Thought on Cynthia and timing...

[Nando]

What if HGSS takes place a bit BEFORE Diamond/Pearl/Platinum?

Cynthia does say she 'went on a big adventure with a Pokédex', but who says it was surely in Sinnoh?

 

[War Raichu]

What if HGSS takes place a bit BEFORE Diamond/Pearl/Platinum?

Cynthia does say she 'went on a big adventure with a Pokédex', but who says it was surely in Sinnoh?

judging from the vague timeline, HGSS would have to take place before DPPt, since by time you're starting your adventure in Sinnoh, the Lake of Rage incident has already occurred. In addition, nobody knows how old the program you watch is, so Gold may have already beaten Red by time Lucas/Dawn watches it.

Indeed, Cynthia's whereabouts until you meet up with her in Eterna are unknown, but who's to say that her Pokedex adventure had to be at that point in time? In any case, post Elite 4 events are usually timeless, so your meeting with Cynthia in HGSS could happen at any time. In addition, by the end of DPPt Cynthia doesn't seem to acknowledge any of the events in HGSS. You'd think a history nut like Cynthia would jump at the chance to talk about seeing Arceus.

 

[Glitchipedia]

I like to think of GSCHGSS as starting slightly before DPPt, but once Gold/Kris/Soul gets as far as, say, Goldenrod or Ecruteak, then Lucas/Dawn finally gets out of the house.

It's quite possible that Cynthia uses some kind of flying/surfing Pokémon to travel between Johto and Sinnoh during the events of both games.

 

[The Jean Genie]

Considering that if you don't have Arceus, she won't appear, it's sort of a retcon in that way.

But I agree with War Raichu's statement.
The events in the game take place over a few weeks, if not months. So she could be somewhere in Johto beforehand.

 

[Nando]

I just think it would be neat to see a backstory for Cynthia actually play a part in a separate game.

I like to think of GSCHGSS as starting slightly before DPPt, but once Gold/Kris/Soul gets as far as, say, Goldenrod or Ecruteak, then Lucas/Dawn finally gets out of the house.

That can't be quite right. If the Red Gyarados was seen and filmed at Lake of Rage, I would think it wouldn't have been there for that long, otherwise someone (Lance?) would have dealt with it before Gold/Krys/Soul did.

 

[Martonimos]

Cynthia is Soul.

That would answer a lot of questions if it made any sense at all.

 

[Glitchipedia]

That can't be quite right. If the Red Gyarados was seen and filmed at Lake of Rage, I would think it wouldn't have been there for that long, otherwise someone (Lance?) would have dealt with it before Gold/Krys/Soul did.

Lance could easily be preoccupied with other matters. It's not easy being the Champion, you know.

As for anyone else dealing with it...the news report seems to indicate that the Red Gyarados is difficult to locate, even though this is clearly NOT the case once Gold/Kris/Soul finally gets there (though that's just for gameplay purposes).

 

[Falconwing]

Lance could easily be preoccupied with other matters. It's not easy being the Champion, you know.

As for anyone else dealing with it...the news report seems to indicate that the Red Gyarados is difficult to locate, even though this is clearly NOT the case once Gold/Kris/Soul finally gets there (though that's just for gameplay purposes).

I don't know, Lance had a lot of time to run around kicking Rockets and blasting them with hyper beams. Which I suppose is a good thing because champions aren't exactly the most helpful of guys. Cynthia is not a guy and thus doesn't count.

And I like the fact it is hard to locate, even though it can be seen from the shore. Be nice if that were changed a wee bit in HGSS. At least make the guy harder to find. Might as well stick a sign on his ruby hide.

 

[Silktree]

There is a very good chance that Cynthia never leaves Sinnoh and only meets the HGSS player at Shinto Ruins, which are located on Mt. Coronet. The player is transported there for the purposes of the event and then goes back to the Ruins of Alph.

At any rate, Cynthia was clueless as to the Original One's identity by the end of Platinum. This proves it:

This cave painting... It's always been described this way.
The light in the center represents either Dialga or Palkia appearing at the Spear Pillar.
The three lights around it were thought to be Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf.
But, then, I realized that there may be another way of interpreting this.
Could this triangle of lights actually represent a different trio?
Could they be Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina instead?
And the large light in the center. Does it represent something else?
Could it be what created this world of ours?
Do you know of the ancient Plates they find all over Sinnoh?
One of them had this engraved on it.
"Two beings of time and space set free from the Original One."
I think this quote, too, points to the presence of another Pokémon.
A Pokémon even more powerful than Dialga or Palkia.
Does that sound plausible to you?

As for anyone else dealing with it...the news report seems to indicate that the Red Gyarados is difficult to locate, even though this is clearly NOT the case once Gold/Kris/Soul finally gets there (though that's just for gameplay purposes).

Agreed, the red Gyarados could have eluded the exploration team in any number of ways that didn't involve Gold/Kris. They could have caught it later after the report had already been aired; there had to have been some report in the Generation II games that lured people to the lake (one girl stated that she came to the lake just to see it). In Platinum, the report is no longer aired right at the beginning of the story, and can be watched at any point in time randomly generated by the game. Not only that, but there are also similar reports surrounding Lugia and Ho-Oh, where again the exploration team fails to get a look at them. We definitely know about Lugia and Ho-Oh that they wouldn't have to be caught to avoid being seen.

All we really know is that the red Gyarados report is supposed to have been filmed by the time Lucas/Dawn runs into the cameraman at the entrance to Lake Valor. This happens after the fourth Sinnoh Gym, and indeed, it was possible in the Generation II games to find the red Gyarados right after getting Morty's badge.

There is a possibility that the Johto journey begins right around the time the Sinnoh journey does. What is much clearer, in my eyes, is the fact that the entire DPPt journey (Battle Zone included) will have ended by the time the HGSS one does.

 

[VeggiePopper]

@UL:
1. Who says Shinto is in Coronet? There are some allusions, but not any confirmation yet. Although I go for that idea, it's not set, so don't state it as definitive.

2. Hard to find? It's in a rage!! It's rampaging all over the lake!!! Could a huge, rampaging Pokémon be hard to see? Not to mention that when you arrive to the lake, the Gyarados is quite visible. Oh, and in the original games, I think there's some NPC saying they witnessed it. So for me there's a different logic. Wanna follow me?

The report says they couldn't find the Pokémon. Which makes me think of these possibilities:
1. Gold/girl captured it.
2. Gold/girl beat it, calming it down, thus, it stopped its rampage and go hid within the Lake's depths to have a normal life.
3. The whole Rocket plot has been concluded, so, now that the radio signal is not rpesent anymore, the Gyarados has calmed down.

After that, now the Red Gyarados is indeed hard to find. Then the report comes and finally, DPPt starts.

Oh, and if that doesn't convince you, take on consideration the fact that the whole Gyarados incident happens because the participation of Team Rocket, and by the time of GSC/HGSS it seems TR's presence in Johto is a bit recent, and they're not really established until a bit later (I think after the Slowpoke Well chapter), which makes me think that when DPPt starts, Team Rocket has already put in practice their evoultion scheme, which in turns leads us to believe they are already well stablished, and thus, GSC/HGSS has started quite a bit ago.

 

[Mitchman]

All I know we better meet Cynthia buying a SecretPotion in Cianwood.

 

[VeggiePopper]

All I know we better meet Cynthia buying a SecretPotion in Cianwood.

Which seems to have happened some time before, also a hint on GSC/HGSS taking place before Sinnoh's story.

 

[Shinx3000]

I like to think of GSCHGSS as starting slightly before DPPt, but once Gold/Kris/Soul gets as far as, say, Goldenrod or Ecruteak, then Lucas/Dawn finally gets out of the house.

It's quite possible that Cynthia uses some kind of flying/surfing Pokémon to travel between Johto and Sinnoh during the events of both games.

We don't yet know if the location she appears in is not in Sinnoh, the player with Arceus could be transported there or something and after the event, sent back.

Besides, a surfing/flying pokemon would "crash" fro surfing/flying so long from Sinnoh to Johto and back, they are not difrectly side by side.

I think forget D/P timelines and stick with Platinums one, it has the most reference to the HGSS timeline with cameraman who filmed the red garaydos is outside Lake Valour...how long does it take you to get there from your house to valour? First how long would it be for the cameraman to get to Sinoh after finishing what he did?

 

[Max King]

I thought it was definate that Platinum happened before HGSS.
Otherwise, Cynthia would have known about Giaratina in Platinum, but she doesn't until the end.

Just because they are looking for a Red Gyarados, doesn't necesarily mean, that the events of GSC have happened yet.

 

[Falconwing]

I thought it was definate that Platinum happened before HGSS.
Otherwise, Cynthia would have known about Giaratina in Platinum, but she doesn't until the end.

Just because they are looking for a Red Gyarados, doesn't necesarily mean, that the events of GSC have happened yet.

Okay, who's to say Cynthia finds out about giratina in HGSS?

 

[War Raichu]

I really hope the game at least makes mention to Cynthia buying the Secretpotion. It doesn't even have to be specific. Just something like:

People from all over come to buy our Secretpotion.
Why, just a month ago this nice young lady came in and bought some.
I believe she mentioned that she was a Pokemon Champion from a far off land...Sinnoh, was it?
Said she was in Johto to study Pokemon mythology.
I imagine she visited the Ruins of Alph.

FRLG had plenty of references to both GSC and RSE so I hope to see plenty of references to DPPt.

 

[Max King]

Okay, who's to say Cynthia finds out about giratina in HGSS?

Let me see, the giant giratina formed in front of her during the arceus event, and arceus telling her to tell the player, he can choose between dialga, palkia or giratina?

 

[Falconwing]

Do you have proof Cynthia sticks around for that? Also, what if you pick Dialga or Palkia?

And also, since when did Cynthia tell us to pick one of the three?

 

[Max King]

Do you have proof Cynthia sticks around for that? Also, what if you pick Dialga or Palkia?

And also, since when did Cynthia tell us to pick one of the three?

Well, she definately sees Arceus, and in Platinum she is not to sure who Arceus is even at the end, she just says she heard a legend about a creater, and yes, Cynthia says "Arceus is giving you a choice" and even if you picked dialga, or pakia, she still heard the word giratina mentioned in the trio, and can clearly see a 3rd option, despite not knowing about a 3rd member in Platinum till the very end when you meet giratina.

 

[Falconwing]

I thought you couldn't read Japanese.

Okay, well since we know little about the event, let's assume that, as previously stated, the timelines are weird and unknowable until the game comes out.