(Un)bias Pokemon sun/moon review

[thedeath245]

hello guys, so after all the dilemma between a ps4 / xbox/ nintendo 3ds, I have chosen the 3ds.

Well, what is 3ds without pokemon, and I myself have a been a long time fan (16-ish year is considered long right?) I'm thinking of picking up Sun/Moon but I'd love to have your opinion on the game before actually buying. I know there are search functions and the answers probably come up. However, I'd like your opinion now after all the hype has died down and most people have finished the game, I think your view would be more critical and less bias. 
I'm sure $40 isn't much to some people, but I'd rather donate to a fanmade game if the official ones don't deserve it. 

tl/dr: pls give me a review of wether sun/moon is worth picking up now. Also Sun or Moon?

Thanks for reading

[FairFamily]

To me sun was quite enjoyable. This gen tries a lot new and pulled a lot of it off without ruining the pkmn feeling. The tone of the game is lighthearted,down to the villain team, without retracting to the story or the game. The quality of the story is only second to gen 5. So all in a good game and worth the money.

[Maelstrom]

All in all, I liked SuMo, and I have to say it's worth getting, even if it took me a long time to get around to finishing the main story.

 

Team Skull is definitely lighthearted and silly. It actually makes it interesting to see some of their dialogue. They also did a pretty good job of really giving Kahunas and captains their own personalities. They're far more active in you quests than they've ever been in previous games. The people themselves are all a lot more varied in type in a way that makes this game feel really down to earth. There are even several times when you know the game is being self-aware and poking fun at some of the things in the games themselves.

 

The game just really drops the ball on the player character's expressions. With everything going on and everybody else showing a wide range of feelings, the main character stands there like a rock with the same empty look he/she has on the entire game. It would have been nice to have a simple choice between reaction emoji's, like they kinda sort of did in Golden Sun.

 

I also really liked the huge variety and selection of pokemon you can capture and raise right from the start. Where the Reborn game is begrudgingly giving you a new mon at a time like it's pulling out its own teeth to do so, SuMo gives you so much if you take the time to explore.

 

Island challenges are nice and succinct. They aren't difficult to do nor do they ever feel like they're making things drag on or are a chore. The islands themselves are small but they're all in tidy little sections that do a lot with a little bit of space. In my opinion, this really helps keep the pacing great and you aren't buying boatloads of repels to get through them. Of course, HM's are out and the ride system is a great replacement for them. They've thankfully cut down on the really annoying things of the past, like having to manually select a pokemon to use the move to deal with a barrier, or having to sit through a drawn out animation of a silhouette doing the thing (remember cut and fly and rock smash, and constantly getting asked if you wanted to do the thing you clearly want to do?). It happens more quickly and realistically so that it doesn't make exploring a drag like it used to.

 

Remember nugget bridge, where you had to face all the trainers on the bridge, then fought one last guy who gave you a nugget for winning? They did something like that with most of the major routes. There's one person who won't fight you until you beat everyone else in the route. Once you return to beat him or her, they usually have some move, item, or technique to introduce to you during the battle (and they usually provide you with a pretty decent challenge). When you win, you could get an item like a Red Card, or flame orb, or even a TM, usually based on the strategy they were working with. This is a fun little system that I think works very well to educate new players on some meta strats and rewarding players whose completionism makes them take on all the trainer they find anyways.

 

Pelago is actually a really nifty new feature that really helps out, especially players who might have long stretches of time in between play sessions. It can get eggs ready to hatch for you even when you aren't playing. It'll EV train a stat for pokemon while you're maybe grinding out levels or ev training pokemon in your party. Or even level 'em up for you, since the daycare doesn't raise levels anymore and is purely for breeding (cuz hey, that's much better when your daycare mons can't level up and accidentally overwrite that egg move you wanted to breed on, etc). You can make those boxed pokemon find evolution or selling items for you. All your berry planting is in one place and you know when the berries will be ready to pick. It's really a major convenience that I'm glad they added in the game.

 

 

[thedeath245]

 

@Maelstrom, @FairFamily
I really really appreciate your reviews guys, I will order it on amazon then

Thanks again and happy holidays.

Edited December 26, 2016 by thedeath245

[Chase]

FOUR POINTS! (Hahaha, right?)

 

1. Sun and Moon is much more inclusive in various senses than previous generations. For example, Pheromosa is said to be so beautiful that anyone, regardless of gender, can't help but become infatuated with it. Lillie has the same "hint dropping" appreciation for the player regardless of it's a male or female player model. Hyper Training, while having a very steep level 100 + Bottle Caps stipulation, allows any Pokémon to fix its genes for competitive success. There are ways to avoid trainer battles and rewards for beating them on nearly every route. It's a light hearted game - but also has its share of weight and darkness for those who like edges. Then there's the apparent succession from Mega Evolution to Z-Moves, which are accessible to ALL Pokémon. Where ORAS was a love letter to fans of the original Gen 3 titles - Game Freak almost is calling Open Swim with these games. And it's doing so loud and perfectly clear. 

 

2. You can almost remember every character with a significant moment. Kukui's breaking and entering, Hau hitting on Lusamine lowkey - to things like Sophocles and Molayne calling each other with nicknames, Hiker David, and "Press A to Pound!" - This particularly makes the whole game prone to cause laughter regardless of who you are dealing with. 

 

3. Already mentioned was self-awareness. The Pokémon franchise isn't perfect, and it's almost like Masuda and the writers know it well - making some of the dialogue self-depreciating and thus funny to us as players. They also seemed to try and make much needed ease-of-life updates to the basic Pokémon formula. And they are very good.

 

4. It's a fresh experience and it's always going to be a recommendation because it's changing as much as possible while still being a Pokémon game. 

[thedeath245]

9 hours ago, Chase said:

Spoiler

 

FOUR POINTS! (Hahaha, right?)

 

1. Sun and Moon is much more inclusive in various senses than previous generations. For example, Pheromosa is said to be so beautiful that anyone, regardless of gender, can't help but become infatuated with it. Lillie has the same "hint dropping" appreciation for the player regardless of it's a male or female player model. Hyper Training, while having a very steep level 100 + Bottle Caps stipulation, allows any Pokémon to fix its genes for competitive success. There are ways to avoid trainer battles and rewards for beating them on nearly every route. It's a light hearted game - but also has its share of weight and darkness for those who like edges. Then there's the apparent succession from Mega Evolution to Z-Moves, which are accessible to ALL Pokémon. Where ORAS was a love letter to fans of the original Gen 3 titles - Game Freak almost is calling Open Swim with these games. And it's doing so loud and perfectly clear. 

 

2. You can almost remember every character with a significant moment. Kukui's breaking and entering, Hau hitting on Lusamine lowkey - to things like Sophocles and Molayne calling each other with nicknames, Hiker David, and "Press A to Pound!" - This particularly makes the whole game prone to cause laughter regardless of who you are dealing with. 

 

3. Already mentioned was self-awareness. The Pokémon franchise isn't perfect, and it's almost like Masuda and the writers know it well - making some of the dialogue self-depreciating and thus funny to us as players. They also seemed to try and make much needed ease-of-life updates to the basic Pokémon formula. And they are very good.

 

4. It's a fresh experience and it's always going to be a recommendation because it's changing as much as possible while still being a Pokémon game. 

 

 

 

6

Thanks for the review, my consoles and the game will arrive on Friday. I'm even more excited to play now after all the review, I honestly hasnt felt this excited since I found out about Reborn. 
On a side note, I talked my little brother into buy pokemon Sun while I grabbed Moon myself, gonna have both version woohoo.