Aegis Cave (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky)

File:Aegis cave.png

While it's a good concept, the execution of this dungeon drags you for too much.

Aegis Cave is a Post-main story dungeon in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky. It's unlocked after completing Miracle Sea and doing random missions. People consider this dungeon to be one of the annoying ones.

Why It Sucks

1. The dungeon is mostly filled with Unown. Unown itself is extremely weak, due to the fact that it can only learn Hidden Force, and nothing else.
2. The gimmick of the dungeon is that there's a stone tablet on the monument room. However, it sucks for the following reasons:
   1. To unlock it, you have to find a certain item that an Unown randomly has, aka, a stone with the letter of that Unown. Problem is, the Unown that your pokémon are searching may not have that stone.
   2. To open the secret stairs, you need to have respectively the stones that spells I, C and E on the first room, R, O, C and K on the second room, and S, T, E, E and L on the third room.
   3. Sometimes, the Unown that you're searching would not be on the floor you are, forcing you to go on the stairs.
   4. Unless is a Rock that has the letter C, E, I, K, L, O, R, S and T, the other ones are useless.
   5. On top of all that, if you stay too long in the dungeon, a mysterious force will appear, and if you keep waiting after three warnings, you'll fail the mission.
3. If you want to recruit all the Unowns, good luck, as they will spawn randomly between floors.
4. This mission is obligatory, if you want to proceed in the post-main story.
5. Unlike the other dungeons, where the inter-missive rooms could let you return to Treasure Town, Aegis Cave doesn't let you do that. The only way to go away is to use an Escape Orb or completing the dungeon.
6. If you want to recruit Regice, Regirock and Registeel, you have to defeat them the second time, then hope that, after obtaining the guardian's permission, a cutscene starts and allows you to accept the Regi trio. However, their recruitment rate is a -12%, so you may need more tries.
7. During the first time, after defeating Registeel, Team Charm is rescued, as from what said by Lopunny, Medicham had troubles while they was fighting Registeel himself. However, the problem is, Medicham is also a fighting-type pokémon, and is unlikely that Registeel could have defeated her, due to the fact that Superpower and Ancient Power, respectively a fighting-type and a rock-type move, aren't very effective on Medicham.
   1. It would make sense if Medicham missed High Jump Kick, a move she can learn (which causes damage if the attack misses), however, it's not the case, as during the Regigigas fight, she has Psych Up, Force Palm, Reversal and Confusion. So, how Medicham had troubles, we'll never truly know.
8. In the Regigigas Chamber, you do not only fight Regigigas, but four Bronzong and four Hitmonlee as well.
   1. Speaking of which, they all have Intimidator as a IQ ability (as Hitmonlee is in the IQ Group C, while Regigigas and Bronzorg are in the group E), which means that they have a chance to make you cringe before even trying to attack them. It even happens if a Pokemon that has an attack that affects all enemies (such as Blizzard and Discharge) is near on all of them.
      1. It's worth mentioning that even Charmander, Cyndaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, Shinx, Riolu, Squirtle, Totodile, Turtwig and Munchlax (and their evolutions as well) can learn Intimidator (as they're respectively six of the Group C and four of the Group E of the IQ Group) as an IQ ability, however, you have to get the IQ at 560, before even learning that.
9. Depending of the leader (and the starter) you choose, the boss battles may become easy or hard.
   1. Chimchar, Torchic, Charmander, Vulpix, Cyndaquil and any Fire-type Pokémon can easily wreck Regice and Registeel, but not Regirock (unless they have a fighting-type move), and Bronzong has Heatproof as ability, making them more durable against fire-type Pokémon.
   2. Squirtle, Totodile, Piplup, Mudkip and any Water-type Pokémon does big damage to Regirock, but not to the other two. Also, while some of them can learn moves such as Mud-Slap or Crunch, Regirock, Regice and Registeel has Clear Body, which negates any stats reduction caused by other pokemons (Even Vile Seeds can't do nothing).
   3. Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Treeko, Turtwig and any Grass-type Pokémon, despite being useful against Regirock, they're useless against Registeel (unless they have a ground-type move), and are disadvantaged against Regice.
   4. Shinx, Pikachu and any Electric-type Pokémon that can learn Discharge, are absolute strong, as they can instantly wreck all the bosses in this dungeon, without being hit.
   5. Riolu and any Fighting-type Pokémon can easily wreck Regirock, Regice, Registeel and Regigigas, but they're disadvantaged against Bronzong. Also, unless it has a ranged Fighting-type move, it's more surely that Intimidator will work.
   6. While Phanpy and any Ground-type Pokémon can learn Earthquake, it's only effective against Regirock and Registeel. Also, not only Bronzorg has Levitate, but Earthquake (if learnt), can hit not only Regigigas and Hitmonlee, but Lopunny, Gardevoir and Medicham as well, damaging your allies.
      1. The alternative would be learning Earth Power, which not only doesn't hit Lopunny, Medicham and Gardevoir, but can also decrease the Special Defense.
   7. Unless they have a good move, Munchlax, Meowth, Skitty, Eevee and any normal-type pokemon might not be able to defeat the bosses. Also, Regice, Regirock and Registeel has Superpower, which is a FIGHTING-TYPE MOVE.
10. If you intend to use Regigigas as a Leader, think again, because his ability, Slow Start, will always, and ALWAYS, reduce the pokemon's speed at the start of a floor.
    1. Not to mention, his size is extremely large, which allows you to bring only 2-1 pokemons with you.
    2. Regigigas can also remember Fire Punch, Ice Punch and Thunder Punch. However, it should be noted that even Hitmonchan, Dusknoir and Medicham can learn these moves as well, and while being slightly weaker than Regigigas, their ability (respectively Iron Fist, Pressure and Pure Power) are more useful than Slow Start. Did we mention that they can be obtained early during the post-game?
11. If you have the Explorers of Time version, you won't be able to recruit Mewtwo at all.
    1. Speaking of which, you also require to have a Mystery Part or a Secret Slab, if you have the Explorers of Darkness version.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The idea of using certain stones to resolve an enigma is pretty good, althrough not executed well.
2. At least Unown has a better purpose in this game.
3. During the first time on this dungeon, Team Charm fights with you during Regigigas's battle.
4. Regigigas, unlike the other three Regi, will ask to join you upon defeating him for the second time.
5. It unlocks Concealed Ruins, a new dungeon.
6. The music is amazing.
7. Thankfully, Mewtwo is no longer a Pokemon that requires a Mystery Part/Secret Slab in the Explorers of Sky version.