It's not just about the plot, but the general consensus seems to be that the plot is slightly worse than it is in SM. However, overall, the new gameplay features such as an alternative means to get BP (Mantine surfing), tutors, legendaries and riding in Ultra Space could pretty much make this a more complete version of SM. Despite the plot setback, I'd advise you get it.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon can be summed up as refined Déjà vu. The first half of the game plays out the same way as Sun and Moon, except you have the Ultra Recon Squad making small cameos here and there. It's only during the second half there starts to be differences, such as completing the Poni Canyon first, then challenging Mina and finally facing Hapu; so I find the games to be better in terms of structure. The games are mostly better when it comes to the characters; Lusamine is no longer the psychotic antagonist like in Sun and Moon and is far better handled in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Unfortunately, Lillie's story arc is somewhat shafted and she no longer stands out like she did in Sun and Moon.

Overall, the biggest sins Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon scream are the lack of changes made to the first half of the game and the bad marketing of the games, which is why the games have this negative consensus. I still believe that there is worth buying Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon since it is more of a complete game in terms of plot structure, characters, better graphics and offers more features than Sun and Moon.

I don't understand any complaints about these games being too similar.

Every third version is the same exact game with a few extra things added on. Yellow was the same game with events changed around, (starts you with pikachu, people give away the starters, team rocket occasionally appears) but the region had no big differences.

Crystal added animated sprites, lets you choose a female character, added Esuine and a couple new things. But it still plays out almost exactly like Gold/Silver.

Every "third" version does this, but I haven't seen any get a bad rep like these ones. Maybe it's because people were mislead by the title and expected something more like Black/White 2

These games have large differences by third game standards. In the beginning it immediately introduces a new team, adds a large amount of side quests, and halfway though it completely changes the plot. They even listened to the complaints about lack of post game and added onto that.

I'm still having a bit of fun with trading and battle spot. Waiting for the next pokemon events to come to :p otherwise game is really fun.

I think is was fine the only part I hated was team rainbow rocket but other than that it was fine.

Finally got USUM. Will be updating this as I go...

Stuff they changed that I liked:
- Getting starter was a lot faster
- Mantine Surf!
- Random sidequests or cutscenes, like Comfey in Paniola Town’s PC
- Totem Stickers make me want to explore each town more
- I am really liking the braided look of the female protagonist

Stuff they did/didn’t change that I didn’t like
- No Team Skull double battles when two grunts challenge/mess with you
- Lana’s trial is more straightforward, but I kinda liked how sneaky it was before
- Those damn tutorials. They shouldn’t be present in the 2nd game of a generation
- Alolan Pokemon are still at a 5-10% encounter rate or are in areas with low Pokemon encounter rates (been looking for a Wishiwashi for 30 mins so far and it has a 40% appearance rate...)
- The Ultra Recon Squad being on the first island was quite odd
- Pretttyyyt sure in SM and previous games you could press B to select “Keep Old Moves” upon level up if a Pokemon could learn a new move but already has 4, but in USUM you have to tap the screen (First World Problems, I know, but minor annoyance)

Other things they added that I don’t like or dislike:
- Did they give you 15 Revives by the 2nd trial in the original SM? So many in the first part of the game!

Things I didn’t expect to change from SM, but are still really bothering me:
- Lillie telling Nebby to get in the bag when there are 3 people around, but letting him out/no sense of urgency when he is out of the bag in the middle of Iki Town/Heahea City/etc... seems inconsistent
- Honestly wild Pokemon calling for help is so annoying sometimes, I wish there was an item opposite of the adrenaline orb that made them NOT call for help
- the barriers “only strong Trainers who beat Trials can pass” are still dumb af because 1) Gladion and Guzma and others obviously pass them and are not trial-goers 2) it’s not like Cerulean Cave where there’s a friggin Mewtwo behind the barrier 3) people live beyond the barriers?? so are they just trapped between them or something???

You'll be glad to know that SOS battles were nerfed in USUM. They'll only call for help once rather than several times over the course of the battle. If you throw an Adrenaline Orb, then they'll keep calling for help. In this case, an item opposite to the Adrenaline Orb wouldn't work in practice.

This makes me feel so much better honestly. I hate SOS battles lol. I like the idea of it: chaining to get a HA or shiny Pokemon. But I hate facing them myself haha

Nope, you couldn't do this in SM neither. I'm starting to think it was intentional :) . Like they wanted to make sure you couldn't accidentally skip this screen if you're mashing B and potentially lose an interesting move.

I understand this decision, but I'm not crazy about it neither.