Praise The Sun... and Moon - Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon

[Jericho 114]

I love Team Skull, they are everything Team Flare wasn't.

Favorite team in Pokemon and I'm not even done my first trial yet.

[Jmanultrax1 38]

that team skull theme. I love it, its by far the best evil team theme

[Character OS 0]

While there have been complaints about the density of cutscenes in this game, I actually kinda like the focus on world-building and plot in this game. I liked how a greater amoutn of Pokemon were more integrated into the world than in past entries rather than mostly being extensions of their trainer, unseen outside of battle (the sequence where the player gets his/her starter Pokemon is just precious!). Team Skull was certainly different from the other evil teams up til now (in a good, funny way), and actually, I found a good deal of the dialogue in this game to be rather amusing. And I've never even considered ever actually becoming the Champion in a Pokemon game, but now that it's actually possible, I take a great amount of satisfaction in that fact (despite, gameplay-wise, working almost exactly like before). I also found the graphics to be a nice step up from the last generation; graphics seem to get better by the generation.

I also found a lot of the new Pokemon to be interesting - usually I tend to stick with specific Pokemon throughout the main game, but not here. Too much stuff I wanted to use, so as new things like Mimikyu, Dhelmise, and Vulpix became available I was forced to shelve old teammates if I wanted to use them. Cutiefly/Ribombee somehow managed to be the most deadly member of my team despite being the smallest, so a shout-out for that cutie.

The Trials were far more interesting/challenging than traditional Gyms as well (I especially enjoyed the Fire and Ghost trials, and kinda wish I could've spent more time appreciating the Pikachu shrine in the latter before it disappeared). I was hyped for the game as it is and it still managed to exceed my expectations.

I do have a few complaints such as how leveling gets so hard at high levels, how it's just about impossible to find high-leveled Festival Plaza facilities, and that I'm unable to use Pokeballs when there are two or more Pokemon on the field at once (which can get rather frustrating), but overall, I think that this was the most enjoyable main series Pokemon game yet to me. Now for the trouble that goes into building a competitive team, but hopefully I'll be able to enjoy that too.

[FairFamily 197]

that team skull theme. I love it, its by far the best evil team theme

indeed I just love encountering them just for the music they have, battle theme is also awesome.

[The Swordsman 98]

Ok let's all agree here that the dark and ghost ones were the best of the nonspecific Z attacks

Sorry but I am more of a fan of the water and fairy z moves.

[Eagleby18 95]

I just finished the game and I gotta say they did a great job at making Pokemon difficult again.  I'm actually pretty sure this is the hardest game to date, or at least the one I had the most trouble with personally (not counting my first attempt at Ruby version back when I was a dumb kid).  The final boss for example, I barely won with 21/179 hp on my Primarina who was the only one left conscious, and only after like the third try (it didn't help I was intentionally not using healing items but still).  You know how the game pushes the whole "you couldn't have done it without any one of your Pokemon" narrative even though it's usually bullcrap?  This was the first time I ever actually felt that was true.  Yes, even counting Reborn.

 

...This is all assuming you turn the exp share off, of course.  If you keep it on it still breaks the game and makes it horrendously easy, as is evident from what I've seen of Shofu's playthrough (a boss battle that swept me didn't even land a single hit on him.  Wtf.)

 

Not that I don't have anything negative to say about the game, of course.   As a matter of fact, while 6th gen was a crappy set of games that did some great things for the franchise in the long run, these games are the opposite, they're great but it seems they've done more harm than good.  But that's a post for another time.

[Raviel the Phantom 1]

Next to Black/White/Black 2/White 2 this is probably my favorite game in the series.  I loved the characters.  The story was awesome.  The villains were really cool.  Gladion was probably one of my favorite characters in the franchise next to N.  And I love the increase difficulty.  That feeling of being down to your last Pokemon against a Totem is thrilling.  I just got to the Elite Four, so I am pumped for the Post Game.

 

If there was a hardcore rivalry in the game then this would have been absolutely perfect.

[Maelstrom 312]

I've spent more time playing Festival Plaza than playing the main story so far.

 

Speaking of which, what are you best plaza shops? I've got 4 star Confuse rays and the Gold lottery thing.

I'm looking for a high star fortune teller shop and big dreams lotto.

[Cepheus 7]

I finished the main story yesterday evening...

My final team was for the league was:

Incineroar

Vaporeon

Vikavolt

Metagross

Alolan-Muk

Kommo-o

 

all around level 58-61

 

my thoughts on the game

it was... fairly balanced (without EXP.Share of course, and I only used the Z-moves once... just to see what they look like), but I took my time grinding a bit. with being like 3 levels above the 'bosses' every time... and yeah... I tore them all to shreds - except that Ground-type girl on Poni, she hit hard and my Water and Grass types missing constantly in the sandstorm her Dugtrio set up in the first turn.

 

The game itself was great, and since I still have post game to do, everything I mention is for the main story [I'll just put it in spoilers, for people who haven't played/completed it yet]

Characters were great... except the protagonist... he (as I was playing male) had the same look on his face THE WHOLE DAMN TIME... nothing could surprise him... always that same stupid smile... I hope GameFreak works on this for their next game.

Lilly was the best and cutest of them all... and her new style after leaving AEther Foundation is super cute! - and regarding Lilly - almost every scene towards the had some kind of romantic feeling to me - as if they actually tried to make a romance between her and the male protagonist, which I found very refreshing... and then in the end... they let her go back and take away my waifu!!! how dare they??? and the protagonist just stands there with his stupid smile... ARGH! IMMERSION RUINED!!

 

The "Plot-Twists" were smellable from MILES AWAY!

Oh no! who would have thought these three persons, who all share the same facial features, could be family???

 

ok - to be fair, one thing caught me off-guard - that friggin Lusamine-Ultrabeast Fusion!! I was like - WHAT THE ACTUAL??? oh god, please don't make me battle that... thing! (but I actually wanted to battle that thing) --- and then they ruined it by making it a second standard Lusamine battle... with Totem-Auras... I still OHKOed her whole team...

 

In general I found the endgame rushed and unfinished... "We have finished building a Pokemon League!" - ok... where is the damn vicotry road? that small ice cave? please.... that's no victory road - a victory road needs to be a final challange.

 

My greatest dissappointment: only trials/captains/Kahunas for... what? 11 or 12 types??? and then the neglected ones are even more neglected, by not putting 4 of them into the Elite 4?? instead we only got 1 (flying - and by a trainer which is only mentioned ONCE somewhere at that Hotel-Resort place)

What is with Ice, Psychic, Poison?? why don't they have trials or captains? (HOW DO WE KNOW THE POSES FOR THOSE CRYSTALS? There is no one to tech them to us!!!)

That Fairy-captain was the tip of the iceberg... "Hey I just met you, and this is crazy! So take my Z-Crystal, and don't take any trial maybe... because I don't have one figured out yet..." Well... at least we could batte, DAMN GIRL!

You don't just had a trainer your Z-Crystal... they have to work for it! IT'S IN THE DAMN RULES!

 

I expected a LOT MORE in terms of Trials and my Island-tour... but the whole Legendary-Pokemon Plotline with AEther just kinda rushed it down... go get the legendary pokemon, defeat the evil woman and go to the pokemon league... and that is all after you arrive at Poni... *sigh*

 

In conclusion: The game and story were great up until I arrived at Poni, where everything seemed rushed towards the end. It had great character development with Lilly, Gladion and Plumeria.

It could have had a few more clothing options... you would expect a 'chinese' looking town would sell 'asian-style' clothing... nope... same old boring tanktops and t-shirts with ugly designs...

 

All in all, GameFreak is back on the right path, after that Story and difficulty desaster that was X/Y

 

[Ice Cream Sand Witch 1650]

5 hours ago, Cepheus said:

I finished the main story yesterday evening...

My final team was for the league was:

Incineroar

Vaporeon

Vikavolt

Metagross

Alolan-Muk

Kommo-o

 

all around level 58-61

 

my thoughts on the game

it was... fairly balanced (without EXP.Share of course, and I only used the Z-moves once... just to see what they look like), but I took my time grinding a bit. with being like 3 levels above the 'bosses' every time... and yeah... I tore them all to shreds - except that Ground-type girl on Poni, she hit hard and my Water and Grass types missing constantly in the sandstorm her Dugtrio set up in the first turn.

 

The game itself was great, and since I still have post game to do, everything I mention is for the main story [I'll just put it in spoilers, for people who haven't played/completed it yet]

 

  Hide contents

 

 

Characters were great... except the protagonist... he (as I was playing male) had the same look on his face THE WHOLE DAMN TIME... nothing could surprise him... always that same stupid smile... I hope GameFreak works on this for their next game.

Lilly was the best and cutest of them all... and her new style after leaving AEther Foundation is super cute! - and regarding Lilly - almost every scene towards the had some kind of romantic feeling to me - as if they actually tried to make a romance between her and the male protagonist, which I found very refreshing... and then in the end... they let her go back and take away my waifu!!! how dare they??? and the protagonist just stands there with his stupid smile... ARGH! IMMERSION RUINED!!

 

The "Plot-Twists" were smellable from MILES AWAY!

Oh no! who would have thought these three persons, who all share the same facial features, could be family???

 

ok - to be fair, one thing caught me off-guard - that friggin Lusamine-Ultrabeast Fusion!! I was like - WHAT THE ACTUAL??? oh god, please don't make me battle that... thing! (but I actually wanted to battle that thing) --- and then they ruined it by making it a second standard Lusamine battle... with Totem-Auras... I still OHKOed her whole team...

 

In general I found the endgame rushed and unfinished... "We have finished building a Pokemon League!" - ok... where is the damn vicotry road? that small ice cave? please.... that's no victory road - a victory road needs to be a final challange.

 

My greatest dissappointment: only trials/captains/Kahunas for... what? 11 or 12 types??? and then the neglected ones are even more neglected, by not putting 4 of them into the Elite 4?? instead we only got 1 (flying - and by a trainer which is only mentioned ONCE somewhere at that Hotel-Resort place)

What is with Ice, Psychic, Poison?? why don't they have trials or captains? (HOW DO WE KNOW THE POSES FOR THOSE CRYSTALS? There is no one to tech them to us!!!)

That Fairy-captain was the tip of the iceberg... "Hey I just met you, and this is crazy! So take my Z-Crystal, and don't take any trial maybe... because I don't have one figured out yet..." Well... at least we could batte, DAMN GIRL!

You don't just had a trainer your Z-Crystal... they have to work for it! IT'S IN THE DAMN RULES!

 

I expected a LOT MORE in terms of Trials and my Island-tour... but the whole Legendary-Pokemon Plotline with AEther just kinda rushed it down... go get the legendary pokemon, defeat the evil woman and go to the pokemon league... and that is all after you arrive at Poni... *sigh*

 

In conclusion: The game and story were great up until I arrived at Poni, where everything seemed rushed towards the end. It had great character development with Lilly, Gladion and Plumeria.

It could have had a few more clothing options... you would expect a 'chinese' looking town would sell 'asian-style' clothing... nope... same old boring tanktops and t-shirts with ugly designs...

 

All in all, GameFreak is back on the right path, after that Story and difficulty desaster that was X/Y
 

 

 

 

Plumeria is a Poison-type specialist. Faba and Dexio are both Psychic specialists. Ice is the only type unrepresented by any notable trainer, although Sina uses a few in the Battle Tree I think. 

[Raviel the Phantom 1]

So I was looking at the information about Cosmoen and I saw that he weighs a whopping 2200 lbs.

And we see Lillie carrying that in her bag.  Holy crap she is a super human to carry that thing so effortlessly

[Chase 94]

Spoilers for those of you not near the end of the game. 

 

 

I think Cosmoem helped Lillie out a bit. It's seen levitating in the cutscenes after Lusamine forces it to evolve - then outright flying into the beam from the Sunne/Moone altar to evolve again.

 

If gravity isn't applying to Cosmoem's weight - Lillie probably doesn't have to work -AS- hard. This doesn't mean it's an easy feat to drag one around in a backpack though. It's supposedly doing nothing other than waiting for evolution at that point (Lillie and Gladion are unsure if Nebby is alright because of its sudden inactivity.)

[doombotmecha 174]

About the whole Victory Road thing, I'm pretty sure the "victory road" for this game is Vast Poni Canyon. There's a huge difficulty spike, the trainers are mostly veterans and black belts, and it's one of the few caves in the game, while being longer than both story-essential caves put together! Having a break between VPC and the League was nice imo and a novel idea. It was great to have a justification for why we had to go through cave hell to get where we were going.

 

The postgame after the Looker questline is pretty lackluster, though. The battle royale and battle tower derive most of their difficulty from having an omniscient AI, and the only good grinding spot is Poni Gauntlet. I'm also kinda miffed about the new focus on getting to level 100. Like, back in the day, level 100 was for your absolute favorites, the very best of your partners. Now there's guides on "grind to l66. get two each of this and that shop, then buy two rare candies from the battle tree" and it makes the whole process seem a bit less special.

 

Also, I know it's been this way for a while now, but I wish I could replay it, like I could Skyrim or Reborn. For a game with such a great story and so many ways to complete it, the game is pretty adamant about you not repeating it.

 

SOS battles are immersive but pretty annoying, and they make it more of a pain to grind on wild pokemon beacause the battle can literally last forever.

[Raviel the Phantom 1]

So, have they announced the date for the Poke Bank?

[Jolteondude 0]

You will see new starters

[Masquerain 6]

On 12/17/2016 at 9:28 PM, doombotmecha said:

About the whole Victory Road thing, I'm pretty sure the "victory road" for this game is Vast Poni Canyon. There's a huge difficulty spike, the trainers are mostly veterans and black belts, and it's one of the few caves in the game, while being longer than both story-essential caves put together! Having a break between VPC and the League was nice imo and a novel idea. It was great to have a justification for why we had to go through cave hell to get where we were going.

 

The postgame after the Looker questline is pretty lackluster, though. The battle royale and battle tower derive most of their difficulty from having an omniscient AI, and the only good grinding spot is Poni Gauntlet. I'm also kinda miffed about the new focus on getting to level 100. Like, back in the day, level 100 was for your absolute favorites, the very best of your partners. Now there's guides on "grind to l66. get two each of this and that shop, then buy two rare candies from the battle tree" and it makes the whole process seem a bit less special.

 

Also, I know it's been this way for a while now, but I wish I could replay it, like I could Skyrim or Reborn. For a game with such a great story and so many ways to complete it, the game is pretty adamant about you not repeating it.

 

SOS battles are immersive but pretty annoying, and they make it more of a pain to grind on wild pokemon beacause the battle can literally last forever.

Agreed about VR, when me 'nd my friend played through Moon the first time, as soon as we entered the canyon, it could already be felt that it's Alola's non-standard version of a Victory Road

 

 

I like the new theories and speculation the Looker story brought to the drawing board, but I'm overall disappointed about the way they handled UBs and whatever info surrounds them. For how overhyped they were, their presence was lacking (and the sense of..threat that was supposed to be felt was non-existent). I've replayed the game one time for the sole purpose of doing a non-nuzlocke run, but after that, I also feel it a sort of chore if I think about another replay. the adventure through the story is great, but after that.. I don't feel like I wanna redo everything I had already achieved the first time because it gets tedious

 

 

edit: just noticed that post is over a month old but.. wellp

[doombotmecha 174]

it's no big deal. the post is still relevant, and megathreads are fairly dusty as a general rule.

 

they really needed the UBs to alter their enviroments. Like, the forest Xurkitree was in should have been arcing with electricity.

 

I feel you on the re-acheiving, I want to do a steel run but I have a shiny skarmory in this run and I don't have Bank

[Masquerain 6]

I'm definitely doing a mono-bug run one day when I get the feeling back for it

[Samapi 4]

Yahallo~ I bought a 2DS recently and the Pokemon Moon game, and I had a pretty good time with it, but there's still so much they could've done. Like giving the protagonist some more facial expressions depending on our response to questions or the situation we're in, letting us walk with our Pokemon to bring up their friendship quickly, without it being a total mess like HG/SS (for example: Pokemon of the Amorphous egg group, Human-like, Dragon, Fairy, etc. I can't really imagine some of the pokemon within those groups getting on all four and barking in the distance lmfao), giving the other characters different and slightly better facial expressions, making it possible for the trainer to check a wild pokemon's nature and ability so that we won't choose a pokemon with a bad nature by mistake and having to stick with it for the rest of your game because it's essential to your team, balancing the gender ratio of the starters (it took me an hour to get a female popplio), implementing a pokemon psychiatrist to change your pokemon's nature, without having to breed a new mon to replace your partner (I loved that function about Reborn), and maybe, JUST maybe, adding a challenge/super challenge mode at the beginning for veteran players? I get that stuff like this take a while to develop, especially on the 2/3DS, but it's possible with the Nintendo Switch, y'know?

[Ice Cream Sand Witch 1650]

Just a random thought based on things I've heard. Contains Guzma spoilers. 

 

People say that Guzma was abused, but I think that's jumping to the darkest conclusion. When his dad says he was the one who got beat, I took that to mean beaten in a Pokemon battle, and I'm not sure why people wouldn't immediately assume that's what he meant. As for the broken golf clubs, if you sit in Guzma's chair in Po Town it says it looks like it's been slammed down on several times with angry fists, so I figured Guzma got mad and broke them.

[Noivy 4]

battle tree in a nutshell

Spoiler