GlitchWarrior
A Rookie with Heart
- 20
- Posts
- 5
- Years
- Nebraska
- Seen Mar 30, 2023
Hello everyone! Glitch here, with my first Pokemon game review. Since this is the first time I'm reviewing a game, I'll probably have a few... based opinions.
Prelude to Sun
A bit of backstory... I was hyped for Sun and Moon after they were announced. I followed along with news, theories, and other things.
Fast forward about a year. I get in a car accident and recover. Not much to say, but with the insurance money my parents buy a 2DS XL and a copy of Pokemon Sun for me. I guess anything can be good. I turned on the system, and quickly went to work. Soon setup was done. I was ready to play.
The first experience
I fell in love with the game pretty quickly... the first time. The characters were nice, and I grew quite attatched to Pop, my starter Pokemon for the run who was obviously a Popplio. After the main story was over, he even worked in the Battle Tree, come to think of it, albeit rather poorly compared to others.
I finished Melemele Island quickly, and thus began the plot. At times, I forgot it was a Pokemon game due to the new game structure: instead of Pokemon Gyms, you went to seven small trials and four Grand Trials, amassing a collection of 11 Z-Crystals from these alone. Three or four more came from in-game moments, eventually resulting in me having 15 of the 18 type Z-crystals by the end of the game.
Z-Moves, Sun's answer to the previous games' Mega Evolution, took me quite by surprise. Instead of one Pokemon on your team gaining a super-powered form, one move made in battle turned into a ridiculously devastating assault, but no others. I felt SO in tune unleashing Pop's Hydro Vortex, and later in the game, his signature Oceanic Operetta. It was like things were in sync. I met each challenge the game threw at me with great anticipation... and then the disappointments began.
The Disappointments
It started to feel too sudden. The game felt linear, and exploration, which was actively encouraged in my past games, like Blue and Emerald, was openly removed due to plot relevance- even post-game areas feel cramped. At times I wondered when the plot would open up- you know, the Celadon City of Alola, if you get my drift. It never did. I didn't even enjoy the removal of HM techniques. And with its constant handholding, I felt like it was trying to teach me how to play a game I've been openly playing since I was five years old. The big shocker came in Ultra Space.
Then came the credits... enough said.
The post-game was VERY un-supportive. You had your Ultra Beasts, your Battle Royals, and your Battle Tree. That's LITERALLY IT. You get NOTHING ELSE to do apart from completing the Pokemon League again and filling the Pokedex, unless you're a Shiny Hunter. Heck, you can't even do online tournaments anymore, since those events all take place in the Ultra version these days.
Being an Emerald veteran, I was quite upset. But nothing could prepare me for my worst mistake EVER, that came at the start of this year... I reset my file.
THE RESET
Why, oh why, did I have to reset the game? It's a good story, sure, but it only works its magic once, and the cutscenes are COMPLETELY un-skippable. The game seems catered to a new audience, not an old one. The second run was boring, and took THREE MONTHS to complete because I lost interest in the game. My new starter, Ahi the Litten Ahi means "fire" in Hawaii felt lacking compared to Pop, and since I didn't have access to Pokemon Bank, I lost my event-exclusive Pikashunium Z. For good, since I never got Ultra. Geez, I REALLY screwed up!
I eventually did complete the plot, but I still never went back and did the Ultra Beast sidequest in its entirety. I haven't had the motive.
And before I go, I want to talk about one thing that I slightly touched up upon in the Disappointments category: events.
Events, and what Ultra meant
Pokemon Sun had its fair share of online tournaments. Every battle was played on either this or its sister game, Pokemon Moon, and I genuinely thought these games would be the standard for Generation 7.
Cue 2017, and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon come out. Now no tournaments that Nintendo announces even ALLOW non-Ultra players; cash-hoggy Nintendo at its finest, which surprises me considering they're normally not this type. And the few events that DO cover both pairs of games (2018's Year of Legends) give distinct advantages to Ultra Players those advantages, in this case, being 40 more levels on the Legendary and a Gold Bottle Cap.
The way I see it, is if you make a game like Pokemon, you shouldn't outsource it until the generation is finished! If they were going to make Ultra, they could at least have updated the originals to battle with the new Pokemon. Heck, my brother has Ultra Moon and he's already bragging that the Battle Tree was easy peasy, even though MY Battle Tree is, how do I say it without offending people... the Distortion World from Platinum on crack.
Final Synopsis
Pokemon Sun is a good game, but it DEFINITELY has flaws. Once you've played through the story, you run out of content FAST, and the game's lack of a 'skip' option for cutscenes absolutely destroys its speedrun potential and replay value. Even Nuzlocking this game can be easy, and the story itself only works once before you get B. O. R. E. D.
This look was pretty critical. I get that. But if there's one thing I learned from back in Emerald, sometimes a simpler game is a better game. Team Aqua and Team Magma may have had a somewhat convoluted plot, but at least you could do things around Hoenn without the plot holding you back too much. Alola? Not so much, bucko.
Even the plot's darker tone was held back by Game Freak's absolute denial of going past an 'E' rating with a Pokemon game. Had the game been a 'T' game, or even an 'E10+,' they could have done SO much more. But Pokemon, at its core, is a game for children. A game for children with over five hundred war machines of destruction and their babies.
It's almost like they took everything people liked about Emerald and threw it away.
But again, that's my opinion. What was your experience of Pokemon Sun and Moon? I'd love to hear your experience, and I hope to see you next time.
Prelude to Sun
A bit of backstory... I was hyped for Sun and Moon after they were announced. I followed along with news, theories, and other things.
Fast forward about a year. I get in a car accident and recover. Not much to say, but with the insurance money my parents buy a 2DS XL and a copy of Pokemon Sun for me. I guess anything can be good. I turned on the system, and quickly went to work. Soon setup was done. I was ready to play.
The first experience
I fell in love with the game pretty quickly... the first time. The characters were nice, and I grew quite attatched to Pop, my starter Pokemon for the run who was obviously a Popplio. After the main story was over, he even worked in the Battle Tree, come to think of it, albeit rather poorly compared to others.
I finished Melemele Island quickly, and thus began the plot. At times, I forgot it was a Pokemon game due to the new game structure: instead of Pokemon Gyms, you went to seven small trials and four Grand Trials, amassing a collection of 11 Z-Crystals from these alone. Three or four more came from in-game moments, eventually resulting in me having 15 of the 18 type Z-crystals by the end of the game.
Z-Moves, Sun's answer to the previous games' Mega Evolution, took me quite by surprise. Instead of one Pokemon on your team gaining a super-powered form, one move made in battle turned into a ridiculously devastating assault, but no others. I felt SO in tune unleashing Pop's Hydro Vortex, and later in the game, his signature Oceanic Operetta. It was like things were in sync. I met each challenge the game threw at me with great anticipation... and then the disappointments began.
The Disappointments
It started to feel too sudden. The game felt linear, and exploration, which was actively encouraged in my past games, like Blue and Emerald, was openly removed due to plot relevance- even post-game areas feel cramped. At times I wondered when the plot would open up- you know, the Celadon City of Alola, if you get my drift. It never did. I didn't even enjoy the removal of HM techniques. And with its constant handholding, I felt like it was trying to teach me how to play a game I've been openly playing since I was five years old. The big shocker came in Ultra Space.
Spoiler:
The post-game was VERY un-supportive. You had your Ultra Beasts, your Battle Royals, and your Battle Tree. That's LITERALLY IT. You get NOTHING ELSE to do apart from completing the Pokemon League again and filling the Pokedex, unless you're a Shiny Hunter. Heck, you can't even do online tournaments anymore, since those events all take place in the Ultra version these days.
Being an Emerald veteran, I was quite upset. But nothing could prepare me for my worst mistake EVER, that came at the start of this year... I reset my file.
THE RESET
Why, oh why, did I have to reset the game? It's a good story, sure, but it only works its magic once, and the cutscenes are COMPLETELY un-skippable. The game seems catered to a new audience, not an old one. The second run was boring, and took THREE MONTHS to complete because I lost interest in the game. My new starter, Ahi the Litten Ahi means "fire" in Hawaii felt lacking compared to Pop, and since I didn't have access to Pokemon Bank, I lost my event-exclusive Pikashunium Z. For good, since I never got Ultra. Geez, I REALLY screwed up!
I eventually did complete the plot, but I still never went back and did the Ultra Beast sidequest in its entirety. I haven't had the motive.
And before I go, I want to talk about one thing that I slightly touched up upon in the Disappointments category: events.
Events, and what Ultra meant
Pokemon Sun had its fair share of online tournaments. Every battle was played on either this or its sister game, Pokemon Moon, and I genuinely thought these games would be the standard for Generation 7.
Cue 2017, and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon come out. Now no tournaments that Nintendo announces even ALLOW non-Ultra players; cash-hoggy Nintendo at its finest, which surprises me considering they're normally not this type. And the few events that DO cover both pairs of games (2018's Year of Legends) give distinct advantages to Ultra Players those advantages, in this case, being 40 more levels on the Legendary and a Gold Bottle Cap.
The way I see it, is if you make a game like Pokemon, you shouldn't outsource it until the generation is finished! If they were going to make Ultra, they could at least have updated the originals to battle with the new Pokemon. Heck, my brother has Ultra Moon and he's already bragging that the Battle Tree was easy peasy, even though MY Battle Tree is, how do I say it without offending people... the Distortion World from Platinum on crack.
Final Synopsis
Pokemon Sun is a good game, but it DEFINITELY has flaws. Once you've played through the story, you run out of content FAST, and the game's lack of a 'skip' option for cutscenes absolutely destroys its speedrun potential and replay value. Even Nuzlocking this game can be easy, and the story itself only works once before you get B. O. R. E. D.
This look was pretty critical. I get that. But if there's one thing I learned from back in Emerald, sometimes a simpler game is a better game. Team Aqua and Team Magma may have had a somewhat convoluted plot, but at least you could do things around Hoenn without the plot holding you back too much. Alola? Not so much, bucko.
Even the plot's darker tone was held back by Game Freak's absolute denial of going past an 'E' rating with a Pokemon game. Had the game been a 'T' game, or even an 'E10+,' they could have done SO much more. But Pokemon, at its core, is a game for children. A game for children with over five hundred war machines of destruction and their babies.
It's almost like they took everything people liked about Emerald and threw it away.
But again, that's my opinion. What was your experience of Pokemon Sun and Moon? I'd love to hear your experience, and I hope to see you next time.