Pokemon Sun & Moon

I really like Litten, but I really hate it's final evolution.

Hmm. Decisions, decisions.

This is my exact notion on Litten! As cool as the whole wrestler vibe goes, the idea that it's suddenly just stands upright and has a humanoid frame just doesn't vibe with me very much.

Welp. I expected Final Fantasy XIV to tide me over for a while, but then I got to a point where I'm waiting on parties for things that no one wants to do and thus take forever to fill up, and eventually I thought to myself, "Wow! I am really bored!"

So it turns out I'm a liar twice-over. Not only did I get a Gen VII game on Day 1, but it ended up being Moon rather than Sun once I saw a version-exclusive that I liked. (Hint: it's Steel/Flying.)

Going down to the store on Day 1 probably wasn't the best idea, but I didn't think about that until I saw the line-up extending outside of the store. But like hell was I going home empty-handed after that long walk, so I decided to save the cashier a headache and buy an eShop cash card for a digital copy instead of a physical copy. Moon is downloading right now.

Best Buy never fails to let me down. I forgave them for the Fire Emblem Fates debacle because they gave me a gift card as penance, and then they turned around and failed to deliver on release date shipping for Pokemon. UPS spent the week playing monkey in the middle with my state, so it looks like Monday is the day. I am holding out hope for tomorrow, but not a lot of hope.

In store pickup is the better option os what I'm trying to say here.

Personally, I don't feel like I had too much trouble with it on a difficulty standpoint, whatever challenges that appeared into that game felt like they came more out of a place of inconvenience. The evolution becoming lofty levels for example, Bisharp and Braviary are good examples of this. No one should grind for a pokemon like those two the same way you would a Dragonite. Also, there were no good places to grind for EXP in the game and no VS. Seeker to use to rebattle old trainers. I had to constantly go back to the sports arena place and fight those trainers over and over again to get anywhere with training. I could have also done the Elite Four but after the second time around their levels jumped radically high. I suppose that was a response to having them be so easy the first time around to progress the plot (my Krookadile almost Solo'd the entire Elite Four the first time around with Type advantage alone).

I didn't vibe as well with Black/White for these reasons, plus the lack of a anything to do after the main game. There was Kyurem of course, but that was pretty much it. At least with Diamond I felt like there was still more to do that had some substance to it. Personally, I think almost all of Nintendo's games from 2010-2011 were designed to be easier for folks who were going to be playing these titles as their first exposure to the franchises and not as much for returning fans but that's just me.

Interesting, I had always viewed Black & White's inconveniences as way to make the game more rigorous. I mean, sure, they could have lowered the levels on evolutions and Gym Leaders to make the game easier, but I always saw it as the game's way of making you actually work for it. To each their own I suppose.

Honestly I always viewed BW as the last high point in the series, if nothing but for the plot and characters. To be frank, it was they were first entries to the series that I felt really matched up to RBY & GSC, as their remakes were what really held me over during the GBA & DS eras. Not that I didn't like RSE & DPPt, I just never felt they were as good as the older entries. I would honestly go as far as to say that BW have the best plot of any mainline Pokemon game. Team Plasma, along with N & Ghetsis, were brilliant. Having beaten the Elite 4, only to find N standing triumphant over Alder, and then later actually dualing the Legendary dragons, is up there along with Blue being the Champion in RBY & Red being atop Mt. Silver, in terms of "Oh shit!" moments. Not to mention that Team Plasma was the first villainous team since Team Rocket that wasn't completely moronic. Actually taking a stab at a real world criticism of Pokemon, forcing Pokemon to fight is bad, was both creative and very well done. I also really felt that a lot of NPCs had a lot more depth added to them than normal. The rivals were far more interesting than the previous 2 generations, and the Gym Leaders, as well as Alder, seemed very fleshed out and had a much more active role in the story than normal.

I do, however, totally agree the complete lack of post-story content was a huge letdown, especially after how much Platinum & HGSS had to offer.


Sun & Moon have a lot to prove to me personally, since XY was honestly a bit of a disappointment. They were easy to the point that they basically played themselves, the NPCs were back to being flat & 1-dimensional again, even the Rivals, who usually have a fair bit of personality among NPCs, were pretty bland. And then there's Team Flare. I honestly didn't think Gamefreak could outdo Teams Magma and Aqua in terms of sheer stupidity, but Team Flare took the fucking cake. I was hoping for a Cyrus or Ghetsis moment at the very end with Lysandre, where he had been fooling his followers all along with the whole "Make the world beautiful" nonsense, but no, that was it, and then it just ended in a big explosion.

So yeah, I will give my thoughts after I play through, which won't be for a few weeks, since I forgot to put aside the extra cash for Moon, so I'll be picking it up come December. XD

So I recently discovered that Poke Pelago is a thing in the game that lets boxed Pokemon do things.

One of these things is levelling on their own.

This is officially my favourite feature.

25 hours in: Definitely the best Pokemon game since Gold and Silver. highly recommend. A million little quality of life changes, most polished Ppokemon title ever released, they're experimenting with new things. Very good.

I'm playing it. I've never been a huge fan of Pokémon games in general, I've always found them to be somewhat enjoyable but lacking in the "excitement" factor I desire most from video games, but that is my opinion about nearly all turn-based RPGs. I tolerate it in Pokémon because I find caring for and building up a team of those little cuties to be super charming. This time around is on par with my expectations. I also really enjoy the setting and characters of Alola.

Beat this a few days ago. Hands down the best Pokemon game of all time. Quite possibly my favorite game of the year. And the biggest single generation improvement in the series since Gold and Silver in 1999. If you've ever enjoyed a Pokemon game, or have yet to try one, or used to love the series but got burnt out over the years, I highly recommend it. It's a joyful, engrossing, accessible game with a lot of depth.

They really, really fired on all cylinders this time. The game was highly polished - lots of little touches, UX improvements that brought it together. They fixed many problems I've had with the series for years - in one case, for 20 years! I just beat the story and saw the credits, and I'm excited to keep playing because there seems like so much left to do.

Reasons why this was the best:
- They got rid of HMs, which were always a dreary drain on your pokemon party. Replaced them with a new system that provides fun mechanics and has far fewer drawbacks, and still involves Pokemon.

- Once you've seen a Pokemon once, they show which moves are effective in the UI.

- The games have always tried to convince you that your Pokemon are powerful because you have a strong bond with them, and they're your friends. But you kinda had to take it on faith. This time around they had a grooming system where you could heal your pokemon's status conditions, or groom them after a fight, using the touch pad (blow dry them if the got hit by water moves, etc). It's heavily animated, lots of personality comes through. Doing it raises an affection stat, and as it gets higher your Pokemon do things like crit more often, dodge more often, tilt their head to look at you when they're summoned. It was simple, but effective at making me feel more attached to my creatures.

- They hugely improved the narrative experience, which has been lackluster and predictable for every game since the originals in 1995. There were actual character arcs, tension, drama! I stayed up late a couple of times to conclude story beats. All of the gym leader and elite 4 equivalents (those series norms changed a lot) were actually characters that you met, interacted with, sometimes had story beats with. The antagonists were interesting and had actual motivations and the like - nothing too fancy or anything, but they existed!

- Combat pacing is snappier overall. Fewer frames spent on redundant information or UI animation.

- They got rid of the mega evolutions and replaced them with something much more flexible.

- I was surprised! No Pokemon game has surprised me in years, narratively or mechanically. They're always so predictable. But not this time.

- The was some excellent world theming. There's been a slow trend over the years of embracing different themes for the world in each pokemon game - the first few took place in nondescript lands, X and Y were in Poke-france, etc. But they really committed to the Hawaiian theming this time around, and it showed through everywhere: music, UI design, the Pokemon designs, the environments.

- The game was much prettier and more aesthetically interesting than the last few: The world was bright and colorful, the characters were really animated and expressive, environments were beautiful and memorable, the quality of the music was much higher. This'll be the first time I try to find a Pokemon game's soundtrack.

I just made it to the third island. I've been taking it slow because I am dedicated to having a Ghost themed team and I needed two Island scans to do it.

I have to echo lordofshadow on this one. So far, everything is just plain better than any Pokemon game I've played in the past. I played Blue and saw the potential of the series. I played Diamond and it was just a damn good version of Blue. I played Y and while it the reviews called it the most forward-minded Pokemon game yet, it just felt rote at that point. But Sun/Moon had me more hyped than a Pokemon game has gotten me before, and this was the first time I played two Pokemon games on the same hand-held. And it has not let me down.