https://twitter.com/pokejungle/status/932090508737785856
Worst Pokemon game ever? Well, it looks like 50% of Japanese players say so because they seem to be extremely let down over how "samey" the plot is to S/M.
[Disclaimer: this is not directed at you, but at the sentiment represented in that tweet at large]
Are there really all that many people who, like,
care about this issue? I'm through the entire first Island and I've found more than enough differences - which aren't even plot-related - to satisfy me and make the game exciting and new.
I just don't get this perspective. Maybe I'm really old for the fandom now, and a lot more players started out with Black and White or later generations, but I can't relate to taking issue. If the only games one has ever played are the 3DS line, then yeah, I guess I see how one wouldn't have expected a third version to be so similar. Maybe even if one has played the fifth generation and later, since B2W2 were legitimate sequels and could have created a notion of high difference.
But if people have played things like Platinum, Emerald, Crystal, and Yellow - basically, if they've been around long enough to experience the rest of the series or they've gone out of their way to do so anyway - then they know this is really nothing new. This is more different from the original versions than any of those; if you hold it to the standard of B2W2, which you probably shouldn't anyway, then sure, it'll fail that test.
So far, I think it's well worth the purchase. The game is more challenging, is bursting with new features and changes and even new locations, and from the small bits and pieces of the story I know (I've tried not to spoil myself), it seems to be as different or more so than other third versions.
It's Sun and Moon plus a decent amount more - hence the names, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. I think the originals are the best games in the series so far; I'm probably going to think these are even better, and I think they represent more or less the definitive experience for the DS/3DS chapter in the series' history. I can't wait to keep playing!