well, i didn't have much time the last few days but after 30 hours of gamplay I finally finished the main story of Pokemon Sun, this is a tiny review/my thoughts on it, spoilers ofc!
1. Let's start with the bad I suppose:
First the worst thing about the game: well, it's the excessive handholding which lasts hours into the game and accompanies you all throughout the first island, the hours of tutorials are extremely annoying and only take up time, the handholding, after 20 years, SHOULD BE SKIPPABLE!!!!
The second worst thing is some cutscene sequences. The game is very cutscene heavy, which are actually good, but sometimes the sequencing makes the game hyperlinear, even more so than the previous pkmn games, and teh hopping in and out of the cutscenes is so frequent and the way so linear, a few times I actually didn't even feel like I was playing an actual game, but rather jsut watching a recorded story
Third one are the Z moves: while the animations for the moves look fantastic (except the poor fairies XD) the whole animations with the dancing and the text become old after about the 3rd time u use them, they simply take too long, I sometimes just set down my 3ds to do something else quick when i pressed a z move, and even actively avoided using them, even if they would have been helpful, I think the mega evos were also much more exciting. I also dislike teh competitive imlications, them practically being even more annoying than the gems and simultaneously them being sometimes just unsatisfactory to use (yes its a contradiction but thats just the impression I got of them)
Next is the camera, a vast majority of the time it's just fine but in some instance it shows your character so up close that you can't really see much else around you, it's annoying, Exeggutor island is one example.
Another annoyance are the shadows running around which have pokemons in them, when you enter an old area you want to travel across fast and use repels, it's extremely annoying to have mons pop up anyway.
Yet another annoyance is the ''call for help'' mechanic of Alolan mons, it's beyond frustrating sometimes when you jsut wanna catch the god damn mon!! I almost threw my DS one time I got so frustrate, ball misses-call for help-kill the 2nd mon-ball misses- call for help-FML!!! It's jsut one thing I think they didn't really think through when implementing.
I also noticed how throughout the entire game, except once (if im not mistaken), your cahracter always has the same expression XD
Once again the bad guy hideout (in this case for 2 teams) is a problem for me, every time we enter the hideout it's dull battle after another without any change of scenery and mostly without story progression until you get to the boss, there is even no traveling ... this isn't only a prob with SunMoon but with every Pokemon game, at least to me
Just a mention: No soaring and no flying to routes
2. Ok, now for the neutral:
The new Pokemon, they are all mostly okay, but that's just it, most of them are just okay, very few stand out and some are kinda weird. Though they did a particularly fine job with the legendaries. I think Ultrabeasts are very out of place though and I really dislike them. Some of the best mons of the generation imo are Decidueye, Mimikyu, Kommo-o, Tapu Lele and Koko, Solgaleo and Lunala, Alolan Raichu and Vulpix, Wishiwashi and Oranguru. But none impress me as much as, say, Greninja and Talonflame (finally a firehawk!!) or ... well u get the idea. The generation pokemon list isn't the best and it isn't the worst. But that's just fine, we got some good ones and we have 6 previous gens to play in the game.
3. Now finally for the good!!
Let's start small: the new move animations, they improved on teh 3d animations of XY in a big way, the moves look a lot better than they did and that reall affects the epic factor of the game
The Minimap is something I wanted in Pokemon games for over a decade and ITS FINALLY HERE, you ahve no idea how much I lvoe this feature!!
The trials: I really loved the trials, they really were refreshing and a few, for a first run, actually wuite hard (damn Lurantis, and Salazzle actually wiped me ... had bad types), they were quite inventive and a lot more visually appealing than simple gyms, though I did miss the traditional gym pokemon boss battle a bit. But still a positive.
How the champion idea is handled: I love it, we are the first champion of Alola and it stands out a lot more in this Mon game than in any other. I always found it kinda disappoining in previous pkmn games, you get to know this epic champion Steven or Cynthia, but at the end you jsut dethrone them, it's a bit weird to me for how the story builds them up (especially those 2), but here there is none of that, you are the champion, no one else, as simplea s that, it's a completely diferent feel.
NO HMs!!! FINALLY! FINALLLLYYYY!!! THANK YOU GAME FREAK!!
Now for teh big ones the Music is incredible, the main Alola theme is so Islandish I love it and there is another music, it palys after you come back from the Ultra space and at the end when Lillie leaves, it's a flute, absolutely beautiful, it reminds me heavily of the LOTR ''I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you'' music, which is one of the more touching musical moments int he movies.
The Story: it's fantastic, nothing really to say about it, the whole game is centered around it and it's an entertaining story also, the cutscenes are mostly fantastic for teh story (regardless of what I said about it above). perhaps my favorite scene is when Lillie leaves (and saddest) because with the flute music it absolutely screamed the second to last LOTR scene where Frodo leaves with Gandalf to Valinor, I actually heard Ian McKellan say "Here at last, on the shores of the sea, comes the end of our Fellowship." in my head and it's a moment that actually brought me to tears, and when the ship left Professor Tolkiens words sounded in my mind "The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass...and then you see it. White shores. And beyond...a far green country under a swift sunrise." some of teh most beautiful words Tolkien ever wrote. It was absolutely fantastic to get that feeling in this game it was the best presented story so far in Pokemon games.
Next one are the Characters: they are fantastic and very likable. Lillie, well I lvoe Lillie, she is awesome, I like how they made her pretty much the 2nd main character without her even being a trainer, it was very refreshing, and she is a very big part o your journey. The professor is ... well, teh coolest professor so far, he's goofy, he's puny and he's awesome, only my greninja lived the final battle the trial captains and the Kahunas are also fairly memorable. Hao is goofy but also a good rival, he acts silly, but it's a part of his charm and his raichu actually sweaped me with psychic T.T didn't stand a chance. Lusamine and team skull are cool too, I like how they turn out to be interconnected. Lusamine is just the right tinge of insane and gets fairly good redemption (+ her useless clefairy allowed my Raichu to get to +6 lol) and team Skull is just goofy and funny enough to shove aside how stereotypical and bufoony they behave. Gladion ... I liek that he works with you, he's cool Did I forget anyone major? Anyway, the best set of cahracters in any Pokemon game so far My fav Pkmn character is still Steven but as a group gen 7 beats other gens no competition.
And now, Alola. Yes the region itself, Alola, was jsut amazing, esily BY FAR the most beautiful and pictoresque region we have had so far, especially in great 3D, so many landscapes, you get the fantastic relaxing island vibe, you get to jet around on a Sharpedo, you get to cross jungles, deserts, forests, plains, meadows,cities and small towns of many cultures, absolutely incredible and you even get the finale on a white mountain (I'm a sucker for mountains and snow). It is easily the most gorgeous, most emersing and best region so far (no matter how much I am in love with Hoenn). It made for a wonderful journey. The world is the most important part of any RPG and Alola was simply stunning. I just wish I could live there
I can only hope tha postgame is also good, I'm off playing it as soon as i finish this up
Verdict (read the above first):
PPS: screw the iPad keyboard
1. Let's start with the bad I suppose:
First the worst thing about the game: well, it's the excessive handholding which lasts hours into the game and accompanies you all throughout the first island, the hours of tutorials are extremely annoying and only take up time, the handholding, after 20 years, SHOULD BE SKIPPABLE!!!!
The second worst thing is some cutscene sequences. The game is very cutscene heavy, which are actually good, but sometimes the sequencing makes the game hyperlinear, even more so than the previous pkmn games, and teh hopping in and out of the cutscenes is so frequent and the way so linear, a few times I actually didn't even feel like I was playing an actual game, but rather jsut watching a recorded story
Third one are the Z moves: while the animations for the moves look fantastic (except the poor fairies XD) the whole animations with the dancing and the text become old after about the 3rd time u use them, they simply take too long, I sometimes just set down my 3ds to do something else quick when i pressed a z move, and even actively avoided using them, even if they would have been helpful, I think the mega evos were also much more exciting. I also dislike teh competitive imlications, them practically being even more annoying than the gems and simultaneously them being sometimes just unsatisfactory to use (yes its a contradiction but thats just the impression I got of them)
Next is the camera, a vast majority of the time it's just fine but in some instance it shows your character so up close that you can't really see much else around you, it's annoying, Exeggutor island is one example.
Another annoyance are the shadows running around which have pokemons in them, when you enter an old area you want to travel across fast and use repels, it's extremely annoying to have mons pop up anyway.
Yet another annoyance is the ''call for help'' mechanic of Alolan mons, it's beyond frustrating sometimes when you jsut wanna catch the god damn mon!! I almost threw my DS one time I got so frustrate, ball misses-call for help-kill the 2nd mon-ball misses- call for help-FML!!! It's jsut one thing I think they didn't really think through when implementing.
I also noticed how throughout the entire game, except once (if im not mistaken), your cahracter always has the same expression XD
Once again the bad guy hideout (in this case for 2 teams) is a problem for me, every time we enter the hideout it's dull battle after another without any change of scenery and mostly without story progression until you get to the boss, there is even no traveling ... this isn't only a prob with SunMoon but with every Pokemon game, at least to me
Just a mention: No soaring and no flying to routes
2. Ok, now for the neutral:
The new Pokemon, they are all mostly okay, but that's just it, most of them are just okay, very few stand out and some are kinda weird. Though they did a particularly fine job with the legendaries. I think Ultrabeasts are very out of place though and I really dislike them. Some of the best mons of the generation imo are Decidueye, Mimikyu, Kommo-o, Tapu Lele and Koko, Solgaleo and Lunala, Alolan Raichu and Vulpix, Wishiwashi and Oranguru. But none impress me as much as, say, Greninja and Talonflame (finally a firehawk!!) or ... well u get the idea. The generation pokemon list isn't the best and it isn't the worst. But that's just fine, we got some good ones and we have 6 previous gens to play in the game.
3. Now finally for the good!!
Let's start small: the new move animations, they improved on teh 3d animations of XY in a big way, the moves look a lot better than they did and that reall affects the epic factor of the game
The Minimap is something I wanted in Pokemon games for over a decade and ITS FINALLY HERE, you ahve no idea how much I lvoe this feature!!
The trials: I really loved the trials, they really were refreshing and a few, for a first run, actually wuite hard (damn Lurantis, and Salazzle actually wiped me ... had bad types), they were quite inventive and a lot more visually appealing than simple gyms, though I did miss the traditional gym pokemon boss battle a bit. But still a positive.
How the champion idea is handled: I love it, we are the first champion of Alola and it stands out a lot more in this Mon game than in any other. I always found it kinda disappoining in previous pkmn games, you get to know this epic champion Steven or Cynthia, but at the end you jsut dethrone them, it's a bit weird to me for how the story builds them up (especially those 2), but here there is none of that, you are the champion, no one else, as simplea s that, it's a completely diferent feel.
NO HMs!!! FINALLY! FINALLLLYYYY!!! THANK YOU GAME FREAK!!
Now for teh big ones
the Music is incredible, the main Alola theme is so Islandish I love it and there is another music, it palys after you come back from the Ultra space and at the end when Lillie leaves, it's a flute, absolutely beautiful, it reminds me heavily of the LOTR ''I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you'' music, which is one of the more touching musical moments int he movies.The Story: it's fantastic, nothing really to say about it, the whole game is centered around it and it's an entertaining story
also, the cutscenes are mostly fantastic for teh story (regardless of what I said about it above). perhaps my favorite scene is when Lillie leaves (and saddest) because with the flute music it absolutely screamed the second to last LOTR scene where Frodo leaves with Gandalf to Valinor, I actually heard Ian McKellan say "Here at last, on the shores of the sea, comes the end of our Fellowship." in my head and it's a moment that actually brought me to tears, and when the ship left Professor Tolkiens words sounded in my mind "The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass...and then you see it. White shores. And beyond...a far green country under a swift sunrise." some of teh most beautiful words Tolkien ever wrote. It was absolutely fantastic to get that feeling in this game it was the best presented story so far in Pokemon games.Next one are the Characters: they are fantastic and very likable. Lillie, well I lvoe Lillie, she is awesome, I like how they made her pretty much the 2nd main character without her even being a trainer, it was very refreshing, and she is a very big part o your journey. The professor is ... well, teh coolest professor so far, he's goofy, he's puny and he's awesome, only my greninja lived the final battle
the trial captains and the Kahunas are also fairly memorable. Hao is goofy but also a good rival, he acts silly, but it's a part of his charm and his raichu actually sweaped me with psychic T.T didn't stand a chance. Lusamine and team skull are cool too, I like how they turn out to be interconnected. Lusamine is just the right tinge of insane and gets fairly good redemption (+ her useless clefairy allowed my Raichu to get to +6 lol) and team Skull is just goofy and funny enough to shove aside how stereotypical and bufoony they behave. Gladion ... I liek that he works with you, he's cool Did I forget anyone major? Anyway, the best set of cahracters in any Pokemon game so far My fav Pkmn character is still Steven but as a group gen 7 beats other gens no competition.And now, Alola. Yes the region itself, Alola, was jsut amazing, esily BY FAR the most beautiful and pictoresque region we have had so far, especially in great 3D, so many landscapes, you get the fantastic relaxing island vibe, you get to jet around on a Sharpedo, you get to cross jungles, deserts, forests, plains, meadows,cities and small towns of many cultures, absolutely incredible and you even get the finale on a white mountain (I'm a sucker for mountains and snow). It is easily the most gorgeous, most emersing and best region so far (no matter how much I am in love with Hoenn). It made for a wonderful journey. The world is the most important part of any RPG and Alola was simply stunning. I just wish I could live there
I can only hope tha postgame is also good, I'm off playing it as soon as i finish this up
Verdict (read the above first):
You really should't count the positives and negatives I listed and compare teh numbers. What can I say? I loved palying Pokemon Sun, I had a great time and, for me, it lived up to teh hype. The negatives I listed are largely nitpicks and the most important elements of Pokemon games to me (the story, the music, the characters and the region itself) are all just fantastic. Yes, I love this game!!
Rating? Well ... 9/10
For me, it rivals my favorite Pokemon games, ORAS and Emerald, yes that is how much I loved it I now have 3 favorite pokemon games
PS: pls tell me Lillie comes back from Kanto T.T
Rating? Well ... 9/10
For me, it rivals my favorite Pokemon games, ORAS and Emerald, yes that is how much I loved it
I now have 3 favorite pokemon gamesPS: pls tell me Lillie comes back from Kanto T.T
PPS: screw the iPad keyboard
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