Ecology of Orre?

[ArtemiSerebii]

Honestly, I *HATE* post-apocalyptic sci-fi, but having studied info. about Orre (never played Colo/XD, unfortunately...My knowledge of consoles stopped with SNES, thank you, but studied Orre heavily...) there seems to be a certain whiff of "After The End" about it. Such is even referenced in the Wikipedia article relating to Regions in the Pokemon World [see below]:

The region is based on the Arizona desert, although the structures (most of which appear to be made of pieces of older structures) found within Orre lend a post-apocalyptic feel to it as well. In this region, wild Pokémon are rare...

So--Why Orre and nowhere else? Possibility of a "Dust Bowl" like in the US in the 1920's, maybe? Or was it just never that well-populated in the first place? Or, could civilization *really* be "rebuilding" from some "Event," and if so, what? Did the Shadow Pokemon go on a rampage and destroy the ecosystem? I am genuinely curious as to why Orre is so trashed and un-recovered, especially since the rest of the Pokemon World seems so verdant--OR: is it the Regions *we* know that are ecological enclaves and the *rest* of the Pokemon World is destroyed, with Orre but one example of what's "outside" the realms we're familiar with?

 

[PDL]

To be honest, the main reason why Orre was designed to be the way it is (vast desert-wasteland with almost no wild Pokémon) was to make it distinct from the hand-held games in that there aren't many wild Pokémon to battle/capture. This was mainly to encourage the players to obtain shadow Pokémon in order to increase their ranks.

Actually, there isn't really any given in-game reason as to why Orre is so barren. No mention of an apocalypse or anything of that sort is mentioned, despite the rusted and broken infrastructure of some of the places.

It's only vaguely alluded to that people settled there from somewhere else and brought Pokémon from Jotho and Hoenn with them (In Colosseum at least). In XD, Kanto Pokémon from the FR/LG games are treated as exotic specimens never seen in Orre before, and wild Pokémon in Orre is something that's almost unheard of, newsworthy even.

In fact, the only mention of other regions in any of the games are books in the shelves of the trading room about Pokémon Kanto and Hoenn.

 

[WallflowerCanyon]

I liked how they put the new locations in XD like Gateon Port and the Pokemon HQ lab. If and when we hopefully get another RPG in a similar matter for the Wii, I hope they put a little more variety climate-wise in it, like they do with the handhelds. Rui I guess is from an unnamed region, and it'd be interesting to find out where that is, whether it be the Gen V region or somwhere else.

 

[Miju]

Well because its a huge desert with only a few areas with pokemon. Luckily they added some new areas which changed the looks a little bit. I mean I was tired of seeing so much desert in Colosseum so I was happy seeing Gateon port and the pokemon hq. I also like the realgem tower, because the tower is shiny

 

[WallflowerCanyon]

I also like the realgem tower, because the tower is shiny

'Tis very shiny.... :-D

I can't remember... did they get rid of the Realgem Tower in XD and replace it with the Orre Colosseum, or did they keep the Realgem Tower?

 

[PDL]

'Tis very shiny.... :-D

I can't remember... did they get rid of the Realgem Tower in XD and replace it with the Orre Colosseum, or did they keep the Realgem Tower?

It's still there but nothing plot-related occurs in XD. It's where you play the battle CDs and Battle Bingo as well.

To be honest, I'm not so positive that they're even continuing with that particular series. I remember people complaining about how it wasn't like the stadium games or the handheld games everyone seems to love. So I would not be surprised at all if they stopped it.

 

[Crysta Blade]

On the subject of Orre, I've always wondered if something happened there to drive wild Pokémon away. Not sure if I'm remembering wrong, but there are some old Poké Balls in the Outskirt Stand. To me, that says there were wild Pokémon at some stage, possibly not too long ago.

 

[Takoto]

The way I see it is, Orre isn't the most popular Region for trainers due to having little-to-no wild Pokémon, most people forget or don't know about it so there isn't that much support. So citizens of Orre have to build their houses themselves, collect their own food, ect.

 

[PDL]

The way I see it is, Orre isn't the most popular Region for trainers due to having little-to-no wild Pokémon, most people forget or don't know about it so there isn't that much support. So citizens of Orre have to build their houses themselves, collect their own food, ect.

Although it isn't likely that it's a third-world region seeing that people are able to build such elabroate structures just for Pokémon battles.

Actually, it isn't just having almost no wild Pokémon, but the fact that there's no real Pokémon league, just the various colosseums and Mt.Battle. No gyms to go to and no badges to obtain.

 

[WallflowerCanyon]

I kinda wish that they would put a Mt. Battle kind of thing in the main handhelds. Using the VS Seeker or battling random wild Pokes kinda wears on ya after a while...

Speaking of Mt. Battle.... maybe a past eruption from it caused Orre to be the wasteland that it is now? I doubt that lava flows on their own would devistate the whole region, but other factors such as ashfall and huge amounts carbon monoxide being released into the atmosphere might have altered it's climate for a while, making the region a harsh wasteland.

 

[IslandWalker]

I kinda wish that they would put a Mt. Battle kind of thing in the main handhelds. Using the VS Seeker or battling random wild Pokes kinda wears on ya after a while...

Speaking of Mt. Battle.... maybe a past eruption from it caused Orre to be the wasteland that it is now? I doubt that lava flows on their own would devistate the whole region, but other factors such as ashfall and huge amounts carbon monoxide being released into the atmosphere might have altered it's climate for a while, making the region a harsh wasteland.

I agree with this whole post. VS Seeking is lame, and that eruption is a good theory.

 

[Vance]

It's still there but nothing plot-related occurs in XD. It's where you play the battle CDs and Battle Bingo as well.

To be honest, I'm not so positive that they're even continuing with that particular series. I remember people complaining about how it wasn't like the stadium games or the handheld games everyone seems to love. So I would not be surprised at all if they stopped it.

I agree, they probably won't continue them even though they were actually pretty good

 

[The Outrage]

Speaking of Mt. Battle.... maybe a past eruption from it caused Orre to be the wasteland that it is now? I doubt that lava flows on their own would devistate the whole region, but other factors such as ashfall and huge amounts carbon monoxide being released into the atmosphere might have altered it's climate for a while, making the region a harsh wasteland.

It's not a closed system, so I doubt the carbon monoxide from a naturally occurring phenomena like a volcano would have had that much of an effect on it.

Ash falling wouldn't make it a barren wasteland, in fact it would make the soil fertile. Fallarbour town is said to have the most fertile soil in Hoenn (and Hoenn is pretty green) due to Mt. Chimney.

Yeah, an eruption would burn everything up, but things would persist and grow back. Forest fires allow for new life to grow by burning down the tall trees that keep small plants from growing and providing them with fertile soil. No natural disaster should wipe out all life and keep it from regrowing. It was probably naturally inhospitable that very few things could persist in the first place (so why would people migrate there?) or some big human intervention caused it. Come on, it has to be pretty big if fire breathing creatures couldn't find a way to live there.

 

[Soulweaver]

Speaking of Mt. Battle.... maybe a past eruption from it caused Orre to be the wasteland that it is now? I doubt that lava flows on their own would devistate the whole region, but other factors such as ashfall and huge amounts carbon monoxide being released into the atmosphere might have altered it's climate for a while, making the region a harsh wasteland.

Good theory, but... after an eruption, I'd expect there be an outbreak of Pokémon like Slugma/Magcargo (lava environment) and Koffing/Weezing (the gaseous environment). None of them appear in the wild.

 

[WallflowerCanyon]

It's not a closed system, so I doubt the carbon monoxide from a naturally occurring phenomena like a volcano would have had that much of an effect on it.

Ash falling wouldn't make it a barren wasteland, in fact it would make the soil fertile. Fallarbour town is said to have the most fertile soil in Hoenn (and Hoenn is pretty green) due to Mt. Chimney.

Yeah, an eruption would burn everything up, but things would persist and grow back. Forest fires allow for new life to grow by burning down the tall trees that keep small plants from growing and providing them with fertile soil. No natural disaster should wipe out all life and keep it from regrowing. It was probably naturally inhospitable that very few things could persist in the first place (so why would people migrate there?) or some big human intervention caused it. Come on, it has to be pretty big if fire breathing creatures couldn't find a way to live there.

True... ('tis why Idaho has good potatoes:XD2. It's just a random theory though, I'm kind of a huge volcano geek and I should know better than to think that volcanic eruptions in themselves can cause a region to turn into a desert.:-/ But what I was mainly talking about was the ash particles and carbon monoxide being in the atmosphere, which can even alter climates on a global scale for several years, depending on how big the eruption is (Krakatoa did that... kinda scary...). Now I'm just waiting for Yellowstone to blow up... and if I'm the only member here who lives in Wyoming, I'll be the first one to go.:uhoh:

I'm not sure if a climate change due to gases from an eruption would cause a desert to appear though, now that I think about it...

Off-topic, but it'd be kewl to have a volcano that actually threatens to destroy an entire region and have nearby cities actually evacuate in Gen V... random thought for ya.

 

[CKnightsofni]

I imagine Orre used to be a Old West style place, Settlers moving out West (or wherever Orre is) to build farmlands. Then some Dust Bowl might have happened drying up the land and turning it into a barren desert (like in the 1930s mid-west and China in recent years). I hope they continue with a Wii Pokemon RPG, weather they return to Orre or move to a new region. One can only dream of what they'll come up with in the upcoming fifth generation..

 

[The Outrage]

Slightly off-topic but I can see that Shaymin may play a role in future Orre games, restoring the barren waste land.

 

[Crysta Blade]

Actually, it isn't just having almost no wild Pokémon, but the fact that there's no real Pokémon league, just the various colosseums and Mt.Battle. No gyms to go to and no badges to obtain.

Sometimes I wonder if that's because it'd be unsustainable. I say this because of:

-The great distance between the few towns, which in turn are too few to make a league as big like in other regions. I wouldn't mind a few more cities in future installments, though.

-The harsh terrain of the region. Just seems like it'd asking a bit much of Trainers to go to a region that's quite empty and with no wild Pokémon around, they'd have to go elsewhere to catch something.

-The region not really being...unified, I guess? I can't begin to imagine how politics goes down in Orre, if what we've seen so far is any indication. A mayor who goes corrupt, a man promised a position as governer...if the citizens don't trust politicans, I can see why. Methinks one could easily buy their way into the government.

Slightly off-topic but I can see that Shaymin may play a role in future Orre games, restoring the barren waste land.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's thought of this.

 

[PDL]

I don't really like the idea of a "restored" Orre, since it's barren-ness was what made it distinct from every other region.

Actually, I think the GCN games take place in a different continuty then the GBA games. Absolutely no references to Orre are made in the DS games (even Pokémon that originated from those games have "Distant Land" as their place of origin). The same might apply to other side games like Snap, the Mystery Dungeon series and the Ranger series.

 

[The Outrage]

I don't really like the idea of a "restored" Orre, since it's barren-ness was what made it distinct from every other region.

I was more thinking of it as a final send-off to the Orre series since the land wouldn't be restored until the end of the game.