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Now the hype has died down, what are your thoughts on USUM?

I think of Ultra Sun and Ultra moon as:

"Sun and Moon, the DEFINITIVE Editions."

I have sun and Ultra moon and While I might go back to play sun from time to time I think I'll grab Ultra sun and Have both of the new entries where I can play one and keep the other for completing the Pokedex. Also Still love my ORAS games a lot and will be fiddling with them along with gen 7 for years to come. Don't have money for the Switch so I plan to get every single Pokemon Main Entry going back to Gen III (not a fan of emulation).
Missing:
Emerald
Diamond
Heart Gold
Moon
Ultra Sun
Sooooo I am getting close to achieving that goal :D

But back to the point despite the slight loss of interest in the Island Challenge due to beating sun 5 times and now playing Ultra Moon I can say I really liked USUM a lot more overall than S/M, and way more than X/Y. I don't think I'll ever find another gen I like more than Gen III. I just love Hoenn so much lol. I loved USUM selection of Pokemon and while i havent finished it yet I am enjoying the prospect of battling all the big bads from the other games. I just finished Acerola's Trial as a reference so ya. Anyways a job well done on GF's part for sure. Blew my expectations right out of the water tbh.
 
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Pros:
- an increase in difficulty
- more pokemon to obtain
- better post game
- hau was a better character this time

Cons:
- story was meh
- ultra recon squad was pretty pointless
- the change in lillie and lusamine's story wasn't as good as their original storyline
 
I'm not gonna say much because of potential spoilers... as much as I did like the post-game episode, I think they could have used the Rocket Executives from HGSS instead. To have them under Giovanni would have made more sense, from what this Giovanni is planning he doesn't necessarily need the leaders from other teams to achieve his current goal; Proton, Petrel, Ariana, and Archer would've sufficed.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who disliked what they did with Lillie.

It's just so frustrating that they reversed the character progression they had in the originals. In the originals she started out hopeless (constantly going on and on and on about how weak she is, and how she can't do anything on her own. She can't even find a building half a block away without it overwhelming her and her having to stop to go clothes shopping). But by the end of the games, she has transferred into her Z form, stood up to her Mother, made some difficult decisions and has left Alola to go and train.

They kept some of that progression in USUM, but then took it all away again in the post-game. As soon as you get into the RR headquarters, it's 'I'm not strong enough, I'll just go stand in this backroom instead' - which is a really sucky way to end her character progression.

I understand from a game mechanic perspective that Lillie couldn't travel with the player through the various puzzles in the side rooms, and they needed a way for the player to heal their Pokémon in-between. But another character could have taken on that healing role. And Lillie could have easily been moved out of the way by offering to go and hold off a group of grunts somewhere.

Why oh why did they have to revert her back to the weak, helpless girl in the end :(
 
Opinion on the new game?

So what's you're opinion on the new game? :)
 
If you haven't played Sun and Moon before, then they are good. :)

If you have then it is just disappointing. I was looking forward to this new game, but they essentially released the same game with some slight changes. Didn't even buy Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon, so disappointed I was.
 
I just finished the main story and I personally love this game to death and think it's better than the OG Sun and Moon. I prefer the story and I walked away loving Hau and Guzma even more than before. This game also has Mantine surfing which is the best thing ever
 
They're great games but they feel very half-assed, hand-holdy, and lazy. They're filled with unskippable dialogue which at times made me just want to stop playing all together. So many times I just wanted ti play the game, but every 2 minutes I would get stopped by a cut scene. What's the point of having a cut scene, then making me walk for 5 seconds physically being unable to do anything else, only to produce another hour long cut scene? May as well mash it into one big scene.

That aside, the story felt very meh. It was basically the exact same and it takes a while to actually feel like you're making progress story wise (I had this same issue with Sun and Moon). Most of the game you're just strolling along, defeating trials, and it's like "alright cool, but what is the point of all this?", and then BAM the story hits you in the face and it feels very out of place and random.

No new Alola forms is just pure laziness. I'm sure they had their reasons why they didn't introduce any, but it bothers me they bothered to introduce 4 new UB's and a mythical, but no Alola forms? I'd much rather they introduced no UB's/mythical instead. The 5 new Pokemom don't really amount to that much anyway.

Most of the characters still felt very child like. I understand this is a game for kids but still. I don't want to see Hau get a boner every time he so much as hears the world Malasada and jump around like an idiot, and Lille has some of the cringiest dialogue ever to be seen in a Pokemon game. Plus somehow they managed to make the Rotom dex even more annoying in this game.

That said, I did find these games to be much more difficult than Sun and Moon which was a nice touch. Much of the difficulty was probably because I picked a bad team, but I feel even if I had a different team I would have struggled here and there.

Z-moves are still dumb and I forget they exist half the time, bring back megas please.


I don't know... they're good games but they're very slow and boring. I still don't like trials; even if they ARE harder than gym battles, I'm sure they could bring back the concept of totem Pokemon and rework them into gyms. It's strange. I usually love the third versions much more than the original games, Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, and B2W2 were incredible and I played them for so long, but USUM didn't feel that different... I'm conflicted, they feel very rushed but I feel my opinion is hindered by the fact I wasn't a fan of Sun and Moon.
 
I'm going to be honest here... I still haven't played it XD I got it on release and now It's just collecting dust here in my desk.

There's these strange burnout feel that's preventing me from playing it. Maybe it's because of too much Pokemon, or maybe it's just because I know that the next Pokemon Game is going to be on the switch and I don't want to bother with the 3ds anymore.
 
It's basically what I expected it to be: just a 3rd version, as well as a (more) complete version of Sun/Moon. Nothing mind-blowing or spectacular.

I don't mean to say it's bad, because it's not, it's easily in the upper half of the main series games, but that's also not a terribly difficult feat to achieve given how a lot of the games (mostly the first pairs of a generation) tend to go.
 
I got to the third island, got fed up of basically playing Sun/Moon again, and put my 3DS down. That was 3 weeks ago. My 3DS has a thick layer of dust on it. The battery died ages ago. No idea where my charger is and I don't plan on looking for it any time soon.

I feel like I'm just about done with Pokémon. I don't know if that's because of burnout, or because I've outgrown it, or I've got bored with it. But USUM seem to have broken me. It's so boring, so repetitive, so slow, so completely ****ing identical to SM, that I just can't find the energy or enthusiasm to carry on playing it.

Maybe when the Switch game is released I'll have left it long enough to feel ready to dive back in, but right now I don't see myself ever completing USUM, which I've never done before with a Pokémon game. In fact, I'm currently playing LeafGreen on an emulator and boy am I having a good time! It's so simplistic, so innocent, so free-flowing. It's such a release to be able to play a game again where I'm not stopped every three steps by an NPC to tell me trivial BS and initiate another 10 minute cutscene.

Maybe that's my future with this franchise, replaying old games from a simpler, happier time and feeling like a wide-eyed little kid again, not a 27 year old man going on 70, just totally time-worn and wizened by the current Pokémon format.

Sorry for the essay but, well, there it is.
 
I admit that there are some flaws such as not all non event pokemon are available in gen 7. But there are more positives with these games than there are negatives in my opinion.
 
Almost a week ago I've became the champion of the Alola Region with my original starter Pokemon being celebrated in an awesome photo club photo shoot to celebrate the occasion! But a Pokemon Trainer's life is never over as now "Team Rainbow Rocket" has taken over the Aether House and it's up to me and my Pokemon to save it! So yes the hype is still up and running cause now I'm in post game. And after post game I still have dozens and dozens and dozens of Pokemon to catch! To raise. To Train! The hype station is still admitting trains as far as I'm concerned. #GottaCatchEmAll!

[PokeCommunity.com] Now the hype has died down, what are your thoughts on USUM?
 
i guess i'll give my input: i have Ultra sun

+ More Mons = more selections
+ What was changed in the games story was decent
+ the games difficulty spiked up
+ Better grinding in the form of chansey and tools for competitive players ex. defog being a tutor move( i have no idea why it was not done sooner).
+ All legendary Mons can be captured and shiny hunted(including Ultra Beasts).
+ The addition of new characters such as Zossie and Dulse(US) and phyco and soliera(UM) helped as well as fleshing out Guzma a bit.
+ A certain infamous team returns as well as past villains.
+ we have stuff similar to O-Powers now

- The story up until the final parts of the game was literally the exact same as SM.
- We still have the exact same battle facility concept we have had for 7 years.
- they did remove a cutscene or two that was uneccesary to remove ex. the executor island cutscene with Lillie in SM.
- The exclusives for Ultra moon are still bad( from a competitive point of view).
- Ultra Megalopolas or however you say it is a vertical corridor with no exploration to be had.
- And on the topic of exploration while its nice that the ultra wormholes are present and the UBs get thier own world i just the other legendary mons got something similar such a lava cave for groudon or an ice cave for kyurem.

this about every noteworthy thing in my opinion about USUM.
overall i think these games are a clear improvement to sun/moon really but nothing more.
 
I've played through Ultra Sun pretty intensively and here are my thoughts:

What I liked:

- The story overall feels better and more consistent. I particularly like what they did with Lusamine's character.
- Kukui may be the best professor, having a surprising amount of backstory.
- Move tutors are always welcome and with Martine surf you can get some move tutor moves during the main game.
- The increased difficulty is welcome and outside of Poni Island the difficulty curve is fair.
- The world building is very good where even NPC's like your mother, a random beauty or pre-schooler get some characterisation.
- Mina's trial is fun and makes Poni Island seem a whole lot less empty.
- The new totems fit the Kahuna's better.
- Pokedex is overall very good.
- The Elite Four are still among the best in the series for me only being beaten by Unova's.
- Rotom Dex is a fun addition giving you a companion throughout the story and even reacts to storyline events.
- The Music is overall excellent
- Kukui and Lillie are good new choices to represent Alola in the Battle Tree. Plumeria and Guzma are the others and are Version Exclusive.
- There is a much larger range of battle music for the Battle Tree including Legendary themes which can be unlocked by catching the corresponding legendary.
- All Mega Stones are thankfully avaliable at the Battle Tree.
- Wormhole Hunting and Martine Surfing are great fun.
- Island Scan is a great way to get starters and some fan favourites like Rotom and Ralts.
- The Rainbow Rocket episode is great fun and whilst a bit short is a big upgrade on the Delta Episode.
- Pikachu Valley is very cute.
- Totem Pokemon are a very fun idea.
- Z Moves are welcome once again...and the random NPCs can use them too.

What I didn't like (Some of these are a bit nitpicky):

- Whilst Poni Island is busier the difficulty is all over the place. Ultra Necrozma is a big difficulty spike which many players may need to use 'cheap' tactics to get past, Totem Kommo-o is still too easy and for the final Kahuna Hapu's team is a joke.
- There are still too many tutorials.
- Plumeria is still very underused practically unchanged from the original games.
- Rare encounters can make it tricky to find some Pokemon.
- Pokedex still contains random filler Pokemon and random Kanto Pokemon like Fearow are still everywhere.
- Despite Bellossom appearing in the overworld and Oddish being mentioned the Oddish line still cannot be caught anywhere in Alola.
- The Overworld Music for the Battle Tree is still pretty bad.
- The Battle Tree representatives for non Alola regions are still the same and strange. Why for all the people to represent Hoenn did we get Wally and why is he using Garchomp?
- Battle Tree exclusive trainers may frustrate some people wanting a certain trainer and the Super Battle Tree is near unchanged.
- I am not overly keen on Battle Agency.

Overall I greatly enjoyed these games whilst by no means perfect I have not enjoyed playing a Pokemon game so much since Gen 5 and it had several parts that genuinely made me smile.
 
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LilyGardy said:
Totem Kommo-o is still too easy
Click to expand...

Eh, I'd say they upped his difficulty this time around. In Moon, I ended up one-shotting him with Moonblast from Primarina, but here I didn't expect him to hold a Roseli Berry, giving him time to Poison Jab my Primarina into oblivion. Since then he started using some interesting tactics like calling in Noivern to spam Boomburst against Soundproof, and it turned out to be pretty enjoyable.
 
I don't remember many differences from Sun/Moon and Ultra Sun/Moon aside from instead of Zygarde cells there are stickers. But I must say that the post game is much better in Ultra and the Ultra Wormhole stuff is very addictive.
 
To be honest, i wished that USUM and SM kept the same difficulty as gen 6. These games being hard is not okay. After all these are kids games and surely GF wouldn't purpose create games that would stress the younger players out. Sure there is older fans but the games were merely aimed for the young ones.

So i don't like the difficulty being this high in gen 7. Sorry but i don't.
 
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