Pokemon Moon: Beaten.
On one hand, it's more Pokemon, so you know what you're getting. On the other-hand, they actually managed to change the formula up, both in terms of plot, and gameplay progression and even applied many requested features like the removal of HMs. While I can understand the argument of "it forces you try out different kind of Pokemon!", Pokeride actually emphasizes the true purpose HMs had in the past, and that was simply Roadblocks and basically asking that you gimp your team to do trivial things, and often wasted your time when you see that one plant that needs to be cut, requiring either you HM a current Pokemon, or run back, get the Pokemon, cut down the plant, and get that extra Max Revive or whatever (basically, if felt like if it wasn't a TM, you wasted your time.) It was also meant as an incentive to back track because "hey, you have Strength now, go push that boulder!"
Now? Same deal really, only you're not constantly swapping your team and it's not inconvenient. Honestly, one of the biggest things about Pokemon is emphasizing a "play how you want to" style, between the huge draw of Pokemon, and aspects that limit this kind of defeat that purpose, which is exactly what HMs did, especially since Sun/Moon has actual teeth to it's difficulty, such that you want all 6 of your Pokemon to be battle ready, so losing a slot to a slave to avoid back tracking is bad. Also it was nice knowing I could play the game WITHOUT requiring a Water type or a Flying type...not that this is a GOOD idea (I definitely had moments where I went "damn it, I wish I had a water type!") necessarily, but why require people to use typings. Again, I understand the defense for HMs, but overall, I think the pros of removing them far outweigh the cons, especially since it means you avoid bull crap like Sinnoh Victory Road, or "Let's make crappy moves like Whirlpool an HM lol."
As I said in a previous post, game has a plot progression that feels a lot closer to a jRPG, which is refreshing for Pokemon. You leave because...the game says so, to do something more mundane (they make it clear Trial Challengers are not uncommon, and suggest that there have been multiple who have succeeded in completing all of them in the past), even though it's silly because YOU LITERALLY MOVED TO ALOLA THE DAY PRIOR AND ARE BEING FORCED TO EMBARK ON A JOURNEY ACROSS THE REGION! Hoenn had the same plot but a few differences were...
A. Your father was a Gym Leader there
B. You kind of become Pokemon Trainer out of necessity to save Professor Birch, and basically "eh, what the heck."
Here, they kind of go "hey new kid, Tapu Koko likes you, YOU WILL NOW BECOME A TRIAL CHALLENGER!" Team Four Star is absolutely right to treat Larenti as a lethargic, unenthusiastic trainer being forced on his journey with the whole "I just moved here! Can't I get time to adjust?"
If I have a complaint about the plot, actually, it's the trainer character. The biggest problem is that, and I've heard this complaint from reviews so I know it's not just me, is the trainer has ONE FACIAL EXPRESSION, which is "blank, emotionless smile." There are some real notable emotional moments that just get ruined when they do a close up on the trainer and they have that expression. The thing is, there are points where they do break that emotion, like in battles when doing a Z-move, your trainer seems dynamic there! But no, Lillie can be talking about something related to family, then go "Right Trainer?" and you're standing there with a "=)" even though what she said was clearly NOT something you should be smiling about.
The other thing is with the game's plot, the trainer isn't really the main character, just the PoV character. All things considered, this is really about Lillie. I think I mentioned it before, but Lillie is arguably the most developed and well written character in the series, only competition granted being N from the Unova games. Won't go into details, but just noting there's a full character arc going on there. Gladion actually is passably handled too, and I give the game prop for making fun of the "emo is cool!" idea, where Hau goes "he probably thinks he's cool acting like he doesn't care." Honestly, in a kids game like that, a statement like that is needed as even though it won't accomplish anything, someone needs to point out that this "I'm too cool to care!" attitude is not cool at all.
Granted, pretty much all the plot beats are predictable, even the plot twist with the final boss being
Kukui given you've basically taken on all the other major NPCs so the "Whoever is left is the Final Boss!" thing. That said, I'm glad they FINALLY used the
Professor is the final boss twist, since that feels long over due. Predictable plot twists aren't so bad granted, and you have to remember this game is geared towards a wide audience, so it's to be expected. It reminded me about Zootopia in that regard, in that yes, I could predict a lot of the notable events, but it's told in a well enough way that I don't care, and being that it needs to be accessible to children, sometimes you have to sacrifice something, so just go with the story that is told, and pat yourself on the back for calling things ahead of time.
That said, also regarding the Final Boss, it was neat how they did a
role reversal of the Final Boss of RBY in a sense. Didn't occur to me til I read this, but now that I think about it, that's exactly what happened. Your character becomes the Champion, and the final boss is now your first real challenger so you can hold onto the title. It contrasts where Blue did the same in the Kanto games, and Red challenges him almost immediately after and takes the title. It only further feels appropriate since Sun/Moon is meant to be the 20th Anniversary Celebration game.
Game is definitely harder than most in the series. Now granted my team wasn't ideal (again, no Water type hurt), but the Totem Pokemon on average felt tougher than Gym Leaders, the Kahunas were mostly solid fights in their own rights, the Plot Bosses definitely had some bite to them, and the E4 with their level spike and generally well rounded Pokemon within thematics...yeah. Heck, Hau, despite being the first primary rival with the WEAK Starter to yours actually manages to put up more of a fight than...well...any rival outside of maybe Champion!Blue's team. The Final Boss is...I wouldn't quite put it at Cynthia level, but it's certainly one I had to fight a few times to get a feel for the team, and figure out exactly what I needed. That and I needed a few rare candies to get everyone to 49 just because my numbers were slightly lower than needed (Barely missing a 2HKO in a fight like that can get you killed) and the Pokemon Refresh perks really saved my ass a few times, like randomly dodging status moves, which on one hand feels unfair since the enemies don't have it, but then I just go "Well, they also have a dramatic level edge, so this is just leveling the playing field!" The game actually fights back. Note that I didn't use EXP Share, which could very well shift the difficulty a lot for obvious reasons.
Final Team:
Yeah, I used Lunala, but she barely saw actual use so more of a trump card, and often if a fight came down to Lunala vs. the world, I'd reset anyway because I often felt with a changed approach I COULD beat the trainer in question. Yes, Lunala is female as far as I'm concerned, for a number of reasons I won't go into (though, if you just look at Lunala's design, it definitely feels intentionally effeminate)
And yes, technically Zygarde is a Gen 6 Pokemon but seeing as I used him in his 10% form most of the game, and he got no love in Gen 6, and there's a sidequest dedicated to him that you deal with throughout the game, I felt he was an honorary Gen 7 Pokemon. Also, it doesn't feel cheap using Zygarde as a legendary because, well, all things considered, how is he any worse than using a Garchomp in game? Same BST and typing, and you're even likely to get Zygarde's 50% form around the same time you'd evolve Gabite into Garchomp.
Things to note of my team:
Shiinotic ended up being one of my most effective Pokemon. Grass was vital in a few spots, Special Attacker in a region that felt paraded by physical tanks, has Spore, and eventually gets Moonblast for high damage. His Giga Drain also gave him a fair amount of health back. That said, didn't see much use in the final boss because his one Water type outspeed and one shot him anyway.
Incineroar hits like a truck, but wasn't as durable as I felt she should be (mine is female...yes, I got that 12.5% starter, what about it?) Granted, that's the levels speaking; most Pokemon in these games tend to outlevel you, and it didn't feel ineffective per se, though, what didn't help is everything seems to be using a coverage move this game...stupid well thought out trainers...
Mimikyu is fantastic. Having good speed in Alola is huge seeing as this is definitely a slow region overall, and having an insured 1 turn to do whatever (often two) meant it often could do something. It's even more durable than you'd think, rarely being OHKOed unless a Steel or Ghost move was involved (which aren't common.) In particular, it being able to come in, throw up Charm or Will-o-wisp, and know it's not going to die in the process before it gets it up...yeah. It's main issue though is you're basically relying on Shadow Claw and Leech Life for attacks most of the game, unless you want to give it Special Attacks to run off it's assy SpA; it gets so much better at level 46 or when you reach the Move Relearner and can learn Play Rough, being not only a Fairy STAB, but also a straight improvement over Shadow Claw for neutral damage. Also gets Wood Hammer then, which really helps for coverage (Mimikyu was vital against the final boss' water type since it was faster and could 2HKO it with Wood Hammer, and as I said, Mimikyu is basically insured 2 turns against anything it's faster than, Shiinotic by contrast got OHKOed)
Some disappointments?
All the Tapus seem aftergame. I kind of want to use one in a main game, but that doesn't seem to be do-able unless I use Pokebank when that drops or something, and playing the game with a legendary from that early...you get the idea.
Move Relearner is right before the E4. Ok I get why; they repurposed it such that you can learn ANY move on your level up set now instead of just prior moves, eg a level 45 Incineroar can learn Outrage despite him not learning it until the 60s and it's NOT one of his "Level --" moves, so it might be cheap, and Heart Scales aren't that hard to come by, but doesn't mean I can't want it earlier!
Is it the best Pokemon game? Not sure yet, still after-game, but relative to other games in the series, it's hard to find notable flaws, and it's not afraid to actually show forward movement, in that it's willing to change up the status quo, and does so in an inventive way while not actually detracting from what makes Pokemon...well...Pokemon. So yeah, anyone who likes the series definitely should give it a try.
Also it has Pokemon Snap as a mini-game in there!
