Author Topic: Pokémon Sun and Moon  (Read 30195 times)

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Offline ClexYoshi

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #50 on: November 20, 2016, 05:46:57 AM »
I'm a couple hours in and really enjoying it. It's the first time a game in this series has really grabbed me in a long time, honestly probably since HeartGold/SoulSilver. My favorite thing is a really minor but really overdue tweak, when you catch a Pokémon with 6 already in your party it gives you the option to keep that one and send one of the ones you already had to the PC instead. That is really handy early in the game.


there's TONS of quality of life improvements here that are no brainers. this is by far the best the UI has ever been in a pokemon game, and I would not say the same for say... X and Y or even my beloved BW. actually, HG/SS is where I'd say the last time the UI was this good.

Offline rygar

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #51 on: November 20, 2016, 06:34:01 AM »
How far into the game do you get trading functionality?

Offline pokepal148

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #52 on: November 20, 2016, 02:51:26 PM »
I miss DexNav.

Offline Evan_B

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #53 on: November 20, 2016, 03:42:20 PM »
Could this game have any more dialogue?

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Offline nickmitch

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #54 on: November 20, 2016, 04:58:18 PM »
I'm a couple hours in and really enjoying it. It's the first time a game in this series has really grabbed me in a long time, honestly probably since HeartGold/SoulSilver. My favorite thing is a really minor but really overdue tweak, when you catch a Pokémon with 6 already in your party it gives you the option to keep that one and send one of the ones you already had to the PC instead. That is really handy early in the game.

That's probably my favorite part.  Makes the first playthrough a lot better and Heal balls actually useful.
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Offline Shaymin

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #55 on: November 21, 2016, 07:29:18 AM »
Hit the point of running two new Pokemon-only parties. What's the going rate for a starter, or should I just wait until I get Ditto and send my Brionne off for gooey fun at the breeding center?

Also my Oranguru has no good moves and tends to die. Kind of like Harambe, actually.
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Offline Evan_B

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #56 on: November 21, 2016, 02:46:08 PM »
Too soon, man.
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Offline ClexYoshi

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #57 on: November 22, 2016, 04:05:09 AM »
okay, so... I've sequestered myself far away from this reality over the weekend, in a place where the President elect isn't sending angry tweets complaining about a broadway musical to deflect the fact that he just settled a huge court case where his school was found to be fraudulent... ah.


I do intend to do a user review when I'm done with this game. there's SO much to talk about here that I could write a wall of text in the middle of this thread and scare folks with the TLDR.

At any rate, I just made it to Ulaula island. I imagine my next roadblock for a day or two will come in the form of finding an efficient way to chain the ditto on route 10 in an attempt to get a good spread of them with as good of an IV spread as possible. By FAR the most research I've been doing into the game as I play is into the SOS mechanic, which I think is probably the most important change that Pokemon Sun and Moon bring to the table.


SOS battle has fundamentally changed how I approach wild pokemon battles. I'm much more willing to bring status around because if I can't KO a pokemon in one hit, I want to ensure it's not going to start SOS chaining. at the same time, my Decidueye has essentially become the Messaih of EV training, given his ghost type, his access to false swipe and his ability to to trap runners with spirit shackle. When the time comes for me to get off my lazy butt and do an actual smeargle for this purpose, it is very possible that Spirit Shackle will be a part of his moveset too.


The festival plaza is actually bad and makes me yearn for the Player Search System. it is EXTREMELY disorganized and I still don't fully grasp some of the mechanics or why it was chosen to work the way it does. Credit where credit is due; there isn't a particularly long load in between the festival plaza and the main game if you just want to like... hit up your stalls quick and hop out of the game. The thing that infuriated me about it is how user unfriendly it is when connecting with friends. they're basically mixed into a list with the riffraff and you have to sit there and update the list of plaza visitors repeatedly, until your friend appears. sure, you can VIP certain visitors to sticky them so you can access the offline version of their avatar that's commuunicated witht he global link website, but like... I don't know what you actually do with them other than maybe pay a buttload of festival coins to replace one of your stalls.

The stalls are also frustrating. you can only have 7, and they don't really tell you what exactly the stalls do before you plop them in and permanently delete one of your other stalls in the process. The thing that frightens me the most is that the Festival plaza will be the part of the game that dies when GF pulls the plug on the global link part of the game, and there's some pretty important stuff that can end up gated behind the festival plaza, such as once a day instant maxed EVs for a pokemon, all the bottlecaps for hyper training (the NPC that trades shards for Bottlecaps and the various Lottery stalls that have a chance to dispense them are Festival Plaza things) and just... it's bad, and basic features that were just on the touchscreen for X and Y are now in a seperate little area.

other than that, I'm loving this game, I'm loving it's pacing, I'm loving doing Donuts on my Ride-Lapras in the water.

Offline pokepal148

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #58 on: November 22, 2016, 02:45:15 PM »
Apparently there's some save glitch that comes up if you save in a pokemon center so don't do that.

Offline ClexYoshi

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #59 on: November 22, 2016, 04:33:52 PM »
Apparently there's some save glitch that comes up if you save in a pokemon center so don't do that.

Is it like the one in X and Y where someone gives you cement shoes when you save in Lumiose city and rendered your save unusable?

Offline pokepal148

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #60 on: November 22, 2016, 06:15:40 PM »
It apparently makes your character model dissappear and renders the game unplayable.

Offline Mop it up

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #61 on: November 22, 2016, 07:29:14 PM »
But can you have a Mon follow you around?

Offline Shaymin

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #62 on: November 22, 2016, 08:46:39 PM »
I wonder if the removal of the PC in that instance is a side effect of modding the save file.
But can you have a Mon follow you around?
Nope.
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Offline Evan_B

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #63 on: November 23, 2016, 12:17:16 AM »
Yeah, I'm going to be honest, I don't get the Festival Plaza at all. It's not transparent in the least, and I don't get why they did away with much more simplistic and easily accessible features instead of this convoluted mess.

I want to write a big, wordy think piece about how the reward system for the environmental design of this game is absolute garbage, but that will take time.


EDIT: Upon further research, I have come to realize that Poke Pelago is probably the better bet for EV training, as long as you stock up on Poke Beans. However, the removal of Super Training was stupid, and S.O.S. Chaining is certainly nowhere near as rewarding as Horde Battling. But that's Game Freak for you: Take one step forwards, and then in subsequent versions, take a step to the side, turn around, do a stupid dance and charge your Z-Power, and take two steps back.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2016, 12:30:38 AM by Evan_B »
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Offline ClexYoshi

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #64 on: November 23, 2016, 04:04:35 AM »
Yeah, I'm going to be honest, I don't get the Festival Plaza at all. It's not transparent in the least, and I don't get why they did away with much more simplistic and easily accessible features instead of this convoluted mess.

I want to write a big, wordy think piece about how the reward system for the environmental design of this game is absolute garbage, but that will take time.


EDIT: Upon further research, I have come to realize that Poke Pelago is probably the better bet for EV training, as long as you stock up on Poke Beans. However, the removal of Super Training was stupid, and S.O.S. Chaining is certainly nowhere near as rewarding as Horde Battling. But that's Game Freak for you: Take one step forwards, and then in subsequent versions, take a step to the side, turn around, do a stupid dance and charge your Z-Power, and take two steps back.

I'm in full agreement here. there's some straaaange design here. I don't necessarily mind the environmental stuff so much once I better understood how it is stoutland works in comparison to older Itemfinder mechanics.

One that really chaps my behind though is the strange choice in how they've chosen to handle egg hatching. Allow me to explain.

Every generation has gotten slightly better than the last about providing a better method for hatching eggs and aquiring them. usually, there is a long, straight stretch next to the daycare. Gen 5's wasn't as long, but was the requisite 128 steps for an egg to spawn on either trip, but also featured an NPC who'd flag you down when it had an egg ready for you. this I felt was REALLY good.

Gen 6 did away with the NPC flagging you down, but rather channging the direction he faces when he has an egg ready for you. much more subtle, and sometimes his direction would stay changed because he talked to you. there's a nice and long stretch of route by him,a nd then the center of Lumiose city could be flown to where they have a big circular area you can hold one direction and acumulate steps without having to change direction. combined with the hatching o-power and Fletchinder/Talonflame being a flame body pokemon that could learn fly, this was the most painless generation for hatching yet. ORAS even improved this a little more by putting a daycare on the island with the battle tower and putting a camera pan area to ride around all in the same zone!

Sun and Moon has a stretch of oute seperated by two load zones and with twists and turns, but no camera pan for holding one direction. as far as I have heard, there is no area in the game that features the sort of camera pan that would let you hold one direction on your circle pad either.

What they have instead is a little broken area in the fence right across the road from the daycare. you can only fit through on foot, but there's enough room in this fence to call a ride pokemon. while just holding against a wall will not give you steps, turning around atop your ride pokemon in this enclosure does. since it can't fit out the door, you hop on Tauros and proceed to pretend you're playing Mario Party.

because this totally won't break our circle pads or require more effort than simply holding one direction on the D-pad while being locked to the grid, nope!

the advantage is the Egg giving NPC is always in sight and she will do a little thinking/puzzled pose when she has an egg for you.



Maybe gamefreak will give out some totally swag gloves if the Pokemon Stars rumors are to be believed...? then scalpers can scalp them like they did with the Link scarves.

Offline Oedo

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #65 on: November 24, 2016, 03:51:33 PM »
I’ve gotten to Ula’ula Island and, so far, I’m loving Sun for the most part. The Alola region is beautiful and I like a lot of the new Generation VII Pokemon designs, with Primarina, Ribombee, and the Midday Form of Lycanroc being my favorites so far. It’s cool to actually see their animations in Pokemon Refresh, which is better than Pokemon Amie for me simply by virtue of the fact that I can jump right into it after most battles and it makes more sense in the Pokemon game world now.

I’m with you guys on the user interface and the quality of life improvements; this is the most intuitive and quick Pokemon game I can remember playing from a functionality standpoint. A lot of features like Ride Pokemon (which is a great new addition in general) feel more easily accessible now. I’m used to having a text box show up when doing even the most simple things in a Pokemon game, but I like that I can jump right onto Tauros or Lapras’ back in an instant and be on my way in this game (which is not trivial considering how often we need them).

There are a lot of other gameplay changes that I like too. The Zygarde Cores and Zygarde Cells are a cool way to reward players who explore every part of the islands, assuming there aren’t going to be a few that you'll need to find with Stoutland Search (which would be kinda ridiculous) or are just extremely hard to find in general. I like the Trials and Grand Trials as the new Gyms more than I was expecting and I’m glad that (at least based on what I’m been told by Professor Kukui in the story) this game will continue the tradition of having an Elite Four at the end. I’ve seen a few people complain about wild Pokemon being able to call for help, but I kinda like it. It’s actually changing the way I play the game as well and I’m giving more thought to the moves I teach my Pokemon now.

The story has been a breath of fresh air up to this point, but the Aether Foundation is probably going to change that somewhat by the end. I was hoping that the focus of the story would remain on discovering Alola’s mythology, uncovering Cosmog’s origin, and participating in the Island Challenge, but I guess people want more out of these games when it comes to the plot.

Overall, this game has certainly delivered on the promise of being a fresh take on Pokemon for me and I'm really enjoying it so far!

Offline ClexYoshi

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #66 on: November 28, 2016, 02:37:05 PM »
Just beat the main game. Final Play time is 86:39 with `142 owned Pokemon out of the 301 available in the alolan dex (there's actually more than that, but a strange thing I've heard is that they've decided to ditch an in-game national dex and instead build the National Dex into January's Pokemon Bank update.) quite a bit of why this took so long was me insisting I do things I probably should have waited to do but I'm stubborn. I also stopped making forward progression for long stretches to test and learn the boundaries of the SOS mechanic in depth.



I also broke one of my basic cardinal rules for any given Pokemon game and used this guy. as long as you do the prep before hand to handle what you want to do, the SOS chain mehtod of Shiny hunting is both effective and potentially provides pokemon that are outright usable provided you're using the Synchronize trick, which... I've heard is slightly bugged in SOS battle, which is not so good.

I think I have a pretty good idea about how I feel about this game as a whole. that being said, I need some post-game funtimes before I am willing to write a review, much like with Mr. Culafi here at NWR.

Offline rygar

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #67 on: November 28, 2016, 03:30:51 PM »
I received a shiny Evee in a Gen VI wonder trade a week or two ago. I thought I had misidentified it at first.

Offline Oedo

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #68 on: November 30, 2016, 05:11:45 PM »
Well darn, that was fast. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts, Clex.

I've started to drift off and fill out my Pokedex a bit after reaching Poni Island. I think the story is going in a pretty interesting direction though and, so far, avoiding the out of place, philosophical narrative I thought I'd get from Aether Paradise. If the driving motivation behind their actions ends up being that Lusamine and Guzma are just delusional fools who need some sense slapped into them, I'm cool with that.

I forgot to mention this in my other post, but I'm also really loving a lot of the music so far.

Offline pokepal148

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #69 on: November 30, 2016, 07:34:51 PM »
The music doesn't quite reach the grand heights that Black and White and it's sequels reached but it's much better than the lackluster X and Y soundtrack by a huge margin.

Offline rygar

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #70 on: November 30, 2016, 10:12:42 PM »
I liked X and Y's soundtrack, so I should be in for a treat. My BestBuy Black Friday eshop card is in the mail, so I should be visiting Alola soon.

Offline nickmitch

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #71 on: December 01, 2016, 10:16:12 AM »
I beat Sun the other night, and am currently going through the post game.  I liked the story, I thought it was cute, but I was a little disappointed that I didn't battle the actual fusion thing at the end.  I didn't like the wild Pokemon calling for help at first, but since I've learned that it's the only way to catch certain Pokemon, I like it a lot.  It adds a lot of depth to the hunt and meaning into the ecosystem.  For instance, Sableye is said to stalk Carbink.  Well, if you find a Carbink and it calls for help, a Sableye might show up.  I think I'll hit up the Battle Tree for a bit before converting my current team into a capture team.  For this playthough, I went with all Ghost Types.  Didn't realize one of the Elite 4 would be Ghost as well, nor did I expect to have to battle the Dark Type Captain twice.  Overall, this is shaping up to be one of my favorite games in the series.  Easily top 3.
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #72 on: December 01, 2016, 01:43:36 PM »
I liked X and Y's soundtrack, so I should be in for a treat.
Considering you're actually getting good battle music I agree.

That Sun and Moon Champion Theme is godly.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2016, 01:45:21 PM by pokepal148 »

Offline ClexYoshi

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #73 on: December 01, 2016, 08:37:12 PM »
The music doesn't quite reach the grand heights that Black and White and it's sequels reached but it's much better than the lackluster X and Y soundtrack by a huge margin.

^^^^^^^
THIS.



EDIT: also, posted the thread for my review in the reader review forum.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2016, 11:25:00 PM by ClexYoshi »

Offline Evan_B

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Re: Pokémon Sun and Moon
« Reply #74 on: December 02, 2016, 12:56:15 AM »
You liked the champion theme? I thought it was a bit too... traditional, if you get my drift?

I really didn't like Kuikui as a character much, at all. He came off more like Guzma with a positive twist- he never got to be a Kahuna, but instead decided to give them the finger by making his own Pokemon League and putting himself in the champion spot.
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