall	TBA
Nimbia		Gentle	TBA	Chapter 14 Dragons and Fairies	TBA
Vera		Sassy	TBA	Chapter 14 Dragons and Fairies	TBA
Randolph		Calm	TBA	Chapter 15 A Legendary Encounter	TBA
Madrigal		Impish	TBA	Chapter 15 A Legendary Encounter	TBA
Helena		Sassy	TBA	Chapter 16 Corrupted Legends	TBA
Teldos		Lax	TBA	Chapter 17 Blessed By The Gods Above	TBA
Sevorti		Rash	TBA	Chapter 18 Betrayal	TBA
Juliet		Timid	TBA	Chapter 18 Betrayal	TBA
Tyson		Brave	TBA	Chapter 19 The Lake Guardians	TBA
Lily		Quirky	TBA	Chapter 20 Gracidea	TBA
Keldeo		Bashful	TBA	Chapter 20 Gracidea	TBA

Quest Characters

These characters are completely optional, and are only recruitable by completing a specific sidequest.

Avatar Character