- Joined
- Apr 1, 2017
- Posts
- 52
Ok. It's been little over 7 months since Pokémon Sun and Moon were released. I got them day one as I did with ORAS. My hype over these games was insane. It felt so fresh and exciting! No gyms? New cool Pokémon? A beautiful tropical region? I'm on board for all that! However, as I played it, hype died down and as I ended the main game I was asking myself this question: did I have fun? To answer this question let's break SM apart and address its characteristics.
Alola:
Honestly, the timing of Alola's introduction was poor. We just had left our journeys in Hoenn, a tropical region, in order to enter Alola, a tropical region. I know that the atmosphere of both regions is different, but it was just bad timing. If we had suck around Kalos for another game in order to wrap it all up, including Zygarde which was thrown into SM for whatever reason and served no purpose, our transition to Alola would've been a lot nicer. Now, Alola has its great characteristics. Honestly, it has more and stronge pros than cons. It has an amazing cultural sense that Hoenn lacks, the towns were very unique, the environments were cool and really felt like you were on a resort island and the modern stuff flows with nature and tradition beautifully. As Hoenn felt wild, Alola felt like nature and humans blending together greatly. However, it still has flaws. The maps were a little confusing and the pace of travel was meh. It tried to look more open, but felt a lot more restricted than other entries in the franchise were you stick to strict paths. And, again, its timing was bad, very bad. But, many of the problems with Alola come from two other things: the Pokémon and the Soundtrack.
The New Pokemon:
Following the steps of X and Y, Game Freak decided to introduce few new Pokemon and focus a lot on new iterations of old ones. However, as XY did it beautifully, Sun and Moon fall short. I love the new Alola forms and wait for a lot more in the future, not only Alolan but for newer regions. Honestly, I prefer them to Mega Evolutions (though I still love Megas). Now for the new faces in town. They're just forgettable. Things that I was loving about the new reveals were the new typings, abilities and characteristics of the new Pokemon. But there was something wrong: their designs were boring. So boring in fact that I only remember a couple of them. In the case of X and Y, I remember almost all new Pokemon. They didn't have the best typings nor the newest abilities and stats, but they had AMAZING designs. I'm a very artsy person and, despite being very rational, I still usually pick Pokémon based on what typings I need and mostly on aesthetic appeal. Sun and Moon doesn't have that. Put all the Kalos mons together in one picture and compare them to Alola mons all together just like the Kalos ones. You'll see that Kalos has an amazing bunch of colorful guys and Alola fails side to side with them.
The Soundtrack:
In one word? Uninspired. Honestly, the OST felt bland and forgettable (just like the new Pokemon!). Yes, some of the tunes were very memorable and amazing (Team Skull has the best evil team theme period, mah boi Guzma, the VS Champion theme was awesome and Malie City theme gives me Johto goose-bumps all over my skin), but most of it was forgettable. Pedrictable sounds, themes that wouldn't generally fit the area or scene and don't me started on the horrible pseudo-tribal chant on the Main Theme. It's supposed to be the piece that introduces the player to the game! This drives people away, not in!
The Main Story:
It's something different, alright. But as you'll see later different does not equal good. The whole Team Aether and Ultra Beasts was fine, whatever. But two things hurt the plot the most: Pacing and predictability. Before getting there, I just want to address two elephants in the room: Hau and Team Skull. Hau is a joke and makes me lose faith in future rivals. At least the guys in X and Y weren't bothering me all the time and gave me sort of a challenge. Hau is just terrible. Team Skull had so much potential but fell flat on its face. It had the dumbest motivations and, despite working for Aether being a somewhat unexpected twist, I felt like I had no reason to fight them. Now, onto the big ones.
Pacing was atrocious in SM. The start was terrible and lasted forever. Pokémon's current main demographic is between 18 and 30. We're not dumb kids whose hands need to be held for us to get the game. No! And the story was overall poorly paced. Yes, it had some amazing moments (Lillie's goodbye to Nebby and overall character arc was great), but it tried to wrap up itself so fast you're left to wonder if Game Freak was smoking crack while writing the end of it.
Predictability. This bothered me so much as I got through SM. Of course Aether was bad. Of course Lusamine was crazy! Of course Gladion and Lillie were related to her and tried to save her! Of course Nebby was the legendary! Of FUCKING course! This story tried so hard and failed so hard. I often compare it to the one in Black and White and how, even with its plot holes, it's so much more epic and interesting than SM's. God, I miss N and Team Plasma. #PlasmaBestTeam
Mechanics:
Though it borrowed a lot from Gen 6 (Pokémon Refresh is basically Pokémon Amie 2.0), it still had interesting mechanics and features. Hyper Training is amazing, Pokémon Refresh despite being just like Amie is still great, character customization is better than ever and Alola forms are amazing. However, it still fails at some things. The Festival Plaza is a joke compared to the PSS, the Battle Royal is nothing like what we wanted and Z-Moves are just pathetic. Just a Mega Evolution wannabe. Honestly Alola forms should have been the focus of the story, professor, etc, but whatever. Now the biggest bummer.
The combat felt so repetitive. It was definitely harder than Gen 6 (an improvement), but where as in X and Y and ORAS they were not trying to be different about everything and so the classic formula works great, in Sun and Moon, where so many things changed, the battling stayed the exact same. Again, I could do a whole other rant on why and how the combat should be improved, but for now let's just say that it was very repetitive, boring and not exciting in Gen 7.
Post Game:
I've already said stuff about Sun and Moon's post game so I'll be short. It was pretty much non existent and when it did, it catered to much to the competitive scene. Being a casual player myself, it felt odd to rush through a mediocre story in order to find an even worse post game. Honestly, I dropped SM as I finished the main plot whereas in ORAS and HGSS I couldn't put those games down.
Finally, I'll conclude. I liked Sun and Moon. I did. Though, not as much as I had liked. Like Team Skull, it had a lot of potential but fell short. It tried way too much to be different for the sake of different and kept a lot the same. It prioritized different over good. I'm kind of bothered how many people praise Sun and Moon and prefer to ignore its major issues, whilst criticizing Gen 6 for being too repetitive. Though, I have to agree that with X and Y and ORAS Game Freak were testing the waters of 3D Pokémon games, in the end the test ended up being better than the final version.
But that's just my opinion. What does it count for? Absolutely nothing. After all, I'm just a guy ranting for an hour about a video game where children gather monsters and throw them at each other in a legal version of cock fighting.
Thanks for reading.
TL'DR: If I had to review it, I'd give Pokémon Sun and Moon a 6.5/10. Alright, but boring.
Check out Dookieshed's video: "Are Pokémon Sun and Moon even good?"
And Lockstin's video too: "My Love/Hate/Adoration for Pokémon games"
These also address many things I talked about. Give them a watch, they're awesome.
Alola:
Honestly, the timing of Alola's introduction was poor. We just had left our journeys in Hoenn, a tropical region, in order to enter Alola, a tropical region. I know that the atmosphere of both regions is different, but it was just bad timing. If we had suck around Kalos for another game in order to wrap it all up, including Zygarde which was thrown into SM for whatever reason and served no purpose, our transition to Alola would've been a lot nicer. Now, Alola has its great characteristics. Honestly, it has more and stronge pros than cons. It has an amazing cultural sense that Hoenn lacks, the towns were very unique, the environments were cool and really felt like you were on a resort island and the modern stuff flows with nature and tradition beautifully. As Hoenn felt wild, Alola felt like nature and humans blending together greatly. However, it still has flaws. The maps were a little confusing and the pace of travel was meh. It tried to look more open, but felt a lot more restricted than other entries in the franchise were you stick to strict paths. And, again, its timing was bad, very bad. But, many of the problems with Alola come from two other things: the Pokémon and the Soundtrack.
The New Pokemon:
Following the steps of X and Y, Game Freak decided to introduce few new Pokemon and focus a lot on new iterations of old ones. However, as XY did it beautifully, Sun and Moon fall short. I love the new Alola forms and wait for a lot more in the future, not only Alolan but for newer regions. Honestly, I prefer them to Mega Evolutions (though I still love Megas). Now for the new faces in town. They're just forgettable. Things that I was loving about the new reveals were the new typings, abilities and characteristics of the new Pokemon. But there was something wrong: their designs were boring. So boring in fact that I only remember a couple of them. In the case of X and Y, I remember almost all new Pokemon. They didn't have the best typings nor the newest abilities and stats, but they had AMAZING designs. I'm a very artsy person and, despite being very rational, I still usually pick Pokémon based on what typings I need and mostly on aesthetic appeal. Sun and Moon doesn't have that. Put all the Kalos mons together in one picture and compare them to Alola mons all together just like the Kalos ones. You'll see that Kalos has an amazing bunch of colorful guys and Alola fails side to side with them.
The Soundtrack:
In one word? Uninspired. Honestly, the OST felt bland and forgettable (just like the new Pokemon!). Yes, some of the tunes were very memorable and amazing (Team Skull has the best evil team theme period, mah boi Guzma, the VS Champion theme was awesome and Malie City theme gives me Johto goose-bumps all over my skin), but most of it was forgettable. Pedrictable sounds, themes that wouldn't generally fit the area or scene and don't me started on the horrible pseudo-tribal chant on the Main Theme. It's supposed to be the piece that introduces the player to the game! This drives people away, not in!
The Main Story:
It's something different, alright. But as you'll see later different does not equal good. The whole Team Aether and Ultra Beasts was fine, whatever. But two things hurt the plot the most: Pacing and predictability. Before getting there, I just want to address two elephants in the room: Hau and Team Skull. Hau is a joke and makes me lose faith in future rivals. At least the guys in X and Y weren't bothering me all the time and gave me sort of a challenge. Hau is just terrible. Team Skull had so much potential but fell flat on its face. It had the dumbest motivations and, despite working for Aether being a somewhat unexpected twist, I felt like I had no reason to fight them. Now, onto the big ones.
Pacing was atrocious in SM. The start was terrible and lasted forever. Pokémon's current main demographic is between 18 and 30. We're not dumb kids whose hands need to be held for us to get the game. No! And the story was overall poorly paced. Yes, it had some amazing moments (Lillie's goodbye to Nebby and overall character arc was great), but it tried to wrap up itself so fast you're left to wonder if Game Freak was smoking crack while writing the end of it.
Predictability. This bothered me so much as I got through SM. Of course Aether was bad. Of course Lusamine was crazy! Of course Gladion and Lillie were related to her and tried to save her! Of course Nebby was the legendary! Of FUCKING course! This story tried so hard and failed so hard. I often compare it to the one in Black and White and how, even with its plot holes, it's so much more epic and interesting than SM's. God, I miss N and Team Plasma. #PlasmaBestTeam
Mechanics:
Though it borrowed a lot from Gen 6 (Pokémon Refresh is basically Pokémon Amie 2.0), it still had interesting mechanics and features. Hyper Training is amazing, Pokémon Refresh despite being just like Amie is still great, character customization is better than ever and Alola forms are amazing. However, it still fails at some things. The Festival Plaza is a joke compared to the PSS, the Battle Royal is nothing like what we wanted and Z-Moves are just pathetic. Just a Mega Evolution wannabe. Honestly Alola forms should have been the focus of the story, professor, etc, but whatever. Now the biggest bummer.
The combat felt so repetitive. It was definitely harder than Gen 6 (an improvement), but where as in X and Y and ORAS they were not trying to be different about everything and so the classic formula works great, in Sun and Moon, where so many things changed, the battling stayed the exact same. Again, I could do a whole other rant on why and how the combat should be improved, but for now let's just say that it was very repetitive, boring and not exciting in Gen 7.
Post Game:
I've already said stuff about Sun and Moon's post game so I'll be short. It was pretty much non existent and when it did, it catered to much to the competitive scene. Being a casual player myself, it felt odd to rush through a mediocre story in order to find an even worse post game. Honestly, I dropped SM as I finished the main plot whereas in ORAS and HGSS I couldn't put those games down.
Finally, I'll conclude. I liked Sun and Moon. I did. Though, not as much as I had liked. Like Team Skull, it had a lot of potential but fell short. It tried way too much to be different for the sake of different and kept a lot the same. It prioritized different over good. I'm kind of bothered how many people praise Sun and Moon and prefer to ignore its major issues, whilst criticizing Gen 6 for being too repetitive. Though, I have to agree that with X and Y and ORAS Game Freak were testing the waters of 3D Pokémon games, in the end the test ended up being better than the final version.
But that's just my opinion. What does it count for? Absolutely nothing. After all, I'm just a guy ranting for an hour about a video game where children gather monsters and throw them at each other in a legal version of cock fighting.
Thanks for reading.
TL'DR: If I had to review it, I'd give Pokémon Sun and Moon a 6.5/10. Alright, but boring.
Check out Dookieshed's video: "Are Pokémon Sun and Moon even good?"
And Lockstin's video too: "My Love/Hate/Adoration for Pokémon games"
These also address many things I talked about. Give them a watch, they're awesome.
