ULTRAAAA! ULTRAAAA! ULTRAAA!...Sun and Moon

[Chase]

Okay, so here are the ramifications that come to mind here. It's stated that the RRocket members joined up together after accomplishing their goals - meaning a kid certainly didn't stop them in their own universes.

 

GIOVANNI thus runs a very successful crime syndicate that spans both Kanto and Johto - if the Rocket presence in Johto is pre-established before the events of Gold and Silver. Giovanni's most marked quality is his ambitiousness, so his forming a league of super villains checks out because it would make sense if he needed still more Pokemon.

 

ARCHIE and MAXIE are rival leaders placed in a seemingly untenable alliance under Giovanni's thumb, but if their world was destroyed by the powers of Groudon and Kyogre (or the Delta Episode's meteor strike, which could happen to either ORAS Hoenn -or- RSE Hoenn depending on if the ORAS Devon Corp. uses their portal machine or not.) it would make sense that Archie and Maxie would be looking for work - and possibly a new home. This would check out if world destruction was a part of these two gentlemens' plans. The two leaders seem to be remorseful in their original games about endangering Hoenn after the two Pokemon are revealed to be more powerful than originally thought. There isn't a reason for either of these two leaders to continue being criminals after what they experience.

 

CYRUS would like have control of Time, Space, and ...Antimatter? Plasma?....what metaphysical substance or thing is Giratina responsible for? The point here is - Cyrus would equate to a god if his plans were to succeed in DPPt. Why turn around and pass on godhood for an admin job under Giovanni?

 

GHETSIS' successful liberation of all Pokemon from Unova is a bit trickier to identify as a success or a failure. It's probably presumed that N becomes "king" of the region, the events of Black and White 2 never happen, and Ghetsis' status is unknown. We do know that N and Ghetsis aren't exactly on the same page, as N is tricked in to doing what he believes is good. Is it possible Ghetsis leaves N to reign over Unova in their universe and carries on his work in Alola in the USUM universe? Maybe.

 

Lysandre and Team Flare's plan is to destroy the world to create one more beautiful. If that succeeds...welll, Lysandre and his goons are probably out of a planet to dwell in, but they do probably survive because of their bunker underground. Would it be reasonable for Lysandre to hop into the Alolan paradise to try again? With a destitute overworld, yeah, it would. UNLESS.... The second time the ultimate weapon is used utterly destroys the planet, killing Lysandre anyway.

 

Faba seems to represent the Aether Foundation's scientist cronies from the first Sun and Moon games in this RRocket group. This checks out more than any of the above, unsurprisingly, because of the three important Aether members (Lusamine, Faba, and Wicke) only Faba seems to remain a tinge malignant with his dislike of children. He also has a mean ambitious streak, and it would make absolute sense for him to turn on Lusamine to further his status. Either the SUMO Faba -or- USUM's Faba would work here - because SuMo Faba is likely still in charge of the Aether Foundation while Lusamine is in Ultra Space and could easily become "President". USUM Faba's character is equally prone due to his inherent ambitiousness.

 

Only about HALF of these "success" stories make sense to me - so I hope this is just some nostalgia thing - or if they have to retcon the series this way, that they figure out a sensible way to do so.

[The Swordsman]

I can't say I am excited for Team Rainbow Rocket because I don't find Giovanni leading the other evil team leaders believable, especially Ghetsis and Cyrus.

On 11/3/2017 at 3:12 PM, Chase said:

GHETSIS' successful liberation of all Pokemon from Unova is a bit trickier to identify as a success or a failure. It's probably presumed that N becomes "king" of the region, the events of Black and White 2 never happen, and Ghetsis' status is unknown. We do know that N and Ghetsis aren't exactly on the same page, as N is tricked in to doing what he believes is good. Is it possible Ghetsis leaves N to reign over Unova in their universe and carries on his work in Alola in the USUM universe? Maybe.

Liberation was more of N's goal, Ghetsis wanted to make it where he was the only one with pokemon so he could take over the world. I honestly believe Ghetsis would kill off N and the team members loyal to him after they had outlived their usefulness considering N and Rood would eventually become a problem, Ghetsis wants to be the ruler and Ghetsis' original team seems like it was made to counter N's.

Edited November 7, 2017 by The Swordsman

[seki108]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd it's leaked.  What I've heard of the music sounds good.  Not going to repost here (because spoilers), but I linked the channel uploading them in a status update........or just look for them yourselves.

[Howin]

Ahaha, of course it leaked. Bout to start playing it myself, which is surprising cause I had no interest in it as of like a day ago.

[The Swordsman]

I am staying away from the leaks for the most part (so far I have only listened to music) so I would like to return to Team Rainbow Rocket. ProtoMario released a video on his thoughts on it and brought to my attention that in the official site it does not say the team is from another universe, which if true would clear up the plot hole of why would Cyrus and Ghetsis work for Giovanni. As Giovanni could offer freedom for Cyrus and Ghetsis would have lost his mind after his second defeat making it easier for Giovanni to recruit him without having to deal with his ego.

Edited November 10, 2017 by The Swordsman

[YinYang9705]

new trailer dropped, mostly showing off the move tutors while also confirming necrozmas new form without showing it off

 

[SuperNova]

I didn't get myself leaked (just the official trailers)so, should I buy Ultra sun or ultra moon (I played sun at the begging).

Also is my boy Zygarde with all his forms in there?

[The Swordsman]

On 11/17/2017 at 7:54 AM, SuperNova said:

I didn't get myself leaked (just the official trailers)so, should I buy Ultra sun or ultra moon (I played sun at the begging).

Also is my boy Zygarde with all his forms in there?

I suggest getting Ultra Sun if you are at all going to use Dusk Lycanroc like me.  You have to evolve it at 5:00-6:00 PM in game time, which presents a problem for me since I got Ultra Moon. I guess I'll be waking up early.

[CURIE]

So I was able to get the game at a discount, not sure yet if I can consider it worth full price if you've already played the first games.  I haven't gotten very far yet (only just beat the first trial) but I think I have enough to give my thoughts so far.  Also I'm going into this about 60% spoiler free, I stopped looking at anything the moment they revealed the Battle Factory was coming back.  So if anything I say sounds ignorant of what's coming later, that's why.

 

 

First, the non-story stuff.

Spoiler

-First of all, obviously, it's more or less the same game but with several relatively minor differences, at least so far.  Not that it's inherently a bad thing.  That's how these "expanded" games always are, at least until pretty far into the story.  And the original Sun and Moon were good games, a huge step up from X and Y.  So I'm not complaining there.

 

-I'm not sure if I'm sold on the new battle themes, but you know what I am sold on?  The new battle interface.  It's gorgeous.  Oh, and those 3 second transitions before wild battles.  Those are pretty too.  The new pause menu I'm not so sure about, it seems like they saw how simplistic the last game's menu was, wanted to improve it, and kiiiiiinda overdid it and made it just slightly too gaudy.  Where was the demand for a prettier pause menu anyway?  What players, looking at the problems Sun and Moon had, thought "the pause menu needs to be prettier" was a priority?

 

-I was gonna say something about how much I hate the new male protagonist's default design, but then then I got to the clothing store, went in the dressing room, took of the stupid hat, and suddenly realized I actually like this guy when he's not wearing the hat.  Like, I think he's my favorite male protagonist in at least 3 generations.  But only when he's not wearing that STUPID hat.  Not that any of this matters since this is a game with customization, so 90% of players won't even keep the default design.

 

-When Ilima first told me about those stickers and described them as a way to "direct the trial goers" I was like "oh no not MORE handholding".  But no, it seems like they're hidden collectibles.  Lol good job on that "guiding newbies" thing Ilima.  But seriously, I potentially like this incentive for players to search the region more thoroughly.  Potentially, because I don't know what they do yet.  Zygarde cells did the same thing (I think the stickers are replacing those?) but if you didn't care about Zygarde,  there was no incentive.  Also the sound effect that plays when you get one is oddly satisfying.

 

-They introduce the Mantine Surf thing way earlier than I thought they would, even though I'm not actually there yet (an NPC told me I'd be able to after beating Hala).  This is actually great, not because of the minigame itself (I have yet to try it), but because they're implementing tutor moves gradually through the main campaign rather than all at once in the postgame, plus you can now buy PP ups.  You know, like Reborn.  Anything that makes the official games more like Reborn is a good thing.  Except Cain.  Don't put Cain in the official games.

 

-If you go back in the thread you can see I was kinda upset about them bringing O-powers back and (seemingly) making them even more OP in the form of "Rotom powers".  Well now that I've been introduce to them it seems they won't be nearly as OP as it seemed.  Not only are they randomized, and seem to be relatively few and far between, but they're actually items and you have to spend a turn to actually use them in battle.  Do they still break the game?  We'll see.  Seems like it depends on how frequently you get them.

 

-Speaking of breaking the game, the exp share's still there.  Yeah, I knew they weren't gonna get rid of it this game, and I'll honestly be surprised if they ever get rid of it, but as long as it's there, and on by default, it's a strike against the game difficulty-wise.

 

And now some thoughts on the story difference, of which there was slightly more than I expected this early on.

Spoiler

-The first noticeable thing is that you get your starter earlier.  Now this was obviously done with good intentions, one of the problems with Sun and Moon was that it took you too long to actually get to the "Pokemon" part of the "Pokemon" game.  Buuuuuuut this is a double edged sword when it didn't need to be, because Gamefreak was too freaking lazy to change the following cutscenes and now they don't make sense.  Why not just fight off those Spearows with your Pokemon that you DO have this time?  Why does my mom act like she's never seen my starter even though she has?  This could have been very easily avoided but Gamefreak just couldn't be bothered.

 

-Those two Ultra Society or whatever people.  What even were their names?  Whatever.  The game.  It just shoves.  Them.  Down.  Your.  Throat.  Okay so they're in the opening cutscene with Lillie.  That's fine.  Makes the player wonder who they are.  But then they keep appearing and it feels like they're just interrupting the game each time to yell at you HEY LOOK WE'RE SO MYSTERIOUS LOOK AT HOW MYSTERIOUS WE ARE.  And despite this, their dialogue gives away everything about them.  Yeah, I kinda stopped paying attention to Corocoro stuff on purpose but just from what they've said in these annoying scenes, I know they're from another world and are after the "Blinding One" who's either Nebby or Necrozma or both and where they come from they don't have Pokeballs and even the name of their organization.  Gamefreak could have cut it down to just being in the opening cutscene, and then maybe that one time where they meet you after the trial, and it would be just fine.  I'm not even sold on them as characters, so far their personality boils down to "oh wow these earthling traditions are so interesting and I am totally not an alien from another dimension, now let us go do totally-not-suspicious things".  And their theme plays in every one of their scenes, and it just... doesn't transition well with any of the other themes in the game.

 

-Team Skull's introduction in the first game was just fine as it was and they botched it.  You know the scene I'm talking about.  The one with Ilima.  Yeah, that's gone now.  It was replaced by a scene where you're with Hau instead, and he reacts to them with the generic "oh no they're bad people who steal Pokemon and do bad stuff" thing that every other evil team is introduced with.  Yes they have better scenes later on, but first impressions are a big deal.  And now, to anyone who didn't play Sun/Moon, team Skull just lost a lot of their unique charm.  The stupidest part is WHY is this even a thing?  The starter thing made sense, it was a not-so-well executed attempt at fixing a problem in the first game.  The two weirdos made sense, they're gonna be important to the story later on.  But WHY DID YOU CHANGE THIS SCENE.

 

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I've mostly finished USUM. I've done the main game, the postgame story, and almost all the sidequests. I still have two totem stickers to find, going back to Ultra Space for the UBs + legendaries, catching the Tapus, and champion title defense, but I'll probably do those at a more casual pace. (I actually never ended up catching the tapus in SM, except for Tapu Koko during the end credits battle)

 

Like I did for SM, here's what I liked and didn't like about USUM. I won't be repeating anything from SM, but I may mention a few things I didn't think to mention last time. This contains spoilers all the way up to the postgame. 

 

Liked

 

-It's amazing how many sidequests have been added from SM. Sidequests are one of my favorite parts of games, and it was fun going back to explore the islands after becoming Champion. It's amazing how much I missed the first time through and how much you can do in previously visited areas after certain points in the game. I'm still not sure that I discovered everything. 

-The Pokemon that want to play with you are cute. 

-The new books you can find in bookshelves. I read these in SM too, but they went into an amazing amount of detail with some of the new ones, especially the "choose your adventure" ones. My favorite was the one in Game Freak where the choices you make determine what part of game development the narrator gets into, and even in the paths where the narrator doesn't become a game developer, he's still happy about the career he chooses. 

-You can see more of Ultra Space! I understand why we only got the one area in SM, since making it the size of a region probably would've been a lot of work, but I was still curious about the rest of it. From what I understand, each UB has its own area now, which is cool. 

-Mantine Surfing is really fun. I've only done it once, but I like everything about it: the concept, the music, the Mantine,the fact that you can do techniques, and having another method of earning BP. 

-Ultra Recon Squad are better than I thought. I assumed they'd be villains, but they weren't, and I like their actual role better than if they were. 

-I like the Lusamine events here way better than SM's. I also like that there's no permanent goodbye with Lillie and Lusamine at the end of the game. Gladion does go to Kanto, but from what I've heard you can still battle him in champion title defense.

-Kahili getting a little more screen time, even though it was just a little. 

-I enjoy collecting totem stickers more than Zygarde cells, though I'm not really sure why. I guess part of it could be that no totem stickers are time-locked. 

-Mareep was added to the Alola dex. Ampharos is my favorite Pokemon. 

-The new interactions with the Rotom Dex. 

-The new trainer theme took a while to get used to, but it's grown on me and now I think I might like it just as much as the original (which is still used for trial captains). I still prefer SM's wild Pokemon theme to USUM's though.
 

 

 

Didn't like

 

-Forced tutorials for side features. This isn't new to Pokemon at all and already happened in SM, but there's even more this time. When just trying to complete the main story, these can feel like needless interruptions. The worst-timed ones imo were the Festival Plaza and Battle Agency, but at least the Battle Agency one just explained how it works instead of making you try it. Ironically, the only one that wasn't forced was for my favorite new feature, Mantine Surfing. If I understood right, you can choose to either go to Akala by boat with Kukui and Lillie or Mantine Surf there with Hau, and I chose the latter (assuming I had that choice; I didn't check to see whether I could still go by boat). That tutorial I felt was helpful and necessary for those who chose that path. 

-You don't get to explore Ultra Megalopolis at all. All you see is Megalo Tower and a bunch of skyscrapers in the distance. I imagined this would be a huge area and I was really looking forward to exploring it, so this disappointed me. 

-The ending of the Rainbow Rocket story, where Giovanni acknowledges your talent to himself, and immediately after is like "Well, what other world should I try my schemes in?" I'm not really sure if this is the Giovanni who failed to Red or the one who succeeded with no one interrupting him (since the other team leaders come from parallel worlds where they succeeded). It makes more sense if this would be the Giovanni who succeeded, but it left a bad taste in my mouth either way, since he's going to do the same things in another world and we just have to hope someone else stops him. I know Giovanni's goals have always been pretty simple and straightforward, but this Giovanni (whichever he is) is too one-dimensional for me. I don't like when villains learn nothing, which is also a problem I have with Faba. I know a lot of people don't like this segment of the game and call it fanservice (which it is), but I really like how some things were handled and the scene with Guzma and the two Rocket grunts was funny. This is my main problem with it, though. I'm not really a fan of the whole multiverse concept that ORAS introduced to begin with. I like the different worlds with the Ultra Space, but not alternate realities with the same people and settings but with different outcomes. I had hoped Zinnia was just being really imaginative when she mentioned that. 

 

 

These were things I didn't necessarily dislike but was confused about

 

-After battling Kiawe as part of Mina's trial (one of my favorite trials btw) and the Hiker battles you after, Kiawe says "My hiker friend was so excited by your right answer that he just had to battle you!" That line doesn't really make sense in the context and seems like it was copy-pasted from the trial, in the context where it would make sense. 

-I didn't think it made sense for Molayne to replace Hala in the E4. Molayne is a skilled trainer but I imagine he's someone who focuses more on his other projects (PC manager and whatever he does at the observatory) than straight-up battling. Whereas Hala is really enthusiastic about battling. I don't think the E4 needed to change. 

-When it was said the player had a lot of z-crystals, Guzma said "Unlike the captains and kahunas who only focus on one type." But Guzma only focuses on one type...

 

 

There may be a few things I forgot. But overall, I enjoy USUM a lot more than SM (not that I didn't enjoy SM too), and I think I prefer them being more like Emerald and Platinum than like BW2. 

[CURIE]

Okay, now I've cleared Akala Island.

 

Non-story stuff

Spoiler

-I'm not sure how but I forgot to mention the expanded Pokedex last time.  Well obviously I like it.  I can't really think of a way you can argue it's NOT a good thing, except maybe "it makes me less likely to find this specific Pokemon I want on this route". 

 

-At some point the Rotom Dex decided that he'd start giving me """""""advice""""""" every five seconds and OH GOD MAKE IT STOP WHY DID THEY ADD THIS MAKE IT STOP IT'S WORSE THAN FI MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP

 

-Speaking of the Rotom Dex, remember what I said about the Rotom Powers and seeing wether or not their randomization would properly nerf them?  Yeah, no.  I've already got more than 15 Roto-boosts, and each one of them boosts ALL your Pokemon's stats by one stage.  Basically an insta-win button, at least in this point of the game.  Incidentally, though, I haven't gotten the multiple-Z-moves-in-a-battle power even once yet.  Is it not actually added to the lotto until later?

 

-The Mantine Surf minigame is... eh.  I can't complain since there's a move named after Primarina, and as I mentioned earlier it's really cool that they're implementing the tutor moves during the main campaign, so those things more than make up for the fact that the minigame itself is forgettable.

 

-I would have said the Alolan Photo Club was also meh, but then I found out a detail about it that changed my entire opinion on the thing.  The fact that you can use it to view Amie animations.  There are a lot of Pokemon who have really cute unique Amie animations that you can only see once ever, or even not at all (Brionne in particular had one I'm positive I've never seen before despite the fact that this is the second game in a row I've used her), and the fact that you can take pictures of them too makes it even better.  Also it allowed me to make this... mistake.

Spoiler

 

-I forgot last post to talk about those Pokemon NPCs that you can "play" with.  I would have said something along the lines of "this could be really cool as long as they're not all the same".  AND GUESS WHAT.  THEY'RE ALL THE FREAKIN SAME.  It's made worse by the fact that they just put these things absolutley freakin everywhere, like, why draw such attention to this thing when you can't even be assed to make it not be the exact same thing every time?

 

-It seems this game added a lot more sidequests, and they're hit and miss.  For example, I really like the Vulpix quest so far (maybe I'm biased because it's Alolan Vulpix), but some of the others are like "watch this cutscene and fight this guy and that's it".  There was one where I didn't even have to do anything, it was just a cutscene where some random boy had a mock wedding with his Pikachu and then he gives me a reward for watching it.  It doesn't help that the rewards for half of these things aren't anything special.  That Vulpix quest better not disappoint me with how it ends.

 

-Speaking of sidequests, I've beaten Hala but can't get that sidequest with Ilima to happen.  Have the trial captain quests been removed?  That's a really odd choice.  One that makes the captain's houses feel like they're kinda there for no reason...

 

-Gamefreak is really making a big deal out of Pikachu Valley.  I've seen not one but three trailer/promotional articles that had it as a major focus, and even in the game there were multiple NPCs talking about it both before and after I actually went there.  So I finally get there, and what is it?  It's literally nothing.  It's just a bunch of Pikachu NPCs that you can play with (which as I mentioned earlier, are all the same and do nothing), and a woman who gives you a Pikachu shirt.  That's it.  Yeah you can get the Pikashunium-Z if you have the event Pikachu, but that could have just been given by any old NPC anywhere else (there's a dude in a hotel that gives all the other event Z crystals).  You can't even surf across the river and explore the caves on the other side!  Why did Gamefreak think this was a selling point for their game???

 

-Turns out the Totem Stickers are for getting totem-sized versions of Pokemon (with their hidden abilities).  That's really cool, although like with the Zygarde thing it only appeals to people who actually care about those Pokemon.  Well, since there's multiple Pokemon you can get from the quest, and they aren't legendaries, I guess it's more likely any given player would care about it.  So that's good, it means more players have an incentive to explore the game.

 

Story stuff

Spoiler

-Remember how I complained how much the game shoved the Ultra Recon Squad guys down your throat at the beginning?  (I actually remembered their name yay)  Well that got better.  After I made that complaint, those two only showed up once more on Melemele and then twice more on Akala, and in none of those three cutscenes did it feel like the game was just shoehorning them in.  That's good, but as I said earlier, first impressions are a big deal.  They really shouldn't have had them appear so many times in the early game.

 

-They didn't change Gladion's scenes at all.  Which is good.  Gladion is perfect as he is.

 

-Remember Dexio and Sina?  Those two who showed up once to introduce the Zygarde quest and then again in the postgame to give you the mega ring?  Yeah, their scene's still here.  "But there isn't a Zygarde quest in this game", I hear you asking.  "So what do they do this time?"  Well, the answer is nothing.  They just show up and are like "Hey we exist.  Now bye".  It's pointless.

 

-Speaking of pointless cameos, that was a problem I had with Sun and Moon. It had these cameo scenes where Colress and Grimsley show up like they're gonna be important, and then you just never see them again except as bonus opponents in the Battle Tree.  Well, it looks like that may be fixed in this game.  Maybe.  Colress' introduction scene had him talking to the Ultra Recon dudes and offering to help them with whatever it is they're doing, so it looks like he and Grimsley will actually be more than pointless cameos this time.  Hopefully.

 

-Back in Sun and Moon the water trial was a sort of plot twist, Lana was like "I'll let you do the trial if you help me out with this thing" and reveals at the end that you were doing the trial the whole time.  This time they tell you straight up at the beginning that you're doing the trial, and instead the "plot twist" is that the Totem Pokemon is Araquanid and not Wishiwashi this time.  The problem is, not only would this plot twist not actually BE a plot twist to someone who hasn't played Sun and Moon, but it ruins the introduction of Wishiwashi's unique ability.  Now, all that player sees of Wishiwashi is a weakling little guppy Pokemon with terrible stats.  There isn't even an NPC with a Wishiwashi until much later into the game, and even then it's easily missed.

 

-Kiawe's trial also changed the Totem Pokemon, but that's not a problem.  What is the problem is that they ruined the Hiker David joke by having him appear the first time as well as the second.  Why would they even do this?  Did they somehow think it'd be funnier?

 

-After beating Kiwae's trial the Poke Pelago dude shows up and tells you that you're able to go there now.  I don't remember if this was in the original Sun and Moon, but either way this is how I prefer Gamefreak handle tutorials about things like Pelago and Festival Plaza.  Have a quick cutscene letting the player know they can go there, and only going full tutorial mode if they actually do.  In gen 4 and 5, I hated that the game brought my progress to a screeching halt to teach me about multiplayer features that didn't even work anymore.

 

[Wolfox]

26 minutes ago, Eagleby18 said:

Okay, now I've cleared Akala Island.

 

Non-story stuff

  Reveal hidden contents

-I'm not sure how but I forgot to mention the expanded Pokedex last time.  Well obviously I like it.  I can't really think of a way you can argue it's NOT a good thing, except maybe "it makes me less likely to find this specific Pokemon I want on this route". 

 

-At some point the Rotom Dex decided that he'd start giving me """""""advice""""""" every five seconds and OH GOD MAKE IT STOP WHY DID THEY ADD THIS MAKE IT STOP IT'S WORSE THAN FI MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP

 

-Speaking of the Rotom Dex, remember what I said about the Rotom Powers and seeing wether or not their randomization would properly nerf them?  Yeah, no.  I've already got more than 15 Roto-boosts, and each one of them boosts ALL your Pokemon's stats by one stage.  Basically an insta-win button, at least in this point of the game.  Incidentally, though, I haven't gotten the multiple-Z-moves-in-a-battle power even once yet.  Is it not actually added to the lotto until later?

 

-The Mantine Surf minigame is... eh.  I can't complain since there's a move named after Primarina, and as I mentioned earlier it's really cool that they're implementing the tutor moves during the main campaign, so those things more than make up for the fact that the minigame itself is forgettable.

 

-I would have said the Alolan Photo Club was also meh, but then I found out a detail about it that changed my entire opinion on the thing.  The fact that you can use it to view Amie animations.  There are a lot of Pokemon who have really cute unique Amie animations that you can only see once ever, or even not at all (Brionne in particular had one I'm positive I've never seen before despite the fact that this is the second game in a row I've used her), and the fact that you can take pictures of them too makes it even better.  Also it allowed me to make this... mistake.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

-I forgot last post to talk about those Pokemon NPCs that you can "play" with.  I would have said something along the lines of "this could be really cool as long as they're not all the same".  AND GUESS WHAT.  THEY'RE ALL THE FREAKIN SAME.  It's made worse by the fact that they just put these things absolutley freakin everywhere, like, why draw such attention to this thing when you can't even be assed to make it not be the exact same thing every time?

 

-It seems this game added a lot more sidequests, and they're hit and miss.  For example, I really like the Vulpix quest so far (maybe I'm biased because it's Alolan Vulpix), but some of the others are like "watch this cutscene and fight this guy and that's it".  There was one where I didn't even have to do anything, it was just a cutscene where some random boy had a mock wedding with his Pikachu and then he gives me a reward for watching it.  It doesn't help that the rewards for half of these things aren't anything special.  That Vulpix quest better not disappoint me with how it ends.

 

-Speaking of sidequests, I've beaten Hala but can't get that sidequest with Ilima to happen.  Have the trial captain quests been removed?  That's a really odd choice.  One that makes the captain's houses feel like they're kinda there for no reason...

 

-Gamefreak is really making a big deal out of Pikachu Valley.  I've seen not one but three trailer/promotional articles that had it as a major focus, and even in the game there were multiple NPCs talking about it both before and after I actually went there.  So I finally get there, and what is it?  It's literally nothing.  It's just a bunch of Pikachu NPCs that you can play with (which as I mentioned earlier, are all the same and do nothing), and a woman who gives you a Pikachu shirt.  That's it.  Yeah you can get the Pikashunium-Z if you have the event Pikachu, but that could have just been given by any old NPC anywhere else (there's a dude in a hotel that gives all the other event Z crystals).  You can't even surf across the river and explore the caves on the other side!  Why did Gamefreak think this was a selling point for their game???

 

-Turns out the Totem Stickers are for getting totem-sized versions of Pokemon (with their hidden abilities).  That's really cool, although like with the Zygarde thing it only appeals to people who actually care about those Pokemon.  Well, since there's multiple Pokemon you can get from the quest, and they aren't legendaries, I guess it's more likely any given player would care about it.  So that's good, it means more players have an incentive to explore the game.

 

Story stuff

  Reveal hidden contents

-Remember how I complained how much the game shoved the Ultra Recon Squad guys down your throat at the beginning?  (I actually remembered their name yay)  Well that got better.  After I made that complaint, those two only showed up once more on Melemele and then twice more on Akala, and in none of those three cutscenes did it feel like the game was just shoehorning them in.  That's good, but as I said earlier, first impressions are a big deal.  They really shouldn't have had them appear so many times in the early game.

 

-They didn't change Gladion's scenes at all.  Which is good.  Gladion is perfect as he is.

 

-Remember Dexio and Sina?  Those two who showed up once to introduce the Zygarde quest and then again in the postgame to give you the mega ring?  Yeah, their scene's still here.  "But there isn't a Zygarde quest in this game", I hear you asking.  "So what do they do this time?"  Well, the answer is nothing.  They just show up and are like "Hey we exist.  Now bye".  It's pointless.

 

-Speaking of pointless cameos, that was a problem I had with Sun and Moon. It had these cameo scenes where Colress and Grimsley show up like they're gonna be important, and then you just never see them again except as bonus opponents in the Battle Tree.  Well, it looks like that may be fixed in this game.  Maybe.  Colress' introduction scene had him talking to the Ultra Recon dudes and offering to help them with whatever it is they're doing, so it looks like he and Grimsley will actually be more than pointless cameos this time.  Hopefully.

 

-Back in Sun and Moon the water trial was a sort of plot twist, Lana was like "I'll let you do the trial if you help me out with this thing" and reveals at the end that you were doing the trial the whole time.  This time they tell you straight up at the beginning that you're doing the trial, and instead the "plot twist" is that the Totem Pokemon is Araquanid and not Wishiwashi this time.  The problem is, not only would this plot twist not actually BE a plot twist to someone who hasn't played Sun and Moon, but it ruins the introduction of Wishiwashi's unique ability.  Now, all that player sees of Wishiwashi is a weakling little guppy Pokemon with terrible stats.  There isn't even an NPC with a Wishiwashi until much later into the game, and even then it's easily missed.

 

-Kiawe's trial also changed the Totem Pokemon, but that's not a problem.  What is the problem is that they ruined the Hiker David joke by having him appear the first time as well as the second.  Why would they even do this?  Did they somehow think it'd be funnier?

 

-After beating Kiwae's trial the Poke Pelago dude shows up and tells you that you're able to go there now.  I don't remember if this was in the original Sun and Moon, but either way this is how I prefer Gamefreak handle tutorials about things like Pelago and Festival Plaza.  Have a quick cutscene letting the player know they can go there, and only going full tutorial mode if they actually do.  In gen 4 and 5, I hated that the game brought my progress to a screeching halt to teach me about multiplayer features that didn't even work anymore.

 

read at your own risk:

Spoiler

The Vulpix sidequest Allows you to play with the Vulpix, which I personally liked but it was Taunting me cuz I have Ultra Moon and I can't find Vulpix in that game. [TRIGGERED!]

The trial captain battles are moved to Post-Game. Which is a little hit or Miss for me, but I can understand why.

 

And not all Totem Mons have their Hidden Ability. In Ultra Moon Salazzle keeps Corrosion. and Araquanid keeps Water Bubble IIRC.

 

As for Sina and Dexio... Take a wild guess what I'm gonna say postgame

 

 

 

[Chase]

Spoiler

I like the Aether family dynamic MUCH better in this game. Lillie and Gladion actually care about their mother - which is more likely than not for children in a Pokemon series as the villains tend to be adults. Lusamine - WHILE STILL RETAINING HER ANTAGONIST CARD - defers her needless unleashing the UBs on Alola in favor of "saving" Alola from Necrozma using technology and credit she steals from the URS and still endangering Cosmog. This makes her a less "crazy" villain and it's a positive to her intelligence. She also hints that even though she's beyond disappointed in her children - she can bring herself to save them too. Perhaps "Mother" is still all there.

 

Gladion offering to accompany his mother with Null was great.

 

Nebby is a strong independent Pokemon who doesn't want to open Ultra Wormholes.

 

[CURIE]

Beat Ula'ula island as well as the raid on Aether.

 

Non-story stuff:

Spoiler

-So it turns out I got somewhat duped.  The Battle Agency is actually a Festival Plaza thing, not a postgame facility.  Which means the actual postgame facility is (probably) gonna be ANOTHER BATTLE MAISON RESKIN.  You know what, I can't complain, because despite not actually being a Battle Frontier facility, the Battle Agency still plays like one, and most importantly it's fun like one.  Well, at least it is from what I've played of it so far.  Which is only 4 battles.

 

-While SOS chaining I decided I might as well use the Rotom powers since I never use them otherwise, and that's how I found out the truth about the multiple Z move thing.  Turns out if you use one of those already OP things during battle, it AUTOMATICALLY gives you a second Z move.  Wow, as if that crap wasn't broken in the first place...

 

-The "gym" seems like it was just thrown in as a way to make Ryuk'si appearance in the postgame not be completely out of nowhere, but I feel like that wasn't really necessary.  Kukui says that people from around the world are coming in to challenge the leauge, so of course you're gonna get some challengers you've never seen before.  If anything, I thought there should be more challengers who you hadn't already met!

 

Story Stuff:

Spoiler

-Of all the trials that have been changed from the original games, I feel like the electric one is the only case where it's actually better than it was before.  It's made better by the fact that its Totem battle was the most challenging one I've faced from either version so far.

 

-The Ultra Recon dudes appeared only once on Ula'ula, but that scene felt kinda pointless since all they did was repeat what they told me earlier when I first visited Aether Paradise.

 

-Other than those two things, the story on Ula'ula is pretty much the exact same from what I remember.  Including the scene with Grimsley.  Looks like he's just gonna be a pointless cameo again...  Oh well at least Colress is still relevant to the plot.

 

-Okay, now on to the raid on Aether Paradise.  First of all I should mention that one of my problems with the latter portions of the original Sun and Moon were a lack of good motivation.  The whole driving force for exlporing Poni Island (since the game tosses the island challenge in the trash by then, but I'll talk about THAT later), is to rescue Lusamine from that alternate dimension.  Well there's a couple problems with that.  In the scenes before, they pretty clearly portray Lusamine as a psycho who abuses her kids on top of doing horrific things to innocent Pokemon.  Also, it's made pretty clear that Lusamine WANTED to be stuck in that alternate dimension for all eternity.  Yeah, forgive me if I'm not to enthusiastic about saving this psychotic murderer who wanted to be there in the first place.  Well in this game, as I expected (and hoped) they're setting up a far better motive, at least for the player.  Lillie's still trying to open that wormhole to save her mother, but now there's also the fact that you need to go through it to stop a death god from stealing your world's Sun.

 

-And maybe it's just my memory, but I feel like they altered/removed some dialogue to make Lusamine seem.. less abusive?  Not to metnion they make her quest to open the wormhole seem a lot more reasonable.  You know, saving the world from having its light stolen and all that.  Even her "selfish" motive of trying to look for her lost husband is certainly more sympathetic than SM's.  It seems Gamefreak realized people didn't care enough about saving Lusamine so they wanted to make her more sympathetic, so good on them.  It doesn't really work on me because I've seen her in the last game, but I'm curious what someone who hasn't played the original Sun/Moon will think of it.

 

And even though I've only just begun Poni Island, I already have something thing to say.

Spoiler

-My OTHER problem with the latter portions of Sun/Moon was that the Island Challenge suddenly gets treated as all but a joke.  The Kahuna is like "lol who cares that you haven't done the trials, here have the stamp".  Then one of the trial captains is like "I'm to lazy to give you the trial so here's the reward, not like it matters since you have the stamp already lol".  And you only "do" the dragon trial because it's just in your way.  This time, when I first reached Poni Island, I met the trial captain and she was like "okay you're here for my trial right" and I had hope that they fixed it.  And then Lillie was like "no we're doing more important stuff right now" and I got concerned.  Please don't disappoint me again game...

 

[The Swordsman]

On 12/4/2017 at 4:16 PM, Eagleby18 said:

Spoiler

-And maybe it's just my memory, but I feel like they altered/removed some dialogue to make Lusamine seem.. less abusive?  Not to metnion they make her quest to open the wormhole seem a lot more reasonable.  You know, saving the world from having its light stolen and all that.  Even her "selfish" motive of trying to look for her lost husband is certainly more sympathetic than SM's.  It seems Gamefreak realized people didn't care enough about saving Lusamine so they wanted to make her more sympathetic, so good on them.  It doesn't really work on me because I've seen her in the last game, but I'm curious what someone who hasn't played the original Sun/Moon will think of it.

 

Spoiler

No it isn't just your memory, the Lusamine in Sun/Moon was being controlled by Nihilego, making her abusive and psychotic, while replacing her love for her family with an obsession with it and removing her hatred  of the Ultra Beasts.  While I don't doubt looking for her husband did play a part of her motivation, I thought she was trying to protect her kids.

 

[Chase]

Spoiler

I think the point of Lusamine's distinct features that contribute to her antagonist introduction in both games is that she's a very obsessive family oriented woman.

 

With regards to the cryofrozen Pokemon in both SuMo and USUM - she wanted to keep those Pokemon forever so she stopped them from aging.

 

With her husband - she adopted his research in order to one day find him.

 

With Cosmog and Type:Null she needed both to serve as her tools for finding him, which makes her children taking them and running away ultimate betrayal to the point where SuMo Lusamine was finished dealing with them (separation is HARD for her, keep in mind.)

 

Necrozma provides USUM Lusamine an excuse to travel through Ultra Space. She maniputes Aether, Skull, and the URS in order to give chase to her husband. This is why she is so adamant on going herself and why she doesn't let Gladion go with her. Gladion, despite her disappointment in him, is her son. Guzma is expendable. A tool she can use to accomplish her goal.

 

She isn't abusive in either game. She doesn't physically assault Lillie and Gladion. She still comes across as pointed in verbiage in USUM, but she shows that she still CARES about her children much more.

 

it was hard to believe Lillie when she said she would play and snuggle with her mother in SuMo because the game does a poor job of conveying the family dynamic. The second time around, there is reciprocal concern between mother and child.

 

I'd say SuMo Lusamine's edge was a result of her encountering Nehilego and her obsession with it being amplified by the neurotoxin. If not that, GameFreak wanted to stress her disappointment with her children's actions greatly.

 

[CURIE]

Done everything up to the point where you do the thing at the altar of plot device.  I'm stopping there for now because that's where I'm pretty sure the story's gonna really start to diverge from Sun and Moon original.

 

Non-story stuff:

Spoiler

-I never really talked about it, but the small changes they made to Rotom are a really nice touch.  Where in the original Sun/Moon I'm pretty sure he had the same couple of animations every time you tapped on him, here they change as you go through the game.  And thanks to the Rotom Lotto, the player actually has incentive to keep tapping him, and therefore actually notices the changing animations.  It's really well designed... if only he weren't STILL giving unwanted "advice" every five seconds.  Also I don't like how he's afraid of Team Skull and Gladion, it kinda undermines their brilliant satire.

 

-The last Mantine Surf spot has no move tutors, so unless there are tutors in ultraland (which I doubt) that means all the good moves are going to be in the postgame.  I know it makes sense that there wouldn't be a shop on the island with little to no civilization, but that's just a disappointing ending to an already lukewarm gamemode.  Well, I guess it's better than getting NONE of the tutor moves until the postgame.

 

-Speaking of disappointing endings to Mantine Surf related stuff, you know how if you get the high score on all four beaches you get a Surfing Pikachu?  Well if you talk to the guy again afterward he tells you to go beat your highest score, and in the same sentence mentions that he has a Flying Pikachu.  Anyone with video game experience reads that and thinks "oh if I beat my highscore again, I'll get a Flying Pikachu!"  But no.  Nothing happens.  What's worse, is the new surfing trick he teaches you?  It's useless.  Gives you almost no points.  You have to beat your own high score with the moves you used to get it, which was VERY difficult for me.  And it was all for nothing!

 

-Thank Arceus, they moved the fly spot at the Altar of Plot so that you land at the top instead of the bottom.  It was real annoying that not only did I have to fly to a specific spot and watch a cutscene every time I wanted to change day to night, but I also had to go all the way up those stairs.  And I have a feeling I'm gonna be coming here more often in this game than I did in the first game.

 

Story Stuff:

Spoiler

-Hapu didn't fight me where she did in the first game.  Good.  The game's actually following the rules it set up this time.  You still do the Dragon Trial just because it's in your way, but you were gonna have to come back and do it anyway.

 

-The good news about Exeggutor Island is that they improved if from a game design standpoint.  Originally it was "just waltz up to the flute and take it, also watch this cutscene".  Now you actually DO something there.

 

-The bad news is they got rid of the cutscene for some reason.  But... just why?  I liked that cutscene.  Also the little cave-thing that it took place in is still there but it just has no purpose now?  This change feels pointless and makes the game just a little worse overall, and on top of that it's lazily implemented!

 

[Aishi]

Sun and Moon!lusamine"s implied abuse probably stems from the fact that lillie is dressed to look like nihilego, and gladion was made to be a "perfect" son. who knows what other measures she took in order to ensure her children are "beautiful" in her standards? she also made a fucking handbag that doubles as a torture chamber for cosmog and the whole BKP ordeal was a mess (wwhat happened to the 3rd type null?? hewwo??) and her kids wouldnt Take It, and thats why they ran. shes terrible towards her children and pokemon, a lot of dialogue supports this (i wouldnt go so far as to say shes abusive, though,, i guess  narcissistic is the right term?????? she was bad though.)

gladion knows deep down that this ultra beast obsession of hers is  an aftermath coupled with the trauma of what took place years ago that resulted in the presumed death of her husband. and yeah, lets also put in nihilego"s neurotoxins in the mix too, for added lore.

 

lusamine is a complicated villain and her actions were inexcusable, but she still had some hope to recover her sanity, and her kids know this too. she was their mother, above all else. they remember that lusamine had the potential to be a Good Parent before her mind snapped. they wanted to save her because they wanted some closure and to heal the scars and anxiety after all these years, hopefully making her see sense. (hence why lils leaves during endgame no NO doNt talk to me dont even look at. me im cryinG )

 

Sun and Moon though? yeah they didnt do a stellar  job  at emphasizing this in the main campaign that much, unfortunately.

 

Ultra Sun and Moon!lusamine however,,,,,,,,, i dont really know what to think of her??

let me just say that Mother Beast lusamine > Righteous Mom lusamine. period. it just makes sense for an antagonist for reasons explained above, as opposed to,,,,whatever the hell she"s doing in ultraSuMo. i GET IT,,,this is a Sane Lusamine whos not being affected by the neurotoxins or whatever but what even is the point of fighting Necrozma and bringing light to alola, how does that help with finding Mohn? what? you think shes just gona open up a wormhole after savign alola and try to find mohn in the vast expanse of the Universe? GEE WHERE TO START. bithj!!!! you dont even know of mohns alive get your shit together!! and does she really expect Aether to help her??  i........i Genuinely have a Hard Time following her motivations here pls help. 

 

and as much as i love the family dynamic in ultraSuMo and Redeemed Lusamine i seriously,,,,dont understand the character . why"d she dress lillie as a nihilego if shes not even supposed to be obsessed with them? is it,,just a coincidence this time?? then why"d she treat her kids like dress up dolls?? (lillie and gladion both distinctly mention this.) theres no "part of my beautiful world" motives this time right?? is it just a part of her character??  is she just that narcissistic?

 

 man im tired of this. its like 3am and im sitting here contemplating lusamines complex character with tea when will a wormhole open up and swallow me.already.

 

 

so, yeah, basically the entire Aether Family are ultra beasts. do not fight me on this.

[The Swordsman]

10 hours ago, 10,000,000 Volt Aika!!!! said:

Spoiler

let me just say that Mother Beast lusamine > Righteous Mom lusamine. period. it just makes sense for an antagonist for reasons explained above, as opposed to,,,,whatever the hell she"s doing in ultraSuMo. i GET IT,,,this is a Sane Lusamine whos not being affected by the neurotoxins or whatever but what even is the point of fighting Necrozma and bringing light to alola, how does that help with finding Mohn? what? you think shes just gona open up a wormhole after savign alola and try to find mohn in the vast expanse of the Universe? GEE WHERE TO START. bithj!!!! you dont even know of mohns alive get your shit together!! and does she really expect Aether to help her??  i........i Genuinely have a Hard Time following her motivations here pls help. 

 

Spoiler

 

IMO MotherBeast!Lusamine < Righteous Anti-hero Mom Lusamine. The thing is in USM Lusamine isn't really the main antagonist as it is Necrozma that takes her original spot. Her fighting it serves several reasons,

 

-She protects her kids from a very dangerous legendary pokemon.

-She protects her home and the Foundation she and her father built up to help pokemon.

-She protects normal pokemon.

-It gives her a excuse to explore Ultra Space and find Mohn, or failing that avenge him. She may not know where her husband is but she is thinking with her heart, instead of her mind.

 

Yes she does expect her foundation, the Ultra Recon Squad, Colress and Team Skull to help her and they do, since her goals are noble and she was the only one in both games besides his team to treat Guzma with any kind of respect and since Guzma goes out his way to save her later from Team Rainbow Rocket, she must have been a good friend or served as a better maternal figure to him than his abusive parents.

 

[Aishi]

8 hours ago, The Swordsman said:

  Hide contents

 

IMO MotherBeast!Lusamine < Righteous Anti-hero Mom Lusamine. The thing is in USM Lusamine isn't really the main antagonist as it is Necrozma that takes her original spot. Her fighting it serves several reasons,

 

-She protects her kids from a very dangerous legendary pokemon.

-She protects her home and the Foundation she and her father built up to help pokemon.

-She protects normal pokemon.

-It gives her a excuse to explore Ultra Space and find Mohn, or failing that avenge him. She may not know where her husband is but she is thinking with her heart, instead of her mind.

 

Yes she does expect her foundation, the Ultra Recon Squad, Colress and Team Skull to help her and they do, since her goals are noble and she was the only one in both games besides his team to treat Guzma with any kind of respect and since Guzma goes out his way to save her later from Team Rainbow Rocket, she must have been a good friend or served as a better maternal figure to him than his abusive parents.

 

that"s fair. 

 

i still can"t wrap my head around her narcissism in usum, though. buuut i guess that"s just a character trait of hers. does it really need to be reasonable?

 

that said, i stand by what i meant about SuMo lusamine. both perspectives we got to see her in were really good! but i prefer SuMo lusa a liiiiiittle bit more. just seems like theres way more depth and reasoning on why she was the way she is, whereas usum lusa came off bipolar as Fuck at times. i can somewhat understand where she"s coming from now but,, nnnnot a big fan with how it went.

[The Swordsman]

@10,000,000 Volt Aika!!!!

Spoiler

I been thinking why Lille is still dressed up like a nihilego in USM and I think I have a theory to close that plot hole. What if nihilego still attacked Lusamine in USM but the Ultra Recon Squad saved her resulting in the different timeline? Coming from Ultra Space they probably would have medicine that cures nihilego's neurotoxins and this theory would add further context to her look of pure hatred when the protagonist and Hau see their first nihilego. (Besides her hatred of Ultra Beasts in general for taking away her husband.)

 

[CURIE]

On 12/14/2017 at 1:51 PM, 10,000,000 Volt Aika!!!! said:

 

  Hide contents

 

 

Sun and Moon!lusamine"s implied abuse probably stems from the fact that lillie is dressed to look like nihilego, and gladion was made to be a "perfect" son. who knows what other measures she took in order to ensure her children are "beautiful" in her standards? she also made a fucking handbag that doubles as a torture chamber for cosmog and the whole BKP ordeal was a mess (wwhat happened to the 3rd type null?? hewwo??) and her kids wouldnt Take It, and thats why they ran. shes terrible towards her children and pokemon, a lot of dialogue supports this (i wouldnt go so far as to say shes abusive, though,, i guess  narcissistic is the right term?????? she was bad though.)

gladion knows deep down that this ultra beast obsession of hers is  an aftermath coupled with the trauma of what took place years ago that resulted in the presumed death of her husband. and yeah, lets also put in nihilego"s neurotoxins in the mix too, for added lore.

 

lusamine is a complicated villain and her actions were inexcusable, but she still had some hope to recover her sanity, and her kids know this too. she was their mother, above all else. they remember that lusamine had the potential to be a Good Parent before her mind snapped. they wanted to save her because they wanted some closure and to heal the scars and anxiety after all these years, hopefully making her see sense. (hence why lils leaves during endgame no NO doNt talk to me dont even look at. me im cryinG )

 

Sun and Moon though? yeah they didnt do a stellar  job  at emphasizing this in the main campaign that much, unfortunately.

 

Ultra Sun and Moon!lusamine however,,,,,,,,, i dont really know what to think of her??

let me just say that Mother Beast lusamine > Righteous Mom lusamine. period. it just makes sense for an antagonist for reasons explained above, as opposed to,,,,whatever the hell she"s doing in ultraSuMo. i GET IT,,,this is a Sane Lusamine whos not being affected by the neurotoxins or whatever but what even is the point of fighting Necrozma and bringing light to alola, how does that help with finding Mohn? what? you think shes just gona open up a wormhole after savign alola and try to find mohn in the vast expanse of the Universe? GEE WHERE TO START. bithj!!!! you dont even know of mohns alive get your shit together!! and does she really expect Aether to help her??  i........i Genuinely have a Hard Time following her motivations here pls help. 

 

and as much as i love the family dynamic in ultraSuMo and Redeemed Lusamine i seriously,,,,dont understand the character . why"d she dress lillie as a nihilego if shes not even supposed to be obsessed with them? is it,,just a coincidence this time?? then why"d she treat her kids like dress up dolls?? (lillie and gladion both distinctly mention this.) theres no "part of my beautiful world" motives this time right?? is it just a part of her character??  is she just that narcissistic?

 

 man im tired of this. its like 3am and im sitting here contemplating lusamines complex character with tea when will a wormhole open up and swallow me.already.

 

 

 

 

so, yeah, basically the entire Aether Family are ultra beasts. do not fight me on this.

I've also been struggling to understand what Gamefreak's trying to do there, and after looking back through the story courtesy of YouTube I think I've figured it out.

 

That dialogue with Lillie and Gladion you mention comes from scenes taking place before the final confrontation at the end of the Aether Raid, in scenes that are pretty much completely unchanged from Sun and Moon original.

 

Now if you look at my previous posts, you'll notice I've found a pattern of changes being lazily implemented, with no regard to how it affects or is affected by the rest of the game.  Also I point out a part that's treated as a plot twist, when it's only really a plot twist to someone who played the original.

 

Suddenly, the answer is obvious.

Spoiler

Gamefreak intended it to be a big plot twist that this version of Lusamine wasn't a villain at all, but a sympathetic character with good intentions but misguided (and legally questionable) methods.  They even retcon her only evil looking employee into a traitor.

 

Problem is they were too lazy to change any of the relevant dialogue leading up to the twist, and so her kids end up describing psychotic-abusive Lusamine instead of misguided-wannabe-superhero Lusamine.  Doesn't help that even if this wasn't lazily done, it'd still confuse players who haven't played the first Sun and Moon.

 

Oh right that reminded me, I've finished the main story and I never made one of those posts.

 

Spoiler

-In retrospect, I've realized that the "climax" of both games are essentially the same gameplay-wise.  You go to another dimension, watch some cutscenes, walk down a straight path and fight a boss.  Only difference is that in this version you play a minigame, which is... uh, I'll talk about that in a later post.  Regardless, I like this version's climax more, mainly because the game makes you feel like it's on a much larger scale.  Fighting the true form of a god reborn is way cooler than fighting some crazy lady wearing a jellyfish.

 

-After learning Necrozma's backstory, it seems he's actually more of a light/life god than a death god.  So... why is his name "Necrozma"?  They do realize "necro" means death, right? 

 

-My favorite scene in Sun and Moon original was after you caught Nebby and Lillie leaves you, and starts talking to Nebby like she's a mother whose son is leaving home to live on his own.  In that moment I think Lillie was a better character than anyone else in all of Pokemon, and I don't know a single person irl who didn't use Nebby on their team just because of that scene.  And they removed it for seemingly no reason.  Okay I get that it couldn't happen at the altar because you don't catch Nebby at the altar in this game, but why not have a recreation of the scene at Mahalo trail when you do catch it?  Don't tell me Gamefreak was SO LAZY that they couldn't even bother to animate the scene in a different area?

 

-I couldn't help but laugh when I learned how you access Necrozma's true form.  They tried so hard to make Z moves as good as megas, that they made one that IS a mega.

 

-In the original game people criticized the lack of an official Victory Road, but I didn't mind because unlike those people, I could tell from the game design cues that the Vast Poni Canyon was the game's Victory Road substitute.  But in this game they changed Mount Lanikala to be an official Victory Road, but... it's a shitty Victory Road.  The first room is okay but every room after it is just a straight path foward to the end, with some optional side paths for items in the last room.  It would have been fine if they made these changes and just called it Mount Lanikala, but by putting an NPC there who calls it Victory Road, they bring disgrace to the name.

 

-Oh look, they Vulpix quest did dissapoint me in the end after all.  Yippee.

 

-Now that I'm done with the main story I guess I might as well talk about the difficulty.  As I've said before, the first game was the most difficulty I've had with any main series Pokemon game, and maybe it was just my team this time around, but I feel like it was even harder this time.  The Totem Togedemaru, Necrozma's true form, and the final battle against Hau in particular all involved something that oneshotted all or all but one of my Pokemon.  This is, of course, without the exp share.  Or the Rotom powers. I also didn't use any of the giant pile of legendaries the game drops on you near the end.  With any of those things I'm sure it's as easy as gen 6 was.

 

In case you're wondering why I keep going on in my posts about players who haven't played the original but are going to play this game, it's because I have a close friend who's doing exactly that.

[Wolfox]

I'll just give a little mini review of the game about a long time after I finished it:

story: still good overall.

difficulty: for a main series game it was pretty hard for me. so yeah, props to gamefreak for that.

new sidequests: I haven;t done too many, but I completed the Vulpix sidequest. and while I liked it and the end, I was taunted by it because I played ultra moon and I couldn;t catch a Vulpix. and what was stopping me from planting a Pokéball on a Vulpix that already loves me?

Mantine surfing: LOVE IT. 100% love it. my only nitpick is that sometimes you get hit on landing when you can't control where you land, but that is pretty realistic and such. another nitmick is that sometimes there are areas when you just can't dodge anything, but all in all I liked it a lot.

 

So yeah. I really liked going through Alola again. Gamefreak did an amazing job here and I'm at least happy that their last game on the 3ds was a good one.

[CURIE]

Oh right I almost forgot

Spoiler

-I was more upset than I probably should have been when I found out what Ultra Megalopolis was like.  Corocoro and other such sources made it sound like it'd be an actual city with stuff in it, and not just a straight empty path to the boss like in the last game.  But no.  It was a straight empty path to the boss like in the last game.

 

-Last game made a pretty big deal out of Lillie leaving to the Kanto Region, but when Gladion does it instead it's like they threw it in as an afterthought.  There isn't even dialouge in the scene, you aren't even told where he's gone until you do the postgame stuff!  Between this and them taking out the other two Lillie scenes I mentioned earlier, it's almost as if someone at Gamefreak really hated that Lillie was the best character in their series.  And rather than write a better character, he decided to just butcher the one they had and remove all her best scenes.

 

[Aishi]

man i really agree with you at the fact that, gamefreak decided  not to give ANY closure at all with glads??? and lillie was nerfed too oh my god.,,

 

 

SuMo!Lillie in the postgame:

at this point, shes been thoroughly fleshed out, and her motivations made crystal clear. shes still the same z-powered lils, clinging onto the slither of hope that lusamine could be healed and back to being a Great Parent. but at the same time, shes independent and can make her own choices now. thats exactly why she goes to kanto!! bill might not be the best shot, but she wants to go anyway. but also, shes going for her own sake,  too. to start her own pokemon journey and git gud so she can protect everyone.

ultimately, she gets a happy ending.

 

SuMo!Gladion in the postgame:

sumo actually does a bad job at highlighting the aether family dynamic, unfortunately, but that doesnt strip away the fact that they made gladion a good character(..somewhat!!). gladion does everything lowkey when it comes to his family when compared to lils, but that doesnt mean hes not doing anything. i mean,,,,,,managing a multi million dollar branch is a daunting task,,,esp if youre like?? 14??? he appreciates the protag for saving his family, especially lillie. hes still your rival, too. glads is like the quiet eldest who watches over evryone and does things in the shadows, which is great. he seems alright with it if it means not letting any pokemon getting hurt anymore, too. hes healing the scars over the past few years, accepting his mom, finally. they gave him closure !!

ultimately, a happy ending too.

 

 

 

UsUm!Lillie in the postgame:

,sheeeee"s a trainer now!!!?!! somehow! but in this game, i guess she and and her brother have a less abusive history with their mom, which may imply theyre more stable than in the previous game, so lillie overcoming her fears of pokemon getting hurt might not....be a big deal to her?? they just shoved it in there so. i guess this is what makes sense now. they dont even bother telling us what made her choose this...since they uh. removed the exeggutor island scene, right????

thanks, gamefreak! i hate it! 

 

UsUm!Glads in postgame:

i get it. gladion leaving alola to go and train is not too terribly ooc. thats what hes all about, after all. he felt like shit for leaving his family  matters to you, so he wants to get stronger, i get it. he also loves silvally, and maybe he??want s to travel more with him?? idk. lusamine is fine! so he doesnt have to worry about  leaving aether too. that whole speech about having the best rival for himself, well. i guess thats just in sumo.........

but ok. . no goodbye note?? he wrote one for lusamine gdi.  all we got was the other type null, and everything he couldnt even find the time to say up front?? he made up with lusamine i guess,, its good shit yeah but. wrow. 

I GUESS THIS IS JUST ME SAYING I MISS HIM AND I LIKE THAT THEY GAVE CLOSURE WTH HIS FAMILY AND ALL BUT THEY DIDNT GIVE CLOSURE FOR US!!! everything is meaningless,, in the post game,, i havent even seen the 1 month cutscene epilogue and im already dead goodbye friends